For Her Sister's Sake, OR, THE LAVENDEN SECRET.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8368, 27 February 1907, Page 2

For Her Sister's Sake, OR, THE LAVENDEN SECRET.

CHAPTER XLL-Continued. The cab-driver was silent, gasping as if for breath. The ward nurse put some brandy between his lips, ard at length he spoke again, though faintly. "There was a tinv revolver on the table. I saw i't, and grabbed it. The way he shrank from it told me it was loaded, and his terror made me certain he was alone in the fiat. I shot him, put tue revolver down by him on the floor to suggest suicide, and stepped out of the flat. It was all done in a few seconds." The last words were almost inaudible. "But—but Miss Lavenden," said Edward Agnew amazedly, "where—where was she?" The cab-driver opened his mouth to speak, but a little crimson bubble appeared and broke on his lips. The young doctor stepped forward with a significant motion. "No more at present, I think, gentlemen," he interjected in a low tone. The superintendent nodded gravely, and drew away from the bedside. Agnew followed him reluctantly, but Charles Ingram lingered; the instinct of his sacred calling forbade him to leave a dying man. The young doctor shook his head warningly, and the curate followed his friend and the superintendent as they passed out of the ward. The inspector and Mr Quail brought up the rear. Hardly had they reached the corridor than the house surgeon joined them. "I should advise," he said curtly, "that if you intend to take this'man's deposition in proper form and in the presence of a magistrate, you should make arrangements at once. The excitement will probably kill him; I broke you off because the hemorrhage was increasing. But his death is only a matter of hours —perhaps of less than an hour. He may go out abruptly like a blown candle. The bullet grazed his heart, and he is bleeding to death; his only chance was an operation, which he would not let us perform." The superintendent spoke a few quick sentences to the inspector. Mr Quilliam saluted silently, and strode 1 off down the corridor. Mr Quail re- : mained in deferential attendance. The house surgeon opened a door, j and switched on an electric light. The door gave admission to ' the empty operating-theatre of the hospital. It showed large and cold in the sudden brilliance, with the white walls and gleaming fittings. "You had better wait here," he told them; "I will let you know if there is any change. Please send one of your men into the ward when the j magistrate comes." He looked at his watch, and went out of the room with the abstracted air of one who, having many conflicting responsibilities, endeavours to do his duty by each. Agnew turned to the superintendent. » j "This is a bewildering development," he said, trying to utter his words calmly. "It seems that only some strange chance has prevented a ghastly wrong." The high police official studied him with a shrewd kindliness. "Call it chance if you like," was his answer,"but there was more than mere chance 'in it. My men here, Quail and Quilliam, spotted a man . leaving the Old Bailey Court after I the trial who bore a vague resemb- j a certain escaped convict." A simultaneous ejaculation burst from -the lips of Edward Agnew and Charles Ingram: "Was it David Garth?" The superintendent assented. "Yes," he said; "it seems that Garth actually uared to be present at the trial. My men followed him, ran him to earth at Crimple's own yard in Pentonville, and saw him step into a stable. While trying to get a glimpse of him un-

seen, before attempting to over- • power him, they found that they were overhearing an extraordinary conversation between Crimple and Garth. That conversation resolved itself into a duel, in the course of which David Garth was felled to the earth with an iron bar and Crimple was shot through the "chest.'' "Good heavens!" .said Charles Ingram. "And Garth " concluded 'the superintendent, "killed in the act of seeking to prevent Crimple's suicide. He was about to blow out his brains. Had David Garth been an instant later, the secret of James. Garth's death would have been in the keeping of a corpse. Had my men in any case not overheard Crimple's admissions, the secret would have died with David . Garth in the very moment of his learning it:"' Edward Agnew sat down, and covered his face. He was sick with horror at the slenderness of the thread upon which Winifrsd Lavenjden's life had hung. A thought crossed his mind, and he sprang up. "We must go to her," he cried, "at cnce, at once! Think what she is suffering, what she must be suffering torture ten thousand times worse than death!" The superintendent hesitated. "Ought you not to be present at the JJtaking of the deposition?" he said. "It is important to have it in form. Of course, Crimple's admissions have been twice repeated before witnesses, but there might be some question you would like to have asked and answered. Miss Lavenden's whereabouts, for instance, during Crimple's visit to the flat." Edward Angew answered impatiently. "What can it matter?" he exclaimed. "The thing is plain enough. When Miss Lavenden fainted, James Garth's first act was to

By R. Norman Silver, thor of "A Double Mas/,;," "l Daughter of Mystery, 'Weld Apart,'- "The Golden Dwarf," etc.

["For Her Sister's Sake " was commenced on December 20th.]

possess himself of the revolver. Then the bell rang, and, startled, he dragged the table, with its hanging tapestry cover, before her unsconscious figure, and, forgetting that in doing so he had left the revolver on the edge of the table,' went to answer the door." The superintendent exchanged glances with Mr Quail. Mr Quail bowed respectfully. "Mr Quilliam's view, sir," he commented, "and my own." The lawyer stepped past them. "Our first duty is to Miss Lavenden,"£he declared. "Do you realize that she is a young high-bred woman, and heavens! —she is lying in the condemned cell?" He stopped, recollecting that alone he could not penetrate the grim barriers that separated him from Winifred Lavenden. J "Surely," he said, T facing the superintendent, "you will give me the means of seeing her, of —of alleviating in some measure the agony she must be. suffering—agony that may 'threaten her reason and wre'ck her life beyond reparation?" "I—l cannot," replied the other regretfully. "Only an order from the home secretary can grant admission to a condemned prisoner." Edward Agnew advanced toward the door again. "Then I will go down to the house and see the home secretary," he said. "Come, Ingram; I shall need a witness to the truth of my story !" v He laid his hand on the knob of the door. It was turned under his fingers from outside. The door opened, and the house• surgeon entered; His young face, pale with responsibility and fatigue, had gained an added gravity. It seemed, even before he spoke, to utter his message, and the three started. He saw that they had understood, and made a dry professional gesture. "Dead," he said; "you will not get his deposition." Charles Ingram turned away. His head was bowed, and his lips moved silently. After all, Peter Crimple lay dead, not because he was a thief and a coward, but because he had coveted the love of a little child, and to keep it had killed a man. (To be Continued).