The Green Bungalow

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 407, 16 July 1928, Page 5

The Green Bungalow

BY A POWERFUL WRITER.

mtmr -

Fred M. White.

Author of “ The Crimson BEnd." “ The Cardinal Moth." " The House on the River.” tic., &c. "

SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS CHAPTERS 1 and ll.—Hilton Blythe, man of birth and breeding, accomplished swindler and card-sharper, has lived on 1118I 11 8 wits for many days at a stretch, and I s . * world-experienced man. At the * letropolitnn Hotel, Brighton, he sees, , an interval of three years, a lady ! n lavender, and recognises that Nettie mis quite grown up. With her is a man, K °y Harley, lately come into an unexfortune. They commune as lov---.s, and are happy. Roy tells her that has bought a steam yacht, and intends to go yachting with Shute. Netue says that she is amanuensis to Shute, ck P° sses: ?cs the Green Bungalow at and that she goes there «ost mornings. Roy replies that he is there this evening to play poker, w ith Brest and Andrew Macglendy, De lovers pass out and proceed to the Brighton golf links, where they a down on the hillside. After nine Harley calls on Macglendy at ’ t Brunswick Square. Brest and Shute /» already there. The four men motor Shorehaven beach. They dismiss the WMd walk to the bungalows. They make their way to a building a hundred i.?™ 8 or so apart from its fellows. p?,*** e , does Hie honours at the Green Roy has already bought two packs of cards at Weston's. They play joker for £SO rises. Harley wins all *he line. Macglendy drops out a while, and stands watching the »-nt rs ' He accuses Harley of playing marked cards, which Roy strongly repudiates. Macglendy further accuses in K le ' V •concealing - the ace of spades v b} s .P° c ket. Roy, Confounded, puts his mo * ll pocket and draws forth the s P ad es. He swears that he never pu * it there.

without any fuss. If Shute wishes to defy Hilton —well CHAPTER V (Continued) Only unfortunately, I came down here without one or two of the necessary properties, as they say on the .stage, and I am afraid that my man has slipped through my fingers. I have got an appointment with him to-morrow afternoon, and it occurred to rue that you might be able to lend me a pack or two of cards.” “Snide ones, I suppose?” Shute laughed. “Well, that’s what it comes to. I didn’t arrange my Brighton trip with a view* to that sort of thing, so I came away without any of my professional apparatus. I could get what I want from town by return of post, but that might be too late.” “As it happens, I can let you have exactly what you require. You will find what you want in the drawer of that card-table yonder.” Blythe rose casually, and strolled iu the direction of the table. He saw exactly what he wanted to know at a glance—two packs of apparently unbroken cards, which his professional eye recognised as the right thing, and, lying by the side of them, two further packs which were, to all appearances, the honest and genuine thing. He made no comment as to this, but, taking the packs he wanted dropped them casually into his pocket, and came back to his seat. There was nothing in the expression on his face to show that he had made a startling discovery which, sooner or later, 'was destined to have a powerful effect upon the fortunes of Roy Harley. “Yes, I think that will about do” he said. “We understand one another perfectly now’, and w r e must have a meeting to discuss certain details that occur to me. I see that Macglendy is more or less in clover in Brunswick Square, and perhaps you could arrange a little dinner there. Now', I think I will be getting along. It’s a fair walk to Brighton, but I shall enjoy it on a nice evening like this. So long, and don’t you take any further steps till you have heard from me again.” With that, Blythe put on his hat, and, helping himself to a fresh cigar,

turned out into the night. Then he walked back to Brighton on the best of terms with himself. CHAPTER VI.—IN WESTON’S SHOP With the air of a man who is without a single trouble, and in a position to look the whole world in the lace, Blytlie strolled down the Palace Pier the following afternoon. It was bright and sunny, with a warm wind blowing from the sea, but, as yet, the band was not playing, and there was only a sprinkling of people promenading up and down. It was some time before Blythe found what he wanted, but presently, seated in a corner of the glass shelter, he made out the forms of Harley and Nettie, who appeared to be talking earnestly together, and ignoring the rest of the visitors. They were talking so earnestly that it was possible for Blythe to take his seat on the far side of the shelter, in such a position that he could hear fairly well what was going on on the other side of the partition. Those wonderfully keen ears of his followed the conversation more or less coherently, and his quick wit fitted in the rest. He was frankly eavesdropping, but, from his point of view, it was in a good cause, and indeed, there were cogent reasons why he could not come forward boldly and proclaim himself on behalf of the lovers. There was a long silence just after Blythe had taken his seat, and it was Nettie who spoke first. “Have you seen Mr. Prest?” she asked. “Yes, I saw him this morning,” Harley explained. “It was not very nice for me, but I felt bound to do it. Nettie, that man and I have been friends ever since I was a little chap in knickerbockers. We were brought up together. We w'ere at Rugby and Sandhurst together, and we got out commissions on the same day. A better. cleaner fellow never breathed. Of course, he and I were rivals when we met you in Scotland, but that didn’t prevent us from being the best of friends, and because he had money and I had practically nothing beyond my pay, I tried to play the game as it shrmid be played.” “Yes. I knew that,” Nettie sighed. “And when you went away, and Walter asked me to marry him, I refused. I think he knew why, and I think he appreciated how well vou were behaving. But. you see. I did not care for him, at least, not in that way, and now—” “And now everything has changed.” Harley said dismally. “Only a few hours ago, and T was the happiest man in England. But what is the good of talking about that? I went to see Prest this morning in his rooms, to try and make him believe that I am the victim of an extraordinary cruel piece of fortune.” “And he wouldn’t listen to vou. Roy?” “My dear girl, he listened most patiently. He is as honestly cut up about the whole business as l am. He mentioned your name, and suggested that if I came and told you all about

