Evening star., 1924-04-03

1Ore smith CCulu move ne Hchiu q
| click, and saw the flash of something
! bright. and he knew that the law hao
once more laid hands on-what?
/ Then for an instant Smith got an
! answer to that question, ana saw IN
| carnate deviltry and wickedness look
out of a woman's bold and Vengetui
| eyes For Nurse Palliser straight
ened herself and laughed; ana tWS
J men, at any rate, who hearo tnat
! laugh, knew that they would dream
! the dreaming-not once. but many
"Damn your! said Nurse Pall1ser.
! between her clenched teeth. Damn
/ one and al. of you! But never nina
you can rob me OF the satisfaction
! / got in killing them?
CHAPTER XXXIH.
The Unrnveling.
! Before Smith could recover from
| his surprise the two detectives nao
hurried Nurse Palliser out or the
room and the house and 1t was not
until he heard the closing or the
outer door that he found his voice.
Nurse Palliser" he exclaimed
zone of my most trusted assistants!
I Charged with murder! Impossible!
There must be some gross mistake"
He turned to Hextall, angry and
resentful. But Hextall, who was
| still very pale and was nervousiy
wiping his forehead. shook his head
and pointed to the tall man. VINO
had remained behind and was re-
garding Smith thoughtfullv.
| ,"Ask-h'm" said Hextan. I'm
I'm as surprised as you are. Ana
Im-shaken. Wc-we'n have
| drink"
He walked unsteadily to the side
| board, but only to lean against II
, to Styler with weak smile.
Here. Styler" he said. YOU
come and get us something-brandy
My God!-Tve had a shock"
SHOCK" exclaimed Smith. II
should think So" He turned sharply
on the tall man so you know all
about this. eh?" he said. Well.
can't you tell US? Do you really
| mean to say that Nurse Palliser
killed that man Kesteven-and Miss
! Brock? Imposs' ble!"
The man sat down in the nearest
chair and looked at Smith with
glance full of significance.
Miss Brook" he said. was my
sister. That woman did kill her
and she killed the man you call Kes-
| teven. too. The proofs are clear
enougii.,,besides. you heard what
God bless my. soul!"' muttered
Smith. DO you hear that, Styler?
Aren't you surprised7"
Never surprised at anything, SIR"
| bottles and syphons. 81 told you
! somebody was working underneath
US. All the same. to be fair, j can't
say that I ever suspected that par
ticular party. But" he adde". as he
thrust tumbler into Hextalls hand.
| after seeing the look in that party's
eyes when she owned up, l should
say that she was capable of killing
| a few more people. And I reckon l
| know what her motive was in those
two cases. Bit of revenge. eh, Mr..
Miihirst, wasn't it?" he concluded.
needn't start, because I know your
name-we can do a bit of looking
around, you know. as we'll as any,
body"
Il want to know all about it" said
Hexta'l, reviving under Styler's care.
Il know nothing-I-I thought you
and the other men had come to Mr..
Tres3' fiat on-on quite another er-
rand. I wish you'd tell US what the
truth is. Have drink and tel US"
It's a long story and an intrica to
one, DR.. Hextall," answered Milhirst.
give you mere outline of it--youll
hear more of it when that woman's
tried. An associate of yours. I think
you said, Mr.. Smith. by the by?'
An emplcye of mine" growled
Smith. And a trusted one.
"All the same, / don't suppose you
know much about her" replied Mil
hirst. And 1 can't say that 1 know
very much myself-but / know quite
sufficient of her in connection with
recent events to insure that she's
safely hanged. Well--if I'm to tell
to begin at what seems to be the
beginning. And shall have to bring
in some names of people of posi-
tion-the truth Is. they can't be kept
out. And tho first name is that of
the Countess of Oronsay"
Smith nudged Styler. who just then
passed him on his way to hand Mil
hirst a glass
Lady Oronsay," continued Milhirst,
''is the younger daughter of Sir God
frey Esmondhaugh and sister of
Maj. Esmendhaugh and Of Mrs.
original and determined character
what they call modern woman. A
good many years ago-comparatively
she came to London to live her own
ife-her tastes were artistic and she
set up studio of her own and, in
CLIO Sot ihlo ~IdI was
allied a Bohemian set-a pretty nice
OF, I gather! You've got to bear in
mind that she was young-also she
was living under an assumed name
and perhaps she wasn't very partic-
ular. Anyway. she did a very fool
sh thing-she took violent fancy
to a man whom she met at that time,
and she married him at a city church
under her assumed name, not letting
him know who she really was. The
man married her under the name of
Edward Charleston Legette - and
within a very few weeks of the mar
riage he left her.
Now, you must keep this man in
mind-a good deal turns on him-he
had other names. aliases, but we'll
stick to Legette. Legette turned up
in France, where he entered into a
partnership with Kesteven. Tiokell
and myself. 1t was a legitimate
partnership-its object was to ex-
rloit certain highly perfected sys-
tenn of gaming at Monte Carlo, at
Homburg and at Boulogne We did
took my share and retired to Eng
land and engaged in other pursuits
and latterly in the business ] am now
following. OF the others I saw little
for some time-with the exception OF
Kesteven. Through me. Kesteven
got to know my sister. whom you
knew as Miss Brock, and. unknown
to me. they were married. I'm sorry
to say that Kesteven had q very bad
influence over her and he used her,