Show 5 IFT I 1 F T WIFE clr 0 0 a 0 by RUPERT HUGHES HUGHE S 0 RUPERT HUGHES SERVICE CHAPTER XI 12 to escape the insistent autobiographer jebb flung away with regret a half finished cigar and said 1 I think ill go to dinner now good idea said ludlam and invited himself along at the table he flaunted the odious hospitality of the wine opener got to celebrate this doctor he said dont meet up with a fellow countryman every day out here it be doc nothing thanks aw go on of course you will what do you say to a small bot of cham it began to look as if jebb would have to break a plate over the mans head to escape his despotic hospitality but at length he persuaded ludlam to believe him and ludlam more puzzled than ever endured the ordeal of drinking alone his eye studied jebbs face and garb as as his curiosity pried into his history but the dinner was half over before he noticed the ring on jebbs left little finger he looked up quickly into jebbs face then back to the ring he followed jebb back to the smoking compartment and compelled him to accept one of his own cigars odd looking ring you got on doc it said jebb came from servia it 1 I dont know funny think so was all jebb found to say its a servian design all right Is it ever been in belgrade passed through it today 1 I mean ever stop off there 1 I dont think so you dont think so im not sure funny dont remember whether youve been in a place like belgrade I 1 cant imagine a man being in belgrade without remembering it 1 I think ill go to my berth and take a nap before you go doctor would you mind letting me look at that ring does it interest you ayes yes though he wanted to jab the man in the fat face with it jebb held his hand out meekly would you mind if I 1 took it off said ludlam Is there any reason why you should Is there any reason why I 1 I 1 none whatever said jebb instantly the ring was slipped from his finger and ludlam was holding it close his piggish eyes staring into the inner surface ugh hugh he snorted like an angry boar 1 I thought so you thought what see th those ose initials C to J well p well how do you come to have it my name is jebb but who does C stand for my affair im not so sure of that young fellow ive been kind of suspicious of you all along youre so blamed closemouthed close mouthed I 1 thought there must be some reason your thoughts and suspicions dont interest me give me the ring and keep your opinions to yourself oh I 1 guess not this ring says C to J my first name is charlie and my sisters is jennie she was born in june and her birthstone birth stone is a moss agate or a mocha stone as they call it over here so what that is said jebb an old riddle answered just a plain moss agate 1 I guess ill have to have you arrested doc 11 arrested arrested for what for stealing this ring stealing it you oh I 1 cant even get mad at such a fathead as you mr ludlam but just to humor you let me ask you how you could have me arrested for having this ring in your possession Is it your ring no but its my sisters Is she here no but I 1 know its hers how do you know she sell it to me she sell a birthday present how can you tell she may have needed some money very badly nonsense ashes got a private fortune of her own then how do you know she give it to me why should she give you this ring Is she married not that I 1 know of maybe she exchanged it with me as an engagement token wait till you sec see her you may find a ring of mine on her finger this random shot staggered ludlam but it had a backfire that bowled jebb over too for the frightful possibility suddenly presented itself that the other member of the firm V pierpont pont esq partner copartner co in the jebb pierpont soul might actually have taken a fancy to this miss jennie ludlam and proposed to her she might be some pathetic old spinster who would jump at a proposal from anybody meanwhile the train was pushing on through the dark an iron bridge at neusatz carried it rumbling across the danube and into the plains of lower hungary finally ludlam havin having cr failed to invent a next step threw the bur Z it if mr jebb would wait in the reception room den on his prisoner and demanded well what are you going to do about this ring you have it you yes but keep it and call it square oh no you dont I 1 want to know how you got it there may be some foul play here I 1 heard from jennie for a couple of months and youre coming with me to munich munich I 1 get off at budapest if you do ill get off and swear out a warrant for your arrest you a scintilla of evidence detain you till I 1 get it ive got friends in budapest jebb was fairly wringing his brain for memory and wisdom he was eager to reach trieste yet he had no assurance of finding the child there he had probably passed through munich on his flight south from cologne munich might be the very spot where he had lost cynthia you say your sister will meet you in munich yes she lives there most of the time well ill go along with you you will ill go with you on one condition that that you pay my expenses there and back to budapest pay your expenses well I 1 guess not why should I 1 1 I never heard of a prisoner paying his own fare did you all right ludlam growled that night in the berth that ludlam paid for jebb slept uneasily for his dreams were a nightmare of war between his and pier ponts jennie over the possession of their siamese lovers he would have slept so much better had he known that ludlam sat up all night to make sure of his not es caping breakfast time found them at vienna and jebb ordered everything he could think of he smoked lud lams expensive till he made himself dizzy and his jailer was heartily glad to see munich arrive in the late afternoon of the dreariest drea riest day he had ever spent the finishing blow was the discovery that sister jennie never expecting her brother had gone to vienna for a weeks visit the concierge gave her address as the hotel bristol a familiar name to jebb and poor ludlam was so woe be gone and so sleepy from his all night vigil that jebb felt sorry for him jebb had won the confidence a patient trusty inspired and ludlam felt sure of keeping him by the simple device of withholding his return fare he engaged adjoining rooms after