HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1926-5-12, Page 7THE BRUSSELS POST
Love, r 'he Tyrant
Palmer will collect the pieces care
fully and I've not the least doub
that they can be put together again
end that, as Mr. Floss says, tho vas
will be all the more valuable for hav
Mgbeen broken."
He looked at her gratefully.
"How sweet you are!" he murmur
ed, in his soft voice. "You ought
have been angry with me for m
cerelessness. By the way, what we
it Mr .Floss was saying? I had jus
knocked down the vase and only
heard something about the Parish
Council."
"Oh, it was something about the
Hawk's Pool," replied Esther. "It
is curious that the subject should
have cropped up again—if you re-
member, we were talking about it
the other morning."
"Oh, yes, I remember," ho said,
lightly; "I do hope they will not in-
terfere with it."
Esther shrugged her shoulders
rather indifferently.
"I suppose we shall have to drain
it, if they insist upon it," she said.
.At this moment the dog -cart that
was to drive him to the Fanworths',
came to the door.
"Hercl' is your cart," said Esther.
"I'll say good-bye now," she added,
hastily, "as I want to see aunt.
Please give my kind regards to the
Fatiworths."
She held out her hand; feeling re-
lieved at the thought that he could
not offer to caress her in sight of
the servants.
"And when shall I see you again?"
he murmured, in a low voice, and
holding her hand.
Esther drew it away, and said,
with a return of her old coldness:
"011, you are all coming over to
{line the day after to -morrow, you
know."
Ile bit his lip. He would have
liked to come over every day; yet,
strangely enough, he felt that he
could not exact even this ordinary
privilege of the accepted lover.
A$ he drove towards Fanworth he
fought against the feeling of dread,
of well-grounded apprehension,
which 'weighed upon his heart like
lead; and though he could not actual-
ly see the Hawk's Pool as they pass-
ed it where it lay hidden by the
trees, his mental eye saw it, and he
shuddered. All his cunning would
be of no avail, every precaution he
had taken would be worse than use-
less if that accursed pool were drain-
ed and the horrible object hidden in
its depths exposed to view; for in
the dead man's trouser pocket was
the cheque whieh Selby Layton had
given him, and the existence of
which he, Selby Layten, had: forgot-
ten in the intense moments after the
crime. He told himself that it would
never do to appear at Fanworth
Court with a gloomy, fear -stricken
countenance, which he knew he at
that moment wore; so he buoyed him-
self up with the reflection that Par-
ish Councils are slow to move; that
it was very probable that they would
do nothing in the matter until after
his marriage with Esther; and then
he could fight them in the law courts
and prevent them interfering with
the ghastly piece of, water which hid
his secret.
His countenance had resumed
something of its usual serenity and
air of self-satisfaction by the time
he had approached Fanworth Court,
where he received the welcome which
the good-natured couple always ex-
tended spontaneously to their guests.
Neither Lord nor Lady Fanworth,
even if they had been on the rack,
would have confessed that they did
not care very Anuch for Mr. Selby
Layton, or that they had not asked
him from the intense desire for his
company; it had been sufficient for
them that Esther, of whom they were
very fond, had accepted him, and
therefore, now he could not
very Well stay at the Towers, Lord
Fanworth trotted him round the Purk
and garden and over the home farm
of which he Wag somewhat proud.
- "Of course, it's not nearly so larg'..
t 1 or so good a farm as Vancourt," he
; remarked. "They've the hest land
e 1 in the county, and have always been
-1 more successful in the show -ring
than we have, Speaking of that, I'm
I sorry to hear that that young fellow,
- 1 that young formnan of Martin's, has
o gone. Some scandal about him, isn't
y there?"
s Selby Layton shook hie head
t gravely.
"Yee," he said. "The neighbor-
hood is well rid of him; a good-look-
ing., plausible scoundrel."
Aftea they had trapesed round the
: farm and admired steers and heifers,
of which he knew nothing, and pige,
whieh he loathed, it was time to
dress. He was passing through the
hall when he heard Lady Fanworth
say to her husband:
"Harty is coming down; I have
just had a telegram."
And while Selby Layton was dress-
ing, stopping every now and then to
thrust from him the brooding, haunt-
ing memory whith darkened Ills ex-
istence, he heard a loud and cheerful
voice in the hall.
On going into the drawing -room
just before dinner, he saw a tall,
strongly built young fellow leaning
agEtinst the manta/shelf.
