LITERATURE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4098, 9 June 1881, Page 4

LITERATURE.

» A DREADFUL OASE.

(IYoti Bnljraew.) (Concluded.)

C_A_TH- IV.

Ann was the first to recover her presence of mind. "Shall I go an* fetch theperlese, sir?" she said in a subdued voice. " Oh, don't leave me, Ann ! " sobbed my poor wife, yielding to her pent-up emotions. and clasping onr servant round the waist. This was the first time in her life that she had been so undignified. " You go, Joram," she continued. Then a sudden fear seised her. " But we shall both "be murdered while you are gone. Oh, why did I leave Claremont square? — we did have respectable neighbours there." The poor sonl wrung her, hands and began to laugh hysterically. _ S_____rtl t i^_s___3 I felt that everything depended npon my controlling my nervous system. Polly was beginning to get silly, and Ann might at any moment break down too. I took i>ut my pipe, and slowly filled and lit it, ih order both to steady myself and to impress these women with my self-command. "I'll telegraph to Chittick— that will be .est," I said, after pacing the room once or twioe. "You can't telegraph to-night, sir; the Office 'ull he shut*' said the practical Ann. Mr Chittick was an inspector iv the detective force at Scotland Yard. Several years hack Messrs Buokram and Blake were the victimß of a forgery, and Inspector Chittick impressed me very muoh at the time with his sagacity and cool, methodical style of investigating the crim.e. A feeling of friendship between ns sprang out of this Busineaa; why, it ia impossible to say, since the whole current of our lives— our tastes, our pastimes -differed widely ; but I eimplv state a fact. The fact was a source of great satisfaction to me under the present trying circumstances. The Inspector v ould, I felt sure, lose no time in reaching Dulwich on the receipt of my telegram ,and vrould spare all unnecessary distress to Polly and imee-f as he proce- Ad to take the requisite steps for arresting Maiden and his wile. After some internal debating, I decided that it would be better to wait till the morning and then telegraph than to go off the local police ■■ tition that night. I have often since wondered at my courage and calmness. The wife and servant seemed to catch something of my spirit. We were unanimous that to go to bed was impossible ; so Mrs Frogg lay on a sofa, inn in a sofa chair which we wheeled out of the next room, and I sat up in my good arm - chair, prepared to watch the night thro i gh. By dint of a little coaxing I persuaded the two women each to take •* etiff glass of whiskey and water, into which I had slyly [dropped a very little laudanum, so that sleep might soothe the terrors of that awful night. I sat and sit and sat, perplexed and sorrowful. Tliat the savage should ki'.l his fellow man 1 could understand, but that a beautiful r-v'-ured woman and an intellectual man — for Er. ..-•'• Maiden waß that, I judged — should brutally slay a gentle old ci • ature like Mr Lea. with one foot already in the grave, madu me shudder, did [say? — nay, made me wonder on what dark ; oundation of guilt human nature rested. I had read of murders and thought them shocking ; for a moment or two — until I got to the next article in the newspaper. But now the thing seemed brought so close — a murdered man lying but a few yards from me, and hit, murderer sleeping, as far as I knew nearer to him than I — tn-t I felt simply baffled as I contemplated the problem such a foul tragedy suggested. Happily nothing transpired during that tedious night to create further alarm. In the morning, when the postman called, I got him to take a telegraphic message, which simply urged my friend the Inspector to come as early in the day aa he possibly could, as I wanted to .gee bim on business of a very pressing and extraordinary character. • About noon he came. Not a soul had stirred from the neighbouring house, and I had therefore the satisfaction of feeling that the delay would not fru'trate the ends of justice. The Inspector was a very cheerful fellow ; in appearance and build a well-to-do country gentleman. He complimented my wife on her youth as he greeted her ; said he envied me for a lazy old dog ; and then, with a sudden change to the character of the keen man of business, frugal of his time, inquired what was the meaning of my urgent message. As' a precautionary measure I requested Polly to leave the room ; since I knew, from long experience of her nature, Bhe would be sure to break in upon our conversation with Bighs and exclamations did she remain. When we were alone, I told the story of MiLea's eccentric conduct ; his disappearance after his nephew had seen him Bhowing me the diamonds in the garden ; and, finally, the strange conversation we had overheard the night before. At first my friend was merely politely attentive ; but, as I went on, he took out his note book and carefully wrote down the words we had overheard. He asked for particulars, too, of the appearance of Maiden and his wife and of the murdered man. "Do yon know anything of the bußiness or profession of Maiden ? " he then asked. I could only admit that on this point I was entirely in the dark. "But has not your maid learnt anything on this subject from your neighbour's servant ? " he inquired; "servants are elw_ys gossiping you know." " The woman next door is a foreigner — a German — I think." Inspector Chittick pursed up his mouth, and tapped his note hook with hiß pencil. "That looks like a plan," he remarked, after a moment's meditation. "That fact is the strongest point in the case. It seems as though it were designed that nothing should transpire through the ohatter of servants." " Yet Burely the real point is the confession of murder whioh was overheard ? " I urged, deferentially." " That has to be proved," he replied "In the meanwhile I must compliment you on your shrewdness in Bending for me in this quiet way. I shall at once telegraph for one of our men to stay with you here, and for another to he posted within a convenient distance of the house. — _ soon _s thoy arrive I shall go and find out something about the the antecedents of this Mr Maiden ; that is, if you can tell me the name of the person who conveyed his furniture hero." Fortunately I could do this. Mr Chittick duly noted the fact and i en closed bis note-hook, wrote o^> the telegr -m on a form which he had wifl— ' "f__, and sent Ann without delay to the Pdst Office, cautioning her not to say a word to any oue about the affair of the previous night. When she was gone he resumed the character of the country gentleman by asking me how I liked my present life, and what progress I was making in gardening. I was amazed at his coolness. " How on earth, Mr Chittick, can you talk of such things when there is a murdered man next door?" "If the poor old chap is dead," he answered, " there is no occasion for hurry ; and I cannot bring his murderer to justice by looking and speaking in a very important fashion at the present moment. Besides, I always avoid getting into an official habit, and this I find I can best do by dismissing a case completely from my mind whenever I reach a point where nothing further can be done for the time being. Excuse me if I have wounded your feelings by my conduct. I know this case has been a terrible ordeal for you and your poor wife, but I am only too acoustomed to such things, unfortunately." The intelligence and strength of character which those remarks suggested easily explained why Inspector Chittick was held to be so far above the ordinary --un of detective; and, further, made me > luotant to inquire, aa I intended doing, his leaaon for not arresting Maiden there and then. Was it possible that his keen eye saw a weak link in tiie chain of testimony I had placed before him ? " Ah ! Joram Frogg, there is more in heaven and earth and the Criminal Investigation Department than is dreamt of in your philosophy," I kept saying to myself, until the morning crept slowly away, and Inspector Chittick left. Day after day passed and nothing transpired to clear up this mystery. Several times Maiden left the house for a few hours, aod we then observed that the detective officer who lounged about the road followed him at a little distance. Once Anu burst mto the room with the startling intelligence tfcat there was * great noise of shovelling in the adjoining house in the vicinity of ths cccX cellar. Our resident detective, who was a grim, taciturn man, the very reverse of his chief uttered the words, "Burying him,"

