22 chapters
6 hour read
Selected Chapters
22 chapters
"'Even if you had croaked him you wouldn't dare acknowledge it here. Why, George, you're kneeling where he lay'"
"'Even if you had croaked him you wouldn't dare acknowledge it here. Why, George, you're kneeling where he lay'"
CHAPTER I. Garth Is Shown a Gray Mask CHAPTER II. It Opens Nora's Eyes CHAPTER III. In the Steel Room CHAPTER IV. Garth Buys a Boutonnière CHAPTER V. What Happened at Elmford CHAPTER VI. A Crying Through the Silence CHAPTER VII. Nora Fears for Garth CHAPTER VIII. Through the Dark CHAPTER IX. The Phantom Army CHAPTER X. The Coins and the Chinaman CHAPTER XI. Nora Disappears in an Empty House CHAPTER XII. The Hidden Door CHAPTER XIII. Alsop's Incredible Visitor CHAPTER XIV. The Levantine Who Guard
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
GARTH IS SHOWN A GRAY MASK
GARTH IS SHOWN A GRAY MASK
Garth, in response to the unforeseen summons, hurried along the hallway and opened the inspector's door. As he faced the rugged figure behind the desk, and gazed into those eyes whose somnolence concealed a perpetual vigil, his heart quickened. He had been assigned to the detective bureau less than six months. That brief period, however, had revealed a thousand eccentricities of his chief. The pudgy hand beating a tattoo on the table desk, the lips working at each other thirstily, the doubt that
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IT OPENS NORA'S EYES
IT OPENS NORA'S EYES
Garth waited at the end of the bridge above Garrison. At eight o'clock it was dark, but the river, glass-like between the rugged hills, retained a pallid light. At a short distance two men smoked and chatted. They had withdrawn themselves in response to Garth's moodiness. He fancied they discussed him as one already dead. A whistle shrieked. The hills rumbled. Flinging their cigars in the water, the men rejoined Garth. He slipped the mask from his pocket, and secreted his features behind its gra
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
IN THE STEEL ROOM
IN THE STEEL ROOM
Garth's fingers played with the piece of white paper. "You haven't told me where the house is," he said. The moment the leader had answered Garth was standing on the bench. He waved his arm. Suddenly he blew out the lamp. "On the dock!" he stammered to the darkness. "A noise!" As the others crept to the door he scratched rapidly and silently with a match on the piece of paper the location of the house, the nature of the job, and an appeal for help. When he was through he heard the others coming
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
GARTH BUYS A BOUTONNIÈRE
GARTH BUYS A BOUTONNIÈRE
Garth wondered if relief would ever come. He was afraid that the slip of frayed white paper must have gone astray. Otherwise, it seemed to him, it would have brought help even before he had sounded his shrill alarm. He glanced at Nora. She had placed her hand on his arm. She gazed at the open door. "I thought I heard—" Then Garth heard, too—a tramping in the house, a struggle outside the door, a voice whose roar betrayed excitement and triumph. "Where's Garth?" The door filled with men in unifor
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
WHAT HAPPENED AT ELMFORD
WHAT HAPPENED AT ELMFORD
That night on the edge of winter it was thoroughly dark when Dr. John Randall left New York for his Long Island home. Treving had unexpectedly detained him at the club. The interview had evidently projected more than the unforeseen, for Randall's habitual calm, which carried even to his hours of relaxation a perpetual flavor of the professional, was suddenly destroyed by the color and the lines of a passionate indecision. He crossed the Queensborough bridge and threaded the Long Island city stre
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
A CRYING THROUGH THE SILENCE
A CRYING THROUGH THE SILENCE
Garth the next day did not repeat his floral indiscretion. One experience had convinced him that practice is necessary to the successful threading of such by-ways. His rose, in fact, had disclosed its limitations even before he had reached the inspector's flat. On his entrance it had not adorned his coat. He read the brief and scarcely illuminating account of the Elmford murder in the morning papers. Irritation at his own assignment—an unimportant case up-town—let it slip through his mind withou
26 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
NORA FEARS FOR GARTH
NORA FEARS FOR GARTH
From the moment of his solution of the Elmford affair Garth was recognized at headquarters as the man for the big jobs—the city's most serviceable detective. For one who accepted his success so modestly it was difficult to breed jealous enemies. There was, to be sure, some speculation as to how long such a man would chain his abilities by the modest pay of the department, and a wish here and there that he would find it convenient to free himself for broader fields in the near future. Garth reali
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THROUGH THE DARK
THROUGH THE DARK
The night had gathered swiftly behind a curtain of rain. Garth, glancing out the window of the train, saw that darkness was already close upon a somber and resentful world. Pines, hemlocks, and birches stretched limitlessly. The rain clung to their drooping branches like tears, so that they expressed an attitude of mourning which their color clothed convincingly. The roaring of the train was subdued, as if it hesitated to disturb the oppressive silence through which it passed. The car, nearly em
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE PHANTOM ARMY
THE PHANTOM ARMY
Shadows advanced through the shadowy fog, and Garth could define them as no more than shadows. In one place the mist thinned momentarily, and he glimpsed, apparently floating forward, the trunk of a man's figure. Pallid tatters, such as might survive in a mortuary, flapped about bare shoulders, and from a little distance beyond came a sickly gleam—the doubtful response uncertain moonlight might draw from a bayonet or a musket barrel. The fog closed in. There were no more shadows. Garth, eager to
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE COINS AND THE CHINAMAN
THE COINS AND THE CHINAMAN
On their way to the station, and during their long journey to New York, Nora drew back from any attempt of Garth's in the direction of sentiment. Frequently he stared at her with a whimsical despair. It was clear enough that he was not distasteful to her. He fancied, moreover, that he had through his very persistence softened perceptibly the girl's regret for Kridel; had remodeled to an extent her earlier attitude of a widow. Would he, however, he asked himself, be able to go the whole way? Now
