"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 025 - Fingers of Death" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

JOSIAH BARTRAM seemed to detect his niece's approach. His eyelids closed and he spoke in a low,
feeble voice. His words were uttered in a dull monotone from lips that scarcely seemed to move.

"Grace - Grace" - there was an effort in the old man's speech - "you will remember - remember all that I
have told you. Remember that all my worldly goods belong to you - that, when I die, there is to be no
ceremony -"

Grace Bartram had reached a chair beside the bed. Her soft hands were grasping her uncle's scrawny
fingers; her soothing voice was uttering words of comfort to allay the old man's fears.

"You will be better, uncle," said the girl. "Doctor Shores will be here shortly. I telephoned to him after
Mahinda told me that you were - that you were not feeling as well as before -"

As the girl's voice wavered, Josiah Bartram spoke again, in the same slow monotone.

"Do not forget Mahinda," he said. "Live here, Grace, and be happy. Mahinda will always be trustworthy.
He is faithful; he will protect you - after I am gone -"

These words increased the girl's unhappiness. Bravely, Grace tried to overcome Josiah Bartram's belief
that he was about to die. The old man's hands ceased twitching. As he rested quietly, Grace heard the
faint ringing of a distant doorbell. She saw Mahinda, the Hindu, walk softly from the room.

Grace was sure that the bell had announced the arrival of Doctor Felton Shores, the attending physician.
Motioning to the nurse to keep watch, the girl rose silently and left the room. She closed the door behind
her, and hurried across the hall to the stairway that led to the first floor.

On the steps, she saw that her surmise had been correct. Mahinda had just admitted Doctor Shores. The
physician was removing his hat and coat. Grace hastened down the stairs and approached the physician.

Doctor Felton Shores was recognized as the leading man of medicine in the city of Holmsford. For years,
he had been Josiah Bartram's physician. There was nothing surprising in that fact, for Doctor Shores was
the practitioner most favored by the wealthy members of the community; and Josiah Bartram, successful
building contractor, was regarded as one of the wealthiest men in Holmsford.

There was a quiet, assuring tone in the physician's manner that had always impressed Grace Bartram.
She felt sure, now, that this one man could be relied upon to offset her uncle's critical condition.

"Good evening, Grace," said Shores, in a placid voice. "Your message was waiting at my home when I
returned from a call. Did I understand that your uncle's condition appeared to be less encouraging?"

The girl nodded.

"Yes, doctor," she asserted. "He has relapsed into the same weakened state that he was in before. You
brought him out of it three days ago. I can only hope that you will succeed again. But -"

The physician patted the girl's shoulder when he noted that Grace's voice was faltering. He did not
appear to be alarmed; and the action was encouraging.
"Your uncle's condition is serious," declared Shores, "but I can hardly regard it as critical. You must not
be worried, Grace. With plenty of rest and careful treatment, I believe that he will show a marked