The Rhondda Leader

Fire-Water. A friend of mine, who owned one of the earliest American cars, told me of a visit he paid to an Indian reservation, where the red men had more money than means of indulging in alcoholic refreshment. He had been warned that they would even drink petrol, and, sure enough, next morning found his petrol tank empty and a liberal sum in payment left on the seat of the car, together with a brief note thanking him for the treat of welcome fire-water.' And, from a motorist's point of view, not half a bad name for it either."

FLIERS AS MOTORISTS. "The fastest moror-car drivers in mv experience are aviators; I suppose they have the idea that they are flying, and that there is nothing that they can possibly collide with. There is nothing in the world that I myself like better than speed, haying, as I understand, rather a reputation for being, as it were, somewhat rapid generally; but even to myself a moror trip with Gustav Hamel as pilot was a bit of a revelation. You find that- when you see a milestone approaching it is really the one after that chat you are actually look- inz at.

U.U 8IGBU 1UIDBT1ID.)  CAU.MMMTHHntTM.J THE TRAGEDY ¡ IN THE TOWER. By ANDREW LORING. gather of Mr. Smith of England," The Forefront of the Battle," "The Shadow of Divorce," Tom King of Nowhere," &c. CHAPTER XVII. Yes, Jennie, to every hospital in London, that's where I am going; he must be in one of them. But first I am going back to the Sat." "You are, miss? And that woman, that Mrs. Gascoigne-" } "I was a coward yesterday, Jennie. What .can she do? Even if she is my guardian she cannot take me away by force, or get a police- man to arrest me. can she? I should hope not, miss." Well, I have thought it all out. I am not going to be driven from my own place. Be- sides, mv clothes and the flowers there in the conservatory, can I leave them to die? You will have to pay a full week here, miss," said practical Jennie, dismayed at such waste. I can't help that. Back we go, Jennie, this very hour." Thus it was that Margaret Lee came back to her late father's flat about eleven o'clock on the morning after she had found that Percy Marshall had escaped from the hands of his enemies It was this knowledge, perhaps, that helped to imbue her witii a high courage. She was contemptuous of herself that she had fled in fear the afternoon before from Mrs. Gascoigne. A night's rest, the companionship of the resourceful Jennie, and the knowledge that much energetic effort lay before her, had brought self confidence, had restored fearless common sense. Hodgson shewed open ?urp"ise at her unex- pected return, stared at pink-faced Jennie, studied Jennie's box with frank curiosity, and came instantly to the conclusion that this sur- prising young lady had not spent the last few hours in rushing to Paris and back. Open all the windows, Jennie," cried Margaret, on entering the only place she could call home, and no doubt the porter can tell you where you can find somebody to come in and help yon to clean up." Then she turned to Hodgson. Will you come in for a minute? Has anybody been here to see me? Margaret led the way through the conserva- tory to the roof top. The flat with its memories of swift happenings choked her, but she resolutely thrust aside all thought of the past. She had too much to do, perhaps too much to fear, to dwell more than a illoment on her father's death. Yes, miss," said Hodgson. "That lady that came once Oil, you mean Mrs. Gascoigne? That's it, miss. She has been here two or three times. Once there was a gentleman with her-a foreign-looking gentleman he was. Oh, he is here too murmured Margaret, with a start. Mrs. Gascoigne must have tele- graphed to him in France, and this dreadful old man had flown to the summons. Well, well, what did they want? To find you, miss." Did you give them the address? I told her you had gone to Paris. She seemed very surprised and disappointed, miss." x You gave her my address there? I did. I thought that was what you would wish. She said it was very important that she should see you. She-" Go on, please," exclaimed Margaret, as he hesitated. She said that you were not of age, miss, and that Mr. Lee had appointed her your guardian, and that she was very anxious about .you. She said that she must find you. She said she was going back to Paris last night." Oh, you think she meant it? I think she did I think she went." Margaret drew a deep breath of relief. One at least of her pursuers was thus easily dis- posed of. How glad she was now that she had thought for a distracted hour