HIS FIRST AND ONLY CRIME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19892, 10 March 1928, Page 18 (Supplement)

HIS FIRST AND ONLY CRIME.

BY ROBIN GREY.

Derek Strangeways slipped gently out of bed, and creeping into the bathroom of his tiny London flat, performed his morning toilet. This accomplished, he set the kettle to boil while he swept and tidied the sitting room before taking the breakfast tray to his young wife's bedside.

Peggy, newly-awakened, lay back on her pillow white-cheeked and holloweyed, but she smiled her thanks as he placed his burden on the small table and waited on her devotedly, while he talked in his usual light-hearted fashion as if he hadn't a care in the world. The girl listened, but she did not contribute much to the conversation. Talking mado her cough, and then she was too tired to dress herself or get through the duties Derek had no time for. But if she did not say much, it was easy to see that she adored every inch of her goodlocking boy-husband, and her eyes told him so if her lips didn't. When she urged him to have his own Ineal, ho laughed and declared he had had it long ago, and removing her tray f.nd finishing all tho odds and ends he daily performed for her comfort, he brushed his clothes and announced he must hurry *>r he would never get through his day's Svork. " But mind you don't do too much, sweetheart," he said, as a parting injunction. " Leave everything you can and go and sit in the gardens, and I'll finish up this evening." I'eggy nodded, her blue eyes misty as She threw her thin little arms round his peck for a good-bye kiss. "You are a darling!" she whispered. ?«I don't think any woman in the world has such a man as I have." He rubbed his cheek against hers. "There aren't many Peggies about, *Once outside, all the cheerfulness dropped 'mm Derek like a cloak, and his young face looked drawn and haggaidin ihe sunlight. A 27 bus stopped at the corner, but he did not board it as .ormerlv There was no occasion to do so now as for tho last two weeks he had been' out of a job. Instead, he crossed the road and turned into the readingroom of the free library and scanned the f Wanted" columns. , It was not his fault—his employers that he was at a loose end; but business in the shipping world was so appalling that the firm ho had served since the aynistice had been obliged to dispense with his services. . But bad as that was, it was not the worst trouble. Peggv was ill—dangerously, so the doctor had said —at least she would be if she could not leave the damp and cold of England for the dry air of the Swiss mountains. The lungs were barely touched as yet, butHe had raised his shoulders ever so little, and Derek left him to return to her with despair in his heart and a lie Cn " l lt was nothing," he told her. She {was just run down and wanted taking care of. _ ~ He dared not tell her about Switzerland. What was the use? There was as much chance of her going as there was of his becoming Prime Minister. r< either must she know that- he was out of a job. go he hid his misery and searched tne daily papers and tramped miles m answer to advertisements, always to uaertwitb the same old story —" Is ot_ wanted. On this particular morning there was absolutely nothing likely to be of use to Jiim, and an he sat staring vaguely at the {taper, he felt at his wits* end. Was there no place in the world lor ihirn ? Nothing that he could do ? Again he scanned the printed columns. . There was so little—so very little in Ihe bank between Peggy and disaster. He turned a page listlessly and read the flaunting headlines of a big jewel robbe£ooo worth of jewels had been stolen from a West End flat, and the men had got clean away. In the bitterness of his heart he envied them. lesr—he, Derek Strangeways, known for his scrupulous honesty, envied a couple ot common thieves. Perhaps they had been as hard up as he was, with wives and maybe children to provide Who could say? He was not in the mood to judge anybody this morning, for he laiew now what it was to be desperatecornered; and desperate men's fancies jwander from the straight and narrow way. He read the account of the affair once more, and in the savage jungle that lies hidden in the hearts of all men, a thought was born. As it grew and crept out into tho open, and he saw it all its hideousness, the dark colour rusned over his face and brought the moisture to his brow. Cod! Had he fallen so far already? Impossible! Pushing the idea from him he was about to rise when a man opposite cous;hed. The sound was like a knifethrn'st to Derek as he glanced covertly across the table. Yes! Tuberculosis had already marked down another victim; he saw that at a glance. Soon Peggy would look like that! _ It made him change his mind about going, and, leaning his chin on his he eat and thought hard for a -Jong time. When at last he left the reading-room he went down a back street that ho had never entered before. That afternoon saw him strolling leisurely in a select part of Hampstead, and when he reached home at the usual hour he found Peggy curled up on the Bofa looking more fragile than ever. The aight of her pinched little face was like a stab, but it nerved him to carry out hi 3 purpose, and as he bustled about getting eupper —an egg for the invalid and a herl'ing for himself—he told her that he had promised to return to the office for a couple of hours' night work, and though he hated to leave her he could not refuse his chief. Her mouth dropped for a moment, for the day seemed very long, but she was very proud of her important young husband, so hid her disappointment, and when he left her soon after eight o'clock fclie promised to bo good and not keep fcwako for his return. For the second time that day Derek lound himself in Hampstead. His destination was a long, low house surrounded by lawns and shrubs, standing alone in a quiet lane. There wa3 not a soul about, and as the night was dark he opened the gate and found his way to the back premises with ease. Fumbling in his pocket, he produced an electric torch, a glasscutter, and a lump of wax, and setting quietly to work, in a few minutes had removed a pane of glass from the kitchen Window, pushed back the hasp, and Opened the sash. » With a beating heart he paused to retonnoitre, then climbed over the sill. Earlier in the day ho had learned that the owner, a Miss Stamford—had shut up the house for a long week-end, but nevertheless he moved with care and made sure of an easy egress by unbolting both the back and front doors, after closing the window to allay the suspicions of any inquisitive policeman. His rubber-soled shoes were noiseless fcnd he found his way to the dining-room ■without mishap. As he expected, a toodly array of silver stood on the sideboard, and with fingers that trembled he (unstrapped the capacious hold-all ho had brought and rapidly packed it with the inost portable articles. His next move Vas upstairs and here his nerves were fcorely tried. It was an old house and the woodwork creaked at every step, but M nothing else happened, locating the grant room, which he gueroed would boStamford, he turned the K&ndi* o&utxou&iy entered.

