THE RIDDLE OF THE RAIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19838, 7 January 1928, Page 14 (Supplement)

THE RIDDLE OF THE RAIL.

BY FEED M. WHITE.

, A POWERFUL STORY OF LOVE AND INTRIGUE.

(Copyright.)

CHAPTER XXXV. Sylvia turned away,ieaving the two men, facing one another. It was very hard for Trumble to keep the antagonism ho felt out of his face, but he managed to hold a grip on himself and he was by no means displeased to see tho look of alarm and suspicion that dwelt for a minute or two in Farr's eyes. "Do you think it is any real gc>od?" the latter asked. " I have told you before -that I could not possibly say," Trumble replied. "I'erBonally, I am not sanguine, and, in any case, it may Jfcte..a long business. , But I am going to do the best I can and I am quite sure you will wish me luck. " Oh, of course, of course," Farr said hastily, evidently cheered by the suggestion that it might prove a long task. "But don't you think that our friend George is a bit foolish to keep that secret of his to himself? I mean thai plan of the island where he found the pearls. You know as well as I do that he is quite a poor man, and if he had tho command of means so that he could travel and hear all the best music and all that sort of *thing, he would he .a much happier man. Now. my suggestion iatfchat he confide in me. We are quite old friends by this time, and I can serve him far better than anybody else;' Besides, I have travelled all over the world and I flatter myself* that I know the ropejj. ' Why, I know "the South Pacific as well as I know Paris djid London. More than that, I would find all the money necessary for tho expedition and, if it turned out to be a failure, I should not dream of charging old George a penny." "That is very generous of you," Trumble forced himself to say. " Few men would go as far as that. Have you asked Marchmont about it? Have you made tho suggestion to him ?" " T fiave suggested it till I am tired of Farr said with tho semblancff'of a snarl. " Perhaps you will back me up. I have gob to get along presently, because I have pressing business in Birmingham. Just give George a hint, will you?" When Sylvia emerged from the cottage again, Farr was half way down the garden path, to Trumble's immense relief. Sylvia followed hun with a glance until he was out of sight. tf " Perhaps lam wrong," she said. But it seems to me, Trevor, that you don t '■» like our friend Farr." " I have never said so," Trumble murmured . guardedly. . " Hb, not in as many words, Sylvia smiled! " Surelv you don't know anything,: against him ?" " look here, Sylvia," Trumble burst out suddenly. " Honestly, is that man anything' more to you than a friend ?" A warm colour flooded Sylvia's cheeks. "Wo havO known liim a long time now," eho said. " And I have already told you how good he has been to George. You can't help liking and respecting a man who goes out of his way to help a comparative stranger And, besidqs, he is so good-looking and so cheerful. You couldn't look into the face of a man like that and doubt either his honour or his integrity-'' Trutiible groaned to himself in the spirit. He was bound to confess that thero was a good deali in what Sylvia said. Outwardly, at any rate, thero was nothing against this man Farr, he might have passed in any company as a man t»f birth and breeding, and thero was nothing in his facu to express .tho inner man. "Yes, that's right enough," ho admitted grudgingly. " Still, lam glad to hear you say that Farr is no more than n friend. I wonder if you can guess why, fcivlviaf'- " ~ "

She looked up fit him again under her long lashes, and a quoer lit.tlo smile wrinkled the corners of her lips. For the first time, she noticed tho change in tho man who was speaking to her. To begin with he was wearing a suit r? |Jothes been made for him by a tailor who knew his business ; liis collar and tie - "had a faint suggestion of Bona Street about them, and his tan shoes were almost resplendent. It was another Trumble altogether who stood there looking eagerly down into iim girl's face. " Why, Trevor." she said; " bow you have changed! Just for the moment I didn't notice it. '

