A MATTER OF MILLIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 257, 30 October 1890, Page 6

A MATTER OF MILLIONS.

BY ANNA KA TIIARINE GREEN,

Author of ' The Leavenworth Case,' «The

Forsaken Inn,' Etc., Etc.

BOOK FIRST.

CHAPTER XL 3IISS "EOGEKS OF NEW YORK. On returning from Miss Hadden's school, Mr Gryce found the inspector immersed in business, mainly connected with this affair. Some new facts had come to light, and, from the mass of information which was now hxs, the inspector was culling the most imoortant items. Something which he had

come across appeared to astonish him greatly, for he looked both nervous and agitated. He was glad to see Mr Gryce, and, as soon as thab person was seated, hastened to observe :

* This plot i_ assuming great proportions, Gryce. Anoth . r girl of the name of Rogers has beon found, who knowy the man ot tho grey eyes and black moustache ; bub I cannot think it is b'tte same person who was seen hanging abouv the other girls ; for she told me his name—' 'I beg pardon,' interrupted Mr Gryce; •bub was it this?' He showed bhe card which he had brought from his late interview. The inspector took one look, stared at Mr Gryco, and remained silent. Evidently ho found ib diffieuib to believe the evidonco of his.* own eyes. ' I know thab ib seems unaccountable,' observed tho detective ; ' bub is bhab the name?' 'Ib is.' Mr Gryce pub the card iback into his pocket, drumming a restless ftattoo on the table before him, and, for a moment, looked as perplexed as the inspector. Then his brow cleared. Once a face was established, he accepted ifc. ' Then bhe matter is settled,' he grimly declared. ' We have found our mi in.' Tho inspector frowned. ' I can hardly believe it,' said he. * There must be some mistake.' 'lb does nob look like it,' was thefircn rejoinder. 'This is the name of the gentleman mixed up in tha affairs of the young lady belonging to Miss Hadden's school.' 'I regret to hear ib.' ' And his description, like that of Abe cerson to whom you allude, tallies exact ly with the appearance of the gentleman wiuv bears this name.' ' A most unfortunate fact.' , * 1 agree with you ; bub we cannot shirk the truth.' Then, as the inspector made no reply, he inquired : ' Any points to give me, sir ?' The inspector nodded,, and came at once to business ; bub nob with his usual good grace. Even an old official like him has some confidence left in human nature, which he finds ib hard to see destroyed. A half-hour later, Mr Gryce sab in his own especial corner, turning over the new facts just gleaned from the inspector. They can be grouped under two heads : First, those referring to the victims of the conspiracy ; and, secondly, those referring to it 3 agents. We will consider tho firsb group first. Another Jenny Rogers had been found ; this we already know. She was a schoolteacher, living with her parents in a neab home south of Fourteonth-street. Young, pretty, bub with a decided physical defect thab affected her gait, sho went her humble round of duties with cheerful alacrity, looking for nothing more than her own exertions could bring her. But this contenbment, honesb as ib was, was destined to be sharply interrupted by th-i events of a certain day. She had been to school and wa3 in ono of her happiest moods, when, upon returning to her home, she found in its pretty parlour a fine-looking gentleman of superior manner. Ho was a stranger to her, but something in his look made her feel at ease in his presence and took away the embarrassment which s„e usually felb under the gaze of those she meb for the lirsb time. She bherefore advanced with a smile, halting so little thab he evidently did not notice that sho was lame, tor his face lighted up with that look of admiration which a woman never mistakes, as he said : ' I have a letter of introduction to you, from a friend whose name you will ab once recognise.' And he handed her a short note written by one of her most trusted associates. * Will that suffice to make my presence welcome, even if I should boro you with a personal question or two ?' Bore her ! It did nob soem as if he could ever boro her. She smiled and bwo exquisite dimples came into view. The sighb appeared to increase his admiration. Ho took a seat somewhat nearer her side. 1 Miss Rogers,' he began, ' I have come upon an important errand. I am looking in behalf of a friend, for a young person suitably qualified to take in charge and teach bwo motherless children. I know you have a horne —' she had raised one hand in mute deprecation—' bub the offer which 1 am ready to make you is one so generous thab I scarcely think you will hesitate, after hearing all its particulars. A journey to Europe—'

