Gangsters -- New York (State) -- New York -- Fiction; Mystery fiction
A queer little smile came to Rhoda Gray's lips, and her shoulders
straightened back.
“Where are your clothes?” she asked.
“God bless you!” The tears were suddenly streaming down the grimy face.
“God bless the White Moll! It's true! It's true--all they said about
her!” The woman had lost control of herself.
“Nan, keep your nerve!” ordered Rhoda Gray almost brutally. It was the
White Moll in another light now, cool, calm, collected, efficient. Her
eyes swept Gypsy Nan. The woman, who had obviously flung herself down
on the bed fully dressed the night before, was garbed in coarse, heavy
boots, the cheapest of stockings which were also sadly in need of
repair, a tattered and crumpled skirt of some rough material, and,
previously hidden by the shawl, a soiled, greasy and spotted black
blouse. Rhoda Gray's forehead puckered into a frown. “What about your
hands and face-they go with the clothes, don't they?”
“It'll wash off,” whispered Gypsy Nan. “It's just some stuff I keep in a
box-over there--the ceiling-” Her voice trailed off weakly, then with
a desperate effort strengthened again. “The door! I forgot the door!
It isn't locked! Lock the door first! Lock the door! Then you take the
candle over there on the washstand, and--and I'll show you. You--you get
the things while I'm undressing. I--I can help myself that much.”
Rhoda Gray crossed quickly to the door, turned the key in the lock, and
retraced her steps to the washstand that stood in the shadows against
the wall on the opposite side from the bed, and near the far end of the
garret. Here she found the short stub of a candle that was stuck in
the mouth of a gin bottle, and matches lying beside it. She lighted the
candle, and turned inquiringly to Gypsy Nan.
The woman pointed to the end of the garret where the roof sloped sharply
down until, at the wall itself, it was scarcely four feet above the
floor.
“Go down there. Right to the wall--in the center,” instructed Gypsy Nan
weakly. And then, as Rhoda Gray obeyed: “Now push up on that wide board
in the ceiling.”
Rhoda Gray, already in a stooped position, reached up, and pushed at
a rough, unplaned board. It swung back without a sound, like a narrow
trap-door, until it rested in an upright position against the outer
frame of the house, disclosing an aperture through which, by standing
erect, Rhoda Gray easily thrust her head and shoulders.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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