Evening Star Newspaper, February 9, 1927, Page 28

THE EVENING Q']‘\R WASHINGTON, D. ‘WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1927 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd By AGATHA CHRISTIE. Copyright by Dodd, Mead & Co (Continued from Yesterday's Star.) She held out her left hand. On the third finger of it was an exquisitely » marry Ralph, you nt on nele is \«r\l family us to live | culty in framing We know | jude- | 1 m po- | Ceeil’s widow. ~ But tiresome things— 3 know—all that. | e Vh’( Roger intends (u‘ settlements upon dear Flora, but, as you know, he is just a leetle | peculiar about money. Very usual, | I've heard, amongst men who are cap: tains of industry. 1 wondered, you know, if you could just sound him on the sub; Flora is so fond of you. We feel you are quite an old | friend, although we have only really known you just over two v ckroyd's eloquence was cut short the drawing room door | opened once more. I was pleased at | the interruption. 1 hate interfering in other people’s affairs and 1 not the least inte Ackroyd on the sul tlements. In another moment now Maj. Blunt, don't you, , indeed,” I said. lot of people know Hector Blunt least by repute. He h: than any man living, I When you mention him, people say Blunt—you don’t mean the big-game man, do you?” His friendship with Ackroyd has s puzzled me a little, The two re so totally dissimilar. Hector Blunt is perhaps five years Ackroyd's junior. They made friends early in iife, and though their ways have di- verged, the friendship still holds. About once in two years Blunt spends a fortnight at Fernly, and an im- mense animal’s head with an amaz- ing number of horns, which fixes you with a glazed stare as soon as you come inside the front door, is a per- manert reminder of the friendship. Blunt had entered the room now with his own peculiar, deliberate, yet soft-footed He is a _man of , sturdily and rather v built. His face is almost ma- sred and is peculiarly ex- He has gray eyes that sion of always watch- is happening very ks little, and what say 1s said jerkily, as though the words were forced out of him unwillingly. He said now, 1 sionless. “How are you, Shep- pard?” in his usual abrupt fashion, and then stood squarely in front of the fireplace, looking over our heads as though he saw something very in- teresting happening in Timbuctoo. . Blunt,” said Flora, “I wish yo tell me about these African things. I'm sure you know what they all are.” 1 have heard Hector Blunt described as a woman hater, but I noticed that he joined Flora at the silver table with what might be described as alac- rity. They bent over it together. 1 was afraid Mrs. Ackrovd would begin talking about settlements again, g0 I made a few hurried remarks about the new sweet pea. I knew there was a new sweet pea because the Daily Mail had told me so that morning. M {ng about horticultur E kind of woman who likes to appear well informed at topics of the day, and sh ds the Daily Mail. We we: nverse quite inrelligently 4 and his | jomned u: nced dinne between t to him a cheerful affair. visibly preoccupled. He i wretched and ate next to noth- 8. Mrs. Ackroyd, Raymond and 1 kept the conversation going. Flora seemed affected by her uncle's depres- sion and Blunt relapsed into his usual ely after dinner Ackroyd slipped his arm thro mine and led me off to his study “Once we've had coffee, we shan’t in," he explained. to see to it that we 2 rogm, the armchair in table apart- one wall of ne w | and cov that he was anxious npression that our medical one. I I th b much. 1 brought | some up with me n. Hand them over now.” n my bag in the hall. T'll will get e doctor's bag, will | As 1 was about to v up his hand. can )\xl-l‘\ contain mys I saw that plainly enough. And J | enter your head—t | the time I had no suspici {son who has known all along—who has - | fact, she didn’t actual nd immediately 1* | heals the lining of the breathing pas- Ackroyd spoke again almost imme diately. ; Make certain that window's closed, I got up and w a French win dow, but one of the ordinary sash type. The heavy blue velvet curtains were drawn in front of it, but the win elf was open at the top Parker re-entered the room with my - while T was still at the window “ hat's all right,” T said, emerging i \gain Into the room “You've put_the latch across?” “Yes, ves. What's the matter with you, Ackroyd?" door had just closed behind ker, or I would not have put the question. royd waited just a minute before entving “I'm in hell,” he sald slowly, after 1 minute. No, don’t bother those damned tablets. 