The Mystery of Ryehurn Manor

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 915, 7 March 1930, Page 5

The Mystery of Ryehurn Manor

By

JOHN LAURENCE

(Author of "The Sign of the Double Cross Inn,’"etc.

I a, pity to spoil such a lovely morning.” “You mean you don’t want me to ask you any questions?” ! Her blue eyes looked gravely into his grey ones. “Please, Mr. Harding.” “May 1 ask you just one question? Will you tell me some day why you were in the library, why you were in Ditchling Road that night, why you are so worried?” HARDING DECLARES HIS LOVE “Yes,” Sheila answered readily. “At least I owe you that, Mr. Harding, for all you have done for me.” “Then I shall try to wait patiently,” he assured her. “You know Thornton is back ol’ course?” “Yes. I have seen him. He told me that he had gone to Scotland Yard to explain where he really was that night. Don’t you think the country round here is wonderful on a day like this? 1 quite envied you and Mr. Lee flying this morning.” “i should love to take you up,” he cried eagerly. He accepted her desire not. to talk about the events of the night before, but he could not forget that he had told her he loved her. Beyond that fact, indeed, nothing mattered then. As he walked beside her on the shady pathway, the sunlight breaking through the trees, the murder of Simmoncls seemed very far away—almost, indeed, of Little consequence. Lee and Vidler and Thornton might have been the cither side of the world then for all Robert Harding cared. The only human being in the world who counted was Sheila. She. too, must have felt the emotion

CHAPTER XXXll.—Continued. . Thoughtfully he made his way to the j bedroom next his own —Harding’s. It j was not until he was examining the latter’s dressing room that he took one of the threads he had put in an envelope, and compared it with the material of the garment he was holding. "Blessed are the lucky for they shall guess much," chuckled Vidler to himself. “Dear old Harding is delightful. Now was it detective work or was it—?” He did not finish the sentence. He took out the second thread from its envelope and held it up to the light. It was a brilliant blue in colour, if there was one thing Vidler was convinced of it was that that thread of material had come from no article of clothing in Harding’s room. Meanwhile that young man, blissfully unconscious of what the inspector was doing or thinking, was walking beside Sheila Sunderland, through the woods of Ryeburn Manor, foolishly happy, foolishly tongued-tied. He had hurried after her full of resolutions to make her tell him the truth about her visit to the library at two o’clock in the morning, but his resolutions had laded when she turned at the sound of his eager footsteps behind her. "Good morning, Mr. Harding. i thought you were flying with Mr. Lee.” “I was, but I wasn't staying up to heat the endurance record,” he replied. “Did you know Vidler has arrived?” "Shall we forget last night for a little while?” she asked, “it would be

w'hich was dominating him, for she became silent. They approached a stile leading out of the wood, and he vaulted lightly over it and held out his hand to help her over. As her hand rested in liis, as he felt the cool touch of her fingers, he was again swept from his feet by his emotions. Sheila made an efifcrt to withdraw her hand, uttered a low protest which fell upon unresponsive ears. The great moment had come for Harding. The touch of her hand had sent the blood racing through his veins, had fired him as nothing else had ever done. “My dear! my dear! I love you, worship you, adore you!” he whispered. “Sheila, my sweet, look up! “Lift your head. Let me see your dear face. Darling heart, tell me you love me!” CHAPTER XXXIII. Sheila trembled in his arms and Harding thought she was crying. .“Don’t cry, my dear love. Nothing matters now. No one can hurt you.” Slowly she raised her face and looked at him. The cream of her skin was faintly tinged with rose, her lips were slightly parted. “No, no, we mustn’t,” she murmured. “Do you love me?” he asked fiercely. “Tell me you love me!” Sheila was silent as the flush on her cheeks deepened, but her eyes looked into his without faltering. "Do j'ou really love me?” The words came in such a low tone that Harding hardly caught them. But they might have been shouted from the housetops for the electrifying effect they had on him. Although she had not answered his own question directly, her words were a tacit acknowledgment that she loved him. “Love you! Dove you!” he cried. 1 worship you, adore you, darling heart of mine! I always have, 'little Blue Eyes, since I saw you! Dearest!” Their lips met and he crushed her to him, held her as if he never meant to release her. “And you love me in spite of everything?” “In spite of Vidler and Lee and Thornton; in spite of everything!” he answered happily. “Oh, you adorable creature, what does anything matter now?” “We mustn’t stand here like this," said Sheila. “No, no, you’ll make my cheeks all red.” She pushed him away, laughing. “I don’t care what I do, what happens now, Sheila dearest,” he cried boisterously. “I feel—oh, I don’t know how I feel. 1 don’t know whether i am on my head or my heels. All I know is that you are mine, mine, and all your troubles will be mine.” er face took on a serious expression. “You must trust me—just a little more, Robert. I never slept at all last night, wondering what you were thinking of me.” “I was thinking you were the most lovable little woman in the world.” he declared. "And I’d go along the ledge every night of my life to save you.” Sheila laughed merrily. “You are talking nonsense, of course. I feel I want to as well. But you must trust me. I can’t tell you what 1 was doing because—because— —” “Because of Thornton?” “Because of myself.” she added. “I am afraid of D.V.”, he confessed. "He tells me some things, but not all. I am sure he knows far more than he says he does.” “He is not infallible, my dear. It is because he is so clever that I know he won’t accuse Mr. Thornton." "But j'ou suspect Thornton; you have been shielding him.” said Harding in puzzled tones. “Oh. I know. I really did once think he killed Simmonds. but 1 don’t j think so now. I know Mr. Thornton I very well. He couldn’t He-to me without me guessing, and he swears be I-aid not kill Simmonds.” “But he thinks he knows who did. j Do you?” Sheila shook her head. I “It’s all a dreadful puzzle to me,’’ j she replied. "I wish I did know whom i |he suspected. It might make things I clearer.”

