THE LONG LANE OF MANY WINDINGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19276, 15 March 1926, Page 16

THE LONG LANE OF MANY WINDINGS.

BY LOUIS TRAOY,

CHAPTER IX. THE QUEER BEHAVIOUR OF INSPECTOR FURNEAUX. Kathleen yielded to one spasm of real fear, but regained self-control so quickly that she hoped none had noticed it. "Of Scotland Yard ?" she repeated, what she deemed the correct note of polite disinterestedness. A somewhat larger crowd of islanders than usual had gathered on the pier. In the first place, it was a Saturday, and many of the inhabitants were free. Secondly, summer visitors generally arrived at the end of the week. Above-all,; it was known that the relatives of the girl so miraculously saved from the wreck of the'Brookland were on the steamer. But the Scillonians are civil folk, who do not thrust themselves rudely into othei people's affairs, so neither the shipowner's statement nor his daughter's echo of. it were overheard. Jack helped, too, by keeping up a steady chorus of barks. The girl found herself shaking hands with a diminutive-looking, neatly-dressed, quite clever-looking man whose distinctive label by no means accorded with her vague notions as to the accepted physique and general appearance of the officers of the Criminal Investigation Department. He was so natty in attire, so obviously un-

fitted to cope with burly ruffians, that at any other time she would have thought her father was joking. But she was aware of some peculiarly penetrating quality in thi bright, black eyes, which smiled, at her from a pallid, wrinkled face that she felt zt once she must impose a rigid guard ,on her tongue. Indeed, she was startled sgain by Mr. Furneaux's first words. "A detective was the last person.whom you expected to greet. Miss Macdonald . he commented, as the four walked along the pier after the newcomer's baggage had been given in care of the hotel porter. Yet. when he spoke, some hint of friendliness in his tone, a tacit recognition that she might have encountered queer difficulties, as it were, moved her to say the verv thing she had meant not to say. "I am not very sure of that," she faltered. " Ah! You know something of the facts then?" " What facts? I know very little. You fee. I am still wandering through a sort of mental haze. Perhaps mirage would be a better word." " I suppose it is true that you and this steward, who is known as French, are the only survivors!" broke in her father. " Yes. • I am afraid there can be no doubt, about that. Dad. Mr. French searched ithe island. So did I. So did the lifeboat men. Only one boat was launched from the ship, and that was gwamped instantly. It is difficult to see how anybody could have been saved who did not adopt the plan Mr. French evolved on the spur of the moment. I cannot imagine how he thought it out. It was simply wonderful." " Ohi you have made that abund—.tly • clear; already," laughed Furneaux, with snch'a chirpy .cackle in his staccato, somewhat high-pitched voice, that the girl decided' he was an eminently likeable little man,-, exen'-if he were,.a detective. •'jy'^sh^critfa,-honestly astonished, v . " Yes. Your story flames through all the .'papers this morning. Of course, vou have not seen them yet. You .paid full tribute to Mr. French's,heroism. His name... is in the mouths of millions of people to-day. He is probably being discussed with admiration in New York, Cape . Town and Melbourne. And how surprised these millions would be if they knew that the ship's steward, who risked everything to save you and your dog was really ' a baronet—a very-much-wanted baronet,. Sir Arthur Frensham, seventeenth of the line." Kathleen was wide awake now. Her intelligence was as receptive as the most delicately tuned wireless receiver. She sensed instantly that Furneaux's ail-im-portant statement was not, new to her father and brother. So, greatly daring, she die! not attempt to fence. " Of course, his correct name appears on. hist' passport," she said instantly. "I had to look at it when I tried to find out who his people were, though it supplied no address. He had been insensible until- this morning, and is now lying .asleep', in that little hotel over there—" this .with a gesture toward the curving front of the tiny town: " I don't understand - why he gave- the name; of -French when joining the ship'." " He did not," said Sir Malcolm. " That lit lie-strangest part of the strange storv. Bnt you can hardly appreciate the significance ;of it yet until you learn why Mr. Furneaux is here." Again a woman's intuition discovered

