THE NOVELIST

Otago Witness, Issue 3995, 7 October 1930, Page 70

THE NOVELIST

The Mystery of Ryeburn' Manor.

By

JOHN LAURENCE,

Author of ” The Sign of the Double Cross Inn,” etc.

(Special for the Otago Witness.)

The poacher dropped the rabbit on the desk.

“ That’s evidence, sergeant,” he said. “ ’Ave it for to-morrow’s dinner. You and the missus’ll enjoy it.” Vidler, who had been watching with a smile of amusement on his face, intervened.

“ If you like to tell the strict truth, Perrings,” he said slowly, “ I think I can persuade Sergeant Pett to overlook to night’s affair.” “ What’s the game, mister? ” “ It’s no game,” replied Vidler easily. “ Here, fill your pipe.” He passed over his tobacco pouch and Perrings took it eagerly. “ Now, that’s what I call a gent, mister. A bit of baccy does you good.” He pushed the tobacco into his pipe with his forefinger, while he eyed the inspector shrewdly. He was a fine type of manhood, with a twinkle in his clear blue eyes which rather appealed to Vidler. There was nothing vicious about him, and, in fact, later, the detective learnt that, apart from his poaching propensities, the man was a good workman and reliable. But he held theory that all wild animals were every man’s property. “ What’s the idea, mister? ” he asked, as he puffed out a great cloud of smoke with evident enjoyment.

“ I want you to tell me where you were poaching to-night,” replied Vidler. “That’s all.”

“ Dang it, ain’t that what I’m ’ere for?” demanded Perrings, stroking his red beard. “ These ’ere two bluebottles were buzzin’ rov.n’.”

“ He was on the edge of the woods, sir, about half a mile from the road,” volunteered one of the constables, “ when we laid hold of him.”

The poacher nodded his agreement with the statement.

“There ain’t no rabbits on the roadside, what with trippers-and bluebottles scaring ’em.” “You don’t work the road, then?” The other grinned. “ You ain’t from these parts, mister. There ain’t nuthin’ on the road.”

“ That’s true, sir,” said the sergeant, who was beginning to get an idea of the inspector’s questions. “ Promise me you won’t poach any more to-night, and you can go home, Perrings,” said Vidler.

“ Dang it, sir, but you fair puzzle me .like. The sergeant had better keep my gun. I ain’t to be trusted with a gun an’ that’s a fact.”

“ You call for it in a couple of days’ time,” said the inspector. “The shot from that would never go through a windscreen and kill a man at twenty feet, let alone half a mile,” he observed, when the, grinning, rather amazed, Perrings had gone.

“ I might a’ thought of that,” said the

sergeant. “ Old Jimmy’s truthful enough, though he’s a bit of a hard nut. If he says he was poaching the other side that’s where he was. Besides, there s nothing to poach this side of the road.” “ That rules him out,” pointed out Vidler. “ I’ll have a shake down here, and we’ll have a look round as soon as day breaks.” THE BULLET.. The closest search the following morning, however, failed to reveal the slightest trace of anyone who must have been within a few yards of the edge of the road to hit a passing car. “ You might search for a week without finding,” remarked the sergeant. “ This undergrowth’s pretty thick now.” “ There’s something to be gathered from the fact that we don’t find any traces,” said Vidler thoughtfully. “ The very absence of clues is sometimes a clue.” -

Sergeant Pett scratched his head as he agreed, though he had not the slightest idea what the inspector was driving at. Vidler did not hurry back to Ryeburn Manor. After breakfast in the sergeant’s cottage he boarded a passing omnibus to Hastings, and there interviewed Doctor Luding. The latter had just come back from his examination when the detective arrived.

“ Lee was right,” he explained. “ There’s a bullet wound just above the left ear. The bullet’s still there.”

