Hearts and Masks | Page 8

to
Jersey City without mishap; and when I took my seat in the smoker, I
found I had ten minutes to spare. I bought a newspaper and settled
down to read the day's news. It was fully half an hour between Jersey
City and Blankshire; in that time I could begin and finish the paper.

There never was a newspaper those days that hadn't a war-map in some
one of its columns; and when I had digested the latest phases of the war
in the far East, I quite naturally turned to the sporting-page to learn
what was going on among the other professional fighters. (Have I
mentioned to you the fact that I was all through the Spanish War, the
mix-up in China, and that I had resigned my commission to accept the
post of traveling salesman for a famous motor-car company? If I have
not, pardon me. You will now readily accept my recklessness of spirit
as a matter of course.) I turned over another page; from this I learned
that the fair sex was going back to puff-sleeves again. Many an old
sleeve was going to be turned upside down.
Fudge! The train was rattling through the yards. Another page crackled.
Ha! Here was that unknown gentleman-thief again, up to his old tricks.
It is remarkable how difficult it is to catch a thief who has good looks
and shrewd brains. I had already written him down as a quasi-swell.
For months the police had been finding clues, but they had never laid
eyes on the rascal. The famous Haggerty of the New York detective
force,--a man whom not a dozen New York policemen knew by sight
and no criminals save those behind bars, earthly and eternal,--was now
giving his whole attention to the affair. Some gaily-dressed lady at a
ball would suddenly find she had lost some valuable gems; and that
would be the end of the affair, for none ever recovered her gems.
The gentleman-thief was still at large, and had gathered to his account a
comfortable fortune; that is, if he were not already rich and simply a
kleptomaniac. No doubt he owned one of my racing-cars, and was clear
of the delinquent lists at his clubs. I dismissed all thought of him, threw
aside the paper, and mentally figured out my commissions on sales
during the past month. It was a handsome figure, large enough for two.
This pastime, too, soon failed to interest me. I gazed out of the window
and watched the dark shapes as they sped past.
I saw the girl's face from time to time. What a fool I had been not to ask
her name! She could easily have refused, and yet as easily have granted
the request. At any rate, I had permitted the chance to slip out of my
reach, which was exceedingly careless on my part. Perhaps they--she

and her uncle--frequently dined at Mouquin's; I determined to haunt the
place and learn. It would be easy enough to address her the next time
we met. Besides, she would be curious to know all about the ten of
hearts and the desperate adventure upon which I told her I was about to
embark. Many a fine friendship has grown out of smaller things.
Next, turning from the window, I fell to examining my fellow
passengers, in the hope of seeing some one I knew. Conversation on
trains makes short journeys. . . . I sat up stiffly in my seat. Diagonally
across the aisle sat the very chap I had met in the curio-shop! He was
quietly reading a popular magazine, and occasionally a smile lightened
his sardonic mouth. Funny that I should run across him twice in the
same evening! Men who are contemplating suicide never smile in that
fashion. He was smoking a small, well-colored meerschaum pipe with
evident relish. Somehow, when a man clenches his teeth upon the
mouth-piece of a respectable pipe, it seems impossible to associate that
man with crime. But the fact that I had seen him selecting a pistol in a
pawnshop rather neutralized the good opinion I was willing to form. I
have already expressed my views upon the subject. The sight of him
rather worried me, though I could not reason why. Whither was he
bound? Had he finally taken one of Friard's pistols? For a moment I
was on the point of speaking to him, if only to hear him tell more lies
about the ten of hearts, but I wisely put aside the temptation. Besides, it
might be possible that he would not be glad to see me. I always avoid
the chance acquaintance, unless, of course, the said chance
acquaintance is met under favorable circumstances--like the girl in
Mouquin's, for instance! After all, it was only