The Second Confession Read Online Free PDF Page A

doubt it, and I don’t think anyone else would. If you have a problem, I have a question. What are you here for'Louis Rony?' It was my turn to consider, and I let her have a poker smile while I was at it.
    'That’s it,' she said!
    'Or it isn’t. What if it is?' She came close enough to take hold of my lapels with both hands, and her eyes were certainly big. 'Listen, you born hero,' she said earnestly. 'No matter what I might feel coming back or what I don’t, you be careful where you head it on anything about my sister. She’s twenty-two. When I was her age I was already pretty well messed up, and she’s still as clean as a rose-my God, I don’t mean a rose, you know what I mean. I agree with my dad about Louis Rony, but it all depends on how it’s done. Maybe the only way not to hurt her too much is to shoot him. I don’t really know what he is to her. I’m just telling you that what matters isn’t Dad or Mother or me or Rony, but it’s my sister, and you’d better believe me.' It was the combination of circumstances. She was so close, and the smell of roses was so strong, and she was so damned earnest after dallying around with me all afternoon, that it was really automatic. When, after a minute or two, she pushed at me, I let her go, reached for the portfolio and closed it, and took it to a tier of shelves and put it on the lowest one. When I got back to her she looked a little flushed but not too overcome to speak.
    'You darned fool,' she said, and had to clear her throat. 'Look at my dress now!' She ran her fingers down through the folds. 'We’d better go down.' As I went with her down the wide stairs to the reception hall it occurred to me that I was getting my wires crossed. I seemed to have a fair start on establishing a personal relationship, but not with the right person.
    We ate on the west terrace, where the setting sun, coming over the tops of the trees beyond the lawn, was hitting the side of the house just above our heads as we sat down. By that time Mrs Sperling was the only one who was calling me Mr Goodwm. She had me at her right, probably to emphasize my importance as the son of a business associate of the Chairman of the Board, and I still didn’t know whether she knew I was in disguise. It was her that Junior resembled, especially the wide mouth, though she had filled in a little. She seemed to have her department fairly under control, and the looks and manners of the helps indicated that they had been around quite a while and intended to stay.
    After dinner we loafed around the terrace until it was about dark and then went inside, all but Gwenn and Rony, who wandered off across the lawn. Webster Kane and Mrs Sperling said they wanted to listen to a broadcast, or maybe it was video. I was invited to partake of bridge, but said I had a date with Sperling to discuss photography plans for tomorrow, which was true He led me to a part of the house I hadn’t seen yet, into a big high-ceilinged room with four thousand books around the walls, a stock ticker, and a desk with five phones on it among other things, gave me a fourth or fifth chance to refuse a cigar, invited me to sit, and asked what I wanted. His tone was not that of a host to a guest, but of a senior executive to one not yet a junior executive by a long shot. I arranged my tone to fit.
    'Your daughter Madeline knows who I am. She saw a picture of me once and seems to have a good memory.' He nodded. 'She has. Does it matter?' 'Not if she keeps it to herself, and I think she will, but I thought you ought to know. You can decide whether you had better mention it to her.' 'I don’t think so. I’ll see.' He was frowning, but not at me. 'How is it with Rony?' 'Oh, we’re on speaking terms. He’s been pretty busy. The reason I asked to see you is something else. I notice there are keys for the guest-room doors, and I approve of it, but I got careless and dropped mine in the swimming pool, and I haven’t got an assortment with me. When I