New-York tribune., 1910-01-30
JANUARY 80. 1910

along Anne she cried, as we moved to meet
her Perhaps we shall you later, Mr.
Wynn? You'll be welcome any time, up to one
o'clock"
| put them into the carriage and watched
them drive away; then started on foot for
Whitehall Gardens The distance was so short
that could cover it more quickly walking than
driving.
The night was sultry and overcast and be
fore | reached my destination big drops of rain
scattering down and the mutter of thun-
der mingled with the CeaseleSs roll of traffic.
| was taken straight to Lord SOuthbOurneS
SdnCtum a handsomely furnished but almost
oStentatiOusly buSineSSlike apartment.
SOuthbOurne himself, seated at a big Amer
lean desk, making hieroglyphics a sheet
of paper before him while he dictated rapidly
to Harding his private secretary, who mani
pulated typewriter close by.
He looked up, nodded to me, indicated a
chair and table on which were whisky and
soda and an open box Of cigarettes, and invited
me to help myself, all with one sweep of the
hand and without inStantS interruption OF
his discourse,-an impassioned denunciation OF
some British statesman who dared to differ
from him (SOuthbOurne) some burning
question of the day; but did not listen. was
thinking of Anne, and was only Subconsciousy
aware of the hard mOnotOnOuS voice until il
ceased.
THAT'S all, Harding Thanks Goodnight -
said Southbourne abruptly
He rose, yawned stretched himself, saun
and lighted cigarette.
Harding gathered up his typed slips,
changed a friendly nod with me- and quietly
took himself off.
| knew SOuthbOurne's peCuliaritieS fairly
well, and therefore waited for him to speak.
We smoked in silence for a time, till he re-
marked abruptly:
"Carson'S dead"
DEADl'' calculated in genuine consterna-
- ton. ! had known and liked Carson, one
of the cleverest and most promising of South
bOurne's young men,
He blew out a cloud of smoke, watched ring
form and float away as if it was the only inter
esting thing in the world. Then he fired another
word at me. "Murderedl
He blew another smoke ring and there was
spell of silence. | do not even know whether
his callousness was real or telgned. | hope 1t
was feigned though he affected to regard all
who served him, in whatever capacity, as mere
pieces in the ambitious game he played, to be
used or discarded with equal skill and ruthless
ness, and if an unlucky pawn fell from the
bOard-Why, it was lost to the game, and there
was an end of it.
Murdered! 1t seemed incredible. | thought
of Carson | last saw him, the day before l
started for South Africa, when we dined to-
gether and made night of 1t. II / had been
available when the situation became acute in
Russia a few weeks later, SOuthbourne would
have sent me instead of him. | should perhaps
have met with his fate | knew, of course, that
at this time a special III Russia ran quite as
many risks a war correspondent on active
service; but it one thing to encounter
stray bullet or a bayonet thrust in the course
of ones days work, say during emeute, and
quite another to be murdered III cold blood.
THAT'S terrible!" | said huskily at last
l. "He was such a splendid chap too, poor
Carson. Have YOU any details?"
"Y Yes; he was found in his rooms, stabbed to
the heart. He must have been dead twenty
four hours more"
And the police have tracked the murderer
mo and don't suppose they will They've
50 many similar affairs of their own on hand,
that an Englishman more or less doesn't count.
The Embassy is moving in the matter; but it Is
very unlikely that anything will be discovered
beyond what is known already,-that it was
the work of emissary of some secret society
with which Carson had mixed himself up, III
defiance of my instructions" He paused and
lighted another cigarette.
How do you know he dehed your in
structions?" | burst out Indignantly. The
tone Of his ausion to Carson rolled me. Don't
you always expect us to send good story, no
matter how or at what personal risk get the
material?"