THE LADY IN THE BALCK MASK.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume 1, Issue 8, 14 February 1914, Page 2

THE LADY IN THE BALCK MASK.

n MLW iIW

[COPYRIGHT.] CHIEF CHARACTERS IN THE STORY. RUTH TRINGHAM, lady's maid to Damia Marsh, is seenat the Diana Theatre with her fiance, Clement Singleton. During the progress of an Indian play that contains a tragedy, she - is attracted by a tall dark man in a box who is following the murder scene, with unusual intensity. Ruth is persuaded by Damia Marsh to impersonate her at a masked ball at Lady Woodmason's house, where she meets the man she saw at the theatre. He .mistakes her for Damia: —"I have doubled the stakes—and I shall win," win," he whispers. On her return home she finds Damia in bed and DANIEL VERINDER, her guardian, in the library, "stabbed in the neck," just like the man in the play." CHAPTER 11. THE STORY. OF A NIGHT. Ruth stood against the wall of the lighted room, looking at that horrible thing lying on the floor, and seem- ' ingly unable to take her eyes from it. She was so , stricken with terror that for the life of her she did not know what to do. Her first impulse, naturally, w T as to fly from the room, and fill the house with her screams, and- summon assistance. Scarcely conscious of what she did, she looked about the room, and began to than she had seen in that first cursory glimpse at it. The 6nc thing that -was borne'in upon her was that there had been no struggle. The chai? in which Daniel Verinder had been - seated was overturned; but it was a light one, and could easily have been knocked over by the mere action of the mau getting up hurriedly from it. The big desk at which Verinder generally' sat was in the middle of the room, and had its back set to the door; on the thick carpet it would have been possible for anyone to creep upon* the man seated at the desk, and strike the necessary blow without fbeing seen by the victim. One other thing Ruth noticed; and that was that the dead man lay with his head towards the door of the : . room, as though, after receiving his mortal wound, he had sprung up and turned to face his murderer before actually falling, In one corner of the room a great safe, which was '■-built into the wall, and, which had outside doors of mahogany to hide the fact that it was a safe, stood "wide open; the" outside doors and the inner steel ones as well. And the floor of the room was littered in all directions with papers, Vhich had apparently been-tossed aside, here, there, and anywhere, while the, murderer • '- made search for something. A clock in the silent house climbed onee; it was half-past three. Ruth started, and got to the door; sheer terror had put its grip upon her again,'-and as she groped for the handle shejinade up her mind, in a mere flash of to run out-and seek help; to scream the - . house down, so only she could get someone to come to her—some friendly hand that she might grip and hold. Damia first, of course; chiefly because she was a woman, an*l because Ruth's natural thought fleW to her friend.' rfDaniia? She stopped as the name flashed into her rilind, and gasped, and put a hand' to her lips to save T* herself from crying but. Damia had been awake; at soniething past three o'clock in the morning; Damia had shuddered, and hidden her face, and'prayed Ruth not to touch her--to get away from her. ' Ruth opened very quietly,, and crept out; uhudderihgly reached a hand round.the door when she

