THE COLONEL'S ENEMY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 87, 11 April 1906, Page 10

THE COLONEL'S ENEMY.

By WINTHROP B. HARLAND,

Author of " Lady Elgin's Secret*" " A Harvest of Shame," "The Elder Son, * "Lord Ashton'a Heir, " 4 eta, etc. .

CHAPTER NIL \ 'J ffHB TWO STRANGERS. . It seemed an excellent idea, and the major could not give Mr. Fletcher too much praise for suggesting it; for though Col. St. Hilary might be offended if forcibly detained at Boulogne, it .would set ell doubt at rest as to his safety. ""But you must bear in mind," Mr. Dacre said.. 4i that if our friend is being personated, his personator would not have been so shortsighted as to hand in that telegram in person. Men who engage in such a conspiracy are prepared for every contingency. Do as yon please about going to Boulogne.. Still, I must say, I thins it would be as well to wait for the letter he has promised to write." ~'l cannot agree with- you/" Fletcher said, respectfully; "the letter, when it comes, may be a forgery.' "That is going too far," Mr. Dacre said, with a smile. "Here is the major, who is as well acquainted with St. Hilary's handwriting as with his own, and no one could think of deceiving him." "With all respect to you, sir, I hold a different opinion. I could put my finger on half a dozen men, who, if they had the merest scrap of your writing, could imitate it so perfectly that you •would not like to repudiate it in a court of law; and we cannot afford to lose any time, or take any chances. You need not come with mc, major; your man will do as well." The major would not consent to that. He told Mr. Dacre to show the telegram to Dora, and not to let her know there was a doubt as to its authenticity; it was a respite for her, and woidd fill her mind with hopeful expectation. "For my own part." Dacre said, "I feel sure that teh telegram did come from the colonel; and I should be sorry to hint otherwise. Your journey is a waste of time. You had much better wait for a letter. As to being deceived by an imitation of the colonel's writing, it is quite out Gf the question." Maj. Lugard thought so .too-; but he was, none the less, determined to accompany Mr. Fletcher on his journey to Boulogne, and he took Ditton with him as well. A man who could so readily identify the colonel was too valuable to be left behind. He had taken some rooms for his master—the whole of a. first and second floor —in Half Moon-street, at a rent •which, though moderate for that locality, would have paid for a suburban villa and a couple of horses in the stable. •"Very nice apartments, sir," he said, "and a particularly comfortable bedroom, with bath and everything, not many doors from Piccadilly." "Do not tantali=e mc with visions of a comfortable bedroom," the major said; "I feel a* if I could sleep for 24 hours when I get a chance, but I do not know when that may be. I am almost as thoroughly played out as Mr. Dacre, and he seems utterly wearied." "A nasty accident that of his," observed Fletcher, meditatively, "and a curious one at the same time." ""Why a curious one?" Lugard asked, bs