"This is my nephew, Harry Cover-
dale," said Lady Fanworth, "I have
just been telling him about you and
Esther, Mr. Layton."
Selby Layton smikd pleasantly,
and the young fellow gave the short
nod with which men acknowledge an
introduction. They went in to din.
ner—there were no other guests—.
and the nephew did most of the talk
ing. He was very bright and cheery
and it little abrupt and slightly rough
in his manner of speech, and Lord
Fanworth, as if apologising or ex-
plaining, said in an undertone to
Layton:
"My nephew has been rather wild
—I don't mean in the worst sense;
he is one of those restless young fel-
lows who don't seem able to stop in
one place for three weeks together.
Fortunately for him, he has means
of his own, and is able to gratify
his Wandering Sew inclinations. I
never know where he is and we rare-
ly hear from him, unless it's in the
shape of a telegram saying that he
has come from one of the far ends
of the earth, and will dine or stay
with us. For instance, I haven't the
least notion where he has come from
now.—Where have you come from,
Harry?" he asked, addressing the
young fellow, who was making Lady
Fanworth laugh with some traveller's
tale or other.
"I have just come from Australia,
sir," he said; "from a place I don't
suppose you ever heard of—Wally
Ford."
"What were you doing there?"
asked Selby, with polite interest.
"Digging," replied Coverdale.
"Did I make my fortune, you are
going to ask. No, 1 didn't;" He
laughed contentedly. "I don't think
anyone made a fortune in Wally
Ford; it was never much better than
'pay: dirt'; and the Claim I was on
had been pretty well worked by the
tteo fellows of whom I bought it By
the way," he went on, very gravely,,
"I was just telling rny aunt of a
strange coincidence, Mr. Layton. One
'of these men was no other than Sir
Richard Vancourt's nephew—john
Vancourt."
Selby Layton regarded the speaker
with intense and genuine interest.
"Of course that's not the:name he
went by; he was called Arthur Bur-
ton; and don't think—in fact, I
am sure— that no one in the camp,
excepting myself, knew his right
name. Everybody goes by an alias
in Australia, or nearly everyboelY,
for the best 'Is
the worst of reasons;
and nobody Is cnrions about his nei-
ghbor; on the glass houses and stone: -
throwing principle."
Letterheads
Envelopes
Billheads
And all kinds of Business
Stationery printed at The
Post Publishing Rouse,
will do it job that will
do eredit to your basiness.
Look over your stook o
Oftlee Stationery and it
requires. replenithing call
tia by ' telephone $1.
The Post PohliFhloo Houne
"How did you learn that this Arth-
01. Burton was Sir Richard Van.
eourt's nohew ancl heir?" asked Sel-
by Layton.
"Very simply," replied Covordale;
"I borrowed a match -box of him
ono night; he had, perhaps, years be-
fore, scratched his name on it—I
mean his real name, Jack Vancourt
I un and asked him, in a moment of
•extreme friendliness, whether it was
his tante, and he admitted it. He
gave me the match -box as a kind of
lucky gift when I bought the claim
of him and bis partner" He sighed
and looked down at his plate. "I
little thought that he would join the
majority so soon afterwarde. He
was it splendid fellow and must have
sold his life dearly. I don't think I
over saw a more magnificient speci-
men of manhood. Ile was over six
Peet, pettedly proportioned, quick
as a greyhound, and strong es -a lion.
I have seen that roan do thino that
would make it profewierud 'strong
man' tit down, And to think that
such a fine fellow, such a good fol-
low, 'one of the best,' should be mur-
dered by a blackguardly buehrang-
err
"And just after he had inherited
the title and the estates," said Lord
Panworth, in a low voic.e.
"Yes, beastly bud Welt," assentod
Cloverdale; then he colored and turn-
ed to Selby Layton apologetically.
"I beg your pardon, 'Mr, Layton; I
forgot for the moment that the lady
to whom you are engaged has come
into the property."
"No apology needed," responded
Se/by, with his ingratiatory little
bow. "I assure you IVIiss Vancourt
ri:lePlY regrets her cousin's death,
and that strange as it may seem, she
would have infinitely preferred that
he should have lived and enjoyed
the title and estates."
"That is quite true," said Lord
Panworth; "and does not in the
least exaggerate Miss Vancourt's
feelings., I
"1 suppose you heard it full ac-
count of poor Arthur Burton's—I
mean Jack Vancourt'o—death, from
the man who was with him at the
time, his chum—. Dear me I I quite
forget his name; a very decent chap,
quiet and reserved, and rather deli
cate, I should think.. Arthur Burton
took care of him, looked after him
and nursed him through a fever, sev-
tell.levers; he was always getting
"No," said Selby Layton; "strange
to say, this man disappeared immed-
iately after Vancourt's death. I
don't think ever heard his name.
