Evening star., 1935-05-19
Msy 10. 1885

He might be found out" Mrs Gray said,
IF the police went tooth and nail after the
young ladys bearded visitor"
"Igave the matter careful thought madam.
while making up the story. fancy it would be
impossible to trace the affair back to our
eminent friend"
Then there is one point" said Mrs. Gray.
"You ought to have killed the cat"
The strangers blue-grey eyes twinkled at
her. But Mrs. Gays attention was riveted on
the rack above his head. The red eyes of a
small white cat were staring unblinkingly at
her from behind the bag of golf clubs Fol-
lowing her eyes. he looked up at the rack
above his head. but from where he sat could
see nothing untoward. He turned again to
her. amiably interested in her agitation.
What is it, madam You look as though
you were seeing ghost"
Mrs. Gray was praying for strength not to
faint Could she pull the communication cord
before the murderer leapt at herr
The bearded stranger rose with great de-
liberation. She gave a faint sob and tried to
stretch her arm up to the communication
cord. but was somehow paralyzed by his
amiable look of inquiry. Far from attacking
her. he turned his back and looked at the
rack above his head. The cat had now climbed
on to the golf bag.
"You little beast" said the stranger quite
amiably. Climbed into my golf bag, did you1
Ill teach you to climb into my golf bag and
spoil my stories.''
He turned to the trembling Mrs Gray
Madam. may ask your permission to
throw this cat out of the Window"
He made vicious grab at the cat, but she
spat at him and leapt to the other end of the
rack. He laughed and looked ruefully over his
shoulder at Mrs. Gray. Then he lifted his golf
bag from the rack. and holding it under his
arm, stood above Mrs. Gray, who shrank as
far as she could into the corner.
She waited, her eyes closed, a scream ready
IN her throat. for the first touch of his hands.
She must have lost consciousness. But imme-
diately wild rush of air brought her to her
senses. The door was banging She was alone.
The white cat was staring at her from the
opposite end of the compartment At the
same moment the corridor door was almost
filled by large female with Roman nose.
>"hS AOONSN az A"AS. oioy uISuduuuHy, tI1cll
round the compartment and, more in sorrow
than anger. said: "Ameliav
The white cat Immediately leapt to her
shoulder. She looked severely at Mrs GRAY.
Don't you think you might have told me
that Amelia was in here? She must have got
out of my compartment when we were going
through the tunnel five minutes ago, and was
afraid she had fallen out of the window"
But" sighed Mrs. Gray, ''is that your
cat2"
The lady with the Roman nose, disdaining
to answer stupid questions, shifted, and
marched away down the corridor with Amelia
purring on her shoulder.
Next day the Sunday newspapers were full
of the suicide of the Rt. Hon. William Henry
Boisregis. Mrs. Gray had not told the friends
in Leicestershire with whom she was staying
her weird experience in the train. She said
nothing now. 1t was too fantastic. And it
didn't make sense, either. The man must sud-
denly have gone mad and that was all there
could be to it.
All the same. on Monday morning she
read the newspapers carefully. She thought
she must be going mad, too. when she read
paragraph to the effect that on Sunday morn
ing the domestic of Miss Lucy Wattley, who
had lived solitary life in North London
suburb. had found her mistress dead of gas
poisoning in the kitchen. It also appeared