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
NORA DISAPPEARS IN AN EMPTY HOUSE
NORA DISAPPEARS IN AN EMPTY HOUSE
For the first time Garth entered the inspector's office with the discomfort of a culprit. Yet he could not accuse himself justly of blundering. Nevertheless the brief telephone conversation with the doorman had informed him that the inspector attached an uncommon importance to the chance capture of the Chinaman. Because of it he would place the blame for the suicide where it fell most conveniently. When he opened the door he appreciated that there was more than that out of the way at headquarter
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE HIDDEN DOOR
THE HIDDEN DOOR
He ran swiftly west, past the house on the corner, past the areaway where he had secreted himself last night, into Park Avenue, always on the course taken by the limousine. And, when he came to Black's number, he saw the limousine drawn up, waiting. In the upper story of the small but expensive house lights burned. He pressed the electric button, sighing his relief. He was grimly determined to see the thing through. His resolution was stimulated by his memory of the queue, coiled like a serpent,
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
ALSOP'S INCREDIBLE VISITOR
ALSOP'S INCREDIBLE VISITOR
When the crowded police van had left, Nora, Garth, and the inspector stepped into the crisp night air. "Garth," the inspector said, "you and Nora ought to have medals or something. That pale-face at the head of the gang is Jerry Smith. He must have been sent on from San Francisco. If there's a country-wide syndicate of crime he's on the board of directors along with your old friend Slim." "Some day," Garth said, "that syndicate will be tapped properly." Nora, after her experience in the heavy, r
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE LEVANTINE WHO GUARDED A CURTAIN
THE LEVANTINE WHO GUARDED A CURTAIN
Garth, in spite of Nora's fears, went confidently enough to the hospital. If he could learn all Brown knew the case should be easy sailing. In Brown's room the blinds were down. The greenish light scarcely found the upturned face. It sought rather the bandage, ghastly and white, wound thickly about the head. From time to time Brown's lips moved with a pitiful futility. Garth, while the nurse cautioned him to silence, bent closer, so that at last he could define the pallid face and the closed eye
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE VEILED WOMAN
THE VEILED WOMAN
Inside the house the atmosphere of danger reached Garth more positively than it had done even through Brown's unreasoning terror. Alsop and Marvin met them in the hall. Both were white-faced and nervous. Through the open door of a library Garth saw five men in evening clothes gathered about a table which was littered with papers. Alsop closed the door. "I hope you and the inspector are satisfied," he jeered. "We're properly trapped." "The house is surrounded by detectives," Garth said. "We've ar
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
A NOTE FROM THE DEAD
A NOTE FROM THE DEAD
Alsop was around the next day, loud with generosity, and anxious to give Garth the only form of reward he could understand—large sums of money. Garth, however, didn't care for the man. He preferred to keep their relations on a purely business basis. "I only did my duty, Mr. Alsop," he said. "Some day I may break away from here and start an office of my own. In that case, if you cared to mention me to your friends I would feel I had been well repaid." "Maybe you were a little too proud, Garth," t
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE KNIFE BY THE LIFELESS HAND
THE KNIFE BY THE LIFELESS HAND
He heard McDonald open and close the front door. Then the widow entered, followed by a young man with an abundance of dark hair curling over a low forehead and shading eyes a trifle too deep set. But at first Garth saw only the widow, and he marveled that one so young and lovely in an etherial sense should have been mated with the elderly invalid upstairs. As he looked it suddenly occurred to him that Reed, since he had lost Taylor as a friend, might crave more than friendship from the widow. Sh
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE STAINED ROBE
THE STAINED ROBE
Garth had been aware of Nora's slow ascent. As he turned she reached the upper floor and the light from the well caught her face. "A friend who has just come," Garth explained to Mrs. Taylor. "There is nothing to frighten you. The woman you saw is McDonald's daughter. I had satisfied myself she was in the house. We are pretty near our goal now." "But why," Nora asked, "should McDonald's daughter cry through the house in this fashion? Why didn't Mrs. Taylor see her face?" But Garth had started up
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PAYMENT IS DEMANDED FOR THE GRAY MASK
PAYMENT IS DEMANDED FOR THE GRAY MASK
The approach of the moment when she must testify against Slim and George; must tell in public the details of that tragedy which had played such havoc with her, drove Nora into a morbid humor which neither Garth nor the inspector could alter. She followed Garth on the stand. She was dressed in black. The appeal of her personality was irresistible. It was clear that if the two criminals had ever had a chance Nora would destroy it. Slim and George sat by their counsel. George could not quite hide t
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE BLACK CAP
THE BLACK CAP
Four shadowy figures stood in front of him, holding flashlights. Behind the blinding barrier he could make out Nora, crouched against a stained and rugged wall. And the brute, George, was at her side, his muscular hands on her arm. Slim stepped out of the obscurity, moving for Garth with a stealth and an evenness nearly cat-like. Garth raised his revolver, strengthened by the knowledge that the inspector with many men would soon be tearing through the cellar doors. If only he could postpone the
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE ANTICS OF A TRAIN
THE ANTICS OF A TRAIN
At a gesture from Slim, George cut the cords that bound Garth's ankles. The detective rose. With a nod Slim motioned George towards the oak door which opened on Marlowe's cellar. "Get to the 'phone," he whispered. "Pass the fair word, and bring the wheels here on the minute." He swung on the detective. "If you see anybody upstairs, just keep your back turned so they won't notice your pretty bracelets." Garth shivered, aware that a new and disquieting element had entered the situation. Slim indic
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter