THE STORYTELLER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 333, 8 March 1910, Page 6

THE STORYTELLER.

THE STRANGE CASE OF THE MILLIONAIRE. 'SEXTON BLAKE UNVEILS THE MYSTERY OF THE POISONED DARTS. I. Sexton Blake was standing at the window of his house in Messenger Square, in a disconsolate mood. He had hardly tasted his breakfast, his fire was smoky, and outside a south-east wind was rapidly unrolling a carpet of snow over London. Cases, moreover, had been scant of late, and the expenses of laboratory research on which he was engaged were high. It was, therefore, something like a i whdop of joy that he greeted a large ■ motor-ear that had rolled up to his door, and disembraked a lady clad in sables! The lady was announced as Mrs. Collier a lew moments later, and the detective found himself gazing on a sweet, grave-faced woman, with steadfast grey eyes, whom he judged to be about thirty years of age. '■'[. have heard a great deal of you, Mr. Blake," she said, ''and your face confirms the good reports I have heard of you. I am a business woman, and always nvy mind. If you are disengaged I retain you forthwith." "Quite disengaged!" said Blake. ''Then here are notes for a hundred pounds," said Mrs, Collier. ''Your retaining fee. If you solve the mystery that is baffling me., I will add a thousand." "Kindly state the ease," said Blake. laconically. "You will recognise me better," said Mrs. Harper, "when I tell you that my uncle 'was James Harper—Millionaire Harper, as he was known in the City." "Who died yesterday evening?" said Blake. "Who was reported to have died of syncope yesterday evening," corrected Mrs. Collier. "And that raises the *whol e question, for Ido not believe that my oincle died a natural death. The doctors state that it is a clear case of cerebral hemorrhage, induced by overstrain and old age. I don't be' : And I will tell you two facts, Mr. Blake, which will explain more forcibly than any argument 'why I d<*n't believe it. "My uncle had a pet canary that was always on a perch on his desk. Two j days ago, I .had my face bent towards the pet. I lifted'it up, and felt as though something had hissed past my cheek. The same instant the bird feil dead. That is fact number one. "Yesterday, at half-past 'four, I was bending down over my uncle's shoulder? My face was on a level with his. For no particular reason, I suddenly stood ■erect, and as I withdrew my head, I ■again felt something hiss past me. At the same instant, with a strangled cry, my husband fell forward on his desk. He was dead, like the canary!" "One moment,''' said Blake. "Was yoiij- uncle, or the canary, in line with the window or the door?" "With neither," said Mrs. Collier. 'The window, moreover, was shattered, and covered by a thick curtain. The door to the corridor shuts automatically, and cannot be opened from the outside. The only other door is to the ante-room, and is directly opposite the Jesk, and hidden from anvone sitting •ihere by the high pigeon-holes at the Vaok of the desk." "And have you had other indications that rour life was threatened?" asked Blake. "None." said Mrs. Collier. "The only ither untoward event that has happened was an attempt two months ago. py a mulatto to kidnap my two children when they were in thp park. Since then thev have been guarded bv detee\ives, and the attempt lias not been repeated." * "Was there a ' post-mortem on Mr. Harper?" asked Blake. "The fa mil v doctor thought ft unnecessary." replied Mrs. Collier. "He said he Imd warned my uncle a week «tgo what to expect unless he eeased work." "Wh?t became of that canarv?" asked Blake. "It is here!" said Mrs. Collier, drawing a small box from her muff. "I took it home to Imry it. But when I derided last night to consult you. T exhumed it again T thought it might be symptomatic." "You are great!" said Blake enthusiastically, almost snatching the box from her-. "Excuse me one moment. I must see this in my laboratory." He was back in two minutes, and holding in a pair of forceps a tiny piece of steel, like the extreme point of a broken needle. "Your canarv was killed," he said, "by this dart. Tt is soaked in poison only found in South America, and more deadly than a cobra's bite. You were not mistaken in thinking you heard something hiss pas J you. I must examine your uncle." Mrs. Collier leant forward, and stared at Blake. Her fact was white as paper. "Mr. Blake." she said in a whisper, "do you realise that there was no one in the room but me? The first thing I did when he fell forward and I was sure nothing could help "him. was to take his revolver from his desk, and thoroughly search the room. It was a grotesque, act almost, for there was no place for anyone to hide: ond with the exception of a few inches here and there, the room is lined with bookcases." Blake nodded. "If all were elea,«" he said, "there would be no need for me. I have got to find the missing link. Is there anyone interested in your death?" "Absolutely no one," said Mrs. Collier. "The business is left to me, and, in fact, all my uncle's weath absolutely, to do as I like with. He hadn't a single other relative in the world."

