In A Pioneer Restaurant

: Colonel Starbottle's Client And Other Stories

CHAPTER I.





There was probably no earthly reason why the "Poco Mas o Menos" Club

of San Francisco should have ever existed, or why its five harmless,

indistinctive members should not have met and dined together as ordinary

individuals. Still less was there any justification for the gratuitous

opinion which obtained, that it was bold, bad, and brilliant. Looking

back upon it over a quarter of
century and half a globe, I confess I

cannot recall a single witticism, audacity, or humorous characteristic

that belonged to it. Yet there was no doubt that we were thought to be

extremely critical and satirical, and I am inclined to think we

honestly believed it. To take our seats on Wednesdays and Saturdays at

a specially reserved table at the restaurant we patronized, to be

conscious of being observed by the other guests, and of our waiter

confidentially imparting our fame to strangers behind the shaken-out

folds of a napkin, and of knowing that the faintest indication of

merriment from our table thrilled the other guests with anticipatory

smiles, was, I am firmly convinced, all that we ever did to justify our

reputations. Nor, strictly speaking, were we remarkable as individuals;

an assistant editor, a lawyer, a young army quartermaster, a bank clerk

and a mining secretary--we could not separately challenge any special

social or literary distinction. Yet I am satisfied that the very name

of our Club--a common Spanish colloquialism, literally meaning "a little

more or less," and adopted in Californian slang to express an unknown

quantity--was supposed to be replete with deep and convulsing humor.



My impression is that our extravagant reputation, and, indeed, our

continued existence as a Club, was due solely to the proprietor of the

restaurant and two of his waiters, and that we were actually "run"

by them. When the suggestion of our meeting regularly there was first

broached to the proprietor--a German of slow but deep emotions--he

received it with a "So" of such impressive satisfaction that it might

have been the beginning of our vainglory. From that moment he became at

once our patron and our devoted slave. To linger near our table once or

twice during dinner with an air of respectful vacuity,--as of one who

knew himself too well to be guilty of the presumption of attempting

to understand our brilliancy,--to wear a certain parental pride and

unconsciousness in our fame, and yet to never go further in seeming to

comprehend it than to obligingly translate the name of the Club as "a

leedle more and nod quide so much"--was to him sufficient happiness.

That he ever experienced any business profit from the custom of the

Club, or its advertisement, may be greatly doubted; on the contrary,

that a few plain customers, nettled at our self-satisfaction, might

have resented his favoritism seemed more probable. Equally vague,

disinterested, and loyal was the attachment of the two waiters,--one

an Italian, faintly reminiscent of better days and possibly superior

extraction; the other a rough but kindly Western man, who might have

taken this menial position from temporary stress of circumstances, yet

who continued in it from sheer dominance of habit and some feebleness of

will. They both vied with each other to please us. It may have been they

considered their attendance upon a reputed intellectual company less

degrading than ministering to the purely animal and silent wants of

the average customers. It may have been that they were attracted by

our general youthfulness. Indeed, I am inclined to think that they

themselves were much more distinctive and interesting than any members

of the Club, and it is to introduce THEM that I venture to recall so

much of its history.



A few months after our advent at the restaurant, one evening, Joe

Tallant, the mining secretary, one of our liveliest members, was

observed to be awkward and distrait during dinner, forgetting even to

offer the usual gratuity to the Italian waiter who handed him his hat,

although he stared at him with an imbecile smile. As we chanced to leave

the restaurant together, I was rallying him upon his abstraction, when

to my surprise he said gravely: "Look here, one of two things has got to

happen: either we must change our restaurant or I'm going to resign."



"Why?"



"Well, to make matters clear, I'm obliged to tell you something that

in our business we usually keep a secret. About three weeks ago I had

a notice to transfer twenty feet of Gold Hill to a fellow named

'Tournelli.' Well, Tournelli happened to call for it himself, and who

the devil do you suppose Tournelli was? Why our Italian waiter. I was

regularly startled, and so was he. But business is business; so I passed

him over the stock and said nothing--nor did he--neither there nor here.

Day before yesterday he had thirty feet more transferred to him, and

sold out."



"Well?" I said impatiently.



"Well," repeated Tallant indignantly. "Gold Hill's worth six hundred

dollars a foot. That's eighteen thousand dollars cash. And a man who's

good enough for that much money is too good to wait upon me. Fancy a man

who could pay my whole year's salary with five feet of stock slinging

hash to ME. Fancy YOU tipping him with a quarter!"



