CATCHING UP.

Otago Witness, Issue 3511, 28 June 1921, Page 46

CATCHING UP.

THE NOVELIST.

[Published bt Special Abeancbmbk?.}

By

Henry C. Rowland,

Author of “The Dear Eccentric,” “The Pedlar,” “Duds,” etc., etc.

[Copyright.]

CHAPTER XXV. “Now you ought to breathe easier !’’ The signal smote on Calvert’s senses as some months earlier had Henring’s whistle, shrilling the signal to go over the top. The French agent crouched at his side had likewise been instructed. Both were tense and quivering, for the solution of the mystery had blazed simultaneously upon their mental faculties. The long, slim screw set in the knob had explained the nature of the mysterious weapon. Both had got this as Townley was releasing it, so that it had not needed his comment on the blood-filled spiral. The crime had been re-constructed instantaneously to their minds. Townley, standing at the foot of the bed, his hand upon the knob, stasing at Hazard in his drunken sleep after having already picked his pockets ; the knob perhaps a little loose in his hand, which was toying with it nervously ; the sudden opportunity presented : the knowledge that HazardVs death would leave Agnes—already infatuated with him —heiress to a million; the window opening on to the deserted street. One could swiftly visualize the heavy repeatedblows necessary to to drive the rough TKstrumeiit into the labouring alcoholic heart; and after the assassin had escaped, Hazard in a dying effort reached for the bell. For at Nita’s signal words, “Now you ought to breathe easier,” Calvert and the agent lunged together for the stout iron hook which held shut the armoire door, and in so doing each fouled the other, while the hook, being stiffly set in its screw eye did not slip out. Thus it happened that their weights thrown forward against the resisting door capsized the tali armoire, which toppled, pitched, forward and came down with the two inside it. In the terrific crash which accompanied the falling of the wardrobe, and the roars and imprecations of the two inside it, Nita’s shriek lent itself to the clamour, and Townley was for an instant petrified with shock.’ But only for an instant. _ He was no thick-sculled or craven criminal, and his quick mind seized upon the fact that he had walked into a trap, even as there came a banging on the door. All that saved Nita’s life in that second was the thoughtfulness of Jules Legrand, the French agent de surete, in having lifted a plank from the top of the armoire for the sake of air to breathe during their period of waiting. As Townley now whipped out his pistol and was about to level it at Nita, who was struggling in her pocket tor her own, an arm thrust out through the aperture and a strong hand gripped the assassin by the ankle, wrenching his leg from under him, eo that he came down with a crash which smashed the carved wood decoration on top of the armoire. Nita. flew to the door and was unlocking it when Townley wrenched free and rushed to the window. He swung it inward with a quick turn of the knob, unlatched the iron volets, thrust them out and slid across...the sill just as Nita turned and fired. "' Nita unlocked the door, when an armed agent plunged into the room. “Where is he 9 Where are they?” But Nita could not answer. She staggered to the bed and fell across it in wild hysterical shrieks of laughter. ‘it was perhaps the bitterest moment in Calvert’s life when he helped Nita into a taxi in front of the hotel and got in after her. The furious Jules Legrand, his fellow prisoner in the armoire, bad wasted no time in vain recriminations, but rushed out immediately with his men to spread the alarm and the police net about the fugitive assassin. He had said merely, “To-morrow at the prefecture at ten.” Left thus alone with Nita, Calvert had found his hands full to quiet her hysteria, in which sobs and laughter were mingled to an alarming extent. As soon as she had been able to control herself sufficiently to leave he had got her in the vehicle, where for a while she s-at, her face buried in her hands, her body heaving convulsively. It was a complete nervous breakdown, and Calvert could not wonder at it. Tin’s passed presently into a quiet sobbing, with occasional gusts of the same alarming laughter, but less violent. Calvert could, of course, realize the tremendous strain which she had been under since their meeting, and that now this bizarre and ludicrous climax had utterly demoralised her nerves. Calvert thought it betier on the whole that now —her nerves stretched to the snapping point—she could find emotional relief instead of remaining in a state of deadlv calm, the result of which might have been a brain crisis. So he let her sob on witl iont interruption. To tell the truth, Calvert was himself so overwhelmed with mortification at his own absurd part in the finale that he was not c o acutely solicitous of Nita no no doubt he should have been. In fact his burning shame at, having plaved the clown when the fatal moment arrived almost robbed him of the consolation of knowing that at any rate the name of bin friend and brother o ffi eer. Nita’s brother was now cleared of all taint, and that Hie four beneficiaries of poor Hazard were free to enjoy their inheritance with no reproach. Nita’s sobs diminished in violence, and l>v the time they had reached the Place de I’Alma they ceased entirely. “Oh. dear.” she sighed, “what a night.!” “What a bensf.lv fiasco!” growled Cal vert, bitterly. “Can you ever forgive me. Nita?’’

