The evening world. Newspaper, February 5, 1915, Page 19

THE CRIME-DOCTOR t< > The Aather of the Famous Reffles Stertes Creates a New and Strange Remanee of Criminelogy. Elen Gorerumen| to, Dollar tn great, distress, married, and han just learned CHAPTER V. » (Continwed,) "A Sehoolmaster Abroad. 'T was a very pale blue morn- » Ing, not a scintilla of sun- light in the valley, neither shine nor shadow upon clambpring forest or over- Bangingrocks. Somewhere bebind thelr Jagged peaks the sun must have risen, Dut as yet no snowy facet winked the news to Winterwald, and the softer ®ummits lost all character against a sky only less white than themselves, ‘The village strect pr&sented no dit- Meulties to Edenborough’s gouties and , the? doctor's nails; but there were Other people tn it, and voices travel in @ frost over silent snow, On the path between the snow-felds, peyond the village, nails were not enough, and the novice depending P> woon them stumbled and slid as the @laborated climax of Edenborough's exzpertence induced even more speed. “It was him all right—try the edge, Dovtor, it’s fess slippy. It was that youtig brute fn his domino, as if he'd fisver been to bed at all, and me in * awake. We should have lookea a ‘Syany, pair in—have my arm, Doctor.” “Thanks, George.” But bis electric lamp. was the only Meet. He didn't attempt to put it ‘Just tuning up my toboggan,’ he whispered. ‘Come and have a 160k." I didn't and don't believe it ‘WaaHis.own toboggan; it was prob- ably that Capt. Strong’s, he's his fu, I was just going to look when young brute hit me full in the ‘without a moment's warning. I went over like an ox, but I think the Rack of my. head must have hit something. There was daylight’ in the place when I opened the only eye T ould. “Had he locked you in?” ““No; he was too fly for that; but I @thply couldn't move till I heard voices coming, and then I only crawled behind a stack of garden chairs and things. It was Strong and another fellow—they did curse to find the whole place open! I nearly atfewed up and told my tale, only I ‘wanted to tell you first.” ““P'm glad you have, George.” “E knew your interest in the fellow ‘besides, I thought it was a case for you,” said George Edenborough. “But ner till the last of i been taken out—I 't made us too late.” *His next breath was a devout kagiving, as a fold in the glisten- ‘slopes showed the top of the ice- run, and a group of men in sweaters standing out against the fir trees on tie crest. They seemed to be stand- ing very still. Some had their padded elbows lifted as though they were ehading their eyes. But there was no sign of a toboggan starting, no sound of in the invisible crevice of th run, And now man after man de- tached himself from the group, and came leaping down the subsidiary snow track meant only for ascent. But John Dollar and George Eden- borough did not see all of this. A yet more ominous figure had appeared in their own path, had grown into Mestyn Scarth, and stood wildly beckoning to them both. “It's ‘k!" he shouted across the had a smash—self se ‘a “Only his leg!” d Dollar, but not with the least accent of relief. The made Edenborough wince behind id Scarth in front look round. as though even the crime doctor thought Jack Laverick bette: He lay on a litter of overcoats, the hub of a wheel of men that broke of itself before the first doctor on the scene. He was not even insensible, neither was he uttering moan or ; but hjs white Lips were drawn ayay from his set teeth, and his left Teg had an odd look of being no more # part of him than its envelope of knlekerbocker and stocking. i“it's @ bu'st, doctor, I'm afraid," 6 boy Kround. out as Dollar knelt in Hurting? A bit—but I 6 the one quality he had net Jost during the last year; nobody céald have shown mo lbw and excruciating prog village, on a bobsleigh carried by fou etpmbling men; everybody was whis- in, Everybody but the headed the little in keeping tone which 1 borough wine i Searth look re ‘Phe coinplex cuse of the night wrgent one—both were forgot laf’s Own case of yea ‘k again in another Winter ther world, It was ne 4 of Christma: eof mountains of C Kk now ieclted before his mind's was hugging the shadows in a eet of toy-houses yielding resin to an August aun, between green slopes bed with de under a sky was in abr; all Marley pul or arith do nothing for him, And then— tlien—some forgotten ache or had taken bins to the little man great. man—down this very iS left, in the little wooden away be! dressing gown not properly b t dangerous rival; but, as I fell’ the littl roh—the bare eo ie own ladder between death the stark such another minor case that there—and the stlck anything short of ¢ a any! rr The two doctors reti a eee