“THE GORGON.”

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXXII, Issue 2762, 14 August 1931, Page 3

“THE GORGON.”

(By

J. LINDSAY HAMILTON.)

(Copyright).

I Z- " ; “Yes. Either a trick or sheer brute strength,” Peter suggested. “The scratched face and throat rather point to .the latter, don’t you think?,” Bn‘. Colonel Dainton was not listening':'' He motioned to Peter-to be silent. His eyeswere rivetted on the, y door. He was listening-intently. But whatever he had heard,'the sound was not repeated. ■ Suddenly he pointed. “The door handle,” he whispered. Slowly and noiselessly it was turning. . Peter’s hand slid into his pocket and closed on his automatic. But before he could withdraw it, the door flew open with a lightning thrust and and he was staring into the muzzle of a wicket looking revolver.

The intruder took in the whole room and'its occupants with one comprehensive glance. Then his -expression changed. He laughed softly and slipped the ugly weapon into his pocket. “Pardon the somewhat theatrical entry,” he drawled in a pleasant voice. “I was prepared for other eventualit.j les.” Then with the utmost composure .and without waiting to be asked, he sank languidly into a chair. Chapter 4.-—Andrew Eden: Uninvited x Guest. The intruder was\a slenderly built . man, a little above the average height. The impression of slenderness was enhanced by the wide, clean cut shoulders sloping away to a narrow waist and straight hips. One could not have called him handsome. The long straight- line?of the: mouth, the prominent bridge of the nose and the ■: slightly- cadaverous cheeks, redeemed the face from.more good looks. A pair of grey eyes; unusually large for ■for a man. glinting frostily, lent a cold '.■implacable .strength to. his general, air of virility. .. -.

.; v As he slipped the revolver into his p.ocket, his whole expression underwent a change.. The lines of his • face softened and the coldness of the eyes .melted into gentle humour. For one gasping moment Colonel Dainton regarded him in blank amazement., , . • He was too astonished to be con-/ ; scious of any sensation but relief and a curious sense of reassurance. Wearily the man’s audacity was neither forcedlnor offensive. It was too natural. • Peter was the first to find his tongup. “Eden:” he exclaimed in a tone of pondering enquiry. “What the .. !” He paused, conscious of the .extraordinary-/ situation, and performed the -necessary introduction. “Andrew Eden of the Foreign Office—uninvited guest;” he announced with a whimsical smile. “Colonel Dainton, who will, no doubt, demand an explanation on his own account.” “Human sleuth-hound, Sir,” explained Eden with a rare smile. “Prevention of crime and so on. It’s a relief, to know that expectations on this 'occasion have not been realised.” “What did you expect?” asked the Colonel quickly. » ■ “Trouble,” ,he answered with a careless shrug.

“Then your relief is a little premature. My man Jenkins has been brutally done to death.” Eden without a word leapt' to his feet. He was clearly taken aback. But it was characteristic of 1 the man that no expression of astonishment passed his lips. He wasted no time in futility.' “Take me to him,” was all he said in a tone of quiet command. Once in the bedroom, he glanced casually round the room, strode to the bedside and drew back the cover-ing-from the huddled figure of what ■Had been a man. “Hm. Bungling, bad bungling,” he murmured. “Now I wonder what Birdie had to do with it.” Oblivious alike to Colonel Dainton's curiosity and- the look of hori’or on .the distorted features of the- victim, he continued to gaze abstractedly at the bed. ■ “The Police will do all there is to be done,” he said finally. “My work begins' in the morning. .By the way,' I ifiust ask you to keep my visit sec-ret-for the present, Colonel. It is of the utmost importance that I should work alone.” , - Rather to his own surprise Colonel Dainton found himself agreeing to i Eden’s'!, request. His own impulse was to put the' whole thing in the hands:of Scotland Yard and be done with it. ' 'But there was something about Eden that impressed one. He, explained: nothing and yet one felt satisfied. He seemed to take it for granted that his actions must be accepted without question and they were. With that peculiarly boyish smile that so completely transfigured him, Eden thanked the Colonel for his courtesy and, yawning lazily, followed Peter -Southwark up the stairs. When Peter returned from arranging, for his comfort, he found Inspector Durham f and 1 a • doctor closely examining the fhodv.' while Colonel Dainton stood

Mjuav, WIIIIU hnswerihg the abrupt questions shot ■ Durham was a thorough worker. J J

at him from lime to time. questions embraced not only . the events of the night, but the whole past history, character and pursuits of the victim. To all of which the Colonel could only reply that Jenkins had , come to him six months ago, bad lived upto his splendid references, and that he could in no way conceive of any possible motive for the murder bf a harmless manservant. Inspector Durham • next turned his attention to the room. Every nook and cranny was subjected to a rigorous searching examination. From the man’s clothes he extracted all papers and letters, and tied them carefully into a bundle.

