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PAGE TWELVE 5 THE OSHAWA. DAILY TiMES. TUESDAY. NOVEMBER 8, 1921 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (By Agatha Christie) Ka CHAPTER VI The Tumisian | 1 met the inspector just coming from the door which led into the kitchen quarters. "How's the young lady, doctor?" "Coming round nicely. Her mother's with her." : i "That's good. I've been questioning the servants. They all declare that no one has been to the back door to- night. Your description of that stran- ges was rather vague. Can't you give us something more definite to go upon 2" x "I'm afraid not," 1 said regretfully. "It was a dark night, you see, and the fellow had his coat collar well pulled up and his hat squashed down over his eyes." "H'm," sajd the inspector. "Looked as though he wanted to conceal! his face. Sure it was no one you know?" 1 replied in the negative, but not as decidedly as I might have done. 1 re- membered my impression that the stranger's voice was not unfamiliar to me. 1 explained this rather haltingly to the inspector. "It was a rough, uneducated voice, you say?" I agreed, but it occurred to me that the roughness had been of an almost exaggerated quality. If, as the inspec- tor thought, the man had wished to hide his face, he mgiht équally well have tried to disguise his voice, "Do you mind coming into the study with me again, doctor? There are one or two things I want to ask you." I acquiesced. Inspector Davis un- locked the door of the lobby, we pass- ed through, and he locked the door again behind him. "We don't want to be disturbed," he said grimly, "And we don't want any eavesdropping either. What's all this about blackmail?" "Blackmail!" I exclaimed, very much startled. '1s it an effort of Parker's imagina- tion? Or is there something in it?" "If Parker heard anything about blackmail," T said slowly, "he must have been listening outside this door with his ear glued against the key- hole." Davis nodded "Nothing more likely, You see, I've been instituting a few inquiries as to what Parker has been doing with Lim- | self this evening. To tell the truth, I don't like this manner, The man knows something. When | began to question him, he got the wind up, and plumped out some garbled story of blackmail." I took an instant decision. I'm rather glad you've brought the matter up," I said, "I've been trying to decide whether to make a clean breast of things or not, I'd already practically decided to tell vou evety- thing, but I' was going to wait for a favourable opportunity. You might as well have it now." And then and there 1 narrated the whole events of the evening as 1 have set them down here. The inspector listened keenly, occasionally interject- ing a question. "Most extraordinary story I ever heard," he said, when 1 had finished. "And you say that letter has com- pletely disappeared? It looks bad--i: looks very bad indeed. It gives us what we've been looking for--a motive for the murder." 1 nodded. "I reahse that." "You say that Mr. Ackroyd hinted at a suspicion he had that some mem- ber of his household was involved? Household's rather an elastic term." "You don't think that Parker him- self might be the man we're after?" 1 suggested. "It looks very like it. He was ob- viously listening at the door when you came out. Then Miss Ackroyd came across him later bent on entering the study. Say he tried again when she was safely out of the way. He stab- bed Ackroyd locked the door on the inside, opened the window, and got «ut that way, and went round to a ride door which he had previously left-" open. How's that?" : "There's only one thing against it," I' said slowly. "If Ackroyd went on reading that letter as soon as 1 left, as he intended to do, 1 don't see him continuing to sit on here and turn things over in his mind for another hour. He'd have had Parker in a: once, accused him then and there, and there would have been a fine old up- roar. Remember, Ackroyd was a man of choleric temper." "Mightn't have had time to go on with the letter just then," suggested the inspector. "We know some one was with him at half-past nine. If that visitor turned up as soon as you left, and after he went, Miss Ackrovd' came in to say good-night--well he 'wouldn't be able to go on with the letter until close upon ten o'clock" "And the telephone call?" "Parker sent that all right--perhaps before he thought of the locked door and open windotv. Then he changed his mind--or got in a panic--and de- cided to deny all knowledge of it. That was it, depend upon it." "Ye--es," I said rather doubtfully. "Anyway, we can find out the truth about the teelphene call from the ex change. [i it was put through from here, I don't see how any one else but Parker could have sent it. Depend upon it, he's our man, But keep' it dark--we don't want tg alarm h'm just = : STORAGE SPACE FOR RENT Low rental. Telephone About 12,000 ft. of good dry storage space, conveniently locat- ed, with Canadian National siding, for rent either in whole or in part. CHARLES M. MUNDY c/o Mundy Printing Company, Limited 35 or 312 Jo. till we've got all the evidence. 