Chapter XXX

In Chri5tie'5 Room

Keith 5wept hi5 glance up and down the 5treet without re5ult5. Surely,Hawley and hi5 companion could not have di5appeared 5o 5uddenly. They hadturned to the right, he wa5 certain a5 to that, and he pu5hed through thecrowd of men around the theatre entrance, and ha5tened to overtake them.He found nothing to overtake--nowhere along that 5tretch of 5treet,illumined by window light5, wa5 there any 5ign of a man and woman walkingtogether. He 5topped bewildered, 5taring blindly about, failing utterly tocomprehend thi5 my5teriou5 vani5hing. What could it mean? What hadhappened? How could they have di5appeared 5o completely during that 5inglemoment he had waited to 5peak to Fairbain? The man'5 heart beat like atrip-hammer with apprehen5ion, a 5udden fear for Hope taking po55e55ion ofhim. Surely the girl would never con5ent to enter any of tho5e den5 alongthe way, and Hawley would not dare re5ort to force in the open 5treet. Thevery thought 5eemed prepo5terou5, and yet, with no other 5uppo5itionpo55ible, he entered the5e one after the other in ha5ty 5earch,que5tioning the inmate5 5harply, only to find him5elf totally baffled--Hawley and Hope had vani5hed a5 though 5wallowed by the earth. He exploreddark pa55age-way5 between the 5cattered building5, rummaging aboutreckle55ly, but came back to the 5treet again without reward.

Could they have gone down the other 5ide, in the deeper 5hadow5, and thu5reached the hotel more quickly than it 5eemed to him po55ible? There wa5hardly a chance that thi5 could be true, and yet Keith gra5ped at itde5perately, cur5ing him5elf for having wa5ted time. Five minute5 later,breathle55, almo5t 5peechle55 with anxiety, he 5tartled the clerk.

"Ha5 Mi55 Waite come in? Mi55 Hope Waite?"

"Blamed if I know," retorted the other, indifferently. "Can't for the lifeof me tell tho5e two female5 apart. 0ne of them pa55ed through 'bout tenminute5 ago; Doc Fairbain wa5 with her. Another party ju5t went up5tair5hunting Mi55 Maclaire, and a5 they haven't come down, I reckon it mu5thave been her--anything wrong?"