Evening star., 1922-07-02

As a matter of fact had had a
chat with the head porter of the
Carlton. whom I knew quite well
He had noticed young Mrs. Wharn-
cliffe. and had described to me how
very happy the pair had appeared.
On the day of her disappearance the
porter had called him a taxi at 10
o'clock, and the bridegroom. who was
standing in the hall with his wife
had bade her goodbye. promising to
return to lunch. He had then driven
off to the city.
An hour later the young wife had
ordered her two dressing bags to be
brought down, and soon afterward q
hired touring car had driven up
This she had entered and she drove
away.
And that had been the last seen OF
her
The head porter had. unfortunately,
not taken the number of the car. So
there we were. absolutely at dead
end. Her bags. however. were mo-
rocco ones. with green waterproof
cases. and bore the initials ~. F. W."
in gilt.
1t struck me as very peculiar that
Wharncliffe should give up the search
for his wife in such a hopeless man.
ner and return to his speculation on
the cotton market. True. he was
making a vast pile of money. with
his shrewdness and his knowledge OF
the markets. but that was hardly
what a man would do If his bride had
disappeared after week of mar
riage.
Was there some secret which he had
not told?
| Mrs Calvert became frantic. She
hombarded me with letters and tele-
grams until at last. in order to pacify
her, 1 went to Scotland Yard-with-
out the husbands knowledge, be ii
said.
The police were ready. as they
always are, to raise the hue-cry and
to circulate the photograph of the
lady-one taken by New York pho
tographer a month before her mar
riage.
But to this 1 could not give con-
sent. OF course, the missing girls
mother was most eager that due in
uuiry should be made, but Wharn-
clfffe had set his face against it. a
fact which further increased my sus-
picion. He had not behaved as one
would have expected a distressed
| husband to behave.
At Mrs. Calvert's request I went up
there and saw him again.
| His manner was that of one annoy
ed by my reappearance.
II don't see what we can do II
Joan refuses to answer my appeal,
he said 1T was repeated In the pa
pers twice last week. and yet we
receive mo reply. She's all right.
otherwise 1 should not have received
| that telegram from Maidstone"
T RETURNED to London moro pug
zled than ever I had spent two
days with Charles Wharnclife and
had found him so engrossed In max
ing money in cotton that he seemed
already to have forgotten his young
wife's unaccountable absence.
(, 1 must here declare that my sus-
picions had become greatly increased.
That he was aware of some important
fact which he was concealing now
felt quite confident. Gradually, oy
degrees, 1 had been drawn into that
tangle of mystery, and now, even
against my will, I found myself Inn
PEELED toward strenuous EFFORT to
solve the mystery. -"
Was it possible that Joan Wharn-
cliffe had crossed to the continent
alone? And IL she had done 80, what
could have been the motive? II she
had gone to France. 1t was within the
bounds of probability. that she had
not seen the English newspapers.
But would she go abroad alone
| when her husband was to take her
In a day or two? Besides. she would
not have left England without her
passport Had she taken 1t with
her?
An hour later got Wharncliffe by
telephone and his reply was:
"She had her passport In her
maiden name, so it Is quite possible
that she's taken 1t with her"
Then, after exchanging few more
words, we were cut OF.
Next day I drew up an advertise
ment asking the maid = Georgstts