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lALL RIGHTS RKSKRVED.] I THE…

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lALL RIGHTS RKSKRVED.] THE FLAMBARDS MYSTERY BY SIR WILLIAM MAGNAY, BT., Author of "The Heiress of the Season.7 "The Red ChanccUor." The Master Spint, &c. CHAPTER XIV (Continued). THE CLICK OF THE GATE. "I must have a strain of the sportsman in any blood," he observed with a. laugh, "for T. take just as much interest and pleasure in unravelliug a mystery or in tracking down a criminal as the keenea fox hunter takes in following the hounds. Yours is a far more dangerous sport," I qiugi.-ted- he a greed. 1 should l')U ng 00 ag.r"L'u. 5 U not earo to count how many times in the last ten vears I have been face to face with •death. More than once I have actually given m'vself up for a dead man, and notli- ing but nerve or luck, principally luck, has saved me. But therein, after all, lies the zest of my calling; it is the most exciting iin the world." As we entered the town a police inspector came quickly across the road to us. "I was on my way to find you, Mr. Bolt," he said. A party has turned up a-t the station who states he met a man on the station road about 6.30 on the evening of the murder, and he is almost cer- tain tfi3 man turned out of the Flambard's' gate." "Was it you, Mr. Gelston?" Rolt asked with a quiet laugh, which, however, did not quite mask a certain serious interest in the new. It migJ ht have been," Gelston answered frankly. I certainly don't remember meeting or even seeing anybody on tlie I road; but then my mind was scarcely in a condition after what I had just witnessed, to take notice of anything so ordinary as a ohauoe passer-by." It couldn't well have been this gentle- man, the insnectcr said. According to this ,nan st.Litei -i,-nt, the party he met w.?n a tall, ad:: individual." "With a Mack beard?" Rolt suggested. "No, sir," the inspector answered. "He describes the party as being clean-shaven." "That's curious," Rolt said thoughtfully. Anyhow, tJwre's little doubt that Mr. Fisher saw the actual murderer. Let us come and interview him." He walked on quickly to the police i station, we at his suggestion accompanying him.. These gentlemen arc interested in the .caæ- and are assisting me," he said to the superintendent, as we passed into the room where the witness was detained. We sat down, and the statement he had made was read over to us by the superintendent. j Fisher was an ordinary looking man of the lower middle class, an agent in a small way for various commodities, and he was in the habit of travelling about the neighbour- heod on that business. The substance of his deposition was a3 follows. On the evening in question he was on his way from Morningford to the railway station, intending to catch the 7.10 train to Stan bridge where, he lived. When about twenty yards from the gate of Flambards he found his bootlace was loose, so, resting his handbag and a parcel on a gate-post, ho put up his foot on a rail and proceeded to fasten the lace. The gate being set deep in the hedge about two feet back from the footpath, a person standing as he was would not be visiblo to anyone coming along the road till the gate was reached. Just as Fisher was finishing the tying of his boot- lace he heard the Flambards' gate swing to, the click of the latch as it struck the socket being quite distinct. He took his bag and paMMtl-and was just turning on the footpath when he became aware' of quick footsteps approaching, and as he came clear of the hedge he saw a man hurrying towards him. At Fisher's sudden and unexpected ap- pearance the man seemed to give a great start. He stopped for a moment and made as though. he would turn back, then step-, ping off the path into the road he came on at the same rapid pace. passing Fisher at j about five yards distanoe. In the dark Fisher could not see him very distinctly, especially as the man seemed to turn his face aside. He saw enough, though, to be certain that he was a tall, big man, of rather foreign appearance from his black hair and dark complexion. He was dressed in a dark overcoat and soft felt hat, and walked with a peculiar gait, quick short steps with a slight limp. Fisher observed him with some curiosity, unocrtain whether the man's action showed he was in great haste or merely that his unusual gait gave the idea of hurry. The man passed quickly out of sight in tho dark- ness. Fisher had to hurry on for his train, and being laid up for the next few days with a sharI) attack of illness was unable to make an earlier communication to the police. Such was the statement. Rott listened to it with quiet attention. When it was finished he questioned Fisher as to the exact time he saw the man. A3 near as I can calculate," he answered it would be about 0.40.. I walked on quickly, and when I get to the station is was five minutes past seven. Yes, that would make it about 6.40, Bolt agreed. "It would give you about twenty-five minutes to walk a mile and a half, and you were weighted with a bag and a parcel. Now, you say the person you saw was a tall, big man. Do you mean he was stout?" No, sir, not stout; but big made. "And his age you would guess to be "Thirty-five to forty, so far as I could see." Thank you, Mr. Fisher; I don't think we need trouble you further to-day. Just leave word where you