FIND THIS MAN

Franklin Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 37, 31 March 1933, Page 7

FIND THIS MAN

(BY AID AN DE BRUNE)

Kitimer walked slowly down the road and at the corner stood hesitant for some seconds. He turned quickly in the direction of the city, as if moved by some sudden impulse. Two or three cruising taxis who hailed him were waved aside. Ivy thought that strange. Men of Richard Kithner's type did not walk unless compelled to do so.

Keeping carefully in the shadows, Try followed to the main road. He had slackened his pace considerably, and when he came to the end of the block halted again. Now he looked about him, as it* expecting to meet someone. He looked at his watch and swished bis stick impatiently. Then he moved on, very slowly. A man came out of the shadows, falling into stop beside Richard Kithner quite naturally. For some moments they did not speak: then the stranger evidently asked a question, for Kithner impatiently shook his head. For some seconds they walked on in silence; then exchanged a few brief questions and answers.

j Ivy quickened her steps and drew nearer the two men. She must know more of this second man. He was tall, a few inches taller than Richard Kithner. who was above the average height of men, and they were of like build. Somehow he was vaguely familiar to Ivy, yet she could not name him. Where had she seen him before? She was certain that he was ; not altogether a stranger.

The two men came to an intersection and baited, waiting for the crossing lo clear. Ivy drew nearer, watching the men intently. For some minutes they stood speaking together in low, hurried tones. Then the traffic was stopped and Richard Kithner, with a wave of his stick, started across the road. The stranger turned and came back towards Ivy.

The girl hesitated, loking about her for some place in which to bide. She knew that it would be foolish to turn back for any sudden movement on the partially-filled pavement would attract the man's immediate a I lent ion. She. could only walk on. keeping her head averted, yet watching the man keenly. He came nearer, passing under the light of an electric standard—and Ivy stopped, in surprise. The man was Charlie Western! What was he doing in that quarter of

the city? Had he come there to meet

Richard Kithner immediately after his I talk with Mary? That, seemed prob-

able. It was absurd, in the face of Richard Kithner's actions within the last, quarter of an hour, to believe that the meeting- was accidental. He had lounged down the road as if expecting

ito he met. Charlie Western had | caught up to him and the two men had j quickened their pace, as if their meet- ; ing liad been arranged.

Then. Richard Kithner was acting

i with Charlie Western in trying 1o solve j the mystery of the buhl box! What ! interest had Mrs Western and her son | in the box and its contents? The girl turned and followed the j man. She must find out where he ! went and to whom he spoke. Yet for

a moment, she doubted. Should she continue on Richard Kithner's track. No, there was something in his atti-

tude, in the way he parted front Charlie Western, that showed that his work was finished for the night.

Again the girl's thoughts went to Mrs Western and the buhl box. The woman—and her son. too—had shown antagonism 1o her legacy when the will was read. At the time she had supposed it was the miser instinct she knew existed in the woman. Pho had nol liked to see anything taken from the house that was to be her property in three months' time. Now the woman and her son knew that they could never hope In got one penny from Ihe Sixsmith estate. Her telephone message to Mrs Western that some man had nut in a claim For five thousand pounds against the estate had shown them that the will under which they inherited was valueless. The debts of the estate would swallow up its assets, perhaps even the legacies to the servants. Failing lo obtain anything from Basil Sixsmith through his will, Mrs Western and her son had resolved to probe the legacy that Basil Sixsmith had left his god-daughter. Had they thought, like others, that the old man had not

been ruined when he died? That he had left his properly—a considerable amount—hidden, and that the key to its hiding pace was contained in the buhl box.

The buhl box! How many strange figures had that box gathered around it within the past few days? Again Ivy went over the group of people whom she knew were interested. There was the burglar who had copied the 1 dictograph . . . A sudden thought came to the girl. Could that burglar have been Charlie Western? Now she remembered that the man had appeared to be very tall —and about the same build. He had not acted the part of the burglar well. How had he got into the house? Immediately on coming to her senses the folowing morning she had tried to discover how the man had gained entry. All she had discovered was that the hall-door was on the latch. She had questioned Alice and Faith. They were certain that no door nor window

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had been unlatched, or opened, during the night.

Then the man had gained entry to the house through the front door. That would not be difficult; for the lock was old-fashioned. But, even then, he must have had some sort of key.

Suddenly Ivy remembered. Some four months before her godfather died, Mrs Western had appealed to him, asking that she and her son be accommodated while their house was being re-decorated. Basil Sixsmith had grumbled, but agreed. Ivy believed that her godfather had supplied Charlie Western with a door-key during his residence in the house. Had the Mian returned it?