which they one mind. ‘It's the chance of our lives, and ir him,” Dol not even had concussion, It has been only the ear. “There's a lump behind it atill. v Pi . | February 5. == = BY EDGA F NALIN the ati at i a tere the culprit asd. he the man. “It's a thing absolutely t nothing on earth can bly excuse. is you'd have died rather than but 7 form hal lar?” jahyly on the threshold; aaa ber one ue eee had taken r striding out into the centre of the stage. “Two years ago,” she his benefit, “it % war an |, if we were any good with the sword; ae wg are not| ee ween really think 1 ont footy ran fd way te polical porary. cried fee magne’ me ’ =e with engove “But not without thie man to look after you? * “Political existence ts all we ask.” °°.) ally without first instalment! I know you! bos pag \y ma it Pg height and you other night, if you are . Dale- Bulmer,” said Lady Vere, with an ex- Everything dates from when it hap- Dened; there's some pressure 0c o ttle Pet mt and for that I'm to havé a ‘sore where that bas made another being of him, It's a much simpler case than mine, hhd you cured me, Alt, if you had seen how his own mother wrote about him you would be the very last in to hesitate!" ‘It 1s better to have her consent.” 0, nobody's; the boy himself need house like this burned to the and vance your cai yh the State! ow your own ipa uo use teasesing with vont but it really is enough to set one off, what I caught you doing downstairs.” “I wish to never know, There's @ young bride here who'll nurse him’ like an angel Lady Vere, with im) '. and hold her tongue till doomsday. She and her husband may be in the secret, but not another soul!” FF F 3 af i i And when Jack Laverick aame out i i i of chloroform, to feel a frosty tick- lng under the tabernacle of bed- : clothes In which bis broken bone was i as the Ark, the sensation was less uncomfortable than he expected. But that of a dull deep pai: head 33 Hd HI 38 #2 £ 3 we ? : drew his first complaint, as an item not in the estimate. hat's my head all bandaged up he demanded, fingering the tur- on the piltow. & Es Y ui d i it | i Ten days laten Mostyn Scart called at Doctor Alt’s to ask if he mightn’t see Jack at last. He had behaved extremely well about the whole affair; oth in his ition might egsily have made trouble, But there had been no concealment of the fact tht injuries were tot confined to the broken leg, and the mere seat of the additional mischief was enough for a man of sense. It is not ti really strong who love to display their bower. Scarth not only accepted the situation, but ene conducted the correspondence whiel Mrs. Laverick at half Europe's over the critical period. He merely stipulated to be the first to seo the convalescent, and he took it as well as ever when Dollar shook his head once more. “It's not our fault this time, Mr. Scarth, You must blame the sex that is privileged to chi ite mind, Mrs. Laverick has arri without a word of warning. She is with her son at this moment, and you'll be glad to hear that she thinks she finds him an absolutely changed character—or, rather, what he was before he ever saw Winterwald a year ago. 1 may t this seems more or legs the own impression about him- “Glad!” cried Scarth, who for the moment had seemed rather staggered. “I'm more than glad; I'm profoundly relieved! It doesn't matter now whether I see Jack or not. Do you mind giving him these magasines and papers, with my love? I am thank- a that my responsibility’s at an end.” “The same with me,” returned the crime doctor. “I shall go back to my work in London with a better con- science than I had when I left it— with something accompl! ad thing undone that wanted undoi: He smiled at Scarth across the flap of an unpretentious table, on which lay the literary offering in all its glory of green and yellow wrappers, and Bcarth looked up withput a trace of pique, but with an answering twinkle in his own dark eyes. . “Alt exalted—restored to favor— Jack reformed character—born again —forger forgot—forging ahead, eh?” It was his best Mr. Jingle manner; indeed, a wonderfully ready and ruth~ less travesty of bis own performance on the night of Dollar's arrival. And that kindred critic enjoyed it none the less for a second strain of irony, which he could not but take to himself. “I have not forgot anybody, Mr. Scarth.” “But have you discovered who did 8 knew." you tackled him?" ‘a ago!” h looked astounded. “And to happen to him, doctor?” “I don't know.” The doctor gave a characteristic shrug. ive not my job; as it was, I'd done all the de- tective business, which I loathe.” “I remember,” cried Scarth. “I shall never forget the Way you went through that prescription, as though you had been looking over the blight- er’s