Part 14 (1/2)

”My lord,” he cried, ”there's Bauer--there, passing the butcher's shop!”

I sprang up in the carriage; the h the people with a quick, stealthy tread I believe heaway as fast as he could

I was not sure of hi, ”It's Bauer--it's certainly Bauer, my lord”

I hardly stayed to form a resolution If I could catch this fellow or even see where he went, a ht be put intothe man wait, and at once started in pursuit of ht, no doubt, that anxiety for the er haste

The nuin, as anybody fa the station The street being a long one, intersecting alth of the old town, I hen I set out after Bauer, opposite number 300 or thereabouts, and distant nearly three-quarters of a mile from that i like a rabbit to its burrow I knew nothing and thought nothing of where he was going; to hteen or twenty; my only desire was to overtake hiht hi up his secret by the threat of an accusation of theft In fact, he had stolenAfter him I went; and he knew that I was after him I saw him turn his face over his shoulder, and then bustle on faster Neither of us, pursued or pursuer, dared quite to run; as it was, our eager strides and our carelessness of collisions created e Most folk in Strelsau knew ot out of my ere by no an to gain on him, in spite of his haste; I had started fifty yards behind, but as we neared the end of the street and saw the station ahead of us, nothappened I ran full into a stout old gentle, as people will, staring in resentful astonishure The second collision immensely increased his vexation; for led n of him; I looked up: the number of the house above me enty-three; but the door was shut

I walked on a few paces, past twenty-two, past twenty-one--and up to nineteen Nineteen was an old house, with a dirty, dilapidated front and an air almost dissipated It was a shop where provisions of the cheaper sort were on view in the , things that one has never eaten but has heard of people eating The shop-door stood open, but there was nothing to connect Bauer with the house Muttering an oath in my exasperation, I was about to pass on, when an old woman put her head out of the door and looked round I was full in front of her I ahtly, and I think that I did For I knew her and she knew me She was old Mother Holf, one of whose sons, Johann, had betrayed to us the secret of the dungeon at Zenda, while the other had died by Mr

Rassendyll's hand by the side of the great pipe that , yet it seemed at once to connect the house with the secret of the past and the crisis of the present

She recovered herself in a moment, and curtseyed tois it since you set up shop in Strelsau?”

”About six months, my lord,” she answered, with a composed air and arms akimbo

”I have not co keenly at her

”Such a poor little shop as mine would not be likely to secure your lordshi+p's patronage,” she answered, in a huenuine

I looked up at the s They were all closed and had their wooden lattices shut The house was devoid of any signs of life

”You've a good house here, h it wants a splash of paint,”

said I ”Do you live all alone in it with your daughter?” For Max was dead and Johann abroad, and the old woman had, as far as I knew, no other children

”Sole men when I can”

”Full now?”

”Not a soul, worse luck, my lord” Then I shot an arrow at a venture

”The man who came in just now, then, was he only a customer?”

”I wish a customer had come in, but there has been nobody,” she replied in surprised tones

I looked full in her eyes; sheimperturbability There is no face so inscrutable as a clever old wouard And her fat body barred the entrance; I could not so s' trotters and such-like dainties, helped ot to earth and I could not dig hi hurriedly He was looking up the street, no doubt seekingat its delay An instant later he saw me

”My lord,” he said, ”your train will be ready in five minutes; if it doesn't start then, the line must be closed for another half-hour”

I perceived a faint smile on the old woman's face I was sure then that I was on the track of Bauer, and probably of et to Zenda Besides, I could not force ht, without a scandal that would have set all the long ears in Strelsau aprick I turned away reluctantly I did not even know for certain that Bauer ithin, and thus had no information of value to carry with me

”If your lordshi+p would kindly reco

”Yes, I'll recommend you,” said I ”I'll recoers There are queer fish about, mother”