THE HUNTSMAN

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 13772, 15 October 1942, Page 7

THE HUNTSMAN

(By Gerald Verner)

rptt y Hard time during ■l**'” ne began al.rm.tly, 1 ; Ming Into details. ; f» very HUle eowrern I dritted about, !li ,bo( odd Jobs, and nwknone ot tbem. It's :J ;Ucee . i came to meet fitram: the 01lly thin . S <* “ mat I did -* 1 ar.l “I- 11 lhe ( “i Brvlng-and he got me < wasn’t a very good job, m toon and ;l! ,me with a roof over -f | W as naturally grateful Beyond the fact that he ' 'big house and seemed to :ril "‘ ell off. I knew nothing f ‘ J,r ,„n I had no idea • hilll ell «!!*• was a crook until some time V I II come to that later, continued with my job. spendor thl . ee evenings a week V, r3 „rs bouse. I met his daugh- ; ailh ami fell in love with her ; at sight: hut marriage was '"l (be question on the money . | was earning, and I kept my Ato myself- Then a relation r ,i never seen—a distant ,in—died, and I found that I’d |„(o nearly five thousand „js t u was a fortune or it Aso those days. To cut a ; tor y short, I proposed to Faith : j married her.

fe spent a gloriously happy six ...ijjs together—and then the ijle burst. I’d run out of money, 1 the banks were shut. Faith •.®sted that her father would cash :deque—he always kept a large 0 [ ready money in the house, .mi round—we only lived a few »i away— and Ingram gave me a five-pound notes for my cheque, show what happened. There si flood of forgeries at the time, d! was arrested trying to change fit the notes. It was ‘slush,’ and i«re the rest of the notes found me, I couldn’t account for them tat incriminating Faith’s father, ;! =o I kept silent. I got eighteen aik

len I had served my sentence tied to find ray wife; but she had appeared, and so had Ingram. I covered, after a few inquiries that ■ *35 dead, and that Faith had abroad with a man called a:k Xorrington. It was only then I learned that Ingram had been and had served several sen■vs for forgery. I found that tho ■as of my money had gone, too, ■ i naturally concluded that the ' Iking had been a put-up job

me out of the way, and that I T ‘fe had been a party of it. It | last night that I discovj * lllat sl >e had been told that I and that forged documents | ,‘ tl! sl ’ off n her to prove it. ' ,JS Penniless and embittered. | ost everything, and I was a c °hl rage against the '' ' dl ° ' la( l been responsible. (^ead and heyond my J ld * swore that one day I eve n with Faith and the " '" th whom she had fled. I "; J ®v name to Cadell, and > 1 r„ t 0 16ku 'hl Iny shattered : e ” an to write, achieved al.r iate succe ss, and found ■Nj j er *hat 1 had ever been , S6t Inquiry agents to ■:j ~r ace , Norrin S to n, and disr,a his real name was Sir , Chalebury. He was mar,,aJSrown'uP son, and at vjjii!! 5 ?. 1 that my agents had -that r, 3 e ’ I!ut f^ey Produced ■! as p and the man who had T rank Norrington were * Sh A C T d flnd no trace of ■Vi 1 ■*. ns Mrs Viy ',T S - b,,t she ha <' c“ c ,°? pletely <iisap - HnnJ ’ 1 knew where to : i b oug^ hat was someto ii v „ . ’•h's house, and H h a J n Chal ebury with one " 8 »» «ve„ge on ■No.- ♦

' »isht r . billed- ,1 1 aTnv ed, Hickling : ' ;;ic °ver e ,h Vh ° le Village was ?* 1 iad m . h H e Hunt sman, and ■ 1 s^0 uld ‘ de . n ° plans as to *lo ii e , ° Chalebury, I ! j t ° w an< t watch events ‘,'H| n g °° n beca nie evident " :i,ro n(lere7-? Ueer Was soing ,' 5 5 ia - lt lf Cba lebury was 7° a hi ®. and ? 6g:an t 0 keep a 3* ujgv t 1 discovered that * x «nt q. 7 Varioa s different ° Rebury Court V openi aS * ln bed and a certain ° f ‘ 3ohu J lndow - They ll° r . this Grange ket thrown °tit hurry away.

“One night the packet broke open, and several sheets of paper fluttered out. One of these lodged in a bush and was overlooked by the recipient, and when he had hastily collected the others and gone, I secured it. It was a five-pound note! “I wondered for what service Chalehury was paying all these people so lavishly, and the real explanation never ocurred to me until the night I recognised Faith when she came to the Fox and Hounds. It gave me a tremendous shock to see her, and I was afraid that site might recognise me. I instantly connected her presence in Chalehury with the five-pound note. The money that I had seen distributed was slush. “That night, if you remember Stocking-foot paid me a visit. He came to retrieve that five-pound not, which I had locked in my desk; and knowing what I did, when I heard that Chalehury was supposed to have shot himself in the leg, I was pretty sure he was the burglar.” “You were wrong,” murmured Mr Budd, opening his eyes, for a second. “Well, that’s what I thought,” continued Cadell, “and you can’t wonder. I knew nothing of Ketler. I thought Chalehury was the prime figure in the business.”

"He was the cat’s paw,” said Mr : Budd. ‘‘Nobody knew Ketler. We’ve got all the people who were agents for the distribution of this slush, and none of them knew Ketler. The only people who knew Ketler was Chalebury and your wife.” ‘‘And you can’t prove that she knew him!” snapped the novelist. “No; but I’m hoping that she’ll tell us,” said the big man. ‘‘You went up to the Court one night and tried a whistling act on your own, didn’t you?” ‘‘How did you know that?” asked Cadell, in surprise. “He saw you,” replied Mr Budd, jerking his head towards Tommy Weston. “I suppose you got a packet of these slush notes for your trouble?” Cadell nodded. “Well,” went on the stout superintendent thoughtfully, “it’s easy to guess why you got that crack on the head the other night. Ketler thought you was a detective. It ’ud be the natural thing he would think. He knew nothing of what had really brought you here.” He hoisted hiniself ponderously to his feet. “Let’s go and see Mrs Langden,” he said. “I think, maybe she’ll be able to tell us all we want to know.” SUM TOTAL Faith Langden came slowly down the stall’s, gave Mr Budd and Tommy Weston a brief nod, and greeted Cadell with a smile. She was quite cool and collected, though her face was pale. “I’ve been expecting you,” she said simply.

“Is there anywhere where we can talk private?” asked Mr Budd. “There's one or two things I want to ask you, and this seems a bit public.”

He glanced round the spacious vestible.

She led the way up to the second floor and into a small room, furnished rather ornately with brocadecovered gilt chairs, and spindlelegged tables. There was a desk in the window, which gave an excuse for the name of “wirting room. “Sit down, won't you?” she said. Tommy and Cadell did so, but Mi Budd eyed the flimsy chairs dubiously.

“I really think it would be better if I didn’t, m’am,” he murmured, and she laughed.

“I’ve just been having a talk with your husband,” continued the big man, “and he’s told me quite a lot I didn’t’ know before. I'm hoping that you'll be able to do the same.”

“You needn't saw anything unless you like, Faith,” put in Cadell quickly.

“But I think you would be wiser if you did,” finished Mr Budd. “Ketler’s dead, and the Fox and Hounds is in the hands of the police. We ve found the printing-press and the paper, and plates. Those plates weie engraved by you; but I’m not taking any action until I’ve heard what you’ve got to say. If you re wise, Mrs Langden, you’ll be quite frank about the whole thing.”

(To be continued)