Page:Weird Tales Volume 4 Number 2 (1924-05-07).djvu/70

68 she wouldn't consider the man who loved her. Her silly heart fluttered after the unattainable. It was Peter she wanted and Peter hardly knew she was alive. He was engaged in planning his great gift to the world. He was blind to all else.

"I often saw Gladys puttering about the studio and I quickly saw the situation. Will shamelessly neglected his writing and hung about the studio to feast his eyes on Gladys. I tried to make her appear to him in all her defects but he was love blind.

"Peter was constantly in search of a model for his great gift. He insisted upon a certain type and turned many beautiful women away. He finally decided on an exotic creature, long and as graceful as a leopard. Her eyes were gray and almond shaped, dreaming like still mountain pools. She was stupid but she was given to long silences and did not betray herself. She posed in the nude for Peter and her body was the whitest I have ever seen. She looked almost transparent.

"Gladys, of course, became instantly jealous of Nina. She thought that because Peter chose her that he was in love with her. Nina came every day and stood on the model's throne and scintillated like a queen and Gladys was the little cat who looked and slunk about and did spiteful things behind Nina's back. Once I found her crying in the dressing room, where Nina kept her clothes, and when I asked her what was the matter, she spoke rudely and ran away.

"Peter's work progressed rapidly. He seemed consumed by inward fires. He would even phone Nina at three or four o'clock in the morning and insist that she come down and pose. Nina always came. She was afraid of him. His gift to the world was a mystery and always will remain one. He kept it under lock and key.

SHALL never forget the night when Peter came to me and told me that the great gift was ready for the world. He was the happiest man alive, poor Peter. I was very proud of him. He went back to the studio and found his great gift smashed into bits. The door had been forced open and a mallet and chisel had done its cruel work. I think Peter almost went mad. He was never the same afterward. It was reported that he died of heart failure but it was really his brain. He never suspected Gladys until I foolishly suggested her. When he became convinced, he started out to find her. She had already proven her guilt by dropping out of sight.

"Peter lived only for revenge. His great gift had meant more to him than his life and now, that it had been ruined, there was nothing left for him but to destroy the wanton destroyer. He combed the city from top to bottom. Gladys had most likely gone to some suburban town. Peter never found her. He took to his bed, worn out, a skeleton of his former self. I went and nursed him. He prayed for God to make him strong until he had ended his search.

"Will came just before he passed away. He held Will's hand and fixed him with his eyes.

Will,' he said. 'I'm dying but you must finish my search. You must avenge me. Promise that you will find Gladys Rogers and—'

"He did not need to finish it for poor Will understood. He shrank away but Peter's old will held him and made him give the promise. Then he passed beyond the door.

"After the funeral, Will told me that he was going to keep his promise. This time, he told me, he would not be weak and fail. It was my duty to prevent him and inform the police but I did not. I am a wicked woman, Mr. Willows. I had it in my power to save a human life and I let slip the chance.

"Will was gone for three months. I never heard a word from him during all that time and I was worried. I consulted my board but it told me nothing. I had not had communication with Peter since his death. That was worrying me too.

"On the night of June twenty-eight, you know the date, Peter came back. I was sitting in my room thinking of Will. Suddenly I felt Peter's long fingers clutch my arm and his voice asked me to call him back to earth. In obeying him, I was again dreadfully wicked. I don't know what made me so weak. It must have been my love for my boys.

"I called him back and I heard him come through my room, from my cabinet, and go out the door. I called him but he had gone. I began to cry for I knew he had returned for his revenge. I sank into a trance and knew nothing until the next day. And then I heard of the murder of Gladys Rogers."

"But nothing of this came up in court," I said "Why was it you did not testify?"

"Because Will forbade it. But I would have testified, in spite of Will, had I known what I know now."

"What do you know now?" I asked, for I saw that she was breathing heavily. I seemed to feel the ominous presence of the Reaper.

"I know now that Will did not kill Gladys. I know now that Peter did not kill her either. Gladys killed herself. Yes, don't interrupt. Will left this with me. I followed his instructions and did not open it until he was gone."

She held up, for me to see, a few hastily written pages.

"In this Will has written the truth. He kept it a secret to shield me. It is really my fault that Gladys Rogers killed herself. I called Peter back. You see, on the night of June twenty-eighth, Will found Gladys in the Grayson flat. He fully intended to kill her but his love for her and his weakness prevented him from plunging the knife. It was then that Peter was called back by me. He went and stood behind Will and Gladys saw his spirit form. Mad with fright, she pulled down Will's upraised arm, and stabbed her breast with the knife. It was this scene that the girl, in the flat next door, witnessed. Gladys died in Will's arms and Peter went back to the beyond. Through me, he had accomplished his end. I am the guilty one."

Her wasted face turned slowly on the pillow. I could almost see the black door closing.

"Of course, no one will believe the story. They always said Will was insane. My religion is not considered seriously. But I know that you will present it to the world, Mr. Willows, in the best way you know how, and we will let them judge for themselves. Thank you—it is—Ah, the door—Will, I'm coming—Peter—"

She smiled as the door closed behind her and Barlow came up and leaned over her.

"She was a wonderful woman," he said, shaking his old head.

"Yes, very wonderful," I agreed with him, as I rose to go.

I felt dazed when I gained the street and I walked for a long time and let the fog and wind blow against me. I then caught a car and rode to the office and banged this off on my typewriter and here it is. Take it or leave it. Laugh at it or scratch your head over it as I have done many times since.