THE LOST JUDGE.

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXI, Issue 2440, 13 May 1925, Page 6

THE LOST JUDGE.

[OUR SERIAL]

(By

C. RANGER GULL.)

‘ 1 How much, ’ ’ said Madame Julia quietly “Two thousand pounds,” replied Sehn.cder. “For that you will know everything and I will go, leaving you to do just what seems lit to you with Sir Thomas Moultrie.” Madame Julia thought for a moment. “Very well,” she- said. “I have not the money here at the moment, but you shall have .t to,night, You have, play ed me false- for your own purpose onc\ What guarantee do I have that you. will not do so again ” Schneider nodded. “Yes,” he said, “ 1 can see that point, madame, as well as you, I can give you no guarantee-: beyond that; which your own quick wit w.ll dis cover. All I wish to do is to clear out of England. That being so, and you having paid me th’-s sum, I should have no reason whatever to deceive you. Moreover, when I tell you my story you will see by its very nature that it must be true, I can say no more,” “Very well then,” Madame- Julia answered deciscly, as calm and un emotional as if she were- buying a pair of gloves. ‘ ‘ Come to the house at Richmond this evening at eight o’clcck You shall receive the money and give me the information.” A sudden vindictive, light came into Ph.lip Jones’s eyes. He thought that he saw a doubleand sinister meaning in his mother’s words “I’ll be there, madame-,” Schneieder replied. ‘‘l need hardly tell a lady of your peneration that before coming I shall take such steps as will ensure my personal safety, 1 shall leave a written account of the allair in the hands of my wife, whom I can absolutely trust. If I do not return to her by a certain hour after I have- seen you, then that letter will be placed in the hands of Scotland Yard. I shall be at Richmond at eight, madame, I will drive the chocolatc-col-oured van down myself. It :s useless to me now that it has served its purpose.” Both mother and son started slightly, but they knew the man would tell them nothing more. And in a few seconds he had left the room in the same noiseless,, furtive way in wh eh he had entered.

“There was nothing else to be done,’ said Madame Julia. “It is abominable to have to pay such a sum at this moment, when our affa.rs arc in such a disastrous position. The whole business has cost us enormously as it is, but the stake is high, and we must not hesitate. That man has outw.tted us, but two thousand is a very little compared with fifty thousand. I believe him to be speaking the truth. All his inter csts lie that way. And, moreover, his arrival now has relieved my mind of an almost intolerable weight.” Philip nodded, and, sitt.ng down by the fire, stretched out his long, nervous lingers to the blaze.

“You arc right there, mother,” he said. “We know now, at any rate, that for the present the fear of b’ir Thomas’s escape is over. We must pay this m-oney and then —” He looked strangely at Madame Julr’a. She re turned his gaze, and there was a ve 1 ed inquiry in her face also. “We must talk that, over with your stepfather,” she said. “To all intents and purposes, Phillip, we have now got Sir Thomas in our hands again. It rests with him whether ho will ever reappear in the world. Now one thing remains, and that is to obtain the secret document from Captain Basil Haytor. I have made myself fully acquainted with his movements. There -s no need for mu to tell you any more at present, as you have much to do. It is sufficient to say that the task will be of enormous difficulty. It will be harder even than anything that has gone before.”

“Leave that to me, mother,” the" young man answered. “I will not fail you. Conic what may, we will have that document within the next fourteen days. And now give me tne plans, a am to meet Tarlheun at the Savoy after lunch, when the five thousand pounds w.ll be- paid me in notes. Two thousand of that will have to go to Schnc d er, I suppose, for we dare not put him. out of the way. We shall still have three thousand left with which to bring the campa.gn to a close.” “You. must not be seen carrying the plans,” Madame Julia said “I have no bag in which they would go. What do you mean to do ”

“Oh, I have, thought of that,” the young man answered. “It is very simple.” He took his coat, wa stcoat, and shirt off, and stood in his vest and trousers only—slim, athletic, and witn the muscles r ppling like- living steel under the thin silk singlet. “Now, - he said, “the plans.’’ Madame Juiia

understood at once-, Shei unlocked the bureau and withdrew the long roots of parchment covered with intr.caic figures and drawing. The locks of the two steel cases had already been for cod. Then with deft fingers she wrapped them round the young man’s Jy, and replafifti fcig Blothes, He hue. been carrying a light overcoat on his arm when he entered, and now, putr e r this on, it quite eoneelaed the unusual bulkiness and stiffness of his figure. 'I shall have to walk to the Savoy,” he said, with a gr.m smile, “for I don’t think a taxi cab would be comfortable under the, circumstances.” <♦><s>««> Augustus Moultrie- was sitting alone in the library of the walled house at Richmond. It was close upon eigiu o’clock He seemed ten years older than he had done a week before. Never theless, at this moment the mind of the master criminal was experiencing a relief so blissful, so enormous, that his very hands still trembled with m. He knew what abysses still yawned before him. His acute intellect a:u not for a moment blink the fact that he might yet have to wade through a sea of crime before his purpose was achieved. But to know that h s broth er was still in safe custody, and that he could not at any moment rise up like some -avenging spirit to overwhelm h.m with horrible catastrophe, was enough for the hour. Madame Julia came into the room. “That is right,” she said in a quiet, soothing vo co. “Rest as much as you can, Augustus We shall need your help in a moment We have all endured mnea during the last w-e.ck, but I know the incredible stra.n which has been put upon fccuneidcr is almost due. Wo will icaj them afterwards, and see what they have- to say about the disappearance at Barchcster.” At that moment both Moultrie and his wife heard the crunching of feet upon tho gravel outs.de. It was a frosty night, and there was no mistakeing tho sound. Immediately afterwards a bell rang somewhere in the back part of the. house, and they heard the footsteps of Philip Jones as he crossed the hall and cautiously opened the door, de looked quickly Md furtively a; Schne.der entered, followed by Philip. Moultrie and hi s wife and then cast a suspicious glance around the. bookDned iroom. Then, . wAihoul; speaking he obeyed Philip Jones’s gesture, anu drew up a chair to the table in tho centre of the room, Philip Jones produced a bundle of bank notes tied round w .th a tape. Moultrie spoke- iirsr. “I understand you have taken your precautions,” he said in a cold voice, “just, of course, as we- have taken ours? It is, therefore, useless to beat about the bush and we can get to business with any preliminaries. Philip, give th s man the notes,” Philip Jones with a hand that trembled ever sv little, pushed over the bundle to Schneider, who coolly undid the. tape, ex amined and counted the uotes, and then buttoned up the crackling parcel in an inner pocket o ih'-s coat. r ‘An« now then, where is Sir Thomas?” said Moultrie sharply. “I will tell you everything, sir,” sad Schneider. “When 1 agreed to take my part in the kidnapping, it struck me I might make better terms by using just the machinery you had invented for my own purposes. It was necessary to get the gentleman somewhere where he could be- confined without possibility of bis getting away, and without possibility of his getting away, and without anyone discovering him. That was impossible anywhere London, But while the preliminary preparations were going on—you remember they lasted for a week—l asked madame for a day and night’s leave, of absence, and she gave it me. I have been a miner in America, and wh.le there my principal friend amt partner was a Cornishman, named Nankervis, his native- country

kervis. We made a bit of money in the States —no matter how —but we. had to leave America in a. hurry. Nan,kerv.s went back to Cornwall, his native country, where he took a long lease of an old fashioned inn in a little- flsn,ing village not far from the Lizzard. It is a wild, unfrequented place sir nearly all times of the- year—-just tne cove and a few houses. That is whc»<? SiT Thomas Moultrie is.’

(To be Continued.)