The Washington times., 1921-09-04
(Cont'd from Lost Sunday1
CHAPTER VII.

the Brighton Road, and II Is per-
haps only natural. as II happened
SO near to the boundaries of my
own estate; but I never dreamt
what a part should find myself
called upon to play in the elucida-
tion and clearing up of the whole
chastity affair.
Within three miles of my own
home and less than half the dis
tance from the family Dover House
lay the scene of the two mysterious
disappearances which had con-
vulsed the whole country. and great
as had been the sensation over the
Bolsover business 1t was child's play
compared with that which followed
the affair of Tony Burlington and
Miss Yvette st. Clair
had naturally worked with the
police and rendered what personal
assistance I could <in the former
case, all to no result: The local
part of the business had proved It.
self utterly hopeless and entirely
barren of any clue long before the
police would admit 1t even with the
utmost reservation to the public.
If the earth had opened and swal-
lowed the Bolsovers, like Korah.
Oathan and Abiram, their disap-
pearance could not have been more
complete.
My name is Burgess Clymping,
and Lincoln Osgood, my dearest
and closest friend, who at the i'm
mediate request Of myself and all
the others concerned. has consented
to act as chronicler and collator of
the events surrounding and explain
ing this extraordinary mystery. GER
tainly the strangest Of modern
times in its denouement and all
that lay behind it, has in my opin-
ion, in his preliminary covering
memorandum, said sufficient about
me personally for the purposes Of
this record.
live at Clymping Manor, which
has been in the possession of my
family in direct and unbroken sue.
cession since the fourteenth CEN
tury. and I have often felt it my
duty to marry as the last of the line
for this reason alone, but hitherto
I have never had any real inclina-
tion-or. rather, the real inclina.
ton.
lam not particularly wealthy. but
the estate, which runs to some six
thousand acres, renders me very
comfortable and well-to-do as coun.
try squires go, and affords excellent
shooting, which is my particular
hobby. farm nearly thousand
acres of 1t myself in a rather prac-
tical way. and that keeps me pretty
busy and my time fairly occupied.
My constant companion is my
only sister, Ann, beautiful girl Of
just upon twenty-one, who keeps
house for me and looks after my
guests and myself in a most delight
fully capable yet unobtrusive fash.
ion; and 1t is this, perhaps, which
has kept me from ever contemplat-
ing marriage seriously, save as an
abstract or academic duty to the
House of Clymping.
Our mother died when Ann was a
child Of three and I boy of thir.
teen, and my father five years later,
so It will easily be understood that
she has meant very much to me all
her life and has always been my
special care.
Now that she is grown up and,
as I have already said, is very
lovely girl-tall. active and wonder
fully fair, a rare thing in these days,
with remarkable gray eyes with
long black lashes and aEched black
y brow, and a magnificent 1.-THE figure
U could write lots about AIMS
beauty and good points as a pal,
but this is hardly the place to let
myself go)-I feel that It will not
be long before love claims her, and
then, perhaps, marriage will assume
a different personal perspective in
my eyes.
This, at any rate, is how felt
on Monday, April Q. but much has
happened since then which will
come out in the evolution of this
story, and I must frankly admit
that certain vague ideas had al.
ready been chasing themselves
through my mind more or less in
-...oouantIv xytthntt falling INV