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Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 410, 17 March 1904, Page 2

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CBAPTHB XX.—(Continued) lot the points which the inspector desired to think out ware: How bad the pearl and the emerald come into the hands cf the lame man? And who was that man? Was ha Mr Binnie's confcderata, or was ba the robber cf the reeeu and tha mnrderer of Mrs Bart? The t Merald wot have left Mr Binnie's fonaariom with Mr Binnie's knowledge, for it wa* after the robbery that Willow had icen it in the room behind the shop. But the pearl? It waa unlikely that a man of so cautious a nature would consent foes •petdy a sale, and it seemed more probable that it had bees consigned to vie aaeret recess to await a favourable opportunity of disposing of it Yet iu that case it seemed impossible to understand how it had coma into the possession of the man who had sold the emerald, the man who must obrlouflly be Mr Binnie's eMßttfetaia; whOa on the other hand it leaned equ illy impossible to sae how the emerald could hare fallen into the hands of the robber of the recess. Yet—and the argument began all over again—there seemed to be no doubt that tha same man bad sold both the jewels to Mr Beichenbach. ' Willow did not tee clearly yet but ho had an impresaion that light was not far away, ana his mind was still struggling to find it when he arrived in Vyner-stxeet. He reached it about as hour after Mrs Blison had returned from Charing Cross, and it was a relief to the poor lady to pour out to him her anxiety and fears, aa well as to relate what had happened is the - paettwedays. There was nothing to be done that night, but Willow started for Paris the . next morning by the early train, and having recaived a telegram from Mrs Ellison at Dover, telling him the address which her niece had just telegraphed to her, arrived in time to receive Muriel as she drove up dased and exhausted by the perils she had escaped.

CfIAPTIB XXI—A FACE IN THE CROWD. Daring the ieat of tha day. Willow took a passive rather thin as active part is the pursuit of his business, for the evening was passed chiefly is restoring Mariel'e worn-out strength, and in listening to tbe account of what the had goae through. Hta eyes brig tened as he listened j there waa real evidence in what she had to tell; for the conduct of the man she had followed implied a eonashmaaeßß of guilt, besides being is itself a soffident warrant foe hie arrest- The only action he took that sight wae to furnish the head of the Paris police with a, description of tha ma* he was in search of, with a request that if he were discovered attempting to leave town, he should be arrested. Then the inspector went te bed and slept soundly, putting the whole matter out of his mind, in order that it might work the elearer on the morrow. The next morning he wsat first to the house near the Are do Triomphe, where - Muriel's travelling companion had left hit bundle. The seeeul floor wae empty. Madame had left yesterday, morning, the i oeamerge said. «Ca monsieur V She' did not know whether he had accompanied Madame or not. He did not live there, came only from time to time; doe knew rary little about him or about Madame; lor her part she did not concern herself with what was not her business. The inspector, with the Paris detective 7 whe aecompanied him, mtde a tour through the flat, hut without finding anything which could aid their search. The trinkets, the odds and ends which give life to a room, had all been taken away, and the place had an untidy deserted air. The -two detectives then proceeded to the'far-cfl street in the old part cf the town, whoa* name Muriel had had the presence of miad to note, and the Paris officer, who seemed to know every inch of eTery street, had no difficulty in finding the house to which she had been taken. The locksmith was evidently not unprepared for their vuit, and received them , with a well-feigned air of innocent composure. Yes, certainly, he said, a gentle- . man had come to his Bouse yesterday, and i had asked if he eauld have a room lor the *. young lady who was with him, for a few - hours." He had but one at bis disposal, a garret merely, at the very top of the house; not a very nice room for a young _Jady, ha had thought, but the gentleman had said it would do, and the young lady hsd seemed suite satisfied. Why had the young lady b=en locked in? Oh, but _ monsieur was making a mitake. The * f** *** ** **** to o **** comdnot have heeu; for when the gentleman returned ■-■ -. some hours later to fetch mademoiselle, .she had already gone. How was it that he knew the eentlev aaauF the Paris officer asked. He had done work for him no doubt. The locksmith shrugged his shoulders. - Tea, from time to time; little odd joba. • - He worked chiefly for the trade, but 'cc monsieur' had known him when he had been in the shop of 'Brunet et CcmpatgTrie/ before he had had a buaiaees of his own, and was good enough to come to him sometimes direct. How long ago was it, Willow asked,- _ since he had made this key? And he peodaced a was impreesion of the latch-

