Evening star., 1924-07-15

Sontlhueu from Yesterday Star.)
i've no great opinion of these
Chinks" he replied. Rich or poor.
high or low, ! reckon they're a
crafty lot. There was a chap in our
force. once, who used to recite
poetry-he come to no good in the
end, by the bye-and he was very
fond of piece about a heather
Chinee. / agreed with it,-trom
what We seen of 'em. Their ways.
Mr.. Cranage, are dark-as the felier
that wrote that piece Of poetry had
the gumption to observe. But it
strikes me that if there's anybody
that's at the bottom of all this it's
that Mr.. Cheng!"
I'm not sure that I don't agree
with you, Spiller," ! said.
his hear. That's the old Sphinx
whose headpiece they want to get
inside of! But l understand that a
the very hardest to extract informa-
tion from. Being young gentleman
of education, Mr.. Cranage, you'll
know more about it than l do"
lieve," l answered
Well he remarked; There's
nuts and nuts. But l amt never yet
heard of nut that you can't crack,
j
ordinary nut-cracker amt strong
enough, is a good hammer--or fat
iron
And then, Spiller, you'd probably
crack the kernel to smithereens!" I
said We want to get this kernel
out-whole,"
He observed that time would show,
and with this wise remark went
away. adding. over his shoulder,
when he had gone a few yards, that
or next day, but something was sure
to come out-dead certain!
Three days passed then. and moth
evening of the fourth-thc fifth
since the sudden disappearance of
Lady Rena ardSmere-7nd just as
was sitting down to my solitary din
ner, in walked Miss Peggie Manson
not in her riding-coat and breeches,
but in a very Swagger tailor-nlade
costume ] was so aStonished that
] could only gaze at her-whereupon
she flung a telegram on the table be-
fore me.
The latest" she remarked laconi-
cally.
spread the fimsy sheet of paper
before me and read, nothing that the
message had been handed in at Vic
toria at $40 that afternoon
Il want you and Cranase to meet
me at George Hotel Winchester at
$50 this evening Walker is to take
you both over in Rolls Royce If
however ] don't turn up there by 10
o'clock return home and wait wire
HELEN RENARDsMERE"
'I suppose we've got to go?" I said
elancing at Peggie, who made
grimace and shrugged her shoulders
by way of wordless reply. "All
right-Ill Civ" orders to Walker.
But what's it all about
III, Il l. -
the good of that? one of her sud
den IDEAS
We went off little before eight
o'clock. Winchester was only twen-
ty-fve miles away. and we arrived
in its High street we'll ahead of our
time. We waited at the George un
til quarter past ten. No Lady
EenardSm"re arrived. And so, hav-
ing fulfilled her instructions, we set
off home again. Neither of us had
any suspicion that the telegram was
a bogus one; we merely thought that
its sender either had been prevented
from getting down, or had changed
her mind.
1t was beautiful moonlight night,
and Peggie and |. lost in the shadows
of the big car, enjoyed our ride
homeward We forgot all else and
became very friendly-the time
denly amazed to see the Admirars
Folly, ruinouS toWer-like structure
that stood on wooded hill over
looking a strangely lonely bit of
country about seven miles from
Renardsmere. IT was landmark
everybody knew it for miles around.
Good heavens" said /. We're
nearly home, There's the Admiraps
Folly up above us. / wish-'
/ was going to say that | wished
we'd another hundred miles to go,
when the car stopped with a sudden
pressure of its powerful brakes that
jerked us both forward. / pulled my
self together and thrust my head out
of the window
And / felt myself turn sick at what
] saw. There were three men in the
narrow lane, with black masks
across their faces, and in the hand