Evening star., 1924-03-15
tcontinued from Yesterdays Star.)


~Egad--what find. What "a
truly extra chance" exclaimed Styler
in fervent and ecstatic tones-care-
Tully mutiied. "Crikey-this is luck"
Nothing could have prevented Styler
from examining that pocketbook-
under the circumstances -- neither
honor, nor nicely, nor Il sense OF
Shane-nothing! He waited until he
had seen Mr.. Pegge sit down to the
white table and set to work on his
dinner; then, one eye on him and the
other on everything else, he carefully
nut an arm through the leaves and
drew the pocketbook to him. And
making sure that Its owner ate and
drank without thought of what was
going on at the end of his peaceful
garden, Styler rapidly but surely
went through. the papers and con
tents of that book with the celerity
of a bank clerk counting out notes.
. His face assumed all sorts of express
!Sions as he made this eXamlnatloh'
tand when at last he carefully re
teredsa word or two.
Good Lord,-so this is where he
put himself, is it?' he said Ihis
is a ind! Luck?-not half"'
for he wanted to see Mr., Pegge,s
frontal presentment. At last Mr..
Pegge finished his dinner. came out
on the veranda, took lounge CHAIR
him: quiet-looking, gray-bearded
Old man.
Good Lord" mused Styler. so
that's him as he is nowadays, is 1t:
Well-well.''
He lay hid motionless until Mr..
Pegge dropped asleep over his cigar
;hen he edged his way out OF the
woodlands and went back to the inn.
There he ate bread and cheese and
drank ale, and discussed murders
with the landlord, and afterwar,:
hung about the shady garden until
John Smith came down TO find him.
Then John Smith and Styler went
and walked about in the very middle
of an adjacent meadow. and had I
long talk, the result of which was
. that Styler set off to the nearest
railway station and took train for
London, while his master returned
slowly and thoughtfully to Lynne
Court
CHAPTER MI.
Men of Mystery.
Smith and Hextall spent that night
as Darrell Tress' guests. And from
the time that Smith returned from
his short visit to the village until
next morning he made no reference
to kestevenS death. Instead he pro-
ceeded to cultivate his young host.
He proposed a walk round the estate;
he kept DarrelFs tongue at work on
l.
ner he talked to him about sport and
fhmazed Hextal by his knowledge of
racing matters. After dinner he
; played billiards with him. Darrell
Tress went to bed that night in bet
ter condition than had been the case
for months, and Fowler, coming to
HextalTS room to see if he could do
anything for him, made a remark to
that effect.
THAT friend of yours has done our
Ia in q
world, sir" he said. That's what
he wants--a bit of better sort of COM
pany instead of that gambling and
drinking lot: He's like Il new man
tonight, and it's a good job, for I
reckon he'll want all his wits about
him at this inquest tomorrow"
HeXtan was looking forward to the
inquest with mingled anxiety and
curiosity. The curiosity was natural;
for the anxiety he could not account.
Darrell was anxious, too; it was
plain that he had no taste for telling
The public anything of his relations
with kesteven.
His own. solicitor, who arrived
from London early in the morning,
gave hlm the same advice that Smith
had already impressed upon him-to
back. And to him, as to Smith, he
made the same answer-he knew next
TO nothing.
The village schoolroom in which
~ Eot'hei anu mo "cLFe soou men
and true sat to inquire into the cir
cumstances of the death of John
kesteven was packed to it's last inch
OF holding capacity when the party
from Lynne Court went down to it.
Not only was it filled, but the school,
yard outside was filled with an ex-
cited and speculative crowd. The
news of the extraordinary circum-
stances of the case had been widely
spread and people had come from
far and near to CLEAN at first hand
any fresh tidings as to the identity
of keSteven, the hue and cry after
Tickel and the strange disappear
ance of the governeSS. Darrell TreSS
Shrank from the rude inquisitiveness
Of the people in the schoolyard and
was obviously nervous about facing
the crowded ranks in the school itself.
lie was glad to slip into the seats
which a police constable had kept for
him and his friends and it became
Tiain TO his companions that the
prospect of giving evidence was
distressing him greatly. He looked
nervously at the coroner, at the legal
gentlemen who represented the au-
thorities, at the stolid faces of the
iurymen. He might have been a
prisoner in the dock rather than a
witness who, after all, had only to
tell what he knew. And Hextall, for
one, began to wonder if Darrell Tress
knew something which he did not
want to tell.
The preliminary stages of the in
quest were neither Interesting nor
exciting. The coroner. a solicitor
from the neighboring county town,