All the details of Vancourt's death
came from the police."
Coverdale nodded.
"Most men in Australia have a
sudden trick of disappearing," he
said. "I think it is not at all unlike-
ly that this chum and partner of Van
court's met with a somewhat similar
death, or that he died of fever; very
proba'bly the latter, for he was in a
very weak condition when I last saw
him, and Arthur Burton was nursing
him then."
Lord Fanworth, feeling that the
subject was scarcely a pleasant .one
for Selby Layton, adroitly changed
it; the men sat for it little while over
their port and then went into the
drawing room where, of course, Sel-
by Layton was asked to sing and
play: equally, of course, he did both
remarkably well; for the, man was
an artist, and your artist can rise
superior to any circumstance, when
he is pushed.
Now, while he was singing, Harry
Coverdale, who was fond of music,
was beating tinte with his foot; but
he was watching Layton's face and
on his own was an expression of cur-
iosity and :something like distrust
which mingled comically with the ex-
pression of admiration for the sing-
ing. Selby Layton had sung two
songs, but good-naturedly was going
back to sing the third, when a foot-
man entered the room and approach-
ed him hesitatingly:
"I beg your pardon, sir," he mur-
mured, apologetically; "but there's
a man in the hall -who wishes to see
you. I've told him, sir, to send up;
a message or to call in the morning;
but he refuses, and as he says that
you'd be certain to site him and
wouldn't like him to be sent away—"
• Selby smiled good-naturedly.
"What is his name?" he asked.
"He won't give any name, sir,"
said the footman. "Ile says he cornes
from Vancourt."
Layton turned to Lady Fanworth.
"Will you, excuse me?" he asked.
"Esther• may have sent a messaie
and the foolish fellow probably de-
clines to deliver it to any other
hand."
He followed the footman into the
hall but could see no one.
"He's waiting in the small hall,
sir," explained the footman, and he
led Selby Layton clown the passage
into it 'The outer door was open
and a man was leaning against the
side, and in the dim light Layton
slINV that it was Dick Reeve. His
nerves had been rather cruelly
strained that day and he f olt angey,
"Wh et do you want, my man?"
he demanded, "This is not tied hour
nor the place in which you should
ask to see me. Why did you not
send up a message by the servant?"
Dick Reeve waited, watching Until
the footman had disappeared and the
baize door of the passage had dosed
behind hint; then ha lowered his eyes
to Selby Layton's face, and said,
hoarsely, as if Layton's rebuke were
of no importance:
"Well, what news, what have you
found out?"
Selby's anger increased. It was
evident that the man had been drink-
ing; it was equally evident that he
meant to be insolent. He had not
elianged his bunging attitude; his
bloodshot eyes seamed Selby Lay -
ton's stnekth face with a half -throat -
ening, half -contemptuous stare,
,9sly. good fellow, you 'forget your.
self," eakt Selby. " Yon ghtfuld have
waited until
Dick Reeve straightened himself
and laid his hand ripon Laytoree
shoulder.
You'llBe
Completely In
the Dark
IIU the nue Voifoo iterafliig
the Groat SoiA
E LAP
By
ry
oberts
h&ihart
Unless
You Are Kew
Enough
To Schee It
its -You to
Starting in
'IV 4A •
'0) /)
oh,m,
"THE POST"
IN THE NEAR
FUTURE
"I want your answer," he said;
"I've come here for it. I heard that
you'd come. back and I waited. You
didn't think it worth while to come
and tell me, so I came here after.you.
Now, out with it. Have you found
her? 'Where is she? Is she with'
him? Quick! I'm on fire, I'm burn-
ing, I tell you! Quick!"
Layton wrenched his shoulder
away from the man's grasp, and,
warm with anger and indignation,
retorted:
"I don't know by what right, you
question me, I do not know that 7
.have any right to answer your ques-
tion. You are not the girl's brother
or any relation. Her father is the
only man who has the right .to ask
me such questions, the only person
to whom I should give any informa-
tion. I have no more to say to you.
