THE STORYTELLER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 98, 22 May 1909, Page 4

THE STORYTELLER.

THE AMATEUR BURGLAR. SEXTOS BLAKE SOLVES A GREAT CHEQUE PROBLEM. He was "Marniaduke and C 0.," outside brokers, of Throguiortoa Avenue. He wM "Buncombe and Platts," turf accountants and commission agents', ot tne Haymarket. He was "Cecil Howard, money-lender and bill-discounter, of Oxford Street. He had several other aliases and business addresses; but his real name was Edward Sinclair, and his private residence was in Lordship Park, Stole Newington, where his household consisted of himself, a cook, a housemaid, and an nnmarried niece named

• Arnold, who acted as his housekeeper. One night he returned from the City at half-past Bix, dined with his niece, and retired to rest about a quarter to eleven. Miss Araold and the servants followed his example shortly afterwards, and by half-past eleven everybody in "• tie house was in bed and fast asleep. A few minutes after three o'clock in

- the morning, Miss Arnold was awakened by' a resounding crash, which appeared) •to proceed from her-uncle's bedroom. V; She sprang out of bed, lustily donned a ■ dressing-gown, and ran towards it. S- ' Presently she was joined by the '-"housemaid and the cook, who had also been awakened by the crash; and when i she and the two servants had exhausted -their strength in'vain attempts to burst : the door <!?«>. Bhe * eßt tße housemaid In search of a policeman. Applying his shoulder to the door, the ■■"".' constable quickly burst it open; then, with the three frightened, women at his heels, he strode into the room and turned on the electric light. And this is what they saw: '"' Mr. Sinclair, in his pyjamas, was' lying lace downwards on the floor, midway 'between the bed and the fireplace. He was quite unconscious, and. was bleeding , profusely from a wound iuthe centre of his forehead, which appeared to have been inflicted by some blunt instrument. Near him lay an overturned chair; whilst ' a little distance from the chair lay the beeroou poker, which was wet with Wood. '■-

A writing-desk which stood in one ' corner of the room had been broken . open, apparently with the aid of the r poker. There was no blood on the desk, ,'however; but there were several blood-, stains on the carpet, and also innumerable muddy footprints, which were especially noticeable near the window. On examining the window, the constable speedily discovered that it had been opened from the outside. Immediately, underneath was the sloping roof '" of a -wooden tool-shed, and on this roof - ample evidence that somebody had crawled up it. "It's easy to see what's 'appened," ■aid tKe constable, when he had comV pleted his investigations' and the house- \. maid had been sent for the nearest doctor. "Somebody climbed on to the roof of the tool-shed and broEe into this room through that window. He forced open ' " the lid of that desk with this poker, and was in the act of riflin' the desk, when Mr. Sinclair awoke and surprised 'im. The man then attacked Mr. Sinclair with the poker, and stunned 'im; then he rushed to the window, climbed out on to . the roof of the shed, closed the window behind 'im, slid down the roof of the »hed, dropped to the ground, and made Ha escape." Tie doojtor, when he arrived, endorsed the cons-table's theory, and added the further information that the blow had fractured Mr. Sinclair's skull. ' "Do you think he will recover?" asked Miss Arnold. "It's no good deceiving you," said the ... doctor; "I don't." , ICas Arnold felt it was her duty to ; take every possible step to brink* her Uncle's assailant to justice; and, accord- , ingly, at seven o'clock she sent the housemaid with a note to Sexton Blake, Kddne the detective to come to Lordship Park at oacß,

