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The Man in Lower Ten

Chapter 4 NUMBERS SEVEN AND NINE

Word Count: 1850    |    Released on: 28/11/2017

n of the opened curtain. I had an instantaneous picture of a slender blue-gowned girl who seemed to sense my words rather than hear them, of two sm

ogether. Then in a paralysis of shock, he collapsed on the edge

have every woman in the car in hysterics. And if you do, you'll wis

curtains, closed them quietly and went back, ostentatiously solemn, to his seat. The very crackle with which he opened his paper

was more himself; he wiped his lips

p the woman in it took an overdose of some sleeping stuff, and we found her, jes' like that, dead! And i

nt eyes and a spare grayish goatee cre

ror-struck face, my own excitement and the slightly gaping curtains of lower t

s the matter? Had a sh

octor, I wish you would look at the man in the berth across, lower te

on the sheet. The examination needed only a moment. Death was written in the clear white of the nostrils, the colorless lips, the smoothing away of the

said, running a professional finger over the stains. "These are dry and d

l," I replied. "Never s

know if he is

ed his attention again to the body. Like a flash there had come to me the vision of the woman with the bronze hair and the tragic face, whom I had surpri

amas and exposed the dead man's chest. On the left si

on. "Couldn't have done it better myself. Right thr

here?" I asked. The medical man tur

that puncture, when it isn't gadding

wound and those stains. Odd how a healthy, normal man holds the medical profession in half contemptuous regard until he gets sick, or an emergency like this arises,

s it, docto

-clothing over the face, and, taking

e," he announced deci

car were turned toward us, and I could hear the porter behind me breathing audibly. A stout woman in negligee came dow

company that will allow a woman to occupy the dressing-room for one hour and curl her hair

ried her eyes in the nondescript garments that hung from her arm and tottered back the way she had come. Slowly a little knot of men gathered around us, silent for the most part. The doctor w

ctor queried, after a busi

and the window is closed. He couldn't have thrown it out, and

apology, revealing the man who had summoned the conductor. He was dusty, alert, cheerful, and he dragg

o, in less degree; I've been robbed of everything I possess, except a red and yellow bath-robe.

crowd. Some body laughed nervous

nsportation, not for clothes, jewelry and morals. If people want to be stabbed and robbe

lenched my fist. I could understand the conductor's position, and bes

he clothes the thief left are as good as my own. They are certainly newer. But my valise cont

Find the man who skipped out with this gentleman

, as I was unable to sleep, and I must have gone back to the wrong berth. Anyhow, until the porter wakened me this morning I knew nothing of my mi

d at me from between narr

of having valuable papers?" he inqui

ip pocket was found a small pearl-handled revolver of the type women usually keep around. A gold watch with a Masonic charm had slid down between the mattress and the window, while a showy diamond stud

," he reflected, "or the thief ove

when, after a thorough search, we found no po

e laundry mark, S. H. In the leather tag on the handle was a card with the name Simon Harrington, Pittsburg. The conductor sat down on my unmade b

his trip to last for a year. They don't need a conductor on these

came in and whispered to him.

Doctor, a woman back there has got mumps or bub

e porter s

aid, "in black, sir, with queer-looking

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