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

was
invisible, for it had merged with the thickened dusk.
It arrived close to the sun porch and paused there, below the level of
the
lights. A slight, reflected glow showed the shape in vague outline. It had
human
form - that of a being cloaked in black, with a slouch hat on its head. A
hawkish silhouette was cast upon the shrubbery beneath the windows, as this
creature of the night raised his head and shoulders.
He was The Shadow!
Strange master who hunted down schemes of crime, The Shadow did not
confine
his activities to the lower strata of crookdom. His motto was "Justice for
all,"
and when he detected the beginnings of vast swindles, he ferreted out their
perpetrators.
Arthur Aldriff and his chain-store scheme constituted a case in point.
The
Shadow had noted huge sales of Pharco stock, with no signs of any chain stores
in operation. Having linked Smead Kelburn, the stock promoter, with Arthur
Aldriff, the drug manufacturer, The Shadow was out to learn just how far
Aldriff
intended to back the stock that Kelburn peddled.


ALDRIFF and Joan were turning back into the house, to meet the arriving
guests. Moving from the deserted sun porch, The Shadow heard a stir from the
shrubbery at the rear. He caught a short glimpse of a stocky figure moving
around the corner of the porch. Immediately, The Shadow took up the trail of
the
other prowler.
The man was easy to follow because of his stumbles, though the darkness
was
thick enough to hide him. He went around the rear wing of the mansion, with
The
Shadow on the trail. There, the fellow must have found familiar ground, for
his
clumsy methods ended.
Moving along the far side of the house, The Shadow soon recognized that
the
trail was gone, along with the man who had made it.
The prowler had either ducked into the house itself or had made a quick
dash across a short stretch of lawn to the shelter of a high hedge. Choosing
the
more important of the two possibilities, The Shadow probed along the side wall
of the house and came upon a door, which opened when he tried it.
Inside were a few dark steps, a portion of a vestibule. To his left, The
Shadow saw the door of Aldriff's den, a stairway just beyond it. To the right
was the main reception hall, well lighted, where Aldriff was introducing Joan
to