THE STORYTELLER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10926, 15 November 1913, Page 2

THE STORYTELLER.

ONE WONDERFUL NIGHT. (By LOUIS TRACY.) Author of " Tho House of Storm," " Cynthia's Chauffeur," Etc. £i4u Rights Reserved.] CHAPTER V. NINE O'OMCK. A new note had crept into the voice if tho taxi-cab driver when he stopped Jus vehicle in Eaton Squnro and Bought Curtis's further commands. No longer did he address his patron with a species of good-humoured toloranee, almost of sarcasm; his mental attitude had now become one of respect, even of heroworship. A little later, while smoking a thoughtful pipe in his own cosy flat Bomewhere in Battereea. be tried to explain this curious development to his .wife- ~ ~ T "You boo, my dear," ho said, 1 picked up a faro in the Strand, an took him where he said he wanted to go. When he got out, ho didn't seem to bo quite sure whethor he wanted to be there or not, an' you can bet I smiled when he said that he supposed the lady he was oallin' on lived in Number 10 flat.- ' Anyhow, after hesitatin' a bit, an' tellin' me he wouldn't keep me a minute, in no dives, an' kep' me coolin' my heels a good quarter of an hour. I grew uneasy, because fares do get so ntwty About waitin' charges, so I signals the lift-man, name o' Rafferty, to ask it it was O.K. When Rafferty comes back, We had a chat, an" he tells ine that this Miss Grandison—a mighty smart piece she is, too—was goffl. to marry a little 'Frenchman—«he was expectin* him to call at eight o clock an' take her to tho minister's place, although I always thought folk had to get married before three o'clock—- . bo it gov' both Rafferty lan' . nieji jar when my fare turns up with the girl an' pumps up for ally old address where people could get married. Well, I remembers the number of ah-old gent in the High Street, Kensington, an away' wo go, man, girl, andjady s maid, with never a sign of any Frenchman anywheres. An' by Jove lin the? skipped to the vicarage, and got ' " No, George I" exclaimed his highlyinterested hearer.' , "Fact; true as I'm sittin' here. "When they were comin' out, a queer- . lookin' specimen who opened tho door wished 'em happiness. ' Fair weather to you an' your wife, sir,' he said, an . Mr Curtis—that's my fare's name, I ■ axed something about havinj finished'one long voyage an' beginnin another. Then the fun began. I was juststartin' the machine when a private car dashes up, an' out jumps a foreign-lookin' swell. t The girl spots ■ -him, an', screams his name—Count Vaseline-'it sounded like—an he shouts, ' Here we are, Valtaw ; p'raps that was his way of sayin' .' Got 'em, by You see after Hermione,, I'll fix this \ , Frenchman I" <• ' . -. "Don't swear. George 1" remonstra- ' ted the driver's hotter half. , ■ "I'm not swearin'. Ain't I telkn' you what he said." ■ The point was waived. . ""iAnd the lady's name was Hermi- ■ one, was it? It's a pretty .Same." -; - " ■ " Yon haven't got it quite right. It .was more like the way I 6aid it." # And, indeed, the correction was justified, since it is a regrettable fact that .' the -tea-cab driver's wife made " Her- • prions'" rhyme with "bone," and laid 1 ' no Btress on the second syllable. Strong y'ia. lier superior knowledge, for she was reader of fiction —and '(JPSfIP nameß weri- fashionable last No-vember—-«ho passed that point also. .'fWellP" 6he demanded breathlessly. "Ha!—ha!" The narrator laughed Joyfully. "The furrin count went for Ourtis as if he was on a soft thing, but before you could say 'knife' he was on his hack on the pavement. I've never seen a man pnt down # so .;■■- quick. I couldn't have floored him 60 beautifully if I'd hit him with a spanner. But that . was only part of the entertainment. Ourtis—mmd yon, before that' I'd been treatin' him aa an ordinary Johnny in evenin' dress—actod like an india-rub- " ber man filled with chain lightning. He shoves 'Valtaw' back into the auto, grabs the brake and gear lever, and puts 'em ■ both out. of action, sweeps the two girls into my keb, and—" > Here the taxi-driver bethought himself, and grinned vacuously. " Well—an' here I am, 1 ' he conclud.ed. "I suppose he handed out a good fareP" said his wife. " Yes, he was quite decent about it. Tipped me 'arf a quid ovor and above the register." ■ "I should have thought it would have been more. Men are usually generous when they are geting married." "He was takin' on a rather expen- - eive bit of stuff, unless I am much mistaken; an' p'raps he was just remeberin' it/' In this ingenious fashion was a poor woman neatly headed off the scent or of a five-pound note. She rang tho knell of a new hat by her next question. " What was the young lady really like—how, was sho dressed?" she cried.

Hardly a word was said with'U the cab until a corner was turned .out of the High Street. Curtis, who was sitting with his hack to the driver, rose; apologised for the disturbance, and looked through the tiny rear window. "That's all right," he said, "that car won't be able to move for several minutes: but we must leave nothing to chance," so he sank into a seat, and permited the driver to take them whither he listed. Hermione's first words were not exactly those of a, fair maid in utmost distress.

