JEWELS OF MALICE

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1028, 19 July 1930, Page 23

JEWELS OF MALICE

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PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

&

ELLIOT BAILEY

ftvtfeof ot “ Tl»# Japanese Paraae! WIAPTWt VII (continued.) “Just before dinner; it was safely tn the case then.” “Is Bella’s room near yours—l mean would she be likely to hear an intruder in it?” Nancy shook her head. “I’m afraid not—the two rooms are on opposite sides of the house, agul in any case Bella sleeps like a log, as we know to our cost when it’s time for her to get up in the morning!” Bruce considered for a moment, and turned to the lawyer. "Now. Mr. Gregory, I think it’s your turn.”

The lawyer, who had listened to Nancy’s statement with closed eyes, opened them and placed the tips of his fingers together as he reclined upon the couch. He had obviously largely recovered now, and his manner insensibly lapsed into his everyday mode of dealing with his clients. “I will relate all I can,” he commenced suavely, “though whether it will serve to throw much light on this strange affair Ido not know-. Mr. Lorimer has stated that he did not expect to see me again tonight. Let “e say that when 1 left him I had no expectation of seeing Mr. Lorimer again. I went to my hotel, intending to retire early, but in my room a strange restlessness took possession of me. Again and again, largely I suprose, owing to Mr. Lorimer had told me, I pictured a possible danger threatening the Mill House, men who watched, lurking figures among the fees . . .

In the end this feeling became so strong that I could not resist it. I telt that I must find out for myself that all was well. lam no longer •'® un ß' nnd the distance is conslderable, but I hope I can still answer , a " I conceive to be the call of duty, -ty clients’ interests have always been my own, and I felt it was due to my '‘ ler >t. Miss Nancy Hylton that I should assure myself of her safety. Inheed, I knew I should not sleep until 1 had done so. Therefore—although bed is allur,n” t 0 middle-aged limbs—l sallied thv ant * * was actually approaching he house when I saw the figure of * man slip from the garden and dis-V-Pear into the "wood. I did not esitate, but gave chase at once, meanhg to interrogate him when I caught

BRUCE

The Girl in Yello*. ' Tbf Soider.” «te.. him up—not'that I suspected then the magnitude of the disaster which had occurred. T w-as in fact gaining when right in the path I put my foot in that culpably situated gin. That finished matters. Hearing my cries for help, the thief—l think we may be safe in referring to him as the thief—merely increased his speed and disappeared.” Mr. Joseph Gregory ceased his somewhat long-winded -and pompous oration, and for an instant before he closed them again his hard, light, grey eyes rested on Bruce’s face as if to observe the effect of his statement upon him. Candidly, Bruce didn’t know what to think. It was all very plausible, of course, but once again the old doubt as to the lawyer’s good faith assailed him —the same doubt he had felt while actually talking with him In his office —and which had, in fact, made itself felt before they had set eyes on one another. For one thing he disliked his way of talking, his insistence that nothing mattered where he was concerned except liis clients’ interests. That, Bruce felt, might have been left to their natural Assumption. Nancy, on the other hand, had obviously been more impressed, interjecting a little murmur of appreciation when he told how his conscience would not let him rest before he had assured himself that all was well with her.

“Poor man,” she whispered to Bruce, “I hope his leg isn’t really injured.” “Not a bit—he’s merely making the most of it,” was on the tip of his unfeeling tongue, but then he checked himself and left the words unsaid. After all, Gregory was not a young man and the shock alone had obviously affected him. Bruce’s mind reverted to the main problem. “Well, there’s only one thing to be done.” he declared. “I must go into Herringford, late as it Is, and inform the police. Whoever got those jewels has had top long a start as it is. Pity we’re not on the telephone.” Mr. Gregory opened Ills eyes. “My dear boy,” he said, “I am fully in accord with you now on the subject, of the police, but I myself have to return to Herringford, so can easily inform them. Moreover, my legal training. . .

“You’re not fit to go alone,” Bruce said bluntly. “I shall have to accompany you.’ It was evident that Mr. Joseph Gregory did not relish contradiction. For an instant there appeared in his eyes a faint reflection of what had been there when Bruce told him that he was settled in the Cottage. Then a bland smile took its place, and he swung to his feet. “Nonsense,” he declared, “it is awfully good of you, Lorimer, and all that, but I am quite myself again now and should not think of troubling you. It was the shock, the surprise, that bowled me over, but I am past that now, and the leg injury—it i 3 nothing. I am quite capable of looking after myself, and while you see Miss Hylton home, I will go straight, to the police-station and ” But Bruce’s mouth set in an obstin

ate line. He could be as stubborn as anyone when he chose, and he was quite determined that it was he who would give the story to the police. “All the same ” he was beginning firmly, when the rasping, disagreeable tones of Sam Rugely checked him. The latter had slipped away during the preliminary attentions to the solicitor’s leg, hut was back again in the doorway now, listening with a curious expression to the argument between the two men. “If I were you, geuts,” he declared, “I wouldn't either of you bother to go to the police!”

