New Britain herald., 1925-07-15


 MT. SiIas StamraFe, the eminent | surgeon, retired from London prac- | tice whose house on the edge of the marsh he had just visited.
 If only he could hear what was being discussed Klyne would cheer fully have parted with handsome | sum of money, From the move ments of his lips the man appeared to be talking necessarily, but only | faint burr reached the watcher outside. Either he was speaking in very low tone or the glass of the | closed window was too thick 10 all ! low the passage of his voice.
 Suddenly the moving lips erew rigid in their natural line -- q line denotng cruelty, as only the hu- man mouth can. klyne shifted his Guze 10 Mjss Adela Larkin. She was noddmg and smiling. and then her clear young loice rang out, van quishmg all obstacles:
 "Why. of course, Tncle Gl'as. that's what we must do
 kyne turned away, making his way back over the plank bridge and so to the road. If Mir Stampagc was the girls uncle she was in no danger from him.
 But why on earth had she loosed off that ghastly scream
 On the tram he sought out scat by himself, and half an hour later he vas at Beccics. He was sur rriscd and not a little gratified to find his journalistic friend, Mir. Ted ! Knowlcs Of the Planet, on the plat form 10 receive him,
 "A nttle Of each" was the frank vrnly. "The fact is the only decent hustelrv in this one horse place is 1 crowded with Fleet street boys from other papers. So ] am In q private l lodging. and I took the liberty Of rngaging q room for you, too. knew you wouldn't want 10 be pes tered by 3 herd of pushing young 1 gtors and l thought l might pick your brains of an exclusive story if got vou on the quiet"
 "You ahall." said lilyne shortly, "nnd with a reservation"
 No further reference was made to the case till inc two men had surped and lighted their pipes in 'ha homely sitting room of their oIgings,
 "I reckon you didn't interview Gtamrago "' said Knowles. At any rate not 10 make him cough up any thing useful?"
 He coughed ID enough, but not Co me" replied klync. "Uniortu- nateIv couldn't hear what he was saying. To hegin at the beginning ! I got tllr dirty hick-out from the ruf1ian who answered the door. But T came up with Gtampage after wards. Now look here, Tod. I am going 10 give you an exclusive eventually leading to 3 scoop. But in return I want something"
 Trust you for that" laughed Knowles. "What is ito"
 "A paragraph in the Planet shall dictate it, but it will fiji in with the story l shall eventually give you. Tn fact it will lead up 10 and he part of, that story.'
 "rhen it's deal,' the ioWnass' assoutcd
 On that Klyne proceeded to dc. scribe his experiences after being turned away from Mir. Stampage'' front door -- how he had followed up the scream from the marsh anC peerod into the Wild-fowler'S hut 10 see the presumed master of tn house in conversation with q younl , woman who showed no signs of dis tress. though there was nobody els
 about who could have screamed. Good stuff" said Knowles "rhatu get 'em guessing But it 5 bit weird, eh? What do you mak of it yourself, klyne?'
 Not much yet" Was the reply But I shall if you are good bo , and phone or wire that up for pub ication in tomorrow's issue of you stunt-hunting rag. But this is 5 point. You mustn't drag me into f l No mention of a detective. Leave : to be inferred that you did th 3 peeninz in at the hut window" That will suit me all right g
 the crime specialist of the paper, said Knowles "But this isn't you 0 dictated paragraph, IS it'" - No" rejoined Klyne. T sha . call in at your office at noon to
 morrow and give you that for pub
 lication next day"
 The journalist looked at the de
 tactive and chuckled: Cute char
 Want 10 get me away by the frs
 train in the morning and prever
 my possible researches in this be
 niEhted county. Well, have 1t you
 own way. I'll probably get more or
 of you in the long run than I shoul
 out of myself We will travel up tC
 gether"
 In the morning the pair caugf
 the early sOuthbound train, an
 Klvne was glad 10 see Miss AdeI
 Larkln board it after crossing trol
 the branch line platform. He ha
 regarded the removal of the pre-
 man from the scene of possible mi
 chief making as shade more d.
 sirable than leaving Adela in Il
 house Of her sinister uncle. It VI
 case of choosing the least of tv evils.
 Now that she had departed fro RuXton, her mysterious task, wha eyer 1t might bc, finished. he co graduated himself that he was T reved from both the contingenci that had worried him. And as he settled down in { ! smoking compartment at the si of the star reporter he found hil enlf annoyed 10 find that if M 7 l.arkin had remained at RuXton would have been the greater of |