Evening star., 1924-07-20

You might. Joycey. and we will"
answered Peggie. "We'll arrive dur
ing the afternoon"
Thank you. miss. have but one
more message" the voice continued,
and relapsed into it's repeating-a-
carefully-learnt-les tone. ITO
Miss Manson. Lady Renardsmere is
confident that, with the staff of pri-
yate detectives and her own staff at
her command, Miss Manson will in
every way carefully safeguard Rip
ping Ruby on her journey from Man
son Lodge until she is stabbed at
EPSON"
You can tell Lady Renardsmere.
that" said Peggie. with laugh.
"Rtppling Ruby will travel in the
thick of such bodyguard as 10
Derby candidate ever had before or
ever Will have again-a quite unnec-
essarily large one, in my opinion.
that I've made all arrangements for
Rippling Ruby's stabling at EPSON,
and that she'll be watched and qua rd-
ed every blessed second until she's
saddled for the Derby. And you can
tell her, too. Joycey, that she'll win
by more lengths than ! can guess at!'
II am obliged to you, miss-I am
obliged to you, sir. That's all, sir"
said the voice. It's owner rose. bowed
and glanced at the ooor. II beg re-
son a good morning. sir"
Thank you, Joycey-same to you"
said l. "But-a moment! You've
given your message and got our re-
plies, which you're evidently going
to take to Lady Renardsmere Is her
ladyship in town."
The suave, bland countenance be-
came inscrutabIe: the voice, when it
sounded, had a toucn of frost in it.
That ! am not at liberty to say,
sir"
she will, of course be at Marengo
Lodge?"
! am not at liberty to say that,
either, sir"
"But-won't there be other guests
than ourselves there? a house party,
There will be no other guests than
Miss Hepple, Miss Manson and your
self. sir at Marengo Lodge"
! turned and looked at Peggie. and
Peggie turned on the butler.
But surely Lady Renardsmere's
7 exclaimed. shes going to Epson,
surely, surely
II have no information on the
point, miss" answered Joycey. IT am
not at liberty to make any state
ments other than those l have al
ready made. | am merely a messen-
ger, miss. And having discharged
my mission
"All right, Joycey." / said I'VE
won't keep you. We will all be at
Marengo Lodge on Monday afternoon
Now, / suppose Burton will look after
you before you go back to town."
Thank you, sir he answered.
"Burton and / are very good friends.
and l shall be safe in his hands, sir"
He rstreatsd to the door. after an
other bow. But with his hand on it,
he suddenly became entirely human.
He looked at Peggie, and a half-shy,
half-humorouS smile stole round the
corners of his lips. II suppose the
filly's hound to win, miss he asked.
Dead certainty. eh?"
Dead said Peggie, solemly
Nothing can beat her. Why. Joycey,
have you been backing herr
He nodded refiectively, and his eyes
took far-away look.
Il stand TO win lot of money,
miss" he answered simply. Il was
fortunate enough to get decent prices
AS far back as last autumn, and |
have continued to invest up TO re-
Gently, when, of course. the price
shortened. / shall De very comfort
colors are first past the post next
Wednesday. But if not"
He made sepuicnral grimace,
shook his head. remembered himself,
became once more transformed into
the perfectly trained serving man.
/ looked at each other.
Whats it all mean?'' she said.
Isn't she going to turn up at Ep-
som?''
/ ever have been in my life if she
doesn't" / answered. This is merely
another of her eccen,ricities. She'll
present herself at Marengo Lodge on
Monday-or Tuesday-as sure as
fate. By-the-bye. do you know Ma
rengo Lodge?'
Yes" she replied. Well enough!
It's an old, picturesque house in the
lower part of the town, in a thickly
wooded garden. Its owner lets 1t
for the race week. It's big enough
for a large house party"
'Then it'll comfortably hold three
Of u.s." I said. I'm going TO enjoy
it. I'm bit sick of sticking here,
and I don't care how soon Monday
and some excitement comes. We've
had too much of the wrong sort of
excitement lately"
You'll get some excitement
Wednesday. my boy" she laughed.
wait and see.'
But 1 was to get some before then,
and of Yet another sort. That Very
police authorities-the leader of the
three arrested men desired urgently
to see me.
Warning.
It was Spiller. the Portsmouth de-
tective, who brought me this sur
prising intimation. He came to Rem
Park Lane butler had gone away, and
I saw at once from mis- manner that
he had got something mysterious to
communicate.
Peyton was with me when he ar
rived, but it was evident that Spiller
was not going to speak before any
third party, and carried him off to
another room.
What now. Spiller"' said I, as
shut the door. Further develop
ments?'
He gave me a queer look and
tapped my shoulder.
"Macfarlane!" he said. "Macfar-
lane, Mr.. Cranage. That's why I'm
here"
Macfarlane was the name by which
the leader of the three men under
remand was known. Whether it was
his real name or not, / don't know;
it was the name, at any rate, by
which he had gone during his in
glorious career as doctors assistant
at Portsmouth, and by which he had
allowed himself to be called during
the proceedings before the magis-
trate.
What about Macfarlane?" I ask
ed. "Not-escaped?"
Escaped" he answered with a
laugh. Not much, Mr.. Cranage.
Small chance of that for any one of
that lot! No-he wants to see you"
Wants to see me-" I exclaimed.
"Why?"
That's only known to himself" he
answered. Hes been pestering the
governor to let him see you this last
day or two. He's got something
highly important to tell you. And