JUSTUS WISE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14525, 12 November 1910, Page 3 (Supplement)

JUSTUS WISE.

XT ALFRED mLSON-BABRBTT,

COPIBIGHT.

CHAPTER Xl.—(Continued.)

MnUUKK listened, amazed and horrorstricken. " Good heavens ! what a horriD.e discovery!" be said. "How startled you must have been, and how extraordinary you must have thought the disappearance ot the body. , . _, " They must have heard that this office was let" and risked everything to get the corpse away," tsaid the agent. " Something disarranged other plans which they might have formed. Who can say? Yes, it was a startling discovery." f "And I came in and interrupted you, paid Millbank, gazing, fascinated, at tho sooty hearthstone. "What a fright.J must have given you ?" „ " You did," said Justus. " I remember. " And I gave them their chance of getting the body away, too. Oh, if we had /»nlr known! No wonder the place has a fascination for that man if ho was connected with the crime. How they must wonder what you are thinking of and doing about it all. Yes, that must bo why that man cama back, and— Mr. Wise, why did you not publish your discovery why not inform the police." . • The agent bit his lip. 'To be frank with you, Mr. Millbank," he said at last, "until I got your wire that day I—l thought it was Mr. West's body, and after that—" , ; . "Is not that someone at your door? interrupted Millbank. 'They listened. There was certainly a knocking, and Dark hastened to reply to it.

Ho returned in a moment. A lady to see you, sir," he eaid to Justus. . - "A lady?" The agent stared, but before ho had time to give any instructions, the rustling of silk petticoats approached, the door swung open, and Miss Gertie Tillet stood on the threshold. "' Good evening," ehe said with a smile, and an appreciative glance at Millbank, who looked at her with curiosity. " Sorry to disturb you, but I haven't got a moment. I must be" at the theatre in half an hour, and I am worried to death." Justus bowed, taking in her costly furs and glittering banglesMn a comprehensive glance. "Certainly, madam, certainly," ho said quicklv. " Will you please excuse me, Mr. Millbank, for a moment ; in the other room, do you mind waiting?" Millbank nodded, and with a little bow to Miss Tillet, whom he knew perfectly, by eight, passed her and entered the other office. Miss Tillet winked. " That's the kind of young fellow I like," she said. "Straight iip and down and clean-looking and manly. Ah, well; he's somebody's darling, I suppose. And now, Mr. Wise; I'm in a dreadful state —absolutely in despair." "Indeed, madam?" Justus put on, hie most sympathetic expression, wondering meanwhile" what on earth had brought the young lady there. " Indeed, nothing very serious, I'hope." Miss Tillet produced a lace handkerchief from an enormous gold chain-purse and put it t" her eyes . " Yes: it is serious, Mr. Wise,' she said. "I have had a bad shock, and I expect you know what it is. Of course you have seen tbe papers?" . r ~ Justus nodded. " You moan Mr. West s arrcet?" he asked. " Yes, of course. I "was thunderstruck when I heard of it. I was driving home from a luncheon party when I saw the papers. The beasts; of course they've' got it on tho placards! Whv can't they mind their own business! t nearly fainted. I think I did faint. ' Murder!" If it had been— But, of course, he didn't do it, Mr. Wise. You don't think he did, do' you Justus blinked. Well, really, I hardly know all the facts of the case yet," he murmured; but, no, I hardly think I do.believe it if you ask me." *' Ho didn't," said the actress quickly. "Ho says so; look here," and she drew a letter from her purse and handed it to the agent, who opened and read it. It was from West, was scribbled in pencil, and dated from Bow-street. " I have been arrested on a charge of murder, so I cannot come to-night. All the papers will have the news in an hour or two, so I sent this— has cost me a lot of money—to save you, if possible, some of the shock- I am not guilty. I shall see you before long. Believe in my innocence. I could prove it in an instant by opening my mouth, but at the moment it would mean ruin to do so. I cannot explain further, but I am in a terrible vice. Be good, and wait for me, and remember lam innocent. Destroy this. — Your William."

