THE VENGEANCE OF HOP F1.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 170, 20 July 1928, Page 14

THE VENGEANCE OF HOP Fl.

By PETER CHEYNEY.

CHAPTER XV

I stood with my mouth open and my nat in my hand, not knowing what to I-or some reason I was unable to speak. She stood looking at me with that smile that seemed forced. The Onlooker asked me to meet you. j Mr. Kelph,' she said eventually, "and to j <isk you if you will go at once to the I Indian Cafe in Long Acre. He will be I waiting there for vou. Will vou do j that?" J I said i would. There were a dozen I other things I wanted to say, too. a ; dozen questions to ask, but somehow my tongue refused to function. We j walked iogather to the beginning of St. Martin s Lane, where she stopped and held out her hand. "I must go now," she said. "Coodnight, Mr. Relph. And thank you very much for all you have done." Her voice seemed to tremble. "I haven't done anything," 1 said. "Nothing at all. You've nothing to thank me for." "Oh, yes, I have," she said softly. "First of all for saying nothing to the police about iny visit to Salvatori's shop, and secondly because you were a good friend to Harry Varney.'' "Harry Varney!" 1 echoed. "Did vou know him?" She smiled delightfully. "Very well," she answered. "He was a very dear friend of mine." She withdrew her hand from mine, for, quite unconsciously, I had held it all the while. Mr. ltelph." 1 watched her trim figure in its scarlet and astrachan coat, as she walked rapidly away in the direction of St. James. I hen 1 turned in the direction of Long Acre. So Harry \ arney had been a very dear friend of hers. I felt amazingfv disappointed. I suppose I didn't, at the moment, realise that 1 was jealous of hej knowing any other man except mvself. Ten minutes later I found the Indian Cafe, a small ramshackle place, in Long Aoie. The Onlooker, as well groomed as usual, was seated at one of the marbletopped tables. I told him of the startling events which had occurred, of the dramatic reappearance of Zweitt, and handed him the slip of white cardhoard which I had found. His eyes shone. } sacred road," he murmured to himself. "Say, John Relph, I think we're getting warmer. Now if we can only put our fingers on Harry Varney 1 think that we shall start moving." "Harry Varney!" I echoed once again. "'Do you mean to tell me that Harry Varney is alive?"

« "}• sure, j r d °'" replied the Onlooker. Alive and kicking, although exactly where I haven't the remotest idea at present. \ou see, Relph," he continued, 4 this business lias become more involved, because new personalities appear on the scene without any explanation as to where they come from or what they have to do with the story. At the beginning it struck me there was a great deal more in it than met the eye. Zweitt bad 6ome idea in getting you into the firm. J think this idea was selfprotection. He remembered that you had saved his life once before at Cologne. Both Zweitt and Salvatori were frightened to death of something, and they had evidently made up their minds that you could help them. It's certain that they had discussed this, and this is proved by the fact that when you went to Salvatori's shop he knew who you were, and he knew that you were there ? Now, the next point— the identification disc belonging to Harry Varney which you found on the floor on the night Salvatori was murdered. 1 happen to know how this came into salvatori s possession, and I've "ot a fairly good idea as to who stole it° from V oolll ' J" as I am fairly certain that it wasn't our friend Ling, who certainly was the man who chloroformed Stevens on the same night. «T? e si,e,ltl y for a moments. It a the Chinese who get me beat," he continued "I can't see where they come in. Hop Fi and Ling, and the rest of them. .Somehow I've got the idea in my head that they hold a watching brief tor somebody or something, and that business the night that you and Jaffrav I were surprised seems to prove it If it hadn't been for the Chinks it seems l a stone certainty that Jaffrav would not have been the only one to have handed in his checks that night, you can bet your boots on that." «w What d ° Vou mean? " I asked. Were you somewhere round about Angel AHey on that night?" 'I was," he answered smilingly. "'Say will you ever forget that music\ . . that' Chinese music. Directly I heard it I knew what it was—it was a warning. Don't you see that Jaffray knew what that I ™. usl ® Don't you remember that | directly he heard it ho handed vou his automatic? Well, doesn't it strike you pretty forcibly that if a fellow is <T o i,„r to try to take you by surprise and do you an injury he isn't going to hand around and plav tunes to you first? He's going to get on with the job. That music was a warning for Jaffray. Then another thing. Take Ling. Just because our friend Zweitt disappears, it strikes our enterprising friend Jevons that any- J one who called to see the Swiss that morning must have been in league with his murderers. It hasn't struck Jevons that the letter with the big blob of wax on it may have been another warning. That is one of the reasons that I made you promise not to identify Ling. Ling in prison as a suspect is no good to us—outside he seems to me to be a pretty useful sort of customer." He blew a perfect smoke ring and watched it sail across the room. "Jevons won't look further than his nose," he continued. "Let's take the Zweitt murder. We know that Zweitt met his death in practically the same way as Jaffray was supposed to have met his—strangulation. Yet sometime after he is killed somebody takes the trouble to cut his head off, an' tie it on with a piece of tape. It hasn't occurred to Jevons that someone else may have cut off Zweitt's head after the murder— someone who had nothing to do with the original murder." He dropped his voice. "Was it the Chinks who cut off Zweitt's head?" he continued. "And if it was— why?" . "You mean that it was another warning," I said. "That's right," he replied. "And that warning was for Brandon. He's the next on the list!" ." Lo ?* here, Onlooker," I said. "I've been backing you up pretty considerably for some time now. I suppose, too, that Ive broken the law by working with you and withholding information from

