The Monmouth inquirer., 1923-07-12


some n quite different.
The only other material fact that
I found at the house was that the
late tenants must have been OF SLOW
emily, not to say dirty. habits, though
there was plenty OF evidenc that
there had been plenty of eating and
drinking, especially the latter. On
the whole / was inclined to the view
that Captain Masterman' was not q
scion of the aristocracy; but ! was
Immediately afterward shaken in 1t
by remembering that he had made a
mesaIliance. The music hall artistic
to whom Lord Tressilian had taken
such exception might be responsible
for the unmade beds and unswept
carpets.
I returned to the police station
and shortly afterward my hopes OF
confounding Radford Shone were
knocked out to zero by the receipt OF
a telegram from the constable detail
ed to follow Nurse Melvin. It read:
Traced woman to Lime Tree VII
la. Acacia grove, New Maiden. She
stayed only two minutes and is now
on her way back to London"
Now, New Maiden, that residential
suburb beyond wimbledon, had been
mentioned by Shone as the place
where Mr.. Ralph WeyIand had q cot
taae, upon which he himself had
been keeping observation. The nat
ural inference was that he had jump
nd to the correct conclusion, and that
Nurse Melvin had been to warn her
confederates that the police had
spotted No. BOOB, Upper Brook
street. as the lair from which the
kidnapping had been c%ontrived. In
a few minutes / was at Waterloo,
N half an hour later ~strollej into
Acacia grove, New Maiden.
Lime Tree Villa" stood self-con-
fessed by the name On its gate-a
small detached house lying back
q the road amid a tangle of shrub
and fruit trees. / was turning away
to perfect my plans when t@o men
wearing the baize aprons of furni-
lure movers, came down tee circu-
lar carriage sweep and out of the
gate, chuckling audibly. One OF
them, the tallest and leanest of the
two, cooked his eye at me in passing,
and in spite of his disguise, I recog-
nized Shone. P~erceiving that /
knew him, he beckoned me to fol-
low him to the end OF the road,
$50 you made use Of my theory,
after all, Inspector Hammond" he
said In his arrogant hammer well,
I can add fact to theory now.
Ralph Weyland has got the boy right
enough. We have been mouching
around in the character OF furniture
men who had mistaken the house,
and we heard Weyland talking to
his wife,"
Gave the whole show away, she
did. staggered Shone's companion,
who, as / subsequently a~scertained,
was Mr.. Samuel Martin, the great
mans admirer and understudy.
Have they got the boy in the
house now?' / asked, none too well
pleased by the turn of events, for !
had hoped that my cat clew hadn't
got the disappointed heir at the end
of 1t. Mr.. Radford Shone would be
able to brag that he had done by
mere intuition what the police had
to do by routine methods.
Yes; / gathered from what they
said that the youngster was boxed up
In n of the upper rooms" replied
Ehone. "But there's omeone else
in it, at another house here, with
whom Weyiand and his wife have got
an appointment at 10 O'Clock to-
night. It's a regular conspiracy,
and If you want to bag the lot you
should put the arrest off till then"
why" / could not resist saying.
you seem uncommonly keen on the
arrest of Mr.. Weyland, In spite Oft
being SO distasteful to your client"
"Oh,s it will teach old Tressilian
to keep his wife in ORDER said
shone airily. He's only got himself
to blame for letting her bring you
into the business, and l shall appre-
cfate the advertisement of having
given a lead to the police"
The fellow was insufferable but
there vas NO way out of 1t but to
make the arrest and recover the
child on his information. AS wish
ed for the purpose of the evidence
/ should have to present in court, to
pursue some inquiriesson my own ac-
count, I fell in with Shone's sugges-
ton, and consented to defer the final
o~yerbhrow of MI. Ralph Weyland's
scheme until evening.
Before we parted / asked Shone
who was the other man with whom
Weyland and his wife had the ap
pointment.
Il couldn't overhear his NAME"
was the reply. But he is some pal
of Weyland's from whom they ex-
pect to obtain an advance of money
to enable them to take the boy out
of the country"
When / approached Lime Tree
Villa at 10 O'Clock that night, a tall,
spare phantom and a stout one, Gid
ed from the shadows at the roadside