The Washington herald., 1913-12-21
ooEHeht. YlS,

brlgnlOn, ana was SlItinS ont
= morning on the balcony of thu
West Pier pavilion, listening to tn,
ine band of the Gordon Highlanders
l sat on one end of bench. In ;
corner, within a few feet of me, /;
man was standing, leaning with hi
back against the railing-an odd-look
ing man, tall, slender, with something
almost Mongolian in his ciean-shaver
round face. As one sometimes doe
when one sees an unusual-loollinl
stranger, wondered hazily what kinc
of person he might be. I did no
like the look of him.
Presently another man came along
the balcony and paused close to him
They took no notice of each other
the newcomer looked attentively at th'
crowd promenadipg on the deck below
almost ostentatiously ,disregarding tht
others neighborhood All the same
the man in the corner whispered some
thing which probably reached his ear:
alone-and my Notwithstanding
which seemed to be a few disconnected
words:
"Mauve dress, big black velvet hat
ostrich plume; four-thirty train"
That was all he said. The new
conner remained for few moments
idly watching the promenaders; then
turning, without vouchsafing the, other
the slightest recognition, strolled care
lesSly on.
1t struck me as rather an odd little
scene. I was constantly being made
an unintentional confdante of what
were meant TO be secrets; but about
that brief sentence which the one had
whispered to the other there was a
piquant something which struck me as
amusins-the more especially as / be-
lieved / had seen the lady TO whom the
words referred. As | came on the
pier l had been struck by by her gor-
geous appearance, as being a person
MhO plOOdOly Hdu LloiS NiOiNy ''4SA
taste.
Some minutes passed. The Mon
goIian-looking man remained perfect
ly quiescent in his corner. Then an
other man came strolling along-big
and burly, in a reddish-brown suit,
d green felt hat worn slightly on one
side of his head. He paused on the
same spot on which the first man had
brought his stroll TO a close, and he
paid no attention to the gentleman in
the corner, who looked right away
from him, even while 1 could. see his
lips framing precisely the same SEN
tence:
"Mauve dress, big black velvet hat,
ostrich plume; four-thirty train
The big man showed by no sign that
he had heard a sound. He continued
to do as his predecessor had done
stared at the promcnaders, then strolled
carelessly on.
This second episode struck me as
being rather odder than the first. Why
were such commonplace words uttered
in so mysterious a manner? / left the
Mongolian-looking gentleman still in
his corner and went TO the other side
of the balcony to watch the people
going down the pie. l saw the gor-
geous lady in the mauve dress and big
black picture hat with a fine ostrich
plume, and l wondered what interest
she might have for the round-faced
man in the corner, and what she had
10 do with the four-thirty train.
The next day l left Brighton by an
carly train. In the compartment l
was reading the Sussex Daily News,
when a paragraph caught my eye.
Tragic occurrence on the Brighton
line" Late the night before the body
of a woman had been found lying on
the ballast, as if she might have fallen
out of a passing train. 1t described
her costume-she was attired in a pale
mauve dress and a big black picture
hat in which was an ostrich-feather
plume. There were other details
plenty of them-but that was enough
for me.
1 was very much occupied just then.
1t was because l had nearly broken
down in my work that I had gone
for those Jew days to Brighton. l
doubt if l even glanced at newspaper
for some considerable time after that
l cannot say that the episode wholly
faded from my memory, but / never
heard what was the sequel of the lady
who was found on the line, or, in
deed. anything more about her.
| accepted an engagement with a
deaf and dumb girl who was about to
travel with her parents on a long
voyage, pretty nearly round the world.
! was to meet them in Paris, and then
go on with them to Marseilles, where
the real journey c. nenced. The
night before l started some friends
gave me a sort of send-off dinner at
the Embanknent Hotel. We were
about halfway through the meal when
a man came in and sat by himself at
small round table, nearly facing me.
/ could not think where 7 had seen