THE HOUSE OF EVIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19469, 27 October 1926, Page 20

THE HOUSE OF EVIL.

"BY WILLIAM LE QUEUX,

CHAPTER XIX. There was a decided feeling of elation in Grewgus as he waited the advent of Lord Wraysbury. The loose strands were being gathered together by this unexpected visit. He formed a rapid impression of the handsome young man as they exchanged a few conventional words of greeting. Rather impulsive, generous, easy-going, not burdened with any great excess of mentality, likely to be easily exploited bv designing persons, trusting and unsuspicious. The young nobleman was perfectly straightforward as to the object of his visit, and made no attempt to beat about the bush. " The plain truth, Mr. Grewgus, is that I have made a fool of myself," he told him. " She] ford, whose firm has acted for us for years, fsince my grandfather's time, says there is no doubt it is a blackmailing"case, and advised me to como hero and tell you the whole story from the beginning to the very unpleasant end." " k That will certainly be the best plan-, Lord Wraysbury, Mr. Sbelford told me as much over the 'phone. What I have learned of the details, it will be possible for me to tell you if I can help you." The young nobleman, in his • pleasant, ■well-bred voice, proceeded to unfold the history of the relations with Mrs. Edinnocent relations he urged with a warmth that was undoubtedly genuine, which had led to the present trouble. A couple of years ago he had met at Monte Carlo, a Mrs. and Miss Glenthorne, mother and daughter. Miss Glenthorne was a very charming and attractive girl; the. mother seemed somewhat of a nonentity and kept herself in the background, giving pride of place to her clever and particularly fascinating offspring. At this point Grewgus interrupted his client. " One moment, please. Is this Mrs. Glenthorne a stoutish woman, with a Jewish type of countenance?" Yes," I should certainly say there was more than a touch of the chosen race about her," was the reply. " You know her, then'! " " I can hardly say as much as that, Lord Wi'aysbury. I have seen her once or twice, but I "have never spoken to her. The point of importance so fat as you aie concerned is that I know something of her, also something of the daughter. Tell me, does not the young lady wear on every possible occasion a pendant of a very peculiar design, a big sapphire set in an unusual manner'! " Again the answer was the afiifmative. The young man was naturally greatly surprised at the detective s display of knowledge. "It seems I've come to the right place," he remarked with an almost boyish glee. "I infer from your manner that what you know about them is not anything to their credit."

Grewgus smiled with his somewhat enigmatic smile. " I think I would rather wait until the end of your story before 1 say anything, if you don't mind. I shall interrupt you as little as possible, and when I do, it will only he for the purpose of clearing up some point that suddenly suggests itself." The young nobleman proceeded with his slofy. The two women were staying at one "of the les? expensive hotels in the place; he gathered that she was a widow, and had been left an income that was comfortable, but not large, that enabled her and her daughter to enjoy life in a moderate and modest way. He first made their acquaintance at the tables, where the young woman occasionally risked a few francs. The mother never played. Wraysbury made no secret of the fact that the girl interested him very considerably; "she was clever, bright, amusing, and also beautiful. He was never at any moment seriously in love with her. The fact that she was a mere casual acquaintance, of whose antecedents he knew nothing, forbade any such happening. But m the free and easy atmosphere of Monte Carlo the acquaintance ripened considerably. Possibly onlookers might have considered it an obvious flirtation 011 both sides. All the time he was perfectly heart-whole, and he felt pfetty certain that the young woman was in the same condition. He took her to dinner on a few occasions, and every time the mother was present. He bought Miss Glenthorne flowers and chocolates, nothing of a more expensive nature, and no letters, not even the briefest note, had even passed betwen them. There had never been the slightest attempt on his part at lovemaking. His reasons for this attitude were perfectly honourable ones, as he explained to the detective. Everybody knew that he had come into possession of a considerable fortune, and that he was a more than usually eligible pei'son from a matrimonial point of view. He was too modest to flatter himself that he had any special attractions for women, but his money was bound to have. Miss Glenthorne appeared to him then to be a well-conducted, modest girl, but 110 doubt, like the majority of women, she was anxious to settle herself well in life. Under such circumstances, it would have been conduct little short of dastardly if he had led her to entertain false hopes of becoming Lady Wraysbury. " It was just a most agreeable acquaintance, nothing more," concluded the young man as he finished this portion of his story. In due course Wraysbury left Monte Carlo, and said good-bye to the two women. There was nothing of a sentimental nature in their parting, no reference to further meetings in the future. Ho learned that they did not visit Monte Carlo frequently, and they very seldom : came to England. He thought it extremely improbable that he would ever come across the couple again. In due course the memory of the dark, handsome girl faded away from his active recollections. Then one day, as Gi'ewgus already had learned from Lydon, he met the young woman at the Ritz, after this considerable period. She was accompanied by a smartlooking man, whom she introduced as her husband by the fairly common name of Edwards. She pressed him warmly to call at their house in Curzon Street, an invitation whicii was heartily seconded by the husband. " You knew nothing, of course, of this man Edwards?" queried Grewgus. " Nothing at all. We had a rather long chat, in which he did a good deal of the talking, and 110 seemed to know his way about. He spoke of attending -Ascot and Goodwood and Henley; said he had seen me at all these places. 1 had certainly not seen him, should not have known him if I had," was Wraysbury's answer. 1 take it he was not at all in vour World ? " " Most certainly not, but my impression of him was that he was a very pleasant and gentlemanly fellow. Well, when we parted, I certainly said that I would call; I could not very well hurt their feelings by a positive refusal. But really I had no intention of going. As a single girl, Miw; Glenthorne was a most pleasant casual acquaintance, but 1 did not particularly wish to mix myself lip with Curzon Street menage." And, later or., I suppose you changed your mind ? " A slight wave of colour swept over the young man's face at tho question. " Unfortunately, as it turned out, I did. I'm afraid I m rather a vacillating sort of chap, making good resolutions one minute and breaking them the next. I don't quite know what led me to break them in this case. I think principally a sillv * nrt of curiosity to know how she world comp ort herself in her new role of married • lk' B "' a rprtain extent., inin w. t,„t. hv no m«n, nnrlulv .

