The Ogden standard-examiner. [volume], September 05, 1920, LAST EDITION, COMIC SECTION, Page 8, Image 32

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8 THE OGDEN STANDARD-EXAMINER SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 5, 1920.
I 3
i i
"Each evening a dainty little supper would hz .HEvVEKktt
waiting for them at the flat, and Robert .
gave himself ufc unreservedly to his
reunion with Stella and ..'! .'.
to taking up again the "Mj "HjJf ISP
t'. reads of his inter- , . -.. 'v ' MEfifi't'' '
rupted love affair. ;
I
I y7oMffttrrf from Preceding Tnac)
'' Robert wished that he could, then
I end there, take note? of what he
I had heard and link them up With
i the other facts in what he called
I the "Dartin dossier " But it would
not do to put on tho light in his
room, and he must possess himself
j in what patience he might until
I the morning
i Tired as he was, ho slept but lit-
'j tie, and the first glimmer of dawn
found him awake He put on a few
j clothes and, taking his Writlng-
j case to tho window, began his task.
He Wrote for perhaps a quarter of
I an hour, pausing often and looking
I out over tho' countryside, rosy with
the comnig day, his brows crumpled
' with thought. And then he leant
back at last and read what he had
j written:
"Item; That H. (who apparently
has 'met D. but lately) shows an in
J; timate knowledge of D.'s billiard
playing, D. having shown ability in
j the past with long cannons
I "Item- That D. objects to being
7 addressed as 'Vivian.'
I "Item: That for some reason It
j 19 a matter of significance that D.
and H. should hesitate to play cards
S with a Baxenter.
"Item: That D.'s nerves are not
what they were and that be is ad-
vised by H. to forget somo unpleas-
, ant occurrence."
M There was enough In all thin to
j dispel any qualms that Robert may
1 still have had as to his course of
action. He took paper and eovel-
a ope from his case and wrote u let-
"f ler It was addressed to Mr. Silas
i Berwick, at an address in Shaftes-
bury avenue, and requested Mr.
J Berwick to rail upon the writer at
his Strand office at twelve nooh on
,1 the following Monday, as there was
j a matter toward, in which his
I knowledge of criminals and the
ways of criminals would prove very
J useful.
J CHAPTER XVII.
I The Owner of the Towers Smells
.J a Rat
, j rHE time between tea and the
J dressing bell was usually
I spent by those staying at
3 the Towers in attending to their
." correspondence, enabling them to
-J avail themselves of the po9t basket
'?f on the table In the hall, with the
w contents of which John, the groom,
, j cycled into Barchestcr in time to
catch the up mall from Blrmlng-
..J ham. which passed through at nine
Ji c'clock.
fe't-' ijfc. .; " .
The letter which Robert had
written ,n the early morning he had
posted with his own hands at the
little High street office as '
passed through the town on their
way to the Mayfield golf links the
day before. There was a small
nine-hole course at Barchester. but
Dartin had not considered it wife
to risk the snub which might follow
an application to enter the select
membership of the Barea?trian
dub.
The links at Mayfield, after oil.
appealed far more to Mr. Baptiste
Dartin and those who visited the
Towers than, as he expressed it,
the "potty" Barchester course, and
tho society to be met -with in tho
clubhouse of the larger place, con
sisting as it did of welL-to-d 1 May
field residents, with a sprinkling of
racing men. whose hank books car
ried infinitely more weight than
Debrott, suited his tastes admir
ably. And so, much to Roberta re
lief, the letter ho had written to Mr.
Silas Berwick had escaped the
scrutiny of prying eyes that would
probably havo been its fate had it
been placed with the other corre
spondence In tho hall
He had be n In the library slnr
six o'clock, engaged in writing ono
or two business letters of minor
importance and a long screed to.
Stella. Now these wero sealod and
stamped and Robert crossed the
hall to drop them among those al
ready in the basket. As he
stretched out his hand he gave a
little gasp and stood as though
carved in stone, his eyes fixed and
staring down at an envelope on the
top of the little heap. Behlud him
the drawing room door opened a
little way, then shut to again softly,
finally stopping a few inches ajar
Robert turned slowly and gave a
searching glance to right and left
as he unbuttoned his coat and took
out his pocketcase His fingers
trembled a little as ho slipped off
tho elastic band and drew out the
' : ' i V . - - : '-I , ss
w
scrap of paper which Cantlo had
picked up In the room in Mortimer
Terrace.
lie took out the envelops from
the basket and walked with It to
the light that came through the
open doorway, comparing the hand
writing of the superscription with
that on the pieco of paper from his
pocketcase. A casual glance had
told him that the caligraphy was
similar, and now, as he carefully
compared the formation of the let
ters and numerals, conviction grew
until it became a certainty.
