"The Three Carnations."

Mataura Ensign, 28 January 1911, Page 7

"The Three Carnations."

{.PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL KANGXMENT.]

< by christian lys, Author of "The Hepsworth Millions," ''lhe Mystery-of Ladyplac©," * "A London Cobweb," - "The Black Card," "Suspicion," etc., etc.

CHAPTER XXVI. The Solving of the Mystery. It would be difficult to give an Adequate idea of the excitement in Selbridge next day when the return ot Miss Ashworth became known. Purkis went up to the Park, but Miss Ashworth was not well enough to see him. The doctor endorsed this statement. She was not well enough to see anyone. Lawrence Bannister returned to The Priory next day, where, it was expected, he would be arrested for the murder of Amos Bunce. Harry llickson remained in town for the ■, present, aggrieved. at Evelyn's treatment of him. He wrote to her —a love-letter with complaint in it. He dwelt upon wliat he had suffered. the efforts he had made to trace her, and asked her' for - just one line to tell him to come to her; but Evelyn was not well enough to see anyone, and the one line was not sent. The elucidation of the mystery occupied some time. The story leaked out in the village only by degrees. Purkis complained that there was too much reticence on all sides, and, meanwhile, the responsible persons were given every opportunity to escape. the Colonel away for one, although, of course, no sane person would, iriiagine he had anything to do with it." The Colonel's absence, however, was the reason for much of the delay in telling the whole story. At first only parts were told, and, as with odd pieces of a puzzle from which important pieces are missing < no satisfactory conclusion could be arrived at. The particulars of Evelyn's capture formed the first instalment of' the mystery which the neighborhood had to speculate over> Mr Davis, her uncle's solicitor,- arid her own, for that matter, since the affairs of Selbridge Park were in his hands, had, met her at the cross-roads that afternoon. He had been to the Park to see her, and he asked her if Jshe wotild mind walking a little way with him, as he had rather an important point/of business to discuss with her. Quite casually he mentioned that he had not seen her uncle. The butler said the iColonel.had gone to town, but would be back to dinner, although he had, not ordered the carriage to meet him. Evelyn had immediately sent Dawson with the pony carriage to the station. The walk back would do her good. She and Mr Davis had not gone far towards The Priory when they saw a closed carriage standing in the roadway, and, as they passed it, two or three l men i she could not be positive how many, got out and attacked them without warning. Mr Davis was knocked down and gagged, something was put into her mouth, too, and they were both hustled into the carriage, which drove off at once. She could not cry out, but she struggled a good deal. As they, passed The Priory she flung out a carnation, without anyone seeing what she had done, she thought, and a little later she threw out another. It was a slender hope, but somebody might find them and see a clue in them. The third flower she had found in her pocket afterwards. She still continued to struggle until one of the men held a handkerchief over her face. Vaguely, she recollected being in a train, and becoming conscious that Mr Davis was no longer with her. Then she remembered being in a large room and lying on a sofa; then driving again; and finally she became fully conscious. to find herself in a poor, shab-bily-furnished room which looked over a canal. She was treated as the niece of the housekeeper. She told of her acquaintance with Bunce, of his accusing Lawrence Bannister of being responsible for her abduction, and how she had induced him to come to Selbridge, unfortunately, to his death. of which she had heard nothing until her return "to the Park. She explained how Rollit, the housekeeper, had saved her; but of "the fire, and her terrible experiences •during the last few hours of her imprisonment, she could say little. It was like a horrible dream which she could only remember imperfectly. This story did not go far to clear up •the mystery. There was nothing in it to prove that Lawrence Bannister was innocent, and much of his statement remained uncorroborated for a time. He knew nothing of Mr Davis, he said ; he had never seen him nor spoken to him in his life; he knew nothing of the men who had waited with the carriage. He had found the carnation outside the small gate on his Teturn to The Priory that evening, and had picked it up because he knew that Miss Ashwortii loved carnations. He had not attached any meaning to it until after his interview with Colonel Grainger and Harry Rickson; then he conceived the possibility that it might have been thrown there on purpose. In the early morning he had ridden to neighboring railway stations, making inquiries, and later in the day he had left his horse at a village hostelry to be taken back to The Priory, and had gone to town to a private detective named Cooper. At that time he could give him little to go upon, but later he was able to tell him, having heard the story from Tilling, that Dawson's father had been seen in the neighborhood that day, and also of the finding of the second carnation at Mr Oliver's. He had gone t° Cooper because the detective had been employed, on the occasion of the death of Lord Verney's keeper, and knew Dawson and his wife. Three or four da,vs before the fire Cooper chanced to see Mrs Dawson in Holborn, and following her "to the trunkmaker's, discovered that a Mr and Mrs Rollit were caretakers there, and had a niece living with them. He had sent this information to Bannister, telling him to come to London at once. On the night before the fire he had kept watch upon the building, hiding in the old barge, and had seen the leaJber trunk dropped into the water. ■'■" At first he believed that a tragedy had happened. He watched all night, Saw Dawson look down from an upper window in the early morning, and » something in the man's face and atti- 1

