Collected Fiction (1940-1963)

by William P. McGivern

  Reggie was burning up with excitement. He realized from Eileen’s description that the man talking to her father was the identical little man who had given him the potion that had accounted for his peculiar changes.

  But what was he doing here? And how had he known Reggie would be here?

  Those questions, though, weren’t really important. All that counted was whether the little man had brought with him some antidote for the potion he had given Reggie. If he had, all his problems were solved.

  He grabbed Eileen by the shoulders and planted a solid kiss on her mouth.

  “Darling, you’re wonderful,” he cried.

  Eileen pulled away, breathless with astonishment.

  “Are you raving mad?” she gasped. “What’s happened to you?”

  “I don’t know yet, but keep your fingers crossed,” Reggie said.

  He blew her a kiss and dashed out of the room, down the hall in the direction of the library.

  The colonel was standing before the fireplace when Reggie entered the room, and Reggie saw at a glance that Eileen’s father was talking to a little man seated in one of the heavy leather chairs.

  And he was the little, blue-eyed man who had given Reggie the potion that had so disastrously upset his life.

  The little man stood up and smiled as Reggie barged into the room.

  “How do you do, my dear boy,” he said cordially. “Has everything been going well?”

  “No,” Reggie said emphatically. He ignored the hand the little man extended. “I want to talk to you, right away, alone.”

  “Why, certainly,” the little man said worriedly.

  “Now, you’re not going to rush off like this,” the colonel said in his rumbling voice. He turned to Reggie and patted him on the shoulder. “Your friend Parker and I were having a very interesting chat on breeding methods. I’m glad you asked him down.” He laughed boomingly. “He’s the only man I ever met who knows half as much about the subject as I do. He’s going to stay to dinner.”

  “That’s fine,” Reggie said. So the little fellow’s name was Parker. “But Mister Parker and I have a few things to discuss,” he added.

  “That can wait,” the colonel said, in his firmest I-will-brook-no-argument voice. “You know how the servants are if they’re kept waiting.”

  The butler appeared at the door almost as if he were acting on cue and announced that dinner was served.

  Reggie sighed. Well, it would have to wait. He caught Parker’s eye meaningly.

  “Right after dinner,” he said.

  “Certainly,” Parker said. He looked worried. “I certainly want to hear what you have to report.”

  “Let’s go in to dinner,” the colonel said.

  DINNER was served in a vast, baronial room, paneled in solid mahogany and adorned with two heavy sideboards that contained hundreds of pieces of cut-glass and china. There was a racing print at each end of the room and the French windows opened on the garden. A cool breeze blew the soft perfume of flowers through the air.

  Eileen and Mannering were already in the room when they arrived.

  When they were seated at the long, heavily-laden table, the colonel picked up a goblet of water and examined it appreciatively.

  “Can’t wait to taste this pure water of yours, Parker,” he said. “I’m sick of this spring water we get in this region. Too much iron in it for my taste.”

  He lifted the glass to the little man. “It was an extremely thoughtful gesture for you to bring this down. I can’t thank you enough.”

  Reggie listened to the colonel’s words with bulging eyes. He stared at Parker who was regarding the colonel with a pleased little smile on his face.

  “Wait a minute!” he cried, half-rising from his chair. “Did Parker bring water down here with him?”

  Parker stirred uneasily, but the colonel looked at Reggie with a sudden frown.

  “Yes, he did,” he said.

  “You see,” Parker said timidly, not meeting Reggie’s eyes, “I thought you folks might enjoy a gallon or so of fresh water, so I brought some along, just as a little gift. I hope you’ll like it.”

  “I think that was very thoughtful of you,” Eileen said. She glanced at Reggie with slightly raised brows. “You can sit down now, Reggie,” she said.

  “But wait a minute,” Reggie said. He was staring hard at Parker and a horrible suspicion was racing through his mind. “What kind of water is it, Parker,” he demanded.

  “It’s the same kind I gave you,” Parker said “You remember it, don’t you? It does wonders for a person.”