assuring him that they would entrain for vienna on the morrow and waddled off to bed it was not long before his snores came trumpeting through the thin partition jebb settled back in a chair in his own room to figure up his expenditures tures and find how he stood with the future CHAPTER XII when he reached for a fountain pen he kept in the inside pocket of his coat he found that it had dropped through a hole and was lost in the lining he slipped off the coat and emptying the pocket turned it inside out to examine what he would have called the lesion his eye was caught by the white label of the tailor MAX schneider 14 Lindenau strasse dresden herr V pierpont this was the plainest clew jebb had found yet he cursed himself for having carried it in his own inside pocket all this while he had idled about salonica and constantinople trying to retrace his steps when he might have taken this short cut and picked up the thread far back near its beginning without the loss of so many irretrievable days A from the sleeping behemoth next door reminded jebb that on the morrow he was booked for vienna a wild goose chase far down the line a foolish tryst with one of V Pier ponts flirtations A surging impulse to get to dresden at once swept over him he threw on his coat and hurried down to the office where he learned that an express for dresden left in an hour he did not wait for the dolorous lift he ran up the stairs threw into his suitcase what little he had taken out and retrieving his fountain pen from the depths of his coat wrote ludlam a note dear mr ludlam sorry I 1 cant accompany you to vienna called elsewhere s suddenly u dh will join you at hotel 0 tel bristol as soon as possible kind regards to sister jennie yours hastily D jebb he pushed this under Lud lams door and rushing downstairs leaped into a cab little max was bu lating a hugely globular saxon and recording the distance with a tape measure he paused long enough when confronted with jebbs question to say that he had delivered the suit to V pierpont at the hotel bellevue jebb hurried to the bellevue and was met by a smiling host goot afternoon bier bont pleasnt to see you again it amazed jebb to see how well everybody remembered pierpont but mine host was saying you liked vienna vienna oh yes 1 abut but you have come to dresden back that is right you have us your bedders to forhart geto ge idt but he did not come any bedders led ders in fact if you pardon me I 1 forhart to you de bill of de doctor who has your bumb ge opened and de letter he has back come where did you send it said jebb the grand hotel in vienna I 1 remember you said such a nice name it is I 1 like it yes yes I 1 will pay the biu bill now if you have it 1 I it t is no hurry vill you have again your old room overlooking the river and is your liddle vallat it is a sisters child niece yes Is your liddle vit you again so dear a child never was here she throws me soch a sweet kiss when she goes the hotel for the last time out jebb sighed as he answered no she is not with me and I 1 just stopped in a for a for a cigar im going back to vienna at once he paid the bill of a dresden surgeon who had lanced the thumb crushed on the train so many epochs past and made haste to the station several hours of feverish delay before the train started and then ten hours in a sleeping car brought him to vienna he hurried to the grand hotel to pick up the next trace of himself and cynthia to his unutterable dismay there was no evidence that V pierpont had ever visited the hotel Miser abler than ever from the sudden quenching of fresh lighted hope jebb stood looking up and down the sweeping glory of the great Ring strasse just across the street from him he saw the hotel bristol his flesh crept at the thought of sister jennie still he had given his word and he would keep it at a later hour it was too early for a call even upon the prospective better half of his self meanwhile he would go to the union bank and see if by any chance there might be a letter there he had written that address in his farewell note to and he felt all shot through with little ai as he thought of finding a message in her hand at the bank jebb was met with a new facer two letters both from turkey had indeed arrived for herr jebb his heart leaped at the glorious news and at the sound of his own own name but according to his recent telegraphed instructions they had been forwarded to his address in trieste so impatience foils impatience there seemed to be nothing left for jebb except to cast himself adrift on the tide of circumstance and trust to luck again when jebb reached the hotel bristol he asked if mr ludlam were registered there no but mi miss ss ludlam w was a s he sent his name up and asked fo for r her brother word was returned that mr ludlam was absent but that his sister would be down in five minutes if mr jebb would wait in the reception room A womans comans five minutes jebb retained his cigar and tried to imagine what sister jennie would look like he kept his eye on the clock and when the five minutes were gone he threw away his cigar and sauntered into the luxurious reception hall wondering how large a section of an hour sister jennies five minutes represented it had been a long time since he had sat in a fashionable continental hotel and watched a peacock alley parade but among the women moved one who caught jebbs eye by some subtle from the crowd he could not see her face though the back of her head the glimpse of an ear or a cheek strongly implied beauty her form was beautiful too and she was graceful she paced awhile aimlessly paused to look aimlessly out of a window sat down at a desk as if to write seemed to decide not to write rose at length however she dropped into a chair with a visible if not audible sigh of ennui and stared at the floor and now jebb could study her face at once he knew that he had met her somewhere but where she was wonderfully beautiful but where had he seen her her timid eyelids rose and her gaze ran about the room as if she were lonely and afraid her eyes did not see him but he saw her eyes there was no mistaking those eyes he tried to call her name but his pale lips commanded only a murmur Mi ruma Mi ruma TO BE CONTINUED |