the better way. " I -think I know that, too, she said alowljC",, " Thursday's newspapers contained some dreadful and, to mv mind, most!.'unfair innuendoes against Captain Frensjiam. I don't believe they are true. He himself is not even aware of them. I saw'ihim this morning, but ho was so obviously "ignorant of being suspected of of kifiing his father—that I had not the heart "to tell bin?- everytilings J forced. 1 mvseJf to sav tmit"' Sii"."Hubert Frensham dead, but he siniply.'l-emarkcd that * where!' he was '-.coocerped- f Sir Hubert idied -.'nearly three weeks ago—on the night vhe drove his son out of the house. Then ?he, Captain Frensham I mean, lav back fin his bed and went, tci fdeep. Is that the way murderers usually behave, Mr. Furneaux ?"

" Murderers and detectives and the general public are so much alike in most aspects of life. Miss Macdonald, that there is not a pin to choose between, them. I have fairly wide acquaintance with the best Criminals and the best, people, and I you there are far more men. and not a| few women, outside tlie walls of our penal settlements who o^ght'to be inside, plan there are convicts who have been punished unjustly. That.-remark is not really so deeply philosophic as it may sound',: but I shall do better as the day lengthens, because I an, free to admit that °* °P? n Atlantic .in a 300-ton jfhip are apt to joggle the nicely-poised balance of the brain on the spinal chord, and, in a small chap like me. it is an almost: microscopic adjustment." '* What beats me." put in Sir Malcolm, : is how 1< rensham induced Mr. Jones, the purser", and the other officers to connive at his; change of name." " Perhaps he didn't," said the younger Macaonald. To my mind, it's as simple as ABC. Frensham realised that the Instani' Kathleen heard his name she would spot him, so he just altered it for her benefit." " When did that eminently lucid explanation [dawn on you?" inquired Furneaux rathe® 1 acidly. "Vl"guessed it all along."-, " You did not- tell me.";. " Why should I? What makes von he•lieve I want to help in putting poor old Artie p'n the cart ?"

; Kathleen could have hugged her hiother if or tljat remark, hut the baronet interfered iternly. . "-Don't be an- ass. Roddy!" he said. - gone farbeyond the -bounds of mere friendship. >Yc*J and I. Kathleen even, will, do all in our power to assist the man whom we two knew and liked, ar.d to whom she is for her life. But we cannot