" Oh, how splendid it must be to feel i eure that you are able to hit a wretch • like Count Vassilan and knock him ,-■■ fiat 1" Bhe cried. Curtis was surprised. He could not dee her kindling eyes, her parted lips, the colour which was suffusing foreiead and cheeks, and he rather expected to hear subdued sobbing. "I should hate to hare you dislike •..'■ m© as thoroughly as you dislike that fellow," he said. "I never could. It cannot be in your nature to treat women as he treats them. I do hope you have hurt lim." "I am certain of that, at any rate, ' laughed Ourtis. "He impressed me us weighing thirteen stone, or thereabouts, and, if it will afford you the slightest gratification, I'll take the first opportunity to work out the approximate force required to drive back a moving body of that weight while travelling forward, say fifteen miles ' »n hour. There are angles of resistance to bo calculated, too, so it offers a decent problem. Meanwhile, the vital question is—where are we gofcg?" ~ . . , , i Hermoine was easily chaffed out of her bellicose mood. He could picture the droop in the corners of her mouth Jmj she said forlornly: "I do not know. "It is evident," he went on, "that they procured the clergyman's address from the liftman at your dwelling." "Ah, that Raffertyl Wait till I see him," broke in Marcelle. "Please, do not scarify Rafferty, if

SHORT AND SERIAL,

that is his name. lam much more to bo blamed than ho, because I assured your mistress that the Earl and Count Vassilan wero safe on board the Switzerland till the morning. I see now that they telegraphed For a tug, and it is best _to assume that they have been kept informed by wirpless of nearly every move in the game. You agree with me, I suppose, Lady. Hcrmiono, that your return to Victoria Mansions is out of the question P" "It is, if this mock marriage is to serve any real purpose," she said. "But pray remember that it is not a mock marriage. You and I are as firmly bound together by the law as if —well, as if wo meant it." She leaned forward a little"; her face was etched in Rembrandt lights by the rfare from some shop windows. "Mr Curtisj*' she said earnestly, " it is neither just nor reasonable that you should plunge yourself into difficulties for tho sake of a girl whom you met to-night for the first time, why not go out of my life now—this instant? Marcelle and I can find refuge somewhere. The hour is early. Why should you take all the risk?" He was ready for soino suoh appeal on her part. "I was taught in school if I did a thing at all to do it thoroughly," he said, "and my experience of life has given tho adage a halo. It would be worse than useless to desert you now, Lady Hermione. "Whatever penalties I may have incurred in the eyes of the law are committed beyond hope of redemption. If lam sought for, the polico know exactly where to lay hands on me, and my crime would become monstrous if it were proved that I ran away from my wife on the night of our marriage. No; we must face the music boldly, and together. We must go to some well-known hotel, register openly, secure rooms, and conduct ourselves on the orthodox lines of all runaway couples, who are presumably head and heels in love with each other. Moreover, in the morning, or whenever wo are run to earth, you should allow me to facs your father, and play the part of tho indignant husband. It is essential that your marriage should appear real," or you go hack to bondage and I to prison." "To prison!" Tho girl's horrified accents showed that sho had hardly given thought to the bald consequent ces of her .escapade.

" Yes. I am not trying to frighten you; but what sort or mercy would a judge show to the craven who absconded before the battle began ? If, on tho other hand, I am, so to speak, torn from your arms—if a plausible lawyer can depict you tearful and inconsolable—if- " " You make out a. fairly strong case, Mr Curtis. I have told you that I trust you, and I can only repeat my words of gratitude. Marcelle, you will not leave meP"

"Never, miss, ma'am—that is, your' ladyship." Thus it befell that Curtis was ready with the namo of a prominent hotel in Piccadilly when the driver halted in Eaton Square. He made his choico almost at random, but selected one of the newest End caravanserai merely because it lay a considerable distance from the Strand. ' OtherWise, his object in picking a large hotel being to avoid notice among a fashionable throng; he might easily have taken his " wife "to the Carlton; in which event certain complications even then hot in the making would not have followed their intricate course, while Hormione 1 s future must have been affected most powerfully. "I suppose you are prepared to submit to certain conditions which govern this new ' venture' ?" said Curtis, when tho cab was once more speeding onward to a definite goal. "What are theyP" -

It would be scarcely fair to describe Hermione's tone as suspicious, for she was a loyal soul, and was wondering in her heart of hearts what manner of man this knight errant could be, but his very self-possession fluttered her; she had been so accustomed to think and act in her own defence that she experienced a subtle fear of the calm, 0001-headed, masterful person whom she must learn to regard as her husband. " Well"—Curtis's speech was so unemotional that he might have been describing one of his Manchurian railway • schemes—" we must treat each other with a certain .familiarity-rreven uso little endearments—in public—and address each other by pet namesmine is Chow." »

Despite her troubles, the girl laughed, and Ourtis recalled the tinkle of silver bells in a temple at evening on the banks of the far-away Wei-ho. "But that is the name of a dog!" she tittered. "Yes. In my case, it denoted some unpleasant personal characteristics when a stupid mandarin put obstacles in my way. I never gave any warning, but rushed in,and bit him, not actually, of course, but in his illicit commissions, whioh annoyed him more than a real bite."

" I don't like Chow," she said. " Your name is John. Won't Jack do?"

" Fine." It was lucky she could not see the smile that flitted across his face. "And yours?" " Mamma always used my full name, and I have never had anyone else to ETe me a pet name, unless it was "Tatters' at school."

