Evening star., 1932-06-27

lOAu bgs w " NANA'N ~--D
table-turning or tipping, haven't
you?"
"Oh, yes, now and tnen. Not serI-
Gus. you know"
mo. of course not. It's the kind
of thing one does on a wet afternoon,
and every one accuses every one else
of showing. Well. if you've PLAYED 1t
YOU know what happens. The table
starts spelling out, say, name; well,
it's a name somebody knows. Very
often they recognize it at once and
hope 1t isn't going to be that. and all
the time unconsciously they are what
one calls showing. l mean sort OF
recognizing things makes one give an
inyoll1ntary Jerk when the next letter
comes and stops the thing. And the
less you want to do that, sometimes,
the more it happens"
Yes, that's true" agreed Mr..
Enderby.
II don't believe for a moment in
spirits or anything like that. But sup
posing that one of those people VINO
were playing knew that Capt. Trev-
elyan was being murdered at that
minute"
"Oh, say" protested Charles, that's
awfully far fetched
well, it needn't be quite so crude
are Just taking a hypothesis-that's S
all. We are asserting that somebody
knew Capt. Trevelyan was dead and
absolutely couldn't hide their knoWl-
edge. The table betrayed them"
"It's aWfully ingenious" said Charles,
''but I don't believe for minute it's
true"
"Weu assume that it is true said
Emily firmly. Il am sure that in de-
lection of crime you mustn't be afraid
to assume things"
"Oh. I'm quite agreeable" said Mr..
Enderby. ''Well assume that 1t is true
anything you like"
so what we have to do said
Emily, "is to consider very carefully
the people who were playing. To begin
with there's Maj. Burnaby and Mr..
Rycroft Well it seems wildly unlikely
that either of them should have an
accomplice who was the murderer.
Then there is this Mr.. Duke. Well,
for the moment we know nothing about
him. He has only just arrived here
lately and, of course, he might be a
sinister Stranger-part of gang or
something We viii put x against his
name. And now we come to the VIII
let's Charles, there is something
awfully mysterious about the Willetts. ="
What on earth have they got to
gain from Capt. Trevelyan's death?'
well, on the face Of it, nothing. But
If my theory is correct there must be
a connection somewhere. We've got
to find what is the connection
Right" said Mr.. Enderby. And
supposing it's all a mares nest?"
"Well, we'll have to start all over
again" said Emily.
"Harkl" cried Charles suddenly.
1aIJ 1rYn his Thor, ne uarf
over to the window and opened 1t. 1t
was the far-off booming of a great
bell.
AS they stood listening, Mrs. Curtis
voice called excitedly from below, do
you hear the bell, lniSs-do you hear
Emily opened the door
"D'you hear it? Plain as plain, isn't
1t? Well now, to think of that!"
What is it?" asked Emily.
tits the bell at Princetown, miss,
near to IL miles away. 1t means that
q convict's escaped. George. George,
where is that man? D'you hear the
bell? There's a convict loose" Her
voice died away as she went through
the kitchen.
Charles shut the window and sat
down on the bed again. Its a pity
that things happened all wrong" he
said dispaSsionately. If only this con-
vict had escaped on Friday, why, there
would be our murderer nicely account
ed for. No farther to look Hungry
man, desperate criminal breaks in.
Trevelyan defends his Englishman's
him one. All so simple"
He shook his head sadly.
Emily woke early the next morning.
Being a sensible young woman, she
realized there was little possibility of
Mr.. Enderby's collaboration until the
morning was well advanced So. feeling
restless, she set out for a brisk walk
along the lane in the opposite direction
from which they had come last night
The lane ran steeply uphill and came
out on the open moor where it degen
Grated into a glass track and soon
petered out altogether. The morning
was a fine one, cold and crisp and the
view was lovely. Emily assembled to
the very top of Sittaford Tor, pile
of gray rock of a fantastic shape
From this height she looked down
over an eXpanse of moorland, unbroken
as far as she could see without any
habitation or any road. Below her, on
the opposite side of the Tor, were gray
masses of granite boulders and rocks.
OAlC OUEAlLs AA4Od6AAb EMILY VII
fusedly, "to see things better when you
are high up like this 1t ought to be
like lifting off the top Of a dolls
house and peering in
She wished with all her heart that
she had met the dead man even If
only once. 1t was so hard to get an
idea of people you had never seen. You
had to rely on other peoples judgment,
and Emily had never yet acknowledged
that any other persons judgment was
superior to her own. Medttatlng
vexedly on her problems, Emily sighed
tmpatiently and shifted her position.
She had been so lost in her own
thoughts that it was with shock OF
surprise she realized chat a small elder
" gentleman was standing a few feet
away from her, his hat held courte-
ously In his hand, while he breathed
rather fast.
Excuse me-" he said Miss Trefusis,
believer"
Yes" said Emily.
MY name is Rycroft. You must for
give me speaking to you, but In this