"Two times nine is 18." "Three times nine is 27." "Four times nine is 36." "Come in, please." "Here we are, Mary." "I have a most painful matter to discuss with you, Mary." "Your sister." "Have you heard from her lately?" "No, Mrs. Lowood." "She doesn't write often." "Have you any other relatives, Mary?" " No." "Jacqueline brought me up." "Somehow I never felt I needed other relatives." "That makes it all the more difficult." "Difficult?" "Has anything happened to Jacqueline?" "We don't know, Mary." "We've been unable to get in touch with your sister." "Sometimes she can be quite careless." "Why don't you try Mrs. Redi?" " I've written repeatedly to Mrs. Redi." "She vouchsafes no information whatsoever." "It is six months, Mary, since your tuition has been paid." "Naturally, it's impossible for you to stay on here as a paying pupil." "Of course." " Miss Gilcrist and I have talked the matter over." "You can stay on here and work with the younger children as sort of an assistant teacher." "But, Mrs. Lowood, I can't just stay on here without knowing what's happened to my sister." "Maybe if I went to New York, if I saw Mrs. Redi myself..." "I doubt if you'll get anything out of that woman." "But if you'd like to try I'll advance the money to make the trip to New York." "Of course, my dear, if you don't find your sister you can always come back here." "Thank you." "Mary." "Don't come back." "No matter if you never find your sister." "No matter what happens to you." "Don't come back." "My parents died when I was a pupil." "I left as you are leaving." "But I didn't have courage." "One must have courage to really live in the world." "I came back." "Gilcrist." "Agnes, John Quincy Adams did not follow John Adams as president." "Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul" "As the swift seasons roll!" "Leave thy low-vaulted past!" "Let each new temple, Nobler than the last" "Shut thee from heaven With a dome more vast" "Till thou at length art free" "That's enough." "It seems all right, Joseph." "You see, we do keep up the quality of La Sagesse products in spite of Jacqueline's absence." "But you must know someone who has seen or heard of my sister." "I'm afraid not." "Your sister had many friends, but they were not my friends." "I was only the manager of her plant." "Mrs. Redi, there's one thing." "With Jacqueline gone, how do you carry on the business?" "What do you do with the receipts?" "How do you sign the checks?" "Why, Mary, I'm amazed." "Didn't Jacqueline tell you?" "She sold the business to me at least eight months ago." "It's my business now." " I didn't know that." "Yes, and I must say I've done quite well with it." "Perhaps even better than Jacqueline." "There's nothing you can think of?" "Old letters?" "Anything that might give me some hint as to where I might find Jacqueline?" "Leave your address." "If I find anything, I'll be in touch." "I'm stopping at the Chatsworth." " Thank you, my dear." "Why, Mary." "Hello, Frances." " How are you, honey?" "How's Miss Jacqueline?" " I don't know." "That's why I came to see Mrs. Redi." "I'm trying to find her." "You mean she's gone and you don't know where she is?" "Come here a minute." "I don't get this." "Miss Jacqueline's so crazy about you." "She always talked about you, and she had your picture in her office." "I know." "For the first time I'm beginning to feel frightened." "I almost feel as if I'd never known my sister." "Nothing's happened to her." "It's just I can't understand her not keeping in touch with you." "I can't understand it at all." " Well, don't worry about it." "I saw Miss Jacqueline myself about a week ago." "At a restaurant the boyfriend took me to." "A little Italian place down in the Village called the Dante." "The Dante?" " Yes, it's on Perry Street." "Why don't you ask the people who own the place?" "They'll remember Jacqueline." "Anybody who ever sees her never forgets her." "I'll try there." "I'm sorry to bother you." "I want to ask you about my sister." " Yes?" "I thought you might know her." "She was seen here about a week ago." "Her name is Jacqueline Gibson." "I don't know no Gibson." "This is a restaurant." "Many people come here." " She's very beautiful." "I wish I could tell you what she looks like." "I'm sure you'd remember her." "She's tall, with dark hair." "Once you'd seen my sister, you'd never forget her." "Maybe." " Let me look at you." "You could be her sister." " Yes." "Yes, if she made that much impression on you, I'm sure it was Jacqueline." "She hasn't been here for a long time." "But she was here?" " Oh, yes, yes." "One day a beautiful car comes here." "This beautiful woman in furs gets out." "There is a handsome man with her, and the chauffeur." "The lady rents one of our upstairs rooms and the chauffeur changes the lock on the doors." "Then the lady does not come back." "Not to live anyhow." "She came back three or four