M 4 GOODWIN'S WEEKLY
Hi
D THE RETURN
H Jerrrey Arnold lot hlmscir Into Ills
Hj apartment mid closed the door behind li tin
H Willi a careless bang.
H As lie walked into the cool, darkened
H sitting-room, where the shrouded furn-
K I lure stood about like a silent company
H or patient ghosts, lie was quite sure Hint
Hj he heard a furtive stir from somewhere
H along1 the quiet hallway. He turned Ills
H head and watted, hut the stillness, fraught
H with that siiffoeajlng oppressiveness which
Hj Is always In closed-up places, smote Ills
H ears like a tnuffled blow.
H When, following her critical illness,
H Margaret had departed ror her parents
Hj co'intry estate In New Hampshire, ho had
H been the last one to leave the apartment.
H He and Georgo Hradley wore to ramp In
H the mountains until ho Joined Margaret
H nt the end or September. When we had
H tucked her carefully into her father's
Hg automobile and personally Inspected every
9 lock and fastening in the apartment, ho
H had telephoned Hradley that he would
H meet him at the Grand Central at 5
M o'clock. Yes, that was the last thing ho
H did, and when he had concluded the con-
M versatlon lie placed the receiver upon the
H hook with the wired end down. Arnold
Hj remembered this with a distinctness
H which was but characteristic of his pccul-
m iar propensity Tor mentally registering In-
H flnltesiuial and seemingly tririing things.
H And now the tclephouo stood bcroro him
H like a witness who lingers mutoly In a
H deserted courtroom, waiting to givo un-
B expected testimony. Who had taken up
H the receiver since and reversed the posl-
H tlon In which lie had lert it.
H suddenly Arnold turnod his head again.
H This time the furtive stirring from soma-
H where In the other rooms was distinctly
H audible. Very quietly ho opened a drawer
WfM "t his elbow and too'- out n revolver.
9 Then he arose and walked quickly down
H9 the shadowy hallway. He searched his
H own bedroom and, rinding nothing dls-
H turbed, stepped through the connecting
Hi door into his wire's boudoir, wondering,
Kg as he did so, IT Margaret, In the lassitude
j of her ill health, had neglected to take
H her Jewelry. He glanced swirtly around
HR the room, with the cold fearlessness or
H one who shrinks from no living thing.
H A faint perrume drirted in the still air.
H It did not seem the woman who loved
M had not been in the room for over two
B months; ltbeepoke her presence vaguely,
H as tr indeed the lacy negligee tossed upon
Hj a llnon swathed chair might still retain
B tho living warmth or hor, and Arnold
1 touched It lightly as ho passod. Ho came,
H to a mirrored door and, flinging it wide,
H pressed a button which Illumined tho
H shimmering things hanging hero and
H there and transformed the dusky Interior
H into a picture as radiantly colorful as a
H shop window at night. as he thrust
H aside oach garment hi", lingers thrilled
H sensitively the fragrance or her slim
H body seemed to emanate rrom every sort-
H textured robP that had covered it. Then
H Arnold's band encountered a rorm a
H woman's rorm. Startled, he loosened his
Hj rough grip and, pulling down an opera
H uk which hung botwoon ihem, gazed
H into tlie race or his wire a strange, un-
H ramlllar face, seared by some nameless
H terror and staring up at htm like a
B rigid mask.
H "My poor girl! he exclaimed tenderly,
"I must have frightened you to the verge
H or insensibility! Why dodn't you let mo
H know that you wanted something from
H the apartment or send you rather in
H ror it?"
H The woman's haggard Iovllness seemed
H to sharpen suddpnly. She pushed Arn-
B old rrom her and, ralterlng weakly
across the room, sat down upon hpr bed,
B staring at him with a sort or wavering
B horror.
B Margaret suffered Arnold to lead her
B down tho hallway and place her upon a
Bi
cotirh In the sitting-room. She watched
him all the while as lr in tho clutches or
somo numbing roar which had frozen her
senses beyond the power or speech.
An electric boll, Hinging its whirring
summons out or the remote shadows or
tho hallway, clamored noisily.
Arnold stood upright.