Her face lighted up. 'A nursery-maid under you; consideration, kindness and Love from tho children's aunt, with whom you are expected to travel; and, Lastly, money onough—' ' Please !' The small hand went up again. «I think I had rather not hear. I have •wanted change, I have wanted travel, I need money, and I adore children, bub I have an invalid mother, and I cannot leave Lier even to procure the added, means her almost helpless condition demands. Let us taLk of something else for there is no use in talking of this. She would die without my good-night kiss.' It was not the girl herself who told this Story, though she corroborates ifc in itgeneral details. It was an aunt, wlio sat, during the whole interview, in the adjoining room, seemingly ab work, but in reality giving full attention to all that passed before her. It will, therefore, be understood that I give the aunt's opinion when I say that this young girl never Looked sweeter or more engaging than she did •when uttering these last few words. The gentleman showed that he appreciated her charms for his eyes kindled and his manner became eager. 'I have heard tho most flattering rei, marks concerning your goodness and de- , votion to your mother,' he warmly observed. • That is one reason why I have come to you upon this especial errand. I am glad to be assured that my informant understated the truth rather than exaggerated ib. If I only-* possessed the right, I should say : " The blessing of God falls upon the true, the pure and the virtuous," and promise to grant you all your wishes, even to the satisfaction of your wildest dreams.' 'You aro extravagant. You do not y-galiae all thab this means to a young girl.' . •Perhaps not, but it would amuse me to find out. What is the first thing you would (f ask for?' She laughed, she dimpled, she Looked lovely. 1 * What sorb of play is this ?' she cried. |f 'Tell nay wishes, and to a stranger ? O, no; -not even if he were the wizard he •would have to be to grant them.' The gentleman smiled. ■ 11 ' I aim a wizard,' he declared, * Teat) me {red see.' "-

'Really?' 'Really.' ' You tempt me,' she cried. . He continued to smile, bub said nothing. 'Shall I ask for something?' she inquired. ' I entreat you.' 'Very well,' and her face grew suddenly demure in its mock gravity. ' I—l want the world,' He broke into an amused laugh. ' To-day ?' he asked. ' 0 yes, to-day. lam not used to wait- i ing.' He laughed again, then gravely shook his head. *It is too much. I fear—' Sho interrupted him with a mocking pout, nob out of keeping with her arch and innocent face. 'Do not fear,' she cried. ' Health, freedom and wealth will satisfy me. Health for my mother and—' a shadow fell over her mirthfulness —' and for myself.' He started. ' Aro you nob well ?' ho asked. ' O yes,' she answered, with a sudden , clearing up of her countenance. ' I was only thinking—' and she stopped. She never alluded to her infirmity. He did not appear to notice the deep meaning in all this. Her face was fresh, her manner sparkling, and as long as she sab still, her form was the image of symmetry and grace. Ho proceeded with his banter and soon, to their mutual surprise, they were conversing as familiarly as if they had been friends for years. The aunt, who admired, the gentleman, and had an unbounded confidence in her niece, listened, bub did not follow their talk boo closely. . Sti3 was soon startlad into attention, however, nob by what they said, but by the sudden silence which had fallen between .ham, and, looking up, she saw that her niece, anxious to show a book or picture in illustration of whabshe had been saying, had risen and was limping across the ro.m. The sighb seemed to affect tho gentleman strangely, for at this indisputable token of deformity, he ab first started, and then showed so much discomfiture, thab the aunb grew instantly angry. This feeling, which was perhaps natural in one who knew the young lady's virtues, was nob destined to pass away very soon. For, when her niece faced the stranger with the book she had broughb, he was so changed from his former self, that he scarcely noticed what she showed him, bub hurriedly took out his watch with the remark that he had an important engagement, and should have to go. This change, coming so quickly after an interest as marked as it was respectful, struck the young girl most painfully, and she blushed deeply as she returned his bow. Bub she contrived to say that she hoped to sco him again, even though she had been obliged to refuse tho request he had urged. To which ho replied by a hasty : ' I hardly think I shall be ablo to come again,' instantly covered by the more polite remark : ' I shall do myself the honour, certainly.' After which he backed oub of the room and house wibh an assumption of cordiality, which, not being real',- left only the most unpleasant recollections behind ife. What had it all meant? They _»fiver knew, for he never came again, nor did' they ever have an opportunity to obtain aity explanation from the friend who had given him his letter of introduction, for this person had sailed for Europe on or about this time and had nob yeb returned. _ The letter, signed by bhis friend and containing the name of ti\eir strange visitor, was all that remained' to prove that the aflair had not been a perplexing dream. The next fact that engaged the detective's attention was a more serious ono. In the room of the girl who had perished in the alley had been found a box of bonbons of a make and quality so superior to whab are usually indulged in by tho daughters of toil that attention was ab once attracted to them. Tbe physician, especially, who had conducted the autopsy over the poor girl's remains, had shown the groabesb inberesb in it, finally carrying ib homo and subjecting the sweets to a test bhab effectually proved the presence of poison in them. The discovery altered bhe whole character of bhe affair and eventually affected bhe verdicb. For the poison there found was a subtle ono, capable of producing the very effects noticed in the young girl. She ;.bad, therefore, without doubt, died from poison, and the person who gave her these sweets was open to the charge of murder.

