A DESPERATE GAME.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10110, 4 October 1910, Page 2

A DESPERATE GAME.

(OUR SERIAL.)

By OWEN MASTERS.

Author of "The Master of Tredcroffc," "One. Impassioned Hour," "The Deverel Heritage," "When Love Rules the Heart," "Captain Emlyn's Bride," etc.

CHAPTER IX.—Continued. "Well, it was like this. She was very proud and airy, and she did not like Miss Constance. She said so to me, and I defended Miss Constance and we—well, we had words. Nora was always a bit uppish in the kitchen, as "if she were a lady come to grief. She used to have French newspapers come, and she could read them as rapidly as if they weie English." "Do you know who her menus were, or where she came how Mr Yanneck engaged her?" "I don't. Even before we quarrelled she kept herself to herself, and would sav very little about herself." "Just 1 one more question—was I there anything between her and Mr Vanneck,' any—er —understanding, any " , . . , "Not at all," PJioebe rejoined promptly, divining our reporter's drift with a woman's instinct. "She hated him even more than she did Miss Constance." "Other questions elicited further information anent this■ rather curious household, but none of it appears to bear directly on tlic mystorj. Mi Vanneck was often-away from home, often had visitors, and often woiked in his own room for twenty-four or even thirty hours at a stretch without retiring to rest. Exactly what his profession was is at present something of a mystery, but there was apparently no lack of money, no sparing of expense, everything was plentiful, and everything was of the best." - > "It is obvious," concluded the newspaper account, " that the first thing to be done is to trace the whereabouts of Miss Constance \ anneek and Nora Hardcastle. This is not to suggest that they are responsible for the crime; but they, and they alone, can give exact and definite information of the circumstances attending the last hours of the j victim of what must in their abj sence remain an inpenetrable mystery."

clean shaven, and that description would still have suited him; while his hair, full, plentiful, and black, was only here and there tinged with a line or two of gray. The wrinkles at tlie corners of his small, steelblue eyes had certainly increased, his mouth was tighter and more grim, but his hands were as firm, white, and as well-kept as ever, and his clothes, big as lie was, fitted him with an exactitude which betokened a skill almost amounting to genius on the part of his tailor. If ever a man looked redolent of wealth and position and the enjoyments of life, that man was Epliraim Turbutt.

CHAPTER X,

A VISIT FROM TURBUTT

He did not offer to shake hands with me, nor did he indulge in any preliminaries of conversation, but plunged straightway into what apparently was the object of his visit. ''l got your address from Barlow," he said, "and J. came straight on here. I only reached London this morning from Paris. Barlow told me that you were to have seen Vanneck. Did you see him?" The question was so sudden and direct that it almost put me off my guard, and the story of my second visit to Hainpstead rose to the tip of my tongue. But I drew back just in time, and as a cover to my momentary hesitation, took a cigarette from my packet, offering him one. He made a slight grimace as he saw the brand on the label, then shook his head as he drew a gold, heavily chased case from his vest pocket. "Have one of these," lie said, not too graciously. But I shook my head in turn. "I will stick to my own," I said. "If you had been in prison five years cigarettes at five a penny would have seemed paradise to you, let alone those at ten for threepence." "You seem proud of it," lie said almost querulously. "Proud of what—of my threepenny packet ?'' "No; of the five years." I winced a little,. I must confess, but I do not think he" saw it, and I made haste to change the subject. "We were talking about Mr Vanneck," 1 said. "Ah, yes—Barlow says you went to see him.''