Jevons. Don't you thing that it's up to you to let me know who you are, and exactly what your game is?" "All in good time," he answered. "And I promise that you won't be in the dark very long now. But I've made a prornis? to keep certain things to myself, and I'm going to do it." ' "When are you going to be released from that promise, Onlooker ?" 1 asked. He smiled, and I noticed the goodhumoured crows' feet about his eyes. "Say, Relph," he said. "If 1 told you who it was I made that promise to, then I guess you'd be able to answer your question yourself." His face became sad. "It was Chief Inspector Jarfrav," he said. "Now you can answer your own question. Incidentally, I want you to come down to Poplar' and meet the mysterious lady—the one you saw going into Salvatori's shop on the night of his murder, the lady who gave you niv message to-night. You'll like her, ~Kelph, apart from the fact that she is Harry Yarney's sister." My heart gave a great leap, and a feeding of immense relief came over me. The Onlooker regarded me whimsically. I am certain that he knew what was going on in my mind. "Sure thing," he continued. "She's a stir music hall artiste, and she's working the Poplar Hippodrome this week. Her act finishes at ten o'clock, so I'll get you to be down at the stage door somewhere in the region of ten fortylive. Don't say too much about what's happening. You see, that little lady's been having a few shocks lately, and I don't want her to get more upset than is necessary." He held out his hand. "I must bo getting along now," he said. "By the v.av, how did Brandon take tli ■ arrival of the packing case, Pretty cool, was he?" He grinned cheerfully. "Keep your eye on that gentleman, Helph. I've .'-rot an idea in my head that we're going to have trouble with him in a minute. Cheerio!" Left to myself, I pondered over what the Onlooker had said. So Harry Varney, | my old friend, was alive, and in England. I wondered what part he was playing in the mystery, and what weird talche would have to tell me when we met again. I realised, too, what a relief it had been to hear that the mysteriouswoman was his sister. My mental picture of her, as I had last seen her, in her smart scarlet coat with its soft edging of fur, fascinated tne, and accompanied me on my way back to Berners Street. I turned in directly I got back, but 1 could not sleep. At last, I got up, and, walking oyer to the window, drew aside the window blind and looked out. As my eyes got accustomed to the darkness I saw, leaning up against the wall on the other side of the street, the Chinaman, Ling. As he stood there, immovable, in the drizzling rain, his shoulders hunched up, he presented a picture of Oriental patience which I shall never forget. I wondered sleepily what he was doing—what he was waiting for. Then I went back to bed and after a while fell asleep. (To be continued dailv.) !