Evening star., 1929-06-30

TENTH INSTALLMENT.
Y FOLDED the paper and thrust II
under my pillow. Smart brought
me cup of coffee,
"If you can drink it," the doctor
said. 'it viii do you good. We've
opened the windows, and the smell will
soon be gone"
I took the coffee and felt better.
''How did the fellow get in?" I asked
Smart. You locked the outside door, l
indeed, did, sir" the man replied.
"He must have got a pass key from
somewhere
The doctor felt my pulse and mur-
INJURED a word of commentator.
Nothing more can do for you, "
he announced. You can have these
bits of stuff back after I've sent them
for analysis. So far as I can see. there
will be no harmful effects whatever" "
At half past 10, Mr.. YardSley was
announced He introduced himself,
and we shook hands.
II have instructions. Maj. OwSton," 7"
he announced. ito put you in possession
of certain information. You appear to
have entered Martin HewS' service
rather hurriedly.'
THAT is quite true" 1 admitted.
Into my clients history there is no
necessity to enter. Mr.. Martin Hews
is one of the greatest collectors Of
curios in the world and, like a great
many other collectors, he is, I regret
to say, sometimes utterly unscrupulous
as to the means by which he gains pos
session of his treasures.
'I can imagine that" I murmured.
professionally" he went on, "it has
suited my purpose to devote my whole
energies to Mr.. Martin Hews' affairs
They have brought me some very in
tcresting work in various branches of
the law"
IT should imagine" suggested, that
they have even brought you very near
the criminal courts on more than one
occasion"
"At times, must confess to YOU.
Maj. Owston," my visitor acknowledge
that I have had difficulty with my
client. He is a very Shrewd man. but
1e has the spirit of a buccaneer- n
buccaneer, major-for whom there is
very little place in this police-guarded
and law-abiding world of ours.
"The contents of Breezeley Mansion
would be underinsured at 100000
pounds. and, owing to the way in which
some OF those treasures came into my
clients possession, he is not i'll a
position to insure them. Any man,
under such conditions, would be juSti-
fed in adopting strong measures for the
protection of his property. 1t is one of
my duties to keep my client within the
law, so far as possible.
You may or may not know, Maj.
Owston. that, during the last five years,
there has been curious change in the
workings of the criminal world. Years
ago, 1t was every man for himself. To-
day 1t is a sort of fraternity. Within
the last few months, two gangs. Joseph's
and Donkin's. have practically wiped
out all others, and barely fortnight
ago Donkin killed a man and has had
to fly the country. Mr.. Martin Hews
has been at the back of Donkin's gang
in many of their exploits. He has
financed them when it was necessary,
and he has gone so far as to suggest
to them various privately owned
treasures he wished to acquire, and for
which he was willing to pay a consider
abel sum. These affairs are conducted
through an agent who keeps a second
hand art shop in Grafton street.
But surely" ventured, this is a
criminal proceeding?"
Morally, Major Owston, without a
doubt it is" the lawyer assented. ut
Is my business to overlook the transac-
mains technically outside the law.
After this preamble, we now come to
the situation that has arisen since
Donkin's flight. His gang Is dwindling
away. Most of them have joined the
enemy. Today Joseph's gang is omnip-
otent"
"And Joseph, I gather, is not exactly
on friendly terms with Martin Hews"
For some reason or other" Mr..
Yardsley confided. there exists the
most bitter enmity between them.
Only a month ago the Borghese Medal
lions came into Joseph'S hands. An
amazing daylight robbery, that! There
was no limit to what my client was
prepared to pay for these. Isaacs, his
agent, did everything that was possible
Every proposal was met with stony
silence, and Joseph sold these medal
lions to New York millionaire. The
same thing was repeated with fif-
teenth-century Italian landscape re-
puted Leonardo da Vinci-for which
my client was prepared to give five
times its claimed value. Joseph
calmly sold it, s0mpletely ignoring
1saacs. Now recent events have made
things worse. Mr.. Martin Hewst was
responsible for Donkin's escape, and
he has given shelter at Breezeley
Mansion to the young woman whom
Donkin had taken away from Joseph.
So far, Josephs efforts to regain pos
session of her have been unsuccessful
and he has lost several of his best men,
Things now, fear, have reached a
very dangerous crisis. / must pro-
ncunce it as my considered opinion
that, before many weeks are past, either
Joseph will have Martin Hews' life.
or one of Martin Hews' people-it may
even be you, Major-will get at Joseph
and kill him. Martin Hews' passionate
desire is to get rid of Joseph. think
there is no price he would not pay for
that mans life"
I'm short" put it, "what you would
like would be for Joseph to be killed.
Pity I didn't sleep with an automatic
under my pillow last night. I might
have arranged 1t for you"
do you mean that Joseph has been
here?"
told my visitor the story and handed
him the scrap of paper. He read it and
handed it back.
IT suppose you know what happened
to your predecessor" he asked.
IT didn't even know that had one"
"A fellow named Fotherway," Mr..
Yardsley confided. Things hadn'.
developed quite so far as at present, and
Ihe thought he could do little good as
a spy down in the East End. He went
OF one Saturday night following clue
Donkin had given him, to house
somewhere Limehou5e way. They