At the sight my heart beat fast and my breath came quick. Here,
perhaps, was the person about whom centered so many of my hopes and
fears, in whose service I had faced death, and whose words might serve
to make plain the secret springs of the mystery.
As we neared the hack my guide gave a short, suppressed whistle, and
passing before me, flung open the door to the vehicle and motioned me
to enter. I glanced about with some lack of confidence oppressing my
spirits. But I had gone too far to retreat, and stepped into the hack.
Instead of following, the guide closed the door gently; I heard him
mount the seat by the driver, and in a moment we were in motion.
Was I alone? I had expected to find the Unknown, but the dark interior
gave no sign of a companion. Then the magnetic suggestion of the
presence of another came to my spirit, and a faint perfume put all my
senses on the alert. It was the scent that had come to me with the
letters of the Unknown. A slight movement made me certain that some one
sat in the farther corner of the carriage.
Was it the Unknown or some agent? And if it proved to be the Unknown,
was she the lady I had met in cold business greeting in the courtyard
of the Palace Hotel? I waited impatiently for the first street-lamp to
throw a gleam of light into the carriage. But when it came I was little
the wiser. I could see faintly the outlines of a figure shrouded in
black that leaned in the corner, motionless save for the swaying and
pitching of the hack as it rolled swiftly down the street.
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