THE SPIDER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20922, 11 July 1931, Page 12 (Supplement)

THE SPIDER.

By ELLIOT BAILEY.

CHAPTER I. . t It was the fine free walk of her that J first drew Rex Morley's attention to the ( girl who preceeded him along the western pavement of London Bridge. Not tall, as the modern girl goes, her ( slim litheness accentuated her height, the ; poise of her whole dainty figure speaking of a physical fitness that involuntarily attracted the young man to whom physical ' fitness was something of a fetish. Insensibly he quickened his step, conscious of a natural desire to view at closer quarters one whom already he had set down as subtly different to the remainder of her sex. When, therefore, after a sudden glance over the side of the bridge, he saw her vault lightly on to the high parapet, stand for an instant silhouetted against the gloomy buildings of the further bank, and then take a headlong dive into the river below, he stopped short in utter stupefaction. From his cursory' inspection of her he would have put her down as the last person to contemplate suicide, and yet what else. . . . ? The inevitable hubbub arose. Men and women, rushing from all directions, lined the parapet of the bridge. Busses pulled up, and the passengers on top rose to their feet and craned their necks. - A policeman, trying to push forward, found himself engulfed in the throng. Everyone talked and shouted aimlessly. It was left to Rex to act. A scramble, less dignified and less graceful than the girl's clean leap, took him to the top of the coping, whence for the fraction of a second he eyed the brown swirl of the water below. The tide had only just commenced to ebb, gbut even so the dive was a higher, one than lie.had ever attempted beforp. He had a swift vision of a barge slipping out of sight beneath the arches of the bridge, of the girl's head parting the river's surface, and then he too went over—feet first. It seemed to him that the impetus of the leap must carry him down to the muddy bottom of the river, yet barge and girl bad barely cleared the bridge when he shook the water from his eyes ana started in pursuit. And immediately he became aware of more than one circumstance that he had not noted before. In the first place, the gifl was obviously not drowning. She was, indeed, swimming as strongly and almost, as swiftly as himself. And just in front of her another head was bobbing amid the brown wavelets, a head almost devoid of hair—the head, Rex concluded at first glance, of a baby. In the stern of the barge a cursing man was straining at his great oar, as if endeavouring to swing his unweildy craft nearer to the swimming figures. So much Rex took in, and he realised at once the cause of the girl's action. This was no matter of suicide —he felt curiously ashamed at ever having thought so—but obviously a very gallant attempt at rescue on her part. She had come up with that bald, bobbing head now, and was supporting it, and Rex only felt one fear—that she might be drawn, by suction underneath the nearing barge. He lengthened his stroke and shot towards her. She turned her Jiead as he came alongside, and a gleam of amusement showed in her blue eyes. " Hello," she said, her clear tones as cool as if greeting an acquaintance under the most ordinary circumstances on dry land, "another bather! Well, you # may help me with this child." They were now in the slacker waters of the pool, and all at once from beyond the barge glided a motor-launch of the River ' Police. The three men aboard her acted " with the quiet efficiency -of their kind. In less time than it takes to tell, Rex and the others had been hauled aboard. A sergeant, holding the tiller, addressed Rex gruffly. " What's the meaning of this family bathing party?" he demanded. The young man was about to reply when he was interrupted by the girl. She was pointing at the object of her rescue, h.er voice shrill with amazement. I " Look!" she exclaimed. " Look ! And I thought it was a child!"- x

tween Rex and the girl at the former's discomfiture. From that moment they knew that at any rate they were destined to be friends.

" Sorry, sergeant," Rex apologised. " What next, eh ?" " We'd best hand young Timothy there over to his dad. Then we'll get you ashore. Sooner you're both out of those wot clothes the better." With which Rex found himself in cordial agreement. He was beginning to feel none too warm himself, and he knew, although she tried to conceal the fact, that Norah was shivering.

" Right," ho said. "Be as quick as you like, sergeant I want to get Miss Banfield home."

By this time the fellow with the sweep had manoeuvred the barge round so that he headed up stream, and was holding her motionless against the tide. The launch ran alongside, and the' sergeant raised his voice.

" Where's Manezra ?" he asked the steersman.

Without speaking, the man jerked his head toward a small cabin at the stern of the barge, and the sergeant shouted. "Hi, Mr. Manezra; you're wante'd! Bless the fellow, is he asleep?" he added sotto voce.

There came a stirring from within the cabin, and the next instant the opening was framed by a being so extraordinary, so repulsive, that both Rex and Norah forgot the eccentric appearance of Timothy in their startled contemplation of the newcomer. The lurking sense of amusement in the girl's eyes faded out abruptly, and was replaced by something very like fear. Impulsively, she caught Rex by the sleeve, and he heard the intake of her breath. "Merciful heaven 1" she murmured. " Can it be human?" There was reason for the query. The figure that shuffled out from the dim recesses of the cabin into the pitilessly revealing daylight, was as nearly inhuman as anything could be and still bear the name of man. Short and squat, with huge, barrellike body, to which inadequate legs and enormous hairy arms gave the similitude of some throw-back to man's remote ancestors, he reminded Rex more than anything else of some obscene, overgrown spider just emerging from its lair. But the stolid' sergeant had seen him too ofteu to be affected by his appearance.