" Well, of course, I didn't destroy it," remarked Miss Tillet, as the agent finished the note. It proves bis innocence. But I thought of you and that day when you gave me your card, and so I came" along. Now, Mr. Wise, I suppose you want money!" Justus smiled graciously. " I like it," he said. " To be frank, I like it very much.'' " Well, you can earn it," said Miss Tillet. " West didn't do this murder, as you see. But, if it means ruin for him to say and, mark you, there's been something funny about him for some time now— in a very tight place, isn't he, unless it is found out who did do it. Now the police have got him they won't bother to look about for anyone else. I like West; I'm very fond of him; he's old, but he's a good sort; and I'll tell you this, Mr. Wise I thought you looked clever the other day, and if you can find out who did that murder, and save West from ruining himself by telling—for he isn't humbugging, I know West—l'll give you—l'm not a rich woman—but I'll give you two hundred pounds, and probably West'll give you as much more; but I'll give it. you in any case. Now, is it a bargain ?" The agent's eyes sparkled. "Yes," he said; "it is, Miss Tillet. You shall have my best endeavours, and I think I may say, with my skill and experience, the best endeavours." " And you think you can find the real murderer ?". "I really think, Mr. West being innocent, that can," returned Justus. "I think he was here just now," he continued to himself. " Then don't waste time," said Miss Tillet. I must go now. I am due at the theatre. I havo got my living to earn, though I feel like going to bed and having a good cry. And • remember the money is there. Give my love to the nice little boy in the next room. Where's your man ? Oh, here he is. Well, goodbye, you know where to find me." And Miss Tillet sailed away. " A very charming young lady," said the agent, smoothing his glossy whiskers, as Millbank came back to the room, " and fortunately (for money is money, my dear young client) her wishes coincide with your own." " Indeed'! May I ask what she wants ?" said Millbank smiling. "She wants me. to discover the real j murderer of Peter Dunton, and she wants' to prove the innocence —" He stopped suddenly. "By jove he thought, " of your future father-in-law, my engaging young friend.'' Millbank noticed the pause. "Of Mr. West?" he asked- "Oh, yes. Isn't that Miss Tillet, the actress ? I thought so. I know she is a friend of Mr. West. He is quite infatuated with her. Miss West thinks that he will marry her.""Would she mind?" Millbank hesitated. " I think riot so much if she were married herself," he said, at last. -'i Though no girl likes a.

young step-mother, of course. I think Sophie has been a little worried oyer it lately, though. But, tell meshe, Miss Tillet, thinks that Mr. West' is innocent 1"

" Yes. Principally because she has a letter from him in which he says he is." "A letter?"

" Yes, sent from Bow-street. How, I don't know but he says it cost him money." And the agent related to Millbank his conversation with the actress.

" He did not send to Sophie," said the young man. The agent shook his head. "He may have done so," he said. The letter may have come after our visit." " I think I will call on my way home and inquire how Miss West is," said Millbank. " She may have heard further news."

" I should," replied the agent pater-, nally, noting his companion's face brightening at the idea. "It is a capital idea, and I am afraid there is nothing more to bo done to-night. I must have a good hour's thought over the position, and by the morning I hope to have evolved some plan of campaign. It is unfortunate that we allowed our unknown friend to get the better of us and give.us the slip. But otherwise I really think things are progressing very much* When Mr. Wyvill returns I hope we shall be able to put onr hands somehow or other on the- guilty party. Will you come early to-morrow ? Thank you, I wish you a very good evening."

" You can shut up the office," said Justus to his clerk, when Millbank had disappeared. " This place ahem !really gets particularly gloomy after dusk nowadays. What is that ? What on earth is that? Oh, it's only some more soot. Yes, you can shut up- I think I will go and have a little bit of dinner. I require ah hour's rest and consideration, Dark. I have had an arduous day."

CHAPTER XII. Justus Wise had said that the secretary of the Wapiti Syndicate was bound to return to his office, and that then there would be a possibility of obtaining information concerning, the mysterious stranger. But the secretary did not return.

