The Washington times., 1918-12-11
The Club-FoOted Man
A NEW SPY SERIAL BY VALENTINE WILLIAMS
Desmond Rifles Pockets of Man Who
Dropped Dead Just Outside
His Door.

Destiny knocks at the Door.
Then 1 thought OF the man next
door, his painful breathlessuess, his
blush lips, when found him wrest-
ling with his key. and guessed
who was my nocturnal visitor ly-
ing prone in the dark at my feet
Shielding the candle with my hand
/ rekindled it Then / grappled
with the Tapping curtains and got
the windows shut. Then only did
] raise my candle until its beams
shone down upon the silent figure
lying across the threshold OF the
room
II was the man from No. 81 He
was quite dead His face was Hvid
and distorted, hts eyes CLASSY be-
tween the half-closed lids, while his
fingers, still stiffly clutehing,
showed paint and varnish and dust
beneath the nails where he had
paved door and carpet in his death
agony.
One did not need to be q doctor TO
sec that a heart attack had swiftly
and suddenly struck him down.
Now that knew the worst acted
with decision. I dragged the body
by the shoulders into the room until
II lay in the center of the carpet
Then I locked the door.
The foreboding OF evil that had
cast its black shadow over my
thoughts from the moment crossed
the threshold OF this sinister hotel
came over me strongly again In
deed. my position was. to say the
least. scarcely enviable. Here was
I. a British officer with British
papers of identity, Gbout to be dis
covered in a German hotel, into
which I had introduced myself
under false pretenses, at dead OF
night alone with the corpse Of q
German or Austrian (for such the
dead man apparently was)!
1t was undoubtedly q most awk-
ward fix.
] listened
Everything in the hotel was silent
as the grave.
1 turned from my gloomy fore
bodings to look again at the
stranger. In his crisp black hair
and slightly protuberant cheek
bones I traced again the hint OF
Jewish ancestry had remarked be-
fore. Now that the mans eyes-his
big. thoughtful eyes that had stared
at me out of the darkness of the
corridor-were closed, he looked far
less foreign than before: in fact he
might almost have passed az an
Englishman.
He was a young man-about my
own age. 1 judged-U shall be
twenty-eight next birthday and
about my own height. which is five
feet ten. There was something
about his appearance and build that
struck a chord very family in my
memory.
Had I seen the fellow before?
remembered now that I had no.
ticed something oddly familiar
about him when I first saw him for
that brief moment in the corridor.
I looked down at him again as he
lay on his back on the faded carpet.
J brought the candle down closer
and scanned his features.
He certainly looked less foreign
than he did before. He might not
be a German after all, more likely
a Hungarian or a Pole, perhaps
even a Dutchman. His German had
been too fiawless for a Frenchman-
for a Hungarian, either, for that
matter.
leant back on my knees to ease
my cramped position. As I did 50
] caught glimpse of the strangers
three-quarters face.
Why, He reminded me OF Fran
els a littlei
There certainly was a suggestion
OF my brother in the mans appear
ance. Was ii the thick black hair.
the small dark mustache? Was II
the well-chiseled mouthSS IT was
rather y bfnt of Francis than re-
semblance to him.
The stranger was fully dressed.
The jacket OF his blue serge suit
had fallen open and saw a port
folio in the inner breast pocket.
Here. thought. might be clue to
the dead mans identity. I fshed out
fingers over the strangers other
pockets.
I left the portfolio to the last
The jacket pockets contained
nothing else except a white silk
handkerchief unmarked. In the
riEht-hand top pocket OF the waist
was Il neat silver cigarette case,
perfectly plain. containing half n
dozen cigarettes. took one out and
looked at it. II was a Melania,
cigarette I happen to know for they
stock them at one Of my clubs, the
piOnySus. and it chances to be the
only place in London where you can
get the brand.
II looked as II my unknown friend
had come from London.
There was also a plain silver
watch of Swiss make.
In the trousers pocket was some
change a LITTLE English silver and