Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1916-02-03
CHAPTER lI-cOntinued.

ohds Roddy already Installed as a guest.
CHAPTER ll-continued.
However impulsively. he hadn't
sought Troyon's without definite in
tent, to wit, to gain some clue, how
eve slender, to the mystery of that
wretched child. Marcel. But now it
appeared he had procrastinated ia
tally-time and change had left little
other than the shell of the Troyon's
he remembered. Papa Troyon was
gone; madame no longer occupied the
desk of the ~caisse; inquiries, so dis
creetiy worded as to be uncompro-
missing, ELECTED from the maitre d'ho-
tel the information that the house had
been under new management these
eighteen months; the old proprietor
was dead, and his widow had sold out
lock, stock and barrel. and retired to
the country, it was not known ex-
actly where. And with the new ad.
ADMINISTRATION had come fresh decora-
tons and furnishings and a complete
change of personnel-not ever one of
the old walters remained.
"'All are gone, the old, familiar
faces" Lanyard quoted in vindictive
melancholy-"damn 'em!"
Happily it was demonstrated that
the cuisine was being maintained on
its erstwhile plane of excellence-one
still had that comfort!
Other impressions, less intimate
proved puzzling. d~isconcerting and
pa~radoxically reassuring.
Lanyard commanded a fair view OF
Roddy eros the waist of the room
The detective had ordered a meal that
matched his aspect we'll, both of true
British simplicity. He was a square,
set man with a square jaw, cold blue
eyes, a fat nose, a thin-lipped trap OF
a mouth, a face as red as rare beef
steak.
His dinner comprised a cut from
the joint, boiled potatoes. brussels
sprouts, a bit of cheese, a bottle OF
Bass. He ate slowly, chewing with
the doggedness of a strong characte,
hampered by a weak digestion, and
all the while kept his eyes fixed to ar
issue of the Paris edition of the Lon
don Daily Mail with an effect of con
0centration quite too convincing.
Now one doesn't read the Paris edi
ton of the London Daily Mail with in
tense excitement. Humanity speaking
it can't be done.
Where, then. was the object of thi'
80 sedulously dissembled interest?
Lanyard wasn't slow to solve thi!
riddle to his satisfaction-in so far
that is, as it was satisfactory to fee
yet more certain that Roddy's QUAR-!
was another than himself.
Despite the ~lateness Of the hour
which had by now turned ten o'clock
the restaurant had still a dozen table!
or so in the service Of guests pleas
antly engaged in frightening out al
agreeable evening with dessert, coffee
liqueurs and cigarettes. The maiorit!
of these were in couples, but at a tablt
one removed from Roddy's sat a part.
of three; and Lanyard noticed, O
fancied, that the man from Scotland
Yard turned his newspaper only dur
ing iulls in the conversation in thi
quarter.
OF the three, n would pass for al
American Of position and wealth.
man of something more than sixt,
years, with an execrable accent,
rracking cough. and a thin, PATRICIA
cast of ~countenance clouded darkIy b
the expression of a soul in torment
%furrowed, scanned, t~wisted-a mask O
mortal anguish. And once, when h
looked up and casually encountere
Lanyard's gaze. the adventurer wa
shocked to find himself staring int
eyes that were as the eyes of a dea
man-eyes Of a gray so light that a
a little distance the color Of the iri
blended indistinguishably with thei
whites, leaving visible only the round
black points of pupils abnormally dii
tended and staring, blank, fixed, pa!
s%ionless, beneath lashless lids.
For the instant they seemed to e.
plore Lanyard's very soul with a loo
of remote and impersonal curiosity
then they fell away, and when neS
the adventurer looked the man ha
turned to attend to some observatio
of one Of his companions with
smile that fairly TRANSPORTED his fac,
the smile Of a charming child.
On his right sat a girl who migf
be his daughter, for not only was sh,
too, obviously American, but she wa
far too young to be the others wifi
A demure, old-fashioned type, we
poised but unassuming, fetehingl
gowned. and with sufficient individr
ality Of taste, but not conspicuously
a girl with soft, brown hair and sof
brown eyes: pretty, not e%xtravagantI
so when her face was in repose, bl
with a slow smile that made hi
scarcely less than beautiful-in a
Lanyard thought, the kind OF woma
who is predestined to comfort ma
kind, whose strongest instinct is Il
maternal.
She took little part in the conve
sation. seldom interrupted what WI