BENEATH THEIR FEET

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LVI, Issue LVI, 24 October 1908, Page 2

BENEATH THEIR FEET

[Published by Special Arrangement.] By IZA DUFFUS HAKDY, Autiior of "The. lesser £vil," "MacGilleroy's Millions," Man, Woman and Fate," "Oranges and Pomegranates," "The But-wa-fly," etc., eto. \ COrYIIIGHT, j CHAPTER. XX—Continued | Amongst ofch.ee' cfeaails now elicited j tlw moot important i:ne aeeai-od to be thait although, Jamas Potter hard fredy E.hotvm tha tolegraan from, his lather summoning him to his invalid mothtir, ; r-jo one could rec-dl I.he-rei being any , address oa it, or his mentioning any | address, beyond rhei potr. town, "Ka,w- • bridge," fJid although hb- had preniis- j ed tot wrte iminodiate-ly on ascertaining th& HKV."lid's state, no word froui him was forthcoming. "I fyhouldn't be &urprised i£ you aa-o . rishit, Cai'a, and he's had n hand in. | this busincai," said George with the. eir of a discovareir, giving uttfiDWQC& ( to an opinion at which by this time j the majority of tho household a»iTd villaga had arrived. ' Naturally the cli.itE tofic oi con- • versatiomi was the robl^ry, but there were intea'vals of occasional allusion, to other subjects. I "I saw KJiodai Frawen oa Sat.niday."' Sir Geocrge obaarved c&&uiilly, irs. onei of tiheso mtxaiiudes, "at hUa Marlowes, and, by the way, I shouldn't be tsurprisad if there was sonic screw loose bafcweiani littr a.nd Dusenbury. I thought £<lLe rather tos%ed hei- head whem I askedi about him." 1 "I didn't faincy you cyav^l tiK-ugh tiboub him to inquirei/' ob^rvod Alice. "Oh, ana must i-ei poliw/' rfiplied her brother, -virtuously, "it a giils eavgaged to' ai follow. But I il/ought &dio seemicid to put cai raitli^a* a high ! a,nd jnighty air of difiolaiming any re- ! sponsibiiitiv tcr hiu», and l.tf),dy Marlowe tolls me the tliinks she's buflud because he'd! gona atroai aLd noti Avrittain to Ltar." I "Perhaps >t is tLe firsi< little rifb in ■ the luta," said Alice, trying to Ui.ke I a languid icitaraafc in. the 2 >a^ H e hour '■ foa* the siko of the others, etf-echiUy to help to cheea' up her I i-wJieri "I dai'a say sJie'll get ovcu* her fancy for him l.l naveir tiaought it woul|d last," said Oara, wiith. n. stab 3t henhearij ac she thought oi Dovglaa &h. Qu^mtin's an^ety tlnat this engagement should be brokem off —of iwar promise to try her utmost to pi'enrent. tilie match—^har suggc&Mon 'o hinx oi Ulo prababiUtry thati Miss Fi^wv-oi'a flighty fancy would change, as by George's account it seemed ]jjkaly -x* ba doing. To Gearga alsj< the subject ot Dusenbury and lihoda. brouj^liT) rhe caaaoiomM-ieuis of n thoirn of ih-yught nhat priok^d uiieiasily every new and than,- -the thought-of Curu's being on sacii frienidiy tei'ms with a Eian she soamed to dislike asi to entrust him, with any little aomanissions, however small. It wu& but a.triviality; there was roally no reason, why I;usenL'Ury ahould not be the bead'er oi a, packet, containing same little article Lady Brajj/tynham desired, but that she should have choge<n or accepted hiia aa her agent in even tflie veriest trifle seiemefd odd, oonsidering her averaioua to him. Audi what was moi'e th&jji a j tiriviality was that Geocrgo, habitually I outspoken to a fault, asked no que> tionsi, bub for tho fir^l. time in tbeir married life refrained from speaking out his thought to Cara. The detective from Scotland Yarl amved duly, went over the by tihia twny faiiiiliar ground, .md ai'.'ivd at ■ the same conclusion that had been reached by his confre<res in iJie nrdghborhood, tliat the robbery committed was a deliberately planned thing either by the hand, or by the connivance of the. soi-dijanu J&nies Potter, whose real name Mind antecedents no one suspected but Lady Brant-ynLam, who, afraoidi toi spaak lec-t hou- sourc-;. of infoami&taon should be in<mired, held her peace. The latter from Lady K'nsella. might bo a forgery, as her ladyship was abroad), her handwriting not known to the Brantynhams, and ai sheet of her monogramed notipantr might have been proturt d through a.n accomplice. It would, however, be only a matter o£ a few days to si^eer tain whether she had really writUu tiha letter. Botih tlie London and the lo^al police authorities diiected their closest quesfcioniug to the girl Kate, who although fr'ghtoned!, indignunt, and agitated by the ouspicion that undea: the drcumstaincefi shie jnighti be su?p«:ct«jd of complicity, yet answered clearly, frankly and intelligently, aDd both investigator* arrived at the conclusion ihat the girl was |erfectly innw^oat, although she might have been skilfully drawn and lured 'Dto dropping indiscreet allusions to her lady's jewels and the oak cabinet. It was evident that she had not betrayed where ths keys were kept, for if the criminals could have ascertained that importsjit fact,, they would certainly have • essayed! tiho picking oi the easy lock of tlie bureau rathea* tihan the dafiicult one of the ouJc o&binet, which had evidently *bd9ii achieved by a skilled hand. "No> 'j-rentice hand's work," as the London detecUve observed. The case soeaned a clear and simple one. A trained "sivell mol*maa" haying heard of thet Brantynha.tn jewels had got in as footmnu by means cf a falsa character. *

(Continued on page 3.)

"What siart of a* looking man was this evidently absconding footman?" The information that he was tall oaid weill built, neither very dark nor very fair, w'th, brownish hair and grayish eA'es, did not go v-iiy far, a f sl :;i-body could recollect op describe anything remarkable about bib featureis'. Then it was happily remembered that the butler had taken a saiapshot of a "group" in which James Potter hhr]a r ] been caught unawairesi, when attentively beoiding oven Thei-e&a,. This, being piinted off was exhibited to the London' deitectiveL whd exammod it attentively with a gradually kindling eye; , "GentilemiaJi Joo!" he said at last. •'Up to hia old games again. He's worked this dodgo tcifom We've had him on our, book** for ina.p.y a day ! Sir George, your jo<v. cJ.& are out of tiheir setting and probably out of England by this time. He'll send them across tho Channel, most, likely tn Amsterdam or one of the other 1 hitch cdties. He knows 1 where, to find Jew dealers who'll give a low for siuch stones, and not be too keen about, asking questions. .'Wa know wheie to find saniio of thoni toe"Do you think you will be able to trace the diamonds, to get them back 1 :" asked Sir George, hopefully. "Well, I can't bay anything as to getting them back, sir, iv's net an oasy matter to trace ami identify unset jewtls 1 , but if this, is' one of •lenti> man Joe's jobs it puts us on tint track along wha/ bae to> look.''