“THE BLACK OWL”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17836, 3 May 1926, Page 16

“THE BLACK OWL”

“ STAR’S ” NEW SERIAL.

[By

William Le Queux.]

CHAPTER XVlll.—(Continued.) r Then came a day when the remittance was a long time-in coming. By an unlucky accident, Pearson had opened one of the begging letters and found out what was going on. There was a violent scene, Pearson with the direst threats of what he would do in the case of disobedience, had forbidden her to give Attwood another penny. With a woman’s cunning, she had managed to get the money to him, after a little diplomatic delay, but as she was sure he would apply to her again, they must adopt, other means of communication to avoid the vigilance of her husband, who "would be sure to be on the alert. Attwood on his part was exceedinglyincensed at this dog-in-the-manger attitude. After all, Pearson was well sheltered himself, drawing plenty of money and living on the fat of the land. To whom did he owe this comfortable state of affairs? To his halfbrother and nobody else. Attwood could have kept silence for ever, had he chosen, and made his own arrangements with his wealthy sister-in-law. In that case, Pearson might have sunk lower and lower. Such an attitude was unnatural and unpardonable. He wrote a vituperative letter to the ungrateful butler, telling him in unmeasured terms what he thought of his base ignoring of the benefits conferred on him. To this he received no reply. In consequence of different arrangements, Attwood still continued to rely on Mrs Winterton’s bounty. She was away from home so much with her daughter that Pearson could easily be hoodwinked, as he never accompanied her on these expeditions, but remained in charge of the villa at Florence which was her ostensible headquarters. As a result of the new method of procedure, he saw a good deal of her during her visits to different foreign cities. She apprised him from time to time of her movements, and he usually went to fetch his money. In these meetings, she let fall a good many things of a confidential nature, notably the fact that she was really Iris’s stepmother. And this, he learned, was only known to one other person, namely, Pearson. So things went on up to the period of that meeting at Clanstone Park to which Marsden had been a witness. For some little time past it appeared Mrs Winterton had grown more than a little weary of the exactions made upon her, and had indulged in grumblings at the frequency with which Attwood drew upon her purse. On his part, he felt she was being let off very lightly, and had little cause for complaint. He had treated her with wonderful leniency so long as Winterton lived, and she could not expect to go scot free for ever. On that night, when handing him the money, she had been more than usually prodigal of her reproaches, complaining also of the intolerable position in which she was put by the necessity of these clandestine meetings. She expressed herself weary of the whole thing, and petulantly avowed that she had half a mind to defy him to do his worst. She freely admitted her own wrong-doing, but she seemed to think it intolerable that a couple of men, in no way morally superior to herself, should batten upon her in this predatory fashion. She recovered somewhat from her temper before the interview terminated, and they parted in fairly amicable fashion. But as time very shortly proved, a sore feeling remained behind on her part. It was a fair amount that Attwood had received that evening, and true to his instincts, he shortly made his way to the gaming table with it. Here his usual luck attended him; he staked and staked in the desperate way of the confirmed gambler till he had lost all but a few paltry notes. Mrs Winterton did not expect any further application for at least a month or two. Here in a few days, he was stranded and almost penniless. Difficult as the task was, he penned a contrite note to Mrs Winterton, asking for a further small sum, and promising that he would never be tempted again. There was some delay before the answer came. Evidently the irate woman had been some time making up her mind, and had at last screwed up her courage to a refusal. She was sick to death of this shameless extortion, she wrote. Rather than put up with it, Attwood might do his worst. Anything would be better than this slow torture. Attwood did his best to retrieve the situation from his own point of view, lie wrote a very humble letter in which he expressed his readiness to accept a comparatively small annual sum, to be remitted weekly, in order that he might the better guard himself against temptation. Probably she took this for a sign of weakness on his part, a recognition of the fact that if he did hurt her, he would make no profit out of it himself. The answer came back by return. lie had bled her enough, nothing would induce her to let him have another penny. In his extremity, he thought of Marsden. whom he had identified as the man watching them on that particular night. He guessed he was there at the instigation of others who were keenly interested in the fate of Hiterton. For- the woman to whom he had for a long time shown no small amount of consideration, and who now condemned him to poverty, pei haps starvation, he had no compunction. If she would no longer pay him to keep her secrets, he would sell them in a quarter that- would be glad to buy them. The long narrative was finished. Att"uod handed the MS to Marsden, who in turn handed to his visitor the bundle of notes. When he had counted them the man rose to go, hut Marsden detained him. There were a few things he wanted to say before they parted. " Well. Mr Attwood, there is the money safe in your pocket, for the good it may do you. I suppose you will forgive me for hazarding a shrewd guess that it will go where all the rest has gone.” Attwood shook his head with great vigour. “No Mr Marsden, most decidedly no. I have had a much needed lesson. I have had one or two

