THE DOVERFIELD DIAMONOS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XC, Issue 13289, 18 May 1907, Page 3

THE DOVERFIELD DIAMONOS.

" Soma' day v, e wi.l Lave a shooting match, if you like,"' the suggested.

"•Excellent," I .scoff -A. '"And where?" "At my club, fir." she answered. "We have fencing- and :i gymnasium, and, a yhooiing-gallcry. I'd have you knew, Mr Sleuth-hound Jasper, that I have been shooting- regularly for . . . well, over since Nancy's first letter. And . . . .1 don't shut my eyes now." "Net at anything, Enid," I said. "They are very wide open." '' And* is not that ai you would have them?" she asked, laughing. " I have, to protect uncle." " Yes, and keep trim here in London, t-x>. We don't want your uncle to go to Wraylands. you see, for th* same reason that "we do want Madam and her brother to go. Wraylands, the country, is the ideal place for easily s'.alkkg our quarry, and it is quite pos/ible tliat the midnight attentions to Tcnto may have been meant as the opening cf the "siege against your uncle's person or purse. Meyrick's letters, you must remember, wre both sent to Wravlands, and forwarded from there. The" fellow can hardly be supposed to know that, the captain has ceased to be much there." " M—true."

"And you must see how much easier it is to guard your uncle here, in the crowd, than at Wraylands. Why. he might even be ambushed in his own grounds, with its scattered outbuildings ; while here " "I see," declared Enid, in a tone of conviction. "And I see, also, how much easier it would be to keep track of Monsieur and his man down there, especially with tne help of Lane as . . • gardener s assistant, say. It looks like a good move, •• it's «:ir logical nest move," 1 deciaro-l ■'An experiment, of course, and, frankly, I don't Know quite what to hope frc-m hv' We had been discussing, at s.ome length, an idea suggested to me by Enid's statemart to the effect that Madams brother had been longing for the country. Why should not tuese people become the tenants of Nancy wanted? Once lemovi them iicm th?ir London environment, and it wcuid be strange if w-i did not find a way to come nearer to the mystery surrounding them, closer v to the secret connecting one of them with Meyrick's teeming disappearance in mid-ocean. it waa too soon to arouse doubts and suspicions in the mind cf the captain; _ I could -trust Enid to win him oyer to the jdan should it maturo. As for Nancy, once the change became a probability, I meant to infoim her. And that night I wrote a long letter to her, warning her to be prepared to receive, nest day, a living man and a stuffed dog. The man would go in the character of under-garden-er and general factotum, in which position he might appear anywhere about the grounds or the house at any hour without question. All-this I confided to Nancy on paper, and finished by admonishing her thereafter to communicate items of importance over the telephone. On the morning following my interview with Enid, Hal Landis came to'my office, looking exceedingly grave and seeming a trifle ill at ease. " " Can you give ma a half-hour-,' Jasper?" he avked; and when I assured him that I was quite at his service, he plunged at once into his tubject. He did not ask me if I had heard of his mother's discovery of Madam Barthelme's liberal sporting propensities, and so I listened as if I were hearing the story for the first time. Landis had paled somewhat as he began to speak, but his clear eyes met mine with all his old frankness, and he was never the man for reservations. "The 'mater' let me down as gently as woman could, and she never uttered a criticism: but she sold, very gently, -with, that low note of firmness that I have more than once had reason to remember"—here he smiled reminiscently—" 'My boy, I shall never speak to you of this; wretched business again, so "we must understand one another now. There may be an explanation: things mav be better than they aeom; but until I know that they are, and not from a mere declaration, mind, Madam Devinne Barthelme cannot agam t>> received bv me. I only ask you to remember that you are a gentleman, with a clean name and unsmirched honour, and that vou do not quite forget your mother, and " I am going to trust you.

Here he paused. " And . • yon?" I asked. "It hit me hard, Jasper, I own it. It vaS too soon for promises. I *•»«**« m ate- and did a bolt . . • and I went to the 'Golden Fleece' . . • "Oh . - • 7™ dld> "I did."

"I'don't'know whether you noticed it, j asp er," said Hal Landis; "but I have admired Mrs Barthelme very much. "I inferred it," I answered, drily. The boy coloured with the self-conscioss-of vouth. "I didn't know I had made it evident to all the world," he said, hastily "But-1 did.like her. Yes, confound it it was mora than that. I liked her even after the mater *poke. I couldn't but think there was some mis-take—some explanation—even after the mater saw her <ro in that place with her own eyes- I shouldn't have believed . . . even you, Jasper; but the mater ... I was bound to accept that. And she was so awfullv nice about it, A chap's bound to be careful whom he introduces to bis people isn't he? ... cad I have always been. But I never dreamed - . • her manner is perfect, . . . Up'*, ; " - • • ? ou admit that. She is so magnificent looking, too. Well, I felt I must know, on my own—must see it through. I sent a line to Madam Barthelme, asking if I might come in after dinner. SII2 was engaged, she said in her reply. I wondered could her engagement be thcra, at that rotten club? I had heard of the place, but have never been theie. It will be raided soon."

