THE SOLUTIONS OF RADFORD SHONE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8985, 21 November 1907, Page 2

THE SOLUTIONS OF RADFORD SHONE.

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CHAPTER 1.--.Continued. , When the inspector had led his kovrlins; b'ut helpless prisoner out, 'Hadford Shone, purring like a. happy ■,'afc, aivailced with ax tended hand. I shook it warmly. "What a quibble" 'lit-; exclaimed. •'Oh, you officials! ! can detect ■ "clangs, but I don't, pretend to urider-''-•iaiii the raid-tape that makes you .lock up a murderer on a mere charge , .01 assault. However, lam glad that . xr.y humble, services have; not been barren. We don't make many mis-..fct-ikesj do we, Martin?" ■'The stout' young man giggled assent, and I proffered my cigarette(.aseto both, seating myself on the kitchen table I cared nothing.now that that demon was under lock and "l am sorry to destroy an illusion, .because up to a certain point you bnvo been useful to us, "Mr Radford clhone," I began. ' "Haa* Sir Angus Pe trie not put the case in your hands ,Ve might never have l learned the truth. It would be invidious to guess -what would have happened if. he had come tor. as .first. Dry Bardsleyis

charged with assault, because that is r the legal limit of the -crime we can ■ fix'upon Him. The dead woman outaide is the wife of Sparshott, Miss Nuneham-3 coachman, and Spaphott was arrested last night for killing ;her. He ! has made a very full conies-; sion." ~".'•/ ",'.'.',-'.. "Surely, not. surely not," Shohe murmured feebly, ; l '% is so," 1 continued." "Yet the wretch just led. away is indirectly responsible for that crime, as. ass ior is own. • Bardsley was a suitor for-Miss. Nuneham's hand after Sir Angus for Africa.; She repelled his advances, but having confidence in his medical skill, she consulted him about a throat affection

from whick she suffered. 'He ; recom- : mended that she should submit to a! slight operation; .."which was entirely unnecessary. She consented, and he took advantage of her consent, to perform a very, serious operation in- ; deed—no les3.than the removal of the thyroid gland." "You don't ca\l that assault," interposed Shone angrily. "Wait a minute," I proceeded. *'lt was done 'with devilish intent. The lcs3 of the thyroid gland causes a named / myxoedema, which changes the features of the sufferer, into the hideous semblance of a beast of prey. A 1 famous doctor discovered it, and in the course of his extensive practice met with only two cases, so. rare is the ; corrplaint, and never, as here, artificially created. As soon as

Miss Nuneham' found,that she was losing her r beauty' and changing so terribly, she adopted; Bardsley's suggestion that she' should seclude herself at Basildon 'Farm, till he had cured her, and he made a consent to marry him the price of that cure, alleging that he alone knew the source of the disease and its remedy. She"* indignantly refused, having neither liking for Bardsley nor forgetfulness of her ; lover; but this human fiend has cb'ntinued'to persecute her with his conditional offer of a cure,-and she has consented to see him m the vaih.hope, that he would' relent and cure her unconditionally. She changed her bankers and solici-' tors from a very womanly desire to conceal from all who knew .her the ' horrible nature of her infirmity, one of the'symptoms of which is k thick-,-, oning of the fingers, causing an altered handwriting." '., • . "But the. body—the body outside?" demanded Shone, his eyes starting out of his head. - ' . "Birdsley's crime bred another," M replied,.; "Sparshott, the coach-

man, saw Ins mistress' face one day, and, being a fellow of iafinite cun<uirig, he conceived the notion of turning her altered appearaffce to his

own ends. Anxious to rid himself of his wife, he brought the unfortunate woman here late one night, and having killed her, buried her in den, , relying on' the theory' you .adopted if the body should ever be discovered. He was fully prepared to play into your hands when you interviewed him, insinuating that Miss Nuneham had been done to death by, •or at the instance of, a wuraan now personating her." , "And what made you suspect him?" asked Shone, who still struggled to preserve 1 a toqe of incredulity. "Because he had told you nothing about Bardsley's visits here, and because he appeared, on the surface, -anxious to conceal the fact also from the police. I say on the surface, inasmuch as he blabbed of the visits readily enough, when he got his openings, and was ready with a.pat lie to explain his previous reticence ■on the point. It was part and parcel -of the man's ingenious subtlety not to be too profuse with the cards he wanted to force. He thought he was more-likely to be believed if he led up to a confession of the human failing of having accepted a bribe which was never offered to him." The last word in this singular concltve was reserved for Mr Samuel Martii,, p aithful to the end. "Ah, J--./1 see h.)w it is, Shone," he ..murmured; "if Sparshott had.given ,you.the facilities he gave the police, .you would have done all this, and

more,"; \ ; It remains but to add that the ■ dreadful scourge which the Satanic skill of Micha'il Bardsley had inflicted •on the high-spirited girl was very shortly removed by the proper treatment for the rare ailment of myxoc 'derna-rtabloids made from the thyroid glands of sheep. i<: :I spent last Christmas with the Petries at their.castle near Caithness, 'and it required, an effort of the imagination, that would have failed but for its background of solid fact, to' identify my beautiful hostess ■with the poor victim who bad been

