The Tiger in the Well Read Online Free PDF Page B

beginning to want their cut. I must have my profit. Ten percent, or I go to the Tzaddik.'
    "The other man grumbled, but paid over some coins. Then

    he said, *The Tzaddik's in Russia, the last I heard. Are you going back there, then?'
    ** *He's coming this way,' said the official. 'He's on his way to London. The network's almost all in place.'
    "The second man said, 'If we can't use this dodge again, what are we going to do next time.'*'
    "The first man said, 'Go and see a man in Blackmoor Street when you get to London. A Mr. Parrish. He'll tell you.'
    "I didn't hear what the second man said, because the ship's whistle blew. I saw them shake hands, and then the official left. The other man stayed there until the boat had drawn away from the dockside and we were passing out of the harbor, and then he went below. As for me, that was when I began to feel seasick."
    He stopped and sank back in the chair. Goldberg was tapping the pen against his teeth, his eyes intense with speculation.
    "Did you say Parrish.?" he said. "Of Blackmoor StreeL?"
    "That's what I heard. But no more than that. I'm sorry, Goldberg, but I couldn't follow him when we left the boat. I was nearly finished. So I don't know any more about this Parrish. Does it mean anything to you.^"'
    "Oh, yes," said Goldberg. "I've heard of Mr. Parrish. But I didn't know he was mixed up in this. . . . Liebermann, this is extraordinarily interesting. I'm very much obliged to you."
    Liebermann's eyes were closed. There was no fire in the room, and it was chilly. Goldberg pulled the blankets off the bed and wrapped them around the other man. He looked longingly at his cigars, but contented himself with putting one between his teeth unlit; and then he turned his overcoat collar up, wrapped the muffler around his neck, and began to write.

    The Marriage Register
    Next morning, having told Sarah-Jane not to let Harriet out of her sight and Ellie not to admit any strangers, Sally set off for her office in the City.
    It stood up three narrow flights of stairs at the top of an old building in Bengal Court, not far from St. Paul's. She shared the building with an insurance agent, a spectacle maker, a tobacco importer, an agent for an American typewriter manufacturer, and the office of the Tricycling Gazette. It was a busy place, and the other occupants were friendly, though Sally was struck by the thought that any of them might have been spying on her. How could Parrish know so much if he didn't have spies.^*
    Margaret Haddow was already in when Sally arrived. She was a year or two younger than Sally, but because of her dark, rather austere looks and her dry manner she seemed older. Sally trusted her implicitly. Their clerk. Cicely Corrigan, came in from Bromley, having had to settle her crippled mother for the day, so she usually arrived a little later.
    "Are we busy today.^" said Sally, hanging up her cloak and hat.
    "Not very," Margaret told her. "We've got to look at those South American mining shares before tomorrow, and I'd like to go over Mr. Thompson's file with you. Then I was going to see a Mrs. Wilson, but not till three o'clock. I thought we might look at the Australian gold fields—I've got an idea they're going to move up."
    "Can you leave that for now and do something for me.'*"

    "Yes, I expect so. What is it?"
    Sally told her everything. The story sounded no more credible now that it was so familiar. Margaret knew about Harriet and had visited Orchard House a number of times, and her reaction was a good deal more sympathetic than that of the lawyer and the clerk.
    "This is monstrous!" she said. "What can I do.^* Would you like me to testify in court or something.'^ Just tell me."
    "I hope it won't come to court," said Sally. "I hope I can find out why he's doing it before that. If I know what it's all about, then I'll know how to fight it. I'm going to go and look at the register in this church today—there's a train in forty minutes—but I must find out about