THE CRIME ON THE FILM.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 50, 28 February 1923, Page 14

THE CRIME ON THE FILM.

(ALL RIGHTS REBKKVKD.)

■.1 AIM IK W:\' I~■ ~i, ,■ ii.,i- !Ihi :•■: U air's .-.ii:.m:- „. :■ ..,. ,|..-ti v.-.1. ' II" innwici .in.l •i - in.i :-.!i ! _:■• ii--!. :i:i 1 "h'-u mat hapI» 1 ,- -.•,!- c:,'i.:.>r.;:..:;r;.- In.v. the benev..|.'iii ma-!, . i .-:.]■_.-:< r - -.; ani —im-thing nam-].-. -•■• ni-i ;-"p out lor a •■l'l.-a-M-. -•!.-..-.:' in. -a:-, "no talk like ~,;,,. I, ,'„ ;,, !)„■ .■..,:•>: po-sib|e taste, ■ Hut vi.:i .!••• an .nt -'. Vi.u arc ■ \U. ii.. >• :■ ■■■: ■'■•■ '•; easing sense. Jul.a. I; i- [:• <\,iy.ua '" receive your . f.iiipliiin-iii- •' li.'ii know* that they n: .■ -in rif :• ■- indeed iiie great draul.a k in nil M.ik that I w rarely .■,in ie ••;..■ i-u'n; linn'iit- tip-m it, and have in ,-aii-v iiiv.i.i! wii.i my own private ■■],-»-r,i. in tin' in.i'iiuiiy'anil -safety of nil- opera I !..n»." '••And \\'.-t. Vnt.iiiv West ':"' .-he said, ru't.-r a -!,■ •• -i1.n.".-. n irli an unholy . uri.i-.i \ oi her ci ck Mr. Ilia it'- faccVi/nteneJ. • AiiJ"' lie -aid. "I In" moment." Ill: went silently fr.mi I he room, 'nit returned ajiain in two mill iw>« vit i;i little lilu.k hag. Ke■cring hin-.-.-lf and placing it upon tlie 'I I.e-i.le I'm tie withdrew mi object ,vi-:i|.p...| in washleathcr. Disclosed, ii ia- m -mall. rusty revolver of an early .in.l _ntii|tiaTi-tl pattern. He handed it to her and she turned it over curiously. "This have been hup ~f the first revolvers ever made." rhe said, noting the huge calibre and the somewhat clumpy nieclianism used to revolve the chamber-. There was a little tarnished silver ■•date let into tlie worn-out >tot-k, and mi it wn- engraved a name. Holding it out to the plow of tiie fire Julia rend. -I hiirlie Kudny." She dropped it suddenly and then .nwlied it towards her brother with* her j foot.

"What's ihatT" she said. "A revolver of ...Id Rodnv's?"

'•So ii Bould seem." said M r . rtlair, picking it up mill looking at it with a •pleased smile. "A* a matter of fact, it neve,- belonged to onr late friend Kodny 'it all. I bjught it tiiree or four day-; ago at a pawnbroker's in a side .-treet orT Kolborn. and I engraved the name upon the silver plate myself. When this little toy is discovered, after it lias done lits work, as it certainly will be discovered, there will not he a doubt in the mind of anyone but that it formerly 'belonged to the Squire of Rose tßegisv' '•1 know," Julia said. "I can tell from your manner that you have something very strange, very subtle indeed in your -nind. But I can't follow you in the le?_t."

••-ou have not had any confidential talk with West for the last'day or two?" Harper Blair asked his sister. "No. All that is over since hU confession to mc. We meet on busin__ terms only." "Quite so. Then you are, perhaps, unaware that West has again taken up the •juefrtion of his uncle's murder." "No, 1 didn't know." "It is so, and Yiping, acting under my directions, is spurring him on. To-mor-row Antony West will have the music cipher in his possession.'' •Tulia, started violently. "But, surely that is very dangerous for Sir isn t it? Antony will at least learn that there are duplicate papers, and " "You forget that friend Antony is about to cease. All the same, the manuscript wrth which Yiping will present urn will not be the original one, which 1 have upstairs at the present moment It will be one prepared exactly like the original, but altered in certain essential points. Xow West, as you know, is a very fair performer on tlie piano. At any rate, he understands music." "Yes, he does." 'Then, to-morrow, we have arranged a little performance. Muriel Harlev discovered that the whole secret of the cipher lay in the transposition of one key to another. The concealed alphabet, corresponding with the musical notes which is hidden in the actual manuscript, immediately becomes plain when it is transposed on the piano from the key in which it is written to another. You understand ?" Julia gave a pasp of, excitement. "Of course! Of course!" she cried. "What * fool I was. I never even thought of

