Gangsters -- New York (State) -- New York -- Fiction; Mystery fiction
It was pitch black. She must not make a sound; but, equally, she must
not lose a second. What was taking place in the Pug's room between
Pinkie Bonn and the Adventurer she did not know. But the Adventurer was
obviously on one of his marauding expeditions, and he might stay
there no more than a minute or two once he found out that he had been
forestalled. She must hurry--hurry!
She felt her way forward in what she believed to be the direction of
the window. She ran against the bed. But this afforded her something by
which to guide herself. She kept her touch upon it, her hand trailing
along its edge. And then, halfway down its length, what seemed to be a
piece of string caught in her extended, groping fingers. It seemed to
cling, but also to yield most curiously, as she tried to shake it off;
and then something, evidently from under the mattress, came away with a
little jerk, and remained, suspended, in her hand.
It didn't matter, did it? Nothing mattered except to reach the window.
Yes, here it was now! And the roller shade was drawn down; that was why
the room was so dark. She raised the shade quickly--and suddenly stood
there as though transfixed, her face paling, as in the faint light by
the window she gazed, fascinated, at the object that still dangled by a
cord from her hand.
And it seemed as if an inner darkness were suddenly riven as by a bolt
of lightning--a hundred things, once obscure and incomprehensible, were
clear now, terribly clear. She understood now how the Adventurer was
privy to all the inner workings of the organization; she understood now
how it was, and why, the Adventurer had a room so close to that other
room across the hall. That dangling thing on an elastic cord was a
smeared and dirty celluloid eye-patch that had once been flesh-colored!
The Adventurer and the Pug were one!
Her wits! Quick! He must not know! In a frenzy of haste she ran for the
bed, and slipped the eye-patch in under the mattress again; and then,
still with frenzied speed, she climbed to the window sill, drew the
roller shade down again behind her, and dropped to the ground.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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