tude made lxim think that Dawson had played a part to .deceive somebody—imsibly the man who had helped him to put the trunk into the water. He said nothing to Mr Bannister about the trunk when he saw him next morning. Having seen Bannister, Cooper had returned to Burdett road and kept watch all day, had seen Mrs Dawson leave in, the evening, after which her husband went and hid himself on the barge. Copper had then returned to keep his appointment with Bannister. Bannister had received the letter containing. the news of the Dawsons ; earliep on the same' evening 011 which | Bunce was found dead inside The Priory gate. He liad met the postman in the drive, and had immediately rushed off to catch the last train. On tlie following night he had gone to the buildings by the canal for the first time in his life. He had never seen Bunce. ' Seibridge was still at a loss to under- < stand the mystery, but on the whole was incliiied to believe Mr Bannister. No doubt he would be arrested for the murder of Bunce, but it was the general opinion that there was very little evidence against him. Some people 1 also began to ask why Mr Rickson had ] nob come back to The Cottage. < Bannister might have been arrested J but that events happened rapidly. 1 . First cam* a London sensation: the ] disappearance of Mr Davis, of Gray's ] *lnn. A gentleman had called for him 1 one evening about half-past seven, the 1 porter said, and Mr Davis had not been 1 seen or heard of since. This was sen- s sational enough, but more was to come. ] The much respected solicitor was a ] swindler, his clients' securities had been 1 used, his liabilities wore enormous. As ( the Lombard Finance Corporation he 1 had traded as a money lender of the 5 worst kind,, but through immense speculations and gambling he would 1 have come to the ground years ago had <- he not systematically helped himself to ' - his clients' money. I f

Upon this sensation came Da,wson's story, but the man's whereabouts were not disclosed. Davis had for some time controlled the business of Cousins and Son. It was Davis who had carded off Mi3S Asliworth, with the help of two or three men whom he had completely under his finger and thumb. Dawson was himself in his power. Out poaching, one evening he had accidentally shot one of Lord Verney's keepers, and Davis, who was staying at Lord Verney's, being there on business, saw Dawson come from the plantation. The solicitor had held his tongue, and had