can be found on short notice." As the man passed out of the room with the superintendent, Rolt said with a mean- ing smile. What conclusion do you draw from this, Mr. Gelston?" "That the person Fisher met was tho man whom I saw come from under the table," David answered. "There can be little doubt of that," Rolt ag reed "Or that he was Rixon's riurderer," I sugg<«ted. Rolt, I thought, did not seem quite so ready to accept this as well, although it seemed an obvious conclusion. But all he said was: I wonder what made him stay on tho scene till 6.40?" CHAPTER XV. A MYSTERIOUS LIGHT. During the next few days I saw little oi Rolt. But one morning we met in the town, and as he seemed inclined to chat, I walked with him a little way. To my question whether any fresh developments had oc- curred, he answered no, none worth men- tioning, but that he hoped shortly to get hold of an important clue. 0 "I suppose your friend, Mr. Gelston, is at work on Mrs. Jurby's portrait," he said presently. "How is he getting on?" "Oh, well enough from all accounts," I .answered, "although he does not seem wildly keen on the work." "He sees a good deal of the Jurbys?" "Yes; he wants to get the picture finished, and these days are short." "Do you know," he asked casually, "whether Jurby has ever expressed surprise at your being at Flambards that afternoon with me?" The question struck me as being curious, 1100.e the less that Gelston had mentioned Jurbv-'s having asked him how he and I -came" to be there. I tohi—Wolt what I had heard from my friend. j "I hope Mr. Gelston did not say too much" was his comment. "Jurby appears to be a rather blatant fellow, if one may say so; and if our working together i., to have any gc-od result, I don't want our I movements canvassed. You might give your friend a hint." "I will. But he did not say too much; ho is a Scotchman," I laughed. "All right," Rolt responded, apparently satisfied.' "By the way, Mr. Rolt," I said, "I wonder if you have come to any con- clusion on a point which puzzled us that afternoon." "What is that?" "The discrepancy in the time." "You mean," he replied promptly, "tho length of the interval which elapsed be- tween the commission of the crime, 3', I have fixed it, and the hour at which u els ton saw the man in the room and Fir,her met him leaving the premises? m "Exactly." Ah," he said, "that is ebviously a diffi. culty; and the discrepancy can be accounted for only by the supposition that arcmothing happened to keep the criminal there. As to what that something w*s I can merely con- j«:ture, and as my idea may at the present moment not be worth much: I won't trouble you with it." Ho sooke with tactful pleasantness, and oi course I could Hot push my curiosity further. AM the same, it was greatly whetted, aince tha a?ir had by thi3  a fast grip of tha affair had by this taken a fast grip of When Gelston returned that evcmig I toki him what Rolt had said. I "Oh, I must say the old boy was inclined rather to cross-examine me, but he didn't r-et much for his trouble," David replied. "Naturally, Jurry can't for the life of him understand what possible connection we can have with Rolt. Asked me if either cf us knew him before he came down here, and f.shed away for an explanation till I nearly laughed at his anxiety to get one." "Do you think it was all curiosity?" I asked, as a vague suspicion flitted across my mind. "Why, what elso could it have been?" he returned, looking at me in surprise. "What are you thinking of?" "I don't know. Of course it is incredible that Jurby could have any particular inte- rest in the affair, beyond curiosity." "I should hope so," he replied in a •rather mystified tone. "There is surely snough material to set the old boy's mriosity agog. It must appear 6trange to him that we should 00 drawn into the detec- tive work." "Y es," I agreed. "And in the country they have nothing much dse to occupy their Tiinds. Is anyoao staying there now?" "Only Sir Albert Wcodville. He is stop- ping on for the Halidown wedding. That blunder, Adair, has departed for town and rehearsals, having emptied his bag of green- room stories, worn all his swagger suits, and flashed all his imposing jewellery. Jurby, by the way, run up to London to-morrow for the day. They seem to be making a great feature of going to this wedding." "No doubt it is a social lift for them," I remarked. In connection with the Flambards mys- tery a curious thing happened that evening. Gelston was tired and bad a letter to write, consequently he would not come for the usual stroll after work, and I set off alone. There had been a slight fall of snow, so I chose the road to the railway station, with the idea that, the great traffic would have made a better track for walk- ing. My mind was full of vague specula- tions about the late tragedy, the excite- ment of probably nearing developments had t gripped me the atmosphero of tho little place seemed charged with an indefinable ) current of lurking villainy, while the sus- pended rod of the law might at any moment come into explosive contact with it. Perhaps it was that my notions on the subject were so ill-defined and puzzling that they gave me the greater zeat; .the very unkhewn force that was, I felt, ntakiag for 11 crisis absorbed and fascinated me, for I was by no means fool enough to imagine that, in spite of his show of