"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 009 - The Czar of Fear" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

"The liar!" Aunt Nora flared, "All I have done is organize my Benevolent Society to help some of the
poor souls who are out of work."

"Aunt Nora has kept lots of people from starving!" Alice Cash put in. "She has spent all of her money,
and all she can borrow, in feeding those unfortunates."

"You shut up!" Aunt Nora directed gruffly.

"I will not!" Alice snapped, "I think 'Mr. Savage should know the truth! You're an angel!"

Aunt Nora blushed and stared at her big, muddy shoes. "I ain't no angel -- not with them feet."

"What about these agitators back of the trouble?" Doc asked.

"They're hired thugs, of course!" Aunt Nora declared. "But just who they are, nobody knows. When they
appear they're always in robes that look like black sacks, with green bells painted on the front."

"Their leader is not known?"

"No!" Aunt Nora made a fierce mouth. "Alice and her brother and Ole Slater have been helping me try to
find out who the Green Bell is."

"Who is Ole Slater?" Doc Savage wanted to know.

"A nice young lad who thinks he can write plays. He's stricken with the charms of Alice, here. He's
gathering material for a play, and he stays at my rooming house. I forgot to tell you that I run a boarding
house."
Doc asked: "And you think Judborn Tugg and Slick Cooley are in the Green Bell's gang?"

"I ain't got no proof!" asserted Aunt Nora. "But they could be! One of them might be the Green Bell,
himself."

MONK ENTERED the conference, asking gently: "Hasn't the police chief of Prosper City done anything
about all this?"

"That old numbskull!" Aunt Nora sniffed. "His name is Clem Clements, and he thinks Judborn Tugg is the
greatest man alive and the soul of honor. I don't think Chief Clements is crooked. He's just plain
downright dumb!"

"How come Tugg exerts such a sway?" Monk wanted to know.

"Judborn Tugg tries to make himself out as the leading business man of Prosper City!" snorted Aunt
Nora. "He's fooled a lot of nitwits, including Chief Clements. Tugg has been spreading the story that I am
behind the Green Bell. He has made Chief Clements and plenty of others believe it. I've thought several
times they were going to throw me in jail!"

"They haven't quite dared do that!" Alice Cash explained. "The poor people Aunt Nora has been helping
would tear down the jail if she was in it. I don't think they've dared harm Aunt Nora for the same
reason."