CHAPTER VIII. At his first sight of the superficiality of Joseph injury Sam had uttered a snort of contempt and faded from the scene. From the l’uss that he had made, he expected to find the solicitor’s leg severely lacerated, and in a sense he found it disappointing that this was not the case. “I ought to have made that there trap bite harder than that,” he told himself. “Why, the bloke could have released hisself if he’d only tried!” Thoughtfully he made his way through the wood toward the trap. It was evident that the catch lie had made with the latter was not his assailant of the night, before, and this, too. disappointed Sam. Not exactly overburdened with sportsmanship, he had looked forward to repaying with interest the blow he had suffered while his victim was held fast in the trap, and it had been lucky for Joseph Gregory that Bruce had been on the spot —otherwise it was likely that Sam would have struck first and made inquiries after. “Oh, well,” he muttered, “t’other bloke may be round tomorrow night, and if so I’ll see that the trap gets hold of him good and proper—and then I’ll baste ’im!” Filled with this amiable intention, he stooped and removed the gin from the pathway, hauling it into the undergrowth where it would be out of the way of any innocent pedestrian who might pass that way. And as he straightened up from the task a thought seemed to strike him and he scratched his head. “Now,” he muttered, “what was it as that bloke said? He was a-chasing a man. he was, down this ’ere path when he put his foot in the gin and the fellow got away. l-Io! I wonder. If the bloke ’e said ’e was chasing was running down the path, too, wily didn’t he put his blooming foot in the gin. or at any rate tumble over it—he’d have got to it first?”

This, Sam felt, was worthy of consideration, and he continued to review it mentally at length. “He ’might ’ave seen it, and jumped over it, of course—f don’t think! No, ’twas too dark for that—he'd have just put his blooming foot into it like Mr. blooming Gregory.” This led to further cogitation. “Anyway, 'twas Mr. blooming Gregory as got caught, not the other. At the run. so ’e says. And again I wonders. If he'd been running when he caught his foot in that trap what would 'ave happened? I bet a million to one—’e’d ’ave gone right over on his face and probably have broken his leg. But ’e didn’t—’e remained bolt unright. Therefore ’e wasn’t running-* and therefore ’e’s telling lies!” Having reached tiiis conclusion Sam remained with his. watery eyes screwed up in an expression of in tense concentration. He would, probably have been surprised to hear it. but he was actually evolving a piece of quite respectable reasoning. “Now I don’t know nothing about .this ’ere Mr. Gregory,” he murmured. “ ’E looks a gent all right—but so did those blokes what fired at tlie gal in the boat yesterday. An’ just supposing . . .” Once- more came an interval for

thought, and then Sam reached the natural climax of his rumination.

“Just supposing for the sake of argyment that I -was Mr. blooming Gregory, and I’d lifted them sparklers and was making off with them when I put my foot into this blessed trap. Wot ’ud I naturally say?—that I was chasing another bloke wot had the swag. That ’ud distract attention from me. But what ’ud 1 do if I ’ad the sparklers in my pocket, and was afraid, things looking suspicious, that I might be searched? Naturally, I’d try to get rid of them? But how, seeing as I was ’eld by the leg?”

Sam’s eyes roamed round the surrounding tree-trunks. “I think,” he said softly, "as I’d pick out some tree-trunk as stood out a bit from the others in the darkness, and I’d toss the sparklers into.the undergrowth. Then, when I'd convinced ’em all what a pore injured gent I wos, and ’ow badly my pore leg ad been ’urt by Sam Rugely’s wicked trap, I’d find I could manage to walk, after all, and pick up the sparklers again on my way home. Now, which tree would I choose?”

His night-accustomed gaze Inspected them and of those within easy range three stood out especially—two by reason of their size, the third because of a white blaze down the trunk which made it conspicuous in the darkness. But this in the end he rejected—for the time being, at any rate —owing to its distance from the spot where the trap bad stood. There was too much chance, he considered, of anything thrown toward it falling into some unmarked thicket en route. But the vicinity of the two other trees he determined to explore. Whether he really expected to find anything is doubtful. The whole

chain of reasoning had been in the nature of an afterthought. Still, it sufficiently Intrigued him to send him scraping round the nearer of the trees.