or two of re- turning to Paris; how glad that she had stopped at her flat on the way down to the station and given her Paris address. There was a gentleman called too, miss." "Yes, yes," cried Margaret. looking up eagerly. Was it possible that Percy Marshall had come there? Her face dropped as she heard a description of a tall, dark man. A doctor, miss. I can't just call his riame to mind, but I think it was French." Oh, Dr. Lesurier? Yes, miss. He came yesterday afternoon about five or six o'clock. He said that Lady somebody-Lady Hatton, or Yes—Lady Yatton, I know—tell me." Lady Vattori, tii,-At wa-, it. She wanted to see you very much indeed. I gave him your Paris address-" That Paris address again. How fortunately had it all come about. He said he was going to telegraph to you, miss, and if I was to hear from you I might let Lady Yatton know. I have the address, down beyond South London somewhere." You mustn't send any message, Hodgson. You understand quite clearly? Yes, miss, I will do what you tell me." I want to take my own time in settling everything up in my own way," said Mar- garet, with such a precise affectation of busi- ness manner that Hodgson could hardly keep from smiling. He had a great admiration for this delightful young lady who had so sud- denly appeared from nowhere. I saw you talking to Mrs. Gascoigne yes- terday," said Margaret, looking I im directly in the eye. "I did not wish to meet her, 80 I went away. She gave you some money, and it was quite right for you to take it. I will give you more, Hodgsoll. rut you must do exactly as I tell you. I wish everybody to think that I am still in Paris." You are in Paris, miss," said Hodgson, quite respectfully, but with a little gleam in his eye. This young lady was a gold mine for him. No visitor who called seemed to think of slipping silver into his palm. Mrs. Carlingford? she asked. She was here, just after Mrs. Gascoigne had gone. She seemed very much troubled when she could not find you, and she said that she would telegraph to you." "And did she leave her address in case I came back? No, miss. She said she would call or send to-day. You remember-" Yes, miss, you are in Paris. Then there was Mr. Marshàll-" He came? Margaret leaped to her feet and leant forward, eager, bright-eyed. About half an hour ago. mi-s." Margaret stamped her foot with impatience. Half an hour ago! Oli, why had she been so late in coming to the flat? He seemed to know that you had gone to Paris," continued Hodgson. "He wanted your address, alld-" "He has been ill," broke in Margaret. How did he look? He was very pale, miss—for him. that is. I let him in that first (lay when he called, and — well. I was in the Army onc-e, and I know a fine man when I see him. He was more than n. b;, lame; Iw could hardh- crawl about." H ¡" ha!\(b? "'The left all bandaged, miss. and the other partly, Hot water, he said he had been in liot ter, and scalded his hands and feet." But Margaret could not smile at Percy Mar- shall's characteristic account of his adven- ture. He was ill, suffering. Jennie had drawn a vivid picture of a bandaged head. She pressed the hail porter with eager ques- tions. and learnt that Percv Marshall wore a hat as ordinary people dJ. and there was no evidence of a wound in the head. He should not have been out," she cried, hesitating to ask frank question* as to his malliler. Li i, accident u a* p r1, rio 11. and he should take care ol I wonder his brain was not affected." No fear of that, miss." cried Hodgson. He knew what he wanted very well. and he went straight at it, too. He asked if you had gone with Mrs. Gascoigne, miss." "You told him no, of course?" Hodgson hesitated, then shook his head. "But why not?" cried Margaret, almost sharply. You knew I was not with her." I am going to tell you the truth, miss. Mrs. Gascoigne said she was your guardian. She said I must not give any information to anybody about you, and she made special mention of the namel)f Mr. Marshall." What impertinence cried Margaret, with a sudden flush of anger on her cheek. "How was I to know, miss? You come back here and I tell you everything, but if what she said was right about her being your guardian it was my duty, miss, to listen to what she said." I do not blame you, Hodgson. I cannot tell yet what my father may have done. Per- haps she speaks the truth. If she does, there must be some way of changing it. so you are to pay no more attention to her if you hear from her or see her again. So you did not tell Mr. Marshall anything? No, miss. I was acting under the best orders I