Ashton-Kirk, Criminologist

by John Thomas McIntyre

  CHAPTER XIX

  IN THE DARK

  As Bat Scanlon saw Nora disappear around the Burton house he once moreawaited some developments from the shadows; but again there was no signof the presence of either the Swiss or the lank burglar. So after alittle he moved on until he reached the gate of the adjoining house andquietly lifted the latch.

  A dog, from somewhere in the darkness, barked; Bat halted and listened,but there were no further sounds, and so he went on. Placing his handsupon the low division fence he bounded over upon the Burton lawn. Almostdirectly before him was the rose arbor behind which Ashton-Kirk haddiscovered the woman's footprints; and the big athlete took his place inthe deep shadow of this and looked about. The window of the Burtonsitting-room was lighted; inside was Mary Burton in her reclining chair,propped up by pillows, and reading. The shaded lamp cast a soft glowupon her; the white face wore an expression of suffering, and with thiswas a meekness, a submission which made it nun-like.

  A woman's form flitted between Scanlon and the window; it stopped, andthen the watcher saw Nora Cavanaugh peering in at the sick girl.

  "Her notions of a social call seem to have picked up a twist somewhere,"said Bat, to himself. "What's the idea?"

  However, Nora only remained at the window for a few moments; then shedisappeared in the direction from which she had come. In Bat's mind wasa picture of two lurking men, the lank desperado, and the mild looking,yet murderous, Swiss; and he felt a chill of fear as he gazed into thedarkness which had swallowed the girl up. A moment or two passed, thenhe heard the quick br-r-r-r! of an electric bell from the house.

  "The door-bell," said Bat. "Through the sound of a hundred others I'dmatch myself to pick the one attached to the door of any house. They areall of the same family."

  Another little pause; then he saw Nora in the sitting-room, the nursebehind her, and the sick girl reaching out her hand gladly. Bat breatheda sigh of relief.

  "All right," said he. "Inside, she's not so likely to meet thosegentlemen."

  The nurse disappeared from the sitting-room; Nora sat down and began totalk with the invalid, earnestly. Outside all was still; after a little,Bat searched the surrounding shadows intently for anything that mightindicate the whereabouts of Big Slim and Bohlmier; but the darkness wassilent and complete. The windows of the houses opposite and adjoiningwere lighted; from one some little distance away came the faint tinklingof a mandolin, and the deeper sounding strings of a guitar; from stillanother came fresh young voices singing an evening hymn. Figures couldbe seen through the windows or silhouetted upon the shades; at one Batsaw a tiny girl and a very large dog who seemed her especial chum; theyromped gaily; Bat heard the child laugh and the dog bark.

  "Nice," he mused. "Nice and homey. Regular Sunday night stuff in thebosom of the family. But no sign of the two gentlemen who did theshadowing. They are lying low, I guess, same as I am."

  He gave his attention once more to the sitting-room; Nora and the sickgirl were still engaged in conversation. As Bat looked, Nora took acrumpled newspaper page from her hand-bag, as though it were a part ofwhat she was telling. The girl in the chair lifted herself up, eagerly,took the paper in her hand and read the staring head-lines. Then Bat sawit flutter to the floor, he saw her sit upright for a moment, gazing atNora with wide-opened eyes; she sank back suddenly and heavily upon thecushions.

  "Fainted!" said Bat, excitedly, leaning forward. He saw Nora arisequickly and bend over the girl, then he saw her open the door. "Callingthe nurse," said he.

  In a moment the nurse was in the room; and under the care of the two theinvalid was soon restored to consciousness. Then followed a period ofcomforting, of patting pillows into shape, of cheerful assurance. Norathen kissed the invalid and bid her good-bye. She left the room with thenurse following her.

  "Just came, evidently, to give her the news," said Bat to himself. "ButI wonder why the haste. It wasn't the kind of news that would give joyor anything like that."

  In a few moments he heard the front door close, and steps upon the walk.These ceased after a moment; there was silence; and then, to hisamazement, Nora once more flitted through the darkness and came betweenhimself and the window.

  "There is a reason for it," said Bat. "She's not doing all this out ofjust idle curiosity. But what it leads to is a thing I don't----"

  The thought was halted, unfinished, in his mind; for through thedarkness, quite close at hand, came a cautiously moving shape; and fromits direction, it was also seeking the shelter of the rose arbor. Therewas a door in the far side of the latter, as Bat had noticed on the dayof Ashton-Kirk's investigation; he slipped quietly around and in atthis; and through the trellis work he watched what was proceedingoutside. The first glance showed him that Nora was now, also, movingtoward the arbor, and the thought of what might occur upon her meetingwith the prowler in the dark caused Scanlon's hand to go inquiringly tothe big revolver which he carried in the breast pocket of his coat, andto shift it to a place where it would be more convenient.

  But, though he strained his eyes to catch some indications of theshadowy figure he had seen only a moment or two before, he could not doso; it had vanished. This did not add anything to the big athlete'squietude of mind; for the footsteps of Nora, dulled by springy sod, werenow close at hand.

