Prev | Current Page 302 | Next

Rohmer, Sax, 1883-1959

"The Yellow Claw"

Of the shrewd Scotsman she had formed the poorest
opinion; and indeed she never had been known to express admiration for,
or even the slightest confidence in, any man breathing. The amiable M.
Gaston possessed virtues which appealed to her, but whilst she admitted
that his conversation was entertaining and his general behavior good,
she always spoke with the utmost contempt of his sartorial splendor.
Now, with the days and the weeks slipping by, and with the spectacle
before her of poor Leroux, a mere shadow of his former self, with the
case, so far as she could perceive, at a standstill, and with the police
(she firmly believed) doing "absolutely... nothing... whatever"--Denise
Ryland recognized that what was lacking in the investigation was that
intuition and wit which only a clever woman could bring to bear upon it,
and of which she, in particular, possessed an unlimited reserve.
The car sped on toward the purer atmosphere of the riverside, and even
the clouds of dust, which periodically enveloped them, with the passing
of each motor-'bus, and which at the commencement of the drive had
inspired her to several notable and syncopated outbursts, now left her
unmoved.
She thought that at last she perceived the secret working of that
Providence which ever dances attendance at the elbow of accomplished
womankind.


Pages:
290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314