"Dead, Lying There Dead, with Marks on His Throat—Murder, All Right"

"The Right Thing."
By Ray Cummings (1887-1957).
First appearance: The Argosy, March 27, 1920.
Short short story (7 pages).
Online at Comic Book Plus (HERE; select page 126
from dropdown menu).
(Note: Text is faded but readable.)

"So far as your happiness is concerned, he'd be better off dead, and I wish he was."

Thanks to Shakespeare, we all know how the course of true love doth run; toss divided loyalties into the mix, and it's no wonder that Beth is anxious about whether doing the
right thing is doing the right thing . . .

Dramatis personae:
~ Beth Rollins:
  "In the hand she held outstretched a bit of polished steel glistened in the lamplight."
~ Tom Hawley:
  ". . . standing there now by the fireplace watching her wonderingly—Tom Hawley was
a murderer?"
~ Sheriff Williams:
  "It's him all right—only circumstantial evidence, but damn strong."

Typo: "Vailestown"

Resources:
- We've run across uberpulpster Raymond King Cummings quite a few times; go (HERE) for those instances.

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