times." "But always alone." "Just to eat." "You mean she just came here, rented the room locked it and left?" " Yes, and pays the rent every month." "Could you let me see that room?" "If it is hers there might be something there to help me find my sister." "No, the rent is paid." "The lady asked us to promise." "I won't open the door." " Please." "It's important." "What did he say?" "He said he always wanted to see the inside of this room anyway." "I tell you, when a thing like this comes up you've got to go to the police." "What do you think people pay taxes for?" "It ain't just to keep us chasing after crooks and regulating traffic." "We're supposed to help everybody." "Now, you've got to go to the police about your sister, miss." "I've had some experience with the Bureau of Missing Persons..." "Yeah." "Well, Mr. Hoag lost persons are the concern of the Missing Persons Bureau." "You stick to your poetry." "You're the poet, Jason." "Well, in a way that makes everything my business, doesn't it?" "Were you going to make a suggestion?" " Yes." "I was going to ask you to look into your own heart." "Do you really want to find your sister?" "Oh, my Jason." "Always laughing, always joking to help others." "He's a good boy, miss." "He just talks that way." "I'm a good boy, but no one listens to what I say." "Now, you do what I tell you and go to the Missing Persons Bureau for your sister." "If you'll give me the address." " Certainly." "She was only 16." " Had she ever run away before?" "What did he have on when last seen?" " He went out without his hat or his coat." "It's very cold for such an old man." "Any identifying marks or characteristics?" "Scars, amputation, tattoo marks, speech impediments?" "No, none." "Sign here." "Any further details?" "She sold her business about eight months ago to Mrs. Esther Redi." "What relation are you to the missing person?" "Sister." "Sign here." "Excuse me." "I'm Irving August." "Private investigator." "I think I can help you." "Here's my card." "The name may not mean anything to you but say the word and I'll have her in 48 hours." "Can you?" " Look, sister." "Manhattan is only nine miles long and four and a half miles wide." "I ain't never been off it." "I know it like..." "Like you know your own back yard." "Now you just get me a small retainer, say, 50 bucks and I get your sister." "I guarantee it." " I haven't any money right now but I'll get a job and..." " Lady, this kind of work costs money." "I gotta cover all the hospitals, the morgue." "That's the first place you gotta go and it ain't pleasant, the morgue." "You know who I am, August?" " Sure, I do." "Then you know if I give you a little advice, it'll be good advice." "Yeah, sure." " That girl was looking for Jacqueline Gibson." "If I were you, I'd forget it." "Okay, Mr. Radeau." "It's forgot." "Hey, Danny, get me the file on Jacqueline Gibson, will you?" "Whom do you wish to see?" " Mr. Gregory Ward, please." "And what is it about, Miss Gibson?" " A personal matter." "I was given Mr. Ward's name." " May I ask who gave you his name?" "The morgue." "Do you feel all right?" "I feel like an idiot, fainting in a stranger's office." "We're not exactly strangers, Mary." "Jacqueline spoke about you often." "I suppose she told you about me." "No." "At the morgue, they told me a Mr. Gregory Ward had made inquiries about Jacqueline." " At the morgue?" "No wonder you fainted." "I wish you'd come to me first." " Then you know who Jacqueline is?" "But I'd give a great deal to know." "Why?" "I love your sister, Mary." "I love her very much." "It's easy to understand now, isn't it?" "A man would look for her anywhere, Mary." "There's something exciting and unforgettable about Jacqueline." "Something you never quite get hold of." "Something that keeps a man following after her." "Because I loved Jacqueline, I thought I knew her." "Today I found out such strange things." "Frightening things." "I saw a hangman's noose that Jacqueline had hanging, waiting." "Well, at least I can explain that." "Your sister had a feeling about life that it wasn't worth living unless one could end it." "I helped her get that room." " Weren't you afraid?" "Afraid she might commit suicide?" "People who commit suicide don't talk about it." "No, that room made her happy in some strange way I couldn't understand." "She lived in a world of her own fancy." "She didn't always tell the truth." "In fact, I'm afraid she didn't know what the truth was." "It's difficult to explain to a youngster." " I'm not a youngster." "I can understand." " Color's returning to your cheeks." "You look as if you were coming back to life." "Sure you didn't faint because you were hungry?" "You know, I didn't have lunch." " Well, it's nearly 6." "Time for dinner." "Thank you." "It was a lovely dinner." " Good." "But I feel guilty." "It doesn't seem right for me to enjoy myself with Jacqueline gone." "Look, you