"What tho dov " ho began wonder-
lngly. 'I thought everyone knew we
wore away." Ho sat down (he bottle
again and started towards the door, but
Margaret was In front or him, her eyes
glazed with a strange conruslon.
"No, no! Don't open the door,
Jeffrey!"
Sho thrust hor hands against his
breast and the gloss which sho had been
holding Tell with a crash to tho noor.
A puzzled frown knotted Arnold's
rorohoad as ho loosened hor clutching
llti""rs.
. woman sat quiescent. Sho looked
ght nhead, as lr Into tho dopths or
. lnovltabio chasm. Even whon sho
heard her husband's voico sho did not
move.
"Oh, hello, Hob! Thought you know
we were ontclally out or town for over
two months. But I'm glad to seo you.
Come In and hear nhout the thrilling ex
perience Margaret and 1 have Just had."
Robert McAllister ontored tho room
with an air or commonplace nonchalance,
but his brain was a soothing tanglo or
roar-distorted quosllons and sunnlslngs,
which revolvod dazedly and dizzily with
out apparently reaching any lucid point
or ending or boglnnlng.
Margaret gnvo htm her hand as ir with
an offort and tholr eyes mot conrusodiy,
her brlor look charged with a dumb ter
ror aim appeal.
Arnold lined the drooping body or his
wire as the gardner might pick up a
crushed riower, and carried her n a
couch. He laughed compassionately as
he laid her down and arranged the pil
lows about her.
"Look at her, Dob struck dumb!
Wall until I tell you what happened.,
McAllister's ejes Hashed a poignant
query nt Margaret as Arnold turned to
draw up a chair, but she met It with
stare or utter blankness; it was as If she
lived in a trance which had reared a
vacant whito wall around her Intellect.
"I came in to get a certain paper,"
Arnold was saying, as he leaned rorward
to oirer McAllister a cigarette, "and, by
an uncanny coincidence Margaret had
also made a trip to town. Sho was here
ahead or me, and when sho hoard me
walk calmly In and proceed to rummage
around she concluded that I was a dar
ing burglar. Meanwhile 1 too, became
aware or Inexplicable and stealthy noises,
and forthwith started upon a tour or in
vestigation. When the poor girl realized
that the Intruder was proceeding to in
spect the premises, she hid herself In the
closet, where I enme upon her with no
gentle grasp and nourished a revolver,
to boot! Rather a disconcerting exper
ience for an convalescent, eh?" Arnold
bent above Margaret Impulsively, his
hand straying out to her with the awk
ward hesitation or n man who was not
given to prodigal demons tratlveness. Rut
the woman sat up suddenly, brushing tho
disordered hair hack from her hot Tore
head. "1 can't stand it!" she muttered des
perately. A wove or dull red Hooded her
race and throat and, ebbing, lert her
ghastly. Arnold watched her with a puz
zled anxiety. Could this he a relapse,
occasioned by her fright the rever re
turning? Then, as he gazed, something struck
sharply across his subconscious mind
a silent, dust-tinged telephone, with the
receiver trailing a looped green wire
fri.n Its steel-plugged top. And with a
titanic rush or horror, llko that which
must havo paralyzed tho hoarts or those
in tho Tcmplo whon blind Sampson broko
tho foundations with his mighty arms, sus
picion crashed down upon his brain. For
a moment he sat thcro mutely, his heart
growing cold and tho strain or tho light
Tor control sapping tho blood from ills
tightened lips. Tho woman read his eyes
and cowered back, covering her race with
shaking hands. McAllister stood up, grop
ing behind him as ir he would grasp his
chair as a weapon.
Rut Arnold did not move: he continued
to look at the woman who bore his name
as though seeking to road through hor
shielding hands. Finally ho aroso and,
moving with the alert aggressiveness with
which he might enter a crowded court
room, went to tho telephone and placed
tho receiver to his car. Ho looked straight
ahead of him, impersonally, as ir ho were
alono in his private oillcu.
"Hollo 1 This Is Arnold. It is impera
tive that 1 know the last number called
on this wlro." Ho waited composodly, his
oyos still llxod upon tho opposlto wall.
"Yos?" ho said presently. "Very well.
Thank you." Ho stood tho tolophouo care
fully upon tho reading table and looked
up, at McAllister.
