Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-11-05


assurance doubly sure. The party will
whom | was dining had themselve
been struck by the appearance of tn,
lady in the white frock, with the dia
mond star in her hair and the pinl
roses arranged so dantily in the cor
sage of her dress. There had been {
laughing discussion about who was tn,
nicest-looking person in the room
more than one opinion had supported
the claim OF the lady with the dia.
mond star.
In the middle of that dinner I found
myself all at once in ouandary
owing to that very inconvenient gift
OF mine. recalled the whisper about
| the lady in the mauve dress, and how
so attired had been found on the
Brighton line Was the whispered al
/ fusion to the lady in the white dress
to have similar unpleasant sequel? If
there was fear of anything of the
kind what was to do?
My friends, noticing my distractions,
rallied me on my inattention.
Just then ! saw some one advanc-
ing across the room whom | knew at
once in spite of the alteration which
evening dress made in hint was
the big, burly man in the red-brown
suit.
The big man, not. apparently ac-
knowlcdging the existence of the soil
tary diner, passed his table, seemingly
by the merest chance, in the course of
his passage toward another on the
other side of the room. With a NOR
sci of food on his fork poised mid
way between the plate and his mouth,
the diner moved his lips TO repeat his
former words:
White dress, star in her hair, pink
roses over left breast. Tonight"
The big man had passed, the morsel
of food had entered the diners mouth
nothing seemed TO have happened, yet
| was on the point of springng to my
feet and electrifying the gayly- dressed
crowd by crying, "Murderw
More than once afterward I wished
| had done so. AS matter of fact,
| did nothing at all.
The lady in the white dress with
her party, left early I should have
liked to give her some hint some
warning-I did neither just let her
go. AS she went across the room one
or two members of our party toasted
her under their breath. The solitary
diner took no heed of her whatever.
| had been furtively watching him the
whole time, and he never once glanced
in her direction. So far as | saw.
he was SO absorbed in his meal hat
he scarcely raised his eyes from the
table.
T he following morning travelled
by the early boat-train to Dover. When
he ,-,.,,, 1 Z. IL, I
at my Telegraph. | read a good deal
OF it; then, at the top of column on
one of the inside pages. came upon
a paragraph headed: Mysterious af-
fair at the Embankment Hotel" Not
very long after midnight--in time, it
seemed, to reach the paper before it
went to press-the body of a young
woman had been found in the court
yard OF the hotel She was in her
night attire, She was recognized as
one of the guests who had been stay
ing in the hotel; she had either fallen
or been thrown out OF her bedroom
window
What did that paragraph mean
Could the woman who had been found
in her night attire in the courtyard
Of the Embankment Hotel be the
and diamond star in her pretty brown
hair? There was nothing to show that
she was. There was nothing to con-
words of The solitary diner, 1
lace; yet | wondered if it were not
ny, duty to return at once to London
and tell my story But, after all it
y, .nI
nothing; it proved nothing. Those peo-
Die, were waiting for me in Paris
SO | went on TO Paris, and, with
hem, nearly round the world and
AN say, without eXaggeration, that
yentleman's face seemed to have gone
With me.
More than two years elapsed. In
he summer of the third ! went to
Buxton, as had gone to Brighton. for
| rest. was seated one morning in
he public gardens, with my thoughts
y. the other side OF the world, until
presently | became aware that under
he shade Of tree on my left man
Vas sitting alone. When | saw his
'ush; it was the man who had been on
ii
Iankment Hotel, and who had Travelled
with me round the world. He was
dressed in cool gray suit; as at
Brighton, he had a flower in his but
onhole.
Then the familiar comedy, which |
believe had rehearsed in my dreams,
,egan again. A man came down the
oath from behind me, passing before
had seen his face, and under the
hady tree paused for an instant to
light a cigarette, and | saw the lips
If the man on the chair forming
words:
Gray dress, lace scarf, Panama
lat; fve-hve train"
His lips framed those nine words
'nly; then the man with the cigarette
'assed on, and | really do believe that
ny heart stood still | waited for the
ction to continue-not very long. In
he distance | saw big, burly person
threading his way among the people
oward that shady tree, and | knew
ven for a single instant, he just went
lowly by, within a foot or the chair,
md the thin lips shaped themselves
nto words
Gray dress lace scarf, Panama hat;
ve-hve train
TIE big man sauntered on, leaving
ne with the most uncomfortable feel
ng that | had seen sentence OF death
on an innocent, helpless
ellow-creature. ] did not propose to
j. still this time allow those three
ncanny beings, undsturbed to work