THE FATAL ROOM.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VI, Issue 1727, 27 August 1919, Page 2

THE FATAL ROOM.

CBf JAMES McELBERRY, Author of "Tho Veil of Circumstance," etc.]

[Ail Rights Reserved.]

CHAPTER X.—(Continued.) THE MURDERER.'

We crept nearer, and the voices be came clearly audible, though we. could

not distinguish the words. One of the voices was Dolores', and as 1 realised this I was conscious of a sudden quickening of my breath. I was about to say something in an undertone to Hollow, when he pulled me further into

the uudergrowth. 'dust at that moment a branch swayed violently a few yards away from us, and betrayed the fact that another beside ourselves was concealed within hearing of the girl and her companion. We crouched down, and then, a second later, I heard Dolores utter a little cry of terror, and she cried out, raising her voice:—

"No. no. no! I would rather die than that! I would rather suffer anything than I would sooner that you killed me! Let me go—oh, let me go!" And then another voice broke in, loud and threatening: "Then I tell you that you shall never escape me —that you shall beg upon my knees for my forgiveness for that blow before many weeks are past! - ' And from that I gathered that she had struck him, and longed to shout out with the joy of it. After that there was a long silence, and the man moved a few stops away. Certainly this time it was not Toequeville. Then who •

I think that God, who sees all things, fought for us that night. For as the question framed itself in my mind the moon broke through its eloud-bonds and its thin beams filtered through the firs. And then we knew. It was the man with whom ilollow had struggled in the Fatal Boom.

He stepped back quickly among the trees as the moon discovered him, ami at once began to walk quickly away. Hollow laid a hand upon my arm, with a motion that I did not fail to understand, and the next thing that I knew was that he was no longer beside me, though I had not seen him disappear. Presently Dolores, too, began to move, walking very slowly in the direction of the house. I waited for the man whom I knew to be hidden in the bushes to reveal himself, guessing that, even if he had seen Hollow steal away, he would hardly s.ispeet that I could have been with him and remained behind. It was not long before he emerged, and followed Dolores, and my suspicion was verified. The second man was Toequeville. I went very close upon his heels, picking up a lithe sapling over which I had all but stumbled, and twisting it as I went in my hands with a kind of exultant anticipation.

But he gave me no opportunity to inflict the thrashing he so richly merited; and, having seen Dolores safely into the house, I made my way to the smoking-room to await Hollow's return. Twelve o 'clock arrived, and still there was no sign of my friend. I went out and paced the footpaths surrounding the house for some hours, and at length, worn out by my long vigils and the little rest I had been able to snatch during the last few days, I returned to the smoking room, and fell aslcop, somewhere in the small hours of the morning. It was after seven when T was awakened by the entrance of a servant, about to begin her household duties. A few inquiries sufficed to assure her that Hollow had not returned, and I began to feel more than a little alarmed at his long absence. I had even- confidence in his ability to look after himself, and in his discretion; but I remembered that he had to deal with an opponent who had been once more than his match, aud who, therefore, would not hesitate to attack him a second time.

I went upstairs and indulged in a cold bath, in the hope that the ensuing exhilaration would help me to throw off my apprehensions. Breakfast-time brought me neither word nor wire of my friend, and I seized an early opportunity of following Dolores into the library, determined, if it were possible, to wrest from her all she knew of the mysterious stranger who had by some inexplicable means found his way into the Fatal Room and out again, and had left bejiind him the menacing messages.

''Miss Denmark," I said, coming to the point brutally without preamble, "I am going to ask you to forgive me if I am guilty of what may seem to you to be presumption, but my friend Hollow has disappeared, and I am becoming alarmed at his absence. I do not know exactly how much he told you yesterday of our experience of the previous night, and how much you may have told him of the thing that is agitating you; but you must forgive me if I say that there is something which you have not told us, either because you are afraid to do so or because you con-

sider it injudicious. You must, of course, be the best judge of whether cr not you arc acting quite fairly to us; but there ' ine thing I must know at ome, and at is ths name of the, man with whom my friend struggled in the Fatal Room, and an address at which he can be found," (To be Continued.)