CHAPTER XI.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13797, 31 October 1908, Page 6

CHAPTER XI.

ON A XKW TRAIL. The communication thai met Nick's Mi'iitim was writ ten in a i lowing feminine hand, and was without a. date or j the addnv-s of the writer. Jt re;ul as iollowh: "Mr Matt Hanlon : This is tlie final call. It's the last crack out of the box. No more parlez-vous for Nannie. The iioods lor mine. Matt, or 1 cut the string and out comes the pussy. "\ ou know"" what wicked claws she has, and I'll make sure she uses them. "There's no more to it,, Matt, not so much as a little piece of cheese. You know the layout, and where to place your bets to win. (Jet them down mighty lively, then, or there'll be something doimi- This is the very last crack, mind you. Cut loose and make •iood, Matt, or—well, you know NanHie! ' What she says <;oes! "You bet you know NANNTE." Nick twice read this enigmatical and by no means elevating missive. He then replaced it in its envelone—and pretended to place both among the older letters from which he had taken it. Instead, however, he deftly slipped it up liis sleeve, and afterward into his pocket. , . Though much had transpired since he entered the house, and several significant discoveries had been made, none more curious than this, scarce half an hour had passed when Nick arose from the library desk. His inscrutable countenance did not indicate that he had made any important or threatening discovery, and both of his companions looked relieved when he intimated as much and prepared to go. Yet before reaching the outer door Nick turned to Mrs Cardiff and asked, in a way suggesting that he attached no great importance to her answer: "Did 'you ever employ a servant named Matt Han Jon:'" I "Matt Hanlon?" Mrs Cardiff's I brows rose thoughtfully. "No sir, never." ."Ever hear the name before?" Nick carelessly asked. "I do not recall it." "Or a maid servant known as Nannie?" "That might be a nickname for Nancy, or Ann, or " "It doesn't matter," said Nick, "unless you happen to recall some person called Nannie." "1 do not, Mr Carter." "Thank you, That is all." Nick escaped the parting questions she would have asked by turning quite abruptly and descending the steps. He saw across the stretch of sunlit grounds the tall figure of Professor Sterling just leaving the college building and heading for the house. "He's coming here to break the sad news," Nick rightly inferred. "I'm away just in time. I'll head him off for a moment." They met in the middle of the grounds and Nick stopped him, noting his paleness and that there were tears in his eyes. "This i.s dreadful, dreadful, Mr Carter!" was Sterling's greeting. "I am overwhelmingly shocked! Who on earth can have done this deed?" "That's what I'm trying to learn," said Nick. "So your assistant informed me." < "He is still at the college?" "Yes. I arrived only a short time ago. I did not think Cardiff had,an enemy in the world. He was a royai, good-hearted man, even if a little peculiar. This dreadful blow will crush his wife and daughter! T shrink from the duty of tellina them." "I cannot blame you," bowed Nick, still detaining him. "One word, however, before you go. Who is Malt Hanlon?" "Matt Hanlon?" "Yes." "I never heard the name." "Are you sure?" "Positively." "Tax your memory." persisted Nick, steadily regarding him. "Was there ever a student of that name in the college, or such a man employed about heiv in any capacity?" "I repeat, Mr Carter. I never heard the name," Sterling^ firmly insisted. "My memory of names is remarkably reliable. T never forget one. T have been familiar with the names of all of the students for years, also those of persons employed in or about the college." "Yet you never heard of Matt Hanlon?" "Never, sir. I woidd stake my reputation on it." Nick thanked him and hastened on his way. At the basement door he met Chick and Patsy about leaving the building, and they departed in company, "The police and coroner there?" Nick tersely inouired. "Yes," said Chick. "I have turned the case over to them, and am glad to have done with this part of it." "I don't wonder." "What did you learn at the house?" "Enough to start me off on an entirely new scent." "No!" "That's right." "The two women p" "Nothing doing," said NU'fc tritely, "They're n« innocent a,s ehlldj'en, as far ufi Moving lind anything to do with the murder.. Nor onu Devlin, Storlinsi, or Bancroft, the other piwonM mentioned in Cardiff's lint, have, committal the crime. 1' "Whi'w! 1* Chick wliifctlwi expressive* 'v. "How ditl ynti got \v!m» to till that V ft sifts thittgt down pretty line." "Down to a vniled woman and three ••'•ffians, pvpsuMwibly li»«r confederates," N'u>\t grimly ftnNWfli'pd. "fSuro?" "1 think ho. We ure, up agaltififc a gang, Chick. I'll Nt'iikf my reputation on flint." And Kirk 1lu»n informed his two »»ssistant<f what had transpired -it the house, and showed them the Hanlon letter. Chick read it twice, as Nick had done, then growled perplexedly: "There's certainly something back of that. Nicfc." * ' "That's my idea." "Could you find any otiu'i" lettc»r« from tins Nannie?" "Ko." "Ton searched the ontire doht for others?" 4'You bet," Nick nodded siginficantIv. "I went through everything I could find. This is the only one." "What do you make of it?" "It conveys a threat, Chick, with a demand ior '•omething. nresuinablv monc\ ," Nick replied, as they started hi; 1 iis- nearest elevated-station. "It | m.n l»e ;ni attempt at, blackmail." ■•IWiblv."

