Welsh Newspapers

Search 15 million Welsh newspaper articles

Evening Express

The copyright status or ownership of this resource is unknown.
Hide Articles List

14 articles on this Page

een/tWHT. I THE Wall of Silence…

Detailed Lists, Results and Guides
Cite
Share

een/tWHT. I THE Wall of Silence J I A STORY OF CARDIFF, I Specially Written for the "Evening Express" By SIDNEY W ABWICK, ACTHOR OF The Angel of Trouble," "Through a Woman's Heart," "No Past Is Dead," "Cat's Eves: A Mystery," "Shadows of London." &c., &c. FOR NEW READERS. This thrilling- serial began in the Evening Express" on November 7.' Bact numbers can be obtained from irey newsagent, or direct from the publisher. The following outline enables new readers to co,imenco the ■tery to-vay > Characters In the Story. 4231 llEREDITll. heir to his uncle's great i wealth, and now head of the firm of 1 Meredith, iiair. and Co. OLIVE LINDSAY, oid Meredith's adopted daughter, cut out of his will because sue was convicted of stealing pearls. PERClVAL LETMOLD, one of the witnesses against Olive in the Black Poari caee, found shot through. tho iezirt at his Ikonse iu Liandalf, and wnom a woman is suspected ox murdering- EVA KENNED i'. whom Jiit finds on the road l near Letmoid's house on the night of the murder, and, at her request, conveys id his motor t-a Kiuiy r Station. ETHEL REbTiRRlCK. a young widow, for- merly Jlgi b Ewoeti)aL-ai-t and a jealous j woman, who hoar a vi tiio iast-iiamod inci- desrt; and suspects. OWEN HLORES, who is accepted by Elsie Mair. and, when leaving the Jiiuha house at l'eill: rth. meets JOHN SaKJaOLi, whom lift accuses oi having been ill league with Eeua^ld to rob him (Hughes) of his ;tt6 ill a certain in na- tion. iJarrol retorts by accusing Hugbea oi Eetmolda death, nughes replies that it was an accident. Sarroi <ieoiaree he is going to set n-e polios on to Hughes, out promisee, to h?d h!? "!id ?uui nine ocloet that night, when he arranges to mec? Httj?c?i a??Tr. pEATRieS ?AI?RO? a.Dd PHILIP1ŒIR. for- meriy sweet hearts, who meet at dinner that night kud afterwards in the grouads of Muir's house, exchange Sarrol surprint* nis tvue in Philip iiuir's arms. A fierce quarrel and fight follow, and Philip Muir Kills Sai-rol with a blow from a a tick icft behind by Hughes. Mrs. fearrol plots to save Philip from the oon- K'qwnres, ar.d to throw ;;USpiCIO!1 on nu?hea. Meredith mt3 Hugbe and brings him to his house, the polke being cleverly switched on to a wild-goose chase towards Cardiff. Hushes is concealed. Meredith, his manservant, and Elsie Muir being in the secret. Scene of the Story To-Day-Penarth. CHAPTER XXVii. I THE DAWN OF SUSPICION. I The adjourned inquest following the I Penarth tragedy was over. It wa-s a week later, and that we-ek had brought the police no of tie of the whereabouts of the man against whom. the jury had returned the ver- j diet of "Wilful murder. J Jim Meredith had been present, listening I to the evidence, and when the proceedinga were over he had driven back with Stephen 1 Mair, who had been the principal witness, to t,h"" latter'& house. He was struck by the vfTect'of the tragedy on Stephen Muir. In a week the man seemed to have aged as if by j years; the old, rather aggreeeive seli-com-1 plaoency was gone; his face was drawn, and there were new furrows in it. When giving bis evidence his emotion had been painful to, ]?is- e,?ideD?00 his emotion ba-d been padul-ul to, The evidence had seemed clear, all pointing to Owen Hashes. Hughes was known to have come back to the house a.t half-past nine, where Mrs. I Barrol, on behalf of her husband, m-et him with the meseage that John Sarroi was I resolved to communicate to the police the contents of a certain letter. The charred sheet of the letter found lying on the hearth bewht, but still whole, had been photo- graphed, with Sarrol's unmistakable hand- writing thrown up as clearly now that the iok had tarn-ed white on the burnt black paper as when the letter was written, and 1 was handed 'or tne jury's inspection. Slowly the witnesses had re-constructed the tragedy: Mrs. Saripl had returned to the billiard-room after delivering her message; whilst she took part in a four-handed game, her husband had gone to the librairv, where be had a business letter to write; there he had been subsequently found murdered. The ill-feeling existing between the two men waa brought out; obviously very reluctantly, gitepben Muir had testified to the angry ecene that he had come upon, culminating in the excbanige of blows, before dinner: evidence coarroborated by a gardener. The heavy stack, pwwed to have belonged to Hughes, had been found among a thick clump of laurels. as though an