RED MONEY

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 79, 3 April 1911, Page 10

RED MONEY

By FERGUS MUJVIE •J Author of "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab?'"The Dwarf's Chamber," "The ~ Solitary Farm," "The Spider," etc., etcv

CHAPTER Vlll.—(Continued.) "Ain't you well, Freddy t 1 knew that • Patfagonian soup was too rich for you." ' "Oli, the soup was all 'right—ripping ~ Boup," snorted Freddy, smacking his lips ; over the recollection. " But I'm bothered over Pine." "He isn't-ill, is he?" questioned Lady Garvington anxiously. She liked her ~ brother-in-law," who was always Jcind to :" her. ■ ■ ■ - - - " Xo, hang Mm : nothing worse than '*.' his usual TUfig" ttoutae , ; I" BttpposeV ' But' ~ he is in Paris,~arffd" wonT answer ~ Sriy i letters." ; " Letters, Freddy dear." ;. _ "Yes, Jane, dear," he mocked. "Hang - it, I -want money, and he won't stump - up. I can't even get an answer." "Speak to Mr. Silver." "Damn Mr. Silver." :: "Weil, I'm sure, Frederick, you needn't „; Bwear at mc," said poor, wan Lady Gar- ;• vington, drawing herself-up. "Mr Silver - is very kind. He went to that gipsy ■ "~ camp and found out how they cook hedge- .. hog. That will be a new dish for you, "", dear. You haven't eaten hedgehog." •~ "No. And what's more, I don't intend - to eat it. But you may as well tell mc how these gipsies cook it," and Freddy ~ listened with both his red ears to the 3 description, on hearing which he decided 71 that his wife might instruct the cook ~ .how to prepare the animal. "But no one * ■will eat it but mc." Lady Garvington shuddered. "I shan't touch it myself. Those horrid snails you ~* insisted on being cooked a week ago made "mc quite ill. You are always trying new ••• experiments, Freddy." - . "Because I get so tired of every-day Z 'dishes," growled Lord Garvington. "These '■ cooks have no invention. I wish I'd lived ' in Rome when they had those banquets you read of in Gibbon." "Did he write a book on cookery?" - asked Lady Garvington very naturally. .' ' "No. He turned out a lot of dull stuff , about wars and migrations of tribes: you —■ are- silly, Jane." 'What's that about migration of ■ tribes?" asked Mrs Belgrove, who was in' . a good humour, as she had won largely . at bridge. "You won't mean those dear gipsies at Abbot's Wood, do you, Lord • - Garvington ? I met one of them the other • day—quite a girl and very pretty in a .'» dark way. She told my fortune, and . said that I would come in for a lot of .'. money. Im sure I hope so," sighed Mrs "Z Belgrove. "Celestine is so expensive, but no one can fit mc like she can. And she -•knows it, and takes advantage, the horrid creature." "I wish the tribe of 'would clear out," snapped. Freddy, standing before " the fire and'glaring at-the company generally. "I know they'll break in here and - rob.' , "Well," drawled Silver, who was hover- ~ ing near, dressed so carefully that he. looked more of a foxy, neat bounder than J ever. "I have noticed that some of the ~ brutes have been sneaking round the - place." Mrs Belgrove shrieked. "Oh, how lucky : I occupy a bedroom on the third floor. 3 Just like a bird in its tiny-weeny nest. C They can't get at mc there, can they, '.''Lord Garvington." ' "They don't want you," observed Mis? —trreeby— in -her—deep- 'voice "Ifs your i-rdiamonds they'd like-to get.-"" ""■ ' "Oh!" Mrs Belgrove shrieked again. °*'L6cK my Tiiamb'ndV np'in your r ~str6ng •room. Lord Garvington. Do! do! do! -To please poor little mc," and she effusively clasped her lean hands, upon which Sbany of the*said diamonds glittered. 2 "I don't think there is likely to be any trouble with these poor gipsies, Mrs Belgrove," remarked Lady Agne3 negligently. has told mc a great deal about {hem, and they are really not so bad as jieople make out." ~ "Your husband can't know anything of such rag-tags,'i,sai4 Misa Greeby, looking at the and wondering if she^realljr-'had-any suspicion that Pine was one of-the crew she mentioned. .';,•'-•„-■. ~"Oh, bu£BSDert"does," answered Lady Agnes innocently. r".'He has met many of them when he has been out helping people. You have-no idea-,- any; of you, how good Hubert is,"-she: a£ded,fadrasing_the company generally.-. -"Hβ walk*-on the Emfeankment sometimes." .nights and gives the' poor creature* , money! And in the country; r him stop to hand a shilling to some tramp in the lanes." - ■ •■ ''• . ' ••' "A" gipsy for 'choice/ 1 growled - Miss Greeby, marvelling that Lady Agnes could not'see ..the resemblance between ttie tranips' faeear an&—tMt,t_ Jot jiff, own lmsband. "However, fj hope Pine's- darlings won't come herfr-io rob. I'll fight ioar my jewels, I can-promise you." "."One oT"fhe~'menriaughea."-"I shouldn't like to get a blow'frbm'your fist." ~Miss Greeby smiled;grimlyy and looked at hie puny stature. "Women have to protect themselves from men lake you," she said, amid great laughter, for the physical difference between-her and -the man was quite amusing. r"ls's all very .well talking," said Gar- • vington crossly. ' "Bnt X doa't trust these gipsies." "Why don't you clear them off your land then.?" asked Silver-daringly. - •Garvington glared until his gooseberry eyjes nearly fell out of his red face. 'Til clear everyone to bed, that's what 111-do," lie retorted, crossing the room to the middle French window of the drawingroom. "I wish you fellows would stop your larking out there," he cried. "It's close upon midnight, and all decent people should be-in bed." -'."Since Iwhen have you joined the Methodists, Garvington," asked an officer who had come over from some -twelve mUe distant barracks to pass the night, and - girl behind him began to sing a nyrnn. -Lady Agnes frowned. "I wish yon Wouldn't do that, Miss Ardale," she said iff; sharp and the girl had the serise to be silent, while Garvington fussed Over the closing of-the window shutters. "''Going "to stand a siege?" asked Mies GFeeliy, laughing. "Or do you expect ■bicrirlars, particularly on this m»hf." * -"I don't expect them at all," retorted the little man. j*But I tell you I hate tlie idea of these"lawless gipsies about tKfl iTnco."' Still, if anyone comes," he adrJprt primly, "I shall shoot." "Then the attacking person needn't Mother," cried the officer. "I shouldn't mind standing up to-your fire, myself, GnTvington." -With laughter and chatter and much merriment at the host's.. ..expense,,. the» {jufests went tbeir_several;'*w&jteJ , l;he"3yoV' trig? to chat "In one anotherjgr dressirigrqerms. nn<r-tne men t(* ntfi-e-a final smoke and a final drink. GaVvington, with two footmen and his butler, went round the house, carefully closing all the' shutters, anji seeing that all was safe. His sister" rather marvelled at this excessive precaution, and said as much to her hostess.