can't make looking for Jacqueline your life's work." "You've got to do other things." "Live, get some enjoyment out of life." "I hope you'll let me help you." " Thank you." "Good night." " Good night, Mary." "Miss Gibson, I've been waiting for you." "I want you to know I decided to take your case." "Mr. August, I'm not at all..." " Look, don't say a word." "I've taken an interest in you and I'm willing to help you." "I think I know where to find your sister." "Where?" " Wait a minute." "This has a lot of angles." "You've gotta take it easy." "Tell me, do you know a Mrs. Redi?" "Yes, she bought my sister's business." " That's what she told you." "I looked it up in the Hall of Records." "Your sister deeded her the business as an outright gift." " Why would Mrs. Redi lie to me?" "That's what I tried to find out." "I went to the La Sagesse used a phony health inspector's badge." "They let me go through the works." "All but one room." "That room was locked." "I'd like to see the inside of that room." " You think my sister is there?" "Can't tell." " Can we go there now?" "You can't just go breaking into places." "They got a night watchman and locks on the door." "If she's in there, it won't make any difference about warrants." "I want to go there." " I don't know if if I wanna go with you or not." "Which room is it?" "It's the last door at the end of this hall." "You scared?" "Yes." "Let's get out of here." " No." "You could go on, Mr. August." "You could open the door." "I'd stay right here." "It's only a little way, Mr. August." "We can't stand here all night." "You could go and open the door." "Mr. August, the night watchman." "The night watchman, he's in the salon." "Mr. August, what is it?" "What's the matter?" "Mr. August." "Do you know where you're going, lady?" "You've been to the end of the line and back again." "I hope you enjoyed the ride." "Please." "Please." "I want your help, please." "Those men, don't let them get out." "What's the matter now?" " One of them has been murdered." "What men?" "But they were there." "Oh, yeah?" "Extra!" "Murder, read all about it!" "Extra!" "Murder, read all about it!" "Extra!" "Murder, read all about it!" "Extra!" "Murder, read all about it!" "Thank you." "It's about another murder." "A woman on 52nd Street." "But you do believe me." "Well, the important thing is the police won't believe you." "I saw him on the floor." "He was cut here." "The blood was running out." "He was dead, I know it." "And then on the subway I saw him." "White." "With the men holding him up between them." "Yes, of course." "But the police would say you'd probably had a bad dream." "He was a kind little man in his way." "And I made him go down that hall into the darkness." "I made him do it." "Drink your milk." "I don't like to be ordered to do anything." "Oh, I'm sorry." "I didn't intend to treat you like a child." "But you have treated me that way." " I won't do it again." "We're friends." "I promise I'll never order you about again." "However, I won't say that I'll not take charge occasionally." "And I'm going to take charge right now." "I have a job for you." " A job?" "Remember you told me you're good with youngsters?" "Well, today I bumped into an old friend of mine, Mrs. Wheeler." "She runs a settlement house down in the Village." "She's looking for a kindergarten teacher." " I'd like that." "It's not much money, but it'd be enough to live on." "You'd move out of that hotel to a furnished room." "Maybe the Romaris would have a room." "They seem nice." "The people at the restaurant?" " Yes." "If you want, I have time to take you to see Mrs. Wheeler right now." "Yes, sir." "Mr. Ward will see you in just a few minutes." "Won't you wait, Dr. Judd?" " Thank you." "Dr. Judd?" "Are you Dr. Louis Judd?" " Yes." "I read your book in which you wrote about the cure for drinking." "You're not a dipsomaniac at your age?" " No, it's..." "It's my father." "I wanted to talk to you." "You wrote about cures." "I'm sorry, I don't practice anymore." "I find it easier to write about mental illness and leave the cure of it to others." "Yes, sir." "Mr. Ward is free now, doctor." "There are other psychiatrists who can help your father." "Dipsomania is rather sordid." "Thank you." "I've come from Jacqueline." "She needs money." "I thought you didn't know where she was." "I didn't." "She came to me a few days ago." "To put it delicately her care imposes a financial burden upon me." "She thought you might lighten that burden." "If she wants money from me, she can come to me herself." "I'm afraid she can't do that, Ward." "It would endanger her." " This is nonsense." "Unless I know where Jacqueline is and how she is I'm not going to give you any money." "You're a curious man." "You're willing to jeopardize her life in order to satisfy your own curiosity." "It's not just for myself I'm asking." "Her sister's here." "The kid's