Evening star., 1925-09-20

! Stone drew back at the prospect of
! dining in such close contact with un-
known neighbors. But he might have
| spared himself embarrassment. They
paid not the slightest heed to new
arrivals.
Surrounded by the aura of this
stilless. the woman fell across Mar
| tin Stones vision
She entered alone. She looked
neither to right nor left, but took her
| place at small table near the CEN
ter. The light streaming down picked
| out tight red lips, long. Indifferent
eyes set deep and black. skin so white
that it seemed tinged with green. and
| thin hands that fumbled instantly for
a cigarette. She lighted 1t with an
abrupt stroke of the match across the
table e-top. A black and white scarf
was wound round her head like tur-
ban. showing no hair. Her ill-fittinG,
| mannish coat-suit might have looked
/ grotesque but gave rather the i'm
preston that she had put on the first
| thing at hand. caring not a jot how
| 1t looked nor what it was
She sat. drawing in the smoke with
swift inhalations, staring into the
shadows of the room with unseeing
eyes. She appeared not to be there.
Her body-yes. But the woman her
Sef-mileS away.
A waiter stopped at the table
Without looking at him, she motioned
to the empty place opposite and he
nodded After a moment he reap
peared and served two portions of
hors d 'oeuvres.
She played with the food, eyes fast
ened to the chair that faced hers.
Waiting for some one. Can't eat
till he comes. Important" thought
Stone with the swift summing up
that is the manner of New York
He let the next course of his own
dinner pass untouched while he
watched her
She pulled off her turban, tossed it
to the floor. The short hair under
the light cleaned straight and black
until her restless fingers ran through,
roughing it. She set elbows on the
table, dipped her chin into spread
palms. and her lips moved
The waiter took away both plates
of hors s-d'oeuvres, replacing them
with soup. Then Goureau himself
paused long enough to pour two
glasses of golden wine.
x X x x
A FTER a moment her thin mouth
curled up at the corner in the
faintest suggestion of smile. Her
eyes glowed with sudden warmth.
Her hand quivered as she reached for
the wine glass. She lifted it, It's
gold caught the light. prismatic as
crystal She touched it to the one
opposite, her lips continuing to mur-
mur softly.
BY George, she's drinking to an
empty chair" Martin Stone did not
even know that he spoke aloud. The
other two men quickly shifted glances
in the direction in which Stone was
gazing.
The proprietor passed. Martin
Stone reached out a hand
"Goureau." he said Familiarity, that
woman-who is she?"
Diane" answered Goureau.
We'll, then, tell me about this
Diane"
She is the woman my son he is
kill for-ten years ago"
oh" Stone concluded quickly. $50
It's to him she's drinking
No. m'seiu,' it is to the man who
kill him."
He said it quite calmly. Then he
moved on to the adjoining table.
Stone said nothing. His eyes had
gone, magnetized once more, in the
woman's direction.
out a glance at her plate. So vivid
now was the sense of man in that
empty chair that Stone brushed a
hand before his eyes as though to
clear his own vision.
Presently she showed her plate to
one side. leaned far across the table,
pressed her lips to the air as if other
lips were there to meet hers, and sat
absolutely rigid an instant. Then she
stopped, picked up the queer, soft
turban, and got to her feet. With
the hat grasped in tight fingers, she
went swiftly to the canvas curtain
and it fell behind her.
Martin Stone was on his feet before
it dropped. He had to stop her!
Impossible to let that extraordinary
woman walk out with no prospect of
seeing her again. He made for Pere
Goureau before Gallagher. tugging at
his coat, could stop him.
Call her back!" he commanded. and