NOVEL

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 404, 4 February 1904, Page 2

NOVEL

Henrv Dunn

CHJLFEER 3L—(Contjnnad.) Jim** nn of travelling were hwdly nncomfortable, but ha accepted the statement and only aid: 'Some day I will fatal JO* with me.' Them: 'la everythbw ready r he added. Claire kit the room, and presently returned with a small iron box; it eon* tniuiid a complete set of tool* of the kind used by jewellers, and in the well beneath ■he ferny, which filled the upper part, were a wmßkm of ahiuing atones, and about half-a-dc*en riugr. The man turned the fiwittatt of the box on to the table, end art to work to remove the atones from theu several aettiugi. He worked swiftly, deftly, aflantly, neither pausing nor looking ep j and the woman aat near him, silent, too, her eyce upon his face, and •eemingly content to watch and be near him. He worked far into the night I thenat lest he paused, leaned back in his chair, and yawned. •Enough.' he aaidL *Bahl little girl. it haa been a dnll evening for you.*. ' No, aince I could we yen all the time.' •Ia thai enouah P* The man rose end bant ovw her. 'Bo you love me, really P 'Ob, friend I aomach„' ahe said. •Badaalamf* * Just u jonare. Butyouarenot bad; you are good, except just that * •Iknowj that my only belief ia in my lucky atar. Bat if I wera worse, much worse than jou think me F •If yen were the meat bad man in all the world. I still would surely love you, dear, dearChim.' The next morning Inspector Willow left fans on his way to Pforzheim, and the man be sought, after spending the day in doing badness with various dealers in stones, started for London by the eveniag train.

CHAPTER XL—TRACES. Whan Inspector Willow timtd in Pfotxheim, ha wont first to the Hotel Port ud asked to be allowed to look at the visitors' bock. Yes, there stood the name B—l Master, and the date of arrival. Sapteaiber the fifth; the place of domicila was entered as America. 'He has given huaaalf a wide address/ thought Willow. Then he sat down and went studiously thrc og hj all the pages, The same Herman Maiater occurred twice before ia the book, which had been in n3B about three years, but in the couree of hia search he came across no record of Reuben Eathbone's visit. 'There axe other hoteli, of course, in thotown, he reflected, 'but I should hare thought he would hare come to the best* Latex on, after a cos versa tioa with the hotelkaepex he interne wed. the principal gold and silTex bujsta ia the town, una remembered the name of Meistex as helwigisg to a man from whom he had recently bought s considerable qu»ntity of gold, rad who had fepxesented himself ea traTelling for a Vienna flan; another thought he remembered the appearance ox the mm, aa described bj Willow; but nobedy else teemed to know anything about hiss, exeept the hotelkeepex, who said that ho drank the best winesand was open-handed with hie tips. Hen Ladenbur *, whom the inspector af terwaxds visited, and who had employed hie time since Moriel's departure in trying to learn somatbing more about the man whose action and appearance had so elected her, had been able to acquire no fuller information 5 and Willow started for Carlaxnhe, bsTing gained little besides fi>Oi lOsf rCuflCfalOQ* At Carlaruhe ha faded to find any trace of the man he seaght, but this did not disturb hiss, as he had not expected that the so-called Keister woula make a halt so near Pforzheim. Bat what should ha do next? Ha could not wander all over the Continent in a rsgue search after a man whom ha had never even seen, of whom ha knew nothing beyond the name, and that name possibly an sminima one i for the man might hare gone by the Orient eiptess to Munich, Vienna, Buda-Pestb, Belgrade, or even fuxthex east, or might hare branched eff to any part of Germany. Willow entered a cafe, and having ordered some refreshment, sat down to coaaider the question. To trace the man by hia doings, to have some more solid rossuos fcx his arrest befera attempting to arrest nim, that was his plan; but how waa to carry it out ? 'Onecan'txun a man in simply bcciuee a girl thinks she saw him on the night of the murder, and because he happens to have a knife with xathir a long blade,' he thought 'and this Meiater, or whatever his name is, may bring me no nearer the truth than my arrest of old Bianie did. Indeed there is ranch lees cause for suspicion on the face of it, in this case than there was in the other, fox—somehow I don't feel clear about that night's work jet Certainly the discovery of the robbery wasa suxniise to the old man, or I'm more easily deceived than I think, and if it was a aarprue——' Hie thoughts were interrupted by a sett of altercation wfcim had arisen between two men at a table behind him. 'I tell yen it was eight thousand—eight thousand pounds/ the one man said emphatically. • No, no, my dear fellow,* returned the other, who spoke like an Englishman, • francs, Tou're makia t a mistake.* "So poundz—it was pounds—-English pounds -starling; two boudred touland franca. lie won him ail in one diy, and lost 10 half again ae next*

PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT. 1 ; m thelicht,

COPYBIGHT.

