THREE MEN AND A MAID.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13673, 11 April 1908, Page 6

THREE MEN AND A MAID.

BY ROBERT FRASER.

[ooftbiohx.]

CHAPTER XIV. Wherein Marjorie Acts on Impulse.

Published by Special Arranigenient.

From that instant a new trend was given; fte'tlSefr thoughts. Under lowered, eyelids they looked at each other. Tho shadow. of, fe -terrible crime seemed to darken the room. It was as though the spirit of the red Squire had come from the gr%ve ,to defects them towards the truth.* „ '

Winter w,as the first to regain some measure of oalm. He laughed harshly,- with a mirthjtess suggestion that he was ashamed of having allowed his feelings to. conquer professional sangfroid. Yet, a nervous nibbling at his moustache, and the almost QuaTcer-like decorum with which, he went back to his chair and produced a notebook, betrayeU the severity of the restraint he was imposing upon himself. , "Now; me: 'Warren," he said, iiv a staccato way, "we must set about our inquiry in real earnest. Thus far we have only dipped into your story, tasting it, ;e3fetracti|ig its strenuous bits, so to speak,. With- your help, I propose to go through it from A to Z. Take youVtinie. .Think of everything, and tell me all that has 1 ha--ened since th© moment Felix brought the message that Miss Nfeyland wished yoxi to keep" an appointment for six o'clock at FennelPa Tower."

The Vicar ■ moistened his dry lips with his tongue. , . "Thia. affair as serious enough already/ he commented, "but your statement, Philin, introduces an . element of criminality hitherto wanting. I am rejoiced^ n>y dear boy, to find the cloud of suspicion lifting from off your shoulders, but I am sure you will be njosVcareful not to permit your prejudice against " "Mr. Warren will merely speak of facts,'* broke in Winter, sharply. "We do not' know j nor greatly care, whither those facts may lead. That is for the law to decide/ "You have-not forgotten that my nephew is" virtually a prisoner?" asked Mi". Isatnfcatil, w£o, as a magistrate, | kfaew sonietlung of legal procedure. "I have already warned him/ "was the torse answer, and the detective felt that lie had perhaps 'erred in allowing the precise-minded Vicar to ber present.^ But Philip swept aside all doubts. have nothing to conceal," he said, with upjiet insistence. ViMy unhappy, friend and: rival did not flic by< m^ hand. Were it otherwise) I still should tell the truth ; but, .as I have been accused unjustly of *a -prime which I had actually resolved* not' to commit, it* would' be a mere fettering of Mr; Wiftt^r's inquiry we*e 1 to refuse to aid him to the fullest ex-; tent." »- * , j The. detective, for all his power ,of self-control, was straining like a hound at the leash when the game is started. To his manifest relief, Philip made] good his words by giving a faithful record of events since Felix ( found him poring over a black-letter book in the summer-house at the foot of the Vicarage garden. Winter, though he took copious notes, hardly ever checked «the story by a question. Once, when Philip mentioned that Marjorie thought the half-witted messenger had been sent by MrV Bennett, the solicitor, he asked why she formed that notion^ and the answer was that Felix's description had suggested Bennett to her mind. Again, Winter interrupted the recital in order to discover whether pr I not Robert Courthope had admitted that it was he who locked the tower door, and Warren, was obliged to say that Courthope denied all knowledge of the key-turning which had such j disastrous' consequences. The detec- 1 tive insisted on the closest verbal accuracy ih'*rec6unting the wild talk in the. onurchyard when the duel was arranged,-' and,; for the first' time, it dawned on Philip that he might have assumed too nastily that the Squire had played such a mean trick on' Marjorie and hfmself. \ The Viea*y also/ though his evidence seemed to . connect Robert with the dbor-locking ; was positive that nothing wap said on the point when he met Courthope in the lane, and his face, too,< assumed a' deeper pallor as he recalled the. cross-examination of James Courthope by Mr. Whitaker at the inquest. Every whiff of evidence blew in bite direction. None named the suspect, yet each knew the others' thoughts. But the Scotland Yard man allowed no side issues to divert his inquiry. He followed Philip's narrative with the closest • attention until he heard how, in the semi-darkness caused by a passing cloud,' Courthope had disarmed his adversary. Then he rose hastily. t "Do you promise to obey my instructions, Mr. Warren?" he demanded. "Yes, if pebble." Philip was rather surprised that the detective showed no interest in his subsequent adventures — how he had quitted the. train at a junction, and walked back , over the moors to hide in Fennell'fe Tower next day until after nightfall, hoping to find his ring at Lancault, and never abandoning that hope, though sorely beset by Marjories unexpected^ visits to the churchyard. He could- have told, how the -devqted huntsman of his pack of otter-hounds had fed him without question, placing loyalty to- a master and friend above -the. demand of the law for a fugitive criminal; and he was longing to relieve his heart of the burthen placed on it by : the amazing conversation between- Marjorie and James Courthope. Yet Mr. Winter wanted to hear none of thi*. "You had better do exactly as I tell you," he' repeated, moving toward* the door. "Let no one from outside see you until I arrive in the Imormtfg, *&tf about ten o'clock. I shall ask Mr. Isbmbard to take us in ,a closed carriage to the courthouse at Nutworth, where you will be charged on a minor count, and remanded , on, yqui» uncle's bail ; so you should* be hefe again by noon, and I have little ' doubt, under tho ciroumstanoes, that you will find Miss Marjorie Neyland awaiting you iri this very room* " . ' J Ah! if only " But the detective was £one. He left uncle and nephew to sit together during many hours and tell all that was to be told bf the tragedy whioh had shocked a whole ootmtry-side, ' It was late when .they retired. They did not know thajfc Davenport had

