The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1917-05-01
AUTHOR 9f"THE ONE
WOLF" T II BRASS
BOWL."ETC
COPYRIGHT BY LOUIS JOSEPH VAncE

ihppSAuls first UnlnR you KNOW you III
be lying awake nights wondering If
can possibly be as silly as l sound,
n thinking what a pity It's IL true;
and when you come to that stage, it'll
be all over but the rice and old shoes
and Niagara Falls !"
Certainly you must be an incurable
optimisti"
you think sol l say, that's an aw-
fully good signl You're thinking about
me already"
But Of the four 1t was Quoin who
most impressed Lydia's impressionable
Imagination. His seemed an individu-
atty rarely simple and straightfor-
ward, TO which latency and indirection
must be altogether foreign. He was,
Lydia understood, a criminal investi-
gator of unusual attachments; yet he
utterly lacked every idiosyncrasy of the
great" detective of fiction. He was
a long, lank man, with a thin face of
strong features. His wide, thin lips
dropped quizzlcally at their corners.
And his eyes were dark and, normally,
deep with humorous expression. To
Lydia's notion he was the Yankee type
incarnate, but without that uncouth-
ness she had been bred to expect.
Because the Alsatia, cropping her
blind way at half-speed through wrap
pings Of fog ever more Opaque, per
sisted In making night hideous with
her unearthly whoop Of warning, the
concert all but fell fiat. Only Cra
ven's inexhaustible enthusiasm saved
the function.
When II was over Lydia, nou
Ing her intention Of going to bed, de-
layed only to say goodnight to Peter
Trait on the upper companionway
landing, near the doorway to the port
side of the boat deck. One ,alf of
this double door was open. Beyond
1t was nothingness-a fiat wall of gray
but feebly tinted with artificial light.
Then, descending to the promenade
deck, she turned aft to her stateroom,
and was about to enter when h
heard her name called in Craven's
voice, and-since she had left him only
a few minutes before the center of an
animated group in the music room
with pardonable surprise she discOv-
cred the man coming swiftly toward
her from the after part of the ship.
"Just to say goodnight" he ex-
plainel hastily, folding his daughter
in the tenderest of embraces and then
In a rapid whisper, "Meet me on deck
this deck-to port-ffth stanchion
aft from the door-in an hour. IL
anyone seems to be watching you, go
backl" And again aloud, Goodnight,
dear child, goodnight" he murmured
fondly, releasing her, and hurried for
ward.
Almost without her knowledge the
knob turned in Lydia's grasp; and
when she found herself alone in that
dark stateroom her hands trembled
so with excitement that for a moment
she fumbled In vain for the switch.
She had begged to be permitted to
help him, and Craven promised to
command her services, II eve need
should arise but his tone in promising
had been mellow with an indulgence
d%eprecating the implication that
Downing Streets secret ambassador
could ever need the aid of woman's
hands and wits in his occult and mo-
mentous affairs.
Yet already that time had come
She was half wild with delight.
After some minutes the quiet of the
ship was made musical with the mel
low and deliberate sounding of eight
bells, midnight. She had still half an
hour to wait-an almost insufferably
protracted vigil, with every faculty
tense In apprehension of the prema'
ture return of her Dowager Dragon.
But tonight nothing happened tc
change this custom; and the stroke OF
one bell of the midnight watch found
Lydia, unhindered. leaving her door, g
long cloak effectually Disgusting hel
light dinner gown.
Cautiously, with swift glances max
ing sure that the alleyway was empty
all down its darkened length, she stole
forward, slipped quickly through thu
port doorway into the welcome blank
ness which closed round her like {
magic garment of ~invisibility. A
intervals electric bulbs incased IL
hemispheres of clouded glass blotte'
the obscurity overhead, but lent LITTLE
aid to the girls straining vision. And
10Y that most Of the passengers wer'
abed, every port she passed was dark
At the fifth stanchion, midway be
tween two of the overhead lights, sh'
found no one waiting; and, since sh'
had encountered no one on the way
she CROPPED on to the sixth, found
deserted, and. returning. settled dow
to wait.
Suddenly Craven stood before her
the effect as mysterious as his busi
ness: with no warning of any sort, h
was there
without speaking, Lydia stretches
forth a hand to his. He suffered he
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