SOMETHING IN THE CITY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 124, 16 May 1908, Page 3

SOMETHING IN THE CITY

(By Frank Giolina.) Maxine L'opeland raised her e\ es from V: newspaper, and looked impatiently at the clock.

It was nearly half-past nine, and her husband had not come down to bleakfait, nor did she hear him moving iu his Ix-droom overhead.

(In any other morning her husband'i | 11 :ii»unc-tTi.iliiy would not lu.ve ;umoyed r, but today -1m- d<M-id«'d. m. ><loll .i- lio r» il. i" bviii;_ r matlcr-s t«» a <tMuax. | Tliey had b'-en m.tni«'d live vimi-. 1 ind during the la.it t"ur it had ally become clear to .Maxinc that slit and -lack were drifting apart. Despite

that during those first twelve mouths 11 -y were dunned by creditors, and her l-.-rents liad refused to forgive her for etiping with scapegrace (,'opelainl. she and Jack had lived in love's kingdom. Tlwn liad come the day when love was 1. • longer able to blind their eye- to 1 •• fact that Jack had overdrawn his I. 11k account; had no money, no work, .• ,d did not seem ;/)le to obtain either. A. the clouds lowered and darkened. ;';e snn had suddenly *hoiie Out. Jack 1: id come home at a brisk walk, and, I, iving paid their landlady something on ; ,011111 of arrear- of rent, had taken Maxine out to dinner. Certainly it only at a little lio--1 'inian restaurant off Shaftesbury ,* veuui—Diner a prix fixe. three -liili '1"- and si\peuir—but -he reiueuibered . erv detail of that evening. For dnr- ... it .lack had "'ld her that he had ~,•,.,[ ,1 j!' -iti"n. and. lie thought,

Well. lie-itntingl.v. he would have in .1,, ~[l kind- 01 things. She must b-

.. good little girl, and not a-k questions. lir he w!i- onlv given the clianee after ■ e had -igned au allidavit that lie would talked' his busine*-, nor divulge .■iuth'n'_' concerning it. even to his wite. 11b. 110, it was not anvthing dreadful, that the\ need be ashamed of, but -,ell. Ik> must say no more. Yes. the . ,)a r y was good: four ['ounds a week to with, and the [iromife of an into six. in five months, if he suited. Oh. if anyone a-ked. say he was -omethinir in the f"ity. Jn-t t.i prove what a good sort Ins emplover wa-. Jack had ..liown her tin five-pound note- that liad Wen advniue I on account of hi 1 * salary.

I From that day, over four years ago, thev had never looked back financially. I Also, as they began to get their heads I above water, Maxine's parents had | tin own out hints of a possible reconeili- ' atiuii. which had ended in their hasty ; arrival wiu>n they received a telegram .>iii.\.-uii; iii;j the birth ol .1 grandson. lidth ill' these events should have drawn .lack closer to her, the coming of their s,,n holding him with tiny baby ! fingers. Yet .\la\ine felt -lack was hoping 1 hat lire hue of her child, witli Ocrasional visits to her mother and friends, v.ouhl leave liim at greater liberty. She -iippos'd she was to believe for business, i'nt conl,l she believe it'; (ould anyone name a business thai had no reiognii-od hours for its employees to work: that would keep tliein up for nights at a time and then as suddenly let them rest tor as many

days; Ifiat called lor their services at any hour, and demanded that they said not a. word concerning their work, or the identity of their employer? At first this necret had only Ix?en the objeot of her curiosity, lint. as she feit her lius-baiitl drifting farther from her.

and as his bu.*iiie>s demanded more and more of his time, Maxine had eome to hate it. with the bitter hatred that a wile feel* for a rival. In public they were a devoted couple.

