Fire-Tongue by Sax Rohmer (i wanna iguana read aloud .TXT) ๐
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- Author: Sax Rohmer
Read book online ยซFire-Tongue by Sax Rohmer (i wanna iguana read aloud .TXT) ๐ยป. Author - Sax Rohmer
The butler, an excellently trained servant, went about his work with quiet efficiency, and once Harley heard him mutter rapid instructions to the surly parlourmaid, who hovered disdainfully in the background. When again host and guest found themselves alone: โI donโt in any way distrust the servants,โ explained Sir Charles, โbut one cannot hope to prevent gossip.โ He raised his serviette to his lips and almost immediately resumed: โI was about to tell you, Mr. Harley, about my daughterโsโโ
He paused and cleared his throat, then, hastily pouring out a glass of water, he drank a sip or two and Paul Harley noticed that his hand was shaking nervously. He thought of the photograph in the library, and now, in this reference to a distinguished Oriental gentleman, he suddenly perceived the possible drift of the conversation.
This was the point to which Sir Charles evidently experienced such difficulty in coming. It was something which concerned his daughter; and, mentally visualizing the pure oval face and taunting eyes of the library photograph, Harley found it impossible to believe that the evil which threatened Sir Charles could possibly be associated in any way with Phyllis Abingdon.
Yet, if the revelation which he had to make must be held responsible for his present condition, then truly it was a dreadful one. No longer able to conceal his concern, Harley stood up. โIf the story distresses you so keenly, Sir Charles,โ he said, โI begโโ
Sir Charles waved his hand reassuringly. โA mere nothing. It will pass,โ he whispered.
โBut I fear,โ continued Harley, โthatโโ
He ceased abruptly, and ran to his hostโs assistance, for the latter, evidently enough, was in the throes of some sudden illness or seizure. His fresh-coloured face was growing positively livid, and he plucked at the edge of the table with twitching fingers. As Harley reached his side he made a sudden effort to stand up, throwing out his arm to grasp the otherโs shoulder.
โBenson!โ cried Harley, loudly. โQuick! Your master is ill!โ
There came a sound of swift footsteps and the door was thrown open.
โToo late,โ whispered Sir Charles in a choking voice. He began to clutch his throat as Benson hurried into the room.
โMy God!โ whispered Harley. โHe is dying!โ
Indeed, the truth was all too apparent. Sir Charles Abingdon was almost past speech. He was glaring across the table as though he saw some ghastly apparition there. And now with appalling suddenness he became as a dead weight in Harleyโs supporting grasp. Raspingly, as if forced in agony from his lips:
โFire-Tongue,โ he said... โNicol Brinn...โ
Benson, white and terror-stricken, bent over him.
โSir Charles!โ he kept muttering. โSir Charles! What is the matter, sir?โ
A stifled shriek sounded from the doorway, and in tottered Mrs. Howett, the old housekeeper, with other servants peering over her shoulder into that warmly lighted dining room where Sir Charles Abingdon lay huddled in his own chairโdead.
CHAPTER III. SHADOWS
โHad you reason to suspect any cardiac trouble, Doctor McMurdoch?โ asked Harley.
Doctor McMurdoch, a local practitioner who had been a friend of Sir Charles Abingdon, shook his head slowly. He was a tall, preternaturally thin Scotsman, clean-shaven, with shaggy dark brows and a most gloomy expression in his deep-set eyes. While the presence of his sepulchral figure seemed appropriate enough in that stricken house, Harley could not help thinking that it must have been far from reassuring in a sick room.
โI had never actually detected anything of the kind,โ replied the physician, and his deep voice was gloomily in keeping with his personality. โI had observed a certain breathlessness at times, however. No doubt it is one of those cases of unsuspected endocarditis. Acute. I take it,โ raising his shaggy brows interrogatively, โthat nothing had occurred to excite Sir Charles?โ
โOn the contrary,โ replied Harley, โhe was highly distressed about some family trouble, the nature of which he was about to confide to me when this sudden illness seized him.โ
He stared hard at Doctor McMurdoch, wondering how much he might hope to learn from him respecting the affairs of Sir Charles. It seemed almost impertinent at that hour to seek to pry into the dead manโs private life.
To the quiet, book-lined apartment stole now and again little significant sounds which told of the tragedy in the household. Sometimes when a distant door was opened, it would be the sobs of a weeping woman, for the poor old housekeeper had been quite prostrated by the blow. Or ghostly movements would become audible from the room immediately over the libraryโthe room to which the dead man had been carried; muffled footsteps, vague stirrings of furniture; each sound laden with its own peculiar portent, awakening the imagination which all too readily filled in the details of the scene above. Then, to spur Harley to action, came the thought that Sir Charles Abingdon had appealed to him for aid. Did his need terminate with his unexpected death or would the shadow under which he had died extend now? Harley found himself staring across the library at the photograph of Phil Abingdon. It was of her that Sir Charles had been speaking when that mysterious seizure had tied his tongue. That strange, fatal illness, mused Harley, all the more strange in the case of a man supposedly in robust healthโit almost seemed like the working of a malignant will. For the revelation, whatever its nature, had almost but not quite been made in Harleyโs office that evening. Something, some embarrassment or mental disability, had stopped Sir Charles from completing his statement. Tonight death had stopped him.
โWas he consulting you professionally, Mr. Harley?โ asked the physician.
โHe was,โ replied Harley, continuing to stare fascinatedly at the photograph on the mantelpiece. โI am informed,โ said he, abruptly, โthat Miss Abingdon is out of town?โ
Doctor McMurdoch nodded in his slow, gloomy fashion. โShe is staying in Devonshire with poor Abingdonโs sister,โ he answered. โI am wondering how we are going to break the news to her.โ
Perceiving that Doctor McMurdoch had clearly been intimate with the late Sir Charles, Harley determined to make use of this opportunity to endeavour to fathom the mystery of the late surgeonโs fears. โYou will not misunderstand me, Doctor McMurdoch,โ he said, โif I venture to ask you one or two rather personal questions respecting Miss Abingdon?โ
Doctor McMurdoch lowered his shaggy brows and looked gloomily at the speaker. โMr. Harley,โ he replied, โI know you by repute for a man of integrity. But before I answer your questions will you answer one of mine?โ
โCertainly.โ
โThen
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