7* Well?" Trumble challenged. "And v.ho is responsible ? "Who is the girl who told mo that I was little better than « scarecrow ? And who asked me to make, museli" lock respectable ? Well, I done'it, though I don't think I Atould have* troubled to listen to anybody else. And perhaps you can guess why?" Sylvia looked down and swiftly up again. " That is a great coinplimeut to me," ulie said mischievously. " And, really, t lip. improvement is wonderful. Trevor, 1 had no idea you were anything like eo good-looking." " Oh, well, if you only value me for that—- " But I don't, 1 don't. Can't you understand that any girl who is genuinely fond ... I mean, any girl, jvell, you know what I mean. It's so nice to have uu'eSs friends-looking- so- -presentable. And, yesi, there is another change. How stupid of me not to notice it before! What have you done with your spectacles ?" " I left them behind me," Trumble said, shamefacedly. "Left them behind you! Which means, of course, tha you never wanted them. Why did you wear them, Trevor? Why does every scientist wear glasses, just as eveijy musician makes himself greasy and hideous with long hair. Mere alfectation. Trevor, 1 had no idea that you w cre eucli a conceited man." . " But I am not. ' Trumble said humbly. ■"I am one of the most retiring, of men. And, look vou lieie, my child. I havo dono all this to obliggrybtir*and' you repay me by l l«ughM , gr fi " And ycu don't" like doing it ?" "Well, as a matter of fact, I do" Trumble admitted. " When I came to look at mysell in tho glass this morning, 3 realised, for the first time in my life, that there was something in clothes, after all. Don't you agree with me ?" " ' A frog he would a-wooing go,' " Sylvia quoted. Then she looked down, blushing vividly. " No, I am sorry," she said contritely. "Of course, I didn't mean that." ,/» ; " Are you quite sure ?" Trumble said, speaking in a voice that "Sylvia ~had never heard srfbre. "As a matter of fact, Froggy has come a-wooing, and he isn't going away until ho has had his answer." . . . .. "And if ho doesn't get the answer he hopes for ? Then I suppose tho scarecrow will -come back ?" Sylvia said, almost in a whisper. " Oh, Trevor, can't you understand that any woman who is fond oi a man always like 3 him to look at his best? She \vants to take him round among her friends, the same as she does her new doll, and make all the other little girls jealous. Please, [l'revor, please let mo go." " Never in this worldy 2 -- -Trevor said, i" There was never anybody else but you and there never will be. Just think of what we-have been through - together. Just think of the old days when wo were in France. And now, are you going; to kiss me?"

They passed down the garden together, the world forgetting by the world forgot, and, foi the moment, at any rate, selfishly oblivious to the blind man seated in the cottage. Then Sylvia came to herself with a start. "Trevor," she said "We must get back to George. Ho will wonder what hag. become of us. And, of course, he heard your voice. Let's go and tell him •11 .about it.' • The blind man ,-'Sitting -patiently in lire tua,u:, looked up with a smile as the And, strangely enough, Bs&S. 3?f ft '• "

at the first sound of his sister's voice, ho seemed to know what had happened. " All right, you two," ho said gaily. "No reason to tell mo. So old Trevor has come up to the scratch at last, has he ? What doe; he look like, Sylvia ? You don't mean to say you have promised to marry linn while he is wearing those old clothes yon told me about?" " Nothing of the sort," Trevor said indignantly. " Here is a different Trumble altogether, the like of which you never saw. ' And all for the love of a lady' too. Oh, ray dear boy, I shall make quite a man about town before I have finished." " Do you know that he has actually sacrificed his beloved spectacles ?" Sylvia cried. " Ah, evidently a very sad case," George Marchmont said sorrowfully. " I only wish I could see it for myself." " You are going to, mv boy, you are going to," Trumble said, laying his hand upon his friend's shoulder. " I haven't liked to say very much to you before now, but once I get you in London under my course of treatment, you are going to have the use of your eyes again. Ana I think you know me well enough to believe that I should never be cruel enough to make a statement like that unless I was practically certain. That is why lam here this afternoon. I am coming back here in the morning to take you both to town into rooms which I have chosen for you and there you will do exactly as you are told." An unsteady smile flickered over Marchmont's face. " You fill me with new hope," he said huskily. " I had never expected anything like this. God only knows what all this darkness has been to a man who, like myself, has always been accustomed to outdoor life. I feel inclined to run out, of doors and shout all you have told me to the skies." " Northing of the sort," Trumble said sternly. "You are not to tell a single soul. Now, mind that, I am not joking. Not to a single soul. I have my reasons." . " What, not even Farr ?" Marchmont asked. " No, not even Farr. He knows I am going to take you to town, because I have lust told him so. And, more than that, he does not guess; in fact, I rather inferred that your case was hopeless." " Just as you like," Marchmont said. But I should like to have told Farr. He has been a jolly good friend to us and I am sure that nobody would rejoice more than he. Do you know, Trevor, that man has offered more than once to make my fortune. He has offered to find all the money necessary to explore those pearl fisheries and put untold gold into my pocket. And if the thing was a failure, it wasn't to cost me a penny. You see, he realised what the possession of money weuld bo to a man in my position. Instead of living frugally in a little cottage like this I could travel about with Sylvia and hear all th»* world's best music, which is one of my greatest delights. And I was churlish enough to refuse." " I often wondered why," Trumble murmured.

