Evening star., 1922-03-26

river. and is carried in places around
perpendicular rocks by means of COW
cred wooden galleries.
Really the Danube is wonderful.
the young woman remarked in broken
English, with an accent which 1 knew
to be Viennese.
Not more beautiful than the
Thames" declared her companion. in
English. Because you are Austrian.
, Louise, you never believe that we
have beautiful rivers in England" he
laughed. and. turning to me he said:
Haven't we. sir:''
agreed that the upper reaches of
the Thames were more picturesque
from a landscape-gardcn point of
view than those of any river l had
seen.
"Ah, Charles. but you and your
: friend here are both English. I make
allowances for you" she laughed
gaily, and our conversation drifted
upon our respective destinations.
! Charles-whose surname I did not
| know-was going to Rustschuk and
| thence by rail to Bucharest, where
he had business. while 1 was also go
[
! by Plevna to Sofia, where I, too, had
| business.
| So we travelled together down the
broad, overwhelming Danube to Or
/ sova They were an amusing pair.
i 1 took dinner with them at their
table. but still the one curious fact
remained that the man never re-
moved his gloves. The latter were
| always well-ftting and unsoiled,
therefore he must have possessed
many pairs, a fact which struck me
as the more curious.
| During our chatter he told me little
! of himself, save that he was frequent
ly in London. and was a member of
the Wellington Club. He had rooms
! in Ryder street. but he usually sublet
them to friend, for he was constant
| ly on the move. although he liked to
have ust pied-auerrc in London.
| X + X X
!! LIS companion was. judged. of the
IL middle class OF Vienna. We chat
! ted about the Austrian capitalize
attraction of the Ring, the cheerful
ness of the Hotel Bristol. the nightly
1
the Fielder Strasse, the songs at
Holes cabaret, and the gay dances
Of Bohemia at the Kunstlerfest. By
| judicious chatter soon became aware
that she knew the gay night-life OF
! Vienna as we'll as did-perhaps bet
ter. -..-... .... ..
At orsova the pair suddenly decided
to spend few days at Hercules Bad,
that popular little watering place up
the ,Cserna Valley, twelve miles from
the river, and consequently I bent
over the lady's hand and took the
gloved hand Of her companion.
. I stood on deck watching them
across the gangway, little dreaming
| that we should ever meet again. The
constant traveller, however, knows
how. very frequently he meets other
constant travellers like himself in all
sorts of odd corners of Europe.
About seven months later I arrived
at the, Pera Palace Hotel in Constan.
tinople at about noon. and on entering
the American bar for a cocktail the
first person encountered was the
tall, dark -haired,. distinguished-look
ing man whom had met upon the
Danube steamer. =" A.
Sight of me caused his jaw to dror
as though he had experienced g. shock
but, smiling merely, he put forth his
gloved hand in hearty recognition
and. refusing my invitation to have
a Martini by pleading an urgent ap'
pointment, he quickly left the place
poor monsieur!'' remarked the
French bartender to me. rs it moi
terrible?" - - .-='
"Terrible-what?" asked.
| Have you not hear? Why, ma
dame his. s.wife has been missing since
Is O'Clock. last night. and early thi:
morning her body was found in one
Of those dark alleys that lead to thu
quay down at Galata- She had beer
stabbed in the neck, and lay hudd1et
| in a doorway. dead. Did you know
. = & a r