"But if HE don't mind it--and prefers to continue a waiter--why should

YOU care? And WE'RE not supposed to know."



"That's just it," groaned Tallant. "That's just where the sell comes in.

Think how he must chuckle over us! No, sir! There's nothing aristocratic

about me; but, by thunder, if I can't eat my dinner, and feel I am as

good as the man who waits on me, I'll resign from the Club."



After endeavoring to point out to him the folly of such a proceeding, I

finally suggested that we should take the other members of our Club into

our confidence, and abide by their decision; to which he agreed. But, to

his chagrin, the others, far from participating in his delicacy, seemed

to enjoy Tournelli's unexpected wealth with a vicarious satisfaction

and increase of dignity as if we were personally responsible for

it. Although it had been unanimously agreed that we should make no

allusions, jocose or serious, to him, nor betray any knowledge of it

before him, I am afraid our attitude at the next dinner was singularly

artificial. A nervous expectancy when he approached us, and a certain

restraint during his presence, a disposition to check any discussion

of shares or "strikes" in mining lest he should think it personal, an

avoidance of unnecessary or trifling "orders," and a singular patience

in awaiting their execution when given; a vague hovering between

sympathetic respect and the other extreme of indifferent bluntness in

our requests, tended, I think, to make that meal far from exhilarating.

Indeed, the unusual depression affected the unfortunate cause of it,

who added to our confusion by increased solicitude of service and--as if

fearful of some fault, or having incurred our disfavor--by a deprecatory

and exaggerated humility that in our sensitive state seemed like the

keenest irony. At last, evidently interpreting our constraint before him

into a desire to be alone, he retired to the door of a distant pantry,

whence he surveyed us with dark and sorrowful Southern eyes. Tallant,

who in this general embarrassment had been imperfectly served, and had

eaten nothing, here felt his grievance reach its climax, and in a sudden

outbreak of recklessness he roared out, "Hi, waiter--you, Tournelli. He

may," he added, turning darkly to us, "buy up enough stock to control

the board and dismiss ME; but, by thunder, if it costs me my place, I'm

going to have some more chicken!"



It was probably this sensitiveness that kept us from questioning him,

even indirectly, and perhaps led us into the wildest surmises. He was

acting secretly for a brotherhood or society of waiters; he was a silent

partner of his German employer; he was a disguised Italian stockbroker,

gaining "points" from the unguarded conversation of "operating"

customers; he was a political refugee with capital; he was a fugitive

Sicilian bandit, investing his ill-gotten gains in California; he was

a dissipated young nobleman, following some amorous intrigue across the

ocean, and acting as his own Figaro or Leporello. I think a majority of

us favored the latter hypothesis, possibly because we were young, and

his appearance gave it color. His thin black mustaches and dark eyes,

we felt, were Tuscan and aristocratic; at least, they were like the

baritone who played those parts, and HE ought to know. Yet nothing could

be more exemplary and fastidious than his conduct towards the few lady

frequenters of the "Poodle Dog" restaurant, who, I regret to say, were

not puritanically reserved or conventual in manner.



But an unexpected circumstance presently changed and divided our

interest. It was alleged by Clay, the assistant editor, that entering

the restaurant one evening he saw the back and tails of a coat that

seemed familiar to him half-filling a doorway leading to the restaurant

kitchen. It was unmistakably the figure of one of our Club members,--the

young lawyer,--Jack Manners. But what was he doing there? While the

Editor was still gazing after him, he suddenly disappeared, as if some

one had warned him that he was observed. As he did not reappear, when

Tournelli entered from the kitchen a few moments later, the Editor

called him and asked for his fellow-member. To his surprise the Italian

answered, with every appearance of truthfulness, that he had not seen

Mr. Manners at all! The Editor was staggered; but as he chanced, some

hours later, to meet Manners, he playfully rallied him on his mysterious

conference with the Italian. Manners replied briefly that he had had no

interview whatever with Tournelli, and changed the subject quickly. The

mystery--as we persisted in believing it--was heightened when another

member deposed that he had seen "Tom," the Western waiter, coming from

Manners's office. As Manners had volunteered no information of this, we

felt that we could not without indelicacy ask him if Tom was a client,

or a messenger from Tournelli. The only result was that our Club dinner

was even more constrained than before. Not only was "Tom" now invested

with a dark importance, but it was evident that the harmony of the Club

was destroyed by these singular secret relations of two of its members

with their employes.



