THE MYSTERY OF CROCKSANDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18457, 21 July 1923, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE MYSTERY OF CROCKSANDS.

BY .."RED M. WHITE. Author of "The Secret of tho Sands," "The Devil's Advocate, ' '" The- Man with tho

Vandyke Beard," " Tr.o Edge of tno Sword," etc.

(Copyrisiit.)

CHAPTER, VIIL (Continued.)

A big, feathery brown shadow trembled and fluttered at the end of the ray of light and then suddenly shot upwards. Without a word of apology, or even a glance in the direction of Bly's companion, the excited naturalist broke through the trees and sprinted upwards in the direction if the Tower.'

" Now you know what Evors is like," Bly laughed. "I am a bit keen, but I an icicle compared .with him. Personally I don't believe it's ,a Death's Head moth at all. Much too early in the year, I fancy. But let's follow him.

They pushed their way up the slope to the open piece of cliff on which the Tower loomed brown and gaunt against the darkness. The Australian was standing there gazing upwards at the brown shadow that present!/ disappeared under the broad open beams that overhung the upper rooms of the Tower.

"The beggar has gone in there, Polio," Evors cried. , " There, just behind that big beam. 'I am going to climb after him."

With that the speaker, still ignoring Ellen's presence, proceeded to swarm up the Tower by means of window-frames and ledges and protuding ends of timber. He managed to scramble up under tho leaves, and presently a muttered sound of triumph came from his direction. Then the cry broke off short as the flashlight shot out again, and Evors dropped heavily to the ground with some dusky-look-ing object, held in his hand.

"There!'' he cried. "If you think—"

" Here, wha.t the devil's the meaning of all this?" a passionate voice broke out. "What are you two blackguards doing here? If I catch you on my property again I will shoot both of you!"

Wrath stood there white and passionate, in the rar-: -.': •-, larrp. There was ?v r - =-: :.: :■■•:- V the two trespassers i< oi ,';.'. .v fay with fluttered apologies.

" VP-at a brute!" Evors muttered. '' And, by the way, who was the girl you were talking to when I came up ? But never mind about that for a. minute. I have made a discovery. When I • flashed that light on just now it shone through ono of the windows in the top of the Tower. It's a bedroom, I-oHo, a beautifully furnished bedroom, vi'rlh a man lying c.sleep ',he"e. An least, if he wasa'f; asleep he w«'.a .;-;■• i-a. An oldlooking inn: with a bean,, tinged with white—.i. sovr, of face that haunts one. What do yon think is going on here ? Don't, you think that the secret of the Tower is why Wrath wants this place all to himself ?

CHAPTER IX. Ellen was more than grateful for the si. .dows of the night that hid Sw agiiati . from the gaze of Christopher 'Wrath. Sua. was shaking from head to foot with an agitation that she was perfectly powerless to conceal. She was conscious of the trembling of her limbs and the whiteness of her cheeks, though mercifully all this was hidden from, the one man. whom she had most reason to fear, find bo long as she could keep her voice steady, then she would probably get through without losing everything that she had already achieved. It had been indeed a startling revelation which had fallen quite unconsciously from Hollo Ely's lip 3. He had told her, as if it had been a bit of ordinary information, that his friend Evors was actually on the Crocksands estate in connection with a man who was Ellen's own father. It was such an amazing statement that she had almost collapsed, but mercifully she had managed to control "herself, and now she was dizzily rejoicing in the fact that providence had placed in her way another ally in working out the tangle that lay before her. But all that would have to come presently; she would have to wait patiently •until an opportunity arose for meeting Evors in a perfectly natural manner and hearing his side 01 the story, probably from the Australian point of view. Now, for many years the late Gordon Bland had been "a great traveller, usually acompauied by Ellen's mother, but occasionally he had gone to the other end of the world alone. Ellen knew that he had been in Australia, where, doubtless, he had met Evors, and apparently they had become friends. All this, however, would have to wait until the proper moment. But one thing was certain—the Australian was hero for some purpose, some sort of reckoning with Wrath, and in a strange manner Ellen's father seemed at the bottom of the whole business. All this flashed through her mind as she walked down the path from the '■. headland, accompanied by Wrath, She was thankful for that suspicious, surely silence of his, because it gave her the breathing space which she so sorely needed. She knew that the man was consumed with passion, and in the few (seconds that she had seen bis face in the rays of Evor'a flashlight sho bad read there something that seemed to her like fear. She must be alone "to think over this strange revelation which had dropped so naturally from Bly's lips, and this, in conjunction with what she had learnt as to the identity of the man who called himself Stone, would give her something to -reflect upon for some time to come. However, she was quite ready for Wrath cow when lie chose to speak. "Curse those scoundrels!" ha broke out, presently. "What do they want, hanging about my private property at this time of night? You may repend upon it they are up to no good." "I don't think they mean any harm," Ellen paid, demurely. "So far as I could gather, they are enthusiastic collectors of moths and butterflies. I think I can vouch for Mr. Ely's respectability, at any rate."

