Show Y a ray ERNEST ERNE ST author of AMATEUR he cf RAFFLES etc illustrations hy 0 envin er AYERS COPYRIGHT rf 0 erritt CHAPTER XII continued 11 toys toye accepted hla his fate witha with a ready resignation little short of alacrity j there was a gleam in his bis somber eyes and his blue chin came up with alark a jerk tal talking kingl said he now will S you promise me never to marry daz caza i a I 1 let j mr air toi talking to too 0 and 1 I guess guese I 1 mean it to be its not all dog ln in the manger either I 1 want that prom promise isea a T lot more than I 1 want the other you you i marry me miss blanche but you marry cazalet blanche was blazing but this Js is simply outrageous 1 I claim theres larf an outrageous c cause ause for it are you prepared to swear what what I 1 ask and trustee trust me as ill t trust rust you or am I 1 to tell you the whole thing right now you wont force me to alls listen ten to another roiti from you ou it if youre a gentleman mr toye its not ahat I 1 am that counts sv beear ear that to me and I 1 swear conmy on my side that I 1 wont give him away to you or anyone antonn else aut it mu must st be 00 the most moat solemn contract man man and woman made the silver teapot arr arrived at ai this juncture and not inopportunely she had bad to give him aln his bis tea with her young maids helfand hel help and to play aminy a tiny part in which he supported her really beautifully she had time to think almost coolly and one thought brought a thrill it if it was waa a question ot of her marrying or not marrying walter cazalet then he must befree be free and only the doer of some dreadful deed 1 what has he done 11 she begged with a pathetic abandonment of her previous attitude the moment they yvere were by themselves tusi I 1 tell you his reluctance rai rang giC genuine nuin 1 I insist upon it she flashed again well its a long story never mind I 1 can ll listen you know 1 I had to go back to italy had you well I 1 did go he had slurred blurred the first statement ghisone this thi sone one was wa a characteristically act deliberate 1 I did go and before I 1 went I 1 asked cazalet for wi ail introduction to some friends of his down in rome 1 I know he had any said blanche banche why he have any said paid toye but be claimed to have some dome il he left ele the kalser kaiser arltz the other day at naples I 1 guess he told you no I 1 understood under he came round to io southampton surely you shared a cabin only from genoa where I 1 took the steamer and cazalet regal regained ned her ll 11 well he claimed to have spent the interval mostly with friends at rome those friends dont exist all miss blanche said toye i Is that tha tany any business of mine she bhe asked him squarely why yes im afraid its going to be that is unless still trust me go on please r why he never stayed at rome at all nor yet in italy any longer than it takes to come through on the train your attention tor for one moment he took out oui a neat pocketbook blanche had bad opened her lips but she did riot interrupt she just grasped the arms of her chair as though about to bear physical pain the kaiser fritz toye was speaking from his book got to naples late monday afternoon september r eighth seems she was wa overdue and I 1 was mad about it and ne never got away again till the do tell mb me about walter cazalet f cried blanche etwas it was like small talk from brorn a dentist at the last moment 1 11 I want ivani you to understand about the steam steamer er first said toye she waited monday night in the bay of naples only sailed tuesday morning only reached genoa wednesday morning and lay there all of forty eight hours as these german boats do anyhow that brings us to friday morning before the kaiser fritz gets quit of italy lt it yes I 1 suppose so do tell me about Wal walterl teil aby I 1 first heard beard of him at genoa alre they figured 1 I should have a stateroom atit croom all to myself as the other gentleman had been left behind at narles I 1 biyer saw him till lie he sr scrambled rambled aboard again friday about abe tl e fifty ninth minute of the eleventh hour at genoa sure and you yon pretend to know where hed bed been 1 I guess I 1 do know and toy toye sighed as he raised his little book cazalet stepped on the train that le left f t naples six fifty monday evening and off the one timed to reach charing cross three twenty five wednesday tie the day of the yes I 1 never called it by the bard est name myself but it was seven thirty wednesday evening that henry craven got his deathblow death blow somehow V well eil walter cazalet left chafing cross crosa again by the nine that light ht andaas and was back aboard the kaiser maz on friday morning full of his friends in rome who exist the notebook was put away wit with every symptom sympho m 0 of f reller relief PI 1 I suppose you can prove what you say bay said blanche in a voice As as dull as her unseeing eyes 1 I have men to swear to hl him to tick et collectors conductors wallers waiters on the restaurant car all up and down the line r I 1 went over the same ground on the same trains so that tha t was simple I 1 can also produce the barber who claims to have taken off his bis beard in parts paris where he be put in hours thursday rp morning orning blah blanche che looked up suddenly n not at at toye but past him toward an over laden side table against the wall it was there that cazalens Caza lets phot photograph had bad stood among many others until this morning she had never never miss missed edit it for she seemed hard hardly ay to have bee been n in her room all the week but bushe had been wondering who had removed it whether cazalet himself who had spoken of doing so she now knew why or martha whom she would no not question about it iri in a fit oi of ungovernable disapproval and now there was wad the photograph backan back in its place leather frame and all 1 I know what you did said blanche Blanch blanched ej you took that photograph with you the one on that table and had himi him identified by bf it it was the night icamen I 1 came down to bid you goodby good by he confessed dafid and have h ave time to wait I 1 come down for the photo I 1 never thought of it till I 1 saw it there