Ditton, having said all that was expected of him, fell behind. "Because he escaped without a scratch or an abrasion of the skin. Look at the mud and grit on the pavement and in tbe road, and see if you think you could have been pitched headfirst out of a cab and get off with a bruise. It is not for mc to disbelieve an elderly gentleman's account of an accident, but that mark on his temple looks as much to mc like a blow as anything I ever saw." '"Why should he have told an untruth about it?" "That is just what I should like to Imow," Fletcher said; "but if he got that mark by falling out of a cab, "it's a wonder to mc. Of course, I may be ■wrong, but such a thing never happened to anybody else." "There is no doubt that you are •wrong," said Lugard, "and I do not like to hear you throw discredit on Mr. Daere's statement; he could have no object in deceiving us, and he is one of the most scrupulously truthful men I have met." Mr. Fletcher accepted the rebuke with an apologetic nod. "All right," he said to himself. "I had better have kept my own counsel, it seems, and I will in future; we never know what-harm a chance remark may do." They called at Scotland Yard, and saw the same inspector, who shook his bead at the suggestion of having St. Hilary detained. "We have no power to do that," he said; "bad as the ease looks, we are only acting on suspicion, and it would he a serious thing if we put the colonel under arrest for personating himself. But we can have him closely watched, and put you in communication with the French police, who will tell you where to find him. Where is tbe telegram you had ?" "We left it behind, so that it might he shown to Miss St. Hilary, and allay any misgivings she may have." "Tou should have brought it withyou," the inspector said; "we cannot act unless we see all the documents that come into your hands. I take Major Lugard's word that you did receive such a telegram. Are you going to Boulogne now?" "At once." "Very well; though it would surprise mc very much if you got anything by it. Our men have been on the watch for every train at every outlet on the coast; and if the colonel crossed tbe channel since yesterday, he must have worn something that rendered him invisible. Still, you will have the satisfaction of having tried for yourself, though I hardly see how you should succeed where we have failed; if tbe colonel had gone across, we should have heard of it by this time." "But there can be no doubt that he went to Dover," the major said. "There can be no doubt someone resembling him took the train for Dover, but what that someone looked like ■when be got out of tbe train at Dover, is quite a different thing. If there is anything in 'Mr Darlington's tbeory of personation, and I think there is, a railway car is just the place .for a change of disguise. I wish you every success, s?r; but I am afraid you" will have your trouble for nothing." Mr Fletcher, dissented from the "view when they were outside. He told Lugard that the members of the regular force iwere always jealous of private inquiry •gents, and not unfrequentlydid their