CHAPTER 11. It was," indeed, a curious creature that sat, bedraggled and shivering, in the body o£ the launch. Scarcely four feet tall, it possessed the smooth, cherubic countenance and large fluffy head of a baby. Yet, allied to these signs of immaturity were those of an incongruous, and, in some respects, a rather dreadful maturity. j lb was as if on that, round, infantile countenance, with its button nose and fat cheeks, there had been indelibly stamped an impression of age and disillusion. The eyes, especially, gave the lie to that first effect of youth. Dark, morose, and introspective, they mutely rebuked the girl whose astonishment had carried her away. A long coat reaching almost to his ankles, and unbuttoned in front, revealed that he was clad in ludicrous plus-fours. One of the police leaned forward confidentially. " It's Timothy Manezra," he vouchsafed beneath his breath. " That Will be his father's barge yonder." "And how old is he?" the girl whispered. " Oh, 30 or so," was the unconcerned reply- , " Good heavens!" Rex and the girl exclaimed, in startled unison. The sergeant's grating voice broke -in again. " I asked just now how this picnic started/' ha insisted. It was the girl who answered. " He began it," she indicated Timothy. " I saw him,"—and here, for some reason, she hesitated a I saw him fall from the deck of the barge into the ;water, so, naturally, I hopped in to try and save him." "Naturally?" the sergeant repeated, a trifle dryly. "And where did you hop from, Miss?" .".From the bridge," was the unconcerned reply. " The bridge!" one of the others ejaculated—a buttress had obscured their view of the earlier proceedings—" Lumme, a tidy hop that!" "I should think it was!" Rex interjected. " Thp pluckiest thing I ever saw." " " . ■ The sergeant cast a disapproving look in his direction, as well as at his too demonstrative subordinate, and continued without, emotion. " Your name, Miss ?." ." Does that matter ?" " It does, Miss" " Oh, very well, then—Norah Banfield, if you must have it." " Ami yours, sir ?" The sergeant, who was industriously making notes in a large note-book, turned to Rex, " Rex Morley." " And you ' hopped ' in?" "To help Miss—Banfieid," was the prompt reply. " Where from, sir?" Rex hesitated. Norah Banfield's quizzical eyes were upon him, and he read the suppressed laughter in their depths. Too late he saw how his eulogy of the dive she had taken might be applied to his own act, and his natural modesty rebelled. "Where from, Mr. Morloy?" went on the inexorable querist. " Oh, from the bridge, too, confound it!" • " From the bridge, £OO con-—" scribbled the sergeant, hastily deleting the last word he had absent-mindedly started to insert, and, substituting a stronger one for it under his breath, which he did not attempt to set down. Then lie looked up, frowning. "Nothing to laugh about as I can see," he observed with severity^ It was not the sergeant's mistake, of which they were blissfully unaware, that had set them giggling, but some subtle current'*of humour that had passed be-

" Hi, Mr. Manezra," he said again, " why don't you look after your belongings ? This son of yours fell overboard just now, and you've got to thank this young lady here that he wasn't drowned. Dived from the bridge, she did. We've brought him back." Manezra turned tiny, red-rimmed eyes that peered out from a coarse and mottled face on Norah, and beneath the scrutiny of their deliberate gaze the girl was conscious of ■ a spasm of inexplicable fear. She shivered once more, and this time not from cold.

Yet the gross creature's voice when he spoke formed an agreeable surprise. It was curiously soft and cultured, its slight foreign accent not unpleasant. " That was brave of you. Miss," he told her. "Timothy is foolish; play near the edge. I shall have to teach iiim not to," Was there a threat to the luckless Timothy in those last softly spoken words ? Norah wondered and glanced at the silent dwarf. He seemed quite unconcerned, if a trifle sullen. "All the same, Mr. Manzera," the sergeant persisted, " It's a wonder you didn't hear something. Dozing. I sup-

pose, eh?" For an instant Manezra's heavy eyelids blinked, but before ho could answer the question, Rex leaned over and plucked the sergeant's arm. "What does it matter?" he urged impatiently. " Let's finish and get away. My teeth are chattering." For an instant the policeman looked aggrieved, but then apparently realised the other's point of view, for without further palaver, he picked up Timothy and hanued him over to his unprepossessing parent. •' Better keep him on a lead," he said, with heavy jocularity. ." Ho may not be so lucky next time." The police boat glided away, back toward the bridge and the Old Swan Pier, and it seemed to Norah that ass long as they were in sight the sinister eyes of Manezra never left her face. 15 i

