THE MYSTERY OF RED GABLES

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 100, 30 April 1938, Page 20

THE MYSTERY OF RED GABLES

~-T ITTLE boys " repeated Harry fiercely. "He called me a little boy. •* I Me!" ■ < "^ Now, youngsters of fifteen dislike intensely to be called "little boys " True, he was hardly a young man, but a, youngster likes to feel that 'he. is a man, and it was little wonder that Harry felt annoyed at being addressed as a "little boy." His chin jutted out determinedly, and once more he attempted to gain access to the grounds of Hed Gables. But, alas! the man, unlike Aladdin's genie, came at the wrong time. "What?" bellowed he, coming from out of the bushes once more. I thought I told you to keep out from here." He grasped Harry's left ear and dragged it towards fee gates.. ■ Of course, Harry, not wanting to, lose that ear, had to follow. "Now,":-grunted the ; man, raising a number ten boot- ' " * Harry whirled in desperation and stamped hard on the other foot~6"£ ;the man at thY same time giving him a hearty shove in the chest. With one foot still suspended in mid-air, the man went sprawling over on- to -his back, bawling out fierce threats that made the temperature about him rise several degrees. When he-regained the perpendicular again, Harry had vanished. ~ Dickie was still at the gate when Harry came rushing across the road. What's up?" he asked in alarm. Swiftly Harry narrated what had occurred during those few minutes previously, and Dickie nodded sympathetically. "So we're not even allowed to wander about there any more," concluded Harry. , "Let's see what's going on all the same,'! said Dick. "There's several palings loose in the fence." "Of course," grinned Harry. "Let's go over now." Carefully avoiding the main gates, which were now being painted by one of the many painters, they circled {he high fence until they came to a gap, where one paling had rotted away. They wriggled through and threaded their way past the thick bushes about them. The house was only twenty yards away. Workmen were seen busily sawing, planing, painting, and hammering, but that was all. Nothing mysterious about the proceedings. No one moved stealthily about, fearing detection. No one was afraid to make a noise, and needless to say, there was plenty of that. "It beats me," confessed Harry at last. "Let's get back." The workmen were present at Red Gables for three days. During that time the three children had kept their eyes open for any suspicious or secretive action on the part of the workmen, but they were disappointed. A lorry-load of expensive furniture arrived on the day the men left, followed'by a 1 second'and yet a third. All disappeared inside, and was distributed to the various rooms.

(Part n of a Serial by Cavell NichoU.)

It was about 7 o'clock of the fourth evening when Doreencame scud ding into the boys' room, interrupting a game of Ludo in P««««----"Quickly!" she exclaimed. "There's a car coming up the road. FroD ab\ tuTtai nfn S Sly Jad tl 1 S cc Sarded. Dickie had smiled with satisfaction as three sLTL succession had come up, but now they were forgotten in. the «£'wta-ZSg^-.Vurned into the gravel drive no, SThaSutTut £ green Curtains. . .. ~„ "Now," gasped Harry, "what do. you make of that? "Find out" retorted Doreen. She dashed'up the drive in the rear of the sedan, and was swallowed up in the deep shadows. . . . ; "We'll find out, too," blurted Harry, and raced after his sister, Dickie bringing up the^ rear^ main entrance to the house when Harry arrived, and a woman, dressed very expensively, was] SteP Amazement gathered on Harry's brow as he noticed that she was heavily veiled with some black fabric. She looked cautiously from side to side as though expecting something, then crossed the threshold and was lost to "Gosh!".»whispered Dick, coming up, "did you see that?" "Can't understand it," muttered Harry, shaking his head. _ A crunch on the gravel behind them made both whirl, thinking it was the irate gatekeeper, but it was Doreen, stepping, out of some bushes where she had been concealed. ' ~,,,. T j-j n ~„„ "Next time," she snapped, "keep your big heads out of St. I didn t see much of her, thanks to you two." i "Sorry," apologised Harry, "but how were we to know you were skulking behind us?" ' '„■. ' , "Who was she?" Doreen asked. "Why was she veiled like that? Im blowed if I can see what it's all about." "Hey!" came a sudden shout. "Just a moment!" On turning, the trio saw the chauffeur starting towards them. "Let's get away," hissed Harry. "We mustn't get caught." As though moved by a single spring, the three turned and fled towards the gates a hundred yards distant. "Hey!" shouted the chauffeur again. "Stop." If the words didn't spur them to greater efforts, the sight of the driver rushing at them did. He came at them like Lovelock the second, going all out as though for the world hundred yards. "We can't get there in time," panted Harry, as they pounded along. "Let's hide in some bushes round this corner." Once out of sight of their pursuer, the pursued lost no time in scrambling off the drive to the thick shrubs lining the edge. {To be continued.).