[ALL BTGHTS RESERVED.! ~

"It wouldn't matter if the gipsies did break in," she said when alone with Lady Garvington in her own bedroom. "It would:" be some excitement, for all these people must find it very dull here." *" ■ "I'm sure I do mj best, Agnes," said the sister-in-law plaintively. "Of course you do, you poor dear," said the other, kissing her. "But Garvington always asks people who haven't two ideas. A hprrid, rowdy lot they are. I wonder you stand it." "Garvington asks .those he likes, Agnes," ''I see. He hasn't any brains, and his guests suit him for, the same reason." "They eat a great deal," wailed Lady Garvington. "I'm sure I might as well be a cook. "All my time is taken up with feeding them." "Well, Freddy married you, Jane, because you had a genius for looking after fowl. Your mother was much the same, she always kept a good table," Lady Agnes-laughed. "Yours was a most original wooing, Jane." "I'd like to live on bread and water for my part, Agnes." "Put Freddy on it, dear. He's getting too stout. I never • thought that gluttony was a crime. But when I look at FTeddy"—checking her speech, she spread out her hands with an ineffable look. "I'm glad that Noel is coming," she ended, rather daringly. "At least he will be more interesting than any of these frivolous people you have collected." Lady Garvington looked at her anxiously. "You don't mind Noel coming?" "No dear. Why should I?" "Well you see, Agnes, I fancied " "Don't fancy anything. Noel and I entirely understand one another." "I hope," blurted out the other woman, "that it is a right understanding?" Agnes winced, and looked at her with enforced compusure. "I am devoted to my husband," she said with emphasis. "And I have every reason to be. He has kept his part of the bargain, so I keep mine. But," she added with a pale smile, "When I think how I sold myself to keep up the credit of "the family, and now see Freddy entertaining this riffraff, I am sorry that I did not marry Noel, whom I loved so deaTly." "That would have meant our ruin," bleated Lady Garvington, sadly. "Your ruin is only delayed, Jane, Freddy is a weak, self-indulgent fool, and is eating his way into the next world. It will be a happy day for you when an apoplectic fit makes you a widow." "My dear," the wife- Was shocked, "he is-your brother. "More-'s the pity. I have no illusions about Freddy, Jane, and I don't think you have either. Now, go away and sleep. It's no use lying awake thinking over to-morrow's dinner. Give Freddy the bread and water you talked about." -Lady Garvington. laughed in a weak, aimless way, and then kissed her sister-in-law with a sigh, after which she drifted out of the room in her usual vague manner. Very shortly the clock over the stables struck midnight, and by that time Garvington tho virtuous had induced all his men guests to go to bed. .The women chatted -a little longer, and rthen; in-theiiv; turn, sought repose. • By half-past-twelve the great house was In complete ' darkness and bulked a ■mighty mass,of. darkness in the pale September moonlight.' Lady Agnes got to bed quickly, and tired out by the boredom of the evening, quietly fell asleep. Suddenly she awoke with all her senses on the alert, and with a sense of vague danger hovering round. There were sounds of running feet and indistinct oaths and distant cries, and she could have sworn that a pistol-shot had startled her from slumber. In a moment she wasout of bed .and.' ran to open her -window. ; <)n,dloOkjng ra out she saw that the moonlight was very brilliant, and in it beheld a tall man running swiftly from the house. He sped down the broad path, and-just when he was abreast of a miniature shrubbery she heard a second shot, which seemed to be fired therefrom. The man staggered, and stumbled.and fell. Immediately afterwards, her brother—she recognised his voice raised in anger—ran out of the house, followed by some of the male guests. Terrified by the sight and the sound of the shots, Lady Agnes huddled on her dressing-gown hastily, and thrust her bare feet into slippers. The next moment she was out of her bedroom and down the stairs. A wild idea had entered her mind that perhaps Lambert bad. come secretly to The- Manor, and had been shot by Garvington in mistake for a burglar. The corridors and the hall were filled with guests more or less lightly attired, mostly women, white-faced and startled. Agnes paid no attention to their shrieks, but hurried into the side passage which terminated at the door out of which her brother had left the house. She went outside also aad made for the group round the fallen man. "What ie It? who Iβ ft?" cried Garvington, looking up with a distorted face, strangely pale in the moonlight. "Go back, Agnes, go back," cried Garvington, looking up with a distorted face, strangely pale in the moonlight. "But who is it? who has been killed?" She caught sight of the fallen man's countenance and shrieked. "Great Heaven's: it is Hubert; is he dead?" "Yes," said Silver, who stood at her elbow. "Shot through the heart."

