The Strange Case of Mortimer Fenley

cide

ter Mansions he had fixed Drake as committed from the Old Bailey during the Summer assizes four years earlier, relea

to himself. "The ver

e ex-convict awaiting him in the Regency Café. Nevertheless, obeying the curious code which links the police an

le-topped table in a corner of a well-filled room, "sinc

ve been trying to earn an honest li

s eye the frowning portals of a convict settlement, and heard the b

you'll drink that whisky and soda, and listen t

illumined the pallid cheeks. He drank eagerly,

nce--" he began, but the

"I want your help, and I'm not in the habit of rewa

his record) was so excited tha

nd in good work. Heaven help me, I'm married, too. She doesn't know. She thinks I was stranded in A

hat you are talking about?" sa

t "the Yard" meant to be merciful. Tears glistened in his e

call you Maselli again if you don't behave. Now,

sir. Ever sinc

an who was waiting for him! He was an old offender, but had proved slippery as

n No. Eleven during those four

elieve. Her mother mentioned som

her? Sam

Mrs. G

o they

ge dancer; but they've come into a set

le rela

to be married. I haven't heard the gentlema

times-in fo

or know he is there because Mrs. Maselli and Mrs. Garth are fri

black hair, smooth dark face, sunken eyes, high che

surprised, a

described him to a

, slip out and telephone the fact to me at Scotland Yard. If

d the same artist's hand in each of many realistic forgeries, an

'n't bother you. Give another call next time the visitor is in Mrs. Garth's flat, and keep on doing this until you find one of the three on the line. Don't use the telephone in Shaftesbury Avenue near the Mansions, because the boy in charge there migh

had brushed close, but was passing; neverthe

ark." He was tempted to have a word with Furneaux, but forbore, and tackled some other departmental business. It was a day fated, however, to evolve th

uture, devote your energies to

s. Although the man had summoned the assistance of Scotland Yard to elucidate the mystery of his father's death, that fact alone could not secure him immunity from the law's all-embracing glance. Winter agreed with Furneaux that the profession of

he police to take action. The man's tragic death might well be a sequel to the robbery, and, granted the impossibility

period of acute distress in the household, Winter's subsequent discovery would have lost its point. As matters stood, however, it was one of a large number of minor circumstances which demanded full examination, and the Superinte

hat the Napoleonic tactics of an earlier hour were no longer practic

said suavely. "You know my name alread

sharp-witted also. Finding that the doo

. "I am at a loss to understand why you follow him here,

witched on, its contents would be far more distinct than at this hour, when the only light came from a transverse passage at the end, or was borrowed through any door that happened to remain o

ushered him, he deciphered two of the freshest, and presumably the most recent. They were "Hotel d'Italie, Rue Caumartin, Pari

n for a few seconds, when he would be free to examine the apartment without her supervision. Bu

u of is here again. Will you kind

ounded on a linoleum floor-cove

t it?" he said, with

composedly. "You hardly expec

your earlier visit, but I

earned by chance that a young lady who lives here rang you up at Roxton this morning,

he closed the door on the two men. Fenl

affairs to be canvassed, even by the police. The moment Mrs. Garth mentioned your name I saw my e

iss Garth is a lady not d

natural they should be shocked by the paragraphs i

if my pertinacity has

such proof of your thoroughness. Certa

ay inquire if you know any one living

ence of the lady in whom my brother is interested. This mor

the nervous, distrait son who had clamored for vengeance on his father's murderer. "You own up to the facts candidly whe

oud he

know the lady's

ted a fractio

n this morning," he replied. "But, I ask you, is it

nts, and, since he declines the task, I lo

Fenley, after another pause-

ted your City

s. I told you I was going there. What

motive which might have led to the crime. Have you examined Mr. Mortimer Fenley's papers, for inst

e detective's tone. It seemed as if regret for the mor

ands of pounds, and that must be the outcome if certain undertakings now in hand are not completed. But my father was most methodical, and his affairs are sure to be thoroughly in order. Within the next few d

ss your brother's ext

at res

xton today, though I had warned hi

petuous, and he was dreadfully sh

e meant returning

after the distressing scene w

grown restive under such cross-examination, and betrayed their annoyance by word or look; not so Hilton Fenley, who behaved as if it were the most natural thing in the world that he should

ave seen your father's solici

has availed himself of the services of nearly every leading firm of lawyers in the City, but each transaction was complete in itself. For instance, his will is a holograph

ot looked f

hy sho

ed slowly to a window and gazed down into the street. He was perturbed, almost irritated, by a novel sense of failure not often associated with the day's work

monumental idiot, since his subsequent conduct was well calculated to arouse the suspicion which the instinct of self-preservation would try to avert. A long experience of the methods

acter can control face and eyes when the need of such discipline is urgent, but howsoever impregnable the mask, the strain of wearing it is felt, and relief shows itself in an unguarded moment. At the f

n one of those nervous gestures which had been so noticeable during the morning's tumult. His face wore an expression of de

h bade him sting Fenley into defiance, Wi

with Miss Garth?"

s the cal

t telephone inciden

ot have been Miss Garth who ma

les from his forehead. He was beaten, completely discomfited, and he might as well c

ster Mansions merely to save time. By the way, I led the youth at the call office to believe that I was searching for an undersized Polish

n the

on label. But similar information might be gleaned from a hundred thousand boxes and portmanteaux in London that day. He had been told that Mortimer Fenley had made a holograph will. Such procedure was by no means rare. Millions sterling have been disposed of on half sheets of note paper. Even his Majesty's judges have written simila

e grinned at h

, "is John Christopher Drake, alias Giovanni Maselli. I must k

other and daughter? He looked in on a well-known dramatic agent, and raised the point. Reference to a ledger showed that Eileen Garth, age eighteen, tall, good-looking, no previous experience, had bee

training. She could sing a little, so I advised her to take dancing lessons. I believe she

for his office. "I wish now I had curbed my impulsiveness an

news of any sort awaited him at Scotland Yard

t thing I'll hear is that Sheldon is enjoying himsel

Towers, Roxton. A footman answered the telephone,

r, when a thin voice squeake

per

gular round O's, except thre

ng of a number in a street picks out that street fro

you rat, if con

. First, Roxton contains an artist of rare genius,

k he

ich is all that science

d for ill time

t, and is sworn to surprise even your jaded appetite. The artist is John Tren

e me, have d

arped your judgment, too, as you will agree when a certain

ut matters m

convinced that the world moves." Then Furneaux broke into Fr

for names, and adding that he was writing Jacques Faure, the Paris detective, with reference

here tonight?" w

ou wa

and I'd like to have yo

with relief. He knew now t

"I'll arrive by the

elopment in the chase was imminent, "that the position here requires handling by a man of your weight a

't Sheldon reported?

other girl. Isn't that what you were doing? Is

set eyes on

self-effacement isn't your usual style

. He is a worker, not a talker like

are the small fry who put spouters into Parliament, an

Roxton, or you wouldn't be so chi

as for Roxton at six p. m., he was packing a suitcase when a telegram

tor cyclist. Will explain reasons ve

el

comment. Nor could any critic have gainsaid him, for he seemed to have been wast

along the platform when he caught sight of Hilton Fenley seated on the far side of a first-class carriage, which was otherwise untenanted. An open dispa

send for me; then I hunt you, and now we come together by chance. I don't

mate clearing up of a ghastly crime, and the same subtle law of chance was fated to assist the authorities once m