The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1902-10-29

companion who seemed congenial. l
did not know his name, but, curiousiy
enough, had come across him two or
three times In the course of my trav-
cling In ltaly-once In Venice. once IN
Florence and In little village on the
Italian Riviera, whore we had lunched
together on macaronl and risotto. with
a bottle of rough, red Italian wine be-
tween us.
greeted him, therefore, almost like
an old friend, and bestowed myself
and my belongings in the compart-
ments where saw that he had already
established himself.
For our other companions we had
French abbo and n little mcagre look
ing English lady travelling alone; and
we four and our luggage filled up the
carriage SO completely that we did our
best to keep out any other travellers.
had occasion to lift his suit case
out Of my way. and saw that 1t was
marked Edmund Justican. N. v"
called iiim.my friend. but of course
] knew absolutely nothing abont him.
except that he seemed to have leisure
and a fair amount of money at his dis
posal He was n shy and silent man,
with refined and scholarly tastes; but
ne seemed oppressed by kind of mel
encholy, as though something lay heav-
fly upon his mind. Yet he was only
young man, not 30. should think, with
a decidedly pleasant appearance. He
was of middle height and good figure.
well and suitably dressed; and his
face, although little thin and grave,
was a striking one with fine features
and the soft beautiful eyes of the born
dreamer. His hands, too. betrayed the
artistic temperament. They were long,
narrow, with thin white fingers, point
ed at the finger tips.
A long hot day drew to its close, and
was sorroy to observe that we should
coon be able to see very little of the
exquisite scenery through which we
were passing. The lovely valleys
down which the rushing torrents leap
ed, the distant mountain tops, the pine,
covered hills, would soon be lost in the
darkness of night. What also regret
we might possibly see very little of the
entrance to the great Mont Cents tun.
mel. which we should approach most
probably about IL o'clock at night.
During the evening good many
OF the passengers had hung about the
corridor windows, walking up and
down gazing at the scenery, but as
night came on one by one they dropped
back into their seats, and in most cas-
es began to partake of the evening
meal, which, IL wise, they had brought
with them. But Mr.. Justican seemed
to have made no provision for eating;
he had neither sandwich nor fruit, and
he declined a share of mine or OF the
red wine which | offered him.
THANK you very much" he said to
me. But believe we come to a station
soon where there is buffet at which
i can get everything | need
Monsieur is mistaken" said the alb
be, in the corner. AT least know OF
no station where We stop for any
length of time until or in the morn
Ing"
81 think shall be able to get some
thing before then" replied Mr.. Justi
can with a polite bow to the abbe.
And shortly after this he, too, went
into the corridor and began to pace III
and down, as though he wished tC
stretch his cramped limbs after sc
many hours in railroad carriage
He stayed for some time; saw his fig
ure pass and repass the window, bu
at. last l saw 1t no more and conjec
tured that he was either chatting t
the conductor or smoking at the fur
ther end of the corridor.
BY this time 1t had grown quite dark
the train was moving at a snail's pace
for we were mounting very steep in
cline, and prepared myself for m.
nights rest though wondering littl
at the continued absence of my visa
Wis.
However, l soon dropped into fair
ly sound slumbor, and did not wake III
til the gray dawn, when became cor
scious that an official had entered tn
carriage and was trying to arouse mt
The able and the French lady SCENE
to be wide awake. but the corner OF
site my seat was still vacant.
Monsieur is a friend of the gentle
man who sat there?" the blue coate
man demand with a somewhat ana
ious expression Of countenance.
mot a friend, l have seen him tw
or three times before. but i cannot b
said to know him. Where is he, by th
way?"
The man looked at us silently.
learned afterward that he had alread
made the tour of the carriages, but !
was not all at once that the state {
things made itself clear to us. The gel
tleman whose luggage was labelle
Edmund Justican was apparently i
longer in the train, every corner
which had been searched in vain. H
was gone-absolutely gone-and on
the grips remained behind, with IL
exception, as we now noticed, of
black bag which he seemed to ha'