Dartin's handwriting he knew
well Haverton had been the ouiy
other person who had been writing
In the library that afternoon, and
Robert said that his quest was
ended, that he asked for no further
proof than this. He knew now, as
sure as though it had been told
him, that he was in the hpUSO with
the mail who had caused his cous
in's deatn. The mystery of old
Adam's documcr. was a mystery no
longer, and the whole con-piracy
appeared clearly to th3 understand
ing. He stood there In the hall, his
hands clenched over tho envelope
and tho scrap of evidence, and
asked himself bitterly how he was
to gft through the remaining hours
how ho was to sit at dinner, to
take hospitality from the hands red
with poor Hubert's blood.
The thought came to him that
he might make somo excuse and
.catch the evening Irain to London,
but he saw that there was no time
to do so without appearing strange
and attracting that attention to
himself thut wiser counsels told
him was not advisable. As he stood
there tho groom entered and, tip-
(C) 10.0. International
If
ping the contents of the basket Into
a leather satchel, passed out to his
bicycle. Robert had had no inten
tion of retaining Haverton's letter,
but as the man entered he had
cnished it up. together M'ith tho
other paper, and thrust It into iiis
pocket; it was out of tho question
to replace it in the now empty bas
kel He turned and went slowly
up to his room to dresa
Tho dinner that evening was to
be of a mere formal character than
that of the previous night, and Rob
ert was glad that they would not
be alone, for the colonel of intem
perate habits had accepted, and
one or two o'her men would he
there. It would be something to
havo those others to talk to; tho
time would pas? more rapidly and
tho horror of his ordeal be light
ened. Ho took his writing-case from hi
kit-bag and added the all-important
item relating to the handwriting
He told himself that he would not
look further than this that he had
accumulated ample facts to put be
fore Mr. Berwick, the private in
vestigator whose services had so
ot n been used by tho firm of
Baxenter when their work had
ia!:en them Into the fields of crim
inal activity.
Dinner would not bo served until
eight o'clock the solicitor wel
comed the short respite from the
hateful presence of the scoundrels
downstairs, lie began to dress lei
surely, hoping that, by the time ho
was ready, one or two of the others
would have arrived. He felt a little
annoyed that he had been forced to
retain the letter addressed by Hav
erton Its non-arrival at its desti
nation might set the men on watch
before his plans had arrived at
fruition. He smoothed th envelope
out and put it in the pocket of his
dinner-jacket, together with tbo
Feature Service. Inc. Orr:t Hn
(V' . V. . .I-: .; ': ;- V.'.
scrap lliat now bad assumed such
Importance to his case His win
dow commanded a view of the entrance-gates,
and when Robert was
dressed, he pulled up a chair, and,
lighting a cigarette, watched for
the arrival of the guests.
Meanwhile, 111 Dartin's little
study, a dramatic scene might
have been witnessed The master
of the house, pale but composed,
sat at his desk, his hands c'.asplng
the arms of his chair so that tho
knuckles stood out, little patches
of white skin. Before him. and far
less at his ease, Haverton paced
tip and down the sonarp of rarpet
NTow and again he would pass his
handkerchief with a nervous ges
turo across his. forehead, and
glance anxiously at tho man In tho
chair.
Dartin ran his tongue over his
dry lips.
You t-aw him. you say. Kddie,
deliberately steal your letter?"
"NTo, I don't say that, Vivian I
don't think for one moment that ho
meant to take it; be had it in his
hand when John came In, and he
was taken by surprise and slipped
it into his pocket Perhaps there's
nothing in it, after all. But I don't
like Baxenter; he nas a way of
looking at ono that makes you
want to ask him what he means
if ono only dared."
The speaker crossed over to the
sideboard nnd busied him.-clf with
a tantalus. "Havo one. Vivian?"
he asked.
' Not now. What could he want
with your correspondence, anyway?
Who was the letter to?"
"Only my tailor, Vivian; that's
what makes it so strange. Heaven
knows wlfat Interest it could have
for him' He took it over to the
light and compared it with a small
lain Kichts RowrTed.
rquare of paper he took out of his
pocket-ibook, ; I was watching him
from tho drawing-room door. It
0 as the look on his face that fright
ened me. I wasn't near enough to
see what was on the paper, It was
nearly square folded this size."
