The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-03-23
III.

THE ST. JOHNS WOOD ESTABLISHMENT.
Cleopatra Villa was pleasant house
and very expensive one, as Lord Cal
liston found to his cost. But then, the
presiding deity, by name Lena Sarschine,
was very beautiful, and insisted upon
having her dwelling fitted up in cor.
responding manner, so Calliston gave
way and spent a. small fortune on this
bijou residence.
Qowkef knew O good many OF these
little worldly wise Ewes, the existence Of
whom was not supposed to be known to
the polite world, so he felt quite at ease
when, upon ringing the bell, he was ad-
mitted to the garden by solemn-looking
man servant. He was we'll acquainted
with Callistoa's life, both public and
private-neither side being very reput-
able-but then, with such advantages of
wrong doing as the world now offers, tits
hard to be virtuous.
Calliston had come into the title
while in his childhood, and, the estate
having been we'll looked after during his
minority, he found plenty of money to
spend when he came of age; and he GER
tainly did spend it. Horse-racing and
Yachting were his two principal pleas
pres, but curiously enough his name was
never mixed up With any well-known
woman, and few OF his friends knew e1-
cent by hearsay, Of tho divinity who
dwelt in Cleopatra Villa. Calliston had
fallen in love with her down IN the coun-
try some years before. Occasionally she
went to the theater, and sometimes drove
in the park, bat at such rare intervals
| that few people knew who she was. Cal
liston was very jealous Of her and seldom
asked his friends to supper, but she. was
reported by the few who had been thus
honored to be q very beautiful woman
| with charming manners. The general
opinion was that he would end up by
marrying her, when his ENHANCEMENT
with Lady Balscombe became kownn, and
henceforward he was seen more by that
lady's side than in the neighborhood OF
st. Johns Wood.
Dowker, from some mysterious source
only known to himself, was cogniZant of
all this, and had now come down to dis
cover what connection the establishment
Of st. Johns Wood had with the murder
in Jermyn street.
He knew that Calliston had gone of
with Lady Balscombe, SO said he had
message from him and would like to see
Miss Sarschine. The servant showed
him into magnifcently furnished draw
ing room. where he waited the appear
ance Of the lady, intending when she en-
tered to ask her all particulars about her
maid Lydia Fenny, with a view to dis
covering the perpetrstor Of the crime.
Being Of an inquiring turn Of mind,
Dowker rose from his seat when the doc,
was closed, and, folding his hands behine
his back, strolled about the room, hi'
lank, gray-clad figure seeming sadly on
of place.
1t was not very large apartment, but
luxuriously furnished, the walls being
hung with pale-green silk draped IN
graceful folds and caught up here and
there with thick silver cords. The car.
pet, also Of pale green, was embroidered
with bundles Of white flowers, and tho
window curtains were Of soft, white lib.
erty silk. There were two windows on
one side in deep recesses flied with
brilliantly tinted flowers, white blossoms
predominsting, and at the end OF the
room we're folding doors opening into d
conservatory illed with ferns, In the mid
die of which small fountain splashed
musically into a wide marble basin.
There were low velvet t-covered lounging
chairs all about, tables crowded with
bric-a-brac and photographs in oxydized
silver frames. while here and there on
the carpet were SKINS or bears and tigers
Contrary to the usual custom in drawing
rooms, there was only one mirror, q
small oval glass over the mantel-piece,
framed in pale green plush. In the cor
ners were high palms and other tropical
vegetation, with white marble statues
peering from out Of their green leaves,
and in one corner handsome grand
piano, on the top of which lay lot of
sheet-music. The room was illuminate
by two or three toll brass lamps with
bright green shades smothered in creamy
lace, and just over the piano were num-
Der Of quaint-looking weapons arranged
in fantastic fashion. Highland broad
swords, Indian daggers and Maylay
krisses we're all grouped round small
silver shield handsomely embossed, and
though at first they seemed somewhat
out of place against the rich silk hang
ings, yet when the eyes became accus-
toned to them the effect was not un-
pleasant.
They were arranged in fantastic pat
tern, each side being the same, but here
Dowker noticed with much curiosity that
one side was incomplete, Maylay kriss
having been removed He looked at the
other side and there we're certainly two
arranged crossways. but on the other
| there was only one. Dowker was startled
| by this discovery, as it seemed to point
| to the fact that the crime had been COM
mitted by the missing kriss. He knew
the Maylays were savage nntlon. and
without doubt poisoned their daggers,
! SO the absence of one of those would
&, argue that it had been the weapon used.
He gingerly touched the point Of kriss
with the tip Of his finger, and then drew
it hastily away.
1T might be poisoned, he muttered,
looking at his finger to assure himself he
had not broken the skin. Il wonder if
it is-I'd like to find out"
Glancing hastily round the room to
! make sure he was alone, he took kriss
from the wall on the other side, so that
the pattern was now equalized, and
trusted to this fact to hide his abstrac-
ton of the weapon. Then he took some
old letters out of his pocket, and, tear
ing them up iEtc strips, carefully swathed
| the blade Of the kribs to prevent possible
| accidents, and slipped the parcel into his
breast pocket.
"Ill 20 and see doctor" be muttered
10 hlmseIr, as ne Durtoneo MS coat, and
try the effect of this on dog; if the
symptoms of death are the same, that
will be proof conclusive that the miss
ing dagger was used to commit the crime.
! Once establish that, I'll soon fnd out
! the guilty party, as it must have been
some one in this especially as
Lydia Fenny was servant here.
He walked back again to mis- chair and
ho1 iucf cot Gorn ,rhen the dnor onened