"THE GREAT INTERNATIONAL SECRET."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19958, 29 May 1928, Page 16

"THE GREAT INTERNATIONAL SECRET."

BY WILLIAM LE QUEUX.

SYNOPSIS. Professor Cornat one night is found dead in his laboratory and robbery is evident. His daughter Lisely is engaged to the professor's assistant and pupn, named ivan Bylandti who is severely interrogated by the police. A certain missing document js the Bubject of severe questioning whicfi Karl resents. That same night two police officers are put on duty to watch the late professor's house. Dunns the Karl is awakened by one of them and informed that his brother officer has been shot and he himself wounded Finger-prints are discovered later by the detectives, who declare them to to one Frank Howe an English motor bandit ■w'rio is now confidential chauffeur to His the Baton Luici Fiorelli the greatest banker in Italy. Howe, the detectives insist. was in Professor Cornat s laboratory the night of the murder. Karl later on receives a visit from the venerable Comte d» Salis. who believes that Karl knows mere it bout the affair than he admits. ..his Aarl denies. CHAPTER Hl. (Continued). Karl remained at the open door a moment after the Comte had departed, and while he stood there a detective approached. _,, . , , " Who was that, monsieur .' he asked, then explained: "We are supposed to take a note of all who enter, and a check is also made at the. lodge gates so that wo know if any enter irregularly.^ " That was the Comte de Salis, Karl 16 Very good, monsieur," said the detective, moving away. The next morning Monsieur Gomhan appeared early at the Chateau. He asked immediately for Karl, who went to him in the dining room. "Monsieur Bylandt," began Monsieur Gomban, " I want you to run through all the correspondence of the Late Professor Cornat, both here and at the Paris laboratories. Shall we begin now . Karl assented, and for the next three hours thev were both engaged in opening letters and reading files. Oid fashioned copving books were opened and their flimsy pages carefully scrutinised by Monsieur Gomban. It was not until the search was finished that the detective explained what had been its object.^ " I am driven to the conclusion, he said " that poor Cornat had some secret transactions with certain members of a foreign government or thrir aeents. 1 told vou about our line of inquirv which led to the great Italian financier, the Baron Luigi Fiorelli. Now lam convinced that be is concerned: and because J was convinced at once, after seeing the wav in which he shielded his banditchauffeur. I had a note made of all his correspondents and associates so far as could be discovered. . I found a man—an ex-agent of our secret police—dismissed for some breach of dutv —who had in some wav entered into the Baron s service His nr.me is Pinel and he calls -himself the Baron's private detective and inquiry agent. Now I had this man wrongfully arrested —by apparent accident, There will have to be apologies, of course, but when he was searched at the frontier there were two otters in code found upon him. I have had the letters decoded. Here they are. The detective placed the letters on the table and watched Karl as he read them. The first was addressed to Baron Luigi. It was headed, " Mendozi and Co., Bankers and Government Financial Agents,' and read: "You must proceed immediately with 'documents. They should have been sent on with your , servant. Why this delay ? " The second .letter was addressed to the Berlin agents of the bankers and authorised a payment of one million marks, "re Cornat." " You see the connection ? " asked Monsieur Gomban. t " Obviously—l see the name—Cornat," replied Karl. " To the limit of your knowledge you are sure that monsieur Cornat never had dealings with