Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1907-12-26
HIS WIFE'S /
REVENGE /

hero of a hundred fights, found MS
chief delight away from the prize ring
in growing roses and taking prizes
with them at flower shows. The tate.
Mr. Charles Peace, Of burglarious
fame; solaced his leisure in the inter-
walls of crime with the violin and a set
of gardening tools. He had great sue
cess with his pansies.
Mr.. Bertram Hank had no violence
in his nature. He owed his success
in his calling to his diplomatic cum
ming and his fertility of resource. But
if his record had been printed IN the
informing pages of who's Who, the
readers Of that useful little req vol
ume would have been astonished TO
find that his amusement was garden
ing"
Having finished the task he had al
lotted himself among the flower beds.
Mr.. Hank went indoors and had Few
minutes chat with his wife before
starting for business.
Mrs. Hank, a good looking woman
of five and-thirty, was the ideal wl1e
for a private detective. She never
wanted to pry into her husbands pro-
fessional secrets, she wasnt~in the
least Jealous, and she always accepted
the explanation of his occasional aD-
sence from home without question or
demur.
Of late her husband had been I'M
commonly generous to her win
money and had told her she might
spend more upon the house and upon
herself She was satisfied with his ex-
PLANTATION that business was very good
lust then, and delighted to hear it.
She knew that the very good must
mean a really substantial improve
ment in Bertram's income, for he had
told her to buy herself anything she
fancied in the way of female t1nery,
and he had given her diamond ring,
and had bought some pretty and taste
ful 'trifes from Paris on his return
from his visit to the gay city, which
had been necessitated in the course
OF an enquiry"
Mr.. Hank was indeed doing we'll
great deal better than his wife was
ever likely TO imagine.
His client, Sir Mark Buckingham,
had behaved handsomely to him in
the matter of ready cash, and still
more handsomely in the matter of
promises-and there was not much
fear of these promises remaining un-
fulfilled
For Bertram Hank, ex-Inspector of
Detective Police, had now a double
hold upon the wealthy owner Of Dray-
colt Hall.
He knew him to be an escaped con-
vict. and he knew him to be mar
ried man In the former regard the
baronet held him pretty safely. So
astute gentleman as the late John
Wilson was quite assured that it was
as much to Bertram Hanks interest
as his own that the police should new
err obtain a clue as to the identity of
Sir Mark rockingham with the man
of whom they were in search. But Sir
Mark, for all that was not likely to go
back upon the understanding that had
been arrived at as Mr. Hanks share.
In the matter of the marriage Hank
was on safer ground He knew the
! wife, and he had been the means of
conveying to her the intelligence of
her husbands death. Never, perhaps,
had the words, I'll tell your wife!"
possessed d more alarming signifi-
, canoe than they would have done had
Mr.. Hank used them to the new Sir
Mark rockingham.
To get a convict with a considera-
Bile portion of his sentence uneXpired
out Of jail and make him z real live
Bart of K b." as Sir Roger Itch
borne of Mapping and Wagga Wagga
fame called it, was no mean feat, and
Mr.. Hank had not undertaken it's &C
/ complishment without weighing the
chances of discovery.
He knew that the odds were in his
favor once he got his client safe to
London, because there would be
wealth behind him. The man who
| can hire a motor car can always beat
a man who has to take a bus. In the
matter of keeping a safe distance be,
| tween them, Sir Mark was in the mo-
| tor and the police were in the bus.
Mr.. Hank knew the system which
! constantly assisted the criminal and
retarded the efforts of Scotland Yard
! He had himself once taken a hanson
| in order to get to a railway station
! where he expected to find wanted
man starting by train, and the fare
! penses on the contention that he
could have taken an omnibus.
So far as he could be, with his
knowledge of the hue and cry Sir
| Mark was now safe. He had told him
so, and he had added that there would
be no risk in his coming back to Eng
| land, and taking his place among his
tenantry in Kent, or in the world Of
fashion in London if he preferred 1t.
But discovery would be the ruin Of
his prospects of a good yearly in
come. He wanted to make assurance
doubly sure, and he had thought ou1
an ingenious plan and was anxious t(
see if it's execution was practicable.
He had persuaded May Wilson tina
her husband was dead, and he had as
certained that she had gone int
mourning for "a relative"
Why should the not try and get j
put into the records of the police tina