FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133  
134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   >>  
"What was that?" she asked sharply. He had heard nothing. They both listened intently. Again silence. "I thought that I heard a groan," Anna whispered. He laughed reassuringly. "I heard nothing," he declared, "and my ears are good. Come." He threw open the door of the sitting-room and switched on the electric light. "There is no--Good God!" he exclaimed. He turned round to keep Anna out by force if possible, but he was too late. She was by his side. She too had seen. The thin stream of blood on which her eyes were fastened with a nameless horror reached almost to her feet. _Chapter XXIV_ A CASE FOR THE POLICE After that first horrible moment it was perhaps Anna who was the more self-possessed. She dropped on her knees by his side, and gently unbuttoned his waistcoat. Then she looked up at Brendon. "You must fetch a doctor," she said. "I do not think that he is quite dead." "And leave you here alone?" he asked, in a hoarse whisper. "Come with me." "I am not afraid," she answered. "Please hurry." He reeled out of the room. Anna was afterwards astonished at her own self-possession. She bound a scarf tightly round the place where the blood seemed to be coming from. Then she stood up and looked around the room. There were no evidences of any struggle, no overturned chairs or disarranged furniture. The grate was full of fluttering ashes of burnt paper, and the easy chair near the fire had evidently been used. On the floor was a handkerchief, a little morsel of lace. Anna saw it, and for the first time found herself trembling. She moved towards it slowly and picked it up, holding it out in front of her whilst the familiar perfume seemed to assert itself with damning insistence. It was Annabel's. The lace was family lace, easily recognizable. The perfume was the only one she ever used. Annabel had been here then. It was she who had come out from the flat only a few minutes before. It was she---- Anna's nerves were not easily shaken, but she found herself suddenly clutching at the table for support. The room was reeling, or was it that she was going to faint? She recovered herself with a supreme effort. There were the burnt papers still in the grate. She took up the poker and stirred the fire vigorously. Almost at the same moment the door opened and Brendon entered, followed by the doctor. Anna turned round with a start, which was almost of guilt, the poker still in her hand.
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133  
134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   >>  



Top keywords:
Annabel
 

moment

 

looked

 
Brendon
 

perfume

 

easily

 

doctor

 

turned

 

disarranged

 

evidences


furniture

 
overturned
 

struggle

 
chairs
 
evidently
 

trembling

 

handkerchief

 

morsel

 

fluttering

 

family


recovered

 

supreme

 

reeling

 

suddenly

 

clutching

 
support
 

effort

 

papers

 

opened

 

entered


Almost

 

stirred

 
vigorously
 

shaken

 

nerves

 

whilst

 

familiar

 

assert

 

holding

 

slowly


picked
 
damning
 

insistence

 

minutes

 

recognizable

 
exclaimed
 

stream

 
Chapter
 
reached
 

horror