It chanced that one morning, arriving from a delayed journey, I dropped

into the restaurant. It was that slack hour between the lingering

breakfast and coming luncheon when the tables are partly stripped and

unknown doors, opened for ventilation, reveal the distant kitchen, and a

mingled flavor of cold coffee-grounds and lukewarm soups hangs heavy

on the air. To this cheerlessness was added a gusty rain without, that

filmed the panes of the windows and doors, and veiled from the passer-by

the usual tempting display of snowy cloths and china.



As I seemed to be the only customer at that hour, I selected a table by

the window for distraction. Tom had taken my order; the other waiters,

including Tournelli, were absent, with the exception of a solitary

German, who, in the interlude of perfunctory trifling with the casters,

gazed at me with that abstracted irresponsibility which one waiter

assumes towards another's customer. Even the proprietor had deserted his

desk at the counter. It seemed to be a favorable opportunity to get some

information from Tom.



But he anticipated me. When he had dealt a certain number of dishes

around me, as if they were cards and he was telling my fortune, he

leaned over the table and said, with interrogating confidence:--



"I reckon you call that Mr. Manners of yours a good lawyer?"



We were very loyal to each other in the Club, and I replied with

youthful enthusiasm that he was considered one of the most promising at

the bar. And, remembering Tournelli, I added confidently that whoever

engaged him to look after their property interests had secured a

treasure.



"But is he good in criminal cases--before a police court, for instance?"

continued Tom.



I believed--I don't know on what grounds--that Manners was good in

insurance and admiralty law, and that he looked upon criminal practice

as low; but I answered briskly--though a trifle startled--that as a

criminal lawyer he was perfect.



"He could advise a man, who had a row hanging on, how to steer clear of

being up for murder--eh?"



I trusted, with a desperate attempt at jocosity, that neither he nor

Tournelli had been doing anything to require Manners's services in that

way.



"It would be too late, THEN," said Tom, coolly, "and ANYBODY could tell

a man what he ought to have done, or how to make the best of what he

had done; but the smart thing in a lawyer would be to give a chap points

BEFOREHAND, and sorter tell him how far he could go, and yet keep

inside the law. How he might goad a fellow to draw on him, and then plug

him--eh?"



I looked up quickly. There was nothing in his ordinary, good-humored,

but not very strong face to suggest that he himself was the subject of

this hypothetical case. If he were speaking for Tournelli, the Italian

certainly was not to be congratulated on his ambassador's prudence; and,

above all, Manners was to be warned of the interpretation which might be

put upon his counsels, and disseminated thus publicly. As I was thinking

what to say, he moved away, but suddenly returned again.



"What made you think Tournelli had been up to anything?" he asked

sharply.



"Nothing," I answered; "I only thought you and he, being friends"--



"You mean we're both waiters in the same restaurant. Well, I don't know

him any better than I know that chap over there," pointing to the other

waiter. "He's a Greaser or an Italian, and, I reckon, goes with his

kind."



Why had we not thought of this before? Nothing would be more natural

than that the rich and imperious Tournelli should be exclusive, and have

no confidences with his enforced associates. And it was evident that Tom

had noticed it and was jealous.



"I suppose he's rather a swell, isn't he?" I suggested tentatively.



A faint smile passed over Tom's face. It was partly cynical and partly

suggestive of that amused toleration of our youthful credulity which

seemed to be a part of that discomposing patronage that everybody

extended to the Club. As he said nothing, I continued encouragingly:--



"Because a man's a waiter, it doesn't follow that he's always been one,

or always will be."



"No," said Tom, abstractedly; "but it's about as good as anything else

to lie low and wait on." But here two customers entered, and he

turned to them, leaving me in doubt whether to accept this as a verbal

pleasantry or an admission. Only one thing seemed plain: I had certainly

gained no information, and only added a darker mystery to his conference

with Manners, which I determined I should ask Manners to explain.



I finished my meal in solitude. The rain was still beating drearily

against the windows with an occasional accession of impulse that seemed

like human impatience. Vague figures under dripping umbrellas, that

hid their faces as if in premeditated disguise, hurried from the main

thoroughfare. A woman in a hooded waterproof like a domino, a Mexican

in a black serape, might have been stage conspirators hastening to a

rendezvous. The cavernous chill and odor which I had before noted as

coming from some sarcophagus of larder or oven, where "funeral baked

meats" might have been kept in stock, began to oppress me. The hollow

and fictitious domesticity of this common board had never before seemed

so hopelessly displayed. And Tom, the waiter, his napkin twisted in

his hand and his face turned with a sudden dark abstraction towards the

window, appeared to be really "lying low," and waiting for something

outside his avocation.





