Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-14
TWO FLIGHTS UP
BY MARY ROBERTS RINEHART
h III -ao~-%
DOWNRIGHT 1926 by Mary Roberts
RINEHART

There's the telegram, Joe," she
said. III
Her sister was expecting her first
baby, and Mrs. McCook had been on
pins and needles, as she said to Clara
for the last week.
But Joe was heavily asleep, so she
herself got out of bed and went down
At first, when she opened the door
she saw nobody; then, looking down.
she discovered figure crouching on
the step.
For mercy's sake. she said, peer.
ing down. who is it?"
! The figure stirred and rose.
IT'S Holly Bayne," it said, in a
lifeless voice. 'Have you telephone?
The grocery's closed"
Whats the matter? Who's sick?''
ITS my mother. l Think think
she's dead"
Most likely she's just tainted"
said Mrs. McCook, reassuringly. You
| wait a minute. and I'll come right
over"
She did not so back upstairs. She
| picked up an overcoat and thrust her
| feet into a pair of overshoes.
"Nobody'll see me-" she said. And
a bad faint amt to be fooled with.
Did you lay her iat?"
"She was flat" said Holly. in her
strange, crushed voice. -
BELIEVE me or not" Mrs. McCook
told Clara the next morning, i knew
the minute I went in that door that
it wasn't a faint. I'm queer that way.
l could smell death"
And death it was.
Mrs. Bayne lay in the attic almost
as she had fallen; the candle had
burned low, and in its small and dy-
ing blaze her figure looked larger,
more majestic than in life. 1t seemed
to fill the attic room.
She lay almost as she had fallen,
but not quite. Holly had turned her
over, so that now her face was toward
the light, and had thrown blanket
over her. And she had replaced the
boards.
Mrs. McCook touched the forehead.
then she got up.
You'd better come downstairs.
honey, " she said gently. I'm get
Joe over, and you just leave the rest
to me-"
I'm afraid so, honey"
Holly sat once more by the dying
fire. 1t did not matter to her that
heavy footsteps were moving about
the house and she was alone. Moth
ing mattered but the incredible fact
that her mother was dead and that
she herself had killed her.
1t was the shock that had done it
the discovery that the suit case was
gone. A little care and she need
never have had that shock. Some
other way, any other way than the
one she had taken, and she might
have saved her.
The heavy footsteps were coming
down the stairs again. They stopped
on the third floor, and she knew they
were laying her in Margaret's room.
After time the door opened and Mrs.
McCook came in. She turned on the
lights and mended the fire and then
smoothed back the bed.
''You better crawl right in here,
honey" she said. "Joe's attending to
things. We're not going home"
mot there" said Holly and shud.
dered. "I'll get dressed"
Later on she insisted on going up
stairs. The lights were on full in
Margaret's room and her mother lay
on the bed. Holly had hardly ever
seen her in Margaret's room. It was
as though she did not belong there.
She made it look shabby,
Holly went quietly out again and
SIOOos WIN MIS-. McCOOk at neF eI"
bow, outside of Howard Warrington's
room. gazing in. A faint odor Of to-
bacco still hung in the air. But she
did not go in. He had left her, aban-
doned her. She was all alone.
In the early morning somebody got
word to Margaret and she came. She
showed very little grief, very little
anything. She kissed Holly and then
stood erect and took off her hat.
~ guess I'm back to stay" she said.
James has left me-"