She laid her hand upon liis arm. “It wasn’t your fault. We should have fastened that rickerty old thing to the wall.” >She began to choke again, but managed to control herself. “Don’t mind my laughing, Calvert, but it was funny, wasn’t it? Everything all set, and I drawing back to leave the coast clear, and then—crash-bang and that awful uproar,, and you two men snarling and growling inside like a pair of lions. Then the banging on the door and Howard trying to shoot me and I trying to get to my gun, and then the agent yanking his legs from under him ” a real peal of laughter burst from her irrepressibly. , “I -don’t think,” said Calvert, “that I sna.l ever be able to look in the mirror again. I ought to wear a medal with a big ass’s head upon it.” Well, anyhow,” said Nita, “he hasn’t got away by a long shot. He’s a conspicous figure and the French police are keen. It s up to them now. They’ve got bis number and I don’t see how he can get. for. Fite main thing is that it clears Jerry, and incidentally it puts us all on Easy But we’ve got to be awfully careful buddy. He’ll get us if he can.” “I ought to be got,” said Calvert. “But I shan’t sleep easy on your account until he’s nabbed.” “He may learn that Jerry’s my brother, and he 11 see that we were after him from the very start. Or lie may be too busy making his get-away.” “I don’t see how he can manage it,” raid Calvert. “There is only one way in which he might,’ said Nita. “A man like that is apt to have affiliations with some organized criminal outfit. If, for instance, lie happens to stand in with such a mob as operated here before the war they might be able to hide him until the chance offered for getting him out of the country. A pretty complete monster is dear Howard.” “How in the world did you manage it, Nita.?” “I played on his weak spot, which is that of most such natures. I let him think that I was the victim of an infatuation for him. Then I made him understand that there was nothing doing of the sentimental sort so long as he was in danger of the guillotine. 1 told him the truth about how I guessed at the sort of implement used by Hazard’s assassin.” “I understand,” said Calvert. “It was suggested to your mind by Jerry’s bed. You are a wonder, Nita.” Nita turned on her seat and looked deeply into his eyes. “I’d like to be more than that, Calvert—for you.” Calvert took her hand in both of his. “Nita,” said he, “I think that you are the bravest and wittiest and most fascinating girl in all the world, and. I’d be crazy about you if it weren't that I were already in love.” Nita sighed and drew away her hand. “Just the one tiling wanted to make me supremely happy—and it’s already bespoken !” “It was bespoken before I met you,” Calveit answered. “Of course, buddy. I’m not trying to tamper with your affections —especially as I know it wouldn’t,be any use. You’ll marry your lovely Isabel and be supremely happy. She’s really just the girl for you. I’m too—too —sensational for your sort. And yet, Calvert, I have a feeling deep inside me that our joint destinies have net worked out; that some ” “Don’t say it, Nita!” said Calvert. “All right, I shan’t. I doubt if we meet again after to-night. I just ran over here lor a. little change of surroundings and some excitement and got it.” Calvert, was strangely troubled. The idea that he might not see Nita again gave him a stab of positive pain. It was though some bright, glittering, radiant presence was going out of his life. He was pondering on this when Nita’s round arms slipped suddenly round his neck, and he found her demoralising face close to his. “One good-bye’kiss, Calvert,” she whispered, “and then I shan't bother you again.” Just before reaching the Villa des Lilas, Nita straightened up on the seat, removed the traces of tears, whipped out a vanity bag from somewhere, powdered her nose, touched her lips, gave her hair a pat, her hat a tug, and became again the charming insouciant Juanita Heming. “Can't let this old sportswoman see me looking like a repentant, tear-stained Agnes,” said she. “It took about all of her self-control to let me go through with this.” “You told her what you meant to dor Calvert asked. “Yes, the other night after you’d left.” “But how in the world did van manage “I made him believe that I had fallen victim to a mad infatuation for him and that f believe him to be the murderer. I told him that you were a secret agent of the police, and that you and others were spreading the. r.et round him and that 1 wanted to help him escape. Then I told him what I had guessed, and pointed out that it might suggest itself to some other clever mind and that he .must remove that bit of evidence.” “Did he confess?” “No ; but as it turned out his act was a direct betrayal.” She was silent for a moment. “I wonder if the French agent was right and that lie meant to kill me too ?’’ “I don’t know, Nita. Feeling the thing in his hand again and knowing that you alone had guessed his secret might have roused the murderous impulse which led to his killing Hazard. T don’t believe so though. Tt would have been a silly thing to do.” “Wo shall never know,” murmured Nita “Here we are Calvert. Come in and we’ll tell Lady Audrey all about it. The old dear is going to have the one big laugh of her lonely life.’’ CHAPTER XXVr. Calvert and Isabel walked their horses under the high, leafy arcades which at that season might, through half-closed eves, have been a tropic forest because of the big plane and catalpa leaves, the very vivid green moss on the tree trunks, the