"We might "bracket Tatters with Chow, and dismiss both," he said lightly. "And I like the sound of Hermione so well that it is pat on my lips already. Now you, Marcelle, remember that her ladyship has become Lady Hermione Curtis." "Oh, not Mrs Curtis?"

"No. An earl's daughter retains her courtesy title after marriage." "All right, sir, I shan't forget." Indeed, Marcelle was jubilant. She had 1 been "dying" to use her mistress's title once she became aware of it, but it was taboo at Victoria Mansions. Curtis had covered a good deal of ground during that brief discussion in the cab, but Hermione was not quite prepared for its logical sequel. Naturally, they attracted no unusual attention when they entered tho hotol. Other people merely noticed the passing of a distinguished-looking young man in evening dross—for Curtis had promptly whipped oft that ominous overcoat—and a slender, veiled lady, of elegant carriage, who walked' up to the bureau, followed by a smartly dressed girl, who gazed about her with bright, all-seeing eyes. " My wife and I have been detained in London this evening unexpectedly, explained Curtis to the reception clerk. " We want a suite of rooms, a sittingroom, three bedrooms with baths—you would like Marcelle's room to communicate with yours, wouldn't you, dear?" and ho turned suddenly to Hermione.

"Y-yes," she faltered, for the attaok took her unawares.

"What floor, sir? We have a nice suite on the tenth." " Not so high, please," said Hermione. Then she sprung a mine on her own account. "I know it is stupid'. Jack, darling, but I am so afraid of fire.'' "This hotel is absolutely fire-proof, madam," put in the clerk, stating a fact implicitly believed by every hotel proprietor in London in so far as his own building is concerned, "but wo can accommodate you on the second floor, suite F., ten pounds a day." "Thank you. That will be just right," said' Curtis quickly, for he meant to live like a prince during one night at least, let the morrow bring its own cares. "Now, you understand that we aro here without baggage, though my wife's maid will procure some necessaries while wo eat, wkl I mewa to fat sow* 'lathes '*fcer.

but. if you would likn a deposit of, say, twenty pounds ?'" Ho felt for his pocket-book, but, to tho credit of tho clerk bo it said, tho suggestion was negatived with a smile. ■' No need at all for any deposit, sir," was tho answer. "I wouldn't bo up to my business if I didn't know how and when to discriminate in matters of that sort. Will you register?" Curtis took a pr-n mid wrote. " Mr and Lady Hermione. Curtis and maid " Somo imp of adventure jttovod him to inscribo " IMcin " in the column for visitors' homo addresses. .But tho clerk was obviously impressed by Hcrmione's title, no less than the singu-. laxly remote locality tho couple hailed from. Ho leant back and took a key from its hook.

"Page!" he said, "show Mr Curtis and her ladyship to Suite F." Then be added, as an after-thought, "Would you hkp dinner served in your sittingroom, sir?"

"I think so," said Curtis, "but my wife shall decido a little later." Hermione kept silent until they wero safely behind tho closed door of a well-furnished and delightfully spacious apartment. "Of course, I bear all expenses," she said firmly. "What—are we quarrelling already?" he asked. " No but "

"You think I am being wildly extravagant. Why, bless your ladyship's dear little heart, this hotel doesn't begin tc know how to charge like a taxi. Now, no argument till tomorrow. A millionaire can really be quite a decent sort of fellow at times, and if we may assume that this is one of tho times, pleaso .let me p'ay at being a rich man—for once." She raised her veil and looked at him straight in the eyes. "Why are you so different from other men? Why have I never beforo spoken to a man like you?" she asked. " But I am not different, and there are plenty of men like me; the other poor chaps haven't had my glorious chance of serving you—that is all. Noiv, won't yOu go and see if your room is comfortable, and whether or not Marcelle's quarters are just right? Then come back here, and we'll discuss means, for whioh purpose I shall ring for a waiter, ek dum." " Is that Chinese?"

" No, Hindustani. It means 'at once,' but every hotel-wala east of Suez understands it."

Still she lingered. " Have you any , sistors—a mother living?" she asked. "No, I'm the sole, survivor of my branch of the family. But I mean to. give myself the pleasure of a full introduction while we dine, or sup. Do say you are hungry."

" I hare not eaten a morsel since luncheon," she confessed. " Oh, joy! I must interview the head waiter. No common serf will suffice. Please hurry." - She left him, not without an mv pulsive movement, as though she meant to utter some further words of thanks, but checked her intent on the very threshold of speech. As the lock of the bodroom door clicked, and he was alone, he essayed a review, of the amazing sequence of events which had befallen since ho strolled out of the dining-room of Frazer's Hotel. He stood there, motionless, with hands plunged deep in his pockets, but, at the outset of a reverie in which judgment and prudence might have helped in the council, he happened to catch sight of himself in an oblong mirror over the mantelpiece, for the apartment, redolent of London's latest architecture, was furnished with the chaste beauty of the Chippepdale sent position the reflection in the mirror was oddly reminiscent of a halflength portrait of his great-grand-father, the warrior who rode at the head of the sth Lancers against Soult. Then Curtis laughed, with the pleasant conviotion of a man whose mind has been made up for. him. >y circumstances beyond his control. "It's bred in the bone—» clear case of Mondelism," he murmured softly, because ho had just remembered how Colonel Curtis, soon after tho_ campaign was ended, had decided a maiden's conflict between love and duty by galloping fifty miles across the Yorkshire wold 3 and carrying off the lady. His great-grandfather and ho were alike men of action. Curtis seldom used a gesture, and never cried over spilt milk. Now he merely turned, peered into his own bedroom, assured himself that Hermione would find its prototype to her fancy, and then summoned a waiter. Behind the closed door of the outer room a girl was similarly engaged in taking stock of tho situation; but she had feminine assistance, so there was bound to be talk.

