THE LITTLE BLUE GODDESS

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12063, 19 July 1917, Page 8

THE LITTLE BLUE GODDESS

CHAPTER IY. (Continued). " Let us go and see Ersons. lam getting fidgity already," I confessed, and we hurried up Shaftesbury Avenue to the Charing Cross Road. Ersons, Ave discovered) had offices near the Tottenham Court.Road, and we climbed [the stair to the second floor, as tho lift did not appear to be working, and walked into tho office. Wo found our selves among a. crowd of music-hall artists, who. seemed to be making themselves at home very freely. I "Is Mr Ersons in?" T asked every one m general, since I could see no one who appeared to be in authority,, j A tall, slim American, lounging in • a swing chair, a bowler hat on tho back of his head, took a. match out of his mouth and pointed over his shoulder to a notice which hung on the wall above us. "No interviews after one o'clock except by appointment," it read.

" We have no appointment but we must see Mr Ersons at once," I began. " You can write in for an appointment and conio again when you got it, sonny, J ' said the American, and went on with his conversation. Littledale took a card from his case and, leaning over the semi-partition, touched the man's arm. •' Would you kindly tako my card to Mr Ersons, and tell him we must see him at once. It is a matter of tho greatest urgency." . The American twirled tho card languidly in his fingers and then glanced at it- and rose to his feet.

" I'll tell him right now, doctor," he said. "I thought you were pros." He disappeared into an inner room arid-.-called us in a minute later. Mr Jirsons apologised to the client who was with him and faced us with an anxious look.

''No trouble, doctor, T hope?" ho asked, scrutinising my friend's face intently. "None at all. Mr Ersons. so far as youare. concerned,'' Littlcdale replied. Tho little man heaved a sigh of relief..

-'•'/ What, can I do for you, gentlemen?'' ho .asked. '■' You know Miss Ruth Retford?" " Ruth Retford, Ruth Retford? What's her act?"

"You don't know her, evidently. •Haro you. ever seen an old Egyptian; lie was the servant of some people in the "West E'nd. He goes about in Egyptian dress and may haVo been iu your office?"

" Xevor been here," the other replied, beginning to look puzzled.

"You know a Miss Evelyn Milling?" 1 p.sked.

"Very well indeed/' be replied at once. "A very clever young lady." " Well, Misspelling was engaged b,y you to take part in a society entertainment a few weeks ago." "She is working there still," ha answered.

"She wa? until this morning. Miss Retford, if she was not t-hp actual person who engaged Miss Milling and the other ladies, was, at any rate, the--. or—the. principal performer in this--cr—this entertainment. Now. Mr Krsons. you evidently don't know that Miss Retford died this morning, during' tho performance, in circumstances of tho greatest suspicion or, at least, mystery." "You don't, say!" exclaimed the agent with an exclamation of astonishment.

We thereupon gave him a brief outline of the tragedy, without, of course, mentioning my own part, in it, and leaving him to guess our connection with it.

"'That is most extraordinary," ho said at the finish of our narrative, und ■without another word lie took a book from the shelf and turned over the pages hurriedly. "Here we. are/' he said, ''237, Do Verp Gardens?" "That's the house!" I exclaimed excitedly. ■' Mr Austin Ellerant. Do you kmr.v •the name, gent lei -en?" he asked. " No," we both answered together. It conveyed nothing to me. * [ felt fcure that I had never heard it. before. "Well, that, was the gentleman who came to see me," Ersons continued. " He. came twice. .1 have a note of his rerjuirements. Tall, refined girls, dark, able to sing, to take part in Eastern tableau?:,"

•'.Eastern tableaux!" Littledale exclaimed. '/That would certainly serve as a description. Do you remember what the man wa; like''" "Short, thick-set old fellow; wore pince-nez. A very pleasant sort, of chap with bushy white hair." "'Why, that's the man I saw in the hall!" I cried.

"Evidently," the doctor agiv:d. " Did ho say anything about himself or what the tableaux were to be for?" "He was fairly talkative as far as I remember, but. T can't recall that, he sa,id anything particuarly .striking," tinagent replied. "Tie was verv keen on 'the performance and anxious to get just, the type of girl lie Avantod. He seemed to have plenty of money and didn't care how he spent it." "Did he mention the object, of the performance?" I asked. ; Tie didivt say it was for any charity, or auvthinlike that?"

