A RING OF STEEL

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 194, 17 August 1932, Page 17

A RING OF STEEL

Bj GILBERT LITTLESTONE,

CHAPTER XXIII. Brent listened to all that Dexter had to say and watched his every movement with open-mouthed astonishment. But he was following every phrase of the argument and watching the logical development of it with a certainty that the problem was solved beyond tho remotest shadow of a doubt. "There," Dexter said. "In a nutshell, that is the whole story. I should like to know what you think." "There is only one thing to be said," Brent replied. "I suppose we shall go at once to Scotland Yard —" "Nothing of the sort," Dexter chuckled. "I am not quite ready for Craik yet. When iny dictograph rounds off tho serial as it should the demonstration will take place in my private apartments. That may be a day or two yet, but when the last scene of the drama is played, then I should like Miss Ediss to be present. But for her I should still be a long way from a solution of a remarkable crime." They turned their backs on the flat presently and walked into the road imtil they parted, but not before Dexter had something further to say. "Now, look here, my friend," he said. "I am going to aek you a pertinent question. What are you going to do until the matter of Mr. Foxcraft's will is settled ?" "Ah, that I can't tell you," Brent said. "I am left on my beam ends, and, according to those lawyers, I am not likely to get any money from tho estate for a long time to come. I suppose I shall have to look out for a job in the meantime." "That is exactly what I expected you to say," Dexter went on. "But you can't live on air, and you can't pick up a job at every street corner. Oh, I know all about the law's delay; the same thing happened when my father died, and my mother was seriously inconvenienced for over a year. What these lawyers do is to file a friendly suit and get the estate wound up under the direction of the Court of Chancery. This not only rids them of all responsibility, but trebles the cost of administration. Now, I know Chalcotl, R.A,. who is one of Foxcraft's executors, and I am told that he is contemplating a trip to the South Pacific, which may last anything up to three years. He is not the man to be kept at home making affidavits and attending all sorts of conferences before Chancery masters. I mean, he ie not going to have his holiday ruined to put money in tho pockets of a set of old-fashioned attorneys. So, if you have no objection, I will put Chalcott on to these people in Lincoln's Inn, and if he can't put the fear of God into their hearts, nobody can."

It therefore came about a day or two later that Brent found himself in tho musty offices of Messrs. Carr, Can" and BliFHett, in response to a letter from them to find that the atmosphere had altogether changed.

"It's like this, Mr. Brent," the lawyer said. "One of the executors has been here, and if ho did not exactly threaten us that ho would renounce his trust, he—6l' —tlm—er —used certain arguments which inclined us to—um—er—rather expedite matters. Quite contrary to our usual custom, you know, but there are certain reasons why—um—er—reasons that would not appeal to a layman like yourself. Mr. Chalcott cannot remain in the country for more than a few weeks longer, so we are pressing on. and—well—in short, Mr. Brent, as yon will benefit to a large extent under Mr. Foxcraft's will, and we shall want to see you fairly frequently, which means taking up a lot of your time, we shall be quite prepared to advance you er money up to the amount of £2000."

"wfm, is Very good of J' 011 *" Brent said. That/being eo, I am quite at your disposal at any time." Brent left the dingy offices feeling greatly relieved in his mind and lost no time in informing Marjorie exactly what had happened, and how there was no longer any anxiety as to the future. "Oh, I am glad," she said. "I didn't like to mention it before, Cecil, but I have been most anxious about you." "And what about yourself?" Brent smiled. "Oh, our new scheme is a great success," Marjorio explained. "And my proprietor is delighted. He has even increased my salary." ''That doesn't matter much," Brent said, "because ho won't enjoy your services much longer. Only you need not tell him that just yet. And there is another thing." With that, Brent proceeded to tell Marjorie the result of his visit to the flat in Regent Gate Mansions. "Mind you. I don't know everything yet," he said, in conclusion. "But Dexter says that you gave him the clue, and ho wants you to be present when that wonderful dictograph of his exposes tho conspiracy to Inspector Craik."