was outside, and switched off the light. She groped her way up the stairs to her room, and went in noiselessly; and there sat down, shaking from nead to foot, and wondering what she should do. » ■ A revulsion of feeling made her tell herself indignantly that the thing was impossible—utterly incredible. Sweet and gentle Damia, whose very voice was a caress in itself; the thing was not to be thought about even for an instant. > % Yet it was Damia.who had planned to send Ruth out of the house that night, for the gratification, as she had said, of a mere whim; and yet who was found trembling and hysterical in bed on Ruth's return. Ruth sat with her face hidden in her hands, striving hard to think coherently what it all meant; striving to decide what she should do. And then suddenly she made up her mind that she would, go to Damia, then and there, and wake her up, and tell her of this thing; face her with the matter, and hear from her own lips what she had to tell and what she knew. It was but the opening of two doors; the one leading into the dressing-ioom aifd the other from the dressing-room into Damia's room. She crept to the door of the dressing-room, opened it, and looked in * i There lay the dress she -had worn that night; with the sight of it all the events of the long night swept over ner afresh. The creeping out from the nouse in that disguise; the evident belief in Daniel Verinder's mind that it was Damia who was going out of the place, and stepping into the brougham at the door; With a new fear knocking at her heart,, Ruth gently closed the door again, and went back into room. For now she faced another and a- bewildering problem. Everyone in that house had known (or so they believed) that Miss Damia Marsh had gone off to the ball at Lady Woodmason's; she had been seen and recognised at Lady Woodmason 's house. Yet Damia Marsh had been hidden in the house the whole evening. A second staggering thought came to her. A certain humble little companion named Ruth Tringham had : returned from the theatre at ab'out half-past eleven, and had been seen to go to her room; she had not been seen to go out again, and must be supposed to have remained all night long in the house. And between the time: that Damia Marsh had been supposed to go out, at a little after midnight, in full view of everyone, and a little after three o 'clock in the morning, when she was supposed to have returned and to have been admitted by a footman, Daniel Verinder had been murdered. "Oh —she couldn't —she wouldn't do it!" panted Ruth in a breathless whisper. She was for gojhg down again into the house, and seeking l assistance; it seemed the best and simplest thing to do. And yet, even, with the thought, she hesitated again. What had she . been doing in the library, at half-past three in the morning, with only the flimsiest pretext that she. had gone in search of a book—she who had gone to bed, to all appearanee, hours before. ..* : , >- She sat there with the dreadful feeling that a net was _ being drawn eloser and closer about.; her; she seemed to be stifling for want of air. She knew in a sense that she was drawing that, net closer'with every moment of delay; and yet she was afraid to stir. So the long night passed—the longest Ruth had ever knowm Almost as though she had; been guilty herself, she saw the dawn creeping up in the sky outside her windows; she heard the first faint rumbling of a cart, and once the tramp of feet of some early passer-by. And then at last the .sound of someone, moving ihHhe house, and" light, soft feet going past the door her* room. She sat there shaking from head to foot, and staring with wide eyes at the door; and listening for what she knew must inevitably come. "I'shall go mad if it doesn/t happen soon," she whispered to herself, and half fearfully put her hands over her ears. It came at last—the sound,,of .a long, piercing shriek —and then another and another. Then the sound

of running feet, and excited voices, and the beating of hands upon a door. She knew, as she crouched there and listened, that they were beating upon the door of Damia's room —a natural thing to do, seeing that she was the mistress of the house. And then a moment later there came an impatient knocking at her own door. She wondered, in a dazed sort of fashion, what she looked like—she who had, first seen that dreadful thing that others had so recently discovered. As she got to the door and opened it, she did not realise that they who knocked were in such a state of \ panic that they were not likely to notice what she looked like, or to be surprised at her evident fear. '*<■ It was a terrified housemaid who stood outside; behind hep*, dimly seen, were other servants. "The master, miss—murdered!" panted the girl. At that moment Damia March ; coming out of her room only a second or two later than Ruth had done, thrust her way through the group of frightened men and women, and seized hold of Ruth, and clung to her. "What shall we do?" she whispered. "I'm afraid; I dare not go down—l dare not. What shall we do? 7 Ruth, unnerved by that long night of wild speculation and surmise and suspicion, scarcely knew what she doing, or what she was saying. ' Dimly she heard a man saying that they had sent for a doctor and for the police; she seemed to know, in some instinctive fashion, that she ought to go down.and look upon what she had looked upon before. In the midst of a sympathetic and bewildered and horrified group, she got down the 'stairs' somehow, with Damia clinging to her. , For a moment Damia gripped her wildly, and seemed to hold her back by main force, then in a surprising fashion seemed to gaini courage, thrust her way through those grouped about the doorway, and* went into the room, and looked down at the dead man. Then she turned, and thrust her way out again, and threw 'herself into Ruth's arms. '' Come away!"' she cried. "It"s too horrible!"' They, went up the stairs again, and into Damia's [room; it seemed as though she could not let Ruth go. Ruth, saying nothing, watched the other girl; it seemed as if in a moment Damia must cry out what she knew, at least to this one friend she trusted. But, after "looking in a bewildered fashion all round about her, 'she only asked, with a blank stare at Ruth: "Who can have done it?" i Ruth, rapidly growing more composed now that s"he was alone with the other girl, looked at her quietly, and spoke in a low tone. "You know, Damia, that I went out last night; you know that I came back soon after three o'clock. It was a little later than that when I found him-—lying dead. I left him alive when I went out to, the dance; he spoke to me in the. hall. I was away for three hours —and when I came back he was dead. Dp you understand what I mean?" " Of course I know, what yotft,mean,'' retorted Damia '' But that doesn "t help us to find out who did it." \,-- ; ' ■ You sent ~me,. out of. the house last night—for three hours— —" . T >..,•• X The other girl, with a sort o£j horrified cry, recoiled from her; then came straight up to her, and seized her by the arms, and stared into her face. "You don't believe—my God!—you don't think that I had anything to do with that?" f.'Why did you send m,e out of, the house last night —secretly?" whispered EutJh. " I can't tell you," was the whispered reply. "But I never saw him the whole night—never heard anything of him. "Ruth'.'^—sheshooitthe girliwildly, and stared into her eyes—"you couldn't believe such a thing; it ibn't possible?" • v A quick knock sounded on. the door. " The inspector would like to see you, inisa,'/ said the voice of a maid outside. > "I'll dress and come down," answered Da\mia in a bewildered fashion, still staring at, Ruth. Ruth opened the door leading into the dressingroom, and passed through to her own r"oom. Only when

