A MILLIONAIRE MYSTERY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18629, 9 February 1924, Page 5 (Supplement)

A MILLIONAIRE MYSTERY.

BY ARTHUR W. MARCHMONT. Author of "By Eight of Sword." "By Snare of Love," etc. (Copyright.) CHAPTER XXVl.—(Continued.) " I know I don't owe it to you, "Boris exclaimed with an oath. "But . I've beaten, you, you see; and you may go and hang yourself for all I care." ..',.', " This is the cheque, and this is the form of receipt I've drawn up. I'll read it: 'In consideration of the sum of two hundred thousand pounds, the receipt of which I hereby acknowledge, I solemnly undertake not to disclose the fact that the wallet and will which I took from Dreshed Pasha when I shot him in Clipstone Wood " He leapt to his feet with a furious oath. "To hell with all this! Do you take me for a lunatic, or have you gone mad yourself? Infernal lies of this sort! Didn't you yourself find the things in his safe? " " " I did, but our case is that some one put them there." "A likely story, on ray life." " And by a coincidence, that some one put them there on the very night when you were not at Eastbourne." He fell back in his chair and burst out laughing. Anything else?" he sneered. " Only this, since you won't sign the receipt for the money"; and I held out Pentlip's cheque and tore it up. " Now von can go to the police, as soon' as you like—if you dare." The destruction .of the cheque took him by surprise and put an abrupt end to his laughter, but he still appeared confident of success. " Oh, so that's your game, is it ? " he said in a sort of angry snarl. "If it can be called a game, it is. You have admitted you were in the wood that night; you were seen leaving it; you left my revolver by the side of the dead man; you were afterwards in possession of the wallet which he is known to have had with him; having failed to implicate me in the crime, you conceived the plan of putting it on Mr. Pentlip; you took the wallet from Eastbourne to the Manor you. broke into the house by the pantry window; went to the study ; opened the safe with the key you had with you, placed the things among the papers: threatened to turn informer unless he agreed to your marrying his daughter at once; then, fearing your act would be discovered, insisted on immediate payment of the dowry you had extorted from him and came here to receive it. I say nothing of the cowardly cruelty of your act, but I leave you to consider what a jury will think when every statement I have made is proved up to the hilt— it will be. You tried to pn a noose round Pentlip's neck and now that it has slipped on to your own you can gauge something of the suffering you caused to an innocent man." He listened closely to every word of .the indictment; at first with an air of scoffing bravado, but then with tense and absorbing concern. His features indexed the change accurately. As the case against him was set out, detail by detail and he recognised the truth of each point, his confidence gradually weakened - until'it deserted him entirely, and in its place came in turn disappointment, bitter chagrin and lastly a consuming terror, as he realised the net of desperate peril in which he had entangled himself. Not a vestige of colour remained on his cheeks, his eyes were wide and staring, his lins bloodless, and he was trembling so \: lently under the thrall of cowardice that for many moments he could not force a single word of denial or protest. He lacked even the pluck of a beast brought to bay. A more contemptible object could not be conceived.

"What do you want me to do?" he stammered at leneth in a voice husky length in a voice husky and tremulous.

" Nothing, so far as I am concerned." Rejoice over his defeat I could not; he was too abject; nor could I feel a scintilla of pity.

