rom between narrowed eyelids,
ferret-like.

"Did any one on the train suspect you of having valuable papers?" he
inquired. The crowd was listening intently.

"No one," I answered promptly and positively. The doctor was
investigating the murdered man's effects. The pockets of his trousers
contained the usual miscellany of keys and small change, while in his
hip pocket was found a small pearl-handled revolver of the type women
usually keep around. A gold watch with a Masonic charm had slid down
between the mattress and the window, while a showy diamond stud was
still fastened in the bosom of his shirt. Taken as a whole, the personal
belongings were those of a man of some means, but without any particular
degree of breeding. The doctor heaped them together.

"Either robbery was not the motive," he reflected, "or the thief
overlooked these things in his hurry."

The latter hypothesis seemed the more tenable, when, after a thorough
search, we found no pocketbook and less than a dollar in small change.

The suit-case gave no clue. It contained one empty leather-covered flask
and a pint bottle, also empty, a change of linen and some collars with
the laundry mark, S. H. In the leather tag on the handle was a card
with the name Simon Harrington, Pittsburg. The conductor sat down on my
unmade berth, across, and made an entry of the name and address. Then,
on an old envelope, he wrote a few words and gave it to the porter, who
disappeared.

"I guess that's all I can do," he said. "I've had enough trouble this
trip to last for a year. They don't need a conductor on these trains any
more; what they ought to have is a sheriff and a posse."

The porter from the next car came in and whispered to him. The conductor
rose unhappily.

"Next car's caught the disease," he grumbled. "Doctor, a woman back
there has got mumps or bubonic plague, or something. Will you come
back?"

The strange porter stood aside.

"Lady about the middle of the car," he said, "in black, sir, with
queer-looking hair--sort of copper color, I think, sir."

CHAPTER V. THE WOMAN IN THE NEXT CAR

With the departure of the conductor and the doctor, the group around
lower ten broke up, to re-form in smaller knots through the car. The
porter remained on guard. With something of relief I sank into a seat.
I wanted to think, to try to remember the details of the previous night.
But my inquisitive acquaintance had other intentions. He came up and sat
dow