THE RIDDLE OF THE RAIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19832, 30 December 1927, Page 14

THE RIDDLE OF THE RAIL.

BY FEED M. WHITE.

.CHAPTER XXVI. Cora stood admiring herself in the long cheval glass in her dressing room with that wonderful string erf pearls about her neck. She had -dressed up to her new treasures, and she was more than satisfied with the result. She was going to create a great sensation in the big mansion, only a few doors away from her house on Fifth Avenue, and she was looking forward to her triumph without so much as an extra heart-beat. She knew that there would be nobody present at that brilliant gathering who could compare with her in the way of beauty and charm and fascination. She was going to finish, eventually, absolutely at the head of the Four Hundred, and she confidently expected those marvellous pearls to carry her along in that direction. She would read all about it iti the papers to-morrow; indeed, in imagination, she could almost read the description now. And if, occasionally a little twinge of conscience pricked her, or the shadow of guilt hovered over her head, she put these troubles aside lightly, and trusted to the gods of happy chance to see her through. If the worst camo thy worst, she could sell the rest of her extensive stock of jewellery and replace those bonds with other belonging to the same incorporated stock, so that if her husband ever came to need them ho would be none the wiser for the, change. Moreover, she had elicited from him adroitly that the ensis to which he had alluded was not likely to recur, and this had made for ease of mind and a certain sense of recklessness. Van Geldt had seen the pearl necklace, which ho dutifully admired as a husband should, but, from his point of view, it was no more than a mere toy, and his smile showed that he thought so. " Better be careful with it, my dear," he said. " Every pearl crook in New York knows all about it by this time. You take my advice and keep that necklace at the bank, and only get it out for special occasions. Then, if you like, I will have a replica made for you to wear in a general way, and, if you lose it, then the thieves will have the trouble for their pains. Everybody is aware that you have got the necklace, which, I understand, was shown in Shiffany's window before it was brought here, so that there can bo no doubt as to its being the goods. And, if you wear an imitation, every woman will believe that it is the real thing." It was quite a good suggestion, and Cora made up her mind to act on it. In due course, she would get the bank to hand over the necklace to Shiffany's, and then it would go back to the vaults again when the duplicate was completed. But not to-night. To-night, of all nights, she must wear that glorious toy about her white throat and move through the magnificent rooms of the big house down the street with the air of one who quite outshines her fellow-women. Moreover, she was going alone. It was not the sort of entertainment to appeal to Van Geldt, and he had steadily declined to take any part in it.

So that Cora would have to chaperon herself. It was a perfect night, warm for the time of year, and with a somewhat heavy mist hanging over the city. And, it being absolutely dry under foot, Cora decided to walk the hundred yards or so that lay between her and her destination. It seemed ridiculous to order out the car to take her so small a distance.

She had not seen Van Geldt all flay. For once in*a way, he had not returned to dinner. He had told her that the big combine had reached a point when it would be possible, within a few hours, to spring it on the public, There were some final important details to be settled, and these might keep him late, so that it would bo midnight before ho was back on Fifth Avenue.

Five minutes later, Cora walked down the wide staircase, smothered in a scarlet wrap that fastened to her throat, and tripped down the more or less crowded pavement, until she came to her destination. By that time the roadway for hundreds of yards in either direction was blocked by great flashing cars, discharging their dainty burdens on the velvetpile carpet that led up to the big house. Then Cora, resplondent.lv regal in a cunningly simple dress! and those magnificent pearls about her throat, sailed up to the head of the staircase where her hostess was awaiting her friends. "Ah, Cora," Mrs. Tamberge said with her pleasantest and sweetest smile. "Delighted to see 3'on. My word, those are the pearls, are they? Wonderful, magnificent! I had a glance at them in Shiffany's window a day or two ago, and they filled-me with envy. lam not a very murderous person as a rule, but, really, my dear, at that particular moment—but there, you know what T mean." Cora passed on from group to group of people she knew, and through a great many other groups who were strangers to her. She was happily conscious of the sensation she was creating, and, with the knowledge of this uppermost in her mind, gave herself up to the enjoyment of the evening. It was her triumph from first to last, and everybody seemed to be inclined to bow down and acknowledge it. "You are the most wonderful thing I have ever met, Mrs. Van Geldt," her supper partner ventured to, remark audaciously. "Upon my word, T look upon myself as specially honoured." ft was the society broker Cozens who was speaking. There was no mistaking the sincere admiration in > those rather audacious eyes of his, but then, Mostyn Cozens was rather a privilaged person, and, moreover, (o him ilie secrets of half flic women there were known. Not, for nothing did he handle their financial affairs."

