"The .... Amateur Queen"

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 196, 20 August 1930, Page 22

"The .... Amateur Queen"

By RUSSELL STANNARD.

SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS,

VIVIEN CLEMENT opened a photographer's .studio in London; she lived alone except for her porsian cat, Josephine. EDWARD CARR, a young man working in the motor car showrooms opposite, is her first customer. His uncle, a Bishop, had ,oncesat for .Vivien. One day a foreigner,'; PRINCE PAUL MIDANTI, comes to the studio and asks Vivien if ehe will take the photograph .of■ a child.. It must be done in the greatest secrecy, in the country. Vivien agrees, and that same evening Midanti calls for her and her apparatus in a large car. Edward Carr, who has developed a great interest for Vivien, sees, with misgivings, the car bearing Vivien away. Two days later there being still no sign' of Vivien, Carr determines to break into her.flat and find a clue as to her whereabouts. ■ >

CHAPTER V.

Carr Receives a Letter.

Edward Carr was an abstemious youth considering his age and environment, and even when temptation was very, great, strong drink did not trouble him'..much. But although he was a University man, Cambridge had not destroyed an inborn enthusiasm for commerce, and he was an enthusiast, concerning the future of the Gleam.

■Consequently the night out with its inevitable .mixture of cocktails and the juice of the grape resulted in an exuberance about which he had slight regrets the next inoming. With these were mingled reproaches for having forgotten Vivien for nearly twelve hours. ] It was time he told the police. ' It was' his clear duty to tell them all the facts that lie knew. First of all, however, he must consult his friends,-and he arrived in Bond" Street with iifb intention of doing this without further delay. He changed his mind when he opened a letter that came by that morning's post addressed care of the Gleam. It was from Vivien. "Dear Mr. Carr," it began. "I -should have written to you_ before as of course you must be surprised at my continued absence from the studio, but there were reasons for not doing so. However, it is imperative that I should not delay a day longer, for I have just heard that you have been making certain inquiries in Knightsbridge which would cause me and other people considerable embarrassment if persisted in, epecially if it is true that you are thinking of communicating with the police. "So let me assure you that there is not the slightest reason to have any anxiety on my account. It just happens that for the time being I am obliged to keep my whereabouts and my business a secret. I had hoped to be back in Marigold Street before now, but unforeseen . circumstances have kept me out of toAvn. "As soon as I realised that I was likely to be away longer than I anticipated I sent a'friend to the studio to take Josephine away:to a good veterinary so that she's all right.

"Please offer my apologies to youi friend and tell him that he shall be the first to have a sitting on my return. "Meanwhile, please don't be concerned about my non-appearance in Marigold ftheet, I am with friends. I cannot UM yon where I am for I have given my word of honour not to disclose anything,—Your?, *Sw.(irv\y, Vivi<r/i Cl/»rnent."

Carr having read the letter once felt that the mystery was solved, that in fact there never had been a mystery, and that he had much better mind his own business. . ■' -

Then he re-read the letter, and again his old doubts began to assail him — Vivien could not even tell him where she was.

He looked, at the post-mark—"Guild-ford" —and remembered that the telegram she sent him was dispatched from j-a village near the Surrey town. He swiftly reviewed events: A charming young woman opens a photographer's business in Mayfair, and is very anxious to obtain clients. She makes an appointment for a friend of Edward Carr's, and the very next day she disappears, having been seen the previous evening driving away in a luxurious car with a foreigner. Apparently the business can fail for all she cares —much more important affairs' requiring the greatest secrecy have intervened. A special emissary is sent to remove her cat—Edward Carr must not even be entrusted with that responsibility. After reading the letter a thifd time he came to the conclusion that the mystery was as deep as ever, and that the letter was by no means conclusive evidence that Vivien was in safe hands. The letter might have.been written under duress, and the people who had her in their power had made her write to him in order to stop him going to the police. -. ' ' The only other explanation was that she was an adventuress acting with a gang of international crooks, and that her shop was simply a cloak'for their, activities.

