, 1922-11-19

ng the hall behind aim"
He made a vague gesture. lifting
me OF his hnnds softly from tho arm
II the chair.
Here. monsieur. chance or my in
diligence failed me, II 1 had re-
NAMED a moment-if. In fact 7 had
ooked back as l went down the stair
way at III end OF the hall, I should
ave seen Lord winton's assassin"
The Project of Police made no com
nent. and Lord Valleys continued;
After some little difficulty. ! final.
" found the door OF the ~wine-cellar.
opened Il and entered. II was very
ld-one OF those huge stone cells
which the carly English built in their
houses in which to store the choice
wines OF France.
ut seemed 10 me that this wine
cellar had not been entered in a long
time. I was mistaken in this i'm
precision. Fortunately for me. it had,
rom time to .ime. been locke into
by Lord Winton's manservant. I
nave said fortunately because this
nanservant, Staley. was able to con-
1rm my statement.
1.-THE whole of the low vault was
cluttered with straw, piled n heap
I'd with it. Ike a farmers rick. 1t
was this aspect OF the place that
gave me the impression that it had
not been entered for a long time.
And II was true II had not been dis
Jsrbed for a long time. The walls
and the floor OF this cellar were
tone: the ceiling wac OF wooa crossed
,.fst I..v,- l-4-H -..s Mt. ef-ls- ,,I
he bins, as l have said, were heaped
with the straw in which innumer
able w~inecases lad been packed.
Lord Winton had described the
vine which he wished so that I could
not mistake II. But he was not cer-
tain in which bin it was to be found.
and 1 had 20 make a search of very
nearly the whole OF the cellar. This
did not disturb me, for Lord winton
had fixed an our as the length OF the
visit OF the person whom he expected
and who, in fact, had arrived. And l
was no; to return until that time.
II was as nearly as 1 can determine,
about II o'clock OF the night when
l went down the steps to the Wine
cellar
The man remained silent a moment
as If in some contemplation. Finally
he continued;
IAN unfortunate accident occurred
in rising from a bin over which I
had been stopped. the candle touch
ed a wIsp Of straw hanging from
above. snG Immediately the d%ried-out,
h~a-f.rotten wood OF the beamed cell.
ing flashed into flame
He paused again.
II was appalled,. bu. I did not lose
my ems Of necessity. I undertook
to put tho fire out. I made a desper-
ate effort against It. there in hat
underground cell, for I knew the
house must burn If .his whole wood
ceiling took fire. The place filled
with smoke. It became very nearly
impossible TO breathe. but I did not
give up the fight against the fire.
Finally when I was blinded. choked
and very nearly unconscious. 1 broke
open the coor leading from the base
ment Of she house and ran out into
the street. II se;med that I should
never breathe. and 1 continued to run.
You know what followed. I was
taken up by one OF the Metropolitan
police; the burn .house was entered.
and Lord winton brought out. He
was dead! The small blade of a
knife had been driven into his body
low down on the right side. The
wound. ranging upward was deep.
It had several n vital artery"
The final instaIlment Of his thrill
ing mystery will appear in our next
issue.