You had better go back to Vancourt;
and if you take my advice, you will
not drink any more to -night"
Dick Reeve's flushed face was con-
torted by an ugly smile. He regard-
ed Layton in silence for it moment,
is if pausing from an inability to
make up his mind; words seemed to
tremble on .his lips, words which he
kept back as if by an effort.
"Come, now, sir," he said, with a
kind • a mockery of persuasiveness,
"you know how fond I was of her;
just tell me the truth."
Layton drew himself up and shook
his head resolutely.
"I will tell you nothing," he said.
"You've no right to ask; you are
extremely insolent—it's like your im-
pudence to follow me here, to annoy
me—and I see no reason, not a sin-
gle reason, why I should, humor you.
Her father is the person—"
Dick Reeve lurched slightly, and
his hand fell upon Selby Layton's
shoulder and gripped it, this time
too tightly to be shaken off.
"You don't know no reason?" he
said, thrusting his head forward so
that his hot spirituous breath burnt
on Selby Layton's smooth face, "You
don't know no reason? S'pose I give
you one. One good kn, a woPPerl
eh? Well, I wilI! But not here.
Come—come outside."
He twisted Layton's slight figure
round and drew him into the open
air. It was pitch dark. Layton, be-
ing a coward, began to fear for his
safety, and he opened his mouth to
call for assistance; but Dick Reeve
clapped his hand over the mouth and
svhispered something in Selby Lay-
ton't ear; something that struck hint
motionless for an instant, then sent
hint staggering against the wall, as
if he had been smitten with a sudden
and deathly faintness.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Layton leant against the wall, his
hands pressing against it for sup-
port, his breath coming in labored
gasps, and his, eyes distended with
the terror caused by Dick Reeve's
whispered words. For a moment or
two the deathly faintness overwhelm-
ed him and rendered him incapable
of speech, almost of thought; and
Dick Reeve watched him with a. half -
contemptuous, half -malicious smile.
"It's rather took you by soils°,
ain't it?" he said, with something
between it hiccough and it laugh.
"You've changed your mind about
telling me about Hate, eh! Out with
Re—whore is she?"
Layton straightened himself and
passed his handkerchief over his lips
which were livid and quivering. Ile
looked round him, from side to side,
very much as a rat looks when it is
driven into it cornpr. The door
through which' they had come was
open, one of the eervanta might petss
at any rutonne Alul site and hear
them. He rnade aslgsk to.Ditk teeve
to follow him, and went WO the
shrubbery clotie at hand.
Dick Reevo lurehed after him, and
Selby Layton, oinking into El. old
.eeat whieh had been rolneved from
the garden, looked up at him with
O forced smile.
"1 ran understand your anxiety to
obtain news of your sweetheart,
Reeve; and I ehould have. relented
and given you the information; tlwre
was no °erasion, for the. invention of
the absurd fairy-tale which you have
coneoted—"
Dick Reeve dropped on to the eeat
beside. him with an insolent laugh.
"That's how you take it, mister, is
it?" he said. "Well, you can take it
as you lake; It's all one to me. I was
there and I saw you; and what's mora
heard every word that passed be-
twixt you." He nodded significantly
and eonfidentially. "Where's my
Kate, and is he with her?"
But Selby Layton could give he
thought to Kate Transom In thle
moment ot pill and dread.
"You say you saw—" he stammer-
ed out with an affectation of banter
and amusement.
Dick Reeve spat ostensatiou4 and
nodded again.
"Yes, I was there, I tell you. I
was in the woods when the strange
chap came into them; and it ,,truck
me that he was atter something, that
he wasn't only walking through 'em;
so I followed him to the pool, keep -
en' out of sight, and I knew that he
Was watchin' for someone. Then
presently I heard you. And I saw
you coming along, sly -like as you
thought, and I knew it was you he
was waiting fax and that you was go-
ing to meet him. It was only natural
that I should feel curious -like as to
what was up between you, ancl why
you, a gentleman from the Towers, 1
should meet a stranger in Vancourt
Woods, wasn't it? and so I crept 1
quite close—you very nearly heard 1
me one time, and I was so near that ;
I could have almost touched you
when you stooped for the gun—"
Selby Layton covertly wiped the I
sweat from his white face.
"It was a neat knock," said Dick
Reeve. "I didn't know as a weak
kind of cove like you could have
managed it; hut I suppose it caught
hnn in the right place, and the sec-
ond blow settled him: hadn't a
chance had he, you taking him from
behind?"
WEDNESDAY, MAY 11.1th, 1926,
Layton foreed a laugh,
"And do you imagine that anyone
1 would believe this cock -and -hull story
Reeve? Don't you think they would
be more ready to suspect another
person?"