Eddie tore out a leaf from a
magazine that lny on tho desk and
nervously folded it twice. As he
held it out. it slipped from his
trembling hands and fluttered to
the floor, and Dartin. as his eyes
followed it, stifled back a hoarse
cry that rose to his lips. For t-.o
paper had fallen beneath a chair
and memories flooded in upon the
man at tho sight
Through a mist he seemed to see
the furnishings of that fatal room
in Mortimer Terrace. Just so had
he dropped a square of pap:r, the
ruse that was to lead poor Hubert
Baxenter to his death. Through
the haze the little square of white
seemed to stand out with amazing
clearness. In Dartin's ears wcro
the sounds that hail risen to him
as he stood "on the gray roof beside
the huddled body of his victim the
murmur of Iondon life awakening
and the crying of tho beasts in tho
zoological gardens. For the sec
ond time cince he had left the
house in tho terrace, the mental
picture of it filled his vision. Tho
littlo study seemed to grow darker,
and tho silver clock on his desk cut
the air solemnly with its tick
tack mur der tick tack! The
sunlight that was flooding tho
lawns outside the window dark
ened, and Dartin breathed again
the foul air of the shut-up house of
death.
He pulled himself together with
nn effort and reached out his hand
for the drink Eddie had mixed and
was holding out for hlui, and which
f he had but a moment before re
fused. As ho gulped down the
liquor Haverton crossed over to
the door and turned the key In tho
lock.
"And now. Vivian." he said, as
he came back, "what is it all about?
Is there anything wrong, really, or
is it our nerves? What is it?"
"Only" Dartin was Fpeaklng
slowly and with moaning "that we
must see to-night what it in Baxen
ter's pocketbook, must tlnd out Just
how much he knows. Then we will
decide how to deal with him."
'Deal with him yon mean I'll
have no more killing. I"
Dartin turned fiercely upon tho
trembling man
"Who spoke of killing, you fool?
Leave him to me. Whoso nerves
ore rusty now, eh? Get upstairs
and dress; let him see nothing; ho
. must not guess that we arc onto
his game. I'll come and see you in
your room before, wo go down. It'll
uu mi 1 15111.
But when Eddio had left the jfl
room .Dartin sank back, in his chair
ond stared out over the sunlit gar
den, a prey to the gloomiest
thoughts. Like all men who livo
by their wits, he Was a mass of
superstition, and he told himself
that it was no accident that tho
ecrap of paper had fallen as it had.
That it conveyed a warning he did
not for a moment question, and he
knew that at last a net was closing
round him. Ho had let tho paper
rest where it had fallen, and now
he reached down and picked it up,
tearing it savagely into minute
pieces, as though the innocent
page of magazine advertisements
were in itself a menace.
For the first few months after
the crime in Mortimer Terrace he
had been worried byhis failure to
locate the paper he had used as a
decoy It contained, as ho knew,
only a few words and figures, notes'
of a game he and Haverton had
plaved with a youth whom the had
enticed Into a Soho gambling hell -
was, In fact, part of a record of their M
division of the spoil they had taken
from their pigeon He did not for
a moment think that ther was any
identifying Importance to it. but it
hatintrd him
Then as day followed day and B
weeks grew into months and no
meniion was made in the press of
its discovery, he put it from his
mind, telling himself that In those
hours he had spent in the darkened 'fl
room, the memory of which was
now blurred and Indistinct, he must
have destroyed it He did not re
member having done so, but it
was hardly likely he would have
passed It over. This conviction
grew upon him as time passed, un- B
til he accepted it as a certainty. m
and it was a rude awakening that
Mr Baptists Darti-i had received
this Summer afternoou.-
He glanced at the clock on the
desk He must compose himself f
and prepare to receive his guests
He knew !,. ate experience that
his nerve had. as it were, gone out -t'
of trainlnr. ;ind there was an eve- I j
ning before him in which his nerve
would be taxed to the uttermost
In half an hour Robert Baxenter sfl
would he waiting In the library
with the other guects and he must
not be allowed to suspoc anything
everything mast appeal to be as it
was before Eddie had happened c0
opportunely upon Robert In tho
hall and had witnessed the episodo
of the lettrr basket
Before ho left the room. Dartin
unlocked a drawer at the bark of
the desk, and, reaching for in. drew
out a little t.n case He opened
this and selected a small phial nf
blue glass and. carefully reading
? ,Taa T ih( ,abH' oncorked it
and tipped out two tlnv -Jl
tabloids, which he dropped StZ
fully Into his waistcoat pocke I
To De Continued Next Sunday