"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 009 - Mobsmen on the Spot" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

"You came here," said The Shadow, "because you were summoned. Tim Waldron knew your secret. He
used it as a threat over your head. He believed you to be a murderer as well as a convicted robber.

"He did not know what I knowтАФthat you bore one crime for the sake of another man; that you would
also accept the other if it should be blamed upon you!"

The man in the chair moved restlessly. These revelations were uncanny. He stared at the man in black;
then gazed toward the figure sprawled upon the desk. It became his turn to question.

"You didтАФthat?" he asked, pointing toward Waldron.

"No," replied The Shadow. "It was intended for you! It was the irony of fate, Clifford Marsland, that
another crime should be planned so that it might be laid to you.

"Once again, you are a murdererтАФby proxy!"

Marsland gazed hopelessly at the form of Waldron.

"You came here"тАФthe voice of The Shadow seemed far away to the listener тАФ"reconciled to a life of
crime. You were ready to do Waldron's biddingтАФto cast in your lot with criminals, for you had been
branded as one.

"You are bitter because of the past. You are willing to accept any future, if it brings you gain. So I offer
youтАФa future!"

"Like the one Waldron had for me?"

"No! Not for the cause of crime!"

"For the cause of justice, then?" Marsland laughed bitterly. "For justice? I would prefer crime!"

"For neither crime nor justice!" came the low voice. "Your future lies in the cause of The Shadow! To do
my bidding will be your one task. Do you accept?"

A strange light gleamed in Clifford Marsland's eyes as he turned his gaze upon the man in black. The
room and its surroundings seemed unreal.
Beside him, the body of a murdered man; before him, a mysterious figure that possessed amazing
knowledge.

It captured his imagination. Clifford Marsland could make but one reply.

"I accept!" he said.

"You promise full obedience?"

"I promise full obedience!"

"With no conditions?"