»£P A - PTERS m - & IV.—Hilton Blythe earn seeks the Hotel Metropolitan. Once -..ore he overheads the conversation beXett } e and Roy. Her lover tells r I about his misfortune, and the marked Brest has told him to resign his miss on * ail d to cease to be a memnAl.at his clubs. Nettie suggests that siVT aps Macglendy and Shute have de‘thV 5 ° n Roy They go outside to finish un k con versa tion, while Blythe sums it Hani comparing the scheme by which a h v. as been hooked with the plot of of . has read. Has Shute a copy book? Andrew Macglendy and , | down-trodden wife are at present in l avo e j 1° their luxurious dwelling he rays wn the law to he ,. lle is u halffiiae™ Ussian Jew, who learnt English in M'hen he hears Shute at the mon “f- orders bis wife off. The two f'*<’Uss business—smuggling and thi.® and his steam-yacht tor n ,' „ Purpose. After detailing his whole Plan to Macglendy. Shute taxis to ShoreTh.t n wa *ks thence to his bungalow. V.,,„ , finds a man sitting reading a ii-vlf backed book. It is Hilton Blythe. «... s uys that he is reading a cletecana ,?°PL called "The J.onely House.” u mat Shute is to sit down and listen

it, I should find you ready to take my part. He said, now' that I w'as a rich man, it might be possible for you and me to go abroad.” “And so we shall, if things come to the worst,” Nettie said resolutely. “But not until we have fought this thing out to the bitter end. I don’t want to leave the country, Roy. If we must, we must, and we’ll make the best of it, but if there is any possibility of getting rid of this slur, then we must stay. Couldn’t you move Walter at all? Was he quite firm?” “Well, you know how obstinate he can be. And he’s absolutely obsessed about the honour of the regiment. He was more sorry for me than he could say, but he firmly believes that I deliberately cheated him, and, though he w'as ready to shake hands, and overlook the past, he would not hear a word about my staying in the Army. Not for his own sake, but for the sake of our brother officers,.” “Yes, I quite see the point,” Nettie sighed. “It would not be a dishonourable thing for him to be friendly with you, but, on the other hand, it w'ould be impossible for him to see you mixing with the rest of the officers on equal terms. I suppose that means that at the end of a month you will have to resign your commission.” “Yes, Prest made that quite clear. And the worst of it is that he is right. If I took the same view that he does, I should do exactly the same thing.” “Then we must do something,” Nettie said. “We must try and find out how' this dreadful thing happened. I cannot believe that you are a victim to a piece of ill-luck. It’s absurd to suggest that you bought two packs of cards at a respectable tradesman’s, only to discover that they w r ere the sort of cards that are used by professional sw'indlers. That w'ould be too ridiculous even for fiction.” “Yes, I suppose so,” Harley said miserably. “Then let us go a little further, let us regard this much as we might a story in a magazine. There is a conspiracy against you, for some reason that w r e need not go into, and you have been lured into my employer’s

bungalow with the very object of getting this accusation fastened on to you.” ‘‘Sounds rather absurd, doesn’t it?” Roy said. “My dear boy, of course it does. You couldn’t possibly suspect Walter Prest of doing a thing like that. Even if you are his rival, he would never stoop to such a thing. And then again, Mr. Shute is a man of the highest reputation, and is known all over the world as a famous traveller. I can’t see him associating - with people capable of anything underhanded, and the same remark, of course, applies to Mr. Macglendy. Oh, what a terrible tangle it is.” “And yet you can quite understand why ail those people think I am guilty,” Harley said. '“I am beginning to wonder, Nettie, how it is that you believe in me.” “I believe in you because X have got to, because I must, and because my instinct tells me that you are the victim of some horrible mistake. And yet, the more I think of it, the more bewildered I get. My head is all tn a whirl. Still, we have got the best part of a month before ns, and surely something must happen before then.” The man on the other side of the glass screen smiled. He knew only too well what the next month would bring forth. He would have been glad enough to have gone to the other side of the windscreen there and then and told the lovers that they had nothing to fear, but that he could not do. And he smiled to himself again as he pictured Hilton Blythe, the polished swindler and man of the world, wasting valuable time over a mere affair of the heart. He rose presently and went off thoughtfully in the direction of the front. It was a long time, however, before he passed through the turnstiles and strolled along the King’s Road until he came to the Metropolitan. There he took the lift and went up to his room. He sat for an hour or so, smoking a cigar, and looking out over the sea, then he jumped to his feet, and, opening a suitcase, took out two packs of cards. One of them he had obtained from Shute, for professional purposes, and the other w T as one of the still unopened packs which he had also taken from the drawer of the card table in the bungalow. “Yes, I think X shall be able to do something with these,” he said to himself “And now' I give Weston's a call.” He found himself presently In the big shop at the corner of Castle Square, where he strolled up to the counter and requested the polite assistant to show him some playing cards. “I want something like these if you have got them!” he said. “I dare say you have.” With that, he took the professional pack from an envelope, and spread them on the counter. The assistant took them up and examined them with a critical eye. “I am afraid we can’t do that, sir,” he said. “To tell you the truth, there is very little demand for cards like