" Oh, your ladyship, isn't this just tho choicest bit out of a novel you over rcdP" cried Marcelle, when shf> .entered her mistress's room through a communicating door. "It might bo mora thrilling if U were not a pago out of my own life," said Hermione sadly. She, too, was gazing in a mirror, though, being a woman, the oppressive thought bobbed through a sea of troables that her hair must he untidy, and she owned neither oomb nor brush.

" But what luck, miss, vour ladyship, to hava found a gentleman like Mr Curtis at the right moment. Talk about lifebuoys for drowning men and rich nnolra from Australia in plays—whoevo. heard of anyone wanting a nice husband and getting him in such a war I'.'

Maroelle's eyes were positively glistening. And these two now were not mistress and maid, but a pair of highly strung women, and young ones at that. "You have lost your wits in this night's excitement, Marcelle," said Hermione. " Don't you reahiso that I am only married under mere pretence. Mr Curtis is nothing to me, nor I to him. He has been kind and gallant, and I am under an obligation which I can novor discharge—but that ia not marriage."

" It's awfully like it, your ladyship." " No, no. Drive such nonsense from your-head. When you marry don't jou hopo to lovo tho man of your choico, and will you not feel sure that he loves you P "

" Oh, yes. my lady." "Then how is it possible for any relationship of that sort to exist between Mr Curtis and mo? "

You vo gone a long way already, ma'am," giggled Marcelle. " Please don't call me ma'am. It —it irritates mo."

" Sorry, my lady, but you will admit, at least, a marriage being necessary, that you were fortunate in finding Mr Curtis? " " Yes, doubly fortunate—it is that fact which makes things hard for me." " Makes what, things hard, your ladyship?"

'' Oh, I don't know. I scarce recognise my own voice. Marcelle, if I seem distraught and unreasonable, promise me you will pay no heed, For pity's sake, don't leave niel" Hermione's eyes filled with tears, and Marcelle was on the verge of hysteria, "I—can't imagine—what there is—to cry .about," she murmured brokenly.

" Nothing on earth would induce me to go away now—but I do hope—and pray—you will bo happy—even though you only mot your husband—little more than nn hour ago 1 And I believe in my heart, Lady Hermione, that you will soon see how fortunate j'ou were in escaping that mincing little Frenchman "

"Marcelle, the poor man is dead." " Then it is the best turn ho has done you, my lady, I nover fancied him. There was something underhand and mean abnut him. I have seen his fnco when you were not looking, and I'm sure he was a hypocrite." " Marcelle, you will drive mo crazy. Don't you understand that I havo never intended to marry anybody—really?" A knock at the door oponi 1,2; into the sitting-room came to Hermione'e relief. " Yesf" sho said.

'lf yon can spare Mnrcollo, I W"iild recommend that she should go to your fiat for any clothes you may need," Sc id Curtis's voice.

Hermiono throw open tho door. "A little while ago .v-.ui lold me that it was impossible to think of returning there," she said. " For you, yes, but not for your maid. Who is to hinder? That man, Rafferty, looked a decent 6ort of fellow." " I can manage Rafferty all right," put in Marcelle. " Of course you can," smiled Curtis. " Just pack a trunk or a couple of bags with Lady Herminoe's belongings —you know what to bring—and get Rafferty to call a taxi without attracting too much notice. If you think you are being followed, put your pursuers off tho scent. But my own view is that Victoria Mansions would be tho last place anyone would think of watching to-night." " Shall I go at once, your ladyship?" snid Marcelle, and Hermione said "Yes," with a meekness that was admirable in a wife. Curtis looked at his pretty bride's hat. "I have ordered a meal," he said. "It will be served in a few minutes." "I shall ho ready," sho said, beginning nervously to take off her gloves. Tho wedding ring was inclined to accompany tho left hand glove, but, after a second' 6 hesitation, she replaced it. When she appeared in the sittingroom she had discarded her jacket, a close-fitting one of a style that fastened ala militaire, high in the neck. Beneath it sho had been wearing a white silk blouse, and the delicate pink of her arms and.throat was revealed now through its diaphanous sheen. A string of pearls supported a diamond cross on her breast, and on her left wrist was a watch 6et in small diamonds and turquoises, and carried by a bracelet of gold filisree. She wore onlv ono ring—the ring—and even the slight glance which Curtis gave it hrmipWfa vivid blush to her cheeks. " I am not a past-master m the art of ordering banquets," he said cheerily, turning at once to draw her•attention to the table, " but the head waiter here is a gourmot. He suggested caviare, a white soup, a sole 1 ortugaise, a tourne-dos, and a grousedoes that appeal?" "You take my breath away, sho said with valorous effort to seem at ease. .«,.'' " Now—as to wino? "I seldom touch wine. "To-night it will make you sleep. What do you say to a glass of Olos Vosgeot?" ''ls that claret?" " Well, as it happens, that is the one wine I take." , The dinner proceeded most pleasantly.- To his own astonishment, Curtis worked up sufficient appetite to enjoy the meal, though he would have stuffed himself _ remorsely to save his charming vis-a-vis from the slightest embarrassment. But _he only 6ipped the wine, for a sixth sense warned him that he must keen a clear head that night. , , By inference rather than plain statement, for a deft waiter was constantly coming in and out, he sunplied' Hermione with glimpses of his own career, and ascertained from her that she had secured Marcelle's services through the good offices of a lady who was her fellow-passenger in the train which brought her from Paris.

