Evening star., 1925-04-01
Continued from Yesterdays Starr

DO you remember that evening at
the Indra? 1 told you then that the
professor wouldn't like it, but you
said, Hang the professor? Now, 1
suppose you've learnt to be afraid of
r1lim, like everybody else"
By this time the taxi had reached
the old town and was climbing a tall
narrow street which ended in a small
square with a fountain in the middle.
Turning sharp to the right, it pro-
Ceeded up a narrow and even sleeper
street, the name of which I caught
sight of as we turned the corner.
1t was the Rue Etienre Dumont.
Our destination was close at hand.
Should 1 even now explain to the girl
who ! was? I realized that If did so
my chances of seeing my grandmother
would be small, and more than ever,
s1 wanted to make the old lady's ac-
quaintance. I maintained an uneasy
silence.
/ was pondering who Karl might be,
and why everybody was afraid of the
professor. when the taxi stopped with
a jerk opposite a tall, narrow door.
My companion was first out and
had dismissed the driver before 1 had
had time to do more than descend my
>self.
She went straight up to the door
and tapped on 1t with the handle of
her umbrella, one heavy rap and then
a series of light ones, with two short,
sharp knocks at the end. A small
grille slid open in the doors face
about the height of a man from the
ground, and pair of eyes surveyed
u6.
'Ephesus," said the girl.
They are not dead, but sleep" re-
nlipH the tho other side
Evidently it was some sort of pass
word, for directly afterward the door
opened inwards, and my companion
motioned me to follow her through.
l found myself in a dark, narrow
passage, some 80 feet in length, run
ming the whole depth of the house,
which fronted the street. The man
who had just opened the door closed
1t Immediately behind us and turned
to resume his seat in a little recess in
the wall.
We went through the passage,
which gave on a very small court or
air shaft, round which the house was
built, and from which five or six
stone steps gave access to another
door.
My companion pushed it open. We
entered hall with several doors on
either side. The girl opened the first
Wait here moment, Karl" she
said. II will tell them that you've ar
rived"
On that she went away. leaving me
alone in the room.
l sat down in an armchair and
lighted a cigarette to steady my
>thoughts.
The girl who had addressed me as
Karl and who, to put it mildly, had
shown herself of so friendly a dispo-
sition toward me, was one more fac
tor in the mystery in which L had be-
come involved since L had set foot in
the gray city of Geneva. For the last
time l wondered whether ii was really
wise for me to go on with the affair
but / found on reflection that my de-
cision to do so successfully survived
this eleventh hour. l can't accuse des-
tiny of having hu--ied or entrapped
me. l had received warnings enough
to have sufficed for any sensible man.
i willfully disregarded everything that
should have set me on my guard, and,
on mature considera ton, / must place
this story to the account of my in
corrigible curiosity and my impa-
thence of routine. In brief, l had only
myself TO blame. l remember that al
most my last feeling while waiting
alone in that little room was a devout
hope that my grandmother would
prove less affectionate than the
pheasant feather. You will Judge
from this the incurable levity of my
disposition.
1 presently rose from the armchair
and began to examine the room in
which l found myself 1t was oblong
in shape and very high for it's length,
obviously part of a much larger room,
for one wall was merely a partition
constructed some time previously in
order to divide up into several pieces
single large room, a ballroom prob
ably, or something of that kind. In
its way, it was a beautiful room
white-paneled and with long, mar
row window draped with heavy cur
talnS, so hermetically sealed that
there were cobwebs spun across the
fastenings. | remembered that Be
atrice had told me at lunch of the
Swiss custom, observed by all classes
i'll Geneva, to lock, bolt and bar the
windows on the first of October until
the following first of May.
Opposite the window, in the parti-
toned wall, was a second door, pre-
sumably leading to another room. The
room in which / was waiting was fur
nished partly as an office and partly
as a sitting room. Beside the window
was heavy oak desk on which sew
eral cardboard files were lying, in ad-
dition to the usual writing materials
y bookshelf stood in one corner and
/ strolled over to examine the books
They were mostly on/trade and eco
nomics, and among them l noticed
Keynes Economic Consequences of
Peace" and Meneschkowskis Reign
of Antichrist," that brilliant exposure
of the theory of impersonality which
* nf oh iSt