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key of number two Aden Bow. The lockßmith gave a slight start, and threw a quick, side-long glance at the inspector's face. This key P He did not remember—he did not think he could ever have been clever enough—it ma a very complicated key. ~ ■lt may be that later on yon will find it awkward to .have forgotten,* remarked the Pariß officer. * Other people may have better mamorieß than yont self, and as this key is such an unusual one, it might look as though yon had forgotten on purpose.' 2 ' : ■ jf jf* -■ The lookandth studied the wax, impression apparently with great attention. 'Perhaps Monsieur is right,' he said, * perhaps I did make such a key. I begin to resollect—— * .\.'.-.\ '.■'•--: 'You can recollect then, perhaps/how lonp. ago it was P 'lt was—it must have been, I should say, about a year and half ago.' 'About the time the new lock was put on the door at number two,' said Willow to himself. Oat loud, he ejaculated, ' Bight 1' and the locksmith looked up with frightened eyes.; How much did these people know ? And what did it all meanP But to have made a key—one knows not for what—he reflected, for that they cannot punish one much. And if the gentleman was .a criminal, was about to be found out, he would gain no more from him, and it was better to be on the Bafe side, on the side of the police. So his memory revived, and he remembered distinctly making the key, and the price which, the gentleman had paid for it, and also that ha had insisted' upon the model being destroyed. And his name P Oh, of course, he kne y his name, a very English name—Smeet. Bat as for his address, that he'could not give, for the gentleman had never furnished him with it; and us this statement might possibly be true, his questioners did not press him further.. . . When they had gone, the locksmith called his wife. "•' •Go-and report that the police have , been here,' he said j ' that Ldenied every, ■thing, and that I sail fus name was ; Smeet/ •' • ■ -".;- _, ■-.-- *JIe ie no more Smith, of course, than Brown/ said the one inspector to the other aa they walked aw*y, • and I don't know'that we Bhall find oat his right same even when we fisd out himself.' «If we find out himself ' Ay, but we shalL' * Tou.are sanguine.* 'I feel it coming,'said Willow. 'We are on the track. It will not be long-' The Frenchman gave vent to no es> -pxesaion of doubt, bat. inwardly be dissented from the other's certainty of tone, His own mind was eminently French, logical and clear, and he had no belief in 'intuition, and a large experience in the cleverness of certain kinds of criminals. '. The two detectives parted in the Bne deßivoli. .. « 'I have a call to make,' said Willow, 'and I will see you again this evening.' He. would call, he thought, on Beubea Bsthbone, but when he reached the Darmstadt Hotel he was told that Mr Bathbone had left some days ago. He understood, the porter said in answer to Willow's enquiries, that he had gone south. .-.-,- ~ When the inspeotor got back to the hotel, he found Muriel nervous and miserable after a morning of inactive solitude, and suggested to her that she should go out for a drive and distract her thoughts with the life and movement of the streets. Bat "the girl positively refused to go alone; her courage appeared to have deserted her, and the streets seemed to her to teem with danger. The inspector was disappointed and distressed: he feared that she was going to be ill, and .that her-, capacity for usefulness had .come to an end; not knowing that a woman's endurance and ccurage are almost invariably maintained at the cost of- her nervous energy, and that nervous energy is a thing which is apt to languish when and .while the call upon it is suspended. He would do what he could, though., to help her, and so resolved to go with her for the drive. 'I can do nothing in any case,' he thought, 'till I hear again from the Frenchmen, and. I can think as well in a carriage as anywhere'else.' Muriel was not much inclined to talk, asd after having .heard Willow's account of his morning's work, I*ll him to think in peace. - .

He -was puzzled as to what step he should take next.. He was prepared- to arrest-the Band -Street jeweller on a charge of receiving stolen goods; the evidence which he himself possessed, and that accumulated by fellow-workers, keen* scented enough -when once set on the track, during the last fortnight, was sufficient to prove that illegal transactions formed a large, if not the chief part of Mrßsrsie's business; but he feared that the publicity-attaching to each a course would enable the jeweller's confederate to escape. At-present this confederate, if he were indeed identical with the man whom Muriel Fale conceived to be Mrs Barf s murderer, must be aware that the police were on his track for some one or other of bis crimes, but he would hardlj guess that thsy knew of his connection with Mr Binnie, A. premature arrest of

one man would act as a warning, to the other, and the inspector feels that if he could defer the first arrest till tie second was-Within view, .the risk 'involved in -waiting a day or two longer was one worth running. But if -Mr Bihnie's rcoomplice and the murderer were-two separate people, if the robbers hadtbeen themselves robbed—and Mr JJinnieffl face, his whole aspect as he had stood before the empty recees, his voice as he had proclaimed his loss, haunted the inspector's memory with an impression of genuine, spontaneous emotion—then— At thiß jroint Willow was recalled to hie present sarroundings by the. carriage coming to* standstilL An run into a cab, a crowd had collected, and for a few minutes the traffic was blocked, j Suddenly he uttered an ex3lamationV and jumping up. was about to leave the . carriage, when it moved on a and he was thrown back into his seat ■""-'""

'What is itP' Muriel asked, and then her voice changed, and she gave a quick short cry. 'Oh,iee,' she said, 'over there the nian>^S'ntn^erer-^ ,1 - J *^ =