lather hea\y perfume of acacia blossoms and the sweet, earthy odours of the damp mould. This day in late June was a day for artistes and lovers, and neither was lacking. It wrought on Calvert curiously. There seemed to be some inhibitory influence at work, which prevented his reaction to Nature’s invitations. Isabel, glancing at him from time to time, noticed this. “You must get all this horrid affair out of your head, Calveit,” said she. “It’s finished now, and the records closed and the case dismissed. But you haven’t yet told me all about it. Perhaps yould better do so, then turn the leaf and glue it down. ” “It s not altogether that,” said Calvert. “I m thinking of poor Hazard, and how little he deserved the cards dealt him —- and how unfair it is that the rest of us should profit by his loss.” “Thai tseems always happening in this world. Perhaps it catches up in some other.” “Well, it caught up with Townley in this. There was a singular example of Nemesis and the futility of criminal selfishness. Darker was right in his seek the woman theory and in thinking that Agnes was holding something more back.” "But ehe never suspected him herself ?” “Not for a second. He had her absolutely fascinated and she believed everything he told her. She thought him a fine' type of English gentleman down on his luck. .Site met him by appointment that night and went with him to the cinema, and going there told him what she had learned that day from Heming about having so closely missed a big inheritance. A\ lien they came out she caught sight of Hazard and Y\ agner and pointed them out to him, saying that she wanted to speak to them. Townley said that in that case lie had better leave her, as Hazard might resent her being with him . lie probably followed them to Bouquet's, then back to Hazard s hotel. When they drove away and he found the coast clear he must havo slipped in after Hazard in time to see him enter his room. Hazard was pretty drunk, and Townley finding him stumbling round the. hall might have offered to help him to bed.” “The idea of assassination must have seized Townley suddenly, or he would have been provided with a weapon,’’ said Isabel. “He had no time to get one. His idea might have been merely to rob him, as Agnes said that Hazard was flashing a big roll of money. We discovered that Town” lev had been cleaned out at the races two days before and had been trying to borrow, but without success. He was badly in need of a stake. Then, while leaning against the foot of the bed with the knob in his hand lie found it wobbling, and may have unscrewed it in a nervous, mechanical way, as one is apt to handle an object like that. When it came off he looked at it and the devil put the idea into his opportunist mind. That long ccrew suggested a deadly weapon which could be used and immediately replaced and nobody ever dream of such a thing. He had a powerful double motive too strong to be resisted. It would relieve itis present necessity and enable him to marry an heiress. Ho jammed it into Hazard’s heart four times with a force which alone was enough to stop its beat. Then lie took Hazard’s money, wiiich might have been under 1 1 is pillow, and slipped out and jumped into a taxi and got back to the Villa des Lilas in time to meet Agnes as she came in. That was his alibi. He probably counted on her going straight back, and if he bad not found her there he would have waited in the little cafe across the street.” “How did Nita ever think of su.-h a thing ?” “She helped Jerry furnish his anartment, and the bed was identical. France was flooded with these things at one time, and they come from the shop in pieces, with the knobs wrapped up in tissue paper to protect them. When I spoke of Jerry's bed being the same kind as the one in which Hazard was murdered— ” He paused. Isabel shot him a quick questioning look “How did you happen to speak of it?” she asked. A dark flush spread over Calvert’* face. “When I took her to Jerry’s apartment to dress for the ball.” "But surely you both weren’t in the apartment—in Captain Heming’s re/.-de-ehaunsee !’’ “Yes ; I went in with her to see that everything was in order, and while looking through the apartment f happened to remark that the bed was identical with the one on which Hazard was found murdered. She looked so startled that I apologized for having spoken of it. She answered that I had given her a clue or suggested an idea, but she would not tell me what it was. Afterward she told me why.” “I think T understand. She was afraid that it. might furnish evidence against her brother.” “Yes: perhaps she thought that it might shake my conviction in his innocence.’’ Isabel stared straight between her horse’s ear*, and Calvert, watching her without appearing to do so. realized that his indiscretion had brought them suddenly to a crucial instance. He could almost see the process of Isabel’s thought, and lie felt all at once as though in starting to ride the trail together they had come upon a quicksand across which lay so narrow a path that a false step would be fatal. If Isabel now resented his act in going to Homing's apartment, with Nita, or if she condoned it grudgingly but with evidence of lacking faith in him. Calvert felt that he would never say to her that which he had only been awaiting opportunity to declare oinee his interview with Grenfell (trine the day before. Then, as he watched, he saw her expression begin to clear. She turned her head and looked at him untroubled, with a serene faith in her warm, indigo eyas. Their horses were close together, and Isabel reached out and laid her gloved palm on Calvert’s bridle hand. “You might do a foolish thing, Calvert, ’’ said she, “but I find it impossible to

