Evening star., 1921-09-04

] servant. pallid and frightened. an
swered the bell. Now. my man. In
l one minute DR.. Newton will be at
| the door; you will let him in. he will
| ask for Mr.. Herbert Charlecote: you
Will say nothing to him. nothing at
all. and Supt Bell will be out in
the hall to see that you do say moth
ing; you will show DIR. Newton in
here. Go on, Bell. Look after him. "
He hustled them out.
$50 N stands for Newton, does ft?"
Lomas said. How do you know he'll
| Gomez"
Because he's Just driven up in his
| Herbert Char1ecote was asking for
DR.. Newton. Now you get in there" "
He thrust LoEas into an inner room.
DIR. Newton, more florid than ever,
hurried in. and pulled up short at the
sight of Reggie. "Mr. Fortune? oh.
of breath. But I thought 1 was to
see Mr.. Charlecote."
| Did you though? That was very
sanguine of you"
Il don't understand you, Mr.. For
| tune. Are you here professionally? ?"
For the criminal investigation de-
partment."
Really. though, reaIly?" DR.. New
ton was still short OF breath. And
1t was you who wanted to see me?
Anything I can do. Of course"
You can tell me what was your
little bet with Herbert charlecote."
DR.. Newton lost some of his color.
| you bewilder me. Mr.. Fortune.
am not a betting man. Pray explain
yourself. And I must request you to
take different Tone"
| Where is Herbert Charlecote?'
| We'll. where is he?" DIR. Newton
echoed. II confess I don't understand
the situation. 1 am told over the tele-
phone that Mr.. Charlecote wishes to
see me. and"
That gave you bad quarter of an
hour, didn't it? There's worse COM
/ ing. Newton. Yesterday afternoon
Reggie strolled around the table and
put himself between DIR. Newton and
the door-"yesterday afternoon you
took Herbert Charlecote for a drive
| in your car. When you came to the
| Basingstoke canal, nice lonely place
by the Basingstoke canal. you clapped
| a chloroformed wad on his mouth,
and when he was senseless you
| dropped him into the water and left
| him there to finish by drowning. 1t
was a neat thing, Newton. But he
was fished out, Newton, and I've been
all the morning with him. Newton"
lDR NEWTON began to laugh do
you really wish me to take this
| tale seriously. Mr.. Fortune? Then I
must refer you to my legal advisers.
I am sure that you will see that I
must" He made for the door.
| Not much" Reggie said, and stood
in his way.
DR.. Newton's bland expression
] changed. He tried to push past and.
failing. sprang on Reggie. The two
locked together and swayed across
the room. Reggie freed himself a
moment and stopped. DR.. Newton
went out of the open window. AS
Lomas broke into the room they heard
the thud of his fall on the stones.
| Good God. did he throw himself
out?" Lomas cried.
mo. 1 pitched him out" Reggie
said. smoothing his hair.
Lomas rushed out of the room
Reggie. lounging after him, went to
the telephone.
In the forecourt Of the nats the
body of DR.. Newton lay. Lomas and
Bell and the hall porter were hdgeting
with it. little crowd on the pavement
Igaping at them. when Reggie arrived
You don't really want me-" he said
over. His neck's broken. Fractured
skull also. But that doesn't matter
Bell stood up and blew a police
whistle.
Don't do that. Don't do it," said
Reggie irritably. his first sign OF
troubled nerves "I have telephoned
for the ambulance and all that Why