The next day passed and brought, no sign of him, and on the following afternoon, though Dark made anxious, but guarded, inquiries from his friend the pigeon- fancier, still no news could be obtained. The red-haired man-, flying hatless and panic-stricken from his office, seemed to have disappeared, swallowed up in London, and his clerks sat idle, vainly awaiting their employer's return. But, though all trace of Mr. Wyvill seemed to be momentarily lost, the confidential agent was destined to come again upon the track of the secretary's mysterious assailant.Not easily to be daunted, Justus, with the help ot Dark, had succeeded in . obtaining Wyvill's private* address, a task not easy of accomplishment, as the redhaired gentleman, for reasons of his own, appeared to be in the habit of keeping this severely a secret. It was in a small house, surrounded by a garden, in the St. John's Wood district, that Mr. Wyvill had his abode, and there the agent found his way on the afternoon of the second day. A high wall ran round the garden of tho building, enclosing it almost completely _ from observation, and the (topmost windows, which were just visible above the brickwork, seemed to be shuttered and barred. A small green door apparently gave ingress to the garden and house, but it was of solid wood, and allowed no glimpse to be caught of the interior.

" He seems a secretive sort of gentleman, our friend the secretary," thought Justus after a long survey. " I must knock the inhabit up and make my inquiries boldly. There is evidently nothing to be gained from the outside." Ho crossed the road, and, after some research, discovered a small bell-knob hidden away by the side of the green door.

This he rang, but for a time no answer came.

"Has he taken his household with him?" wondered Justus. "It certainly does not look as it he is at home, nor does there seem to be anyone else here, either. Our mysterious friend, the stranger, must have given him a pretty good fright the other day for him to have bolted altogether like this." But even as he speculated, a little grating, hitherto unobserved by him in the door, opened, and an eye looked out. " 'Tis sweet to know there is an eye will mark our coming, and look brighter when we come," thought the agent. But in this case the eye did hot look brighter, rather it seemed to frown, and in, an instant it was withdrawn and the grating closed with a snap. " Hullo! I say," cried the agent quickly, " come back. I want to speak to you ; come back !"

And, no one replying, he hammered lustily on the woodwork.

" Now then ! now then ! do you want to break the door cried a harsh voice, and the gate was flung open, disclosing to Justus's dismayed view a hideous and evidently furious old woman in charwoman's garb. But; dismayed though the agent was, his customary aplomb did not desert him, and, quickly recovering, he smiled engagingly into the old lady's bearded face. " Good-day, ma'am," he said gently. "Forgive me for knocking perhaps too violently, but I feared that you had not heard my ring at the bell." " But you saw me look at you, didn't you," said the old woman, " through the grating?" . . ; . " Well," murmured Justus, slightly taken aback again. " I certainly did see an eye." " Then you might a known better than to bang on the door then. But now I've opened it to save you knocking it down, what is it you want?" " Merely to inquire if Mr. Wyvill is at home, ma'am." " No, he ain't. Your friend didn't tell you that, I suppose, waiting round the comer !"

"My friend, madam? Waiting round the corner!" Justus stared. "Heally I am at a loss."

The old woman stepped out on to the pavement, and cast a glance up and down the street. " Ah, he ain't there just now," she said, "like enough;, though he ain't far away, I'll bet. Coming here hammering at the door twenty times a day!"

Justus followed her gaze and then turned to her. "My dear madam," he said, " you are evidently under a misapprehension. I have no friend who. "conies here twenty times a day and waits round corners. I merely called for first time and quite on my own account—to inquire if Mr. Wyvill were at home, and if not, where he might be found. Believe me, if you please."

The old woman i looked at him a little mollified. " No, he ain't at home. I have told you," she said; "and he never tells anyone where he may be found. People who knows him, knows that much. He ain't been here for two days. , That's all I can tell you. But there's some people won't take 'no' for an answer."

"You mean the gentleman you thought was my friend?" insinuated Justus. "Gentleman? Well, he may be, but I think he's mad. And he don't get me to answer this door again."

" Mad"? Ah ! Excuse me, but is this— ahem !—unfortunate individual a man of between forty and fifty, short and broad, with" "Ah, that's him. Grizzled hair and a wrinkled face, and looks as if he'd like to kill someone."

" Poor Wyvill," thought Justus. " It's he! Like to kill someone! Has killed someone, unless I'm mistaken. Yes, it's the stranger evident/." " How long has he been gone?" he asked after a moment.

