A DEEP GAME. OR THE HONOUR OF THE TREVELLANS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10559, 15 February 1912, Page 2

A DEEP GAME. OR THE HONOUR OF THE TREVELLANS.

OUB SERIAL.

By Mrs Do Winter Bakir, Author of "The Sin of Carine," "Sir BJandford'a Protegee," "For Weal or Woo," etc.

CHAPTER XXVll—Continued. "Dear, dear, Mrs Parfitt!" Eric spoke sympathetically, for the woman was evidently deeply distressed. "2sow sit down here and let us go into tins matter thoroughly. It is not much in my line, hut as you have done mo the 1 honour of appealing to me, I must do all I can!'* Mrs Parfitt sank into the nearest chair tremulously. Tears were already hovering on her lashes. She wiped them away hurriedly. "1 feel suro that it is not jealousy ot M rs Omer that has made you speak to mo liko this," lie said. "You were appointed housekeeper by my mother, and you naturally wish to have the duties of housekeeper relegated to you. Am I right?" . She nodded her head vigorously. "Very well,' proceeded Eric. "It appears, however, that Mrs Omer interferes unduly with you— in fact, takes upon herself the duties that should bo yours. Naturally you resent this. But tell me—is there any further reason why-you resent it? h there anything that iMrs Omer does that—we'll—that a housekeeper should not.do?" , , Mrs Parfitt sniffed, loudly at the very question. "Far be it from me to bo <a talebearer, sir," she replied. "Otherwise J should have told you at the very beginning what I know, without waiting to bo .asked. There are some things that Mrs Omer does that I am sure she ought not ho allowed to do—and what is more if she is allowed t» do them, I cannot stay hero as housekeeper. Mv mind is made up on that!" "Tell me—what are the things that Mrs Omer does?" "Well, sir, small matters, such as keeping the keys,- talking to the servants direct without asking me to do so —.which it's my place and what I'm iput there foi —giving, orders to the tradesnien behind my back"; and things liko'thatl 'll pass over.' "What I have to complain of is something more mysterious —something that I don't understand." "Mysterious?" 'Erie sat holt upright in his chair. "Go on, Mrs Parfitt," "You will remember, sir, I came to this place as housekeeper two years ago, "being recommended by the •countess of Langdon. From the first 1 had my suspicions of Mrs Omer; however I made up my mind not to create bad blood. As time wont on and I began to know my way about better, I found that things were 'being ordered from the village that never seemed to find their way either to the servants' hall or to tho dining room. Such things as joints of meat, vegetables, stores —it was just as if there was a separate establishment being kept tip about which I knew nothing. I reported at once to her ladyship, but she told me to go to Mrs Omer. Mrs Omer told me to . mind my own business! "Weill —this sort of thing has I>een going on week in and week out ever j since I came here. But— and this is I tho most mysterious part of it all, sir

: ~_■. '"" Tsn iv Mrs Omer —as plain «s I see you sitting v«~__ r ~ her coming down one of the upstairs, currying a raw kg of rautioil. • SJio did not see mo, so I watched her and she went into the Black Room as it is called, taking the log of mutton ■with her. Now —what is the meaning of that, sir? What is slhe going to do with it?" "The Black Room?—what on earth is that?"

"It's one of the rooms up in her ladyship's part of the house, sir. Mrs Omer, she won't let me go up there. However, 1 watched her alright this time, sir. What would you thank she 'k Koing vu > wibh a ™Y ! e g Of fflll!ton, sir?' '

"Cook it somewhere, I should imaging Mrs Parfitt."

"Exactly what I thought, sir. But where and for whom. 'Can't bo for herself. She gets all Jier meals from the kitchen. Couldn't he for her ladyship. Cook says she never touches mutton!" Sir Eric was now thoroughly alive ito the importance of Mirs Parfitt's suspicions. Again the old sense of mystery returned to him. Mrs Parfitt had spoken, of a separate establishment within the walls of the castle. Supposing this were actually the ca.se —whom could Grace Omorhe supporting? Suddenly there flashed through his mind the vision of that girlish figure lin the Limo Tree Walk. Grace Omer had declared that it was none other •than, herself, and heilvad been forced to accept that explanation. "Not a word to a soul about what you have seen, Mrs Parfitt, but watch with all your eyes, and report to me. I have long suspected Mrs Omer of mysterious dealings. I am going to make a few inquiries myself now. You may rely on my sympathy and assistance. Go now, hut directly you have any frerfh news, come to mo at once." With an odd courtesy, Mrs Parfitt tripped smilingly from tlio room. "Thank you, sir. It's good of you to help me. lam glad 1 came to you." "One moment, Mrs Parfitt." Erie rose from this chair and spoke in a. whisper. "You say you saw Mrs Omer carry this leg of mutton into the Black Room? Did she come out again? .How long did you watch after she had gono in?" T waited quite a while, sir, hanging about the corridor. She came out wbout ten minutes later on, I should say.'; "Yes; mid was she still carrying the leg of mutton?" "Xo ; her hands were, empty. She went along to her ladyship's turret room."

