Evening star., 1935-10-06

moving behind the high battlements.
Thinking it might be Lucille,
shouted and waved my hand The
reply was trifle surprising There was
tiny spurt of flame, and a bullet
screeched past my ear, followed by
the sharp crack of rifle.
For fully a minute | must have
stood transfixed. But when a second
bullet spTted through the air above
my head, | made quick dash back
to the shelter of the ridge, and dropped
in the snow with my heart pounding.
Half a dozen wild surmises went
chasing through my mind. 1t was i'm
possible to arrive at any definite
conclusion about what had happened,
but one thing stood out clearly. My
fears had come true - Lucille Para
dene had fallen into the enemy's
hands.
This thought put me in a fever of
apprehension. My real feelings to-
wards her had become plain to me
by this time; and while commonsense
prompted me to retreat down to the
Inn and await the arrival of the
police. my fears for Lucille's safety
sent me off on another course.
Moving back to the other side of
the gully, was again within sight of
the roof of Falcon Castle, and l
hoped the watcher would conclude
that was returning to the Inn. But
as soon as got round the shoulder of
the hillside. turned and climbed up
in the channel of the stream. bearing
westward until l reached the high
ground above the house. l could see
nobody now behind the battlements
on the roof. but l knew it would be
rash to conclude that the man had
gone. 1t was with the greatest care,
therefore, that | worked my way
slowly downward. taking cover where
l could behind clumps of gorse, ex-
pecting every moment to hea the
snap of rifle-shot
Darkness was beginning to fall. If
it had been broad daylight, my task
would have been foolhardy one; but
in the dusk. reached the courtyard
of Falcon Castle in safety. l gently
tried the back door, and found it
locked. This was not going to hold me
back. however. and scrambled on a
big water-butt and got on the roof of
an outhouse. I had my eye upon a
window little way above, and in
spite of the treacherous foothold of
snow on the roof, managed to reach
it. Although it was small and narrow,
scrambled through to the little spiral
staircase inside.
The first thing did was to pull off
my shoes. Slipping downstairs.
reached the kitchen passage, and tip
toed out towards the main corridor.
No lamps or candles had been lit,
and the house was quiet, with that
uncanny stiffness Of suspended life.
Through the half-open door l could
see that the dining room fire was
nearly out. Nobody appeared to be
there. and moved towards the
library.
1t was in semi-darkness, and l
ventured to light match. An extra
ordinary sight met my eyes. The big
room was in disorder: books had been
hauled down from the shelves; the
cupboard door was open and its con-
tents scattered; the drawers of my
grandfather desk lay in heap. The
desk itself was a wreck; in a search for
a hidden drawer, somebody must
have been smashing at the woodwork.
Whoever had forcibly taken possession
of Falcon Castle was making a last
and desperate effort to discover the
Paradene letters! But if Lucille herself
were in the house, what had happened
to her - and where was Mr.. Rox-
burgh? As 1 retraced my steps along
the corridor, the silence at last was
broken. Somewhere above me heard