The San Francisco call., 1909-02-28
CHAPTER XIII
"A A Primer of Progressive Crime

W W ten and made S0LLy mOSlcdi
by the pealing OF a distant
chime. calling vespers TO its brothers
In Antwerp's hundred belfries; and one
by. eAe. far and near, the responses
broke cut. until it seemed as If the
zsorld must be vibrant with silver and
.brazen- melody; until at the last the
great bells in the cathedral spire
-stirTea and grumbled drowsily' theh
woke: 30 such ringing resonance Is
dWarfcd an the rest and made them
'seenl.as nothing.
SIX o'clock, kirkwood reused out OF
his dour brooding. The Amsterdam ex-
press 7Vould leave at 6;S2, and he knew
npf from what station.
.. Striding swiftly across the prone
made he entered a small tobacco shop
and made inquiry Of the proprietress.
TIis command OF French was tolerable'
he experienced no difficulty in compre-
hending the good woman's instructions.
; Trains Tor Amsterdam, she said, left
from the Care Centrale, mile or SO
ACROSS the city. Mseur had plenty of
time, and 10 spare There was the
tram line IL m'seur did not care TO take
q Gacre. II he would so by way Of the
N1elle B0urse be would discover the
trarlcars of the Rue Kipdorp. Mseur
wa g. NEST welcome.
Monsieur departed with the more
haste since he was unable to repay
this courtesy with the most trifiing
purchase; such slight matters annoyed
kjrEKDod intensely. Perhaps 1t was
well for him that he had the long
walk 10 help him work of a bit OF
nervous evaporation into which he
was plunged every time his thoughts
harked back TO that joviaI blackguard.
Stryker. He was quite calm
when. after a brisk walk of some Is
minutes. he reached the station.
A public clock reassuTed him with
the Information that he had the quar-
ter Of an hours leeway; il was only
II minutes past is o'clock belgian
railway time, always cOnfusing). In
quiring his way 10 the Amsterdam
train. which was already waiting at the
platform, he paced its length, peer
ing brazenly in at the coach win
dOws, now warm with hope, now
Ehivering with disappointment, realiz-
ing as he could not but realize that
all else aside his only chance Of
rehabilitation lay in meeting Calendar.
But in none Of the coaches or carriages
did he discover any one even remotely
resembling the fat adventurer, his
daughter. or AIulready.
Satisfied that they had not yet
boarded the train, he stood aside, tor
tured with forebodings. while anxious
y. scrutinizing each individual of the
thEOng Of intending travellers. q.
Perhaps they had been delayed-by
the Alethea's lateness in making port
very. likely; perhaps they purposed TAX
Ing not this but a later train; perhaps
they had already left the city by an
earlier. or had returned TO England.
on time, the bell changed it's warn
fEg; the guards bawled theirs; doors
were hastily opened and slammed; the
trucks began 10 groan, couplings JOLT
Ing as the engine chafed in constraint
fI;ie train and kirkwood moved stimuli
I1ane0usly out Of opposite ends Of the
STATION, the one to rattle and hammer
round the eastern boundaries OF the
cttE and straighten out at top speed
or the northern route for the Belgian
liner the other TO stroll moodily away
tdle hands in empty pockets, bound
ailnlessly anywhere-it didn't matter
Nothing whatever mattered in the
smallest degree Ere now the out
look had been dark; but this he felt
10 be the absolute nadir OF his misfor-
tunes Presently-after a while-as
soon as he could bring himself to it-he
would ask the way and go 10 the
American consulate But Just now,
lo5y as the tide of chance had ebbed.
leaving him stranded on the flats Of
-ti'iA4.Aa--tr afft GE c-4OAEu the LlEdS-
ure of his self-esteem. he could not
J: tolerate the prospect Of begging for as
sistance-help which would in all like
1sh9od he refused. since his story was
quite too preposterous TO gain credence
in official cars that daily are filed with
. the lamentations or those whose mo-
tfves; DO not bear investigation And
II .he- chose to elininate the strange
chain Of events which had landed him
IN Antwerp, 10 base his plea solely on
the. fact that he was q victim Of the
san Francisco disaster he him
self was able TO smile. If sourly. an
i. ticiFating the incredulous consular
smile with wAich he would be shown
the door.
no, that he would reserve as a last
resort True, he had already come to
the jumping OF place; to the court of
the last resort alone could he now ap-
peal But not yeti after a
while he could make his petition. after
he had made a familiar of the thought
that he must armor himself with cal
lOus Indifference to rebuff. to say
naught OF the waves Of burning shame
that would Overwhelm him when he
came 10 the point of asking charity.
lie found himself, neither knowing
, nor caring hoWt he had won thither.
N the Place Nerte, the vast ven
cradle pile OF the cathedral rising
on ms right hotels and quaint old
world dwellings with peaked roofs
and gables and dormer windows. in
closing the other sides Of the square
The chimes Che could hear none but
those Of the cathedral) were heralding
the hour OF = Listless and preoccu-
pied in contemplation OF his wretched
case he wandered purposelessly halt
round the square. then dropped into a
bench on its outskirts
It was some time later that he no.
ticed. with a casual. Indifferent eye, a
porter running out OF the Hotel de
Flandre. directly opposite, and calling
nacre in to the carriage block.
As languidly he watched a woman,
very becomingly dressed, follow the
porter down TO the curb.
The Gacre swung in, and the woman
dismissed the porter before entering
she vehicle, a proceeding so unusual
that IT fixed the onlooker's interest.
lie sat rigid with attention. The woman
seemed to be giving explicit and
lengthy directions 10 the driver, who
nodded and gesticUlated his comprehen-
sion.
The woman was Mrs. Hallam
The first blush Of recognition passed
leaving Kirkwood without any amaze
ment- i was an easy matter to ac-
count for her being where she was