THE TOWER OF SILENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19550, 1 February 1927, Page 18

THE TOWER OF SILENCE.

SYNOPSIS. Lady Torkington, her son. Harold, Lord Glenower, unci her daughter, Lac»y Hosemar v. are liavinj,' ten ill the bill in xcl room at Crodsmark, the home of the Olenoweit Jor nearly six centuries. This room is situated in what is called tho Lagle J :»wer. Lady Torkington comments on the fact that Audrey is Inte, and expresses anxiety about her. She mentions that there is a v,l ite vacht hanging about. They hear nailed boots clomping 011 the stone stairs. Audrey Glenower, who is cousin to Harold and Rosemary, enters hurriedly. She is pale nnd is breathing hard. Lady TorkinKton would like her for a daughter-in-law. Audrey gives a short account of her adventure, arid shows them her brown felt hat, which has been shot through. She ■objects to' seagulls being shot at, and when, from her height 011 tho clifFa. she saw a :man on the beach engaged in this sport, islie. just shouted down what she tflougnt of him. He fired at her, and missed the top of her head by about half tin hkll. Audrey dropped on the ground and craved for about fifty yards before making a rush for home. Lady Torkington thinks this idiot or criminal should be caught. They 1 hear a voice thundering from tb« top of the stone steps leading to the room above. The Earl of Torkington is warmly welcomed by his wife, but. they rll st'ind io awe of him. He hears Audrey's story gloomily and then passed a letter to his son, asKing him to read it aloud. It is illi'.em.e a' 1 d ihreateniiie. No time is allowed to the Genower family to Bay 1 heir " prnirs.'" He leturns to his own quarters, and a dark young man appears at the top of tho sfaint, and descends. The two girls play billusrdri. Lord Glenower proposes a game with Lambard. They are about to commence their play when the bell from the room above rings out three times in quick succession. liOrd Glenower is alarmed and runs up the •etairei, followed more slowly by Lambard. The earl is discovered lying on the floor.' His forehead has been shattered by a bullet. There were signs of a terrible struggle. .No stranger was in the room; fhe windows were barred, and no one could go downstairs without passing through the billiard room, < • Lord Glenower and Lambard discuss Hip murder. Lambard takes an automatic pistol from a drawer in the writing-table and thrusts it in his pocket. Harold tells Lambard to telephone the police. Lambard assents, saying that Glenower i« (lie proper person to inform the family He gives his companion the pistol. Harold searches fhe Bpartments thoroughly without result. He rlreads breaking the news to his family. John Lambard gives facts to Inspector Fivan«on, who wants to sp» the oritrinal of •the threatening letter. Detective-Superin-tendent Cotsford descends the stairs.

CHA PTER lll.—(Continued). Lnmbarrl smiled grimly. "Can a shot lie fired in a room, and leave no smell a jnirmte later?" lie queried . "Can a murderer vanish into thin air, taking his •weapon with him ? Can lie get out of a window' eight inches wide and descend a hundred-feet into the sea, even supposing that was about the size of a midget at a show ? Could he have descended the stairs from one room to another in this lower, and passed through the billiard room, without any one person of five people ' seeing him.?' 1 " Come, come, Mr. Lambard, Mr. Evan- j son knows that you are talking, nonsense —that -you are pulling his leg." Air. Evanson rose from his chair. "I'll leave you two gentlemen to discuss these abstract problems," he said with some dignity. "But I have my work, to do. , I 3iave to interview tlie. servants, get on to Santord on the telephone, give my own instructions." He left the room, descending the. stairs to the billiard-rooni below. When the sound of his footsteps hnil died away, •John Lambard said: "If they call in Scotland Yard to help them, will you be put on'to the job?" " Very likely, sir. You see, I'm on the spot and the Heatlierby case—well, I've done all I ,can ia that matter." " Well, I hope you are put on to the job. Cotsford. I don't know any man Letter able to bring a criminal to justice." " It is good of you to say that, sir." " What is your real opinion ?" . " It is early to ask for that, sir." " But you—well, I suppose you have Borne theory?" " Nothing that is at all reasonable, sir. In fact, "theoretically this thing could net have iiappened. His lordship could not have been killed by a bullet Sred through the window of the tower from the level of the sea. Nor could he have been killed, as you so justly observed, by anyone who had fired the shot in the room a minute