CHAPTER 111. They were met at the landing-stage by an inspector of the River Police, to whom the sergeant rendered his report, and the officer regarded Rex and Norah approvingly. " You'd better come to my quarters, Mr. Morely," ho suggested. "My wife can look' after Miss Banfield, • and,"—he eyed Rex's stalwart frame—" I think I can fit you out with some temporary things while your own are drying. Afterwards, you can get home in eomfort. But, first of all, come into the office, and I'll give you both a nip of brandy to keep out the cold. March is a bit early for river bathing!" } Had he been on his own, Rex's impulse would have been to slip away as soon as possible in a taxi, but there was Norah to consider, and he gratefully accepted the kindly suggestion, which,, moreover, held another advantage. An inquisitive crowd of sensationlovers still H ne cl the parapet of the bridge, and a body of more ardent spirits had even overflowed down the narrow byway that led to the landing-stage, and an hour's delay or so would abate their ardour, and enable the girl and himself to get away without irksome publicity. Inspector Cornwall's hospitality did not stop at the mere drying of their clothes. When once more they were clad in their own garments, die set them down to an excellent tea, and not unnaturally the conversation turned on the subject of Manezra and his son.

"Yes, they're a strange pair," Cornwall admitted, " Timothy, of course, little moro than a half-wit. But the old man's looks belie him. He's harmless enough in spite of his appearance. Grows potatoes somewhere' down in the estuary —Cliffe, in Kent, to bo exact—and brings them up to London in that barge of his to sell them. They're both of them well known along the river." Mrs. Cornwall, a shrewd-looking, greyhaired woman at the head of the tablej gave a significant sniff. "Harmless, indeed!" she interposed, with an inflection of scorn in her voice. " That's all you know about it, John Cornwall. I've seen this Manezra man for myself, and I for one wouldn't care to bo alone with him on a dark night— I can tell you that!" " Well, my dear," said the inspector, mildly, " you won't have to be. I'm going by his record, that's all." "His record! Aye, lots of folks have got a good record —until they're found out. And he's one I'm thinking."

Her husband shrugged his shoulders, and his covert wink in Rex's direction contrived to convoy, as from man to man, that it was no use arguing with a woman. But Rex's answering look lent him little support. Ho was more in accord with Mrs. Cornwall than the inspector guessed.

When the time came for them to depart, the latter shook hands with them warmly. < " You're a lucky pair, both of you," he said, " although I know you bate to bo told so. Well, so long! Don't lot old man Manezra's handsome countenance haunt your dreams!" ' Rox made some .jesting reply, but Norah was silent, and'this silence persisted after they had leaned back against the cushions of the taxi in which she had given Rex permission to see her home. Thinking that she was beginning to feel the afterstrain of the day's events, her companion made no attempt to break in on her reverie, but at once she roused herself and spoke- of her . own accord. " Mr. Morley," she said, "I'm worried. There's .something I haven't mentioned, and I'm wondering whether I ought to have. You took that horrible little

Author of "The Japanese Parasol," "The Girl in Yellow." "The Campden Hill Myntery," etc, •

(COPYMGUT.

A POWERFUL WORK OF MYSTERY, SENSATION AND ROMANCE.

dwarf's falling overboard to bo an ac cideht, didn't you?" Ho turned to her in surprise. " Why, of course," he affirmed "Wasn't it?"

" I don't know—l wish I did. But just before he- fell I saw a great hairy hand and arm emerge from a side window in* the cabin—it must have been his father's, there was no one else there — and it looked to me as if ho was deliberately pushed. But I can't be sure." Ilex whistled.

" M'm," he murmured, " that's interesting. But ho may, of course, have been merely reaching out —just too late —to pull back Timothy from the edge." " I know," she agreed, " that occurred to me. All the same, if the police hadn't given Manezra such a good character, I should have said something about it. But it's a ghastly suspicion to voice, and I hadn't any proof, so probably it wouldn't have been taken seriously." " Probably not; old Manezra's evidently in the authorities' good books in spite of his cut-throat appearance. Anyway, I shouldn't worry about it. We're not likely to come up against that precious pair again—can't say 1 want to. Accident, or no accident, you did your bit in saving him. You swim jolly well, by

the way." Her blue eyes twinkled. " I did the Channel once," she' admitted demurely, " under another name." " Great Scott 1" ho breathed. "And I set out to rescue you!" ' Both laughed, and thereafter their talk turned on swimming until they reached her flat in Warwick Gardens. There shyness gripped Rex again, and he resolutely declined to go in and be thanked by Norah's mother, though at the time asking if he might call and pay his respects later on.

