CHAPTER   28.

THE SOUNDS THE WEEPING WOMEN made grated on the nerves.

Thone said, so low he could scarcely be heard at all, “And we still don’t know how …” He linked his fingers, elbows on the chair. He looked boldly at Kelly. “What, out of all this stuff, do you believe?”

Kelly said, above the womanish noise, “Nobody can hang on what I’ve got. Not till I fill it in. But I’ll fill it in.”

Gene bounced to his feet. “Mandy, you come home! The policemen can handle it. You come away from this double-crossing louse!”

“What?” said Mandy. She stirred. She pushed at the blanket. She moved her feet. Her mother’s body was still in the way.

Kate said, “Mandy, darling, we’re going to take you home now.”

“Oh, not now,” said Mandy. The other women left off weeping as she raised her head. She was dizzy, suddenly. Her face went white. She felt very rocky, trying to sit up. But she batted the doctor’s hand away. Her stockinged foot, the slipperless one, nudged at Kate’s haunches.

“Go home,” said Thone.

Half up, she stared at him. His face was as white as hers. “Why?” she said. She could feel Kate’s angry doubt and Gene’s conviction, Fanny’s despair, all answering why.

“Because, for all you know, she’s right.” Thone stated it quietly.

Color was coming back to her cheeks. Her mouth began the sweet curve of her smile. “I know more than you think,” said Mandy mischievously.

Thone’s face changed like magic. The mask fell off. Mandy looked away. Her heart was singing. She got her feet to the floor, kicked off her other shoe, and curled up her toes. “Boy, she sure is a wily customer,” said Mandy, and grinned at the policeman. “But we can put up quite a long story, too, you know, and just as fancy.”

“We …” Thone choked.

Mandy said with bubbling cheer. “Fanny Austin, you funny old thing. What makes you think he’d be that slimy?”

“But he was glad,” mourned Fanny, “about Tobias. He was glad!”

“Shouldn’t we be?” said Mandy, more soberly. “Do you think he’d enjoy these goings on?”

Fanny lifted her head.

Mandy said, “It’s all very well to horse around. After all, I’m alive, so that’s O.K. But what about her? What about Belle? Darn it, we didn’t get it! We still don’t know how …” Her eyes slid past Ione as if she weren’t there. “Although … Mr. Kelly, you do believe Thone changed those glasses? Fanny’s an honest witness. You can say to yourself, that’s true?” The Lieutenant was forced to nod. “Now, I did get doped. You can admit that, can’t you? So if only we could prove his father changed them back … As far as all the rest of it goes, why, she had her chance, exactly as well as Thone, or even better. So it depends which drink I got. If I drank the one she fixed for me and the one Thone tried to keep me from getting, well? That sorts things out, wouldn’t you say?”

“I guess you’re right at that,” said Kelly with sudden heartiness. “Any chance, Doc?”

The doctor went out to the hall. He came back looking almost nettled with surprise. “He’s conscious,” he said. “That is, as far as we can tell. He can’t speak, you know. Whether he can hear or understand, I don’t venture …”

“If he could answer just one question,” said Amanda, vivid with hope, “it would make the difference.”

“One question,” said Kelly, hopeful himself. “Would it hurt to try?”

The doctor looked at Mandy rather tenderly. “If he can’t be reached, can’t hear, why, no harm. If he can, one question …” He settled his shoulders. “Perhaps, under these circumstances, it’s up to his—family.”

Thone looked at Ione and she at him.

“Don’t—” she began and bit her lip.

“Shall we try?” said Thone. His face had thawed. It sparkled in mocking challenge.

“Oh, poor Toby,” she murmured, voice distressed, eyes crafty. “But of course we must try.”

As they got up to move stiffly out of this seated pattern, Mandy and Thone were wafted as if a current bore them toward each other until their shoulders touched. Gene pushed past Kate and caught Amanda’s arm.

“I’m sorry, honey,” he said. “You could be right. You know more about it than I do. Sorry.” He glanced at Thone. “But, God Almighty, Mandy, when I saw you lying in there and I thought there was blood all over …”

“Blood?” said Thone stupidly.

Mandy was looking straight into Gene’s eyes. “I know,” he said, “it’s just one of those things. Don’t tell me how fond of me you are. I know that. I know.”

“But I thank you,” said Mandy. Her fingers went slipping under Thone’s arm and suddenly, convulsively, he squeezed them to his side.