have a little illustration on your own piano later on. nMaewhile, lping brings the forged manuscript to "est. I have timed it for tomorrow night after dinner. West sits down at the piano, the secret having been explained to him, and steadily plays out the music in the transposed keV. In order to help him, Yiping, SwaffleM, you, and myself are present. We are all of us musicians. In order to correct each ether, and to s et the true interpretadownV f ,pber WC ™° h 0f US -** don n the notes as the;- are played. We •hall, ,„ fact, be just assistants "to West -o?nt r 7oT b ° r ~ thi l U ,hp point—to him we shall one and all be Strangers to the whole matter of hi. uncles removal. Muriel ia dead. Wert \Yui n r? "V arth '-' reason to c *'P'ng, myself, or you, to say nothinr/ wha ever of the outsider SwaffielS! w th .happened in the past. We' shall "c a.s safe as possible ' "Yes, I see that, but rrom what'" ■*' h. a^t U at r on; crye ry b,il,iant: You >™ii™i x \?:z cd »< T est conriucts * hi ° P«no. This, as vo„ _? U "° le ' S » rand from Rose _W_ 8 J °V, n k " oB ™ removed best's sitting JL \ and ,s now in ~M in Manor. It Rodny WnttSTttLt 7F' I dPSi ? ned b ? 1.0.,k, which first say h , Uk * »«>"* fact of there Vim, 0 - "'? S~" io th « a " In the stWe*? 11 . 81 - 1 «Pher at Wt behind by _£_£"'* »W»U-cripts itti* is a very imported - J'ttle plan, because it «h P ° lnt in »v particular instrument 2* that this with by the deacl man." * M tampered the ° ome »«*» m '^V e t ,. an J >l v?- d -ith hiZ 8 eU bViOUBl y «ur pocket books tor futur d ° W " ~ h 0 comes to the end of th # Con, P«-«eon. btript, or nearly the end Ulanu - "He is in the wildest'aim t aueiit us to what the nerf # excitereveal, when he plays a wmoli T? * m --chord in t'.h.rp , with several accidentals in it whiVi not occurred before. ." th _, have i - i • ftal moment tnere is a loud explosion. Antony West falls back from the stool and is dead in two minutes!" •n<«. ■')'•>• ■!•• >■" '"■ »«!'

By GUY THQFNE

Author of "When It Waa Dark," tie.

This little revolver, which everyone will suppose to have belonged to Rodny. It will he hidden in the centre of the piano, cunningly hidden from any lieu. It will be loaded in all live chambers, and each cartridge will contain a bullet of large calibre with the filed. One combination of notes, and i.ne only, will lire the revolver, and that i-onibinatiun is contained in the special chord which Antony will think the prelude to full revelation. A simple form of electric l.ati.'ry. etc.. will be the mechanical means of working the little affair. i have worked the thing out with the greatest care. When discovered, it will seem obvious that the apparatus has been in position for months.'' "Cove mc something to drink " Blair politely poured out some spirit, splashed in some soda and handed it to his sister. She took it with a trembling hand and drank it in a single gulp. "But.'' she said, stammering in her excitement, "all the world would hear of it. It will be as notorious as the Rose Regis affair was.'" "Precisely, and in that lies the immunity of us all. Don't you see, there can be no possible evidence to connect any of us with the affair! Nothing will transpire about Viping's past, there will be no new li_ht shed on Rodnv's I death. It will only lie supposed, it can I only be supposed, that here was another trap laid for the Squire by the same unknown persons who eventually killed him in another way. There may lie a dozen theories. Scotland Yard and the clever young gentlemen who write the crime studies for the Sunday papers will have the opportunity of their lives. But. none the less, it will ' remain perhaps the profoundest mys- | tery of modern times." j

"Harper, you'are wonderful!" She sat as motionless as a statue, her face as inscrutable as that of Cleopatra when she had played the death scene a few weeks ago. At last she turned and spoke. "I shall watch it," she said in a firm voice, "in an ecstasy of attention. It will be by far the greatest experience of my life. But when he lies there, no more Antony West, and something from wljich the vital principle is gone never to return, T think I shall kneel beside him and kiss his forehead —once, for what has been, and still more fox wliat might have been." Harper Blair stretched out his arms and yawned. ' "Always the little touch of sentiment!" he said. "Always the little feminine touch which is so delightful and so picturesque! Well, I suppose I must go and dress for dinner. Swaffield -is

' entertaining Sir Jarues, and Antony I will be present. '.i_ is to-night that Sir • lames ia going to make the final arrangements for our little after-dinner sitting to-morrow, and it is to-night, when the, inhabitants of the Manor House are fast asleep, when I must make my little final arrangements in regard to the grand piano/ He had walked towards the door as Ihe spoke, and suddenly there was a i twanging snap like the breaking of a 1 piece of elastic. He stopped dead in : his speech, and the snap came from sud- | den constriction of his throat. | His sister was sitting by the fire and ! facing him. She saw something leap | over that fresh-coloured face and pass. I leaving it grey. Harper was staring at | the second of the two long windows. i the one opposite the door. |In a moment—it nil happened in a j moment, in far less time than it takes Ito describe -Julia had leaped from her j chair, wheeled round, and followed tlie ! direction of her brother's stony glare. High up in the window, hanging there i without visible support, was a face, a dreadful face that Julia Blair had seen before. It was the fi-ce of a corpse, the jaw bound round with a white napkin, the teeth bared in am agony, and the stari ing eyes with a horrible hint of corruption, and upon it, before it and the glass lof the window, all around it, fell the soft snowflakes. "The third time, the third time!" Julia shrieked. Simultaneously Harper Blair raised his arm with an oath. There was a flash of light, the crash of and the tinkle of falling glass. Together the brother and sister rushed to the window and burst the doors open. They flung aside with another crash of broken glass as the' pane of the left-hand leaf, shivered by; the revolver bullet, fell utterly away. I And before them, in the light tliait | streamed out from the drawing-room,! was a virgin expanse of snow, not a single footmark anywhere. "What was the damn thing?" he said, in a hoarse whisper, turning to Julia. "The thing I saw twice before. T told you about it. yon laughed at mc. I have seen it now for the third time, and you have seen it too."

Tie seized her by'the wrist as the snow drifted in and fell upon their faces. "What was it?" he said. "God knows," she answered, vrearilr. "but it was the face of Charles Rodny in death." It took the best part of a Dottle of old cognac to restore Mr. Harper Blair to anything like his usual equanimity. He was half an hour late at the Manor House. But by the time it was half over he had persuaded himself that he and his 6ister had been the victims of a nervous illusion. Afterwards the brain of the Consultant was cleared rather than obscured by the quantities of alcohol he had absorbed. He got to work at midnight,: and he carried out his programme with- : out a hitch. (To be continued daily.)