Evening star., 1924-07-19
RIPPING RUBY
A Thrilling Mystery Story
By J. S. FLETCHER


I'll tell you, Mr.. Cranage." he an
swered. 'As you know, we've sus-
pected. almost from the first. that
somehow or other Lady Renardsmere
had got mixed up in this business.
You know how she gave me the slip
when i came down here. That. of
course, made things Worse-why
should she have wanted to get out
of my way unless she'd something to
conceal? We tried to find her in
London. at her big house in Park
Lane. then al one or two fashionable
hotels where she sometimes stops-no
good at any of these places, She may
have been propably was-at her
Park Lane house for an hour or two
that afternoon or evening that she
slipped off from here, but after that
there's no doubt she made off to
the continent. by way of Dover-I
at Dover. at the Lord Warden Hotel,
that night"
You did," I exclaimed
''Oh, / did left no stone unturned
once got hold of her l could get'some
very necessary information out of
her" he answered.
However. she got away. Well. as
you know. some days ago we decided
at headquarters to give the widest
publicity to all this business. and to
take the press into. full confidence,
and. accordingly. those long accounts
of the whole thing, from our angle.
appeared, first in the evening. then in
the morning newspapers-just at the
very date of your adventure with
those three fellows whom I've seen
this morning in Portsmouth gaol.
Now. yesterday | was called upon by
the Paris representative of the Daily
Sentinel-he'd come over to London
on business connected with his paper.
He told me that the day before he
left Paris he had occasion to call
at the Hotel Bristol, and that there
he saw Lady RenardSmere in conver-
sation with an old Chinese gentleman
who was evidently person of impor-
tance. He knew Lady Renardsmere
well enough by sight. for he'd been
Journalist in London before taking up
his duties in Paris. and knew every
hody of consequence about town: the
Chinese gentleman he didn't know,
but like all journalists he was ready
enough to find out. and he was soon
told that he was Mr.. Cheng, Chinese
financier of very high standing. Now
this man had of course. read all
about these mysteries in the London
papers, and had seen Lady RenardS-
mere's name mentioned. and Mr..
Chengs, so he was naturally inter-
ested in seeing them together, and.
knowing that he was coming over
to London within few hours, he
determined to call on US at Scotland
Yard and tell us what he'd seen. But.
as he then had little time to spare.
and was we'll up in the case, which
had keenly aroused his interest, he
to give US bit of practical help
And he did" ~
Howl I asked. What practical
help?"
well" continued Jifferdene. "if
you read the newspaper story. you'd
see that it told straight out that Mr.
Cheng was staying at that very Hotel
Bristol in Paris when he was robbed
ticle-God knows what it may be, for
we don't-by his secretary, Chuh Sin
This journalist - smart fellow
thought he'd try to get some descrip-
Hotel Bristol who remembered him
He succeeded in doing so-very easily
and he's furnished me with their
account of the man we want SO
and open with US, we might have
been spared a lot of trouble and
there'd have been fewer of these mur-
ders This Chuh Sin is one of those
Cinnamon who. they say, might very
easily pass for European: he was
given to dress very fashionably in
Paris. and few people, in their opln-
ion. would have known him for
Chinaman-though, to be sure, they
added, when seen in native dress'
ence in his appearance was strlklng.
AS for the rest of him. he speaks
French and English perfectly. Eng
lish without trace of accent. and is
a very astute, ready-mannered per-
son altogether. The hotel manager,
who had a good deal of business to
transact with him, spoke of him to
this journalist as being very clever
man indeed-and l think. Mr. Gran
age. we know him to be so"
I'VE also know, Jifferdene. that he's
markedly disigured," I said. And
| so ought to be easily identifiable."
| AYE. - at close quarters! he
agreed But nobody's ever been at
close quarters with him-yet. How
ever, we're at work. But-what do
you suppose Lady Renardsmere was
up to with this old Cheng?"
I'm not going to speculate, Jiher-
| dene," I answered, Lady Renards-
| mere has her own way of doing
| things and she dislikes and won't
| have interference. And-she reads
| the newspapers-a great readeT-and
she'll know, therefore, what's going
on. and her own danger"
"Danger:" he said. "Aye-if it's
as l suspect. that she's got mixed up
with this, she is in danger, as long
as that Chinaman's going. We're
considering about sending over to
Paris to see and warn her-but-'
Continued in Tomorrow's Star.)