Evening star., 1924-06-24

soft, cat-foot movements. And then
the handle of the door was turned,
quietly, slowly; I saw the brass knob
within moving. But whoever it was
that had his hand on the outer knob
soon realized that the place was now
secured against him, and presently
l heard the stealthy footsteps move
of. The Chinaman again. without
doubt.
1 was by that time fully disposed
TO go away, leaving this sort Of thing
to go on without me; / had had
enough of 1t. But did not like to go
before handing over the place to It's
owner; also, / saw no way of locking
the street door from the outside
if there was a key, Holliment evil
IDENTIFY had 1t in his pocket. 1t would
scarcely do to leave the place unpro-
wanted my sovereign. And. after ali,
the man had said that he would be
back that evening, and 1t was already
well past o'clock.
1 sat down again, and again tried
to read. That was poor work; the
minutes dragged, But, at last, 1
heard seven striking from the
neighboring clocks, and almost i'm
mediately afterward I heard some
thing else-a sound of slow, stealthy
movement in the tower-like building
at the side of the shop. Even as
caught it, it ceased: minute or two
went by, 1 heard 1T again-again it
ceased That there were rats in that
place I had no doubt, but something
in that muffled sound made me GER
tain that it came from a human
being.
wondering, I picked up the lamp and
went into the place. The lamp was
about as effective as a single match
lighted in a cavern; 1T showed
small area at my feet. and kept the
rest of the high space above me in
darkness. OF course, / heard and
saw nothing. But I was absolutely
| certain that there was something
or somebody there. And when 1
went back to the Office l had made de
Tome back when the town clocks next
struck l was going.
The events of the last two or three
| days-the anxiety consequent upon
being stranded, the uncertainty of
my prospects-these things had not
improved the state of my nerves, and
I felt that If I stopped much longer
in that place, imagining a Chfnaman
prowling around, ] should become a
wanted to be. 1t was not worth the
sovereign which I should probably
lose by going away-nevertheless
going l was unless Holliment turned
up suddenly.
I heard no more of the movements
in the big building. and the time
went on slowly until the first stroke
of eight broke the prevalent silence.
l got out of my chair at that, flung
away the newspaper. and seized a
pencil and a scrap of paper; 1 was
going to leave a note on the desk
telling Holliment that I could not re-
ent by that time as to whether he
found the note that night or next
morning: indifferent, too, to my
sovereign. I wanted to get out and
scribbled two lines / heard low,
sibilant signal, and jumping round
as if l had been shot, saw the man
was writing to standing in the
outside the office door, beckoning.
being aware of his entrance I did
not stop to think. but 1 was un-
dgpss oEt gad joyuy If see in f hg daae and
tion. He put up his hand, unmis-
takably in warning.
pull that blind down in there
he whispered. Light down SO that
no one can see in!'
'1t is down. I answered. Been
down since o'clock"
We'll. turn that lamp down. too"
he went on. And bar that door on
That's been barred since o'clock,
too / said. laying a finger on the
regulator of the lamp. ITS safe
enough.
He waited until the light had gone
down to pale CLEAN, just clear
enough to let US see each others s
faces, and then, keeping himself in
the shadow, he came across the floor
and into a corner of the Office, giving
me a narrow, searching glance.
Anybody been?" he asked, sig
nificantly:
T pointed to the memoranda which
had prepared and laid on the desk.
That's the business part of it."
There was a purposeful signih-