THE COLONEL'S ENEMY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3171, 23 April 1909, Page 2

THE COLONEL'S ENEMY.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.-Continued. "Well, the search is over," St. Hilary said; "and we will increase our obligation to you, inspector, if you will kindly let the matter drop from this moment. We are not obliged, I take it, to.satisfy the public mind as to where I was, or how I was found. I had a sunstroke once, you know, and a man who is not always accountable for his actions as liable to those temporary absences of mind." "I understand you, colonel; and after all, it is nobody's business but your own. Ido not know, however. whether we can close the mouth of the man we have just caught at Calais, Captain Crauliss." CHAPTER XXXIX. THE WAY OF THE TRANSGRESSOR. Now that the stricken man had been forgiven, both St. Hilary and the major would have been better pleased if the inspector had not been quite so successful in his capture of Crauliss. It introduced a new complication into the matter, for it Lugard's estimate of him was a correct one, he was just the kind of man to betray his benefactor, even if he gained nothing by it. "Yes, gentlemen, we have got him," the Liverpool official said, with evident relish: "and a bad fellow he is, if ever there was one. He might have gone, clear away, if he had. not been quite so free with, his pocket. Our men found that he had been realizing large sums in London, flooding the market with stocks and shares, and changing English money into Spanish to the extent of thousands. When be did that, we saw his game at once." "You have done your work vtry cleverly, Mr Darlington," Lugard said, "and you deserve nothing but praise; but as things are now, we would rather the fellow had gone, money and all. We do not want an exposure, you see." "One minute, if you please, sir. You know by this time who Mr Dacre really is?" "Yes, sir. I had my suspicion of, it for some time, and had nearly | brought it home to him, Another i week would have done it, but Craulisa ] saved me any further trouble. When , my man took him, he" thought it was j on Mr Dacre's account, ana when he . heard the charge it was too late to j take back what he had said. He con- j feased every thing in his first panic, everything except the name of the ~ . where the colonel was enn-

asylum.; ' ,C 1 W<M CUIJ " "Why. having gto***?™' ShoUld ; he h&ve kept that back?" "He had an idea that we might be • willing to make terms with him, though he was told that nothing of that sort could be Entertained } J?ut •*» 1 understand, yotf, «if, that "ym have no intention of prosecuting Mr Dacre?" "No intention," the major replied. "Mr Dacre is beyond the reach of j punishment. Few men have tried more nobly to atone for their sins; none have been more heav

rjunhished for them." "I see," Mr Darlington sar <,. ; g fe has died by his own hand. ffie ;m the game was up and tr wQ out of it. Perhaps!. t;th . r€he coula have done, a % woulld have been an, interest &sQ . such an ex _ posure as the hag not SPen for many year- % &m tQOj &r in the cour ~£ my taqu j r j es> i have foun .ttiany willing "to say a good tor-him."

Peking that the inspector's assist- ! fence be indispensable in hav- j ing the matter hushed up, Lugard | thought it beat to tell him the whole I story, and he had a most attentive •listener. Accustomed as Darlington was to dealing with the worst side of human nature, and looking with little pity on criminals, he could not help thinking with regret of such an end to what might have been an honourable and a useful ] Me. "Well, gentlemen," he said, "you imay depend upon me. 1 will do my best to keep it quiet. I have heard some strange stories in my time, but never a stranger one than this. it is a pity he made that one mistake of not meeting Col. St. Hilary like a man, and trusting to his generosity. He would have been on safe ground then." t v "I am not so sure of that." St. Hilary said; "it would be easy enough to say so now, but I do not know What might have happened had we met faoe to face without previous preparation. His only safe course would have been to write to me, and tell the truth, when he knew I was coming home." "There would npt have been time for that," De Vigne observed, "you followed so soon after the major's arrival; and the best we can say now as to what might have happened is but conjecture." "To a certain extent," St. Hilary admitted. "Still, I should have bourne in mind that he took care of ray child at a time when I was never expected to leave India, or see England again. It was not done to win my favour or forgiveness; his motive then was pure." "It was part of his atonement," said De Vigne; "and the most pleasant part. We cannot doubt his purity of motive when we remember that nothing but the desire to make restitution to those he had wronged, kept him'in England, the only country where he was in danger." "You are a staunch friend, doctor," the colonel said. "I know the man," said Athol, "and I love him. I was only sorry when I saw, as I did see, almost from the first, that he was the one of whom you were in search, and I saw the danger he was in by being connected with such a shallow scoundrel 8s Crauiiss. I warned him, but faith in his own judgment was one of his strongest and his weakest points, and I warned him in vain." _ .

By WINTHROP B. HARLAND. " Author of "Lady ElginVßecrot," "A Harvest of Shame," "the Elder Son," "Lord Asliton's Heir," Etc.

; "A plausible fellow, too, that Crauliss," Che inspector said; "and very nopuiarin his way. Deep enough in many things, but shallow beyond a certain point. A treacherous cur he is to turn as he has dune upon the man who found employment for him, ! and paid him well." i "Have you any charges to bring against him, other than that for the attack upon my man?" j "I have no doubt there will -be a : doziin, as his character is as bad as :it can be. He was introduced to Mr i Dacre by a prisoner's aid society; !ne was out on licket-of-leave, and | under police surveillance, till Mr j Dacre became his guarantee. We • did not care to meddle with him while { he was so well protected, but he was suspected of being the prime jnover in several cases that have given us much trouble, and we shall have him now." "What will berome of the money you took from him?" "It belongs to Mr Dacre. There is no doubt that it was legitimately acquired, for he was one of the j cleverest men on 'Change. No one stood higher, or was more straigbtj worthy in his dealings." "You appear to have investigated bis character very completely, Mr Darlington." J "When I undertake a case, sir, I generally go through with it thoroughly. It is curious, though, that I should have had my first hint from Fletcher; he is never very far wrong, but he goes to work in a very clumsy way, that is he does a ' goou J stroke to-day, he spoils it toj morrow. He set one of , his men to tra|e cut Mr Dacre's antecedents, ■ and when one of my men got to know 'of that, I saw at once what he was 1 after. It would have been a splendid | case for him and for me if it had come before the public, but your ; wishes shail have our first con- ; sideration there."

I "We shall not forget, Mr Darlingj ton, that you might have gained I much in professional prestige," Luigardsaid; "and Mr Fletcher shall I not be a loser, though he, in his j more private capacity, simply obeys I orders. When his fees are paid he I is done with, so to speak, but with j you it is different; you are compelled Ito take official cognizance of the lease." i H¥e§, sin All that we have dis- ! frtlist be reported to the (proper authoru ties > and there are [difficulties in tW j?* v sfhav5 fhavi »g " ! completely hushed M 1% T s rai j into unusual prominence J>y tk ffi i>>2" ' sation made when the rewa"d W&s } offered, but that does not place us, I under any serious obligation to, satisfy the public curiosity; the one! serious thing is that the warrant out.ii »£U?JI J?fe fi3ffl!?K IP GtUl mil) force, and it becomes m.y duty tot leave a man in charge ©£ !r ' ar "j f Mr Dacre." C' l ' o BE , (fotfDtiitifiD.l