The Dark House at Highgate

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10690, 9 August 1912, Page 2

The Dark House at Highgate

'OUR SERIAL.) |

Then in a gust of anger, I wondered whether lie had searched, my pocktts while I slept. I rummaged through them before leaving the breakfast-table, and found that, at all eve.;i:s, nothing was missing from them. There was a letter from Anne luldreiL'xl to the hotel; a bunch of keys, money, and a receipt for the money 1 had spent at Mr Betsworth'f> sale. * To think that Auue',s letter might havp been sc:o:ied by prying eyes was too long to treat that inscrutable doctor with summary violence; the ether items, did not matter.

I .sat at the- table for some time, deep in thought; I. felt that I mm.'t get to know more about Rimington, but the onlv two people who might be ible or willing to tell me anything about the man seemed to be inaccessible. One of th?m was Cecile, and . I did not sec my way to any | interview with her. The other was the red-haired boy; but ho had beon dismissed from the Life-Water office, and it might be impr.-sib'e to trace him. And yet. .:ki! R::mng- , ton's clerk could probably give me the youngster's address.'. The memory of the night of Mrs Mrs Betsworth's death was very vivid in my mind. Did not Rimington and his patient both behave as though they were on the brink of great events mill's nervous disquiet couaanaiU with the idea that he was premeditating a. crime? . , "He w«s no religious maniac, hut a novice premeditating crimt," was my conclusion. though inclination prompted me to citeh an early train and go straight to Anne, duty seemed to point to a visit to . the red-haired boy. T would question him about Rnuington's friends and habits._ I might, after all, pick up tome serviceable information from th.it loquacious young cockney; and afterwards, if it seemed worth while to do so, I could unburden my mind to a private detective and have more thorough inquiries made about Rimington. I realised that my suspicions were too shadowy, too much based upon conjecture,'to be likely to impress the : official mind at present; for what did they amount to ? That Rimington had twice, to the best of my belief, [drugged me; and that liiy travelling j companion had been anxious and easy on, the evening preceding the Pclton tragedy—an evening on which a violent thunderstorm was brewing, which, no doubt, had made many people restless and uneasy. Scotland Yard would make light of such revelations, especially when, it was known that their informant was a friend of the young man arrested in connection with the Pol ton case. Tint the anxious friends of indicated persons often made feeble efforts to imagined, highly probable. So J would have resource to a private detective; but, in the mear.ame, there might be some profit in questioning the red-haired office bey. I Shortly after coming to this d'.cir,- | ion ,1. left the hotel and hailed a cab. And as I did so a seedy individual, j in a Fjhiny suit of frayed blue serge, J creased the street ai::d officiously held' the flap of the cab 1' had called. . I believe I him twopence, without noticing the fellow's face. ; I 'had'no difficulty,,in setting thedischarged office boy's address, which was on the south side of the water; so I got into the cab again, and iva:; driven over Blackfrairs Bridge, and presently alighted at the top of a dingy |illey. Walking down this I carefully scanned the doors of the twostory houses, looking for a number that I had noted down on my cuff. "But near the end of the alley I desisted from the task*', the sound of a voice singing rendered it unnecessary. •Behind some spiky raiting, on a patch of garden that might once have been turf, but was now mud, the exoffice boy was promenading, singing j lustily: "Dare to be a Dan-yell, Dare' Ito stand alo-o-one," to'the satisfaction, no doubt, of the large baby he carried, which, however, was physically incapable of profiting by the latter half of his advice: . ; '

CHAPTER XIV

- I opened the gate and went in, and, the worried boy wrinkled his forehead into tin expression of surprise. "Hullo! You've, got an armful there," I remarked. The worried boy turned the baby's face for my inspection.

"Evangeline—that's her name. Eight months, and got a tooth coming I would give her a dose of tho Life Water, but it don't say nothing in the advertisements about it being good for teething. Pretty occupation, this, for a business man, isn't it? I got the sack, you know." "I'm very sorry." I said. "I ought not to hare encouraged you to talk at your work yesterday. I've come to ask you -a few questions about the firm, if you can be spared from your domestic duties for a minute." "Right," said flic boy. "I'll get mother—if you'll hold Evangeline a minute. You'll have to sing if you don't want her to yell your head off."