attempit had been made hurriedly to conceal it there; indeed, but for the silver I' knob gleaming in the moonlight it might easily have Iain there unseen. Expert medical opinion identified this stick as the weapon; I traces Had been found on it to make this theory practically certain. And it was known I that the man had been near the house at the time, and tha-t the library window was open. Listening, Meredith recognised how black the case must seem to the jury against Hughes. The photograph of the letter in the dead mane handwriting—identified as 11 Barrol's by several witneeE"-w;th its terrible accusation, wa.s alone enough to ensure the verdict brought in. For whether | the unsubstantiated accusation in the itt? had any actual grounds ar not, coming from a nian of Sarrol's weight, it had- its influ.enoe-it supplied a motive for the desperate impulse of a desperate man. There I seemed, too, something sinister in the a-t- tempted destruction. of the letter. Who but the man referred to in that letter could have had any possible motive in destroying it, unless Sarroi himself had done so?—which seemed too remote a possibility to be enter- tained. If he had not believed Hughes innocent, I convinced of it without a shred of what would be considered legal evidence, yet afcto- j lutely convinced, Meredith felt as he sat through the proceedings that he, too, would have been forced to the conclusion that none other than Hughes could have- been the guilty ma.n. For who. in the short space of time of Sarrol's absence from his friends, could have forced his way in and' got away again unsean? Besides. had a tramp or any other disreputable character intruded on him in the library, would not Sarrol's impulse have been to call the servants— certainly to do so if attacked, merely the preesin» of the electric button on the wall. Only Meredith clung to his belief iu spite of the evidence that the guilty man must be looked for elsewhere. And he had more than Owen's word: the circumstanced of their meetiiiig, when Hughes had appeared not even to know that Sarrol wad dead, though, perhaps, not proof to Pn outsider who might argue that it was mere clever acting. Mere- Philip gave an unea&y start. I dith was sure that his surprise had been genuine. If Owen were not guilty, who then was ? One of the servants ? Someone in the house? According to Stephen Muir's story ontly a quarter of an hour elapsed between Serrol'e going to the library and the tragic discovery. The theory of some tramp who bad forced his way in seemed too wildly far- fetched. Meredith was utterly bewildered. He went back with Stephen Muir. Alfred and Philip had gone home earlier. In the drawing-room Meredith found Mr3. Muir and Elsie; Stephen came in fc-ir a moment and then left them. The -new-. of the verdict hairdly came as a shock to the white-faoed, i listless girl; ehe had been prepared for the worst; had known that until something further came to light there could be no other verdict. You must keep your courage up, Miee Muir," Meredith said in a low voice to her, after shaking hands with Mrs. Muir. "It's goiK<?thin2 to know that Owen's safe, until we can make some discovery that will leaci to the detection of the real culprit. I have a note for you from him." A gleam suddenly came into her eyes. Unobserved by Mrs. Muir he slipped into her hand the note that Owen had sent her, under cover to Meredith, from his hiding- place. And with the precious note from her lover to lighten her heart a little, Elsie went out of the room. Meredith inquired about Mrs. Sarroi. "The doctor seems more hopeful; but she's still very ill, and is still delirious," Mrs. Muir told him. "We have two trained n-ursee to attend h<*r; I felt unequal to the task myself; and though Elsie would have devoted herself to nursing poor Beatrice, her father and Alfred felt strongly that the sick room was no place for her-forbade it, in fact, that Elsie should go near her. And it was wise, I am sure. In her delirium Mrs. Sarroi screame and mutters, sometimes by the hour, as though in her fevered brain the tragedy was repeating itself over and over again. Of course, everyone knows it was not an ideally happy marriage; but for all that, of course his death, must have been a very great shock to her—as indeed to us all." "Th>3n does Mrs. Sarroi speak of the tragedy as thougih if she were well she could throw any ligtht upon it?" aelked Meredith quickly. "You forget, before her collapse she was able to tell the police inspector that she knew nothing—how, indeed, could s.he?" said Mrs. Muir. "And I believe her ravings are generally unintelligible-merely unconnected jumbles of words in which poor Mr. Sarrol's name