The Doctor's Stratagem.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 166, 13 July 1907, Page 15

The Doctor's Stratagem.

By NICHOLAS CARTER

■Jsdhor of " The Silent Partner, , ' " Under Cover of the Law,"-"SadedOrikn," " Caught in a Web," " The- Price of a Secret? tie

CHAPTER YIH. CROSSED TRAILS. • - The case was, as Chick Carter had gaid, a curious mf>?.s and mix-up. •" " Kick Carter admitted as much the following morning, when Chick Carter arrived home and made his report, stat—ing in detail what had occurred to him jn Boston. Chick had telephoned to Nick inime--tliately after leaving the cemetery, however, and in return was informed of the startling facts which Nick was able to give him. together with his further instructions. The two were then discussing Chick's subsequent doings in Boston" as well as the many perplexing tirenmstances, and both were seated in Jiidc's office that morning, two days aiJer the railway accident. "How did you explain matters to the cemetery authorities?" Nick presently inquired, after hearing Chick's story of •las midnight adventure. Chick laughed, and knocked the ashes from his cigar. "I evadod their inquiries, and told them 8 fairy tale," he replied, with characteristic cheerfulness. "Since I was completely hi the dark myself, Nick, I thought. I had better leave them in the dark also, lest 1 should queer our further investigations by disclosing the real facts, so far as I knew them.' , "That was a wise precaution, said Nick approvingly. «I knew that the Italians could not have discovered my identity, nor that I fed been on their track all the way from Jfew York."

-Surely not."' The most they knew about mc, added Chick, "was "that I had discovered them at troTk in the graveyard, and was watching tb«ir doings. So I decided not to five them any clue to the truth, nor make them wise to the fact that we have a line on them, by stating any of the real circumstances, -which I knew would afterward be published in the Boston newspapers in connection with ihe story of the attempted grave-rob-bery." *Tm gkd you withheld the facts," nodded Nkk. '"Yet you must have had "to make some reasonable explanation to ihe cemetery authorities.'" ''That's right," said Chick.

did you tell them?" "I told them a story which, when pubfshed, wonld serve to relieve the Italians id any serious suspicions and alarms," Chick glibly explained. "I stated that I was a newspaper compositor, and was going home through the road back of the cemetery, and that I saw a waggon near the fence, and a man watching beside it." "1 see." C: I also said that I suspected there might be some knavery going- on in the feraveyard, and that I climbed over the •fence, and discovered the three men at work at the grave. I stated thai I hid behind a gravestone to watch them, and was seen and knocked out before I could defend myself." "Very good." laugiied Kick. "You did !not state that you knew the men to be Italians'!" "''Not by a long chalk." declared Chick. T said that they -were strangers to mc, 'Snd that I knew nothing about them.' , ''Was tiie story published in the Boston papers?" Tes, nearly as I ga-ve it." "Capital!"exclaimed Nick. "It -arill Serve to throw the Italians off their ijuard, in case they felt apprehensive, and -we may again get track of them, pid the cemetery authorities swallow the ''Like so much melted butter." grinned ptwfc-, e You know I can tell such a yarn taetty glibly, when necessary." Thai's right, too," smiled Kick. •TSow, another thing. Did you go to the Potel J?elice and try to learn something sbour. the rascals?" "Ton bet!" Chick promptly rejoined. Tet I gathered the facts in such a way itiat the gang coaM not get wise to it, in case they returned there." ''What did y-oa learn about them?" **I learned that they were strangers at the Felice, and were not known to any pf the Italians living in that quarter," BCnkk reported. "I found that Derosa jbsane there two days before the attemptled 'grass-robbery " , "That was the day following Etta Sieldon's death." "Exactly. 2, •'What more? 5, registered at the hotel, and f»d but very little to say to anybody," Diick canthiaed. "He stated that be had frksids coming there to meet him, howpser, and that they were then going to Canada.^ Tarobably -fiat was a lie told to hid« tvs real designs," remarked Kick. likely. At all events. Gallo and Sfeggi showed up two days later, and thai night they attempted to turn their ibrick at the cemetery. I did not learn -fefae name of the fellow who drove the fcaggon, but he also was an Italian, and Insy have gone to Boston wrth Derosa."' ■ ) -"He was one of the gang, Chick, that's -• enough." said Kick, with grrm assurance. Tfct is my opinion that all fonr '■' strangers in Boston, and that Derosa and the driver of the -waggon, the tascals iiaving learned when and where. . ..Etta Sheldon was to be bnried, went ; iiere in advance of Gallo and Maggi." ! "To look over the ground and prepare tot their jobf ; f Probably." rj' *°l gues youVe right. Nick." 1 "Did you make any attempt to trace , JBe waggon used by them?" "Certainly; I did, but it amounted to liotlrinir." — • "One could hardly expect it," said Kick ~dougirtfully. 'If obtained from one of ■ their own kind and cla-ss. the owner fcould be trusted to keep his mouth ktosed. Furthermor-e, these fellows knew *hat they were undertaking- rascally iHEiness, and they probably adopted cr y possible precaution." . : "So doubt of it, Kick." -we've lost track of them for a Chick, yet I am quite convinced that they left" Boston immediately. It's -fcbout a hundred to one that they are b°v here in New York." , do yon feel so sure of that?" = ■ aeeanse of various deductions I have teen able to make, as well as the curious ftaracter of the case itself." ■ have formed a theory about it?" partial one, Chick." Make mc wise to it." ■Kick nodded, took up a sheet of memoKj&oa from his desk, and consulted it •gtartly for several moments. He had aaready told Chick of his own experi°f the mysterious disappearance ?M&ta Sheldon's body at the railway ■««, of tis subsequent return to New

