The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-09-29

i suppose that this shreWd criminal
barrister and I, the hardened police
officer were the two least likely men
in London to be shaken by such a Sit
uation, but we regarded each other
with mutually puzzled eyes before
either spoke. Then Mr.. StaddOn rose
| quietly.
Come" he said, 'you mustn't let 1t
rest at this. Shall 1 tell you what I
make of it?"
IF you please, SIR I said, for con-
fess to being nonplused by the emer-
geney.
What If the Hindoo whom I saw go
/ ing upstairs is a compatriot, possibly
a relation Of Chuder Dass, closely re-
| sembling him? What if he is search
ing In the dead mans chambers for
something of value to himself?" And
| Staddon's low tones carried a world
OF suggestion as he looked into my
eyes.
'In that case" I said. "the chances
are that the person up there knows
something about the murder"
Mr.. StaddOn opened the door Of his
chambers for me, but did not offer TO
come out himself "On second thought.
you had better go up alone" he said
! Il mustn't be a witness in a case in
which the chances are that 1 shall be
| professionally engaged"
NoddinS assent, / mounted the stairs
to the second landing, where a name in
black letters on one Of the old "oaks''
gave me the necessary information.
The door was shut, and, tiptoeing to
II. stood listening. From inside came
the sounds of rustling papers and Of
drawers being opened and shut. I
softly tried the door, but it was locked.
Mr.. Chunder Dass! Mr.. Chunder
Dass" I cried through the panel.
| there opened to me a HindOO gentle
man i'm European dress-the very i'm
age of that other whom 1 had left an
hour ago, lying dead in the Bayswater
boarding house. If anything had been
needed to emphasize the impossibility
of it being the same man it was the
momentary CLEAN OF alarm that flashed
in the black, beady eyes of the individ-
ual before me.
MIR. Chunder Dass?" I said, this
time interrOgatively, as l stepped past
him into the room.
Yes" ne faltered, following me in
after one departing glance at the door,
What is your business with me, sir?"
you are the Mr.. ChUnder Dass who
boards at Mrs. Lorimer's in Cheltenham
road, Bayswater?" I persisted.
Have I not admitted it?" he said,
forcing an oily smile. 81 hope that you
nave AOAl-AiAE very StIlOuS against me,
Mr.. Police officer. What is it that you
require?"
1 could see that he was hoping that
I had called on the tenant of these
chambers on some trivial matter, in
ignorance of what had happened at the
boarding house, and that, having
transacted my business I should quick
ly take my leave. My reply, therefore,
must have come upon him like a thun-
derclap.
Il want you to come back with me to
Mrs. LOrimer's and explain 10 me why
you tied a piece of yellow silk around
the bolt on the door of Mr.. Chunder
Dass' bedroom"
He gazed at me out Of his large.
soft, melancholy eyes like e terrified
hare, then, as they often do, collapsed
utterly.
NO. no. no! anywhere by therel
Take me to prison and 1 viii confess,
but not there!-oh. not therep' he
screamed at me.
So it turned out that Mr.. Radford
Shone was too precipitate in attribut-
ing the murder of the law student,
Chunder DaSs, TO Miss Ida Lorfmer's
tickle behavior toward her mothers
boarders. The crime had its root in a
more sordid passion than Mr. Jack
Kestish's calf love for his Iandlady's
a younger brother for the inheritance
of an elder. The wretched creature
upon whom my grip fell while he was
rummagtnS among the papers of the
kinsman he had slain had journeyed to
England, unknown to his victim and
to his relatives in India. in order to re-
move from his path the brother who
stood between him and a fortune.
Ram LalI-such was the murderer's
01T11p-hud haov, 1r-fy,
six weeks before he had completed his
preparations by a careful study of his
brothers habits, both at his boarding
house and mis- chambers He had
then, just as I had surmised, gained
access to Chunder Dass' bedroom bv
scaling the portico, and, entering by
the window, his Oriental cunning
prompting to tie the string of silk
round the bolt in order to induce the
belief that the criminal was an inmate
OF the house. If he could have fore
seen, when engaged in that nefarious
act, that the first person he would mis-
lead thereby would be the eminent ex-
pert" he would have been more con-
fident Of immunity than was justified
by events.
That night certain routine duties in
connection with the case took me to
Mrs. Lorimer's again. When I ap-
AOdCuSu lIS lOuSe a luggage laden
hanson was at the door, In the han
RadfOrd Shone and Martin were nut
ting on their oYercoats amid a fire OF
chaff from their late fellow boarders
who had evidently read of the arrest
in the evening papers, and had made
the place too hot to hold them.
"Ah, INSPECTOR a delighted old
colonel grinned at sight of me. we
are losing our distinguished detective.
you seel Mr.. Shone is going back to
Cover street to practice the science Of
door boiling from the wrong side in his
own diggings"
Doing bolt. Ell, sir?" I could not
resist saying as the departing guests
went scowling down the steps to the
cab.