Evening star., 1921-10-06
Continued from Yesterdays star.)

Continued from Yesterdays Star.)
1t was a queer place-with its dark
ness. and its twisted passage! Quite
queer for so small and ordinary a
dwelling-but. IL rumor were true. 1t
had been aueerer still in the years
gone by! A grim smile crossed Dave
Henderson's lips, as he followed the
shadowy form Of his conductor. 1t
augured we'll at all events! The sur
Capriano's record, which was a rec
ord much to be desired by a man In
his. Dave Henderson's. straits.
The light from an open door beyond
the turn in the passage dispelled the
darkness. The girl was standing
there now. motioning him to enter
but suddenly. for a moment. he stood
and stared at her. This was queer.
too! Everything about the place was
queer! Somehow he had pictured in
the darkness an Italian girl, pretty
enough. perhaps. in q purely physi-
cal way. with gold rings in her
wore. and siatterniy. with feet shod
tn coarse. thick boots; the only kind
of an Italian girl he had ever re.
membered having seem girl that
hauled at the straps Of a hand-organ,
while while the man piodded along the
wasn't like that, though-and he
stared at her: stared at the trim.
1.-the. daintily dressed little figure.
stared at the oval face, and the dark.
steady. self-reliant eyes. and the
the broad. white forehead. and CLINT
ed like silken strands, as the light
fell upon 1t.
The color mounted in her cheeks.
And then. with . start, he pushed
his hand across his eyes. and bit
his lips. and flushed q deeper red
than hers.
Her eyes. that had begun to harden
as they met his gaze. softened in an
instant. and she smiled. His con-
fusion had been his apology, his ac-
quittal of any intended onense.
ter. and as he stepped forward across
the threshold. she reached in and
rested her hand on the door knob.
you can call when you need me,
father" she said--and closed the door
softly.
Dave Henderson's eyes swept the
room with a swift. comprehensive
glance: and then held steadily on a
pair of jet-black eyes. so black that
they seemed to possess no pupils.
which were in turn fixed on him by
a strange. looking figure. lying on a
quaint, old-fashioned. four-poster bed
across the room. He moved forward
and took a chair at the bedside. as
the other beckoned to him.
So this was Nicolo Capriano. The
means of pillows that were support
ed by an inverted chair behind them;
both hands. very white. very blue
under the nails of the long. slender
fingers, lay outstretched before him
on an Immediately white coverlet:
kA 20 + olr all ~A NRSh %
beard and mustache but partially
disguised the thin, emaciated condi-
tion Of his face. But 1t was the eyes
that above all else commanded atten-
tion. They were unnaturally bright, |
cleaning out from under enormously
were curiously inscrutable eyes They
seemed to hold great depths be- |
meath which might smolder a passion |
that would leap without warning into
q strange interpretive stare. making !
them like shuttered windows that !
gave no glimpse of the mind within. !
"I am Nicolo Capriano." said the |
man abruptly and in perfect Eng |
lish. MY daughter tells me that you |
son. The name seems familiar. II
have heard it somewhere. I remem.
Der, it seems to me. q little matter |
of 100000 some five years ago. for |
which man by that name went to
the penitentiaFy."
Dave Henderson's eyes wandered |
for a moment around the room again. |
He found himself wondering at the |
mans English-as he had At the |
girls. Subconsciously he was aware |
that the furnishings. though plain i!
and simple and lacking in anything |
ornate. were foreign and unusual,
but that the outstanding feature Of |
the room was a sort Of refreshing |
and immaculate cleanliness-AAIike the |
coverlet. He forced his mind back |
to what Nicolo Capriano had said.