n. Except that Mr. Sinclair had been put back to bed, nothing had been altered in the bedroom when Sexton Blake arrived. He listened to Miss Arnold's story, and then, by permission of the doctor, examined the wound in the centre of Mr. Sinclair's forehead. "The skull has certainly been fractured," he said to the doctor; "but the fracture is a very slight one, and—cr—docsn t it occur to you that there ie another cause for this profound unconsciousness?" -- "What other cause can there be'" asked the doctor. t The doctor glanced round the room, and as he did so his eyes fell on a hanging cabinet over the washstand. He Walked up to it and opened it. Inside, amongst other things, he found a bottle labelled "Syrup of Chloral" and a mvdi-cine-gUss,', in the bottom of which were 8 few drops of liquid. He smelt at this liquid and tasted it; then he turned to Miss Arnold. "Was your uncle in the habit of taking chloral as a sleeping-draught'" he asked. • e iT 69 she answered, in some surprise I thought so," said Sexton Blake. Aow will you kindly tell me which is the chair you found overturned when yon broke into the room?" Miw Arnold pointed out the chair, and - Sextcm Blake examined it On one of the sharp corners of the frame he found a stain of blood. •j H *f m iS? d the P° ke r and the writ-ing-desk. With the aid of a pocket-lens he examined the bloodstains and the muddy footprints on the carpet. He next examined the window, the roof of the toothed, and the surface of the ground 1 ?- 1116 * ,riM !le 'l'scovered two distinct impressions of the burglar's "<" .""""> an<l •»»<•« • J ii- Z J t s em , m llls notebook. Then Ltt d f* 0 " t0 the «* of the W'?w? tUr , ned t0 "* bedroom, looking \. doC '? r «""! Miss Arnold corae/or/h V„ BUbj l Ct * d ever >* nook «"«' ftll examination. In the course of hi, mmt,gati„ ns he came t "«* »» wkieh a fire had been hid MT'iZ W'ting. And here, on the tonot the remaraa of a half-burnt match and severaHragments 0 f charred and Valued

Carefully removing these fragments of o aThi,??' appeared t0 '* P^on. a.;,. Tbe r wr,t,n g. »r the printing on tk other fragments was 'undeeipher

£4S O r tere<ltiiese ' >art - ii '--

. "In the first place,"-said Sexton Til-.tn Za u g r an ov *r<losß of chloralto hj, J «*?««« «.. poker I S hj? iT "J? V a * t0 t,le Wood*.™ on wonnd on your uncle's forehead is 'at: *ast an mcl, ,„ from a^," e «<J «at is covered with fair-that n. , ».r^.toed ) we.. t ™„det„T s n c' li X a r^ htn «V r ° 0f ° f tllK tool-shed a „d broke' rateting room through that window I by .jrprise, said hlnl/^the'Lv"

in* from.the Tround cm hi, h»„,i T L *toll^^ , «±!* ri T" ' Mtim "" , Sp *- IWoL fi e a PP ar<, n«r went gh»efc io ted But he could T, nt ~„ K«T v " '," \ eitation - t»"k 100 £fciaph. Pre«nll r he T»,ii, ftl tmit ~„ §K»ir taken too much He f om ,i i limsvlf i-rwtnv.> uncon«cion* He pot out of *'*» ta° intention of rousing vou «M,B«nd|n? for a doctor. Iti the da*. over tint chair, and

Unit was tin- crash you heard. As lie foil he struck his head against the corner of the chair. That explains the wound on his forehead and the bloodstain on the chair. But the unconscious state in which you found him, and in which he now lies, was nut due to the fall, but to the overdose of chloral he had taken."

"What do you propose to do in the matter!" asked the doctor. "1 propose," said Sexton Blake, "to go to the bank which issued the cheque and interview the manager." 111. Five minutes at the London and Colonial Bank, which had just opened when Sexton Blake arrived, sufficed to give thu detective all the information he required.

"The .cheque-book from which that particular cheque was taken," said the manager, after referring to his books, "was issued by us', three years ago, to Alderffian Sir Alfred Bidwell, the wellknown City merchant, of Hazeldean Hall, Elstree." The detective thanked him, hired a taxicab, and drove to Elstree. On reach ing Hazeldean Hall, he found that the gates were closed and locked. He rang the bell, and the lodgekeeper appeared.