CHAPTER II.





The fact that Tom did not happen to be on duty at the next Club dinner

gave me an opportunity to repeat his mysterious remark to Manners, and

to jokingly warn that rising young lawyer against the indiscretion of

vague counsel. Manners, however, only shrugged his shoulders. "I don't

know what he meant," he said carelessly; "but since he chooses to talk

of his own affairs publicly, I don't mind saying that they are neither

very weighty nor very dangerous. It's only the old story: the usual

matrimonial infidelities that are mixed up with the Californian

emigration. He leaves the regular wife behind,--fairly or unfairly, I

can't say. She gets tired waiting, after the usual style, and elopes

with somebody else. The Western Penelope isn't built for waiting. But

she seems to have converted some of his property into cash when she

skipped from St. Louis, and that's where his chief concern comes in.

That's what he wanted to see me for; that's why he inveigled me into

that infernal pantry of his one day to show me a plan of his property,

as if that was any good."



He paused disgustedly. We all felt, I think, that Tom was some kind of

an impostor, claiming the sympathies of the Club on false pretenses.

Nevertheless, the Quartermaster said, "Then you didn't do anything for

him--give him any advice, eh?"



"No; for the property's as much hers as his, and he hasn't got a

divorce; and, as it's doubtful whether he didn't desert her first, he

can't get one. He was surprised," he added, with a grim smile, "when I

told him that he was obliged to support her, and was even liable for

her debts. But people who are always talking of invoking the law know

nothing about it." We were surprised too, although Manners was always

convincing us, in some cheerful but discomposing way, that we were all

daily and hourly, in our simplest acts, making ourself responsible

for all sorts of liabilities and actions, and even generally preparing

ourselves for arrest and imprisonment. The Quartermaster continued

lazily:--



"Then you didn't give him any points about shooting?"



"No; he doesn't even know the man she went off with. It was eighteen

months ago, and I don't believe he'd even know her again if he met

her. But, if he isn't much of a client, we shall miss him to-night as

a waiter, for the place is getting full, and there are not enough to

serve."



The restaurant was, indeed, unusually crowded that evening; the more so

that, the private rooms above being early occupied, some dinner parties

and exclusive couples had been obliged to content themselves with the

public dining saloon. A small table nearest us, usually left vacant to

insure a certain seclusion to the Club, was arranged, with a deprecatory

apology from the proprietor, for one of those couples, a man and

woman. The man was a well-known speculator,--cool, yet reckless and

pleasure-loving; the woman, good-looking, picturesquely attractive,

self-conscious, and self-possessed. Our propinquity was evidently

neither novel nor discomposing. As she settled her skirts in her place,

her bright, dark eyes swept our table with a frank, almost childish,

familiarity. The younger members of the Club quite unconsciously pulled

up their collars and settled their neckties; the elders as unconsciously

raised their voices slightly, and somewhat arranged their sentences.

Alas! the simplicity and unaffectedness of the Club were again invaded.



Suddenly there was a crash, the breaking of glass, and an exclamation.

Tournelli, no doubt disorganized by the unusual hurry, on his way to our

table had dropped his tray, impartially distributed a plate of

asparagus over an adjoining table, and, flushed and nervous, yet with

an affectation of studied calmness, was pouring the sauce into the young

Quartermaster's plate, in spite of his languid protests. At any other

time we would have laughed, but there was something in the exaggerated

agitation of the Italian that checked our mirth. Why should he be so

upset by a trifling accident? He could afford to pay for the breakage;

he would laugh at dismissal. Was it the sensitiveness of a refined

nature, or--he was young and good-looking--was he disconcerted by the

fact that our handsome neighbor had witnessed his awkwardness? But she

was not laughing, and, as far as I could see, was intently regarding the

bill of fare.



"Waiter!" called her companion, hailing Tournelli. "Here!" The Italian,

with a face now distinctly white, leaned over the table, adjusting the

glasses, but did not reply.



"Waiter!" repeated the stranger, sharply. Tournelli's face twitched,

then became set as a mask; but he did not move. The stranger leaned

forward and pulled his apron from behind. Tournelli started with

flashing eyes, and turned swiftly round. But the Quartermaster's hand

had closed on his wrist.



"That's my knife, Tournelli."



The knife dropped from the Italian's fingers.



