Evening star., 1895-05-11

Mr.. Hewitt" he said, when Mr.. Lyster in
tT9duced the detective. This is q serious
husineSs-very. 1 think 1 am sorrier for
Laker himself than for anybody else, our
selves inc1uded-or, at any rate. l am sor-
rier for his mother She is waiting
to see Mr.. Liddie as soon as he arrives
Mr.. L!ddle has known the family for long
time. Miss Shaw is with her. too, poor.
girl. She is governess or something of
that sort and believe she and Laker were
ensased to be married. It's all very sad"
Inspector Piumner 1 understand" Hew-
lit remarked. has the affair in hand on be-
half of the police
Yes" Mr.. Neal replied; "in fact, he's
here here now; going through the contents of
possible Laker may have had accomplices.
VIII you see him.
Presently. Inspector Plummer and are
old friends We met last l think, in the
case of the Stairway cameo some months
ago. But first, will you tell me how long
Laker has been walk clerk?"
'E;arely four months, although he has
been with US altogether seven years. He
was promoted to the walk soon after the
beginning of the year"
DO you know anything of his habits
what ne used to do in his spare time, and
so forth?''
Not great deal. He went in for boat
Ing, | believe, though 1 have heard it
whispered he had one or two more ex
penSiYe astes-eXpensive, that is, for a
young man in his position" Mr.. Neal ex-
planned, with dignified wave of the hand
that he peculiarly affected. He was
stout old gentleman, and the gesture suit
ed him.
You have had no reason to suspect him
of dishonesty before I take it,"
"Oh, no. He made a wrong return once,
l believe, that went for some time unde-
tected. but it turned out after all to be a
clerical error-a mere clerical error"
Do you know anything of his associates
out of the office?'
NO; how should 1? 1 believe Inspector
Plummer has been making inquiries as to
that, however, of the other clerks. Here he
is. by the bye expect. Come in
1t was Plummer who had knocked, and
he came in at Mr.. Meals call He was
middle-ased. small-eyed. impenetrable look
inS man, as yet of no great reputation in
the force Some of my readers may re-
member his connection with that case, so
long a public mystery, that 1 have else
where fully set forth and explained under
the title of THE Stairway Cameo Mystery"
Piummer carried his billycock hat in one
hand and few papers in the other. He
gave Eewitt good morning. placed his hat
on a chair, and spread the papers Oh the
table.
There's not great deal here" he said,
"but one things piain-Laker has been bet
ting See here, and here, and here'-he
took few letters from the bundle in his
hand-"two letters from bookmaker about
settling (wonder he trusted a clerk), sew
erai kilograms from tipsters, and letter
from some friend only signed by initials,
asking Laker to put a sovereign on a horse
for friend with his own I'll keep these,
l think. 1t may be worth while to that
friend if We can find him. All. we often
find it's betting, don't we, Mr.. Hewitt?
Meanwhile, there's no news from France
yet"
You are sure that is where he has gomez"
asked Hewitt.
well, I'll tell you what we've done as
yet: First, of course 1 went round to all
the banks. There was nothing to be got
from that. The cashiers all knew him by
sight. and one was personal friend of his.
lie had called usual, said nothing in par
ticular, cashed his bills in the ordinary way
and finished up at the Eastern Consolidated
Bank at about rs. So far there was moth
ing whatever. But l started two or three
| men, meanwhile, making inquiries at the
| railway stations, and SO on. 1 had scarcely
! left the Eastern Consolidated when one of
| them came after me with news. He had
| tried Palmer's tourist office, although that
seemed an unlikely place. and there struck
| the track
! Had he been there?'
Not only had he been there. but he had
| taken tourist ticket to France. 1t was
| quite a smart move in way. You see it
| was the sort of ticket that lets you do
pretty we'll what you like; you have the
| choice of two or three different routes to
| begin with, and you can break your jour
ney where you please and make all sorts of
! variations. SO that man with ticket
like that and few hours start could twist