"And your husband?" asked Blake. "Oh, Hugh and I are one in all things." smiled Mrs. Collier. "Ours was a love match. I expect him home to-day from New York. This will be a grea't shock to him." "He might have had «. greater." said Blake gravely. 'T will look into this case for you, Mrs. Collier. Meanwhile, if you have any desire to live, you will take this advice: Go home. Shut yourself up. See no one until you hear from me." "I understand." said Mrs Collier; "and I will do as you say." "Then 1 will accompany you home," said Blake, "and visit the body of Mr. Harper." 11. It was nearly eleven o'clock before Sexton Blake stood in the office, in Thrcadneedle Street, where James Harper, the great steel magnate, had died. He had just left Mrs. Collier in her house in Grosvenor Square, and had demonstrated to her that her uncle had fallen a 'victim to the death destined for herself. His examination had placed the manner of death beyond a doubt. In the right temple there was a puncture considerably smaller than a pinprick, but showing, under a strong lens, curiously discolored. In the corner of the right eye was a similar discolored punctilio, and Blake had had no difficulty in showing that the poisoned dart had entered by the temple, traversed the brain, and found egress through the eye. "It' has been driven," he said, "by a very high electrical power, and probably with, a rotary motion. There is no 'doubt that: In reconstituting the positions, I shall find the dart, and then be able to determino -whence it- was fired." Mrs. Collier had shaken her head despondently. ■ And as he stood in James Harper's effice and looked round he was bound to admit that Mrs. Collier had, at any rate, all the appearances on her side. The room was 22ft long by 16ftJ broad. It contained but two desks—the large. American desk, almost in the centre of the room, whereat James Harper had sat, and a smaller desk near to the door, leading to the ante-room—a desk consecrated'to the use of Mrs. Collier, and situated in the angle of the two massive book-cases. As Mrs. Collier had informed him, book-cases lined the wall from floor to ceiling, save that here and there a space of a few inches sepam ted one from the other. Blake sat in the dead man's chair, and took stock of his position. ' To his right, whence the darr had been_fired. was one of the three-inch spaces -Between two bookcases. To his left, almost within reach of his hand. • was a bookcase crammed with calfbound volumes. Blake measured a spot ■about a foot square on the volumes, and. getting up, avmroached them. He had not far to seek. Tn n cony of Mercantile Law there was a slight puncture at the back. The detective pulled the volume out. and onened it. ami in another minute had lifted from it= pa<*es with his forcens an extraordinarily fine roor-e] of steel, sharp a? a needle-point, 'about one-foith of an inch 'long, and stained a dark brown. "He's a wicked fiend who devised this," he muttered, as he dropped the bit of steel into an envelope, and gingerly bestowed it in his pocket-book. ° " His next act was to pin a tape-mea-sure to the volume, which he replaced, and. running it out. led it to the chair at about the height at which James Harpe,- would have been sitting. This gave iilm the line of the direction of the dart, and unrolling the tape he carried it on. It led him to the three-inch j recess between the book-shelves. He took out his electric torch and. as 'well as he might, examined the wall. Presently, an exclamation of dismay broke from his !Tps, and he fell back pale and shivering. He had found what he sought, but the simplicity of it, its demoniac ingenuity staggered him. He sat down heavily and stared at the wall. In it were three hoies, two about an inch apart and on a level, the other about an inch and a-ha If lower. Each hole was no bigger than "a pin's head, and the lowest was almost on a level with the height at which James Harper's head would have been when sitting in the cliair. It took Blake two minutes to recover. But his actions were then vapid. He hurried from the office, and took stock of the building from the outside. James Harper's room was on the first floor, j and overlooked the street. It was'also adjaeent to a parting wall of the next block of offices. Blake looked Up at them. Those on the first floor were obviously empty, and the begrimed windows bore the legend "To Let." He entered the offices, and seeking! the caretaker, obtained from him the keys of the vacant offices, and the permission—for a golden consideration—to go up. His anticipations of a "find" on the duty flooring were not deceived. There were a good dozen tracks of footprints from the door to the wall adjoining James Harper's office. But had Blake not known that holes must be there, he •would have had difficulty in finding them, so cunningly were they plugged with putty, painted to the exact colors ' of the walls. found and removed the plugs, and applying his eyes saw that they commanded the chair and part of the desk in the next room, but were shut off from the rest of the room by the bookcases. Blake quitted the room, and examined the plates on the other side of the landing. There were only two: one Carter, Christmas Card Agent; the other Ferdnand Pereira, Electrical Instrument Merchant. / The detective resumed his way downstairs, and further induced the caretaker to enter into his sanctum and talk. Half an hour later, he emerged, stood for a moment ou the steps, then hurried towards the Mansion House.