WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE?

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20324, 3 August 1929, Page 16 (Supplement)

WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE?

BY LOUIS ' TRACY.

** A CAPTIVATING STORY OF MYSTERY AND LOVE.

• CHAPTER XII. (Continued. " Probably you arc right," agrcod Manncring, anxious to avoid even tho semblance of criticism. " 'L'o tell tlio honest truth," lie added, " I havo not yet quito got over Inst night's uncanny sensation of sitting with one's back to a, concealed enemy. I'm aware of it again | now. It would not be surprising if ono of the three lads you have spotted here was tho gentleman behind the curtain in Welbeck Street. . . . Well, well, who'd havo thought, at the beginning of this wook that you and I would be up to the neck m tho old gaino once more? Do you remember that night in a Chin Lushai valley when you and I were stretched out in tho wet jungle, watching a mooting between that son-of-a-gun, Wong Chu, and thoso silly asses, tho head-men of a group of villages at tho entrance to the lihamo district?"

Westobv wriggled uneasily. •' What a reminiscence to bring to mind after a good luncheon," ho protested. "'i lie leecnes were bad enough. But that infernal snake!—l can feel it yet —can you?"

" L felt it first," sniggered the younger man. " I took jolly good caro to press closo to you so t lint tho blighter couldn't get his head up. I've oiten wondered what kind of snake it was. It may have been a perfectly harmless one." " And it may not. To mo all snakes are rank poison. It's queer you should have mentioned that. The passing of tho wretched thing gavo Weng Chu a few more days of lite. I resolved at onco that if the snake got 1110 I would get him—Weng, I mean. It was quito a relief when the, rascal was shot in fair fight a week later. . . . But., this won't do. 1 have a heap of work waiting. Shall I see you at dinner to-night ?"

"If I'm free. There may bo constabulary duty to be, done, and for tho time being I must obey orders, I suppose." Manncring did not explain to his friend that the break-down of tho luncheon might havo been due quite as much to his own strange behaviour as to any hint or command Sir \\ illiam's secretary received from ono of her cosmopolitan associates. Ho had suddenly conceived a violent and wholly irrational hatred of her. He could not even tolerato her propinquity. It seemed hardly credible that an hour earlier he had squeezed hei arm when they were together in tho taxi. Nevertheless, being an eminently sane person, he did not permit morbid notions of that sort to dominate him. " What I want is exercise," ho decided. On reaching tho club ho fell asleep, and did not wako up until a valet entered to lav out his dress clothes He was changing when tho telephono rang, and the hall-porter announced: " Mr. Wilkins to seo you, sir " For an instant Mannering was puzzled. Then, luckily, ho associated the name with tho Welbeck Street house. " Send him up," he said. "Ho won t mind having a chat whilo I finish dressing." . , , A glance at the butlor s worried faco showed that something alarming bad happened during tho afternoon. Wilkins had been an anxious man at the lunch hour now ho was a thoroughly frightened one. Ho wore the conventional out-door garb of his craft, a spotless but rather thveadbaro black morning coat and waistcoat and dark striped trousers. " Well, sir, this is a nice how-d yedo—" ho began, but Mannering lifted a hand .and recalled tho boll-boy who had brought tho visitor upstairs. j "A whiskv and soda or a stiff cocktail?" he inquired. Tho butler admitted he could "do with a bracer," which, it appeared, was a " gin and mixed. "And what has gone wrong now? said Mannering airily, since he did not know yet how far ho could take the man into his confidence.

" Everything, sir," came the surprising statement, and Wilkins practically collapsed into an armchair. " Tho guv - nor's been dead these two days an more, it would seem, an' Miss Bingham is just doing a bunk to Holland by tho way of Harwich, an' some other young lady whom I've never heard of -before, though the papers say she's Sir William s secretar'% has been kidnapped by motor bandits "in somo littlo town up in Yorkshire —" "What's that?" growled Mannering, and such lightnings blazed from his eyes that the butler wilted visibly. " Here, hold on, sir!" he gasyicd. "Yon ain't blamin' me, aro you ? You asked me to come and seo you, and I jumped at the chance, because no real white man has called at Sir William's houso during the past three weeks. I came as soon as I could." " Yes, yes. But what is this about the kidnapping of a young lady?" " It's all in the evening papers, sir. Here you aro! I've brought two. Mannering could not wait even to open the proffered sheets. ti _ "Is tho lndv's name mentioned?' Is she a Miss Bcttv Hard acre? ho said, and Wilkins was not so unhinged as to bo deaf to the dismay in the younger man's voice. " Yes, sir. That s it—Miss Hardacre!" ho wcezed. "But, bless your heart, sir, don't vou worry—she's all right Behaved like a brick, she did. You'll be able io seo it all in the movies to-morrow evenin,' the paper says. Mannering, aware only of an almost overwhelming relief at. the man s assurance as to Betty's well-being, gave slight heed to that concluding statement. _ 110 heard the words clearly enough, it is true, but dismissed them as somo queer jt. nilile of fact and fiction. But he. was quickly undeceived. Tho men who write up sensational news for tl e evening press 'lo not beat about tho bush. Thev tell their story at onco in glaring head lines and sharp, decisive sentences. And here was a case where the motion-picture operators witnessed the shooting affray in Foxton High Street, wero themselves on the journalistic side of their profession. They had no need to depend on hearsay evidence. They described what thoy had actually seen and photographed! It, was an epic story, which lost none ,<f its savour because of the promise that tho whole exciting and unprecedented episode—unprecedented, that is, as a cinematographic, record of any such happening in real life—would bo shown on tho screen next day in many of the leading picture houses in London and the

