UNDER A STRANGE MASK.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 348, 1 October 1898, Page 1 (Supplement)

UNDER A STRANGE MASK.

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BY FRANK BARRETT. CHAPTER XVII. — ' KEDLANDS V. R.S.' My clerk, Mr Bingham, and I both went to London by the first train the next morning. On the way I told him how he was to act, and in parting at Waterloo repeated my injunction to lose not a single momant, to spare no expense, and to telegraph in full every particular he could pick up at Amalfi concerning old Sylvester and Lestrange. From Waterloo I took a cab to Fnrnival'B Inn, and there had the good fortune to find Mr Thorneyside in his office. I gave him Redland's letter, and told him my business. 'To go through all the papers connected with our investigation into the affair will take you a week,' said he; 'if you can tell me the particular point in question, I may settle it in ten minutes. * The latter will, suit me better,' said I. 'We wish to establish, if possible, proof that old Sylvester is innocent of guilt in connection with the death of Lord Redlands.' He nodded, and, after whistling through a speaking-tube, called : ' Deed-box from strong room, marked • Redlands V.R.S.' In a few minutes a clerk brought in a tin deed-box, and set it on the table ; meanwhile Thorneyside had taken a labelled key from an indexed row in his safe. He dismissed the clerk, saying that he could see no one for half an hour, and then opened the box with the key he had selected. The first thing he took out was a fresh copy of a yellow-covered magazine. ' That's curious,' said he, laying

it on the table and tapping it. •We shall come to that presently.' Then he drew out a square oak box, about the size of an ordinary cashbox, with a small round hole gnawed through one angle; he smiled at this, as he set it down by the magazine. Finally, he fished out half a dozen letters and papers pinned together, and, glancing at those that remained, said, ' I think these are all we shall require for your purpose, Mr Keene.' He seated himself, pressed his glasses a little firmer on his * nose, took a look at the papers, and turning to me, continued: ' Now, sir, you must know that this doubt which you now wish to clear up is of no modern origin. There are letters in that box from Lady Eedlands to her friends, dated 1835 in which she refers in terms of horror and disgust to the offer of Sylvester to make her his wife after her husband's death, showing that she entertained scarcely a doubt of his guilt. Possibly, indeed probably, in rejecting his offer she did not conceal her strong belief that he was a doubly-dyed villain. I say probably, because such an accusation coming from the woman he loved, would account for his quitting the country after sacrificing pai't of his fortune and behaving with unwonted generosity towards his late friend, and sinking into a morose and morbid condition of mind. That voluntary exile on his part only confirmed Lady Redlands' suspicions, and when her son —born some months after the death of her husband—came of age she proclaimed her conviction to him. He at once ordered an

investigation to be made, and for three months we were engaged in collecting evidence—that box contains all that we could scrape together. The presumptive evidence was strong, but not strong enough in my opinion to justify my client in going any further. I advised him to abandon further proceedings, and he reluctantly but wisely complied. He used to shake hia head, and tell me I was too timid for a lawyer; but he lived to see that I had advised him well, for in 1870 we got a full confession of guilt from one of the rascals who tried to rob Sylvester on his way to Loecliff. and afterwards took Lord Badlands' life' 1 You have that confession V I asked.

'Yes, here it is,' he replied, showing me the paper, ' John Baker, who died a convict at Portland in 70, dictated this to the governor and chaplain on his deathbed.'

' These death-bed confessions of criminals are not always to be trusted.' 'True,' said he; 'I would never believe one without suilicient proof.' • Ah !' said I, sufficient proof—that's what we want.' 'And that we have. Here it is,' eaid he, laying his hand on the square box. Recalliug to mind that part of Sweater's confession relating to tht missing box, and not doubting that it was now before mo, I asked quickly—'Did you find that in the well at the Court?' * A well V he exclaimed, smiling ; ' that's about' the worst guess you could have made, Mr Keene. Do you see this hole V «Yes.' •That was gnawed by mice, who hit uooi! the box as a suitable place

to nest in. You may be sure they have not done' it since it came into my possession, and they were not likely to have done it before if it lay at the bottom of a well.' I nodded, rubbing my hands cheerfully, for here was proof positive that old Sylvester's confession was untrue in one particular at least.

