The Strange Case of Mortimer Fenley

aux Seeks Ins

ture a

n to accept meekly whatsoever coarse commands Robert Fenley chose to fli

cause it is our duty. You, on your part, would have acted more discreetly had you gone to your mot

you speaking to me?"

he form of threatening people who adopted the only other course possible. Calm yourself, sir, and try to remember that the father from whom you parted in anger has been m

ode out into the open air, with a sublime disregard for either the an

e descending the steps. "What an unlicked cu

done, James,"

t my temper," p

to him. Tell the local sleuths half what we

neurotic Hilton has more nerve in his little f

ou think of

if they don't fit thos

ears on the outer edge. Let's cool our fevered brows unde

a pad-footed animal rather than a human being. Bates, of course, would have noted them had he not been on the alert for footprints alone, but they had stared at Winter and Furneaux from the instant their regularity became apparent. They represented a stride considerably shorter than the average length of a man's pace, and were

quired Winter, when both had puzzled f

care to leave a working model of one set, but was extremely anxious not to provide any data as to his

er n

s won't help," he replied thoughtfully. "The man who remembered to safeguard his feet

ert Spencer's reason for not learning La

l one of your high-class jo

of. The agreement of an adjective with its noun displeas

or not learning a less

rer made sure of hitting him-at a fairly long range, too. How many men were there in Roxton and Easton this morning-was there even one woman?-capable of sighting a rifle with such calm confidence of success? Mind you, Fenley ha

ow down the field, but Hilton Fenl

cackled

arles," he cried, delighted at

aves, "but I thought you might like to know that Mr. R

e initial efforts of a motor bicycle's engine to get under way. In a few seconds came the rh

Winter dryly. "Perhaps, taking one consideration w

r London by the Edgware Roa

ary bicycle can follow him easily from Brondesbury onwards. Time him, and get on the te

n tone when Hilton Fenley ca

sh off in such an extrao

ly, as if the matter was of no importance. "He comes

There are questions he has to answer, and it would have

on he meant going until I looked out on hearing

sir, he is maki

father's death through the newspapers, and it would not surprise

but I imagined or hoped he had given you

were queer folk. Like the Pharisee, "they were not as other men," but whether the differen

nley smil

osed tactics of the ostri

ne is pur

ce-never had. Physically he doesn't know what fear is, but the specters of the mind loom large in his eyes. And n

immediately. Mr. Furneaux will stop he

look after him. You are not

you care to have

icker and takes me direct to

lower level than the hall. The telephone box was placed there, and Furneaux e

d Yard till it suits his convenience to be interviewed. Strange how people insist on rega

ldn't run away, if t

dditional folly, from his point of view, of letting us kno

idn't say

rds, id

leaves; and wher

sense beneath

been kind enough to give us the eloquent facts, because he will be f

re probably warring in his brain at that moment. One classed Furneaux as a g

. "Of course, it might be pushed too far. Think what a poisonous Dead Sea apple the Quarry Wood cont

erby hat. He wore a black tie, but ha

rary detective, Mr. F

for reading, but I own an excellent memory. Nothing to

I must hurry away

veyed indefinitely but subtly a suggestion that his father's de

nt door. By that time the Fenley car

uld pass their father's body on the way to the mortuary. Sometimes, O worthy chief, I find m

in the 'Nibelungenlied,' that Hagen is forced to prove his innocence by touching Siegfried's corpse-and fails? That is the point-he fails.

