A SENSATIONAL CASE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3007, 2 October 1908, Page 2

A SENSATIONAL CASE.

By FLORENCE WARDEN. A. thor ol •' The Lady in Black," "An Infamous Fraud," "For Love of Jack," "A Terrible Family," "The Souse on the Marsh,"

CHAPTER XXXVll.—Continued. i ' ■ ■ "The scoundrel! the infernal scoundrel!" he exclaimed, showing his teeth savagely as he shook Lis fist in the air. "When the owes his fresh start in life to me! When. l took pity on him, and gave him another chance, when everybody else looked upon Juim as a rogue and a murderer. Do you call that gratitude? Do you call that decency? To rob me —e —the very man who took him up P' "I shouldn't have expected gratitude from such a man, Mr Moseley answered Jem dryly, as she turned back into the room. CHAPTER XXXVIII. LINLEY'S ESCAPE. Linley had played his last stake in England, and with the rapidity of a thoroughly free and open mind, he had decided, on finding that his plan of a supposed burglary would not work, to start proceedings in America. Whether or not there was a taint of insanity in his blood, inherited from his father, the lunatic who had escaped from Warchester, it is certain that there was something abnormal in his.absolute callousness, not only where the common principles of honour and honesty were concerned, but in regard to the sufferings of. every being except himself. It was not that he wilfully disregarded other people's feelings by stifling his own twinges of conscience; it was that he t had r.o such feelings. His selfishness j reached that sublime point at which' J it compelled admiration as something uncommon if njt unique; and he was, inja dim way, aware of this, regard- : ing the fact as a special blessing rather, than as a- sign of mental or moral deficiency. , He had been in very low water lately, the Jew having become exacting/ and having made him feel his dependence. Therefore, it was the most natural thing that he should seek to recover his independence by any i means that came to hand; and since ■ his first plan of insuring the lives of his wife and of Gerard Waller and of compassing their death had fallen : through, there was nothing for hi n but to try robbery from Moseley himself. Suspicion having uniortunately fallen upon hi in for that also theie was nothingibafore him but flight to America.

He would go by way of Paris, starting from Charing Cross at euhctwenty that evening. He naaue his"plans when, after hastily cramming the stolen property into a sura 11 satchel whicli he kept already pack - ed in case of emergency, he had slipped out of "The by the bacic way, hailed on 3 of the hansoms which were waiting about on account of the garden-party, and was driven to the station, , ' Fortune favoured him at first, for he caught a train at once, and, getting out at the Waterloo station, drove in another hansom to a little

dingy office near the Strand, where he could get some of the securities lie 1 had stolen exchanged for cash—for a consideration. f Linley came out of the office cunsiderably elated, for he was super stitious, and he looked upon this propitious start on his journey as a good omen. He had not much time to los?, so he walked along the Strand at a brisk pace, and, guins into a barroom where he was well - known, and calling for a brandy and soda, got the landlord! to oblige him with the change for a fifty-pound note. Tnen, to a hotel whore he waa also well-known, as he often stayed the ni'ht there, he got a second fitfypouncj note cashed,. and was leaving in a: entirely light-hearted manner, when he suddenly perceived a man's facej which was only too well known to him, and a pair of eyes watching his movements with absorbed interest. ! ; Linley felt quite sick. His finders faltered, and he dropped a sovereign. \When he had picked it up, the man iiad gone back a little, but was still watching him. He was only one of I the waiters,\and over his arm hung a | napkin, the badge of his office. But ■ he had once done his best to hang Linley, and Linley had not forgotten i ■ ic. j The man was Joseph Turner, his former servant, whose evidence, if it j had been believed, as it had "deserved to be, would have turned the scale against Linley at the Liverpool Assizes. Within half a dozen seconds of the recognition Linley was out of'the hotel, and had plunged into the crowd ot the Strand. Joseph Turner, meanwhile, had spoken to the landlord. ■ "I beg your pardon, sir; but do you know who that"was you changed thu note for?" > "Oh, yes," anwsered the landlord, "he's all rightl We know him verv well here. His name's Hilliard. He's got a place at Wimbledon, and he often stays, overnight here." "Well, air," said the man, "his name may be Hilliard now; but last year when he was tried at Liverpool for murder, it was Dax—Linley Dax." "/he /man's tone was sufficiently emphatic 11 command attention, so his employer went s« far as'to run to the'door with him and to Jook out af'erhis customer. It happened that at that ycry moment Linley was looking nervously round, his nerves having been unhinged by the sight of Turner. As ha turned, Turner caught sight of his face among the crowd I and cried out iri much excitement, » and pointing his finger at him: K "There he is, sir, there he is, sir!" Of course the landlord repressed promptly, and there the incident, as they were concerned, ended. not for Linley. as he was to the feelings people he was particularly to his own. The sight of

Joseph Turner had - depressed his spirits, as being what he considered a bad omen: but when he saw the pointing finger and the two faces looking out eagerly after him side by side, he trembled and for a ftifitnent gave himself up for lost. 'ln the course of a few moments, however, finding that he was not followed, he recovered his self-posses-siona little, and hurried on to Charing Cross station, where he had just time to take his ticket for Paris, and to jump into the mail-train. He had scarcely taken his seat when the (rain started: but looking out, as he drew up the window, he perceived a group on the platform, in the centre of which were two or three policemen And they looked, to Linley's perturbed vision, as if they were on important business. Linley drew in his face quickly, feeling depressed and uneasy. He tried to persuade himself that the presence of the police on the platform had nothing to do with him, and that the sight of Turner had been only a coincidence. He took stock of his travelling companions, with an eye to a possible emergency, and 'found that they were four in number —a deaf old gentleman, who was already putting on his travelling-cap and preparing for a nap; two middle-aged ladies, of the common and unattractive, type of the prosperous middle-class: and a young girl, the daughter, apparently, of one of the ladiea. He had put his satchel, which was a small one, in the rack above bis head on entering; he had no other luggage, and he was not dressed for a journey, being in the frock-coat, light trousers aiM tall hat he had worn that afternoon. Over his arm he carried an overcoat, and in one of the pockets of this was a travelling cap. he was therefore prepared with a quick change of costume, which would, he thought, in case of need, serve as an effectual disguise. By the time the train reached Cannon street he was' feeling a little more tranquil, but his limbs were still trembling and he felt cold. So he jumped out of the cat and went to the refreshment-bar for a glass of brandy. As he approached the compartment in which he had been seated, he saw two of the railway officials making an inspection of the train from end to end. He modestly re treated therefore, until he found an opportunity of slipping into one of the cars which they had already searched. The manoeuvre he effected very neatly, and he was in the act of congratulating himself on having escaped a possible danger when his j'iy was damped by the sight of the two officials who had searched the train standing side by side oil the platform, with his precious satchel bstwren them.

Linley felt his white teeth chattering with rage as the train steamed out of the statidn, for the satchel coi/tained, besides a change of clothes, the diamonds and other jewellery he had;stolen from Moselay's rooms and sjome four hundred pounds in money. 1 He was left with his ticket to Paris, which he now feltjit would be dangerous to use, and the change out of, his two fiftypound m>tes. I

He could no longer doubt that the police were after him. (To be continued.)

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