"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 105 - The Invisible-Box Murders" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

In looks, Mr. Morgan was an old gentleman of surprising benevolence. He was of less than average
height, more than average width. His hair was very white, his whiskers very silky and as white as his hair.
He had fawnlike brown eyes with little crinkles at the corners.

Peace and good will; I love my brother. That was Mr. Morgan.

Mr. Morgan looked around the office, then saw the cellophane box.

He proceededтАФif one should want to put it humorouslyтАФto have kittens.

His eyes seemed to be trying to get out of his skull. That was the first thing, as he looked at the box. Then
he made a noise. It was the noise of a man caught under a freight train.

He jumped backward wildly. His eyes hunted for a weapon. He snatched a fire extinguisher off the wall
and squirted the extinguisher contents at the box.

He did not go near the box, or try to put it on the floor. He just squirted the extinguisher stream at it. The
pencil of tetrachlorideтАФor whatever was in the extinguisherтАФknocked the cellophane box off the desk,
and it fell to the floor.

The scared Mr. Morgan kept squirting until the extinguisher was empty. He threw the extinguisher at the
box, missing it.

Then he proceeded to try to burn the box. He dumped the contents of the wastebasket on it, struck a
match and applied it to the paper. He didnтАЩt seem to give a hoot about whether the shabby rug got a hole
burned in it or not.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the stream of fluid from the extinguisher had soaked the contents of the
wastebasket, so the paper wouldnтАЩt burn.

First he had tried to extinguish it; now he was trying to burn it. This was rather silly. It showed only one
thing: Mr. Morgan was so scared he didnтАЩt know whether he was standing on his head or on his feet.

Then it dawned on him that the cellophane box was empty. He bent over, staring at the box. He looked
utterly relieved. He sank back in the stenographerтАЩs chair so loosely and so helplessly that the chair
upset, scooting out from under him and depositing him on the floor. He sat there on the floor like a man
who had been nearly knocked out.

Doc Savage walked into the office.

"It might be advisable for you to tell me why seeing that box excited you so," Doc said.



MORGAN stood up so straight that he seemed to lift an inch off the floor. He looked at the window as if
he wanted to jump out of it.

"Oh, hello," he said vaguely.

Doc Savage moved toward him, saying, "Mr. Morgan, I presume."