New Britain herald., 1929-09-25
EiIDSIADE'S STORY

ItIi'~IADb. .S SloIN
 Somcrfield stood the shock of the new relation between me and Neron- ica with his usual sangfroid when We told him at dinner that night. At nine o'clock came an urgent message from f.aXton demanding the instant presence of Somcrricld and myself at Inc Lord Nelson. He took us at once to his room.
 MT, Relsade," said he.
 X tall man rose from q chair at 1h" table. l started back, unable to suppress q cry.
 : Cousin John""
 Blind as it may seem. we had not till that moment dreamed of connecting the fugitive with Rod sIade. The legend of his death had been firmly established in our minds. But now explanations of the incNplirable rushed up in a flood. }ut also, with them, fresh cOnUndrums
 Why had he masqcradcd as Nrr. Richard? Spent three years in prison? Allowed his ancestral os- tate to be dissipalcd while he had one fortune lying in a Belgian bank, and another in gold and jewels apparently at his hand?
 And, above all. what was Yer onica's part in the complication?
 l.aNtOn was speaking:
 I've arranged with Mr. Fother- bury for Eas1loy to come to New place at half-past nine and meet us there. I think we shall then get to the bottom of pclrs riddle. But Mr. Grenofcn and Mir. Somerfield ought to be put wise to the pre- Hminaries, l think. ch?"
 Its pretty rotten story" Eedslade objected
 Well, We needn't drag it out. This was how it shaped. MT. Red slade unexpectedly inherited New place while he was a youth in the army, where he struck up his close friendship with pcU. He did not come of age till the war was over.
 Then he found himself the owner of an estate so cncumbcred that he could not keep it up. He got into the hands of the moncy- lenders. and finally ke fell to the share of the firm of Smithins. They made an arrangement with him to discharge all the mortgages on NeWplace and give him a new one-a real thumpor.
 His lawyers were dead against the arrangement, but the sight of t10,O00. in cash was too much for him, Very soon he couldn't keep mp his interest. Then Smithins jumped on him.
 MT. Redslade was ruined. Not long before he had met Miss Van denessen and fallen in love with her. And that brings me to Pcn and the Seabrokes-bccaus it was Pcll who introduced him to the S'abrokes at their apartment in the Rue Rogicr, and there that he met Miss Nandencssen.
 "TOu've already got the hang of Pclls identity - Philip Lincoln.- an old acquaintance of Mrs. Sea broke in her younger days, a neighhor of Iincoln's mother. Pell, in two holidays in .Rdgium, had visited Mrs. Scabroke in Brus- sels and her daughter at Bruges.
 "On the third visit. in 1924. he had his friend Rcdslade with him. Pell was man of different social rank from Mir. Redslade-an ac- COuntant in the city At various times, he made violent efforts to save MT. Redsladc from his sbeset- ting sin of gambling. They all failed.
 Now, you know that Pell and Mr. Rodsladc were together in Brussels in the summer of 1925. Pcll had gone with him to .Ostend at the most desperate point in his fortunes. just after the foreclosure on Newplaco. Pell feared what Redsladc might do - he tried to commit suicide. You know that the report of his death was ac- coptod as fact.
 But Pell rescued him that night. He chased his rladdenod friend along the digue from the Casino to the Quai dcs Pechours, where he went over into the water. Pell followed. dragged him ashore in the darkness of the railway pier, spent two awful days with him in one of the back elums of Dstond, and finally took him off to Bruges in the hope that Miss Van dcnessen would cure him of his mclancholia.
 Miss Nandenosscn was staying in Brussels with the Snabrokes. They went there. and unhappily found that Commander Seabroke, whom they both then met for the first time. had joined his family.
 You know Commander Sea broke. To him, Rcdslade as owner of NeWplace was desirable ac- quaintancc. But when Pcll brought to his house this ruined man, ap- bearing to claim sympathy and the hand of his daughters friend, Sea broke saw red. There was terrific TOW.
 "Pcn took him away. But the report of his own death suggested 10 RedSllde the conduct that caused all the trouble aftorward. I!o would have one fling with his last few hundred francs. If he lost he would stay dead.
 The same night was the night of the seven coup, r. the Krr"Gal 1rr. Redslade knew nothing of Mar Iinc's pr0sc~cc in tNo crowd if he W0s there. Neither did Pell. "Thcv cid meet ''arling on the boat next morning. He seemed anX-