"Better see WHAT he wants. It may not be THAT," said the young officer,

coolly but kindly.



Tournelli turned impatiently towards the stranger. We alone had

witnessed this incident, and were watching him breathlessly. Yet what

bade fair a moment ago to be a tragedy, seemed now to halt grotesquely.

For Tournelli, throwing open his linen jacket with a melodramatic

gesture, tapped his breast, and with flashing eyes and suppressed

accents said, "Sare; you wantah me? Look--I am herre!"



The speculator leaned back in his chair in good-humored astonishment.

The lady's black eyes, without looking at Tournelli, glanced backward

round the room, and slipped along our table, with half-defiant

unconcern; and then she uttered a short hysterical laugh.



"Ah! ze lady--madame--ze signora--eh--she wantah me?" continued

Tournelli, leaning on the table with compressed fingers, and glaring at

her. "Perhaps SHE wantah Tournelli--eh?"



"Well, you might bring some with the soup," blandly replied her escort,

who seemed to enjoy the Italian's excitement as a national eccentricity;

"but hurry up and set the table, will you?"



Then followed, on the authority of the Editor, who understood Italian, a

singular scene. Secure, apparently, in his belief that his language was

generally uncomprehended, Tournelli brought a decanter, and, setting

it on the table, said, "Traitress!" in an intense whisper. This

was followed by the cruets, which he put down with the exclamation,

"Perjured fiend!" Two glasses, placed on either side of her, carried the

word "Apostate!" to her ear; and three knives and forks, rattling

more than was necessary, and laid crosswise before her plate, were

accompanied with "Tremble, wanton!" Then, as he pulled the tablecloth

straight, and ostentatiously concealed a wine-stain with a clean napkin,

scarcely whiter than his lips, he articulated under his breath: "Let

him beware! he goes not hence alive! I will slice his craven

heart--thus--and thou shalt see it." He turned quickly to a side table

and brought back a spoon. "And THIS is why I have not found you;"

another spoon, "For THIS you have disappeared;" a purely perfunctory

polishing of her fork, "For HIM, bah!" an equally unnecessary wiping

of her glass, "Blood of God!"--more wiping--"It will end! Yes"--general

wiping and a final flourish over the whole table with a napkin--"I go,

but at the door I shall await you both."



She had not spoken yet, nor even lifted her eyes. When she did

so, however, she raised them level with his, showed all her white

teeth--they were small and cruel-looking--and said smilingly in his own

dialect:--



"Thief!"



Tournelli halted, rigid.



"You're talking his lingo, eh?" said her escort good-humoredly.



"Yes."



"Well--tell him to bustle around and be a little livelier with the

dinner, won't you? This is only skirmishing."



"You hear," she continued to Tournelli in a perfectly even voice; "or

shall it be a policeman, and a charge of stealing?"



"Stealing!" gasped Tournelli. "YOU say stealing!"



"Yes--ten thousand dollars. You are well disguised here, my little

fellow; it is a good business--yours. Keep it while you can."



I think he would have sprung upon her there and then, but that the

Quartermaster, who was nearest him, and had been intently watching his

face, made a scarcely perceptible movement as if ready to anticipate

him. He caught the officer's eye; caught, I think, in ours the

revelation that he had been understood, drew back with a sidelong,

sinuous movement, and disappeared in the passage to the kitchen.



I believe we all breathed more freely, although the situation was still

full enough of impending possibilities to prevent peaceful enjoyment

of our dinner. As the Editor finished his hurried translation, it was

suggested that we ought to warn the unsuspecting escort of Tournelli's

threats. But it was pointed out that this would be betraying the woman,

and that Jo Hays (her companion) was fully able to take care of himself.

"Besides," said the Editor, aggrievedly, "you fellows only think of

YOURSELVES, and you don't understand the first principles of journalism.

Do you suppose I'm going to do anything to spoil a half-column of leaded

brevier copy--from an eye-witness, too? No; it's a square enough fight

as it stands. We must look out for the woman, and not let Tournelli get

an unfair drop on Hays. That is, if the whole thing isn't a bluff."



But the Italian did not return. Whether he had incontinently fled, or

was nursing his wrath in the kitchen, or already fulfilling his threat

of waiting on the pavement outside the restaurant, we could not guess.

Another waiter appeared with the dinners they had ordered. A momentary

thrill of excitement passed over us at the possibility that Tournelli

had poisoned their soup; but it presently lapsed, as we saw the couple

partaking of it comfortably, and chatting with apparent unconcern. Was

the scene we had just witnessed only a piece of Southern exaggeration?