" Well, upon my word, I can hardly tell you myself. I suppose when you are blind and helpless as I am, you become rather secretive and suspicious of the motives of even your dearest friends. Anyway, I didn't show that chart to Farr and even Sylvia hasn't the remotest idea where it is at the present moment. Oh, yes, a blind man can hide things as well as anybody else. But, after what you have just told me, I feel as if I should like io seo Farr and hand that chart over to him to do as ho likes." . " Oh, would you V Trumblo said grimly. * My dear boy, you are going to do nothing of the kind. There are reasons, very urgent reasons, why you should... retain that secret. I want you to promise mo that you will regard this conversation as absolutely secret. And if Farr conies over to see you in the morning, before you leave for London, then not a word of what I have been saving. Now, give me a cup of tea, and I will get back to Birmingham." It was a very happy and elated Trumble who said good-byo to Sylvia at Abbotsbury station and made his way back to Birmingham. He would bo over again in the morning, when he would expect Sylvia to have everything ready for the move to London.

" It is going to be quite all right," ho told the girl just as the train was moving out of the station. " What I prophesied to you and George is going to be something more than a dream. And when that is done, I shall have something to tell you of a very surprising nature. Perhaps I should be more correct in saving that it will be George who makes tho dramatic disclosure that I have at the back of my milnd." It was just before dinner that Trumble strolled into Norcliff's private sittingroom in the Grand Central, to find his comrade in arms smoking a cigarette and reading the evening paper. " Well" tho former said. " Well, anv news ?" " Oh, lots," Norcliffe replied. ." To begin with, I have seen Mrs. Van Geldt and we have called upon Fastnet. Beyond doubt, those pearls are Mrs. Van 6eldt's missing properly." CHAPTER XXXVI. Quito timidly for him, little Jagger put a question to Norcliff. Had the latter any objection to being accompanied as far as the old curiosity shop by a competent and discreet newspaper man who could be relied upon in any sort of emergency ? " Do you mean to suggest that you should come along with me and inter- . view Mrs. Van Geldt ?" Norcliff asked. " Certainly, unless you have any objection." " My dear young friend, Norchn said dryly. " You aro an exceedingly astute voting man ind 1 am bound to confess 'that you' have been of considerable assistance to me. But 1 really don't think it would bo exactly prudent to take you. Besides, for all we know to tho contrary, Mrs. Van Geldt might have left Abbotsbury already. And, in any case, the fewer of us concerned, the better. We don't want to attract any attention. And there is always tho possibility that the man wo know as Farr :s prowling about somewhere. I don't suppose ho has the least idea who you arc, and I am pretty certain that he"doesn't identify me with Scotland Yard. Our friend the doctor saw to that. Still, you never know." " Oh, vory well," Jagger said. " At any rate, you won't mind my travelling as far as Abbotsbury with you ? You see, 1 have already begun to write my story and I must havo my local colour right. Tho railway siding and the house close alongside and all that sort of thing. Moreover, I want to bring in *he doctor's blind friend and his sister, because I havo a hunch, as they say in tho States, that both those people will prove to be part of the jig-saw puzzle that you have to solve. I want to tell my readers all about that picturesque thatched cottage where the blind man lives and how it comes into the narrative.. A regular' romance that ought to take up a whole page of my paper when the right time comes. Oh, I have got my chance, and I should be a fool if I did not take every advantago of it. So you won't mind my coming to Abbotsbury." " I have not the slightest objection to your going as far as that," Norcliff said " But you are not to be seen with me. I mean, we do not leave the station together. You can follow mo it a discreet distance, if you like, and if you see me enter the old curiosity shop you will know that the lady is at homo. If that suits you, then thero is no more to be said." dagger was eager enough to fall in with Norcliff's views, and some considerable time later he turned away from the direction of the old curiosity shop, having satisfied himself that Norcliff was likely to stay insido the house for 6ome time to come. Then he strolled more or less aimlessly away in the direction of tho railway siding and the four houses abutting on it. He did not know exactly what he was going to do 01 what ho was likely tq dis-

cover. But then, one never knew, and something worthy of record might chance to turn up. Ho might»even be fortunate enough to see the man Farr himself. So far he had never met the man who had already been practically proved to be a cold-blooded murderer, but he had heard his personal appearance discussed between Trumble. and Nor elm, so that, if he should chance to run against the individual in question, he would -be able to recognise him. Moreover bo had all the advantage on his side. He would know the man, but, on the other hand, the man would not know him. So he made his way slowly past the houses by the siding as'if he were waiting for someone and paused to light a cigarette as he approached the last of the villas. Ihis act enabled him to take a swift and comprehensive glance of what was going on around him, nor was he in the least pressed for time and quite prepared to hang about there for the best part of an hour if it should be necessary to do so. And then luck served him. From the back of the house a figure emerged, followed by what appeared to be a working man with a spade in his hand. These two paused at the gate within a yard or two of Jagger, still intent on his cigarette, so that he could hear what passed between them. Not that he was in the least interested in that trivial conversation, because he was taking a swift mental picture of the man whom ho Knew to be Farr. Then, with a chuckle, he went on down the road and did not stop until he came to the little thatched cottage which he recognised as belonging to Marchmont and his sister. He knew, of course, that Farr and Marchmont were on intimate terms and that the former was in the habit of spending a good deal of his time at the cottage. And then, as he took in the neat little garden, and the oldworld building at the back of it, something in the wa-y of inspiration flashed into his mind. "Now, that is not a bad idea," he told himself. "By Gad, I will put it to the inspector directly I get back to the station. Might just as well go and wait for him there and get a mouthful of grub before returning to Birmingham." Meanwhile, ftorcliff had reached the old curiosity shop that 6tood in an ancient street, not very far from Abbotsbury's famous abbey. 'He did not ring the bell by the side of the private entrance, but strolled into the shop as if he were a tourist or something of that kind in search of antiques. He was surprised by the value and variety of the treasures there. Evidently, this was a famous establishment and one that enthusiasts came from afar to see. Norcliff was not exactly a connoisseur, but he knew enough to see at once that this was no mere furnishing establishment.

