THE SPIN OF THE COIN Or LOVE CONQUERS CRIME.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 197, 18 August 1908, Page 6

THE SPIN OF THE COIN Or LOVE CONQUERS CRIME.

JjAll Eights Reserved.]

CHAPTER XVII. —Continued. There was no answer to this appeal, and the next moment Mrs. Martin, whose rage seemed to grow more intense every minute, aimed one of her blows so successfully"at Meg's head, that the unlucky girl went staggering till, catching her foot in the rotting carpet, she. fell headlong. At once Mrs. Martin leaped on her prostrate body, and squatting therf with a kind of obscene ferority, might, it seemed, have beaten her to insensibility or death, had not Dick snatched her -tick from her grasp, and then catching her rouid the body, literally lifted her up, and dropped her ou the nearest chsiir. "Have ilnnn." he said sternly; "do you want to n.urder her?" ■■Anrl why not?" she screamed with foam on nrr up*, and such an expression of maniacal rape that Dick almost thought .-he would attack him next. But all at once her rage seemed to abate, the blazing tire in her' eyes died down, the -wild energy went out of her body. so that she seemed visibly to shrink in tire, her upraised hand ank to her ide. ''Water—ome -water," she said hoarsely, and then: "Really, iir. Ainslie, I am mni-h obliged to you. My temper quite runs away with mc at times." Meg had. scrombled to her feet and was now busy doing up hc-r hair which had come down during the struggle. Her usually sullen look had given way to a white heat of a'tiger, and her bold eves were alights with a passion that quite transformed hc-r heavy unexpresfive features.

■Tve had enough." she growled, "you h»ar. mother? I've ha.d enough of you and that cowardly mr in there you rali my husband." She jerked a scornful finger towards the inner room and rppfated: "I've had enough now that I'm nothing and mayn't pven look at my own husband for fear of what your haby-faced pet over there may think of it. See what she can do for you— I've had enough." and still screaming, "I've had enough." she banged open the door through which Mrs. Martin had introduced Dick, and rushed wildly away. "Thafs temper,"' said Mr?. Martin, "I'm afraid sometimes it runs in the family." hut although she spoke in a rather light and mocking toi.e Dick thought he detected an underlying uneasiness. "Do you think." he asked, ''that she •will go to the police?" "Oh. no." answered the old woman, "Meg's a bit sparred—angry. I meanbut she won't turn traitor: no, no, nothing of the nark in Meg." Mutrering to herself, she got up and went back into the inner room, and as soon as she had gone Gwe'ma turned to DieTc with a gesture of terrified disgust. "Oh, isn't it awful?" she said piteouslv, trembling -violently as she spoke, and Dirk put his hands on her shoulders with a re-assuring gesture. "Poor child," he said gently, and it occurred to him that this was perhaps the first time he had ever spoken words of genuine and disinterested kindness to her. "Poor child," he repeated, '"don't tremble so—there is no danger now." He soothed her as best he could, -svhisperimf to her wttirpassion that he at least was true to her. asked nothing better than to die for her. After a time she grew more composed, and was glad to feel how strongly his arm was nbout her waist, supporting her, protecting her. '•Gwelma,' , Dick said presently, "will you show mc where the injured man you speak of is lying? I think it might ly as well for mc to see him." "In there," she answered, "but I think the door will be locked." Thie, however, did not prove to be the. case, though it was secured on the outside by two heavy bolts. These Dick drew back, and opening the door found himself in a small room or side oell-ar. lint much more than six feet square. Tt <was in pitchy blackness, and the heavy atmosphere seemed to suggest it had fven less ventilation than the larger room outside. Dick felt in his pockets and finding a match struck it. By its light he could . distinguish lying on a •heap of straw the form of Inspector ( herry, his head adorned by a large band-age. "So you are here.' 1 Cherry said, staring up at his visitor, -whom by the dim light of the match he could just recognise. "I thought as much." "How did you get here?' , asked Dick, ignoring this.

"You know more about it than I do," retorted the othpr. "I only remember eeeLnsj that girl. Meg, and then getting a blow on my head from behind. When I recovered I found myself here. How was it done?" "I had nothing to do ■with it,' , said Pif'k gravely. "Of course not." sneered Cherry, "you arf one of the innocent chaps, you are. Help mc away from here, then, will you?" "Yes." answered Dick, and as the. detective started and looked at him keenly, he added: "On condition, that is, that you help mc with Miss Gihnore. and that you make no attempt to execute the warrant I believe you hold fnr my arrest until Miss Gilmore is in perfect safety/ "Duty is duty."' said Cherry briefly, "ajii I'll mnke you no such promises. Of course. I'll promi-.;.* to do my best fnr you if you help mc now—but duty is duty, and if I have ;i warrant 1 must execute it." "But if you remain here much Innjn>7." paid Dick slowly, "I think, judginir from the character of these people in whose power you are, your life itSelf \%ill be in danger." "Very likely," said Cherry, "hut duty is dutv —;and I executo my warrants." "But if you persist in refusing my offer, you never will execute it—or any other, in all probability." "I know." said Cherry, •'you hold all the cards. —at present. But duty is duty all the same."

By E. R- PUNSHON (Author of "Ensnared." etc).