Dick Reeve glanced at him, eon-
t:eeptuouely.
"What other person?" .hie ttiked.
"YOU rs,11', for instanee," said Lay-
ton, with an assumption of coolness.
Melt Ilene laughed. hoarsely.
"Mc? Why shouhl I kill the chap?"
Selby shrugged his shoulders.
"Why should I?" he retorted.
Dick Rereve gnat again.
"'Cos he knew too much about
you, mister," In. replied, "and could
spoil your game, by splitting about
your thissusee-1 tell you I heard, ev-
ery word, and what's more—look
He fumbled in his pocket, and
dragged out the photograph, the pen,
and the piece of paper, held them up
and shook them in Selby Layton's
face.
Layton could not go whiter than
In. was, and he suppreeeed the shuch
der which ran through him at sight
of the articles which helm/ been mad
enough to leave behind him.
"My good fellow, you are actual-
ly in possession of the dead man's
property, and you do not see why
you should be suepeeted! Grant that
I met this man, this unknown strang-
er, that a conversation took place
which you say You overheard, that I
bribed the man—why should you not
have murdered him after I left him,
killed him for the money which I had
given him?"
Dick Reeve started and looked at
his companion's face, seen only dim-
ly in the darkeess. Then he sprang
to his feet,, his face flushed with pas-
sion.
"You're a cool hand, mister!" he
said, with an oath. "P,ut you don't
scare me with that! Why, I've got
the gun at home you did it veith!"
"There you are again!" said Selby
Layton, -almost good-humoredly.
"Your gun!"
"No! Not my gun; it's that hound
Gordon's," snarled Dick Reeve.
Selby Layton stared and peered at
him.
"Gordon's?"
"Yes! I found it—found it down
the well. When Kate went off and
we didn't kit
ow what
had happened
to her, I thought of the well, thought
she might have slipped in; and I got
it rope and went down by myself
without anyone knowing; but she
evaen't there—but the gun was--eute
of you to drop it in that old
and if I hadn't been hunting fax
Kate end thought of it, it might have
etayed there till the end o' time."
Selby Layton picked at his lips as
if lost in speculation.
(To Be Continued),
BUSINESS CARDS
HE Industrial Mortgage and
Savings Company, of Sarnia
Ontario, nro prepared to advanoe money on
crtgag,,, on frond lands. Parties desiring
money on ?arm mortgage. will plve.e apply to.
James Powac,. Seaforth. Ont., who will fur
ni,di rates and of her r)11,t1P14
The industrial Mortgape
and Saving -a company
kez.ructxr
AGENT FOR
fire, Automobile and Wind Ins.
ICOMPANIES
For Brussels and vicinity Phone 647
JAIIIIES M' FADZEAN
Agent IMO Mutual fire Insane Company
Also
Hartford Modstorm and Tornado Insurance
Phone 42 Box 1 Turnberry Street, Brussels
MO. SUTHERLAND & SONS
LIMITED
INSVIARXC'Af
19,11AP.11 exreatze
D. M. SCOTT
krocavoss giverzeavess
PRICES MODERATE
For referenees ooneult any person whose sales
I have ofliciated at. Rhone 2825
T. T. M'RAE
m. AS. C. P.., .11 S. O.
91 0 .B., Village of Brussels.
Physiolen, Surgeon, Accaucheur
Offtoe at residence, opposite Melville Church.
William street.
OR, WAROLAW
Honor graduate Of the Ontario Veterinary
E.321us,Flietut:id. night calla. Moe opposite
&avocets
BARRISTER, SOLICITOR,
CONVEYANCER, NOTARY PUBLIO
LECKIE BLOCK - BRUSSELS
an You
Visit them all?
p6-,61.6-7
Have.you, Mr. Business Man, the
time to get out and call on all of your
customers and prospective customers
each week ? If you could do so, it
would be a fine thing for you and for
your business.
The next best thing to a personal
call from you is to send out your
business message each week in THE
POST, which covers the local com-
munity and will carry your message
to old friends and new friends, alike.
Advertising in THE POST is an
economical, efficient way to reach the
people in your trade territory and let
them know of the buying opportun-
ities offered in your businesslestab-
lishment.
ettonmettammenamemeeteen
dtrg
THE BRUSSELS POST
orefeelkiletheo:ikl.oteettee..,:eceez:kte,„„,s„
Oz,
e