THE HOUSE OF EVIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19456, 12 October 1926, Page 16

THE HOUSE OF EVIL.

BY WILLIAM LE QUEUX.

CHAPTER Vlll.—(Continued). Stormont. seemed more hearty and genial than ever when they met in the entrance hall. As on the previous occasion, he ordered a most lavish lunch and tho most expensive wine. Before going into the restaurant, he slipped into his guest s hand a rather bulky envelope. " I have brought it in cash," he whispered, " ten one hundred notes. I should have liked to add something substantial for the accommodation, but you were so emphatic on that point that I didn t aare. Well, Stormont, so far. had kept faith with him; that should certainly be accounted to him for righteousness. But Lydon could not help thinking how strangely the financier managed his affairs for a man of business. Why did he not give him a cheque instead oi these bulky notes which lie might not have timo pay in to-day ? He hated carrying big money about with him. Then his suspicions, which had become chronic since he had read that lottei, leading him to put an unfavourable construction upon every action, recurred to him. Perhaps lie owed his bank, not a trifling sum as ho had pretended, but a very considerable amount, and had only partially settled with them: Hence his reason for not drawing a cheque. Lydon was not in a very talkative mood; ho was thinking of his forthcoming interview with, the private inquiry agent. The host,' however, was in the best possible spirits and conversed enough for the pair. Towards the close of the me-al, tho young man roused himself from his reveries, and inquired casually whether he was likely to meet Miss Mayhew on his Bsxt visit to Effington. Stormont answered in the negative, adding, " I understood she was going away almost directly on a visit to her brother in Paris." After a pause he added: "-Splendid girl that, so clever, so accomplished. She's r first-class linguist, too. Gloria often says sho wishes she could speak foreign languages like her. A capital woman of business too. She has been of some use to me and her uncle in that way on more than one occasion." "She has helped in your business?" cried Lydon, rather surprised at such a frank admission from a man so reserved on the subject. Mr. Stormont winked knowingly. In addition to the greater portion of tho champagne, he had imbibed two portions of very fine liqueur brandy. They had perhaps made him unusually communicative. "In my line of business we often have to deal with persons in high places, some of whom are very susceptible, not to say inflammable. When you come across a person of this description—and there are plenty of them abroad —it is astonishing what influence a pretty and clever woman can wield. And her worst enemy must admit that Zillah is both." * It seemed quite a straightforward sort of statement. Lydon, in spite of his suspicions, was bound to admit as much. He tried to lead the financier to talk further ou the topic, but obviousiy he did not wish to pursue it. Perhaps he felt he had said enough. At half-past two they separated. There was just time enough to walk briskly to Coutts', and pay in the thousand pounds. Leonard was busy at the office till it was time for him to keep his appointment in Craven Street with Mr. Grewgus. Ho reached the offices of the private agent a few minutes past the hour. Mr. Grewgus himself was standing in the outer room apparently used by his staff. But there was nobody there except himself, a fact which he explained to his new client. "I am alone, Mr. Lydon; I never keep my staff after the stroke of six. Of course I don't restrict myself to the timetable. I am at the disposal of a client at almost any hour." Lydon rather liked the look of him. He was a tall, thin-faced man with rather hatchet features, clean-shaven. His manners were suave and courteous, his eyes keen, his expression indicative of alert mentality. He led the way into his own apartment, and, after placing a chair for the jour.g man, invited him to state his business. Leonard told him the story as the reader already knows it. Grewgus listened without making any comment or interruption, but it was easy to see his trained intelligence grasped every detail. When Lydon was finished, he spoke: " I understand that you wish me to find out all I can about this man, Howard Stormont, the nature of his business, etcetera, etcetera. Secondly you want me to do the same thing with regard to the voting woman, Zillah Mayhew, and this will necessarily involve her uncle, John Whitehouse, whom you say lives at 18. Ashstead Mansions, Sloane Square." Leonard intimated that the detective had accurately comprehended his requirements. " You do not know tho address of Stormont's offices, only that they are somewhere in London. You have looked him up in the directory, as a matter of course ? You have, and can't locate him. Trading no doubt under another name. Nothing actually suspicious in that 4>y itself, of course, hut it is a little peculiar lie should he so exceedingly reticent on the subject." He paused a minute or two to digest things before resuming: "Well, Mr. Lydon, 1 can leave Stormont to one of my lieutenants; I.have no doubt he can soon be run to earth. The young lady will, I am sure, prove the more difficult job of the two. You say she is starting or has started for Paris?" "The letter was written yesterday; I posted it last night. Therefore, if she obeys instructions, she will leave to-day." " Quite so," assented Mr. Grewgus. "1 will, as I said, leave Stormont and the man Whitehouse to a deputy; we shall learn something about thorn in a very iihort time. I shall take Miss Mayhew in hand myself, and I ought to follow her to-morrow at the latest. But there is a little difficulty. I don't know her hv sight, although I dare say you can give me a pretty accurate description of her. Still, if she registers at the Hotel Terminus under another name, which is quite likely, time may bo lest. Would it be possible for you to accompany me?" " But wouldn't our objects he defeated if T did ? Remember, wo have met at Effington Hall, and if she is the woman I believe her to be, she would be naturally interested in me as tho friend of Hugh Craig. She would recognise me the moment she saw me." Mr, Grewgus smiled genially. " Quite right, Mr. Lydon, but I shouldn't manage things as clumsily as that. If you will come round to the office an hour before we -start, I will disguise you so effectually that your nearest and dearest will never suspect your real identity. You will enter it. Leonard Lydon, you will leave it. anything you decide upon. We are used to make-up here, I can assure you." There was something that appealed to him in the suggestion; it would bo a decidedly novel experience to spy upon Miss Mayhew under an impenetrable disguise. He conld easily spare a few days; there was somo business in Paris * JO -could attend to at tho same timo. weekly visit to Gloria was tho only: drawback. But for tho moment tho prospect of tracking Miss Mayhew out-

