I could well understand his note of surprise as he tried to connect the circumstances that had so recently and violently placed him in his present situation with this after-midnight visit of a beautiful young lady in trailing white, lighting her way with an electric torch and jangling a bunch of keys. "My dear young person, are you playing ghost--or what?" he addressed her, speaking through a small opening in his cell-door, through which, in its ancient pattern, food was passed to prisoners. "I am honored by your visit, of course, but isn't it a little--unconventional?" "Lots of things are unconventional," was Pat's ready reply. "I could hear distinctly every word they said, owing to the peculiar acoustic properties of the cellar. "Please don't tell me that you're bringing me a cup of tea!" "I should adore some," said Pat. "Some iced tea," she replied. "It's very hot and stuffy down here. You must be very uncomfortable." "Oh, I'm okay," the reporter returned, sarcastically. "I've got a nice, soft cement floor to sleep on, and--oh, say! what I would really like is a good stiff highball. My jaw, you know--" "Yes, I know all about it," Pat interrupted. "Niki must have given you an awful crack. I saw everything from the gallery in the hall!" "Sympathetic, eh?" "I very much regret to say I am," Pat answered. "I think my Uncle Henry is treating you outrageously. But he's rather eccentric, as you know, and tonight, I'm afraid he's a little tight, or he wouldn't have done a terrible thing like this." "Ah, so you're Miss Patricia Preston, the society girl with so much money and leisure she doesn't know what to do with them," McGinity said quickly. "Your photo, sitting next to Prince Matani, at the polo tournament at Meadow Brook last week, in the box with your Aunt Jane, appeared in our Sunday rotogravure section. Don't tell me you've fallen for a foreign gink like that?" "Pat must have stared at him, thunderstruck, for she said, with a gasp: "How do you know so much?" "I happen to know, and I have my own reasons for
Prev.
Back
Top