Part 43 (1/2)

I sprang out of bed before she could prevent me, and gave her a regular ”bear hug.”

”Help me dress!” I exclaimed indignantly. ”Indeed, you will do no such thing. I feel as strong as ever, and I am going to put you to bed before I go to d.i.c.ky. But tell me, how is--”

She spared me from speaking the name I so dreaded.

”Miss Draper is no worse. Indeed, Dr. Pett.i.t thinks she has rallied slightly this morning. She is resting easily now, has been since about 3 o'clock, when Dr. Pett.i.t went home.”

I was hurrying into my clothes as she talked. ”Have you found out yet how it happened?” I asked.

”I know what Harry does,” she answered. ”He says that yesterday the girl appeared as calm, even cheerful, as ever, went with him to the manager's office, performed her dancing stunt as cleverly as she did the other night, and in response to the very good offer the manager made her, asked for a day to consider it. As she was leaving the office, she asked Harry if d.i.c.ky were in his studio, saying she had left there something she prized highly and would like to get it.

Something in the way she said it made Harry suspicious. Of course, I had told him confidentially of her attempt to drown you, so he remarked nonchalantly that he was also going to the studio. He said she seemed nonplussed for a moment, then coolly accepted his escort.

”They went to the studio, and Harry stuck close to d.i.c.ky, never permitting the Draper girl to be alone with him for a minute. After a few moments she bade them a commonplace goodby and left, but she must have stayed near by and cleverly shadowed them when they left.

”At any rate, she appeared at the door of our house shortly after Harry and d.i.c.ky had entered--Harry wanted to get some things before coming out to Marvin again--and asked Betty to see d.i.c.ky.

Unfortunately, Harry was in his rooms and did not hear the request, so that d.i.c.ky went into the little sitting room off the hall with her, and Betty says the girl herself closed the door. What was said no one knows but d.i.c.ky and the girl.

”Harry heard a shot, rushed downstairs, and found d.i.c.ky, with the blood flowing from his arm, struggling with the girl in an attempt to keep her from firing another shot. Harry took the revolver away, unloaded and pocketed it, and could have prevented any further tragedy only for d.i.c.ky's growing faint from loss of blood.

”Harry turned his attention to d.i.c.ky, and the girl picked up a stiletto, which Harry uses for a paper cutter--you know he has the house filled with all sorts of curios from all over the world--and drove it into her left breast. She aimed for her heart, of course, and she almost turned the trick. I imagine she has a pretty good chance of pulling through if infection doesn't develop. The stiletto hadn't been used for some time, and there were several small rust spots on it. But here comes your breakfast.”

Her voice had been absolutely emotionless as she told me the story. As she busied herself with setting out attractively on a small table the delicious breakfast Katie had brought, I had a queer idea that if it were not for the publicity that would inevitably follow, Lillian would not very much regret the ultimate success of Grace Draper's attempt at self-destruction.

XXIX

”BUT YOU WILL NEVER KNOW--”

I do not believe that ever in my life can I again have an experience so horrible as that which followed the development of infection in the dagger wound which Grace Draper had inflicted upon herself after her unsuccessful attempt to shoot d.i.c.ky.

Against the combined protest of d.i.c.ky and Lillian, I shared the care of the girl with the trained nurse whom Lillian's forethought had provided and d.i.c.ky's money had paid for.

The reason for my presence at her bedside was a curious one.

At the close of the third day following the girl's attempt at murder and self-destruction, Lillian came to the door of the room where I was reading to d.i.c.ky, who was now almost recovered, and called me out into the hall.

”Madge,” she said abruptly, ”that poor girl in there has been calling for you for an hour. We tried every way we could think of to quiet her, but nothing else would do. She must see you. I imagine she has made up her mind she's going to die and wants to ask your forgiveness or something of that sort.”

”I will go to her at once,” I said quietly. As I moved toward the door my knees trembled so I could hardly walk.

Lillian came up to me quickly and put her strong arm around me.

We went down the hall to a wonderful room of ivory and gold, which I knew must be Lillian's guest room. In a big ivory-tinted bed the girl lay, a pitiful wreck of the das.h.i.+ng, insolent figure she had been.

Her face was as white as the pillows upon which she lay, while her hands looked utterly bloodless as they rested listlessly upon the coverlet. Only her eyes held anything of her old spirit. They looked unusually brilliant. I wondered uneasily if their appearance was the result of their contrast to her deathly white face or whether the fever which the doctor dreaded had set in.

She looked at me steadily for a long minute, then spoke huskily--I was surprised at the strength of her voice.

”Of course I have no right to ask anything of you, Mrs. Graham,” she said, ”but death, you know, always has privileges, and I am going to die.”