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conspire to defeat, the ends of justice." " No. I hardly meant, that, Mr. Furneaux," admitted Roddy by way of apology. Kathleen said nothing. Furneaux said nothing. A silence fell on the four. When the members of the family uict again a few minutes later in the dining room of the hotel Furneaux was missing; the head waiter explained that " tho other gentleman" had elected to have his bag taken elsewhere. I' .And a good riddance!" exclaimed the ship-owner peevishly. " I foresaw all this trouble the moment he joined us at Paddington last night. He was certainly a most interesting companion, but the extraordinary conditions attached to this affair are distinctly oppressing, and I, for one, don't want to be brought into it further where Frensham is concerned. I only wish that any other'man breathing should have rescued you, Kathleen, than a youngster who has practically ruined his career by a foolish marriage, and is nov.'. I expect. under arrest on a terrible charge." " Do you really think Mr. Furneaux has gone' to keep an eye on Captain Frensham, dad ?" said Kathleen sadly. "Where else? Remember, it is his duty." " I wish we could hop it off this bally island as soon as we finish lunch," growled Roddy. " We can," said the girl. " But the steamer does not leave until Monday," said her father. " There is a small boat for hire. It will take us to Penzance in six hours." "How do you know?" " I inquired this morning. I—l read what was in the paper, and wanted to give Captain Frensham a chance, so I drew five hundred pounds from the bank, and offered it to him. But what I told Mr. Furneaux was absolutely true. He refused, making no bones about, it. I don't believe that he knows yet that his father did not die a natural death." " After all," said Roddy, "if we j cleared off on a hooker it would be rather like leaving Artie on the dust heap—eh what?" ! " Yon change your views very quickly." ! snapped Sir Malcolm, a financial magnate ' who grew irritated when puzzled. "SupI pose we eat. I'm ravenous. And I shall be glad to hear from you. Kathleen, if j you know the facts, what really happened ! to the Brookland. The next thing 1 have to face is a Board of Trade inquiry into her loss, to say nothing of the death-roll, t which is the saddest par! of the whole business." * Meanwhile, Furneaux, with features as impassive as those of a.Bluukla carved in ivory, had betaken himself to Frensliam's hotel, where he sat down to a meal, and was not long in ascertaining that his quavry was actually the only other guest at table. When Frensham awoke and dressed there was no retaining him in his room. He had never felt better, he declared. and it was a sin to remain in bed on such a fine day. It was he who opened a somewhat remarkable conversation. " Did you come in by the steamer ?" he asked affably, realising that the newcomer j was as strange to his surroundings as he himself. "Yes," said Furneaux. ■ " Do you happen to know if Sir Malcolm Macdonald and his son were among your fellow-pa"sseng?rs?" ' Yes," said "Furneaux again. " Good ! I was told they would be on board, but wanted to make sure." " Are they friends of yours?" " Well —er —I was really interested because Sir Malcolm's daughter is on the island, and she will now not feel so lonely." " Are you, by any chance, Mr. French, the steward who figures so prominently in the story of the Brookland's wreck?" " There is a bit of a mistake about my name, it would appear, but I fill the bill otherwise." " Will you think it rude if I ask what your name really is?" * "Rude? No." But why do you ask?" •. " I have m,V reasons. Let me preface them by saying that I am Detective-In-spector Furneaux. of the Criminal Investigation Department, New Scotland Yard." Frensham was visibly surprised. " Gee'" he cried. " I'll take your word for it'old scout, but you don't look it." " Perhaps not—any more than, in a steward's uniform, you would pass as Sir Arthur Frensham, baronet." "Tiens! The plot thickens. You had me placed all the time, then?" " I knew of you, but I certainly did not expect to meet'you at lunchepn." " May not even a baronet eat?" " Not if he is reported lying insensible from concussion." " Inspector, you shouldn't, believe all you see in the newspapers." . "I don't. By the way, have you seen the newspapers lately?" " Not since I sailed from London town last Wednesday." "You will find them eminently readable." " So I'm told." " Who told you?" " Look here, old chap, you have a splendid knack of putting direct questions, but, just for the moment, I'm tremendously interested in beefsteak and kidney pie which I see figuring on the menu." "The mere mention of such a plate puts everything else out of my head," agreed Furneaux. So this- oddly-assorted pair ate steadily jn -silence lor sortie minutes. Furneaux was aware that his companion eyed him with a furtive amusement which, while it might not be flattering, was certainly bewildering. His remarkable skill in crime detection owed, much to his nimble tongue and its effect on the tongues of other men, but, for once in his career, he adopted a self-denying ordinance, arid kept quiet.> " Mind if I smoke?" inquired Frensham at last, when he decided it would be wise it he repressed a still unsatiated appetite. " Pipe, or cigarette ?" said Furneaux. 1 " Pipe for preference." " As a non-smoker I disapprove of the pernicious habit,. but, if a, man must smoke, I believe the consumption of tobacco in a pipe is the least harmful method of introducing the poison of nicotine into the human system." • 41 By jove," if you feel that way about it—" !' ' . : :'" V r ; i " Don't misunderstand me. You are a free agent. Smoke, by all means." Frensham filled his pipe and lighted it. " Now, shoot!" he said. "Are we likely to be disturbed here?" "It doesn't look like it. There are not many people staying in the hotel. It's early yet for season visitors, the landlord tells me." " Are you really, able,to, withstand what may prove a rather severe shock the worst sort of bad news, I mean?" j " I dunno. Anyhow, I'll try." j (To be continued daily.)