SHEILA’S CONFESSION She laid her hand impulsively on his arm and looked up at him frankly. “I think there is something j'ou should know, Robert. Mr. Thornton and I were engaged to be married once.” “I know and so does Vidler,” he replied. “You’ll hate me when I tell you why.” “Y"ou know, Mr. Vidler knows?’’ gasped Sheila in astonishment. “Who told you?” “It was common knowledge,among the servants. Jennings first of all told me, and said it was to he kept from Mr. and Mrs. Lee.” “And you told Mr. Vidler?” “Yes.” He made no excuses for himself. If he had she would have despised him for them. As it was, Sheila smiled at the gloomy look on his face. “Don’t look so serious about it, my dear,” she cried. “After all that was why j'ou came to Ryeburn Manor, to find out things.” “But not things to incriminate you,” he protested. “Having once been engaged to Mr. Thornton is not incriminating.” she answered. “Come, we must be getting back.” “And I can tell the world?” Sheila shook her head. "Not j'et, please. It may make things difficult for me then.” “Then you can leave. We can get j married at once,” he replied eagerly, j “No, no. I can’t go yet. You must be patient with me. You’ll have to be when—when we are married.” She turned and faced him. "I want everybody to know what a wonderful man J have got,” she cried. "But I must wait just a little while, please." He was too content to make any further protest, and he even acquiesced when Sheila suggested that they should return to the Manor by separate routes. “I'll go along and have a look at my machine,” he agreed. “I shan’t be long. It’s close on lunch time.” When he entered the house he was singing softly to himself. Vidler met him in the hall. "Cheerful this morning, Harding!" he grinned. "Singing to oneself seems to be catching. Now, my voice ” “Don’t you begin singing. D.V.,” protested Harding. “What do you mean, singing is catching?” “I wondered if you’d caught the infection from Miss Sunderland.” remarked the inspector. VIDLER DROPS A BOMBSHELL Harding laughed and shook his head. “To change the subject, D.V.,” he replied, “what discoveries have you been making?” “Oh, nothing much, Harding,” said the inspector, liglitlj 7 . “One thing has puzzled me just a little.” “Yes, what is that?” “Well, I was wondering what you and Miss Sunderland were doing in the library at two o’clock in the morning, and why j'ou walked along that ledge at the risk of your necks,” said Vidler quietly. Robert Harding stared at the inspector as though he could hardly believe his ears. “How the devil did j'ou know that?” he asked, hoarsely. “Were we seen?” “I’ll tell j’ou after lunch.” answered the detective, as the gong sounded “Really, Harding, it’s no use trying to hide things from me.” “D.V.” was softly humming a song

