THE HOUSE OF EVIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19455, 11 October 1926, Page 18

THE HOUSE OF EVIL.

BY WILLIAM LE QUEUX.

GIIAPTER Vll.—(Continued.) Lvdon lunched at the Bear Hotel, and a happy thought struck him. He would pay a surprise visit to Eflington. So he drove away down the Portsmouth Road, passing thr6ugh Guildford and over the Hog's Back, and early in the afternoon swung into the big lodge gates at Eflington. His unexpected visit was a most delightful surprise to Gloria. He would remain to tea of course, and Mrs. Barnard, who was as hospitable as her brother, insisted upon his stopping to dinner. • She regretted that Stormont would be absent, as he had motored to London to a directors' meeting, and would not be back till late. Mrs. Barnard served them tea from the old silver pot in the great oakpanelled hall where high stained-glass windows bore the rose-en-sole-il badge of the dead and gone Sedgemeres. Duncan, the white-haired, grave-faced butler who never permitted himself the luxury of a smile, except when some guest bestowed upon him a more than usually generous tip, officiated with his customary dignity, handing round the cake-basket of pierced Georgian silver. Duncan had served the greater part of his life in noble families. Stormont, on the look-out for a dignified major-domo, had tempted him from his last place by the offer of a salary about double what lie was getting. Duucan, in a way, had fallen from his high estate in accepting service under a man about whom nobody seemed to know very much. But, like the mercenaries of old, he was content to enlist under any banner where the pay was good. In the waning light, the big, highpitched hall looked ghostly and cavernous, with its floor of polished oak over which high-born dames of the days of ffiharles the Second had danced merrily. There was the great stone fireplace with the wrought iron fire-back, bearing upon it the date of 1621. There were the day-bed with spindle legs and fragile eanework, the high carved arm-chairs upholstered in faded crimson, and the big oak gale table, loaded with game books, and visitors' books mixed with modern novels. Around, upon the dark panelled walls, hung several portraits of women and men in wigs, one being a portrait by Ivneller of Hii'li, sixth Earl of Sedgemcre, and another by Reynolds of Anne, wife of the great Lord Sedgemere who had fought in the Peninsular War. While they gossiped and sipped their tea, the sun"slanted across the oak flooring, tinted bv the antique escutcheons in the long coloured glass windows of the lofty hall. At dinner Lvdon casually referred to Miss Mayhew. Had they heard anything of her since ho had met her at luncheon ? Mrs. Barnard answered the oucs-tion: "No. nothing. Isn't she a splendid girl? I wish we saw more of her. She is so amusing and 'vivacious. No wonder men are always attracted by her!" "Does she live in London?" Lvdon asked. •' When she is in England, she stays with her uncle, Mr. Whitehousc. But I believe she is a great deal with her brother in Paris." <*■ So this cosmopolitan young lady had a brother in Paris. Lvdon would very much have liked to ask something about the brother, and also in what part o! London Whitehousc resided, but his delicacy kept him back. Somehow, personal details never seemed forthcoming in the Stormont family, with perhaps the exception of Gloria who was frankness itself. You always had to dig for them. After dinner they went as usual into the billiardroom. Mrs. Barnard, contrary to her usual habit, accompanied them and took upon herself the office of marker. After the game was over she very considerately left them to themselves for a few. moments. No doubt, she. had a recollection of her own courting days. A little while before the young man was preparing to take his leave, she came in with a bundle of letters in her hand. • "Leonard, I found these on my brother's table just now. He had intended to take them along with him, and forgot them in the hurry of leaving. Will you please post them at Guildford or somewhere as you drive along? Lvdon promised that he would. He said good-bye to the amiable Mrs. Barnard. Gloria accompanied him to his car, and here the farewell was a somewhat protracted one, as is usual with newly-engaged couples. Ho drove away over the Hog's Back, and stopped before the Guildford. Post Office. For the first time he looked at the letters as he dropped them'into the box. He came to the last, and read the superscription in Stormont's bold handwriting. It was addressed to Miss Mayhew, 18, Ashstead Mansions, Sloane Square. A little time ago he had been longing to ask at dinner where Mr. Whitehousc lived, and had refrained from feelings of delicacy. By the merest accident, the forgetfulness of Stormont, he had found out what he wanted. This •was a piece of luck. His first natural impulse was to scribble the address upon his shirtcuff and send the letter into the box with the others. Ho never quite knew why ho changed his mind. Probably his strong conviction that there was a- great clement of mystery about Stormont himself, and, secondly, his equallystrong obsession that Elise Makris and Zillah Mayhew were one and the same person. Second thoughts gained the day. Instead of posting the letter, as he knew he ought to have done, he put it back in his wallet, jumped back into the car, and drove along the London Road through Ripley, C'obham. Esher and Kingston to the garage close to Ryder Street. He was determined to '.pluck at the heart of the mystery. Two hours after it had been given to him by Mrs. Barnard, he stood in his rooms in Ryder Street, and the letter from Howard Stormont to Zillah Mayhew was lying open in his hand. This is what he read : "My very clever Zillah.—l have seen Edwards and arranged everything. You will leave for Paris to-morrow and wait at the Hotel Terminus for further instructions. Edwards wit! hring or write them. Show this to Whitohouse and then destroy.—Uncle." He read it'through a dozen times,-and then he carefully resealed the flap, for the, gum was still wet from the steam ho had applied. When it had dried under the weight of some heavy body, he went out and posted it in the nearest pillarbox. In all probability, Miss Mayhew would not glance at the postmark. What did it all mean ? Zillah Mayhew was'intimately connected with Stormont's business, whatever it might be. Of what nature was this peculiar business that required a female partner ? On the face of it, that brief epistle might refer to a perfectly legitimate transaction. A woman's subtle influence, might be necessary to secure some special concession, some particular contract. But the more he thought it over, the more he rejected this explanation. The predominant thought'in his mind about Howard Stormont, the country gentleman who played his role with such absolute eniovment of it, was that he was a very different person from what he, appeared to his neighbours at Effington. And this suspicion would become a certainty if he could prove that Elise Makris. the decoy of swindlers and blackmailers, was none other than Zillah Mayliow, the niece, or pretended niece, of -the taciturn -Whitehouse.

