All for the Love of a Lady: A Col. Primrose Mystery. Leslie Ford

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СКАЧАТЬ know, and I do.’ Because it was a radio blank. It had the date and my name and address on it, and the pencil marks were blurred where it had been folded in his pocket. It said, ‘Molly, will you marry me as soon as I get back home? I’ve been wanting to ask you since the night I hope you remember too. My temperature’s normal. This is very serious, and the only important thing that’s ever happened to me.’—Just like that.”

      “Did you remember the night he meant?” I asked.

      “Of course. It wouldn’t sound very romantic to anybody else. There weren’t any magnolias in the moonlight, and I guess that’s one reason I didn’t question it was true. Or if I’d been beautiful, or had a lot of money . . .”

      She moved her hands in a light gesture, dismissing that.

      “It was just a game of checkers in the Abbotts’ game room, a few days before he left. Everybody else was playing bridge, and I didn’t have money enough to play for the stakes they do, so I didn’t want to cut in. Courtney said, ‘Cass, why don’t you play a game of checkers with the baby?’ So he did. We sat on the floor in front of the fire and had a wonderful time. At least I did. I was a little worried because I thought he was stuck with me and just being sweet because Courtney told him to—even when he let her go home with some people who live near her because we weren’t through with our game.”

      She stopped abruptly. “It sounds silly, doesn’t it?”

      “Not at all,” I said.

      “Anyway, he took me home, because he lived out this way. We shook hands at the door and said good night. He started away and then he came back and said ‘Let’s smoke one cigarette before I go.’ So we sat on the porch and smoked a cigarette. Then he got up and said good night again. You know that funny smile of his? Well, the next day I was having lunch with Aunt downtown and I ran into Courtney waiting in the lounge. I don’t know what I said, but she laughed and said, ‘Darling, don’t tell me you’re like all the rest of them? He’ll be here in a minute. I’ll have to tell him he’s done it again.’ I realized then he’d just been making fun of me. He didn’t even look around the restaurant.”

      She hesitated again.

      “But he said she never told him I was there,” she went on. “But that doesn’t matter. I was so unhappy I could have died. I didn’t want him to think I was a fool, so I went to Virginia with Aunt, and when I got back he was gone. He’d been calling me up at the house, but I told the maid not to tell anybody where I was. Then that’s all I heard from him, except that he sent me a dollar and a half box of checkers from a toy shop in New York before he left—and a book of rules, because I don’t play checkers very well.”

      She looked at me anxiously.

      “Does this bore you sick?” she demanded. “It’s all so simple . . .”

      I shook my head.

      “No, it doesn’t, if you want to talk about it,” I said.

      “Well, I do, somehow,” she said simply. “Anyway, that night at dinner we talked for hours, until they closed the restaurant, and then we walked home in the rain and talked after two o’clock. I guess nobody had ever really made love to me before, except Randy, and he doesn’t count, and it all went to my head. He seemed to mean it. He was going away again, and . . . oh, I don’t know. Time seemed too important, and it took five days to get a license here, so we went to Virginia, and they got the blood tests through in a couple of hours and we were married. He said he wanted it that way. He was sure if I was. He didn’t want to go away without knowing completely that I belonged to him. It was all so quick . . . but I didn’t have any doubts at all. And in the last four months I’ve tried not to let any creep in when I’d hear . . .”

      She turned her head away quickly.

      “We had just four days together, but . . . but I guess that was enough. I . . . oh, I can’t bear it, Grace. I can’t, I can’t! I loved him so much! And now I hate him! I hate him! Oh, why did he have to——”

      I went over to her and drew her down by me on the sofa.

      “Stop it, Molly!” I said sharply. “Stop it right now. You’re just being a fool, a complete absolute fool. Cass knew you a long time before he played checkers with you, so it isn’t as if he’d run into you on a street corner and married you because he had a free Saturday night. You’ve certainly heard from him since he’s been away, and——”

      She shook her head quickly.

      “But I haven’t. He told me I wouldn’t, because nobody was supposed to know where he was. A couple of times people came through and brought me a message, but all he ever said was for me to brush up on my checkers and he was all right. But I didn’t mind that . . . but if he could let Courtney know . . .”

      “Look, Molly,” I said. “I’m going to the phone and call him now.”

      She was on her feet in an instant, her eyes blazing, her face pale, her fists tightly clenched at her sides.

      “No you’re not!” she cried. “If you do, I’ll go somewhere else. You don’t understand! I was right—in the very beginning I was right. He was making fun of me. Courtney knew it. Then he got down in the jungles and it looked different, and that’s why he thought he was in love with me. It’s Courtney he really loves—he always has. And she loves him. And I know it, and I hate them both!”

      I got up.

      “You go to bed,” I said firmly. “Tomorrow you can decide what you’re going to do——”

      “I’ve decided already.”

      She was perfectly calm again.

      “In fact, I’ve not only decided what I’m going to do—I’ve already done it. You may think it’s awful, but I’m going to show them both I can be just as cold-blooded as they are. You haven’t any idea what I’ve put up with from people around here the last four months.”

      Her eyes were blazing again suddenly, and as yellow as a topaz.

      I managed a smile.

      “Nobody’s likely to think you’re particularly cold-blooded, angel,” I said. “So go to bed, and go to sleep.”

      In the doorway she turned back.

      “I’m sorry, Grace,” she said. “I haven’t any right forcing my troubles on you and then acting this way. If you’d rather I’d go——”

      “All I want you to do is go to bed,” I said. “You’re welcome to stay. There’s a key in the top drawer of the desk over there, and you can come and go as you please. But do try to use your head. After all, Cass isn’t responsible for what Courtney——”

      I stopped. Sheila, lying on her stomach on the cool hearth bricks, gave a low growl and got to her feet. That usually meant someone coming up the front steps. I hadn’t heard anyone, and I couldn’t now, but she growled again, the hair on her back rising a little as she went through the dining room toward the front door.

      4

      “Is somebody coming?” Molly asked quickly.

      “It’s СКАЧАТЬ