" Of course you may," she told him. " Good-bye." " Au re voir," he amended, and directed the cab-man to drive to his own rooms in Cromwell Road. -Of what—or of whom—Norah Banfield dreamed that night she would not confess until the events of many weeks had revealed their unexpected course, but Rex's sleep was disturbed by a hotchpotch of visions in which Manezra, in the guise of a great bloated spider, gloating over the body of a girl with blue eyes and delicious tip-tilted nose, predominated. it .was one of his matutinal amusements to peruse the agony column, that pot-pourri of human lads and fallacies, and almost immediately he paused in the act of lifting a cup o£ coffee to his hps. The second advertisement in the long list had caught his eye. S.M. would like to thank personally the girl who saved his son T. from drowning yesterday afternoon. Apply Box ." " 5.M.," Rex muttered angrily, "Simon Manezra, of course —as T. is Timothy. Curse the fellow's impudencehe's a bad egg if ever I saw one. Well, she won't answer this if my advice counts for anything." . Ho set down his coffee untouched, and reached for the telephone book. Scarcely had be begun to turn . its pages,' however, than his own telephone belt trilled, and he heard a well-remem-bered voice at the other end of the line. " That you, Mr. Morley T" Norah Banfield asked excitedly. " Seen the papers this morning?" " Yes," Hex growled, " I have. iou mean Manezra's advertisement in () the agony column, confound him ... V " The agony column ?" came in amazed accents. " I don't know what you mean. Manezra—Manezra is dead!" *

CHAPTER IV. ' A significant silence followed Norah's unlooked-for discloscure. Rex was frankly groping to adjust his ideas to this new development. "Dead!" he echoed at length. ''How do you know? How'can he be? He's got an ad. in the "Comet" asking you to meet him—l was just going to ring you up and suggest you had nothing more to do with him as a matter of fact." "Heavens!" the girl exclaimed, as if I should! But it's in the news part of the " Comet " that I saw what I'm telling you. He seems to have fallen overboard further down the river, .and hasn t been seen again." " Falling overboard," Rex observed, seems to b© fajnily amusement. I wonder if Timothy—?"' "So do I—but do come along and talk it over. If you hadn't been a chump you'd have come in yesterday," she added with the frank camaraderie of the modern maiden. " Mother's just dying to make your acquaintance." 44 My dear ! M —the fault expostulation just reached Rex's ears, and the young man grinned. ~ . . , " All right," he said. 111 finish my breakfast and come over at once, feo lone ! M He hung up the receiver, and, going back to the table, turned the pages of the " Comet" until he came across, the paragraph he wanted. The occurrence of the afternoon before had been recounted, with appropriately large headlines, / m the evening press, though to Rex s relie neither his nor Norah s name had transpired. The " Comet " account, referred to by Norah, occupied rather less space. ' A THAMES MYSTERY.

" There was a curious sequel (he read) to the exciting scene yesterday afternoon when a girl and a young man dived from London Bridge to rescue one of the occupants of a barge who had fallen overboard. Further down the river, the owner of the barge, Simon Manezra, who was aboard, was found to have disappeared, and it is surmised that he, too, must have fallen overboard, unobserved. It was dark at the time and the barge was approaching Cliffe, on the Kentish shore of the estuary, where Menezra, who was a well-known character on the river, had a potato farm. His absence was noticed by his son, and a third man who formed the crew of the barge. So far, the body has not been discovered." ' " Good Lord," Rex muttered. If Norah's " (so he already thought of her!) " suspicions were right, it looks as if young Timothy may have got his own back aiid heaved his amiable father over in his turn. Can't say I blame him either, and there'll bo no flowers from me! With one eye still glued on the paper, ho turned his attention to his by now somewhat tepid breakfast, and a quarter of an hour later was en route for Warwick Gardens. ... Ho found Mrs. Banfield to be a still pretty woman, with a marked likeness to her daughter. She welcomed him cordially, and was obviously as interested as either of them in what had transpired. "Norah has been talking of_ nothing else," she told him, " ever since she camo home yesterday full of how you l ad jumped from London Bridge to help he . By the way, you're Rox Morley, the artist, aren't you?" Rex laughed. " What makes you think that ? he asked. .

" Well, a persual of the drawings in the humorous weeklies for oqe thing. or another, there's a .portrait of you in this weolc's "Tatler that s not so flattening that one cannot recognise the on;• "Ah," he admitted, "I'd forgotten that. You're evidently of an observant nature Mrs. Banfield." "Very," she said, and for some reason Norah flushed at the dryness ofhertone. "For goodness sake, don t bo so personal, mother," she broke m " You'll make Mr. Morley What I want to know is what he thinks about this Manezra business. •• It's certainly an extraordinary coin cidence that ho should fall °Y e }' b .°^ c j too," Rex replied. "I was too by his advertisement in the agony column —for it must have been his, —to think of looking inside the pup®* until you 'phoned." \ (To bo continued on Saturday next.)