(COPYMGIIT.) a

But 'would it become a certainty without further corroborative evidence ? Going into the question a little more deeply, he was bound to admit it would not. After all, he had nothing but undefined suspicions with regard to Stormont. He would be bound to give him the benefit of the doubt. If the girl were found to be Elise Makris, it did not follow that Stormont was aware off her criminal activities. It was not an absolute certainty that even Whitehouse, if he wore hdr uncle, knew of them. She was obviously a very clever, resourceful young woman; she would not go about proclaiming her nefarious profession from tho housetops. Stormont might, have originally made her acquaintance in a quite simple and ordinary way, and found her talents useful to him in a peculiar line of business that entailed the exercise of a considerable amount of diplomacy. In fair-miridednes£ he felt bound to reason on these linos. But, all the same, his instincts loudly confuted his reasoning. And those instincts told him that the rubicund financier was very different from what he appeared to be. CHAPTER YHI. Lvdon might not bo able to lay claim to any remarkable brilliancy of intellect. At Harrow and Oxford his progress had been steady and respectable, but he had not distinguished himself like his friend Craig, for instance, to whom the acquisition of-knowledge was an easy task, whoso mental alertness was tho delight of his masters and tutors. But he was a shrewd young fellow, and endowed with a considerable fund of common-sense. He also possessed a dogged spirit of determination. When he onco took a thing up he persevered with it, and was not easily daunted by obstacles. There were, at the present moment, two things he, was resolved to find, out by some means or other —the precise nature of Stormont's business and the life history of the dark, handsome girl known as Zillah Mayhew. He thought the best thing he could do as a start was to go and consult Slid ford, the solicitor in Lincoln's Inn Fields. As he was pretty well master of his own timet, he paid him an early morning .visit before lie went to his business in Victoria Street. That genial gentleman was disengaged and saw him at once. To him the, young man related his accidental meeting with Miss Mayhew at the house of a mutual friend, and the two remarkablo facts that she had a blemish on the neck, and was wearing a rather original piece of jewellery, similar in design to one ho had seen in the drawing-room of the Villa des Cyclamens when he had called there to condole with Madame Makris on the tragedy. Mr. Shelford was very much impressed, as Lvdon was sure he would be: "One or other of the facts, taken singly, would not lead one verv far," he observed.

