Was He the Man?

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10221, 24 April 1911, Page 2

Was He the Man?

OUR SERIAL.-

BY F. L. DACRE, _—,——o

a, ,1 „ n f it a Phantom of the Past," "Tronholme's Trust," "The Doctor's Secet," "A Loveless Marriage," "Sir John's Heiress," etc.

CHAPTER XVlll.—Continued

"Good heavens, man! what do you mean? How. can you know anything about it?" I exclaimed, unable any longer to suppress the excitement that war, fast growing upon mo. "I mean precisely what I have said," replied Morel gravely. "I took tbi'■ sketch from vour description while you were in a cairvoyant state—or whatever you like to call it —into what I took the liberty of throwing you a minute or two ago. I ran explain no further at present; thero is too much to he done. This sketch may hold good for only an hour or two, so' the river must be dragged at that spot as soon as possoble. Igo to have that done as soon as I can get there.

was to give. hen j got home I found a note from Morel. It contained only six words. "The bodies have been found. MOREL." So my vision of those dark morning hours had been no dream, but a reality ! The tragedy which I had seen

"You have an appointment with Miss Mayhew and Miss Moore at 11. You will keep it, of course, but let me beg of you to say as little as possible about the ca.se in hand. Nothing about your experience of last night; and, above all, nothing of your change of conviction as to the identity of the accused man at Bow Street. And now I must go; I have not a moment to •lose. This evening I shall be able to tell you that wbnt vou saw last night really d ; d tnko place." Incomprehensible, even .absurd, as tlio whole affair might l.ook to one not c* 'oply interested in the mysterious occurrences succeeding each .other so rapidly,'no one could'have Tieard the Fr-iic'-mrm pp.y these last words with- 1 out feeling that he, at least, was -most seriously i.i car::est.

As for me, as soon as the influence of Morel's presence was removed* I began to feel myself once more lapsing into the strange, irresponsible state in whicli I had passed the latter part of the day before. The intense interest and curiosity which had possessed me while Morel was in the room disappeared. .My thoughts took another turn, and reverted—seemingly against or without my will—t-o-the accused man, whom I now believed to bo Denver, as firmly as twenty-four hours before I believed him to be Fitzgerald, his murderer. It was now nearly eleven o'clock, so I made the necessary changes in my attire, and went to Half Moon Street. Mrs Mayhew received me in the drawing room. She\'as alone, hut said her neice would soon he down.

enacted on Chelsea Bridgo had actually taken place, and tho. mysterious facility which I so unconsciously possessed had been the means of wringing it to light. Yet, strange as it may appear, I felt littlo curiosity as. to tho effect that this discovery might have upon the legally unsolved question of Denver's identity. I was, in truth, still possessed by the indefinable but irresistible influence which had invaded my personality as soon as Morel had left me in the morning. My thoughts were almost wholly occupied by tho girl of whom I had taken leave a few hours before. It was only when they turned to her that I was able in any degree to shake off tho j mental paralysis that seemed to posI sess me. Thinking of her I lost the | sense of oppression which seemed* to benumb my faculties when I sought to turn my attention to other phases of the ease. The mysterious influence which controlled me was not so powerful as the love which was still .striving fr the mastry of my heart. I looked into the future and saw Denver acquitted of the hideous crimes which Fenton and Morel were striving ) to fasten upon him. I saw him resume his name and property, and his position in society, and awaken Kathleen's memory from the slumber of years, by returning from the grave to claim her as his wife. As his friend it was for me to rejoice at such a prospect, however great the loss to me; but 1 now loved the woman who mourned him-ias dead, and who was, as I had read by the light that shono in her eyes that morning, not unwilling to listen to me.

"I need not ask you, . Miv Grey," the continued, as I sat down, "not to allude, hov, ever indirectly, to what happened yesterday, or in any way it'ier to this mysterious and unhappy affair of poor Major Denver, and this scoundrel, ftho is so horribly like him."

