The Wilmington morning star., 1940-11-19
~THIRTY-ONE

For a while Gun vas absorbed
by contemplation of the danger
that confronted two great cities
a danger that, outside Of the gang
who were promoting this piece O.
villainy, was known alone to MN
He was the only person who coulc
stop it - prevent the death
manning of dozens, perhaps nun
dreds, of innocent people. . . nc
realized, suddenly, that his life was
Acknowledgements now, ano
with that realization came the
thought of time.
He looked at his watch again,
and saw that he had already serl.
ously overstayed his time. He had
to get back to the bedroom, re-
store the keys, and reem to be
asleep once more before that in
fernal alarm went eff.
Hastily, but careful that their ar
rangements should be precisely the
same, Gun replaced the slim but
infinitely significant letter files in
the drawer, relocked it, and then,
moving as swiftly as the need for
silence permitted, let himself out
of the office, easing the lock with
the key so that there should be no
click as the door losed once more.
Then through the kitchen, and
back into the bedroom. Thank
goodness, Trent had not moved,
and his breathing still AS on the
same deep, even note.
A glance at the clock dismayed
Gun. Only a bare five minutes left
before the alarm went, and those
keys had to be got back without
waking the sleeper. The effect OF
the pellet would c wearing off,
too, by now.
Gun crouched beside the bed,
and got to work. Hell! Trent had
grabbed the covering clothes in
his hand, and was holding them
tightly, close to his face, thus bar
ring the space by which the keys
would have to be replaced in their
old position.
Somehow Gun managed to I'm
loose the fingers, one by one, using
infinite care and gentleness. Once
Trent groaned, and Guns heart
Jumped. The perspiration was
standing out on his forehead as he
worked, but it was not his own life
he was worrying about now-it was
the lives of the innocent men, wom-
en- and children which now depend
ed on his.
The fingers unclasped at last.
Gun did not dare look at the clock
even that would take time. He
laid the keys on the bed by the
pillow with care, so til t they
should not jingle, and then, with
the tip Of his forefinger, slowly
pushed them along under the pill.
low. His bent head was close tc
that of the sleeper, and the mans
hot breath impinged on his owr
sweating face.
Inch by inch, with his heart
beating faster every moment, anc
the tick-tick Of that accursed clock
seemed to measure out the seconds
of doom.
Gun worked the keys around the
cold muzzle of the automatic, and
then commenced to push that
around to the position in which il
had been when he first interfered
with it.
And then, with a clatter that
seemed to shake the whole uni
erse, the alarm sprung, and the
whole room was filled with a con.
ca%tenation of sound that sounded
in Guns ears like the world crash
ing to pieces about him.
Across the breakfast table the
man who now called himself Otto
Britton stared sulkily at his COM
panion, who did not seem in the
least disturbed by the regard.
When Prescott had put her
down as an actress he had GER
tainly not been far wrong. Without
any stage or makeup to help ler,
she was certainly a superlative
actress-for no one who had seen
and heard her in the company OF
x and Toni would have recognized
her as the same girl.
1t was not that her appearance
was any different-in any physical
essential, that is to say. But in
some way she seemed to exude q
different atmosphere. With them
no n would have taken her for
anything, but a girl of birth and
Bella LANAN-COURT r