Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1920-11-11
illustrated by Irwin Myers

first flight she turned to the back of
the house and laid confident hand
upon the knob of the furthest door. 1t
turned, but the door was stubborn.
With a movement of Impotence she
knuckled the panels with a triple
knock of peculiar timing. A hum Of
voices in the closed room died away,
a heavy tread became audible, key
grated, the door swung open. She
went in, nodding lightly to the man
who had admitted her and, finding
herself under the concentrated regard
of eleven pairs of eyes, paused in the
middle of the floor and struck a spir-
tied pose.
Good evening, folks! Pipe my new
rags"
The silence that answered her was
broken after a little by Red Carnehan,
who said heavily: Hello, kid. Sit
down."
Ignoring his invitation to an empty
chair on his right, she dropped her
pose but remained where she had
stopped, lifting her brows a little and
reviewing the company with quizzical
gaze.
Though both windows were open,
closed shutters prevented any draught
from vitiating the STIFFNESS of the
'private dining room"-a bed-chamber
in the intention of the architect. In
an atmosphere sitting with smells of
food, alcohol and a truculent perfume,
the smoke of imitation Turkish tobac-
co hung in lazy, lilac reefs. DiSCOl-
0red paper of a morbid pattern was
parting in reluctant spiraIs from the
walls. Dust of decades weighed down
an elderly carpet and obscured its
tiOrid design. SCOrbutic paint disfig
ured the fine old woodwork.
The man who had let LeOnOra in
having resumed his chair, twelve were
seated at a table Uttered with debris
of a meal unClean earthenware plates,
and those high-ShOuldered bottles of
dark glass, guitess of labels, which
seem to be the sole habitat of the win
du pays so generally known as red
ink that Osname it by this alias no
longer excites a smile.
Because of the heat all the men but
One-Mr. Harry the Nut--had put off
their coats and collars, while the Wom-
Ell had lOOsened their blouseS at the
throat. Sweat beaded faces Of various
compilations, ranging from the SAN
guine countenance of. Red to the pasti-
ness of. Charlie the Coke. y k.eonora
looking from one to another, found
each, with the exception of Reds, sui
len of cast if not openly hostile. She
sketched a lofty smile.
whats the funeral?"
Red Carnehan-red Of head and
hand-an Italo-Celtic product, as slen-
der, supple and sinewy as a snake, and
as deadly-replied sufficiently, NO
bOdy's-yet," and again waved a hand
toward the vacant chair. 'Whyn't you
sit down" He added: You're pretty
late"
What about it," The girl flounced
to the table and threw herself side
ways into the chair.
English Addie, blonde, blousy and
full-bOdied, sprawled half across the
table and, without removing the ciga-
rette from her mouth, spoke in accents
of cloying affection fatty denied by
her semi-sober stare of jealousy:
Maybe you won't mind tellin' us
wat mide you lite dearie :"
LeonOra experienced a qualm of mis-
givings. Had somebody spied on her
and Mario and hurried ahead to tat
tie? >. Even so, that was a matter
between Red and herself, nothing to
excite ill-feeling in the others. But
Red was apparently unrufied, although
unusually subdued for him, and per-
haps shade suspiciously impartial in
his attitude
She lied readily, without a culver,
naming two plain-clOthes men she had
noticed in the Street of Strange
Faces.
ennis and Corbln lamped me on
the way here-if it's anything in your
young life, Addie dear-and l had to
chase all over to lose EN-"
"You did shake 'em, kid-sureY"
Red demanded with keen interest.
"Sure. If hadn't I wouldn't be here
now"
"Maybe So" Charlie the Coke
drawled in a voice as cOlOrless as the
flesh of his faCe-"maybe not"
"Where do you get that stuff?
What's all this, anyway? l want to
know"
Her eyes ranged again the array of
faces, challenging each in turn, and
getting no satisfaction for each in
turn averted his gaze with an express
sion more or less sheepish and discon-
certed, all but Red, Harry the Nut, and
Inez, the third and only other woman
present
"Well? What's It all about? Start
something, sOmebody-why don't you ?
If anything's gone wrong, let me in the
know I guess I've got as much right
as anybody"
The Nut shrugged and with super
CiliOus nonchaance selected another
at f-n,,, Tim ,rnIJ onen bn