made use of Dawson ever since. Dawson did not actually help in the abduction of Miss because it was thought that she might possibly kuow who he was, a fear afterwards' proved unjustified. On that particular day, as a matter of fact,'he was Sent to interview Mr Rickson upon some money matters. Recently he had gone as caretaker to Cousin and Son, where he was instructed to act as if he were Miss Ash worth's uncle, to treat her as though she were not quite sane, and to see that she did not get away. To Amos Bunce, Davis had passed himself off as Lawrence Bannister, and did his utmost to force Miss Ashworth to marry Bunce. When this scheme failed, Davis decided that Miss Ashworth must bo got rid of, and in Dawson he had the instrument ready to hand. The slayer of Lord Verneys keeper would hardly dare to disobey him. Dawson hid Miss Ashworth and packed the. leather trunk with rubbish, but he was afraid to let Miss Ashworth go until Bunce returned from Selbridge with her friends, and Davis was shown " i up. He sent his wife to a friend's to wait for him, and he went and watched from the old barge. The rescuers would almost certainly come secretly, since they had not come during the day, so he watched the towing-path. He did not trust Davis, for the solicitor would be quite likely to try and get rid of him, thus making the secret safer; and, not wishing to be caught like a rat in a trap, oawson had not stayed in the building, but had left the small door open so that they could go in when Bunce came. He had picked up the withered carnation in Miss Ashworth's room the morning after he had hidden her, and had thought it might be useful, since she had always seemed to prize it. He had heard some vague tale about carnations in connection with her. At first lie had been employed by Davis to do dirty work for the Lombard Finance Corporation, and in- this way had been brought into contact with Mr Harry Rickson i who was deeply in debt. He knew that Mr Rickson had written a letter about his engagement to Miss Oliver because the letter had been used by Bunce and shown to Miss Ashworth. He supposed Mr Davis had compelled Mr Rickson to write it. Tliis story, and the disappearance of Mr Davis, made the mystery considerably clearer. Lawrence Bannister was entirely exonerated, and it became evident that Mr Rickson had behaved in a contemptible manner, but how contemptible he had been, only Rose Oliver knew, and perhaps only Mrs Rickson guessed. Still, there was much more to be dold, and it was told presently in dramatic fashion. . Two letters addressed to Miss Ashworth arrived at Selbridge by the same post. . One came from her uncle. It had been written at an hotel in Marseilles. '"I am never coming back," he began. And then he started a long story by telling the end first. Possibly he felt that in the end he had made some reparation. He described his going to the trunk-makers with Mr Davis, and the scene which had. taken place between them. "I suppose he always intended to do away with you, mv dear Evelyn," he wrote, "if there were no other escape; but, believe me, I never meant you harm in this way; in another way, yes. Davis has paid with death ; how I am to pay is not clear yet." Then the Colonel went into the whole of his career, showing that ho had no fortune, and.that lie had been a fraudulent guardian from the first. He seemed*to consider that it must stand to his credit that he had not poisoned his niece, as Davis had suggested. "Your death meant so much to me: there was naturally great temptation." he said. For his own safety, and also because he was entirely. in Davis' hands, she must be got rid of somehow, and her abduction was planned. Of course, Davis was gagged as a ruse, and it was known that Evelyn had thrown out the carnations. Bannister found one at his gate, the Colonel himself picked

up one a little way along the road, and had afterwards lost it, but where he could not tell. From the first a curious chain of circumstances had helped them. Bannister was suspected, and it was therefore natural that Davis should call himself Bannister in dealing with Bunce. "I sometimes thought that my inaction might cause comment," he went on i "so Davis wrote me a letter that T could show. I showed it to Bannister, and I remember his saying that he could believe you were dead if he knew anyone who would profit by your death. ; I wondered at the time if lie had any 'suspicion, but I do not think he had. The fact that I was supposed to be a wealthy man lifted me above suspicion." | The history of the attempt to force [Evelyn to marry Bunce was given. It was the Colonel's idea, although he had never seen Bunce until the day he called upon him at the Park. "Before he came," wrote the Colonel, "Davis had been to warn me that our only hope of safety lay in silencing Bunce. I arranged to meet Bunce at the Priory, but half an hour earlier than he had arranged with Rickson. I told him I would let Rickson know of the change, which I did not do. I had not made any real plan, but I took with me that stiletto which used to hang in my room. I need not tell you what happened. It was very horrible and I threw him over the little gate of The Priory afterwards. I could not leave him lying outside or Rickson would have seen him. I am sorry I did it, it has proved so useless. There were, some papers in Bunco's pockets, amongst them a letter from Rickson about being engaged to Rose Oliver. Perhaps Bunco showed it to you. It was a genuine letter, Evelyn, so, by saving you from a contemptible cur some good has been done, perhaps. lam glad, my dear Evelyn, that you are alive and well —glad, on the whole, that I have failed."

It was the letter of a madman, but whether Colonel Grainger had been mad from the first or had only been driven so by recent events, no one could'determine with any certainty. And. there was nothing in that letter to prepare Evelyn' for the other one. The second letter was signed by a doctor in Marseilles and stated that he had been called to the hotel to find that the gentleman who had written the letter to her, which was lying ready stamped on the table, had shot himself. He had probably done so as soon as he closed the letter. * * .1: * For a long time Evelyn Ash worth was too ill to see anyone, and then she wrote to Lawrence' Bannister. Through MiDavis' defalcations her financial affairs were in a chaotic condition and she wanted his advice. Bannister wont at ance and afterwards was there constantly. Evelyn heard the Selbridgo news through him. Harry Rickson had gone abroad. He . had not returned to Selbridgo at all, but his aunt had gone to London to see . him. What she had said to him, what , she had done to start him in a new , life, she told no one. The only information Mrs Rickson gave was that her nephew had gone abroad. Joe Dawson had also left the country, but he was,a changed man, Bannister said, and his wife looked a good ten years younger. Rose Oliver was to be married in the spring, and Bannister declared that Jack Murchison was quite a decent fel-. low. He had had him to lunch at The, Priory.