  “I’m sure it will,” the colonel smiled. He raised the glass to his lips.

  “Wait!” Reggie’s voice was practically a screech.

  “What in the name of thunder is wrong with you?” the colonel shouted, his voice hoarse with annoyance.

  “You can’t drink that water,” Reggie said frantically.

  “I’ll drink anything I damn please,” the colonel yelled. He slammed a fist down on the table that rattled the plates sixteen feet away. “I won’t be dictated to in my own home by a flighty nit-wit who acts like a refugee from a straight-jacket ninety per cent of the time. If you don’t want to drink this water for some damn foolish reason, that’s your business. But I’ll do as I see fit.”

  Reggie felt sure the water in the colonel’s goblet was more of the potion the little man had administered to him two days before. And he was sure if the colonel drank it, the results would be disastrous.

  THE colonel was raising the goblet to his lips for the second time when Reggie sprang from his chair and dashed the glass to the floor. Most of the water splashed down the colonel’s front, and he shoved himself away from the table and leaped to his feet, sputtering with rage.

  “Young man!” he shouted. “Get out of my sight before I take a bull whip to your hind-quarters.”

  “Reggie!” Eileen exclaimed. “What is the matter with you?”

  “Don’t you drink that water, either,” Reggie cried. He grabbed her glass from the table and emptied it on the floor. His face was flushed and wild. He knew that he was ruining himself forever with the Ravenals but he couldn’t stand by and let them drink Parker’s devilish potion.

  “Get out of here!” Colonel Ravenal bellowed, pointing dramatically to the door.

  “I’m going,” Reggie said, “but I’m taking Parker with me.”

  He jerked the little man to his feet and practically dragged him from the room.

  “What’s the matter?” the little man asked anxiously, as Reggie hustled him up the stairs and into his room.

  “What isn’t the matter,” Reggie said disgustedly, as he slammed and locked the door. He shoved the little man into a chair and glared at him belligerently.

  “Why did you follow me down here?” he demanded. “And what was the idea of trying to slip some of your infernal potion to this family?”

  “Infernal?” the. little man said indignantly. “You can’t say that about my discovery. Look what it’s done to you! You’re certainly a new person.”

  “Yes,” Reggie said bitterly. “I certainly am. Do you know what happened to me after drinking your potion? I turned into a dog! And then I turned into a horse! What’s your angle, Parker? Do you work for a zoo on the side?”

  “A dog? A horse?” Parker’s voice was genuinely horrified. “I don’t understand.”

  “Your potion didn’t work,” Reggie said angrily. “It didn’t change me into a new character, it changed me into animals. And what are you going to do about it?”

  PARKER was wringing his hands anxiously. His solid blue eyes were frantic.

  “I’m terribly sorry,” he said.

  “Hah!” Reggie cried. “That does me a lot of good.”

  “I must have put in a pinch too much of something,” Parker said meekly. “Or maybe I was just one pinch short of something else.”

  “Fine! Fine!” Reggie cried, as he paced up and down the floor like a caged tiger. “A pinch or so
one way or the other and as a result I’m supposed to go through life like a chameleon.” He stopped and glared at the little man. “And how did you know where to find me, anyway?”

  “Well, I traced you from the bar where we met,” Parker said abjectedly. “I wanted to see at first-hand how my experiment turned out. And when I got here I decided it would be interesting to get a mass reaction to my formula. That’s why I gave a gallon of it to the colonel.”

  “What are you going to do about me?” Reggie demanded.

  “Maybe I can try something else,” Parker said hopefully. “If I worked real hard I might get the formula right in a few more months.”

  “Months!” shouted Reggie. “And what do I do in the meantime?”

  “It might only take weeks,” Parker said timidly. “Would that be too long?”

  “Of course it would,” Reggie yelled. Parker sighed unhappily and two big tears welled from his eyes and trickled down his cheeks.

  “There’s nothing to do, then,” he sniffed, “but give you the antidote.”