Tlie inquest was opened next day, but there was only one witness new to me ,Mr Barlow, the lawyer. He was there, he said, to watch the case on behalf of Miss Vanneck, but he consented to make a, brief statement on oath, just, as lie put it, for the convenience of the inquiry. He w'as asked if he knew where Miss Constance Vanneck was; to which he replied that lie had not the faintest idea. Did he know anything of or about Nora Hardcastle; but to that he responded that so far as he knew he had never seen the girl, nor, in fact, heard of her, until her name was mentioned in connection with this affair. The deceased, Mr Barlow added, was in the employ of Mr Epliraim Turbutt, a considerable landowner in England, Australia, and America. His exact capacity Mr Barlow could not describe, but thought it was in connection with the management of those estates, which fact, the coroner added parenthetically, would suffice to account for Mr Vanneck's frequent absence from home. Mr Turbutt, it appeared, was away travelling on the Continent, but had evidently heard of the tragedy, and had telegraphed the witness to attend and watch the .inquest. [ spent the morning of the following day seated in my room, smoking steadily a large packet of cigarettes, trying to see daylight through the chaps in which I was involved, and striving to decide what it would be best to do. I had been nearly three weeks out of prison and so far had not taken one single step on the path I had marked out for myself, had not advanced a liair's-breadth towards the realisation of my dream of restored name and reputation. ; . I was at my fifth cigarette, and was just considering the advisability of going out in seai eh of a midday meal, when Joel Hudspith opened'.the door.

"Yes," I replied, 'I went to Hampstead a week or ten days ago, and dined with liiin at Delardi's a day or two later. I was to have seen him again last night, but—well, I read of the murder in the evening paper, and—well, of course. I didn't go." "I understood that you had an appointment with him on the night of the murder." My heart almost stood still. Here was the undercurrent of fear whicii for two days had oppressed me, rising up before me like a spirit of darknes. Had Vaimeck told them—Barlow—anybody, that •he was ejecting me? Should I have to account for my time on that evening as they had asked me to do on that Easter Saturday over five years ago? I determined to play my game as I had planned it. "No," I said, "I was to have gone last night." There was a> full minute's dead silence, broken first by Ephraim. "I know you are lying," he said quietly; "but we will let that pass. I suppose you have a reason. Had Vanneck mentioned to you the terms on which I was prepared " "He said you were anxious to get me out of the country," I put in quickly. l 'Ali!"

"He said yoxi thought of going into Parliament, and that a convict cousin hanging about would not " "Precisely." "I have one question to ask, Eplir raim—do you believe that I committed that robbery?" "Yes." "Then it is no use trying to persuade you that I did not. Nevertheless, that i am innocent is a fact, and to prove that is the life work on which I have embarked. If you will lend or give me five hundred pounds I » "Lend ?"

"A gentleman to see you, Mr Norraington." "A gentlem:m to see rne!" I exclaimed, my first thoughts flying to Maynard Drew.

"Yes, sir," lie said, "your cousin, Ephraim Turlmtt."

I stared at liim for a moment or two almost unbelievingly, then I asked: "Where is he? "Downstairs. Shall I send him up?" "Yes; send him up here." And a minute later Ephraim was in the room. He had changed a little, hut only a little, since I had seen liim last, now nearly five years ago. He was much stouter for one thing. He had never been noticeable for slimness. of form, being a man of big frame, but his height, he was an inch and a half over six feet, had minimized his ■girth. Now, however, it would have been impossible to deny that he was growing stouter, and that very little more expansion would make him actually bulky, if not unwieldy. The latter word was certainly inapplicable yet, for he mounted the stairs with an activity curiously out of keeping with his bulk. During the. whole of our interview hr> stood by the fireplace, leaning his elbow on the mantel. His face was very little changed. He had always, in my recollection, been fleshy of feature and

"Well, the two terms may be synonymous in the long run, of course, or they may not, but I will stick to the former. If you will lend me five hundred pounds I will change my name and drop my relationship with you until such a time as both can be resumed, unsullied and honourable. The sum of live hundred pounds is little to you, Ephraim."

"Five hundred pounds is nothing to me," lie retorted, "nor five thousand. But I never spent even a live pound note without getting what I considered my money's worth. I am willing to helpi you on my own terms onlv."'

"You refuse my request?" "Peremptorily. I will give you fifteen hundred pounds a year and a situation oil my estate in Jamaica, the dual condition being that you shall change your name, and shall never again in this life set foot outside the western hemisphere." "But if I stay in this country—nothing." ' 'Precisely—nothing." "That is absolute?" "I must have a month to decide." "You will have exactly five minutes." Ho took out a heavy gold watch, and held it in the hollow of his .hand. (To be continued.)