"Are you quite satisfied that this man is not Major Denver, Mrs Mayhew?" I asked. , "You astound me,. Mr' Grey. . I thought you, of all people, was most strongly convinced that he is not." ''l was yesterday morning; but in the afternoon I went to see him in Bow Street, and it is my duty to him to say that he quite convinced me of mv.-terriblo mistake." "Oh, this is a mystery on mystery! I would sooner doubt my own identity than believe him to be the poor major. I can as?ure you, Mr Grey, if you all I could tell you, had I time, you would " Before she could complete her sentence the door opened and Kathleen Moare entered tho room.

\An end was put to by meditations by a visit from Morel. Paralysed as my faculties had once more becom«, I was able to see that he, in some way, seemed to take my peculiar ca,se for granted, and- to treat me as though/ I were not now capable of dealing with the intricacies of the case he had in hand. To tell the truth I was >becoming afraid of this man. He was incomprehensible to me; and grown men are just as prone to fear that which they cannot understand as children are. The experience of that morning had proved to me that he possessed mysterious powers against which I, at least, had no protection. The cold-blooded pertinacity and supreme ability which he displayed in the discovery of Robson, and the arrest of Denver as Fitzgerald, made me tremble for the issue of the examination that was to take place within a few hours, and upon which the liberty, if not the life, of my friend depended.

For nearly an hour I sat in the presence of tho girl that stood in such a terrible noxition. Pure and innocent, sho was the centre of a network of interwoven crimes that might at any moment close up, and strangle her bright young life in its hideous mesh. While I talked with Kathleen that moi ning my mind was' a chaos of conflicting emotions, J had loved her at first sight, ana only a day pi two ago I was free to woo and win her, if I could, without a suspicion of disloyalty to the friend whose claims so enormously outweighed my own./ But now, convinced as I was that the man whom I had mourned as dead was alive find standing in the sha.lr.w of the scaffold, charged \vith an unheard of,' and impossible crime—the murder of himself—friendship and honour alike demanded that I should give no sig i of my passion. The two ladies were to leave for Paris by the afternoon frail, so T could not hope to see Kathleei again for some time; but its I pressed her hand at parting, 1 looked iar.o lier deep gray eyes, and what I saw there, for one trief moment of madness, made riie curse my fate, and waver in tho duty that made it so hard; for in those sweet eyes I saw what would have caused nny but a hopeless man to hope. But I was so utterly hopeless that that glance, which a few hours before I would have given five years of life to receive, was now only to be a memory that would make the duty harder, and despair more bitter.

I knew nothing of liis movements — when he had not been with me—for some days past, nor could I have any idea of the strength of the legal mesh which he and Fenton must have been weaving to entrap the man whose mouth would be closed during the proceedings at Bow Street. I had come to feel quite hostile to these two human bloodhounds, who were following the scent of crime so closely, and, as I believed, so mistaken!.-,-.

CH APTER XIX. "THE BODIES HAVE BEEN FOUND." After leaving Half Moon Street I went to lunch, and then drove to Bow Street for an interview with Denver, as I had promised the previous evening. I found Mr Morton with him, and received from him my subpoena to appear at the examination on the following day. Almost the whole time of the interview was taken up by the lawyer in drawing up notes of the evidence I

I felt that, apart from such proofs that Denver himself could bring forward, his fate would depend upon my evidence in his favour; for once extradited, and given over to the .French criminal law, I knew he would bo a lost man. Morel had evidently formed a very accursate estimate of my state of nrijid, for almost hi? first words on entering the room were :. -'•'l must ask you to excuse me giving you any details beyond the fact of having found the bodies, because I understand that you will appear for the defence, and are, therefore, a hostile witness. I would not have come to you at all to-night, had I not owed the discovery of the bodies of Burton and Robson to the information; that I obtained from you thin morning.'' He said this in a cold, formal tone which convinced me of the impossibility of obtaining any information from him, even had I felt any curiosity on the subject. All the reply I made wa-s. ;tO/rask him whether or note Fenhad applied, or intended to apply for an adjournment of the inquiry, as he had haid he would. "No," he said, "that will not bo neoessary. I think our case is as com- | plet-e as we can make it." More than this he tacitly declined to say; and after a little desultory conversation, he took his departure, leaving me in complete ignorance of the oouise- Fer.ton intended to pursue. (To be Continued"*.