half crazy with anxiety." "As a man you distrust me." "Perhaps you can believe me as a physician." "Well, then I can tell you in addition to other dangers there's a danger of Jacqueline losing her sanity." "I would advise against you seeing her." " But why?" "She's been ill, erratic, but I've never known of anything like that." "You can believe me or not just as you choose." "How much does she want?" " She can use a hundred dollars." "I'll give you a check." " She can only use cash." "I haven't got that much in cash." " How much have you?" "About 45 dollars." "For the time being, I imagine that must do." "Thank you." "Tell me, how is Jacqueline?" " As beautiful as ever." "Tell me..." " She's nervous under the circumstances." "What circumstances?" "Mama, see, Miss Gibson helped me." "It's a table." " Beautiful." "We show it to Papa tonight." "Did Michelle eat her soup today?" " She's been an angel." "Mommy, wait for me." " Angelo, wait." "Well, Mary, aren't you the popular one." "You've a visitor again." "Mr. Ward?" " No, not this time." "It's a gentleman called Judd." "Dr. Judd." "Dr. Judd?" " Yes, Miss Gibson." "I've come to take you to your sister." "Don't be so amazed, it's a very ordinary matter." "I'm Jacqueline's physician." "Mr. Ward told me you were here." "Jacqueline sent me to bring you to her." " Then you know where she is?" "If I didn't know where she was, could I take you to her?" "Get your hat and coat." "We haven't much time." "It's amid marble splendors such as these that Jacqueline dwells." "One can take either staircase." "I prefer the left, the sinister side." "She's not here." "She's gone." "I don't know why she left." "She knows she shouldn't have." "She's left me to meet them alone." "I can't." "What makes you so nervous, Dr. Judd?" "Who are they?" "I can't stay here." "I'll have to leave you." "Jacqueline." "Is this her?" "No." "Where's Jacqueline Gibson?" " I don't know." "She was just here." "Where did she go?" " I tell you, I don't know." "You went out with her and don't know where she went?" "I don't know." "Why do you want Jacqueline?" "What right have you to question me?" "I have all the right in the world." "I'm Paul Radeau, a private investigator." "I've been hired to find your sister by her husband Gregory Ward." " Husband?" "What are you thinking of, Bella?" "Can I eat dry?" "Oh, the wine." "I have forgotten the wine." "Look, Mary, just because I kept a secret from you doesn't make a monster of me." "Please, I can't go on explaining things like this to your right ear." "Last night in this very restaurant, Mr. Jason Hoag paid a pretty compliment to my right ear." "Who the devil is he?" " A poet." "He's sitting right over there." "That's his table, the one at the feet of Dante." "Do you remember the first day you came to my office, frightened and broken up?" "And I asked you if Jacqueline had ever spoken about me to you?" "You said no." "Then how could I tell you we were married?" "And afterwards..." "I didn't tell you afterwards because there were so many things coming up to make me worry." "My beautiful one." "Why do you bring me wine when you yourself are so intoxicating?" "You're my favorite audience, Bella." "Why can't everyone be happy like we are?" "Laugh and have a good time?" "That poor little one, so sad because she can't find her sister." "And that man with her, he doesn't make her laugh." "Just sits and talks." "We are happy, Mrs. Romari, because you have everything and I have nothing to lose." "You should make her laugh, Jason." "Come, make jokes for her." "You could have told me you were Jacqueline's husband." "Things changed, Mary." "The reasons for finding Jacqueline changed." "I want to find her to settle things." "What things?" "Why?" "Why you two are so sad?" "Your food will not digest and your wine will sour." "You must laugh to eat well." "I've brought Jason to make you laugh." "Mr. Hoag, this is Mr. Ward." "Sit down." "I'll get the rest of your dinner." "I'm under orders to make you laugh." "In Mrs. Romari's mind, poetry and humor have some strange affinity which they don't have in fact." "She wants me to play the fool for you but suddenly, Miss Gibson, I feel as sad as you do." "Well, then I've spoiled your dinner." "Your food won't digest and your wine will sour." "You will have to make all the jokes, because I'm going to be serious." "I'm going to find your sister." "Shuffle the cards well, Natalie." "This is a trick of telepathy, not card manipulation." "Now pass the cards to me." "Gladys, will you hand the cards to Louis while I answer the door?" "Jason." "How nice to see you." " I have brought some friends, Natalie." "May we come to your party?" " Oh, of course, come in." "Now, all of you must remember the cards that you've selected." "Mrs. Cortez, Mary Gibson and Mr. Ward." " So nice to meet you." "The cards can't speak for themselves." "It's purely a matter of the