Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1906-02-15

! have d lesson, but / need not assure
! you that I bear no III viii to you. On
the contrary, / have taken great
/ taste for you. But 1t is obvious to You
that sentiment has no place IN mere
matter of business"
/ 1T is not an uncommon practice with
me to carry a pistol, and certainly, II
| it had never entered my head before,
| think that the strange fortunes of the
last week would have persuaded me to
/ the precaution. AS it was, the revolv-
er lay to my hand in my coat pocket
! and / took my course forthwith. Whip
/ ping round the horse. | drew and pre-
scented the weapon at his heart.
"You will do me the favor, Captain
Sercombe," said sharply. ito hand
over your cartridges"
An indefinite expression of surprise
passed over his face. He was evident
" taken aback, and his high color
strengthened. sOh, come, my dear
sir. said he 81 ask you to consider If
it be worth while. For my own part,
have no desire to fire in your back,
nor dare I If I had. You see, am
plain with you''
He certainly was, and saw at once
that / need tcl4 lie pres
| ent-at least froil l--e captain.
"Very well,' said /.
81 am glad you agree with me-" he
remarked. 1T is a saving of dignity"
/ said no more, but whipped up the
horse and left him, with hooking
bow, which he returned gravely, and
| the last / saw of him was his bulky
/ form leaning upon the gun and assid-
i uously following me with his dull and
fishy eyes.
/ put up the horse at the Swan and
hurried to the station, barely in time
to catch the London train. took any
ticket hastily and, rushing down the
platform, cast about me precipitately
/ for first class carriage. The guard
had retired to the back part of the
train and stood impatiently, flag in
hand / came upon two compartments
! of the class wished and gave a hur-
! ried glance into each. The one appear
ed empty, but the other already con-
tanned two or three travellers. This
latter, however, was labeled "Smok-
ing and for a second or two / waver-
ed in the balance until a sharp Nov,
then, sir!' from the guard finally whip
ped up my decision. / opened the door
/ OF the smoking carriage, but as did
so a man rudely stumbled against me.
and / fell against the next compart-
ment, the door of which had just been
opened by third person. In the furry
of the moment merely remember get
ting back my clutch upon the handle,
! and the next instant I was in the
smoking carriage, somewhat hot and
angry. Out of the window by which /
sat / saw in the tail Of my eye the two
men stepping swiftly into The next
compartment, and something vaguely
troubled my senses.
/ settled into the cushions as the
train drew out Of the station and look
ed about at my companions. Then my
4 mind returned to the landscape, which
was now passing pretty swiftly. 1t
struck me in a fash what was exer-
cising my mind. A squint- that was
it! Mrs. Main had described the in
truder Of the morning as man with
|sa ssquint funny like" And the man
who had got into the next carriage
was man with squint. The coinci-
dence was only remarkable because l
i was in a veritable net Of suspicion.
And when I examined the particulars
it was his companion who had jostled
4 mel might, to be thoroughly suspi-
cious, say showed me. Why had |
been showed? Perhaps it was an acct
dent. and the two men had no relation
to each other, nor the second man With
the squint to Mrs. Mains friend. But,
on the other hand, that shove came
near sending me through the open
doorway of the next carriage, and but
for my own obstinacy / might now be
seated in the seclusion of that car
rage with my two neighbors in an ex-
press that did not stop for forty miles.
At Paddington took a cab. could
see the man with the squint nowhere,
and I looked for him pretty sharply.
His companions face had not seen,
and should not, of course, recognize
again. 1t was quite possible that they
had been passengers to an intermediate
station only, in which case, as / con-
ceived, I had been using my magma
ton in vain. 1t was by this time a lit
tie after 6, and, as the dead season had
fully set in, the streets in the west
end were bare of carriages, but con-
course of people still streamed along
the pavements the tide of life ran, to
all appearance, as populous as ever
When reached my chambers in the
"a