321

XVII. THE SETTLEMENT 337

Ich muss--Das ist die Schrank, in welcher mich die Welt
Von einer, die Natur von andrer Seite haelt.

FR. RUeCKERT: _Die Weisheit des Brahmenen._

[I must--That is the Barrier within which I am pent by the World on
the one hand and Nature on the other.]

THE SILENT BARRIER

CHAPTER I

THE WISH

"Mail in?"

"Yes, sir; just arrived. What name?"

"Charles K. Spencer."

The letter clerk seized a batch of correspondence and sorted it with
nimble fingers. The form of the question told him that Spencer was
interested in letters stamped for the greater part with bland
presentments of bygone Presidents of the United States. In any event,
he would have known, by long experience of the type, that the well
dressed, straight limbed, strong faced young man on the other side of
the counter was an American. He withdrew four missives from the
bundle. His quick eyes saw that three bore the Denver postmark, and
the fourth hailed from Leadville.

"That is all at present, sir," he said. "Would you like your mail sent
to your room in future, or shall I keep it here?"

"Right here, please, in No. 20 slot. I could receive a reply by cable
while I was going and coming along my corridor."

The clerk smiled deferentially. He appreciated not only the length of
the corridor, but the price paid by the tenant of a second floor suite
overlooking the river.

"Very well, sir," he said, glancing again at Spencer, "I will
attend to it;" and he took a mental portrait of the man who could
afford to hire apartments that ranked among the most expensive in
the hotel. Obviously, the American was a recent arrival. His suite
had been vacated by a Frankfort banker only three days earlier,
and this was the first time he had asked for letters. Even the
disillusioned official was amused by the difference between the two
latest occupants of No. 20,--Herr Bamberger, a tub of a man, bald
headed and bespectacled, and this alert, sinewy youngster, with the
cleancut features of a Greek statue, and the brilliant, deep set,
earnest eyes of one to whom thought and action were alike familiar.

Spencer, fully aware that he was posing for a necessary picture,
examined the dates on his letters, nipped the end off a green cigar,
helped himself to a match from a box tendered by a watchful boy,
crossed the entrance hall, and descended a few steps leading to the
in