BKIKCV BY- OFFICERS OP THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION i>epartmknt, AND OF THE PROVINCIAL POLICE, IN "RESPECT OF , "DEAI.ISOS WITH THE EMINENT EXPERT, MR'RADFORD SHONE.

given the features of a lioness bereaved of its cubs. CHAPTER 11. THE BULLION-ROOM. Standing near the gangway of the great steamship, I was glad that for once in a way I was able to take a human rather than a professional interest in the departing passengers and their farewells to friends who had come to see them off. I. was going out in the;' Petunia, to bring home a certain notorious note-forger, known among his associates of the higher criminal circles as "Flash Taylor." Mr Taylor had been laid by the heels by our colleagues of the New Yoik police, and was being held for extradition. - The bell clanged out its final warning for non-voyagers to leave the ship, and there was a swish of skirts and a scurry of feet past my post of vantage. I had to .draw back closer against the rails to avoid being swept away by the stream. In doing so I was jammed -against a young man irt the smart uniform . of the Flower Line; who was taking leave of a pretty girl quietly dressed in a wellfitting suit of dark serge. So absorbed were they in each other that for half a minute 1 became an involuntary listener to their, last adieus. '*You must cheer up, Phil," the girl was saying; . "ifeere- is no sense in-meeting trouble half-way'/ and I Mtave ho doubt that Mr Radford Shone" will -safeguard your treasures; At any rate, 'he will greatly lighten your responsibility." • "That is exactly what he won't doi" the young ..man answered gloomily. "If anything goes wrong, the company will hold me" to blame, while if nothing is taken,- : op if the thief is caught in the ac,t, Shone will get all the fcudoV.- And it means so much to us, darling. No' promotion ',< no wedding bells for you and me." The bell clanged louder, reinforced now by the shriek of the siren* and ,with a long look into each other's eye?, -the lovers clasped hands and tore themselves apart. The girl hurried down the gangway; to be lost in the crowds on the quay, and the young officer, having wa,tched her out of sight, turned and met my gaze. I recognised him at once, and heJd out my hand. "'•.'',

h >'Why, Mr Lancaster V 1 exclaimed, "so we are to be shipmates j again?" '' * ■ _ For I had already made two|voyr ages in other boats of the same line in which he had been serving. He drew back for a moment, as though startled by my presence; theri he seized my hand and ' wrung it warmly. •.'.,. \.. .■,:■■■: •-. \. "How are you, Inspector ; Roydi3?' he said. "You're another' on the job, I suppose. The Petunia simply reeks of detective talent this trip. We are 'carrying the -eminent Radford Shone and ; his friend, Mr Samuel Martin, and now you turn up las th'c representative of Scotland ! Yard. My bulHon-r6om ought to be I as safe as the Bank of England!" 1 . "Why, yes," I laughed, "if Radford Shone is going to mind it. For rnyself.-J am going to enjoy freedom from all official caves on" the outward trip." -"_'■ • ; And I explained my mission—how I detaiied/to fetch"Flash Tavlor" to England to, stand his trial at the Old Bailey. :■"■'/..■"';'■ Phil Lancaster, who had always struck ire as a bright specimen of the gay-hearted sailor lad, glanced ! furtively round him. VI noticed that his usually frank, healthy face w«s Bingularly careworn jand haggard. The steamer had warped away from the quay, and her mighty propellers were churning her round in a gigantic curve for her run down the, Merse> to the open sea. . • "Come to my cabin and smoke; I am not due on the bridge for an hour, "said Lancaster abruptly. "Ah, there goes the beauty." The passengers, the distraction of departure over, were mostly seeking their private accommodation for the of their travelling necessaries, and Lancaster's concluding soliloquy appeared to refer to « wizened, stooping, elderly man in clerical attire, who was entering one of the upper' deck stat3-rooms, followed by a' florid, stout young man in very loud checks. I thought that I caught a gleam from the old cleric's"' prominent eyes directed at my companion, who, without further explanation, led me into a tiny cubicle in.'.the. range of deckhouses amidships. t He drew "forward a camp-stool for me, arid perched hims'elf on the edge of his bunk.

"Did you see that old chap dressed like a parson, with the fat bounder in tweeds?" he asked. "Well, that is Radford Shone, masquerading as the Rev. Joshua Greer,; tutor to the Honourable George Dairymple; otherwise his pal, Mr Samuel Martin. I don't like the man, Royds—for no better reaspn than that he is a standing reflection of my efficiency." (To, be Continued).