From somewhere in the dusky background, a slim figure of a middle-aged man appeared and asked the visitor's business. Norcliff started slightly and then immediately became himself again. For in the man with tho bald head and t.he black moustache he recognised an old criminal. Tho last time ho had seen this man had been seven years ago at tho now extinct Old Bailey. Norcliff had not been connected with the case himself, so that he was quite sure in his mind that the recognition was not mutual. Nor was lie in tho least inclined to call this shopkeeper by his proper name. All that would follow in due course, but meanwhile, his one task was to interview Mrs. Van Geldt. Perhaps later on lie would be able to take an interest in the career of the man with the black moustache. "No, I don't particularly want anything," ho said. 'At least, I don't want anything for the moment. I looked in because I was somewhat .attracted by that Waterford glass you have in the window. I may come back later on and seo if we can do a deal. I really came here to see a lady who is staying in your house." "Oh, yes, sir," the man behind the counter said. "Mrs. Van Geldt. If you would bo good enough to ring the bell at the sido door and ask for the lady, I think it will be all right. Then we might do a little business afterwards, sir." Norcliff rang tho door bel! in due course and was interviewed by Mrs. Van Geldt's maid. In tho light of his recent discovery, jip had no intention of disclosing his real nam& #nd occupation, bo that a little diplomacy necessary before he found himself in the presence of tho woman he had come to seek.

"Your mistress will not know me," ho said. "But if you tell her that a strange man is here who might be a.bio to tell her something about those missing pearls of hers, she may see me." Tho maid was quite Siiro that her mistress would. So that the rest was easy. Norcliff stood there, bowing to the most beautiful woman ho had ever Sisen, a woman young and attractive and nothing like what lie had expected. "Yes," Cora said. "Ye 3. 1 don't know who you aro or where you come from, but if you can tell mo anything about those missing pearls of mine, I shall be more than grateful. As a matter of fact, I happen to know where they are. Still, I must bo discreet. Would you mind telling mo your name and what brought you hero?" Norcliff proclaimed his identity, at tho same time handing his card over for Mrs. Van Geldt's inspection. "You see why I am her now, perhaps," ho said. "The*loss of your pearls is only part of a big mystery with a terrible crimo at tho bottom of it. And I am tho man who has been selected by Scotland Yard to solve tho puzzle. Of course, I know where the missing pearls are at the present moment and how they came into tho possession of the present holder. In fact, I havo seen them." "You havo seen them," Mrs. Van Geldt cried. "Yes, I have had them in my hand. I am quito convinced that they are yours, but, before we go much further, that fact will havn to bo proved beyond the shadow of a doubt. Now, will you do me a favour, Mrs. Van Geldt? I am ready to-, help you in every way I can, but, on the j other hand. I shall have to ask your assistance. Will you meet me to-morrow morning at eleven o'clock at tho establishment of Mr. Fastnet in Municipal Street in Birmingham ?" "I will meet you anywhere," Cora said impulsively. " Then that is settled. I want.you not to tell anybody where you are going, not oven your maid. If you will bo advised by me," you will stroll quietly cut after breakfast as if you wcro just taking a walk round the town and then hire a taxicab and drive straight to Birmingham. This should not take you nj,ore than an hour and a-half at the outside. What .1 want to guard against is that you should be followed. And now, Mrs. Van Geldt, woul,d you answer mo another question ? Taking it for granted 'that those pearls belong to you, would you mincf telling ixie where you got them from ?" " Where I got them from," Cora echoed. "Precisely. I understand that those twelve pearls are almost unique, if not entirely so. Of course, they might have been stolen gems from Russia, otherwise I cannot conceive where they came from. You could not have purchased them in the open market without the fact being recorded widely in the press and the same thine would have happened if you had obtained them through a dealer. Now would you mind telling mo the name of the man who sold them ?" "Not in the least," Cora smiled. "They came from a gentleman friend of mine named Vane Egerton." (To be continued daily.) i