THREE MEN AND A MAID.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 903, 25 February 1908, Page 2

THREE MEN AND A MAID.

By ROBERT ERASER.

[All Rights Reserved.]

C tIAPTEII XVIII. Continuccl

"It is my deliberate opinion," said the solicitor slowly, "Unit 'the interests you have at heart will bo best served if you take r.o t-lcp until the prouvdiiij's against Philip Warren develop further. The worst thing you can do, the v ry worst thing, Miss Neyland, would he to disturb, or, shall I say, threaten, Mr Courthope at thia juncture. You can rely on use as a friend, as a rial iriend, I assure you. Please c ;.'.-■>!: out of your mind all unpleasantness. Let the words we have spoken to-day be forgotten. Look on them as a mere figment of the imagination. That will be best, and leave it to me to bring about the union which you have set your heart upon." "Do you mean that?" "I have never been more in earnest in my life." "I intend to write to James to-day." "Write? Is he not at Hudston?" "No. At least, his servants told me he had gone to Darlington." "Ah, very possibly. A transfer of certain shares has to be arranged there in person. One further bit of advice, Miss Neylaud—put nothing in writing that can be spoken." "You may be right," said Hannah sullenly. "At any rate, a few clays more or less can make little difference. My mind is made up. Once and for all, if James does nnt say he regrets the way he has treated me, and give me the only assurance of his faith in the shape of a wedding ring, I will dare all to punish him." Bennett questioned her closely as to events in Hudston the previous night, and did not fail to reassert his good intent. When Hannah passed through the outer office, she met Jeffry coming in.

"A nice pair, master and man," she thought, glancing disdainfully at the clerk. She went back to Hudston by train, wejl satisfied with the day's doings, and she would have been the most surprised woman in Yorkshire were she told that she had not only strengthened the hands of the "meddling detective" but had almost succeeded in stamping the broad arrow on James Cuurthupe's fashionable mourning garments. For Jeffry, finding another Richmond in the field,was more resolved than ever to secure the will and the indemnity Winter had promised him, and Bennett had persuaded her not to write to James, thereby preventing a warning of the impending crash from reaching that astute individual, and Bennett himself was muzzle 1, when nis counsel might have benefited his client, because the small lawyer was afraid to broach the subject of Hannah's marriage with the masterful James, and in no other way could he explain the reason of her visit. In fact, the stars in their courses were righting for Philip and Marjorie while portending dire disaster for James and Hannah. And as stars more in silent orbits—astrologers, too, being scarce in Hudstcn the passing of five days gave but slight concern to the personages chiefly interested in their wondrous convolutions.

James did not return to Hudtson until the Saturday. He was somewhat surprised by receiving a call from a police inspector in a Newcastle hotel. The officer handed hirn a subpoena to attend the trial of Philip Warren at Nutworth, and, in response to a question, said that the local authorities had told him exactly where the needed witness could be found. As i:cnu knew whither he had gone after, leaving Darlington, the incident was displeasing to James, who wished to avoid the hearing of the case against Philip. Not being able to nelp himself, he put a good face on it, and went to Hudston by the next train. If the police were watching him, it was best to show that he did not fear them. But he steadfastly avoided any meeting with Hannah, and she curbed her wrath sufficiently to enable Bennett's advice to have its worst effect. On that same Saturday mornmanaged to extract the will from Bennett's safe. The clerk had been filing industriously all the week at a key to fashion it to a mould taken in wax; but chance helped him better than his skill as a locksmith. Bennett ran out, bareheaded, to give some parting instructions to a bankrupt whose estate he hoped to squeeze dry as liquidator, and, in that fortunate interval, Jeffry seized the precious parchment. He was so overcome with fear at the last moment that he bolted upstairs, nor did he dare to face his employer. Ho left word with the office-boy that he was ill, and again, on Monday, he was so affected that he remained at home.

On that same Monday Bennett was annoyed at being favoured with a subpoena as a witness for the Crown in the Warren affair. Indeed, the person who looked forward to the next day's proceedings with the calmest and most equable mind wan the defendant himself. But that might be accounted for by two facts. In the first place he had enjoved a long walk on the moors with Marjorie and his otter-hounds during the aiteiT.oon, and, in the second, he had read Robert Courthope's will, which, he was lawyer enough to see, was a most convincing document in his i'avour.g^^^i^;

, v CHAPTERJSXIX.

IN COURT,

When a policeman usher announced "The King v. Wan en," a buzz of interest hummed through the crowded police-court at Nutworth. The murmuring of the human hive was stilled as speedily as it arose. Necks were craned in the effort to see, the slight-

[Pur.TJsifKP By Special Arrangement.]

(To be continued.)

ly deaf turned the better ear to the front., or made sounding-boards of their hands; even the solemn magistrates squared their blotting pads and took fresh dips of ink.

The first move was made by Mr Hardinge, of Nutvvorth, who represented Philip. He asked that the defendant might be permitted to ait by his side at the solicitors' table. "Agreed," said the bench. "And I wish all witnesses in this case to bo ordered out of court," went on Mr Hardinge.

Mr Walker, a very smart solicitor from York, who watched the case on behalf of James Courthope —Bennett being prevented from filling that role because of his witness subpoenaprotested that such a step was unnecessary. But Hardinge stuck to his demand, and the bench conceded it, of course. This meant that all who gave evidence at the inquest, their number being reinforced now by Mr Bennett, had to sit together in the witnesses' room, where private conversation was practically impossible, and Marjorie had the Vicar for company. Mr Whitaker, of Allonby, appeared for the police, and his opening statement practically covered the ground broken by the coroner's inquiry. Before evidence was called, Mr Walker wanted to know why the police were proceeding against Philip on a minor count, in view of the obvious gravity of the charge hanging qver him owing to the finding of the jury at the inquest. Mr Whitaker's reply electrified the court.

"I expected that question to be put," he said slowly. "The local police authorities, with the approval of the Treasury, believe they are acting in the interests of justice in following this procedure." "But, in plain English, that means they intend to try some person other than Philip Warren for the murder of Robert Courthope," cried Walker, with the supercilious smile of an advocate who is sure of his power to break down an ill-constructed case.

"My friend is well aware that the Treasury will act in this matter on their own lines," was Whittaker's non-committal answer, and Walker smiled again confidently. When his chance came, he intended to place the noose round Philip's neck so tightly that the court would probably order his arrest on the more serious indictment.

The finding of the body, injuries, the uolice testimony, and other kindred matters produced no new thing. All these details had been worn to shreds by the local press. There was a rustle of anticipation when Marjorie stepped into the witness-box, offering a very different aspect to her woe-begone appearance during the inquest. Yet her story evoked no excitement. Mr Whitaker did not cross-examine her, but Mr Hardinge put one question which thrilled all hearers.

"You have told us that, to the best of your belief, Mr Robert Courthope was waiting at the Greyhound Hotel on the evenirig you were locked in Fennell's Tower with the defendant, and that his declared intent was to ask your hand in marriage—is it not a fact that his cousin, Mr James Courthope, has more than once proposed to you during the past fortnight?" "What hqs that to do with the ludicrously inadqeuate charge now preferred against Warren? I ask that the bench shall disallow that imperticnent query," shouted Mr Walker.

j§ "And I insist that it shall be answered," said Hardinge quielly.

"In a case where motive is allimportant we think the question a proper one," answered the chairman after consulting his fellow-magis-trates. "Yes," said Marjorie.

"And you have refused him" "Not at first, but quite unmistakably when last we parted from each other in London."