THREE MEN AND A MAID.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9059, 20 February 1908, Page 2

THREE MEN AND A MAID.

[All Eights Reserved.]

CHAPTER XVIIL---Continued. _ "Life is slow here, whatever one's vork," he. :iaicl. "It mitsl; be a very iifi'cLent thins for you, Mr Winter. wonder how you can stand the ■ \n':;<jt. 1 ei-uhJji'i. iiJAcitomoni would 'till me." "I hope not," was Winter's sincere comment. "You never know what you can do till you try. .Now, when 1 first joined the force- -" And he keptJeffry supplied with most remarkable and varied reminiscences until dinner was ended, and the two were seated in easy chairs before a bright fire, with glasses and a decanter on the table, flanked with a box of cigars. The wizened clerk was a great reader of the newspapers, and it electrified him to hear the secret, unwritten history of many famous crimes. Each story had its crisis, a quick, breathless combat between law and guilt, and its staccato end. "Hanged at Norwich, he was," or "Hawkins gave him a lifer," or "We found him dead as a mackrel when we burst the door from its hinges." Never a wrong-doer escaped Winter's net. No matter how daring or astute the criminal he was caught at last, and made to suffer, either by outraged lav/ or by his own hand. At last Jeffry's nervous system showed sigr.s of wear. He fidgetted and glanced at a small cipek on the mantelpiece. "You make me feel quite creepy," he vowed. '"I sincerely trust you may never Le after m?, Mr Winter. I should count myself a doomed man." "Oh, I'm not infallible. I've only told you my wins. There are a lot of losses in the ledger. I am half persuaded this Hudston business will best me unless one man makes a mistake." "I suppose it would be hardly lair to ask you to name anybody, though, of course, one name comes to mind instantly." "Whose?" "Philip Warren's." "Not at all. He didn't kill the squire." "Are you—speaking seriously?" "Never more so. The man whom I want to take a false step, and maybe he is doing it to-day, is James Courthope." Jeffry was far from expecting the sudden intrusion of James into their talk. His wizened faeturts twitched and the cigar he was smoking circled slightly between his fingers. "Oh, r-eally'!' he cried, trying to exhibit quiet sarcasm at Winter's joke. "You regard that as funny, eh? Well, let me explain things to you. And help yourself to another drink." "What about that game of draughts?" "We're in no hurry. And you, owing to your intimate acquaintance with all the parties concerned, ought to be interested in what I am telling you." "1 am. very interested. But, you see, Mr Courthope is a client of ours." "Of Mr Bennett, not yours. Quite a different matter when it comes to law-breaking. You are a sensible man, JefTry, so you would be the last person to admit that a solicitor's clerk should carry his loyalty to employer and client so far as to share their guilt." "By Jove, Mr Winter, that is a hard thing to say about anybody." "I wouldn't say it about anybody. Believe me, Jeffry, it is a thousand times more difficult to carry through a big crime than to gain similar ends honestly. lam in earnest. Tell me what James Courthope was doing on the night of the murder and I will tell you how Robert Courthope died." "I—c-e-euu't tell you," stammered Jeffry feeling* as a fly may be supposed to feel which has heedlessly blundered into a spider's web. Winter laughed. He stood up, and went to a drawer, which he unlocked. "Who said you could?" he cried pleasantly. The sallow clerk was so badly scared that he must be given time-to recover. It was no part of Winter's scheme to frighten him too thoroughly yet. A glass chinked against a decanter, and Jeffry took a reviver. Winter produced a cardboard box and two flat plans. He placed one cf these uppermost, cleared a space or. theJJ table, and arranged box and plans where Jeffry could see without rising.

"What have you got there?" asked the guest, in a more collected manner, though his eyes wandered many times from Winter's impassive face to the harmless-looking map and the closed box.

"My stage, my puppets. Shakespeare says- that 'all the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players,' you know. I saw the truth of those lines early in life, and I hardly ever investigate a ciime now without reconstructing it in my little theatre. You have read how the French do the same thing with living actors. That must be fine. It would save me a lot of trouble, prevent many mistakes, but I feel sure I can build up this Hudston tragedy in two scenes. Would you like to witness an exhibition of my powers?" Jefl'ry would have given all he possessed to be out of that room. He had not the strength needed to carry oIF such a situation, but he thought l;e had; and thus erred egregiously. "Yes," he said. "You know who I am, so I can guess you have a good reason for taking me into your confidence." "Just so. 'Confidence' is the word. But try another cigar. That one is not worth re-lighting." While Jefl'ry struck a match, the •detective tumbled out the toy officers, soldiers and nurses on the table. "By the way, what is your Christian name?" he demanded suddenly. "John."

By ROBERT FEASEIL

[Published Py Special Arrangement.]

(To be continued.)

"Thought it- was. Odd how some names sound natural to the car. Here you are, you see. I called you 'John' on the oil' chance." "Me! Is that me?"

The clerk's eyes bulged a little as ha looked at a leaden dragoon held between the detective's thumb and forefinger. "Yes, but you are not wanted in this act." £ " Am 1 wanted at all?" "Not as a principal. You're not alarmed, are you?" "Wny should I be alarmed?" "Exactly. A man may be charged with all the crimes in the Police Manual, but he has no reason to feel afraid if he is innocent. Now, to business. Hero is aSmap of Hudston and vicinity. You are well acquainted with the history of Robert Courthope's death chat I can skip a good deal of dialogue. In fact, action is more expressive than words." In spite of ill-repressed tremors Jeffry could not help experiencing a certain dramatic thrill in following Winter's exposition of the events wherby Robert Courthope met his end. The detective was curt, though he spared no necesesaiy detail, and when lie described how Philip leaped the Lancault boundary wall, leaving the red squire prostrate, breathless, but alive, Jeffry half rose from his chair and asked, in a shrill, cracked voici!

"Then who killed him, and how?" "Some one picked up his adversary's sword and plunged it into his heart—to make sure."

"But, good heavens, that must have been James Courthope!" "Sh-s-sh! Not so loud! Yes, it seems reasonable. Sit down. ,My yarn has made you quite hot, 1 do declare."

"This is a terrible business, Mr Winter, if what you say is true. I, for one, never imagined—" "I am quite sure you did not. Yet lam telling you no fairy tale. I belie\e it so implicitly that I procured Philip Warren's remand to-day on a trivial charge." "To-day!" "Yes, at Nutworth, That is why I was there, you know." "I—didn't—know," almost sobbed Jeffry. "It will be in the papers to-mor-row. But you are the only man in England, Mr Jeffry, whom I have favoured with such a revelation as that which I am now making."

"I can—(Suite credit that." "Will you mix yourself another drink before I go on." "Is. there more then?" "Another act, a less exciting one, I promise you." "I am glad of it," whispered a grey-green Jeffry. "Please don't criticise my methods. I am not an ordinary playwright, so my second act goes back in time some six.hours before the first, and the 'scene shifts from Lancault Church to the library at Edenhurst Court." While glibly discoursing in a voice which suggested nothing save a mere friendly interest on Jeffr'y's part, the deective had revealed the drawing previously hidden, and the onlooker's straining eyes could make nothing of it. He simply saw a small rectangle within a larger Oiie.

"This is where you can help me a bit, friend John," continued Winter, apparently addressing the toy soldier which represented the clerk. "Now, talcing the outer square there to be a rough plan of the room, and the three windows to be there"—Winter calmly searched for a pencil and made little crosses on one of the lines —"where would the door be?" "There," said Jeffry, with a fin-ger-dab, trying his utmost to look unconcerned.