NORA GOES TO STANWICK
Through the upheaving in his mind, Bat Scanlon managed to squeeze a
reply to Nora's question which held some traces of plausibility.
"A fellow always feels upset by things like this," said he. "Most of the
time there is no reason for it, but that seems to make no difference. He
feels that way just the same."
He left the window and returned to his chair. There had been many things
in his mind when he resolved to pay this visit, things which were direct
and the answers to which must be illuminating. But they were all gone
now. Her attitude, her words, had made them impossible. They talked of
many things during the next half hour--that is, Nora talked. What
Scanlon said he could never afterward remember. But there was one thing
which always brought the fact of the conversation sharply to his
mind--and that was his conjectures as to the man in the street below.
Why was he there? and to whom was he signaling?
These thoughts finally became so insistent that Bat arose.
"I must be going," he said, rather lamely. "There are a few things I
must do to-night."
"Oh, and I thought you'd come for a nice long visit," she said. Her tone
was reproachful; but at the same time Scanlon could not help but notice
that the glance which she gave the briskly ticking clock was one of
relief.
He stood looking down at her; finally her eyes lifted to his and the
expression she met was very grave and very honest.
"Nora," said he, "I've always been for you. You know that, don't you?
And I always will be for you. So if there is ever trouble--any at
all--you know where to come."
She arose. Nora was a tall woman, but she had to lift her face so that
her eyes might meet his. She laid both hands upon his breast and when
she spoke there was just the least tremble in her voice.
"I know," she said. "Dear old Bat, I know. Haven't I always called on
you when I needed help, and you were near enough to hear? You are the
most loyal friend a woman could have; I have been grateful for you, Bat,
and I have prayed for you, many times."
"No!" said Scanlon. "No; have you though, Nora? Well, what do you know
about that?"
When he went down the stairs he had a lump in his throat, and there was
a tendency to blink drops from his lashes--Bat would have denied
indignantly that they were tears--which amazed him. In the lower hall he
met the maid.
"Isn't there a way out beside the front door?" he asked.
"Oh, yes; there is a door which opens onto a yard beside the old
carriage house," said the girl.
"I'll go out that way," said Bat.
Surprised, but making no comment, the maid led the way. Scanlon passed
through a door into the yard and then through a gate which opened upon a
small, quiet street.
"Thank you!" said he. And when the gate had been closed and the maid
vanished, he started down the street; in a few moments he had rounded
the corner; then a dozen yards brought him to the thoroughfare on which
Nora's house stood. Cautiously, he peered from a sheltering doorway.
Yes, there was the figure of the Swiss in the same position as before;
and as Scanlon looked he saw a tall, stoop-shouldered man cross the
street and stop at Bohlmier's side.
"Big Slim," said Bat. "That's who the sign was being passed to a while
ago."
He watched the two men while they engaged in earnest conversation; then
they started off, and he followed them. However, they did not go far; at
the intersection of a small street they paused and then disappeared.
Something in their manner of doing this told Bat their intention.
"They are going to lie low just around the corner," he said. "Waiting
for something, I think."
He was but a dozen yards from Nora's house at this moment; and at an
ornamental iron gate, of the period just after the Civil War, stood an
aged colored man, very black, very highly collared and with much of the
dignity of a servant of the old time. Bat paused and said with the
carelessness of a casual stroller:
"Nice old street you have here, uncle."
There was the proper amount of confidence in the big athlete's manner,
and his voice had that subtle shade of authority which carried the
remark in its proper groove. For these ancient servitors are to be
approached in only one way if results are to be had.
"Yas, suh," replied the black man at the gate, "yas, suh! It is a nice
ol' street, suh. Not whut it was yeahs ago when I fust come here, no
suh. But nice and quiet. And 'spectable."
"Of course," said Bat "Sure enough, entirely respectable!" He watched
and saw that the two did not reappear at the street corner; a feeling of
doubt was in his mind; he had no means of knowing if his conjectures as
to their movements were true. However, if they had gone, very well! If
they had not--well, he would be there and would know. "Yes," he went on,
"a fine old block. Not many like it left."
"No, suh. Dey's mos' all gone. Lots o' po' folks f'om fur-off places
crowdin' in, suh. An' dey jes' natch'ly push into de ol' streets. Ol'
houses am like ol' families, suh. Dey's mighty scarce. Indeed dey is!"