she reached' it xlid she realise that the dress she always wore had been left the night before in Dahlia's room, when the brilliant '' Carmen'' dress was donned. She went back into her friend's room to get it. "I 13ft this here last night," she said, by way of excuse for her return, as she took up the dress. She had nearly completed her dressing when the door leading 'from the dressing-room was opened, and Damia came quickly in. ~ She stood twisting her fingers nervously for a moment, without looking at Euth at all; then she blurted out what she had to say in a hurried whisper. "If they ask you, you are not to say anything about what happened last night; I mean, about the change we made —you going to the dance in my place. You mustn't." ][ "I shall tell the truth," cried Ruth indignantly. "I shall say that I went out, in your place, to Lady Woodmason 's, and • that I came back- at about three o'clock in the morning.?' "No one will believe you," cried Damia sharply. "They'd laugh at you. It was I who went out and saw Lady Woodmason and all the other people and danced, and came home at three o'clock." "Why are you doing this?" cried Euth, with a look of terror. "Because I'm afraid; because I've - got to save myself,'' said Damia quickly. "If you can believe that I did that" —she pointed towards the door, andshuddered —"isn't it possible that others will believe ■ it too?. I tell you I'm desperately afraid; but I was! out last night, and, I didn't get home: until past three? o'clock in the morning." At that time there was nothing more to be said. Like one in a dream Euth saw the other ghT go quickly out of the room; when, a moment or two later, she stepped out into the corridor, she found Damia waiting for her. There was a change in the girl's manner; she came to Euth, and with that old* gesture of affection slipped her arm round the girl's waist, "Dearest," she whispered, "it's bound to be all right. No one will think for a moment that either of us—two weak girls—did such a thing as that. Only I can't tell anyone the truth about last nijrht-—I can't!" N A grave-faced inspector of police was pacing up and down the hall; he removed* his peaked cap as the girls came somewhat fearfully down the broad staircase together, and approached him. There had been a dread in their minds that they must go into that room in which the dead, man lay; but they were spared that. The man opened tne door of another room, and bowed them in; and there. they, found-Daniel Verinder's own doctor. Damia knew him well, but Euth had never seen him before. He stepped forward and shook hands with Damia. "I live so• near that they very wisely telephoned to me, and I came at once," he said. "A terrible, business; Miss Marsh." "Horrible!" she whispered, with a shudder. Euth became aware of the fact that the inspector was looking at her keenly; she felt nerself growing wMte under his scrutiny. It was, after all. only the manner of the man, but, poor Euth could not know that. Damia presented her friend, and* then sat down, still retaining her grip of, Euth, as though she would cling in her terror even to that frail anchor. ''The inspector here.has been going over the house, and has been examining some of the servants," said the doctor/' "He will tell you what he has discovered, or what ne has not. This lady, inspector" the doctor added, indicating Damia, "was Mr Yerinder'js wardMiss Damia Marsh. He was very-feuch a'tiaehed to her, and she'i''l believe, to him." > ;' "Can you tell ;us~ anything that happened, last night—out of the ordinary, I mean? ficer. "You heard no suspicious sound in the house?" Damia turned her dark eyes oh the man's face;■ there was almost a smile in them as she looked at him. "I shouldn't ""be likely to hear anything," she said. "I didn't get home until three o'clock in the morning."