“ That’s all I want to know,” said Vidler. “ I’m much obliged to you, doctor. Did you ’phone Rawlinson at Rye?” “ Yes; he’s going out there at once. In fact, I gather he was just about to start when I got in touch with him. Mrs Lee lias had a fit of hysterics.” ' “ Do you mind if I use your ’phone? ” asked the detective.

He spoke to Harding, who seemed in a state of subdued excitement. “Lee broke the news to his wife this morning,” he said, in reply to Vidler’s

question. “ And I told Miss Sunderland. She wants to see you D.V., as soon as possible. She’s got something vital to tell you. She’s asked me half a dozen times where you were. Thornton’s death has been a terrible shock to her. It was Thornton she wanted to see last night before she told you her story, not Lee/as we thought. She’s keeping out of Lee’s way.”

She s got the real pearls, of course,” said Vidler.

He smiled grimly to himself as he heard Harding give an exclamation of astonishment.

■ “ How did you know, D.V. ? ” I didn’t till you spoke. I’m just beginning to put two and two together, that’s all, and making them four. Thornton, poor devil, did one good thin" by dying as he has done.”

“What’s that?” Brought Miss Sunderland out into the open,” said Vidler.

¥ ¥ SHEILA’S STORY.

Vidler on his return to Ryeburn Manor found Sheila and Harding sitting in the morning room talking in low tones to one another. There was a look" of acute distress in her blue eves, a strained expression on her white/tearstained face.

Oh, lin so glad you’ve come, Mr Vidler,” she cried, chokingly. “ It’s terrible, terrible! I can hardly believe it, even now.”

I hope it will see the end of vour troubles, Miss Sunderland,” said Vidler gravely. “ I think that it will.”

“ Oh, but the price is too great,” she wailed, dabbing her eyes with’ her handkerchief. “ I feel I’m responsible for his death.”

“Nonsense, my darling,” cried Harding. “It might have happened any time. You can’t make yourself responsible for a motor accident.”

‘ Supposing we got out into the grounds,” suggested the inspector. “We may be interrupted here. Let us go and sit in the summer house.”

“No, no, not there; anywhere but there,” protested Sheila. It was there

She broke off and cupped her face in her hands, and Harding made clumsy efforts to comfort her.

“Poor /little darling, you’ve, had a rough time. But there’s nothing to worry about now. You must go right away where you can forget.” ” He put his hand on her slim, shakin" shoulders. The inspector lighted a ci-° arette and looked out of the window. A pretty woman in tears was something which did not come within his powers of reasoning. It was a situation which he could only resolve by waiting. At last Sheila looked up as she wiped away her tears. “ I’m ready, Mr Vidler.” She rose, a little unsteadily, and set her lips as she led the way out of doors. Thornton’s death in this 'way had been a great shock to her. She walked slowly, feeling utterly wretched, along one of the pathways through the rhododendron bushes, which were now a mass of luxuriant mauve-coloured bloom. “ There’s a seat along here,” she explained. “We can talk there without being seen from the house.”

“ We don’t want to be interrupted,” agreed Vidler. It was some minutes after they had sat down before Sheila spoke. The inspector did not press her. Patience was a virtue, the value of which he had found many times in his career. “ What do you want me to tell you, Mr Vidler? Where do you want me to start? ” she asked, at last. “ I think you had better start at the beginning, when you and Mr Thornton first became engaged,” Vidler advised Sheila.

“ That was about three months ago. I broke the engagement only at the beginning of this week.” She stared ahead of her as she spoke in an almost toneless voice of despair. “ Come, now, you mustn’t blame yourself for his death,” said Vidler, laying a hand on her shoulder. “ But I do,” she answered. “If I had told you everything before, if I had made him come and tell you everything, perhaps this might not have happened. ’ “ Life is made up of * ifs,’ ” said the inspector. “ Things always seem so hard to alter at the time, so easy to alter afterwards if we had thought differently. But we think the way we are made. You got engaged secretly to Thornton three months ago ? ”

“ Yes. We were afraid of Mr Lee. He wouldn’t have kept us, I know. Mr Thornton was all the time looking round for another post, but they are not easy to get.”

