and and
wife. They had arrived at the dessert and were eating ice cream with
genteel slowness, conversing the while with great decorum. Both were
tall and fair, singularly well matched as to height and the ample and
shapely proportions of their figures, and both were well, though
quietly and even simply, dressed. They were nearly of an age, too, he
being apparently forty, and she thirty-five. Their years sat lightly
upon them, however, and if upon her face there were traces left by the
longing for the lover who had not yet come into her life, that was all
which upon either countenance betrayed that their lives had been other
than care-free and happy. Assuredly, any one would have called them a
fine looking man and woman. All this Mr. Middleton observed in a
glance or two and then addressed himself to the comestibles that were
set before him and doubtless would not have given the couple thought
again, had not the waitress at the close of the meal fluttered at his
elbows, placing the vinegar cruet and Worcestershire sauce bottle
within easy reach, which services caused Mr. Middleton to look up in
some wonder, as he was engaged with custard pie and he had never heard
of any race of men, however savage, who used vinegar and
Worcestershire sauce upon custard pie. The waitress, who was a young
woman of a pleasant and intelligent countenance, met this glance with
another compounded of mystery and communicativeness, and bending low
while she removed the vinegar and Worcestershire sauce to a new
station, murmured:

"That man over there has been here seven nights running, with a
different woman every time."

Mr. Middleton sitting quiet in the surprise this information caused
him, she repeated what she had said, adding, "and once he was here at
noon besides, different woman every time."

Eight women in seven days! Certainly this was quite a curious thing.

"Do you know who he is? Have you ever seen any of the women before?"

"Nop. Don't know anything about him except what I have seen of him
here. Never saw any of the women before--nor since."

Nor since. Mr. Middleton found himself asking himself if anybody had
seen any of the women since. Had the girl in this chance remark
unwittingly hit upon a terrible mystery? Nor since, nor since.

The man who had so suddenly assumed an interest in Mr. Middleton's
eyes, arose, and going to the window, looked out at the street above,
which was spattered with a sudden shower. He began t