The House in the Way

Taranaki Daily News, 12 September 1935, Page 14

The House in the Way

By Colin Hope Author of the “ Phantom Killer.”

CHAPTER NINE (continued).

There was an interruption. Mrs. Coe, the landlady, entered. When, at l en ® th ’ she had mastered her hysteria, she had recognised that somthing had happened. There was an emergency, and an emergency, to her, demanded one thing—tea. . Every household emergency during ner stormy married life had sent her, scantily clad, to the little gas ring in the kitchen. She had made tea on the memorable night when the late Mr. Coe had breathed his last, she had made tea as soon as the all-clear signal had told anxious London that enemy aircraft had departed, and should there be another war during Mrs. Coe’s sojourn below, without doubt she would make tea amidst the clouds of poison gas. In fact she would look askance if no cup of tea awaited her at the pearly gates. The arrival of the tea served a useful purpose. It brought the trio back to a normal everyday world, and gave them time to readjust their minds. Guy was quick to take advantage of the changed atmosphere. “Diana and I were discussing the advisability of calling a doctor and the police when you regained consciousness,” he said to Osborne. “She has been all for getting assistance, but I am not. sure it would be wise to do so. “Do you feel very bad?, If you do, we shall have to get you to a doctor and let the consequences go to hang. It is no use thinking of going to a qualified man and telling him that you fell downstairs and bumped your head. He will laugh at you. Either you have got to do without medical help altogether, or you have got to tell the truth, and you know what that means. “You can call in the police. They will do their best and it . is an even chance that they will eventually catch one or more of the robbers, but the odds are that by the time they are caught, your invention will have passed through a dozen hands. You may have the satisfaction of knowing that you have been avenged, but your motor will be gone and you will have to start all over again-” , “What alternative is there? Jack Osborne was fast regaining his normal senses* “It is very difficult to explain. I know who organised the theft of your motor. Probably I could name the men who actually did the job, and I could certainly tell you where the plot was hatched and where the precious gang is at present ...” • Osborne sat up at this. “Lead me to them,” he cried. “Just let me get my hands on them for five minutes. That is all I ask. The police can go to the devil.” ' t> “And a lot of good it would do you, Chichester answered cynically. “You would not find a trace of your motor if you turned the place inside out, and you would find that each one of them had a perfect alibi for the time of the attack. In fact, they would quite probably have you arrested for assault. “Even if you managed to collect enough evidence to convict them—and I, doubt if you could do that—you still would not get back your model. One of the gang would, be sure to escape and he would sell the motor for the benefit ,of the others, unless he „ was bold enough to double-cross them.” “Am I to sit still and let them get clean away with it?” Osborne asked indignantly. , “Of course, we can only hope that there is time to stop the. gang disposing of your model and of catching them red-handed. I have been fighting them for a long time and up to the. present I must admit that they have been too strong for me. “I shan’t tell you why I am fighting them—that is entirely a personal affair. What I am going to do is to ask your help in the fight. You have your invention to fight for. < You need not worry about your invoices for the present. I have ample funds for both of

“Before you decide, there is one more thing I must tell you. I have very few friends. To those who used to know me I am an outcast, I have served a prison sentence—for blackmail. lam not boasting about it and I make no excuses. I merely state facts.”. Diana spoke. for the first time since the arrival of the tea.. “You were wrongly imprisoned,” she said vigorously, “you could not commit a crime if you tried—at least, not a despicable crime. I shall never believe it”

“I do not complain that the verdict was unjust,” Chichester stated briefly. “That’s good enough for me. If Diana believes in you, I. accept her judgment.” The. young man held out his hand. “Let us shake hands on our bargain. We two will fight them . • “Please make it ‘we three’,” Diana joined her hand with those of the two men. i It was by now obvious that Jack needed no doctor’s aid.. He had almost completely recovered, and in a few sentences told them the story of the attack. It was a Saturday morning, and .he did not go to work. He had been sitting in his room writing, when there came a tap at the door. Thinking that it was Mrs. Coe, the landlady, Jack had opened the door, and a rough-looking man, dressed as a plumber and carrying a bag of tools, had forced his way into the room. He pushed the door shut behind him, but Jack, suspicious from the start, reached to re-open it, to order him out of the house. The few seconds that his back was turned to the intruder had been sufficient, and he had sunk under a terrific blow, on the back of his head. “As I lost consciousness,” he concluded, “I have a vague idea that a second man entered, and I remember wondering what had happened to Mrs. Coe. After that I knew no more until I awoke to find you two in the room.” Mrs. Coe’s absence was easily accounted for. The men had come at the time during which she went out to get the vegetables for the day. As she went out each day at practically the same time, it was plain that the raid had been carefully planned. The fact that Jack did not go to work on Saturday had probably been overlooked, but that accident had not been allowed to interfere with the success of the coup. There was one ray of hope. Although the young inventor had never seriously considered the possibility of his model being stolen, Diana had prevailed upon him to take one precaution. The model was incomplete. One vital part had been kept aside until the day of the demonstration and that part was safely deposited in a bank. Moreover, it was deposited in a bank that did not carry Osborne’s very small account, so there was little probability of the gang discovering where the missing part was hidden, even if it was bold enough to try to steal it from the bank. “Unfortunately,” Jack said, “although the rest of the model is useless without that part, that part is also useless without the remainder, and I cannot get another complete model made in time for the demonstration.

