THE SOLUTIONS OF RADFORD SHONE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8985, 20 November 1907, Page 2

THE SOLUTIONS OF RADFORD SHONE.

[TYowrhkl* .By Special Arrangement.] [All Hwhts Reserved.]

CKAPTEii 3. —t:.);!tiiiiJi'd. "'i had 1 letter make a clean of it." Jie .<aid, making 'n rueful v.riiriact 1 . Sparshoit is mostly true to his word. but there's no call ;Y.y'him to swir.p:' instead of his belter.-?. J h'j.hl my toii,^!!" 0 - because £ho. mistress, if so bo as 'twas the Distress,.gave me a hutidved pound to di- ho. From first to last the doctor ..,ay at; the farm half a dozen times diving the six months." Kyrle would have questioned him further but desisted at a sign from :re. a'nd we took our departure. , At the- entrance of the mews, however, i wheeled round quickly, and there >.tood Sparshott, regarding us with " malevolent triumph. I informed my 'colleague of. what I had seen, and . having considerably astonished him y.ith the reason I assigned to the coachman's mental attitude, I set bvni»a task after his own heart. We then separated, .and having returned to my bachelor chambers for a hasty dinner, I set out to call on,my medical friend. Primed with the information lie gave me, I was early the next morning at the house in the Cromwell Road. In answer to my inquiry for Miss Nuneham, the footman fired off his stereotyped reply that she v was. not at home, and prepared to be aggressively rude. "Tell Miss Nuneham' that my visit is official—that 1 am an assistant commissioner of police," I said .sternly. The fellow's manner changed, and he left me in the hall while Jbe went .away to inform his mistress. On his :return he showed me into the library, .and handed me the newspaper. Five minutes passed, and there swept into the room a woman whose graceful carriage an'd superb figure brought back the only occasion oh which, some three years before, it had been my privilege to dance with Lattice Nuneham at the Duchess of Roscoe's. A heavy veil entirely obscured her features. '"Miss Nuneham?" I said, rising. Our acquaintance had never been intimate, and it was not my cue to revive the personal note. "Yes," she replied simply. "You wish to see me on police business?" "On very serious business. The body of a woman has been found buried in the grounds of "Basildon Farm, occupied by you some time ago. Can you throw any light upon it?"

For a moment she seemed overwhelmed, and clutched at a chair for support. "More trouble!" I heard her mutter, and then she spoke aloud—"No,'indeed, I know nothing of it, sir. If you mean to imply that 1 anyxopeat the farrh you are quite wrong, though 1 really" should be very glad to be hanged!'' "It is not a matter to be treated in a spirit of levity," Isaid with purposeful severity. "Can you explain why you gave your coachman a hun • dred pounds to conceal Dr. Bard3ley's" visits?" "You are speaking in riddles," she replied. "I never gave Sparshott anything beyond his , Ordinarywages." "It has been alleged," 1 went on inexorably, "that you are not Miss Nuneham, but some woman who has usurped her place and her fortune. after making away with her, aided and abetted by Dr. Bardsley.'' j The most shocking thing I had to encounter in this case, save o:;e immediately to follow, was the peal of awful laugher that greeted my grave words. . "Aided and abetted by Dr. Bardsley!" she repeated, when.the terrible merriment harf abated.. "Look at* that—look at what Michael Bardsley has done for me! Now will you understand?" And she wrenched the veil from her face, disclosing, as she had to Petrie, the indescribable features that were dimly suggestive of the massive solemnity of the lion. I' shuddered away from her; then, with a very reiil pity at my heart, I held out my hand. "Yes," I said, "I certainly ijnderstand that you did not kill Lettice !Nuneham. And more than that, I bid you not lose hope." "Ah, if I could think that," she •wailed, as the thick lace dropped .again over the vision unspeakable. "You may think it, if you will fully confide in me," I made answer. * * * * #

On the following day at noon Kyrle :and I were standing in the weedgrown garden of Basildon Farm, the grey gables of the old homestead ris-ing-gaunt behind us. We had come. ■ down by an early train to make a few •inquiries in the village, and were now waiting for Mr Radford Shonu to come and formally indicate the grave mentioned in his report. Disturbed earth at a spot under a laurel hedge had already told us the secret, but ive wished the expert to be present at its ■closer examination. Also, there was another reason. the sound of wheels were herd from the road, and a station fly liv/.'c in sight. it stopped at the garden gate to disgorge a tall, lean man, in a flapping frock coat and silk hat, who was followed by a fat young man of brick-dust complexion, likewise clad in town garments. If Petrie had never referred to the "woolly-brained admirer'" who lived with Shone, there would not have been any doubt as to which was which. The tall man strode up the path with the evident intention of taking the stage. j

"You have arrested the woman?" -he said abruptly as he met us. He had large protuberant eyes, which "goggled and rolled like glass marbles —a singular feature in one of his • spare build. "We have not reached that point yet," 1 replied. "The police have

NARRATIVES I3Y OFFICERS OP THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION P:\TITTMKNT, AND (V Tim PROVINCIAL POLICE, IN RESPECT OF I'EAI JNciM WITH THE KM INTENT EXPERT, MR RADFORD SHONE.