could get. and I said I did not know your Paris address, and that you were going to write." Margaret bit her lips in great irritation. That Paris address-it haclservedher faithfully with three. With the fourth—the one of all others she wished to see—it had introduced confusion, delay. Of course he did not give you his ad- dress? Hodgson, who by this time *y.v« Margaret's faithful slave, owned die blunt truth, ill's. Gascoigne had warned him so specially about Mr. Marshall, had so bluntly accused this gentleman of pretending to be a solicitor when his appearance and manner disproved it, that he, Hodgson, had very off- handed. A quick suspicion flew to Margaret's mind. "The truth, Hodgson," sic -oiid. imperi- ously. Did you hint to 2-1 l\ Marshall that you were acting under my orders ? There were limits to Hodgson's frankness he hesitated, and his hand went ruechnnioaMy to his head, and he rubbed his sorehead as though to stimulate memory. I did not say thai right out, miss." "You made a great mistake. Hodgson. r I will forget it if you will do everything from now just as I tell you. If Mr. Marshall should come I will see him If Mrs. Curling- ford comes I will see her. but not Lady Yat- ton, nor any other stranger. "I will be very careful? miss," ami ITodg- j son withdrew. j Margaret turned and walked over to the parapet, and looked to the south towards the invisible spire. The sun gleamed in the dis- tance on what she knew was the Cry-la I Palace, but her thought of this was uncon- scious. "Half an hour," she murmured: "I have missed him by half an hour, and we are as far apart now as though [ was really in Paris. Pale,' he said, very pale for and lie could hardly walk and his hands were ban- daged. Yet he comes to find me. and is told almost in so many words that I do not wan' to see him that I do not wish him to have my address. What can lid think of me—of me who has brought all this trouble and pain to him? Where can I look for him now? Her hands dropped listlessly to her side. There seemed nothing to do 'but that hardest of all things—to wait. A hope flashed. He was able to be out; surely he would go to his friend, Mr. Warden. She ran to the drawing-room and wrote a. note, in which she told how she had just missed Percy Marshall: how she had re- turned to the flat. She sent this off post-haste by the humble and repentant Hodgson, then plunged with feverish' energy into unaccus- tomed household duties. Thus she killed time and stifled thought, and two or three times she woke with half-guilty surprise to the know ledge that she was humming a tune. She knew at last why this was. Percy Marshall, broken, ill, had faced pain and difficulty that he might find her. This was the great central fact which made brighter and always brighter for her the lagging hours, CHAPTER XVIII. Percy Marshall refused to believe that Mar- garet Lee had ruthlessly cut him out of her life. Their meeting had been too strange, their association too close, to permit such abrupt severance. He had gone away from her on her errand; ordinary courtesy—to put it in the mildest form—demanded that she should keep touch with him. He must choose between two alternatives; either underhand influences were at work or Mar- garet Lee was heartless, callous, ungrateful. He loved her, and lie trusted her; and so came the quick decision that sinister hands were keeping her apart from him against her will. He inferred from the evasive answer of the hall-porter at the flat that she was under the control of Mrs. Gascoigne, that she had been forced, or deceived, into going to Paris with that woman. If liui were so, Percy Marshall made up his mind to follow her but his first step was to find out if she had really got into the clutches of this adven- turess. He must trace her movements from the beginning. He hurried to the under- taker whom he had sent to the flat. He learnt that the man had been employed only as far as Paddington Station; that the coffin had been there delivered to the railway official6; that the bill had been paid in notes, and not by cheque. "All ladies look alike in black—except Miss Lee," said the undertaker, pressed for a description of the lady who paid him but his vague account of the elder would fit Mrs. Gascoigne. "Margaret was alone. She had to illve help. Mrs. Gascoigne proved that she had some legal right to act; so Margaret had to accept her aid." That wag Percy Marshall's conclusion as his taxi-cab sped to Padding- j ton. A porter was soon found who remembered the beautiful young lady in mourning; but here again was vagueness about the elder lady. All eyes had centred on the girl; and no definite description of her companion could be obtained. After several more in- terviews, Marshall learnt that the two had gone to High Wycombe, in Berks, but had returned the same afternoon they had driven in a taxi-cab to Euston Station. Ho was greatly vexed to hear this—another rail- way station, another long search, and for- tune might not favour him as it had here. "Are you sure—how do you know?" ho asked, giving the man half a sovereign. 