LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2109, 26 November 1880, Page 3

LITERATURE.

'THE MYSTEEY ojt LORD BRAOKENBURY: A NOVEL. BY EDWABD9, Author of “Barbara’s History,” •‘Bebenham’s Vow,” &c, iContinued. ‘ No, no,* he said, ‘Nothing now. Let mo hear about my brother.' With a weary sigh he dropped into a oh air. The Bernardos left the room, Tho valet remained standing. ‘ Now tell me all—everything—just as it happened. Tnere was not much to tell ; yet to tell that little under the circumstances was difficult. Fronting, however, did his best beginning with the departure from Genoa, and ending with the night search in the ravine, * And the country, yon say, has been f conred In every direction ?’ * They do say, sir, there isn’t so much as a goat-track for miles round that hasn’t been followed np, or a village where enquiries havn’t been made.’ ‘ And what is the general impression ? Do the authorities seem to think he has been murdered ?’ ‘ Nobody knows what to think, sir.’ ‘No—but they suspect? They fear?— poor Cnthbert! Good God I— poor Luthbert!’ And Mr Brackenbnry, with a groan, leaned his elbow on the table, and his head upon his hand. ‘ I saw something in a French paper, yesterday, about the diamonds—what does it mean V he asked presently. * My lord made a purchase of jewels, sir, at Genoa ; a very large purchase, so they say something like thirty thousand pounds,’ * Yes, yes ; I know he thonght of buying them. Where are they ? ’ * The diamonds, sir ? ’ Mr Brackenbnry nodded. ‘ My lord had them in his travelling belt,’ ‘ In his travelling belt ? On his person ? Do you mean to tell me ho had the diamonds actually upon him when he left the carriage ? ’ 1 Indeed, sir, I am sorry to say he had.’ * Merciful Heaven ! and yet it seems scarcely credible. They would not go into so small a compass.’ Mr Fronting explained how his lordship had cansed the jewels to be broken np, and how, being only loose stones, the diamonds took up very little space. * Yon saw them yourself, Fronting V * I saw them, sir, when I took in my lord’s lemonade. They were lying on the table in three little heaps.’ ‘ And yon are sure he pat them in his belt ? ’ * Yes, sir, I—l happened to see him put them in—quite accidentally,’ Mr Brackenbnry pushed his chair hack suddenly, pot up again, and walked restlessly to and fro. * Where is the Syndic 7’ he next added. ‘ Close by, sir—his office, that is to say ; bnt he isn’t much there. His private faonse is a little ways ont of town.* ‘ Take me to his office. If he is not there, I will go on to his private house.’ Fronting fetched his hat, and led the way. They met the Syndic at his bureau door, on the point of going home ; bnt he turned hack and led the way to his private room. Mr Brackenbnry begged to know what had been done in the way of search ; and the Syndic—a voluble, self-important functionary—brought out hia minute-book and a pile of correspondence, and proceeded to show with what zeal and discretion, and at how large a cost, the investigation had'been carried on. Here were copies of bis own letters to the local authorities of various communes, and their replies to the same ; a list of thirty four domiciliary visits made in various mountain hamlets during the past week; minutes of the examinations of suspected persons ; accounts of sums expended on telegraphy, printing, gratifications to subordinates and the like ; besides various reports furnished by the officer of carabineers whose troop was employed in the search, Mr Brackenbnry listened till the Syndic had talked himself ont of breath, and then said, very gravely—- ‘ Your investigations have been conducted on a wrong basis. I am not snrpiaed that yon have failed.’ The Syndic begged to know what better coarse ‘ sna Kccellenza ’ could propose. ‘Yon tell me,’ said Mr Brackenbnry,‘that no case of robbery with violence has occurred here for many years, and that the people of your district are well-condncted, harmless. Why hold them answerable for my brother’s disappearance ? Lord Brackenbnry was assuredly not the first traveller who ever got out of hia carriage on that road for exercise. It is a circumstance that must have happened every day. Why, then, should he be molested—he alone, after years of public safety ? He had upon hia person a travelling-belt, containing money and jewels—but how should yonr villagers or fishermen know that ? The Syndic stared. That the brother of the missing man should defend the people of his district was more than he could comprehend. ‘ I seems to me, ’ continued Mr Brackenbnry, ‘ that we should take Genoa for our point of departure. There must be persons in Genoa who knew that my brother bought the diamonds—who may have followed him, waiting the first opportunity to obtain possession of them. They were bought, I understood, through some Genoese bankinghouse . . . ’ ‘ Through Biociotto and Da Costa,’ interrupted the Syndic. • And I learn now, from my brother’s servant, that these jewels were broken np by a workman in Lord Braekenbnry’s employ. Where is that workman ?’ The honest Soyndio was confounded. He admitted at once that * his Exoallency’a ’ view of the esse was worthy of consideration. « But,’ he added, ‘ given that a murder has been committed, what baa become of the body ? We have not merely been searching for the assassins, bnt for their victim.’ Despite the sweet subtlety of hia mothertongue, yonr well-educated Italian very often expresses himself with a brutal straightforwardness of which not even the most ignorant Frenchman, nor perhaps even the most Ignorant Englisman, would be capable. The worthy Syndic was quitejunoonscious of tho horrible snggestiveness of hia speech; but bis hearer felt it like a stab. ‘ Yon cannot do better. Signor Sindaco, than continue yonr search,’ he said with a shudder. T will myself institute enquiries at Genoa-’ Then Mr Brackenbnry asked for, and received, the key of the locked chamber ; and, with a few parting instructions and civilities, went his way back to the Albergo Croce di Malta. Ha then took possession of his brother’s luggage; ordered fresh horses in an hour’s time; dented Fronting to be ready to accompany him; and sat down with a heavy heart to tho luncheon which he had forgotten to order, bnt which had nevertheless been prepared for him. They had laid a letter beside his plate—the same letter that Fronting had fetched from the Post Eestante the night of Lord Braokenbury’a disappearance. He recognised his own |hand writing upon the envelope. It was a letter written in reply to one ho had received from his brother nearly a fortnight ago. Tho sight of it almost choked him. By a little before four p.m. he was on the road again, bound for Genoa. When tho carriage reached the spot at which Lord Brackenbnry had alighted, he got out and walked some way back, examining the ground and particularly noting the tarn at which hia brother was last seen. After this, he pnraced his journey without a moment’s unnecessary delay, paying tho post-boys himself at the end of every stage, and urging on the now ones with feverish impatience. It was dark long before they reached the summit of the Pass of Bracoo, and nearly five o’clock in tho morning when the carriage drew np at the door of the Hotel Feder. * Your Signor can have hia old rcoms again, said the waiter, whom the night

