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Authors: Dorothy Cannell
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against a wall like a sack of flour. “If I try to hoist her into a chair I’ll give myself a hernia—a double.”
I’ll wring his neck! But if I moved my arms the chenille would go completely. The only way to get even would be to report him to E.E. Another voice spoke, a foggy, barking, inhuman voice.
“What do you want from me—sympathy? Said she was your girl, didn’t you? A man who takes on a woman twice his size should at least have muscles where his brain is supposed to be. Stop blithering around like a daffodil in the wind and bring her to her senses, if she has any. Douse her down with that pail by the sink. Looks like she’s been meddling around in here disrupting the natural disorder. Damned interference.”
The bleach! I had always wanted to be a blonde but not by such drastic measures. “Oh no, you don’t!” My eyes flew open like a pair of window blinds. I shook myself free from Ben’s grasp; flaying out with my fists I had the satisfaction of catcning him a good one on the chin. “Fool!” I yelled, scrambling to my feet. “Drop that bucket and we’ll have a hole in the floor that goes clear through to Australia.” I turnedand waved a furious schoolmistress finger at the scraggy figure in white. “Okay, you nasty Wee Willie Winkie, why don’t you go off somewhere and chew on your tassel! I may not be a thing of beauty but look at you in that ridiculous headgear!”
Ben had developed a frantic twitch in one eye but I ignored him. I was incapable of thinking clearly, let alone deciphering optical Morse code. “Who the hell do you think you are?” I asked the scrawny spectre. “Leaping uninvited out of pantries in the middle of the night!”
He emitted a mirthless chuckle, baring glossy pink, toothless gums, then hissed out an evil whisper. “Don’t you recognize me, my little pudding cheeks, naughty, naughty! You’re going to make an old man cry. Great fool! I’m your host, Giselle, your dear, loving uncle Merlin.”
“Isn’t this chummy,” smirked Ben into the raucous silence. “Mr. Grantham was telling me while you were in the midst of your swoon that he often feels peckish in the middle of the night, and comes down for a snack by means of the dumb-waiter. I heard your screams of terror through my bedroom floor and came down to investigate, by the rather unimaginative means of the stairs.”
“I didn’t faint.” I glared at them both. “I tripped. Perhaps I passed out later, when my head hit the floor, but that’s not the same thing.” I gave the chenille an upward tug. “And just suppose I have made a great fool of myself. If you had one ounce of decency, Uncle Merlin, you would accept some responsibility. I’m not used to seeing men shuffling around in the gloom of night decked out in white night-shirts and pixie hoods.”
“Huh! Not used to seeing men in the middle of the night in any guise more like. Unless … have you told this London bloke that you are coming in for my money? Bark up another tree, girl! This night-cap keeps the body heat from escaping through the head while sleeping. Can’t afford those electrical heating gadgets, especially tonight. One of my blood relations might sneak in and jimmy the wires.”
“About that nocturnal snack,” suggested Ben, over inspecting the cooker, “Mr. Grantham, would you likeme to whip you up a little something? Eggs Benedict, perhaps?”
“Ah, now I see it,” wheezed dear old Uncle. “You’re one of those, are you? Meet a lot of butterfly boys, do you, Ellie, in the decorating business?”
What a detestable sick-minded old man. I made a move for the door then thought better of retreat. I wasn’t going to leave him gloating over his victory. “Do you know something? I think it’s a good thing you have stayed holed up here all these years. The outside world is too good for you.”
Uncle Merlin was seated in a chair and didn’t move. For one rather scary moment I thought I had shocked him to death, and
I’ll wring his neck! But if I moved my arms the chenille would go completely. The only way to get even would be to report him to E.E. Another voice spoke, a foggy, barking, inhuman voice.
“What do you want from me—sympathy? Said she was your girl, didn’t you? A man who takes on a woman twice his size should at least have muscles where his brain is supposed to be. Stop blithering around like a daffodil in the wind and bring her to her senses, if she has any. Douse her down with that pail by the sink. Looks like she’s been meddling around in here disrupting the natural disorder. Damned interference.”
The bleach! I had always wanted to be a blonde but not by such drastic measures. “Oh no, you don’t!” My eyes flew open like a pair of window blinds. I shook myself free from Ben’s grasp; flaying out with my fists I had the satisfaction of catcning him a good one on the chin. “Fool!” I yelled, scrambling to my feet. “Drop that bucket and we’ll have a hole in the floor that goes clear through to Australia.” I turnedand waved a furious schoolmistress finger at the scraggy figure in white. “Okay, you nasty Wee Willie Winkie, why don’t you go off somewhere and chew on your tassel! I may not be a thing of beauty but look at you in that ridiculous headgear!”
Ben had developed a frantic twitch in one eye but I ignored him. I was incapable of thinking clearly, let alone deciphering optical Morse code. “Who the hell do you think you are?” I asked the scrawny spectre. “Leaping uninvited out of pantries in the middle of the night!”
He emitted a mirthless chuckle, baring glossy pink, toothless gums, then hissed out an evil whisper. “Don’t you recognize me, my little pudding cheeks, naughty, naughty! You’re going to make an old man cry. Great fool! I’m your host, Giselle, your dear, loving uncle Merlin.”
“Isn’t this chummy,” smirked Ben into the raucous silence. “Mr. Grantham was telling me while you were in the midst of your swoon that he often feels peckish in the middle of the night, and comes down for a snack by means of the dumb-waiter. I heard your screams of terror through my bedroom floor and came down to investigate, by the rather unimaginative means of the stairs.”
“I didn’t faint.” I glared at them both. “I tripped. Perhaps I passed out later, when my head hit the floor, but that’s not the same thing.” I gave the chenille an upward tug. “And just suppose I have made a great fool of myself. If you had one ounce of decency, Uncle Merlin, you would accept some responsibility. I’m not used to seeing men shuffling around in the gloom of night decked out in white night-shirts and pixie hoods.”
“Huh! Not used to seeing men in the middle of the night in any guise more like. Unless … have you told this London bloke that you are coming in for my money? Bark up another tree, girl! This night-cap keeps the body heat from escaping through the head while sleeping. Can’t afford those electrical heating gadgets, especially tonight. One of my blood relations might sneak in and jimmy the wires.”
“About that nocturnal snack,” suggested Ben, over inspecting the cooker, “Mr. Grantham, would you likeme to whip you up a little something? Eggs Benedict, perhaps?”
“Ah, now I see it,” wheezed dear old Uncle. “You’re one of those, are you? Meet a lot of butterfly boys, do you, Ellie, in the decorating business?”
What a detestable sick-minded old man. I made a move for the door then thought better of retreat. I wasn’t going to leave him gloating over his victory. “Do you know something? I think it’s a good thing you have stayed holed up here all these years. The outside world is too good for you.”
Uncle Merlin was seated in a chair and didn’t move. For one rather scary moment I thought I had shocked him to death, and
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