The Ely miner., 1938-11-10
CHAPTER IV-Continued

i
The sergeant swallowed, and Vir-
gil put in his oar.
"You may be strangers" he said,
''but that doesn't put you above the
law of the land"
''Nor, I trust" said Herrick, "be-
yond the traditional courtesy of its
inhabitants. What is your rank in
the poice?"
Virgil flushed.
'I am not in the police" he said.
"Then why" said Herrick, "did
you presume to address me?"
''My name is"
81 have no DESIRE" said Herrick,
''to hear your name" He returned
to the police. "You were saying
that the matter was serious :"
Virgil looked ready to burst, but
the sergeant went straight to the
point.
81 will be plain" he said. ga lady
has been abducted-a lady of high
degree. She was kidnapped early
this morning upon her fathers es-
tate at Brief some ten
miles from here" He held up our
map. 81 think you will hardly deny
that you know where that is"
''I have known where Brief was"
said Herrick, "for % years."
The others stared.
Then
''We are dealing with the pres
ent," said Virgil.
Herrick raised his eyebrows.
"Allow me to suggest" he said,
''that you should keep to yourself
such, er, discoveries as you may
make" He turned again to the po-
lice. eyes, gentlemen?"
The sergeant cleared his throat.
''In view, sir, of what has oc-
CURED, l must ask you to explain
the markings upon this map"
with pleasure" said Herrick.
''And I sincerely advise you to
tell the truth"
''You will fnd," said Herrick,
"that we have nothing to hide" He
fingered his chin. 81 stayed at
Brief, as a child, in 1912. My moth
or and the Countess Rudolph were
very close friends. Happening to be
at Innsbruck week ago, felt a
strong desire to visit the castle
again. For various reasons I did
not wish to leave cards. Much has
happened, you know, in % years.
My mother, the Count of Brief and
the Countess Rudolph have died,
the Lady Elizabeth has been born
and, worst of all, I'm told that a
vulgar blackguard, the son of an
uncle of hers, has the run of the
place."
A ghastly silence succeeded these
moving words, the police regarding
the gravel with goggling eyes and
Virgil, dark red in the face, sur
veying Herrick with the glare of a
baited beast.
Herrick continued agreeably.
''We, therefore, came here from
Innsbruck on Sunday last. On Mon
day we started out to try to dis
cover some spot from which we
could view the castle, without 60
ing into the grounds. We only found
one, and that was-too far away.
Determined not to be beaten, we
tried for the next three days-with
the aid of that map. And all in
vain Last night we reviewed
the position, and found it this-that
we must either trespass or else go
empty away.
'Now I do not like trespassing:
hY1f II fro do
like going empty away. And in the
end we decided to rise very early
this morning, enter the park from
the north and have a good look at
the castle before anybody was up.
And so we did"
For a moment I thought that Vir-
gil was going to faint. All the color
was out of his face, which looked
peaked and thin, and he did not
seem to be breathing, but might
have been turned to stone. Then a
shiver ran through him, and hand
went up to his mouth.
But the police had no eyes for
him. The two were staring at Her
rick as though they would read his
soul.
cat what times" said the SER
geant, "did you enter and leave the
estate?"
''We entered at four and we left
about half past six
There was an electric silence.
Then
81 am bound to inform you," said
the sergeant, "that what you have
just admitted makes your position
most grave. The outrage was COM
mitted this morning at six o'clock" :"
Perhaps" said Herrick, cit was
not committed by u.s.