The Sign of Venus
IN the card-room the game, which had started from a chance suggestion, bid fair to develop into an all-night séance: the young foreign diplomat had shed his coat and lighted a fresh cigar; somebody threw a handkerchief over the face of the clock, and a sleepy club-servant took reserve orders for two dozen siphons and other details.
"That lets me out," said Hetherford, rising from his chair with a nod at the dealer. He tossed his cards on the table, settled side obligations with the man on his left, yawned, and put on his hat.
Somebody remonstrated. "It's only two o'clock, Hetherford; you have no white man's burden sitting up for you at home."
But Pletherford shook his head, smiling.
So a servant removed his chair, another man cut in, the dealer dealt cards all around. Presently from somewhere in the smoke haze came a voice, "Hearts." And a quiet voice retorted, "I double it."
Hetherford lingered a moment, then turned on his heel, sauntered out across the hallway and down the stairs into the court, refusing with a sign the offered cab.
Breathing deeply, yawning once or twice, he looked up at the stars. The night air refreshed him; he stood a moment, thoughtfully contemplating his half-smoked cigar, then tossed it away and stepped out into the street.
The street was quiet and deserted; darkened brownstone mansions stared at him through sombre windows as he passed; his footsteps echoed across the pavement like the sound of footsteps following.
His progress was leisurely; the dreary monotony of the house fronts soothed him. He whistled a few bars of a commonplace tune, crossed the deserted avenue under the electric lamps, and entered the dimly lighted street beyond.
Here all was silence; the doors of many houses were boarded up—sign that their tenants had migrated to the country. No shadowy cat fled along the iron railings at his approach; no night-watchman prowled in deserted dooryards or peered at him from obscurity.
Strolling at ease, thoughts nowhere, he had traversed half the block, when an opening door and a glimmer of light across the sidewalk attracted his attention.
As he approached the house from whence the light came, a figure suddenly appeared on the stoop—a girl in a white ball-gown—hastily descending the stone steps. Gaslight from the doorway tinted her bared arms and shoulders. She bent her graceful head and gazed earnestly at Hetherford.
"I beg your pardon," she almost whispered,—"might I ask you to help me?"
Hetherford stopped and wheeled short.
"I—I really beg your pardon," she said,—"but I am in such distress. Could I ask you to find me a cab?"
"A cab!" he repeated, uncertainly;—"why, yes—I will with pleasure—" He turned and looked up and down the deserted street, slowly lifting his hand to his short mustache. "If you are in a hurry," he said, "I had better go to the nearest stables—"
"But there is something more," she said, in a tremulous voice:—"could you get me a wrap,—a cloak—anything to throw over my gown?"
He looked up at her, bewildered. "Why, I don't believe I—" he began, then fell silent before her troubled gaze. "I'll do anything I can for you," he said, abruptly. "I have a rain-coat at the club—if your need is urgent—"
"It is urgent;—but there is something else,—something more urgent—more dif-
