HER LADYSHIP'S COMPANION

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 11, 13 January 1934, Page 9 (Supplement)

HER LADYSHIP'S COMPANION

By 1 HEDLEY RICHARDS

Op THE WEB OF FATE

_ Author of "Out of Darkness," "A Day of Reckoning," eto.

CHAPTER XIV. Friends and Traitors. Jack Colliiison looked into her troubled but honest grey eyes, that seemed to say their owner was to be trusted. "I am sure you are innocent, but I wish you would tell me all, so that I can help you; I don't like to say it, but you may need a friend, and I could bo of so much more service if I knew exactly how matters stand." She hesitated, then spoke in a decided tone. "Captain Collinson, I don't deny there is something in my life I want to hide. I told you yesterday I had a secret. I'm only twenty, but I'm that hateful thing a woman with a past, and I cannot tell you what that past it, except that I was the victim of a cruel plot. That man, who lies dead, and his cousin Mademoiselle Dubois, have ruined my life, but I would do anything rather than have the truth known —anything short of murder. I would have let Dumarsque live for ever sooner than kill him, as the inspector half suspects I did; still, I own it ie a Telicf to know that ho cannot do me any more harm. God, who knows all, won't count that feeling a sin." "Hβ was a brute, and someone, of whom you know nothing, had a score to settle with him; but, Lady Jane, what if the police get hold of this man's cousin, Mademoiselle Dubois?" said Jack.

"She won't say anything about the past —it would mean trouble for her, and she would not gain anything."

"That is well, and now, as I believe I am the only person who was a witness of your interview with Dumarsquc, I think we can prevent the police discovering anything. We have admitted that you were in the wood near where the hatpin was found."

"There is one thing you don't know, that the police- will probably discover. Two or throe weeks ago Dumarsque— whom I had believed to be dead—sent me a note asking me to meet him at midnight, near where you saw us yesterday. I went, and someone knew of that meeting, someone played the spy and eavesdropper, and the information was carried to my cousin Ronald, who challenged mo with meeting Dumarsquc, my old drawing master, but I wouldn't admit I had done so, unless he gave me his authority, and he lefused."

Jack did not reply; ho was thinking that whoever had been Ronald's informant must have, known Dumarsque, and there was only one person at the Hall who was likely to have recognised him, and that was Esther. Jack's blood boiled as he thought that his sister must have Leon trying to set Ronald Stapleton against the woman it had always been understood he was to marry. That Esther loved Stapleton he was certain, but that she would lower herself to spy on Lady Jane, who had been such a true friend "to her, was almost incredible, yet who else would know Dumarsque ? He would mention the matter to her, and if he found she had played the part of Judas he would force her to leave the Hall at once.

"You think this complicates matters?" she said. For a moment ho didn't grasp her meaning; then he understood. "No. If your-cousin knows of that meeting ho will keep it quiet nnd tako caro whoever told him docs the same. Now, do you mind telling me if you gave Dumarsque any nionoy last night, because if he had a largo sum jn his possession it would arouse suspicion J' She shook her head. •. '• "I hadn't any money to give him, and the last ftye hundred I got my guardian made such a bother about that I daren't ask for more. Besides, he daren't wait while I got it, so I gave him my pearl necklace."

"Your pearl necklace! Then what has become of ft I The inspector did not name,it," said Jack thoughtfully, wondering if it was in the possession of the police, who intended keeping the matter secret until the inquest. Truly, it seemed as though the net was .closing round Lady Jane. Then he roused himself. " . "What do you mean by saying Dutnareque dared not wait while you got money?" "It cannot injure him now if I tell you that he had forged a friend's name to a cheque, and he was afraid the police were after him, bo he wanted to get abroad; and. he_ vowed he would not return for years, if ever. I know ho was really afraid, as ho kept glancing round anxiously. I'm sure he intended being far away by. daylight, but from the spot where his body was found he must have been killed very soon after we parted." "Probably the murderer was lying in wait. I wish the police could discover him," said Jack. "Suppose it was a woman who killed him. The police said it was a woman's weapon. Some other woman may have had as much reason to hate him as I had.'?

. "Yes, but it doesn't seem likely there would be- another woman in this district, and a man would be just as likely to use the pin if he had found it." "Do you think the police —who wanted him for forgery—will trace him now?" "It's quite possible. And I expect at the inquest some light will be thrown on his past life," said Jack. "Oh, I hope not"—and she grew white. ♦ He drew nearer and spoke in a low tone: "Lady Jane, you know I am your friend, and I want nothing so much as to serve you. Let me help you by sharing the burden of the past. If I knew all, it might make the present easier to deal with." "I cannot tell you anything more— but I do want your friendship," she said.