"Very good, Mrs Parfitt. That will J.do. Remember my instructions." I As soon as the housekeeper had gone i Eric threw away tho stump of his cigI a ret-to and began t° P acG the carpet. ; Here, indeed, was a very tangible clue I to the mystery of Trovellan Castle, he fancied. The whole thing was a confounded nuisance. As ho.had nothing elso to do till Lettice camo back from Paris, he might as well go a. little further into this leg of mutton business. For the idea had now come to him that this "Margaret" —the owner of the dropped handkerchief and.the midnight vision of the Limo Tree Walk — might know a great deal about that log of 'mutton-. And the more that he thought of this, the more he becaane ■convinced that Omer had lied to him when she declared herself to be the owner of the handkerchief. At this point ho ceased lids pacing of the carpet and cautiously went upstairs to the turret occupied by his mother. Passing down the long corridor, be paused before the door of the Black Room. This part of the castle was all strange to him —Jig had never ventured so far before. CHAPTER XXVIII. « ERIC EXPLORES. Eri stopped and looked closely at the strong steer padlock on the ironwork gate guarding the Black Room. He pulled cautiously at it. To his surprise, it yielded, and flew hack to the pressure of his hand. Detaching it from the staples he swung the'gate ajar, and tried the handle of the inner door. This also he found unlocked. Inch by inch he openod it and peered in. Tho Black Room was empty. Without further ado he now boldly entered the deserted apartment and looked .about him with curiosity. The scanty furniture and bareness of the placo astonished him. The cold,. distempered; ,-walls, the plain' table and chairs, tho ■absence of J a single picture, and the dim light af-' j forded by the deep-mullioned window, J combined to give him a nasty, creepy \ sensation. There was a musty, earth- « y smell about the room, too, which .made him feel as though ho were now standing at the threshold of a newlyopened grave. -And now he fell to wondering what on earth Mrs Omer could havo been, doing with such a thing as a "mutton ' leg in a room like this. All! his eyes fell on the heavy plush curtain in the corner of the room —surely here was the entrance to some inner apartment —perhaps a kitchen or some place in which she could have cooked it.

Creeping over, he listened diligently but heard no sound. With a bold move, ment he swept the curtain aside and came face to face with —the bare wall. Eric stepped back with amazement. What could bo t'hc object of hanging a heavy curtain like this over the bare wall of a room ? Jie asked himself. He now cautiously tapped the wall before him. It sounded perfectly solid. The cu.tita.in was supeuded by ordinary curtain rings on a thick wooden rod resting on a pair of brackets. These brackets projected : at least a foot from tilio wall, so tlliat when the certain, was 3m\r n there was a considerable space between it and the wall. „ M any rate, enough for a person to hide behind withoirt revealing his presence or causing tlhe curtain 'to bulge forward, thought Eric, as the mystery of the thiing began to grow upon him. "The Black Room," he mavonnred. to himself. "Why the Black Room, I wonder? Funny I never heard of it — but I don't remennbor ever having come down this far before. Now l'V up here. however, I majr as \ Ye }\ , ex . plofti.il bit fXirtner.'' Uniting the taction to the word, he left the room, being careful to slmt the door behind him.

Wit'h equal care ho returned tiho padlook to its place on tho outer door. Then he turned down the corridor, noting witlh surprise that the doors to right and left of Imm were marked Red Room, Yellow Room, Blue Room. Into each of these he peeped, but found all of them in darkness, with the blinds anawn. The ghostly outlines of shrouded, huddled masses loomed up at him out of the murky interiors, and he perceived that these rooms were'used for storing superfluous furniture. When lie came at last to tho end of the corridor ho turned tho corner anil found another one facing him, turning at right angles to the. one he had just left, ami this led right up to tho door of his mother's turret chamber. Then surely ho must have come down this way before!-' No ; a few yards down he spied a branch passage, and at onco recognised that this was the way that he had always come up to the dowager's room before. Be knew bis way perfectly now and there was no need to explsre further in this direction So facing about he began to retrace Ms stops. (To be Continued.)