" She is a Londoner pure and simple, and, notwithstanding lier name, she does not speak French," said Herrnione. "I think that rather accounts for "

She stopped, and Curtis did not press for an explanation, but she continued, after a second's pause:

" Marcelle did not like Monsieur d'a Courtois: I imagine she was annoyed because he always conversed with me in a language she did not understand."

" Then I shall avoid Chinese," he laughed. " Marcolle "

Again she hesitated. She was positively dismayed by consciousness of the imminent disclosure, yet too well-bred even to appear to be withholding confidences.

"You have won Marcelle's golden opinion already," she 6aid. "But let us talk of something else." For the moment they were alone, and sho glanoed at the watch on her wrist.

"Have you made any plans?", she inquired, and her voice was low, yet eufficiently composed. "For the future?" "Yes."

""When Marcelle arrives I am going to my hotel for some luggage. You, I suggest, are going to bed." "You will returnr

" Within the hour—if I am alivo." "And to-morrow?"

" To-morrow, may it please your ladyship we breakfast together at nine o'clook."

"Your plan, then, is mainly composed of eating and sleeping?" " What else —our policy is on© of drifting." " You nre .extraordinarily good to me, Mr Curtis." ,

"It is 'Jack' in the compact." She 6ighed._ "Alasl this compact reads only one way. It moans that you give and I receive Will you—will you believe, in the future that despair alone would havo driven mo to the course I have pursued?" " No," he said sturdily. "No ? That is the only unkind thing you have said."

"I refuse to vilify happy chance by the title of black despair. But—here is Mareello, and slaves bearing packages. I hear thuds in the next room."' And, indeed, the waiter entering just then with coffee, Marcelle's voice reached them sharply from the corridor: " Now, you boy, bo careful with that hat box ! Do you think you aro a railway porter, or what?" CHAPTER VI. NINE-THntTY. Chance is often a skilled stage-man-ager, and chance had arranged a really effective scene in the hall of Frazor's Hotel. The earl of Valletort seemed to be somewhat unwilling to take up any of the gauntlots so readily thrown down by Dovar and the Curtis family, and, for a few seconds, the ring of reporters was held spellbound by a situation which promised most excellently with regard to the all-import-ant question of "copy." Then the inspector, after waiting for Winter to take the lead, nudged his silent colleague, and said gruffly: "This thing cannot bo gone into here. Those who can bring forward testimony of any value ought to come with Mr Winter and myself to Bow Street Police Station."

"Why lose time which cannot be overtaken later?" urged the earl, appealing to Winter, since it was tho detective who had spoken to him in the first instance.

" We appear to bo at cross-pur-poses," said Winter. "How did you two gentlemen get to know that a murder had been committed?" "Murder!" gasped Count Vassilan.

" We are not talking of a murder, but of a most scandalous abduction, which will provido only one of a number of most sorious charges against this person Curtis," cried the earl. _ Vassilan seized him by the arm excitedly. " Don't yon understand. dear frioud," he muttered in French. " The rascal must havo killed de Courtois in order to pain possession of the marriage certificate." "It will save trouble, sir, if you speak English here," said Winter. Then ho turned to the reception clerk. " Place a room at our disposal at once, Lord Vallotort is quite right. We havo not a second to waste."

A murmur of protest arose from the Pressmen, though it was obvious that the polico could not conduct tho inquiry in the midst of an ever-growing crowd of residents and servants.

"I say, Winter," whispered tho reporter who had spoken for the others earlier, "can't you let us into this? We'll suppress anything you wish—l'll guarantee that, absolutely without reservation."

"I have no objection, but theso'hightoncd strangers may not like it," said the defcentivo quietly. The earl, when the point was referred to him, made no difficulty whatsoever about the presence of the journalists—in fact, he rather welcomed publicity. "It is better that tho truth should appear than a garbled and misleading version," he said affably. "I want your help, gcntlmon. I know enough' of newspaper ways to feel sure that a story of some sort will be star-headed in every news-sheet in London to-mor-row, so my friend, Count Vassilan, and I are moro than willing that you should be well informed."

Now that phaso of the problem was precisely what Count Ladislas Vassilan seemed to be exceedingly disconcerted about. He was singularly ill at ease. His florid face had "paled to a dusky wanness when he heard the ugly word "Murder!" and each passing moment sowed only to increase his agitation. Winter, to all intents and purposes paying loss heed to tho than to any other person present, had not mi=sed one laboured breath, one twitch of an eyelid, ono nervous gesture. His phenomenal instinct in the_ detection of crime had fastened unerringly on a singular coincidence. Curtis had hazarded a guess that_ tho real malefaction we|ne Hungarians, and here was a Hungarian count denouncing Curtis. Certainly that question of nationality promised remarkable developments. When the whole party, consisting of some fifteen persons, had gathered behind the closed door of the hotel's private office, Winter took the lead in directing the proceedings. "It will help to straighten out a tangle if I say exactly what has taken place hero to-night—that is, to the best of our knowledge," he said. "There is every reason to believe that Mr John D. Curtis arrived in London this afternoon from South Africa " "Right!" broke in Devar. "I travelled with him on the Balmoral Castle."