"Then stay here," cried Dick with a! gust of auger, "and be put out of the way like a blind puppy. I would risk my own liberty but I will not endanger Miss Gilmore to satisfy your ideas of your dutj." Yet all the same, as he went out oi the. room, and banged the door behind him, and shot home the heavy bolts, he felt that this was yet another lesson he had received: not so much in mere physical bravery and contempt of death —that he felt "he could match himself any day—but in steady devotion to the path of plain duty wherein he knew he had often failed. He wondered to himself whether he could find no other way of enlisting (herry's help. "Gwelma," he said, as he returned to her. "who did Meg mean when she spoke of her husband?" "I don't know," she said, averting her face, and -at once he understood the suspicion in her mind. He went across the room to the door through which Mrs. Martin had disappeared. It was locked and there was no answer when he knocked, but he saw i above it a ventilator which was open. Standing on a chair he was able to look in, and ho saw inside Mrs. Martin, talking eagerly to a man in whom he recognised Colonel Gilmore. But with a shock of incredulous surprise, with a I wonder whether this were not in fact | all one. wild nightmare, he saw that now ! Oolonel Gilmore possessed both his cirms: for as he listened to Mrs. Martin 1 he supported bis chin on his two hands.! Silently Dick stepped down from his < chair, wondering intensely what this might mean. CHAPTER XVIII. THE SHAM GWELMA. Little Peter Saunders sat dismally enough in his prison cell, and stared gloomily at Lord Woolstone, who had obtained special permission to visit him. j •'I am just about sick of answering questions,"' he declared, striking one hand into the other in a kind of meeki desperation. "Here the peelers keep me' locked up day after day, mc doing nothing but answer questions till I'm sick of it. so there,"' and the little man glared at Lord Woolstone, and ruffled lip hi. hair and altogether gave himself a remarkable resemblance to an angry j hen. "And have you told them absolutely! all you know?'"' asked Woolstone, aware that no information of any importance! had been extracted from him.

"And a sight more too," said Peter hotly, '"and even then they ain't satisfied." Why, there wae a gent come to see mc the other day—Mr. Fox-Woburn —'Foxy' they call him here when he'a somewhere else — and I told him straight out that there was nothing I wanted except to be obliging, and all he had to do was to write down whatever story he wanted, and I would learn it off by heart, and swear to it through thick" and thin. "And yet," sighed Peter, with a touch of indignation, "I'm blowed if he seemed pleased even then." "Woolstone looked at him thoughtfully, and mechanically began to brush traces of dust from his coat that of late had become quite noticeably less spick and span than hitherto. He -wondered how much Saunders really knew, and if he were as ignorant as he pretended. "It's just too bad, my lord." Peter began again in his whining, little voice, "what with remands and questions I'm fair worn out; and, yet, though they promised faithful, they've never withdrawn the charge against mc. And it's hard on a man, 30 it is, what only -wants to be let alone and become a respectable small tradesman in Hackney with a. chapel somewhere handy and Victoria Park to walk in afterwards." Peter seemed rather inclined to weep ever the picture his imagination had conjured up, and Lord Woolstone thought he saw an opportunity. • •'Look here, my man," hn said, "so far as that goes. I could set you up in any shop anywhere you liked —and I will, too, and stock it as well, if you will just undertake to tell mc the truth, the bare truth, and nothing but the truth."

"Lor', sir—my lord. I mean—you just try mc." said Peter eagerly, though privately of the settled opinion that the truth was far too simple, and also as arule too inconvenient, ever to be likely . to receive much reward in the long ruu. "Ask mc anything you like, my lord," he repeated. "Then, first," said the young peer, "is it true that you saw Mr. Ainslie shoot ! the man whose body was discovered in the garden of Fairview Lodge?" '"Bless you, no, my lord, of course not," replied Peter tolerantly, "but I owe Dick Ainslie one, and a cove's got to please the police as you know yourself my lord. So I shall swear to that through thick and thin, and Inspector Cherry as good as promised mc my liberty if we pot him hanged—so you may be sure of i him, my lord." ! He spoke with some confidence, for he more than suspected the rivalry existing between Woolatone and Ainslie. The ■ young peers keen interest in the fate of the Gilmores had attracted sufficient t comment, some of which reached Peter's > pars. Peter was now even a little disappointed that Lord Woolstone gave him so little encouragement to persist in his I accusation against Dick. ""Have you any idea who did commit the murder?' , Woolstone asked next. "I haven't," said Peter. "I thought las there was money hidden there — it i was swag we were digging after. But if 1 was out of here I know a man as might perhaps know something." ""Who?" asked Woolstone eagerly. "You get mc out of here, and I'll find liim and bring him to you,", declared l'oter with a cunning look. | He saw his chance, and to this position lie clung. If he were released he would do his best to find the man in - : question, and he could probably succeed. The rest would then bo a mere matter of bargaining. But. Peter declared stoutly, no one but himself would be able to find him—he was a ""wide cove"—a "fly customers—and would have nothing to do \ with strangers. Xo one but Peter, Peter J declared, could possibly got in touch with . him. and then, while Woolstone hesitated, he added something that decided him. "And it's my belief/ he said, "that this cove I mean knows something of that Deuton Park you were talking about. He told mc once he had heard f a r;vn tale about it—and he might give you a help towards finding Miss Gilmore." This last remark determined , Woolstone to see what Saunders could in fact do in .the way of procuring information

for him. It was plain the little villain himself knew nothing, and, as he seemed to have exhausted his imagination in the way of lying, it was possible he would tell something more or less remotely resembling the truth. (To be .continued daily.)