Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-18

ABOVE!
II WISH" he blurted out, somewhat
GROSSLY, at last, you'd help me out bit,
Tom. Hang 1t all, man, all this official
ism makes me dumb
Don't" said Sir Thomas, blandly, "let
it do that, WILL" and the speakers eyes
seemed to twinkle even more merrily than
before.
Luke"
Luke de Mountford." unused the other,
as If the name recalled some distant i'm
preston.
Yes, Luke de Mountford, who is en-
gagged to Louisa, your niece. man. and
she's breaking her heart with all the
couldn't bear it any longer; so i've come
to you. Tom. and you must tell me what
truth there is in the drivel, and that's all
] want to know
Sir Thomas Ryder seemed while the
other thus talked volubly, to have sud-
denly made up his mind to say more than
had originally been his intention. Any
way, he now said, with abrupt direct
ness:
|. IF, my good VIII, by Orwell you mean
that in the matter of the assassination of
Philip de Mountford in a taxicab last
night grave suspicion rests on his cousin
Luke, then there's a great deal Of truth
in the drivel."
Col Harris received the sudden blow
without much apparent emotion. He had
been sitting in an armchair, with one
hand buried in his trousers pocket. the
other holding the cigar.
Now he merely glanced down at the CT
gar for a moment and then conveyed it
to his lips.
What" he asked. docs that mean ex-
actly?''
within the next forty eight hours, answer
certain questions more satisfactorily than
he has done hitherto he will be arrested
on charge of murder"
That Is impossible protested Col.
Harris, holly.
Impossible? Why?'
"Because-because-h 1t all. man!
you know Luke de Mountford. Do you
believe for moment that he would COM
init such dastardly crime? Why. the
boy wouldn't know how to plan such vii
lainy. let alone carry it through"
MY dear WILL" rejoined the other,
quietly "the many years which I have
spent at this desk have taught me many
things. Among others I have learned
that every man is more or less capable
of crime; 1t only depends what the in
centive-the temptation, If you like to call
it so-or the provocation happens to be-"
But here there was no prOvocation, no
temptation, no
Col. Harris paused abruptly. He felt
rather than saw his brother-in-law's eyes
In their framework Of wrinkles resting
with obvious sense of amusement upon
his wrathful face. No temptation2 And
what Of a peerage and a fortune lost,
that could only be regained by the death
Of the intruder? No provocation? And
what of the brother and sister turned out
Of the old home? The good. simple
minded man had sense enough to see that
here, If he wished to speak up for Luke,
he was on the wrong track
What questions he said, abruptly,
docs Luke not answer satisfactorily"
How he spent certain hours Of yester-
day evening"
HE was dancing attendance on Louisa
and me-
''oh, was he? Well. that's satisfactory
enough. At what time did you part from
him?''
We'll. he escorted us to the Danish le-
cation, where We were dining"
"At what time was that?'
Eight o'clock dinner
But he was not dining at the Danish
legation?"
mo. He came and fetched US again
soon after H."
That's right, but between whiles?'
Between whiles?"
/ Eyes. Between 8 and soon after 11?',
'Well-I suppose don't know-yes. of
Luke told me himself that he was going
to see his uncle at the Something Club in
Shaftesbury avenue
1.-THE Veterans?
Yes, that's 1.-THE Veterans Luke
wanted to persuade old Radcliffe to go
ciras-that was it."
Quite So" rejoined Sir Thomas, dryIy,
and Luke de Mountford went to the
Veterans Club. in Shaftesbury avenue,
and he asked to see Lord Radcliffe, who
was a more or less regular habitue, at
that hour. On being told that Lord Rad
clyffe was not there that evening, but
that Mr.. de Mountford was in the smok-
ing room, Luke elected to go in and, pre-
sumably, to have a talk with his cousin"
6v1tt IT., f1,ofs , S~I L
mo, but We did. Let me tell you what
followed The hall porter Of the club
showed Luke into the smoking room, and
less than five minutes later he heard loud
room. That a quarrel was going on be-
tween the two cousins was, Of course,
obvious. One or two members Of the club
remarked on the noise. and one gentle
man actually opened the smoking room
door to see what was going on. He
seems to have heard the words black
guard and 'beggar' pleasingly intermin-
gled and flying from one young man to
the other. This witness knew Philip de
Mountford very well by sight, but he had
never seen Luke. But remember thatI
Luke denies neither the interview nor the
quarrel. The former lasted close on an
hour, and Lord Radclyffe's journey to
Algeciras was the original topic of dis
cussion. AT about o'clock Luke emerged
from the smoking room. The hall porter
saw him. He was then very pale and al
most tOttered as he walked. Men do get
at times intoxicated with rage, you know, !
WILL"
Il know that, and I can well imagine
what happened at that interview. Rad
clyffe had become such COMPOUNDED fool
that he would not move or do anything
without this Philips permission, and
Luke was determined to get him down to
Algeciras at once AS Philip was at the
club. he thought that he would tackle him
then and there"
equally, of course, the two men quar-
relied"
But. hang 1t all. ones not going to
reIs."
.'Stop a moment, Will. AS you say, one |
does not murder every man with whom !
one quarrels. But you must admit that |!
this is altogether an exceptional case. |
There was more than a mere quar-
rel between these two men. There
was deadly enmity justified enmity, |
I'll own on Luke's side. We have
already come across it was not very
difficult = two or three Of the servants
who were in Lord Radclyfle's house |
before Luke and his brother and sister |
were finally turned out OF it. They all |
have tales to tell Of the terrible rows
which used to go on In the house between |
the cousins. You. Will, must know how |
Luke hated this Philip de Mountford?''
Again Col Harris was silent. What |
was the use OF denying such an obvious |
truth?
You wanted" continued the other man, |
quietly, Ito hear the truth, Will, and /
you've got it. For Louisa's sake, for all |
our sakes, in fact. made up my mind |