Literature.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 83, 12 April 1904, Page 4

Literature.

MYSTERY oi* MR POLBANK IS? (Continued.) Inspector Martin flowed up the V J due he had obtpftfed/ The waiter •"•""bad bought tlwrevening dross suit at Jew in Westminster. The Polish Jew said that the suit was brought to him some time ago by a man. He §§* remembered the man, and his d>~ fe?. ecription . tallied with that of the 5 Gripper. The Polish Jew spoke §£• English, but did not read it, and ho had heard nothing about the mystery of the financier. The shop wus not very far from the street in which j?:; the Gripper had lived, v The Inspector now felt sure that £ 1 Mr Polbank had been murdered and stripped, and his things disposed of In the morning after the crime. The fact that no one came forward to acknowledge purchase of the jewellery was probably due To the fact that the dealers belonged to a class that is never anxious to get into cominu- , nication with the police. Jf. But how could the body have been atnpped, and where ? The most daring thieves would hardly stop to divest!a fvictim of his clothes in .'the r; street, and it is hardly likely that a ; man of Mr Polbank's knowledge of the world would have willingly entered any house in which such a proceeding could be carried out. The new clue led the great detective no nearer the solution of ihc mystery. Only he was now convinced that Mr Polbank had been mur- ' dered by the Gripper, and the efforts ♦ to catch that worthy and his accom- • plice were continued with unabated energy, "but alas ! without success.

Lady McAlister in her grief was * unable to take any part in, the society functions of the day. Cut off from all amusement by the nature of her sorrow, she endeavoured to seek distraction from her constant anxiety by devoting herself to works of charity. The first Christmas day of . her married life she went to a workv.-- house in the East End to see the ; • inmates enjoying a splendid Christ- *- mas dinner which her charity had provided for them. Accompanied by her husband, and ■■■■- conducted by the master of the workhouse, she made her way among the *. tables in the great dining-hall, say,s ing a kindly word here and there. a * Suddenly she stopped before a paup- !' * er whose head was bent down listlessly over the plate of meat which he was not touching. " What is the matter?" she said, •v v kindly ; " aren't you well ?" - v * The pauper lifted his head and looked at her.

Lady McAlister gave one wild cry of "Father !" and fainted. When she cgme to she was in the s- matron's room. Her husband was L-'i standing by her side. " " tou are better now, aren't you?" F" he said, gently. !•. " Yes—but—father—you saw him?" •' That was not your father, dear," said her husband it was the strik- £ lug resemblance that in your overwrought state affected you." & " But it was my father. Do you £ think I should not know him?" Sjrv The workhouse master had entered the room. " Your ladyship is mistaken," lie , said. " The man you saw was ad- * jnitted to the workliouse infirmary f.-" from a common lodging-house, where . Bome time ago. He was sent in r. he had been taken ill. He was a |$ man earning his living by casual la,"i hour at the docks. The poor fellow if is all right, but rather vacant. His : ■ Ulness seems to have affected his ■ • brain a little. He came out of the infirmary yesterday, but we let him stay on in the house over Christmas."- ■* " Let me sec him," exclaimed Lady McAlister. "I am better now. Let ,' me speak to him." The pauper was brought into the : room, and Lady McAlister, tremb- • ling with emotion, rose and went [towards him. "Don't you know f me ?" she said. The man looked at her listlessly, ; and shook his head. " No, X don't know you." i " You see,"- said Sir James, " he

does not know you. I admit the likeness is there, but this man is known to be a dock labourer. You must be satisfied." " No, no. There is some terrible 5 „ mystery here. What can it mean '!" : • " Do.you still persist that he is fc- your father ?'- said her husband, astonished. " Yes." The situation was a painful one. The idea of his wife taking home a pauper froiilAtlW 1 Workhouse as her supposed father did not commend it- • ■ self to Sir James. At last a compromise was effected. . should be left to the special care of .* .the workhouse master till the following, day, and that Inspector Martin should be at once communicated .with. Sir James went himself to the great detective's residence, and found him at his Christmas dinner with his family. He told what had happened, and was astonished to find that the detective listened eagerly. " Do you think there is anything in it?" asked Sir James. "I can't say, but there is one fact which you have overlooked. On the morning after Mr Polbank's disappearance a man was seen to leave the house where the ring was afterwards found—and that man was dressed as a labourer." You think ?" I think that 1 will go to the .workhouse at once. I have an idea. '.You know Dr. Heslop, the great r brain specialist ? Can we call for him on our way and get him to accompany us ? In a case like this he would surely sacrifice his Christmas afternoon." The visit of the detective and the . great doctor to the workhouse had a strange result. The doctor, upon examining the pauper, putting certain questions to him, and watching ithe effect they had upon him, camo to the conclusion that this was no labouring man but a person 01° a . much superior walk in life, and there WM an apparent effort every now and then when leading questions . were put to him to remember a past 5 .that was vague and shadowy.