best to "baulk them. But he "had every confidence in his own ability, and was sure that he could penetrate any disguise which might be assumed. " When they were in the train, he took from Joseph Ditton a. minute description of Colonel St. Hilary, as he was dressed on leaving the hotel at Liverpool. It was as faithful as a photograph, but the agent was well aware that even the portrait of one man may easily he mistaken for the portrait of another. There was nothing- in St. Hilary's height, build, dress, or countenance, to distinguish him from the average English gentleman on his tra- • vels; his complexion was 'darkened by the Indian sun, but many were naturally as dark. His thoughtful eyes were . large and clear, but these were not | rare: and the fact that he was becoming j grey meant little in England, where I scores of men, hardly past thirty, had j begun to leave the traces of their youth j behind them. J "I cannot describe Mm any better/ Ditton said, disappointed, when Mr Fletcher explained this to him, "but I should know him again anywhere; and so ; would you, if you had seen him once. |He is not a big man. but he is what ■ you might call a kingly one, slow and j easy, dignified and graceful: and when he looks at you, you can tell that he is not an ordinary man." "You and I can understand that," Fletcher said, "'but' it is not so easy to convey the impression to others. If he were a few .inches under or over the average height, we should find him easily enough; or if he had any physical peculiarity, such as a club foot, a limp, a cast in his eye, or a fiery-red head of hair, there would be no difficulty in tracing him. And he is not likely to say or do anything that would attract attention; he is one of those thoroughbred gentlemen who are at home everywhere, and would go from one end of the world to the other, without speaking until he was spoken to." Mr Fletcher was certainly not gifted with the same unobtrusive faculty, for be made friends at every stage of the journey. By some peculiar process of divination, he singled out, or was singled cut by, some quiet stranger, who, after a glance or a sign, imperceptible to the major, would find a pretext for speaking, and then have a confidential conversation that never lasted long, but seemed full of interest- to both. This happened time after time, and when they landed at Boulogne, they were followed by a man who seemed to pay special attention to Lugaru's new valet. "How do you do, Mr Ditton?" he said. "I hardly expected to find you here. It was only the other day I left you in Liverpool." ''"That is where I have seen you, somewhere," said Ditton; "but I cannot say where exactly." "I have been at the bar of" the Cornwaliis now and then, in company with a gentleman named Darlington. Now ycu understand." "You are a detective." "Yes; but do not talk so loud. This place is full of eyes and ears, and from what I have seen I should say that nearly fifty per cent of tbe visitors are wanted for something or other. Is that gentleman, Major Lugard?" "Yes." •'•'And the other?" '■ Mr. Fletcher." "Of Sheriff's Court—l know. It is a pity he cannot look a little less like what he is—or was. No one on earth would ever take him for anything but a police inspector on or off duty. 1 should like a word with the major, if you can manage it." '' Why not go up to him and tell him your business in a straightforward manner?" " As I have already told you, the place is full of eyes and ears. Now, if the major could manage to recognise mc, as if I were an old acquaintance that he has not seen for years, I could take lv's arm and talk to him." Ditton quickened his pace, and was soon by his master's side. In a very few words mc made known what was wanted, and Lugard turned with a wellassumed expression of surprise and pleasure. " Very glad, indeed, to see you again," the Liverpool detective said, as he'took the hand that was offered him; " and," he added, in a lower tone, " take my arm, please, or give mc jours, and do not look to the right or left while I am speaking. You have heard that Col. St. Hilary and two friends travelled from Crewe to Euston?" " I am .satisfied of that, by my own inquiries." "And there they met a man who induced them to take the train for Dover!" The major replied eagerly in the affirmative. "'Well, then, sir, those two gentlemen, whether they are the colonel and his friend or not, are now staying at the Hotel Neapolitan, not ten minutes' walk from here. They answer to the description in every particular, and one of them—the larger and taller of the two—speaks to the other as 'colonel.' We had instructions to detain them, if possible; but that could only be done by . an appeal to the French authorities, and we did not feel justified in going so far as that, especially as the two gentlemen have made no attempt to leave the town." "Have they been here long?" ".Some hours now. We have followed their every footstep, and they have only called upon a few druggists and opticians ; and as one of them wears spectacles, and the other looks like an invalid, there is nothing strange in that." /•'Nothing, perhaps. But could you not have made some inquiries?" "There was no occasion, sir, while they remain in the town." "Have they signed their names in the hotel book?" "No, sir. They are going away this evening " "Sir Hilary is in the habit of taking drugs for his nerves," the major said° "and, as he is particular about his prescriptions, that may account for his going to more than one drug store. But a few minutes will- seitle the question now." "Let mc go first,' 5 the detective said, as the hotel came in sight, "and follow closely on my heels If we are mistaken, and get treated as intruders, we must make the best of it. But the two gentlemen here are the two who came from Crewe, and they apswer to the description of those you want." He led the way, after giving the waiter sign, and Lugard followed him, with his heart beating high. , Mr. Fletcher and Joseph Ditton were close-behind yfhen the. detective tapped

