The Strange Case of Mortimer Fenley

tist Becomes

dge that he had been close to the scene of a dastardly murder at the moment it was committed, that he was in a sense a witness of the crime, was depressing in it

n arrested for the crime. It was asking too much of editorial human nature to expect that the magazine which had commissioned the illustrated article on Roxton would not make capital of the fact that its special artist was actually sketching t

s cheered a little by mee

arm, sir," she said, dropping

whom, or wh

I did afore t

or instance, that I carry Browning pistols in each pocke

y to be funny. I mea

avens! Y

this, but she was too sub

kin' there in the passage. Do you reelly think a hop-o'-me-thumb li

rding the sketches had been obtained so recently. He imagined that Police Consta

is not only a genuine detective, but a remarkably clever one.

picter is fine. It was the young lady's cloth

walking about the sands at Tro

ce, isn't it?"

a more civilized c

ed, sure si

blood boil. Horse-racin' on Sundays, an' folks goin' to theaters instead of ch

le friend behaves himself I shal

another one, a big fellow, who knows how to use a car

had alone saved him from being put on the culinary rack after luncheon; having partaken

The Fenley family, known to that district of Hertfordshire during the greater part of a generation, was subjected to merciless criticis

ine park. They never had company like the other big houses. A few bald-headed City men an' their wives for an occasional week end in the summer or when the coverts w

res of good families

take on the Fenleys, an', to be fair, I don't believe t

here all her life? She must have be

ls two years ago. But school ain't society. The likes o

so wealt

The Towers say she'll come in for a heap whe

receded to some dim altitude where the high and mighty are enthroned. Biting his pipe viciously, Trenholme sou

, he was angered anew by a telegram

ey case and surroundings. Have suggested you for commis

ng back from the station, he passed the Easton lodge of The Towers. A daring notion seized him, and he proceeded to put it into practice forthwith. He presented himself at the gate, and was faced by Mrs. Bates and a policema

Sylvia Manning," annou

ointmen

n to believe that she

o be admitted to the house with

e written instructions un

ers," said Mrs

is-that you decide whether or not Miss Mannin

el. Moreover, she liked this young man

itin' a minute till I

e, who was sketching in the park this

appeared; soon she came out

house," she said. "If you walk u

orose, but his manner had always been kind to his ward. A pleasant fiction enabled the girl to regard Mr. and Mrs. Fenley as her "uncle" and "aunt," and the tacit relationship thus established served to place the financier and his "niece"

ot scruple to throw out hints of coercion. Again, the girl knew that Hilton Fenley was a rival suitor, and meant to defy his father's intent with regard to Robert. Oddly enough, neither of the young men had indulged in overt love-making. According to

ed so clearly for Trenholme's benefit. Whatsoever quickening of romance might have crept into such lives had long yielded to atrophy. Marriage, to the girl's imaginative mind, was synonymous with a dull and prosy middle age.

te unmistakably, to decline any matrimonial project for several years, and while shrinking from a downright avowal of her intentions, which her "uncle" would have resente

ends being invited to the house, while Mrs. Fenley, by reason of an unfortunate failing, was a wretched automaton that

ealm. She had books and music, the woods, the park, and the gardens to occupy busy hours. Unknown to any, her favorite amusement was the planning of extensive foreign tours by such simple means as an atla

round in bogey. She would have excelled in tennis, but Robert Fenley was so much away from home that she seldom got a game, while Hilton professed to be too tired for strenuous exercise after long days in the City. She could ride and driv

d be her own mistress and order her life as she chose. The solitary defect of any real importa

ed by convention in hours of mourning, he sent a message to Sylvia asking her to meet him at tea. Afterwards he took her into the garden, on the pretext that she was looking pale and needed fresh air. There, without the least preamble, he informed her that t

such a trivial element as love. Their marriage had been planned by the arbiter of their destinies, and who were they tha

