CHAPTER XIV


A COOL ENCOUNTER

On leaving the house Mershone buttoned his overcoat tightly up to his
chin, for the weather was cold and raw, and then shot a quick glance
around him. Diana's suspect was still lounging on the corner. Charlie
had little doubt he was watching the house and the movements of its
in-mates--a bad sign, he reflected, with a frown. Otherwise the street
seemed deserted.

He had dismissed the cab on his arrival, so now he stepped out and
walked briskly around the corner, swinging his cane jauntily and looking
very unlike a fugitive. In the next block he passed a youth who stood
earnestly examining the conventional display in a druggist's window.

Mershone, observing this individual, gave a start, but did not alter his
pace. It was the same pale, red-haired boy he had noticed twice before
at the hotel. In his alert, calculating mind there was no coincidence in
this meeting. Before he had taken six more steps Mershone realized the
exact situation.

At the next crossing he stopped and waited patiently for a car. Up the
street he still saw the youth profoundly interested in drugs--a class of
merchandise that seldom calls for such close inspection. The car arrived
and carried Mershone away. It also left the red-haired youth at his post
before the window. Yet on arriving at the Bruxtelle some twenty minutes
later Charlie found this same queer personage occupying a hotel chair in