“ Why should Lee have sacked von both ? ”

“I had a feeling he would. He was jealous of Thornton, I think. He always looked annoyed if he saw us together, and he told Mr Thornton once that he wouldn’t have any clandestine love-mak-ing in his household. You’ve only seen one side of Mr Lee, Mi - Vidler. He is implacable. It was impossible to make him alter anything he had set his mind on. He used to call me “My dear,” and look at me in a way sometimes which made me quite frightened. I feel sometimes that if he asked me to do something I didn’t want he’d make me, even against my will. He makes me feel helpless.” “ Let him try, that’s all,” growled Harding. “ He’ll wish he hadn’t.”

“He hasn’t tried,” declared Sheila. “ But the way he looks at me ——” She shivered and then smiled faintly as she turned and looked at the inspector.

“ But you don’t want to hear about my fancies,” she said. “ I just dislike Mr Lee, that is all.” - “ I want you to tell me your fancies, Miss Sunderland,” said the inspector seriously. “If I hadn’t fancies I shouldn’t solve quite a lot of my difficulties. Why did you quarrel with Mr Thornton ? ”

“ That is the whole story, really,” Sheila answered in a low tone. “ Oh, dear, it’s difficult to tell you now Mr Thornton is dead. I —hope you won’t think too badly of him. It was only because he wanted to make money so much and —and he tried to make restitution.”

“ It was Thornton who stole the pearls in the first place?” asked Vidler. “ Yes. He had to take them three or four times to haye that wretched clasp mended,” explained Sheila. “ Mrs Lee wouldn’t have a new one altogether because she had taken a fancy to it. Then one night, about three weeks ago, Mr Thornton showed me the necklace, when I knew Mrs Lee was supposed to be wearing it. She had gone to the theatre that night. “ ‘ I had an imitation made and put it in the safe,’ he told me. ‘ She’s not found it out, nor will Lee. That’s the second time she’s worn it, so I know she’ll not find out now.’ ” “ I was horrified. It seemed to me nothing less than stealing, and I am afraid I was very angry about it. I asked him how he had managed to exchange them. He told me he had had a duplicate key of the safe made, and had accidentally found out the combination of the safe one day when Lee opened it in front of him.”

“ He knew exactly where the safe was, then ? ” said Vidler. “It was not easy to discover unless you knew.” “Oh, yes; and he showed it to me that night. I tried to make him put the necklace back straight away, but he said he couldn’t because Lee would at once know that an imitation had been made.’'

“What did he want with the pearls? ” asked the inspector. “Mr Lee had given him a tip about some shares,” explained Sheila. “He often did, and Mr Thornton used to make small amounts occasionally, though nothing very substantial, because he had not got very much to invest. He told me that he was borrowing the necklace as security for the loan of five thousand pounds, so that he could take advantage of Mr Lee’s information and make sufficient money to resign and—and marry me.”

“ And what did you do then ? ” “ He was still very fond of me,” continued Sheila, “ and I was able to persuade him to let me have the duplicate key he had had made and the real pearls. I thought I should have more opportunity to replace them and get hold of the imitation ones than he would.”

“ Then it was one of the real pearls you dropped in my flat that night!” exclaimed Harding, in tones of astonishment. * “ A jeweller in Rye told me it was worth £lOO, but I never connected it with Mrs Lee’s necklace. At the time no one believed it had been stolen.”

“ Do you mean to say that you picked up a pearl Miss Sunderland dropped in .vour flat and found it was worth £100? ” demanded Vidler. “ And never told me? ”

He spoke sharply, almost angrily, and Harding went red in the face. “ I—l didn’t see what it had to do with the murder of Simmonds,” protested Harding, a little lamely. “Miss Sunderland admitted she had dropped it. but she said the necklace was a family heirloom.”