York -with Doctor Leeraw and Harvey Dane, and of the facts learned a little later from the Harlem undertaker. "We know, if the sta-tcments of Harvey Dane" are reliable, that Etta Sheldon lived in fear of something, or somebody," said Nick, after a moment. "This is confirmed, moreover, by numerous circumstances. First, the fact that she came a strang-er te New York, and refused to give any references, or to impart any information about herself and Doctor Lecraw when she rented Rangeley. Second, the fact that her entire household, servants and all, have lived in such rigid seclusion. Doctor Leeraw seldom leaving home, and Etta Sheldon rarely appearing in public unless she was veiled. Third, the fact that she evaded Dane's inquiries, despite !hat she loved him, and was willing to marry him; and also the fact that she had no bank deposit, but invariably paid her bills with cash. Plainly enough. Chick, she aimed to keep her name from appearing where any person might discover it, and then be able to locate her." "That appears to have been her reason," Chick admitted attentively. "It is plain enough, at all events, that she adopted many precautions, all indicating her fear of something." "There are other facts that must not be overlooked, however, for they are specially significant,"' Nick now rejoined, glancing at his notes. "They open up another side to this case, and quite an import-ant one." "To what facts do you refer?" asked Chick, with increasing interest. "Remember that Etta. Sheldon Dot only stated that she might purchase Rangpley after a time, but she also accepted the love of Harvey Dane, and encouraged him to believe that she would sooner or later marry him." "What do you deduce from those facts ?" '"One deduction is vpry simple." replied Nick. "Whatever Etta Sheldon feared, or whatever danger really threatened her, she must have believed that it would be dispelled after a certain time. Otherwise. Chick, she would not have thought of huying Rangeley, nor of marrying Harvey Dane." "You think she would have been deterred by the same fears that influenced her at the outset?" "Thai's the very point." nodded Nick. "Evidently she felt that, after a certain time, there would be no further grounds for alarm, and that she could then safely act heT own pleasure." "That appears about the size of it." "And that brings us to another question."" added Nick. "Of what did Etta Sheldon's fear consist?" "Have you any theory?"" "I have several ideas. One relates to these Italians," Nick went on to explain. "According to Dane, the first known of them was when he saw one spying at Rangeley. about a week before the girl's ■death. Evidently they turned up there all of a sudden, probably having learned where she was living, and it may have been of them she stood in fear." "You think that is why she rented so isolated a place as Rangeley, and lived so exclusive.lv":" '"Exactly," bowed Nick. "When told by Dane that a spy was near the house, moreover, she appeared terribly alarmed for a moment; yet she evaded Dane's questions, and suggested the rather lame explanation that the intruders might have entered the grounds after fruit or flowers. Furthermore, her sudden death, only two days later, and the subsequent efforts of these Italians to secure her dead body, indicate that they were th-e persons she feared." "Certainly." '"Just what they wanted of her corpse, however, remains to be learned.' , '"Among- other things, " Chick dryly added, with a laugh. ""That's right, too," smiled Nick. "We certainly have many things to learn in connection with this remarkable case. It is one of the most curious I ever tackled." "De<adedly so." ''I still have another theory, however, which appeals to mc quite strongly," Nick more gravely continued. "It relates to Doctor Lecraw and his relations with this girl. I do not, as a matter of fact, entirely trust this elderly and accomplished physician." "You think there may be something under the surface?" "I'm very sure of that much. Not because I can put my finger on any specific wrong that Lecraw has committed, but rather because I instinctively feel that he is concealing something," Nick earnestly explained. ''He has a look and air that 1 do not fancy, and there are crroumsitances that seem to (W.ajrraiai , these misgivings on my part.' '-What are they?" inquired Chick. '"I best can answer your question by asking a few that occur to mc, for which I cannot easily find reasonable answers,"' said Nick. "To begin with, why was Etta Sheldon, obviously a girl of wealth and culture, living so secludedly with Doctor Lecraw and her companion. Maria Marvin, a woman whose searching eyes and taciturnity I by no means like? Why. also, did Etta Sheldon have at Kangeley a number of servants apparently brought out with her from some place, and retained without a change during the three years she has lived there? Such constancy- on the part of servants is rather extraordinary. The question natural] v arises, was it somebody in her own house that Etta Sheldon feared, yet from whom she could not escape without inviting some greater peril?" "By Jove, there may De something in that, despite the conduct of these Italians." said Chick. "Let's see what circumstances warrant this theory," argued Nick. "Doctor Lecraw evidently has had a very great influence over this girl. She was, I am informed by Harvey Dane, governed by him in many ways." It is barely possible that she stood in secret fear of Doctor Lecraw. and that it was in anticipation of his death that she thought of buying r?an <tpl p v &n.d promised to marry Dane. 15 "That may be true, Nick." '•In case it is, Doctor Lecraw is much more crafty than I imagined. He may have had some secret hold on the girL Upon learning that spies were about Rangeley. moreover, he may have found it necessary for his own safety and welfare to put the girl out of his way." ""You think he may have killed her?" "That possibility exists, Chick." "There is no denying that." "He is, as we know, familiar with the properties and uses of all drugs and chemicals, and he may have deliberately killed Etta Sheldon in some crafty way that Doctor Dubois did not detect, the