For the moment, Ivy laughed. If Charlie Western had been the burglar! That burglar had copied the photograph she had placed in the buhl box; in exchange for the one her godfather had placed there. The photograph he had copied had been of Richard Kithner. taken many years before. She had recognised him when she had been leaving Mark Kithner's offices—when he had passed her and Mary in the doorway. Had Richard Kithner then known that Charlie Western had a copy of his photograph in his possession? Had he known that the man suspected him of being the "unknown" who held the secret of the Sixsmith fortune?

Ivy was certain that in this she had solved one of her chief problems. Now she was confronted with another. She must find out what was the connection between Richard Kithner and Charlie Western. She had to discover how much each knew of the other. Had Charlie Western, on discovering the original of the photograph he bad copied, gone to Richard Kithner and demanded the solution of the Basil Sixsmith puzzle? Tf so. then the confusion between the two men must have been great.

What had resulted from that confusion? Had the two men come to an understanding? Was Richard Kithner's call on Mary the step in some scheme on which the two men had agreed? That appeared highly probable.

Suddenly Charlie Western . some fifty yards ahead of Ivy, halted and hailed a taxi. For a moment the girl was undecided how to act. She stood on the edge of the pavement, lookin? a 1 the young man getting into the car.

"Taxi, miss?" Ivy started. She had not seen or heard the car draw \>n before her.

"Yes." She wrenched open the door and .jumped in. "Follow that taxi: the one .Hist leaving up the road. Quick, please!" The sudden jerk of the car, as the drive?' shot forward, threw her heavily on the seat. She scrambled round and peeped out of the window. Western's car was still in sight, but they were gaining on it rapidly. Evidently the young man did not know that she was following him.

For about a mile and a half the two faxis formed a procession. Then Western's taxi drew up at the kerb. Tvy's car swung out into the road and came to a halt some dozen or sn yards ahead.

"Fit tight, miss." The driver halflurncd on bis seat. "T don't think they saw us." He paused a few seconds. "Strange! He's standing beside the taxi. Why doesn't he go up lo the house?"

Tvy wondered what Charlie Western was doing. She "knew that he did nnt live in that house. They were in quite a different quarter of the city to where the Western's lived. Could he be waiting for anyone? "OoinQ" to follow him further, miss." The driver inquired, curiously.

"Yes. if you have sufficient cas."

"Luck's in there, miss." The man turned with a grip. "T'd just loaded up when you stopped me. T'll pro as far as be and perhaps further." Again Tvy glanced back. The door of tlie house outside which Charlie Western's taxi had halted had opened and a girl came running out. The man went forward quickly, to open the gate for her. With a little laugh and smile she greeted him, then went on to the taxi. Immediately Charlie Western followed her. The car turned and headed for the city. Tvy looked at her watch. T! was barely nine o'clock. Her lips drew together, disdainfully. What did Charlie Western's actions denote? Only some supper-dance assignment. They were speeding down the long road, citywards: the two cars only a few yards apart. Tvy's driver cleverly jockeyed for position and presently he was driving immediately after the taxi containing Charlie Western and the girl. Tn that order I hoy wen! into the city and through the business portion to where the bright, lights blazed.

The pirl knew that she had guessed right. Almost she knocked on the window to tell her driver to turn the car and carry her homewards. Then she hesitated. She would still follow (he man. on the hunch that had brought her so far. She would see it Ihrough.

The cars turned from the streets into one lines with warehouses. Now

Tvy knew where they were going The < "P'alido" night club was in this street. ; She peered out of the window. Only : a few yards ahead she could see the ' arch of coloured lights above the res- ' taurant's door. She knocked gently on the window. The man turned his head and nodded, , understandingly. \s Charlie Western's car drew up before the doors of the , Palido, lie slid to a stop immediately j behind it: then beckoned to the girl j to remain seated, leaning well back j in the shadows. Ivy watched Charlie Western alight ■ and turn to help his companion. They '■ went to the brilliantly lighted entrance j hall and a man came to meet them. j tvy gasped. Immediately she re- j cognised in the newcomer the man of i the photograph—the "unknown," , whose photograph she had found In j the buhl box. i (To be Continued). [

Gold Prospecting Scheme. A new scheme providing for assistance for companies and syndicates engaged in gold prospeoting is under consideration, according to a statement by Mr R. T. Bailey, officer in charge of the Labour Department, Christchurch (reports "The Press"). It provides for the employment of registered unemployed, on a subsidised basis, by the companies and syndicates, and is for the purpose of prospecting their claims with a view to establishing the payable nature of the grounds proposed to be worked. The subsidy offered by the Unemployment Board represents a payment of 20s a week for married, and 5s a week for single men removed from the unemployment register and employed on approved prospecting work. The subsidy is not hard and fast, provision being made for wdi-k of a special nature. It may even be increased to i 30s and 15s, each application being | considered on Its merits.