'Well, have it your o*n way,' the Englishman said, carelessly. 'lf he was a countryman of mine, as yon say, so much the better. I should have thought he was an Italian from heaiisg him speak.' 'Yes, he speak Italian very well, and German too, very well Indeed; and indeed I thought at first him German, for a man who sit next me table d'hote tell me his nameMeister; but afterwards I hear he ia English, of se name Mynar—Maynar; and he apeak English even so good as German and Italian.' The inspector turned round. •Excuse me,' he said, 'but I think I hear yon speaking of a friend of mine. In fact I came here to meet him, but we have missed somehow, and I should be muck obliged if you would tell me where yon taw him last,' •He is friend of yours P' cried the German, much excited, 'thisMaynar who has made se big coup at Monte Carlo P* •An old friend, yes,' returned Willow; 'and he's taking advantage of it by treating me very badly, and not turning uf here to-day, as we had arranged.' 'Then perhaps you can settle the dispute between me and my friend here,' pu# in the Englishman, * as to the amount of money he really won.* ' Oh, certainly,' said Willow promptly. ' It was eight thousand pounds, as I think I heard this gentleman say.* •By Gad! whatahaul!' exclaimed the Englishman, while the German clapped Ms hands and grinned with delight- • I said pounds, I said pounds,' he cried. 'Canyon tell me whether he is still at Monte Carlo f asked the inspector. - The German shook his head. 'I leave a week ago. He there then, but now—l cannot toLL' 'Well, thank you all the same,' said Willow. <I daresay he's there still When once he gets near a table if s always a tough job to get him away again.' 'lf he often has such luce as he had the other day, small blame to him,' said the 'Kfrgltnliiwuß, 'Well, good afternoon,' said the inspector. ' Oh, by the way, he was staying at the Belle Vts, wasn't heP I think it was the Belle Vuehe told me.' •* No, no, the Angieterre.* 'Oh, the AngieterreP I thought he said the Belle Vue. Thank yon very much.' • •I hope you find your friend,' the German said as Willow turned away. *I hope so, indeed,' replied the inspector, and then havißg paid his bill, he walked rapidly back to the station, and was soon on his way towards. Ita»y. 'So far so good,' he thought. 'lf I don't find the man himself I shall find traces of him, at any rate, and shall hear something about him.' As soon as he reached' Monte Carlo Willow went to the Hotel d"Angieterre, and in answer to his inquiries was told that Mr Maynard had left the Saturday before. Bnt everybody was talking of the Englishman's wonderful run of luck, and of his prudence in ceasing to play when the luck began to turn, and it was not difficult to pick up information about him which might be useful later on. Tee inspector therefore decided to take a night's rest at Monte Carlo after his long journey and learn as much as he could before returning to Paris, whither, he was told, Mr Maynard had gone. The appearance of the man as described by various people answered to the account of it given by Muriel, and Willow's con. ception of the kind of character he had to deal with was borne out by much that he had heard. Be had played recklessly, apparently without a system, or without any, at all events, which the onlookers had been able to discover; and when pressed, as he had been more than once, to disclose his method, he had only shrugged his shoulders, laughed, and replied that it was the devil's own, and that he merely followed the promptings of his familiar. His recklessness was in curious contrast with the resolnte refusal to play any more after he had lost a certain proportion of hie winnings, and argued a temperament other than that of the ordinary gambler. 'A good deal of determination, * thought Willow, 'and a clear head. Not an easy man to run down.* And the game seemed ail the' more worth the winning. In the evening the inspector strolled into the gambling saloon and observed the players. He was never tired of studying the faces, the manners, and the mannerisms of his fellow men, and he held the theory that Pate constantly puta signposts in the way of the seeker whose eyes are wida enough open to read what is written upon them, and that the clue to many a mystery is discovered by what would be called a lucky chance. To-night his theory was confirmed, for Chance or Fate brought him in contact with what he hoped might prove a tangible link in a chain connecting certain people and events, apparently wide apart; .a chain which he dimly felt must exist, but whose existence he had no reasonable grounds for believing in, hardly even for suspecting.

Aa he stood watching the many faces toned the table, bared for the time of the mask which dally life teaches moat men and women habitually, almost unconsciously, to wear, and showing with punful distinctness the lower, baser emotions of the soul behind them, he was roused from bis contemplation by a man backing into him. •Pardon, Midane,' he heard a voi:o say, and turning parceived that the man had stepped back in order to give place

Under Petticoat Bule.—Unleßß an Austrian can obtain the consent of his wife he is unable to get a passport to travel beyond the frontier of his own country. • Qestlemea of the Juiy,' said a lawyer the other day,' there were just thirty-six hogs. Please remember the fact—just three times as many as in the jury-box, gentlemen.' That lawyer did not win his case. Mildred: 'I should so like to do some' thing that would please Gertrude. She's been so kind to me.' Cora: ' yfhj not prete&d that you're jealous of her.'