Satisfied at length that nothing more could be learnt from the interior of the flat, he expressed a wish to see the garden; an unusually large and well-kept garden it was, too, for the building, now consisting of three commodious flats, was at one time a large detached house standing Jn its own grounds. Passing down the hall into a small conservatory, Colonel Dainton led the way, and a moment later they were beneath the open window of Jenkins’ room. The Scotland Yard man swept the ground with his torch arid a low exclamation of satisfaction escaped him. The soft soil showed clearly the deep imprints of a very large foot, but. there was no deeper impression such as the heel of a boot would leave in the yielding earth. “In his socks,” muttered Durham **Some foot, too.” He measured a footprint carefully. “Size twelve in boots at the least. That narrows the field of enquiry a whole lot.” Among the laurel bushes near the seven foot garden wall they came

across further tracks. It was clear by their - direction that the murderer had made both entry and exit by way of the garden. ■ “It surely must be the work of a maniac, Inspector,” said the Colonel when they were back in the flat.' *“1 can’t conceive of any possible motive for such wanton brutality.” Durham closed hi's note book with a snap and prepared to take his de--1 parture. “Can’t commit myself to any opinions,” he ' replied bluntly. “As for motives there’s plenty -would be -glad to put him out of the way. He was a blackmailer’s tout. Birdie, bls pals called him. But we’ll get our man all right, they don’t elude us for long.” A few minutes later Colonel Dainton was alone. Bed seemed out of the question. He sat turning ’over in his mind the events of the day. Inspector Durham knew Jenkins as Birdie, a criminal. This in itself was startling. He remembered the missing letter and that again brought him to the problem of his brother-in-law’s disappearance. Could there be any possible connection between the two baffling mysteries, he wondered? And what of Eden? Eden, he felt convinced, was the man who could supply the missing link in the chain. . Gradually his head dropped and he waH presently sound asleep in hs chair. Chapter s.—Celia’s Cable. ‘Peter was up early, refreshed in' spite of the loss of sleep, but it was a to find that Andrew Eden had already breakfasted and had gone. i “He said he’d be back at eleven, a Sir,” Roberts informed him. "Very a nice gentleman,. too, if I may make y so bold.” I Roberts had. been Peter’s batman d through harassing days in France, and c was now very much the privileged ser- r v'ant. v “Asked me if I wanted a new job,” t h'd grinned mppreciatively. “Said he a was sure you must be a bit of a tar, c tar, Sir. But he was only having his r joke, you understand!” “The devil he did,” laughed Peter, a ■ This was the Eden he knew of old, I a light-hearted irrepressible being, far removed from the tight-lipped dynamic x Eden of the pevious night. i Suddenly an idea occurred to him. x

“I’m going to sack you, Roberts,” y he announced. “Oh, only for the day,” he added with a laugh as the s man’s face fell in dismay. “I want a you to go down at once and give your services to Colonel Dainton. And, by r the way, enquire from me how Miss y Dainton is this morning. One min- c ute, I’ll give you a note.” Roberts, looking a little nonplus- t sed, took the hastily scrawled note and departed. A few minutes later r he waa.back again. 1 “He don’t want me sir; Mr Eden’s i sent a man along already. But I >as i to thank you. for the kindness. Aw- - ful about Jenkins, isn’t it, sir? Who’d j have thought ” , t But Peter did not want to discuss Jenkins or any other man. t “Didn’t you enquire after Miss 1 Dainton?” . he cut in with unusual j sharpness. B Roberts, regarded him reproachfully. ‘ “I -was just going to tell you, sir. She looked very well indeed if I may [issay so, and said she was convalescent

and would be allowed to see visitors.” Peter gulped the remainder of his breakfast with inordinate haste. His anxiety to see Helen again amounted almost to a fever. He realised impatiently that it was still rather early. He would be intruding. So he wandered restlessly about the room, gazed out of the window, picked up the morning paper and tried to read it. It was some minutes before he noticed he was holding it upside down. Finally he flung it doxvn and strode decisively out of the room. Time or no time, he would see Helen at once. Any fear that he was intruding was at once dispelled by the xvarmth of Helen’s welcome. “I want to thank you,” she began xvith ji’erfect simplicity. “Don’t say it was nothing," she laughed, “that xvould be most uncomplimentary wouldn’t it?” Peter who had been about to make some such remark, laughed ruefully and clapped one hand to his brow. “Logic,” he pleaded, “was always my weakest point, so I’ll take your word for it, Miss Dainton, and keep clear of the awful risk.” “How’s the nose?” she asked mischievously. “Progressing favourably—a little more prominent than usual, perhaps,” he pronounced judicially. “I’m thinking of .taking it for a sniff of good old Hampshire air. I wish—if you would —” he paused diffidently. “A little fresh air would do you a world of good, Miss Dainton.” “That’s awfully good of you,” she answered quickly. “But I must stand by Daddy. It will be a difficult day for him.”, “I’ll ask him,” said Peter ‘ shyly. “He’ll be/glad to have you out of it all, I know." (To be continued.)