THE RED GRIP.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 136, 11 June 1927, Page 32

THE RED GRIP.

By COLONEL HENRY CURTIES. Author of "The Carnation Club," "Love and the Law," "Sybil's Tryst," etc. INSTOLMENT TWELVE. CHAPTER XL. Maris stood looking down in horror at Verner and Treadgold, whom De Vasseur had just shot; she was stunned with terror at the scene, and powerless to save herself by flying down the staircase in tne wall which Verner had indicated to her. She was, however, not permitted to have much doubt as to her fate. "Now these two traitors have got their deserts," Ve Vasseur cried, "gag these two women and carry out the sentence upon them." But even as the men moved to take her, Maris heard the «ound of a great noise coming up the staircase in the wall, and a man came flying through the door. He looked distracted with fear. "Save yourselves, comrades!" he cried. "The house is surrounded by police, and they are coming up both staircases!" The words had hardly left his lips when the room was tilled with armed police. But whatever faults De Vasseur had —and they were many—fear was not one of them. He snarled and spat' like a cornered rat when the police surrounded him, and shot the first man who laid hands on him. The wounded man fell by the side of Verner and Treadgold. But numbers were too much for him. He was borne to the ground at last and handcuffed. Then there was a general cry of "Hands up, or we fire!" and the remainder of the men were secured. But while this was going on, there came quietly up the back staircase the figure of an inspector of police in uniform. He at once addressed Maris, who leaned half-fainting against the staircase door.

"Don't be afraid, miss," he said. "We have come to save you, and, thank God, we are in time. We did not reckon on these two gentlemen being disposed of so soon." He indicated Vcrner and Treadgold, lying on the floor. But he had hardly spoken when there pushed by him a figure which Maris had grown to know well, and the next moment she was in Raymonds' arms. "Come away from this awful place," Lord Barstone whispered after he had soothed her. "Had I had my way, you should never have come back here for a moment. But the police insisted on their plan being carried out, and informed me that you were guarded every moment you were here by men who could be trusted." "Poor Verner and Treadgold!" sobbed Maris. "I fear they have both given their lives for me!" "No," answered Raymond, "Verner still lives, and may recover." She gave one look at Verner, now insensible, and being carried away by Red Cross men, then let Lord Barstone lead her down the staircase to the hall of the club. Here the police were in charge of everything. The two hall porters and the lift men, all handcuffed, were standing, in a little group guarded by police. Preceded by the inspector, Lord Barstone led Marig to his waiting car. "You are going to my mother's house in Belgrave Square," he said, "for a day or two. She knows all, and understands all, and sympathises with us. As soon as possible you are to go with her to our country house in Cornwall." With a shudder Maris tourned her back upon the wretched so-called club for ever.

CHAPTER XLI. "Yes," remarked the Superintendent of Police in charge of the Grosvenor Place case, "it is one of the most extraordinary tangles we have ever had to unravel." He was sitting opposite to Lord Barstone in his private room at the Foreign Office, and the Superintendent remarked on his return to "the Yard" that his lordship looked worried and careworn. "And you had no suspicion," Lord Barstone asked, "of what was going on at this sham club in Grosvenor Place?"

"Not the slightest," answered the police officer. "There had been no complaints, the place was well conducted, every regulation had been complied with, and as far as we knew, the house was a high class, and rather exclusive club. Stay, though," exclaimed the officer, "I am making a mistake; there was' a complaint a few weeks ago,, so we now hear, of a peculiar buzzing sound which annoyed a neighbour, but this wa6 at once stopped and an apology tendered." "And what was the cause of the buzzing sound?" asked Lord Barstone. "It was said by the manager of the tflub," waß the answer, "to be caused by a new electrical installation, which wag perfectly true; we now know that it was caused by the Rotary Printing Press, worked by electricity, used to print forged notes." "And did they stop the Press?" Lord Bar'stone asked. "tfo," was the reply, "they muffled the sound in a very ingenious manner with rubber. The printing went on." Raymond put his hand to his fore head.

"With all the facilities we have here in the Foreign Office," he said, "I had not the slightest susppicion of De Vasaeur. I knew him as a kind of free lance in the diplomatic world, a purr mercenary, ready to sell his services to the power that would pay him best, but 1 never dreamt that he would sell his talents to the Bclslieviks. That is another matter altogether. As you know, Superintendent," Lord Barstone continued in a lower voice, "diplomatists are compelled sometimes to use means and persons to obtain information which are not generally spoken about. De Vasseur was one of the means and persons. I first came across him in Vienna after the war. He was then out looking for a job. He certainly conducted one or two little matters for us with great discretion, and he might have been employed permanently by our Foreign Office had he wished. But he disappeared, and I saw no more of him until he came one day quite recently to see me here. That I take to have been a pure piece of bluff. He was, of course, then employed by Moscow. I met him afterwards on the pier at Ventnor accidentally, the very day the club was raided, and he must have come back to London immediately. As for his nationality, he always posed to me as an ill-used Austrian with British sympathies, but he is, in my opinion, an obvious Prussian. Well, what do you think will be the end of him, Superintendent?" added Lord Barstone.