piovinccs. Thcro could be no gainsaying the nrcuri'-v of tho-leaded paragraphs in the ]ar«o type of real display. The writers told how they had gone to tho moor oarly in the morning, and taken pictures of the farm and its surroundings. Returning to Fox ton for lunch they woro dohating the pros and cons of securing any further story in a quiet littlo town which could hardly yield any additional material for thoir ''News Gazette "—they had already filmed Betty, Dr. Lysaght, and Superintendent, Dunkeld!—when tho first shots of the battle brought thorn to tho windows. 'lhonrefort.il they had missed nothing. Owing to tho importance of the affair, and Sir William Sandling's high place in the scientific world, tpecial 'announcers would attend when ihe picturo was displayed, and elucidate its points and leading characters. It did cot take long for Mamicnng to grasp what all this meant though ho was far from guessing tho identity of the motor-cyclist who arrived on tho scene in tho nicfc of ttmo and behaved with such phenomenal coolness and courage. " Have you been in communication with the police?" he demanded, whirling round suddenly on the dejected butler, who, of course, had his own reasons for lamenting the death of a generous employer. "No, sir. What's tho use? was tho Unexpected answer. i, ''Every use in tho world! You must |tall thorn everything you know. This

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affair goes far bevonrl a mero outbrea of robbery, even though accompanied b murder."

" Tho police know all thai I know and a lob more," persisted Wilkins. " I'm oot exactly blind, and I soon found out that detectives were watching our place for weeks from the consulting-room of a doctor's house opposite. I couldn't make nut what it was all about, but, of course, I said nothing to nobody, but I did think these past few days it would bo as well if I kept a sort of diary showing what people called and who they wanted, and that sort of thing. They were all foreigners. Believe, me, sir, you're the first Englishman to come near us for a fortnight. An', Miss Bingham, now—she's queer—not qupe one of our folk, sir--"

" Forgive mo for seeming to bo rude, Wilkins, but while I am putting through a call to Scotland Yard I want you to answer a few question briefly. When Miss Bingham returned to-day at two o'clock what did she do?" " She was busy on the 'phone for a good hour or more." "And then what?"

" Three men called separately, but they all went out together—the young woman, as well. I mean. That would bo about 4.30, but I couldn't get here at five, as my orders were to stand fast in case 1 wis wanted." " For what ?"

" I didn't know then, sir, but I do now. I had to help to pack, or, at any rate, cord boxes and books and papers, which seemed to be all ready. Miss Bingham just threw her own things together any-how. Sho told me to say in reply to any inquiries that she would bo back tomorrow but I doubt it very much, sirfirst, because she has taken a lot of stuff which, 1 am sure, does not belong to her,and second, she had not been gone many minutes when the steamer people rang up from Harwich to say they were reserving four berths for to-night on the boat leaving for the Hook of Iloland. Manncring held up a warning hand. Sheldon was on the wire. "Quite a coincidence!" said the detective, in tho even, unflurried voice which forbade panic and even seemed to chide impatience. " I was just about to try and get hold of you. I want you to start for tho North at 11 p.m." " For Foxton! broke in Manncring eagerly. " No. Not Foxton. That littlo town will be quiet now during the remainder of tho century. Yon'vo seen the evening papers, of course?" '• si r William's butler has just brought them. Ho is hero now—in my room at the club." 11 Ah, that's all right. 'J ell lnm lie can go liomo and sleep soundly to-night." " But he has a sort of dossier which yoTJ ought to see." "" No hurry. I'll look in on him m tho morning. Mr. Winter has just turned up, and lie is as interested as you in the news from Yorkshire. Ho was sure something dramatic would happen, but, of course, Furneaux must put, the lid on a boiling pot by turning up the way he did—- " Was Furneaux the motor-cyclist. "uf course! Pou don't imagine that, the avcrago joy-rider is going to sail into any row so cheerfully where lead is flying from shot-guns and automatics?

