"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 243 - Room of Doom" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

water pipe. The narghile was a gift from the dealer who had sold Aldriff the
magnificent rugs: Samarkands, Kashgars and Baluchistans, which overlapped one
another all over the floor of the den.
Of course, the room was also furnished with easy chairs, footstools, ash
stands, and such, which made it very comfortable for guests. In a near corner,
at the right of the door, was a special case containing cups and medals that
Aldriff had won in yacht racing, golf tournaments, and pistol competition.
Aldriff kept his golf clubs in that corner, along with a revolver rack,
which contained three pistols and a leather folder holding the permits for
them.
He would have kept his sailing yacht in the room, too, had there been space
for
it. Space lacking, the yacht was moored in Long Island Sound, not far from
Aldriff's home; but the ship model on the mantel was an exact replica of the
craft in question.
One thing in the room annoyed Aldriff. It was a filing cabinet in the
corner to the left of the door. A very cumbersome, unsightly thing, that
cabinet, but it was necessary in Aldriff's business, so it had to stay.
Nevlin, Aldriff's secretary, had made the bright suggestion of putting it
in the corner behind the door, which was something of a help, but it was too
big
for the door to hide.
So Aldriff had decided to buy a screen to cover the filing cabinet, and
Nevlin had located one, a very fine Chinese screen, with gold-leaf decorations
that would go well with the Florentine mirror.
Such, then, was Aldriff's den; in the near corners, trophy case and
filing
cabinet; in the far wall, the nook with the chairs and chess table. On the
right, fireplace, mantel with its clock and other ornaments, and the presiding
moose. On the left, mirror, bookshelves and desk, with Mr. Aldriff in the
chair.


ARTHUR ALDRIFF was a thickset man, with a roundish face that should have
been jolly, but wasn't. Instead, his features were deep-lined with worry,
which
even furrowed the forehead beneath his thin gray hair.
He wasn't even looking at the costly decorations with which he had
stocked
his den; nor did he seem at all delighted by the fact that he was soon to
receive the handsome screen that would make the setting perfect.
There were two windows in the room, one at each side of the chess nook.
They were closed and heavily clamped; they had bars on the outside, as a
protection for Aldriff's treasures.
Through those windows came dying rays of sunlight, cut off by the high
hedge that surrounded the grounds. The fading glow cast long shadows of the
bars
across Aldriff's desk, and at sight of those parallel streaks, the man winced.
The shadows of other bars were creeping too close for Aldriff's peace of
mind. Prison bars, that wouldn't display themselves only at sunset, but would