A DEEP GAME. OR THE HONOUR OF THE TREVELLANS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10572, 1 March 1912, Page 2

A DEEP GAME. OR THE HONOUR OF THE TREVELLANS.

OUR SERIAL

By Mr* Dt Winter Baker, Author d<II.B. of M«*« 'For

CHAPTER XLYII—-Continued. S "Thank goodness, I liavo got rid of them," sho muttered as the train was steaming out. "Now I can givo my undivided .attention to you, my dear brother Mark." Meanwhile <a.s t'ho express rushed on. its way through green fields and neat hedgerows of Devon and Somerset, Cole and his fair companion set to discussing thoir plans for their immediate future. "Your best plan., if I may suggest it, will bo to go straight to your sisi*te.r, and wait there. Miss Lascelles," said Lett-ice's cavalier. I have your address. I will go straight to Aklgate, sec this follow Omer, and then, when I have heard his story, I'll round up Erie and bring him over to you at Bays water. How does that suit? "Splendidly. But you won't keep mo waiting long," asked Lettice, with a- wistful look in her lovely eyes. "Not a minute longer than I can help,' vowed Cole. Punctual to time the train rolled into Paddmgton. Having seen Letfcico safely into a cab,with her boxes stowed on top, Colo sent her off to Bayswater with a. handshake and a gay flourish, bidding her to keep cheerful and to rely on him to do his best for her . then ho turned his attention to the serious business before him. Leaving his suit case at the cloak room, lie chartered a taxi and went up to the top of Houndsditch, in Bisbopsgate Street and paid it off there. Ho deemed it advisable to approach Pigeon Alley on foot, as tho arrival of the taxi in those quarters might draw xinwelcome attention to him. It took him some time to run Pigeon Alley to canth in tho maze of mean streets and byways that he now enterI ed, hut by dint of removing his.neck linen and tie, turning up the collar of his contend pulling his hat well down over his. eyes, lie was able to make cautious enquiries Without: exciting suspicion.

A few minutes, later he stood before ;10, Pigeon Alley—a dilapidated tenement building.grimy of aspect-and foul of odour. Groups of dirty children sprawled about the gutter. Slattering women in various stages of dishabille gossiped at their open doors.. Evillooking loafers of foreign appearance

eyed his expensive clothes with sidelong glances. Fully aware of the risk that 119 was ' running in thus intruding upon these dangerous quarters,' Cole did not tarry at the door of No. 10—or rather at the I place where the door had once been J do walked boldly in. ; A rickety wooden staircase, innocent of balustrade (it had broken up for firewood long ago) faced him. He ascended cautiously, treading oare- : fu'Ay on the rotting wood, and keeping .-(•'■' close to the dirt-smeared, sweating ' trail. j A warren of doorless rooms protect--1 eel by ragged sheets —imet his'gaze as j he came to the first floor. An overgrown lad of Hebraic appearance ' slouched out suspiciously at the sound of Cole's approach. "Know anyone here called Omer?''' asked Cole, "flashing a shilling ostein-. j tatiously. The lad pounced on the , coin like a hawk .and promptly trans- ! i'erral it to his mouth; glancing fur-' I tively round as he did so, to make sure that he had not been seen. I "Top floor —first on the right/' ho answered. Ho regarded him as a sort 'of police emissary, and added: "You a nark?" j "No —just a friend," responded Cole ..with a smile. The young Jew drifted "-away downstairs and Cole climbed on to tho top floor forthwith, i The first room on tho right to which he had been directed was remarkable that it possessed a door, and still more ! .remarkable, that door was locked, as j Cole found when ho gently pushed. I He stood back and scratched .lri», head, puzzled how to proceed. From the other rooms on the landing a >ba:bel of sounds proceeded—angry altercations ,punctuated by violent thuds,and above- all the ceaseless , penetrating howl of a starved infant. Cole looked around him in amazement and disgust. Was it possible that human beings j could sink to such abyssmal depths? J Suddenly the door he faced was ratj tied from within. He crept into the I darkest corner of the landing and from thcro watched. : A thin, saturnine countenance protruded from the door, followed by a I figure whose identity not £ ven *"? un ~ ! accustomed clothes that covered it would, conceal. Mark Jason —no lon- ' ger in clerical garb, (but in a suit of 'rough blue serge and a bowler.hat, ■ crept cautiously out and went down ' the stairs. As soon as his back was turned Cole tiptoed to the door and tried tho handle. To his joy, the door opened this time, and he entered a small, iow-ceil-iiigcd room, dark and stuffy. A candle guttered fitfully in an empty bottle oh ■a packing case. A dismal droning sound camo from what ho had at first thought to be a bundle of rags on tho floor in tho farther corner of tho room : "Leshaw g'dawu er Shtran, Los'haw g'dawu er Shtraa —a." The drunken song tailed away to a noise and a grunt. Picking up the candle Cole held it aloft over the rag bundle ,and gazed down at a pitiable sight. Ragged .unkcmipt, his unshorn beard awash with liquor, the remains of a man lay there with a bottle to his lips. The light of the candle flashed in the j man's eves, and ho looked up in a muddled' fashion. With .something

