Part 48 (2/2)

Stopping at a news-stand, he inquired for a directory, which he carefully studied for a few moments, then walked down the princ.i.p.al thoroughfare until, coming to a side street, he turned and for a number of blocks pa.s.sed up one street and down another, plunging at last into a dark alley.

Upon emerging therefrom a block away, the soft felt hat had given place to a jaunty cap, while a pair of gold-rimmed eye-gla.s.ses perched upon the aquiline nose gave the wearer a decidedly youthful and debonnaire appearance. Approaching a secluded house in a dimly lighted location, he glanced sharply at the number, as though to rea.s.sure himself, then running swiftly up the front steps, he pulled the door-bell vigorously and awaited developments. After considerable delay the door was unlocked and partially opened by a hatchet-faced woman, who peered cautiously out, her features lighted by the uncertain rays of a candle which the draught momentarily threatened to extinguish.

”Good-evening, madam,” said the stranger, airily. ”Pardon such an unseasonable call, but I wish to see Mr. Lovering, who, I understand, has rooms here.”

”There's no such person rooming here,” she replied, sharply, her manner indicating that this bit of information ended the interview, but her interlocutor was not to be so easily dismissed.

”No such person!” he exclaimed, at the same time scrutinizing in apparent perplexity a small card which he had produced. ”J. D.

Lovering, 545 Jefferson Street; isn't this 545, madam?”

”Yes,” she answered, testily, ”this is 545; but there's n.o.body here by the name of Lovering.”

The young man turned as if to go. ”Have you any roomers at present?”

he inquired, doubtfully.

”I have one, but his name is Mannering.”

”Mannering,” he repeated, thoughtfully, once more facing her; ”I wonder if I am not mistaken in the name? Will you kindly describe Mr. Mannering?”

The woman hesitated, eying him suspiciously. ”He ain't likely to be the man you want,” she said, slowly, ”for he don't have no callers, and he never goes anywhere, except out of the city once in a while on business. He's an oldish man, with dark hair and beard streaked with gray, and he wears dark gla.s.ses.”

”Ah, no,” the young man interrupted hastily, ”that is not the man at all; the man I am looking for is rather young and a decided blond.

I am sorry to have troubled you, madam; I beg a thousand pardons,”

and with profuse apologies he bowed himself down the steps, to the evident relief of the landlady.

As the door closed behind him, Mr. Rosenbaum paused a moment to reconnoitre. The house he had just left was the only habitable building visible in the immediate vicinity, but a few rods farther down the street was a small cabin, whose dilapidated appearance indicated that it was unoccupied. Approaching the cabin cautiously, Mr. Rosenbaum tried the door; it offered but slight resistance, and, entering, he found it, as he had surmised, empty and deserted.

Stationing himself near a window which overlooked No. 545, he regarded the isolated dwelling with considerable interest. It was a two-story structure with a long extension in the rear, only one story in height. With the exception of a dim light in this rear portion, the house was entirely dark, which led Mr. Rosenbaum to the conclusion that the landlady's private apartments were in this part of the building and remote from the room occupied by her lodger, which he surmised to be the front room on the second floor, a side window of which faced the cabin.

For more than an hour Mr. Rosenbaum remained at his post, and at last had the satisfaction of seeing the tall figure in the fur coat approaching down the dimly lighted street. He ascended the steps of 545, let himself in with a night-key, and a moment later the gas in the upper front room was turned on, showing Mr. Rosenbaum's surmise to be correct. For an instant the flaring flame revealed a pale face without the dark gla.s.ses, and with a full, dark beard tinged with gray; then it was lowered and the window blinds were closely drawn, precluding the possibility of further observation.

The face was like and yet unlike what Mr. Rosenbaum had expected to see; he determined upon a nearer and better view, without the dark gla.s.ses, before making any decisive move.

The following evening, as soon as it was dusk, found Mr. Rosenbaum again at the window of the deserted cabin, keenly observant of No.

545. A faint light burned in the rear of the lower floor, while in the front room upstairs a fire was evidently burning in an open grate, the rest of the house being in darkness. Presently a man's figure, tall and well formed, could be seen pacing up and down the room, appearing, vanis.h.i.+ng, and reappearing in the wavering firelight. For nearly an hour he continued his perambulation, his hands clasped behind him as though absorbed in deep thought. At last, arousing himself from his revery, the man looked at his watch and vanished, reappearing ten minutes later at the front door, in the usual fur coat and cap, and, descending the steps, turned towards town and proceeded leisurely down the street, Mr. Rosenbaum following at some distance, but always keeping him in view and gradually diminis.h.i.+ng the distance between them as the thoroughfare became more crowded, till they were nearly opposite each other.

Finally, the man paused before a restaurant and, turning, looked carefully up and down the street. For the first time he observed Mr. Rosenbaum and seemed to regard him with close attention, but the latter gentleman was absorbed in the contemplation of an a.s.sortment of diamonds and various gems displayed in a jeweller's window, directly opposite the restaurant. In the mirrored back of the show-case the restaurant was plainly visible, and Mr. Rosenbaum noted with satisfaction the other's evident interest in himself, and continued to study the contents of the show-case till the man had entered the restaurant, seating himself at one of the unoccupied tables. Having observed his man well started on the first course of dinner, Mr. Rosenbaum crossed the street slowly, entered the restaurant and with a pre-occupied air seated himself at the same table with Mr. Mannering. After giving his order, he proceeded to unfold the evening paper laid beside his plate, without even a glance at his vis-a-vis. His thoughts, however, were not on the printed page, but upon the man opposite, whom he had followed from city to city, hearing of him by various names and under various guises; hitherto unable to obtain more than a fleeting glimpse of him, but now brought face to face.

”Alias Henry J. Mannering at last!” he commented mentally, as he refolded his paper; ”you have led me a long chase, my man, but you and I will now have our little game, and I will force you to show your hand before it is over!”

Glancing casually across at his neighbor, he found the dark gla.s.ses focused upon himself with such fixity that he responded with a friendly nod, and, making some trivial remark, found Mr. Mannering not at all averse to conversation. A few commonplaces were exchanged until the arrival of Mr. Rosenbaum's order, when the other remarked,--

”Evidently you do not find the cuisine of the Clifton House entirely satisfactory.”

”It is very good,” Mr. Rosenbaum answered, indifferently, ”but an occasional change is agreeable. By the way, sir, have I met you at the Clifton? I do not remember to have had that pleasure.”

”We have not met,” replied the other. ”I saw you there last evening, however, as I happened in soon after your arrival.”

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