CiOnU'N'I.'ATED TO AMI) EDITED 11V itwAJMinr iir&s,.

no evidence that the remains are those of Miss Nuneham. If they are not, there is no case against the lady who professes tc be her." "The police Shone snorted angrily. "The woman will bolt before her. But come along; I'll soon put that right." He began to hurry towards the laurel-hedge, but I stopped him as politely as 1 could. "Let-us wait for Dr. Bardsley," I said. "He was to come down, if he has respected my message, by the same train that brought you, and if I am not mistaken this is he." "Dr. Bardsley? What as he got to do with it, and who is he?" cried Shone, rolling those voluminous eyes of his to the gate, where a second fly was depositing a dapper gentleman, correctly dressed for a country trip in quiet tweeds and gaiters. "Miss Nuneham's medical adviser," I explained, glancing at the somewhat sinister face of the new arrival. "It struck me that he might be useful in identifying the remains. I must congratulate you, Mr Shone, on your Wisdom in covering in the grave and observing complete reticence till we had sifted the- matter. Premature publicity might have had very awkward results." The. expert glared, and his fat satellite gasped at the trace of patronage in my tone; but there was no time for words, for Dr. Bardsley was upon us. He raised his cap courteously, looking from one to the other of the party till he singled out Radford Shone as the most authoritative person present.

"You will be the Mr Bruce who has requested *' my attendance," he said. "I am more than grieved that my patient, Miss Nuneham, should have to be mixed up in such an affair. The state of her health precludes her appearing as a witness." Shone laughtd raspingly. "That is Mr Bruce—the executive arm," he snapped, indicating me. "Official caution mu3t have prevented him from informing you that Miss Nuneham would have- to return from Hades to give evidence.'' "You mystify me," said the doctor, genuinely bewildered. "Come, let us end thia farce and open the gyave," Shone rejoined.

We all moved off to the laurel hedge and gathered round the spot. Kyrle had provided himself with a spade, and beyond that details may be dropped. Half-an-hour later we assembled in the kitchen of the house, of which we had procured the key. JRad'fopd Shone was bristling with triumph, the doctor looking politely bored. / "Are yuu satisfied now that your late patient was murdered, that those are her ..remains that we have just placed in the stable?'.' Shone enquired. "I am satisfied oi' nothing of the kind," said Bardsley, with a contemptuous shrug. "JVlisa Nunehanr was alive at her house .in Cromwell Road yesterday. I saw her there myself." • Shone's peculiar "pnpping-out" eyes worke'd furious'y, finally settling on me. He at the same time waved his hand towards the doctor as though he were setting a terrier at a rat.

"Don't you see?" he shrilled. "Oh, this official mind! Surely, Mr Bruce, there is no lieed for you to force me to speak?" "Not in the least, for the good reason that I know what you would say," I replied. "You are inferring that, because Dr. Bardsley refuses your theory, he must necessarily be an accomplice of the lady in the Cromwell Road. You are wrong in your premises and conclusions, Mr Shone, fori am able to confirm the : doctor's statement. And," I threw in. "to add to it considerably." Shone and his friend, Mr Samuel Martin, were telling each other in dumb show that I was a hopeless lunatic, but 1 paid smaM attention to them, as Dr. Bardsley claimed my sole attention. At my last words a nervous spasm had crossed his face, I and he had glanced apprehensively at [ Kyrle, who stood behind hi;n. But he | pulled himself together, and, striving | to read my countenance, indulged in ' another of his sardonic laughs. "I am fortunate in having such a powerful backer agains'; Mr Shone's ""tremendous charge," he sneered; but there was an uneasy ring in his voice that told me it was, time to act. Medical men, cornere.l in ill-doing, have a trick of swallowing fatal capsules if you give them half a chance. " Yes" I-said, "penal servitude is not so bad as the gallows. Kyrle, the handcuffs for Dr. Bardsley, please. There, there, doctor; it is beneath your dignity to struggle. That's right; it you a world of trouble. Now, Kyrle, take him back 'to London and charge him with iously assaulting Miss know what to do." . 2* w' (To be continued.)