i -lack never denied her any of her whiius jor fancies, vet humouring her, .she i thought, as conscience-salve for his neglect. j|u\v jealou.-ly ?.l;e would .watch him with their baiiy boy. Kven hero it •earned as il. after but a fow minuies, endearments became perlunetory. his thoughts >et on souse other matter. W>terday had been the tilth atmixer&arv of their wedding-day. and in L> evening -aHail's bad reached an abrup;

climax. It was in accords nee with Jack's O'.vn suggestion that their cook had prepared an especially good dinner, which was to lie followed bv a theatre. Maxine put on a cream lace robe, lined with chiffon, which Jack had once admired, with an assistant from .Madame Kill tier's, the famous ladies' enill'euso,

had dressed her abundant auburn h.iir. Xow, Copeland was barely

t won'ty-fivi*. and as she looked in the glass, preparatory to going down to dinJ Dei", it did not mpiiiv Ihe I'ervitl v\ebimation of .Madame Kifl'ner's as>ir.; ant, "Quo .Madame ravissante!"' to | assure her that she was very good to ! look upon. As they &at down to dinner, a telegram had come for .lack. In a moment he was on his feet, and, with a hurried excuse, had rushed from the house. He /;ad left the telegram on the table, bur H was in code, as were all the 01 Iters In* received, and made no more sense than the majority of the announcement., in the agony columns of the ucwspapci.*. Maxine had struggled through iI K . dinner, the tragedy becoming more poignant as each carefully-thought-out ci urse w;v brought on. Then she had hurried to her room, and. throwing IhtM'lf on hej- In'd, 'had given way to , hysterical sobs. ' " ' I

As she lay there an iron resolve had ben born in her.

She would end tin's farce mi the morrow. Hither .lack must t;ike her into his eonlidence, or she would take their child and leave him. She had heard him return about three o'clock in the morning, and »he now sat waiting impatiently, vet nervous with suppressed excitement.

■She picked up the paper again and began reading, at first almost unconsciously. the detailed account of a seemingly mysterious murder that hail lieen committed Hie night before. 11 appeared that, between six and ten o'clock, Mix. iPomeroy, a young widow, who lived in Devonshire .Mansions, ■Ticli-

oorne Street, had been brutally nuii:dereil. The deceased was supposed to be very rich, and was accustomed to wear a great profusion of jewels. She had lived alone, save for a cook and ma id, lioth of whom were out at the time of the crime. Neither of tile servants could give any ell 1 • as to the identity of the murderer or Ids motive.

Mi inventory of Mrs. l'omcroy's jewel- had been discovered, and the jewels i h -cked. None were missing. A careful search had only revealed that the murderer, or murderers, had taken notli-

'ng of value, although the furniture in Ihe sitting-room, where the body had Ih"'U discovered, was disarranged and in: ken. Only one little thing had not been discovered—an initialed opal pend ar,: to an earring, which had "been \vi 'iiclied from the deceased's left ear. "'"lie police laid great stress on this, as it appeared to be the only article wl' eli was missing, and might Coiisc i|\:- ntly be in the niunlerer'h possession.

'Hi-- Opal was engraved with interlaced I«" I its *1). P.. being tin' dead woman's inriak Il was clear Lliat the innrih-r hail nut ln'.u committed (or gain. Some man h,:d taken this woman's life in a 1110-

lnent of hate, or perhaps he had been plotting anil planning the murder for \ve"ks nr months. Wliero was the murderer, and what was .he doing, thinking, feeling now'! Stieh were the questions that suggested themselves almost idlv to Maxine.

and she was still dreaming over the affair. when she heard her husband getting up. A few minutes later he entered the room. •'Cood-moruing," lie *aid, c-oming towards her, ami giving her a listless kiss. " I hope you have not been waiting lm-akfiist for me? I was kept at work until past two this morning, and very likely shall lie too busy to get home 11 ntil very late to-night. In fact, if 1 iei not turn up. do not worry." Then, ar, he took his seat at the table, and liegan scanning the few letters waiting for him—" 1 was so sorry," he continued.