"You have it, and always will; but I must leave you now. I'm going to the White Swan. I want to find out if the police have got that pearl necklace. I shall be back in time for tea." "I think I will go into the house," said Lady Jane, who went at once to her room, and, locking the door, she sat down and vainly tried to think; but the awful events of the morning had upset her so much that she gave it up, aud, ringing the bell, she told her maid to draw the blinds down, and tell Miss Tempest she had a headache and was going to try to sleep, so she would not dome , down to luncheon. "This affair has made Jane ill," remarked Miss Tempest when they were seated, at the table, addressing Koiiald. who had spent some time with the police while they explored the wood and all

about the spot where the murder had been committed, then had gone into the village and seen the dead man, where lie had met the doctor, who was most emphatic in stating that the man had been killed before one o'clock, probably somewhere near midnight. "What kind of a man is this Dumaraque?" asked Miss Tempest, in a less kindly tone than usual. She was bitterly annoyed at the manner in which the inspector had cross-questioned Lady Jane. "He's rather a handsome man. By the way, the village constable is a smart fellow! He telephoned into Hepscott for the inspector as soon as lie heard of the murder, and a gentleman who was motoring out that way happened to be at the police station about a lost dog, and offered to bring him over, so that he has been able to take charge of the case from the first." Miss Tempest did not reply. She had formed an unfavourable impression of the inspector, mentally characterising him as an impertinent man, "I wonder where Jack is?" said Esther, breaking the silence. "I met him going into the village. He said he should lunch at the White Swan," replied Ronald. It was rather a silent meal. Miss Tempest was disturbed, Ronald perplexed, while Esther was debating her course of action. She believed that, by careful strategy, she could now cause an open rupture between Lady Jane and Ronald; and in her intense longing to have the man she loved free to woo her, she forgot about all Jane had done for her, and lost sight of the fact that she was playing the traitor. One thought was constantly with her —she must win the man she loved passionately, and once ho was free from the absurd bond that- bound him to Jane, nil'would be well. She knew he loved her.

Aβ they left the dining room she said:

"Mr. Stapleton, I have something very important to say to you, but I must say it where we cannot be overheard." She had spoken in a low tone, and Miss Tempest was a little in advance, so that lady did not hear. "Do you know the little summerhouse near the copper beeches in the garden '!" he asked. "Yes, I know it. I often sit there reading." "Then suppose we have our talk there 1" "Yes, that will do"—and she caught up a hat that lay on a table. "The sun's so frightfully hot to-day," she added, as they turned towards the side door.

"What sort of a man was Dumarsque?" he asked, as they went towards the arbour.

"I knew very little about him. I believe he was considered an exceedingly clever drawing master. And I know his cousin, Mademoiselle Dubois, used to toll us that he belonged to the old French nobility, that his father was a younger son of a titled man, but they were very poor. As far as I can remember, he thought himself a very fascinating party, by way of being a dandy."

"Oh!" and Eonald thought of the dead man in his fashionable, well-cut clothes. Ycb, blio had described just the personality ho had ascribed to the man, but it had struck him that even death had not <lone away with an expression of cunning. "This is a cosy little arbour," said Esther, as she seated herself in a comfortable basket chair and looked at her companion, who drew his chair a little nearer as ho said: "If you have anything to say that you do not wish to bo overheard, I .advise . you to speak in a low tone," and as ho spoke Ronald ,looked. at the beautiful girl whom each time he saw ho fell more deeply in love with; a girl who had no past, whose whole life was ft-ansparent as the day; while Jane's past seemed to contain some mystery, a mystery in which the murdered man was concerned/

Oh, if this 4,'rl and Lady Jane could have changed identities, or that lie had never returned from South America. "What are you thinking of? You look so very grave. Are you displeased at my. asking you to come here?" she said, fixing her lovely blue eyes on him. "Displeased! You couldn't displease me, I " then he stopped abruptly, and after a second or two added in a, quieter tone, "I am always glad to he of service to you, and! it is an honour to be your confidant." "Thank you. Do you know, Mr. Stapleton, I always forget when I am with you that I am only Lady Jane's companion." "Lady Jane's friend," he corrected. "Yes, her friend and companion; but thero are times when ehe lets me see that I must remember I am only the companion," said Esther quietly. "Then Jane is very foolish, but I know she has altered in many ways." "Yes, she has altered a good deal since I first met her at school. She was % full of life and fun then, now she is reserved and different in every way, and I am afraid that poor man Dumarsque has something to do with it," she said, speaking the last words in a whisper. "What do you mean ? You have something to tell me?" he said, bending towards her. "Yes, I know something that is making mo terribly unhappy, and I daren't ask Jane to explain it; but I don't feel as though I could keep my knowledge to myself. I would have told Jack, but he gets vexed if I say a thing that he imagines is disloyal to Jane, but I cannot bear this any longer, so I am going to tell you something I saw last night." "Something you saw last night!" he exclaimed, and there was apprehension in his voice. "What did you see?" he asked. She drew nearer and spoke in a low, impressive tone: "I saw Lady Jane cross the garden in the direction of the wood a little before midnight." (To be continued daily.)