The states-graphic. (Brownsville, Tenn.) 1???-1984, 1916-05-26
CHAPTER XVIII.
Sheer Impudence.

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Though it was not yet eight o'clock
when they entered the restaurant. II
was something after eleven before
Lanyard called for his bill.
We've plenty Of time" he had ex-
planned; "it'n be midnight before we
can move, The gentle art OF house
breaking has its technique. you know,
and its ethics-we can't well violate
the privacy OF Nine. 0mber's strong.
box before the caretakers on the
premises are sound asleep. 1t isn't
done, you know--it isn't class to 60
burglarizing when decent. law-abiding
folk are wide awake. Meantime we're
better on here than trapesing the
streets"
It's silent web Of side ways and a
gloomy one by night that backs up
north OF Les Halles--old Paris, grim,
taciturn. and somber, stepped In its
memories OF savage romance. But for
infrequent corner lamps. the street
that welcomed them from the doors OF
the warm and coy restaurant was as
dismal as an alley In some city Of the
dead. Its houses. with their mansard
roofs and boarded windows, bent their
heads together like mutes at wake,
black-cloaked and hooded; seldom one
showed light; never one betrayed by
any sound the life that lurked behind
its jealous blinds.
Now again the rain had ceased and,
though the sky remained overcast, the
atmosphere was clear and brisk with
touch of frost, in grateful contrast to
the dull and muggy air that had OBJ
tanned for the last twenty-four hours.
We'll walk" Lanyard suggested
"if you don't mind-part of the way at
least; it'll eat up time, and bit OF ex-
ercise will do US both good"
The girl assented quietly.
The drum OF their heels on fast-dry-
ing sidewalks struck sharp echoes
from the silence OF that drowsy quar-
ter, a lonely clamor that rendered it
Impossible TO ignore their apparent
solitude--as Impossible as It was for
Lanyard to ignore the fact that they
were followed.
The shadow dogging them on the far
side OF the street, some fifty yards be-
hind. was as noiseless as any cat: but
for this circumstance Lanyard would
have been slow to believe it was con-
cerned with him. SO confident had he
felt, till that moment of having given
the Pack the slip.
And from this he diagnosed still an
other symptom of the Packs incurable
stupidity!
Supremacy on the alert, he had dis
covered the pursuit before they left
the block OF the restaurant. Dissem-
bling. partly to avoid alarming the
girl, partly to trick the follower into a
feeling OF greater security, he turned
this way and that, round several cor
ners, until quite convinced that the
shadow was dedicated to himself ex.
clusively, then promptly revised his
prior purpose and. instead of sticking
TO darker backways, struck out direct
ly for the broad. well-lighted. and live
" Boulevard Sebastopol.
Crossing this without another back
ward glance, he turned north, seeking
some cafe whose arrangements suited
his designs; and, presently. though not |
before their tramp had brought them
almost to the line of the Grand boule-
wards, found one to his taste, cheer
full and well-Iighted establishment stu
ated upon corner, with entrances
from both streets hedge of forforn
fir trees knee-deep in wooden tubs
guarded its collection of round metal
tables and spindle-shanked chairs, OF