Ryeburn Manor

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 916, 8 March 1930, Page 22

Ryeburn Manor

By

JOHN LAURENCE

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

CHAPTER XXXIV. (continued) ! RUFFLED TEMPERS I "We’re making fools of ourselves ' Making mountains out of molehills. ! We’re all upset and if we don’t pull ! s ourselves together we ll be accusing each other in turn. I'm not accusing j you, Thornton. Cut that idea out. I might as well accuse Maria. Come j on, let’s get out.” i “I think you’re right,” remarked ! Vidler soothingly. "A little fresh air won’t do any of us any harm. What ; are we going to cio now? If you’ve no fixed engagements, Harding, I’d 1 iike to have a look round the country ■ with you.” "Thornton and I will be .busy till ] tea time,” said Lee. ! "And I shall see how Mrs. Lee is getting on,” announced Sheila. There was still an air of restrain. All were, indeed, afraid of an explo- | sion. Vidle-r chuckled softly to him- ' self when he and Harding were left alone. “You seem to find it funny, 11. V.” ■ Harding spoke angrily, and the in- ; spector held up a warning finger. j "I know you’re just bursting to be rude to me. Let’s get outside before you burst, though, in case someone ' hea rs the explosion.” Harding choked back the words on his lips. H- did not speak again until • they were striding along the road in j the direction of leklesham. "What's the game, D.V.?” "The laddie’s annoyed.” Vidler tapped the ashes from his pipe. j “You can go too fr- D.V.” threatened Harding. "It seems to me you ! deliberately star Led that row at lunch.” "The laddie’s observant.” ! The inspector grinned cheerfully and then burst into a roar of laughter | at the frown on Harding’s face, t "Of course. I tried to make them j lose their tempers, yours included,” he. cried. “Miss Sunderland was the only one who had the wisdom to keep ; her . mouth shut, though she was bubl bling over inside.” “Y'ou can keep Miss Sunderland’s I name of the discussion,” said Harding coldly. “There are limits, D.V.” | “We’re nowhere near them yet, | Harding. Perhaps you would like to ! explain being .with Miss Sunderland j in the library at two in the morning, I and in your night clothes. Really, j Harding, it isn’t done. She’d lose her i reputation if it were generally known. | And to walk along a ledge to your j bedroom afterward was most forward I of her.”

Harding gulped. Vjdler spoke lightly, almost jestingly, but behind his words was the serious fact that he knew what had happened the night before, knew though he was in London air the | time. Harding pulled himself together with an effort. He would gain nothing by breaking with the detective, for that would only involve Sheila. “Sorry, D.V.,” he said. “I’m making ; a fool of myself. How did you find out?” “That’s better. You and Miss Sunderland left a trail as broad as a pair of elephants. Bits of thread torn from your dressing gown and sticking to the walls, bits of mortar clawed out, mortar on both your bedroom slippers. What was the idea?” "The idea wasn’t he pearls. I couldn’t sleep, and went to get a book. Unfortunately, Miss Sunderland couldn’t sleep either, and went into the library just before me. We were talking for about a couple of minutes when I heard someone coming up the stairs. Foolishly, 1 turned the key in the lock, and when we heard it was Uee we hadn’t the nerve to open it. j He wouldn’t have believed we’d both ' found our way to the library unknown j to the other.” "I agree with you,” said Vidler dryly, EVADING THE TRUTH ] “As soon as he began kicking up a | real dust I knew it was hopeless, and j the ledge offered a way out. Miss Sunderland remained in my room until Lee had gone into'the garden. The rest you know.”. “f know the pearls are gone.” Vidler glanced sideways at his eomI panion. But Harding did not betray i himself. The latter- was prepared with his story, and by no hint would he involve Sheila. His trust in her was complete, and if he found her kneeling in front of a dozen safes he would still believe' in her. In no one was the saying that love is blind more exemplifie'd than it was in Robert Harding, where Sheila Sunderland was concerned. What Harding did not realise then was that the inspector made ample allowance for that fact. Vidler was perfectly well aware that Harding was telling him exactly as much of the truth as he ' thought fit to tell, and no more. ’The safe was not open,” said -.lard- , ing. “Though the shelf had been turned to reveal it.” “In that case the real thief must | have left just as hurriedly when you I or Miss Sunderland appeared. He | wouldn’t have drawn attention to what he had done by leaving the safe exposed. What did Miss Sunderland i say about it? She didn’t know of i the safe, of course?” “I can’t remember she said anything. Lee was on the scene before ;‘we had much chance to say any- | thing," evaded Harding. “Do you j-think the thief went out through the ! window or the door?” | “I think not through the window,” i said the inspector. “There are no i traces. As you weren't asleep he ! didn’t come through your bedroom. He j might, of course, have come through ! mine or Thornton’s, as we were both * away. You didn’t hear anything?” Nothing.” It was a relief to Harding to tell i the exact truth and he spoke emphatiI cally, | “The puzzle is the absence of Thornj ton,” continued Vidler. “Lee may be ! right that the safe was opened some hours before the discovery was made, but in that case I am sure the thief | would have put the shelf back after ! him.” ; "It might have been a casual thief.” ! suggested Harding. THE GOLD CLASP j Vidler shook his head, j "There’s nothing casual about this * affair;" he said solemnly. “The theft !of the pearls last night has some ! direct connection with the murder of ! Simmonds. The one depends upon 1 the other. - If you had only gone into : the library at the right moment and

