Anarchists -- Fiction; Jewel thieves -- Fiction; New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction; Precious stones -- Fiction; Suspense fiction
She was carefully reviewing the events of the night before. She could
not dismiss the impression that Cutty knew Stefani Gregor or had heard
of him; and in either case it signified that Gregor was something more
than a valet. And decidedly Two-Hawks was not of the Russian peasantry.
By the time she was ready to leave for the office the Irish blood in
her was seething and bubbling and dancing. She knew she would do crazy,
impulsive things all day. It was easy to analyze this exuberance. She
had reached out into the dark and touched danger, and found a new thrill
in a humdrum world.
The Great Dramatist had produced a tremendous drama and she had watched
curtain after curtain fall from the wrong side of the lights. Now she
had been given a speaking part; and she would be down stage for a moment
or two--dusting the furniture--while the stars were retouching
their make-up. It was not the thought of Cutty, of Gregor, of Johnny
Two-Hawks, of hidden treasure; simply she had arrived somewhere in the
great drama.
When she reached the office she had a hard time of it to settle down to
the day's work.
“Hustle up that Sunday stuff,” said Burlingame. Kitty laughed. Just as
she had pictured it. She hustled.
“I have it!” she cried, breaking a spell of silence.
“What--St. Vitus?” inquired Burlingame, patiently.
“No; the Morgue!”
“What the dickens--!”
But Kitty was no longer there to answer.
In all newspaper offices there is a department flippantly designated
as the Morgue. Obituaries on ice, as it were. A photograph or an item
concerning a great man, a celebrated, beauty or some notorious rogue;
from the king calibre down to Gyp-the-Blood brand, all indexed and laid
away against the instant need. So, running her finger tip down the K's,
Kitty found Karlov. The half tone which she eventually exhumed from the
tin box was an excellent likeness of the human gorilla who had entered
her rooms with the policeman. She would be able to carry this positive
information to Cutty that afternoon.
When she left the office at four she took the Subway to Forty-second
Street. She engaged a taxi from the Knickerbocker and discharged it at
the north entrance to the Waldorf, which she entered. She walked through
to the south entrance and got into another taxi. She left this at
Wanamaker's, ducking and dodging through the crowded aisles. She
selected this hour because, being a woman, she knew that the press of
shoppers would be the greatest during the day. Karlov's man and
the secret-service operative detailed by Cutty both made the same
mistake--followed Kitty into the dry-goods shop and lost her as
completely as if she had popped up in China. At quarter to five she
stepped into Elevator Number Four of the building which Cutty called his
home, very well pleased with herself.
CHAPTER XIII
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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