landlady repeated. [Pg 54] [Pg 54] She was standing with her back toward the door, and Stewart wondered why she should watch his face so closely. Suddenly, over her shoulder, he saw the ugly waiter with the hang-dog air approaching along the hall. “Such anxiety is quite natural,” said the landlady rapidly in German, raising her voice a little. “I can understand it. But it is not remarkable that you should have missed her—the trains are so irregular. I will send her to you the moment she arrives. Ah, Hans,” she added, turning at the sound of the waiter’s footsteps, “so you are back at last! You will take up some hot water to the gentleman at once. And now you will excuse me, sir; I have the dinner to attend to,” and she hurried away, carrying the waiter with her. Stewart stood for an instant staring after her; then he turned and mounted slowly to his room. But what had the woman meant? Why should he be anxious? Who was it he had missed? “I will send her to you the moment she arrives.” No—she could not have said that—it was impossible that she should have said that. He must have misunderstood; his German was very second-rate, and she had spoken rapidly. But what had she said? [Pg 55] [Pg 55] He was still pondering this problem, when a knock at the door told him that the hot water had arrived. As he opened the door, the landlady’s voice came shrilly up the stair. “Hans!” she called. “There is something wrong with the stove. Hasten! Hasten!” Stewart took the can which was thrust hastily into his hand, turned back into the room, and proceeded to make a leisurely toilet. If the landlady had not told him, he would never have suspected that his baggage had been searched by the police, for everything seemed to be where he had left it. But then he was a hasty and careless packer, by no means precise—— That vague feeling of uneasiness which had shaken him in the church swept over him again, stronger than before; there was something wrong somewhere; the meshes of an invisible net
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