recurs again and again." "I think you are wise not to let your daughter ur-idoitake any nursing; it is always painful to listen to the ravings of a pereon in delirium-" Meredith broke off suddenly, for at that moment Elsie came back into the room. The sad eyes seemed a little brighter, as though tha.t message from the man in exile had brought a modicum of comfort to har. A minim.Pi or two later Philip came into the room. He seemed surprised to see Meredith. His face looked worn and haggard. For a week he had lived in a purgatory; there wa.s a curious nervousness and constraint about him now. The very houae had become a horror to him-a perpetual reminder of his ein and the cowardice that had been worse than the sin. "You didn't wait for the verdict?" said Meredith to Ph!L-'P. "It was a monstrously wrong verdict, of courEe," he added with emphasis. Mrs. Muir sighed. "I shculd like to think bo—only it's so difficult to think so," she said. Elsie took up the words in a passionate protest. It should not be difllcult-it should be easy, easy to us who know hiirn, to believe in him no matter how strongly circ-uanetances may appear to the contrary! Circumstances and tih-eir inferences so often lie-but we know Owen, we know Owen could not have done tJris thing!" There's one thing I wanted to ask you, Muir, about this affair," said Meredith sud- denly to Phillip. Phsilip gave an uneasy start. Then he cried with suddan vehemence: (;h, for heaven's sake, don't let's talk about this miserable affair any longer! Morn- imIg, noosn, end night-we hear nothing else: it's become a horror to me. I want to for- get it!" It was his racked nerves that spoke. Then, as if he suddenly beoaizne aware of the look of surprise on Meredith's face at this outburst, Philip-a man afraid of shadows now, afraid of saying too muoh. of saying too little, always on his guard, go muoh an this guard that there was even that danger of betray mg himself by his very over- gn.a.rdednes&se,id with an effort: Well, wihat is it you want to eAIk. llere- dith?" "I haven't told you of it before," said Meredith, "but I saw Owen on the night Sarroi died. And I believe the story he told (ne then of his movements. He didn't see Sarrol again after their meeting before dinner. He spoke of that leitter Sarroi wrote it before dinner; held it over his head a threat. You see, Owen was at Detmold's house, when Detmold met his death through pure accident." Meredith had already told Elsie the story he had heard from Hughes; rapidly he repeated it again now. Philip seemed to be waitohi-ng him nervously. "His story is plain and straightforward. He was to see Sarroi again at half-past nine. He was going up to the side-door near the library at thait hour when Mrs. Sairrol, as thougih waiting for him, came out; Owen turned '"way almost dazed by the message I she broiwiit-to come back a few mimifces later, with the sudden determination to see Sarroi personally." There was a quick, stifled sob from the corner of the room where Elsie fat listening. Meredith went on: Owen went to the library-door and knocked; he liad seen a. ligiht in tie room from outside, wdietfe the curtaiinis did mot quite meet across the window at the top. Mrs. Sarrol opened the door-by the way, it was a bit curious that she had gone there instead of returning straigM- to the billiard- tX)om," f aid Meredith thoughtfully; it almost Sieem3 to letbd colour to something Oweu said.' Philip was peeing the room. as if possessed of some demon of unrest; but at the words he stopped suddenly, darting a swift. uneasy glance at the gpea-ker. It was this. Though Mrs. Sarroi was apparently alone when she opened the door, Owen could have been sure that just before oomanig in from the verandah he hea.rd voioæ speaking in the library." Philip broke in; his voice sounded a little hoarse and unnatural, but, perhaps, that was dile to the etretss he laid on the words: Oh, but that's nonsense, Meredith! Who could have been there? Was that the thing you said you wanted to ask me about? He was niistaken-muet have been. Sarrol was in the billiard-room; and it wad not I oer- taialy, for I was never onoe in the library all that might," Philip cried with eager emphasis, "uu-til Williams's cry brought the lot of us rushing there in a panic. Ilt's some delusion of Owen's!" :ie was watcioing Meredith with a furtive, oloee scrutiny. [TO BE CONTINUED TO-MORROW.]

Advertising

SIR JOHN HAKES FAREWELL

Brighton Hotel Tragedy

DEAF MUTES WEDDED AT I CARDIFF.

Advertising

For Women Folk. I

I -Passing -Pleasantries.i

THE CONTROL OF SEAMEN'SI iLODGINGS.

; MAIDEN VOYAGE MISHAP.I

LOCAL TIDE TABLEI

Mr. C. W. Chabrel Deadi

IS MARS INHABITED ? I

Advertising