The Red Rat's Daughter

he had been comforting himself with the thought that he would soon be standing face to face with Katherine, ready to ask her

struck him. Perhaps it was the knowledge that she was leaving that had occasioned her unhappiness on the previous afternoon. The maid who had opened the door to him, and whose information had caused him such disappo

t?" Browne inquired. "I was hoping to

y," the girl replied. "It was on the str

ertain upon that

table punctual to the minute. There were some letters for Madame Bernstein by the post, which the other girl took up to her bedroom. As soon as she read them she sent down for Mrs. Jims

put out at having to leave London at such short noti

to the house, as if she were afraid of being overheard. "She did seem precious put out about it; at least so the other girl says. Jane tells me she

one?" Browne inquired, refusing to com

. "But if you will just wait a minute I'll go in

e could for some five or six minutes. T

rt, sir," she said; "at least

owne simply. "I am m

with his pleasing personality, to say nothing of his smart cab drawn up beside the pavement, had already produced. Not only wo

ps, when another idea occurred to h

ss in Paris, I suppose?" he inquired. "I have

Mrs. Jimson, so that she could send on any letters that came for her. I know where Mrs. Jimson put the piece of paper, and if y

r errand. This time she was somewhat longer away, but when she returned she carried, concealed in her hand,

s coachman, "and as quickly as p

nd glanced at the paper the girl had given him. Upon it, written in a clumsy han

so it ran, "35, Ru

our from nine o'clock; that means that they started from Victoria and are travelling via Newhaven and Dieppe. Now, there's a tr

rive faster. Reaching Park Lane, he rang for his valet, and when that somewhat stolid individual put in an appearance, bade him pack a few necessaries and be ready to start for the Continent at once. Being a

eaving England? To follow this girl. And why? For one very good reason-because he loved her! But why should he have loved her, when, with his wealth, he could have married the daughter of almost any peer in England; when, had he so desired, he could have chosen h

tinent. Little by little the English coast dropped behind them and the shores of France loomed larger. Never before had the coast struck him as being so beautiful. He entered the train at Calais with a fresh satisfaction as he remembered that every revolution of the whe

as still the same John Grantham Browne, in the spirit he was an altogether separate and distinct individual from the man they had previously known. On reaching his own room he opened the window, leant out, and looked upon

off the stains of travel, changed his a

cessitate another removal to Rome, Berlin, or St. Petersburg?-in which case he might very easily lose sight of her altogether. He had never trusted madame, and since her departure from England he was even less disposed to do so than before. There was something about her that he

a cloak. In love though he was, he had still sufficient o

hen the man had driven up, inquired whether he knew where the Rue

ed, "I know the Rue Jac

jumped into the cab. "I have business in th

d, in a tone that implied that he

d Browne; "drive me to the c

oceeded in the direction of Montmartre. For some time Browne endeavoured to keep tally of the route; eventually, however, he was obliged to relinquish t

d, pointing with his whip down a lo

ptible in the extreme. The houses were small and dingy, and it was plain that they were occupied by people who were not the possessors of any conspicuous degree of wealth. He walked the whole length of the stree

ses beat more quickly as he reflected that it was just p

he concierge. They paused upon the doorstep to wish some one within "good-night"; then, descending the steps, they set off in the same direction in which Browne himself had come. Before doing so, however, they turned and looked up and down the street, as if they were afraid they might be observed. Seeing Browne watching the house, they hastened their steps, and presently disappeared down a side thoroughfare. For an ordinary observer this small event might have had little or no significance; but to Browne, in whose mind indefinable suspicio

place in the vehicle once more; and then continued to him