mind." " You'll have to excuse me." "Mrs. Freeman, yours was the jack of spades." "Gladys, seven of diamonds." "Yours, Mrs. Gosden, the queen of hearts." " How do you ever do it, Louis?" "Hello, Jason." "Where is Jacqueline Gibson?" "What a peculiar question." " I saw you with her last week." "I knew you'd be here tonight." "Where is she?" "It's neither your business to ask nor mine to tell." "Wait." "Look over there." "Do you see that girl?" "That's Jacqueline's sister." "It's because of her that I ask." "Why come to me?" "Because there was another girl years ago." "A nice girl." "She lived in Barrow Street." "I saw her with you once." "I saw her with you twice." "Then I never saw her again." " She was my patient." "What was she to you?" "I don't think you'd understand if I told you." "I think I understand without your telling me." "I know something of your history, Jason." "I know you haven't written for 10 years." "I've lost the knack." "After that wonderful first book?" "After all the adulation and good reviews?" "I'd have given anything to have written that book." "You had all my admiration and respect once." "There you are." "Do you know any more card tricks?" "Hello, Ward." "My dear Miss Gibson." "Gibson?" "Are you Jacqueline's sister?" "Yes, do you..?" " Know her?" "My dear, we were intimate." "The times we used to have together." "I bet she never told you about that." "You're too young." "I'm afraid you don't understand." "Miss Gibson's sister is missing." "Missing?" "Well, no wonder." "When she took up with Louis Judd, she went out of circulation just like that." "My dear, have I said something?" "Too many people here." "Perhaps Jacqueline is lonely for me." "You see, Mary, I'm not quite a fool." "At least you knew about Dr. Judd." "Yes." " And you knew he'd be here." "Yes." "And now that I've shown you that I know that much, and can guess more will you trust me to look for Jacqueline?" "I want you to look for Jacqueline." "I'm a terrible failure, Mary." "A book clerk by day and a poet by night." "Not a very good one." "But if you'll trust me, at this one thing I won't fail." "I'll find your sister." "You have such lovely hands, Miss Gottschalk." "So slim and capable." "Mr. Hoag, I really shouldn't be doing this." "It's against the rules." "Why did you say you wanted them?" "I'd like to see what books my friends read so I'll know what to buy them." "Nothing nicer than a book for a gift." "Who was the first one?" "Mrs. Redi?" "P, Q, R..." "Yes, here it is." "And the other was Judd?" " Yes, Dr. Louis Judd." "He's here too." "Would it be asking too much for you to get me these books?" "No, not at all, Mr. Hoag." "Why, Mr. Hoag, most of these books are on the closed shelf." "You'll have to get permission." "I wouldn't want to take them out." "I'd like to look at them." "Well, since you're over 21." "Mimi." "Come in." "Well, what is it?" "A parallelogram with a split triangle in its very center." "I found out that Mrs. Redi reads the same books as Dr. Judd." "I don't think that's so revealing." " But who is Judd?" "A psychiatrist." "It's quite natural that he should read books on the history of old religious societies." "But why should Mrs. Redi, a woman with a beauty parlor?" "I don't know." " That's just it." "And this figure, she traced it." "The book I saw at the library had been marked "perfect" by the library inspector in March." "Mrs. Redi had it out in April, and no one else had read it since." "This figure is the symbol of the Palladists." "It's all clear to me now." "So clear." "I thought so, but just to be sure I'll tell you that the Palladists are a society of devil worshippers." " Devil worshippers?" "But, look, I'm serious." "It's a very real and earnest society." "A dangerous society." "I can imagine." "Sometime before those nice white gloves are dry you're going to go and find out a few things about this Mrs. Redi." "Is Mrs. Redi nice to work for?" "Oh, Redi's all right." "But there's only one Miss Jacqueline." "Mrs. Redi seems rather an odd woman to me." "She's really a pretty good sort." "What does she do with herself after business hours?" "It's always seemed to me that she was sort of lonely and unhappy." "Well, Mary, I guess most people are." "There, that's it." "In the old days, this would've been on the house." "The tip is anyhow." "Besides, I like to do your hair." "Thank you." "Do you know what this is, Frances?" "Why, I ought to." "Mrs. Redi's new trademark." "Of course, I should've known." "This figure's been puzzling me." "Hello, Mary." "It's nice to see you." "No news of Jacqueline?" " I'm afraid not." "Well, that's too bad." "What did she want?" "Nothing." "I just did her hair." "What were you talking about?" "Nothing." "Nothing?" "Why, that's absurd." "I heard you laughing and talking." "She was asking questions." "Oh, well, she was asking about you." "Whether it was nice to work for you or