The Quest of the Blue Star.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 14208, 10 February 1915, Page 7

The Quest of the Blue Star.

I EXCITING STOEY OF MYSTERY AND LOVE.

(By JOHN OAKLEY.)

I Author of "The Hampsted Mystery," "The Blackmailer," "A Gentleman in Khaki," "Love and tho Cryptogram," etc.

! CHAPTER XlL—Continued. It was growing late as I made my way back, and tho darkness lay heavily I on the wild moorland. And then I saw | a light which attracted my notice, even I startled me a little, because it was in a spot where .1 knew,no light should be. I had been that way more thau once before, and was getting to know it well. In a moment or two, however, LU ji I managed to locate it. I As I drew near, indeed, I saw that it r-M was the wrecked and empty Cottage iv I which I had taken refuge from the ' I storm earlier in tho day. Not empty I now, however, for in it was a fitful, ( dickering light, and from it came the | sound ol: voices. Curiosity drew me on, I and stepping across the narrow ditch J which look tho place there of a garden t wall, I glanced in at the window. What I I saw sent a swift chill to my heart, ij succeeded in a moment by a wave of I anger at blood heat. [ The light was that of a /ire of wood, t burning iv a. pile on the open hearth. k And before it stood two .figures —a man ft md a. girl. |] The girl was Dorothy, and she wore fj the scarlet cloak. The man was the •j mil! that I. had seen struggling with n _ old .Marmaduke Dunthorne on the night of the murder. CHAPTER XXIIT. DOROTHY'S MYSTE.K Y. I Availed, wondering what I should do, and indeed I think you will admit that i I had a, very tliiUcult problem to solve, should I step forward and confront them, or should I creep away and continue my investigations in secret.* If they saw me now it would simply be to warn .them, and yet, here was the man Cruden, as .1. suspected him to be, within my reach. But my course was decided for me by circumstances 1 could not control. As i crept forward, mii tending to get if possible within curI shot, 1. tripped over a tree root whii-h j « had boon iel'l a foot or two above the ] I surface, and came down with a. crash, j J J was very near the threshold, and, as 1 j I fell, my head acted as a batlcring ram, j ] bursting open ihe door. My skull is j 1 only of normal thickness, and was not accustomed to be used as a hammer, j j for some time—-e:au-ily how long 1. can- j nui; say —I. lay stunned and helpless. I When i recovered the place was empty. I made a careful examination of the cottage; that told me nothing. I searched the immediate vicinity as well as I was able iv the dark, but there again I drew a blank. I walked slowly down to Thorpe Hes--5 ton, thinking many thoughts and bitter, and went straight to bed without even enquiring whether Dorothy was in the house or not. L did no w mt to in ike too much s sin ibout hoi \ nt m it all: she ami I p would hiu to tin tbh that out between $ t s W I Ilk d i\ following mv discovery of t Doiotlu done with the mysterious j ti nun in the num.d cottage was that I <i\t d ioi th(. djoumi I inquest, which < 1 ilttnkd with itclin_,s the, reverse of ] ]h i vi ibk i hid mile up my mind wh m\ lut\ w is —tl it I must; tell my . tci\ aid I ill m\ ihni c of the cerise- | qi ii i 1 mi Jit not probably would j hi t i Dunthorne, but it j i' 1 11 it \ keu the attack J 1 j '' i t <■ iill< v Iheir theory ecu- i f ] i i i in i th __ lion that my ; i I h i I 1 en Ih 1 st man to see < Mi miliu Dunthiinc alive. I could ii t i 1 i\uit now th it that was not V th » l<* 1 wiotc tj J mur < irrett, of Hilljj < tv in 1 uoiu tid him to attend the t j n put lnu_in_. with him the packet > 4 L 1 i 1 d | (ait I in hi oilice ou the day 11 n M v | 1 in t I determined | j i)i _ i 1 1 1 t \ ut as to the line ' in \ i I n i slio il i tile. Indeed, right v ( i tl \ i\ mil m merit I was quite i i i i in il i ii; in mind as to whej i i i n d 1 hi i 1 I i\ anything :is to t ii i th i i ons 1 had seen j v t th c / t i ' i t nit the inquest in I til Ol I Mini n 1 his wife told 1 < w M i 1 ii ithotn had called that a nun ud n n\ h< ) n id been bidden J i t in n 'a in V ] olice oilicer proij Iv c 1 i v j 1 luu whip, which had I b i bo ii 1 oi the table iv the | uu loom ulkiuii the dead man's j i j i\ a is urn 1 1 ut nothing was said |j if the tin nun lieu | c uucis which MarP j i 1 i 1 i ii ii w I \\\ uvntly the polt. i h 1 v t \ fee t < n the track of ; tint oi c' i th v \lk keeping it for ; th 111 UI tl it j \\ 1 v ile 111 un lim of the evidence , a < oiiu 1c te 1 I time (d myself as a | \\ 11 n j| I in \ cm tino \ tin light on fhisV-" r in c c i on l isl ( 1 | ' 'Ih it i J oi \ou t) cay, sir, when [ M)t ii\e h ird mi I think so," I re- } sj on 1< 1 >i , T \ \<r < urctt det iled the circum(l st ii i I i uhi h I h id co-tne to him, i vi I thin | an hd to lead my stateII i i t i \ i h i n 1 to in dead sil- }' i n c 1 ) c\(i\bo(h J\idently it was ij j (lutlniuii th iiituic of a bombshell. P I 11 ii on i i i f i i on my oath, and | in uli mi s\ i ii t( tin correctness of I Uu t it( riu ut In it h II cen read. Ij "Wcic, the pnsons you saw iv that I room strangers to you?" he asked. Q V I had never seen them before," I ■J replied. =» He added rapidly to his notes. "Have you seen them since?" he asked. I hesitated for an interval, which was possibly too short to be noticeable to those around, but which to me seemed long enough. " I have not seen them since," I replied. The die was cast. I had committed perjury. Old Cramer next gave evidence. He did not know the exact time his master returned on that night, he said, but it was not abnormally late. At the same time he could not swear to the exact moment. "Jt is utterly impossible that it might have been three o'clock?" asked ' the coroner. Old Cramer gave it as his opinion that while it was not impossible it was extremely unlikely. The coroner asked one or two trivial questions, and then began to sum up. He laid stress on the fact that it was , not their duty to try any particular person, but simply to decide the cause of death. "You may, if you like," he added, "couple up your verdict with the name of a suspected person, but I , would suggest to you that that matter ( will be investigated by another tribunal, while you, in view of Mr Lamder's evidence, might well be content to state simply that the dead man was wilfully murdered.'' And that advice the jury took. It was not an important matter, perhaps. ; A coroner's jury has very little weight. '

