The Colonel's Enemy.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3164, 15 April 1909, Page 2

The Colonel's Enemy.

CHAPTER XXXlV.—Continued. "As your confidential man he would be, of course," said the doctor, with a dry inflection which seemed to have ad.sturbing influence on Crauliss. "Yes, Darlington came and told us a most singular story ; he was rather piqued, it appears, because the colonel's disappearance took place in his district, and with a very natural and commendable 'esprit de corps,' he took extraordinary pains to elucidate the mystery." "Successfully, I hope?" the captain said, stroking a somewhat nervous hand down, his large, cleanshaven chin. "He thinks so, and we think so —at least, he has made considerable progress, and there cannot be a doubt, in the right direction, By the way, captain, you stroke your chin as" if you had been in the habit of wearing a beard, and only parted with it recently. Now, if I were a detective looking for a man ■who had worn a beard, that action of yours would attract my attention."

"But you are not a detective," the captain said with an uneasy smile, "and I have not worn a beard for years." "Then I am at fault, tor most bearded men have just ytur way of looking downward and in toward the chest, where a long beard, of which a man is apt to be proud, rests when i the chin is lowered; and I should take it that you sometimes —not always—wear glasses -spectacles—lor in my studies as an oculist I have found that the occasional wearing of glasses gives to the e. e just the expression yours have. It is a most injurious practise that, the occasional use; wear them at all times, or never." "Indeed, you are mistaken, doctor. I never wear them except when I have to sign my name or scrutinise a signature." "Then lam at fault again"; but it would have been my impression that you were accustomed to gla.-ses and a beard. A doctor, however, is not always infallible, and our Liverpool inspector is perhaps on the wrong scent. I must aay, though, that he went cleverly to work, with a patience and subtlety I should never have given him credit for." "What was the r. suit?" asked Dacre. "The discovery that the man who died and was buried in South America as Dallas Crombie was not Dallas Crombie, but hid brother." Tne two men, Dacre and Crauliss turried their faces toward him at the eavae instant, and the captain's was that of a man stricken with mortal terror, wnile his principal's expressed astounded incredulity; he was simply stunned by an unexpected revelation. "Impossible," he said; no man on earth could have made such a discovery." "To 3ueh a man as Darlington not much in the way of detective work is impossible," the doctor said. "He was baffled at first; there had been a very clever and bewildering interchange of identity between the btothers Crombie, but our inspector had corresponde;.ts on the spot, and he proved what I have told you beyond a doubt, and his information points to the fact that Ciombie is in London, but he does not hope to identify a man so accomplished in the art of disguising himself—he is taking a surer way." "A surer way?'' said Dacre, with his long, white hands clutching another sheaf of bonds as they might have clutched a human throat. "Yes, he is boking for the wife, and son, and sister; he knows they are living under some change of name, and when he finds them he is sure that the man he wants will not be far away." "Mr Darlington is certainly a man of extraordinary ability." Daere said, with an admiration he could not restrain: "but even if his curious theory be correct, and he is successful in hunting down this unfortunate man, how does he hope to connect him with the colonel's disappearance?"

"He was the only enemy the" colonel had; the eolonel was the only man he bad to fear; others whom he had wronged, his creditors and dupes, Were satisfied with the restitution he had made and the philanthrophy, real or spurious., he practised as soon as he had means; but the inspector thinks chiefly of the ruin he left behind him; the helpless women and despairing men who died in poverty, some of them by their own hand. If Mr Crombie can be found in any part of the world where an English warrant can touch fc-im, Mr Darlington will have him." "But that will not bring Col. St. Hilary back," Dacre said. "I should not be surprised to find the colonel at any moment," Athol observed. "Mr Darlington is not the only man who has been at work. You may remember a very intelli- - gent waiter at the Liverpool hotel; he is now in Major Lugard's service, and I fancy he has been collecting evidence. He was nearly murdered in the park last night; that is to say, the same injuries would have been almost fatal to ninety-nine men out of a hundred; but he is the hundredth man, and I left him just now as unconcerned as if he had received a tap on the head with a walking stick, and grimly satisfied with the knowledge that he can find his assailants whenever he wants them." Mr Dacre had ceased to listen with close attention, when the doctor spoke of Lugard's valet. The fine outlines of his colourless face settled down into their natural expression, and he was the man of business once more. "Pardon me, Athol,' he said, looking at his watch, "just for a minute or two; you need not go." He Bet to work rapidly with pen and irk, signed many documents,

By WINTHROP B. HaRLAND. Author of "Lady Elgin's Secret," "A Harvest o« Shame," "The Elder Sod," "Lord Ashton's Heir," Etc.

and wrote a note which he enclosed in an envelope, and gave with the. documents to Captain Crauilss. "Th.se will be the last, for the present," he said, "and you will realise at once." "Even at a loss, sir?" "Even at a loss, and return here with the letter of credit and the transfer." The captain bowed, with a humility in his respect which seemed to De Vigne rather out of place in the bearing of an officer and a gentleman. Whpn he had gone, Mr Dacre took a sealed packet from a drawer in the table, and gave it lo De Vigne. "I am making arrangements to have England, my [dear Athol," he said; "and I place this in your charge, to be read in a years' time, unless you should hear of my death before. It contains my will and other papers, which may be of interest to the little circle I have known here." "When did you decide upon leaving England?" the doctor asked, as he put the packet in his pocket. "Within the last few days." "Since Mrs Dacre" came to see Miss St. Hilary," the doctor said; "and I think, my dear friend, you j have made a wise decision. When do you go?" "I am making my preparations now; Crauliss, a faithful fellow, though not a general favourite, 's turning some of my stocks and shares into money. What he took away with him just now represents nearly two hundred and fifty thousand pounds." "I should be very sorry to trust him with a two-hundredth-and-fifty-thousandth part of it," said De Vigne; "for if ever a man had the shallow-minded traitor written in his face, your friend Crauliss has. But if you can trust him, I have done; and the sooner you are ouc of this climate the better, Mr Dacre. I wish you euuld make it a week, at "You think my health so shaken?" "There are crises in all our conplaints, and lam afraid some very dangerous symptoms may set in unless you can have the advantages of a more genial atmosphere within seven days. Do you go alone?" "Quite alone, Athol," and here the strong man broke with emotion. "Leonard will stay with his mother. Dora will, I have no doubt, have her father restored to her, and I shall go quite alone." /'You think Col. St. Hilary will be found?" De Vigne said with suspressed eagerness, "I do." "If I were sure of that," Athol said, with his hand on Mr Dacre's shoulder, "I would go with you myself." The man of iron wrung his hand, and the unflinching eyes filled with tears. "You do not know me," he said. "What if my whole life had been a sham—as full of dishonest treachery as that which Dallas Crombie is accused?" [TO BE CONTINUED.]