Safeguard your family’s healtl j Spray Flytox and rid the home o j flies, mosquitoes, etc.—s.

seen who it was at the safe you would have seen who killed Simmonds." “Not necessarily/’ retorted Harding sharply, as a. vision came to him of j Sheila kneeling in front of the safe, j her electric torch playing on it. “No, not necessarily, but highly probable." i “I suppose you searched every bedroom this morning, D.V.?” “Oh, yes, including Miss Sunderland’s and Thornton’s and Lee’s," acknowledged the inspector. “That’s , how I settled, of course, that you two were in the library.” “I wonder you didn’t find the pearls in one of the rooms/’ said Harding a ! little sarcastically. “I -found something useful though,” continued the inspector. “Suppose we turn and walk back?” “What was it?” Vidler pulled a little gold clasp from his pocket. To it was attached a piece of broken thread. “Recognise it?” he asked. Harding drew in his breath sharply. The last time he had seen that clasp was when Lee had shown him the j pearls in the library. It was the clasp j belonging to Mrs. Lee’s necklace. “Where did you get that?” he ] asked hoarsely. Vidler smiled cheerfully, hut he did : not reply to the question. “I remembered it after seeing the ; pearls in London.” “Where did you find it?” repeated j Harding. “I have a right to know. ; I can’t help you if I don't know.” “I think if you knew everything you wouldn’t help me, Harding,” replied Vidler quietly. “And I can’t say I should blame you.” And with that Harding had to be content. He would have been very much less content if he had known rhat Vidler had found the clasp in the drawer of Sheila’s dressing table. Harding, quick in action, was slow in drawing conclusions, and he did not realise for some time why the detective had not told him where the clasp had been found. CHAPTER XXXV. IN THE AIR. The inspector and Harding, on their return to Ryeburn Manor, found that Lee had taken the small car and gone up to London, driving himself. Vid ler made no comment, and asked no questions of Thornton, save to inquire when Lee was expected back. “Tomorrow some time, that’s all he would say. He’s going to see a man in the morning.” Thornton was actually smiling as he spoke. He appeared much more cheerful than he had been since Harding had first met him, and when Harding had the opportunity he mentioned the fact to Vidler. “I expect he feels like a bird out its cage when Lee’s away,” he remarked. “Or he’s heard some good news.” commented Vidler. “Perhaps he and Miss Sunderland have made it up.” Harding shrugged his shoulders, ! and refused to be drawn. Where j Sheila was concerned he was keeping | a- tight rein over himself, totally un ’ conscious of the fact that Vidler was drawing his own conclusions from the other’s silences. Harding found no

