The Adventures of Jimmie Dale [183]
Dale rose impulsively from his chair--but she waved him back again. "No; wait!" she said. "Let me finish. I crept into the library. It took me a long time, because I had to be so careful not to make the slightest noise. I suppose it was fully six or seven minutes from the time I had first heard my supposed uncle's voice until I had crept far enough forward to be able to see into the room beyond. There were three men there. The man I knew as my uncle was sitting at one end of the table; another had his back toward me; and Travers was facing in my direction--and I think I never saw so ghastly a face as was Hilton Travers' then. He was standing up, sort of swaying, as he leaned with both hands on the table. "'Now then, Travers,' the man whose back was turned to me was saying threateningly, 'you've got the story now--sign those papers!' "It seemed as though Travers could not speak for a moment. He kept looking wildly from one to the other. He was white to the lips. "'You've let me in for--THIS!' he said hoarsely, at last, 'You devils--you devils--you devils! You've let me in for--murder! Both of them! Both Peter and his brother--MURDERED!'" She stopped abruptly before Jimmie Dale, and clutched his arm tightly. "Jimmie, I don't know why I did not scream out. Everything went black for a moment before my eyes. It was the first suspicion I had had that my father had met with foul play, and I--" But now Jimmie Dale swayed up from his chair. "Murdered!" he exclaimed tensely. "Your father! But--but I remember perfectly, there was no hint of any such thing at the time, and never has been since. He died from quite natural causes." She looked at him strangely. "He died from--inoculation," she said. "Did--did you not see something of that laboratory in the Crime Club yourself the night before last--enough to understand?" "Good God!" muttered Jimmie Dale, in a startled way then: "Go on! Go on! What happened then?" She passed her hand a little wearily across her eyes--and sank down into her chair again. "Travers," she continued, picking up the thread of her story, "had raised his voice, and the third man at the table leaned suddenly, aggressively toward him. "'Hold your tongue!' he growled furiously. 'All you're asked to do is sign the papers--not talk!' "Travers shook his head. "'I won't!' he cried out. 'I won't have any hand in another murder-- in hers! My God, I won't--I won't, I tell you! It's horrible!' "'Look here, you fool!' the man who was posing as my uncle broke in then. 'You're in this too deep to get out now. If you know what's good for you, you'll do as you're told!' "Jimmie, I shall never forget Travers' face. It seemed to have changed from white to gray, and there was horror in his eyes: and then he seemed to lose all control of himself, shaking his fists in their faces, cursing them in utter abandon. "'I'm bad!' he cried. 'I've gone everything, everything but the limit--everything but murder. I stop there! I'll have no more to do with this. I'm through! You--you pulled me into this, and--and I didn't know!' "'Well, you know now!' the third man sneered. 'What are you going to do about it?' "'I'm going to see that no harm comes to Marie LaSalle,' Travers answered in a dull way. "The other man now was on his feet--and, I do not know quite how to express it, Jimmie, he seemed ominously quiet in both his voice and his movements. "'You'd better think that over again, Travers!' he said. 'Do you mean it?' "'I mean it,' Travers said. 'I mean it--God help me!' "'You may well add that!' returned the other, with an ugly laugh. He reached out his hand toward the telephone on the table. 'Do you know what will happen to you if I telephone a certain number and say that you have turned--traitor?' "'I'll have to take my chances,' Travers replied doggedly. 'I'm through!' "'Take them, then!' flung out the other. 'You'll have little time given you to do us any harm?' "Travers did not answer. I think he almost expected an attack upon him then from the two men. He hesitated a moment, then backed slowly toward