ROMANTIC SERIAL STORY “ONE OF THOSE WAYS”

Grey River Argus, 11 September 1930, Page 8

ROMANTIC SERIAL STORY “ONE OF THOSE WAYS”

Mrs Belloc Lowndes.

By

Author of “The Lodger” and other notable Books. (All Eights Eeserved).

CHASTER XTV.—CONTINUED. Pope u put out. his hand and drew an attache ease towards him. Unlocking it, he t'lffik out of it a number of round oval aids square tokens, which he laid before the Englishman. Chicl ester took one up and looked at it vitji keen curiosity. “This one, I shouigthink, is made of bone,” he “What does C.M.N. stand for?” | ‘‘ Ca itfo Municipal, Nice. ’ ’ Pop l an held out au oblong plaque which ooked as if made of jade. “They used ’jibe a mother of pearl, but I suppOM that was found to be too expensix .gAll the same, this particular kind f token, which represents five hundr d francs each, is made of stuff which is supposed to be very difficult to in t: to. Still, money can do anything 1 feel sure myself that they are proba >b , uay certainly, made by work men zl o were formerly employed to make t e real plaques. And it’s my job to fi d who those men are, and, more parti u arly, the people engaged in then di itribution. ’ ’ “'.’hit an ingenious type of fraud.” excL nnl Chichester. “But I don’t belie vi you’ll have much trouble when I r< ;ic über the wonderful things you did u the war! ’ ’ but that is a very different thii<b Major,” Popeau replied. “Tai’ I had everything to help me. For Q 5 e thing, the public, les civiles, wei j passionately on my side. Who car s • . hether a casino is being cheated >r not 1 ? These people have shown gr< t> cleverness. They succeed so well th: • ,hat was going on was not suspe- ec ! You must remember that this is he height of the winter season, and th : i Emission- to any casino is natural ftade as simple as possible. True, l en hfftiiai) and woman desiring admissioi t 0 the gambling rooms has to show hi Mr her passport, but. I need hardly ti |v(U that every crook’s passport—t< say nothing of his other papers —is a zmn in perfect, nay, in suspicious o lt is your honest fool who b an out-of-date passport or loses h 4?»a*te d’identite. Ciiihester nodded understandiugly. wEieh casino, for obvious reasons, 1 iis own staff of detectives. Mind } they are very able men, and difi Mih every way from the local police. not till these clever, experiencbdfolx had failed absolutely at Cannes ,?.Ni e and at two of the smaller cas:os, hat the Surete was asked to infcVflJe. I should have had a better taipc had we been asked to help the, ■ ime these forgeries were found taken place. Unfortunately, I *6 ? in e have had over’ a fortnight’s tart, and if they are as clever as I iMe hem to be they will take no more W B ’ any rate for some time to °W e -’ ’ WYou believe the birds have flown?” 4oi>eau hesitated. “Well, no! I am nailed to think that they have their rters in one of the bigger on the Azure Coast, and that hey have turned their attention to Olpe other form of fraud. The Riviera wul of fools belonging to every nati■n'ali y, and with plenty of money t< niTn. They don’t mind when they get p’laow, as long as their new friends

are agreeable and appear as well off as they are themselves.” “I begin to see you will have your work cut out.’ “Let us assume, for the sake of argument, the gang inhabits a fine villa, say. on the Promenade des Anglais at Nice, and that they have wormed them 'selves into the best hotel society in the 'town. It won’t be easy to track them down, especially if they have arranged, as to me appears likely, a chain of ! confederates or cat’s-paws ail along I the coast whose job it is to get these tokens exchanged for good money.’’ | “Are they forged tokens or real tokens!” asked Chichester. 1 Popeau waited for a perceptible moment, then he answered: “Certain of these tokens that I have put before .you are forged, others are genuine. Come, come. Major! You were in the intelligence. Can’t you tell me which are which?” Thus put on his mettle, Chichester; hook up nine of the oval tokens. He went over to the window and examined; (tlrcm in the bright sunlight. Then he j 'brought them back and held out two. “‘I think these arc the wrong ‘uns,” hie exclaimed. | “Right!’’ cried Popeau. [ Chichester smiled, well pleased. He 1 vkept the two wrong ‘uns, ” as he call- 1 jed them, in his hand and handed over 1 I the seven others to the Frenchman.; Hercules Popeau then separated four, I leaving three on the table. I “These also are forgeries,” he obser 1 ved. Chichester felt annoyed. “Are you sure ?’ ’ “Quite sure, Look! They have each been marked.” And he showed the other an almost imperceptible tiny grey mark on the rim of each of the other four. . “It’s very difficult to catch them;! in fact, the man who spoke to me on 1 the long-distance telephone about the | whole matter yesterday admitted that , | at first they would never have discovered what had happened excepting that: 'there were hundreds more plaques at' the end of a certain evening than there had been at the beginning of that same afternoon. I will not insult you by ask- ' ing you to regard this conversation as absolutely private. ’ ’ “If you want any amateur help.” said Chichester, half in a joke, “I hope you’ll think of me! I expect to spend at least a month at Cannes, and though I. know a certain number of people I there I shall often be at a loose end.” “I may be glad of your help,” said I tfie* other seriously. I CHAPTER XV.'—THE WARNING. 1 At about the time that Hercules: Popeau and his English friend were having what was to prove a momentous conversation in the Paris rapide, Angela Graham was sauntering through the beautiful flower market, which is one of the glories of Cannes. She had now been companion to Countess Larridorff for a little over a fortnight, and she looked back to the last seventeen days with mingled feellings. Though she knew many people | would envy, and indeed congratulate. J her on what seemed a singularly easy .job, she did not feel really happy. (To be Continued.)