"What* are von going to do, then? he asked with the eagerness of alarm. " There's only one thing anyone can do." " No, no! " he pleaded, despair giving some strength to his tone. " You asKed me some ciuestions. T'll answer them willingly. I'll do anything yon want. 1 will. I know it looks black against me, but it's not so bad as yon think. You asked me about Mrs. Kettering; well, J was going to marrv her. 1 never meant to marry Marion Pentlio; all we wanted was to get this money from Pentlip; but T never meant to come between you and Marion—Miss Pentlip." He made in* change as he met my glance. . " Lies won't help you now," I rapped sternly. " I'm not lying, Waring, on mv soul I'm not. It was Freda's— Fetter ing's plan. The whole thing. It was, I swear; I should never have thought of it. I Hid go to the Manor that night; I'll admit everything, everything, and took the wallet to frighten Pentlip. i can't imagine how you ever heard ahont it. but all you said is true. I didn't like doing it, I swear T didn't; I was afraid, hut she persuaded me. She did. Waring, I lake my oath she did. I should never have done it if it hadn't been for her. I know what a fool I was ever to agree; but she had me in her power; she'd got hold of all those bills of mine and swore to ruin me if I refused. Oh. if only you knew what I've suffered ! But I < never intended to go to the police, and it was only when I found Pentlip in sucn a fright that I went on with the thing." That he should put the blame on some one else was only what might have been expected. " And I suppose she sent you to murder the Turk?" I asked. " I didn't do that. Waring. I swear to heaven I didn't. No, n6. I'm not so bad as that; on my soul I'm not. What T told you about being in the wood at the time is gospel truth " " That you saw Pentlip there? '" " I'm not certain it was. Pentlip; that's the only thincr, b"t all the rest is absolutely true. I did think it was Pentlip at first, but T wasn't positive. On my solemn oath, all the rest is true." " And you're equally uncertain about taking the dead man's , wallet? Is that what you want me to believe? " "I didn't take it. I swear that, i was too frightened to think of it or of anything except how to get away from the place unseen. If you only knew how 1 felt at the moment, you'd understand. I knew I should be hanged if I was seen, and was so terrified that I was all but out of my mind." " You mav get a jury to believe you, but I don't." " Tt's true, Waring; for God's sake believe me. I didn't even know the man had it with him." " How else could you get it? " He hesitated a moment or two. twisting and untwisting his fingers in dire perplexity. I—l don't want to tell yon that," he stammered. " I don't expect yon do. but the police will have to be toTd " ; and I sounded my table bell. "You're not going to give me in charge. For heaven's sake, Waring! Then I must tell you. Mrs. Kettering gave it to me." A clerk came in and I sent him away again. "Do you mean that? Do you see ail that it implies? " " I know. I know. That's why I didn't want to tell you. Send for her. She'll tell you it's true. It's her doing, all this; let her explain. I don't know how she got it; she must tell yon that; I've arranged that" if there was any hitch here, she would come. I'll write a note"; and seizing a peri he scribbled a line and handed it to me. "Trouble; come with bearer at once." While I read it, he addressed the envelope. " Let a clerk fetch her," he said. Completely mystified by this sudden turn in the affair and at the same time half inclined to believe Boris, I went out L and sent Trevor with the note.

; . ; . CHAPTER XXVII. ■a; WHAT MRS. KETTERING SAID. ;:,. • | ; Having no sort of wish to gloat over Boris' discomfiture, T sent a clerk into my room to remain with Him until Mrs. Kettering's arrival, and went into Trevor's to worry over a little proble a. Ought I to telephone at once to Pentlip and Marion, and cut short their suspense. A sense of duty pulled me one way and a very human feeling pulled in the opposite direction. I had a mighty keen desire to carry the good news in person "to Marion; and it is astonishingly easy to find plausible reasons for doing what ' you prefer to do. _.I told myself that the delay of an hour or bo couldn't make any great difference; that I could give so many more facts if I went down to th* ! Manor; that they would naturally he eager for every scrap of detail; and that the matter really could not be said to b» completed until I had heard Mrs. Ketter ing's story. But the remembrance of Marion's description of her mother's agony swept all the sophistry of temptation aside, and I rang up the Manor. For once, however, I had ciiime to rejoice over the imperfections of the telephone system. Something was wrong with the line, and to my intone satisfaction I could not bo put through. Soon afterwards I was called to flie 'phone and Mrs. Kettering's voice asked, ■ Is that Mr. Waring's office? " "Yes. Mrs. Kettering, isn't it? This is Waring speaking." " What is the meaning of the letter your clerk has brought me? He says he knows nothing about it It's very extraordinary." "Dike Boris is here and wrote the note." - \ "Ask him to come to the 'phone, please. It's not very convenient for me to come to your office.'.' "Very well. I'll tell him you refuse to come." ''I didn't refuse. I said it was inconvenient; besides, I wish to make sure he did write the letter. I can speak to him, I suppose?" "Not unless you come here, madam; and if you won't come, he will be in the hands of the police." This anneared to startle her considerably. "There's nothing of that sort in the letter," she said in a very different tone. "That is the meaning of the word 'trouble.' " "I'll come at once, of course," and she rang off. As I hung the receiver up, there was another ring. "I want to speak to Mr. Waring, the solicitor," came over the wire in a tone strange to me. "I am Mr. Waring." "Mr. Rafe Waring, of Waring and Son?" "Yes." "My name's Pentlip; yon've been writing to Canada to me. I've just reached London and should like to see you as soon as possible." "If you're Mr. Harry Pentlip, I shall be glad to see you at once." "I'll come along right now. With you in a few minutes." His arrival could not have been more opportune. Not only would it do almost as much as the other good news to cheer up Mrs. Pentlip, but it came just at the moment when the old man was most likely to be ready to reconcile. It was also more than probable that, in view of the turn matters had now taken, Mrs. Kettering would see the prudence of coming to terms about selling "The Fells." He arrived in less than 10 minutes, a tall, well-set-up, good-looking fellow, energy and capacity written ail over him. His clear-cut features suggested much of the strong decision of Pentlip combined with some of the gentleness of his mother: he captured mo instantly, and we gripped hands as if we had been old friends. "I'm more than glad to meet my mother's friend, Mr. Waring," he said with a captivating smile. "How is she ?" "At the moment, none too well; but if I know her. your arrival and some news I'm able to send her will soon alter that." "I (sensed there was big trouble there. Not my father's doing, X hope." "TtVa very long story, but there isn't time to tell it to you now. I'm going down to the Manor to-night and I'll tefi you on the way." His steady blue eyes fixed mine for a second. "How's that? Things ripe enough for me to go? You know why I left homo