"You admire- my pearls, then ?'" Cora asked with a smile. "Dear lady, who wouldn't? T never saw anything like them. Not that a mere man's opinion is worth much. And you really have courage enough to come here with that huge fortune round your throat?" "And why not?" Cora asked. "Wo are among friends here, fail' women and brave men, and all that sort of thing. You are not seriously suggesting a hold up in Fifth Avenue, surely." "Well, hardly. Still, yon never know. The thing has been done in a big store in broad daylight, with hundreds of people in tho street, and why not in Fifth Avenue under cover of the darkness ? The thing could be done, you know. A sudden raid by three of four determined men and the holding up of the servants and the rest Of us. Wo are absolutely unarmed." "Oh, I am not afraid." Cora laughed. "But what, a splendid thing it would be for the papers! One of the greatest houses in New York held up after midnight by some of those mysterious, fascinating crooks, and every woman robbed of her jewels, while the men were hurried into a corner at the point of a revolver. Yes, I suppose it would not be so very difficult. A confederate in the house to cut the telephone wires and all that kind of thing. Still, I am not afraid. Do you-know that I walked here?" "Is that a fact?" Cozens exclaimed. "You actually walked here with a king's a ransom hanging round your neck ? I hope you are not' going to repeat your experiment on your way home." Cora evaded a direct response. She had not the least intention of accepting this rather audacious young man's escort on the way back to her own establishment. As she had come, so she would return.

A POWERFUL STORY OF LOVE AND INTRIGUE.

(CQPYRIGETJ)

It was nearly three o'clock in the morning when Cora said adieu to hor hostess and tripped lightly down the steps into the road. There was a constant stream of cars coming and going, and, oven at that late hour, a handful of homeless outcasts watching all this ostentation and splendour with hungry eyes. A heavy mist hung over the road, so that within a few yards Cora was as much alone as if she had been in some quiet country place. Then out of the mist loomed a shadow, a queer, elusive shadow as black as the night itself, and an instant latei", a bony hand clutched Cora's throat, and she was conscious that the other hand was snatching at the pearls about her neck. A wild scream burst from her lips, and almost before it' had finished another figure appeared, apparently out of an area, and two shots rang out in quick succession. Then the hand relaxed its grasp, and the shadow vanished as if it had never been. A big policeman, holding a still-smoking revolver in his hand, came up to Cora and asked her if she was hurt. 8 " I was watching," he said. "In fact, I was down that area waiting instructions. But when I heard you scream, I guessed pretty well what had happened, and I fired at what looked to me like a man. Have you lost anything, lady ? " " I don't thing so.'' Cora said. " I was walking homo the few yards to my own house when I was attacked. I am Mrs. Van Geldt." " I knew that, my lady," the policeman said. " There's two of us to-night specially told off to look after you. Are you quite sure you haven't lost anything ? " Hurriedly Cora put her hand up to her breast, and then the awful truth flashed across her. The necklace itself was intact, but the loop at the bottom, with its twelve unique pearls, had been torn away and no doubt the thief had gpt clear with it.

" Part of my necklace has gone," she gasped. " The part I value most. ■ No, please don't leave me. At any rate see mo as far as my own door. I shall be quite safo then, because I have a latch-key in my bag, and after that you can go off and give the alarm at once. But please don't leave mo alone."

A minute later Cora found herself on the right side of her own front door, listening to the sound of the policeman's footsteps pounding down the road. She knew that she was practically alone in the house, for her husband and the servants would be gone to bed. Then she saw that there was a light in the library. She walked in to see if Van Geldt was still sitting up.