Robert's eagerness, as compared with his deficiencies as a wooer, warned her that some hidden but powerful m

oke plainly, an

le cheeks. "I think you can hardly have considered your actions. It is monstrous to talk of

up his anger, at any rate in her hearing; perhaps he reflected th

as she crossed the hall. She took refuge in her own suite, but determined forthwith to go out of doors again and seek shelter among her beloved tr

with careless affability; soon the two walked off in the direction of the lake. That was Sylvia's chance. Sh

crassness of things, and perhaps some spice of feminine curiosity, led her to

n the Quarry Wood again until the night men came on duty, and noticed Miss Manning leaving the house. He descended from his rock and strolled toward the avenue, w

y accurate round hand. Then he nibbled his chin strap and dug both thumbs into his belt. His luck was in that day. He knew something now that was withheld from the Sc

Was he not a repository of secrets? And that funny little detective

d Fate permitted him to be also an eavesdr

female of the species invariably shows her superiority on such occasions. Tre

?" she said, her blue eyes meetin

anced phrases conned while walking up the avenue had vanished in a h

se this afternoon, and as I happened to be coming out when Mrs. Bates telephoned from the

gize for my action th

t ac

r knowledge, and, of course

tched me

re swimming

idn't

inspired the best picture I have e

ile brightened her white cheeks. John Trenholme was a person who inspired confidence at sig

as no special interest for me. What I fail to grasp is your motive in

y there are other points of view. That is-I mean--Really, Miss Manning,

you

vere judge, and I hardly know how to find words to seek y

judge. At present, I am try

nd tackled the greatest difficult

o sketch the village and its environment. This house and grounds are historical, and I applied for permission to

Mortimer Fenley as long as she could remember anything. That friendly little nod e

ntrusion. I rose early this morning, and would have made my sketches and got away without seeing you if it were not for a delightful pair of wrought iron gates pas

ing to pitch into me for entering your domain. But, as I was partly hidden by some briers beneath the cedars, y

gasped

eyes humbly to the ground and keeping them there. "I had either to reveal my presen

row or next day. After all, there is nothing so very remarkable in a lady taking a morning swim that an involuntary onlooker should

Trenholme, once launched in his recital, m

ifficult situation," he said. "Had I left it at that, all wo

nothing of the sort," c

ite made when mirrored in that shining water. I forgot every consideration but the call of art, which, when it is genuine, is ir

of my life. I painted real flesh, real water. Even the reeds and shrubs by the side of the lake were veritable glimpses of actuality. Then, when I had given some species of immortality to

ld not exhibit me-it

ter of the craft gazing from some high pinnacle at a territory he had won. If you know anything of painting, Miss Manning, you will go with me so far as to admit that my indiscretion was impersonal. I, a poet who expressed his emotions

her heart throbbed and a strange fluttering made itself felt in her heart, her utterance, b

tue and the lake offer a charming subject; but I am still at a loss to

low light of a declining sun. "When you had gone I sat there, working hard for a time, but finally yielding to the spell of an unexpected and, therefore, a most del

lor box, and tramped off to Roxton, singing as I went. Hours afterward, I learned of the tragedy which had taken place so near the place where I had snatched a g

s obvious that every person who was in that locality at half past nine this morning must explain his or her presence beyond all doubt or questioning. I shall be obliged to say, of course, that I was in the park fully two hours, from seven thirty a. m. onward. What was I doing? P

her voice. "It would be horrid if-if you couldn't explain; and-it seems to me that

tact. He was sorely impelled to leave matters on their

e to come," he

! What else

o call this afternoon. I simply could not wait till I was brought before you like a collared thief with the loot in his possession. I had to meet you without the intervention of a

's eyes, for he had summoned up courage to glance at her again, and snatch

holme?" she asked. The unexpected nature o

te Horse In

ed across

early opposite the inn. I suppose the d

quite at a loss t

lige me. It will be a short cut for you, too. If you have no objection

ldn't that be a good idea? I mightn't get quite such a shock in the morning, when the detective man

prised. And still less room was there for wonder that Hilton Fenley, driving with Winter from the stat

said harshly, well knowing th

" said the

the man

e artist, from the

you s

een him several t

Brother Robert was at home, a development on which he had b

ngers were to be admitted. I must see to it that I am obeyed in future. It is

ent. In his heart of hearts he bl