porter had called np out of his bed. ‘They are jnat vacant.' Then, seeing a ! strange gentleman alight, he stared and said—

‘ How ?—it is not the same Signor 1’ But Fronting signed to him to be silent; and Mr Braokenbury was, by a curious coincidence, shown into the very apartment thafe had been occupied by his brother. It was needless to recount all that Mr Braokenbury did and cause to be done, ha furtherance of the one supreme object upon which bis thoughts and energies were bent. He, at all events, spared neither time, nor money, norhealth in pursuance of that object Assisted by Signor Ricciotta, he secured the legal services of Signor Moro ; spurred on. the police authorities; procured the apprehension of Antonio Caffarelli ; circulated hand bills printed in French, English, and Italian giving an account of lord Brackenbury’s disappearance, and offering a great reward for information of the missing nobleman; telegraphed a description of the diamonds to London, Amsterdam, Marseilles, and Paris; and despatched a couple of detectives, to search the coast between Genoa and La Spezzia. Antonio Caffarelli was promptly examined, and as promptly released. He was found quietly at work in his own workshop at tho top of a house in a small alley opening ont from the Via do Orefiol. He showed surprise, but no confnsion, and core himself throughout the examination with the composure of innocence. He worked, it seemed, for various empbyers, all of whom gave him a good character; and he brought evidence to show that he had not been absent from his home for more than an hour cr two, either lately, or at any time within the past two years. How Paolo Giovanelli and various other persons were suspected, interrogated, and dismissed ; how not only Genoa and London, but every European capital, rang with the story ; how “ The Extraordinary Case ol Lord Braokenbury,” and his thirty thousand pounds’_ worth of diamonds, figured for weeks in every newspaper at home and abroad ; how the interest of the subject by-and-by died away, and even Mr Brackenbury’s passionate perseverance was worn out at last, are matters that need to be but briefly Indicated. Enough that strictest search was made, and made in vain ; that days, weeks, monihs went by, and left the mystery unsolved. Lord Brackenbnry had disappeared as completely as if the earth had opened and swallowed him. [To he continued .)