' Look inside,' continued Thorncyside,, opening the lid and showing me a compact bed of written papers gnawed and shredded in part. ' You see, though the papers are torn and mutilated, the writing is distinct and unblurred ; that could not be if they had been soaking in a well, or even exposed to the damp.' Again I nodded acquiescence. ' I have had the papers out and examined them carefully of course, only taking care to replace them as I found them. They are old loveletters written by Lady Redlands to her husband before their marriage—quite immaterial to the case, but proving the veracity of John Baker's confession.'

' Good,' said I,' good ; now tell me, sir, how you came by this box.'

' John Baker, as you will find by this confession, afterstabing minutely how he took thelifeof Lord Redlands, tells how having found a pocketbook with notes and money in it in this box, and expecting to find more notes among the remaining papers, he took the box away. He and his accomplice fled, and never drew a rein until they reached a deserted farmhouse lying between Coneyford and Barnstaple. There they put up their horses in an empty barn, and examined the contents of the box. Finding nothing beyond the pocket-book that could be of service to them, they took it up into the barn-loft, and in the darkest corner jammed it into a cavity between the edge of the floor and the sloping eaves, knowing that it was not likely to be discovered in such a place until long after they themselves had got clear off ; and in this they were not mistaken, for there we found it just as it had been left (plus a hole and a colony of youug mice in it) thirty-five years after, when wo followed the instructions in Baker's confession and hunted it up.' • A convicting proof of Sylvester's innocence!' I cried. ' Yes; and when I showed it to the late Lord Redlands, he was the first to see that it should be communicated to Sylvester at once. It was the least he could do, and the most in reparation of the injurious suspicion cast upon the poor old man's honour by his mother and himself. I drew up a copy of the confession, and the late Lord Redlands wrote a letter frankly admitting the error into which he had been led by suspicious circumstances, and expressing his deep regret. The letter and confession were sent to old Sylvester through his son the colonel. He replied with characteristic coldness and brevity: 'The suspicion was unjustifiable ; the injury irreparable ; the excuse unnecessary,' "Whether the suspiciou was justifiable or not is a question ; there can be no doubt tnat it was a natural conclusion to which an impartial judge might have come, and this proves it.' Mr Thorneyside held up the magazine to which I have referred. 'This,' he continued, 'is the Universal Magazine of last May. I will lend it to you to read aR you go back, for I see you are anxious to return : that is the third time you have looked at your watch in the last five minutes.'

• Yes,' said I. ' I hope to catch the next train' back, for the news I have to take with me is to give happiness to two persons who are something more to me than mere clients.

' There is no necessity to detain you. Here is the confession —take that—and there is the magazine, You will find the article I refer to undea the title, ' Curious Cases.' In the train I read the article pointed out by Mr Thorneyside. Among numerous instances of baffled justice the case of Lord Kedlands and Mr Sylvester was given, the actual names of persons and localities alone being disguised. After stating the particulars that had already been made public throwing suspicion on two ' mysterious highwaymen,' the writer said : ' Now how is it that no trace of the mysterious highwaymen, to whom the crime was imputed by Mr S—, was never discovered, and why did he immediately after the first investigation quit the country, and so completely evade his friends and family that it is doubtful even at the present day whether he is livin" or dead 1 and why did he abandon to ruin and decay the estate he had acquired by the death of his friend 1 Is it not exceedingly probable that he himself was the author of the crime, and that he was allowed to escape from a feeling of delicacy on the part of. the noble family who would naturally bo reluctant to make their tragic affair public?' The writer then went on to show in minute detail and at great length how Mr S—' might have committed the crime.' Now to mo the curious part about this explanatian was that it agreed in every way with the confession made to Marian by her grandfather !' I looked at the cover of the magazine : it had been published in May—there was therefore ample

time for old Sylvester to have read the article and dwelt deeply upon it before the demand came to him from me relative to the sale of the Redlands estate. [To be Continued.)