1 only said k Prvants are curioy he door’s | isn't it? »ody can overhear, don’t 1, nobody knows what I've rough in the last 24 hours. If him, mine has about me. s of Ralph's is the it we won't talk about that now It's the other—the other: 1 don’t w what to do about it. And I've K my mind soon.” lent for a min seemed * curiously . When he did speak you attended Ashley rars in his last illness, didn’t you? I did." » seerped to find even greater diff his next question. suspect—did it ever —well, that he ned?"” minute or two. “Did you neve might have been pc I was silent for Then I Roger Ackroy “I'll tell you the truth,” well, it was mere idle talk ster’s part that first put the my head. nce then 1| haven’t been able to get it out again. But, mind you, I've no foundation whatever for that suspicion.” s poisoned,” said A in a dull heavy vo 1 asked sharply My God! yesterday! It seems 10 yvears ago.” I waited a minute, and then he \\'(‘nt on. “You understand, Sheppard, I'm tell- ing you this in confidence. If’ no further.. I want your ad tan't carry the whole weight by my- Can you tell me the whole story?” I said. “I'm still in the dark. Ho did ¥rs. Ferrars come to make this cor fession to you?" “It’s like this. Three months ago I asRed Mrs, Ferrars to marry me. She refused. I asked her.again and she consented, but she refused to allow me to make the engagement public until her year of mourning was up. Yester- day I called upon her, pointed out that a year and three weeks had now elapsed since her husband’s deatfi, and that there could be no further objec- tion to making the engagement public property. I had noticed that she been very strange in her manner f some days. Now, suddenly, without the least warning, she broke down completely. She—she told me every- thing. Her hatred of her brute of a husband, her growing love for me, and the—the dreadful means she had taken. Poison! My God! It was mur. der in cold blood."” .I saw the repulsion, the horror, in Ackroyd’s face. So Mrs. Ferrars must have seen it. Ackroyd is not the type of the great lover who can forgive all for love's sake. He is fund mentally a good citizen.. All that was sound and wholesome and law-abiding in him must have turned from her ut- terly in that moment of revelation. Ces,” he went on, in a low, mo- notonous voice, * she confessed ev thing. It seems that there is one per- been blackmailing her for huge sums. It was the strain of that that drove her nearly mad.” “Who was the man?"’ Suddenly before my eyes there arose the picture of Ralph Paton and Mrs. Ferrars side by side. Their heads close together. I felt a momentary throb of anxiety. Supposing—oh! but surely that was impossible. I remem bered the frankness of Ralph’s greet- that very afternoon. Absurd! She wouldn’'t tell me his name,” said Ackroyd slowly. “As a matter of y that it was But of course——" * I agreed. “It must have man. 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What a list to choose from! $1.50 and $1.75 Inlaid Linoleums, sq. yd...98c $1.10 Armstrong Printed Linoleum.......85c $17.75 Armstrong Rugs, 9x12 size......$14.50 $12.85 Armstrong Rugs, 9x10.6-ft. .....$12.50 $10.95 Armstrong 1\1153, 7.6x9 size.......$8.50 $8.95 Armstrong Rugs, 6x9 size .........$6.95 $13.95 Pabcolin Rugs, 9x12 size . .. ...$8.50 $12.95 Pabcolin Rugs, 9x10.6 size ..$7.50 $10.75 Pabcolin Rugs, 9x9 size . . .. ..$6.50 \7 25 Pabcolin Rugs, 6x9 size . . ... +-$3.95 Fifth Floor—Lansburgh's—8th Street 32-in. Shantung Pongee 1.25 Its rough, lustrous weave is so sportlike—its “washability” and there are twenty-five of the newest choose from! A heavy grade of shantung—that is every thread pure silk—of the Lansbur standard. 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