Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-07-08

curtained door, wondered whether
the invalid had made hit. or Wheth-
err he had a relative aboard who wore
a white serke skirt, white stockings
and shoes, and was further endowed
with agreeable ankles.
He fitted his key to his door,
turned it, withdrew the key to pocket
it; and Immediately became aware
that the end of the key was sticky.
He entered the stateroom, however.
and bolted the door, then he sat down
on his sofa and examined his ting-
ers and his door key attentively.
There was wax sticking to both.
When he had fully digested this
fact he wiped and poclleted his key
and cast a rather vacant look around
the little stateroom. And imme-
diately his eye was arrested by a
white object lying on the carpet be
tween the bed and the sofa--a wo.
mans handkerchief. without crest or
initials, but family scented.
After he became tired of alternate
ly examining it and shifting it, he
put it in his pocket and began an
uneasy tour of his room.
If it had been entered and ran
exactly as he had left it, as we'll
as he could remember. Nothing ex-
cepting this handkerchief and the
wax on the key indicated intrusion;
nothing, apparently, had been dis
turbed; and vet there was the hand
kerchief; and there was the wax on
the end of his door key.
Here's a fine business!" he NUT
tered to himself; and rang for his
steward.
The man came--a cockney, dense
as his native fog-who maintained
that nobody could have entered the
stateroom without his knowledge or
the knowledge of the stewardess.
Do you think she's been in my
cabin?"
NO. sir"
Call her.
The stewardess, an alert, intelli-
gent woman with a trace of West In
dian blood in her, denied entering
his stateroom. Shown the handker-
chief and invited to sniff it, she pro-
fessed utter ignorance concerning it,
and assured him that no lady in her
section used that perfume, and Of
fered to show it to the stewardesses
of other sections on the chance of
their identifying the perfume or the
handkerchief.
All right" said Neeland; take it.
But bring it back. And here's
sovereign. And-one thing more. If
anybody pays you to deceive me,
come to me and I'll outbid them. Is
that a bargain?"
Yes, sir" she said unblush1ngIy.
When she had gone away with the
handkerchief, Neeland closed the
door again and said to the steward:
Keep an eye on my door. 1 am
positive that somebody has taken a
wax impression of the keyhole. What
said to that stewardess also holds
good with you. I'll outbid anybody
who brides you"
VERY good. SIR
Sure it's good! It's devilish good.
Here's a beautiful and newly minted
gold sovereign. Isn't it artistic?
It's yours, steward
"Thanky. sir"
mot at all And, by the way,
what's that invalid gendeman's
name?"
'"Awks, sir"
''Hawks?"
Yes, sir; Mr., 'Erbert 'Awks."
"American?"
I don't know, SIR"
"British?'
shall I inquire, sir?" starting to
go.
Not of him! Don't be a lunatic,
steward! Please try to understand
that I want nothing said about this
matter or about my inquiries"
Very well, then! Find out, if you
can, who Mr.. Herbert Hawks is. Find
out all you can concerning him. It's
easy money, isn't it,"
Wait a moment. Has he any
friends or relatives on board?"
mot that L know, SIR
"Oh, no friends, Ell? No ladies who
wear white serge skirts and white
shoes and stockings?"
NO, sir, not as I knows Of"
"Oh! Suppose you step across to
MS door, knock, and ask him if he
rang. And, if the door is opened,
take a quick slant at the room"
Very good, SIR
Neeland, his door at the crack,
watched the steward cross the COR
ridor and knock at the door of Mr..
Herbert Hawks
We'll, what is tt?" came a heavy
voice from within.
''Mr. 'Awks, sir, did you ring?'
mo, I did not"
"Oh, beg pardon, Sir"
The steward was starting to re-
turn to Neeland, but that young man
notioned him violently away from
his door and closed it. Then, listen
ng, his ear against the panel, he
presently heard a door in the pass
age creak open a little way, then
close again, stealthily.
He possessed his soul in patience,
believing that Mr.. Hawks or his fair
friend in the white skirt had merely
passage and perhaps also of his
closed door. But the vigil was vain
the door did not reopen; no sound
came from the Stateroom across the
To make certain that the owner of
the white shoes and stockings did
not leave that stateroom without his
knowledge, he opened his door with
many precautions and left it on the
crack stretching a rubber band from
knob to bolt, so that the wind from
the open port in the passage should
not blow it shut. Then, drawing his
curtain, he sat down to wait.
He had a book, one of those slob-
boring American novels which serve
up fa1sehood thicllly buttered with
and are consumed by
the morally sterilized.
And, as he smoked he read; and,
as he read he listened One eye al
ways remained on duty; one ear was
alert; he meant to see who was the
owner of the white shoes if it took
the remainder of the voyage to find
out.
The book aided him as common
plate accompaniment aids a soloist-
boring and eXaSperat1ng
him.
It was an "uplift" book, where
the heroine receives whacks with
patient smiles. Fate boots her from
pillar to post and she blesses Fate
and is much obliged That most
deadly reproach to degenerate human
nature-the accidental fact of sex
had been so skillfully extirpated
from those pages that. like, chaste
amoebae, the characters merely null
tiplied by immaculate subdivision;
and millions of lineal descendants of
the American Dodo were made glee-
full for $3.50 net.
1t was hard work waiting, harder
work reading, but between the two
and a cigarette now and then Nee
land managed to do his sentry go
until dinner time approached and the
corridors resounded with the trample
of the hungry.
The stewardess reappeared lit
tie later and returned to him his
handkerchief and the following in
formation:
Mr. Hawks, it appeared, Travelled
with a trained nurse, whose state
room was on another deck. That