The Green Bungalow

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 418, 28 July 1928, Page 19

The Green Bungalow

BY A POWERFUL WRITER.

" JQpr

Fred AT. White.

Author of ” The Crimson Bind, ” ** The Cardinal Moth.*’ “ The Houac on the River,” 4c., &c. '

CHAPTER XX. —CLEARING THE WAY. “Very well, then, that's a bargain. Now, for the next day or two I want you to go on just as if nothing had happened. It is quite clear to me that those men found it necessary to keep you more or less in a condition of insensibility. They contrived, somehow, to administer a big dose of cocaine, which was supplemented from time to time, so that you had the haziest idea of where you were or what you were doing. Sometimes you are on the yacht, and sometimes you are here. When those chaps come back, you must pretend that you are just as I found you. You won’t have much difficulty in that, because you still look an absolute wreck. And if they attempt to give you any further doses of cocaine, as they probably will, then you must contrive not to take it. Throw it away, anything so that you retain your faculties. It won't be very easy for you to pretend that you have taken the stuff, and in any case I shan’t keep you very long. And perhaps by the end of the week we may have a little gathering here, where I shall be able to prove to your friend Prest that you are not what he takes you to be. However, it is entirely in your own hands. And now I must* be going.” x , “I don’t know why you should take all this trouble for me,” Harley said gratefully, “but I will do exactly as you tell me. and if you can get me out of this mess you will not find me ungrateful.” . “That’s right,” Blythe said. Good night to you.”

For the present, at any rate, Macglendy and Shute had finished their campaign, and the latter was back in Brighton again, working at his book in the morning, leaving Nettie free most afternoons to do as she pleased. So far she had not seen Harley, who was no longer at the bungalow or on his yacht, for the simple reason that at Blythe’s suggestion, he had

gone off to London for a day or two, and had promised to remain there without communicating with anybody, until such time as Blythe sent for him. He had intimated to Nettie by letter that Harley was perfectly safe, but that, for the moment, it was essential that he should keep away from Brighton. He had asked Nettie to meet him, and, accordingly, they came together in the afternoon somewhere on the front, and wandered up Kemp Town way until they found a quiet seat.

"Now, I dare say you have been wondering what has been going on all this time,” Blythe said. “I can assure you that I have not been wasting my time. I suppose you haven’t heard from Harley?”

“Not a word,” Nettie said, almost tearfully. “Oh, well, that’s my fault more than his. I suppose you begin to realise now that he got into very bad hands. I think Mrs. Macglendy implored you to leave Shute and find occupation elsewhere.”

"Yes, I told you that before. And you told me that I was not to think about it until we had concluded our visit to Fishbourne Towers. I am more bewildered than ever. I went last night to call upon Mrs. Macglendy but I was told in Brunswick Square that she was away, and would not be back for quite a long time.” “She is never coming back at all,” Blythe said. “She has left her husband and gone back to her own people. You see, Mrs. Macglendy is quite well connected. In fact, she is a relation of your own—your mother’s sister, to be particular.” “Ah, that accounts for the likeness I saw,” Nettie cried. “So she is my aunt. They would never speak about her at home, though I always understood that she married unfortunately.” “Indeed she did. She married one of the biggest scoundrels in Europe. I had no idea what had become of her till I found her, to my amazement, in Brunswick Square, and she asked me to help her. If she had stayed there much longer, she would, undoubtedly, have lost her reason. So I pulled a few strings and now she has gone

back to her own people. In fact, I helped her to get away, which is why you haven’t seen me for a day or two. And now, as to your own affairs. Do you know where Walter Prest is to be found?”

