A VISITOR IN THE NIGHT
A of from the box of the cab—bad language in Dutch is effective—aroused me from my musings. The cab, a small, box with a smell, stopped with a that me forward. From the above the of the rain. I through the of the but nothing save the yellow of a lamp. Then a vehicle of some to move away in of us, for I the of against the kerb, and my up to the pavement.
On alighting, I myself in a narrow, dark with high houses on either side. A lamp with the word "Hôtel" in half-obliterated painted on it above my head, announcing that I had at my destination. As I paid off the another passed. It was the one with which my Jehu had had words, for he and into the night.
My departed, me with my on the at my feet, at a narrow dirty door, the upper of which was in with glass. I was at last to the that I, an Englishman, was going to the night in a German hotel to which I had been by a German on the that I was a German. I that, according to the Dutch regulations, my would have to be in for by the police and that therefore I not pass myself off as a German.
"Bah!" I said to give myself courage, "this is a free country, a country. They may be offensive, they may you, in a Hun hotel, but they can't eat you. Besides, any in a night like this!" and I pushed open the door.
Within, the hotel proved to be than its promised. There was a small with a little of an office on one and it an old-fashioned of stairs, with a on the post at the foot, to the upper stories.
At the of my on the flooring, a waiter from a little cubby-hole under the stairs. He had a about his waist, but otherwise he the and the and white tie of the Continental hotel waiter. His hands were with black marks and so was his apron. He had been boots.
He was a big, fat, man with narrow, little eyes. His was cut so that his appeared to be shaven. He me and asked me in German in a voice what I wanted.
I in the same language, I wanted a room.
He a at me through his little of on my good Bonn accent, but his manner did not change.
"The hotel is full. The cannot have a here. The is out at present. I regret...." He this all out in the manner of the Prussian official.
"It was Franz, of the Bopparder Hof, who me to come here," I said. I was not going out again into the rain for a whole army of Prussian waiters.
"He told me that Frau Schratt would make me very comfortable," I added.
The waiter's manner at once.
"So, so," he said—quite this time—"it was Franz who sent the to us. He is a good friend of the house, is Franz. Ja, Frau Schratt is out just now, but as soon as the lady returns I will her you are here. In the meantime, I will give the a room."
He me a and a key.
"So," he grunted, "No. 31, the third floor."
A clock out the hour in the distance.
"Ten o'clock already," he said. "The gentleman's papers can wait till to-morrow, it is so late. Or the will give them to the proprietress. She must come any moment."
As I the I him again:
"So, so, Franz sent him here! Ach, Franz!"
As soon as I had passed out of of the I myself in complete darkness. On each landing a of gas, low, a and light a yards around. On the third I was able to by the a small to the with an pointing to the right above the figures: 46-30.
I stopped to a match to light my candle. The whole hotel in silence, the only the of water in the without. Then from the of the narrow that out in of me, I the of a key in a lock.
I the corridor, the of my me as I passed a of yellow doors, each a white plate with a number in black. No. 46 was the room on the right from the landing: the numbers were on the right, the odd on the left: therefore I on my room the last on the left at the end of the corridor.
The presently took a turn. As I came the I again the of a key and then the of a door knob, but the again, I not see the author of the noise until I had the corner.
I ran right into a man at a door on the left-hand of the passage, the last door but one. A at the end of the and the of my candle.
The man looked up as I approached. He was a soft black and a black overcoat and on his arm an with rain. His on the at his feet. It had just been extinguished, for my the of tallow.
"You have a light?" the said in German in a voice. "I have just come and the wind out my and I not the door open. Perhaps you ..." He off and put his hand to his heart.
"Allow me," I said. The lock of the door was and to open the door you had to the key upside-down. I did so and the door opened easily. As it I noticed the number of the room was 33, next door to mine.
"Can I be of any to you? Are you unwell?" I said, at the same time my and the stranger's features.
He was a man with close-cropped black hair, dark and an nose with a the eyebrows. The of his and the high gave a of Jewish blood. His was very and his were blueish. I saw the on his forehead.
"Thank you, it is nothing," the man in the same voice. "I am only a little out of with my upstairs. That's all."
"You must have just I did," I said, the that had away from the hotel as I up.
"That is so," he answered, pushing open his door as he spoke. He into the of the room and the door with a that re-echoed through the house.
As I had calculated, my room was next door to his, the end room of the corridor. It close and and the thing I did was to across to the and them wide.
I myself looking across a dark and narrow canal, on water large the black of great barges, into the of and weather-stained houses over the way. Not a light in any window. Away in the the same clock as I had the quarter—a single, clear chime.
It was the regular of the meublée—worn carpet, and wallpaper, and with a édredon, like a pincushion. My candle, in the through the chamber, was the illuminant. There was neither electric light on.
The house had into quiet. The had an look and this, with the air from the canal, gave my a tinge.
"Well," I said to myself, "you're a of ass! Here you are, a British officer, as a Hun in a cut-throat Hun hotel, with a waiter who looks like the official Prussian executioner. What's going to to you, my lad, when Madame comes along and you have a British passport? A very of fish, I must say!
"And Madame takes it into her to along up here to-night and calls your and the Hans or Fritz or that waiter's name is to come and settle your hash! What of a are you going to put up in that narrow out there with a Hun next door and on every of you, and no this end? You don't know a in Rotterdam and no one will be a the if you off the of the earth ... at any no one on this of the water."
Starting to undress, I noticed a little door on the left-hand of the bed. I it opened into a small cabinet de toilette, a narrow of a room with a wash-hand and a very dirty window with yellow paper. I open this window with great difficulty—it cannot have been opened for years—and it gave on to a very small and court, just an air which the house was built. At the was a not more than five square, save on one where there was a window with a of steps leading from the through an iron grating. From this window a yellow of light was visible. The air was and and of a dirty were up the shaft. So I closed the window and set about in.
I took off my and waistcoat, then me of the document I had from Dicky. Once more I looked at those words:
O Oak-wood! O Oak-wood (for that much was clear),
How empty are leaves.
Like Achiles (with one "l") in the tent.
When two people out
The third party rejoices.
What did it all mean? Had Francis out with some who, having had his by my brother, now took this step to his victim's to the latter's friends? "Like Achilles in the tent!" Why not "in his tent"? Surely ...
A noise, the of a cough, the of the house. My to stop for a moment. I my from the paper which I was conning, over the table in my shirt and trousers.
The noise continued, a hideous, deep-throated gurgling. Then I a foot-fall in the without.
I my to the door.
Someone or something was the panels, furiously, frantically.
The door-knob was loudly. The noise in upon that without. It the spell that me.
I moved the door. Even as I the itself into a cry.
"Ach! sterbe" were the I heard.
Then the door open with a crash, there was a of wind and rain through the room, the from the windows.
The up wildly.
Then it out.
Something into the room.