by f GALiLMo

Here was the opportunity for Uuth to '.upcak;" the'; chance to cry out indignantly against the lie which/ might have far-reaching effects. But even then it seemed to her, in the face of Darnia'sdeclaration, that it was utterly impossible that. anyone should for a moment belieye that mad statement concerning the events of the previous night. She gave a little gasp, and then sat silent. "You did not return until three o'clock in the morning?" murmured the inspector. ''And at that time, as I judge, poor Verinder must have been dead at least an hour," said the doctor emphatically. 'I don't wish to distress you, Miss Marsh," said, the inspector, '/but I should be glad if you would tell me exactly what happened last night, and when it was fcnat you saw Mr Verinder last aljve." ( Damia Marsh folder her hands,' and began her fate glibly. "It had been arranged for a long time that I was to go tp this my aunt's house, Lady; Woodmason, you know. I didn't start till midnight, • and my guardian came out into the hall and spoke to me—hoped I should enjoy the dance." Euth turned her troubled eyes upon the face of,; the other girl. It seemed incredible that she should, tell that story, so naively and completely, and without faltering in tile least. , " . ~ "I got into the motor brougham at the door, "went ■■ on Damia. "I was dressed in fancy costume- I—ao 1 —ao "; 'Carmen.' I saw my aunt, and I danced with a lot of people there. .1 came away at just .about three/ o'clock. I came straight home, and I went to bed." "Naturally you would not disturb your guardian at that hour," said the inspector with a nod. "Of course not," answered Damia,' with a soft little laugh. "I thought he was probably in bed; I did not go near Hie library. Sometimes he reads oi* writes there very late; this must have been one of the occasions. En any case, 1 never disturb him.' ' "Who admitted you to tjie house when you came batk?" asked the inspector. - ' " The footman,'' answered Damia\ promptly. '' I just walked past him, and straight upstairs to '"my rbom." "Then that footman would actually have been waiting up all that time?" demanded the inspector sharply. "Of course." The man stepped across the room, and set his thumb against the white button of' the electric bell. "What is the man's name!'/ he asked. "It would be Green," answered Damia. A servant entered the room, and the inspector directed that the footman Green was to be sent to him. After a moment or two the man entered the room, and stood respectfully waiting. ! "When I spoke to you just now, Green',' you did not tell me that you had been waiting up until three o'clock in the morning-for Miss Marsh's. return." . '" " Begging your pardon, sir,'' said tho young foot-: man with perfect respect, "I was not asked. ' I only answered questions, sir," "Well,' at all events, you were waiting up;" snapped the inspector. '' Where were you waiting?'' . "In what we, call the servants' hall, sir, in the , basement at the,back of the house." , . "And you heard nothing?" "Not a sound, sir." ',' You, were not asleep by any chance, I suppose?'.' "I was not asleep, sir," said Green, a little indig-, nantly. '' Miss Damia- will tell you if I let her;. jo. quickly or not." „ "** * *- *' • ''.'There was no delay," said Daffiia: ''" ,r " ! ' r > ' ' '"And you'then went off straight to : bed, I sup-"' pose?" suggested the inspector. „' - ' "Yes, sir—-I went straight off to bod, and slept till - someone woke me this morning to tell mc the news." "Thank you—that'-will do." And Green went quietly out of the'room, and closed the door. (To be continued next Saturday.)