Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-11-06

nothing new. He had already heard it
several times before that night. 1t was
Mr. Challoner's step. and every time it
passed, he had rustled his papers or.
scratched vigorously with his pen He is
keeping watch for Oswald was his
thought THEY fear sudden end to
this. No one, not the son of my mother
knows me. Do know myself?"
-Four o'clock! The light was still burn
ing, the pile OF letters he was writing in
creasing.
Five o'clock! A rafting shade betrays
an open window. No other sound disturbs
the quiet of the room. 1t is empty now;
but Mr.. Challoner, long since satisfied
that all was well, goes by no more. ST.
lence has settled upon the hotel-that
heavy silence which precedes the dawn.
There was silence in the streets also.
The few who were abroad, crept quietly
along. An electric storm was in the air
and the surcharged clouds hung heavy
and low, biding the moment of outbreak
A man who had left a place of many
shadows for the more open road, paused
and looked up al these clouds; then went
calmly on.
Suddenly the Shrek of an approaching
train tears through the, valley. Has II
call for this man? No. Yet he pauses
in the midst OF the street he is crossing
and watches, as q child might watch,
for the flash Of its lights at the end OF
the darkened vista. 1t comes-filling the
empty space at which he stares with
moving life-engine, baggage car and a
long string of PullmGns. Then all is dark
again and only the noise of its slacken-
ing wheels comes to him through the
! night 1t has stopped at the station.
1ffotI 10 InY,nr
and the quickly lessening rumble Of its
departure is all that remains of this vision
of mans activity and ceaseless expect
ancy. When it is quite gone and all is
quiet, a sigh falls from the mans lips
and he moves on, but this time, for some
unexplaintable reason, In the direction of
the station. With lowered head he passes
along, noting little till he arrives within
sight of the depot where some freight is
being handled, and a trunk or two
wheeled down the platform. No sight
could be more ordinary or unsuggestive
but it has its attraction for him. for he
looks up as he goes by and follows the
passage of that truck down the platform
till it has reached the corner and disap-
peared. Then he signs again and again
moves on.
cluster OF houses, one of them open
! and lighted, was all which lay between
him now and the country road He was
hurrying past, for his step had uncon-
sciously quickened as he turned his back
upon the station, when he was seized
again by that mood OF curiosity and
stepped UP to the door from which a light
! issued and looked in. \ common eating
room lay before him, with rudely spread
tables and one very sleepy waiter taking
orders from new arrival who sat with
his BACK to the door. Why did the lonely
man on the sidewalk start as his eve fell
! on the latter's commonplace figure a
hungry man demanding breakfast in a
cheap country restaurant? His own
physique was powerful while that of the
other looked slim and frail But fear
was in the air, and the brooding of a
!enpest anects some tenperaments in a
Totally unexpected manner. As the man
inside turns slightly and looks up. the
master figure on the sidewalk vanishes.
ana his step, il any one had been inter-
ested enough TO listen, rings with a new
note as IL turns into the country road il
has at last reached.
Bur no one needed The new arrival
munches his roll ana waits impatiently
! Tor his coffee, while without, the clouds
! pile soundlessly in the sky one of them
taking the form OF a huge hand with
! clulching fingers reaching down into he
hollow void beneath
To Be Concluded Tomorrow.