"If not, it's something uoise" "That's right, tuo. It's addiessid t<. Hanlon, in cure of Doctoi Caiditl." I "A fact which coini)hc:itcs niattoi^." "How so" "Because it makes the ( identit\ ol Hanlon doubl> uncertain," -Nick explained. "Ordinarily, one would natuialls infer that he is some 111:111 wills whom Cardilf was acquainted, possibh a friend, or a student in the college, or a man in his emplos ." "Certainly." Chick asMiited." "Yet no such person is known either at his house or in the college.'' "That seems strange." "The letter is of Mich leccnt (late, moreover, that the name could not ha\e been forgotten." "Surely not." "No," Nick argued pnintcdl.v. "0111 mail-ser\ ice is ver\ relial)le. It is almost certain that Doctor Cardift received the letter personally." "No doubt of it, Nick." "That at once brings up several important questions. Did he deli\er the letter to Hanlon, who may be an .10qwaiiitaiiee outside ol his house and the college:-' Did Hanlon open it and altei ward give it back to Cardift. who. it is presumable, was the one who placed it in his desk y Or did Doctor Cardiii never deliver the letter, but violated the postal-laws, and opened it himselt r Assuming that ho opened it, there max be no .such person as Matt Hanlon. That may be a name which, lor souk unknown reason. Doctor Cardiff ha<« sissumed." "That's true, Nick." "Furthermore, his true name nun not be known to the writer of the letter, who addresses it to Hanlon. That's an open question. Chick, as well a.s 1 Ik others. Reasoning along that line, t hiNannie, whoever she is, may ha\e known Doctor Cardiff only as Matt Hanlon, and followed only his instructions in addressing the letter in care of the physician. In that case. Chick, it would look as jf Cardiff had been up to some sort of funny business, uwa\ from homo, under aii assumed name, in which some woman was involved possibly the mysterious veiled woman." "By Jove, that's a. point worth noting," Chick thoughtfully exclaimed. "It appears more likely than not." "I have it noted in my head, Chick, be sure of that," Nick dryly remarked". "As you say, this letter surely complicates matters." "I should say so," put in Patsy, who had been listening. "To continue along the same lino," said Chick, "it looks u.s if this Nannie had had some hold on Doctor Carditi. under the name of Hanlon, and as if she had boon trying to force him to give np money to avoid an exposure." "On the surface, Chick, that appears to bo about the size of it," Nick admitted. "She must have threatened him before, for she states that this letter is the final call." "That's right. It was shell out this timo % or go under," declared Patsy. "What puzzles me, if this letter was intended- for Cardiff himself." added Chick, "is why he left it in his desk. Any sane man threatened in this way would have destroyed it." "Ho may have intended to do so sooner or later," said Nick. "Possibly he had some reason for wishing to keep it for a time, and thrust it among a lot of old letters, knowing that no one would be likely to disturb them. He afterward inav have forgotten to destroy it." "That's only fairly reasonable." "You must bear in mind, too, that we are only assuming that the letter was written to Cardiff, and that he and Hanlon are one and the same. If this is not So, Cardiff inav not have thought it neoossai;V fo destroy" HanlrVn's letter. Ho may, liowever, have had some good leason for keeping it." "That appears more like it." "On the whole," .added Nick, "it seems inoro than probable that Cardift and Hanlon are not the same. That Mould be the case in a groat majority of letters addressed in this way. 'ft is all at present a matter of conjecture." (To be continued.) (To be continued.)