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

out
precisely as planned."


THERE was a rap at the door. Aldriff opened it, to admit his secretary,
Nevlin, a small, officious man who was superintending the moving of a light
but
very large crate, which contained the Chinese screen.
The crate was very thin, but it was at least six feet long and
considerably
wider. The servants who carried it had to tilt it cater-cornered to squeeze it
through the large door.
"How many sections are there to that screen?" exclaimed Aldriff. "A
dozen?"
"Only three, Mr. Aldriff," returned Nevlin briskly. "And now, sir -"
He went to the nook at the end of the room, brought out the chess table
and
put it down halfway to the fireplace. He was going back to get the chairs,
when
Aldriff wanted to know what he was about.
"I'm clearing the nook," stated Nevlin. "The servants can move the filing
cabinet in there, and I shall set up the screen in front of it."
"And ruin my chess nook?" demanded Aldriff. "Outrageous, Nevlin!"
"But you haven't played chess lately, sir."
"That has nothing to do with it! Leave the cabinet where it is, and put
the
screen around it."
Nevlin gave a shrug and dismissed the servants. Using a hammer, he began
to
open the crate and cut the strings around the packing that contained the
screen.
Since Nevlin required half the floor for the operation, Aldriff ushered Joan
out
from the den.
They came into a large hall, from which he led her through a lighted
reception room to a sun porch on the far side of the house. All during the
trip,
Aldriff was repeating that there was no need to worry.
"You're sure?" inquired Joan, finally, her brown eyes very quizzical.
"Uncle Smead is leaving by plane in an hour, for a long trip. He wouldn't tell
me where he was going."
"He is taking a business trip," explained Aldriff. "Nothing more. A
business trip to the coast, at my suggestion. Ah!" Looking from the sun porch,
Aldriff saw the lights of cars coming in by the dusk-laden driveway. "My
dinner
guests are arriving. I shall introduce you to them and you will join us, Miss
Kelburn."
Outside, the swing of lights produced long, black streaks on the lawn.
Streaks cast by trees and shrubs into shapes that seemed alive. One stretch of
blackness still moved when the lights had passed it, but by then its motion