called at seven to this the night clerk no reply but stretching out his hand to press an electric button to the perusal of the police a cup of cold water his summons was answered by the appearance of a man in shirt sleeves whose head indicated that he had recently risen from some kind of repose to him the night clerk tossed a key � the brief comment ninety seven and the man after a sleepy glance at turned on his heel and toward the staircase at the back of the corridor followed and they climbed three flights in silence at each landing glanced down the long passage way ht by a lowered gas jet � a double line of boots before the doors like yesterday s deeds to their owners so many miles farther on the morrow s destined road on the third landing the man paused and after examining the number on the key turned to the left and past three or four doors finally unlocked one and preceded into a room lit only by the upward gleam of the electric in the street below the man felt in his pockets then he turned to a match he asked politely offered him one and he applied it to the gas which extended its arm above an ash dressing table with a mirror fixed between two standards having performed this office with an air of designed to make recognize it as an act of he turned without a word and vanished down the passage way a cup of cold water after an indifferent glance about the room which seemed to afford the amount of luxury generally for two dollars and a half in a � quarter of new york locked the door and sat down at the ink stained writing table in the window far below him lay the lit depths of the forsaken now and then he heard the of a and the ring of hoofs on the pavement or saw the lonely figure of a policeman the illumination of the plate glass windows on the opposite side of the street he sat thus for a long time his el bows on the table his chin between his hands till at length the contemplation t f the abandoned above which the electric kept became intolerable to him and he drew down the window shade and lit the gas beside the dressing table then he took a cigar from his case and held it to the flame the passage from the freshness of the night to the stale atmosphere of the hotel had checked the rapid working of his mind and he was now scarcely conscious of thinking at all his head was heavy and he would have thrown himself on the bed had he not feared to the hour fixed for his departure he thought it safest instead to seat himself once more by the table in the most uncomfortable chair that he could a cup of cold water find and smoke one cigar after another till the first sign of dawn should give an excuse for action he had laid his watch on the table before him and was gazing at the hour hand and trying to convince himself by so doing that he was still wide awake when a noise in the adjoining room suddenly straightened him in his chair and banished all fear of sleep there was no the nature of the noise it was that of a woman s sobs the sobs were not loud but the sound reached him distinctly through the frail door between the two rooms it expressed an utter to grief not the cloud burst of some passing emotion but the slow down pour of a whole heaven of sorrow sat listening there was nothing else to be done and at least his listening was a mute tribute to the trouble he was powerless to relieve it roused too the of his own grief he was touched by the chance of two alien sorrows in a great city throbbing � passions it would have been more in keeping with the irony of life had he found himself next to a mother singing her child to sleep there seemed a mute in the hand that had led him to such neighborhood gradually the sobs subsided with pauses an effort at self control at last they died off softly like the drops that end a day of rain j a cup of cold water poor mused she s got the better of it lor the time i what it s all at the same moment he heard another sound that made him to his feet it was a very low sound but in that silence which gives distinctness to the � noises knew at once that he had heard the dick of a pistol what is she up to now he asked himself with his eye on the door between the two rooms and the lit seemed to reply with a glance of intelligence he turned out the gas and crept to the door pressing his eye to the illuminated circle after a moment or two of during which he seemed to himself to be breathing like a he discerned a room like his own with the same dressing table by gas and the same table in the window this table was directly in his line of vision and beside it stood a woman with a small revolver in her hands the lights being behind her could only infer her youth fit m her slender and the of hair her head her dress seemed dark and simple and on a chair under one of the gas lay a jacket edged with cheap fur and a small travelling bag he could not see the other end of the room but something in her manner told him that she was alone at length she put the revolver down and took up a letter 