"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 010 - Hands in the Dark" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

Silent minutes went by. Betty could not sleep. Somehow, her mind kept picturing the old study
downstairs. It was there that Bob had received the odd visitor to-night.

Betty was seized by an uncontrollable impulse to go downstairs. She felt for her slippers; then recalled
that they were in her trunk, which had not been brought in from the country.

Barefooted, she stole down the carpeted stairs, with one hand on the banister. There was no creaking
under her light tread. She moved noiselessly along the hall, then stopped suddenly as she turned the
corner that led to the door of the study.

There was dim light in the hall, coming from the study. The door of the room was open; and the table
lamp must be on!

Perhaps Bob had left it burning; perhaps he was there now. In the latter event, Betty could explain her
presence by explaining that she had heard a noise downstairs and had come to investigate.

Nevertheless, it might be well to observe Bob before he saw her. With catlike stealth, Betty advanced to
the doorway.

The light on the floor of the hall fascinated her. It was more than a gleam. Into it came a peculiar
shadowтАФthe elongated silhouette of a man's profile.

The patch of blackness swayed. Betty watched its motion. She stepped forward and turned to look into
the room.

BY the desk stood a tall man clad in black. His back was turned toward the door. He seemed a strange
phantom of the nightтАФa living being that had come from nowhere. Across the floor lay his long, weird
shadow, stretching into the gloom of the hall.

Betty's hands gripped the sides of the doorway, as she stood horrified by the presence of this uncanny
personage.

She could see the folds of the black cloak which hung from his shoulders; the back of the
broad-brimmed hat which was upon his head. He was examining the deskтАФthe motion of his
black-gloved hands indicated that fact.

While Betty stood, entranced, the man must have sensed her presence. He swung suddenly to face the
door. As his cloak spread wide, the girl caught a glimpse of its crimson lining and the thin, black-clad
form within the cloak.

The face of the man was invisible, obscured by the collar of the cloak and the low brim of the hat. All that
Betty could see was the glow of two piercing eyes that shone beneath that hat brim; eyes that saw her
standing in the doorway.

The girl raised a hand to her mouth to repress a scream. Then a low, soft laugh echoed through the room.
It came like a spectral whisperтАФan eerie sound that seemed beyond reality.

A black-gloved hand swung upward. A click followed. The room was plunged in darkness.

Betty stood there, suddenly wondering if it had all been imagination. With boldness that she could not