opportunity to be alone with Sheila, , and when be went to bed that night j it was with a feeling of desolation. Yet only that morning he had proposed to her, and had been accepted, j but sh 6 had enjoined a secrecy which was galling to him. As he lay in bed, the full significance of Vidler’s discovery of the \ clasp of the necklace was slowly borne upon him, and he broke out into a : cold sweat at the thought. No won- ; der Vidler had said that he would not j help if he knew where the clasp had been found: Vidler must have found it in Sheila's bedroom. And that thought hurt Harding. Vidler would make the most of his discovery, would ; draw the inevitable conclusion which ; Harding himself was compelled to 'j draw—that it was Sheila who had got * the pearls, who had unstrung them and hidden them for greater safety, j "Thank Heaven he hasn’t found I the pearls themselves,” muttered Hard- i; ing. And yet had ne anything to be thankful for, he wondered? Wasn’t : the possession of the clasp in itself I damning enough? What defence could she possibly have? Whatever it was, Harding rejected the idea that she | was a thief. That to him was un- j thinkable. But because he did not j believe, it would hardly prevent Vid- \ ler from doing so. He tossed and turned restlessly throughout the night, and got up early. Earl;- as it was—it i V, -anted three-quarters of an hour for | , breakfast.—he found Vidler strolling about the grounds. "The early bird,” remarked the de- : i tective, “hasn’t slept too well, eh?” ! "Been making any more discov- | eries?” asked Harding. ! "I’m up early to catch the postman-” j | confessed Vidler. "I’m expecting an important despatch from Scotland ; Yard_ giving me sound advice from one John Markham. He’s great on advice.” i "I rather liked him.”

Harding visualised the big-framed Superintendent of the Y’ard as he spoke. It seemed to him that he had never met three more human men than the Commissioner, Sir Arthur Hamblen, the Superintendent, John Markham, and the Inspector, David Vidler. Each in his different way had the human touch, and it -was exactly that touch which made them all so successful. which made them so feared. Seldom, indeed, had the Yard possessed three men who worked so well together, who had such an uncanny knowledge of human nature, who knew how to make use of that knowledge. Three of the gentlesthearted men, they could all three be as high-tensile steel when facing cruelty and crime. Between them they had saved more from the consequences of their follies than they had sent to prison. “Very few men can help liking John Markham.” said Vidler "His heart’s as big as his body. Sometimes I think he’s too soft.” That from a man who, if he had been of the old school of detectives, would have arrested Thornton and Sheila out of hand and scared them into telling the truth! “Here’s the postman,” announced Harding. Vidler took the letters with a. pleasant remark, and looked through them rapidly. Two he placed in his pocket and one he handed to Harding. “From Jennings,” remarked the latter. “Telling me about his love affair with Jessie.” “Sir,” he read with an amused smile, “I beg to report that, following my instructions from Scotland Yard, I fixed up a date with Miss Jessie Harmon, Miss de Hava's maid. Miss Harmon is a very reserved young lady. She accepted a box of ehoco-