"You had not countod on my ability to
discover that your number was called
from hero within the last three hours, had
you? Wore It not Tor my habit or 'seeing
the dust grains in ovory mountain side,'
as a certain Judge once put it, I might not
havo noticed that this telephone had been
used since 1 sot It down over two months
ago though I must say that, dosplto tho
astuteness for which I am famed, I seem
to bolong at tho foot or the class." Arn
old's uppor lip twisted oddly.
"Don't cringe llko a hound bororo tho
whip, McAllister; thoro will bo no blood
spilled." Tho man soatod opposlto moist
ened his lips; ho ossayod a deprecative
smllo.
"Oh, I soo." Arnold plckod up tho wea
pon and, romovlng sovorul cartridges,
tossed them into the drawer. "Wronged
husband helpless villain blood and
thunder, eh? No, McAllister, I am not a
devotee or melodrama. I simply put this
in my pocket when I thought that I might
enrounter a housebreaker but met, In
stead, a hoinebrcaker. However, no
guest beneath my rour has ever had Just
cause to complain or the slightest discom
fort. Allow mo to place the cause or
uneasiness upon your side or the table."
Arnold bent rorwnrd and shoved the pistol
away from him with elaborate precision,
then settled back In his chair again, re
garding McAllister with gravely imperson
al eyes.
.McAllister arose and with hands lockod
hohlnd him, as ir to keep them from go
ing out to tho woman who crouched weep
ing upon tho couch, or to tho throat or
the man who sat Inscrutably at tho othor
side or the table, stood sllont ror a mo
ment, his labored brouthlng striking across
tho turmoil or Margaret's sobs. Finally
ho turned.
"Ood!" he cried passionately, "must all
women be leering Kves in the paradise or
a man's ralth?"
Margaret lert tho couch. Her knees
sagging, slid faltered across tho room and
sank dumbly at Arnold's feet. He lookod
down at her disheveled hair and then
across tho table at McAllister.
"You might have been more original!"
ho continued bitterly. "Roth of you are
endowed with highly cultivated mentalities
yet you would havo trodden tho path
or my valet, his wire and the neighboring
grocer 1 Oh, It Is all too cheap! It's like
n tawdry Punch and Judy show that the
country bumpkins may gaze upon ror a
ha'penny!" He laughed tonelessly and
bent above Margaret. "What do you
want?"
The woman r sed her race, the dls
hovoled hair slipping down across her
shoulders.
"You," she whispered, distractedly, "you
you!" She had rorgottcn McAllister.
Arnold smiled with satirical woarlnoss.
"Even unto tho end," ho said. "Tho
orrlng wire, recognizing hor mistakes, rails
at the Irreproachable root or hor estimable
husband, ready to earn hor roturn ticket
by typewriting all or his lottors to Damo
Ambition! No, Margaret, this Is real lire."
He raised her gently and placed her In a
chair. For an instant, as ho bont above
her, a chaos or suffering sharponod his
foatures, but when he stood oroct and
raced McAllister ho wore his customary
inscrutable mask.
"As this Is nolthor a book nor a play,"
ho said quietly, "wo cannot whip tho
Incident to its close in a burst of hysteria.
I am going to givo you as ralr a chanco
as ir r had not happenod to return today:
you shall havo a mil opportunity to de
cide whether you aro as nccossary to ono i
another as it scorned whon you first plan
ned to take this stop. Thrco months from
today we will moot hero again. You
shall not soo me until that tlmo "
With a wordloss cry tho woman
stumbled again to Arnold's root, but, as a
Jadod paront might handlo an unreason
able child, ho put hor onco moro In tho
chair. Sho crumplod Into tho depths or
It.
"JoiTroy, I was mad! I lovo you you!"
Arnold took up his hat. For an instant
he paused Irresolute, as ir tho clamor of
Margaret's weak sobbing was llko so many
bands dragging him back to hor. Then
ho met McAllister's skeptical eyes. Ho
straightened abruptly and his mouth grow
hard again.
"I trust," ho said coldly, "that you
will do tho sonslblo thing."
Thon ho turnod and wont out, closing
tho door very gently behind him. Holon
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