"Oh, come now, Mr. Starratt," Watson broke in, reprovingly. "That isn't any way to talk. You've got to keep your spirits up. Things might be worse. It's lucky you've got a friend like Hilmer. He's a man that can do things for you, if anyone can."
Fred smiled wanly. "I don't suppose you saw my wife, by any chance," he ventured.
"No… Fact is, she's in bed… Hilmer said the news completely bowled her over… That's another reason you've got to buck up—for her sake, you know!"
It ended in Watson putting up the bail money and their departing in a yellow taxicab for an obscure hotel in Ellis Street.
"This is the best arrangement, under the circumstances," Watson explained. "You'll want to be quiet and lie low."
Fred assented indifferently. He was very tired and all he longed for was a chance to sleep.
In less than fifteen minutes after his release Fred Starratt found himself alone in the narrow impersonal room where Hilmer's emissary had installed him. He did not wait to undress—he threw himself upon the bed and slept until midnight.
* * * * *
He awoke startled and unrefreshed. A newsboy just under his window was calling the morning papers with monotonous stridency. Fred jumped to his feet and peered out. People drifted by on the homeward stretch in little pattering groups—actors, chorus girls, waiters, and melancholy bartenders. The usual night wind had died … it had grown warmer. He turned toward his bed again. The walls of the room seemed suddenly to contract. He had a desire to get out into the open… He freshened up and felt better.
He did not wait for the elevator, but walked down the dim stairway to the narrow hotel lobby, flooded by a white, searching light. For a moment he stood in curious confusion at the foot of the stairs that had so suddenly spewed him from half-light to glare, his eyes blinking aimlessly. At that moment he saw a familiar figure rising from one of the morris chairs near the plate-glass window. He stared—it was the private detective who had hounded him all day Saturday. Slowly he retraced his steps and found his way back to his room again… No doubt Brauer, fearful lest his victim would escape before he arranged the proper warrants for arrest, had been responsible for this man's presence in the first instance, but who was hiring him now?… Hilmer?… Well, why not? Surely a man who risked bail money was justified in seeing that the object of his charity kept faith… Fred Starratt sat down and laughed unpleasantly. What a contempt everybody must have for him! What a contempt he had for himself! He threw himself sprawling his full length upon the rumpled bed. But this time it was not to sleep. Instead, he stared up at the ceiling and puffed cigarette after cigarette until morning flooded the room… At eight o'clock he phoned down to have his breakfast sent up.