THREE MEN AND A MAID.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9036, 29 February 1908, Page 2

THREE MEN AND A MAID.

[All Eights Reserved.]

CHAPTER XX.—Continued

Mr Winter's statements were strictly and literally true. Me had asked Mr lsambard not to name Marjorie's new address until he, Winter, wanted it. He tried to impart a lightness to his words and manner which should gloss over Hannah's untimely call, hoping he might persuade her that he was blind to her motives. Sha turned towards the door. "Shall I escort you?" he said. "No. Hudston has i o terrors for me. But I want to mall* an offer, a fair offer. Obtain Marjorie's address for me, and, within twenty-four hours, I will tell you something you want to know"

■He glanced towards the inner bar, which was deserted, and lowered his vtjice. i "Tell me now," he said, "and I will do ray best for you in the morning." At another time, Hannah woula have laughed the subterfuge to scorn. But laughter, even the sad mirth of a disordered mind, had gone from her for ever. She merely opened the door, and hastened back to the hotel as quickly as she had quitted it. Wi.-.ter, like Jonas, stood at the door, but his reflections were more cogent than the inn-keeper's. He resumed the cigar which he had suspended when Hannah's name was brought to him. "I am more than ever pleased with myself for sanding Marjorie away," he thought. "If only I were allowed to publish the inner history of this affair, what a clever fellow 1" could make myself out to be!" He returned to his sitting-room, chose another cigar, cut the end ofF so that he need not lose a second when its predecessor was done with—for the long morning in court greatly interfered with the day's consumption of tobacco—and set his wits to work.

"That young woman is bent on add ing to the mischief which tin's wretched little village seems to hatch so promptly," he thought. "Now, what can she tell me that I want to know—something so important, in her estimation, that it would justify ma in allowing her to follow and attempt to kill her sister? That pleasing idea is everything to Hannah just now. Therefore that which she offers as a bribe must bulk almost equally in her mind. Let us take the obvious thing first. In all likelihood she saw James deliver that assassin's stroke to the panting Robert. Would she give James to the hangman to gratify her hate of Marjorie? Surely not! Poor creature! She loves that skunk. Both sisters are alike in one respect—they have a fine capacity for loving. Then what is it that ranks next?"

Dispensing with such a tedious accessory as a match, he lit the new cigar from the glowing red of the old one.

"Is she going to come and swear that she saw Warren stab Courthope? Had she done that at first, Warren would be in a tight place. Now it is too late. The 'underlying motive,' as the chairman put it, is perfectly clear. By gad! did she "

The second alternative was so staggering that he refused to permit it to take form in his brain. Nevertheless, as the homely phrase declares, he went hot and cold all over, a somewhat difficult and complex operation which, in the present instance, demanded the immediate swallowing of a tonic.

"By gad!" he said again, when he dared to think. But he managed to smile at the monster his imagination nad created. Ho was vain of his professional skill. Not willingly would he admit that he had blundered. "Of course, that's all nonsense," he told himself. "Poor Hannah! She is wild over her loss, and we know that James treated her infamously. Whatever his guilt, she ought to be his wife now. And she would say ;anything to clear him, even at, the twelfth hour."

In cheerier mood he tonkjfrom the drawer containing the plans and toy soldiers a long, narrow box which bore the seais of postal registration. It was addressed to him, and he had opened the package previously, but he placed it on the table and drew from the inside a rapier. The blade was dull, stained with chemicals and slightly rusted. As Philip had assured him most positively «hat the sword found In Robert's body was his, Philip's, it followed that this sword, discovered by Winter himself on the third day after the murder, plunged up to the hilt in the clay of the river bank quite a hundred yards from Lancault Church, was the weapon which had fallen from the lifeless hand of the unfortunate squire. The detective's trained art had stopped him from withdrawing the rapier at once from its earthly sheath. He obtained a spade and disinterred it, taking infinite pains to secure every particle of soil that adhered to the steel. As the result, a report from the Government analyst was now in his pocket. The laboratory had revealed that the point of the blade and some few grains of earth bore chemical traces of the blood of a mamma!. Beyond that the expert could not go, but Winter knew that he ; held in his hand the sword which had wounded Warren and snapped his ring. "I wish you speak, my friend," he thought, as the supple steel bent under his fingers. "Yet I am sure no woman's hand thrust you sc firmly into your hiding-place. Even were I mistaken, Hannah Neyland would never have endured the suspense of not visiting your retreat to make sure you were safe. But James is strong. He knows when to be forgetful. James sleeps well o nights. Perhaps he may bs restless this evening, after to-day's eye•opener. J must get Scarlett for the

By ROBERT ERASER.

[Published By Special Arrangement.]

(To be continued.)

prosecution. Scarlett will hang him." Comforted by the memories of the way in which that redoubtable Treasury barrister had fitted the noose on many a wriggling neck, Winter went to bed.

Fortunately for his well-being next day, he rose early and breakfasted before eight o'clock, because it is reasonably certain that he would not have enjoyed his Yorkshire ham and eggs with iiis usual good appetite had he first received a letter which reached him by a mounted constable as he was on the point of beginning to write a comprehensive statement of the causes which led to Robert Courthope's death. In fact it may be said that the famous detective was unnerved by that letter. For once he neither smoked nor nibbled his moustache. It is probable he would have been far less moved were he told that all his modest savings were swept away in some bank failure. He was not a rich man, because Scotland Yard officials often spendjmoney out of their own pockets which the service does not refund, but he could aHvays make a living while his health lasted, so the loss of his few hundreds would not be an irreparable calamity. This letter dealt him a shrewder blow —it struck at his pride, and the injury was not mitigated by the knowledge that he had been afraid to guess the truth overnight. It was written by James Courthope, and was dated 6 a.m. that day. It ran:—

"Dear Mr Winter, — "I find that confinement in a eel) conduces to clear thinking. Hence, as you have no valid charge against me, and can hardly wish to keep me in prison unnecessarily, I have disturbed your friend, the superintendent, at a somewhat chilly hour, and sought his permission to send you a plain and convincing statement of recent events. You are a man of the judicial habit. Pray judge me impartially. "J need not tell you that Philip Warren did not kill my cousin, Robert. Nor did I. Robert was-stabbed by Hannah Neyland. Sh« is a headstrong, vindictive, narrow-minded woman, whose jealousy and ambition have brought me to ruin. I have passed the night,in weighing theprcs and cons of a difficult situation, and I find no good reason why I should continue to shield her wrong-doing. I may be held in error for remaining silent hitherto. That is for you and others to determine —my own conscience is clear, and candour now will supply my deficiencies in other directions.