The police officer fingered his necktie. "I don't think there is much about that, my Lord," he said. "There were several murders against him before he killed-Treadgold. There ia no doubt that

he was the instigator of the murder of the man found shot on the club steps some time ago. The man bore papers on his body which represented him to be De Vasseur himself. For some reason, the true De Vasseur wanted to drop out. The affair was never connected with the club. The man was supposed to have been shot elsewhere and his body placed on the club steps, but there is little doubt now that he was shot while leaving the club. We are going to clear that matter up. No, 1 don't think there is much doubt about what De Yasseur's end will be; he is certain to receive the death sentence, and he is hardly the sort of person to be reprieved." "You were going to tell me about the woman found in the coffin," suggested Lord Barstone.

"Ah, yes! Madame Brun; of course," replied the Superintendent. "I had forgotten ner. As you know, she was the first to give information of the nature of the club. We saw at once that she would be a most valuable witness, and we were also pretty certain that the Bolsheviks would do their best to kill her as soon as they knew she had turned King's Evidence. So we decided to send her to Holland and hide her in one of the Dutch towns. But the Bolshies were too quick for us; they got her while she was driving down to the docks with one of our men on the box, too. They tied him up and left him in the road. Their manner of hiding was her characteristic and I think clever. They had a coffin and a hearse ready, they gagged Brun and popped her into the coffin. This was driven in the hearse to the club in Grosvenor Place, where such a common event as a coffin being taken home created no comment. They would have mutilated her and killed her if we had not stopped them."

The superintendent closed his note book and rose; the interview was at an end. But he hesitated before he passed out.

"I hope, my lord," he asked diffidently, "that the young lady is well. She had a terrible experience." Lord Barstone covered his eyes with his hand; he had not yet got "over the shock. "Thank God," he answered, "she is well. You saved her from a terrible fate." CHAPTER XLII. "Now, only a quarter of an hour, Miss Starland, remember," said the matron. "His case is quite hopeless, but still I must obey my orders." Maris watched the matron as she placed her hand on the door of the private room in the great hospital, and opened it. The room was half shaded, and Verner lay back upon his pillows as if he was asleep; as Maris entered he opened his eyes and saw her. "I am so glad you have come," he said, making an effort to give her his hand. "I wanted to talk to you before I go." Maris sat beside him and laid her hand trembling on his. "Don't talk if it pains you," she said. He smiled faintly. "I am not suffering any pain now," he said, "that has gone, but I don't feel exactly strong," he added with a little twitch of his lips. "I understand all about it. I am a doctor and I know pretty well how long I have got to live, and I wanted to speak to you while I can."

She said nothing, but pressed his hand; the tears were welling from her eyes. "I want to tell you," he proceeded, "that I am sorry that I ever encouraged you to go to that club in Grosvenor Place. I ought to have warned you; but, Maris—" "Yes," she answered. "I was attracted by you, and I was weak and very reckless, and I wanted you near me. Was it unreasonable?" She shook her head, but said nothing. "The awful time came when I had to bo abroad for De Vasscur. If you had only taken my advice and kept your promise, Maris, and not have gone to the iron door, you would have been in no danger. It was not until I came out of the nursing home that I learned what had happened, and then it was too late and you were abroad with that terrible woman Brun —" He stopped. "Don't go on," she urged. "You are distressing yourself." "No, I am not," he answered. "I am very happy to have you near me here, and it is a relief to my mind to tell you these things. I want to tell you how it was that I became associated with these Bolsheviks. You see, I had not been wise when I first started in practice as a doctor, and I had got into financial difficulties. I had decided to go and practice in the colonies and was absolutely on my way to Canada when I met De Vasseur on the ship I was travelling on. He was very agreeable and a convincing talker and he persuaded me to g< back to England with him as he would find me a new opening. The new opening was the club in Grosvenor Place. He had lent me money and I was absolutely in his power, for I had spent all my own

resources, so I practically had to do as he told me. Little by little, the whole vile scheme, with its iron discipline and cruel punishments, was unfolded to me. I found myself at last a member of a Bolshevik association in which the penalty of betrayal was death, and death is coming to me as a result. It is very near me now. As soon as you returned, I and Treadgold determined to save you at any cost, and we went to the police. We found that Brim had been there before us, that she had been captured by De Vasseur and his men. We soon learned from De Vasseur that she was to suffer mutililation and death; then Treadgold and I trembled for you. But," he added faintly, turning on his pillow, "it all came right, thank God." He was quiet for a few minutes, and Maris thought he had finished speaking, but he gripped her hand again.

"I want to tell you of that poor woman who bore my name before you came. It was part of De Vasseur's vile scheme that I should marry her; he told me to give a sense of reality to the management of the club. He said it was a desirable thing that the club should be in the hands of an English doctor and his wife; it would dispel suspicion, and, in addition, the lease of the club wa» »u this poor woman's name. She had joined the Bolsheviks long before when she was an ardent suffragette; her sanguine temperament had been worked upon and she had become a slave of the Soviet. Suspected of treachery, she had suffered the awful penalty of dismemberment for it, but being afterwards found guiltless of the charge, she was turned over to me to take care of and—to marry. I married her out of pitv," he continued, "but our married life was no married life at all; she became demented." "And where is she now ?" asked Maris. He shook his head. "I don't know," he answered. "There are only two persons who know that— De Vasseur and Brun." His voice sank low, the door opened, and the matron entered. "You must go now," she whispered. "I have already given you double the time I promised." "Maris, Maris!" came the faint voice from the bed. She came and stood by him. "Kiss me once, dear," he said, "before I go." She bent and kissed him. (To l>e continued daily.)