Mystery Of The Sea Horse Read Online Free PDF Page A

empty. Motes of lining dust drifted down through the sunlight. There was no sign of anyone having eaten breakfast in the dining room.
"Maybe the servants have some idea of what's going on," Diana said. She pushed through the swinging door.
The huge white kitchen was empty. There were no dishes in the double sink. Everything was spotless and in its place.
"Hello," the girl said aloud.
She couldn't find anyone outside, either.
The patio was bare, all the canvas chairs folded' and leaning against the stone wall of the house. !
There was no sign of life at the tennis court.i
"Maybe I can find someone down at the dock to take me away from here," Diana told herself. But! she had little hope.
When she reached the edge of the cliff, she] found both of the motorlaunches were gone.
Well, she thought, it looks as though somebody! wants me to stay on San Obito for a while.
She watched the sea for a few moments, now. feeling very cold. There still may be a chance to; get a call through to Uncle Dave.
Diana hurried back toward the gray stone house
Danton was standing in the front doorway watching her approach.
She stopped a few feet from him. "Everyone seems to be gone."
"Except for you and me," said Danton. He laughed.
CHAPTER SIX
Danton was sitting far across the room from her. In an ornate high-back chair, his knees crossed, a cigarette between his fingers. "Why won't you accept my explanation, Diana?" he asked her.
Thee sunlight coming through the high windows behind him was so bright she couldn't see his face. From the low couch where she'd been sitting since they came into the house ten minutes before, the girl replied, "It's very flattering, Chris, but somehow I. .
"You don't believe me." His handsome head seemed to be glowing.
Diana looked away, turning her eyes from the fire of the afternoon sun. "Not really, no."
Danton gave a mock sigh. "People all over the globe accept me as a devil-may-care impetuous fel low," he said. "But not Diana Palmer."
"Why don't we stop this?" said the girl. "I'd like to go home."
"Diana, I went to great lengths to arrange all this," he insisted. "Simply so you and I could be alone together on my little island. Don't rob me of
this romantic interlude."
She looked again in his direction. "You may have, somehow or other, gotten everybody else off the island," she said. "But it wasn't for romantic reasons, Chris."
Laughing, Danton stood up, harsh yellow light outlining his tall figure. "Very well, let's stop the
     
fencing," he said. "You were in the library yesterday afternoon, weren't you?"
Diana said, "Yes, I was."
"And you discovered how to get the wall to open?"
She nodded. "That's right, yes."
"At the risk of sounding like Bluebeard, Diana, I must say I wish you hadn't done that." He was moving slowly toward her.
"Chris," she said, "please just take me back to Santa Barbara. I don't want to know anything more about what's going on here. I'm quite willing to forget I was ever on your island ... or that I ever knew you."
Danton laughed yet again. "Oh, I'm certain you would, Diana," he said. "The niece of a retired police official. No, I'm afraid you've walked into something you can't simply walk out of." He was quite near her now. "Why?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, did someone suggest you get to know me in order that you could come out here and search my house?"
Diana smiled up at him, a rueful smile. "Nobody but me suggested I get to know you. Now I'm wondering why."
Danton stood above her, watching her face. "Well, well find out all about your motives later," he said at last. "I feel a certain amount of disappointment, Diana, because I actually am fond of you. If only you hadn't gone poking into my business."
"I don't care about your business, Chris," she said. "Whatever it is."
"Ah, but I care," he said. "Right at the moment this little Sea Horse operation accounts for a healthy chunk of the Danton fortunes. I'm sure you must have at least a faint notion of what's going on."
"I haven't given it