Was He the Man?

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10201, 31 March 1911, Page 2

Was He the Man?

OUR SERIAL.

: BY F. L. DACRE, '' ' ... J ''\ '"' ,-', '' : ; r-0 -.\: : '\\. Author of "A'Phantom of the Past," "Tranholme's Trust," "The Doctor's Secret," "A Loveless Marriage,'' "Sir John's Heiress,'" etc.

CHAPTER VL—Continued; ... - "For goodness' sake, explain yourself," I said half dreading that he would give utterance to a horrible thought which had stolen into my mind while he was speaking. - ,'■ ."Just what I was going to do. Now, I you listen to ,me patiently for a few j minutes, and I will ran over the facts j of the case as we know them, and then I will try to put,, before you the deductions which-1 think may "be fairly drawn from them. In the .first place, we have two meii 'between-whom there is a resemblance so bewilderingly close that their most intimate acquaintances —including a young lady engaged to' one or both of them, as it would appear —are totally unable to distinguish between them. "One of these men is a distinguished soldier, and a man of considerable wealth; the other is- a>s«soundiel who has pursued a career >of crime for yeais with impunity. Youi friend meets a young lady who takes him for her lover. He does not undeceive her —an important point, by'the way. She meets her real lover next day, and be falls in with 'the story 'of her adventure, so maintaining the delusion, and that is another important point. 'Sire has no suspicion of the truth, which proves that the wonderful resemblance must .extend to manner, Voice, and, in fact, to every personal particular.' ' "The next day Major Denver starts for Paris, and by a straiige f coinpidence the young lady and her, nncle and, aunt also travel thither by the same train. Their departure is- witnessed by the double, whose- resemblance to himself would have deceived even Denver, had that been possible. In Paris, Denver is arrested for theidoublfe, who he then learns, bears his own Chi istian names, and is wanted for murder, housebreaking and burglary. He is positively sworn to by certain detectives, and by a former accomplice, and" is further found to correspond to t>wo photographs' of the real man , With the aid-of the Biitjsh Ambassador he proves an and is released. Ho renews his- acquaintance 1 with the lady, determining to marry her himself, tto save her from his rascally counterpart. He.stpps the oorrespondencevbetween, them, by writing in-the name o£ the accomplice, and warning- v the v other man that the police are., on his track, a veiy dangerous, a'ld from a legal, point of view, utterly indefensible act, i '"He then goes "with'his fiancee and -her.uncTe to St, and« makes 'arrangements for the wedding.- fete comes to' England to manipulate.—you must excuse'the term—a change of name. During his absence the double murders'

the uncle, who survives * long enough' to niake a sworn Den-, r. y*r& the murderer, and also describes.) '" l the weapon with which 'the dead uas| V done. f Denver returns, is arreted, j identified by Miss Moore, who imraedi-1 ately faints,from the, shock, and hits' an attaokiof brainjfever r which, for ali' we know,, may have proved fatal, or what would he as bad, destrojsd her reason. "He hunts the double,,and is stabbed by him'in a struggle at ( night in a New York slum, with the same weapon witluvhich Mr Moore was murdered. This weapon breaks ofF in the wound as they fall, the point remaining in the wound,-working into'the lung, and eventually causing Heath. It ,Wa*, then extracted, and foun'd to fit the other portions of the dagger. The 6 now coin P tetel y vanishes, and -Den>er goes to' Madeira to recuperate, J)U,t fending that he cannot recover, he 'pomes back to "England, in the hope of finding you and placing in your in account of the whole affair whiclvhe writes during the passage. h 7uJ 8 lands at Gravesend, makes his everything u> you;, and sends for you to see him before he dies. He Hies in your presence, the death being announced in the usual way in various papors, and a fortnight or so afbei wards you see the double in the street, and are yourself confounded by the likeness.

f$^ n ° w wan 4~ an 4 *W S will seem a montoypu—it remains to l>e, whether, Denver, or ! his double, ;died in your presence at Gravesend ;;and whether or; not f the ; man now, at large in London; is Henry 'Mtzgerald, 'the criminal, or Henry Fitzgeraldl; Itenver; late major .;.■& the Twenty-third

; it was not with' a little difficultythat I heldi my tongue and I kept my seat whiU| Penton was thus cataloguing Denyer|s story. But when he came to

this conclusion I could restrain myself no longer. I sprang to my feel; ? " and shouted: .

> "Heavens! man, do you mean to suggest that it was not Denver that died that morning, and -that this awful scoundrel cam'by any possible means, to impose upon.,eyerybody as J to assume my friend's name and forjtune? Nonsense' The thing is impossible '" While I was speaking Fenton had also lisen. I saw that I had vexed him, and, indeed, no wonder, for I had .completely allowed my excitement to get the better of me. "My dear Grey," he said fngidly, ! "if you are unable to hear a plain, 'dispassionate statement of the facts thp case, and a perfectly logical deduction from them, without losing your temper, i to work with you in tne matter, so I • had better say good-night." ' Of couise, I was utterly in the wiong but in a moment had repented of my hasty words, and replied: "Forgive me. I was an ass to speak i as J did. The fact is, I have been so > distressed and harrassed about Denver's death, and alMhat ha& followed, , that I am not myself at all. I never of such a contingency as this fellow clajming v . Denver's very identity'as being even remotely possible. ! For God's sake, don't leave me in this quandary,'for you are the only man I feel I can trust." CHAPTER VII. ' A DREAM THEFT. Fenton forgave mo my foolish out* bieak of temper, and as we resumed our seats, he went on • "Now, let »$> look at the matter coolly. Consider me the counsel for the plaintiff in the action brought by the double to recover the estate from you, who base youi claim upon that will. : In the l fiist pjace Vhat' leason have/ you for believing that the man who died at Grayesend really''was Major Denver?" *• "Why," I answered, now entering ; fully into his view of the difficulty of the caise. "I recognised him at once,* 'land that, too, in spite of the alteration which illness had made in him. Besides, all his baggage was there. I could have ,no doubt." u "But you have confessed that you also recognised 'the person you met tonight on the Embankment as being the very counterpart l-of' Major, Denver. May not the change wrought by illness*have deceived you to some extentsl As to Denver's property being in his possession, ,that prove sabsolutely nothing. Thfc gi eater part must necessarily'have bqen in the house for j some time; while as, for,the travelling luggage?, he might have possessed himself of that in various ways." There was no answer to this, so J continued: , t $ "But the wound of which he died, and the will —why v ishould he* an imjust supposing, j:h&£ he is for argument's sake— to die in Denver's house,' and-make a will ing to me?" "The i. statements made about the wound might llavo been the exact opposite of the facts. 'Denver, for instance, might have wrested the weapon from his assailant and stabbed, him With it. As for the-will, ho might have made it simply to enlist your' sympathies for him, and out of sheer spite to keep out* of 'his frightful pro- t perty the man who had, baulked his dearest plans." t * This was honible. In s -spite of myself I felt the ground supping from beneath my'feet.) What if there were' any truth in all this? The bare possibility turned me cold. I returned once more to the charge "Then why should the writer of the statement, if ho killed Mr Mooie with the dagger, be so particular about preserving the pieces, and even order a, post-rmortem operation on himself, so as to have the point removed." (To Be tJontvnued.)