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There was h not as loud as the revelers out front Bell took the stairs instead of the elevator The grand, two-story lounge was typically eht He lived on the third floor, which contained twelve spartan bachelor rooms, six on each side of the hall, with the bathroo his door

Apparently a ot off the ship from Europe

Yawning sleepily, Bell reached to push the trunk out of his way as he stepped around it He was surprised it felt light-already empty The staff usually cleared trunks the instant they were unpacked He gave it a closer, second look It was a battered old trunk, with faded labels from the Hotel Ritz in Barcelona and Brown’s of London and the Cunard liner Servia He could not recall the last time he had seen that name; the ship had probably been out of service since the turn of the century Aht his eye The Cumberland Hotel, New York

Funny coincidence, last-known residence of Mr Snake He wondered why a member of the Yale Club of New York would stay at the Cu to the private but austere bachelor quarters Most likely a decision to stay long-term in New York, as the rates were considerably lower at the club, even counting the cost of dues

He unlocked his door and took a step into his room An odd odor tweaked his nostrils It was so faint, it was almost indiscernible He paused, his hand already outstretched, feeling for the wall switch to turn on the overhead light He tried to identify the ga suit But his was around the corner on 45th Street, hanging in his locker with his foils and saber at the Fencers Club

The light frolinted

Isaac Bell was suddenly wide awake He bounded sideways into the room so at not to present a silhouette in the open door Flattened against the ith all his senses on high alert, he whipped his Browning pistol froht switch

On the narrow bed was a box lass, so heavy that it pressed deep into the chenille spread It was cube-shaped, about twenty-four inches on each side Even the lid was glass It was open It dangled froes as if whoever had opened it had hastily dropped the heavy slab, which had bent the es, and run for his life

Bell felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck

He shot a swift look around the small room The dresser top was eht table was a reading lamp, a Pocket Guide to New York, Mahan’s The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, and Burgoyne’s Subation The door to the closet was closed and the small safe in the corner where he stored his weapons locked Still pressing his back to the wall, Bell peered again at the glass box itself The interior was lass Slowly, he les

The box was empty

Bell stood still as a hunter There was only one place the snake could be hiding and that was under the bed in the dark space hidden by the overhanging bedspread Suddenly he saw ue flickered fro the air forin et out of the room and lock the reptile inside Chloroform poured under the door would put it out of action

But before he hadfaster as if it were about to make its move He braced to hurl hi, he heard the elevator door open The Old Blues tu:

“Where’er upon life’s sea we sail:

For God, for Country and-”