M |i i is Us i 1' I 1 I I < II llllfti I { \ ' 1 i tl t I 1 it 0 t II I th ir _ ' ) 1 111 1 11 fi h in 1 1 «itlt\ll t 1 I n i in it was oli\'ious (bat it mado considerable jinprossion. lint the prosecution notidiod a farther point by telling the story of the .WOO. I had been 'right about that. They had been merely savin,n; it np for Hie trial. It all'orded a curious development. It -was (|uile by accident that Marmaduke Dunthorne had been able to oblige Marplo so jirornptly. He had received the money by that morning's post 'iud had placed it in his safe. Then lrp had written a letter of acknowledgment, and that the police found on his desk duly addressed and stamped. They did not pay much heed to that, supposing <|uite nnhirally that he had paid the cash into his bank. But when, among Marplo Dunthorne's correspondence, they found a receipt for precisely the sum that Marmaduke Dunthorne j had received, it struck them as at least I a curious coincidence. It set them makj ing oiKiuiries. and they established the j damning fact, after much patient buri rowing, that not'-s which Marmaduke | Dunthorne. had received on the morning before he was assassinated, .Marplo Dunthorne paid away on the morningafter. It was that which decided the magistrates, who had been rendered a little, uneasy and dubious by my testimony, "We think," said the chairman, an old white-headed landowner who had known Alar; le since he was a boy, "we think it is a case that should go to a jury.-"' And (o a jury they sent it. One thing at;'least "I had to face, and I. determined to get it over and done with as promptly as might be. But T d : d not like ii:. It" wa.s by far the most j difllcuit ta.sk I over had to perform. I ! have stood in i]u* dock accused of murder —as you shall learn in due course — I have faced death at (dose quarters more than once, hut ou none of those occasions did I feel tin! same overmastering sense of helpless impotence as when 1 stood face to face with mv darling, the girl 1 loved more, than life, to ask her ((iirsldons which virtually accused her, not only of being unfaithful to me, 0!' wearing a, daubed and blackened honour, but also of being an accomplice in a particularly callous .murder. And yet it had to be done—for her sake it had to he done—that I might prove her innocence if that were possible, and if not that 1 might set right the injustice which Marplo Dunthorne was suffering. 1 think it was Marjory who showed mo "where my duty lay—a pathetic, white-faced little Marjory, with her perpetual questions as to Avhother I had discovered anything. And yet it was very hard. I could only save him and her by ilw ruin of her sister and the wreckage of my own life. "Dorothy," I said on the morning following that scene in tho cottage, "1 want to talk to you." She came with a smile and sat down by my side. But there must have been some subtle undercurrent of ominous meaning in my tones, for I think she guessed that something unusual was to- j ward. At all events I noticed that her j lips wore, trembling, while the smile when it died away left her face very pale and almost careworn. "Dorothy," I said, "where were you last night?" She (lashed a quick, startled glance at me, then dropped her eyes again. But she had interlaced her fingers, and I could see the knuckles gleaming white, with the pressure. Ther was a long pause, but it was not that' I was waiting for her to reply. I hardly think I expected that. Rather, I was busily seeking in my own mind for the proper phrases. "The case against Marple Dunthorne," I went on, "rests chiefly on one fact —that he was in tho house on that night." "He was there," she said, almost in ■x whisper, without, I think, quite comprehending the meaning of her words. "Oh, yes, he was there.'' (To be Continued.)