The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1943-12-24
CHAPTER K

He sat completely stunned as she
got up and made her way through
the crowded tables out onto the
street. No one had more than
glanced up, as they would natural
ly glance up at hair like that in a
Latin country. In a corner OF his
mind Pete was aware that she was
Iilse that. If she had to make
scene in public, nobody would be
aware of it. There was something
in breeding.
Then suddenly he found himself
getting very angry. If that was all
the sense she had, to hell with her.
He picked up his fork and took a
mouthful of the tender aromatic dish
in front of him. It stuck in his
throat like a lump Of wet dough, and
he had to struggle to get it down. He
had to get out of there, he thought,
and go find her. She wasn't re-
sponsible for what she'd been say
ing-she probably didn't even know
what she'd been telling him. Any
way, it wasn't safe for her to be out
on the streets in the dark. Poverty
and squalor and unrest did strange
things to even innately kind and gen.
tie people.
He signalled the waiter, paid the
bill and got out as unobtrusively as
he could. Not until he was on the
sidewalk did he think of the man
who had been watching them at
the end Of the bar. He looked back.
Taussig was gone. He wasn't at any
of the tables.
Some kind of deeply rooted in
stinct stirred inside Pete. He turned
and hurried up to his parked car.
The man watching it got up from
the running board and opened the
door.
Ibid you see the. young. lady?"
Pete asked, hoping to God the man
understood English.
LA senorita rubia?" he asked.
Pete nodded.
The man smiled and pointed up
the street. Then he shrugged. She
had gone up the street-that was all
he knew. Pete made that much out
of his Spanish. Also that she was
beautiful. ''Ai bonita" kept going
round and round in his mind as he
drove through the narrow streets
and dinly lighted alleys. A couple
of soldiers with the armband of the
Military Police had seen her cross
ing Allen Street, but the two stand
ing on the corner of Brau Street
had not seen her.
maybe she took taxi, sir" one
Of them suggested helpfully.
Pete nodded. OF course it was
what she would do, he told him
self. Nevertheless he drove on
around the Plaza again. She was
probably out at the Granada by this
time. She wasn't a child. She might
even have gone back to the res
taurant. He drove down the hill
again. The man on the curb watch
ing the cars shook his head. She
hadn't come that way.
Pete turned left at the next cor
ner and started out toward the Ora
NADIA.
Anne went blindly up the street.
1t was true, she thought-an Of it
was true. But not what she'd been
saying to Pete Wilcox.
Miguel Valera was a Puerto Ri
can. That meant that he was citi-
zen Of the United States. And what
ever his devotion to his father, in
times like these, with his country
putting everything it had into de-
tense, if he wasn't for it he was
against it. They had cancelled his
Army orders, and they wouldn't
have done that without reasons.
They were probably watching him,
furthermore, and Pete Wilcox was
probably one of those doing it. That
was why he was at the meeting the
night before !. r.
She stopped short, suddenly aware
. that the street was almost dark,
empty except for few people sit
ting in unlighted doorways, and that
she had no idea where she was.
They must think TmM crazy"
Anne thought. She started walking
again, listening to the hollow echo of
her heels on the pavement. The
people she passed in the doorways
stopped talking sas she went by. AL
movement or sound seemed to be
rentered in herself. If she put her
hand out she knew she could touch
the rich pregnant silence all about
her. She came to corner, looked
along the street with no sense Of
familiarity, crossed over and went
up q hill toward the light ON the
next intersection. It was noisier
now. She hesitated, looked back,
and stopped abruptly.
A man was going along the street
she'd just crossed. His white trou-
ser legs tapped around his ankles
as he walked. 1t was Taussig. and
he was going along quickly, in the
street, looking first to one side..
then to the other, as if he was afraid
Of something that might spring out
of The dark opened doorways.