"I do, but yon shall judge for yourself. You're not the sort to harbour resentment, are you?"

He smiled again and shook his head. "Against my father, you mean? Nothing doing in that line with me. He did the right; thing to fire me. I made a fool of myself; struck the devil's trail, and would have followed it to ihe limit. Too much easy money about and too soft a job. I was up against it good and bard tor a time, hut that's all over. I oan hoe my own row now, and I'd like to shake hands with the old man. After ail, he's my father, and it was up to him to call £he tune, besides, mother'd cotton to it. And what sibout 'The Fells'?" An hour or two ago I should have-had no good news for you, but things have, happened since which make it probable you won't hf've had your trip across for nothing. I'll tell you that, too, but as I'm expecting Mrs. Kettering here any rainuta, there isn't time.'' "I'd like a word with her, if you're not against it." " Of course you shall have it, but I must see her first." " That'll fit me. I'll vamoose for a bit., I skipped straight on the train from the steamer and 'phoned you from Euston, so I'll be glad to get a bite of something and snruce myself up some. But I ought to tell you I didn't run over only about * The Fells. I had a letter from Marion asking if she could come out to see me; so I felt it was time I knew things." Trevor came in then to say that Mrs. Kettering had arrived. I told him to put her in the waiting room. " You shall hear everything, I said to Harry. " Don't be longer than you can help," I added. "I'll stop right here, if you wish." "Oh, no. Try to be back in a quarter of an hour, say." " I'll be Johnny on the spot," he said, and as soon as he went, I had Mrs. Kettering in. The reason for her delay in coming was at once suggested by the elaborate care with which she had prepared for the interview. She wan beautifully dressed; a perfect study in brown, obviously intended both to impress me with her importance as a wealthy woman, and to help out the suggestion of indignant surprise at my treatment of her. "I am entirely at a loss to understand your conduct, Mr. Waring," she said as she entered; "and you will understand that I resent it very strongly indeed." " I see no reason for any resentment, Mrs. Kettering. Duke Boris asked me to send his note to you, and I did so. That is all." "The least you could have done wan to send some one who could explain the reason for this peremptory summons to your presence, as if you were royalty issuing a command. You can scarcely be surprised at my indignation." I got up and opened the door. " You are perfectly at liberty to leave, if you prefer to do so." This took her by surprise, but she covered it with a smile. " Then why did you send for me, may I ask "It was not I who sent for you, Madam. It was the Duke, remember." " Why did he not come to me, then ?" " Because I could not allow him to leave here." " Tndeed! You could not allow him. And why, pray ?" " For the reason I gave you over thetelephone." " Then I will see him at once, and alone, of course," she declared, with a toss of the head. " ][ cannot permit that." " And what right have you either to fermit or refuse me to see my friends, should like to know she demanded, angrily. , (To be continued on Monday next.)