'Mo leave you last night, but business is busine.su. And, well-—" He broke his sentence abruptly. As Maxine sat watching him. slit' felt that it only required one lover's caress to make her love well up to him. Theirs had been n true love match, and now *lie saw how quickly .lack wan ageing. She felt that, if a doctor had ljeen there, he would have ordered her husband av.av into the country for a long holiday.'

Suppose her doubts bad no foundation. and Jock were really working day and night for her and their boy. She was a woman, and so, once doubling, wavered in her determination to have the matter out, once and for allShe would wait until the evening. After a lew moments she rose and w.-nt into the kitchen, to supervise the da.v'ti household duties. Jack did not notice her when she returned a few minutes later, with a howl ot flowers. He was leaning back in his chair, holding the paper before him with his left hand, while, between the thumb and forefinger of his right, he gripped something small in his waistcoat pocket, Maxine moved softly about the room, arranging ornaments and flowers. Now she was behind him, and glanced over his shoulder. lie was staring, it seemed to her

utiseeinglv. at the account of the inuriliT of Mrs. Pomcroy. As slip stood tin*re behind him. he brought his right hand slowly from his waistcoat pocket. Between the thumb and forefinger he held an opal. He turned it over carefully. Cut into it were the interlaced letters D. P. u I lie horror of the thill" rushed N|H>n her. Maxim* swayed a- if fallinsr. l„,l. I.v a t.-n-- otTori. moved quietly nwa.v. mahiim lier hand,. continue then tidv'ing. altliMUfrli lier brain refused to guide ihcin. tier tongue was pareliej. land fear dried her throat, and startlci her eves She did not know what t»

do. and could do nothing. It was as if. after drifting for many years in a i|uiet backwater, she had iieen suddenlv swirled iuto the roaring liver, and heard the cataract rushing n p to her. What could she do to *ave him? Hint M, the thought that, entering her mind, drove all others out. She must, tell Jack what she had seen, so that -lie could help him. I But she could not tell hiin. She dared not face the gulf that Ins ] confession of guilt must open before her. Yet she knew- he was the murderer. Suddenly she saw the reason for his erratic conduct. How otten had she praved that something might happen to break the drab routine of her daily life! If there were pity in Heaven, surely she deserved it now. She did not realise that anyone was moving until she heard .lack iu the hall, putting on llis coat - Hc 11 '' 1 into the room, at he pulled on his

' "I'm afraid T've got to lie ofl,' he -aid "and f don't know when T shall lie iiack. If I send a messenger boy for my hag. you might slip enough things' intn"it for a week or so. as, in thaTc-ase. 1 am going abroad." lie left, forgetting to give her his eustomarv kiss. She was glad lie had M-gotten. for the lips o[ a murderwould have been repulsive lo her. With the slamming of the front dour as he went "lit. the tension that had kept her 110 relaxed, and -he sank, whit and tremblin™. on lo a couch. What could she do? She would not wait, here, like n rat caught in a Imp. W'hnt vnnM she do?

As if in answer came the prattle of their baby boy playing in the next room. If for no other reason, she mu»t go, for ghe could not leave her boy to bo touched by the hands ol a murderer. Il wa> some live hours later when she arrived at Charing Cross Station, ami. having bought a ticket for the town '.vheiv her parents lived, took hei' seat in the train. Just as it was starting two men jumped into her carriage. One began reading a paper, while the other sat looking out of a window. As tlit.* train was leaving London behind, the latter turned to Ilia fellow-traveller. " Kxeuse me," he said, ''is that the last edition vou h«ve?" i - Ye*." ' ]

"Then it lias an account of the arrest of -Mrs. Pomeroy's murderer?" "Oil, only a stop-presa telegram," the other replied. "This is all it says: — " Mr. John Copeland, of the tirm of Messrs. Kahn &. Kahn, detectives, who wa* employed on the Pomoroy murder case, succeeded this morning ill arresting the murderer, dauies llalliday, as he .was embarking for , the Continent!" i