before, perhaps, but this last one has sunk in. From this day forth, I renounce gambling. I shall not go back to a crooked life, for my nerve is not what it was. I shall return to America, I am more at home there than here, and invest this money in some sound little business which I hope will keep me in comfort.” He spoke earnestly enough, but it was natural Marsden should feel a little sceptical as to whether these wise resolutions would be kept, whether this late-hour reformation was not too sudden to be permanent. “ You have taken a very wise resolve. Well, Mr Attwood, there is one little matter I wish to speak to you about, of a purely personal nature. You know that I am on the committee of the Strollers’ Club, and in that position, I have certain responsibiltiy. We none of us set ourselves up for being anybody in particular, and I daresay we have one or two black sheep amongst us who have not been found out. Now, I have found you out, more by accident than anything else, I fully admit. But having acquired that knowledge, I feel I have a certaih duty to perform. I wish to be as little offensive as I can. I am sure a man of your intelligence can understand the nature of that duty.” “ Perfectly, Mr Marsden,” was the unruffled reply. “ I take it 3'ou have no intention of exposing me, but you wish that I should send in my resignation to the secretary*..” “ As soon as possible,” said Marsden firmly. “ It shall be done, sir, at once. I shall sail for America by the next vessel, and am not likely to set foot again in this country. That will furnish a good excuse for my ‘action.” “ One last word before you go,” said Marsden quickly. “ You told me at the beginning that it was not in your power to throw any light upon the disappearance of Iris Winterton. You still adhere to that statement?” “ Most unhesitatingly,” was the reply, and Marsden certainly believed he was stating the truth. “ Had I held such a trump card in my hand, I should have played it at once. There would then not have been the smallest chance of your hesitating over the acceptance of my offer. You would have known that if I could have thrown any light on that, it would be worth a great deal more than I asked you.” “ Of course, you must have had some talk with Mrs Winterton over the matter?” “ The only time I saw her after it had happened was that night when you watched us at Clanstone. She had apprised me of it in a letter, and expressed considerable grief. It was alluded to very briefly that night; she mentioned that a detective had been employed by the young man who was engaged to her daughter, and that so far nothing had resulted from his investigations, except that a certain letter left behind by the chauffeur had been declared by an expert to be a forgery. She added that she believed the expert to be wrong, as both she and Pearson were convinced it was in Miss Winterton’s handwriting.” “ Did you know anything, or hear anything about this man Graves, the chauffeur?’ No. Attwood could give no information about him. lie had never heard him alluded to. He was surprised to hear that it had been discovered he was a crook, and had entered Mrs Winterton’s service on Pearson’s recommendation. He smiled significantly on hearing this. “ I told you that my vindictive half-brother had gone in, at one period of his career, for this kind of business. No doubt Graves was an old friend of his. Well, Mr Marsden, you are a clever man, you will make something out of the connection, without a doubt. Well, sir, I wish you goodnight.” He left the room, without committing the mistake of offering his hand. He was shrewd enough to know that as he had proved himself, an honest fellow like Marsden must have the utmost loathing for him. W hen he was gone, the young man went into the bedroom and released Bily Saunders from his watch. He gave him another stiff tumbler of whisky and water, and dismissed him with a handsome douceur. The pugilist pocketed it with thanks, but expressed his regret that his services had been of such an inactive character. “ You say, he was a crook, sir. I don’t supose a bit of a bashing would have done him any harm. It you had given me the tip, I could have followed him down the streets, and it’s long odds I’d have found a quiet spot where I could have given him a lesson that might have made him think a bit.” In due course Marsden learned that Attwood had religously kept his word. He had sent in his resignation the following day, he had also paid back Jennings the money he had borrowed, together with the big interest exacted by that astute individual, he had also paid the waiter for the drinks he had obained on credit, and given a handsome tip for the accommodation. As he now disappears from the story, it may be stated that he kept his good resolution, went into business and is now leading an honest life in the States. So do the unscrupulous sometimes flourish, while people of rectitude find it a difficult mater to make their way. Long and serious was the discussion which took place next day between Marsden and his chief. Both these experts, the elder and the younger, agreed that the revelation of Attwood! combined with what they already knew, put a most sinister complexion on the affair. Pearson had at one time been the associate of criminals, and had introduced a criminal into the household, Mrs Winterton had committed a criminal act in her bigamous marriage to the unsuspecting Winterton. Their only hope of solving the mystery hung upon Pearson making a false step. But neither of the two men could feel very* sanguine that this astute person would do so. Marsden was the more optimistic of the two, for he had a deckled impression that luck had turned in his favour and would befriend him further. And this impression was confirmed the evening following his interview with Attwood, when he resumed his usual watch on the butler. (To be continued.)