Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-10-25

close conference. The German was ex-
planning, the girl was drinking it in and
looking from the speaker to the Swede
who was gravely nodding his head. now
and then interpolating a remark or ask
ing a question. The German was a tall
man of military bearing. had a large
dominant nose and showed distinct breed
ing. Casually observed. one would class
him as fine specimen of the young Ger
MAI officer. but when l had edged within
twenty feet of them l could see by the
light that shone from the interior of the
cafe that there was the stamp OF bold
cunning in his eyes. the lines Of his
mouth and the set of his jaw. AS l COM
pared the proflles of the lovely girl and
this man l was startled to find SO
marked a resemblance that l could not
help but conclude they were brother and
sister The conversation in general was
In English. the exchanges between the
man and woman in German. That much
1 could tell though l was not near
enough as yet to catch the drift or 1t.
1 turned my back to them, as If listen
ing to the band, and slowly moved back
ward till / was nearly at the table next
to the group when / heard the engineer
exclaim:
"Ah, These ess locky. Az see may
fren yust now here. oh, Mister Donk-
in. aft you please. one momen.
I turned to the group
"Ay ANN wary glad to see You one
ta-ame more. said the Swede 1Herlns
Ills manu- Kermit Hldy ~ hohN ~"
agwanded wit day Baroness Won Schler-
brand und her brudder day kapltan Ru-
dolf Won schierbrand.'
1T is a pleasure to remember Mr.. Dun
can as a fellow passenger on the Monte
rev." said the girl Rraciously lifting some
small feminine impeachment from a chair
beside her that 1 might sit there. The
captain greeted me pleasantly enough l
looked away to the pillar where L mad
seen Tom Railway standing. and there
a a race
as anything I had ever seen there. 1t
seemed to me that the captains eyes
were endeavoring to bore me through
every time he looked at me. and the en-
gineer was regarding me in covertly
amused way that was maddening. while
in the next half hour the girl checked
herself awkwardly in her conversation
a half dozen times If having been on
hint of something which she en-
deavoring to conceal Twice when she
spoke my name she very nearly used
some other.
1t was certainly strained situation.
with the first weight on me. Thanks
to Rand's incommunicativeness. l found
myself pumped In the midst of hostile
party, consisting of a woman who seemed
to have been shadowing me; of her
brother, who ill-concealed his attitude.
and of chance steamer acquaintance,
who had made friends with both the
others and a few hours before had been
looking up the same subject of vital i'm
portance on which myself was bent. In
addition to these things. all three were
under the espionage of Rand's big Sioux,
who had picked them up by description.
or had with Rand, Swallowed overland
from New York the captain. in whom |
recognized 'the man with silk hat"
Rand held the key to the puzzle but
where. in the name of all the goats in
Spain, was Rand?
Not that 1 was not enjoying myself
after the first ten minutes. Quite to the
contrary: the baroness and / fell into
vein of mutual interest. and | found her
SO bright and clever that before 1 COM
pretended it 1 was completely fascinated,
and only those strange shades of re-
straint that came over her at intervals
kept me in mind of the false basis on
which all stood. AS the hours passed
by it seemed that we found more
and more of common bond, and it
was only when the great cathedral
bells began their midnight chime that I
lett them. 1 do not think l had addressed
twenty words to the engineer, yet he
gripped my hand warmly and promised to
call on me and have breakfast the next
day. and the captain and baroness desired
us both to cruise with them to Alvarado
in day or two in the yacht of the COM
mandant. which had been placed at their
disposal.
The entire evenings performance was
so unreal as almost to resemble the re-
hearsal of a play. The only genuine thing
was my enchantment by the baroness. and
I would have exchanged almost anything
l possessed for the certainty that she
meant one or two little things she had
said. However, to calm myself and get
my proper analytical point of view, l
roamed the streets for an hour and then