before he was found dead. One can only ■ suppose that someonu has not been telling the truth." " There are four witnesses to the ringing of the l>ell." " Yes, sir, and one can only imagine that Lord Torkinglon was dead some little while before the bell was rung." " Then you believe that there was someone in the room ?" "Of; course, sir. The signs of a struggle! The difficulty is to find out how the man escaped." "Yes; I'm With you there. He might have hidden himself in my rooms,, or in Lord .Torkingtoii's bedroom, when there "Was rid one in the billiard-room or the inner hall beneath. But lie could not have escaped." "Perhaps lie has not escaped, sir," said Mr. Cotsford, intently examining the fingernails of his left hand. " But he will, unless Mr. Evanson is very careful." There was the sound of footsteps on the Utone stairs, and Lord Glenower came down into the room followed by the doctor —a young man with a small pointed black benrd and a neatly trimmed moustache. , "Two shots were fired," said Dr. Verdon,, "at least iwo—the one that killed Lord Torkington, and this," and he held up a flattened piece of lead. "Where did you find that," queried Cotsford, turning it over and over in his fingers. " Behind the tapestry —three feet to the left of the fireplace. Of course, it left Ro .mark on the tapestry but one can plainly see where it hit- the stone, wall. 1 found it on the floor." Mr. Cotsford ran up the flight of stairs into the room above, and then up the rext flight into Lord Torkingtoii's study. Bv the time the others had followed him, he had torn aside the tapestry and was examining the place where the bullet had struck tlie wall. The splish of lead on the stone was bright as silver. It was almost the height or a man's shoulder from the ground. Mr. Cotsford glanced at the bodv. still lying under its white sheet on the floor, then lie measured distances, first with his eve. and then with his leet. " Where is your father's pistolhe s-d tr, Wl Oicnownr as the latter entered the room. " In my pocket. Lambard gave it to no. Here it is." " Would you mind going downstairs my lord, and asking Evanson to come nn ?" v i • Glenower was glad to l. e out of that room, and he hurried down the stairs. " I doubt if. : the murderer fired that shot." said Cotsford. " I should sav that Lord Torkington fired it. and that the murderer grappled with him, and got the pistol from his hand." He looked at the barrel of the automatic pistol. Then he took out the clip of cartand counted them. " Six," he said, " and one in the breech —that's seven. The clip holds ten. But that proves nothing. It may not have been iall. Dr. Verdon, I wonder if you would mind going down to the billiard room for a minute or two. I want to fr-st the bell that Lord lorkuißton rang three times after he was dead. Please stay there until you hear the hell and shercome up again. Porry to trouble you. but 2>tr. Lambai'd is lame, and—" He paused ?nd at Lambard. The frcreia^yf«aid. ( "Yes, if' you wouldn't ni : nd. "Verdon.*'. The doftoi' s««id lie didn't m:nd at all rnd closing the door behind him. Cotsford dip vo { carU -jidjjes in tUpjistol^

BY J. B. HARRIS-BURLAND. (COPYRIGHT.)

