Chapter XIII
WINNITE
Dorothy looked up and smiled carelessly at the man. "You're very polite,Mr. Lawson. Perhaps it isn't my place to say it to a man old enough tobe my father--but eavesdroppers rarely hear good of themselves."
Martin Lawson, who prided himself upon his youthful appearance, grewangrier than ever. "I--I won't stand for such outrageous libel," hethundered. "I've always treated you as though you were my own--well,daughter, if you like."
"I _don't_ like it, Mr. Lawson--but that doesn't make any difference,"Dorothy's tone was one of pained acceptance. "If you listened longenough, you will know that I didn't bring this matter up myself. Mrs.Lawson was asking questions and I was trying to answer them, that's all.If you prefer it, I'll say that it was the wind whistling outside thewindows that made me afraid." She looked over at Mrs. Lawson, who waswatching them through half shut eyes, as though to say, "--youunderstand, of course--anything for peace."
Martin Lawson intercepted the glance and became even more furious, ifthat were possible. "You--you little viper!" he snarled. "Laura, don'tyou believe a word of it. The whole thing's her own invention--a pack oflies!"
"A silly schoolgirl fancy, if you like, Martin." Laura Lawson's tone wasexpressionless. "But I can understand it just the same. Yes, I canunderstand it."
"What do you mean--you understand it?"
"I was a girl once myself," she replied in the same colorless tone. "Andthen, you see, I know you very, very well."
"Oh, you do, do you?"
"He's off again," sighed Dorothy, but quite to herself.
"And you have the nerve to insinuate--?" the angry man went on, besidehimself with rage. "You know as well as I do, Laura, that this girl wasafraid because of what she saw and heard at the meeting. She--"
"That will be quite enough, Martin." His wife interrupted him sharply."And what is more--you probably have not noticed that since Janet hasbeen here and with other people, she is very much herself--and afraid ofnothing at all."
"What meeting is he talking about, Mrs. Lawson?" Dorothy pointedlyignored the angry husband.
Mrs. Lawson stood up. "Never mind that now," she decreed, albeitpleasantly. "Come along with me to my office. I have some typing I'dlike you to do for me before luncheon. Martin!" She swung round on herhusband. "You will wait here for me. I'll be back in a few minutes--Iwant to talk to you." She slipped her arm through Dorothy's and drew herfrom the room.
Once in the entrance hall, she led her back and under the gallery to acorridor which opened at the right of the broad stairs. Dorothy saw thatthere were several doors in the right hand wall. Mrs. Lawson stopped atthe second of these and opened it.
They walked in and Dorothy saw that they were in the office. It seemedvery businesslike and austere after coming from the luxury of thelibrary and spacious hall. Near the one window stood a broad table desk,and opposite that a typewriter desk. Two steel filing cabinets and threeplain chairs completed the room's furnishings. The walls were hung withframed blueprints and a large-scale map of Fairfield County,Connecticut.
Mrs. Lawson took some papers from a drawer in the large desk and handedthem to Dorothy. "This is in longhand, as you see," she explained,"please type it, double space, and I'd like to have a carbon copy." Sheglanced at a small wrist-watch set with diamonds. "It is just noon now.Luncheon is at one. Do you think you can finish the work by that time?"
Dorothy glanced at the manuscript. "This won't make more than fourtypewritten sheets. I can do it easily in an hour and have time tospare."
"Good!" The older woman patted her lightly on the shoulder. "Take yourtime about it. Do you think you can read my handwriting?"
"Nothing could be plainer, Mrs. Lawson." Dorothy smiled back at her.
"Very well, then. I'll see you at lunch. The dining room is across thehall from the library."
At the door, she stopped and turned as though she had just rememberedsomething.
"Don't let what my husband said bother you, Janet."
"That's forgotten already," Dorothy said easily.
"Like most men, he flies off the handle when irritated. Pay no attentionto it."
"I understand."
Mrs. Lawson hesitated for the fraction of a second. "By the way, Janet,"she remarked. "When was the last time you walked in your sleep--that youfound your slippers pointed toward your bed in the morning?"