Wrath turned upon his companion, srspiciotisly. "Ah, I was going to ask you that," he said. '"I '.happen to know that that, man Evors is a bad lot I knew something of him in Australia, and nothing to his credit. Would you mind telling me, Miss Merchant, how long you have "known these men

"As to Mr. Ever?, I don't know him at all." Ellen said, coldly. I was talking to Mr. Bly when his friend burst through the bushes in mad pursuit of what he said was a Death's Head moth. I don't know anything about it, but I certainly saw a large moth that flew under tha caves of the Tower. Mr. Evors climbed to get it, and, I believe, succeeded. But you came up at that moment, and the two naturalists promptly disappeared." "You. are quite sure there was nothing | else?" Wrath asked. "Really. Sir Christopher. I hardly erst and you," Ellen went on, in the j same cold stone. "The "whole incident was perfectly natural. Of course, if j there is .something in the Tower that yea j have to conceal —" '•'I don't like your tone at all," Wrath j said, angrily. ""I have already told you that I am by way of being an inventor, j and thai certain secret, processes of mine 1 are locked op in the Tower. I feel j myself liiore or less responsible for you. j Surely you must see how unwise it is ; for you"to scrape acquaintance with men ; as you have done in this case." '1 beg your pardon," Ellen said, j warmly, "I have known Mr. Ely nearly ■ two years. If an explanation is necessary, | I may tell yon that he is a client of my , late employer, and he used to corn* to the ! office frequently." i 'Still, you never can tell," Wrath j muttered. ; It seemed to Ellen that here was the j moment to assert herself. She had ccrne ! down to Orocksinds for her own purposes, j 0: which Wrath knew nothing. She had 1