foreigners recently ?" the detective pressed. " Certainly, monsieur," replied Karl. "'The only foreigners I have ever seen here are professors and scientists—friends of my late master from various continental universities." "I am still watching all approaches to the Baron Luigi Fiorelli," said Gomban. " By the way, what are your plans, Monsieur Bylandt ? Are you remaining here for some time ?" > " I am entirely at the disposal of Mademoiselle Cornat," answered Karl. " As a matter of fact we are engaged and I intend to ask her to marry me as soon as I decently can. She expresses a wish to get away from here because of the painful associations, and 1 think it ■would be better if we were married at cnce." The detective nodded. " The only thing is that I want you to keep in constant touch with me," 'he said. " Wherever you go let me at 'once have a note of your address." Karl agreed. " Oh ! By the way," added the detective, " What was Comte do Salis wanting when he came round last night ?" The question was so quick and so entirely unexpected that it threw Karl off his guard for a second. He hesitated, and the detective marked the hesitation. " The Comte came to ask rne if -I knew anything of the nature of this strange eecret of Professor Cornat's," Karl replied at last. " But he asked you that in my presense—and you denied it," said Monsieur Gomban sharply. " Why was it necessary to ccrae again, secretly, as it were—by night ?" 1 think perhaps I have not made myself plain," said Karl. "He knew, of course, that I had not the secret. I had already assured you .all of that. What the Comte was concerned with was whether or not I had gathered anything in the course of my laboratory duties "which would give me an idea of the fcature of the secret." The detective nodded again. " Well, we will leave at once for faris," he said, with sudden haste. Briefly acquainting Lisely with the object of his journey, Karl accompanied Gomban from the house. In Paris they carefully continued their search of Professor Cornat's correspondence, but only one letter of importance Was found. It was in small handwriting and written on very thin paper, without address, and onlv signed by the initials, ?' V.J.W." It read. " Your aims can only be secured by dealing with the bearer, who will establish his identity and furnish,his credentials. Money need not be considered—dismiss it from your mind." " Ah, we're getting on the scent," said the detective. " This letter was evidently brought by hand. Now, who was the bearer ?" Then followed a long and tedious examination of all the staff remotely connected with the laboratories, but no one had noticed any particular stranger or foreignlooking man calling upon Professor Cornat. r3cently. The detective was baffled. Ho folded up the note carefully and decided to have the paper examined at the Surete in an endeavour to find out its place of manufacture. Karl left him to drive back to the Chateau Rondeau in the Forest of Fontainbleau, thinking that the detective was at once returning to the Surete. This, however, was not M. Gomban's Immediate destination. " There's something I don't quite understand about this," he said to himself as he drove along the busy boulevards. "Why should ycung Bylandt hesitate Vrhen I asked him what the old Comte wanted ? What did the old Comte want anyway ? Jules !" he called to his chauffeur. " Jules! Drive to the Place Roquier •-the Comte de Salis." Mons.eur Gomban then sat back in his tab and turned over the facts in his mind. One thing he dele-imined to do, and that was to interview the Baron Luigi Fiorelli personally. 3y the time his cab Stopped at the house of the Comto de Salts, the little detective was chuckling. the door, stepped out and iditt j i • r: '?' v ' n ? his card he was ftt one® into a plainly furnished

