The Riddle of the Purple Emperor

th an impetus and speed that would have

, for his heart was sick at the thought of Lady Margaret. "She won't waken yet; no

stable Roberts of the gravity of the situation was another thing altogether, and Clee

that gentleman with an air of dull finality, which made Cleek, his nerves on ed

't prevent her from having been murdered in the meantime, and

with a vengeance. There was not a moment to be lost. Not a single moment, and apparently this fool o

at, sir?" gasped the constable, breaking in

rritably. "And if seeing isn't believin

ure that he had seen that had given him a sudden feeling that it might be a ma

. I had only a glimpse, but it was not the figure of a servant, of that I am sure,"

us few servants up in that house, I can tell you. Why, it would break the old lady's hea

me that that Miss Cheyne lived in that deserted

nt relish. Giving information was a grea

dener and 'ousekeeper as you might put it, but when they dies of rheumatism last year, one followin' o

eighbourhood," the constable continued with a sudden spark of actual intelligence-the first, by

nt he had noticed when he first entered the house. He remembered what it was now. It was jasmine, of course, and jasmine was the favourite scent of the Calcut

able was gett

tle self-conscious laugh. "Come from Mr. Gunga Dall's place 'tother side of the

talk as we go, constable, so long as we do go. I want you to se

ake of his head. "Why, there ain't a valyble left in the place. But I'll come, o' course, sir. A matter o' dooty. So if y

ure that had crossed the lawn, and to the sweet, insidious scent of jasmine that had assailed his nostrils. Hindoos were certainly at the bottom of this murder; and he had left that helples

aw issued from his house and clambered into the car beside him. The constable's air was more civil and obsequious as he took in the luxury of his sur

proper man he were, too, and when he found Miss Marion had a temper of her own, he up and cleared out. Next thing any one knows he comes back with his wife, a pretty slip of a thing, and our Sir Edgar a crowing baby. Miss Marion shut herself up then,

, suddenly. "A 'scene'? How and

ttle varmint, chose that day to play truant, and at the identical moment that t

redulously. "A lady pitched a gent

m said the way the gent cussed

lish, eh?"

. It's wonderful, that's wot I calls it, but i

e together in a heavy frown and his eyes narrowe

t say, and goes down to the spot, and starts in to fish. Well, sir, as I takes it, the old lady saw 'im from a hupper window and down she comes and abuses 'im like a pickpocket. Gunga he tried to pacify her, but she up and pushed him in, and as I said before, Jim's been a 'oly terror at l

ndoo, presumably a Brahmin of high caste, to whom the taking of life in any form, however lowly, is an unforgivable sin, why would he pretend to want to fish, unless it were to spy on the land, and he be on th

e fast approaching the gates of Cheyne Court once more as he spo

leasant gent as wouldn't 'urt a fly. No, sir, 'e wouldn't do a baby no 'arm Mr. Gunga Dall wouldn't, an' if you're a thinking that 'e's 'ad any part in it-- Oh, no, sir! I

torturing him ever since he had sped down the drive? "I should have had to tell her if I

caused the machine to swerve wildly in consequence. For the dark deserted house over which he had wandered barely half an hour before, leaving it tenanted by a sleeping girl and the b

eater speed than ever. "There's not a moment to be lost.

hurry," for fully alive now to the urgency of the ca

or the handle. "Get back to the rear. You go

itch dark now, and once out of range of the brilliant motor-lamps, the house was shrouded in a mantle of blackness.

reached it in the twinkling of an eyelash. To his dismay he found it not only locked, but w

into the depths of the trees leaving all beyond and upon either side doubly dark in contrast. But for this Cleek cared nothing, for even as the light streamed out and flung that circle into the impinging mist, there moved acr

t, the one an hour or so ago, in white, and now this one in scarlet. The thing was so unca

hed on his heel, it was to come face to face wi

ing in great gasps. "What on earth's the matter, I dun

he front then," said Cleek. "Come o