”THE TRUMP CARD.”

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 46, Issue 14126, 25 May 1920, Page 7

”THE TRUMP CARD.”

PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT,

By FRANK MAYNARD, Author of ‘‘Forgotten Days,” “ A Mill Girl’s Wooing,” “The Ironmaster’s Dauglner, ” “Queen in Clogs,” etc.

(COPYRIGHT.)

CHAPTER VIII. —Continued. So quickly did Mrs Packard conduct the two from the. front entrauce iato the room mentioned, Cicely had only time to notice that each carried a hag, that one was tall and the other short, and inclined to stoutness, when they disappeared, and the door closed behind theni and Mrs Packard. Immediately afterwards Jennie Jepson appeared before Cicely. She placed her linger on her lips.

ing day.” ; A sound came from the direction of the door, and Jennie sprang to her feet. i

“Very well, miss,” she added in a loud voice. “I’ll not forget. With this she stepped to the door and opened it; then, after a sharp glance right and left, she re-onteied the room.

“There’s no cme there,” she whispered. “I thought there was. It must have been the door being shook by the wind. The house is full of draughts, and all the doors rattle. Good-night, miss, and think over -what I’ve said.” As the girl departed Cicely leaned back in her chair and pressed her hands to her head. What was she to do? Were the Packards what Jennie had said they were? In the light of after events it was well perhaps for her that she had not penetrated through the secret which enveloped, like a sinister cloud, the house at Causeway End. For a moment Jennie had noiselessly entered the room in which Cicely was sitting; in the room opposite Simpson Packard, his mother, and the two visitors, seated at an- oblong table, were engaged in conversation. On the table itself were two small strongly-made leather bags which the visitors had brought with them. “Glad you’ve got through all right. We were getting a bit uneasy,” said Simpson Packard, glancing alternately at the two visitors. " “There was no call for uneasiness,” said the taller of the two, selecting a cigarette from a chased silver case and lighting it.

‘■Did you see them, miss.?” she whispered. “The two men, £ mean? I wlis on the head of the staircase when the old hypocrite answered the bell. Sh'c knew they were coming—must have known. She’s let them in three times like that since I’ve been here, and taken them into that same room every time. Who are they, and what do they want to come here and talk about in whispers for her and her precious son when the old man isn’t abou! —that’s what I want to know T . There’s something wrong going on about this place, and you’ll find it out for yourself before long. The place gives me the creeps, and nothing less. I’ve had enough of it, and I’m going; told her so last night.” “I have not forgotten what you said to the same effect the morning after my arrival, Jennie,” said Cicely, 1 ‘ but I must confess I do not really understand what you mean. All families are not alike, you know, and we should not judge people too hastily because their, ways may appear a litle strange to us. For instance, Mr Packard senior is a little cccenric in his habits, perhaps, but he may be well intentioned for all that. People of. a retiring disposition, as he is, I am told are not any worse than those who like plenty of company.” “I don’t know much about the old gentleman, but I should like to know

why he comes and goes as he does. One never knows when he is in the house and when he isn’t. For a wonder I did happen to sec him going away this morning soon after the missis and you went down town, and I wouldn’t like to bet he didn’t go to catch a train from Bank Top. AVell, I must be going, miss, to pack up. You’re not vexed with me for giving you the hint, are you?”

“No; but I still think you have something more in your mind than you care to tell me,” said Cicely. “Well, I have, miss, and that’s the truth; but I will tell you now.” She bent low and whispered scarcely above her breath: “Folks say this is a gambling den, and perhaps -worse, and the Packards aren’t gentlefolks at all.” “A gambling den —and worse?” Cicely repeated the girl’s -whispered words. “Yes, miss. I’m not telling you a lie, and from what I’ve seen while I’ve been here, I’m not going to say the folks are telling lies, either.”

“What proof have you —what, have you seen?” asked Cicely, steadying her voice, although her heart was beating quickly with excitement.

“What I’ve told you before, miss; the coming and going of people, and the orders I’ve had not to go into the room where they are. Sometimes they are in the room across there for two or three hours, and there’s always money jingling. I’ve heard it; and if you were to creep out and listen this very minute you’d hear it too. And the sly laughing they do, and the whispering, .and the decanter going. Oh, I’ve heard it all, more than once or twice! ” “But these visitors you speak about may come on business of quite a different nature than what you think, Jennie,” said Cicely. “You have not seen them gambling, have you?”

“No, not with my eyes, but I’ve heard,” returned the girl, with an air of certainty. “What does ‘swag’ mean, miss?. What does ‘the swag over this job pans out to something decent-—a hundred and twenty quidlets at the least,’ mean? I ask you, because I heard young Packard say the words. Isn’t ‘ swag-’ a. game of cards, 01 the money that’s won at cards?”

“I cannot say,” replied Cicely, “but I have heard the word used to describe something else.” It was not necessary, she thought, to inform the girl that the word was a slang one used by thieves when refero the proceeds of their nefarious acts.

And Simpson Packard had made use of the words.

‘ 1 You arc quite sure you heard Mr Packard junior speak those words, Jennie?” she asked.

“ Yes, miss, as plain as could he, and I kept saying them over to myself, so that 1 shouldn’t forget them.” « “Where were you. when you overheard them?”

“Well, miss, it was this way,” replied Jennie with a certain amount of embarrassment. “After what I heard down Todniorden road, I thought I’d keep my eyes and ears open, just to see if what was said was true. So when them two men came again and went into that room across there with the old woman and her son I happened to be having a quiet walk in the garden, and as the window of the room had’ been left open about an inch, top and bottom, I just put my ear to the bottom sash and heard what I ve said I heard.” “Be perfectly truthful, Jennie,” Cicely said, “you purposely went into the garden to listen to what was being said in the private sitting room? You knew the window of the room was slightly open?” “I am truthful, and you’re right, miss. I wouldn’t tell a die to save m\ life.” Saying which Jennie fell on her knees before the ashen-faced “lady’s companion,” pressed her hands, and sobbed. “Leave the house, miss,” she went on. “You’re too good to mix with them that’s in it. Go back to London, where you came from. If you stay here you'll repent it to your dy-

“But your letter? You said in it that the dogs were nosing round your heels. How did you manage to give them the slip?” “The parson fake. We worked it at Leicester. It was a fair bluff, wasn’t it, Sibble?”—appealing to the short-set individual at the other side of lie able. “Should just think it was,” was the reply. “Renniclc himself rubbed shoulders with ifie at the bookstall while I was asking for a copy of a religious paper. I think lie gave an admiring glance at my benevolent whiskers, too. They ’re a neat ilne, that s certain. ’ ’ ‘‘Never mind that,” said Mrs Packard, a trifle impatiently. “What about the haul?” (To he Continued.)