• CHAPTER IX. AFTERW^KDS With amazing and sinister rapidity the news spread that a burglar had been shot dead while trying to raid The Manor. Firet, the Garvington villagers learned it; then it became the common property of the neighbourhood, until it finally reached the nearest country town and thus brought the police on the scene. 'Lord Garvington was not pleased when the local Inspector arrived, and intimated as much in a somewhat unpleasant fashion. He was never a man "who spared those in an inferior social position.

"It is , no use yourepming over, Darby," he said bluntly to the red-haired police officer, whoewas of Irish extraction.- "I have sent to Scotland Yard."

".All in good time, my lord," replied the inspector coolly. "Aβ the murder ha 3 taken place in my district I have to look into the matter, and report to the London authorities, if it should be necessary."!!* ■— ••- - '..-;:?"; "; "What_right hav«;joji to class'this ■affair as a murder?" inquired Garrington. ~?I only go by the rumours I have heard, my -lord. Some say that you winged the man and bf.oke his right arm. Others tell mc that a second shot was fired in the garden, and it was thai yrlach killed Jsbmacl JHearne,"

"It is true, Darby. I only fired the first shot, as 'those "who were -with mc will tell you. I don't know who •hot in; the 'garden,' and : apparently ' no" one 1 else does. , It was this unknown individual in the garden that killed Hemrne. By the way, how did you come to hear the name?" "Half a dozen people hare told mc, my lord, along- with the information I have just given you. Nothing else is talked of far and wide." "And it's just twelve o'clock," muttered the stout little lord, wiping , has scarlet face pettishly. "HI news travels fast. 1 However, as you are here, you may as well take charge of things until ' the London men arrive." "The London men. aren't going to usurp my privileges, my lord," said Darby, firmly. "There's no sense in taking matters out of my hands. And if you will pardon my saying so, I should have .been sent for in the first instance." "I daresay," snapped Garvington coolly. "But the matter is too [important to be left in the hands "of a local policeman." Darby was nettled, and his hard eyes grew angry. "I am quite competent to deal with any murder, -even if it is that of the highest in England, much less with the death of a common gypsy." "That's just where it is, Darby. The common gypsy who has been shot happens to be my brother-in-law." "Sir Hubert Pine?" questioned the inspector, thoroughly taken aback. "Yes! , Of course I didn't know him when I fired, or I should not have done so, Darby. I understood, and his wife, my sister, understood, that Sir Hubert was in Paris. It passes my comprehension to guess why he should have come in the dead of the night dressed as a gypsy, to raid my house." "Perhaps it was a bet," said Darby, desperately puzzled. "Bet, be hanged. Pine could come openly to this place whenever he liked. I never was so astonished in my life as when I saw him lying dead near the shrubbery. And the worst of it is, that my sister ran out and saw him also. She fainted, and has been in bed ever since, attended by Lady Garvington." "You had no idea that the man you shot was Sir Hubert, my lord?" "Hang it, no! Would 1 have shot him had I guessed who he was?" "No, no, my lord! of course not," said the officer hastily. "But as I have come to take charge of the case, you will give mc a detailed account' of what has taken place." "I would rather wait until the Scotland Yard fellows come," grumbled Garvington, "as I don't wish to repeat my story twice. Still, as you are on the spot, I may as well ask your advice. You may be able to throw some light on the subject. I'm hanged if I can." Darby pulled out his note-book. "1 am all attention, my lord." (Continued daily.)