shoulder! Not an expert—modest fellow—pride that apes!" And again Dollar had to laugh the way Mr. Jingle wagged his hi in spite of the same slightly caustic before. ‘although you make me , blush to say #o, The hard part was what reviewers of novels call the ‘mo- tvation.’” “But you had that in Schickel's spite against Alt.” “It was never quite strong enough to pleane me." Baal what was the motive, doc- tor?” Young Laverick’s death.” “But who is there in Winterwal who thing? “There were more than 2,000 visitors over Christmas, I understand,” was the only reply. th lous, if not less shocked and rather t than Re need have 16 whole idea was a saying what they Scotland Yard!” CHAPTER VI. The Doctor’s Assistant. HE doctor was coping with his Sunday meal when the telephone went off in the next room. He answered th summons, then sent for his car: after which he looked up, in a Gaszeteer, a Surrey village. Having located the placo—its name was “Pax Moncktons”—he set off. It was warm, yet delightfully keen, riding at thirty miles an hour; clear as crystal within rifie-shot, and de- liclously hasy in the distance. twenty miles or #0, Dollar began to ask pedestrians the way to his des- and a stack of boards; but e model of order compared with the chaos visible th an open door at which he pat Here were more bare joists than navigable floor, and a forest of ralie, mare ‘won't belleve—at looked, But. th - reflection upon his care of: happy youth. And he said so In other, ‘words, which resembled those of Mr. Jingle, only in their stiff staccato ‘4 about ‘motivation!’—I thank that word—but I you even more to show me the thing itself in your theory. And what a way to kill a ‘What a roundabout, risky way! “It was such a good forgery,” ob- io di “that even Alt jd hardly swear that it “Ia he your man?” asked Smith in ® sudden whisper, leaning forward with lighted eyes. , rime doctor smiled eni, “It's perhaps just ag lu Scarth, that at least he could ad nothing to do with the sec- yempt upon his pationt's life.” ‘What second attempt?” “The hand that forged the prescrip- Scarth, with intent to poison young Laverick, was the one that also filed the flaw in his tobogi hope of breaking hi K. “My dear doctor, crossed plaster ceiling. here!” said the man from Aust: and pointed to a heap of shavings on @ remnent of the fi workman's euch & oad, box vestas had been spilt about the place, “British workman be hanged!” criet . “The British work- here that will k him in beer ‘and betting-money till Christmas, and as much longer as he ©! can epin it out. game of another spo! kept poor setae Ghee us: @ Swry and country clothes Regriened, @ young woman risen lke Aphrodite twinkle But are you sure asked Dollar, though he wanted to | ask if that was all. I mot @ flaming brace of just outside my what I was td for speaking out about them the ot! ‘em on bdicycl “Pax Moncktons Chase?” said one who seemed to have heard “Straight as ever you can go, and the first lodge on the left. But there's no one there.” “No one there!” echoed Dollar. “Do you mean the place is empty?” “I believe there's workmen there on week days, but you won't find anybody now unless the chap that’s bought !t’s motored over.” “Ign't he living there, then?” “Not yet; there's alterations being mmde, and I don't know where he ‘jy does live, or anything at all about him except that he motors over some- times on a Sunday.” Dollar felt dashed until he remem- bered to appreciate one of the few possibilities for which he had not come quite prepared. ome promise tn a surprise thus early and so complete, But it made Pax Monktone Chase fall a little fiat Dale- Bul it robbed the dreary lodge of all ite value as an eye- opener; it ‘made the chase itself look vast and desolate for nothing, and 4 noble pile of seasoned stone fling # but drab turrets and ineffective bat-. Uements against a ailver sky, which the sun had ceased to polish in the sned last tortuous mile. it wae ull the pleasanter to find a ruddy, genial, bearded face, mounted on & epotted tie that round # nineteen-inch neck, smiling & welcome under the entrance arch, The man introduced himaelf as Dale- Dollar was much taken with jumor and simplicity of his ad- A smart chaut- plutocratic car in the sweep of the drive. was no third slgn of life about the the name before. ” exclaimed Mow- tyn Scarth, with a pained shake of the head, “this is stark, staring mad- “I only hope it was—in the would- be murderer,” rejoined Dollar “But he had a lot of method; did his bit of Mling—a burglar couldn't have done it better—in the domino Lavorick had just taken off!" “How do you know he had taken it of? How do you know the while job wasn’t one of Jack's “What whole job?” “The one you're talking about—the alleged tampering with his toboggan,” replied Scarth, impatiently. I only thought you meant Dollar made a que feel it rather hot Lay somes Soaieeesh “Got her prisoner?” 