not." "And that was all?" "Well, she asked about the trademark." "What did she want to know?" " She showed me a drawing." "Oh, you fool." "Why, that symbol is us." "Us." "She was asking about us." "Mary?" " Yes." "This is Mrs. Redi, Mary." "Oh, I'll be out in a minute." "That won't be necessary." "I haven't much to say." "If I were you, Mary, I'd go back to school." "I'd make no further attempt to find Jacqueline." "I can't give up looking for her, Mrs. Redi." "No matter what you're hinting at." "I have no intention whatsoever of hinting." "Your sister, Mary, is a murderess." "She killed Irving August." "Stabbed him out of fright when he discovered where she was hiding." "I don't believe you." "I had to help get rid of the body." "You saw it on the subway." "And I warn you, Mary, go back." "You don't know what you're doing or what dreadful things you might bring about by looking for your sister." "You go back to school." "I'm sorry to be late, Natalie." "We haven't begun tea yet." "Hello, Frances." " Hello, Mrs. Redi." "How do you do?" " Mrs. Redi." "Won't you pour?" "I'm sorry, I'm nervous." "This is very trying for me." " I know." "You introduced Jacqueline to us." "But how could you tell?" " I should've known." "She had no sincerity, no real belief." "Miss Rowan, do you take cream?" "Please, Natalie, would you mind pouring?" "You shouldn't be nervous." "There's nothing personal or vengeful in what we are about to do." "We have only to make a decision." "But it can be such a horrible decision because we're all pledged to nonviolence." "Now, this..." " Our founder must have known when he wrote these seemingly contradictory rules." "The rule of nonviolence and the law that whoever betrays us must die." "He must have known." " But I don't understand it." "Some of us, Frances, must believe without understanding." "Yes, I suppose so." "I went back through the history last night." "I read about Johann Rozenquartz." "I read what he wrote about..." " I can quote it fully, Mrs. Redi." ""We will avoid violence." "For once undertaken, violence can become its own master and lead to either good or evil."" " But he also wrote..." "I can quote that too." ""Those who go out into the marketplaces and speak of us and give knowledge of our being and our deeds whomsoever doeth this shall die."" "I'm puzzled." "Since our order was founded six betrayals have been listed." "And six deaths as punishment." "And now there's Jacqueline." " Oh, but..." "But you can't do anything to her." "You mustn't hurt her." "But she betrayed us, Frances." " She didn't betray us." "She was only going to a doctor." "A psychiatrist." "She told him, Frances." "She told him about us." "I know this is difficult for you." "I know that you love her." " But she didn't betray us." "Even if I believed that, I would still consider her a very dangerous woman." "There is the matter of Irving August's death." "Without consulting me, Mrs. Redi was ill-advised enough to have the body removed by Leo and Durk." "This makes us all a party to the crime." "What if there's a trial?" "What if Jacqueline is asked about the removal of the body?" "Do you think, Frances, that she will keep silent?" "It is a real danger and one which forces our decision." "And Jacqueline's sister?" " I've taken care of Mary." "I've spoken to her, and she's going back to school." "Good." "Then it is decided." "Leo and Durk and I will complete our plans." "Mary." "This is wonderful, your coming here so unexpectedly." "It's almost like a wish come true." "I want to show you my room." "I want you to see all of it." "But it's a small room, Jason." "It's grown big with the years." "And my window, through which I see the world." "It's beautiful." "That searchlight and the stars." "Oh, that's not a searchlight." "It's a sword blade, cutting the blue cloak of a prince." "Not stars..." " Jason." "I'm going back to Highcliffe." "I've come to say goodbye." "But I thought your coming up here to the third floor to see me..." "Well, that it was your advent into my world." "It turns out to be goodbye." "Why?" "Please don't make me tell you, Jason." "I thought I was your friend, Mary." "Just goodbye isn't enough for a friend." "I had begun to write again." "That's what I was doing when you came in." "It's because of Jacqueline." "I can't go on looking for her." "You went to see Mrs. Redi." "She told you something." "What was it?" "Jacqueline's a murderess." "She killed a man." "You believe that?" " I have to." "It was Irving August." "Everything Mrs. Redi said, it fits in with what I saw." "She even knew that I'd seen his body on the subway." "But if it's true, then there's all the more reason for you to find Jacqueline." "And Gregory, he loves her." "He loves you, Mary." "You'll have to tell him." "He's Jacqueline's husband." "I can't." "But you've got to tell him, Mary." "Even if only for the practical reason that he's a lawyer