"I did it?" Marjorie cried. "But, my dear boy, how on earth did I help?" "Ah, that is exactly what Dexter won't tell me," Brent smiled. "Still, you will know soon enough. And now that our minds iti'e free to think about ourselves, can't we plan some sort of festive week-end?"'

"Oh, that would- be delightful," Marjorie cried. "Why not come down to the country with me and eee my mother? You ha\'e never met, and all she knows about you she has learnt from liiy letters. You can understand why she- is anxious to see you. It is quite a small place where she lives, but we have a tiny .spare bedroom, and if you don't mind —'' "Mind!" Brent echoed. "I should love it."

So on the Saturday afternoon they journeyed together down into the country, and spent a quiet but i) 6 less enjoyable week-end in company with a delightful old lady who was an elderly edition of Marjorie' as she> was to-day.

"I know a good deal about you," Mrs. Ediss told Brent, as they eat in the little dininjf-rooin that evening after supper. "Marjorie's father and yours were school-fellows. My husband used to tell me a lot about his friendship for William Brent. I never met him because our paths lay rather far apart, but I did hear accidentally that lie lost everything during the war:" "Tliat is quite right," Brent explained. "He could have saved a good deal if he had liked, but lie inoferrod paying his creditors to the full and that is why, when he died, he left me with no money and no prospects. Still, I was oiily one of a good many thousands, and I don't think I have ever done anything to be ashftmed of, though I did get my living for some time in a circus."

"Yes, I know all about that," the old lady said. "Marjorie told me in her letters. If you make her as happy as her father made me, then I shall have nothing to complain of."

• Brent went back to town on the Monday morning with Marjorie, feeling that he' had not been wasting his time. And Marjorie, as she smiled into his face, was prepared to admit that the world was a very pleasant place to live in. "How wonderfully every tiling is turning out, Cecil," she said. "A few weeks ago I didn't seem to have a friend in the world. I livert by myself in those hateful lodgings, before you came along like a fairy prince and changed everything. And do you know, I shall be almost sorry to give up my occupation." "Oh, well, you will have the consolation of knowing you are opening up a job for some other deserving young woman," Brent laughed. "Now, you go back to work while I look up Dexter and see if he is ready for his exhibition." Dexter greeted Brent with one of his dry chuckles, and intimated that after dinner the same evening the dictograph would disclose its secret in his room. He had already been in communication with Craik, who had promised to come round and listen to a really dramatic disclosure. "I have already gone over it myself," Dexter went on to explain. "It took me some time to retranslate the interview between those two scoundrels at Hampstead, but it all ran out smoothly at length, and a most remarkable result it was. Craik has not the least idea what he is going to hear, because I kept him in the dark on purpose. A very good fellow, Craik, but like all those Scotland Yard men, a bit jealous of us amateur detectives. Mind you, I have helped him more than once, though my assistance has usually taken the form of a problem in psychology. On this occasion, however, I am going to astonish our friend almost as much as I was astonished myself. Don't forget to bring Miss Ediss along with you. I suppose you have already told her all that happened in the flat."

fniiiiiimiiimmimiiiimiimiiimmmiir.

"Not altogether," Brent said. "I thought I would leave that for you to do, because it's your stunt, not mine. But what are you going to do afterwards? We are going to have trouble with those two men."

"With one of (hem," Dexter said. "The man I should be most afraid of would be Morano. You never know where you are with those hot-blooded Latins. If he is pushed in a corner he will show fight. But Fishwick won't."

"What makes you so sure of that? ,. Brent asked.