1 ix “I should hdpe eo! Why, I caugnt Gone! 7 7 forth wi her on the very point of setting tire t thought o of thinge— ryt nat very heap of shay a EE never thow ‘oft inf ithout a hose-pipe in the hous! Her voice was all tha! Those are her matohes on the Boer in other emergencies, only colder to - ne her jo! ‘ou could pect me to bow her out Solar e utd ont stare into tb ollar could only into the t jovial face wreathed 7oR eon grins, but no longer free from 4 cer- tain serlo-comic compunction and hardly ©x- of the front something more.” in rubicund “Do you know, I do!" confessed the visitor, as though it were Dollar's house and breeding had forbidden him to volunteer the remark. the heat of this stove, with the wi ‘Thanks 80 much, doctor!” “But, my dear sir’—— pleaded %,,gn0 Oe bine ds I had to he cried in passionate do something; if I hadn't thought of hing i poly seentne host of every= you, and one or two things I've heard bp Soy about you, doctor, I should only hav telephoned to the police; and wha * $F putting out again My a week eard you ran a nurelog- righ worth all the think—after two years agv. Do be And he wiped his strong, brown, beautifully shavén face; of those that require shaving than once a day, glossy from the razor; and he bur- nished it afresh with a si t it was always said the doctor; “they've got to come After being buried alive ko ‘ » altogethe: “Two bligh ‘But I don’t run people into it,” @itogether fun for me, p +49 know, ” Colette in of their own free will. teh mn ou really doing ‘pt the monster's existence for the sake of argument. “Nothing, Scart! You intend to do noth- entirely, She chose her cover—I only “Wh pe “You've locked her up in some Has he sent for the Scarth had started, for the frst time; but he atarted to his feet, while he was about tt, as though in over- poyering disguat. “Not if it keeps out of England,” replied the crime doctor, who had also “I wonder if he's aane enough ‘Bulmer, laughed a rather’ “He didn’t, and nervous, gullty laug! ipatairs somewhere?” “Yeu—look you he: She was pick. When I was lon; to se you, to ing up those matches when I spotted Warn you against your enemies, that and out she you should go the way to put yoursel: “Awfully good of you @o come,” it atreaked through that one over there, more than ever in their power!" pet SF One @ werd about it tents her from this door, “I thought you what I'd heard of you, and you seemed to jump at it when I haven't known anybod; take so kindly to a trip since I left “An Australian?” asked the doctor, with all a dootor’s readiness to make talk; but he was more curious than ever to learn the secret of bis sum- ce b Come and have a look at ber line of pen enemies do you mean, Dr. 45 to keep his enthusiastic respect nently by as asen lente loctor. It led into an anteroom or inner the well of some staircase lashed ladd: Their four eyes met in a protracted sorabiny, without @ flicker on either je. am wondering,” Searth deliberately, Teer kensteln effort of yours fd » outalde your own imagination, Doctor he easiest part of it.” By a “Oh! he exista all right,” declared 1 am charitable enough to suppose him inad—in apite of his method and his motive.” “Did he tell you what that was?” iked Scarth with a sneer. but Jack did. ave been in the man's*power—under ia influence—to an extraordinary de- # gree. He had even left him a wicked sum in a will made since he came of age. I needn't tell you that he haa now made another, revoking"”-—— “No, you need not!" cried Mostyn rning livid at the last mo- heard about enough of neste and mythical mon- ers. I wish you good morning, and &@ more credulous audience next time,” Tt would mot do for Mostra whee T Ha ieobed: love shan politely tacredes the doetar af, the doar im ita midst, but not quite Uke a | @ akeleton landing of yawn. heard of ing joists, Dale-Bulmer gased aloft, train.” wagging @ horizontal beard. eald you ey he didn’t go up there?” said, if you remember, that “Yes! I come from that enlightened labor runs the show and women haVe the vote. I big man added, with the fat chuckle heard over the telephone, “that's pre- cisely why I have come fror mplighter, doctor! the same to yo A fine for! itaircase bore them that it was not. The angie of from the lower corridor to its coun- hat was all amicable attention ralla—as y terpart above. And here the leader and her eyes shone clear of the Som, the other night at a meeting im these trod gently, a finger iaid across his with a softer light that made her But I eeom to have of the frying pan into the Gr “I'm sorry