Vidler shrugged his shoulders. “ If you had given me that pearl when you found it,” he said quickly, “we shouldn’t be sitting here, and the Ditching road mystery might have been solved sooner, and Thornton might be still alive.” A look of distress appeared on Sheila’s face, and she laid a hand on her lover’s arm as he opened his mouth to make an angry protest. “ It is all my fault, really, Mr Vidler,” she said, in strained tones. “ You mustn’t blame Mr Harding.” “ I’m sorry,” apologised the inspector. “ I promise you I won’t criticise again till I have heard all your story. You got the key and the necklace from Mr Thornton, and wrote down the name of the combination of the safe on a scrap of paper ? ”

Her voice was very low’ as she continued, and her eyes were fixed on the pathway in front of her. She fumbled nervously with her handkerchief as she told her story.

“ Yes. One of the things which terrified me was when I found out afterwards that I had dropped that piece of paper. I was afraid my handwriting would be recognised.”

“ It was,” said Vidler, drily. ... There came back to Harding’s mind the episode in the library, when Lee had knocked over the inkpot and practically obliterated the word Sheila had written, but he made no comment.

“It seemed to me a golden opportunity to return the pearls when Mr and Mrs Lee came here and Mr Thornton and I were left in London. I told him what I was going to do. I w’anted him to come to me, but he said Simmonds would talk if we both appeared together. He said he might come along later, as though by accident.”

“ Why didn’t he return the pearls himself ? ” asked Harding. “It was a man’s job. He took them in the first place, and he ought not to have let you run the risk of being found out.” Sheila flushed.

“ I—l didn’t trust him,” she stammered. “As a matter of fact, he offered to do so, but he seemed so eager about it that I was suspicious. He kept on talking about the chance he had missed of making money. I felt sure that if he had had the pearls again he would keep them.” “ Did you let yourself into the house ? ”

“Yes; I had a key, and I thought it was likely that Simmonds would be downstairs in the servants’ quarters. There was no light to be seen. I stood in the hall for a minute and listened, and, hearing nothing, I went to the room where the safe was. I switched on the light and ran forward, not thinking there was anything wrong, and then —and then ”

“You saw -Simmonds lying on the hearthrug?” said Vidler gently. Sheila nodded.

“ I—l was terrified. I think I must have lost my head. I don’t remember anything till I found myself in the darkness, standing in the hall. And then—” She buried her face in her hands and shuddered at the recollection.

“ You heard the burglar alarm ? ” suggested Vidler. “ Oh, you can’t imagine how loud it sounded,” she exclaimed. “ But it wasn't that I heard first. It was somebody moving—footsteps. I was paralysed with fright. It was the burglar alarm going off which made me run upstairs. I was afraid to go back then because of the footsteps, afraid afterwards because I looked out of the window and saw a policeman in the street.”

Sheila continued her explanation to Vidler.

“ I knew there was a way out on the roof,” she said. “It was a way of escape in case of fire. Mr Lee had” shown it to me.”

“We can spare you the next few minutes,” said Vidler. “ You climbed on the roof, into the next house, and Harding found you. You went, down into his flat and took the opportunity to go when he went upstairs with the policeman. I suppose the clasp of the pearls broke ? ” Sheila nodded. She expressed no astonishment at the detective’s knowledge of her movements, for she knew that her footprints in the dust of the loft had betrayed her. ‘‘ I was half out of my mind with fright,” she continued. ' “ When Mr Harding had gone downstairs to speak to the policeman I took the pearls out to look at them. I had some mad idea of hiding them in Mr Harding’s flat in case I was found by the police, and then ‘the clasp broke. I thought I’d picked them all up. I strung them temporarily. You take them and keep them now, Air Vidler. They’ve been a nightmare to me.”

Vidler nodded and took the pearls which she had produced from her handbag.

