Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-03

obviously impossible to sit another two
hours in this unresponsive hotel room In
the company of red velvet chairs and the
bronze Psyche.
Isant, in conjunction with her maid, An
nette, was busy laying the foundations
Of an elaborate toilet. Louisa was free
to do as she pleased. She got a service
able ulster and a diminutive hat and sal
want to think or to dream, nor perhaps
did she altogether wish to work off that
unusual feeling of excitement which had
SO unaccountably transformed her ever
since Luke's letter had come
All she wanted was to be alone and to
come out of herself for awhile. She had
been alone all the afternoon, save for
that brief half hour when aunt discussed
the obvious over g. badly brewed cup OF
tea-it was not that kind of 'aloneness"
solitude which a crowded street has
above all the power to give.
There is kind of sociability in any
room, be 1t ever SO uncomprOmisfng in
the matter of discomfort. but q crowded
street can be unutterably lonely. either
cruelty SO or kindly, as the case may be.
To Louisa Harris, the commonplace So
ciety girl. accustomed to tea fights. to
dances and to dinner parties. the loneli-
ness of this crowded little city was
ster closely buttoned to the throat, the
small hat tied under her chin, with every
thing on her weatherproof and unfash-
ionable, she attracted no notice from the
paSSerSby.
Not one head was turned as, with a
long breath of delight, she sailed forth
from under the portico Of the hotel out
into the muddy, busy street; not one
glance of curiosity or interest so freely
bestowed in the streets Of foreign cap
young and comeiy, followed this very
ordinary lOOking English miss.
To the crowd she was Indifferent. These
men and women hurrying along. pushing.
Luke, nor that she, Louisa Harris, was
the happiest woman on earth.
She turned back toward the boulevard,
meaning to take a brisk walk all along
the avenue Of trees which makes a cir
cult round the inner part of the town,
and which ultimately would lead her back
to the Care du Nord and the Palace
Hotel. 1t was walk she had often done
before-save for one or two busy corners
on the way, it would be fairly solitary
and peaceful
Louisa stepped out with an honest Brit
ish tread, hands buried in the pockets of
her serviceable ulster, head bent against
the sudden gusts OF wind. She did not
mind the darkness of the ill-lighted. wide
boulevard, and had every intention OF
covering the two miles in little more
than half an hour.
How the time sped! It seemed as II she
had only just left the hotel, and already
surely not quarter OF mile away she
could see glimmering the lights of the
Place Namur, the halfway point OF her
walk.
She was in the Boulevard Waterloo.
where private houses with closed porte
cocheres add nothing to the municipal
lighting of the thoroughfare.
Trans had been rushing past her in
endless succession; but now there was q
lull. Close by her taxi auto whizzed
quickly past and came to a standstill
some hundred yards away. near the pave
ment and not far from an electric light
standard.
Louisa, with vacant eyes attached on
that cab, but with her mind fixed on
particular room In a particular house in
the name of Luke de Mountford, con-
tinued her Wa.A. Those same vacant
eyes Of hers presently saw the chauffeur
Of the taxi auto get down from his box
and open the door of the cab, and then
her absent mind was suddenly brought
back from Grosvenor Square, London, to
the Boulevard Waterloo in Brussels by a
terrible cry Of horror which had broken
from that same chauneur's lips. Instinc-
lively Louisa hurried on, but. even as
she did SO, small crowd which, indeed,
seemed to have sprung from nowhere
had already gathered round the vehicle
Murmurs Of What is it? What is it,"
mingled with smothered groans of ter
TOr, as curiosity caused one or TWO OF
the more bold to peer into the gloomy
depths of the cab. Shrill calls brought q
couple of gardens to the spot. In q mo-
ment Louisa found herself a unit in an
eager, anxious crowd. asking questions
conjecturing, wondering. hOrror-struck
as soon as plausible and graphic ex-
PLANTATION came from those who were in
the forefront and were privileged to see
"A man-murdered--
But how?"
1.-THE chauffeur got down from his box
49, and looked in all. mon Dieu!"
''What did he see?'
"a man . . he is quite young -
only about twenty years Of age"
Stabbed through the neck
Stabbed? Bah?'
Right through the neck. I tell You
just below the ear. can see the
wound, quite small, as II done with q
skewer."
'Allonsi voyons! Voyonsy' came the
gruff accents from the two poFtly gard
lens, who worked vigorously with elbows
and even feet to keep the crowd some
uhof M hov