Gangsters -- New York (State) -- New York -- Fiction; Mystery fiction
Her wits! Perhaps he did not know as much as she was afraid he did! She
seemed to have become abnormally contained, her mind abnormally acute
and active. It was not likely that the woman, his wife, whom he believed
she was, had worn her own clothes in his presence since the day, some
two years ago, when she had adopted the disguise of Gypsy Nan; and she,
Rhoda Gray, remembered that on the night Gypsy Nan, re-assuming her true
personality, had gone to the hospital, the woman's clothes, like these
she held now, had been of dark material. It was not likely that a man
would be able to differentiate between those clothes and the clothes of
the White Moll, especially as the latter hung folded in her hands now,
and even though he had seen them on her at the Silver Sphinx last night.
“What clothes do you suppose they are but my own?--though I haven't had
a chance to wear them much lately!” she countered crisply.
He scowled at her speculatively.
“What are you doing with them out here in this hole, then?” he demanded.
“I had to wear them last night, hadn't I?” she retorted. “I'd have
looked well coming out of Gypsy Nan's garret dressed as myself if
any one had seen me!” She scowled at him in turn. She was beginning to
believe that he had not even an inkling of her identity. Her safest play
was to stake everything on that belief. “Say, what's the matter with
you?” she inquired disdainfully. “I came out here and changed last
night; and I changed into these rags I'm wearing now when I got back
again; and I left my own clothes here because I was expecting to get
word that I could put them on again soon for keeps--though I might have
known from past experience that something would queer the fine promises
you made at Matty's last night! And the reason I'm out here now is
because I left some things in the pocket, amongst them”--she stared at
him mockingly--“my marriage certificate.”
Danglar's face blackened.
“Curse you!” he burst out angrily. “When you get your tantrums on,
you've got a tongue, haven't you! You'd have been wearing your clothes
now, if you'd have done as you were told. You're the one that queered
things last night.” His voice was rising; he was rocking even more
unsteadily upon his feet. “Why in hell weren't you at the Silver
Sphinx?”
Rhoda Gray squinted at him through Gypsy Nan's spectacles. She knew
an hysterical impulse to laugh outright in the sure consciousness of
supremacy over him now. The man had been drinking. He was by no means
drunk; but, on the other hand, he was by no means sober--and she was
certain now that, though she did not know how he had found her here in
the shed, not the slightest suspicion of her had entered his mind.
“I was at the Silver Sphinx,” she announced coolly.
“You lie!” he said hoarsely. “You weren't! I told you to be there at
eleven, and you weren't. You lie! What are you lying to me for--eh? I'll
find out, you--you--”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account