‘‘ Thornton told me that he was going to take the pearls,” went on Sheila. “ That was the real cause of our quarrelling in the summer-house. I forced the truth out of him when he was angry. And I am sure if he had killed Mr Simmonds I should have guessed it. But he was stunned by the news. He told me that he knew who killed Simmonds, but he wouldn’t say anything. He said if I wouldn’t let him have the pearls he could get the money he wanted in another way.”

“ Blackmail,” murmured Vidler, half to himself. Aloud he added: “I think you would have been much wiser to have told me your story in the first place, Miss Sunderland, instead of trying to replace those pearls both here and in London.”

“ I didn’t know what you would do,” confessed Sheila. “ I thought you would be sure to arrest Mr Thornton. I knew he and Mr Simmonds had quarrelled, I knew he had been in Ditchling road that night when Mr Simmonds was killed, and I thought you’d be clever enough to trace the duplicate key of the safe to him. I—l was frightened of the police. I hardly knew what to do when you and Mr Harding suddenly appeared the day after, down here.” “ I knew then you were the girl on the roof,” said Vidler. “ Well, you two run away. I’ve got a busy day in front of me. You’ve cleared up a good many things for me, Miss Sunderland, and for that I will forgive you.” “ You are very generous, Mr Vidler.” “ D.V.’s a good sort,” cried Harding, happily, linking his arm in Sheila’s. “You haven’t always thought so,” retorted the inspector, with a smile.

HOW THORNTON DIED

He walked thoughtfully towards the house, and saw Lee standing on the lawn in front of it.

“ How are you feeling ? ” asked the inspector. “Not so bad as I thought I should,” admitted Lee. “ Been waiting for you to come along. Find out anything ? ” “ Yes. I saw Luding this morning at Hastings. He’d just finished a preliminary examination of Thornton. You were right. He’d been shot.” “By Heavens ! And this is a civilised country !•” cried Lee, shaking his fist in the air. “ We’re not safe on our own roads now without running the risk of some thieving poacher——” “ We’ve got the poacher,” interrupted Vidler.

Lee looked hard at the inspector, his thick lips pursed together. He did not speak for a moment. “ Good. That settles that. When did you get him ? ” “ But he didn’t fire the shot which killed Thornton,” continued the inspector.

Lee paused for a moment to light a cigarette before he spoke. “ What’s the idea, Vidler ? ”

“ The poacher, a man named Perrings, readily acknowledged he’d been shooting in the wood that night, but he’d been using a shotgun. Thornton was killed by a bullet.” Lee stared at the detective with a puzzled look on his face. “ That complicates things rather, doesn't it ? ”

“ The local police are making inquiries,” replied Vidler. “ Have you sent in the claim for your pearls yet?” “ Posted it off yesterday,” said Lee promptly. “ Well, you’d better cancel it,” said the inspector. “ I’ve got them.”

His companion swung round with a startled look.

“ Got them,” he echoed incredulously. “ Where ? ”

“ Here.” Vidler tapped his pocket, and then told a deliberate lie.

“ Thornton stole them, and I found them.” The implication was that they had been found on Thornton’s body, and Lee had to accept it. “ I always told you he was a wrong ’un,” he said quickly. “ And I’d have sacked him only you were against it. He might have been alive now if I had. I reckon he did Simmonds in.” Vidler made no direct reply. “ I’ve got to report to the Yard. Would you lend me the saloon?” “Of course. I’ll get Johnstone to drive you up, if you like.” “ I’d rather drive myself,” replied Vidler. “ I want to get away as soon as possible.” Lee half turned away towards the house. “ I’ll telephone the insurance company,” he said. “ Damn glad you’ve got that necklace, Vidler. I think the wife was counting on getting the money.” He grinned maliciously, and the inspector walked away quickly to the garage. He did not drive direct to London, as he had implied he was going to do, but first of all he paid a visit to Hastings, where he spent the greater part of the afternoon making inquiries and interviewing a number of people. And when at last he turned the saloon in the direction of London he was humming softly to himself. And when Vidler began humming the popular tunes of the day it meant that he had begun to see daylight.

(To be concluded.)