"There arc no doubt heaps of girls who may have a mark of this kind, and 1 suppose there -is no piece of jewellery which is absolutely unique, which has not several replicas. But. taken in conjunction. the evidence is very remarkable. Well, I suppose you want to go further into it. What you have learned about, this young lady in the ordinary course does not satisfy you?" Lvdon answered that it certainly did not, that he wanted to have his suspicions disproved or confirmed. What did Shelford advise? The solicitor was quite ready with an answer. "If you or I were to undertake the task of tracing the history of. Miss Mayhew, I expect we should find out next to nothing. Such a business is not the least in our line. But there is fortunately a class of men who are experts in this kind of thing, and perform wonders if you give them something to go on. You have heard of course of private inquiry agents, perhaps may have employed one in your time ? " "I have heard of them, naturally. Some of them advertise their skill in tracking faithless wives and erring husbands. But I have never had occasion to avail myself of their services." "Then, if you want to get at the bottom of this, you had better go to one at onc-c, while the scent is hot," ad vised Mr. Shelford, speaking in a brisk tone. "Like every other profession, there are all sorts in it, some very smart, some the reverse. I can recommend you to a particularly good man, as keen as mustard. Whenever wo have any of this sort of work, we give it to him, and ne lias always served us well. His name is Grewgus, and his office, is in Craven Street, Strand. 1 will give you a note of introduction to him, and as he is a busy man, you had better ring, him up for an appointment. Stay, as it is pretty early, he'll lie at his office. I'll ring him up now and make an appointment for you." In a few minutes the affair was settled. Mr. Grewgus would be engaged practically the, whole of the day, but he could see Mr. Lvdon at six o'clock that evening, if convenient/ If not, at ten o'clock the following morning. As tho young man was anxious to get on with the matter a* quickly as possible, ho chose the evening.

"By (lie way, I have a little bit of news for you," said Shelford as they shook hands at parting. "I'oor Hugh Craig's private fortune is sadly depleted. As far as we arc able to make out, ho has cither parted voluntarily or been forced to part with something like twelve thousand pounds in the last eighteen months. You remember, of course, there were some vague allusions to blackmail in that letter he sent to you from Nice, under cover to us?" " Yes, there was certainly reference to blackmail. P>ut. how could he have laid himself open to it? I knew Hugh the best part of my life—he was the soul of honour and probity.. Ho could never have done anything that he would have been ashamed to conic to light." The experienced man of tho world shook his head. "Tho lives of a great many of us are a sealed book, Mr. Lydon. The poor fellow was no doubt distraught when he wrote that letter, and may have used the word without strict regard to its meaning. This harpy may have inveigled it out of him on some plausible pretext or another. Al 1 the cheques were drawn to himself, and paid in cash, so we have no means of knowing to whom the money actually went. But, as you can see, lie was bled to a pretty good amount." Later on, about twelve o'clock, Lydon was rung up in his business room where lie was hard at work. Sformont's well- j known voice came through,, the instrument. He was speaking from the Cecil, he said. Would Leonard lunch with him at half-past? He wanted to settle up that little matter with him. But for the concluding words, the young man might have declined the invitation, making some polite excuse. At the present moment he was too much disturbed in his mind about Mr. Rtormont to hold any unnecessary intercourse with him. Repayment of tho thousand pounds loan was evidently meant. The expected remittance was not, a myth, as he had fancied more than once, but had actually arrived. He, therefore, accepted. Ho did not consider • Stonnont was a safe enough man to have monev left in his possession for too long. Tf he waited, he might only get a part of the debt, some more pressing creditor might be beforehand with him. Besides, after all, he need not be so squeamish about meeting him. He had tio intention of breaking with Oloria just becanso he had some strong susmeions of her uncle. He would be going to Ellington on Fridav foj- his usual weekly visit, and must perforce be the rubicund financier's guest as before. (To bo -continued -daily.)