The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-06-03

/ am attacked 1 shall make a good de-
Tense at all events"
Mr.. Birchmore said nothing more, and
indeed seemed scarcely to listen to my
| now suggested to him that
he might show Rudolph his ring. He
put his hand to his waistcoat pocket and
gave half suppressed ejaculation of dis
and annoyance. He had
left the ring at homel
mo matter; 1 will call tomorrow,
Herr Rudolph" he observed 1--WE no
doubt | shall find what l want here, If
anywhere. Good morning-that is, if
you are ready, Mr.. Gainsborough? By
the way, Rudolph, suppose you put
your treasures in a safe at nightY'
''Oh, by all means, Herr, replied the
little Saxon. And have Waterman
also, who guards all night long"
"A prudent fellow; yes, that will do"
mur1nured Mr. Birchmore in an under
tone to himself Then, with parting
nod and smile, to which the jeweler did
not respond, he sauntered out, l follow
ing him. We walked back to the hotel
did not see him again until after din
ner, when he offered me cigar, and
when we had smoked together awhile in
silence he said abruptly:
"Tve found that stone"
looked at him inquiringly.
1.-THE diamond out of my ring. In my
trousers pocket, of all places in the worldi
Fell out while l was cropping for my
keys, suppose. Sorry to have raised
false hopes IN your friend Rudolph. By
the way, he'll have finished that job OF
yours before very long"
"In about week, fancy. | shall be
sorry to leave Paris"
"Yesl Well, it is a nice place; but
one gets tired of the incest places In
time. do. like to be moving"
81 shall have month to spend on my
way to Rome. This is almost my first
experience of the Continent. | wish l
had some travelling companion who
knew the ropes" This hint let fall in
the hope that he might propose to join
me, but as he made no reJoinder l at
length ventured to put it more plainly.
| gave a rough sketch of the route pro
posed to follow. asked his opinion upon
it and finally said that should his in
ciination lead him also in that direction
should be very glad of his company.
well, sir, I'm obliged to you" re-
piled Mr.. Birchmore after a pause of
some moments. You couldn't pay
man a better compliment than to ask
him to travel with you; and | would &C
cept your offer as frankly and fearlessly
as you make it, only-well, the fact is,
I'm not SO entirely at my own disposal
as l may appear to you to be. | have
been through good many experiences
in life, and some of the consequences are
upon me still. When you have reached
my age-if you ever do reach it-you
will understand me better. suppose
may be fifteen years your senior; well,
fifteen years means a good deal-a good
deal" He pulled a meditative cloud or
two and then added, You're not hurt?
You see how it is? would really like
to accompany you-but can't"
OF course | warmly disavowed all re-
sentiment, and felt inwardly ashamed of
having forced him, by the freedom OF
my advances, into making this explana-
ton Meanwhile, could not help hk-
ing him better than ever and Failing
more than ever interested, not to say
curious, about him. 1t was now certain
that some mystery or other attached to
him. / cast covert glances at him IN
| the vain attempt to read something OF
his secret through his outward aspect.
| But he was inscrutable, or rather there
was nothing especially noticeable III
! him. His face, as | have said, was
! handsome in its contours; he wore a
heavy mustache and a short, pointed
! beard on his chin. His forehead was
wide across the temples, but low, and
dark brown hair, rather stiff, and
streaked here and there with gray, grew
thickIy over his head. His hands were
large and hairy up to the second joints
of the fingers, but they were finely and
powerfully formed and the fingers to
pered beautifully, with nails smoothly
cut and polished.
In figure he was above the medium
size and appeared strongly built, though
he had complained to me more thai
once of rheumatism or some other bodily
falling. In walking he took rather
short steps for tall man and withou
any swaying of the shoulders, his hand
being generally thrust in the side peck
cts of his coat and his face inclined to
ward the ground. But his eyes-large
bright and restless-were his most re
markable feature. They appeared t.
take note of everything; they were sci
dom fixed and never interpretive
Compared with the general immobilit.
of the rest of his countenance, these eye
of Mr.. Birchmore seemed to have lif,
of their own, and a very intense ant
watchfUl one.
Whenever they met mine fully (Which
was but seldom, and then only for a mo
ment at a tilRe) was conscious of
kind of start or thrill, as if a fine spra.
of icy water had swept my face. VIVA
had those eyes looked upon, or whs
was it that lurked behind them?
1--WE may run across each other again
hope we may" said Mr.. Birchmor
when l shook hands with him at parting
few days later. "Glad to have me
you, Mr. Gainsborough-very glad, sir.
Thanks; am glad to have met you
Your acquaintance has profited me no
little"
'-Oh, as to that" said Mr.. Birchmore
with a smile and one of those startling
straightforward glances into my eyes
''as to that the profit will have bee
mutual, to say the least of it. Goodby!