" You shouldn't ha ve taken this pistol out of the drawer, sir," he said, after a pause. " The finger-prints might' have given Evanson a chance. But you and Lord Glenower between you—let me see. I think you said this was the bell," and lie held the forefinger of his left hand over a bell push let into the woodwork of the hie: writing-table. " Yes, Cotsford, that is the bell. Ring it. Verdoti will be down in the billiard room by now." The detective pressed the button with his finger—kept his finger 011 the button for a few seconds, and then smiled. " The bell does not ring, sir," he continued. " Someone lias disconnected one of the wires. 1 found that out hnlf-an-liour ago 1 do .not think, - sir that I shall have anything to do with this case." " Nonsense. Why not ?"> " Well, sir, you saved my life over that Rosenthal affair. Rosenthal would have had me sure enough if you hadn't given me warning at the risk of your own life. You saved my,life, sir, and I'm not going to help the law to take yours." ".My dear Cotsford." Lambard exclaimed. "Are you mad? Do you really think, that I murdered Lord Torkington ?" "I'm not . sure of that, sir.. But I wouldn't like to take up the case and find that I'd got to run you to death." "But, my dear Cotsford," laughed the secretary "Oh! upon my word, this is moiit interesting—quite an experience. I suppose one ought not to laugh, but "pally—l thought better of you,. Cotsford. No wonder old Rosenthal nearly had you." A faint,, pink flush crept over Cotsford's sallow face. No man likes to be laughed at, and least of all does he like it when lie thinks he is behaving rather nobly. "I don't suggest that I'm as* clever as you are, sir," lie said sharply. "It was a cheap idea to disconnect this wire so that his 'lordship could not ring for help, but it was a very ingenious idea to fit up an arrangement by which the bell to the. billiard room could be rung from the billiard room." John Lambard sprang to his feet, "You mean to tell me, Cotsford," he cried, "that the bell was rung from the billiard room ?" "Yes, sir." "Oh, but how interesting." "Yes, sir." "Perhaps you will explain." Tho detective shrugged his shoulders. "Need I explain, sir?" he queried. "Yes. Ot course, I see your idea. If the bell was rung from the billiard room, it must have been rung by myself, because the only other people in the room were Lady Torkington, her two children, and Miss Audrey Glenower. And you argue that not one of the four was likely to have played such a trick. Oh, yes, I see your argument, Cotsford—by the bye, it is really funny to think of a suspected murderer arguing with the eminent detective who suspects him. I think that strikes a new note in the relations of the police to the criminal—a more pleasant and a more friendly spirit, if I may say so, Cotsford. Now what about Verdon ?" '"We will go down there in a minute, sir. and make the discovery. The doctor will say that the bell did not ring, and we wili see why it did not ring. But that can wait'for a moment. I want you to understand that when I am asked to take charge of this case, as doubtless I shall be asked, I shall find'some excuse for not being mixed up in the affair. I may be too ill." , "But you don't really think I Killed Lord Torkington, do'you. Cotsford?" ' '■' l think, sir, that whoever rang that bell either killed his lordship or is a confederate of the person who did kill him. And I do. not wish to have anything to do with the matter." "Oh, but how unprofessional of you, Cotsford. I'm ashamed of you." "It's just a matter of taste, sir." "But duty, Cotsford, duty." < "Any other man can do the job, sir. I am not interfering with the course of the law. The bell 7 That is a simple matter." " y Ah, there is something else against me. is there, Cotsford?" The detective shrugged his shoulders. "What is it?" . "I have nothing more to say, sir. Shall we go downstairs ?" John Lambard's face changed. "Cotsford," he said. As lie" spoke the man's n&ino, his voice changed from mockery to horror. sir." "It is a terrible thing to accuse a man of murder." "I do not accuse you, sir. I merely say that I do not intend to take up this case." _ "Because vou think I am guilty? "Because 'I think that you may be guilty, sir—and that is a very diffeicnt thing*. Even if the betting were fifty to one in your favour,, I would not take up the case." . "Because of that remote chance —that one in fifty chance?" Mr. Cotsford nodded and moved towards the door. .... "Besides, sir," lie said, with his fingers on tho handle, "one is sometimes justified in killing a man—even if the law will not admit that there is a jusiihcation. Now, shall Ave have a look at that bell, sir?" (To 1)3 continued daily.)