" I believe that we have discovered the missing man," said the doctor ' .to Sir James as they left the workhouse together. " Now, tell me .what was the last domestic circumstance, so far as you know, that would have impressed itself on your - father-in-law ?" "His daughter's marriage, I should say." i! Then you must let me make an experiment. I believe we are in the presence of a case of lost identity. It is probable that when attacked ithe unfortunate gentleman received a . the head—l found traces of ; such an injury—which would have the —-"Sleet of destroying, or rather, temporarily effacing, his memory of the : past." " If this is Mr rollmnk," said the detective, interrupting, '* he probably received the injury* in the room Where his ring was found, and lie .was stripped there. A man dressed in the sort of working clothes they : Showed us at the workhouse as the pauper's did leave the house early in the morning. My theory now is .that the Gripper and his mate ro!>bed him and stripped him, then gave him a suit of old clothes, and turned him out—why, remains to be discovered." -- That is a theory, certainly," Sir James said, " but, doctor, what is the experiment you want to make ?" . " 1 want the wedding scene re-en-acted at Mr Polbank's house, in the : presence of this man." A week later the pauper, dressed in :—a-suit of Mr Polbank's which fitted him perfectly, stood in the drawingroom at Mr Polbank's house, gazing about him at times vacantly, at i times with a puzzled, wistful expresi. slon on bis face. / The doctor was the stage manager - f Of the little scene which was to 10Ii( ? ow - Presently the drawing-room doors thrown wide open, and there leaning on her husband's fefjy* Lady McAlister, dressed in her gown and veil. gjj&yMy she advanced towards the

pauper, the fricn'ds who had come to enact the wedding guests crowding in after her.

For a moment the man hesitated. Then,- with a little cry, he stepped forward, ant], taking the bride in his arms, evdaimed : Alice, my darling, Alice !" The doctor's experiment had proved successful. The lost memory had suddenly returned. The mystery of : William Polbank was solved.

Later the unfortunate man was able to give an account m" what happened to him to a certain point. lie had gone down St. .lames' street, feeling in the humour for a walk had gone towards Westminster. Passing through a quiet, ill-lighted street lie had been suddenly seized by the throat and thrust through an open door. He remembered that there , were two men by him when the attack came. Then he landed someone dealt him a violent blow on the head. That was all he could remember, except that some time afterwards—he didn't know how long—he was wandering about, the streets. He supposed that his clothes led them to believe that lie was a labouring man. He wanted food and he had no money. Wandering about, he found himself at the docks and asked for a job. There must have been a dearth of men at the time, for he was taken on to an unloading job, and he received his pay at the end of the day. He went to a lodginghouses and slept there, and went to the docks in the morning. He worked at the docks until he was taken ill, and then he was sent to the infirmary. But during the whole of this time the past was a blank to him. He had no idea that he was anything but a labouring man.

It was some months later when Gripper and Foxey were caught. Foxev ottered to make a clean breast of it, and gave his "pal" away. They were standing at the (Jripper's doorway when Mr Polbank came along. The street was deserted, and they saw a chance. They hustled him in and knocked him down, carried him to the dripper's room and robbed and stripped him. While he lay dazed ihey had dressed him in un old suit of corduro,\s which the Gripper kept to go about in when he wanted to look like a workman—for business purposes.

They were afraid that they had fatally injured him, and if the body was found on the premises it would be a murder job against them. They couldn't take n man in evening dress through the streets in the small hours. That woald attract attention. Hut there would be nothing in their giving their anus to a drunken labourer and "helping liiin home." The home to which they intended to help Mr Polbank was the river. But the diamond ring had rolled away as they dragged it from tlie senseless man's finger, and every effort they hud made to find it had been in vain. They stayed in the room all night looking for it. Early ill the morning they received a tip that the police were after them for another job. They went out to get rid of the dress clothes and the diamond studs and sleeve-links, and when they came back they found that their victim had recovered sufficientIt to get up, open the door, and walk away. t * * t

So the mystery of the disappearance of Mr Polbank was cleared up at last. When all England was wondering what had happened to him, the great financier whose signature would have been honoured to a cheque for a million was a pauper inmate of a London workhouse. (The end.)