latter baring Teadily given a certificate of her natural death." "Your reasoning is logical," exclaimed Chick- "That theory is worth looking into." "I intend to follow it to a- finish," nodded the great detective. "Now, to go a step further. There are circumstances in connection with the proposed burial of the girl that do not look quite right to mc. The grave was applied for, yet a notice was afterward sent that it would not be required." "I can vouch for that," declared Chick. "What was the reason for that step? Some other plan must have been formed, a plan that plainly enough must have L>een diverted by the railway accident, a calamity -which could not possibly have been anticipated-" "Surely not." "This brings us to another qiiestion, Chick. Was the body of Etta Sheldon at the wreck, or was it never shipped from Rangeley? We know that the Italians did not steal it, for they evidently expected to find it in the grave in which , arrangements to bury had been made."' "There's no doubt about that. Nirk." '"Then, if the body did not leave Rangeley, -who was .snilty of removing it from the casket?"' Nick asked. "'Did Doctor Lecraw and the Marvin woman have some secret reason for removing it, yet at the same time having the circumstances indicate that the body was properly buried? If that was their game. Chick, we must learn what lies back of it." "By all means. Nick." "There is still one other side of the case," added Nick. "'lt is barely possible that Etta Sheldon was in the power and stood in fear of some of the servants, a fact of which Lecraw may have been entirely ignorant." "'That's true, also." "Assuming that he is honest, then, that his parent affection for the girl was genuine, and that he knew of no secret power exercised over her by any of the servants, it may be that he is guilty of no duplicity, and that the servants alone a.re responsible for the girl's death and the disappearance of! her corpse." " Thunderation! but it's a complicated case., for a fact." •'• We know," continued Nick, " that the casket was left with only two of the servants near it, just before it was taken from the house. Possibly the servants removed the body, substituting something else, while Dr. Lecraw and the undertaker -were briefly absent. At all events, these various circumstances must determine my lino of investigation. I'm going to get after Lecraw and the other inmates of the house. I've had Patsy shadowing it for the past few days." ■■ With what result ? " " He reports that Lpcraw visited Dr. Dubois immediately after returning to Rangaley. also that the house butler, a fellow named Paul Damon, arrived at Rangeley, the same nigth. as if he had returned from a journey." •• H'h! i≤ that io? " " I feel sure that there are some secret doings there, the nature of which I wish to discover. I'm going out there this morning, and take you with mc." "With what designs?" '"I'm going to have a look at the servants, Chick, and make an attempt to evoke the truth from Doctor Lecraw," Nick gravely rejoined. " While lam thus engaged, however, I wish you to quietly search the house. I'll fix things so that you may do so unsuspected. It's barely possible that the body ia still in the house, or that you will discover something that may enable us to hit upon a solution of this mystery."

"Trust mc to make a careful search." replied Chick, as both rose to depart. "Give mc on a slip of paper the names of those Italians," added Nick, as he put on his coat. "On the way out there, Chick, I will state mv plans in detail." (To be continued daily.)