To my no little embarrassment I found myself laden with the heavy baby, while the red-haired boy darted down the alley, his mother being out on a visit to a neighbour. I am not a vocalist, and Evangeline expressed her resentment so loudly that faces appeared at the windows opposite, and three wretchedly derisive children clung to the railings, thrusting their faces between them, and hurled bitter

BY DERWENT MIALL,

A thor of "Lady Rosalie's "Bellamy's Warning," "The Strang? Case "f Yinceni Hume," "In t,he Woo. ' Etc Etc.

THE WRY-NECKED MAN

(To b« Continued.)

gibes at the unwilling nurse, indulging to the full the cockney child's remarkable talent for improvisation, that can evolve lyrical numbers from the most unpromising material. For five minutes I paraded the mud patch, to the impromptu clioihjs of: "Ha! ilia! He's holding her upside down!"

"He's holding her upside down!" with vocal accompaniment by Evangeline. 1 Then a stout barearwod woman bustled in at the gato, followed by tho red-haired boy; and, relieved of my burden, I gathered, gratefully, that. T was to retire into the privacy of tho house, where the derisive children would no longer be able to criticise my appearance, ancestry, or personal attractions.

But, although newly relieved from n, ridiculous situation, my anxiety was heavy, and I turned to the red-hair-ed boy, seeking the information he might give me, rather in the spirit of a drowning man clutching at straws.

The worried boy showed mo into a room furnished with a horsehair 'suite"—a small room, smelling unpleasantly of varnish; and Evangeline's yell's, after being stimulated by a resounding smack, died, away somewhere in the back part of the house. "Now," -said I, sinking on to an unexpestedly hard soft. "I'm goinp to describe a gentleman to you, and I want you to tell me if you think he ever visited Doctor Rimington at his office," and I gave, as well as I could, a word picture of the young man who had! ivit;h lßimingt<ii at 'the Jolly Farmer Inn. The boy followed the description with an air of intense worry, and then said: "Oh, yes; he used to come , and see old Jumbo at least once a j week; sometimes oftener." I "Do you know his name?"

"Mr Chmy. I've took his name up to old Jumbo sometimes, when the clerk was out. Generally speaking, the boss .would blow off steam down the tube after he'd gone." "Blow off steam down the tube!" I repeated, mystified. "Oh, I see; be would talk to you through the speaking tube." "Talk to me! No, indeed! btill, itall came in the clay's work. Mr Cluny used to get Jumbo's anger up, I s'pose, and then he'd start bullyragging me." . "Mr Cluny's vis-its annoyed him, them? Nov,-, do you know Mr Cluny's address?" | The bov shook his bead. I "Was Doctor Kihiington away long [ recea.tl.v-when he went into the country with' Mr Cluny?" , j '"First I've ■heard of it," replied the bov. I "Come: try and think. 1 met thorn ! in the eoiintrv about three weeks iU?o. ,; "OlriUun><>.i» hasn't ' oon :UVi,v fl ' on^ ■ the office since it was opened, and ! that's three months ago—leastways ihe might go off for'the afternoon semr ■ in^s." ! "He *te''l " ,r - tVee w>eks ago. lie 'was travelling with Mr Clunv." ! "Wish b- 1 had been. Xo . such luck." replied the boy.

Here at la tf was something to briiir un against Riminsrtnn—so something that'"might, make his presence at Polton seen? to others beside? myself. ' Evidcntlv he 'had just comr down from town w.lien T saw him. am' he had given a false account of himself mul his companion. Thev were not doctor and patient, travelling tohopeful that ray inquiries might lead to .something.

"What rtre vou p-oing to do_, now that you have left the office?;'! asked suddenlv. "Me? Oh T'swwose T shall have to go on the stage," said the red-hair-ed .boy, in tones of profound resignation. ~ ' I laughed. "Tn the meantime. I said. "T should verv much.like to kno"where Mr Cluuy lives. Do you think vou could find out his address for me. if I make it worth your while?" I put a sovereign on the table._ and the red-haired boy looked positively cheerful for a time. "Follow him home?" he said. "That's it. But don't let him see you following." "All right!" he said, in tones aoproachinrr enthusiasm. "If T was to wear a false beard, now, he'd never know me."