lights of the station, Stewart saw outlined[Pg 106] the figure of a man in uniform. He rose wearily. [Pg 106] “Come, dear,” he said, and helped her to her feet; “it seems we are to go somewhere else.” Then he looked down at the heavy bags. “I can’t carry those things all over creation,” he said; “what’s more, I won’t.” “I will attend to that,” said the stranger, and put a whistle to his lips and blew a shrill blast. Two men came running up. “You will take those bags,” he ordered. “Follow me,” he added to Stewart. They followed him along the platform, crossed the track to another, and came at last to a great empty shed with a low table running along one side. The men placed the bags upon this table and withdrew. “I shall have to search them,” said the officer. “Are they locked?” He stood in the glare of a lamp hanging from the rafters, and for the first time, Stewart saw his face. The man smiled at his start of surprise. “I see you recognize me,” he said. “Yes—I was in your compartment coming from Cologne. We will speak of that later. Are your bags locked?” “No,” said Stewart. [Pg 107] [Pg 107] He watched with affected listlessness as the officer undid the straps and raised the lids. But his mind was very busy. Had he said anything during that ride from Cologne which he would now have reason to regret? Had he intimated that he was unmarried? He struggled to recall the conversation, sentence by sentence, but could remember nothing that was actually incriminating. And yet, in mentioning his intended stop at Aix-la-Chapelle, he had not added that he was to meet his wife there, and he had made a tentative arrangement to see Miss Field again in Brussels. The talk, in other words, had been carried on from the angle of a bachelor with no one to think of but himself, and not from that of a married man with a wife to consider. It was certainly unfortunate that the man who had happened to overhear that conversation should be the one detailed here to examine his luggage. How well did he know English? Was he acute enough to catch the implications of the conversation, or would a disregard of one’s wife seem natural to his Teutonic mind? Stewart glanced at him covertly; and then his attention was suddenly caught and held by the extreme care with which the
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