and will know what to do." "I'm going to phone him." "Well, she's got to be found." "That's the first step." "She's got to be found so she can give herself up to the police." "But we've tried so long to find her." "Judd could tell us, if he would." "Do you think he knows about this?" " I don't know." "Well, he's clever, and he's cautious in his way." "I think if he knew he'd advise her to do what I want." "Surrender herself to the police and stand trial." "I don't think he knows." "We could tell him." "Could you find him?" " I suppose so." "I guess I could pick him up somewhere." "Jason I sometimes wonder." "You're so sweet to me." "So kind and sympathetic." "I don't know how I can ever thank you." "Thank me?" "You don't have to thank me." "What's that?" " Verse." "Verse I wrote." "Don't bother going up." "I can do this all night, Jason." "Watch." "Following me to find Jacqueline?" "Well, it won't work." "Love and understanding won't make a good detective out of a recalcitrant poet." "Actually, there are two favors I want to ask." "One as a poet, one as a detective." "Sounds strange." "I'm going to be very wary." "Some time ago, you spoke about my writing again." "I want your help." "I'd like you to bring this to your publisher." "This is curious, Jason." "Half the time you talk as if Shakespeare weren't fit to tie your shoelaces." "Now this sudden humility." "I should like people to read what I have written." "I hope it'll find as much favor as your other book." "But somehow I doubt it." "The time is out of tune." "Why not let your publisher judge that?" "Wait." "There's that other favor." "I'd forgotten." " Tell me where Jacqueline is." "We've got to find her." " You don't expect me to do that, do you?" "Yes, when I tell you." " Tell me what?" "You'll have good enough sense to tell us where she is when I tell you she's a murderess." "She killed a man." "Tell me, why this sudden desire to publish?" "To awaken like Byron and find yourself famous?" "I think it's time." " No other reason?" "No woman?" "Not the little Miss Gibson?" "Perhaps." "Wait a minute." "I'll call her." "Jacqueline, this is Judd." "Jacqueline." "Who is it?" " Judd." "I'm here with your sister." "Come on down." "Oh, Mary." "Jacqueline." "It's all right." "You're safe." "Nothing's going to hurt you." "Your husband seems very certain of that." " Yes." "I'm very certain there's only one way to help you, Jacqueline to protect you." "You've got to come with us." "Let me do all I can as a lawyer to straighten out Irving August's death." "You must come with us, darling." "Let us help you." "For me, this seems to be the end of a delightful relationship." "Here." "This will put some life into you." "It's like coming back to life." "It would be much easier, Jacqueline, if you told me exactly what happened." "I'd know what to do for you." "Please, Jacqueline." "You know about the Palladists." "You know who they are what they are." "I was one of them." "Jacqueline was always a sensationalist trying to seize onto something." "Anything to bring her happiness." "Through Mrs. Redi, she stumbled onto the Palladist movement." "It appealed to her." "I wasn't happy with them." "I wanted to break away." "I was miserable." "I went to Louis for help." "They felt that I'd betrayed them." "They wanted me to die." "Kill myself." "They kept me locked up at La Sagesse." "I was there such a long time." "Imagine the effect of such imprisonment on Jacqueline." "I was terrified." "The darkness in the corners of the room all the little noises." "Then one night the door opened." "A man came in." "Tiptoeing in." "I had a scissors in my hand." "I struck at him." "Don't." "We know what happened." "Don't go on." "Any court in the land would understand." "We'll wait a few days, let you rest, then we'll go to the police." "Why can't Jacqueline stay here with me for a few days?" "You'd like that, wouldn't you?" "There's my old friend." "The searchlight?" "Cyrano's sword." " That's a funny thing to call it." "I like it." "I've always loved the story." "A man knowing he couldn't have the woman he loved and wooing her for his friend." "We're friends, aren't we, Gregory?" "It's been a hard evening for both of you." "Perhaps you ought to take Jacqueline to your room, Mary." "Good night, Jacqueline." "Good night, Mary." " Good night." "This is no time to play Cyrano." "What was in your mind?" "I wanted to get things clear for Jacqueline." "To let her know." " To let her know what?" "That you love Mary." "She'll have to know sometime." "Not from me." "Not from Mary." "Goodbye, darling." "I'll only be gone until 3." "Bye." " lf you get lonely go down and see Mrs. Romari." "I told her you were staying with me." "I won't be lonely." "Yes, this is Mary." "But she couldn't have gone out." "No." "Are you sure it wasn't Jason she went with, or Mr. Ward?" "Two men?" "No." "I'll get home as soon as I