Dorothy pretended to think. "Let me see," she said slowly. "Yes--it wasthe night before Daddy locked me in my room! I found that I couldn't getout in the morning, and naturally, I wanted to know the reason why. Istill do, for that matter. Except for some foolishness about my beingill, I'm still waiting for an explanation. As a matter of fact, I wasperfectly well. I'm terribly annoyed, of course, and it worries me tothink that Daddy should act this way, but so far as my health goes, I'venever felt better."
"I'm glad to hear it, dear. We'll check up on your father when hereturns. I'm your friend, you know. Don't let the matter prey on yourmind."
"Thank you, Mrs. Lawson. I'll try to do as you say." Dorothy thought shewas going then, but it seemed that the woman had still another questionthat she had been holding back.
"When you are in this somnambulistic state," she said, "when you aresleepwalking, I mean, doesn't it terrify you to awaken and find yourselfout of your bed?"
Dorothy frowned and seemed puzzled. "Perhaps it would," she admitted."But then, you see, I can't remember ever wakening while I was walkingduring the night. I must sleep very soundly. At school the nightwatchman or one of the teachers would frequently find me walking aboutthe building. They would lead me back to bed, or just tell me to gothere, and I would always obey. Until they told me about it next day, Iknew nothing of course. That's how I got onto the business of theslippers, you see."
"Oh, yes. I wondered how you'd been able to check on it. Well, I musttrot along now and let you get to work. Until luncheon then, my dear."
She was gone at last and Dorothy made a face at the closed door. "Of allthe plausible hypocrites I've ever met," she muttered, "you certainlytake the well known chocolate cake!"
She sat down at the typewriter desk, pulled out the machine, and slippedin two sheets of paper and a carbon that she found in one of thedrawers. Halfway through a perusal of Mrs. Lawson's first page, shelooked up. The door opened quickly and Mr. Tunbridge came into the room.
"I've just a moment," he prefaced hurriedly. "They mustn't find me here.What was the row in the library?"
Dorothy explained briefly.
"Fine! Put you through the hoops, eh? I had a good idea she would dosomething of the kind. You came out of a difficult situation with flyingcolors, I take it. But be careful about run-ins with Lawson. He's aslick article--in fact, the two of them are a pair of the slickestarticles it's ever been my misfortune to run across. And they're goingit hammer and tongs in the library right now. I was a bit worried aboutyou, that's why I took this chance."
"When do I get my instructions for tonight?"
"Late this afternoon, probably. I'll get them to you somehow."
"Thanks. And here's something else. This script I'm going to type forMrs. L. has to do with the properties of a highly explosive gas whichseems to burn up everything it comes in contact with and lets off fumesof deadly poison while it's doing that! Shall I make a copy for you?"
"Please do!" His hand rested on the doorknob. "Yes, it's important thatwe have a copy. That's the stuff Doctor Winn has just invented, withouta doubt."
"Awful!" exclaimed Dorothy. "Just think what would happen if that wereused in a war!"
"That's the government's business, Miss Dixon."
"'Ours but to do--and die--'" she quoted and her tone was deadlyserious.
"Quite right. But make the carbon copy just the same--and don't let themcatch you at it."
"I won't, Mr. Tunbridge."
"Bye-bye, then. I'll get along now. There may be some home truthsfloating out of the
library that will give me extra dope on thedu-Val--Lawson pair."
The door closed, and after slipping an extra carbon and a sheet of verythin copy paper into the typewriter, Dorothy read Mrs. Lawson's treatiseon "Winnite and Its Properties" from start to finish.
"Horrible!" she murmured, as she finished reading. "Simply horrible!"Again her eyes sought the last paragraph. "The effect is easilyestimated of an airplane dropping a single bomb filled with theexplosive, inflammable and deadly poison gas, Winnite, upon ManhattanIsland, for instance: the bomb would explode upon detonation and withinan inconceivably short space of time, not only would the City of GreaterNew York be in flames, but every living thing within that area would bedead from the poison fumes. This includes not only human, animal andinsect life, but all vegetable matter as well."
Dorothy sighed. "And I am supposed to help keep this terrible stuff fromthe hands of thieves so that our government may use it in time of war.Well--we'll see--and that's not that by a long shot!"
She put down the manuscript and began to type it.