late 3 from me and a seat in the Grand Cinema. I have another date with. her tonight.” “That was last night.” observed i Harding, who was reading the letter aloud. "Miss Harmon is not communicative and insisted upon being home by halfpast ten. I said I thought I’d seen Miss de Hava act, but she said she had j given up acting. I said as how my , master was in the jewellery line, beg-, ging your pardon, sir, but I thought it . might get her talking, having my own ; ideas about women as differs from some people's. “ ‘Oh. she says, "you are in the jewellery line: and pray, Mr. Robinson (my plume de guerre, sir, as it were), what is your master's particular line?* ; ‘Valuing jewels for sale,’ I says. ‘He : has a .private practice and buys and I sells, and if, miss,' I says, ‘you ever j has a bit of jewellery you wants to dis- ; pose of, then you tells yours truly and Ihe will get you a handsome price. Pawnbrokers,’ I says, ‘never gives you ; anything worth nothing, as I knows co I my cost, an old gold watch of my ‘ grandfather's only fetching three : pounds, and I sees it in the window ! afterward marked—up to twenty-two | guineas, because I couldn’t keep up the i interest.’ | “‘I may have a bit of jewellery to j sel.’ she says, thoughtful like, just . before she went in. ‘And it I do, TO rei member about it. A pearl brooch as : belonged to a great aunt of mine. Dc you know anything about pearls, Mr. j Robinson?’ ‘No, I don’t,’ I says, ‘but | my master does.’ ‘Well, maybe,’ she : says, ‘l’ll let him see something as ! will open his eyes. I ain’t always j been a lady's maid, and Miss de Hava j ain't always been an actress.’ ” | ' “So I propose to carry on with Miss i Harmon, though I shall be careful, ; knowing how easily friends of mine have been caught by the sect. With best respects, Y'ours truly, S. Jen- | nings.” j “Jennings is making progress,” , commentfu Vidler. “I like that bit i about the pearl brooch of Miss Jessie ! Harmon, and still more about the bit | being shown something which might i open his eyes. I wonder now if JenI nings would be startled if a sti ing of pearls were offered him?” “You think her mistress has got them?” asked Harding.

“It opens up a new line of thought, doesn’t it?” fenced Vidler. “Then Thornton must have given them to her.” “There’s the breakfast gong.” “Mrs. Lee still feeling headachy?” asked Harding, as he sat down beside Sheila. “Yes. She's got to the doctor stage now,” replied Sheila. “I telephoned to Rye just before the gong went.” “You’re not feeling too sympathetic?” hazarded Harding. “Her headaches are rather too opportune. She always gets them when there is trouble and her husband is being more unpleasant than usual.” “Did you sleep well? I had a rotten night. There’s something I want to tell you after breakfast,” said Harding in a low voice. “All right, you can take, me up in your airplane,” replied Sheila. “I’ve never flown. I’ve always been frightened until now.” “What are you whispering about?” asked Vidler, spearing a pat of butter. “Miss Sunderland wants me to take her up,” said Harding. “Flying’s dangerous," protested Thornton quickly. “I don't think you ought to go up.” “There’s no danger at all. In fact it’s safer than motoring nowadays. Thousands of people are killed and injured every year by cars and we accept the fact. . The air is safer than the ground.” Harding spoke sharply. He objected to the parrot cry of those who knew nothing about airplanes, who had never been up. He knew that, for the mileage flown, no form of transport could show the remarkable progress in . the lessening of disasters than the airplane had shown. Thornton looked sulky. “I still think it’s unsafe. Supposing something breaks in the air. It’s certain death.” “If something does,” agrees Harding. “What about parachutes?” asked Vidler. “You can put them on if Miss Sunderland has any doubts.” “I’m not afraid,” said Sheila, energetically. “I shouldn’t go up if I were.” “Perhaps it would ease Mr. Thornton’s mind if you wore a parachute.” suggested Vidler. “I think I should if I were flying a lot.” Harding shrugged his shoulders. He considered the precaution entirely unnecessary, although he always carried two parachutes in his machine and offered one to any passenger who went up with him. He had done so to Vidler,. who had refused. “It’s all rubbish,” he declared, as he was walking across the field to his machine. “Never mind, my dear,” said Sheila. “We’ve promised to -wear them, and when we come down we shall be able to laugh at Mr. Thornton’s fears. What was it you wanted to tell me?” “Vidler searched your bedroom yesterday morning and mine. He found bits of our dressing-gowns sticking to the walls where we’d crawled along the ledge. I told him we both couldn’t sleep and it was just a coincidence we went to the library to get books. I thought he believed it until ” (To be continued on Monday)