" He said his ward took a great interest in Eastern subjects ;imf had . <-t. her heart, on reconstructing scenes of Eastern life. I took it that sin- intended to give the show in society dra-iving-rooras." "Ward!" I exclaimed.

I "What's matter?" the doctor I auked. '"Yon seem to have thought • of something." - " P n lj' .that she said something to me in Cairo about her guardian,'' 1 replied- " But I oan'fc remember what it was. I fancy I was asking her how she came to bo living in a. place liko Shepherd's alone, and she said slip expected her guardian anv dav now." j " What, a pity you didn't see her guardian and get to know him," said imv companion.

"Yes," I agreed. "But wo must make up for that now, if wo can. By the way," I asked, a. sudden idea striking me, " did any money pas? between you a.nd Ellerant', ilr Ersons? I suppose ho paid you the salaries. Did he do so hv cheque?" " Unfortunately ho never paid me, or tou might havo been able to trace him through his bank I never book an artist unless I feel I can trust him or her to pay me my commission." "That's a pity," I replied. "I was hoping we had hit upon a possible clue."'

"Of course," Ersons pointed out, " unless the old man has had something to do with the death, lie will turn •up again the moment he hears of it. He may be away again just as you say lie was in Cairo. I did not ask him what his business was. naturally, ar.d T took it he was either retired or of independent means." . At that moment there was a sharp knock and the tall American put his head round the door. "Gladys AYatson savs she must see you immediately. She don't seem *o recognise a 'no' when she hears it. and she seems to bo a bit distressed about something." "Geo! that's bit of li.ck," the

OUR SERIAL

| By WILLIAM LE QUEUX I

□ Author of: "Sins of the City," "The Great SFfl White Queen" "The Bond of Black" " The Man about Town," etc. etc. [B— .mi .a .niu.n»»g.i l 11 | 111 111 Hill llll—H 111 ■■111! 1181

agent exclaimed. "Show her right in, Frank." ''Gladys Watson"! T knew the name and was puzzling out where* I had heard it beforo when the girl entered find 1 recognised her as one. of the handmaidens of Neperthys. "Oli! Mr Ersons," she cried, almost. on tlm verge of hysterics, " such a terrible tiling has happened. Tho girl that played the goddess with us at De Yore Gardens dropped " She broke off abruptly as she suddenly recognised us, for we had been present at her interview with the de-tective-inspector in the morning. " Now don't, get. excited, mv clear girl." said the doctor soothingly. " There is nothing to he alarmed about. It was a very terrible tiling, but you will only do yourself ha mi if you allow yourself to be alarmed about itJust sit quietly and tell us all you know." " These gentlemen have, as you see, come to tell me about, it." said tho agent. "Now, just ai swer any questions they like to put to you. and don't be frightened. You'll be all right."

" Father says I shall have to give evidence at the inquest," she sobbed. " I couldn't do it; I just couldn't. Oh! Mr Ersons, need I?" It. was some minutes before she was sufficiently calm and controlled to answer any of the questions we had to ask her. and even then she was ablo to give lis little information. She was sure that Ruth Retford had been murdered, though admitted that, she had no real reason for thinking so.

" When 1 fell you that she died of heart-failure, you can ease your mind of all anxiety on that- score," said the. doctor tactfully, though I knew from what bo had said in the morning, that lie did not himself believe it. Besides, had we no'- every reason to suppose Miat the poor girl had committed suicide P "

"■The main things we want to know, Watson," 1 began, " are the details of your work, or your life, at T)e Veil' Hardens. To begin with, if you would try in tell u« what happened from the mom Hit you rendu! the house to tho time you left it, we should bo very grateful to you.'' " f tried to tell the inspector this morning, but I was too frightened,'' she answered. " There wasn't, anything happened, that, was what ive couldn't understand. We got there, according to the time we were called, sometimes in the morning, sometimes in tlie evening, and once in the, afternoon. Whoever got. there first, whs let in by Achmed, and the rest of us found tie 1 dour own."

"Found the door open!" f exclaimed. "Did that happen always!'" "Yes," she said. " Achmed told us that he was too busy to open the door, and as there was nobody elses in the house, ho would leave it, open for us. Jt seemed rather strange that a lingo house like that, should only havo one servant, and he was only an old Hindu."