CHAPTER XDIL

at a door on ine first -'landing, and a pleasant voice told him to enter. -The major went "in first, with Ditton next, and; saw two gentlemen, in height.' and dress and "general" appearance so much like St. Hilary and his companion that Lugard and his man were startled;, but the two gentlemen were strangers, though Ditton had to look at the taller one a second time before he could believe it.

THE MAJOR'S RESOLUTION.' f Maj. Lugard no sooner saw that he had been misled than he realised how easily he might place himself in a false position. He did not doubt for the moment that these men had been purposely appointed to throw him off the trail, but in the absence oi proof he could not say so; and if they were accomplices of the man who had instigated the. colonel's disappearance, it was better to have them watched and followed quietly, than to bell them they were suspected, and so put them on their guard. "I must ask your pardon for our somewhat unceremonious intrusion," he said, taking the lead before Mr Fletcher could speak; "but I was induced to believe that I should find a friend of mine, Col. St, Hilaiy, here." "There is nothing to apologise for," said the elder of the two, in a strong, deep voice that told Joseph Ditton this was not the stranger who had gone away with St. Hilary. "Mistakes are easily made where people are travelling in strange places. You have only come to tbe wrong door, sir—that is all." "We have been following the wrong men," the major said, with a. sigh, "guided by a description which applies as well to you .and your friend as it would to the gentlemen we are in search of. Would you mind answering mc a question ?"' "As many as you please." "Were you at Crewe recently?" "Certainly," the stranger said, with a good-tempered laugh. "My friend Cornell and I walked round the town together." "Your pardon. What name did you give your friend?" "Cornell—-Alfred Cornell. He represents a wholesale druggist's firm, and I am travelling for my partners. I am an optician. If you happen to want anything in our way, I have some samples here " "Yon and your friend went from Crewe to Euston. having a third man with you?" Mr. Fletcher put in, sternly. "You were met there by a fourth I man, and, after some conversation, you and your present companion left Euston ( for London Bridge, where you took the; train for Dover." "No, sir. We took the train for Folkestone, where we spent a profitable, if not pleasant, day." said the optician: "and you will permit mc to say that you appear to have taken an extraordinary amount of interest in our proceedings." "We had a reason for it," Fletcher said, heedless of the gesture with which the major tried to silence him. "A j j gentleman is missing under very pecu-' I liar circumstances, and we have reason . to believe that every obstacle will be j i thrown in the way of our search for him." I "That cannot possibly conceru us,"' j said the druggist's representative, "nor i justify you in the tone you arc talking.! We are "simply what my friend has said. Here is my card and my order book. My friend caS show you his, and give you any explanation that you require. .If, as I judge by your appearance, you are connected with the police, and have followed us as suspected persons, why not say so at once, and, if. you like to detain , us till you are satisfied, you are wel- ■ j come to do so—at your own risk." | The Liverpool detective shook his | j head. J He had taken the card, and looked at j the order book. It was genuine enough, j ! and showed the work done for many I previous day»s in different towns. "It's a mistake, gentlemen," he said, j j "easily explained. You do answer, in a marvellous manner, to the descriptions j of the missing gentleman and the man j I he is supposed to be with; but that is, j of course, a coincidence, and nothing j j more. My friend is a bit overanxious,' ! and, if he was rather rough, you will: i excuse him." " j J "We have been on the road too long to take offence at trifles," the druggist I said, with-a smile; "and am only sonry ! it is not in our power to give you any information or assistance." The major thanked him, and apologised for the intrusion. If they were what' they professed to j be, an apology was due, and if 'they j were accomplices, they had been too well I instructed to be detected by ordinary j means. There was nothing for it but to retire, j and confess that the expedition had J been a failure. I "You tried to frighten them, and made. 1 a muddle, of it," the Liverpool detecjtive said, to Mr Fletcher. "If that is your way of doing business, I would not jgive much for your help. You had much 'better have left it .to the major and I mc." j "That is only your opinion," Mr Fleti cher said, rather angrily. "If I had my j will I would have them arrested and dej tamed." i "On what charge?" "As suspected persons." |. "Suspected of what?" the detective ! said, scornfully. "You could not accuse j the druggist of personating the colonel. j You cannot be accused of personating a 1 mau unless you use his name,, and he I has not done that. You heard that ho was spoken to as 'colonel,' and his own name is Cornell. If you are deceived by that, he is not to blame." I "'You think, then," the major said, "that they are really what they say I they are?" "I should say so, sir, without doubt about it. We shall keep them under surveillance all the same, because they may be accomplices as well. We are dealing with a deep-laid scheme, and whoever is at the head of it, he is one who knows where to find his agents." "But these appear to be respectable men," the major said. "'Fifty per cent of our most dangerous criminals are men of undoubted respectability," the detective said. "They keep a bank account, have sittings in church, and hold good social positions. Our big frauds and puzzling crimes are not perpetrated by the poor, rough brutes who-go about picking pockets and committing burglaries."*"'The forgers, coiners and confidence men are those you meet in decent society, and you never suspect them till you hear they are in prison." There was not much in this to comfort the major; it only made his task j seem more hopeless. The detective, who j was armed with the necessary authority, ] went to the telegraph office from'which I the message supposed to have been sent by St. Hilary had been dispatched, and found that it had been handed in by a boy, one of the urchins who are as in Bouiogn« as ars'jfche; va,^

