Evening star., 1924-07-02

earth
was Mr.. Percy Neamore. that Lady
henardsmere should carry him of to
town and go to lunch with hm at the
Ritz? Until three-fourths of an hour
previously he had been an absolute
stranger to her. Why this sudden in
timacy? Was it business? And IL SO,
what business? j remembered Nea-
more's card then and his scribhling en-
1t and l went into Lady Renards-
mere's room to see If I could find it.
1t up. But / got no information from
what Neamore had written. What he
had written underneath his own name
seemed to be the name of some firm
or other-Gildenbaum and Roskin. /
knew nothing about them, but some
how they seemed to fit in with what
l had seen of Neamore.
Lady Renardsmere had not return
ed when l went to bed that night.
which was pretty late. but she evil
IDENTIFY came home during the small
hours, for she was in her business
room when / looked in at the usual
time next morning. She went
through her letters with me and gave
! was leaving the room. she handed
me the check book which / had given
her the day before. She made no
reference to having made use Of it.
but later on. when l was about to put
1t back in the safe. l looked into it
during her day in town. She had
drawn one-there was the counter
foil. And. according to that. it had
been a check for 10000, payable to
Percy Neamore.
! must here explain a peculiarity.
or fad. or practice of Lady Renards-
mere's-whatever you like to call ii.
l have already said that she had sew
eral check books, all relating to diff
ferent accounts 1t was her strict
Il xn-h
for anything. however large, however
small the amount. to have particulars
of the payment posted up on the
counterfoil Thus. if ] paid Holroyd
so much for his weekly account for
hay. straw or horse corn had to
enter up on the counterfoi1 the pre-
else details. This practice was ad-
hered to in the case of each check
book and punctiliously observed by
Lady Renardsmere herself as regards
this private check book which she
had just restored to me: 1t was a
rule which she never broke, that she
was meticulously particular about
sticking to. But she had broken IL
in this instance. There was nothing
on the counterfoil TO show why Lady
Renardsmere had paid Mr.. Percy Nea-
more 10000.
/ am neither more inquisitive nor
less inquisitive than the average
man-which means that i possess
curiosity. / was curious about this
Neamore transaction-I wanted to
know about il. And. taking adVan-
tage of my position and of my knoWi-
edge of her method of doing things
carried the check box back to Lady
RenardsmeNe and indicated the last
counterfoil.
NO particulars have been entered
up on this" l said in the most IN,
different and casual tone / could
ha watching
narrowly There's nothing but
name and amount.
For about the only time that re
member during my connection with
her Lady Renardsmere showed her
"Um-er-well. never mind it this
time. Cranage." she said almost apol-
ogetically. "It-it's a little private
transaction of my own.
Il drew your attention to 1t, i
said. because it's your strict rule to
enter these particulars on counter
foils.''
Il know know" she answered
hastily. Quite right to point it out
that is my rule. But in this case
a private affair. as ] said. OF course:
| know what the check was paid
for! All right. Cranage-you were
quite right in drawing my attention
to it" < .b.. ana
was as wise as ever a to why she
had paid Mr.. Percy Neamore SO large
a sum Perhaps. ] thought. il was a
betting transaction; 1 knew ina.
now and then, not only with regard
to her own horses. but to those OF
other owners: i knew, too. that she
was backing Ripping Ruby heavily
to win the Derby Possibly this stem ten
in Neamore's hands to be laid out
amongst various turf commission
agents. Only one thing was certain
about il. however-it had been paid,
and Lady Renardsmere and Neamore
were the only people who knew why.
Yet-there seemed to be some mys-
terry about the matter = Neamore's
coming was mysterious-hls gong up
to town with Lady Renardsmere was
mysterious-it was odd, too, that she
couldn't or wouldn't fill up that
counterfoil.
However. there was more mystery
at hand. l used to lunch in my own
sitting room: just as ! had finished
easy chair with my pipe and the
newspaper. Lady Renardsmere sent
for me. / found her in her office, and
on the desk before her small pack
ct, neatly done up in stout notepaper
and heavily sealed. BY its side lay
sprawled all over the surface Of the
envelope in Lady Renardsmere' su-
persisted handwriting.
"Cranage," she said. you've had
lunch? Then ! want you to do
something for me. You see this let
ter and small parcel? I want you to
take them yourself to my solicitor.
Mr.. Pennithwaite. in Lincoln's Inn
Fields"
This afternoon?" asked
Just now" she answered. You
can have the Rolls -Royce-Walker'
had his dinner. and he'll run you up
to town by haif-past four: Penni-
thwaite never leaves his office before
Cranage-" here she paused. and
in the excess of what. / could see,
was a real anxiety. laid her hand ON
my arm as l stood by her-"Cranage!
promise me that you won't stop
the car and leave it anyWhere-any-
where at all, on the way"
! Certainly, Lady Renardsmere" |
stammered. why should / stop it,"
'Oh, don't know" she said.
Young men pull up, 1 suppose. to
get a drink. or-that sort Of thing;
But you won't. will you. Cranage?
You'll go straight from my door to
| Pennithwaite' 's?-youu take this
parcel from my hand and this letter
| and think of nothing else until
you've delivered them into his?"
protested. I'll do exicatly what you
ask. Give your orders to Walker
he's to go straight from here, with
out stop, to Lincoln's Inn Fields"
YES" she said. Very well-hell
be ready in ten minutes Thank you,
Cranage. And-where will you put
| these?'
showed her. l put the parcel-a
tiny, three-inch- square thing-in my
| trousers pocket; the letter in
| breast pocket
'Shan't even touch them myself.
Lady Renardsmere, till / hand them
| to Mr. Pennithwaite," / said. RE
gard them as safe as-as safe can