The Strange Case of Mortimer Fenley

ater

events which made him an outstanding figure in the "Strange Case of Mortimer Fenley," as the murder of a prominent man in the City of London came to be known, have long since been swept into oblivion by nearly five years of war. Even the sun became a prime agent of the occult that morning. It found a chink in a blind and threw a bar of vivid light across the face of a young man

eached the sleeper's eyes, and he awoke. Naturally, he stared straight at the disturber of his sl

t of bed with a celerity that would have given many anot

was ready to be annoyed because of an imaginary loss of precious daylight, the vagabond laughed cheerily whe

t the blessed alarm had missed fire, and that I had been lying here like

moreover, in likening himself to a pig, he was ridiculously unfair to six feet of athletic symmetry in whic

sounds of an aroused household, but the inmates of

uppose we assist nature, always a laudable thing in itself, and peculia

ck, crept swiftly upstairs, opened a door a few inches, and put the infernal machine inside, close to the wall. He was splashing in

came a heavy thump o

. "You've been up to your tricks, have you? It'll be my

he matter, Eli

t! I thought a lot o' suffrigettes w

hen Trenholme ventured t

cried wrathfully. "The impidence of men nowada

ne?" he inquired, his brown

your peach, neither. Who p

lock, m

fiery a glance on the intruder that

"If the alarm found its way upstairs I must have been walking in my sleep

d callin' me names, an' your bacon will

e breakfast tray myself. I hate to see a jolly, good-tempered

ther outburst, when the stairs creaked. Mary, th

o get up, have you?" was t

ed the astonished girl, gazing at a gran

irl. Thank Mr. Trenholme, the gentleman stannin' there grinnin' like a Cheshire cat. Talk to him nicely, an

at," said the girl, smiling, for Eliza's

m was called Jim, an' when, like a wise woman, I said 'No,' he went away an'

you didn't accept hi

I'd like

ver you. If a leg was missing, too, th

ly risers as he met, and evidently well content with himself and the world in general. His artist's kit revealed his profession even to the uncritical eye, but no student of men could have

as a series of exquisite pictures, and regarded men and women in the mass as creatures that occasionally fitted into the landscape. He was heart whole and fancy free. At twenty-five he had already exhibited th

ong, supple stride, a gait which people mistook for lounging until they walked with him, and found that the pace was something over four miles an hour. Add to these personal traits the fac

ched the straggling High Street, the green, the inn itself, boasting a license six hundred years old, the undulating common, the church with its lych gate, the ivy-clad ruin known as "The Castle," with its square Norman keep still frowning at an English countryside, and there was left

and the Fenley species thereof in particular; whereupon the stout Eliza, who classed the Fenley family as "rubbish," informed him that there was a right of way through t

r, too, bore out

Not many folk use it nowadays, 'coss the artful ole dodger opened a new road to the station; but some of us makes a point of strollin' that way on a Sunday afternoon, just t

uld chatter like a magpie; it was in this wise that Trenholme was able to defy the laws

shadows perfect for water color, but it was highly probable that he would be able to come and go without attracting attention. He had no wish to annoy Fenley, or quarr

he barber's directions proved as ba

e side there's a swing gate. Go through, an' make straight for a clump of cedars on top of a little hill. Th

of Christopher Wren's genius as a designer of wrought iron? Trenholme's eyes sparkled when he beheld this prize, with its acanthus leaves and roses beaten out with wonderful free

is point he obtained a fair view of the mansion; but the sun was directly behind him, as the house faced southeast, and he decided to encroach some few yards on priva

icial, lay at the foot of the waterfall, which gurgled and splashed down a miniature precipice of moss-covered bowlders. Here and there a rock, a copper beech, a silver larch, or a few flowering shrubs cast strong shadows on the

as bounded by woods. To the right was another wood, partly concealing a series of ravines and disused quarries. Altogether a charming setting for an Elizabethan manor, pastoral,

ut Art, which is long-lived, recks little of Time, an evanescent thing. He was enthusiastic over his subject. He would make not one sketch, but t

e; a harmony of color and atmosphere. Leaving subtleties to the quiet thought of the studio, he turned to the lake. Here the lights and shadows were bolder. They demanded the accurate appraisement of the half closed eye. He was so absorbed in his task that he

d a most curiously shaped hat of the same hue, so that her colors blended with the landscape. Moreove

travel beyond it. She no more suspected that an artist was lurking in the shade of the cedars than she did that the man in the moon was gazing blandly at her above their close-packed foliage. She came on with rapid, gracef

n to Peeping Tom of Coventry. He was utterly at a loss how to act. If he stood up and essayed a hurried retreat, the girl might be frightened, and would unquestionably be annoyed. It was impossible to c

e caught the flash of her limbs as they moved rhythmically through the dark, clear water, and it seemed almost as if the gods had striven to be kind in sending this naiad to complete a perfect setting. With stealthy hands he drew forth a sma

ing on the sun-laved rock beside the statue. Trenholme had foreseen this attitude-had, in fact, painted with feverish energy in anticipation of it. The comparison was too striking to be missed by

even secured the spun-gold glint of hair tightly coifed under a bathing cap-a species of head-dress which had puzzled him at the first glance-and there was more than a suggestion of a veritable portrait of

ressed herself in a few seconds, and was hurrying back to t

er traversed the park, "this is something like an adventure! By Jove, I

ege denied to men, even to artists. Soon, when he was calmer, and the embryo sketch had a

t's frankly impossible, I suppose. At the best, she would not forgive me if she knew I had watched her in this thievish way. I coul

rmity of the south front, but she disappeared through an open window, swinging herself lightly over the low sill. He went with her in imagination. Now she was crossing a pretty drawing-room, now running upstairs to her room, now dressing, possi

sig

oodle, this plutocrat Fenley would eke

a picture! "The Water Nymphs." But he must change the composition a little-losing none of its cha

iest dog in England today. Happy chance has beaten all the tricks

ils of rabbits previously unseen revealed their owners' whereabouts as they scampered to cover. But Trenholme was sportsman enough to realize that the weapon fired was a rifle; no toy, but of high velocity, and he wondered how any one dared risk its dangerous use i

and the air so clear that even at the distance he fancied he could distinguish some one gesticulating, or so it seemed, behind the glass. This went on for a minute or more. Then the window was closed

ume an interrupted meal on tender grass shoots. A robin trilled a roundelay from some neighboring branc

mobile, which had not moved yet, determined to forego his e

rom the trees when a

o're you, an' what

nd accompanied by a dog, st

within his rights. Moreover, the stranger was so patently

shot fired somew

me pointed. "It was a rifle, too," he

ht," agreed

it, firing bullets

is that did it. Excuse me, sir, I mus

ure, singing as he walked, his thoughts altogether on life, and more especially