The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1906-03-09

\ In. G ligeEt converse. Suddenly we fOIn,
our way blocked by uniformed oil
\ cial. who demanded 10 see our tickets
You can't come any farther. In
afraid" said Mrs. Kembali. turning t.
rs. Wen have to say goodby" And
she held out her hand. "But we'll soor
see you both again in Paris. You have
the address,"
"Oh, yes" I assured her.
Very well, then, we shall look fol
/ YOU" And she shook hands with botl
! Of us.
For an instant l felt another littlC
hand in mine, pair of blue eyes smiI
ed up at me in a way
"Goodby. Mira Lester" said voice
Il shall be all impotence till we meet
again"
so shall l." And l frightened
THAT was nice OF you, Miss Kendall"
"Oh, l shall be anxious to hear how
you succeeded she retorted. "You
will bring Miss Holiday to usY'
If we find her, yes"
Then, again, goodby."
She waved her hand, smiling, and
was lost in the crowd
Come on, Lester" said Mr.. Royce's
voice. There's no use standing star
ing here"
Suddenly l remembered Martigny.
"I'lI be back in a minute" l called,
and ran up the gang plank. HAS NJ.
Martigny LETT the ship yetT' inquired
Of the first steward / met.
"Martigny?" he repeated.
"The sick gentleman in 375,"
prompted.
"Oh, yes" he said. 81 do not know"
"Well, no matter. I'll find out my
self"
mounted to the upper deck and
knocked at the door of 375. There was
no response After a moment l tried
the door, but it was locked. The win
dow, however, was partly open, and,
shading my eyes with my hands, l
peered inside. The stateroom was
empty.
A kind of panic seized me as turned
away Had he indeed seen through
my artifice? In attempting to blind
him had l merely uncovered my own
plan, GRAND my cheeks burned at the
thought : was he so well intrenched
that he had no fear of me? Were his
plans so well laid that it mattered not
to him whittier | went or what didI
l passed a moment of heartrending
uncertainty. l saw quite clearly what
a little, little chance Of success we had.
But | shook the feeling off, sought tie
lower deck and inquired again for
Martigny. AT last the ships doctor
told me that he had seen the sick man
safely to a carriage and had heard him
order the driver to proceed to the Hotel
Continental.
And frankly, Mr.. Lester" added the
doctor, Il am glad to be SO well rid of
him. 1t is most fortunate that he did
not die on the voyage"
| turned away with a lighter heart.
From a dying man there could not be
much to fear SO | hunted up Mir.
Royce and found him, finally, endeay-
oring to extract some information from
a superciIious official
1t was, it seemed, a somewhat com
plicated proceeding to get to Etretat.
In half an hour train would leave
for Beuzeviile, where we must transfer
to another line to Les Ifs. There
second transfer would be necessary be
fore we could reach our destination
How long would it take? Our in
formant shrugged his shoulders with
fine nonchaance. 1t was impossible to
say. There had been a heavy storm
two days before, which had blown
down wires and damaged the little
spur of track between Les Ifs and the
sea.
Amid this tumble. of uncertainties
one definite fact remained-a train was
to leave in half an. hour, which we
must take. SO we hurried back to the
boat, and finally We're shut into a
compartment two minutes before the
hour
Then, in that first moment Of mac
tiyity, the fear of Martigny came back
upon me. Had he really gone to the no
tel? lad he deemed us not worth
watching, or had he watched? Was
he on the train with us? Was he able
to follow?
l looked out cautiously from the win
dow, up ana down the platform, but
saw no sign of him, and in moment
more we ratified slowly away over the
switches.
An hours run brought us to Beuze-
vile, where we were dumped out to-
gether with our luggage, in a little
frame station An official informed us
that we must wait there three hours
for the train for Les Ifs. Beyond that
he could not say.
"How far Is Les Ifs from here?' in
quired my companion.
"About twelve kilometers, monsieur"
And from there to Etretatf'
rs twenty dlometers more
"Thirty-two kilometers altogether" !
said Mr. Royce. That's about twenty |
miles. Why can't we drive, Lester?'
Certainly It seemed better than wait
ing on the uncertain railway, and we