Books › Blue Book v026 n04 [1918-02], 1918 › scan 5
Scan 5
Blue Book v026 n04 [1918-02], 1918
35 lines. Read by computer on 17 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1For Honor
3She stepped quickly from the porch into the hall.
5Lieutenant Brice looked about him. To the left of the hallway through which he had come he saw a room in which a single shaded light was burning. It looked like a bedroom or boudoir. His eyes turned from that direction to the screen wall, through which, somewhat below him, he could see the lights of the city. He noted how the ground fell away behind the house. There was no other building between him and the next cross-street to the south, and he could see the grass glistening, still wet from a sharp thunder-shower that had rolled up late in the afternoon. A garage and one or two clumps of small trees stood in this wide lot. These things he noticed idly. Then, quickly, he came to his feet as Mrs. Dassler entered.
7She came so softly and so swiftly that she was in the screened room before he knew it. He had but a glance at her face—a glance, however, that was enough to show him consternation, fear, almost tragedy, in it—before she reached for the electric button and switched off the light.
9"My husband!" she gasped. "I thought he was in St. Louis. He is stopping by the motor to gather up his bags."
11"But my dear Mrs. Dassler! You mustn't do that!" Brice protested. "Let me meet him. We know there isn't any harm—" He made a step toward the light-switch, but she interposed. He felt her tremble violently as she grasped his arm.
13"No!" she whispered. "Oh, he mustn't find you here. You must go away—out through the back door, or a window. You must!"
15"But I can't. That isn't any way to do. That would make it look—"
17The sound of heavy feet on the front gallery signified that Mr. Dassler and the chauffeur were bringing the luggage. Brice could visualize Mr. Dassler at this moment going into his pocket for his latchkey.
19"Oh, quick!" she urged. "You must! You must! Oh, you don't understand! He is jealous—wildly jealous. He is violent. He—" She thrust her visitor's hat into his hand and actually tugged at him to make him obey. "He threatened—once," she panted, "to kill me. He will—oh, he will! You can't get out of this porch; you can't get through the screen. Quick! Into this room. You can drop through the window." one of two readings
20"Oh, quick!" she urged. "You must! You must! Oh, you don't understand! He is jealous—wildly jealous. He is violent. He—" one of two readings
22She thrust her visitor's hat into his hand and actually tugged at him to make him obey. "He threatened—once," she panted, "to kill me. He will—oh, he will! You can't get out of this porch; you can't get through the screen. Quick! Into this room. You can drop through the window." one of two readings
24Further protestations were useless. Brice, even while he let Mrs. Dassler half lead, half push him into the room with the shaded light, swore a round oath to himself never again to be caught in a compromising situation the very innocence of which made it all the more exasperating. At the same time his mind, trained to function rapidly, planned a program. He would drop from the window, dodge through those tree and past that garage and make a call on an acquaintance three blocks away.
26FROM the front of the house came the sound of a slamming door. A voice called, "Lora! Oh, Lora! Where are you?" Footsteps sounded inside the house.
28Mrs. Dassler's hand went to her throat, and she swayed, half fainting. Brice realized it was too late. Dassler would hear him drop from the window. He would see him crossing the lot. The interpretation that he would give to this might be the worst. Too late! And like lightning came another thought—a horrifying one. It was also too late to pass out of this room to the screened porch again without being seen from the hallway. And the screened porch was unlighted.
30While Dassler was setting down his bags and taking ten heavy steps toward the rear of the house, Brice thought of the one thing that could be done, and he did it.
32He saw the screen to the window was loosed. Surveying the room quickly, he observed a chiffonier close to the window. He whispered to Mrs. Dassler, commandingly:
34"Listen! Don't reply. I'm a burglar. You heard me here. You came in. I was at the chiffonier. I grabbed you. Then you screamed. Don't worry. Stick to it. Describe me as being short,
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