Van Geldt was not sitting up at all. He was lying on his face in front of the strong-room door, without life or motion. The door of the strong-rbom was wide open, and Cora could see that the steel drawer containing the securities she had stolen had been pulled cut. Shaken to her soul, she bent over the prostrate body. CHAPTER XXVII. Cora had seen too many crises like this in her short, exotic life to lose her head in such an emergency. It did not need more, than a cursory glance to tell her that Van Geldt was dead. There was no sign on his face or in the attitude of his body to suggest that a struggle had taken place, or that robbery had had anything to do with it. It looked <ft if he had collapsed there and died immediately after he had opened the door of the strongroom. And one glance into the room itself clearly proved to Cora that her husband had come there in search of that very parcel of securities which she had abstracted when she had made up her mind to buy the pearls. Undoubtedly, the sudden shock had killed him. Ho would know, beyond a shadow of doubt, exactly what had happened. He would know that his wife had robbed him in order to gratify her inordinate vanity, and no doubt the lightning flash of this discovery had brought his life to an end. Cora realised this just as clearly as if she had been in the room, and seen the whole thing happen. She could see Van Geldt coming home after his late meeting on purpose to procure those securities, which at the last moment he had found that he needed. Ho was going to take them to that secret meeting of his, and, no doubt', he had let himself into the house with his own latch-key after the servants had gone to bed. For Van Geldt had heen quite firm on that point. Unless some festivity was going on in the house, he always insisted that the staff should be allowed to retire nt an early hour. Doubtless, there had been nobody up when Van Geldt returned and went into the library with the intention of opening his strongroom. Then he had discovered his loss with that awful tragic result.

All this was clear in Cora's mind as she ran into the hall and switched on all the lights. Then she climbed the stairs + o her maid's bedroom and aroused the woman from sleep. " Get up, get up at once," she said. "Something has happened to your master. He is lying unconscious in the library, and I am very much afraid that he is beyond human aid. lam going downstairs again to telephone for the doctor." The frightened servants appeared, one by one, and then, at length, £he fashionable doctor who attended the household from time to time when his services, were needed. Ho listened to Cora's explanation as to how she had come home at that early hour of the morning to find her husband apparently dead in the library.

" Yes, I am very much afraid lie is," the doctor said, after he had turned over the body and looked into the white, still face. " A case of sudden heart failure, I should say. Have you any idea what time he came back home?" " Not the least," Cora said. " But perhaps the servants can tell you that. You had better ask them." But the servants, with one accord, were quite emphatic in declaring; that their master had not returned before they went, to bed. In that case, it is impossible for anybody to sav whether he was alone, or not," the doctor said. " T mean, did be, or did he not, bring somebody with him ? Or did ho find some stranger already in the library ? Has be been robbed?" " Ah, that f could not possibly say," Cora murmured. " But I see no signs of a struggle anywhere." The doctor admitted this to lie the case. There was no sign of a struggle, nor was there any'indication on the face of the dead man that, he was suffering from any mental disturbance when he was stricken down. It was as if he had died in his sleep. " There is no suggestion of robbery," the doctor hinted. " Oh, no, I don't think so," Cora said. " I* pretty well what was in the safe, and it doesn't seem to me as if anything has been disturbed. Don't you think it would be just as well if we called in the polico ? Wo are wasting time hero." And the doctor leapt oriccerly at the suggestion. He could see that Cora was very white and shaken and that, at tha same time, sho was quite under nervous control. So far as he was concerned, he could do no more. He lingered there until the arrival of the police, and, after telling ..them all he knew, he took his departure with a promise to return later in the day. There would be a pos?mortem of course, which ho would haVe to conduct in person. It. was the best part of two hours later before the representatives of the law loft the house, having sealed the library and being firmly of opinion that neither' robbery nor violence had had anything to do with the case. It was just natural death and no more. And that was the verdict of the jury, when the time came for them to pronounce judgment. It was a verdict backed up by the doctor's evidence and, indeed, there was no other conclusion at which to arrive. (To bo continued