J-c'.v?' .■ • ■ -■ .' - (SHORT STORY.)

(CQPIMGET.)

No sooner bad he done so than he was awaro of an almost unearthly stillness. His scalp prickled and a creeping sensation stole up his spine as he realised that something—a presence—was waiting for him in the darkness. Could Miss Stamford have returned? The mere thought made him feel sick and drove home the nature of his errand. But before he had time to retreat the room was flooded with a rosy glow and he found himself staring fixedly at a little grey-haired lady, crouching in the middle of the bed, who returned his gaze first with fright and then with horror. After an eternity he heard his own name. , . " Derek," she gasped— Derek, what are you doing here ? Oh! I must be mad—What am I saying—no—no—no—you can't bo Derek Strangeway s son. Impossible—and yet —you are his image. A hot wave of shame dyed the face of the amateur burglar as, shrinking beneath the mingled pain and contempt in the-little lady's eyes, he made no reply. For a short space the silence remained unbroken save for the busy ticking of the little silver travelling clock that stood on the table beside the bed. Then very slowlv Miss Stamford raised her blueveined hand to her neck and with trembling fingers drew from beneath her nightdress a slender chain. " Come here," she commanded in a low voice, and as the boy obeyed she opened an old-fashioned locket and held it out beforo his troubled gaze. It contained a portrait of a young man very little older than Derek himself. " Do you know who that is ?" she whispered. He nodded an unhappy assent. " I didn't think I could be mistaken.' Her voice sounded tired as she sank back on her pillows—" How does it happen that his son has such a—strange—profession ? He was such an honourable man himself." The words cut like the lash of a whip. "It isn't my profession," he exclaimed fiercely. " I've never done such a. thing before. ,Oh! how can I make you understand ? I know you won t believe me—it sounds impossible. But I'm out of a job and Peggy's ill. She 11 die if I can't raise the money to send her away I've not a soul in the world but her, 'and I-I love her. So I-'' He broke down utterly, and hid his face in the bedclothes. The strangled sounds that came from his throat wrung the little lady's heart. She sat up again and laid a soft hand on his bowed head. "Hush, oh hush!" she implored. 'Tell me, who is Peggy?" \ In a choked voice Derek poured out his story from beginning to end, and the sight of his miserable face more than convinced his hearer of its truth and filled her empty heart with a deep yearning to help him. Her thoughts flew back across tho years to the days when all her life had been bound up in the gallant young sailor lover whose blue eyes and dark hair lived again in this boy kneeling beside her bed. Fate had dragged him remorselessly from her arms, and faithful by nature she had never admitted another within the holy of holies. Now by a curious coincidence* his son had been flung, torn and bleeding, at her -.. s•£.. There was a very wonderful light in her pretty faded eyes as she drew him toward her with a little maternal, movement. " Derek," she said softly. " I loved your father long ago. We parted —no matter why—but I never forgot,. And because of that love I mean to help you now. What you meant to do was done for Love's sake, so I understand. No, listen!" as he started up. " I've an inspiration ! To-morrow you must meet me at Charing Cross and we'll go together to see an old friend of mine, the head df a big shipping firm. I know if I ask him he'll use his influence on your behalf. As for Peggy, I shall take her to Switzerland and not bring her back till she's well and strong." She smiled at him with wistful eagerness. " What do you think of my scheme?" Something that scalded fell on the two little hands that Derek had seized in his.

" I can't say what I think," he said in huskv tones. " I haven't any words to thank you. but I'll spend the rest of my life showing you, and so will Peggy." Miss Stamford kissed'him gently on the forehead. "I know you will." she answered as she blinked away her tears. " And now," added the little lady practically, " give me my dressing-gown and go downstairs. What you need is seme supper." THE END.