“AN EVIL ANGEL”

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20491, 6 May 1938, Page 10

“AN EVIL ANGEL”

(By JOHN MIDDLEMASS.)

CHAPTER V.— 'Continued.; “It Is & 4—d lie. I don't know any of the circumstances of the case, bait I know Money, and I repeat It Is a d—d lie.” , “Cocksure, old chap. That’s what most people are not.” “What are the premises? Why Is he suspected ?” “That queer start off abroad has told a bit against him, and at the inquest—for of course there was an inquest—the valet said he let a gentleman In, before he went out on an errand for his lordship. That he did not know the gentleman, had not seen him before —the valet was a comparatively new man—That the visitor was tall and fair, and wore evening dress covered by a loose paletot, which was thrown open. The description would do for Morley, and as he skedaddled off to nobody knew where on the following morning, of ooursc people had a good deal to say.” “Not even proved, then, that it was Koriey who called on Lord Vesey?” •‘No—not proved. When shewn his gliotograph the valet said he did not notice him sufficiently to be sure, but he was something Ifke him.” “The motive being that Vesey was going to marry the girl Morley was In love with. I am as far from believing that Morley had anything to do with the matter, as I was before I heard this very circumstantial evidence. Who Is the present Earl?” ••Jacob North ey—a cousin.’*

An Exciting Mystery Story.

“Morley’s great friend.” Exactly, he Is keeping Morley’s rooms aired.” “And what does he believe?” “As you do, that Morley had nothing whatever to do with the murder. Does not even seem to believe that he was very much in love with the girl.” “Good chap. I'll shake him by the hand when I fall in with him.” “A bit of a staggerer, however, cams out a few weeks back. When the lawyers were setting up Vesey’s affairs, they discovered that there was u mortgage held by Morley on some ! property of Vesey’s, the interest on 1 which had not been paid for years.” “Well that implicates Yesey—not Morley.” Must so—but it Is another mo“Pah! Men of Morley’s calibre don’t go about killing people as if they were wasps or blue bottles, Just because they sting and their habits are obnoxious. The police?” “Say there is no case. The law would not touch him if he came back to-morrow—but public opinion is often i more severe in Its punishments than is ! the law.” “D—n public opinion! It is nothing but the hatchings of a parcel of men and women, who have nothing to do but to defile the innocent.” “Mind you Browne, I am not against Morley—in my heart I am for him—- , for I always liked the fellow, and i thought him to be far more honest and straight forward than most of the chaps about.” I “Just so—Just so. Integrity writ j large that is Philip Morley’s character ! in a nut shell.” i “Still someone killed the Earl of j Yesey.” “So it seems, poor beast— for he was a bit of a beast, which may ac- | count for the killing. lam sorry i for his fate, but I am more sorry for Morley. While lam knocking about l in this country, which I shall be for I the next year, I shall devote my spare J time to doing a little detective work j on my own account, and see If I cannot solve the mystern about the murder over which the police seem to be bungling.” "I will give you every assistance Id •my power,” said A’Court. “And I J am sure Jacob Northey—the new Earl J —will help us.” j “Thanks. You will be an able coadjutor, Bince you are well posted up in the Ins and outs of London life, from which I have been absent for so long. An introduction to the young lady, who was about to beoome Vesey’s wife. Is the first favour I will ask of you.” “Not so easy. She has received no one since the tragedy. To-day is the trrst time I have seen her driving.” “Which shows she is, though slowly perhaps—still she is opening the door to let in the world. I must get inside this door, please. A’Court, as I quite i expect the young lady will unwittingly give me some valuable information ” “If I possibly can manage It I will do so, perhaps by means of the companion—” “There’s a companion is there. ! Young or old?”

| “Young, very pleasant and genial, besides being a bit of a mystery. No one knows who she is.”

I “So another mystery. They seem to thrive in the murky British air. The two may perhaps he unravelled together.” “Oh, she has not got anything to do with Yesey’s death—was almost as much bowled over by it as Marti Cooper herself.”