"Different temperament altogether. Fishwick is a sort of fatalist. What will be, will be, and all that sort of thing. He will probably take it quite calmly, • and, as likely as not, poison himself when I he sees the game is up. You see, he is as liable to capital punishment as the actual murderer, even though he was not present at the time —accessory after the fate, you know." CHAPTER XXIV. A little after nine on the same evening the three interested parties were gathered in Dexter's comfortable sittingroom, somewhere In Bloomsbury. "Now, my friends," he said, addressing himself more particularly to Craik. "I am going to ask you to listen to a conversation that took place a few nights ago in Fishwiek'a library at Hampstead, between himself and the man called Morano. I have already given you an outline of what my machine can do over the telephone, and you are aware of my adventure in that Hampstead garden in connection with our friend Brent." "Go on," Craik said impatiently. "Go on. You stood outside the library window* \vlien tho?e two men were talking, and _yoi7 fixed your microphone to one of the panes hi the library window. That I already know. Are you going to tell me that, with that black box on the table, you have a speaking record of the conversation that took place, between those two?" "That is exactly what is going to happen/' Dexter said. "Moreover, I am prepared to demonstrate the accuracy of my instrument in any Court of justice; Anyone with even a (smattering of wireless knowledge could understand in five minutes just what my dictograph can do. Now, let nie turn the lights down whilst you good folks listen. You are to imagine yourselves inside the library whilst these people are talking, and, If you like, imagine you are in a theatre, watching a scene in a play. Now then, if you are quite ready." The lights were turned down, nnd almost immediately came a hissing noise very much like the scratching of a gramophone needle on a record. Then the loud speaker spoke: "Well, Morano, what brings you here to-night?"

Again came the slight hiss, and once more the loud speaker took up its amazing tale.

"And what on earth do you suppose I am here for to-night ? How long do you think I am going to put up with this sort of thing? Ah, you are a clever fellow, Fishwick, but you haven't got a fool to deal with this time. When you came to me outside Paris, some eight months ago, you gave me the impression of being straight. When I say straight, I mean honour amongst thieves and all that sort of thing. You knew that I was more or less down and out, and that I was hiding from justice in Blanchin's circus. You told me you were a gentleman, and I believed it —at least a gentleman by birth. And 60 am I, for what it's worth. Then you told me, after you :iad sounded me carefully, that if I liked to take a bit of a risk there was as much money waiting for me as I could earn in the circus in 50 years. Old Foxcraft's money, of course. You saw a way of robbing him of thousands of pounds, and I was to have my share." "Well, haven't you?" "Haven't I ? Huh! A hundred or two and promises galore. But never mind about that. You told me your scheme in detail, and when the circus came to England you took me round to Foxcraft's flat and pointed out how easy the whole thing was. All we had to do was to lie , low till after the Due de Lancy's sale, and then, when the old chap was alone in his flat, gloating over his treasures, I was to get hold of them and bring them to you. It was one of the most cunning schemes that the brain of man ever devised, and, what is more, it came off. If I hadn't been a fool I should have kept all that stuff and laughed in your face when you asked me to let you have it." "Yes, and been caught with the stuff on you. What do you know of the disposal of stolen goods? I tell you, my friend, it is an art in itself. It took me live yeare to learn how to dispose of that sort of plunder without the slightest risk of it being traced back to me. And you talk as if you could have got your price for the pearl necklace and other things with no more trouble than you could sell a second-hand watch. Why, you would have been in the hands of the police in a week." "Ah, what is the use of talking like that '!" the other voice snarled. "If I couldn't have disposed of the stuff I could have made my own bargain with you, and have refused to part with the goods until my share of the plunder was on the table in front of me in sound money, but, like the fool that I am, I trusted you because I thought that, in spite of everything, you wore the sort of rascal who would not turn down a friend. I have fallen pretty low myself, but I could not have done what you did to me." "My dear chap, all is fair in love and war. Besides, I needed every penny I could get hold of. One of the biggest things I ever touched. And, if it had not been for a bit df infernal bad luck, I should have made a fortune out of that money, and, if I. had, you would have had your share." "You infernal liar. You have got the money now, and yet you can smile in my face and defy me to do my worst. Now, don't you drive me too far, Fishwick, or there will be another murder as well as the one in Regent Gate Mansions." (To be continued daily.)