“I’m glad Maku didn’t write it in Japanese!” he exclaimed.
CHAPTER IX
NUMBER THREE FORTY-ONE
When Orme was aroused by the ringing of his telephone-bell the next morning and heard the clerk’s voice, saying over the wire, “Eight o’clock, sir,” it seemed as if he had been asleep but a few minutes.
During breakfast he reviewed the events of the preceding evening. Strange and varied though they had been, his thoughts chiefly turned to the girl herself, and he shaped all his plans with the idea of pleasing her. The work he had set for himself was to get the envelope and deliver it to the girl. This plan involved the finding of the man who had escaped from the tree.
The search was not so nearly blind as it would have been if Orme had not found that folded slip of paper in Maku’s pocket. The address, “three forty-one North Parker Street,” was unquestionably the destination at which Maku had expected to meet friends.
To North Parker Street, then, Orme prepared to go. Much as he longed to see the girl again, he was glad that they were not to make this adventure together, for the reputation of North Parker Street was unsavory.
Orme found his way readily enough. There was not far to go, and he preferred to walk. But before he reached his destination he remembered that he had promised Alcatrante and Poritol to meet them at his apartment at ten o’clock.