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weighed the disappointment of not seeing his sweetheart. He would write her to-night, explaining that he had suddenly been summoned to Glasgow on important business which could not be delayed. It was arranged, therefore, that Lydon should be round at the office early next morning, and after he had assumed hi£ disguise, the two men should proceed at once to Paris. But Mr. Grewgus, who certainly did not spare himself in the interests of his clients, had something more to propose. A bright idea had suddenly occurred to him. He. asked his client if he had any important engagements for that evening, and on receiving an answering the negative, unfolded his plan. " Well, as you can spare, the time, I suggest that we take a peep at Ashstead Mansions and see if we can get anything useful out of the porter at the flats. Most of these follows will talk if they can see money is about." " But, the same objection," began the young man, and Mr. Grewgus interrupted him with uplifted hand and a quizzical smile. "Of course, I foresee that. You might meet the Mayhew girl or Whitehonse, or both coming down the staircase, and they would at once smell a rat. What about having a rehearsal of that excellent disguise which you are going to assume tomorrow ? lean rig you out comfortably in a quarter of an hour." Lydon agreed. There was an element of sport in the whole thing which the hatchet-faced detective seemed to enjoy as much as his client. Disguised in a heavy beard and moustache, the young man walked out of the detective's office. They took a taxi and dismounted within a few yards of Ashstead Mansions. The porter, a young, military-looking man, was standing outside the particular block they entered. Grewgus whispered in his companion's ear. " I've reckoned him up in a single glance. I know the type. He will "talk till doomsday after the first ten-shilling note is slipped in his hand. Of course, you won't mind a bit of expense over the job ?" Lydon whispered back that, under the circumstances, expense was no object. He was prepared to spend a considerable amount of money to confirm or disprove his suspicions of Zilla.h Mayhew. They went into the hall, and scrutinised the board containing tho names of the particular block in which Number 18 was | situated. The name of Whitehouse did not fignro on it. The detective rubbed his thin face. " This is 18, Ashstead Mansions, right enough, but nobody of the name of Whitehouse resides here. You are quite sure of the number ?" The young man smiled. Detectives, perhaps, resembled solicitors; they did not credit the average person with ordinary intelligence. " Impossible for me to make a mistake," he answered. " I was far too interested not to make sure. I only learned it last night." Seeing they were obviously perplexed, the porter strolled up to them. " Ate you looking for somebody, sir?" lie asked, addressing Grewgus, whom he evidently regarded as the more dominant personality of the two. " Perhaps I can assist you.'' Grewgus spoke in his rather precise, formal way. "Am I correct in saying that a Mr. Whitehouse occupies one of these flats ? " The military-looking man shook his head. " Nobody of that name in this block, sir, or any of the others." Grewgus turned to his companion with a finely-simulated air of surprise. "Either we have been misinformed as to the precise locality or the. name itself," he said. Lydon, not used to the subtle processes of the detective-mind, thought it best to say as little as possible. He just muttered the safe words, " It certainly looks like it, doesn't it? " playing up to the lead given him by the astute Grewgus. That gentleman extracted with a grest air of deliberation a ten-shilling note from his waistcoat pocket and pressed it into the receptive hand of the porter. " I may as well tell you we are hrere to make a few inquiries about a certain party," he said. " You say there is no Mr. Whitehouse here. Does a young lady named Mayhew reside in this or any of the other blocks ? " The porter, stimulated by the douceur so promptly and adroitly administered, became voluble at once, thus justifying the detective's hasty diagnosis of his temperament. " Miss Mayhew, sir, lives with her uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Glenthorne, in this block, Number 18. I believe she is their niece; I have heard her call him uncle." Grewgus turned to the disguised young man and addressed hirn with.the utmost coolness arid suavity. "Of course, we were given the wrong name. I suspected it after'l searched that board." He turned to the porter, who, by the knowing smile that showed itself upon his good-looking face, appeared to be awaiting developments of an interesting character. " Now you can tell us something about this Mr. Glenthorne ? Do you know lis profession, his business, his occupation ?" The smile on the porter's face deepened, as he saw Grewgus' hand steal ostentatiously to his pocket, and withdraw another note. It had evidently dawned on his mind by now that they were detectives and prepared to pay libfcrally for information. " I could tell you about almost anybody in this block, sir, but not Mr. Glenthorne. When he is in London, he seems to go out every day, and returns at all sorts of hours, sometimes to lunch, sometimes to dinner, sometimes not till close upon midnight." " A gentleman apparently of quite irregular habits ? " interjected the defective. " Quite so, sir. Whatever his business is, it takes him away a good deal. He spends more than half the year abroad." " And what about Miss Mayhew. Is she as erratic ? " " Never stays here very long, sir. She was off to-day. From something 1 heard, I think she was bound for Paris. A second note found its way into the porter's ready palrn and Growgus was prepared to admit that he had earned it. The two men were turning away, when the man said in a low voice: " Here is Mr. Glenthorne, sir. Do you know him?" Grewgus motioned him to silence. A well-remembered figure entered the hall and ascended the staircase. He cast a sharp glance at. the two men, but it was evident he did not penetrate Lydon's disguise. When ho was safely out of earshot, Leonard whispered to his companion: "ft is the man whom f know as John Whitebouse." They went out into the street and then the detective spoke. " Glenthorne in Ashstead Mansions and Whitehouse when he visits his friends at Effington. The beginning of a very pretty mystery, Mr. Lydon. Perhaps our trip to' Paris will help us to solve it." (To be continued daily.)