"I"ll shed "em when you go out," David said monotonously. "I--I"d rather undress alone."
Johnson Boller"s plump hands were on his plump hips and he surveyed his old friend darkly.
"Are you actually going to keep the youngster here against his will?" he demanded.
"I am!" snapped Anthony Fry.
Johnson Boller swallowed his wondering rage.
"I hope you get all that"s coming to you!" he said. "I hope he sues you for a million dollars and collects every penny of it!"
And he turned and thumped out of David"s chamber, down the corridor, and into the living-room, across the living-room, and into his own bedchamber--and there for a little he sat on the edge of the bed and swore aloud.
Presently he heard Anthony come through from David"s room, muttering to himself; he heard the switch snap, and the streak of light under his door vanished.
With a long, weary groan, Johnson Boller slipped back to slumberland, and presently he was again in Montreal. It was still winter, and they were holding a skiing contest. Beatrice was there at the top of the slide, and beside her stood a tall, foppish youth with a little blond mustache. He leaned very close to Beatrice as he spoke, and devoured her beauty with his hungry eyes.
In the east the first gray light of dawn was streaking the skies.
In Anthony Fry"s living-room, ever so faintly, objects just took shape in the gloom, coming foggily out of the inky blackness that had been, even ten minutes ago. Down the corridor a door creaked, and for a minute or more after the creak the stillness was even more p.r.o.nounced.
Then, had one been awake and listening, the softest, lightest shuffle came from the corridor--paused--moved on again. There was a sharp intake of breath and the almost inaudible sound of a hand feeling along the corridor wall, feeling along and feeling along, until it touched the curtains of the living-room.
In the wide doorway of the dusky place an indefinite, strange figure appeared and stopped. It wore slippers, several sizes too large. It wore a bathrobe of gray, so long that its owner held it up from the floor to avoid tripping. It wore pajamas, too, and of these the legs were upturned almost one foot--for they were Anthony"s pajamas.
Warily the figure gazed about, squinting through the gloom for half a minute, listening intently. Its frowzy brown head nodded then and the bathrobed one tip-toed on, now with a definite idea of direction. Past Anthony"s door it went and past Johnson Boller"s without a sound, without a slip--stopped to listen again, and then scuffed on toward the far corner, where stood the little telephone table.
And now, trembling, the figure settled on the stool, and shaky hands gripped the instrument itself. The receiver went to its ear and the figure whispered into the transmitter--trembled the harder and waited through minutes that were hours, while from behind Johnson Boller"s door came an irregular snore and an occasional groan, as some new fiend sought to capture Beatrice"s slender hand.
Suddenly a visible shock ran through the stealthy figure at the telephone. The trembling ceased abruptly and the figure stiffened, leaning forward eagerly and cupping a hand about the transmitter. Thrice it whispered shrilly, nodding desperately at the uncomprehending instrument; and at last the listener at the other end seemed to understand, for the figure pressed lips even closer and spoke swiftly.
A full two minutes of sharp whispering and it waited--listened and nodded animatedly--spoke again, enunciating each word clearly and still so softly that one across the living-room could not have heard.
Without the suggestion of a click, the receiver was returned to its hook. The figure rose cautiously and peered all about, through the shadows, getting its bearings once more. Again the bathrobe was gathered high above the grotesquely slippered feet; again the figure shuffled along, moving toward the doorway.
Without a stumble it threaded its mysterious way between chairs and little tables, divans and cases and pedestals, until it came safely to the corridor. There it paused for an instant, and in the gloom the faintest, excited giggle issued from beside the curtains. Then the corridor doorway was empty, and Johnson Boller snored on and groaned.
At the end of the corridor David Prentiss"s door closed and utter stillness rested upon the apartment again.
After the skiing contest, although Johnson Boller did not seem to be present at the end, all hands trooped off to a clubhouse of some kind and there was a general jollification. Lovely women, handsome men grouped about a long table, and waiters rushed hither and thither, bearing viands and wine--although mostly wine.