Was the woman a creature devoid of nerves or feeling of any kind; or was

she simply a consummate actress? Yet she was clearly not acting, for

in the intervals of conversation, and even while talking, her dark eyes

wandered carelessly around the room, with the easy self-confidence of

a pretty woman. We were beginning to talk of something else, when the

Editor said suddenly, in a suppressed voice:



"Hullo! What's the matter now?"



The woman had risen, and was hurriedly throwing her cloak over her

shoulders. But it was HER face that was now ashen and agitated, and we

could see that her hands were trembling. Her escort was assisting her,

but was evidently as astonished as ourselves. "Perhaps," he suggested

hopefully, "if you wait a minute it will pass off."



"No, no," she gasped, still hurriedly wrestling with her cloak. "Don't

you see I'm suffocating here--I want air. You can follow!" She began

to move off, her face turned fixedly in the direction of the door. We

instinctively looked there--perhaps for Tournelli. There was no one.

Nevertheless, the Editor and Quartermaster had half-risen from their

seats.



"Helloo!" said Manners suddenly. "There's Tom just come in. Call him!"



Tom, evidently recalled from his brief furlough by the proprietor on

account of the press of custom, had just made his appearance from the

kitchen.



"Tom, where's Tournelli?" asked the Lawyer hurriedly, but following the

retreating woman with his eyes.



"Skipped, they say. Somebody insulted him," said Tom curtly.



"You didn't see him hanging round outside, eh? Swearing vengeance?"

asked the Editor.



"No," said Tom scornfully.



The woman had reached the door, and darted out of it as her escort

paused a moment at the counter to throw down a coin. Yet in that moment

she had hurried before him through the passage into the street. I

turned breathlessly to the window. For an instant her face, white as a

phantom's, appeared pressed rigidly against the heavy plate-glass, her

eyes staring with a horrible fascination back into the room--I even

imagined at us. Perhaps, as it was evident that Tournelli was not with

her, she fancied he was still here; perhaps she had mistaken Tom for

him! However, her escort quickly rejoined her; their shadows passed the

window together--they were gone.



Then a pistol-shot broke the quiet of the street.



The Editor and Quartermaster rose and ran to the door. Manners rose

also, but lingered long enough to whisper to me, "Don't lose sight of

Tom," and followed them. But to my momentary surprise no one else

moved. I had forgotten, in the previous excitement, that in those days

a pistol-shot was not unusual enough to attract attention. A few raised

their heads at the sound of running feet on the pavement, and the

flitting of black shadows past the windows. Tom had not stirred, but,

napkin in hand, and eyes fixed on vacancy, was standing, as I had seen

him once before, in an attitude of listless expectation.



In a few minutes Manners returned. I thought he glanced oddly at Tom,

who was still lingering in attendance, and I even fancied he talked to

us ostentatiously for his benefit. "Yes, it was a row of Tournelli's. He

was waiting at the corner; had rushed at Hays with a knife, but had been

met with a derringer-shot through his hat. The lady, who, it seems, was

only a chance steamer acquaintance of Hays', thought the attack must

have been meant for HER, as she had recognized in the Italian a man who

had stolen from her divorced husband in the States, two years ago, and

was a fugitive from justice. At least that was the explanation given by

Hays, for the woman had fainted and been driven off to her hotel by

the Quartermaster, and Tournelli had escaped. But the Editor was on his

track. You didn't notice that lady, Tom, did you?"



Tom came out of an abstracted study, and said: "No, she had her back to

me all the time."



Manners regarded him steadily for a moment without speaking, but in a

way that I could not help thinking was much more embarrassing to the

bystanders than to him. When we rose to leave, as he placed his usual

gratuity into Tom's hand, he said carelessly, "You might drop into my

office to-morrow if you have anything to tell ME."



"I haven't," said Tom quietly.



"Then I may have something to tell YOU."



Tom nodded, and turned away to his duties. The Mining Secretary and

myself could scarcely wait to reach the street before we turned eagerly

on Manners.



"Well?"



"Well; the woman you saw was Tom's runaway wife, and Tournelli the man

she ran away with."



"And Tom knew it?"



"Can't say."



"And you mean to say that all this while Tom never suspected HIM, and

even did not recognize HER just now?"



Manners lifted his hat and passed his fingers through his hair

meditatively. "Ask me something easier, gentlemen."



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