THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15273, 25 June 1923, Page 3

THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE

(All Rights Reserved)

(By Fred M. White)

Author of "The Mar. with the Va ndyke Beard," "The Edge of the Sword," "The Secret of the Sand s." "The Corner House," "Netta," "The Crimson Blind," etc.

CHAPTER XXVI. Phllp glanced down just for a moment at Farrell, and saw that lie was deadly pale, with a fine bead of perspiration on his forehead. He half rose to his feet, but dropped back again as Philp laid a hand upon his shoulder.

"Not quite yet," he murmured. "I wouldn't try and. get away, if 1 were you. It's too late." All this was unseen by the spectators, and was appreciated by the two actors in the case. Then, quite calmly, as if nothing had happened, Philp turned to his witness. "And I suppose you got those books back in time?" he asked. "Did you notice anything wrong with them?" "Well, yes," Blinn said. "Two of the pages had been removed. They had been cut out very neatly, but, at any rate, they were gone, and at first I thought that they might have been taken away by Mr Baines himself" "Indeed? What caused you to change that opinion?". "The finding of Mr Baines's private ledger in his safe. When I came to examine the two together, I found that they were practically identical. They had evidently been qrdered from the same stationer, ana each contained the same number of leaves. The private ledger was marked all over with certain notes by Mr Baines, and it contained the missing pages." "Yes, quite so. And those missing pages probably related to certain monetary transactions between your iale principal anefcsome client.' Would you mind telling us the name of that client?" "Certainly," Blinn said. "It was Mr Farrcir." A great shout went up from the assembled audience, and once more Farrell rose from his seat. But one glance from Philp was enough to send him cowering back again, with his hand before his eye&, and a deadly chill running up his>\spine. "Ah! now we are beginning to get at it," Philp said. "You tell, us, Mr Blinn, that the private ledger contained the record of moneys lent by your principal to Mr Farrell, who, by the way, is my client's solicitor. How much money?" "Well over a thousand pounds," Blinn declared. "And all repord of this is missing from Mr Baines's ordinary ledger—■ the ledger which you handed over to .Mr, Farrell so that he could collect certain debts? 1 suppose you insinuated that he had no knowledge of a private, ledger, and therefore he thought himself safe In cutting but those few leaves?" "Well, something of that sort, sir," Blinn said.

By this time everybody in the court was standing on tiptoe of expectation. There was no one there, however stupid, who did not realise that the drama was reaching its crisis, and everybody there knew exactly how Farrell stood. They knew that he had , been deserting his practice of late, and spending his time on racecourses and in billiard-rooms, and that the end was not .very far off. "Now, I will carry, the case a little bit further," Philp said. "I am going to call Miss Elizabeth Pincher, who is the daughter of the woman, who keeps the house where Mr Farrell lodges. She may have something interesting to tell us." The little milliner's apprentice came jauntily into the box and laced Philp with every sign of confidence. "1 won't detain you long," he said. "I merely want you to tell us all about your movements on the night of the murder, and what you saw before you went to,bed. Now, have you got anything in your mind by which you can fix that date?" "Certainly, sir," the witness .said, glibly. "I was going to the pictures with a friend, and I reraemby the date perfectly well, because I had never seen Mary Pickford before, and I was rather excited about it. I went with a girl who lives next door to us, and when I came back at about eleven o'clock, or perhaps it might have been half-past ten, our house was all in darkness. I let myself in with my latch-key r" "You are sure the house was all in darkness?" Philp interrupted. "No light in Mr Farrell's room?" "No, 'sir, or I should have seen it. .Mr Farrell has a front sitting-room, and as I passed along the passage to go to the kitchen and get myself a glass of milk and a biscuit, I saw that Mr Farrell's sittin-room door was open and the room in darkness. 1 thought he had gone to bed for the moment; then I heard his latch-key in the front door, and 1 went out to see if he might want anything. But lie turned into his sitting-room, as if he hadn't seen me, and put up the gas." "Would you mind telling us how he was dressed?" Philp "What sort of a coat was heVvearing?" "He was not wearing a coat at all sir," the witness explained. "He was in his shirt sleeves. It struck me as being s 0 funny that I went into his sitting-room and asked him if anything was wrong. ~ Certainly, he wasn't wearing a coat when he came in, and I know 'the door was closed, because I heard him put his key in the door. When he saw that I noticed that he uad no coat on, he said that he had gone upstairs to bed just before I came in, and that he had come down eto scare away some cats that were making a noise in the garden. Then I went to bed, and I cannot tell you any more." With that, the witness stepped down, and Philp glanced round the Court as if in search of somebody. Ho seemed about to spealU again, when there was a scurry of feet, and a snarl, and, almost before the Court realised what had happened, Braggcr was by the solicitor's table making a violent attack upon Farrell. Had not a burly constable caught Bragger by the collar and placed him forcibly in Hammer's arms, there is no doubt I hat the lerrier would have done Farrell a serious mischief. He fell back, liair-fainling on tlio table; a pitiable object, will: while despairing face and a look of absolute terror in his eyes. "I don'l think J need go any further," Philp said. "If your worships think it necessary, I will put my client in the box. He will tell you on oath "hat the coat discovered by Miss Gold-