believe that you would ever do a ehanieful one. ” “Not while I love you, you darling,” Calvert answered huskily, ‘‘and that is going to be for ever.’’ They came presently to Armenonville, which, for all of its late forenoon gaietjof flashing frocks and uniforms, and pawing, tinning ho.se.; and glittering cars, appeared to merge into a sort of impressionistic background for an erect, distinguished feminine figure, mounted on a splendid rangy hunter, s'rong In! dc< : le, a.s hie rider sipped a glass of Oporto. “Lady Audrey !” cried Isabel. ‘‘Hallo, kiddies!” called Lady Audrey. ‘‘You teem to have found yourselves. You weren’t speaking when I saw you last. 1 drew rein in the Alle to let you pass.’’ Isabel laughed. “That must have been the dreadful moment when the green-eyed monster was Stalking me between the trees.” ‘‘Well, I’m glad you had the sense to twist it’s tail.” Her shrewd eyes flitted from the girl to Calvert. Then at the look which passed between the two, “Hi, waiter, tine bou-te-ille de champagne. ” They drank the only beverage worthy to honour an occasion of such sparkling importance. “Where are you off to now?” “I don’t know, Lady Audrey. To heaven, I think.” “I think I'd like to look at the roses again,” Isabel murmured. Lady Audrey nodded. “That’s as yood a place as any,” she approved. “Horses are all right, but there are moments when they get in the way a bit. Take this palpitating girl to the Rose Gardens, Calvert, and start your lifelong effort at catching up. But I say, though, bs jollv careful that you never quite manage it.” (The End.)