Apparently Bat had chanced upon a favorite topic; like many of the old
families, of whom he spoke so regretfully, the ancient man-servant
cherished the days of the past. This Bat felt to be rather fortunate; it
would provide a subject for conversation while he stood waiting in the
shadow of the trees which ran along in front of the houses.
"A new section will grow up," he suggested. "And new families will
proceed to grow old in them, and make them, also, respectable."
But the old darkey refused to consider this.
"No, suh, 'tain't possible. Dey'll never be like de ol' folks--not jes'
like 'em. Yo' can't make quality, boss, no, suh."
Bat was still engaged in talk with the ancient darkey a quarter of an
hour later when he saw the door of Nora Cavanaugh's house open, and a
woman emerge. Though she was enveloped in a long coat and furs, there
was no mistaking the air, the free, splendid carriage. It was Nora.
With a glance up and down the street, she descended the steps and made
her way north. As she passed the corner, Scanlon's eyes were fixed upon
the one opposite her; with a tingling of the blood he saw the two men
bob out with furtive eagerness; and, in a few moments, they were
following her. He at once said good-night to the old servant and fell in
their wake.
Nora walked rapidly; within ten minutes, from the fixedness of her
direction, Bat guessed her destination.
"The railroad station," he said. "The railroad station, as sure as you
live."
This guess proved a good one; the huge pile of the station soon loomed
into view, the lights about its top dimming in the mists of the evening,
the great round clock looking solemnly out across the city. Bat saw the
two men follow into the building; he at once stationed himself at a
door, through the glass of which he had a view of the ticket window.
Nora went, without hesitation, to a certain window far down the room; in
a few moments she turned away, a ticket in her hand and her eyes going
to the clock. And as she disappeared up the stairs which led to the
train shed, Bohlmier and Big Slim slipped up to the window, purchased
tickets and followed her. When they were out of sight, Bat entered and
walked down the huge room. Over the window to which the others had gone
he saw a sign which told him the tickets for sale there were for the
branch road upon which lay the suburb of Stanwick. Bat also bought a
ticket.
In the train shed a light over a gate called his attention to the three
cars which usually made up the local for the western suburbs. Nora was
not in sight; the Swiss and Big Slim were climbing into a dingy
combination baggage and smoking car which was directly behind the
engine.
"I don't want to get into the car Nora's in," mused Bat. "And as she's
an experienced traveler, I'd say that was the middle one."
He entered the last car by the rear door; a glance showed him that Nora
was not there; and he settled himself in a corner seat opening a
newspaper and holding it before him so as to avoid even the small
chances of detection. In a few minutes the train started and in half an
hour it brought up at Stanwick. From his window he saw Nora on the
platform. His first impulse was to get out on the other side of the
train, but instantly he realized that he must not do this.
"It's the very thing those other two gentlemen will do; and they'd spot
me sure," he thought.
So he waited until the last possible moment; he dropped from the car as
the train was pulling out, and a heaped up baggage truck hid him from
view. He saw Bohlmier and Big Slim pass cautiously along the length of
the platform, and out of sight; and then pursuers and pursued made away
in the direction of Duncan Street.
"It's getting to be familiar ground," said the big athlete; "I think I
could find my way there with my eyes shut."
The streets of Stanwick were lighted here and there by incandescent
lights which shone yellowly through the heavy darkness. Bat could not be
sure as to what was going on ahead of him, as the two men were careful
to keep out of the rays of the lamps as they passed them. So he
proceeded slowly with only occasional glimpses of the moving figures.
Finally, as he neared the Burton home, he lost them entirely.
"They've taken cover," said he, between his teeth. "And now I'll have to
trust to chance."
Keeping in the darkness as much as possible, he advanced; and in a
little while he saw a muffled figure standing before a gate as though
hesitating. It was Nora, and the house before which she had halted was
No. 620. However, the hesitancy did not last long; for as he watched,
she pushed open the gate and made her way toward the house.
Scanlon waited, his eyes going about in expectation of a movement of
some sort from the shadows around him. But none came, and he gave his
attention once more to Nora. He saw her move along the path as though
to the door, over which burned a light; however, when within a half
dozen yards of it, she veered to one side, and, to Bat's surprise, stole
with quiet tread around the house.