"Gone? Well, he hasn't rightly been gone all day since early morning. I don't Bee him now, but if you want to, you've only got to wait. He'll be back sure enough. But I've got something better to attend to than talking here with you," and the lady, entering, banged the gate before Justus could collect his thoughts. "Thank you, amiable creature," said Justus, to the door only, however, for the lady who guarded it so well was already far away. ." Well, I've «ot nothing better to do myself, and I think I'll-wait on ,the chance that this eccentric gentleman may come back for the twenty-first time. But JLwon't let him, see me just jcet, -

He looked about him. Not far away, and well in sight of. the secretary's forbidding portals, stood a- house with an agent's board, "to let," exposed to view. This house, too, had a garden running down to the footpath, and, though there were merely railings in its case, Justus noticed that there were plenty of shrubs and plants behind which he could hide while he watched the secretary's door. Quickly deciding, he crossed over, and, slipping unobserved through the gateway, he settled himself down to wait.

The garden was cold, the shrubs damp, and for half an hour nothing happened, but the agent, possessed unlimited patience. Vast possibilities, and ready-money to back those possibilities, had unrolled before him of" late, and a little discomfortwas not going to frighten him. And so, in spice of the fact that every now and then clammy insects fell on his collar from the shrubs, and at moments cramp took him in the back and legs, he kept his eyes Tinrelaxed upon the road, and by and by his virtue was rewarded.

For, down the street, with a quick determined walk, passing only a few feet from where the agent crouched, came at last the man he waited for.

So hear did he pass, and so determined did lie look, that Justus drew back quickly farther into the shrubbery, and by the rustling he made thus nearly defeated his own object. But the stranger took no notice of the waving of the leaves, which he probably attributed to the. wind or stray cats. His eyes were, fixed upon the gate of Wyvi.H's garden, and his hands were clenched fiercely, so fiercely, that Justus could see his knuckles whiten under the strain and he strode past the garden and across the road.

" It will be interesting to see what impression he makes on my friend, the amiable old lady, on this occasion?" thought Justus, eyeing the man's broad back. " He looks in a pretty dangerous mood, and she is.no timid fawn herself. There he goes. That bell will give way."

Justus was right. It did, coming away in the stranger's hands under repeated vigorous tugs. ■ But the fact troubled the ringer little. For a moment he regarded the knob in his fingers, and then, hurling it from him into the road, he commenced battering upon the woodwork with his bony fists. Justus regarded him with awe. " Dear me! dear me!" he said. "I shouldn't like to do that myself. That old lady will really be very angry when she comes out again."

But the old lady had no intention of coming out. Neither broken bell # nor hammering fists made any impression upon her, and, except for the knocking of the stranger, silence reigned. " Done !" speculated Justus. " You will Have to give it up, my friend." But there he was wrong. The stranger gave a last final bang, and, no answer coming, put his shoulder to the gate. There was a rattle, a crash, the lock gave way, and the enemy was within the fortress.

*■ Justus gaped. "'What a very decided individual he murmured. " I understand now why Mr. Wyvill did not wait for Ins hat that day; and also, I think, why lie has not been back to his office. But what if he were inside his house now !"

Some minutes passed. The agent would have given his ears to know what was going on within the secretary's house, but he did not dare to venture forth at present, and since the stranger had so unceremoniously forced the citadel, silence reigned supreme. Still, so uncanny did this stillness become at length, and so great Justus's curiosity, that he undoubtedly would have been forced to investigate matters at a closer range, but that, as he was cautiously about to leave his shelter, the stranger reappeared. " He has drawn blank," thought Justus, peering through the shrubs; "and now he does not know, what to do.". It was evidrtht that he was right. _ The man's fury seemed to have calmed itself after his forcible entry and his search within, and an uncertain, puzzled look now clouded his strong features, as, emerging into the road, he stood looking up and clown. He took off his hat, wiped his forehead, hesitated, took a step forward, and then stopped, leaning his head on his hand against the stone of the gate pillars. " He's going to give it up for the day," thought Justus, watching him keenly, "and now he'll go home. This is my chance." Even as he speculated, the man gathered himself wearily together, and with a final glance up and down the road, started off. The agent waited till he had passed; so near that he could have reached out his hand and caught him by the sleeve, and then, stealthilv creeping from his hidingplace, followed him soft-footed down the road.