pretended to jump eagerly at the chance of taking employ in the service of a country baronet; but, the real reason why she was at that part of the world wan something utterly outside Wrath's cl citations. "I think that I had tetter sp?- >.k plain:;.: Sir Christopher," she said. 'i am quite capable o' looking after myself and earning my own living; If Ido my work to your satisfaction there is nothing more to be said. I like Mr. Bly; he has been very good to me on several occasions, and ill my spare time I claim the right to do what I like. If that does not suit you, then we can part. I don't wish to be in the least off-hand, but that is my con- ; sidered point of view." ! "Oh. all right, all right," Wrath muttered. "Please yourself. But why didn't you tell me that you knew this ! man Bly? You have already heard his | name mentioned." Ellen fenced with the question. "Pcrely ! there is more than one- Bly in ti>.-* ,«rorid," J she laughed. "Probably I did not connect the man who was sharing the | bungalow here with the Bly thar I knew." I Wrath pressed the point no further, and ; Ellen was thankful when at length the j house was reached. She passed up the flight of steps into the ha", door, and entered the great room beyond. It was I a large square apartment, with a gallery ! overhead from which the main bedrooms ! opened, and a magnificent la tern roof of ! stained glass. A log lire smouldered in | the open grate, over which a- portrait of ! the founder of the house hung, surI rounded by a trophy of arms er-roisitely I carved. There were fine Peruan. rugs j on the floor, and some priceless suits of j armour gleamed on the walls. Here the J man who called himself Stone ra r-paled ! with a newspaper in his hands, sum opi posite him, quiet and watchful as usual, I the housekeeper, Mrs. Amberley. ! It had occurred to Helen more than i once how strange it was that Mrs. Am- ■ berley dined with the rest of them, and i spent her evenings mainly in the great hall. She sat there hour after hour, hardly speaking, with a world of sjlent introspection and unhappiness in those dark eyes of hers. Her fear of Wrath was ever present, and ye« behind that timidity was a certain menace that Ellon could not fail to notice. Mrs. Amberley was in deadly fear of her employer, no doubt, but at the same time Ellen was sure that she had some secret hold upon j the man, and if once she gave way to i the smouldering wrath '.' ■.': ">poke so elo- : quently in !.-_ eyes, ~,-.:. '..-, would be a i bad day <~ mm. Wrath <~',-ew himself down into a chair &nd gazed Uioodily into the lire. It was too early to go to bed yet, so Ellen cast round for a book to read. Then she recollected that she had left the volume in question upstairs in the musicians' gallery overlooking the great hexagon room which was now, for some occult reas. ■ , called the music room, so she crossed ... e floor and went up the broad, carved si -urcase to fetch it. Leading out on the -eft was a wide corridor, which had tvta turned into a billiard room, with heavy curtains at either end, and beyond the further "lair was the musicians' gallery itself, half screened from the big hall below by a sort of pierced open barrier, through which it was possible to look into the music room and hear and see all that I went on there. Ellen's book was lying j on one of the ledges there, and presently she returned with it under her arm. When she got back to this hall again Wrath had ranishsd. " Whero has Sir Christopher gone?" j Ellen i>.sked. " There was something I. wanted to ask fcinx before I went to bed." " I think ha has gone out," the man called Stone explained. "He said something about a visit to the Tower. Have you ever seen inside there, Miss Marchant I" j It was on the tip of Ellen's tongue to say that she had been there many a time, but sh» managed to restrain herself in, time. " I cannot say I have." she said. ** Though I must confess that the place rather fascinates me. Wasn't the lower at one time a landmark for smugglers, and also a lure for merchantmen coming up the Channel ? You see, I have been reading the history of Crocksands, Mr. Stone, and I know a great deal about it. There is a tradition to the effect that at one time there was an underground pas- j sage from the vaults at Crocksands to the j Tower. Do you happen to have heard I anything about it?" j " Not I," Stone said, indifferently. " Those old stories don't interest me. You had better ask Sir Christopher. I should say that the story is & .very improbable one." Ellen let it go at that. She had had a motive in asking the question, because she fait that this man was in Wrath's confidence, and if the latter had been aware of any such underground passage, then Stone would most assuredly have have heard of it. There was nothing furtive in his manner, no suggestion of waving the subject airily on one side, and Ellen was happy in tlie knowledge that she had gffifced another point. M Do you know, I am rather sorry to hear that," she laughed. " I am intensely interested in these old legends, unci had imagined myself exploring those underground passages. However, if you Bay they don't exist there is an end" of the matter." " I am quite sura of it, M Stone said. " Unfortunately wo cannot ask any of the old servants, because Wrath got rid of all them. Still, it is a beautiful old house, and I should bo happy enough hero if it belonged to mo. Mrs. Amberley, did you evor hear of an underground pascage to tho Tower I" The woman addressed seemed to come out of a brown study, much as if the question had reached her from a long way off; then the ghost of a smile trembled on her lips, and she shook her head. M Never," she said, in that faded voice of hers, that nevertheless had a certain hard metallic ring in it. " Such things do not trouble me. I think I will no to bed." She ro?e, and in that slow feline manner of hers crossed the hall and disappeared up the staircase. Stone followed her with his shifty, watery eyes, then turned them on Ellen. " There is a story behind that woman,*" he said. " Don't you think so,, Miss Merchant ? I wonder where Wra.th got hex from ?"

" I don't think it ia anv business at ours," Ellen said. *' She 13 a ittranga woman, but I am rather attracted by her all the saras, and I think I will follow her example. Good-night, Mr. Stone." So far as Wrath himself w»3 concerned, Ellen's work at Orocksands was mora or less of ft sinecure. At his dictation she

I wrote a few letters occasionally, but her real employer appeared to be Stone. It was with him sins sat in the library from j shortly after breakfast till lunch-time, en- j gaged in a voluminous correspondence with certain people in Manchester, to j j most of whom she sent money in varying j j amounts, and always in Treasury note's or j j postal orders, which Stone himsi'lf pro- | cured in Lyndule and banded 'Over to I Ellen for transmission. The girl had j I been engaged in business long enough to I realise that there was something sinister I going on here. She wondered why so j much as fifty pounds at a time was" fori warded to a certain correspondent in Manj chester, obviously for the' purpose of inj serting advertisements in paters published i ; in the north of England. " Tr.'m there ! I were other remittances to printers of' ! various coupons, all of which pointed to { ' some bio; lottery in which Wrath and : I Stone were concerned. Occasionally j ! there were instruction* to ether members j I of the partnership in Manchester with re- ! j gard to branch organisations or; the Con- | ; linent. Then there were ether letters! i alluding to certain racehorses, so that I very gradually the whole thing began to | I make itself plain to Ellen, until she had j j some sort of a grasp of the conspiracy, ! j From time to time large hampers; ; arrived by train at Crocksands, always J i consigned from Manchester, and the con- ! I tents of these Ellen was not permitted 10 1 i see. She merely knew that they were 1 I carted up to a room at the top of the j 1 house, the door of which was rigidly ! j locked, and that Wrath and Stone spent ] ; a large amount of time in going over ; I there. I I (To t* ceatiiaed as ilondi* cexi.l J