The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-07-05

courtesy 1Ou are acquainted Win MI
Fielding % -.
Il have not that pleasure" Spencer
answered. Il am afraid / must confess
that my visit was purely one of Curl
osgtyv
Curiosity Lord Runton repeated.
Exactly. Do you mind passing
those excellent cigarettes of yours,
DuncQmbe?"
Lord Runton hesitated for a moment.
He was conscious OF certain restraint
in Spencers answers. Suddenly he
turned towards him.
Mr.. Spencer" he said. may ! ask
If you are Mr.. Jarvis Spencer. of the
Daily Messenger the Mr.. Spencer
who was mentioned in connection with
the Investigations into the Lawson es-
tates?"
Spencer nodded.
Yes" he said, II am that person. p"
Then" Lord Runton continued. Il
want TO tell you exactly what has hap
pened today in my house. and to ask
your advice May To-
IF our host has no objection" Spen-
Ger answered, glancing towards Pei
ham
None whatever" Duncombe ans
wered. also glancing towards Pelham.
There was a moments silence Pei
ham raised his head.
IF Lord Runton desires it, I will
withdraw" he said slowly AT the
same time / must confess that I, too.
am interested in this matter. If Lord
Runton has no objection 10 my pres
ence l should like to remain. My dis
erection goes without saying"
Duncombe moved uneasily III his
chair. His eyes sought Spencers for
guidance, but found his head averted.
Lord Runton raised his eyebrows
slightly at what he considered a some
what vulgar curiosity, but his reply
was prompt.
You are friend of Duncombe's, Mr..
Pelham" he said, land that is enough.
| have 10 ask not only you, but all
three of you, to consider what / am
going TO tell you as absolutely conf
Dental"
They all signified their assent. Lord
Runton continued:
Mr.. and Miss Fielding came to me
with letters from my brother. and with
many convincing proofs of their iden-
tity. We none of us had the slightest
suspicion concerning them. Their be-
havior was exactly what it should have
been. Nothing about them excited re-
mark in any way, except the unusual
number of kilograms and telephone
messages which Mr.. Fielding was all
ways receiving. That. however, was
quite I'm accord with our ideas of an
American business man, and didn't
seem to us in the least remarkable"
THE kilograms were delivered
through a neighboring office" Spencer
asked quietly.
Yes" Lord Runton answered. but
they were all in code. / happen 10
know that because the postmaster
brought the first one up himself, and
explained that he was afraid that he
must have made some mistake as the
message was incomprehensible. Field
ing only laughed, and gave the man a
sovereign The message was absolute
ly correct, he declared. He told me
afterwards that whenever he was spec
ulating. he always coded his MESA ges.
and II seemed perfectly reasona BILE"
Spencer nodded.
Just SOL" he murmured.
This morning." Lord Runton con-
tinued, MIR. Fielding rather upset our
plans. We were all to have spent the
day at the Dukes, and dined there.
There was a big shoot for the men,
as you know. At breakfast-time, how
ever. Mr.. Fielding announced that he
had man coming over with motor
car from Norwich from them to try.
and begged to be excused. So we had
TO go without them.
''Von Rothe was staying with me.
as you know, and just before we
started he had telegram that mes
senger from the embassy was on his
way down He hesitated for some
time as TO whether he ought not to
stay at home so as to be here when he
arrived, but we persuaded him to come
with us. and promised to send him
back after luncheon. When we got TO
Chestow, however, the wind had be-
come a gale, and ii was impossible
to shoot decently. Won Rothe was a
little uneasy all the time. l could see,
so he and / and a few of the others
returned here, and the rest went up to
Chestow. Just as we arrived Fielding
passed us in a great motor car with
his daughter behind. When we got
to the house Won Rothe inquired for
the messenger. He was told that ne
was In Mr. Fielding's sitting-room,
but when we got there we found the
door locked, and through the key-hole
we could hear a man grooming. We
broke the door in and found Won
Rothe's messenger half unconscious.
and a rifled despatch box upon the
floor He has given us no coherent
account of what has happened yet, but
IL is quite certain that he was at
tackled and robbed by Mr.. Fielding
What was stolen?" Spencer asked
Money!"
NO, a letter." Lord Runton ans
wered. ''Von Rothe says very little
but l never saw a man so broken
up. He has left for London tonight"
1.-The matter is in the hands of the
police. of course" Spencer asked.
Lord Runton shook his head.
won Rothe took me into his room
and locked the door few minutes
after we had discovered what had hap
pened He implored me to keep the
whole affair from the press and from
publicity i'm any form. His whole
career was at stake. he said and very
much more than his career All that
we could do was to follow Mr.. Field
ing and drag him back by force If
we could. Even then he had little hope
of recovering the letter. We did our
best. but of course. we had no chance
Mr. Fielding and his daughter simply
drove off Won Rothe is dealing with
the affair in his own way
'.It is a most extraordinary story"
Spencer said quietly.
Lord Runton turned towards him.
az have treated you with confidence.
Mr.. Spencer" he said. will you tell
me now why you called at my house
TO see Mr.. Fielding today?'
Spencer hesitated but only for a
moment.