Evening star., 1921-05-25
THE AVENCER
BY E. PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM.
A Tale of Political Intrigue and Private
= Revenge.
4
Copyright. BY Little. Brown 4 Co.

that this murder. as I suppose We
must call it. bears none OF the nan
marks of rude passion. ON the con
trary. 1t suggests in more ways . tH
one the touch of the finished ar'ist.
The mans whole evening has oreh
traced without the slightest difhcul.!
He dined at the cafe Royal atone
promenaded afterwards at the Alnarn, nan
bra and drove on about supper I'm.
to the Continental. He left there d,
1890 with a couple Of ladies whom
he appeared to know fairly well; car
ed at their fiat for IA drink and sem
one out to his cabby-rather unusual
forethought for such boundsr
When he reappeared and directed the
man to drive him to Cavendish Man
sions. Battersea. the driver. tried TO
excuse himself. Both he and his horse
were dead tired. he said. Barnes.
however. insisted upon keeping HIM
and off they went At Cavendish
Mansions Barnes alghted and offered
the man a sovereign. Naturally
enough. the fellow could not change
it. and Barnes went in to get some
silver from his rooms. promising 10
return in a minute or two The cab
by descended and walked to the cor
ner Of the street to see if he could
beg q match for his pipe from any
passer-by He may have BEEN away
for perhaps five minutes, certainly no
more, during which time he stood
w
ing no one about. he returned to his
cab. ascended to his seat. naturally
without looking inside. and fell fast
asleep. The next thing he remembers
is being awakened by Wrayson mere.
So much for the cabby.
What fine criminal judge was
lost to the country. colonel. when you
chose the army for career Mason
remarked. turning round to order
some coffee. Such coherence-such
De- ff,l n
Wrayson. Thanks. old chap.
The colonel smiled placidly.
Il am afraid" Che said. that
shrould never have had the heart to
sentence anybody to anything. but
must admit that things of this sort
up and theorze. The more melodra-
matte they are the better
Heneage helped himself to a cigar,
cite from Mason's case and leaned
back in his chair.
Il never have the patience" he re-
marked, Ito read about these things
in the newspapers. but the coloneis
resume is always thrilling. DO go
on. There won't be any pool till
o'clock"
The colonel smiled good naturedly:
ITS good of you fellows to listen
to my prosing." he remarked. NO
use denying that it is sort of hobby
of mine. You all know 1t. Wei, we IL
say we've finished with the cabbE,
then. Enter upon the scene Of all
people in the world our friend "ray-
son.
Hear hear" murmured Mason.
Wrayson changed his position
slightly. With his head resting upon
his hand he seemed to be engaged IN
tracing patterns upon the tablecio'h.
beyond the fact that they are neigh
bors in the same fats. Being the as
sistant editor of journal OF world
wide fame, however. he has naturali!
a telephone in his fiat BY means OF
that instrument he receives message
in tho middle Of the night from an
unknown person in an unknown
place, which he is begged to con-
vey - Barnes. The message is in !
itself mysterious. Taken in conJunc-
ton with what happened to Barnes.
it is deeply interesting. Barnes, it |
seems is to go Immediately on his
arrival. at whatever hour, to the Hotel
Francis Presumably he would know
from whom the message came, and
the sender does not seem to nave
doubted that if it was conveyed 10
Barnes he would obey the summons.
Wrayson agrees to and does deliver
It. That is to say. he writes it down
and leaves it in the letter box or
Barnes door. Barnes not having yet
returned. Now We begin to get mys-
friend here has not been discovered.
1t was not In the letter box; it was
not upon the person of the dead man.
We cannot tell whether or not he ever
received it. I believe that I am right
so far?'
Absolutely" Wrayson admitted.
Our friend Wrayson. them" the
colonel continued, "beamng upon his
neighbor. "instead of going to bed
like a sensible man. takes up book
and falls asleep in his easy chair. He
wakes up about 3 or O'Clock, and his
attention is then attracted by the
jingling of hanson bell below. He
looks out Of window and sees "A cab.
both the driver and the occupant of
which appear to be asleep. The cir
striking him as somewhat
unusual. he descend; to the street and
find-weII rather more than he ex-
pected. He finds the cabman asleep
and his fare scientifically and effectu-
ally throttled by a piece of silken
cord"
(Continued. in Tomorrow's Star)