'Twas me put 'em in the keb, sir." said the porter, grinning. And I ain't likelv to forget. There was something verv rum about that there funeral." He paused. Manshall again moved his ban- daged hand towards his pocket. This was what was expected, it seems. Between me and vou. str. on vour honour. Orrty the guard—he's my brother— and me knows it on the line. The Wveombe undertaker changed the name on the coffin. The corpse—if I may say so—left here under one name and got there under another. I know neither, sir; my brother wouldn't tell me. Don't give me awav, sir." •' Xo, I won't." Marshall handed over anotiier half-sove- reign. and hurried away towards Euston. An- other mystery. So this man had lived and died under a name not his own further con- firmation of Mrs. Gascoigne's presence. This woman must have been well known to the dead man. must have had full instruc- tions as to what to do in case of death. As Marshall whirled towards Euston Station he thrust aside the thought of this now ami ix-w Uclering complication as easilv to he solved in the future. He was in pain, he was very fagged. He .stored all his flag- ging energies for the search for Margaret. At Euston he went direct to the cloak- room. It was clear that Margaret had not returned to the flat after tlte funeral; hence, if 'hey had left London, they must have sent their luggage to the station beforehand. His ,-ilert reasoning proved correct. The porkr r e 111«■ n i be r e d M a r g a re t. Marshall never realised before how deep I an impression youth and beauty in the dress of sorrow make upon people. Margaret was so distinctly recalled by everybody that the young man knew he must be successful—no matter what checks he might meet—in trac- ing her every step. He was puzzled ultimately to learn that the luggage had been placed on a cab. The trail was not easily followed now; but ulti- mately it led him to the Great Northern cloak-room, and from there to another cab. I frJ understood now that these extraordinary changes had been made simply to conceal their movements; but the effort had proved ineffectual. Nobody forgot the black-robed Margaret. A long check now while eager porters, stimulated by promise of substantial reward, were searching for the cab. Marshall forced himself to eat an unrelished lunch in the refreshment, room, and this was not achieved without difficulty, on account of the bandaged hands; but his right thumb was free, so that he was not entirely helpless. It was after one before success came. Ho was then able to proceed towards Highgate in the same cab which had taken Margaret and her companion. The drive seemed intermin- able, but at last the cabman pulled up. 'I'liit's the liotise, sir." He ran up the steps and pulled the bell, once, twice, and then again—no answer. The place seemed deserted. He went round to the bai-k "f the house, and was surprised to see an open window. A blowzy woman was sit- ting within, her head on the kitchen table, on which stood three empty beer bottles. He ?N,elIit passed swiftly bv this admirable caretaker, and made his way upstairs. flung open the blinds in the dining-room, looked ahout him, and found a general suggestion of a late occupancy. There was no dust, and the place had not the musty, close air of a room that had been long shut up. Ho iitssdi- a swift and eager search of all the rooms, but found no personal touch, no private b* lonaings telling n story of a late oociipa n t. lifted the screens, peered into the fire- places, in the hope that torn scraps would give him a due but he found nothing. Th-'u-r- vs a- left the tfra,ng-rooni-tlie least pi a i -e 01' all. A few ornaments on the d'imrne pi e, not vo-y choice, the furni • u re some en grasingis on the wall—rather good, these. c. His attention was arrested by a photograph hanging in the corner. •• Surely I know that face." lie said aloud, and went close and l' a<'e. ) i<a? :i ) ou< ) studied il. Where had he seen it? Who was the man? It touched only a vague, illusive memory. He took it down, carried it to the window, and scanned