Evening star., 1922-02-05

Right! Quite SO! However. ne mas
bit Of good blood, you know-good
line and all that"
Don't apologize for him." an
swered "Then you mean that Matt
land offered to cover up the scandal
until Fortescue could get out Of the
way-clear out?"
The resident wriggled.
NO" he growled. Il fancy that he
made some such offer, of course. but
not from decency. Remember. he is
Fortescue's heir. There are the es-
tate and other things"
"Oh" 1 exclaimed, with secret glee
at having at least forced him into
frank statements. Now we're maxi
ing progress! Maitland wanted to
bury his cousin, and offered him a
pistol in the approved and honored
fashion Of evading dishonor, eh?
Death or exposure, eh?"
The resident sighed. Something
Of the sort, I fancy he assented.
"Beastly luck. what?'
1 understood his allusion and
nodded over my drink. Fortescue did
seem to have played in hard luck
from the start. To come home and
find that this girl had married Matt
land, then to come out to Malaga and
cover up another mans troub1e-only
to have Maitland bob up again and
threaten exposure!
Looks as though some adverse
fate were dogging his heels" I OBJ
served, forcing him into ruin and
death and dishonor, no matter what
happened-and friend cousin right on
the spot every time to get the ad-
vantage! Fortescue is not the sort
to weaken. however. He's the Hen
ley type-head- -blooded. but unbowed,
and so forth"
THE resident seemed grateful for
this momentary release from my
Americanisms.
. "Quite So" he replied. quite so!
And now the two chaps come up here
and set out into the hills after tiger.
to guess. Fortescue will be clawed
up or something of the sort. They'll
return without him; mors coronat
opus: and when the question of the
funds becomes public it will be
speedily forgotten"
"Bosh!" said; "boshw
The, resident gasped. He leaned
back in his chair and regarded me
with an air Of agonized apoplexy.
"Er-I say. old chap!" he ventured
feehly. You Americans don't-er-
approve such methods-eh?"
II don't refer to appreciation; re-
fer to facts" was my answer. II un-
derstand that those two men went
into tho hills with that big Sikh,
Rao Singh? Well, went tiger hunt
ing with Rao Singh myself. If you
remember, last time I was up here,
and I'm here to say that Rao Singh
is about the finest specimen of brown
man I ever encountered"
"Old chap. I'm afraid that I don't
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. your meaning"
he said.
Then listan," told him. "As
you've set forth Fortescue's history,
the poor fellow is up against fate,
and Maitland is playing with marked
cards, in a manner. This is to be the
finishing stroke, tho last Jackpot
table stakes-if you get me! And it's
all fixed for Maitland to pull down
the money. don't know Maitland,
but do know Fortescue, and I know
him for a finer man than I'll ever be-"
I pursued earnestly. What would
be the poetic Justice in this thing?
Why. for him to como back from the
hills without Maitland. go home and
marry the. girl and live happy ever
after"
The resident was palpably shocked
at this.
"oh. he's not that sort! he pro-
tested. HE couldn't do that, you
know; mean he'd not kill Maitland
No. no!'
I'm not talking about killing" I
answered. Pm talking about poetic
justice. In a novel Maitland would
get chewed up by tiger about this
time or be shown up as crook"
"But my dear fellow, he is perfectly
uprightv said the scandalized resi-
dent Nothing Of that sort could
possibly happen, j assure YOU.