" Yes, his presence on board was announced in n.ost of the papers.'' added a journalist "Please don't interrupt," said the detective. " Ycu will bo heard in your turn. Now, this Mr Curtis was allotted to room No. !>OS, and there is evidence to prove that .'ie behaved like any ordinary individual who had just come from shipboard. He superintended the unpacking of his clothes, gave out a quantity of linen for the laundry, changed into evening dress, and dined alone. Thus far there is ample corroboration of his own story, because his movements can bo checked by the observation of half-a-dozen hotel employees. He says, by the way, that while buying some stamps at the newspaper counter before going to the restaurant, he was jostled by a roughlooking for3igner, who apologised in broken French, and whom he took to bo a Czach or Hungarian. No ono seems to have witnessed this incident; but I have not questioned the man who sold him the stamps. Anyhow, after dinner, at wenty minutes to eight to bo exact, ho came into the lobby intending to inform the clerk that he had closed his bedroom door and left his key in the room. Wo have ascertained that this statement is true; the door had to be forced,'because a bag of golf clubs had fallen and become wedged between the door and the side of a steel trunk. Curtis never did speak to the clerk about the key, at that instant, be say 6, his attention was drawn to the queer behaviour of the foreigner who had pushed against him, and who had been joined in the meantime by, another man of similar type. They seemed to be very excited, and were apparently expecting someone to turn up either in the street or from the hotel—Curtis fancied that tbey were on tho look-out for interruption or news from both quarters. The porter on duty at the door, who is 'not quite intelligible to-night, remembers asking these men if they wanted a taxi, but they gave no heed to him. Then, according to Curtis'b version of the affair, a private motor-car dashed up outside, and a young man in evening dress, carrying an overcoat, stepped out, and told the chauffeur w keep tho engine going, as he would not be detained more than a minute. A*, that instant the two foreigners—Hungarians, according to Curtis—sprang at tho new-comer, and endeavoured to force him back into the car. Failing in this, one of them drew a knife, and stabbed him so severely that he died within a few minutes, and without uttering an intelligent word. Curtis ran to help, but was too far away to prevent the crime, and was further baulked in an attempt to seize either of the wretches by having the dying man's body flung in his way. He endeavoured to hinder the escape of the scoundrels in the automobije, but failed, because the chauffeur was evidently in league with them, and, when he came back to the crowd which had collected around the prostrate man, it would appear that Gomeone gave him, by mistake, the victim's overcoat in place of his own. This error was rot discovered until the pohco came to search tho dead man's clothing, when various documents showed beyond question that the overcoat believed to be his was really Curtis's. Curtis told his story in a clear and straightforward way, and I, for one, have not seen any reason to doubt it. It is odd that he should have disappeared so completely since a few minutes after the crimo, but that may bo capable of a simple explanation, while it is sible that he has not as yet discovered the change of overcoats, or he must surely Jbave returned and informed us of the mistake. I am assuming, of course, that ho would net as one would expect of any roasonnblo-minded citiaen who had witnessed a serious crime. Now, Lord Valletort, what have you to say about Mr CurtisP" A guttural exclamation by Count Vassilan drew all eyes to him. He seemed to be on the verge of collapso, and was positively livid with fright. In other conditiqns than those obtaining at the moment, such a display of terror on the part of a truculent-look-ing, strongly-built man would Jiavo been almost" ludicrous; but Winter found no humour in the spectacl«._ Ho was gazing at the Hungarian with a curious concentration, and the police inspector, who had begun by thinking his colleague was saying far too much, and was inclined to disngreo with Rome

of his conclusions, now thought he could discern mothod in his madness.

Again did Vassilan murmur something to tho earl in a strange tongue, and "Vallotort, with difficulty repressing his annoyance, explained that his friend was feeling the effects of a blow received earlier in tho evening, and wished to retire at once to his room in the Carlton Hotel. "By all means," said Winter suavely. "I gather that Count Vassilan has no connection with the inquiry—in fact,' he is not interested in it?"

"Ho is, in a sense—" began tho earl, but Vassilan grasped his arm, and evidently besought him to come away without another word. Though Vallotort was in a towering rage, he obviously thought fit to fall in with his companion's views. " You see how it is," he said, with a nonchalant gesture that was bolied by his grating tone. "I am afraid I must postpone my branch of this inquiry till a later hour—.probably until the morning." "Do you withdraw all charges against John D. Curtis?" demanded Devar, and his clear, incisive voice "was distinctly hostile in its icy precision. " No, sir. Ido not," was the angry retort. "Well, I guess you know best why you and tho Hungarian potentate havo developed this sudden attack' of cold feet, but " "I'll thank you not to interfere, Mr Devar," said W 7 inter determinedly. "If Lord Valletort thinks his business can await till Count_ Vassilan has recovered from an indisposition, tb.a,t is his affair only." "I think nothing of the sort,' snapped the earl. "You all see that the count is ill, and common humanity impels me to attend to him first. It may servo to ourb this young gentleman's tongue if I say " But Vassilan would not permit him to say anything. Though no was tho ailing man, ho literally dragged Aralletort out of the room and into the street.