  “Antidote!”

  Reggie spun and stared at the little man with incredulous, hopeful eyes.

  “Do you mean you have an antidote for your potion?”

  Parker nodded miserably.

  “But it’s a confession of failure if I use it,” he said. “I had such great hopes for you,” he sighed.

  “Where is it?” Reggie asked. “Can you get hold of this antidote in a hurry?”

  Parker drew a slim vial from his pocket and extended it to Reggie.

  “Here it is,” he said moodily. “Drink it and you will be immediately released from the effects of the original potion. And I,” he added darkly, “will have to return to my laboratory and begin my work anew.”

  Reggie seized the vial and drained it at a gulp. His hands were trembling with excitement as he tossed the empty container back to the little man.

  “Is that all there is to it?” he asked. “Am I really all right now?”

  The little man nodded somberly.

  “Perfect,” he said.

  Reggie felt an ecstatic flood of happiness coursing through his veins. Now he could tell Eileen again how much he loved her and, armed with the confidence that she returned his love, he would sweep her off her feet with his irresistible passion.

  “I’m the happiest man in the world,” he told the sad-eyed little man jubilantly. “Did you see that lovely girl at the table? She is my future wife! I’m going down and tell her so immediately.”

  The little man regarded him with brooding eyes.

  “I don’t like to interfere,” he said, “but it might be wise to wait until they forget your peculiar actions at dinner. They all thought you acted rather odd, you know.”

  “Perhaps you’re right,” Reggie said judicially. “I’ll wait until morning and then explain that I had a touch of fever tonight. Wouldn’t do any good to try and explain the real reason for my conduct.”

  “I’ll be going,” the little man said sadly. He stood up and moved to the door. “I have a new idea to work on. One more little pinch of a sulphate and I think my formula will be right.”

  He opened the door and, with a last gloomy smile at Reggie, disappeared.

  Reggie stretched out on the bed then and thought of the future with a blissful smile of anticipation. Everything was going to be absolutely glorious. He was completely happy, for, not being clairvoyant, he had no idea of the things that were going to happen to him in the next twenty-four hours.

  Otherwise he wouldn’t have been smiling!

  CHAPTER VI

  REGGIE slept fitfully that night until about three the following morning, but when he awoke he knew he wouldn’t get back to sleep again. He was too excited by the prospects of his coming happiness and his nerves were jumping like Mexican beans.

  Finally he decided a walk might relax his nerves. He got up, dressed, and let himself out of the house quietly.

  There was no moon and the sky was like a huge black canopy. Reggie walked through the gardens, breathing deeply of the heady fragrance of the flowers and thinking of the glorious future he would share with Eileen.

  He reached the stables a few minutes later, still walking aimlessly. He noticed idly that the double doors of the main entrance were standing open. He started to saunter past, but then he realized that this was a rather peculiar state of affairs. He stopped and peered into the dark interior of the stable. He could hear several of the horses moving nervously in their stalls, and he made out several dim figures in the darkness.

  Something was obviously screwy, he thought.

  “Hello!” he called cautiously.

  He heard a whispered exclamation in the dark and then the slam of a stall door. And Reggie saw that the men were leading a horse out of the opposite end of the stable.

  “Wait a minute!” he cried.

  He walked into the stable, wishing that he had a box of matches or a flashlight with him to dispel the inky blackness. Suddenly he heard a truck motor roar into life and he saw that the dark figures at the end of the stable were running toward the sound.

  Reggie also broke into a run. He felt sure now that someone was kidnaping the colonel’s horse, Blue Star, which was scheduled to run in the big race Sunday.

  “Stop!” he yelled.

  Suddenly he collided with a figure in the darkness. He heard a muffled curse, then a fist slammed into his jaw and he felt himself falling. Another vicious blow struck him at the temple and he was going down and a thousand stars exploded in his head. He remembered hitting the floor of the stable and nothing else . . .