see, see! Dead

eal'd mouths, a

ad it been your father or mine who was beaten down by a murderer's sp

a mere shadow, something vague and dark and uncertain in outline. But it existed, and would assume recognizable shape when an activ

ly. "Hilton Fenley went to his father's assistance, and we

appened after the banker dropped at his feet. Harris shouted and knelt over him. Miss Manning ran and li

cleared out, leavi

ed back. Up to that time he hadn't moved. Bet you a

f to the Yard. I'll look up two lines in town. 'Phone through if you want help and I'll

ave

that artist,

es

he bed

there

it, but I'm keen to clear

ce about six I'll tell

ain nothing by rushing our fences. This is the toughest job we've handled this year

he story up to the si

hauffeur having already started the engine i

one. He re?ntered the house and crooked a finger at the butler, who had not summo

minutes. Then you and I will have a snack together and you'll borrow

him. "If I could advance your inquiry in t

self a toothful five minutes longer than was avoidable. Now you really mean what you say--Ah, this is Mr. Robert's den. And that is his bedr

y day

le's rooms. Beastly liberty, I

tly surprised by the cursory glance which the de

e of the land. Ah, each brother occupied a corner of the east wing. Robert, north, H

whole of the gallery around the hall to reach it. The remains of a fire i

he said. "He likes to find his papers, et cetera, where he put them overnight. As

"Everything is at sixes and sevens. Would you mind se

onderously toward

come. Then she can bring me to your place and we'l

. That will sui

the southeast angle. He seemed to fly around the room like one possessed of a fiend of unrest. Picking up a glass tumbler, he sniffed it and put it in a pocket.

of the envelope, which he folded and stowed away. Then he bent over the fireplace and rummaged among the cinders. Three calcined lumps, not wholly co

to the bedroom, and the girl found him standing at a south window, gazin

said the g

was pale, and her eyes were red, for the feminine

re is laid in the sitting-room

if the evening is at all chilly, he

nybody I spoke of it or they'll thi

y, and the girl's

w why Mr. Hilton wanted a fire last night. It w

, too. Do you attend

s,

e have

the summ

ded creature than M

ect so

to nose around everywhere. I'm sure you are terribly upse

r. We all liked him. He was

housemaid was convinced that Mr. Furneaux was "a very nice man." When she "did" Hilton Fenley's rooms she missed the glass, but gave no hee

d face and hands and was seated at a table laid for two, "may

ux with due solemnity,

this time of the day a Saut

at delicate flavor which leaves the pa

te. Singularly enough, I have a bott

eal was

ndwiches and a bottle of beer, the detective rode to Easton. He sent a rather long telegram to h

holme should hear no word of the murder until he came

estall her with the news, bounced out from th

he park this morning, Mr. Tren

it had been discovered that he had watched that girl bath

n the public mind. The shooting was bad enough in itself, for rural England is happily free from such horrors; but swift and brutal death dealt out on one's own doorstep was a thing at once monstrous and awe-compelling. E

he. "Could that b

d at half pas

ard it, too-and a policem

"What was he doin', the lazy-bones,

vill

killed poor

w who did

o' tales flyin' about, but

coundrel can sing. Read any novel, any newspaper report. 'The prisoner's

d broadcast, Trenholme had momentarily forgotten the dreadful na

se," she said, anxious to sec

" he repeat

be a deal o' folk who

t I come to think of it, I am probably the only person in existence who can say wher

ffrigettes this mornin'. An' that comes of playin' pran

n of ideas is faulty. There is much in common between the clatter of an alarm clock

is dead as a doornai

hard things I said about him,

M

eys were rubbish? One of them, at

ch o

thought hims

te banker, of c

as a picter-prettier than some picters I've seen-a

that thrust en tierce with a riposte; at present,

u are speaking of?"

rich. Pore young thing! Some schemin' man will turn he

one-legged gunn

egged painter, name of Jac

he had converted into a studio. She saw a picture on the easel, and the insatiable curiosity of her class led her to examine it. Even

er turn. She gazed at the drawing brazenly, with hands restin

er did!" was

n again, she annou

ke in th

n on the table wit

Miss Sylvia Manning, don't yo

name before you mentio

kes me you've seen more

ny pretense at smiling good

' who could help lookin' in? I was never so taken aback

an ostrich's leg behind i

inted with the

athed. "To let any young man gaze at her in the

tter another word about that picture, even hint at its existence, an

from the doorway. "You are Mr. John Trenholme,

Artillery?" demande

Fran?ois, of

y cowed. She began to

hat pup-pup-pore Mr. Trenholme. They've cuc-cuc-come for him. He'