! literally obeyed their orders, and sent away a dozen callers. Hudston was wide-awake that night. When Winter reached the chilly gloom of the garden he stood for a few seconds to light a fresh cigar. Soon the end was in a furious glow, sure sign of active thought in that round head of, his. The jerky whistle of a train announcing its departure from Hudston Station reached his ears. It was l the 9.30 p.m. mail to York and the south, and it brought to mind the sad picture "of Marjorie waiting in the arcade outside the hotel, eager for a life of love and happiness, yet banned by the hand of her lover as the outcome of a duel. I "By gad!" thought Winter cheerfully, "what a meeting that will ,be to-morrow! Lucky dog, Warren, after all! This suffering will make a man of Him. . I think I brushed away the last of the cobwebs when I tackled him in the t6wer to-nighf. There's |ovablp about the fellow, notwithstanding his nonsensical notions!" Turning into the village street, he passed groups of gossiping men. Missing naught within his ken, he saw that they showed a reawakened interest in , his movements. ' "So," he growled, "Hannah has babbled. Of course* she was eager to win a little added notorioty. I suppose the other half oi" Hudston^ is spread out , between here and Fennell's Tower. Confound the woman, what a shrew /it is!" Feeling no active good-will, towards Hannah, therefore, he hurried to the Greyhound, and tho 'first person he encountered there was Hannah "herself, bustling about with some of her old-time energy. The appearance oi the detective seemed to startJo her. "Lor'," she cried, "is that you? Haven't you hoard the news?" "What news?"- said he gruffly, with a sudden resolve to "bluff" \her, x as the police say when they flurry an unwilling witness into truth-telling. "Why, about Mt.. Warren." "And what Of him?" < "It is all over the village that he is hiding in Fennell's Tower." "Who says so?'* { . "I heard it. It is the* talk of the^ place." . , . ,' "Come, Miss Neyland, who tokl you ? Have you forgotten?"'' «Er— really '-'' "What a dreadful thing it is to have a bad memory^"- ho. remarked, with a sarcastic sympathy 'which ho was sure would annoy her. < "My memory is all right. Anyhow, niy sister Mai'jorie knows, and she is not one to be mistaken whore Warren isxconeorned." v Wintor had not hitherto experienced Hannah's "lady of tbe manor" stylo. The curt allusion to "Warren" amused him. "Did she see' him there? Or docs, she believe all she hears, like yourself, Miss Neyland?" "I don't understand you?" "You havo always been ready to fcredit fairy tales wheW.Fcnnell's Tower was concerned, y.ou know." Hannah drew ha,cfc a trifle perplexed. Whiter was a man, of the world, and- . his tone hitherto had invariably been polite. ' "You are speaking in riddles," she snapped, venomously, "but plain English is good enough for me. , My sister saw and spoke to Mr. Warren in that very tower this very evening', and co sure Wag &he, at any "rate, ofi his presence, that she has gone away from. -Hudston for ever." > "Qimk awayV/ aepeated Mr. Winter blankly Tj For. tonce he was .quite taken abapk. Hannah, pressing home an unexpected triumph, raised her voice a little. , "Yes, absolutely gone, sir. She left, by the 9.30, anjd I, for one, think she is well out of it.", * "Do you kn^w where she has gone to?" he askeft unguardedly. Hannah snnfed. She was given the opening she 1 wanted. "I might guess," she tittered, "but 1 you see I'm so ready to believe all I hear that I -had better say nothing moro>"

(To "be continued.)