The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1916-02-18
CHAPTER Il-cOntInusd.

CHAPTER ll-contlnued.
However impulsively, he hadn't
sought Troyon's without definite in,
tent, TO wit, to gain some clue, how.
ever slender. to the mystery of that
wretched child. Marcel. But now Il
appeared he had procTastinated 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
creetly worded as to be uncompro-
missing, ELECTED from the maitre dho-
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.
ministration had come fresh decora.
tions and furnishings and complete
change Of personnel-not even one Of
the old walters remained.
"'All are gone, the old, familiar
faces, " Lanyard quoted in vindictive
melancholy-"damn em!"
Happily II was demonstrated that
the cuisine was being maintained on
fits erstwhile plane of excellence-one
still had that comfort
Other impressions, less intimate
proved puzzling, disconcerting and
paradoxically reassuring.
Lanyard commanded a fair view of
Roddy across the waist of the room.
The detective had ordered meal that
matched his aspect well, both of true
British simplicity He was a square
set man with a square jaw, cold blue
eyes, fat nose, a thin-lipped trap OF
a mouth. q 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 doggeduess of a strong character
hampered by a weak digestion, and
all the while kept his eyes fixed to an
issue of the Paris edition of the Lon
don Daily Mail with an effect of con-
centration quite too convincing.
Now one doesn't read the Paris edi.
tion Of the London Daily Mail with in
tense excitement. Humanity speaking,
1t can't be done
Where, then. was the object of this
so sedulously dissembled interest?
Lanyard wasn't slow to solve this
riddle to his satisfaction--in so far,
that is, as it was satisfactory to feel
yet more certain that Roddy's quarry
was another than himself
Despite the lateness of the hour,
which had by now turned ten o'clock,
the restaurant had still dozen tables
or so in the service of guests pleas
antly engaged in lengthening out an
agreeable evening with dessert, coffee, |
liqueurs and cigarettes The majority
of these were in couples, but at a table
one removed from Roddy's sat party |
of three; and Lanyard noticed, or
fancied, that the man from Scotland |
Yard turned his newspaper only dur
ing lulls in the conversation in this
quarter.
OF the three, one would pass for an
American of position and wealth-a |
man of something more than sixty |
years, with an execrable accent, a
racking cough, and a thin, patrician
cast of countenance clouded darkly by
the expression of soul in torment,
furrowed, scanned, twisted-a mask Of
mortal anguish. And once, when he
looked up and casually encountered
Lanyard's gaze, the adventurer was
shocked to find himself staring into
eyes that were as the eyes of dead
man-eyes Of gray so light that at
a little distance the color of the iris
blended indistinguishably with their
whites, leaving visible only the round,
black points of pupils abnormally dis
tended and staring, blank, fixed, pas
beneath lashless lids.
For the instant they seemed to e&
plore Lanyard's very soul with look
Of remote and fmpersonal curiosity;
then they fell away, and when next
the adventurer looked the man had
turned to attend to some observation
Of one Of his companions with a
snile that fairly transfigured his face,
the smile of charming child.
On his right sat girl who might
be his daughter, for not only was she,
100, obviously American, but she was
Ia: too young to be the others wife.
A demure, old-fashioned type, well
poised but unassuming, fetchingly
gowned, and with sufficient individu-
llity of taste, but not conspicuously; ]
| girl with soft, brown hair and soft,
brown eyes; pretty, not extravagantly I
80 when her face was in repose, but :
with a slow smile that made her
scarcely less than beautiful-in all, &
4 yard thought, the kind of woman
w. is predestined to comfort man {
Kind, whose strongest instinct is the /
She took little part in the CONVEX I
iation. seldom interrupted what was I