(COPSRIGBT.)

fascinated. And perhaps, Mr. Grewgus, you may not believe me when I say it, but I am not a libertine, and have no desire to run after other men's wives." Certainly, Lord Wraysbury gavo the detective the impression of being a quite honourable and dean-living young fellow. But possibly the seductive Zillah had exercised over him a fascination which he would not admit to himself. So he made his first call in Curzon Street. Edwards happened to be at home, and laid himself out to be 'especially agreeable to the visitor. The wife was charming too, but she seemed a little pensive and distraite, as if she had something on her mind. Lord Wraysbury noted that the married couple did not seem to address much of the conversation to each other. He left the house with distinct impression that the pair had had a recent quarrel, or that there was just a little rift between the lute in their married life. Ho left in due course, but not before he had accepted an invitation to dine informally with them a couple of days later. He had done his best to get out of it, but Edwards, to whom ?.ie had rather taken a fancy, had been so insistent that his resistance was overborne. And here again curiosity played a large part in his decision. He could easily have thrown them over, but he wanted to test his suspicions, to see if all was right between this very charming woman and her equally charming husband. But ho had not so fair the least idea of the game that was being played. Everything seemed square and above-board. There was evidently plenty of money about; the house was run on a liberal scale. Edwards himself was a most companionable and gentlemanly fellow. He was not quite sure there might not be some ulterio'- motive in this extreme friendliness, this insistent hospitality. But he fancied it might be a social one. Probably they were arnhitious, and wanted to climb in the world. If they made a friend of him he might be disposed to help them in their designs. Ho went to dinner. " Quito an informal affair," he explained to Grewgus. " There was only one other guest., a very breezy, red-faced man, just a trifle vulgar. His name was Stormont, and Mrs. Edwards addressed him as uncle. I gathered ho had known her from a child and was excessively fond of her, but he was no actual relation. My original suspicions were rather confirmed; there seemed a certain coldness husband and wife, veiled under the appearances of great politeness. I couldn't understand it. Mrs. Edwards' conduct as a voting wife seemed to me to be quite perfect. I could not help thinking it must be his fault."

He went again very shortly to a second dinner. As on the previous occasion, there was only one other guest. This time it was her real uncle, a man named Glenthorne, a rather gloomy, taciturn fellow, whom he judged to be altogether a superior class to Stormont. But of the two he preferred the adopted uncle. He went to Curzon Street three or four times after that, once to the big party which the. pair had given as a sort of house-warming. All the time, from various signs and symptoms, his conviction grew that Mrs- Edward's life was not a happy one, in spite of her efforts to mask the fact under au assumption of cheerfulness and high spirits. The climax was quickly reached. On a certain day Wraysbury received a note from her, asking if he would call that evening after eight o'clock. She could not ask him to dinner for reasons she would explain when she saw him. She was about to take a very important step, and, presuming on their old acquaintance, she would like to consult him as to the prudence of it. If he wore engaged that evening, would he make it the next, or the next after that ? " Of course, now I come to think of it. there was something suspicious in that note," said the young nobleman. " I ought to have told her to write to me what she wanted to consult me about, a.id. I would preserve absolute silence and f'.-s----troy the letter; but I'm foolishly unsuspicious, and I went, being disengaged that night. " To my great surprise, the door was opened by Mrs. Edwards herself. She appeared in a state of great agitation. I thought at the time she had been crying. ' Oh. Lord Wraysbury, I am in the greatest trouble,' she said in a distressed voice. 'Come up to the drawing-room for just a few minutes, so that I can tell you about it. There is no danger. My husband is in the country and won't, be back for a week. I have sent the servants out to the theatre, so that we m:ght be alone. That is why I couldn't ask you to dinner.' " Wraysbury did not quite like the look of things, the absence of both husband and servants, but he was still unsuspicious. The woman played her part so well that he attributed her rather foolish act to her acute distress of mind. He was quite sure it connected with her busband, and that, his suspicions of'the mibappiiiess of their married life were goinoto lie confirmed by her revelations. ° He went up to the drawing room with her, resolving to get out of the embarrassing situation as soon as he could, and she at once burst forth into an impassioned account of her wrongs and sufferings. According to her account, Edwards, so genial and gentlemanly in public life, was a bully and a brute. On many occasions she had suffered personal violence at his hands. She rolled up her sleeve and showed a shapely arm on which appeared a big bruise which had been inflicted a couple of days ago. She had no positive evidence of infidelity, but she had grave suspicions of his relations with other women. On Wraysbury remarking that it was verj,- early iu their married life for such a thing to occur, she made a confession. " I must tell you a little secret. We have been married for some time ; it was kept quiet for certain reasons of his own. The truth is, Lord Wraysbury, he is tired of me. I feel I can stand it no longer. I have made up my mind to leave him. I'm sure you can't blame me." (To be continued daily.)