The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-04-01
B1NMTS

there.
 As darkness was falling Mrs. Penfields elderly servant came from the back of the house, carrying large basket. She went out of the front gate, turned up the street and disappeared round the corner. About half an hour later Crewe heard the front gate click and saw Mrs. Penfield appear. Her face was plainly visible by the street light as she glanced anxiously up and down the street several times as though she feared she was watched. Then she turned down the street and walked quickly away.
 Crewe ran downstairs, let himself noise lessly out of the front door and followed quickly in her wake. As he neared the bottom of the street he saw her little distance in front of him. When she reached the end of Whitethorn Gardens she turned to the right along the sea front.
 The night was mild and few drops of rain were falling. The front seemed de- serted and was shrouded in mist which reduced the lamplights to yellow glimmer. It was an easy matter for Crewe to follow closely behind the woman, conscious that the mist would shield him from observation if she turned.
 Mrs. Penfield swalked rapidly along the front till she came to High street. Half way along the front the mist seemed sud denly to grow thicker, and Crewe crept closer in order to keep her in view. She walked swiftly with her head down, look ing neither to right nor the left. She passed under the faint light of a street lamp, and as Crewe came up behind he saw uni formed figure in front of him. It was Police Constable Heather, who had come over from Ashlingsea on official business. Heather was so pleased at this unexpected meeting with the great London detective that he called out in loud voice:
 Good night, MT. Crewe."
 Crewe answered softly and passed on. He could only hope that Mrs. Penfield was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she had not heard Constable Heather's stento- rian utterance of his name. Suddenly he heard her footsteps cease and he, too, came to stop. Then he saw her confronting him.
 "Why are you following me, MT. Crewe?" she asked in quick, excited tones. "It was you who telephoned to me to come up and see Inspector Murchison. l should have known it was hoax. You wanted to get me out of the house."
 "If I wanted to get you out of the house, Mrs. Penfield, why should 1 follow you?" asked Crewe.
 But you were following me- she per sisted.
 "It is not the sort of night l would choose for such york;" he replied.
 ''When I heard that man call out your name I knew I had been hoaxed."
 "By whom?" asked Crewe, who was pug zled at this example of feminine reason ing.
 'I shall go back and see," she said ''I will ring up Inspector Murchison from there and find out if he sent message to me to go up to the police station.'
 Crewe was keenly interested in knowing if she had been hoaxed, and by whom. Therefore, he offered to accompany her home, as it was not nice night for lady to be in the street unattended. . When they reached Al Whitethorn Gar dens she opened the gate and walked up to the house rapidly. At the porch she stopped, touched Crewe lightly on the arm and pointed to the front door. In the dim light a. patch of blackness showed; the door was open.
 "Come with me-" she whispered, "and we will take him by surprise. Don't strike match; give me your hand"
 She walked noiselessly along the dark hall, and turning into a passage some dis tance down it led the way through an open doorway into a room-a small and stuffy storeroom, Crewe imagined it to be, as the