He of the little blond mustache sat beside Beatrice, and as the champagne came around for the second or third time he leaped from his chair. Gla.s.s high held, he pointed to Johnson Boller"s lovely wife with the other hand; he was beginning a toast, the temperature and intimacy of which caused Johnson Boller"s fists to clench, and--he woke with a violent jerk and stared at the ceiling.
It was daylight--had been daylight for some time, apparently, because an early sun was reflected from the high building on the other side of the street. Wilkins seemed to be moving around, too, which indicated that it was at least six o"clock.
Johnson Boller stretched and snarled; he had had a wretched night of it!
He was tired all through, as he was always tired when his rest had been broken. He was ugly as sin, too, and almost at once he found his ugliness focusing on young David Prentiss.
If Anthony Fry had carried his obsession over into the daylight, if he still persisted in poking his idiotic opportunity at David and the end of it did not seem to be in sight, Johnson Boller decided that the empty flat on Riverside should know its master"s presence hereafter and--Boller sat up in bed, listening.
That was certainly Wilkins"s voice, raised in horror--ah, and Wilkins was hurrying, too. Or no, it couldn"t be Wilkins; that was somebody a good deal lighter, rushing along the corridor. And now the oddest babel of voices had risen, with Wilkins thrusting in an incoherent word here and there--and now the voices were growing fainter, all of a sudden, and he could hear Anthony Fry stirring in the next room.
Something new had happened! Johnson Boller, swinging out of bed, jammed his feet into his slippers and s.n.a.t.c.hed up his bathrobe. Another night like this, and he"d be ready for emergency drill with a fire company.
Not that there was any need for haste, though. By the time he had opened the door and stepped into the living-room the little excitement seemed to have quieted down again. Anthony, bathrobed also, was just issuing from his bedroom, and again, for a moment, they gazed at one another.
"What was it that time?" Johnson Boller asked.
"I"ve no idea. Did you hear it, too?"
"Naturally. I----"
"Why, Wilkins!" Anthony Fry all but gasped, as his servitor appeared in the doorway. "What under the sun"s the matter with you?"
"My--my eye, sir!" choked the faithful one. "It"s downright scandalous, Mr. Fry!"
"What is?"
"The--the woman, sir! The woman that"s come to see him!"
His jaw sagged senselessly and his blank eyes regarded his master quite fishily; and Anthony, after a wondering second or so, scuffed over to him and snapped:
"What"s wrong with you, Wilkins? What woman came?"
"A--a young Frenchwoman, I should judge, sir," Wilkins stammered. "She came to the door here, getting past the office I don"t know how. At any rate, she came, sir, and said some gibberish about Mr. David Prentiss, and with that she was past me and inside, Mr. Fry."
"Where is she now?"
"Well, she--she"s in his bedroom, sir!" Wilkins stated. "The young chap came flying out like a madman, Mr. Fry, and threw his arms around her, speaking French as I suppose. And she--she threw her arms around Mr.
Prentiss, sir, and with that they--well, they"re in there now, sir."
Johnson Boller laughed unpleasantly.
"Picked off a live one, didn"t you, Anthony?" said he. "There"s nothing slow about David. He comes here and settles down at midnight, and his lady friends are calling by six the next morning. When you----"
Anthony had pa.s.sed him, chin set and lips rather white.
There are some places where the questionable may be pa.s.sed over quite lightly. The Hotel Lasande is not one of these places. There are thousands upon thousands of bachelors who would merely have grinned interestedly at the news; Anthony, being impeccable and a genuine woman-hater at heart, was not of these thousands. Hence, even his lean and aristocratic cheeks were white as he rattled at the k.n.o.b of David"s door.
He had expected to find it locked, and in that he was disappointed. The door gave quite readily, admitting Anthony and Johnson Boller as well--and for a matter of seconds they stood transfixed before the picture.
Beyond question, the woman was there!
She was little and very dark, decidedly pretty, for that matter, and obviously fond of David Prentiss; she sat at David"s side on the edge of the bed and her arms were about David--while young Mr. Prentiss himself held her fast and seemed in a high state of excitement.
Even as the door opened, they had been speaking, both at the same time and both in French, in itself rather an astonishing phenomenon; but as the bathrobed gentlemen stopped beside them they ceased speaking. They merely clutched each other the tighter and looked at Anthony.