"I wish to see Sir Alfred on a matter of urgent importance," said Sexton Blake, when the man had opened the gates. "Is he at home," "Yes, sir," said the lodgekeeper; "but he's ill in bed, and isn't allowed to see any visitors." As he uttered these words the detective saw two young fellows come out of the front door of the hall, clearly visible from the gates, and stroll away in the direction of the conservatories. "Who are those?" he asked. "The taller of the two is Master Ralph," said the lodgekeeper. "He's Sir Alfred's only son, you know. The other is Lieutenant Ford. He's a great friend of Master Ralph's, and has been staying here for the last day or two."

Bidding the taxi-driver wait for him, the detective hurried up the snow-elad drive, and ..followed the two young fellows towards the conservatories. Suddenly he started, and a thrill of suppressed excitement shot through his nerves. In the snow, on that part of the drive which led from the front door to the conservatories, the footprints of the two young fellows were the only footprints' to be seen. And the footprints of one of the young fellows exactly corresponded with the footprints which Sexton Blake had sketched in Mr. Sinclair's garden! * Quickening his pace, the detective approached the two young men from behind without their having observed him. Carefully watching them, he saw that the one whose footprints corresponded with those of Mr. Sinclair's nocturnal visitor was Lieutenant Ford. "Good-morning, gentlemen," said Sexton Blake. "Sorry I intrude. You hnow .who I am, I sec." "You're Sexton Blake," said Lieutenant Ford, turning pale. "I am," said the detective. "And I've

com., to ask you why you broke into Mr. Sinclair's' house this morning and forced him to burn that cheque?" The lieutenant uttered a groan of dismay. Kalph Bidwell turned to him with

a cry of comprehension. "So you have been to Sinclair's and forced him to destroy the cheque?" "I have," said the iKutenant defiantly. "You have nothing more to fear from Sinclair."

"That is true," said Sexton Blake gravely. "Mr. Sinclair is dying." "Dying!" gasped Lieutenant Ford. "But—but I never touched him! It isn't my fault if he is dying!" "I know it isn't," said Sexton Blake. "But after you left the house, Mr. Sinclair took an overdose of chloral, and— However, before I tell you my story you'd better tell me yours." Th.; lieutenant glanced at Ralph Bidwell, i

'Tou'd better tell him the first part," he said.

"Two years ago," said Kalph to t?ie detective, "I was desperately hard ui> for money, and in a mad fit of youthful folly I forged my father's name to a cheque. Within an hour of parting with the cheque I realised my folly. I went to the man to whom I had given the cheque, and implored him to give it back to ine. But I was too late. He had endorsed it and had given it to Mr. Sinclair in payment of a debt. "I went to Mr. Sinclair," he continued, "and made a clean breast of the whole affair. He saw that I was in his power, and, like the scoundrel he is, he made the most of it. In other words, he-refused to give up the cheque, but agreed not to present it so long as I paid him s'o much a month. "From first to last," he concluded, "T have paid Mr. Sinclair over a thousand pounds on account of that cheque. Three days ago he informed me that unless I paid him a hundred pounds before the end of the week he would take the cheque to my father and tell him every-thi-f. My father was then ill, and likely to <ne. I knew that the revelation of my baseness would break bis heart. I also knew that he would probably alter his will. Yet T could do nothing to avert the disaster, as I couldn't have raised a hundred pounds to save my life." "Ralph told me all this; last night," said Lieutenant Ford, taking up the thread of the narrative. !'Without telling him of my intention, I decided to go to Sinclair's house and compel him to destroy the cheque."

The rest is soon told. Ralph Bidwell took Sexton Blake's advice, and told his father everything. The old man was naturally greatly distressed, but in the end he forgave his erring son, and died without alFerihg his will. Miss Arnold. on hearing the detective's story, declared she had nothine but sympathy and admiration for Lieutenant Ford; and, as Mr. Sinclair died without recovering consciousness, the whole affair, so far as the police and x public were concerned, remained an unsolved mystery.—Answers.