Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-03-23
CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

the peace monument, there are
small hotels where a man with no
baggage and a very little money
may secure lodging of a sort. In
a back room on the third floor of
one of these hostelries a person
with beady eyes lolled in a rickety
armchair, his stockinged feet rest
ing OH the table in front of him.
He had unbuttoned his wildly
lowered vest, which let the full
expanse Of his garish red cravat
riot down his chest. He had re-
moved his derby hat. His purplish
face had assumed a deeper hue
than usual, and, as he inhaled and
blew out the smoke of a cigaret,
the sound of his breath was ster-
torcus. Occasionally a smile, ex-
! pressive of animal comfort, moved
the disfigured features in a pecu-
liar way. On the whole, the per
son with the beady eyes was en-
joying life. He felt at ease.
There had been no warning
noise of any kind in the corridor
outside when the door opened, dis
closing the face and figure of Mr..
Charles Waller, who, without cere-
mony, entered the room. He had
never appeared quite so languid,
quite so slow, or quite so indiffer-
ent. He seemed bored to the point
of extinction. AS he stood for q
moment, surveying the room and
its occupant, he even neglected to
swing his cane. Life, it seemed,
rested upon him as a burden.
He was followed by a uniformed
policeman, who closed the door
quietly.
The man in the armchair did not
speak. He merely looked at the
intruders. There was the picture
for fully three minutes-he with
the beady eyes motionless and ST.
lent, Waller still and ~interroga-
tive, and the policeman like a
statue. The man in the chair in
hailed a puff of smoke and watched
his visitors. Each waited for
speech from the other. There was
none.
Waller was the first to move. He
stepped forward slowly and, in a
manner that had the air Of ex-
IRENE consideration, grasped the
ankles of the beady eyed man and
removed the feet from the table.
The man in the chair submitted to
that without sign of either pleas
ure or d%ispleasure. Only, he be-
came more wary, more alert.
There was no longer any stertor-
Gus sound in his breathing.
The policeman, removing his
helmet and keeping it in his left
hand, sat down on the side of the
bed. Waller, drawing a straight
backed chair to the table, took
from his pocket a pack Of cards
and began a game of Garfield soil
taire. He devoted to it all his in
terest. The policeman, most of the
time, looked straight ahead of him
at the blank wall opposite.
The man in the armchair lit a
fresh cigaret, and, as he tossed
away the match, spun it from his
fore finger and thumb so that it
made a droning noise through the
air. Little beads of perspiration
began to show on the upper part
OF his forehead near the roots of
his hair. Once he rubbed his
stockinged feet one against the
other.
Waller, having gotten out,
five cards, raj the deck together
and shuffled it eight times with
great care. Then he began all
over again. Neither he nor the DO
iceman looked at the man in the
chair. The newspaper mans luck
at Garfield was decidedly poor.
His second attempt got out only
four cards. He shuffledst the pack
more slowly the next time, as If he
calculated how much money he
would have lost if he had been
playing for real money.
He was in the midst of his fifth
game when the beady-eycd man
reached down slowly, and, pulling
his shoes toward him, began to put
them on. When he had them ON
and had laced them up, he rose to