Elk 04 White Face by Edgar Wallace Read Free Book Online
Authors: Edgar Wallace
coming back to her face. She hesitated, reached for the glass, swallowed its contents and made a wry face.
“Sal volatile…beastly!”
She wiped her lips with a handkerchief she took from her bag and rose unsteadily to her feet.
“I’m sorry, Doctor. I’ve been a nuisance. I suppose if I offered to pay you for your time you’d be offended.”
“I charge ten cents for a consultation,” he said gravely, and she smiled.
“How accommodating you are! You think I am American? I am, of course, though I’ve lived in England since—oh, for a long time. Thank you, Doctor. Have I talked a lot of nonsense, and, if I have, will you forget it?”
Dr. Marford’s thin face was in the shadow: he was standing between her and the lamp.
“I won’t promise that; but I will not repeat it,” he said.
She did not give him her name: he was wholly incurious. When he offered to walk with her until she found a cab, she declined his escort. He stood in the drizzling rain and watched her out of sight.
Police-Constable Hartford came from the direction she had taken and stopped to speak.
“They say that Stephens is dead. Well, if they will drink, they must expect trouble. I’ve never regretted taking the pledge myself—I’ll be Chief Templar in our lodge this summer if Gawd spares me. I sent a young lady; she was makin’ inquiries about Stephens. I didn’t know he was gone or I’d have told her.”
“Thank you, for not telling her,” said Marford.
He was shy of P.C. Hartford, who was notoriously loquacious and charged with strange long words.
He locked the door and went back to his book, but the corruptions and permutations of Madame de Lamballe interested him no more.
Pulling up the surgery blind, he looked out into the deserted street. There was some sort of movement in progress under the shadow of the wall which encircles the premises of the Eastern Trading Company.
He saw a man and a woman talking. There was light enough from the street standard to reveal this much. The man was in evening dress, which was curious. The white splash of his shirt front was plainly visible. Even waiters do not wear their uniform in Tidal Basin.
Dr. Marford went out and opened the street door as the man and the woman walked in opposite directions. Then he saw the third of the trio. He was moving towards the man in evening dress, following him quickly. The doctor saw the first man stop and turn. There was an exchange of words and a scuffle. The man in dress clothes went down like a log, the second bent over him and went on quickly and disappeared under the railway arch which crosses Endley Street, opposite the Eastern Company’s main gateway.
Dr. Marford watched, fascinated, was on the point of crossing to see what had happened to the inanimate heap on the pavement, when the man got up and lit a cigarette.
The clock struck ten.
CHAPTER VI
Louis Landor looked down at the hateful thing he had struck to the earth. He lay very still and the hate in Landor’s heart was replaced by a sudden horror. He glanced across the road. Immediately opposite was a doctor’s surgery—a red light burned dimly from a bracket-lamp before the house to advertise the profession of its occupant. He saw the door was open and somebody was standing there. Should he go for help? The idea came and went. His own safety was in question. He hurried along in the shadow of the high wall and had reached the railway arch, when right ahead of him appeared the shadowy figure of a policeman, and the policeman was coming his way. He looked round for some way of escape. There were two great gates on his right and in one a small wicket door. In his panic he pushed the door and it yielded. By some miracle it had been left unfastened. In a second he was inside, felt for the bolt and pushed it home. The policeman passed without being conscious of his presence.
P.C. Hartford was at that moment composing a little speech which he intended to deliver at the next lodge meeting,
“Sal volatile…beastly!”
She wiped her lips with a handkerchief she took from her bag and rose unsteadily to her feet.
“I’m sorry, Doctor. I’ve been a nuisance. I suppose if I offered to pay you for your time you’d be offended.”
“I charge ten cents for a consultation,” he said gravely, and she smiled.
“How accommodating you are! You think I am American? I am, of course, though I’ve lived in England since—oh, for a long time. Thank you, Doctor. Have I talked a lot of nonsense, and, if I have, will you forget it?”
Dr. Marford’s thin face was in the shadow: he was standing between her and the lamp.
“I won’t promise that; but I will not repeat it,” he said.
She did not give him her name: he was wholly incurious. When he offered to walk with her until she found a cab, she declined his escort. He stood in the drizzling rain and watched her out of sight.
Police-Constable Hartford came from the direction she had taken and stopped to speak.
“They say that Stephens is dead. Well, if they will drink, they must expect trouble. I’ve never regretted taking the pledge myself—I’ll be Chief Templar in our lodge this summer if Gawd spares me. I sent a young lady; she was makin’ inquiries about Stephens. I didn’t know he was gone or I’d have told her.”
“Thank you, for not telling her,” said Marford.
He was shy of P.C. Hartford, who was notoriously loquacious and charged with strange long words.
He locked the door and went back to his book, but the corruptions and permutations of Madame de Lamballe interested him no more.
Pulling up the surgery blind, he looked out into the deserted street. There was some sort of movement in progress under the shadow of the wall which encircles the premises of the Eastern Trading Company.
He saw a man and a woman talking. There was light enough from the street standard to reveal this much. The man was in evening dress, which was curious. The white splash of his shirt front was plainly visible. Even waiters do not wear their uniform in Tidal Basin.
Dr. Marford went out and opened the street door as the man and the woman walked in opposite directions. Then he saw the third of the trio. He was moving towards the man in evening dress, following him quickly. The doctor saw the first man stop and turn. There was an exchange of words and a scuffle. The man in dress clothes went down like a log, the second bent over him and went on quickly and disappeared under the railway arch which crosses Endley Street, opposite the Eastern Company’s main gateway.
Dr. Marford watched, fascinated, was on the point of crossing to see what had happened to the inanimate heap on the pavement, when the man got up and lit a cigarette.
The clock struck ten.
CHAPTER VI
Louis Landor looked down at the hateful thing he had struck to the earth. He lay very still and the hate in Landor’s heart was replaced by a sudden horror. He glanced across the road. Immediately opposite was a doctor’s surgery—a red light burned dimly from a bracket-lamp before the house to advertise the profession of its occupant. He saw the door was open and somebody was standing there. Should he go for help? The idea came and went. His own safety was in question. He hurried along in the shadow of the high wall and had reached the railway arch, when right ahead of him appeared the shadowy figure of a policeman, and the policeman was coming his way. He looked round for some way of escape. There were two great gates on his right and in one a small wicket door. In his panic he pushed the door and it yielded. By some miracle it had been left unfastened. In a second he was inside, felt for the bolt and pushed it home. The policeman passed without being conscious of his presence.
P.C. Hartford was at that moment composing a little speech which he intended to deliver at the next lodge meeting,