I Hamilton Browne hade no direct answer to this assertion ( all he said was: “Let us go and look up Northey. He used to be a chum of mine, in fact we were at school together. Where are his quarters?” “South Street, Park Lane. He Is still In Morley's rooms—says he can’t stand Vesey’s house since he was murdered there, he should always see the poor chap’s ghost wandering about, i In fact it is in the market, furniture and every thing, Just as it stands.” | “Things been looked over?” j “1 doubt it except by the valet- ' Jacob never goes inside if he can help it.” “Should like to have a look round ! myself—hope I am In time.” I “In time for what?" , “To find a trace—old rubbish Is very | productive of traces.” j Gervace A’Court laughed. I “You are a rum beggar, Browne. You ought to have joined the force as a detevtice.” "Nothing I should have liked better, i except my wild life out West.” While they were thus chatting, and ' Browne—his detective proclivities keenly sharpened—was thinking hard, i they were strolling across the Park in the direction of Park Lane. “By Jove!” cried A’Court, “there they are again. The two girls have ' chanced places. Miss Cooper is now sitting with her back to the horses.” Naturally as the carriage approached them a better view of the companion than of the sable clad Marie was thus obtainable. Nina Fonblanque was dressed in a sort of mitigated mourning, wearing violet shaded off to mauve and no f veil. Hamilton Browne looked her fully In the face as the carriage was driven past. Great Scott!” he exclaimed, as if the words were forced out by some suddenly awakened memory. llullo Browne, do you know her?” Browne pulled himself together as with a jerk. "I know her? How should I know her—but she’s devilish pretty—she’s worth knowing. An introduction my I"«*nce —my future peace lies in your hands.” Uervase A’Court gave a laughing ; promise, though ho did not wholly bel eve in this sudden shock- Hamilton Browne was not th*» sort of man for whom women as a rule had any great attraction. That a fresh mystery had been evolved he was very much inclined to believe, and as he walked away, having loft Hamilton Browne at ] loor and was thinking over j ttm conversation they had had, it intrigued him not a little when he re- , mombered that Browne, interested ns \ he was in Marie Cooper’s companion. , had not asked what was her name- j CHAPTER VI. Mademoiselle Cristobelle f 1 Marie Cooper was lying on the sofa \ sobbing. j r Cervase A’Court after his ofT hand . i fashion had pronounced that she was >

a wreck. To an extent he was right, | her nervous organisation had received one of those severe shocks, from which only youth with time ever I really recovers. ' The sobbing stage was a decided i improvement on the dead-alive uninterested condition, in which she had passed the iTrst three or four months after Lord Yesey’s death, during which neither a tear nor a smile was seen on her wan white face. With the tears, which had suddenly surprised her one day, a keener Interest in the events of every-day life had been awakened. “Did she love Lord Yesey so very intensely that she should be thus prostrated by his death?” people wondered. In her own heart she knew that she did not. She loved the position. the power, rank would give her, but for the man she cared so little, that once a Countess, if she had remained faithful to him it would have been only by an almost super human force of will. Added to the keen sense of disappointment she felt at missing the Coronet, that was so nearly within her reach, it was the terrible manner of his death that had shocked her.—shocked her even more than it would otherwise have done, seeing that she could not help feeling that she herself was more or less implicated in bringing it about. it was only when a casual word, dropped unintentionally by Nina Fonblanque. revealed to her that Philip Morley’s

name was whispered in connection with the fearful tragedy in Brooke Street, that the deadness in Marie was | J suddenly quickened into life, and a | f poignant agony she had never felt till | \ now. made her pulses beat, and her j whole humanity burst forth into a cry. j Philip Morley. who had written that ! cruel upbraiding letter, oh, how she j had hated him for it, yet now, as she ! reviewed the past from the stand j point of a condemning world, love j rather than hate was the latent feeling, that was producing an amount of agony and remorse that was terrible in the ravages it committed alike on mind and body. “Love Is not love alone. It is a Daemon Taking all shapes and bearing many names. It is the Power of the Infernal realms, It is remorseless Yiolence—’tis madness.” From some such madness as Sophocles describes, was poor little tried Marie suffering, as she passed through the transitional period between numbness and acute misery. That Nina Fonblanque was also suffering intensely, in that she too feared that Philip Morley was guilty. Marie did not know. Had she knowrt she would not have cared. j (To be continued.) i J