  The girl reached the arbor and took up the position which Bat had latelyoccupied; and he knew that she had settled herself for a vigil--to watchall that passed in the sitting-room of the Burton house. Naturally, theeyes of the big man also went in that direction once more.

  The nurse had returned to the room and was bending over the invalid, aglass in her hand. The girl lay motionless, her face turned upward andher thin hands pathetically folded. The nurse, after she had succeededin inducing the patient to take a few drops of what she held to herlips, busied herself with some things upon a small table near thechair; then she left the room.

  There was a pause; no movement came from the room whatsoever. Batfancied that the sick girl had gone to sleep; but this thought had nosooner taken shape in his mind than he saw her stir. Then she aroseslowly in the chair, and sat, apparently listening, her mannersurprisingly alert. Only a few moments ago she had shown every sign ofexhaustion; now her strength was unquestioned, for her body was firmlyheld and her grip upon the arms of the chair was sure.

  There came a little gasp from Nora crouching behind the rose arbor.

  "Surprised!" thought Bat. "And no wonder! I'm just a little bit that waymyself."

  Mary Burton threw back the blanket in which she was swathed, and stoodup. She wore a long dressing gown, tied about the waist; from a pocketof this she took something, and then after a moment of listeningapproached an old mahogany high-boy, unlocked and opened a drawer andlooked into it. Almost at once it was slid back into place and relocked;the girl stood poised for an instant, as though not sure as to what hernext movement would be; then she went tiptoeing to the door, opened it,and disappeared.

  Nora drew a long breath; and Scanlon, as he stood, amazed, felt likeechoing it. But the next instant all that which had happened in thesitting-room, surprising as it had been, was wiped from his mind. Fromoutside there came a low-pitched voice, that of old Bohlmier:

  "Do not make some noise!" it said. A gasp came from Nora, a gasp whichwould have been a scream if fear had not suppressed it. "I will talk alittle with you, if you blease."

  There was an instant's silence; Bat pressed hard against the trelliswork of the arbor--only a few inches separated him from the girloutside, and he could hear her breath catching sharply in her throat asshe spoke.

  "Who are you?"

  "We will nod speak of that," said the Swiss. "Only we will talk ofthings that interesting are."

  This seemed to have a tonic effect upon Nora; when she answered herbreathing had become almost normal; her voice was strong and held someconfidence.

  "I know you now," she said. "I saw you the other night."

  Old Bohlmier chuckled.

  "Ach! yes, the oth
er night. You saw me, yes, but you spoke to me not!Now it will the other way be. Eh?"

  "What do you want?" asked Nora, sharply.

  "Do you so ask?" Bohlmier's tone was one of astonishment. "Is itpossible? There is one supject only which we can talk about Is it notso? One supject. Yes?"

  "I thought I told your friend all I had to say about that," said thegirl.

  "Ach! no! It is not true." If he had been able to see the old rascal,Scanlon was sure his head would be wagging and a mild smile would beupon his face. "You told him so--yes. But it is not true. Much more haveyou to say. Blenty more. And you will say it to me, eh? Now!"

  The vision Bat had in his mind became more and more clear; not onlywould the bald head be moving from side to side, but it would be thrustforward in the deadly snake-like motion which the big athlete had seenonce before. And the smile? He had never seen one like that which hisear told him Bohlmier's would be--a mild, quizzical smile which was ahabit of the muscles only, and through which a pair of eyes gleamed withdevilish purpose.

  "Has he got me nervous, or something?" Bat asked himself. "Or do I callthe turn on him right?"

  "My friend," proceeded the old Swiss, "is a chentleman much ezberiencedin certain things. In others he has not so much exberience as that," andthe listener heard him snap his fingers, sharply. "Not so much as that!And so he let you go without some understandings."

  Bat heard Nora laugh. It was not a pleasant laugh; nevertheless itcaused a thrill of pleasure to shoot through him.

  "Good!" he thought. "She has her nerve with her. He hasn't scared hereven a little bit."

  "Perhaps," said Nora, to Bohlmier, "you have the experience he lacked?"

  "I haf the handling of many affairs had," came the voice of the Swiss,smoothly. "And from the first I asked for this one; for I knew, dearlady, I could the resulds get."

  "You mean you thought you could frighten me where he failed." Again Noralaughed. "You have confidence." Then with a note of curiosity in hervoice: "What would you have done?"

  A sudden sharp movement came from outside the rose arbor; Bat heard thehissing of Bohlmier's breath and a sharp cry from Nora. A diminishedlight ray, unseen in any other way, was caught upon the uplifted bladeof a knife; then Bat drove his arms through the frail trellis work; withthe left hand he gripped the arm of the Swiss and twisted it wickedly.The knife was heard to strike against the side of the arbor as it fell.Bat's right hand, at the same instant, slipped along the man's body andgripped his throat like iron; and as he held him, he heard the muffledsound of Nora's steps as she fled away.