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I (ALL RIGHTS RKSEUVED.] THE…

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I (ALL RIGHTS RKSEUVED.] THE FLAilntlRDS MYSTERY BY SIR WILLIAM rJIAGnJAY, BT., Author of "The He ress of the Season, "The Rec Chancellor," The Master Spirit." &c. CHAPTER XXf. A GLASS OF WINB. Are vou all right?" Mr. Crofton. I mad e a feeble, dazed reply. Rolt turned to the table, poured out a glass of spirits, and made me drink- it. The stimulant quickly took effect, and I was able with help to stagger to my feet, and then look wund the room. An amazingly dramatic sight was there. Four uniformed policemen were guarding in custody the three men who had just so nearly been my murderers and who were already handcuffed. Almost before 1 had realised what it meant, I hvard. Rolt's voice addressing the prisoners. "Thomas Jurby, Francis Errington, alias Edwards, Auguste Marie De la Cour, known also as Auguste Bcnvoisin, I hold a warrant for your arrest. You will probably bo c harged, together with a man named Henry Richards, or Rickards, calling himself Fitz- Rich ard. with and receiving a | quantity of jewellery and plate from Glen- thorpe Hall, the property of Sir Percy Stavncr, Baronet, also various articles of jewellery stolen from Rossington Court, the residence of Philip Afchbury, Esquire; and with several robberies in other parts of the county. You will also probably be charged with an attempt to do grievous bodily barm to David Gelston, Esquire, a:nd further with assaulting with attempt to murder Francis Crofton, Esquire, on this date. And I hereby caution you that anything you may say will be taken down and may be used in evidence against you." For a moment or two all three prisoners sullenly kept silence, then Jurby said: "I have nothing to say to you just now, Mr. Rolt, except to congratulate you on your luck and smartness. I hope you wou't find one of these days there is such a thing as being a little too smart." As be finished speaking I went anxiously to Rolt. "What of Gelston? Is he all right?" "Make your mind easy," he answered re- assuringly. "Mr. Gelston is all right, or will be by to-morrow. No thanks to our friends here, though, as you shall hear, pre- sently," His words gave me welcome relief, and I I quickly recovered from the effects of my tussle. Preparations were quickly m.uie to convey the prisoners to Morningford Police Stati an, and for that purpose the carriag-.i I was brought round Which had been waiting ready to take the criminals to the railway on the first stage of their projected flight. Before a start was made, Rolt made a rapid I oxamination of the house, on which I accom- panied him. The place was deserted but 1'or the woman servant who had ooened the door I to me. The rooms were- in disorder, showing eigns of hasty preparations tor flight; beds "^cre unmade, clothes thrown about, card- board boxes and all sorts of rubbish lay in confusion on the floors, and tho whole aspect of the house had a most lH. and disreputable appearance. brou-lit very litile )' oti see, Lhese P'- ?oopblseerve d a"s Just what with them," Rolt observed, as he went rapidly from room to room. "Just what I was sufficient to get on with from day to I day, since they never knew when they ) might have to be on the movo." "The women have vanished," I remarked. "Yes. Two were packed off this morning, and Mrs. Jurby left by the 4.44," answered knowingly. The men waited till to-night to avoid rousing suspicion—and perhaps for another reason." WlKMl we went downstairs again the police and their captives were waiting in the dimly-lighted hall ready to start. At a "word from Rolt, Jurby and De la. Cour, with two policemen, got into the brougham, and a constable mounted the box beside the driver. Errington, or Edwards, in chargo of the fourth policeman, followed on foot, Bolt and I walking just behind them. My companion did not seem inclined to talk, perhaps because we were within earshot of the prisoner, and we traversed the half miles to the town in almost unbroken silence. At "The George" Rolt stopped and bade ine good night. ,?, I'll. give you a call in tho morning Mr. Crofton, and in the mean- time I°think you will find your friend Mr. Gclston going on all right. You had better let him sleep off the effects of the drug they gave him. Dr. Spackmaa has seen him, .and says there is no cause for anxiety. Good night, and congratulations——" "On being still alive?" 1 suggested with laugh. Rolt nodded. "It was a near thing, but; ajl's well I found Gelston in a quiet, if heavy, sleep, and, with a thankful heart for his escape and my own I left him and quickly tumbled, dead tired, into bed. In the morning my friend appeared as ttsual when I took him a cup of tea, only complaining of a racking headache. "1 must have had a bad time last even- ing," he said, with unconscious naivete. ■"That fellow Jurby's port wine "Ail right, old fellow," I interrupted laughingly. "Our precious friends at Morningford Place did their best to give us both a bad time, but they won't try it on again in a hurry." He stared at me in surprise. "Nott IWhy. what has happened? "Thev are just now in the cells of the local police station," I answered. "I'll tell jou the rest when you are up." •A bout half-past ten Rolt was announced. Gelston had just appeared, still feeling and dizzy. "Glad to see you up so soon, Mr. Gel- ston." was the visitor's cheety greeting. "Thanks. I don't know what happened to me last evening," he said dully. I "-N(), you don't," was Rolt's pointed re- sponse. "That is just what I have come to tell you." YesY But first of all, Mr. G-elston, I want you to be kind enough to enlighten me as to wh,t happened to you at Morningford Placo previous to the time you lost your senses. 