CHAPTER XIII. "This time you shall not give me the slip, my friend," thought the agent, watching his unexpected prey. " Though I wish it were not daylight and the streets hereabouts so empty. You would know me again in a moment if you chanced to turn and catch sight of me, wouldn't you But the stranger apparently did not dream of turning round. He walked on, dragging his feet rather wearily, and Justus noticed that his whole bearing now seemed relaxed, and his figure older and less erect as he left the neighbourhood of the secretary's house behind. The route he had chosen was down the Wellington Road and on into Bakerstreet,,, and Justus's task of following him was an easy one. All would have been well, doubtless, but for an accident. . At the corner ■of Orchard-street the stranger came to a halt foe a moment, and then started to cross Oxford-street. He was half-way across, and Justus close at hand, when, as luck would have it, a boy on a bicycle came rather sharply from behind a motor omnibus which the stranger had just dodged. There was a collision, and the stranger, slipping, fell almost under the wheels of a hansom cab. It seemed as if he,, must be done for, and Justus involuntarily sprang forward to witness his fate. , But the stranger was a man of resource. With an extraordinary effort he rolled himself from beneath the . hansom, staggered to his feet, escaped a heavy van by clutching at its shafts, and, darting for safety, bounded almost into the agent's arms. , Justus, retaining his presence of mind with a great effort, turned sideways, dropping his chin upon his breast, and, without daring to look up, waited while the stranger recovered himself and crossed the road anew, this time in safety. Had he recognised Kim? Justus, looking guardedly up again, wondered with all his soul- It seemed as if lie must have done so, and yet he had given no sign; he had gone on his way quite naturally;'and certainly, in the confusion of the moment, it was possible he had taken no notice of the man he had cannoned, into.

" Well, I shall know in a minute or two, at . all events," thought Justus. " After the way he looked at me in my office he would expect me to nave nothing to say to him, and, as I .did not seize mv opportunity, if he recognised me, he will know something is up. Arid, by George, he does Ah!" This exclamation was drawn from him by a sudden move, on t.h»j. part, of the stranger, who, ...turning, carelessly, round the corner, disappeared for a moment, and then suddenly reappeared hurrying in ah opposite direction. ,

. The trick under ordinary circumstances would have, ended in his. coming face to face with. Justus without an opportunity for the latter k tp pretend that he had not been following him; but fortune favoured the agent. On the opposite side of the corner stood a long mirror outside a restaurant, and in this Justus, caught sight of his man a second before he turned. Like a flash he darted into the shop he was passing and closed the door after 'He waited a moment and. then peered over the curtain ..which hid mMi& part of the door, rubbing his hands softly together, For the stranger,.swinging, round Sp corner and . flnding that, he recognised in sight, stopped dead,, and looked about. him undecidedly.. for a second. Then, shaking his head, he turned back and resumed his way. By this time, however, the, people were upon Justus,, and he found..JtHTO&tf confronted hi a.§tatel£ laig » W^jßife,

What may I have the pleasure of showing the gentleman she asked, and Justus, trembling, recognised that he had arrived in a high-class ladies' costumiers. " ahem!—l merely wish to inquire the price of that coat, that fur coat in the window there," said Justus with a hasty glance round him. " Four hundred and fifty guineas. It is Russian sable, and the skins" "Oh, thank you/' said the agent, " but it is a little more expensive than '' They are really very fine skins. It is a very cheap coat," said the lady in surprise. " Miss Simmons, kindly get down that sable coat for the gentleman to see." " No, really, please do not trouble,"* cried the agent hastily, edging towards the door. "He will be gone. I mean to say, it is really more than I wanted to give. Thank you. Good day." And perspiring, he reached the street. " Curse the sable coat, and the four hundred guineas and Russia into the bargain," he thought, looking wildly round. "Where lias be gone!'" (To. be continued on Wednesday next.)

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