to hear that," Dollar, with polite forbearance. vuld wish to compass such a “Well, not quite to the fire, as it Bulmer, chuck- le neck. “Come into bread central corridor, and builders’ “Yes--but you'll see hidden herself. I did turn that doctor, but that's all I did. Still, J than moat think I'd rather you let ber out.” answer, if fl : : - ii i ge H icf i og H ; Fy A, he f iF fl i ag # BR if Ly & i 5] Ee ti har, hat from the Hhe had been gasin; out as she herself to rights; a, of the door ahe turned and when she t disdain, and the pair of held out her bare itood rooted to the floor, air of innocence and af “Lady—Vera!" he could only gasp. than would have become @ parting She made him an abrupt little for: guest. then her head went back to the Sven John Dollaf felt a new truculent angle necessitated by’ a of disappointment as the two-' “I don't seo their literature, and I jejjy.bag hat worn almost as . es 't smell their parafim” @ mask; shrank panting out of sight ear- “it’s in that bottle on the mantel; and her eyes hung under the brim ghot beneath the bronsed timber of piece. Something must have ha Them at the last moment—all tut one amazement, and nothing of the mer like great biue rainarops, gleaming, but with little of hi that shook his soul. lo wonder you would pore wee me!” he mi than to her, “Not # word even when real well bred 'un—i wrote—and I ‘hat I'd one— hia!" | me one thing, Dr. t it had 2d some degrees. “Have bee: lowing me, or is this ire hance: al po “Not chance—pure “Did you dog me down here, “Not consciously. Do I look es if I nana aaid hs Beate itably, b Do a ” . ad? at the moment he hi Dale-Buimer “You look ae if you'd seen a ghost,” for extorting his in gratitude she told him, with a sudden twinkle at the ex; of his sacred flame. of the big blue drops. “Why?” cried that cavalier, “Didn't you guces how I found out about ber car “How?” “Thaok |) ghe eaid tly, “Reported tome by the police!” he Rad checked Dimeelt ey, se au, police? Were there any now what you must think—what HH, Dollar felt as cold down the back you really have a special HO tho his 4 flame had weneroun and don't say it! Thia ien't Moke! a 4 i 5 £ z 5 i : te # +f i: 8g F, [ i it é Bhe head you t0 F Sant cates DEAD fo mabe Nes What have just turned her toward the wi a to you done with this young woman?” broken window-seat, and his eyes de- That's what, they had to say for to him, to bim alone. pail Nothing; it's her own doing Youred the Hght upon ber le. nae ne} trom Beet it ras none of the ywhy —--4 ing to happen to me? Is Stesm. they were from mortar, wanting even their i 3 swore te ‘al enem: friend of yours SeSter when pretended not to Bes eater when 1 pretended not to be- 2 ; ne, 0 sane foe oe lieve them, Nor did I till J’d run hall where the bulider rar rmnore or lesa —rather more’ Bid He know who It wae at sight” Beemer 1° 0 Hotes, sae nese TE trace: it was not inthe round poet Goemn't and he “and then?” ith a fret. instalment never shall unless you tell him!" ex- claimed Dollar vehemently, “O, Vera, filled wi “TL awore it belonged to a friend, of Dele-Bulmer course, and eent them both to the devil.” a bi? you were man enough There the Ama: after bi a pane | i i E a H 5 E f : i F er?” It was as much as Dollar could men burglars, 33 i E § E Dave that ¢ santen Comins fn wells ve sort of jon Co! wi a abiding Nene taves't O24 mpolling your job!” = Yam since thet night in whe gpthen De gree bow, de. hat ler "4 ke ai climbed wouldn't. But 1 iso Reed, lik road back enthusiagin = was only deadly as a tool. Well, he shaten'te the pit with on i - 15 dae I went ‘ee oar into the deadliest haads oiler joined him with a shout thet as at least a ‘we'll both go now, if it's all I know—that's' all: relieved thom both. And they roared than tho little fool The little It was not, and Lady Vera knew ¢. until a caretaker ap- pretty wa; ‘ogether on na with 6 face 074 'y to think of her, even, at once incredible in her latest inoar- found her in the flesh. “That's the room,” he whispered, nation. Dollar's feelings beck moened 1e-Bul! ‘i He could see her there in. pointing to @ shut door in a side pas- into bia face; ahe read wit ing that's hep- hed not faced him like « litte f sage. I almost think I'll leave her amfle that made tim wince, by ite I might have to but a little heroine, God fprgive hers It'e not locked—not cynical resemblance to one or two pay. And—and I'd mueh Not so much as a pout about her: thet still enriched dreams. rather ‘our fee!" rible imprisonment under the’ “T thought ahe was your prisoner?’ “You think I'm y of in once more In them,” she divined remo! » “think the crime ¢ arson le worse doctor had become with! crimes,” made “I standing up to the little body plsco til!