1. am sorry to trouble you just now, but it is intportant that I should be in possession of all the facts without delay." "Oh, I am only too glad, Gelston re- sponded. I went up to Morningford Place as usual, to get the last sitting for Mrs. -Jurby s portrait. I expoeted to finish it off in a couple of hours, and did so, but Jurby came in and made a lot of suggestions for alight alterations, so that between painting and arguing I was kept at work till nearly dark. Then Mrs. Jurby left the room-" "Casually, I suppose. She did not sav good-bye or suggest that she was leaving 1" the place?" Rolt put in. "Oh, no; nothing of the Bart," Gelston answered. "Jurby stayed with me talking while I packed up my paraphernalia. He was very gushing, expressed his entire satisfaction with the portrait, and their regret that the sittings had come to an end. "Don't hurry -away," he said, "let us have a little chat and a cigar. I am doping to employ your brush again before long either liere or in town." In the circumstances I could not very well refuse to stay for half-an-bnur. He went into the study, where a very hot fire was burning. Jurby fusse d about, looking for a cigar-box, and in doing so he moved a bottle standing in a straw envelope on a i bureau. I "Ah, now," he said, "this is something special. This is some very fine '47 port; we must just have a glass of it, and before we moke, or we shan't 1 nsto the flavour." He tossed the envelope into the wasto- paper basket, took a corkscrew from a drawer and opened the bottle. From a corner cupboard he produced two rather large glasses which he filled, and handed one to me. "There, my boy," he said, tell me what you think of that. There is not much left of i' now, so it behoves a man to drink it n he gets thechauce." I suppose he j J it on me on account of my having j,nested against his opening the bo Hie for me. "Well, I did'n't think much of the wine; it had a curious aromatic tas?, but then I am not a jud?e, and could not well say so. Anyhow I had to finish the glass, though refusing a second, and then we lighted our cigars. Jurby did all the talking in hia j fluid style, and I soon began to feel unusu- ally sleepy. I put it down to the hot room, the liberal ,Iiss of port wine, and the cigar, which seemed fairly strong. Naturally I did my best not to be guilty of the bad manners of being sent to sleep by my host's talk, but it was no use; I could not keep awake, the soporific effect became irresistible, and I finaily went off dead asleep. From that moment I know no more till I awoke this morning in my bed here." "Doubtless, Mr. Gelston, you will say it was just as well you knew nothing of what happened to you la$t evening- when you hear what it was." "Tell me." j Rolt lighted a fresh cigarette and coolly began his storv. CHAPTER XXII. I JURI;Y"S EXPEDIENT. "Luckily for you—for you might easily, as well as your friend, Mr. Crofton, have ben at' this moment awaiting a coroner's inquest—1 happened late yesterday after- noon to be keeping observation on Morning- ford Place and its inmates. I had got all the evidence I wanted against then, but it was desirable that we should, if possible, take no decisive step down here until Richards—or, as he has called himself, Fitz- Richard—had been run d'own and arrested in London. I had an idea that you, Mr. Gelston, were still on the premises, and there were in my mind strong reasons for suspecting that foul play might be resorted to. As a matter of fact, though it was, perhaps, not likely to occur to you, Jurby had cause to believe you were in a position to give some very damning evidence against him." "I?" Gelston exclaimed in surprise. Then in a flash of enlightenment he added, "He was never the man I saw through the win- dow at Flambartfs ? "We won't be too sure about that," Rolt replied with an enigmatical smile. "Any- how, Jurby seems to have held serious doubts on the subject, which accounts for the attention he has paid you lately. He is no fool, and he has taken care to keep you within striking distance. Well, to return to what happened last evening. I had a chilly post of observation among the bushes commanding the front of the house, but pre- sently my patience was rewarded when the front door opened and Jurby appeared, half dragging, half carrying you out cf the house. "I must tell you, what Mr. Crofton will have already discovered, that Jurby is not by twenty years as old as he has all along down here pretended to be. With a little powder worked into his hair and a light framework or some such contrivance under his big-cut clothes, he has presented the appearance of a pleasant, easy-going, middle- aged man. He is really not more than forty, muscular and active; his rather full face lends itself to the deception he has been practising. One docs not easily sus- pect a man of that habit of body to pursue a calling where physical activity "is requisite. "It was consequently no difficult matter for Jurby to convey your dead" weight out into the garden and to a spot some fifty yards from the door, where he laid you on the ground and went back in the direction of the stables. "Natyrally my first thought was that you were a dead man, and that Jurby was now going to dispose of your body in some way, possibly by burying you in the garden. Not a pleasant idea to contemplate, even