The Strange Schemes of Randolph Mason — John Shaqi
The Strange Schemes of Randolph MasonPost, Melville Davisson
General
The Strange Schemes of Randolph Mason
Post, Melville Davisson
American fiction -- 19th century; Detective and mystery stories, American; Legal stories, American
"Dat's all right, honey," said the old servant, beaming like a May
morning. "De cellar door is open, carry it all in and put it in de back
part and nobody aint never going to know how long it has been in 'dar."
The old negro went back into the kitchen and the little man began to
unload the dray. He carried in five wine cases and stowed them away in
the back part of the cellar as the old woman had directed. Then, after
having satisfied himself that no one was watching, he took from the dray
two heavy paper sacks, presumably filled with flour, and a little bundle
wrapped in an old newspaper; these he carefully hid behind the wine
cases in the cellar. After a while he closed the door, climbed on his
dray, and drove off down the alley.
About eight o'clock in the evening of the same day, a Mexican sailor
dodged in the front gate and slipped down to the side of the house. He
stopped by the window and tapped on it with his finger. In a moment a
woman opened the door. She was tall, lithe, and splendidly proportioned,
with a dark Spanish face and straight hair. The man stepped inside. The
woman bolted the door and turned round.
"Ah," she said, smiling, "it is you, Senor? How good of you."
The man started. "Whom else did you expect?" he said quickly.
"Oh!" laughed the woman, "perhaps the Archbishop."
"Nina!" said the man, in a broken voice that expressed love, humility,
and reproach. His face was white under the black sunburn.
For a moment the woman wavered. A shadow flitted over her eyes, then she
stepped back. "No," she said, "not yet."
The man walked across to the fire, sank down in a chair, and covered
his face with his hands. The woman stepped up noiselessly behind him and
leaned over the chair. The man was either in great agony or else he was
a superb actor, for the muscles of his neck twitched violently and his
shoulders trembled.
"Oh," he muttered, as though echoing his thoughts, "I can't do it, I
can't!"
The woman caught the words and leaped up as though some one had struck
her in the face. She threw back her head. Her nostrils dilated and her
eyes flashed.
"You can't do it!" she cried. "Then you do love her! You shall do it!
Do you hear me? You shall do it! You killed him! You got rid of him!
but you shall not get rid of me. I have the evidence, all of it. The
Archbishop will have it to-morrow. They shall hang you! Do you hear me?
They shall hang you!"
The woman's voice rose, it was loud and shrill. The man turned slowly
round without looking up, and stretched out his arms toward the woman.
She stopped and looked down at him. The fire glittered for a moment
and then died out of her eyes, her bosom heaved and her lips began to
tremble. With a cry she flung herself into his arms, caught him around
the neck, and pressed his face up close against her cheek.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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