finch on the common was the property of Mr Farrell. It came into my client's hands as a result of a boating accident. My client, who was wearing it at the moment dropped it into the river, and Mr Farrell made light of it. But my client had the coat properly cleaned and dyed, and returned it to the owner. It was at one time a Brazenose College boating blazer, and was left in Hitherfleld by the owner, who was a friend of Mr Farrell's. At any rate, my client returned it, and last year Mr Farrell used it as a tennis coat. I can prove if necessary, that it hung up'on his locker all through the winter, and was in its place the day before Joseph Baines was murdered. The next evening it disappeared, as I know, because I went to the tennis pavilion to look for it myself. It seems to me that I have established my client's innocence, and that Inspector Dent wili share that opinion. With that he has learnt this morning he may decide to take other steps. Meanwhile -" "Stop I" Farrell cried "Say no more!"

He had risen to his feet, while as death, with a hunted look in his eyes, but otherwise perfectly calm. "I am going to tell the truth," he went on. "I am going to tell the Court exactly what happened. Circumstances have been 100 strong for me, and I will do my best to put matters right. But I should never have done so had it not been for Mr Philp's cleverness. I hated Macrae. Some of you may know why; but I do not propose to go into that." He stopped for a moment and wiped his heated face.

"I owned Baines money," he went on "It was a lot of money, and just what the ledger showed. I was practically a ruined man, utterly at the end of my resources, with my practice gone, and nothing before me but bankruptcy, and I should have been bankrupt a few days later if Baines had only lived, so I decided to kill him. On the night of the crime, I went to his*cottage to find him, with a knife in my pocket, but before I did that, I called at the lennis club and got the coat you have all heard so much about. I changed into tnat in my rooms, because I thought perhaps there might be bloodshed, and I went to look for Baines. Ho was out, walking on the common, so a said, and I followed him. I found him not very far from Mr Macrae's bungalow, and, after a fewwords, I attacked him. "He put up quite a surprising struggle for so old a man, and, when I had finished, the coat was smothered with blood. When Baines lay dead at my feet, that dog appeared suddenly from out of the bushes and attacked me. I had to tight for my life. But I drove the dog off at last, never dreaming there was anybody near, and I buried the bloodstained coat under the gorse bush. Then I washed my hands in a little pool and—no, before that, I carried the body and hid it in the conservatory of the Bungalow. "I don't say that I wanted to throw suspicion upon,Macrae, but it struck me. as a good way of covering my own tracks. Then I went back home, feeling sure that my landlady would be in bed, but luck was against me, as you have heard. And ttiat is about I have to say. I played for a big stake, and I lost it." With that, Farrell collapsed into his seat, with a policeman on either side of him. A few minutes later he was led away, and an excited audience poured out' into the street, where tiiey paused for a minute or two to give Macrae a hearty cheer as he emerged But he did not seem lo see any- of them as he walked off down the road with Philippa in the direct:on of the doctor's cottage. They were alone together presently, seated in the sunshine, and trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together asain. "1 must try and thank Philp for all that he has done for me when I em sufficiently recovered to speak coherently," Macrae said, as he sat there with Philippa by his side. "It seems like some dreadful, evil dream. Philippa, I was actually in despair; I did not see how I could get out of it. And yet Philp pledged his reputation to me that I should be free in a few cays, and you oan see how handsomely he kept his word." "It is all very wonderful," Philippa said. "But you were bound to prove your innocence some time. And just think of the hideous hypocrisy of that man David, but for the mercy of Heaven, I might have been his wife. I inight ——" But Macrae would have no more of that. He caught Philippa in the arms and stopped her lips with kisses. And after that there was little more to be said. The End.