Feeling thab bhe affair was becoming somewhat oppressive, Mr Gryce turned to the consideration of tbe second group of fact 3 given bo him by the inspector. Hitherto attention had been given solely to such girls who had been proven to be victims of the plot. Bub bhe time had now come for a study into the characters and actions of those who, from bheir manner of life or the circumstances surrounding them, gave evidence of being sufficiently depraved to make ib excusablo in the police to search among them for tho particular Jenny Rogers in whose behalf this conspiracy had bean formed.

• A li_b of such girls Lay before him, together with such data as served to individualise them and show why they had been regarded with doubt. In number they wero three, and in circumstances. differed as much as their possible victims had done. One was a fashionable belle, veiling her wickedness behind a show of luxury and superficial glitter ; another, a clairvoyant, suspected of very shady operations, but never convicted of anything worse than deceiving the weak and trusting ones who consulted her wisdom and relied upon her skill; the third, a well-known advenburess, whose beauty and whose means were both on the wane, and who, of the three, Mr Gryce at'once decided to be the woman he was in search of.

His reasons for this were simple. The woman, to whom the promise had been made that in a month there should not be another of her name left in town, was walking at the time in a well-lighted street tit a very late hour. Now the fashionable belle alluded to never walked. She boasted thab the pavement did not know the touch of her feet; consequently, he did not believe that she would have been led to tread the streets so late with any companion or on any pretext whatever. The clairvoyant was a different sort of being. You could as little imagine her riding as the other walking. But she was one of those deep, far-seeing ones who would as soon give away her soul aa discuss any plan she had formed in the public street. The adventuress, on the contrary, was impetuous, and, if as wicked as the others, was neither aa fastidious nor as wise. Her, Mr Gryce meant ab once to see; bub in the meantime, there was another matter to settle, and this was : Who had purchased the candibs which had, doubtless, broughb destruction upon one of these unfortunate ones ? As the name of the maker was upon the box, it was not difficult to determine where they had been bought. But when he had reached the store and inquired of all the girls who waited upon its customers as to the sort of person who had bought this especial box, he thoughb bhab he should certainly fail in his errand, for nob one of them could remember about the purchaser till he suggested that it might be a gentleman of black moustache and elegant appearance, when one of the girls spoke up quickly and said : *O, yes, I remember, now. He was very particular as to what kind of candy I gave him. " Nothing deleterious," fie said, as if we ever sold anything hurtful !'

CHAPTER XII.

madam's little door.

Next day, Mr Gryce had an adventure of which he is never fond of speaking. When asked aboub ib he shrugs his shoulders, says he 13 getting old, and turns the conversation upon happier topics. Having a regard for Mr Gryce, we should be glad to sustain

him in his reticence ; bub, as this adventure forms a link in our story, we shall be obliged to describe it, though we will nob do so without making our apologies to the aged detective, whose record, after all, is chiefly one of triumphs. As I have already intimated, ho had hia own suspicions as to the identity of the woman believed to be the instigator of the plot formed against the girls of the name of Jenny Rogers. To prove these suspicions well founded, he took the firsb occasion- to visit this woman. Ib was nob easy to gain admittance to her presence, but, by dinb of a litblo manoeuvring at tho door, he succeeded in getting into the house, when bhe firsb move be made was to push by bhe girls who guarded ib and haeben rapidly upstairs. Ho found 'Madame,' as she was called, drawn up at the further end of the large front apartment. She was in morning dress and looked frightened, bub he did nob appear to notice thi. any more than he appeared to observe that tho room was in great disorder, though ib was in the middle of the day. ' Who are you ?' she cried. ' Why do you come here? Whab righb have you to push yourself into my. room in this way without an invitation ?'

