THE GREEN SHADE

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16942, 17 January 1923, Page 11

THE GREEN SHADE

OUR SERIAL.

By HEADON HILL Author ox millions of Miaobiel»'* “ Guile,” etc., etc. CHAPTER X.—Continued. was an alternative thecry, of which Kaiyvett did not lose sight, that lils shabby visitor at the office of the Detective Agency had net been working for sonio wrongly suspected person anxious to prove ills innocence by unearthing the muiderer, but that ho wa.-> employed by the murderer to start an active opposition to Scotland Yard ■whoso officials might be getting dangerously *; warm.” It would not he the first time that a private detective had been used to lay a false scent for the misleading <>f the constituted authorities. While relegating this alternative to the second place in his armour** Knyvett realised that it was a con tingeney which would have to bo guarded against. Conscious of his inexperience, he still found reason to congratulate himself on the mode of his arrival on the scene, fie had contrived to convoy the impression that his stay at The- Fancourt 1 Arms was due to a sudden impulse j rather than to intention, and in the capable lady in the desk downstairs he j had secured a promising ally. How far j he con hi rely on her without taking her i >OlllO littie way into Ins confidence was n moot point which would hove to be ! decided later. He had an idea that j Miss ( iayton was one of those people. sometimes helpful and sometimes ob" j structive, wliopi you cannot 100 l all the j time. j She had arcad y given him a tit bit jo! useful information--that Inspector : Ala raise had returned to .Fancourt Hall j and was to stay there after a brief ah j sence, presumably for conference with : his superiors. Knyvett was glad tliav i In was not to have the CM D. man as ! a follow-guest at the inn Such a con--1 slant nerve strain would have “got liis wind up.’ he told himself in the half forgotten lingo of tin trenches, for hievety instinct indicated Inspector Alnrske as an adversary as hostile to his own aims as was the elusive criminal they were both striving to detect. He had never, to his knowledge, set eyes on Ispector Alarske. but from Mr C hallengov's description of him he foresaw a dash. The very name of the j limn stiffened his spine, ns a terrier , bristles when confronted with a sleek j tom cat. Ii was this preconceived antij pathv that had caused him to shed his j ow n name for the pei io'd of the investij gation. He had been so sparing in ad- ! vertising his agenev that the rustic j natives of Fancourt Magna would hardj lv hare seen the few insertions, but 1 Marske would almost certainly lie j aware of Mr Vincent Knyvett’s intm- , sion into t iield of private inquiry. I He ate a plain but well-ccokeri din i nor in the coffee-room, of which he j was the sole occupant, and later be i drifted into the bar-parlour where the j landlord was presiding over a select : <oinpa xi y of village notables. A hush followed tlie stranger's entry, but M.* Cheesemaa soon put matters on an easy footing by introducing him as a London ar dulcet. pronounced something likartichoke, who was staving in the inn to study the churches and mansions round about. hi less than a minute Knyvett had hit of nice'new friends Mr Coles, the butcher; Air Varneck. the carpenter and undertaker; Air D-mpsey. tbe keepet of the general shop, and n sprinkling of tenant farm ers Knyvett took a ieat next Air Var neck, a grey old man. rather like a goat. The conversation became gen oral again, and Knyvett noticed that i; was on the subject be would have chosen. But for the moment the ca * pen ter. with a countryman's innate courtesy towards a properly accredited ' stranger, claimed his attention. “So you are going to study our church, sir?” ho began. “Fine old building, but it’s a pity you’ve come j v-st now. Rector’s on the sick list. Mr Snvpe is always pleased to show Knyvett remembered the name of Snvpe. It was that of the clergyman who had given evidence at tbe inquest or his refusal to marry Hugh Fan court to the lady’s maid. “ 1 am sorry for that,” be said “ For the Rector’s sake and my own. What, is the matter with him?” Twisting bis goat-jjhc .bead round so as to look Knyvett in the face. At 1 Varneck tapped him on the knee. ‘ It is my belief.” said the carpente. solemnly, “that it is funk. Sir Ja.s per put the fear of God into him.” “ But surely.” protested Knyvett, ‘ a parson shouldn’t require shat. Why should Sir Jasper, whoever he may be. or anyone else for that matter, want to upset the poor chap?” Air Varneck stuck out his tuftec" chin, then stroked it rather helpless ly. lt I rlunno,” he confessed. “ Folkhereabouts allow it was along of hif not conducting the funeral. I lw churchwarden, and T hold that that'? tommy-rot. Rector was took bad be fore the funeral, which was his reason 1 for not conducting it." This brought Air Coles to the front The butcher was a iong- winded perse.' and the stranger’s ‘‘ whoever be m:>, be” with reference to Sir Jasper gave him his chance for a turgid explain tion. Knyvett found himself listening to a fairly .accurate resume of the Fancourt mystery 7 as it had appoare.. in the newspapers, but without any sidelights likely to be of value. Th. only fresh fact w hich Knyvett gatherer! from tliis discourse was that Mr Ada 11. Fancourt had been seen by a gamekeeper coming from tbe Hall late last rnght, though none of tbe bouse ser rants bad been able to shed any lighl or the matter. The baronet’s nephew had not called openly at the hou>' before the staff retired to bed. After this the company turned with audible sighs of relief to the venting of personal opinions. These beinj directed at the guilt or innocence oi Sergeant Wolfram’s band of suspects Knyvett adopted a silently receptive at titnde. Tim babel soon waxed cor. tentious and from its turmoil tbert emerged the fact that none of these local worthies looked beyond Wolfram n.ud-bespattered victims for the murderer of Hugh Fancourt. Air Dimp sey. of the general shop, thumped tin table to the, tune of Adam FanepuH as his cousin’s slayer, to be promptly given the lie by one of the farmers mhc swore that Air Adam was too good ? sportsman to be a murderer. Air Var neck wagged his goatee beard in dart innuendos about Ted Grimsdale's grounds for jealousy, which brought oui the discursive butcher again with s laboured indictment of Al!aud Bates. (To be Continued.)