can, Mr. Romari." "The acceptance of a secret is an obligation." "In this case, the obligation carried the necessity of dying if one betrayed that secret." "You understand that, don't you?" "Yes." "I understand it." "Then you also understand that you must die." "No." "You've spoken so often of ending it all." "I can't understand why this should be so difficult for you." "You have only to drink a little." " Yes, Jacqueline." "You were always talking suicide, of ending your life when you wanted to." "Yes." "When I wanted to." " It doesn't matter." "You want to now." "You should want to." "It is your obligation, your duty." "You have only to stretch out your hand, take up the glass and drink a little." "It won't hurt." "No, no, no." "You have a strange kind of courage, Jason." "Perhaps you have enough courage to hear what I've kept from you all these years." "That girl you loved that other patient of mine..." "She didn't disappear." "She's in an asylum." "A horrible, raving thing." "I never wanted you to know." "And all the while you've been my friend." "Please may I have a drink of water?" "I'm very thirsty." "Drink." "No." "There will be no water, and there'll be no rest." "You may as well drink." "No, no!" "If you like, I'll go with you to dinner." "I'd like that." " Jason." "I can't find Gregory." "I've been trying to find him." "What's wrong, Mary?" "Jacqueline." "Mr. Romari phoned me." "She went out this afternoon with two men he'd never seen before." "They may have been friends of hers." " No." "She wouldn't go with anyone unless compelled." "These months of hiding have made her frightened of the streets and people." "I wonder..." " What?" "They may have found her." "Would they hurt her?" "I don't know." "You'd better go up to your room and wait for us, Mary." "Go ahead, Jacqueline." "Go ahead." "It is late." "Drink it, Jacqueline." "There's nothing else for you to do." "They say you've got to die." "Drink it, Jacqueline!" "You've got to!" "I can't stand this!" "No." "No, I can't let you die!" "The only time I was ever happy was when I was working with you." "You were always so good to me." "You may go now, Jacqueline." "The decision was against violence, but there'll be another decision." "Today, tomorrow we'll find you, but now you may go." "I told you you could go." "Please help me." "There's a man following me." "I shouldn't wonder, babe." " I'm serious." "Help me." "I'll help you to a beer and a sandwich." "Come along, babe." "Come along." "Who are you?" "I'm Mimi." "I'm dying." " No." "Yes." "I've been quiet." "Oh, ever so quiet." "I hardly move." "And yet it keeps coming all the time, closer and closer." "And I rest and I rest and still I'm dying." "And you don't wanna die?" "I've always wanted to die." "Always." " I'm afraid." "And I'm tired of being afraid." "Of waiting." "Why wait?" " I'm not going to wait." "I'm going out, and I'm going to laugh and dance and do all the things I used to do." " And then?" "I don't know." "You will die." "Now that you've hounded and worried her you don't even know where she is." "At least tell me, has she been here?" "Yes." "She left here an hour ago." "She may even be home by now." "Why don't you try it?" "All right, Jason." "The devil worshippers." "The lovers of evil." "It's a joke." "Pathetic little joke." "We haven't asked your opinion." "I propose to give it to you anyway." "You're a poor, wretched group of people who have taken the wrong turning." "Wrong?" "Who knows what is wrong or right?" "If I prefer to believe in satanic majesty and power, who can deny me?" "What proof could you bring that good is superior to evil?" "It's hard to put into words, but you're wrong." "One proof." "I'll prove you wrong." "This afternoon Jason and I were talking together and I remembered certain phrases from childhood." "Simple half-forgotten words." "It was the Lord's Prayer." "I'm a physician yet not I nor any of my colleagues, no matter how learned have ever found a substitute for those words as a rule for human relationship." "You might remember them." "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." "There's a sentence for you people from that same prayer:" "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." "All right, thank you very much." "That was Dr. Judd, Mary." "He phoned to say Jacqueline's on her way here." "Gregory." " Yes?" "You better take Jacqueline with you tonight." "That's what I should have done yesterday." "I'll take her away someplace where she can rest." "Mary." "No, stay nearby." "I want to talk to you." "I love you." "You know that." " Yes." "I've never loved anyone before, Gregory." "And I do love you." "You must know that." "But Jacqueline's my sister whom I'd lost and found again." "I know." "I shouldn't have told you." " No, I'm glad." "At least I've heard you say it." "I run to death  and death meets me as fast." "And all my pleasures are like yesterday."