Evening star., 1924-07-13
RIPPING RUBY
A Thrilling Mystery Story
By J. S. FLETCHER
g1N1WgMWgIgEING
~ J. S. FLETCHE]
copynrht 1874, By G. P. putnam's Sons.

WICK, Stratford, Oxford, Reading.
Winchester. turning aside here and
| there-I like to get in all that l can.
Architecture. pictures, anything like
that"
Artistic tastes. eh?' said Very
well--I'n show you round"
He thanked me very politely-all
through. he was very polite, well
hammered person-and observed, as
led him up the great staircase to
, the various galleries and state rooms
that all this sort of thing was abso-
| lutely new to him, and that / had no
Idea how he enjoyed 1t.
But l think you have a few mil
lionaires-who are also big collectors
in your own country. haven't you?"
them are pretty keen about remov-
Ing some of our most cherished pos
sessions across the Atlantic, too."
"Cherished?" he retorted. with an
| uplifted eyebrow. You can't call
them cherished, 1 think, If you let
much, why don't you outbid the fell
lows who come across to buy them?"
ASK me another!" I answered
you see, the average Briton thinks
more OF salmon at seven shillings
a pound than he does of book of
| sonnets at half the price. and he'd
rather lay out thirty thousand pounds
on drains and sewage than on keep
Ing Valesquez or a Rembrandt in
the country. However, 1 think all
| we've got here isn't likely to be
carried off as long as Lady Renards-
mere lives"
VERY rich woman, I suppose?" he
| inquired.
AS everybody knew that Lady
Renardsmere was unusually wealthy,
did not consider myself to be
breaking any confidence In admitting
| that she was. But 1 added that the
| things which we were now beginning
to inspect had been brought together
BY her late husband, Sir William
Renardsmere.
| was in her time very well known
| indeed, famous-actress. She was
known in your country. tool be-
lieve she'd quite a triumph there"
That's interesting!" he exclaimed.
| What was her stage name?"
told him. and he nodded as
though to assert that he knew the
name well enough.
That's a long way back. though"
eighties. And she's alive. and this
is her house? Well. now, that's
something to tell! Is there any
| chance of seeing herr"
I'm afraid not" I said. laughing
| mere isn't at home"
will she be long away" he asked.
| I'D hang round this village a day or
| two, to say I'd seen her.
Il shouldn't advise you to- said !.
| She may be away some time. But
| can show you a portrait of her.
painted by Millais. when she was at
the height of her fame and her
| beauty; we'll come to 1t presently"
He appeared to be greatly en-
| raptured by the portrait-so much so
that I hastened to tell him that 1t
was forty years since it was painted
and that Lady Renardsmere had
| changed so greatly in that time that
| there were few traces left of her
former beauty.
And since she came into posses
| sion of all this" he asked. waving
the tattooed hand round the gallery
pictures, these cabinets of rarities.
and all the rest of 1t. does she add
to it's she too, a collector"
| was SO sure of my visitors bona
appearance of youthful innocence
and his ingenious air that l an
swered without thinking.
Lady Renardsmere collects pre-
cious stones" l said. II believe shes
one of the most wonderful collections
| in the world
:, Are ;a,;.,tt! these shown" he asked. with
wouldn't no. DO She 1nspsFf1 Reeps them undsf ds1
lock and key, OF course. Other
"Just So" he said. There's a man
with whose son I was at college
! Cyrus p. Warrill, a rich man Of Chi
cago-he goes in for that sort of
| thing. He has a diamond necklace
that belonged to Catherine the Great.
and some pearl ornament that was
French queen-I don't know which.
/ suppose that's the sort of thing
| your Lady Renardsmere likes to ac-
quire?-things with historical inter
| est attaching to them?'
| Cant say" l replied. I've never
seen any of Lady Renardsmere's pos
sessions of that sort"
We'll; there's lot to look at
| here" he remarked. And whatever
ried over to our country, 1t strikes
| me since | came to yours that there
| are accumulations in these old Eng
| lish mansions and castles and halls
world. You've had a long start"
In this sort of light conversation
| I passed a couple Of hours with him
and then, wishing to be hospitable to
the TEA within hafGrs our be gates
| nally 1 saw him off on his bicycle
his one regret being that he hadn't
| been able to see Lady Renardsmere
so that he might have told her that
he had heard his mother speak Of her
| acting. We parted very good friends
| and he waved the tattooed wrist al
me as he sped down the drive.
| Walker came back that night with
the car-late. He came to see me
with a message. But 1t was not al
all the sort of message I had ex-
| pected. 1t was merely to say tina,
| while Lady Renardsmere was away
I was to have Walkers services and
any Of the cars in the garage when.
| ever I wanted them. Nothing more
1 asked Walker a question or two
he had taken Lady Renardsmere and
her maid, Felicia, to the house in
Park Lane and left them there; that
| was all he knew. I wondered then
if Jifferdene and Beacher had de.
| scended on Lady Renardsmere that
night after getting back to London
| But first thing next morning I knew
that she had not stopped in London;
she had evidently gone to Park Lane
| o get whatever she needed and had
| then travelled onward. For just as
i [ sat down to breakfast j got a wire
i rom her which had heen handad ip