THE COLONEL'S ENEMY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3154, 3 April 1909, Page 2

THE COLONEL'S ENEMY.

iCHAPTER XXVlll.—Continued. "Why did you put that letter in your pocket?" the djctor asked. *'There were scores of others quite as curious." "This nne struck my fane/, and the five shillings I shall iuvejt will not be thrown away." "But you surely do not believe that the writer had ever been a keeper in an asylum, an illiterate fellow who cannot spell a word of two syllables properly?" "In some asylums," the major said, "the keepers are not chosen so much for the culture of their mind as for the .strength of their muscle. A man can dislocate the wrists or break the ribs or chest-bone of a refractory patient without being a Lord Chesterfield or a past master in the gentle sciences of etomclogy, orthography, prosody and syntax. If be is an imposter, the loss of five shillings will not be a heavy one; if, on the other hand he has been a keeper in a private asylum, his information, though it may .lead to nothing, '"ill bo worth the money " ■ "But you must be aware that there is practically no such thing as a private asylum; they arc all under the inspection and supervision of the properly constituted authorities." "The properly constituted authorises are easily "hoodwinked, I should say. There are illegal transactions in every profession, and when large fees are paid for the taking care of private patients, we can hardly wonder that the system is abused now and then. Not that I for a moment believe St. Hilary's disappearance is to be so accounted for; still, an idle loafer, such as I take this man to be, who writes from a coffee-shop, and I dare say hangs about the streets all day, must see many things that we should never notice." "Fletcher did not think much of it." "I may balance that by saying I do ot think much of Fletcher; he may bundl r into something that will help us, but he will never do it while he is trying his best. In hi 3 dense simplicity he thinks, actually believes, that Darlington is in London on ordinary buisness, and will call upon me as a matter of politeness.' "Why should it not be so?" "The Liverpool inspector is much too intelligent to waste his time in idle ceremony, and too independent to call for the sake of a cigar -and a drink; he has come on purpose to see me, and the information he has to give is of a kind that he would not trust to the post or the telegraph." "I should like to see this inspector," said De Vigne. "Mr Dacre gave me a very high opinion of his ability." "Take your dinner with me at my rooms; my man may no be at home, but the housekeeper is a capital cook, and will prepare something for us to eat in >.o time. Give your patients a respite, my dear fellow. You can shake your head inore solemnly to-morrow, and aggravate the symptoms by changing the medicine all round. That is what our legimental surgeon used to do when, like Titus, he lost a day, as ha very often did." "Thank you," said De Vjgne, "I will have some of your dinner, if only for the sake of revenge; and if I ever have to attend you, • you may expect reprisals. Seriously, my dear Lugard, I shall not be sorry for a few hours" rest. I had a terribly anxious time with Miss St. Hilary; more than once she nearly slipped through my fingers, though I never told anybody." This was his professional way of paying that his patient had bsen at the very gates of death, and the major turned cold inwardly. He kne# how empty he world would be have been to his without her. Athol De Vigne was quite at home , by this time i. the major's luxurious apartments. As often as ne had an hour to spare, or when duty took him in that direction, he would drop in for a rest and a chat, a few whiffs of the major's chibouk and a glass of the major's old cobwebbed He frequently found hins.'lf looking at/the soldier with afFeeiionate admiration. Wnlth had not made the slightest change in him, he was just as frank and unaffected in his manner and as s'mple in his habits as ever. Mr Ditton was not at hand; he had not been seen since he morning, soon aftsr the major went out-; but the dinner did not suffer because the valet was not there to see that Sbuct attention was given to the detaila, as a matter of fact, Maj. Lugaru generally, and innocently, managed to get the best of everything, to the disadvantage of other occupants, .whether he stayed in a private house or a public hotel. His bells were always answered, his plates were never cold, his boots, with a superhuman polish on them, were waiting at his door, while other gentlemen, furiously impatient, were ringing in vain and ill-using the English language to no purpose whatever. And yet he was not so liberal with his tips as many who had a tenth of his money; frit what he gave was like his kndly word, and his genial smile, always well timed and appropriate. At a few minutes to eight, when dinner was on the point of being served, Mr Darlington was announced, and the servant took him up-stairs. When he saw the tempting array of snowy damask, brilliant with glass and steel and silver, ,he would have retired with an apology, but Lugard met him with an open hand. "You are just in time," he said. "My friend here,Dr De Vigne, knows you well by repute already. He is attending Miss St. Hilary; she is now recovering from an attack of brain fever whi'ch placed her life and her reason in dr.nger for a time.'" Tha inspector heard tnis«with some fatherly concern. He had daughters oi his own, and he_knew what their

By WINTHROP B. HARLAND. Author of "Lady Elgin's Secret," "A Harvest of Shame," " The Elder Son," " Lord Ashton's Heir," Etc.

feeling would be ;f he were to disappear suddenly. He mentioned this with a deferential shifting of his chair, which marked the respectful line he drew between the colonel's position and his own; though, as he said, somewhat tritely, after a dinner which was thoroughly enjoyed, in spite of the subject under discussion, a father was a father, and a daughter was a daugther. "Since lam to speak before this gen tie mail,'* he said, his last remnant of restraint melted by the graceful, good-fellowship with which the doctor treated him, "I may as well come o the point at once. The truth . is, sir, there was a little business to be done in London, and I made the most of it, for the sake of attending to it myself, so that I might call upon you." "That is exactly what Maj. Lugard said," De Vigne observed, "when he heard from Fletcher that vou were in town. I will not flatter you by telling you what he said else, but he appears to understand you very well." "Well, sir, it is not lost upon me. I would go a long distance out of my way to serve Maj. Lugard, or any friend of his, and I take an interest in Col. St. Hilary's case beyond and above the fact that it is a Liverpool case. I have had many a wakeful hour at night thinking it over; and putting it together, bit by bit all over again, I made up my mind to begin at tha beginning." "From the time of the colonel's arrival in England?" said De Vigne. "No, sir. From the time when he notified his intention of coming over; and starting from there I found that I had to tzo back still further, and here is where I struck for while. Mr Fletcher, "who-had the case in hand for years, made sure that Mr Dallas Crombie was dead. It was settled in his own mind; he almost"hammeredjgjit into mine; but still I did not feel quite sure ot it, and having friends all over the world, as I may say, I set one or two of them $o work, and the long and the short of it is that the man who disci and was buried in Buenos Ayres as Mr Dallas Crombia was no more Dallas Crombie than I am." A splash fell from the doctor's wine-glass on to the sno;vy damask, and spread in a wet red stain like blood. "Then this man Crombie," he said, "may be living still?" "There is not much doubt of it, sir. I shall be better able to tell you in a week or so, but I have reason to believe he is living, and in England, and may at this present moment be in London, not half a mile from here." ' The major shook his head at a suggestion which seemed incredible to him. The intensity with which De Vigne was already listening tightened on -the clear outline of his lip. It did not escape Mr Darlington's notice, and he kept the scarcely perceptible changes of that quite face urider his attention during the time he stayed. [to be continued.]