But it was not at lips, nor at the cigar,
nor at the searching fingers that Zillah looked, after that first
comprehensive glance--her eyes went straight to an object which shone in
the full glare of the lamp above her head. The man wore an old-fashioned,
double-breasted fancy waistcoat, but so low as to reveal a good deal of
his shirt-front. And in that space, beneath his bird's-eye blue tie,
loosely knotted in a bow, Zillah saw a stud, which her experienced eyes
knew to be of platinum, and on it was engraved the same curious device
which she had seen once before that day--on the solitaire exhibited by
Melky.
The girl was instantly certain that here was the man who had visited Mrs.
Goldmark's eating-house. Her first instinct was to challenge him with the
fact--but as she half moved towards him, he found his match-box, struck a
match, and began to light his cigar. And just then came the great engine
of the express, panting its way to a halt beside them, and with it the
folk on the platform began to stir, and Zillah was elbowed aside. Her
situation was perplexing--was she to watch the man and perhaps lose
Lauriston in the crowd already passing from the train, or--
The man was still leisurely busy with his cigar, and Zillah turned and
went a few steps up the platform.
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