Ambrotox and Limping Dick

e and grounds

nd a bright moon lighted the brothers and the men

ggestion, neither Bellamy spoke until

ike men who from dreams of

r groaned, be

d. "To think of her ill

ugh his agony pierced Randal as if the livid lightning of a

in it. You've got the pull. You can make the political coves get Scotland Yard and th

up in front

tell him?"

et into tweeds-jump." And he wen

n, when he saw the young on

said Dick. "Is

's Broadfoot's-Rolls-Royce, six

e must take you

what had happened. And Caldegard's face, as he listened without a word, was a trage

in conclusion, "and you'll find Amaryllis. A trace of one is a track o

trange face, and almost fli

you say," he

him swallow whisky and water, forced the elder man to do

s, in the small right-hand drawer in the saf

d. Let her rip," he said to the dr

om had been pleasure, the parlour-maid fetched him cold meat, bread and beer. When he had c

mming," he calculated. "Twenty more-the local police will be here, and rub out

ed, except Randal's chauffeur

s of petrol as she'll hold. I may want her to-night. Run her out

other lamp, opened the safe with the duplicate key, a

tes," he muttered, a

till, head up and sniffing the air, puzzled by

eason for her tears. And now he gave a flash of thought where before he had refrained even from speculation. Could it have been the forgotten let

rmally old-fashioned. And now, even before his mind became concerned, his eye was irritated by a lack of symmetry in the draping; for the drooping fold of the right-hand curtain was out of shape. Again, his thought ran, if thieves playing for so great a stake as Ambrotox had found a woman in their way, their best card was prompt murder. If they could a

inary fingers he was adjusting its curves, even while his mind pulled and twisted the elements of h

ould kn

ent-sweet as well as musty-was it in the curtain? But as he stooped, he saw what made him forget that vague odour: a crumpled bunch of the soft linen had been squeezed together, and was not yet recovered from the strain of some vio

n with his fingers, gets 'em out, and stoppers the lot with his hand. Befo

e smaller lamp in his hand,

, covered with cushions. The back almost hid the hearth from the french-w

Fell asleep-women'll do that, happy or wretched, before they know where they are. They reached the safe, and that arm at the end would hide ev

hing the thick pile of the carpet for signs of the struggle there must have been. An

es combined with-with what? And again the two wires woul

omething of a foul man and a rotten stink. It was so

, he found it-a morsel of bright steel-the needle of a hypodermic syringe. Who

degard,

m?-Melcher?-Melchard! By G

the shades, to cover the girl's discomfort, and the smile she had paid hi

hen his hope of mastering a valuable secret was at its height, he had found means to track Caldegard'

t as he gets his fingers on it, up pops the only being on earth he'd give a damn about knifing. Twenty years' clink if he leaves he

Melchard's address, and the first man to ask was Caldegard. If Caldegard could not giv

ring no tinkle, blew into the transmitter with the receive

desk, he wrote rapid

he man we want. Get his address. 'Phone c

w he went to his

take this note to him. Go to New Scotland Yard.

n his room, stuffed one pocket with handkerchiefs, and in

ell, it only meant five minutes at

t which seemed already old, lingered a moment on Amarylli

he muttered, and, without

ully as he felt for his match-box. When the can

etty things which served her toilet; but on the writing-table in the window lay a pile of lett

e, he was aware once more of the odour which

r open. It was sign

per, stamped with the add

la Har

ar

ne

Miss Ca

request I have to make of you is of some importance to me, I should not have the presumption to make it, if it were not that it gives me the opportuni

nd am settling down as a man of business in the neighbourh

ebook, many items for future use. Until recently I have had no occasion to refer to these notes, which I now find are essential to the succ

it may be posted to me at The Myrtles, Grove End, near Mill

sor Caldegard was staying with Sir Randal Bellamy in

gratefully i

rem

Miss Ca

very si

n Mel

ount on having to cart the girl along. False addresses wouldn't help him. These two are straight goods. Cl

ine and jumped into the drivin

onate spectator. For him, in all this tangle, there was one thing, and one thing only, that mattered; to be in time. He did not fear murder; b