on this fine morning; still, knowing my Inan, it was by no means far-fetched. "To my great relief, however—for if, as I rather anticipated, the worst had haplw-ned, I should never have forgiven myself for not warning you-when, taking advantage of Jurby's departure, I crept up- to where you lay, and felt your pulse, I found that you were alive, and guessed that you had been drugged. "I was then faced' by the critical problem as to what line of action I should take, since it was quite obvious Jurbv would be returning to finish his foul work. Should I get you away from the place, or should I wait and see what the man's devilish game was? I am afraid that professional instinct prompted me to choose the less obvious and more hazardous course. Anyhow, while I was still debating, the sound. of wheels and a horse's hoofs coming softly over the grass decided the question for me. "I retreated into covert as the vehicle, a low dog-cart, was pulled up beside you. Jurby, who was driving, got down, and, opening the back of the cart, lifted you into the space underneath the seat, pulled up the tail-board to prevent your falling out, got I up again, and drove slowly off. "Luckily it was a dark night. I slipped out from my hiding-place, ran after the cart, and as it passed out of the gate I lient down, and, darting forward, placed myself close to the tail-board, which, so long as I kept in a stooping position, hid me from the driver. "Holding on to the cart, I ran along with it, the wheels and the horse's hoofs drown. ing the 30und of my feet. I am a pretty good runiier-it is necessary to be so in my line of liusin-ess-and Jurby drove at a moderate pace, so that there was no diffi- culty in my keeping up with him, and I must say that my curiosity as to what was going to happen invested my run with pecu- liar zest. Jurby took the road towards the rail- way station, a. course which rather sur- prised and puzzled me until he turned off to the right down a lane which runs parallel with the line, and' in about three furlongs crosses it by an accommodation bridge. "I now began to have an inkling of the fellow's purpose. He drove on down the rcugh lane till the point was reached, where it turns to the left towards the railway line, and ascends the slope to the bridge. Here he gave signs of being about to pull up, and I therefore took an opportunity of slipping from behind the cart into the covert of the thick straggling hed'ge. In accordance with my expectation, the cart stopped a few yards farther on, and I, crouching in the ditch overgrown with rank herbage, watched the proceedings, ready at any moment to inter- fere. "Jurby got down, lowered the tail-board, and drew you out of the cart. I could hear the thud as your feet struck the ground. Then, taking you under the arms, he began to drag you towards the line. I let him get a little wnv, and then crawled stealthily after him. There is a fairly stiff fence to surmount, and by the time he had lifted you.' over this I was close upon him. Once over that his work was easier, though fiendish enough. He had only to drag you down the rather steep embankment, and so on to the line. "Good heavens! What a villain!" I cried. and Gelston's face looked ghastly as ho began to realise what he had escaped. "Jurby's idea." Ro!t continued, "was now plain enough. He was, of course, going to place you in your insensible condition across the rails, where you would lie till a train same along, and—well, there is no need to «r R° into that. And on the rails, in th» I go J shadow of the bridge, he did leave you, with. your neck in the most favourable position' for decapitation. And all the while '01 was ] crouching among the bushes on the embank- iny ears for the sign oi an ? approaching train. For I realised that Jurby would be shrewd enough to tme the deed so as to minimise the chances of your j | being found and rescued from that deadly position." { "Yen did not see your way to tacklo I Jurby then and there?" I suggested, "Oh, yes," Rolt answered. "It would have been easy enough, for I Wad armed. j | But there were disadvantages attaching to such a move. For one thing, it would have upset the plans I had laid for the capture of j j the gang later on that evening. I particu- t larly did not wish to strike a note of alarm. And, you know, these detective coups depend ¡ for their success very largely on what one I may call .stage-management. No I was j ready to rush forward at the first sign that delay was unsafe, but iich pi-eferrecl-vou i must forgive me, Mr. Gelston—bringing off | the rescue more artistically. I "And this I was happily able to do. Having placed you on the line to his satis- faction, Jurby hurried b"k up the embank- ment, and in another half minute I heard i him drive away. Then it was easy for me [ to make a dash for you, pull you away into safety, hurry off for assistance to the j station, where I had several men posted ou ( the look-out, and as quickly as possible get you conveyed here, where the police doctor saw you, and found that, beyond the hocus- ing, you had suffered no particular harm." "So much for the story as it concerns Mr. Gelston. We now come to the second mur- derous attempt and narrow escape—yours. Mr. Crofton. Of that you know more than I; and so if you will give me an account of what happened to you at Morningford Place, I will just jot it down, and you can, if necessary, amplify it hereafter." I accordingly told my story, of which Rolt took copious notes. (To be Continued).

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