frankness, Kolt had communicated to us everything that was in his mind or had shown us the trump card he probably held in reserve. One or two incidents had of lat* strangely drawn my speculations to the people at Morningford Place. More par- ticularly the episode of the evening fol- lowing the crimfc, the discovery through the window of the watching man, the excite- ment it caused, the pursuit and the sight of Jurby's revolver—all this was much in my mind. But on arguing it out I was compelled to ask myself what tangible con- clusion could possibly be drawn from it. Without violating commonsense and the probabilities, how could Jurby and his friends be connected with the crime at Flambards? It was altogether too improb- able for serious acceptance in its broad form, and there only remained the question of a. mysterious side connection. And with that I felt myself quite unable to grapple. Walking along the practically deserted road with these thoughts in my mind I arrived at the gate of Flambards. It was nothing but natural that I should stop and take another morbidly curious look at tha house. It appeared dark and silent enough, at least from the front view. My imagina- tion pictured the. murderer hurrying up the short drive, pushing open the gate in his haste, and injudiciously letting it swing back. "That click alone might be enough to hang a man," I muttered, as I laid my hand on the handle, pushed the gate open, and, without premeditation, passed through. i suppose it was my then rather morbid state of mind which led me unthinkingly to stroll towards the house. The time of even- ing was just about that when David Gel- ston must have done the same, and knocked unavailingly at the door. Here it was that he struck matches in his search for the bell, and, not finding it, walked round by the narrow path through the evergreens to the window with its thrilling revelation. And on his way ho might have passed t-'c.:ü to the lurking murderer—a narrow Is cape for him, in all probability. A short distance from where I stood there showed over the tops of the laurel bushes the architrave of the study window, through which the criminal had entered and sub- sequently escaped. I stayed there fasci- nated, thinking mournfully of the hideously 1 sudden fate which had befallen the old man who a few hours earlier had been with me full of life and its prospects. In the dead silence of that still, winter evening there seemed to hang over the house a mysterious air of tragedy which made me shudder. The fatal deed seemed to cry out from that dark window, the shed blood calling for vengeance, the spirit of the murdered man striving to proclaim the truth, and indicate the hand that struck him down. I felt the atmosphere of the place was getting on my nerves, and, with a shiver, turned to go away. Just as I did so a slight, sharp sound as of a twig snapping caught my ear. I looked round again to- ward the house, and became aware of a. faint suggestion of light showing above the bushes by the study window. For a few moments I stood irresolute, held by the un- expected sight, wondering whence it could proceed. 'then what seemed the only pos- sible explanation occurred to me. The light must indicate that a detective, probably Rolt, was at work. But Rolt had mentioned casually to me that he would be away from the neighbourhood that afternoon, so it couId srar-elv be he. Who, then? I watched the faint gleam, made ghostly by its haunted surroundings, uncertain whether to retreat or inquire more closely into its cause. At length curiosity overcame the eerie sensation which made my flesh tingle, and I began warily -to move nearer flie bushes above which the light fitfully sit one. But they were' planted closely to- gether, forming a screen through which it was impossible to see. Brought up by this, j and hesitating to push my way through, a thing certainly not to be done without at- tracting attention, I stopped and listened • intently. An intermittent sound, as of someone stealthily moving about, was .Iii d w l iat %v-.i. he audible. Who was it r—and what was he doing? I asked myself. What would Rolt do in my place? Although the mysterious person could not have been more than tour or five yards away I could see nothing of him. As I stayed there listening, my curiosity at length became excited to such a pitch that I determined at all hazards to try to see what was going on. Accordingly I began very cautiously to press myself into the bushes, in the hope that any moment might give me a sight of what was be- yond. At the time the risk I ran did nothing to check the indulgence of my curiosity. Carefully as I pushed my way through; a certain noise of disturbed foliage was not to be uvoided. Then, unluckily, in taking a step forward, my foot rested on a piece of rotten wood which broke with a snap. Next instant there was a sound as of some- one pushing hastily and unceremoniously through the bushes. I did the same, quickly emerging upon the open space between the laurels and tho study window. All was dark and no one was there. I scrambled out again in the direction of the sound I had heard—that is to say, towards the back oi the house. But on the lawn, when ] reached it, all was darkness and silence. The mystery of the light had escaped me. (To be Continued.)

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