"Then vou never saw anyone else at all?" I asked.

'■ Yes, I did once. And the other girls thought there was. some one else in the house. We thought it was very strange because, of course we used to as.v old Achmed all sorts of questions. We d'dn't evii know who we were working for. When we asked him he used to bow and scrape and say: 'The goddess Xephthys; in the service of the "oddest Xepthy?.' Of course, we used to cheek Itiin a good deal about that, and about his dress arjl everything, but. he stuck to it that the only two people in the place were this .Xephthys woman and himself. The girls said it was an Egyptian princess and that she was accustomed to being worshipped in her own land, but. Achmed called her a goddess." "You say you actually snv some one else?"

" i saw an old man one day, qii/.to distinctly. f1 o was English—anyway. lie wasn't Egyptian. I met him on the landing one da v. and hp toddWl off in the other direct i.tfj as soon as hp saw ni'V

" on think he lived in the. house and wjjs not merely calling?" I think, ' Litfledale interposed, " that hp must have been living in the house or he wouldn't have turned hack. Mad lie been calling; hp must either have, been coming out or coming in, so that he -would hardly bp likely to turn on his tracks 'ike that."

Well, then, as 1 was going out, he must have been coming in," the girl remarked. " Did yr.'i notice whether ho had his hat with Iviii " ftrsons asked. "Ho had his hat on. I noticed that, particularly. It was :i soft, light-brown hat-—one of these plush things."

"Obviously the same," said Littledale in. answer to the look I gave him. "That. was Ellerant all right enough," Er.sous said confidently. " What made the other girls think thero was sonip olio else there?" I asked.

"Oh! .just htt.le things. One. of them was coming in one day, and she didn't know about- the door being left, open for her, so she. rang the bell. She saw the floor was not closed but she thought she might, get into trouble ii she walked right in. Naturally, you don't want to plav about with a house in Do Yore -.iiardens Mr if it belonged to you," the girl continued, in the light and airy conversational style characteristic of her profession. "Of course, when nobody answered tho bell she started to knock, and then she heard a man's voice say: ' Come in, my dear, come in.' So slip camp straight up and told us all about it."

"Did any others see. tho man actually?" '• 1 think I was the only one to see anybody, but another of the. girls had rather a curious experience. She arrived lato and found tho door locked and she couldn't- get in. She started knocking and eventually .she heard some ouo undoing bolts and chains and things on tho other 'side. She pushed the door the moment she heard tho latch lifted, and sho got inside she crMhln't see anybody about at ii.ll. When she cot to the passage where om dressing-room was, she heard the door be in it bolted again." "Certainly seems very unusual." Ersons remarked. " I suppose it couldn't have been this Egyptian servant?"

"Oh ! no,'' she replied positively, " Achnird wan in the temple all tho time. T am certain there was someone else.'" That was all the information wo could glean from her, and although she rattled on and told us many ridiculous notions and absurd fairy tales which the <_nrls had invented about, the house, she had 110 further Information of /unpractical value to impart. "\Yp left Ersons, after thanking him for his courteous assistance, and making a note of the particulars he had taken from Ellerant-.

, Wp told him he would probably hevisited by the. police, but! that in the meantime we were to work 011 our own lines, and promised to let him know bow the matter progressed. Tn the at root we decided to stroll down to my rooms in the Adclphi and make a few pencil notes of the various points which we wished to remember and of the dif-

ferent clues which he intended to follow up. I let myself in with mv latchkey and conducted my friend to my sitting room.

"Help yourself to a whisky and soda, old man," I said, " and excuse me a moment while I see what- the posii has brought."

There were four letters lying on the table. Two, it turned out. were from creditors, ono was an invitation to lunch, and the fc'.iiih was a thick, registered package.

~I opened it. wondering what it could possibly contain. To my intense .astonishment I drew out. half a dozen Hank of England notes and two postal orders. A moment later T passed them over to Philip with a low whistle of .surprise. Mv friend counted the money.

" Four hundred and seventy-eight pounds," lie said. "Yes," T replied. "The cxacti amount that I lost to Arrow and Verrier at Assouan !"