“I know his address in London, if that is what you mean?” “That’s good,” Blythe said. “I want you to write to him, and ask him to come down here ai: f see you. You need not say why, but when he does come, I want to be present. Say the day after to-morrow* in the Metropolitan at lunch time.” “Yes, I will do that if you like.” Nettie said. "Then that’s settled. I want you to tell me exactly what happened at Fishbourne Towers, without leaving out any details.” With that, Nettie told her story. She related all the circumstances connected with her brief visit, not forgetting the strange incident that she had witnessed on the last night but one of her stay, when she had seen Shute and another man on the terrace at Fishbourne Towers in the early hours of the morning. “What time was it exactly?” Blythe asked. “Ah, that I cannot quite tell you. You see, I had had an accident with my watch, and, as there was no clock in my room ” “Just a moment.” Blythe interrupted. “I think you said you were working late that night, didn’t you?” “Very late. In fact, we didn’t gp into the room that Lord Fishbourne had put at our disposal long before the family went, to bed. When we had finished, it was past one. I know that, because Mr. Shute jumped up suddenly and remarked how late it was.” “Now. that is a strange thing,” Blythe said thoughtfully. “Because I remember reading in the ‘Sussex Daily News’ that the burglary at Vickery’s Place happened just after twelve. And if this really was so, then I doujt quite see how Shute and Macglendy could have been responsible for the trouble.”

“What are you saying?” Nettie cried. “Besides, Mr. Macglendy was not in the house at all. He was called away on important business, and did not return till the next morning. Are you telling me that Mr. Shute is a common thief?”

“Well, that is the delicate impression I am trying to convey,” Blythe said drily. “I have every reason to believe that all these burglaries were the work of those two. Of course, Shute has the entree of some historic houses, and, no doubt, he used his visit to Fishbourne to great effect. But you said just now that you had an accident with your watch. Tell me all about it.” “But it sounds so trivial,” Nettie said. “It is the watch I am wearing at the present moment, which I got

repaired to-day. It used to belong to my mother. Don’t you think it’s a very nice one?” “Yes, I have seen it many a time,” Blythe said carelessly. “I—-I mean that—well, never mind what I mean. But, tell me, just how did that accident happen?” Nettie described the incident in a few words, and Blythe listened with rather a grim smile on his face. “Ah, now I see the whole thing,” he said. “Before you went into that writing-room, Shute preceded you and put on the clock for an hour or so. Didn’t he enter the room first?” “He did,” Nettie said. “He was there some minutes before I was. In fact, he put all the writing materials out.” “Of course, he did, and altered the clock at the same time. He probably found out that there wasn’t a clock in your bedroom, and no doubt, it was he himself who was responsible for the accident to your watch. Very neat, very neat indeed. If anything happened, he was in a position to prove that he was working with you at one o’clock in the morning, whereas a little after twelve he and Macglendy who, obviously, was not very far off, were on their way to Vickery’s. They were responsible for all these burglaries in houses which are all very near to the sea. They had only to carry the stuff to a motor-boat and place it on board Harley’s yacht. And now, if you will listen carefully to me, I will tell you exactly how these men have been making use of your young man, and why it was necessary to play that trick upon him with regard to the cards.” Nettie sat listening for some time, almost spellbound, to a web of intrigue which Blythe proceeded to unravel for her. At the end of half-an-hour, she understood the situation thoroughly. Then Blythe rose to go. “I think I had better leave you here,” he said. “It is just as well that we should not be seen together more than is necessary. You will write to Prest to-night and ask him to meet you and a friend at the Metropolitan the day after to-morrow, and lunch. You had better come together, and I will see that we have a private room. Don’t worry yourself more than is necessary, because everything is going to come right in the next few days.”

Blythe drifted away, leaving Nettie to her own more or less distracted thoughts. She was horrified and shocked at the revelation she had just listened to, and the thought of going to the bungalow to-morrow, just as if nothing had happened, fairly terrified her. But then, she could see that the good name of her lover was more or less in her own hands, and, with

