A Sory of Bude Park.

Clutha Leader, Volume XVII, Issue 835, 18 July 1890, Page 7

A Sory of Bude Park.

.•/ . * By the Author of " The Jullabad Tragedy." : CHAPTER ILL— -Continued* Following the report of the inquest next morning in every London newspaper was the offer, printed in large .type, of a reward of L2OOO by Mr ■Clayton, thfe banker, for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the murderer. Before evening the sum ■was increased to more than LSOOO by ibhe subscription of others. It was a remarkable circumstance that, although the most careful and ' exhaustive search was made both in town and country, no photograph, no letter, no trace whatever of the dead woman's husband was discovered — save the record of the marriage of Margaret Neale, spinster, and Julius Vernon, bachelor, at the registry office. The ~ registrar before whom the marriage took . place was dead. There was only one , noticeable point about the record — the signature of Julius Vernon was much sprawled, as though it had been written ; with a bad quill, or there had been a hair on the point of the pen. The date ' of the husband's departure from Eng- : land it was difficult to fix with any precision. Miss Neale had been four years in Lady Southfort's service., so that she had been a year married when she became a governess to that lady's children. A detective officer had an interview with the countess for the purpose of obtaining further and more ■definite information than the coroner's inquiry had elicited. When Miss Neale entered her service, Lady Southfort knew nothing of her marriage. It was long afterwards — the countess could not say exactly how long, but thought it was about two years afterwards — when the governess made the confession to her. What was still more regretable — from a policeman's point of view, at least — was that her ladyship — who was always a much preoccupied leader of town and country -society — could not remember whether the governess' husband had already gone abroad at the time of the confession, or went abroad after that date. Lady Southfort on reflection, was inclined (o the latter supposition, founding her opinion upon the recollection t'.iat it was only within the last two years that Miss Neale's avoidance of society had •become so noticeable. All this was very perplexing and unsatisfactory. If the identity of the husband could be established, the police would be better able to see exactly where they were?. As usual, some arrests were made on suspicion, which for a week or 10 days kept the public excitement going. Then from dearth of fresh incidents and the supply of new topics of daily interest, the murder began to pass out of the thoughts of the public mind ; but not out of the thoughts of those more immediately interested in the deceased governess. Frank Holmes had it constantly in his mind, for more than one reason. While the public dropped the tragedy with the unsatisfactory conclusion—where there was a conclusion at all — that Miss Neale was the victim of a blow meant for someone else, he, more experienced in such matters, formed no such opinion. We cannot say that as yet he had sufficient grounds for an opinion ; but in connection with the tragedy he was somewhat puzzled by the interest felt by Mr Clayton, one of the most practical and unemotional of men. Almost every day brought him an inquiry from that gentleman as to whether anything had been discovered yet. One morning there lay among: other letters on his breakfast table one in Mr Clayton's handwriting. Conjecturing its contents, Holmes left it unopened while he glanced through the morning papers. For two or three days past there had been hardly an allusion to the murder in Hyde Park, which a week ago had been in every one's thought's ; therefore, he received a surprise this morning to read, under a prominent heading, that the police were now very probably on the murderer, and that within the next 24 hours it was expected they would have him in custody.