' You will pardon me,' said he, wibh a humble bow, ' if I tell you that I have been sent here by your friend, M ' and he whispered a name in her ear. 'Ho is ill himseif to-day, and asked me to come and ccc if everything is going on right, and if you can do without him for the present.' Her eyes, which- had fiashod open ab bhe sound of bhe name ho had mentioned, fell suddenly ab his final words. Turning her back on him with an indescribable air of disdain, she drew toward the open door of a small closet and reached oub her hand toward a shawl, which she took down and wrapped aboub her.

' You are an impostor !' she said, with sudden vehemence. ' I don'b know any person by that name, and if you persisb in staying here, I shall call for help.' ' I don'b think you will raiße your voice,' said he, ' even though I shut bhis door behind me and lock ib, and pub the key in my pocket, so. You are too afraid of the police, Madame Jenny Rogers !' ' Afraid of the police !' she mocked. 'Do I look as if I were afraid of the police ? What have I done to fear them or you or any one, for thab matter?'

' Shall I toll you ?' he smiled, looking about the room and satisfying himself bhab it possessed no other, outlet than the one he himself guarded. 'I can tell you many more things than you think I can. For instance, just what youv accomplice answered you when you suggested thab you were nob tho only Jenny Rogers in town.' She started, turned pale, and flashed upon him two very dangerous eyes. Bub she said : 'Accomplice for whab? I have no accomplice ; you aro talking liko a fool, and like a fool I shall treat you. Stand away from tho door !' ' No,' said ha, ' nob till you aro ready to accompany me. I have no warrant for your arrest, bub. I shall have in aboub half an hour, if my man outside there is spry.' And lifting a whistle bo his lips he blow a peculiar call upon it. Instantly a change pagscd over her face: She did nob move, bub he instinctively pub his hand to his pocket. 'No bricks !' he exclaimed, warningly. ' Who are you ?' she simply cried. ' I am Mr Gryce of tho police force,' he grimly answered. She seemed to measure him" with her eye. 'I am stronger than you,' she said. He drew his hand from his pocket; it contained a pistol. Sho gave a horrified shriek, and bounded into the closet, shutting tho door behind her. 'Pub ib away,'she cried, * pub ib away, and I will come oub !' He smiled, drew up a small bable bo his side, and laid the pistol on it. ' 'Ihero, I have done it,' said! he. ' Don'b sbifle yourself in that place. Come oub and talk.' She made no answer. Ho took up the pistol again, and crossed the room. 'Come out,'he commanded, and pulled ab the door. It was locked. He was old and weakened by rheumatism, bub he was very angry, and that made him for bhe moment strong. Gatcbinghold of the knob, he wrenched ab the door and actually tore it open. 'Now!' he cried, and stopped. An empty space was before him. He said to the inspector, in relating tho story, bhat he never before felt so foolish. Had she gone through tho floor? Had she evaporated into thin air ? He stood for a moment baffled ; then he tore down the clothes hanging on pegs before him, and, searching the wails, found the evidences of a lock in tho back partition. But ib was a spring lock ; and, as for bhe parbibion itself, it was so sbrong that ib scarcely shook under bis weighb, bhough ho cast himself heavily againsb ib. Disappointed, bub, above all, mortified at what promised to be a complete fiasco, he came from tho closet, aud opening tbe door into the hall, rushed hasbily boward the back of the house, in the hope of being able to cub short her escape. But here he was met by a blank wall. On bhis storey of the - house tho only communication bebween bhe fronb and bhe rear lay through the closet, and bhis was effectually closed. Remembering bhat bhe house opened upon an alleyway in the rear, he ab once lost hearb.

'She is gone,' ho whispered to himself, and blushed, though there was no one there to see. • .

And his fears proved true. Neither then, nor for months afterwards, did the police succeed in laying hands upon this mysterious woman. She had seen imprisonment in Mr Gryce's eye, and fled opportunely ; and all the satisfaction they got out of the matter was-the certainty of her being the woman they sought. {To be Continued.) 1$

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