The Adair County news., 1922-12-26

10 nave ldhen IIilS tIellb Will yOu-
will you give me his addressT'
81 don't know Hillward's address,"
"Give me the address, then, of the
man who sent the telegram"
81 am unable to do that, either"
COnnery spoke again to the Pullman
conductor, and they cOnversed inau-
dibly for a minute. "That is all,
them" Connery said finally.
He signed his name to the sheet
on which he had written EatOn's an
swers. and handed it to the Pullman
conductor, who also signed II anu re-
turned it to him; then they went on
to the passenger now occupying Sec
tiOn -Four, without making any fur
ther comment.
Eaton told himself that there should
be no danger to himself from this in
quiry, directed against no one, but
including cOmprehensively everyone
on the train. When the conductors
had left the car, he put his magazine
away and went into the mems COM
partment to smoke and calm his
passed the bounds of reckleSsneSs;
and what a situation he would now be
in if his actions brought even serious
suspicious against him! He finished
his first cigar and was debating
whether to light another, when he
heard voices outside the car, and
opening the window and looking out,
he saw COnnery and the brakeman
struggling through the snow and max
ing, apparently, some search. Pres
emily COnnery passed the door of the
compartment carrying something
loosely wrapped in a newspaper in
his hands. Eaton finished his cigar
and went back to his seat in the car.
AS he glanced at the seat where
he had left his locked travelling bag,
he saw that the bag was no longer
there. 1t stood now between the two
seats on the floor, and picking it up
and looking at it, he found it unfaS-
tened and with marks about the lock
which told plainly that it had been
forced.
He set it on the floor between his
knees and checked over its contents.
Nothing had been taken, so far as
he could tell; for the bag had con-
tanned only clothing, the Chinese die
tionary and the box of cigars, and
these all apparently were still there.
He had laid out the things on the
seat across from him while checking
them up, and now he began to put
them back in the bag. Suddenly he
noticed that one of his socks was
missing; what had been eleven pairs
was now only ten pairs and one odd
sock.
This disappearance of a single sock
was so strange, so bizarre, so per
picking that-unleSs it was acciden-
tal-he could not account for it at all.
No one opens a mans bag and steals
one sock, and he was quite sure there
had been eleven complete pairs there
earlier in the day. Certainly then, 1t
had been accidental: the bag had
been opened, its contents taken out
and examined, and in putting them
back, one sock had been dropped un-
noticed The absence of the sock,
then, meant no more than that the
contents of the bag had been thor
oughly investigated. By whom? By
the man against whom the telegram
directed to Lawrence Hillward had
warned Eaton?
Ever since his receipt Of the tele-
gram, EatOn-aS he passed through
the train in going to and from the
diner or for other reasons-had been
trying cOvertly to determine which,
if anyone, among the passengers, was
the zone" who, the telegram had
warned him, was following" him.
For at first he had interpreted 1t to
mean that one of them" whom he
had to fear must be on the train.
Later he had felt certain that this
could not be the case, for otherwise
any one of "them" who knew him
would have spoken by this time. Now
his suspicious that one Of them" must
be aboard the train returned.
The bag certainly had not been car
TleUr out Ine lOEWdTu uOOI VI luc CdI
or he would have seen it from the
compartment at that end of the car
where he had sat smoking. The bag,
therefore, had been carried out the
rear door, and the man who had
opened 1t, If a passenger, must still
ho - +rn ra0r -,o-,4 &C -I0 +~o'-
Eaton, reflling his cigar-case to
give his action a look of casualness
got up and went toward the rear of
the train. A porter was still posted
at the door Of the SantOine car, who
warned him to be quiet in passing
through. The car, he found, was en-,
tirely empty; the door to the drawing
room where Santoine lay was closed
He went on into the observation
car. A few men and women passen
gers here were reading or talking
Glancing on past them through the
glass door at the end of the car, he
saw Harriet Santoine standing alone
on the observation platform. The
girl did not see him; her back was
kor,-ou5 &bn oor Ae hn ont oynkr