it line hy line. Somebody he knew by sight, be i bought, but probably had nevei spoken to. Such half-mes.sages the brain will give often! i dim. fragmentary hints that lie apart open, useless links that tell no story until there comes the flashing recollec- tion that welds them into a chain. The recollect ion would not. come. Startled by a noise in the room below, remembering what unpleasant inference- might be drawn from his presence, he turned to replace the photograph, and in so doing his thliiiil- soft. He turned the photograph over, and there- pushed in behind the frame, was a tiny piece of yellow silk. He took it out, and looked at it, with dazed eyes. Yes, it had on its edge a dark, rusty stain; A crash below He ran down the stairs. The drunken woman, in her sleep, had knocked a bottle to the stone floor. The noise did not wake her. He shook her harshly. She opened dull eyes, but the lids dropped again, and her head fell forward. He left her with an exclamation of impatient disgust, and gave his cabman the order to stop as soon as he came across all empty taxi, then tried to find some meaning ill this extraordinary dis- co\ery. I He looked from tune to time with still m credulous eyes at the little piece of silk. His search for Margaret had led him to—this. It had been taken from lile, pocket in Lady Yatton's house. Its presence in Highgate meant at least this much—that Margaret Lc-J was in the hands of the woman who had com mitt' the murder in the tower. What els>e- was ihere to think? She had been decoyed or forced away by the woman who was so desperately attempting to conceal the traces, (Ir her crime. Mai garet would he silent about what she had seen through the telescope only so long as she was in the power of this woman. Mar- sitail shivered as he thought wdiat this might mean. Only Margaret's death could make silen -e sure. He had himself been in danger of th-i madhouse perhaps of something w orse even than that. He did not know how sfrotig that drug might have been, he could not. be sure iliat lie would ever have waked had he taken it. or that iie wis ever m-eant wake. A doctor may juggle" ith life as the grave covers his crimes. Mar- shall tried to find reassurance as he hurried along. She could not have been taken to Paris i,v force. She was too clever, too strong of resolution to have been easily deceived. Mo gave up the attempt with a groan. All the power of the law7, all the resources of the- police, must be immediately employed. | liiri friend. Morgan Warden, who knew I everybody and everything, and how to pull string, must tell him just what to do. Fifteen minutes later he pulled the little brass knob of his friend's door-bell so vehe- ment Iv that he drew it right out of its place, H e was madly impatient during the minute that elapsed before the door opened, but ht could not repeat the ring. •• Come in, old chap I'm glad to see you.' His friend, clothed in a suit of brilliant red silk pyjamas, yawned heavily as he closed the door behind his agitated visitor. Not a word no, I won't hear it," said this deliberate young man as he pushed Mar shall into a chair, and with maddening quiet opened a bottle of champagne. He uttered no > expression of surprise at his visitor's white face, at his excited manner, at the bandaged hands. He only laughed every time Marshall tried to speak; explained that he had had a very late night at his office. and had been sound asleep when Marshall had broken his pleasant dreams and the door bell at one and the same moment. That's better," he continued, as Marshall1 drained the glass. You don't look so mtic-it now as if you had just seen a ghost. Than'; you for waking me up. I have an appoint merit in hajf an hour, and I have just time to bath and dress, so you run away now to 421. Montague-place, and you will probably find 1Ier-" Stop your nonsense," cried Marshall angrily. This is a matter-" She won't be at home, I daresay," inter rupted Warden, in his most melodious tone, "because probably she will be looking for you. I daresay she will come home to tea- though most girls (lo., Miss Lee-" Marshall leaped to his feet with an ex clamation of astonishment. "Margaret-d:d you say-iii London Oh. rnn along, there's a good chap. -If appointment is important, and she will ex plain it all. But go along. 1 tell you. Ifyo" have the good luck to get a stunning girl like that to play hide and seek for you all over London, don't drag me into it. What's Mar garet to me, or I to Hecuba? Not anotiier word would he utter on the" subject, and there was nothing for it but lot."