" I don't feel like exercising my imagination in any shapo of iorm, at the moment. If I did, I might wonder why Miss Betty Hardacre was exposed to such damnable risk and very ill-treatment.

" Steady, now, Mr. Mannenntr. The ' Yard ' has not done badly in this case, as you will find out, but our mm cannot 'phone " „ r " What about tho butler, Mr. Wilkins?" , « "Drat tho fellow! Is he there slill? Give him a drink and send him home. "But ho says " " That tho party from tho ltltz is bound for Harwich and the Continong. Yea. That's all right. They won't cross the grey North Sea for some days, if ever. Now, please listen ! If you vc dressed for dinner change back to that nico blue serge which suits you so well. Then meet tho chief and mo at eight o'clock at tho Ristorante Milano, proprietor V. Tucci, all set forth in. coloured lights at tho top of Dean Street., Soho. Walk straight upstairs and' enter the second room on the left, first floor. If anyone challenges you the pnss-word for the week is 'II Duce." You will be given a far better dinner than at. the club—- " I've half promised to meet West-

oby— ~ t ,, " Can von trust him r ~ "Trust Wcstoby? What on earth—- " Oh, I don't moan high treason.. llo's a departmental chief, or on t lie staff, anyhow, and those fellows sniff at unrecognised methods." "Not Westoby, on your life! Great Scott! I'll get him to open up on the ordeal of the inflated goat-skin, as invented by him, and practised on various scoundrels in Assam and Burm. "Is that so? You remember, I thought him rather chesty. Well, bring him, too." . " And where do I go afterwards . " A lone* way beyond r ox ton. Really "Righl-o! See * you at eight!" Mannering did not want to lnut the butler's feelings by an abrupt dismissal, so he decided to use him. " Look here!" lie said cheerily, were all in. this business up to tho neck. \\ ill you give me a hand " Certainly, sir," said Wilkins. Tho man was delighted to help. He was an expert packer, too. He had nearly completed his task when ''Foxton 20 was announced. It was Lysaght. who spoke, and he promptly dished Mannering's hope of exchanging a few words \viih Betty by saying that she was in beu and well dosed with bromide. " Has she cracked up, then ? Mannering forced himself to say calmly. " No. Indeed, sho is rather sore with mo for insisting on soup and' sleep. But tho feminine nervous organism in good health is liko a violin in perfect tune. It will not suffer from use, but it certainly cannot stand a heavy bang. Now, Miss Hardacro had to endure a perfectly i hellish couple of minutes this morning, I and such a rough experience, coming after tho insensibly severe strain of the past few days, means exhaustion. Of course, she'll deny it, yet I'm sure she'll be rather big-eyed and white-lipped to-morrow. I shan't bo torn', as, in that case, I can forbid her from attending tho funeral. "Do you mean Sandling's ?" " Yes. Ho is to be buried here. His son has cabled from Lucknow. It seems the married daughter in Kenya is too ill to be told what has happened. How are you? Pretty fit, I hope? Furneaux has just joined me for a whisky and soda. Ho wants to say something. \es, I I'll toll the young lady in tho morning that you rang up." In a few aocon-ds etirno a- hign-pHclied yoke. n , . 44 That you, Capitano . It s all in tno newspapers, I hear. I'm told they give a flattering but life-liko description of mo. Tho chief will bo green with envy. Don't bo surprised, after this, if lie takes to motor-cycling. Well, you and ( I may meet to-morrow. Where? Hasn t Sheldon wised you up ? But you re going to dine with tho chief and him, so you U bo given full details. My own guess is that the Homo Office is being consulted in tho matter. And what do you think of the policeman's happy lot after a brief experience of it? It's a great life if you don't weaken- Yes, I'm well aware that I'm doing all the talking. The.ro are reasons why I can't let yotj butt in, because you want to ask questions, and I simply* daro not answer. But the chief, not having been here, will be full of information.. If Pucci stages a capon compliment, vour host on his carving, and he'll loosen up. By the way, do you know tho American language ? Yes ? Well, sco that you're well heeled betoro you get on tho train. No. I didn't say ' oiled.' You'ro being flippant. Goodbye!" . And tho connection was broken. (To bo continued daily.)