Page:Arthur Stringer--The House of Intrigue.djvu/137

Rh and draping the lilac-red curtains and switching out most of the electrics.

I looked up, with a sharp word of warning. For I intended to have at least a couple of those bulbs left on, if Miss Ledwidge felt sure it wouldn't break the firm. For it seemed very still and shadowy in that big room. It made me feel creepy.

Then I suddenly remembered something, and sat straight up in that bed. I had forgotten all about the Cupids and crests and lace-bordered sheets.

"My God!" I gasped. "That woman died in this bed not twenty minutes ago!"

And I started to climb out.

"Hush!" warned the nurse, as she tried to hold me back.

"Do you s'pose I'm going to lie right where that dead woman must have been?" I shrilled out at her. "Not on your life! Not for all the money on Manhattan Island! Not for—"

"Hsssssssh! broke in the nurse again. And I think her face must have looked as frightened as mine. "That woman didn't die in this bed!"

"Then where did she?" I demanded.

"When I give you my word of honor that no woman died in this bed, will you believe me?" asked Miss Ledwidge. She was in deadly earnest, and