Evening star., 1918-06-23
#B#4H{ CLEEK, THE

BrldeweI, he said, a1ter moment.
Competent surgeon, do you think?"
"Who-Fordyce? Lord bless you.
yes! One of the big pots in that
line. Harley street specialist in his
day. Fell heir to ton of money. I
believe. and gave up practice because
the love Of It,, however, SO set up a
ripping little place down here, went in
for scientific work, honor and glory of
the profession and all that sort of
thing. you know. God knows what
would have become Of the dad II he
in his grave by this time. Fordyce
has been a real friend. Mr.. Cleek.
can't be grateful enough to him for
the good he has done--taking the dear
old dad into his home, SO to speak.
him and Aunt Ruth and-and that
pair. the Cordovas."
THE Cordovas? Who are they?
Friends or relatives"
Neither. I'm afraid. To tell the
truth. they're the people I suspect.
though Gods knows why I should. and
God forgive me II I'm wrong. They're
two West Indians, brother and sister.
Mr.. Cleek. Their father was mate of
the Henrietta, under my dad, years
and years ago. Mutinied, too. the beg
gar, and was shot down, as he ought
to be. Left the two children, mere
kiddies at the time. Dad took 'em in.
and has been keeping them and doing
Tor them ever since. I don't like
them--never did like them. Fordyce
doesn't like them, either. Col. Goshen
does, however. He's sweet on the girl,
] fancy"
Cleek's eyebrows twitched upward
suddenly, his eyes flashed sharp
glance at the lieutenant and then
dropped again.
Col. Goshen. eh?" he said quietly.
Related, by any chance. to that Col.
Goshen who testified on behalf of the
claimant IN the great Tackbun case?"
Dont know, I'm sure. Never heard
or the case, Mr.. Cleek"
tton some eighteen months ago. But
you were in India, then, of course.
Fellow turned up who claimed to be
the long lost Sir Aubrey Tackbun
VINO ran away to sea when boy
SON some thirty.odd years ago. and was
az that first trial, and got sent to
prison for conspiracy. Is out again
now; Claims to have new and ire
Iutaole evidence .and Is going to have
z second try for the title and estates.
a. a Col. Goshen Of the Australian mill
ia was one of his strongest witnesses.
tweea Monaer ri II the there is any connection be-
Shouldn't think SO. This Col.
Eosaeas is men IAN an American, or he says he
y AO IcdSOH TO QOuOL MIN.
De9ced nice fellow, whatever he is,
t ana mas been jolly good friend to
the pater. As matter of fact, it was
!.nrough him that Fordyce got to
Know in w. the dad and became interested
Lud L. ms noi case; So and noss;n,o What's w that?
hhecting my old dad with any lost
helrs, sir-not a ghost of one. Born
mere IN Devon, married here, lived all
ms, ms NE here. that is. whenever he
was on land. and he'll die here, and
bottom of this and save him. And
you VIII. Mr.. Cleek. and you will,
won't you? Miss Lorne SAYS that
you've solved deeper mysteries than
ms tnns a. and that you will get at the bot
tom or 1T without fail"
Miss Lorne has more faith in nv
apiilty than most people, 1 fear, Mr..
BrldeWell. I will try to live up to it.
however. But suppose you give me
the Facts of the case a little more
SSteary; Sy When and how did it all
think it was about eight months
ago q. that Aunt Ruth wrote me about
IT," the lieutenant replied. Aunt
Ruth is my late mothers maiden sis
ter. Mr.. Cleek. My mother died at nv
birth, and Aunt Ruth brought me up,
As told you, my father retired from
the sea some years ago. and, having
- SieAoeu al aHuulty, lived on that.
He managed to scrape enough to-
gether to have me schooled properly
ana put through Sandhurst, and when
l got my lieutenancy and was subse-
quently appointed to a commission in
India I left him living in the little
old cottage where I was born With
him were Aunt Ruth and Paul and
Lucretia Cordova. Up to about eight
months or SO ago he continued to live
there, devoting himself to his little
garden and enjoying life on land as
much as man who loves the sea ever
can do. Then, of a sudden, Lucretia
Cordova fell in with COL Goshen and
introduced him to the pater. A few
days after that my father seems to
have eaten something which disa greed
with him, for he was suddenly seized
with al the symptoms of ptomaine
poisoning. He rallied, however, but
from that point a strange weakness
overcame him, and at the coloners
suggestion he went for sail round
the coast with him. He did not i'm
prove. The weakness seemed to grow,
but without any sign of the horrible
bodily suffering with which he is now
afflicted.
"Col. Goshen is great friend of
DR.. Fordyce's, and through that
friendship managed to interest him
in the case to such a degree that he
made a twenty-mile trip especially to
see my father. They struck up a
great friendship. Fordyce was GER
tain, he said. that he could cure the
dad If he had him within daily reach,
and. on the dad saying that he couldn't
afford to come over to this part Of me
country and keep up two establish
ments. Fordyce came to the rescue,
like the jolly brick he is In other
words, his place here, being a good