and quietly went to our coal cellar to listen, leaving ub in a state of the wildest agitation. At length, after an interval of nearly a fortnight, we had for the first time a communication from Inspector Ohittiok in the shape of a telegram : '* I have made an unexpected and startling discovery in re Maiden. I will call this afternoon and hope to do business. Maiden is at home ; intends leaving town to morrow morning with wife and German servant." I did not show this message to Polly, for I knew it would upset her. Shu was nearly broken down already with the suspense of the last week or two, and that fool of a woman, Ann Lightbody, kept priming her with horrors until the very sound of my own footsteps was a terror to her— fancy that! My nerves, too, were a little unstrung, and I aotually trembled when Ann ushered Mr Ohittiok into the front room. He looked as solemn as the officer who had been living with us, and after greeting me he gravely rook a newspaper from his pooket and passed it to me. " Read that," he said, pointing to a portion marked at top aud bottom with ink. In a mechanical fashion I took the paper and began to read. It was part of an article on the " Magazines of the Month," and " Tyburnia" was the periodical tha criticism of which he had marked. I read : "Tyburnia," as usual, is very Btrong in notion. But it scarcely sustains its reputation by inserting the highly melodramatic tale, ' The Cap of Midaß.' The hero- villain of this story is a young Greek who is aisistant to an aged diamond merchant in Syracuse." My heart began to beat as I reid the last few words. "This young gentleman is fired by an ambition to play an important part iv the ' political life of the coming Greek federation. To obtain wealth, and with it influence, he murders his aged master for the sake of certain priceless gems which the old fellow has concealed *n a velvet nightcap he is in the habit of wearing. This is the cap of Midas, we presume. Justin Corgialegno — the murderer— had read " Hamlet " (Query. Has " Hamlet " been translated into modern Greek yet?) and drops poison into his master's ear, and steals the nightcap. This poison, however, fails to do its work, so the assistant at once stabs the old man, and begins to feel the first difficulties of his lot, namely, how to dispose of the body of the murdered man." I looked up at Inspector Chittick sheepishly. A mocking smile lurked in the corners of his mouth, 1 thought. " Well, the hero buries his master in the garden of his house, and starts off with this cap which contains the wealth that is to give him political power. Here comes the melodramatic point of the story. The diamonds in this cap are of such enormous value that the murderer dare not attempt to sell them, feeling sure that inquiries will be made aB to how he became poss^'-ed of such precious gems. Tortured by f. _r and desperate with hunger, he at len«iu commits suicide with his cap of Midas placed mockingly upon his own head. The story is ingenious in some of its parts, but is really, to speak plainly, unworthy of the reputation of that promising young novelist, Mr Ernest Maiden." "Mr Ernest Maiden," I muttered vacantly, " a — novelist !" The Inspector rose from his chair and slapped me on the back, and poked me in the ribs, and Bhook me by the shoulders, laughing the while with suoh tremendous boisterousnesß, that Mrs Frogg and Ann burst into the room in a state of speechless amazement which I shall never forget. Their appearance gave just the finishing touch of absurdity to the situation; and as tha grotesqueness of the blunder whioh we one and all made dawned upon me, I, too, began to laugh until the tears rolled down my cheek a. "Polly!" I gasped, as soon as I could speak, "Mr Maiden is a novelist ! and oh, such a vile murderer — on paper! Ha! ha, ha ! oh, oh, oh ! he, he ! oh ! ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" We really never saw poor old Mr Lea again, for he died at Brighton of softening of the brain a few weeks after his nephew and niece joined him. Their leaving town — referred to in the Inspector's telegram — was with this object. The old gentleman, as we afterwards learned, was taken away from next door in a cab one evening when we must all have been at the back of the house. Had we but seen him go, we should havo b?en spared a great deal of terror, and many unjust suspicions of our neighbours' characters. Tet, on the other hand, this tale would never have been written, and I should have lost an opportunity, to say the leaßt, of opening my heart to a sympathetic public about the Froggoi variety of geranium. The " variety " will be a reality ere long — be it known to all men.