“Besides, I am afraid that if a smart engineer studies the part they have stolen, he might be able to fill in the

blanks. To the man who understands motors, one part would be a clue to the other, although the clue might easily be overlooked by the man who didn’t know what he was looking for. “It’s like this: if I wrote down M CH, it wouldn’t convey much to you, but if I wrote those same three letters and said fill in the blanks and you will have the name of a month, you would soon guess the missing letters. “That’s the position with the motor and the separate part, although the answer is not so simple. Not every engineer could fill in the blanks, even if quite a lot of explanation was given.” Chichester told the others as much as he thought necessary of his adventures with Singster and his allies, and then the three settled down to make plans for their future action; or rather Guy explained something of his plans and they approved. Until his active help was needed, Jack was to make all possible haste with the replacement of the missing model and Diana was to go to stay with some friends in London, where Guy considered she could be better cared for and a telephone call to Massing at Scotland Yard elicited the promise that she would be watched. Guy was to return to Westbury, and do his best to upset the gang on the spot. His was rather an indefinite plan, for it seemed impossible to formulate a scheme that would show any reasonable prospect of achieving the desired end. Guy’s actions were perforce to be guided by circumstances as they arose. Before he left London for the quiet little Sussex village, Chichester had one more place to visit —a cemetery not far from Croydon. Both his shadows were considerably puzzled by the move, and the first one stood very awkwardly behind a giant oak and watched Guy, as he stood, hat in hand, and head bent, beside a simple marble stone. The other follower, after Guy had left hurried over to the grave and read the inscription. A look of comprehension came into his face and he smiled a little sadly. Guy did not return again to London, but went to the local station for his return journey to Westbury. When he took his ticket, both the other men were sufficiently close to hear the name !of his destination. Then the first hurried over to a telephone booth and after delivering his message left the station. The other man also telephoned and his message was a long one. He did not leave the station, but stayed to see Guy into his carriage before getting into another compartment of the same train. CHAPTER 10. AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR. In spite of the memory of the scene that had taken place between them on the previous day, Netta was rather surprised that Guy did not call at the Oaks that morning. She realised that she had been hasty, and that Chichester had given her no real excuse for her outburst. It was not so much the fact that he had stood by while Frank had been robbed that had caused her to lose her temper, but rather her sudden disappointment. Although she scarcely knew him, she had begun to look upon hint as a friend who would help her in her almost hopeless struggle to keep a roof above the heads of her brother and herself. Frank was of no use as a helper, in fact he represented the greatest problem. As fast as she managed to make a few pounds, he did his best to waste themHis one desire was to realise on the little property and go to London. “I am tired of being a cabbage,” was his frequent complaint. “I want to live.” And it took all the girl’s practical common sense and strength of will to combat his youthful discontent and weakness.

She had been ready to trust Chichester and welcomed his help, and his firm handling of the affair at The Whip had gone a long way towards confirming her faith in him. Thus it was that the revelation of the fact that he had allowed Frank to be robbed without interfering had come as a shock to her and had been responsible for her outburst.

She knew that she had hurt him, but she did not believe him to be the type of man who would allow a slight wound to turn him from what he set himself to do. She quite expected that he would come to the house again and she had, in fact, prepared her apology. Her work on the little poultry farm kept her busy and gave her scant time for brooding, but Bob Castle, the farm’s one outside employee, did not fail to notice; that she was a little distrait and unsettled that morning. Her gaze, frequently wandered towards the road, and the old man, sensing something wrong, tried to draw her into an argument in order to take her mind off her troubles. He failed miserably, and Iris concern grew, for it was strange indeed when he could not rouse her by disparaging the laying qualities of Rhode Island Reds as compared with his favourite Light Sussex. It was not until very late in the afternoon that there came the sound of footsteps along the road, and Netta left her task and went towards the front of the house.

Here a disappointment awaited her, for the man who entered the gate was not Guy, but her neighbour, Singster. If he saw that he was unwelcome, he gave no sign, but came forward briskly: “I expect you are surprised that I should call on you, Miss . . .” “Fanshaw,” Netta supplied. “Yes, of course, Miss Fanshaw,” he went on. “My name is Singster, as you may know, and I am your- neighbour. Not a very sociable neighbour, you may think. But you must excuse me. You must make allowance for a very busy man.” Netta was not really interested in the man, but she could not refrain from answering, “I thought you had retired from business, Mr. Singster.” “Retired. Yes, I suppose I have retired. That is, retired from business—the more sordid, money-making kind of business. I am still a busy man, however. I have devoted the rest of my life to the cause of science.” He tried to look something like a martyr as he said this,, but Netta had already decided that she neither liked nor trusted the man, and his pose was not very successful. The girl made some conventional reply and he went on: “Yes, I have finished money grubbing, and although I hated every minute of it, I had to go through with it to find the sinews of war, as it were, for what I consider my great task in life. The evening of my days is to be spent in research, and I have every hope that my work will do something towards relieving the sufferings of humanity.” (To be continued).

Hotpoint Toasters, Irons, Jugs, etc., for full value and service. National Electrical and Eng’fi Co, Ltd. 2.