ROMANCE OF LOVE AND MYSTERY.

(COPYRIGHT.)

ante-room. In the centre of the room was a bare oak table upon which lay a number of periodicals dealing with science and astronomy. The detective glanced at several of them, then pushed them aside with an impatient expression. He looked at his watch, when suddenly the door opened and a perturbed man-servant entered the room. , " Monsieur is a detective of the Surete ?" he asked. " Yes," replied Gomban. " I am afraid that something is wrong," said the man. " Some time ago a tall, dark-looking man called to see the Comte and I showed him to the study at the Comte's instructions. Ten minutes or a quarter of an hour later I saw him leave again, and I wondered why the Comte had net rung for me to show him out. Now I cannot make the Comte hear and the door is locked. What—" " Quick ! Where is the room ?" Gomban interrupted the man's garrulous explanations, grasped him by the arm arid hurried him along. The man-servant led the way up a narrow staircase, along a balcony that overlooked the hall and stopped at one of the doors. The detective tried the handle atid found the door locked. He stepped backward, lowered his right shoulder, and hurled himself forward. With a splintering of wood the door flew open, revealing a strange sight. In a large leather arm-chair sat tfce Comte, securely gagged and tied. His eyes stared in front of him at the newcomers, who ran forward and immediately set about loosening his bonds. " What has happened, Monsieur le Comte ?" asked Gomban as soon as he had taken off the gag, while the manservant with nervous fingers still fumbled with the knotted rope which held the Comte in the chair. " What has happened is that I have bs»en trussed up, as you can see," said the Comte quietly. " What will happen is that we shall be all asphyxiated in about ten seconds if you do not get a bucket of water and gently place that thing in it—that thing over there with a burning fuse." M. Gomban's startled gaze rested on a round, yellow object not much larger than a tennis ball to which was attached a long white fuse now burning perilously near the end. " Water —quick as . the devil!" he shouted at the manservant who flew along the corridor, returning in a few moments with a bucket. "Gently! Gently!" admonished the Comte, and Gomban cautiously placed the yellow ball in the water. A little sizisle betokened the quenching of the fuse. Gomban turned his attention to the Comte again, and finally succeeded in releasing him. " Well, what has happened, monsieur?" he demanded impatiently. " Instead of wasting time," replied the Comte, " go at once to the Gare de l'East and arrest the Englishman, Captain Harford Russell, for the murder of my old friend Professor Cornat. and the attempted murder of myself. Go quickly. Wait, I will come with you." CHAPTER IV. "THE baron AND PAOLA.** \ " Now, Monsieur le Comte," reiterated Monsieur Gomban as the car travelled •rapidly toward the Gare de L'Est. "Will you please explain what happened ?" " There is indeed little to explain," replied the Comte, shrugging his shoulders. " You probably know almost as much as I do, monsieur. I was sitting in my study reading a book, when Raoul announced a visitor —a Captain Harford Russell, whose name denoted that he was English. He had no card. I admitted him. It appeared that he represented a wealthy group of international financiers, and he told me that they were anxious to exploit the discovery of my late friend, Professor Cornat, and would pay any sum of money for exclusive rights. I replied that I knew nothing of the discovery. Then, with an astonishing change of manner, he sprang upon me, and I was overpowered before I quite realised what was happening. That is all I know." " You mean he was able to tie you up like that —alone?" There was incredulity in Gomban's tones. The aged Comte noticed it, for he replied with a note of asperity. " I have told you what occurred, monsieur," he said. "Do you suggest that I am lying? lam an old man, you must remember, four score years have passed over my head." Gomban made a gesture of apology. He felt that there was truth in what the old Comte said, and yet he could not help but think that the roping-up of the old man must have called for the strength of at least two men. It might have been done by one powerful man, but all his experience repudiated the possibility. ' Suddenly he was re minded of the fact that the Comte had never mentioned why they were travelling to th» Gare de L'Est. " If that is all the conversation that took place, Monsieur le Comte," he remarked, " when did the question arise about the Gare de L'Est ? Why are we going there to arrest the Englishman ? ' " We are going there because he said he was leaving from there within lialf-an-hour," replied Comte de Salis. •" I never said all the conversation was contained in what I told you. Please don't do this cross-examination with me, Monsieur Gomban. I resent it." " I beg your pardon, Monsieur le Comte," said Gomban. biting his lip. He had a queer feeling that the Comte was deceiving him for some reason, yet he dared not offend the old aristocrat. Was he not the chief consultant for the Ministry of War on research questions ? Was he not a member of the Academie and oersona grata with the president The car reached the station and the meii alighted. Gomban walked rapidly across to the departure platform, the Comte following him more leisurely. A train was on the point of departure, and along the lencrth of it the Comte and the detective walked, but without finding their man. FinaDv the Comte said: " Well, it is manifest that our man is r,ot here. Monsieur Comban. I will return. I *eel a little shocked. " How did he come to fix up that gas bomb ?" asked Gomban. " Oh! didn't I tell you ?" smiled the Comte in replv. "He said, after he tied mo up. that dead men told no tales and, since I had shown mvself to be antagonistic to the plans of his friends, there was no help for it but to take certain precautions. He was good enough to add that the asphyxiation was humane, that •it had been used in a number of dogs' homes in England. I could not thank him for his consideration because my mouth was gagged." " Why did he go?" asked the detective. " Because he opened my safe with my kevs arid extracted from there every paper he" found, and doubtless he thought he had got what he wanted." " Monsieur le Comte," Gomban looked into the mild old eyes which returned his gaze so steadily, " why did you visit the Chateau Rondeau late at night after the funeral ?" " Why do you ask ?" The question came without the slightest hesitation. Annoyance was expressed in both the tone of the Comte's voice and in the unusual frown which settled over his brow. " Because I need hardly tell you that it is my duty," replied Monsieur Gomban. " In a case like this—involving murder—every detail must be carefully investigated.'* " Do : I understand that Monsieur Gomban of the Surete, whom I have always understood to possess one of the keenest brains in our Criminal Investigation Department, really believes that there is some sinister motive in my visit to my old friend's house? Does he really think that by prying into my personal and trivial affair's he is going to arrest the murderer of the professor?" There was withering contempt in the old Comte's voice. Gomban frowned, hut determined to press his question. (To b» continued