tamed Arabs' who infest' the streets of London. -.v. :? • : . .v?i> v "Do you thiiik you could find that •boy?" Ltigafdisked. >*'" '.T shall find him, sir, but it will take! some time; and when we do find him,, •very little .will be learned. 7 If i Colonel St. Hilary had sent that telegraih 'he would have done it personally, written it at the office., They will" find the original form presently, and you. can see it for yourself. They, were too busy just now." - - .- ,-■ A _ Lugard went back with him a'few minutes later, and the original telegram was produced. It was written in pencil. "That is St. Hilary's writing," the major ssid. "I am almost sure." "You had better not be sure of anything," the detective said. "Lknow that those two men we saw are the only two who have come into the town/ recently in any way like those we have the descriptions of, and how they came in is a mystery to mc, for we watched every train and every boat." "Unless they disguised themselves in the train on the journey down." "Which is just what they would do, and shows the kind of men we have to deal with." "The colonel may have sent it;" Lugard said. "The writing looks like his." "Aud that man, the druggist's traveller, looked like the colonel," said the detective. "There is just as much value in the one resemblance as the other. The telegram is a forgery, and so will the letter be, if you get one. It is clear to mc that somebody must have obtained a copy of something he has written,_and the question is, who is that somebody? The colonel has only just returned from India, after being away for many years, and as he disappeared on the morning after his arrival, he cannot have written to many people." "He left .a note for Mr Dacre and mc," the ma.JDr said. "That, so far as I know, is the only thing he has written since he left India." "Wl.ere is that note now?" "Mr Dacre has it." "And has never parted with it?" "I do not think he has." "Then we must look further afield," the detective said. "Somebody is in possession of a document which will enable them to imitate his writing, and the sooucr we find that somebody the sooner we shall be on the right track." "We could not go far wrong if we detained the two men at the Neapolitan," Mr Fletcher suggested. "I am surprised at you," the detective said, with the natural jealousy of an illpaid regular for a prosperous volunteer. "You were in the force once, long enough to know that we could not detain them without arresting them on some specific charge, and there is not an atom of evidence against them at present. What there may be in the course of the next few hours is a different thing. Do you intend to remain here, major?" "If I can do any good by remaining, yes." "I am going to set the telegraph at work, and find out all 1 can about these mcn —the druggist and his friend, the traveller in spectacles. We may get a clue by finding out their associates. There is no doubt that if we have been sold they have helped to sell us." The inquiries set going from headquarters at Scotland Yard and Liverpool ended 36 the detectives had predicted. Mr Alfred Cornell and his companions were well kuown and highly respectable travellers, having the full confidence of the firms they represented; and there was clear proof that they had been doing legitimate business in the towns they had mentioned, and their own behaviour in Boulogne was a further point in their favour; though they must have known they were being shadowed they went about openly, and without any sign oi uneasinpss or restraintThey made no secret of tbe Toute they intended to follow, and, as it nearly covered the European Continent on the other side of St. George's Channel, there was a prospect of ample employment for those who wished to keep them in sight. The boy who had handed in the telegram was found, after a diligent search, and the information he could give was of very little use. A gentleman had called him from the door of a cafe—a French gentleman, with a long moustache, waxed and curled at the ends.

Monsieur of the moustache had giveu him the message, the money and thirty centimes for himself. He'had never seen monsieur before, or since. Going to the cafe indicated by the boy, Major Lugard and the detectives could obtain no further tidings. The chief waiter shrugged and gesticulated like a figure set in motion by clockwork, as he tried to explain that a*t their establishment they had thousands of customers daily, and hundreds of them wore the moustache a la Napoleon. The major reerossed the Channel, heartsick with the result of his journey, and more than ever convinced that his dear old friend had passed for ever beyond human sight or knowledge. The detectives and Mr Fletcher did not agree with him, and urged him to have patience. But long before he returned to Mr Daere's house, the major had determined to have recourse to "the last measure left open to them. He would offer a large reward, and it was only, after much persuasion from; Mr Dacre that he could be induced tp; compromise on an advertisement. -A

"I have no faith in it," the. ; major said; "but I will give it a trial fo} a few days—three—and then I will come out with my offer for a reward.' The same hand which sent the telegram here could easily reply to our advertisement, and nothing less than a sight of the colonel will satisfy mc." "In your advertisement," Mr Dacre said, "you can easily ask him to wait for you at some given point. However eager he may be in his quest, he cannot be always on the move, and should the advertisement fail, I will put no further objection in the way of offering a reward; but you must remember that when that is done, Dora will have to know everything." "I would rather trust to her courage to brave whatever may be in store for her, than lose a chance of finding her father," the major said. "He who tempers the wind to the shorn; Jamb will not be less gentle to her. And I am convinced, by what I have seen, that nothing is to.be gained by keeping ..her in the dark." (To be continued daily.)