  A VIGOROUS hand on his shoulder roused him. He opened his eyes groggily and saw Colonel Ravenal leaning over him, holding a lamp in his hand. In the light cast by the lamp Reggie also saw Eileen and Mannering standing beside the colonel.

  He sat up weakly and put his hands to his head.

  “What happened?” he muttered.

  “That’s what I want to know!” Colonel Ravenal said grimly.

  “Blue Star has been stolen,” Eileen said, and her voice was fiat with despair.

  “What were you doing in here at this time of night?” Colonel Ravenal demanded.

  “I—I was just taking a walk,” Reggie said feebly. “The door was open and some men were moving around in the darkness. One of them must have hit me, I guess.”

  “Did you recognize any of them?” the colonel asked.

  Reggie shook his head miserably.

  “It was too dark,” he said.

  Mannering said to Eileen in an audible whisper, “It all sounds pretty thin to me.”

  “You don’t think I had anything to do with this, do you?” Reggie cried indignantly.

  Colonel Ravenal turned away in disgust. His great shoulders were slumped despairingly.

  “It doesn’t matter,” he said wearily. “Blue Star is gone and so are our chances for the race today. No, I don’t think you stole the horse. You wouldn’t have that much guts. But I’m sick and tired of having you underfoot, young man. You would be doing me a great favor if you would pack your bags and get out of here before I lose my temper and throw you out.”

  Reggie felt a sudden bitter anger.

  “All right, you pot-bellied old goat,” he said, “it will be a pleasure.”

  He got to his feet and strode from the stables . . .

  AS HE was packing the following morning there was a soft knock on the door.

  “Come in,” Reggie said, throwing a necktie into his bag.

  The door opened slowly and Eileen entered the room. She stood just inside the doorway and looked at Reggie for a moment in silence.

  “Well,” Reggie said finally, “did you come to make sure the parting guest didn’t abscond with the bed linen.”

  “I’m sorry about father, Reggie,” Eileen said quietly. “I wanted you to know that.”

  Reggie shrugged and went on packing.

  “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “There’s another thing,” Eileen s
aid. “I told Guy last night I wasn’t sure I loved him. Does that matter?”

  Reggie stopped packing and turned slowly.

  “Does that mean you love me?” he demanded.

  “Oh, Reggie, I don’t know,” she said distractedly. “I thought I loved Guy but when I saw you and realized how much you’d changed, I wasn’t sure. But whether I love Guy or not, I have to marry him now.”

  “Have to marry him?” Reggie said incredulously. “Even if you don’t love him?”

  Eileen nodded miserably.

  “You see, father mortgaged all of his holdings and bet them on Blue Star in today’s race. Naturally he’s lost everything now that Blue Star won’t run. That’s why he’s so terribly upset. And that’s why I have to marry Guy.”

  “I don’t understand,” Reggie said. “Guy has money,” Eileen said miserably. “Oh, I don’t care for myself; it’s father I’m thinking of. I can’t let him down now that he’s penniless.”

  “But you can’t sacrifice your own happiness for money,” Reggie said, in horror. “It’s—it’s un-American.” He paced anxiously up and down the room, frowning. “But if Blue Star could run, you wouldn’t have to,” he said.

  “That would be something else again,” Eileen said.

  Reggie lit a cigarette deliberately and frowned thoughtfully at the glowing tip.

  “Let me get a few things straightened out,” he said. “Did you tell Guy you weren’t sure you loved him before Blue Star was stolen?”

  “Why, yes.”

  “And does Mannering know your father has everything he owns bet on the race today?”

  “Of course—but what are you getting at?”

  “I’m not sure,” Reggie said. But he was I He’d have bet his last dollar that Mannering had engineered the theft of Blue Star to force Eileen to marry him.

  “Reggie, you aren’t thinking that Guy had something to do with this, are you?”

  Reggie didn’t answer. Instead he picked up his hat and started for the door.

  “Reggie, where are you going?”

  “I’m not quite sure,” Reggie said from the doorway, “but don’t be too surprised if Blue Star is at the post today.”