as he entered the dining-room with Robert Harding in his wake. “D.V.” was feeling very pleased with himself. ANGRY WORDS “Have you made any discoveries, Mr. Vidler?” It was Sheila who asked the question, as the inspector took his place at the lunch table. Mrs. Lee, he noticed, was still absent, a fact for which he was thankful. Thornton had his usual look of boredom on his face, while Lee seemed preoccupied. “Lots, Miss Sunderland. I have discovered, for instance, that Mr. Harding is a first-class pilot and a second-class detective. He can’t follow without being seen. The vhole house saw him following you.” “I wasn’t acting as a detective then,” said Hording, sharply. “In fact, I’ve ntf-jr followed anybody yet.” Fie felt angry at Vidler’s tactlessness. Sheila had reddened, while Thornton was glaring fiercely at the detective. Lee appeared to be the only one at the table who was unmoved. Harding wondered what the inspector’s motive was in drawing attention to himself and Sheila. “I must give you some lessons in tracking,” remarked Vidler. ‘Tne chief thing is neither to be seen nor heard.” | “It’s not a game 1 want to learn,” replied Harding. There was a feeling of tension in the air which Vidler did not appear to notice. To Harding; he seemed to be deliberately goading everyone to lose his temper, and the realisation of that fact made him keep silent. “I’ve discovered another thing, Miss Sunderland,” continued the inspector. “The mail who was in the library night escaped out of the window and walked along the ledge round tho house.” “Well, I can’t be accused of that,” said Thornton, sourly. “I had the pleasure of being in Scotland Yard then.” He looked at Harding as iie jpoke and the latter stared back stonily. Fie could not get over his dislike for Lee’s secretary despite the plea which Sheila had made on his behalf. He was inclined to believe with Vidler that Thornton knew more about the murder of Simmonds than he was likely to tell. Flis story to Sheila that he knew who the murderer was, but was not going to tell, appeared to Harding to be sheer rubbish. No man in such imminent peril of being accused of murder, as Thornton certainly was, would have refrained from revealing the murderer if he knew. Harding was frankly surprised that Sheila believed it for a moment.

“No,” said Vidler, in reply to Thornton’s remark. ' I think you can be absolved from taking the pearls.” “So you’ve found that he escaped along the ledge,” said Lee, suddenly looking up. “Where did he get off?” “He climbed back into the acuse through Harding’s window. There’s no mistaking what happened. Yhe ledge is covered with old bits ot mortar which have fallen from the stone work of the wall. It’s easy to see where the thief clung to the wall and dislodged pieces of mortar, too The marks end by Harding’s window. I think the thing is made certain by some scraps of mortar I found just inside Harding’s room.”

“Well, I can’t be accused of chat.” said Harding. “I was outside the door with a poker. Mrs. Lee and Miss Sunderland.” “I’ll say the man has got a nerve.” Lee looked across at Harding as ae spoke. “Funny you didn’t see him.' he ; added. j “Nothing funny about it,” replied Harding easily. “I sleep pretty heavily and if he came through while I was still there he wouldn’t behave like a human traction engine. He probably came in afterward. 5 “The point really is that the safe was opened with a key. It is not a lock that can be picked in a t :uny. The job is either that of an expert . or someone who had an opportunity ‘ to have a key made.”

CHAPTER XXXIV. | Lee leant forward with a sudden I gleam in his eyes. His fat fingers crumpled the roll on his plate into small fragments as he was speaking. There was an unexpected power in his hands. “We’ve all been thinking that the thief was in the library when I tried to get in. Supposing he wasn’t? Sup- ■ posing he went in hours before, ; thought he heard someone trying the | door, and escaped through the win- ! dow? Harding wouldn’t be in his i room, then. In fact, he’d gone for a walk with Miss Sunderland.” ! "What are you driving at exactly?” asked Vidier quietlj'. “1 forgot to put my keys in my i pocket when I changed for dinner,” j i continued Lee, rolling a pellet of ; bread between his fingers. "They j j were on the dressing table all the j evening.”

“You found them where you left them?” “As far as 1 know they were where 1 had put them down,” admitted Lee grudgingly. “But anybody might have found them and used them and put them back.” “Including me, of course.” Thornton smiled in an irritating way at Lee. “Including you, Thornton.” “I wonder you don’t say excluding everybody else,” remarked the secretary, coolly peeling an apple. “Once you get an idea into your head it become au idee fixe. I am the mur- ! derer of Simmonds, therefore 1 steal ! your pearls, therefore I behave like the perfect and complete fool I am in j every other way. And to add to my foolishness. I try to bluff Scotland Flies and mosquitoes are dangerj ous to health. Kill them with Flytox. ■ Obtainable from all stores.—3.

I Yard and inspector Vidier by asking them, if they suspect me, to put me under arrest. I am sure everybod;. would feel so much happier if I were safely in a prison cell ruminating about my misspent life.’ His employer went red in the face. His thick underlip projected forward. “You’re forgetting yourself, Thornton.” he said harshly. “On the contrary, 1 am just remem- ; bering a few of the tilings I was ! taught,” replied Thornton easily. “If ! you are not satisfied with me, say so. ; But if you're going to throw out veiled accusations all the time, I’m goiug to ! bring you out into the open. Murder j is too serious a thing to mince words about.” It was Lee who broke the tension, though what the effort mu3t have j cost him could only have been guessed at by one of his listeners, (To be continued tomorrow)