these. You see, they are the finest Japanese made.” “Japanese?” Blythe echoed. “Do you mean to say that these cards come from Japan?” “Certainly they do, sir. I remember that we got four packs for a gentleman some little time ago, and they cost us nearly ten shillings wholesale. You see, they are a very fine design with a monogram on the back, and the rest being plain glaze.” “Yes, I noticed that, of course,” Blythe said. “I should say that they would sell very easily.” “Of course they would, sir. But then, you see, these sort of cards are rarely, if ever, used in the ordinary way. I believe they are only supplied to conjurers, because they can be so easily marked. There was a card scandal at the Metropolitan Hotc seme two years ago, in which I pened to be called as a witness, and he cards which fell into the han the police were very like these. They were marked in all sorts of ingenious ways, generally with little dots in the corners where the glaze was removed by a slight touch of acid. Very clever they were indeed.” “You surprise me,” Blythe said, with wonderful gravity. “Dear me, what extraordinary ways of getting a living some people seem to have. I shouldn’t be at all surprised to find that these cards are marked. When I get back to my hotel I will see. But I should like very much to have some like them for ordinary use.” Nature’s Way is wise and sure, Brace your nerves and you’ll endure. Nature’s Way is Nature’s law. Making good each wound and flaw. Nature’s Way when helped by will Heals and soothes each human ill. Nature's Way for colds, be sure, Waits in Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure

“Very sorry, sir,” the assistant said. “But, as I told you before, they are rarely, if ever, called for, because they aro so easily soiled. 1 am quite sure you would not get anything like them in Brighton.” Blythe appeared to be somewhat disappointed. He put the cards back in their envelope, and replaced them in his pocket. When he had done that, he produced one of the other packs of unopened cards, which he had taken from the bungalow without saying anything to Shute about them. These he passed casually across the counter. “Oh, well, it really doesn’t matter. After all, one set of cards is quite as good as another. But what about these. They seem to be excellent cards? I have just got this one odd pack, and if you can match them for me I shall be obliged. You see, one odd pack of cards is not very much use.” The assistant took up the neat little package and, as his eye lighted upon it, he smiled. “These came from us,” he said. “They must have been bought here. Our private mark is on them. You see that little cross on the side? I made that myself when we were taking stock. But I am sorry to disappoint you again, sir. The last two packs of those cards I sold the-day before yesterday to a gentleman who came in here. We shall have some more in a few days, but, meanwhile, I am afraid, I shall have to keep you waiting.” “Oh, no hurry/* Blythe said cheerfully, “I will come back in a few days.'* He was on the right track now, and he knew it. By the time he reached his hotel, he knew exactly what to do. (To be continued.)

A TRIP HOME AN ENGLISHWOMAN’S OPINION An English lady who has been residing in New Zealand for a few years! was heard to remark the other day that when she is able to take a trip to i! o Old Country she intends taking with ! her a good supply of Baxter’s Lm g Preserver. “I had not been in New Zealand long.” she said, “before I made the acquaintance of that splendid remedy for coughs and colds*. Baxter’s Lung Preserver. I never use anything else now, and consider it quite the best thing one -can possibly buy.” Like thousands of New Zealanders this lady from abroad has evidently come to realise the value of good old “Baxter’s”. It is a rich, red, warming, soothing compound that does you good from the first dose. It cases sot- , j parched throats in a wonderful way, and is also invaluable for bronchial and other chest ailments. “Baxter’s ” moreover, possesses tonic properties ; that help to build you up. You can obtain a generous-sized bottle of Baxter’s Lung Preserver from any chemist or store for 2s 6d, or better ! still get the more economical family size at 4s 6d. There is also the useful j bachelor size at Is 6d. —5 When taking medicinal salt of any kind drink a little cold water imme* ; diately after to get rid of the nauseous taste. If you have BO dust pan take a po- •; of newspaper, roll lengthwise, dip one end in water, place on floor and run your finger along the dampened edge so that.it will adhere to the floor, then sweep dust on to it. Do not starch or iron madras muslin curtains; they are softer and m c% like new withouL