Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-02-16

leaning forward from his box to urge
his horse with lash of whip and
tongue, entirely unconscious of his
fares intentions
Between two streets the mouth of a
narrow and darksome byway flashed
into view. Kirkwood threw wide the
door and leaped, trusting to the night
to hide his stratagem, to luck to save
him limbs. Neither failed him; in a
twinkling he was on all tours in the
mouth of the alley, and as he picked
himself up, the second farce passed,
Calendar himself poking round bald
poll out OF the window to incite his
drivers cupidity with promises of
redoubled fare.
Kirkwood mopped his dripping
forehead and whistled low with dis
may; it seemed that from that instant
on it was to be vendetta with a ven
geance. Calendar, as he had foreseen,
was stopping at nothing.
At dog trot he sped down the al
ley to the next street, on which he
/ turned back more sedately toward
the river, debouching on the esplan-
ade just one block from the Hotel du
Commerce. AS he swung past the SER
ried tables of cafe, whatever fears
he had harbored were banished by the
discovery that the excitement occas-
Toned by the chase had already subsid-
| ed. Beneath the garish awnings the
crowd was laughing and chattering,
eating and slipping it's book with COM
plete unconcern, needless altogether
of the haggard and shabby young man
carrying black handbag, with the
black Shade of Care for company and
a blacker threat of disaster logging
his footsteps. Without attracting any
attention whatever, indeed, he min
gled with the strolling crowds, making
his way toward the Hotel du Com
merce. Yet he was not at all at ease;
his uneasy conscience invested the
gladstone bag with magnetic attrac'
ton for the public eye. To carry it I'M
concealed in his hand furnished him
with a sensation as disturbing as
though its worn black sides had been
stenciled STOLEN. in letters of flame
He felt it rendered him the cynosure
of public interest. an object Of sus-
picion to the wide cold world, that the
gaze which lit upon the bag travelled
to his face only to espy thereon the
brand of built
| For ease of mind, presently, he
turned into a convenient shop and
spent ten invaluable francs for a
hand satchel big enough to hold the
gladstone bag.
| With more courage, now that he
| had the hateful thing under cover, he
found and entered the Hotel du Com
merce.
In little closet which served for
an office, over desk visibly grooming
with the weight of an enormous and
grimy registry book, a sleepy, fat.
bland and good natured woman of
the Belgian bourgeoisie presided, a
| benign and drowsy divinity of even
tempered courtesy. To his misleading
inquiry for Monsieur Calendar she
returned a cheerful permission to
seek that gentleman for himself
Three flights, M'sieu', in the front;
suite seventeen it is M'sieu' does not
mind walking up?" she inquired
Msieu did not in the least, though
! by no strain Of the Imagination could
! it truthfully be said that he walked
Up those steep and redolent stairways
of the Hotel du Commerce d'Anvers.
More literally, he flew with winged
| feet, spurning each third padded step
with force that raised tiny cloud
of fine white dust from the carpet
ing
Breathless. he at last paused at
the top OF the third flight. His heart
was hammering, his pulses drum
ming like wild things; there was a
queer construction in his throat, a
fire of hope in his heart alternating
with the ice of doubt. Suppose she
was not there, What if he were mis-.
taken, what if he had misunderstood
what if Mulready and Calendar had
referred to another lodging house?
Pausing, he gripped the balustrade
fercely, forcing his self-control, fore.
ing himself TO reflect that the girl
(presuming for the sake of argument
he were presently to find her) could
not be expected to understand how
ardently he had discounted this mo.
ment of meeting, or how strangely it
affected him. Indeed. he himself was
more than little disturbed by the
latter phenomenon, though he was nc
longer blind to it's cause. But he was
not to let her see the evidence Of his
agitation, lest she be frightened.
Slowly schooling himself to assume
masgue of illuding self-possession
and composure, he passed down the
| corridor to the door whose panels
wore the painted legend, IT; and there
knocked.
Believing that he overheard from
within sudden startled exclamation
he smiled patiently, tolerant Of hel
surprise.
i Burning with Impotence, as with &
fever, he endured a long minutes
wait
4 Misgivings were prompting him tx
knock again and summon her by name
when he heard footballs on the othel
side of the door, followed by a clicl
of the lock. The door was opened
grudgingly, bare six inches
OF the alarmed expression in thu
eyes that stared into his, he took M
account. His face heightened 1ittl'
as he stood there. dumb. painting, star
ing; and his heart sank down, deel
into gulf Of disappointment, weight