Carr laughed at the idea of Vivien being ah adventuress—it would have been a great joke if. the Bishop had really been photographed by a siren, and if cousin Julia had become acquainted with her. ' i But what was he going to do about it? He decided that Scotland Yard was now out of the question—also he did not feel like confiding in his fellow partners', who would merely scent a romanct and pull his leg about it. * If Vivien really wanted help it was, evident that he would have to go to her aid single-handed until he knew more about the situation. '

The affairs of the Gleam Motor Company, Limited, needed Carr's attention that day,, people were coming to the showrooms in increasing numbers, and there was a special publicity campaign to be planned. The public were beginning to b'elieve that the claim made that this car scarcely needed washing was genuine. The novelty, of it drew a crowd who wanted to see the daily demonstration of a model being driven fhrovigh conditions resembling a very muddy road and emerging with a still shining body : that merely needed a swift polish. There were also people who wanted to fM'onire tlie rights to use the secret varnish for other purposes.

• These were thrilling days in the birth' of a new car, and if Carr had not been preoccupied-with the fate of Vivien he would have entered into the day's proceedings with much more zest than he actually did. That night he excused himself from a dinner party and went home early to rjtm'k t»i.-i»"M cut, meaning to go to bed in good time. .. ■ • '-V " ,

He dined alone in hie rooms. Half an hour after he had finished his meal he had decided upon a new move. First of all he scribbled a note to his manager saying tliat he might be in verylate the next day as he had been called away on urgent private business. Then he packed a bag, told the land- ,,::■ .; wc-iild be away for the night, and hurried round to a garage in Portland Street where he kept his own Gleam —a sports model.

His arrival at the garage considerablyexcited one witness —a man in a bowler hat in a blue-belted mackintosh, who went in great haste\to another garage close by where cars were to be had on hire.

A quarter of an hour later an unfamiliar looking car came out of the garage info Portland Street, a car with a very high radiator, a long shining bonnet, and a wind screen so narrow that one wondered whether the driver had sufficient vision.

As Carr turned into Oxford Street, a big Daimler that had pulled up a hundred yards away from Carr's garage swiftly followed.

The Gleam made for Hyde Park, entering by the Marble Arch entranca and the bridge over the Serpentine, left the Park and "made for Hammersmith at a fcpeed which showed that the Gleam had exceptional powers of acceleration.

At Hammersmith Broadway, the Gleam slipped' through just before the traffic going towards Barnes was held up to the great annoyance of the man in the blue belted mckintosh sitting in the back seat of the big car. He begged the driver not to lose sight of. the Gleam. The pursuit would, however, have ended there and then but for the fact that at Hammersmith Bridge half the road was under repair and Carr had to pull up and wait until a stream of traffic going towards London had got through. After that it was not difficult for the big car to keep the other in view although the Gleam showed a pretty turn of speed on the Kingston By Pass. If Carr had known he was being followed he might have shaken off the pursuer, but he was in no' great hurry. The evening was fine and a cruising speed of fifty was very pleasant. Just about an hour after .he left London he pulled up at an hotel in the Guildford High Street; and having booked a room there went into the saloon bar to study a map of the district.

He found the village of Curpey, from which Vivien's telegram had been dis-i patched, and he decided that he would explore the neighbourhood that night. The barmaid of this Guildford Inn knew the village, but when he mentioned the name of Prince Midanti she shook her head.

"There is no one of that name living in Curpey," she said. "Any foreign peopl at all?" he inquired. "There's the; big house belonging to Sir Thomas Gafmoore, but he died two years ago and Lady Gafmoore went away and let the place to some strangers. I believe they were foreigners, but.' my mother, who lives in the village, says that nobody has seen anything of the family who lives there now. The servants are foreigners, too, and they don't mix with the villagers." This sounded very_useful information and Carr learned from her the best way of getting there. She told him that the house was two miles from the village, and that it was approached by a drive of at least a mile long, the houses 'being entirely screened from ,the road by a dense belt of fir trees. (To be continued daily.)