Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-10-22
CHAPTER III. (continued.)


and cherries at such an hour. AiAan
was just halfway down the Strand
by that time and debating whether
he should sleep in the caves" as he
called those wonderful subterranean
passages under Pail Mall and the
Haymarket, or chance the climate
upon a bench in Hyde Park. A chilly
night of April drove him to the for
mer resolution and he passed OH
quickly; by the theatres now empty
of their audiences, through Trafal-
ger Square, where the clubs and the
hotels were still brilliantly lighted
up dark Cockspur Street; through ST.
James Square and soon to an abrupt
halt at the door of a great house, open
to the night and dismissing Its guests
Alban despised himself for doing IT.
but he could never resist the tempta-
tion of staring through the windows
of any mansion where a party hap
pened to be held. The light and life
of it all made sure appeal to him.
He could criticise the figures of beau
tiful women and remain ignorant of
the impossible abyss between their
sphere and his own. Sometimes he
would try to study the faces thus re
vealed to him, as in the focus of a
vision, and to say "That woman is
utterly vain,'' or again "There Is Il
doll who has not the sense on an East
End flower girl In way he des-
terrible comedies and tragedies.
Little Lois Boriskoff, he thought,
must know more of human nature
than any woman in those assemblies
where, as the half-penny papers told
him, cards and horses and motor-cars
were the subjects chiefly talked
about. 1t delighted him to imagine
the abduction of one of these socie-
ty beauties and her forcible deten-
ton for a month in Thrawl Street.
How she would shudder and fear it
all-and yet what human lessons
might not she carry back with her.
Let them show him woman who
could face such an ordeal unfiinchingly
and he would all in love with her her
self. The impertinence of his idea never
once dawned upon him. He knew that
his fathers people had been formerly
well-to-do and that his mother had
often talked Of birth and family 81
may be better than some of them
after ALL he reflected, and this was
his armor against humiliation. What
did money matter? The fine idealist
of twenty with few coppers in his
pocket, declared stoically that money
was really of no consequence at all.
He fingered some five minutes out
side the great house in ST. James
Square watching the couples in the
rooms above, and particularly inter-
ested in one face which appeared in
and disappeared from brilliantly
lighted alcove twice while he WAS
standing there. A certain grace of
girlhood attended this apparition;
the dress was rich and costly and
exquisitely made; but that which
held Adams closer attention was
the fact that the wearer of it I'M
questionably was Pole. and not I'M
like Lois Boriskoff herself. He would
not say. indeed, that the resemblance
was striking-it might have been
merely that Of nationality. When the
girl appeared for the second time
he admitted that the comparison was
rather wild. None the less he liked
to think that she resembled Lois and
lhlSuJ OioO HeINS lCoio sAiS LSW lio'Ai
Warsaw today. Evidently she was
the daughter Of some rich foreigner
In London, for she talked and moved
with Continental animation and grace
The type of face had always made a
sure appeal to Alban. He likes those
broad contrasts of color; the clear
white skin; the bright red lips: the
open expressive eyes fringed by
deep and eloquent lashes. The I'M,
known was taller than little Lois
certain1y-she had a maturer figure
and altogether better carriage; but
the characteristics of her nationality
were as sure-and the boy fell 10
wondering whether she was also cap
able of that winsome sentiment and
jealous frenzy which dictated many
of the seemingly inconsequent acts of
the little heroine of Thrawl Street.
This he imagined to be quite possible
They are great as a nation" he
thought, "but most of them are mad.
l will tell Lois tomorrow that l have
seen her sister In ST. James Square
l shouldn't wonder If she knew all
about this house and the party-and
Boriskoff will, if she doesn't"
He cOntended hlmSelf With this,
and the girl having disappeared from
the alcove and footman announced
in a terrible voice that Lady Smigg's
carriage barred the way, he turned
from the house and continued upon
his way to the caves" 1t was then
nearly one O'Clock, and save for an
occasional hanson making dash TO
a club door, st. James Street was de-
serted. Alban took one swift look up
and down, crossed the street at a
run and disappeared down the court
when led to those amazing "tombs'
of which few in London save the
night-birds and the builders SO much
as suspected the existence.
He did not go alone; he was not,
as he thought, unmatched. A detec-
tive, commissioned by an unknown
patron to follow him, crossed the
road directly he had disappeared and
saying $50 that's the game" began
to wonder if he also might dare the
venture.
He, at least, knew well what he
was doing and the class of person he