Evening star., 1926-10-03

that fine. cold day and he tumbled
down dead. Well. we'll"
You have all the facts that l had
What would you have said was the
cause of death. Mr.. Fortune?"
"Oh. shock-shock. But what
shocked him?"
That's not my business. You
can't tell that from a postmOrtem.' y
NO. And you haven't made a
guess. DR. Ashton?"
DR.. Ashton flushed. ''Ah, now
you're coming to, it," he said. Il sup
pose the police have been talking to
you. It's quite true | had words with
Sir John Douty. The fellow pestered
my daughter and l warned him off.
That was a week before he died
| didn't see the man from that time
TIL they brought me to his dead body.
But because the local police heard of
that row they've been cross-eXamin-
ing me. I've told you everything. l
want to know if you're satisfied"
Il see no reason to doubt anything
you've said. DR.. Ashton"
II wish you'd exhume the body
and see for yourself.
It's a serious thing to dig up
corpse"
"Anything's better than this suspi-
cion," DR.. Ashton cried.
Yes. Very natural YOU should say
so. III remember Your wish"
DR.. Ashton was shown out. and Reg
gle stood watching him stride away.
COME days went by before Mr.. For
~ tune said word to Scotland Yard.
Then the chief of the Criminal In
vestigation Department rang him up.
Are YOU q ghost. Fortune?" said
the telephone.
Why"
Because YOU don't speak till you're
spoken to. Come and speak to me"
The Hon. Sidney Lomas received
Mr.. Fortune and gave him two letters.
In the first. the chief of the local po-
lice submitted that in view of the
many suspicious circumstances about
the death of Sir John Douty, his body
should be eXhumed and examined by
medical experts. In the second. the
son of the late Sir John Douty Oh.
jected 10 the attempts of the police
to make trouble about his fathers
death. He had heard that it was pro-
posed to dig up the body. He wished
to protest against this.
"Temper-or funk" Lomas smiled.
'Well, YOU wouldn't expect a son
to like his father exhumed," said
Reggie. Hes natural enough"
is he? He's been speeding up the
redecoration Of Mimms Hall. He's
going to give a housewarming s soon
as he can get the workmen out of the
place. That's how he feels about his
fathers death"
The only sound reason for digging
UP the body is that we don't believe in
DR.. Ashton,' said Fortune. But YOU
want to dig it up because you don't
like the son and heir. What is the
theory. Lomas? That Dr. Ashton is a
silly ass or that he is in colusion with
the SOM"
He might be both" Lomas smiled.
"Oh, my head said Mr.. Fortune.
You're fun of ideas. LomaS. Try an
other. Dr. Ashton is very anxious the
body should be exhumed."
Good CAD
Just so He came to me and said
people were being nasty to him, so
would | dig up the body please. and
have lock at it myself. Now what's
the theory, Lomas?"
Lomas sighed. II gather you liked
DIR. Enoch Ashton"
mo. | wouldn't say that But l
didn't think he was blutfing. He was
quite sure ! shouldn't find anything
he hadn't found"
do YOU feel sure?'
I'm not sure of anything. Suppose
il was shock. Why did the man choose
to have his shock at Mimms Hall? He
was generally somewhere else. What
sort of thing would shock a tough old
prOtiteer?'
And if it wasn't shock it might
have been anything?'
"Anything-na or unnatural.
But DIR. Ashton must have done some
bold lying
oh. we'd better dig up the body"
Lomas said. "A great chance for YOU,
Reginald"
why not do a little work your
self?" said Mr.. Fortune. See if you
can find out something about the past
of the Doutys."
I've got it all" Lomas tapped
pile of paper. The Lanca shire police
have worked at the case like beavers.
And there's nothing in all their stuff
but that the man had a row with DR..
Ashton"
They looked for what they ex-
pected, and they found it. Send Bell
down. He has an open mind"
So Supt. Bell went to Lancashire
and the application for an eXhumation
order went to the home secretary.
Upon the third day Mr.. Fortune
had u call from Scotland Yard. He
was told that John Douty. jr.. had
been found dead in his room at Mimms
Hall. Mr.. Douty had given his house
warming party. Half a dozen men
were at Mimms Hall. They kept it
ND late. Mr.. Douty did not come down
in the morning He did not answer
when they called him. His door was
locked. They broke it open. His body
was quite cold.
X X
ID EGGIE FORTUNE got out of the
~ restaurant car in Manchester.
An ancient taxi wheeZed away with
him through miles of little grim
houses He came out of the town into
country devastated by tall chimneys,
gaunt winding engines and heaps Of
Gingy rubble.
The taxi swung by a terribly new
lodge of yellow brick into a park
where among old and dying timber
a host of saplings had been planted.
Mr. Fortune put his hand to his eyes
An Elizabethan manor house stood
up against him. red and raw. 1t was
II place of pleasant design. but 1t had
been scraped and pointed and restored
till it looked like mass of meat.
Supt Bell came to the door. Glad
you've come. sir. VIII YOU see the
body at once''
The room in which John Douty lay
dead was large and of graceful pro-
portions. 1t had been treated less
hrutally than the outside. on the
vast bed was John Douty's body.
DR. Ashton's seen him, sir. But he
wouldn't touch him except to make
sure he WAS dead. He said he had no
idea how he died
somebody's touched him. Reggie
frowned He wasn't found like
this
NO, sir When they broke the door
in they found him over there in the
corner Sort of kneeling in a heap,
they say. AS if he died saying his
prayers But the bed had been slept