: akin to a sigh of relief, Cole saw that the man was not yet in tho last stage, of intoxication. Something might hn got out of him yet. "Arc- you Mr William Omer?' he asked, slowly and quietly. I The man put the bottle down and struggled to get into a sitting position. i "Dunno!' he answered, and fell baok again. i "Because if you are, there's the • i price of a bottle of brandy waiting for ' you," Colo went on. "Brandy—where? Lor' hunme, 1 aint 'ad a dosluuit dhrop of shpirit munsh and munsh!" I "Then you aro William Omer?" I "Yus —I .ham. Wotcher think I was —king of England ?' came the very i indignant reply. The man held tho i bottle to his lips again and took a 1 deep pull. i j CHAPTER XLVIII. | THE TRUTH AT LAST. Resolutely and with untiring patience, Cole set about tho task of restoring Mr William Omer to partial sobriety'and coherence. In the initial stages it was a long and tedious business, tout steadily ho laboured on, and was presently rewarded by some signs of returning intelligence. He had looked the door to avoid interruption, and now sat on the iloor beside tho rag bundle that served the man for a bed, while the other, befuddled, sat up in bed, regarding him with dazed, silly eyes. "What's this you are drinking?" Colo' asked. Picking up the 'bottle he .sniffed at it. "Methylated spirit! Good heavens, you'll poison, yourself. There'll he good .brandy for you in a minute or two if you -answer a few questions." Ho drew a. half-crown from his pocket and laid it on his knee. Omer re.garded it thoughtfully. .Ho had been rudely, interrupted at the beginning of a quiet little entertainment "on his, own," and was in a. somewhat petulant mood. .:'•■' But when Cole covered the halfcrown with another one he was inclined to cheer up a little. "Wot's your game?" he demanded suspiciously. "Just a little friendly chat with you Mr Omer, and no harm done. Money in your pocket, and look at the brandy you can buy.""You're a nark —that's what you are!' 'observed Omer with sudden emphasis. "Mot a hit of it. I have come here with a message from your wife." Cole made a long shot, but a very shrewd one, as ho knew when he saw tho other man's eyes nicker. "She'll be coming to sea you -presently." The man: reached absently for the spirit -bottle but Cole pushed it away. "No —-you'll have brandy presently. Much better for you, you know," he coaxed. "I don't want to see 'erf" growled Omer. " S'long as she sends mo twenty bob a week, I'm awright." "What-was Mark Jason doing up here?" ajsked Cole, j '■ "Wotcher yer want ter know for? |'E wouldn't spring a dollar, curse I 'ira." I "But I will, though. Here it is wait- ! ing for you, if you'll only answer." I 'Said 'e was off abroad, and not to ! tell Grace if slip come up 'ere," was | tho reluctant answer. j "When, were you married to Grace j Jason?'-' I "Long time ago. You're .police nark —that's- whafc .you are." "How long ago?" Wot's it got to do wiv you?" "I want to hand over this dollar and let you go to siet'i, again." Cole's reasoning appealed strongly to. Omer in his present mind. At tins critical moment his questioner produced a glittering sovereign and laid it on top of the two half-crowns. '-'Que pound.five for a few answers, to a few questions," ,said CV.e and that" clinched the matter. Omer took a deep breath. - The sight of tho money sobered Mm as nothing else would havedone. "Git on," he observed. "Ye'ro a nark, but you've got the cash. Avt-A: away." ,- "How long ago were your married to Grace Jason?" "Bout nineteen, year." ; . "Where were you married?" "Registry office, Kensington." "Any children?" "Ono girl." "That girl called Margaret?" "Yus —'ow do yer know?" "Never mind. Was the girl's birth, registered ? " "Yus —same office." "Did you over know a man called 'Sir Thomas Trevellan?" I "Yus —-'o was a good'un—'e was." j "What were you before you married j Grace?" "Orfts messingor to Sir Thomas—- ; that's wot I wos." > "And what wa>s Grace Jason?" "Sir Thomas's typist." Colo meditated for a moment. The whole story was beginning to dawn on him.' "Aint you done yet?' I've got a horful thirst on mo," quoth William i Omer, with a prodigious yawn: Colo collected his thoughts rapidly.I i I (To be Continued.)