Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1910-01-04

profound reverie, detained him with u
gesture and began to interrogate him
IA French When he departed present
ly 1t trangpired that the girl was un
acquainted with that tongue.
Il didn't understand. you know" she
told him with slow. shy smile.
81 was merely questioning him about
the trains from Brussels tonight. We
daren't stop, you see. We must go on
keep Hobbs on the jump and lose
him, If possible. There's where our
advantage lies-in having only Hobbs
to deal with. He's not particularly In
tellectual, and we've two heads to his
one besides. If we can prevent him
from guessing our destination and wir'
ing back to Antwerp, we may win
away. You understand"
Perfectly" she said, Frightening
And what do you purpose doing
nowT
81 can't tell yet. The guards gone
to get me some information about the
night trains on other lines. In the
meantime don't fret about Hobbs. I'll
answer for Hobbs"
81 shan't be worried" she said sim.
ply, with you here"
Whatever answer he would have
made he was obliged to postpone be-
cause Of the return Of the guard. with
II handful of time tables. and when.
rewarded with modest gratuity. the
man had gone his way and kirkwood
turned again to the girl she had with
drawn her attention for the time.
Unconscious Of his bold regard, she
was dreaming. her thoughts at loose
ends, her eyes studying the incalcula-
BILE depths Of blue black night that
pwirled and eddied beyond the window
glass. The most shadowy Of smiles
touched her lips; the faintest shade OF
tleepened color rested on her cheeks.
She was thinking of-him? AS long
as he dared the young man. his heart
In his own eyes, watched her greedily.
taking a miser's joy Of her youthful
beauty, striving with all his soul to
analyze the enigma Of that most in-
scrutable smile.
1t baffled him. He could not say OF
what she thought and told himself
bitterly that 1t was not for him, a
pauper. to presume place In her
meditations. He must not forget his
circumstances nor let her tolerance
render him oblivious to his place,
which must be a servants. not a low
er's.
The better to convince himself OF
this he plunged desperately into for
lorn attempt to make head or tall or
Belgian railway schedules. complicat-
ed as these Of necessity are by the
alteration from normal time notation
TO the abnormal system sanctioned by
the government, and vice versa, with
every train that crosses boundary
line Of the state.
So preoccupied did he become In this
pursuit that he was subconsciously
impressed that the girl had spoken
twice ere he could detach his interest
from the exasperatingly inconclusive
ard incoherent cohorts Of ranked fig
ures.
Cant you find out anything;" Dor
othy was asking.
precious little," he grumbled. I'D
give nv head for n Bradshaw! Only
1t wouldn't be fair exchange. There
seems to be an express for Bruges
leaving the Care du Nord, Brussels,
at fifty-fve minutes after % o'clock.
and If I'm not mistaken that's the
latest train out Of Brussels and the
earliest we can catch-lf we can catch
It. I've never been In Brussels, and
heaven only knows how long 1t would
take us to cab 1t from the Care du
Midi to the Nord."
In this statement, however, Mr..
Kirkwood was fortunately mistaken.
Not only heaven, 1t appeared, had
cognizance of the distance between
the two stations. While Kirkwood
was still debating the question, with
pessimistic tendencies, the friendly
guard had occasion to pass through
the coach and, being tapped, yielded
the desired information with entire
tractability.
It would be cab ride Of perhaps ten
minutes. Monsieur, however. would
serve himself we'll If he offered the
driver an advance tip as an Incentive
to speedy driving. Why? Why, be-
cause (here the guard consulted his
watch, and Kirkwood very keenly re-
..rettcd the loss Of his own)-because
this train, announced to arrive In Brus'
sells some twenty minutes prior to the
departure of that other. was already
late. But. yes, a matter Of some ten
.ninutcs-could that not be made upi
Ah, monsieur, but who should sayf
The guard departed, doubtless With
private views as to the madness of all
English speaking travellers.
"And there We are!" commented
ilirkwood In Fictitious resignation
If we're obliged to stop overnight IN
Brussels our friends will be ON oui
back before we can get out In the
morning II they have to come by
motor car" He reflected bitterly or
the fact that with but a little more