«Where P» Willow asked. «Where P Quick T The girl had risen from her seat, and was painting to the farther corner of the eroad, towards" the same spot Nfcere a moment before the inspector'B ejes had Tested. ; :■ • J ''-J'- *j? •? ' r -/4 g W 'That tall man there. It is WI am surej although ' Willow was oat of the carriage bj this time and elbowing his way through the crowd. But .he was too late; by the time he hj d reached the spot he was making for, the man to whom Muriel had pointed had disappeared. He returned, not alto- \ together oreatfallen but very thoughtful, to the carriage. 'Why did you cry out that timeP* Muriel asked just before they reached the hotel. 'Because I also,' he said, 'had seen a man I know.' CHAPTEB XXII.-DISCOVEBY, The next day Inspector William and Muriel Fale, to- the latter of whom the incident of the drive and the hopes it revived had given back her courage and nerve, returned to London. Willow had had an interview with the French inspector the evening before, and the interview had decided his course of action.

The Frenchman's report was this: that he had the street near the Arc de Triomphe and the street where the locksmith lived watched the whole of the day; that the detective on guard in the first street had brought no news, but that the other one reported that soon after the inspector's visit a woman had left the locksmith's house, that he had followed her to a street not very far away, that: ehe had entered a shabby little cabaret, and had bees joined thereby a man unkempt and ragged but who answered in height and figure to the description of the man they were in search of. The detective had tried to follow the man when he left the cabaret, but the latter seemed to suspect that he was watched, and had succeeded in getting away from him. If Willow would remain in Paris a few days longer, the French inspector said, he thought he would he rewarded, for there was. no doubt that the man they wanted i?as in communication irith the locksmith, and that the latter was cognisant of hia whereabouts.

Bat Willow decided on another plan. His Tision of the afternoon had turned the vague suspicions which had for some time haunted him from" conjecture! into what was almost certainty; and knowing what he knew now, he knew also that the man he had to deal with was one who would not easily be beaten. That he should still venture to show himself in the streets, argued a temerity which was almost reckless, and that he had not yet left Paris, a prudence wise in its boldness. He would know that for a day or two after he had committed himself by his detention of Muriel, escape would be difficult, and he had the coolness to wait. But, thought the inspector, he would not wait long, and another day or so would do away with tide chance of discovering his hiding-place afforded by: the secret inter-, rourse with, the locksmith. Willow bad no objection to his leaving Paris; what he desired was -to have a say in his destination; and to effect this* he started for.Lonlon as soon as possible-? i That night the inspector did no more business. Muriel, impatient, asked why he did not at once arrest Mr Binnie; but he replied that there wrb time enough. ' The arrest must not appear in to-morrow's papers,'he said. .. It was five o'clock when Muriel and her escort arrived at Victoria, and the first thing that Willow did after getting, out ff the train was to send off a telegram. It was addressed to the locksmith's house, and ran thus: 'Come to-morrow night. Number tiro.; Important}' and it was headed and signed ' Pralava.' . All the next day he was busy conferring with brother detectives, chiefly those who at different times had entrusted to them, and failed in, the task of tr cing the stolen goods. But for Mr Binnie the day passed as other days: outwardly he was the cautious, taciturn business man; inwardly he cherished that dream of a Monte Carlo existence, not so far away now, he thought, if things went well for a very little longer. _-

At saves o'clock he went home, and as he entered number one Aden Bow, Inspector Willow left Scotland Yard with a warrant for arrest in his pocket. The papers /were out now, and what was be done that" evening could be done so quietly that anybody arriving from France by the afternoon mail would hear no whisper ofit.;.. -".:■ 3g§ . Mr-Binnie was just downVt6 dinner. He had en: a loose';smoking"Jcoat and carpet slippers, and with that inward dream of his, felt at peace with himself and the world. The only thing that troubled him wasi the loss of those jewels, whose price would have added to his Btore of wealth, and the thought' of the pearl, the discovery of whichr*— v ; -. - There was a ring at the bell*and a knock. He never had evening visitors. Who and what could it be P His cnrioßifcy was short-lived; in another minute Inspector Willow entered the room, followed by two policemen. '.. The jeweller rose. <What—' he began. * I arrest you,' the inspector said, (oh various charges of receiving stolen goods, and for complicity in the murder of Mrs Bart. 1 Mr Binnie turned an ashen white. 'ln God's name,' he cried, • what do you mean P*

'I mean,'returned Willow, 'that your guilt is proved beyond doubt/ '■; • <.- ' (To be continued.

For biliousness squeeze the" juice of a lime or small lemon into half a glas's of cold water, then stir in a little baking, soda, and drink while it foams. This will also relieve sick headache if taken at the beginning. To make whitewash that will not rub off mix up half a pailful of lime and water in the usual way. Then add, while hot, half a pint of flour, made into starch, to the white-wash. Stir the mixture well and use, adding more hot water if needed. To make leather boots waterproof saturate them with castor oil; to Etep squeaking, drive a peg into the middle of the sole.