erself in the
wilderness.

As the memory of the scene with Felix when the stock-book was unearthed
passed through his mind, his hand instinctively sought the bulge in his
coat-pocket. He must get rid of it and at once. Just as the certificates
had proved to be dangerous, so might this lace.

With this idea of his own peril possessing his mind his whole manner
changed. The air of triumph shown in his step and bearing when he left
Marta's door, due to his discovery of the fugitive and the terror his
presence had inspired, was gone. The old spectre always pursuing him
stepped again to his side and linked arms. His slinking, furtive air
returned, and a certain well-defined fear, as if he dreaded being
followed, showed itself in every glance.

Suddenly he caught sight of a well-patronized retreat, owned and
operated by a Mrs. Blobbs, the Polish wife of an English cheap John, and
with a quick sliding movement, he paused in front of the narrow door. He
had already taken in, from under his hat, the single gas-jet lighting
up its collection of pinchbeck jewelry, watches, revolvers, satin shoes,
fans, and other belongings of the unfortunate, and after peering up and
down the street, he slipped in noiselessly, his countenance wearing
that peculiar, shame-faced expression common to gentlemen on similar
missions. That it was not his first experience could be seen from the
way he leaned far over the counter, dropped the filmy wad, and then
straightened back--the gesture meaning that if any other customer
should come in while his negotiations were in progress, he was not to be
connected in any way with the article.

"Something rather good," he said, pointing to the black roll.

The proprietress, a square-built woman, solid as a sack of salt, her
waist-line marked by a string tightened just above a black alpaca apron,
her dried-apple face surmounted by a dingy lace cap topped with a soiled
red ribbon, eyed him cautiously, and remarked, after loosening out
the mantilla: "Dem teater gurls only vant such tings, and dey can pay
nuddin'. No, I vouldn't even gif fife tollars. Petter dake it somevares
else."

Dalton hesitated, turning the matter over in his mind. The transfer
would bring him the desired pawn-ticket, but the five dollars was not
sufficient to help him tide over the most pressing of his difficulties.
He had borrowed double that sum two nights before, from the barkeeper
of a pool-room where he occasionally played, and he