. Her
condition had been so serious that they had remained with her all night,
and his niece still was at her bedside. The driver of a four-wheeler,
who for years had stood on the cab-rank in front of Gerridge's, had
driven Pearsall to the Langham. This man was at the moment on the rank,
and from him Ford learned what he most wished to know.

The cabman remembered Pearsall, and having driven him to the Langham,
for the reason that immediately after setting him down there, and while
"crawling" for a fare in Portland Place, a whistle from the Langham had
recalled him, and the same luggage that had just been taken from the top
of his cab was Put back on it, and he was directed by the porter of the
hotel to take it to a house in Sowell Street. There a man-servant had
helped him unload the trunks and had paid him his fare. The cabman did
not remember the number of the house, but knew it was on the west side
of the street and in the middle of the block.

Having finished with Gerridge and the cab-man, Ford had at once gone
to the Langham Hotel, where, as he anticipated, nothing was known of
Pearsall or his niece, or of any invalid lady. But the hall-porter
remembered the American gentleman who had driven up with many pieces of
luggage, and who, although it was out of season, and many suites in the
hotel were vacant, had found none to suit him. He had then set forth on
foot, having left word that his trunks be sent after him. The address he
gave was a house in Sowell Street.

The porter recalled the incident because he and the cabman had grumbled
over the fact that in five minutes they had twice to handle the same
boxes.

"It is pretty evident," said Ford, what Pearsall had in mind, but chance
was against him. He thought when he had unloaded his trunks at the
Langham and dismissed the cabman he had destroyed the link connecting
him with Gerridge's. He could not foresee that the same cabman would be
loitering in the neighborhood. He should have known that four-wheelers
are not as plentiful as they once were; and he should have given that
particular one more time to get away. His idea in walking to the Sowell
Street house was obviously to prevent the new cabman from seeing him
enter it. But, just where he thought he was clever, was just where he
tripped. If he had remained with his trunks he would have seen that the
cabman was the same one who had brought them and him from Craven Street,
and he would have given any other addr