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By Root 3734 0

had some money to make a run for it when the time came. And he had his gun. His fingers trembled so that he had difficulty in unlocking the door; but they were not trembling from fear. It was a kind of eagerness he felt, a confidence, a fulness, a freedom; his whole life was caught up in a supreme and meaningful act. He pushed the door in, then was stone-still, sucking his breath in softly. In the red glare of the furnace stood a shadowy figure. Is that Mrs. Dalton? But it was taller and stouter than Mrs. Dalton. Oh, it was Peggy! She stood with her back to him, a little bent. She seemed to be peering hard into the furnace. She didn’t hear me come in, he thought. Maybe I ought to go! But before he could move Peggy turned round.

“Oh, good morning, Bigger.”

He did not answer.

“I’m glad you came. I was just about to put more coal into the fire.”

“I’ll fix it, mam.”

He came forward, straining his eyes to see if any traces of Mary were in the furnace. When he reached Peggy’s side he saw that she was staring through the cracks of the door at the red bed of livid coals.

“The fire was very hot last night,” Peggy said. “But this morning it got low.”

“I’ll fix it,” Bigger said, standing and not daring to open the door of the furnace while she stood there beside him in the red darkness.

He heard the dull roar of the draft going upwards and wondered if she suspected anything. He knew that he should have turned on the light; but what if he did and the light revealed parts of Mary in the furnace?

“I’ll fix it, mam,” he said again.

Quickly, he wondered if he would have to kill her to keep her from telling if she turned on the light and saw something that made her think that Mary was dead? Without turning his head he saw an iron shovel resting in a near-by corner. His hands clenched. Peggy moved from his side toward a light that swung from the ceiling at the far end of the room near the stairs.

“I’ll give you some light,” she said.

He moved silently and quickly toward the shovel and waited to see what would happen. The light came on, blindingly bright; he blinked. Peggy stood near the steps holding her right hand tightly over her breast. She had on a kimono and was trying to hold it closely about her. Bigger understood at once. She was not even thinking of the furnace; she was just a little ashamed of having been seen in the basement in her kimono.

“Has Miss Dalton come down yet?” she asked over her shoulder as she went up the steps.

“No’m. I haven’t seen her.”

“You just come?”

“Yessum.”

She stopped and looked back at him.

“But the car, it’s in the driveway.”

“Yessum,” he said simply, not volunteering any information.

“Then it stayed out all night?”

“I don’t know, mam.”

“Didn’t you put it in the garage?”

“No’m. Miss Dalton told me to leave it out.”

“Oh! Then it did stay out all night. That’s why it’s covered with snow.”

“I reckon so, mam.”

Peggy shook her head and sighed.

“Well, I suppose she’ll be ready for you to take her to the station in a few minutes.”

“Yessum.”

“I see you brought the trunk down.”

“Yessum. She told me to bring it down last night.”

“Don’t forget it,” she said, going through the kitchen door.

For a long time after she had gone he did not move from his tracks. Then, slowly, he looked round the basement, turning his head like an animal with eyes and ears alert, searching to see if anything was amiss. The room was exactly as he had left it last night. He walked about, looking closer. All at once he stopped, his eyes widening. Directly in front of him he saw a small piece of blood-stained newspaper lying in the livid reflection cast by the cracks in the door of the furnace. Had Peggy seen that? He ran to the light and turned it out and ran back and looked at the piece of paper. He could barely see it. That meant that Peggy had not seen it. How about Mary? Had she burned? He turned the light back on and picked up the piece of paper. He glanced to the left and right to see if anyone was watching, then opened the furnace door and peered in, his eyes filled with the vision of Mary and her