MYSTERY AT MANBY HOUSE

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21372, 17 March 1941, Page 3

MYSTERY AT MANBY HOUSE

By PETER MANTON

CHAPTER XlV.—(Continued) "Hmm! Smart fella, the Super,” Pike was looking thoughtful now, and did monstrous things with his breakfast. He had finished when Court returned, that right hand smoothing the seam of his trousers again. "The great guns in going order?” demanded Pike. Perhaps lor the first time Bill had seen it, Chief Inspector Court looked uncertain of himself. The atmosphere in he dining-room grew tense. “Ye-es,” said Court. “Superintendent Harley will be here at twelve o’clock, gentlemen, and he specially requests everyone to be he*e. Including—” his eyes narrowed as he turned to Pike—“you, Pike.” Bill said something about the Chief Inspector that it wasn’t good to hear. Horn shrugged. Pike, to the others surprise, laughed softly. “Well, well! He’s beginning as he means to go on, is he? What does request mean, Court? Order?” Court smiled faintly. “Near enough, I should imagine.” Pike stood up slowly. “I may be back by twelve,” he said, “but I doubt it. Bill, take my tip and do just what the law orders. I’m outside the law,” he added with a chuckle. “Harley warned you I might be obstinate, didn’t he, Court?” Court was going a darker red than usual. “You’re making it difficult for me, Pike.” “Oh, no, I’m not,” said Jonathan Pike cheerfully. “Harley’s made it difficult for you. Show me any rule or regulation by which you can legally keep me, a representative of the great British Press, on the premises. And if you can find one, tell me how you’re going to do it.” Pike lit a cigarette, puffing its smoke slowly above Court’s head. “You’re in a considerable minority, Court.” “I’ve two constables,” said Court, looking at the other trio, “and that makes us at least equal.” “You’ve forgotten the British Public,” murmured Jonathan Pike. “And particularly you’ve forgotten the Daily Wire, for whom I am an official representative. Detain a pressman? My dear Court ” Court lifted his hands and dropped them with resignation. “If it leads to trouble, it’s of your own making.” “I’ll bear up,” said Pike.

Bill Arden was torn between a desire to go with Pike, and a realisation of the need for staying here if he was not to give away his association with the superior. Pike solved the difficulty, ten minutes later, by sending a message through Clark. “Hang on,” it ran, in Pike’s sprawling writing, “and call for me at 17,.yj.ed Lion Street,T’leet Street, when you can get through. So long!” Court realised the uselessness of trying to detain the newspaper man. Pike borrowed a car from the garage, blithely, and splashed his way along the drive towards the road. He would probably be held up before he got far, but he was prepared to take the chance. “There’s no reason why you shouldn’t get home for an hour,” Court told Jim Horn. “Hardly worth it. I’ll try and ’phone them.” He put through a call to the house where Anne Wilson and Mary Horn had been for the past three days, and was soon talking to his wife. From his words there seemed nothing the matter. Bill tried not to look curious, but Horn lost no time in relating the news. “Miss Wilson’s all right, she’s been up two days, Bill. Nothing happened out of the ordinary. Er—they’re coming over.” “What?” “Miss Wilson is anxious to get here, and ,Mary probably wants to see what she can do,” smiled Horn. “They’re coming in an old Ford van, with a high chassis to get through the water. Well, back to normal again.” “I don’t think,” said Bill shortly. “Thinking of Lili Balluzzi?” asked Horn. “Ye-es. And other things.” Bill grinned. “You didn’t ask them to bring your pipe, old man.” Horn chuckled. “Mary’s bringing several, she says it’s the only thing that worried her. I—where are you off to?” “To meet the adventurers,” said Bill, “in Wellingtons instead of snow shoes. I must have a breath of fresh air.” Court raised no objections, and the two men set off down the drive. In a little less than half-an-hour they saw the Ford coming towards them. It was going steadily, and in the lanes near the house there was little enough water, although the dips in the fields were flooded. (To be continued)