Winter loked at the inspector, who quitted the apartment instantly. Then tho detective gazed around at the others with a placid 6mile which seemed to show that he, for one, was well content with the unusual turn taken by events. "I suppose you "boys have verbatim, notes of all that was said?" he inquired, tossing the remark collectively to the group of pressmen. " Every word," came tho assurance. "Well, now, I want you to keep all that out of the papers." "If we do that, Mr Winter, what is there left?" said one of them, good humouredly. "The biggest thing you have dropped on to this year—unless I am greatly mistaken, the scoop' of scoops for those who happen to oe present. I'm not going to pretend that any of you are blind or deaf, and it will assist the police materially if no comment is made on what you have heard and seen. I don't like to put it otherwise than as a friendly hint; but I may want the whole crowd of you as witnesses before this thing ends, so your mouths should be closed effectually with regard to incidents.in this room." . . , A half-hearted laugh, went around, and someone asked, "We must concoct ft reasonable story of some kind—if we cut out certain details, sourely we can. use othors?" . ~ • it, " I said ' Incidents m this room, repented the detective. . . "Then we can mention the.arrival of the earl and the count on. the scene 1"

"Why not?" . ■ _-• "One minute, sir." put in Mr Horace Curtis. "If these. gentlemen take you at your word, the .charge; made against my nephew will be published throughout the length and breadth of the land to-morrow." " I don't see how sometime of the sort is to be avoided," said Winter. " Then, in common fairness, the newspapers ought to state that'my wife and I, as well as Mr Devar, as good as told the earl that he was lying." " I imagine you can leave the matter safely in the very oapable hands of tho reporters present," said Win- " Remember, please, that no charge was actually named against • Curtis, said Devar. "The Earl of Valletort demanded that he should be found and arretted, and described him as a dangerous adventurer, but gave no shred of proof of his wild-cat statement that Curtis had been engaged in a scandalous abduction, and. when asked for it, discovered that he had urgent business elsewhere." , Winter held up a hand in quiet reproof. , '■ ■ "My own view is that it would be best, at this stage, to 6ay merely that the two noblemen came here inquiring for Curtis, and leave it at that. I am not trying to deprive the Press of a sensation. Surely there is enough in Chapter One for to-night, and those reporter., who have had the, luck to be present will be able to fill in gaps in Chapters Two and Three when they come along to-morrow or next day." ;

"Bight," said the journalist, who, by tacit agreement, seemed to represent his confreres. " There are one or two items we want you to clear up, if you don't mind. First, did Curtis, or anybody else, note the number of the motor-car?" "Yes," said Winter instantly. "The number is X 24—305, and Curtis heard the man who was murdered address the chauffeur as ' Anatole.' He Bpoke French to the man, too.?'

" You omitted both of these interest, ing facts from your summary." com- 1 mented the reporter with a smile. "Did I? That was a piece of sheer forgetfulnoss on my part." " You didn't forget to rope us all in here as witnesses when the. Hungarian prince came on the boards. I knew you had something • up your sleeve the moment you began. to fill in details. But, as to the crime itself—have you found out the name of the man who was killed?" " No. There were no papers In his clothes, but that may be accounted for by the singular accident of the ex change of overcoats. His linen was marked 'H.R.H.'"

" ' H.R.H./ " cried a bespectacled journalist who had been a silent listener hitherto. "That's rather odd, Those are the initials of Henry R. Honter, a member of our staff. The news-editor wanted him to take hold of the inquiry in the first instance when the fact that a murder had been committed was 'phoned to the office, but he could not be found anywhere, so I am here in his stead." " I don't recall any well-known Pressman of that name," said Winter. sharply. "No, you wouldn't. He was in our Manchester office till the beginning of September. He did one or two bright things thero that caught the editor's eye, so ho was brought to London. By Jove, Hunter ie a good French scholar. It was on that account he got. on the track of a gang of Manchester anarchists."

A curious stillness fell on the gathering. It was as though a spirit of evil had suddenly made its presence felt; even the electrio lamps seemed to have grown dimmer. " Describe Hunter,"

Winter's voioe rang out inoisively: the reporter took off liis spectacles, and began to burnish them, for his face was glistening with perspiration.

'' He is about five feet ten inches in height, and weighs somewhere in the neighbourhood of eleven stone. He is straight and well built, and his face is finely moulded, with big, luminous eyes, deeply recessed, and " ,

" Has he a white scar aoross the left eyebrow?"

"Yes." For some reason, the journalist carried his description of Hunter's personal appearance no farther. It was unnecessary. Before Winter uttered another word, everyone in the room had a foreboding that they were on a threshold ot a discovery which lifted this tragedy into a prominence far beyond unght they had yet dreamed

