The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1916-01-14
OheAMAIEUR CRACKSMAN.

J
as it swayed upon the threshold in
! dressing-gown and bedroom slippers
| that Toye instantly recognized as be-
| longing to CaZalet. The man had a
shock of almost white hair, and less
gray beard clipped roughly to a point.
! fallen features; and the envenomed
eyes burned low in their sockets, as
they dealt with Blanche but fastened
on Hilton Toye.
What, do you know about Henry
! Craven's murderer" he demanded in
Have they run in some other poor
! devil, or were you talking about me?
| If so, Ill start libel action, and call
Cazalet and that lady as witnesses"
| This is Scruton," explained Cazalet,
'who was only liberated this evening
after being detained week on charge
| that ought never to have been brought,
as I've told you both all along" Scru-
ton thanked him with a bitter laugh.
I've brought him here" concluded
Cazalet, because l don't think he's
| fit enough to be about alone"
Mice of him, isn't it," said Scru-
ton bitterly. I'm 90 fit that they
wanted to keep ms somewhere else
longer than they'd SLY right; that may
be why they lost no time in getting
hold of me again. Nice, considerate,
kindly country! Ten years isn't long
1h fa q Hich0nnrah
guest. Won't you come back for
another week. and see if we can't ar
range for a nice little sudden death
and burial for your But they couldn't
you see, blast 'em!"
He subsided into the best chair in
the room, which Blanche had wheeled
up behind him; a moment later he
looked round, thanked her curtly, and
lay back with closed eyes until sud-
denly he opened them on Cazalet.
: "And what was that you were say
ing-that about travelling across Eu
rope and being at Uplands that night?
l thought you came round by sea?
And what night do you mean?"
THE night it all happened" said
Cazalet steadily.
You mean the night some person
unknown knocked Craven on the
head?"
yes"
The sick man threw, himself for
ward in the chair. You never told
me this!" he cried suspiciously; both
the voice and the man seemed strong
er.
There was no point in telling YOU"
Did you see the person?"
"Yes."
Then he isn't unknown to your?
81 didn't see him we'll"
Scruton looked sharply at the two
mute listeners. They were very in
tent indeed. tWho are these people,
Cazalet? No! l know one of 'em. !"
he answered himself in the next
breath. Its Blanche Macnair. isn't
it? l thought at first it must be a
younger sister grown up like her.
You'll forgive prison manners, Miss
Macnair if that's still your name. You
! look a woman to trust-if there is
| one-and you gave me your chair,
| Anyhow, you've been in for penny
! and you can stay in for pound, as
far as l care. But who's your Amer
can friend, Cazalet?"
mfr. Hilton Toye, who spotted that
Id been all the way to Uplands and
back when | claimed to have been in
Rome!"
There was a touch of Scruton's Bit
terness in Cazalet's voice; and by
some subtle process it had distinctly
notifying effect on the really embit-
tered man. -
What on earth were you doing at
Uplands?" he asked, in kind Of con-
/ fidential bewilderment
Il went down to see man"
Toye himself could not have cut and
measured more deliberate monosyl-
| lables.
/ 'Craven?" suggested Scruton.
No; a man expected to find at
Cravens.'
The writer of the letter you found
at Cocks. office. mi Naples the night
you landed there. r guess!"
1t really was Toye this time, and
there was no guesswork in his tone.
Obviously. he was speaking by his lit
! tie book, though he had not got it out
I again :.
How do you know. Il went to
! Cook's?" ''
81, know. every step@you TOOK be-
tween the Kaiser FRITZ and Charing
Cross and Charing Cross and the
Kaiser Fritz"
| Scruton listened to this interchange
with keen atteption,thSnging on each
mans lips with his sunken eyes; both
took it calmly, but Scruton's surprise
was not hidden by a sardonic grin.
! You've evidently had stern chase
with a Yankee clipper" said he. If
he's right about the letter, Cazalet, l
should say so; presumably 1t wasn't
from Craven HIMSELF"
No
Yet it brought you across Europe
to Craven's house?"
| "Well--to the back of his house! |
expected to meet my man on the
I river
Was that how you missed him more
/ CT less?"