I 1 came down to kind of warn you miss blanchel against him hiat she said as if there was only boneman one man leftin left in the world yes f I 1 guess id already warn warned ed cazalet that I 1 was it starting arting on his tracks and then blanche just said poor old sweep I 1 as one talking to herself and toys toye seized upon the words as she had bad seized on nothing from him h have you only pity for or the fellow he cried for she was as gazing at the bearded photograph without revulsion of course she answered hardly attending even though he killed this man even though be came across E europe drope to kill him you dont think it was deliberate yourself even it if he did do it but bui can you doubt that he did cried toye quick to ignore the point p I 1 1115 7 raa V 1 I know what you did said blanche you took that photograph with you she had made yet none non e the less st sincerely 11 i cere ly convinced upon the other 1 I I 1 guess you if heard some of the things he said to me on the si steamer eamer and hes made good on every syllable since he landed why it explains every single thing hes done and left undone hell strain every nerve to have scruton ably defended buthe but he wont see the man hes defend defending says himself that he cant face him 1 yes he said so to me said blanche nodding in confirmation to you 1 I understand him but youve apen seeing him all all this while every day said blanche herb her soft eyes filling sud suddenly finly weve had bad weve had theotime the time of our lives my dodl god said toye the time of your life with a man chos got another mans faai blood on his hands bands and that makes no difference to td adul you the time of your life with the man who knew where to lay hands bands on an the weapon hed done it with who went as tar far as that to save the innocent but I 1 no farther he would he be will still if its still necessary essary you yau dont know him mr toye you bri Vent knows known him all your life and all this makes no difference to a good and gentle woman one of the gentlest and the best beat god ever made if you mean me I 1 wont go as an far as that said blanche 1 I must masv lee aw him first ao see cazatt Caza et toye halcome had come to his feet not simply in the horror and Indig indignation nailon which had gradually taken possession of him but under the 1 str stress as of some now new a and nd sudden resol resolve ve of col course arse said blanche of course I 1 must see bee him as soon as aa possible you shall hall never speak to that man again as long iong as ever you live sale said toye with the utmost emphasis and deliberation ia chos going to pr prevent me 1 I am by laying an An information formation against him this i unless yo you promise never to see or to speak to cazalet again blanche felt cold and sick but the bit of downright bullying did hargood her good I 1 1 I know you were a blackmailer mr air boyel you know im not mean ia to save you from cazalet blackmail or d white to save me from a mere old friend nothing more no nothing thing an our lives I 1 1 I believe that ho he said searching her with his smoldering eyes you tell a lie I 1 guess not noi it if you tried but you would do something its just a man being next door to hell that would bring a gods ansel angel his vole voice shook she was as a quick to td on her side dont talk nonsense etise please she begged forcing a smile through h her er distress will yau you primino to do nothing it if if I 1 promise not to go near him 7 no 1 nor to see eee him here no nor anywhere else no I 1 give you my ro word bif if you break it I 1 break mine that minute Is ita it a deal that way yes yes I 1 promise then so do lo 10 I 1 by god said 1111 ton toye CHAPTER XIII faith unfaithful its all perfectly true said cazalet calmly those were my movements while I 1 was off the ship except tor for the five hours and abit a bit that I 1 was away from ChiL charing rIng cross I 1 cant dispute a detail ot of all the rest but th theli Yli ha have ve to hil fill 1 ln in 1 I these those ij five bo hours u rs unless they want another case to collapse like the one against nl nt old savage had wriggled like a veu erable worm in the experienced talons of the bobbys bobbye bugbear but theu then mr drinkwater and his discoveries had come still worse out of a hotter encounter with the truculent attorney and cazalet had bad described the aholo thing as only he could describe a given episode down to the ultimate dismissal of the charge against scruton with a gusto the more cynical for the deliberately low pitch of his voice it was in the little lodging house sitting room at nell gwynnee Gwyn nes cottages he stood with his back to the crackling fire that he had just lighted himself as it were already at bay for the folding doors were in front of his nose and his eyes roved incessantly from the landing door on one side to the curtained casement on the other yet sometimes he paused to gaze at t tha be friend who had come to warn him of his danger and there was nothing cynical or grim about him then blanche had broken her word for perhaps the first time in her life but it had never before been extorted from her by duress and it would be aff affect ec tation to credit her with much compunction ion ori on the point her one great qualm lay anthe in the possibility of toyes tones turning up at any moment but this she had obviated to some extent by by coming straight to the cottages when he left her presumably to look for cazalet in london since she had been careful not to mention his change of address cazalet to io her relief but also a little to her hurt she had found at his lodgings in the neighborhood d full of the afie news he be had not managed to communicate e to her but it was no timp time for taking adyth anything ing but his per peril I 1 to heart and that they had been discussing cus rus sing ging almost as ma man n to man if rather as innocent roan man to innocent man for even now or perhaps now in his presence least of all blanche blanc h e could not bring herself to believe her bet old friend guilty of a violent crime however unpremeditated for which another had bad been allowed to suffer for however short a time lk tr TO bad BE CONTINUED CONTINUE dj |