Except for that momentary touch of amazement in tho detective's tone, they could gather nothing from his manner. But his invariable habit was to speak to tho point, and without the least suggestion of ambiguity in his words. "I am very much afraid, gentlemen, that the murdered man is Mr Henry R. Hunter," he said. "I must trouble you to come with me, and place tho question of identity beyond doubt. I hope that you, Mr and Mrs Curtis, and you, Mr "Devar, will make it con- ; venient to await my return. _ There are matters on which you can give me valuable information." In a few seconds the three found themselves alone. The clerk had business to attend to, but he_ courteously invited them to remain in tho office until the detective came back. ''Did you ever hear such nonsense as this talk about Curtis being mixed up in an abduction?" began Devar, eager to dispossess his friend's relatives of any falso impressions they might have formed. " Why, he didn't know a soul in the country—except yoursolves," lie added tactfully. Tho uncle, who had been polishing his domed forehead with a large Landkerchief at intervals during the past quarter of an hour, cleared his throat as a preliminary to some important announcement, but his better half had only remained silent because of a real fear that her nephew had been engaged in the commission of serious crime from the instant he set foot in London, and she entered the fray vigorously now. "We don't know much about him, and that's tho truth, Mr Devar," she cried. "Thero was some family disagreement years ago, and the brothers lost track of eaoh other, but Horace hero never forgets a name, and why should he, seeing that John was his father's name, and Delancy his mother's, and our nephew has both, so the minute we saw that paragraph in the 7\eeds paper about the eminent railway engineer who had been building railways in China being on board the Balmoral Castle, I says to Horace: ' Horace, it would be shame on us if we allowed your brother's son and your own nephew to arrive in Londoh without some of his kith _ and kin to bid him welcome.' and with that wo hurried to catch the nest train to town, but the express from Southampton did the trip quicker than we counted on, and \ye just missed being at Waterloo, so if it hadn't been for our good luck in finding the man who helped John with his luggage, and who remembered the name of the hotel ho gave the taxidriver, we might have been searching London all this blessed night without dreaming of coming to suoh a place as this, because the newspapers spoke so highly of John that we made Sure he would he stopping in one of the big hotels like the Savoy or. the Carlton, or perhaps farther west, in the Ritz or tho Hyde Park Hotel." Mrs Curtis was stout, so she yielded perforce to lack of breath, and Devar was able to explain smilingly that he, and none other, was responsible for [ the item in the newspapers.

" Th© fact is I took agreat liking to John D.," ho said. "He is such a real: good fellow, and bo sublimely unconscious of his own merits, that l* wanted to surprise him by starting a modest boom in the Press, so I sent a wireless message about hi,m to a journalistic friend in London. I wonder why the reporters did not get hold of him when they came aboard at Southampton, but I remember now that, by some curious trick of fate, he and I stowed ourselves away in a part of the ship where no onei was likely to find us, and I clean forgot to put them on his track when I went below." "Tarn inclined to hazard an opinion that my nephew has attended to all the booming that wa sneeded,"/said Uncle Horace, getting under way at last.. , Devar laughed, but Mrs Curtis' was shocked. "Horace!" she cried indignantly, "that's the only unkind thing I've heard'yon say in years. Oh, yes,"—for her husband had spread his-hands in mild "protest—" I know you didn't mean it, but barbed shafts of humour often fall in places where they hurt, and it is terrible to think of your nephew being mixed up in murder, and ah abduction, and " !She broke off in mid-career, and fixed a stern eye on Devar. "Are you quite sure he didn't get flirting with some giddy young thing on board?" she demanded. " I've_ heard and read of some -strange goings-on among people crossing the Line. I could tell you of two marriages and no less than five divorces which— -" "Devar was a polite young man, but he thought the situation called for firmness.

"To the best of my belief, your nephew never so much as spoke to any lady on the ship," he vowed. "He read a good deal, and played cards occasionally, and walked the decks with me when the weather permitted, but he did not even mention a woman's jams except your own, madam." "The marrol is that he mentioned us at all," said Horace Dovar thought,, in his own mind, that the alder Ourtis might be ponderous in body and speech, but he certainly revealed horse sense when he opened his mouth. " And whose fault was that, I should like to know?" cried Mrs Curtis. "Didn't your own brother quarrel with you because you said he ought to have married a woman of same stability of character, and not a pretty, feather-headed girl who rpsnt her days reading pootry and her nights in attending lectures, and who didn't begin to understand the A.B.C. of a wife's domestio duties? "

" Maybo I was wrong and he was right/' said her husband. . " Horace I "

Mrs Curtis was marshalling her forces for a mighty effort when the door opened, and Winter entered, accompanied by a tall, well set-up man in evening dress, and wearing an open overcoat and green Homburg hat.

" Well," cried Devar, springing forward with outstretched hand, "I'm mighty glad to see you, John D. t " The newcomer's face lit with pleasure, but, before he could utter a responsive word, Mrs Curtis gurgled:—

"John D. 1 Are you John Delancy Curtis? Horace, is this your nephew?"

"Judging from his looks, Louisa, he ought to be," said tho stout man, gazing at tho stranger with wide-eyed astonishment.

The Christian names of the couple acted like a galvanic battery on Curtis. At first, ho could hardly believe his ears, but some resemblance in the portly Curtis to his >wn father, warned him that this night of nights had not yet exhausted its store of stupefying surprises.

" Why," he exclaimed, smiling cheerfully, you must be -ny uncle and aunt from Roundhay Park, Leeds.'' "If you'ro John Delancy Curtis, that's our correct description," said Horace.

"Of course ho is," chortled Mrs Curtis. •" He's as like you, Horace, as two peas in a pod, and if our little Horace had been spared he would bave been his living imago. Nephew, I'm proud to meet you," and Mrs Curtis folded her relation in an ample embrace. Curtis carried off a difficult situation with ease. He kissed his aunt, shoo): hands with his uncle, and was about to answer the lady's torrent of questions