that high courage of hers, she made up her mind to see this thing through to the end. Meanwhile, Blythe went his way, perfectly satisfied with the progress of events. He had seen Harley before the latter left for London, and had gathered that, for the present, at any rate, the two confederates had no further use for him. Perhaps the scent was getting a little hot, perhaps Shute and his confederate had made up their minds to give matters a rest. At any rate, there was no further attempt to administer cocaine, and Harley was informed that he had been seriously unwell for a day Or two, and that he had been nursed in a rough-and-ready way in the bungalow. He had appeared to accept this statement without question, after which he had gone to the Metropolitan, and explained to the anxious manager there that he had been ill for a few days, during the time he was away, and that it had not occurred to anybody to notify the fact to the hotel. After that, he went off to London still retaining his room in the Metropolitan, and saying that he would be back at the end of the week. Two days later, Nettie received the letter she had expected to the effect that Prest was coming down by a morning train, and that he would gladly meet her in the lounge of the Metropolitan just before one o’clock. He came, bright-eyed and eager, and ready to do anything that the girl asked. Still, the meeting was a trifle embarrassing, and it was some little time before they were on easy terms. Something like a frown crossed Prest’s face as Blythe appeared and walked along the lounge in the direction of the little room where he had ordered luncheon to be set out. “Who is the friend we are lunching with?” Prest asked. “We had better go and see, I think,” Nettie said. “I don’t think you know him, but he is very anxious to meet you.”’ She passed into the private room, followed by Prest, and found Blythe awaiting them. He shook hands with Nettie, and then turned calmly and smilingly to her companion. “I don’t think we have met before,” he said, “though possibly my name may be familiar to you.” “Yes, I am sorry to say it is,” Prest said coldly. “My dear Nettie, you surely cannot be aware ” “Sit down,” Blythe commanded sternly. “This is no time for melodrama. I see you know who I am, but that is no reason why you should make a scene. You are a gentleman, and a man of honour, Mr. Prest, and, as such, the honour of your dearest friend is as precious as your own. We are here to-day to save Roy Harley from a terrible charge, and I am going to show you that you have been

wrong in your conclusions.” “If you can do that,” Prest declared, "then I will sit down at the same table and be your guest with pleasure.” There was no mistaking the sincerity of Prest’s declaration and a warm smile of gratitude flashed across Nettie’s face. She had not altogether approved of his attitude with regard to Harley and his army career, though she could not in all honesty declare that Prest was anything but right. Still, it seemed to her that some vague way might have been found out of the tragedy without the drastic course of Roy’s leaving the army altogether. But that was the mere woman’s way of looking at it with sentiment overriding logic. “I like to hear you speak like that,” Blythe said. “If I had expected anything else I should not have induced Miss Frond to have lured you here to-day. If you will consent to put yourself entirely in my hands, Captain Prest, I will pledge my word, for what it is worth, that I can prove that your unfortunate friend has been the victim of a cruel fraud and conspiracy.” Prest looked rather uneasily at Nettie. He was still feeling just a little sore at what he considered to be a plot on the part of the girl and Blythe to get him down to Brighton. Moreover, he was still more or less in love with Nettie, though he recognised the hopelessness of his affection. He knew now that whatever happened she would stick to Harley in the face of public opinion, and in his heart of hearts he admired her all the more for it. “It seems almost impossible,” he said. “You were not present on that unfortunate occasion and I was. Are you asking me to believe that two men of the social standing cf Mr. Shute and Mr. Macglendy would deliberately stoop to fraud, Mr. Blythe?” “What do you know of their social standing?” Blythe countered. "You merely met them down here quite casually and Harley introduced you to them. They were not friend.s of his, either. Then an evening at cards was suggested and you fell in with it. Shute is supposed to be a rnan of means and a great traveller, who is writing a book on his experiences, and Macglendy passes as a wealthy merchant.” “Shute knows some very good people,” Prest murmured. “Oh, I am quite prepared to admit that the man is a gentleman by birtn, and that some very good nouses are open to him. But what has he been doing all the years he has been abroad? Nobody knows anything about that, except myself, and one or two others; and, as to Macglendy, he is merely a Jew, who started life in the humblest circumstances in Glasgow. That was where he picked up his Scottish accent. As a matter of fact, he has no money at all, and the same remark applies to Shute. I dare say you are wondering why I am taking such an interes in this business.” (To be Continued.)