New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction; Spy stories; World War, 1914-1918 -- United States -- Fiction
The following day,--in the noon issues--all of the New York evening
papers printed, under varied headlines, the details, so far as
available, of the shocking accident which resulted in the death of Mrs.
Davenport Carstairs. She had fallen from a window in her bed-chamber to
the brick-paved courtyard ten stories below. Death was instantaneous.
“Accidental,” was the prompt decision of the coroner.
Deduction readily established the fact. Mrs. Carstairs must have become
ill in the night. A bottle of smelling salts was found on the floor near
the window which was open to the full. Evidently, she had gone to the
window for air. After opening it wide, a sudden faintness or dizziness
caused her to topple forward.... Before retiring for the night, she had
complained to her husband of a dull, throbbing headache, due, no doubt,
to anxiety over the alarming illness of her niece, Miss Hansbury....
Sometime after one o'clock, Mr. Carstairs, in the adjoining bed-room,
heard her moaning as if in pain. He arose instantly and opened the
connecting door. She was lying on her bed, and, in response to his
inquiry, begged him not to worry about her. Dr. Browne, called in to
attend Miss Hansbury, had decided to remain for the night. He was lying
down in a guest-chamber, and had fallen asleep.
Uneasy over his wife's condition, Mr. Carstairs awoke the physician
and together they returned to her room. A knock on the door brought
no response,--but some relief in the thought that she was asleep. The
husband opened the door slightly and listened. There was no sound.
He entered the room, which was dark, and approached the bed. Then,
he called out to the doctor to switch on the lights.... A cold icy
draft,--the Night-Wind,--rushing into the room through the open
window....
Continuing, the papers spoke profoundly of the great loss to society,
of the qualities that made Mrs. Davenport Carstairs one of the most
sincerely beloved women in all the great city, of her prominence in
the conduct of important war charities and reliefs, of her unswerving
devotion to the cause for which America and her sons were fighting, of
her manifold charms and graces. Her untimely death created a void that
could never be filled. Eulogy upon eulogy!
Among the hundreds of telegrams of condolence received by Davenport
Carstairs was one from Mr. Paul Zimmerlein, couched in most exquisite
terms, conveying tribute to the dead and sympathy to the living. It was
sent on the second day from the smart club to which he belonged; on the
third flowers went up with his card.
As business went on as usual at the offices of Mr. Paul Zimmerlein, it
would be sheer presumption to even suggest that this unhappy chronicle
has reached
THE END
End of Project Gutenberg's Shot With Crimson, by George Barr McCutcheon
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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