He W’as hardly surprised, or even disappointed, however, when the search yielded nothing, and was in two minds about going on to the second tree. He did so. after a moment’s hesitation, and three minutes later he nearly uttered a whoop of triumph. His hand had closed upon a small leather bag and from his observation on the cliff he knew what was inside before he opened it. Whether his reasoning was correct or not, it bad led him to tho missing necklace. He drew out the glittering string, whose fires even the darkness could not entirely dampen, and for a few seconds knew again the fierce exultation which in the old days had assailed him on the completion of a successful coup. With these safely disposed of, he would be rich beyond his wildest dreams. He let them run through his fingers, rejoicing in their smooth, cool touch. Saner reflection, however, served to restrain his ardour. For one thing, how could he dispose of them? He only knew on# avenue—Matthew’ the Fence —but for all he knew Matthew might have gone out of business since his (Sam’s) regeneration, lie might even be dead. Also, in the days when they had done business together Matthew had never handled anything of the value of these jewels. They might prove too big a proposition for him.

There was the question of hue and cry. too. The emeralds were known to be stolen, and therefore the police would quickly be set at work. Their first inquiries would be made at the

source of the theft, and that would De too close for Sam’s peace of mind. He had been going straight for some time, but his past was by no means a closed book to the police, and he was likely to be an object of suspicion, To be caught in possession of those emer aids meant -years of penal servitude and Sam shivered at the contemplation. He had had all the prison he wanted for one lifetime —and did not intend to have any more if he could help it. And in the end prudence won, prudence and a certain cunning, which told him how he might achieve his aim later on at lesser risk. Suppose he made no attempt now to steal the jewels he had found? Then at one bound he would attain a reputation for honesty that would stand him in good stead in the future. If the jewels were still kept in the house —he would have to risk that —he would know where to find them, and could choose a moment that w’ould give him a longer start before the police were set on his trail. Yes, he decided, for the time being honesty was the best policy. With a sigh, and much muffled grousing for it went sadly against the grain to deliver up his spoil, be slouched off to the cottage where Bruce and the solicitor were arguing as to which of them should inform the police. Then he dropped his bombshell.

“Be these what you lost, Miss Hylton? A pretty string o’ beads, baint they? Why. I saw some like ’em down along in Herringford and they was costing pretty nigh ten shillings. Nancy uttered a cry of joy when she saw her property, and Bruce regarded Sam with astonishment.

“Where on earth did you find them?” he demanded.

Sam caught the eye of Mr. Joseph Gregory. “Chucked down in the undergrowth. I reckon the thief threw’ them there,” he went on deliberately. Whether he read any meaning In Sam’s glance or not, Mr. Gregory kept admirably calm. “Ah, no doubt,” he agreed, “no doubt at all. Finding me gaining on him, I.e would naturally throw them away to avoid being captured redhandel. Dear me, what a very unexpected and fortunate termination of the affair. It will now’ be unnecessary to inform the police after all.” "Oh, will it?” Bruce said shortly. “We shall see!"" Bruce Lorimer passed through the gloomy portals of New Scotland Yard, and, sending in his card, asked if he might see Detective-Sergeant Cosgrove. He was shown into a severe looking waiting-room, where he appeared to be the only caller, and presently there came footsteps in the passage outside, and a smart, well set up man, a few years older than Bruce, entered. The latter sprang to his feet.. “Hello, Bowlegs!” he said affably. A pained expression passed over the other's smiling countenance. “Confound you. Beetle,” he retorted, “how many times have I told you that I am not known by that foul designation in this exalted establishment? Where have you sprung from this time? Just let out of Vine Street. I presume. Ah, well, boys will be boys! What the trouble?” Bruce dropped his banter. “Look here, Frank.” he said. “I want your

advice about something. Can you spare me half an hour?” “Sure thing! I'm off duty now, as a matter of fact, but I start my holiday tomorrow, so have to go home and pack. There’s lots of time for that, though."

Bruce regarded him thoughtfully. “Starting your holiday, are you? Going anywhere particular?” “Brighton for the week-end. After that —” He shrugged his shoulders a» if to signify that it was immaterial. "Good," said said; “then I suggest that after Brighton you come on KT Herrlngtord and stay with me. 1“ tell you why in a-minute.” Straightway he launched into a recital of what he called thme “necklac® business” from the time he saw the shots tired at Xaney until the lates. developments, which had resulted U. the lawyer being caught in Sam Rugelv’s booby trap, and the brief disappearance of the jewels. Cosgrove listened carefully, and with obviously growing interest. “Good Lord,” he said, when Bruce hod finished, “it's a rum affair, and no mistake. What's your opinion of this lawyer johnny?” “That's just what I’m asking mvself all the time.” Bruce admitted. “He’s all right on the surface, and yet —I wonder. He stands to get the emeralds under certain conditions, re member.” “He most certainly does. Oh. well, what's his address? I'll soon find out if we've got anything against him Has it struck you. by the wav, that he might have been making off with the neckiace last night?” iTtt continued *n Mondavi