Evening star., 1923-07-21


of help or assistance into a hospital
his visitors manner, something which
! suggested the bearer of a guilty
| secret
| quickly as you can," Francis begged
81 am due to start down into the
country in few minutes"
! Il won't keep you long, sir" the
| man replied. The matter is rather
, a serious one"
Are you ill?"
| "YeS, Sir!'
| You had better sit down"
The man relapsed gratefully into a
| chair.
! ri leave out everything that
doesn't count, sir" he said. iii be
| as brief as l can. 1 want you to go
!, back to the night l waited upon you
at dinner-the night Mr.. Oliver Hill
dence. The jury brought it in sui
eide 1t wasn't suicide at all, sir.
| Mr.. Hilditch was murdered.
/ The sense of horror against which
| he had been struggling during the
! last few hours crept once more
| through the whole being of the man
who listened. He was face to face
| once more with that terrible issue.
/ Was the whole structure of his
! dreams about to collapse, to fall
about his ears?
/ by whom?" he faltered.
by Sir Timothy Brast, sir"
/ Francis, who had been standing
with his hand upon the table. felt
suddenly inclined to laugh. Facile
! though his brain was. the change OF
/ issues was too tremendous for him
/ TO readily assimilate it, He picked
| up a cigarette from an open box,
with shaking fingers lit 1t and threw
! himself into an easy chair. He was
J all the time quite conscious OF What
| he was doing.
sir Timothy Brast?" he repeated.
/ Yes, sir" the man reiterated. Il
wish to tell you the whole story"
II am listening" Francis assured
| him. Ct
! Timothy Brast called to see Mr.. Hill
| ditch, and a very stormy interview
! took place do not know the rights
of that, sir. 1 only know that there
was fierce quarrel: Mrs Hilditch
came in and Sir Timothy left the
! ditch were. You will hear from me
again AS you know. sir-l mean
| as you remember, if you followed the
! evidence-all the servants slept al
| the buffers room downstairs. next
| to the plate pantry. l was awake
when you left, sitting in my easy
I chair, reading. Ten minutes after
] YOU had let, lneTe " dc q SOuiN -
| the front door as though some one
! had knocked with their knuckies.
| got up to open it, but MIR; Hilditch
! was before me. He admitted SIT IlLn- :
! othy. They went back into the IL
| brary together. 1t struck me that
Mr.. Hilditch had had great deal
/ TO drink. and there was queer iook
! on Sir Timothy's face that i dldn I
understand. l stepped into the niue
room which communicates WIN lae
There
a chink already between the two.
! got a knife from the pantry and
| widened it until l could see through
| / heard very little of the conversa-
| Hilditch took up the weapon which
| YOU know about, sat in a cnalr anu
| held il to his heart. l heard MIN say
| Something like this. This ought TO
a specialist in this sort of thing. One
little touch, and there you are Mrs.
Hilditch said something about put
ting 1t away. My master turned TO
Sir Timothy and said something IN
a low tone. Suddenly Sir Timothy
Hilditch's hand which held the nut
Of the dagger and-and--well, he just
drove il in, sir. Then he stood away.
Mrs Hilditch sprang up and Would
have screamed, but Sir timothy
placed his hand over her mouth: In
"a,
have you done? Sir Timothy looked
| at Mr.. Hilditch quite calmly. 1 have
| ridded the world of a vermtnous crea-
ture, he said. My knees began to
shake. My nerves were always bad:
| crept back into my room, took of
my clothes and got into bed. 1 had
just put the light out when they
called for me-
Francis was himself again. There
was an immense relief. Joy In his
heart. He had never for single mo,
ment blamed Margaret, but he had
never for single moment forgotten.
1t was a closed chapter, but the stain
was on it's pages. 1t was wonderful
to tear it out and scatter the frag-
ments.
Il remember you at the inquest
he said. your name is John Walter"
Yes, sir
Your evidence was very different"
Yes, sir
you kept all this to yourself"
II did, sir. thought it best"
Tell me what has happened SINGER
The man looked down at the table
IT have always been poor man.
sir" he said. L have had bad luck
whenever I've made a try to start
at anything. I thought there seemed
q chance for me here. / went to Sir
Timothy and I told him everything"
"Well?"
"Sir Timothy never turned a hair,
sir. When had finished he was very
short with me. almost curt. You
have behaved like a man of sense,
Walter he said. How much?' !
hesitated for some time. Then I
could see he was getting impatient.
I doubled what / had thought Of first.
"A thousand pounds. SIR I said. Sir
Timothy he went to a safe lin the
wall and he counted out a thousand
pounds in notes. there and then: He
brought N a
he said, there is your thousand
pounds. For that sum 1 understand
you promise to keep what you saw to
yourself?' Yes. sir 1 agreed. Take
1T, then,' he said, but I want you to
understand this: There have been
many attempts. but no one yet has
ever succeeded in blackmailing me.
No one ever will. 1 give you this
thousand pounds willingly 1t is what
you have asked for. Never let me
me starving it will be useless: I shall
| not part with another penny"
The mans simple way Of telling his
| story, his speech-slow and uneven
on account OF his faltering breath
seemed all to add to the dramatic
found himself sitting like a child
who listens to fairy story.
And them he asked. simply.
Il went off with the money" Walter
continued. and had cruel bad luck.
put it into pub. I was robbed a
/ little. drank little. my wife wasn't
| any good. / lost it all, sir. I found
myself destitute. 1 went back to
"Well?"
| The man shifted his feet nervousIy.
! he seemed TO have come to the diff
cult part of his story.
Sir Timothy was as hard as nails" /"
he said, slowly. He saw me. The
moment / had finished he rang the
bell. Hedges he said to the man
servant who came in, this man has
Gonae n mere 10 try and blackmail me.