" Xes, I wonder it has escaped so long." "Well, I hunted up Healy. the racing chap, vou know. I liked the man at Oxford, and ha did me; though he was a madman, even than. : He got sent down pretty tarly in his career, but I've always kept "in touch with him, and since ha's bstn racing I have had a useful tip now and again* Healey's » rnnrober of the Golden Fleece ... he belongs to anything that gives him a chance to flutter away part of his thirty thou' a year. It's the only place in London,' said Healey, laughing, 'where a lady can have a little flutter outside of a private house or a laceeanrse; and they've kept it fairly straight, up to now . . . but it can't last . . . these things never do, of course.' " "But the ladies who go there, Landis?" I asked. "Thei-ci not countesses," he answered, laughing. " But on the other hand, they're straight. Of course, you can see for yourself that if they weren't,, the police would be down on it before you could say " Knife!'"

" Singular!" I murmured. " ' Meats a felt want,' that's what Healey said, with his genial grin. ' Suffragetes want votes, girls want latchkeys, some women want a ehanco to gamble; and there

vou are.'' " But surely," I asked, "they violate the excise laws a." hundred times a night." •' No ; everything is free—suppers-, wine, everything; and there in outward decorum. There's a queer old dame—a Creole, Healey said—who acts as secretary." I laughed aloud. This was all something strange, exotic, for London. " IV.I me more about this place," I said. '• I was about to do so. There are several rooms upon two or three floors, and sumpt-

uoua suppers are served' on the top one. No one is admitted without a passport, a voucher, an introduction from a member; and, while the drawing-rooms on the first floor ar_* given over to pi;nt?rs in silver, and are more or less open, to all comers, the next floor is divided into private rooms where special games tan be played, and where some Inavy beating is done." " I—see."

" The lady members all play on the upper floors ,but tha rooms are connected bv .heavy doors, and the presiding genius —the Creole lady—car. be persuaded to 'conduct a desirable gvest' through these rooms, and evc-n introduce him to bararat where ladies are in the majority. These ladies, I fancy," era few, b\it are quite regular in their attendance." "I see."

"I had determined to wast", money enough in this place to establish a footing, if necessary, and Healey wan asb?d to introduce me as a young simpleton from Cornwall, with some money and no brains. 'My name's too well known,' I declared to him. Of course, ha saw it :*s jrst a whim of mine—a sort of lark. He laughed, .?.nd. said -he thought there were some men there, and some women too, who would be only too glad to welcome a 'mug.' Well, the luck of the beginner was with me from the first, and at three o'clock the plump and handsome ' Creole lady,' who could play an amazing game of bridge, by the way . . . pound points, mind you, consented to take us through the upper rooms ;>, we had been drinking champagne, and she had heard me declare that it always wont to my head. It began to manifest iteslf, in the form of increasing hilarity, as we ascended the stairs. " A.t the Tear of the oblong hall was a closed door, but outs conductress passed this by, although voices and laughter came out- to us. The other doors sto >d -cither open or ajar. - One room, the largest, contained four card tables, the next a 'red and black' layout, and two others were occupied by players at bridge; and I think there was one poker game, tho ign I don't know the game and am not. sure. " There were half a dozen women in those last rboms, and twice as many men; lastly we came on a game of roulette. We lingered a Httle over the roulette table, and then, coming out near the ; stairs, our hostess moved towards the landing, while I fell to the rear, paused near the closed door to scrutinise a picture, and then suddenly exclaimed a bit thickly—' I say Healey, we're overlookin' this one! U'won't do,' and I flung open the door. Healey at once took <thei cue, and followed me into the room. Three men and one woman were playing cards, but the woman's back was toward the door, but there was a larga mirror on the wall facing me, and in this mirror our eyes ment —Madam's and mine." He paused and drew a sharp breath; then—"The game came to a halt for just a moment, while. our conductress volubly; and smilingly, apologised for my intrusion. The,men, who happened not to know me, greeted me. with the cordiality of the gambler who scents a possible new victim ; and the next moment, with an added b-r-r on my tongue, I was greeting Madam hilariously, declaring my pleasure at finding . her able to join in so exciting a sport, and that nothing would give me greater delight than to s.it down in her partner's place, etc., etc., ad nauseam. " But Madam was very cold and haughty,' and I pressed her slender, Tinged lingers, and bowed myself out." " And thi3, happened . . . when ?" "Three, no, four-nights ago." " And. . . . have you seen Madam since?" ' Fe shook his head. Then—"l told my mother next morning," he said "And . ... .1 made her prmtee—two promises." While he had talked' I had been thinks ing, and now asked ; \ "Is it your wish to avoid Madam in fuiv.re?" "My wish?" He wheeled suddenly toward me. " Look here, Jasper, don't make any mistake. I was mad over the woman I conceived Madam Barthelme to be. I might have broken my heart over this woman, as I had idealised her. But I thank heaven for a mother, lofty, pureminded,- and strong enough to have put some decency into her son. • And when I left that place I was surprised to discover that the woman I had left before that card-table, with the fever of the gambler in her eyes and the .flash of the gamester in ' her." cheeks, was less than nothing to me. For Madam, as I now know her, I have but oiie ■ thought'." "And that?" " The wish, the hope, that I may never see her again—that I may keep her from . hit friends." T l pf ( "*<•'• ,: " , Bl323,B£ja?'^'' (To be continued.)