The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-08-15


| erick Narkom had come for him and that
his morning Of delight was over.
You is it, he began with a wry smile.
You want me, of course, or you'd not
! be out here after me at a quarter OF
| eight in the morning"
II can tell YOU everything in the
+ limousine-while we're getting there.
! Come on, Come on-do, We haven't a
/ second TO lose. We must get on the
! spot while the trails still hot. old chap:
/ otherwise the assassin may nip off and
Zip us-he's such a diabolically cunning
devil
I ASA ssin. eho Then it's a murder case
is it,
"Yes-and a most Internally mysterious
one at that, b'gad, Titled lady-well-
known figure in the worid-done to death.
/ the Lord knows how and by whom. in
! the locked and barred room of a stone
! tower-top floor room. at that: no ivy or
| vines of any sort; iron bars at the only
! window; door found fastened on the in
side: key on the floor; woman as dead
! as Queen Anne and neither stabbed, shot
nor poisoned. the doctors say. and with
! out a wound of any sort to account for
! her death and nothing to show how the
| assassin got in or out nor where Don't
stand pickering up your forehead in that
! ashton and doing nothing. Cleek. Come
on Come on-do.'
He asked for two minutes grace, but
it was nearer ten when he came forging
down to the spot where the Limousine
stood and jumped in and dropped down
in his favorite corner Immediately OPP
posite the superintendent.
! A moment. please. until l flre up,
he interjected. as Mr. Narkom. in a
fever of excitement. opened his lips to
speak the instant the limousine sprang
into action and pelted off down the river
road Where are We bound for? I OBJ
serve that Lennard is not heading toward
the town. Country case then, is it,
Yes Bedfordshire. Village named
! Long Mead dow Reach. near"
Needn't bother to tell me. I know
i il very we'll. On the other side of the
Chltern Hills. The Marquis of Tipping
| ham lives there
Il say, you've not heard about the
case already. have you, old chap"
"No-and I'm waiting to do so just
as soon as you get ready. Fire away.
please. What is there that strikes
you so forcibly in my mentioning the
Marquis of Uppingham. my friend? He
got anything to do with the affair in
hand?"
Well rather. From what Naylor
told me over the phone when he rang
me up this morning and asked for
you to come down and take hold of
| the case. it looks pretty black for
/ the marquis just t present. At any
rate. he was out last night at the
| time the crime was committed. and
he can't account for his movements
at least. he can't in any way that's
| satisfactory. Added to which there is
| the fact that he has the best reason
| in the world for bearing a grudge
| against the victim of the tragedy"
| Has he? Why"
"Lud. old chap. what a foolish ques-
ton. when-but I forget You don't
know. 1t was his sister-in-law that
I was murdered"
What's that. what's that?' raped
out Cleek. all ears and eyes and nerves
on the instant. Surely not the widowed
dowa ger marchioness who bought a titled
husband with her three millions of money
and was made laughing stock for
| society in one night by some wit in
it clubbing her The Wooden Wife,"
"Yes-that's the lady" replied the
superintendent. nodding eXcitedly. The
! wit in question was her husbands
| younger brother-the present Marquis
and the worst of it is the title was
so appropriate it stuck. The lady was
| furious over it; hated him like the very
old boy and could have seen him drawn
and quartered with the utmost pleasure
| in life"
The Marquis married her out in Ar
gentina, didn't he?'
Yes Only he wasn't the marquis
then. His father was still alive and he
was merely Lord Ruddock, the heir TO
| the title and what was left of the mort
! gagged estate. Ruddock Abbey was mort
| gagged up to the very chimney pots and
! ruin was staring the family in the face
| when the heir went out there to Argen-
! IN he of retrieving his a lien
! fortunes and had the bad luck to run
| against that girl. Maggie Flannery. He
| only knew that she was rather stupid
| but highly romantic and extremely hand
some creature much given to wearing
! heaps of jewelry. that she was sole pos
1 SCISSOR of sl5 00n On0 in her own right that
4 she had no parents to add to her draw
! backs.
! Well. to cut the business short. he
| married her and sailed off to England
/ with her as fast as he could make it. He
/ hadn't been her husband for ten days
! when he made a discovery which wiped
! a good deal of the gilt off his ginger
( bread She was addicted to the secret
| use of drugs-a drinker Of a peculiar de-
( coCtion MADE from Cocoa leaves. which
/ produced a hilarious sort of intoNication
! and loosened her tongue most unpleas-
! antly.
Well in time they arrived in Eng
land and what followed is pretty we'll
known to everybody. The lady, who had
expected to walk into Ruddock Abbey
with colors flying. found herself sud-
denly up against a brick wall. Her bus
bands people came and saw and-would
have none OF her at any price Only one
/ of Lord RuddoCk's relations stuck to
him-his younger brother. the Hon.
Hugh Dawlsh. a happy, lighthearted boy
Of - a rabid amateur naturalist. but
when she heard that. after a secret visit
to them. this lovable. irresponsible young
rattlebox had said. in answer to query
REGARDING his absence for the past few
! days. Oh. I've only been up to London
to have a look at things at the Zoo and
to make a call on Ruddock and his
Wooden Wife, that was the last straw.
OF course that put an end to any further
calls upon the Hon. Hughs part. and.
six months later. followed the thunder
bolt The old Marquis. thrown from his
horse in the hunting field. was picked
up with a broken neck and in the wink
ing of an eye Lord Ruddock found him.
self the Marquis OF Uppingham and the
master of Ruddock Abbey. She made
demand upon him which none but the
most unutterable of cads could have
and chuck your stuck-up old mother and
crop and let EN- hustle for themselves
husband declinA TO fall in with this
brutal suggestion and told her that she
should never set foot inside the place
l. =.