'Il see to it he doesn't give us the slip. To all appearances we'll be con- centrating oa your myster.ous stran- ger. He rose from where he had been sitting astride the chair belonging to the desk and crossed over to the still form in the arm-chair. "The weapon ought to give us a clue," he remarked, looking up. "It's something quite unicue--a curio, I should think, by the look of it." He bent down, surveying the handle attentively, and I heard him gve a grunt of satisfaction. gerly, he pressed his hands down b-low the hilt and drew the blade out from the wound. Still carrying it so as not to touch the handle, he placed it in a wide china mug which adorned the mantelpiece. "Yes," he said, nodding at it. "Quite | a work of art. There can't be many of them about." It was indeed a beautiful object. A narrow, tapering blade, and a hilt of | elaborately intertwined metals of curi- ous and careful workmanship. He. touched the blade gingerly with his! finger, testing its sharpness, and made | an appreciative grimace. ! "Lord, what an edge," he excla'med.) "A child could drive that into a man-- ! as easy as cutting butter. A danger-; ous sort of toy to have about." "May I examine the body properly now?" I asked. He nodded. "Go ahead." | I made a thorough examination. | "Well?" said the inspector, when 1: had finished. | "I'll sparc you the technical lanou- age," I said. "We'll keep that for the | inquest. The blow was deliVered by a | right-handed man standing behind ' him, and death must have been instan- taneous. By the expression on the dead man's face, I should say that the blow was quite unexpected. He may have died without knowing who his assailant was." "Butlers can creep about as soft- footed as cats," said inspector Davis. "There's not going to be much mystery about this crime. Take a look at the hilt of that dagger." 1 took the look. "I dare say they're not apparent to you, but I can see them clearly | enough." He lowered his voice. "Fin- gerprints!" | He stood off a few steps to judge of | his effect. "Yes," I said that." I do not see why I should be sup- posed to be totally 'devoid of inte'li- gence. After all, I read detective sior- ies, and the newspapers, and am a man of quite average ability. If there had heen toe marks on the dagger handle, now, that would have been | quite a different thing. I would then have registered any amount of surprise | and awe. I think the inspector was annoved | with me for declining to get thrilled. He picked up the china mug and ld vited me to accompany him to the bil- | liard room | "I want to see if Mr. Ravmond can | tell us anything about this dagger," he explained. Locking the 'outer door behind us | again we made our wav to the bill'ard | room, where we found Geoffrey Ray-! mond. The inspector held up his ex- | hibit, "Ever seen mond ?" "Why--I believe--I'm almost sur» that is a curio given to Mr. Ackroyd by Major Blunt. It comes from Mcr- qQcco--no, Tunis. So the crime was committed with that? What an ex- traordinary thing It seems almost impossible, and yet there could hardly he two daggers the same. May I fetch Major Blunt?" Without waiting for an answer, he hurried off. "Nice young fellow that," said the mspector. "Something honest an -in- genious about him." I agreed. In the: two years that Geoffrey Raymond has been secretary to Ackroyd, I have never seen him ruffled or out of temper. And he has heen, I know, a most efficient secre- tary. In a minute or two Ravmond re- turned accompanied by Blunt. "I was right," said Raymond excited- ly "It is the Tunisian dagger." "Major Blunt hasn't looked at it yet." objecetd the inspector, "Saw it the moment I came into the stndv." said the ouiet man. "You recognised it, then?" Blunt nodded, "You said nothing about it," said the inspector suspiciously. mildly, "I guossed | this before, Mr. Ray- -- , DIX Telephone~ 262 Four direct lines to Central Solvay Coke We are Sole Agents Jeddo Premium Coal The Best Produced in America General Motors Wood -- All Fuel Orders weighed on City Scales if desired. | =a - A ------------ "Wrong moment," said Blunt. "Lot of harm done by blurting out things at the wrong time." He returned the placidly enough. The latter grunted at last and turn- ed away. He brought the dagger over to Blunt. "You're quite sure about it, sir. You identify it positively?" "Absolutely. No doubt whatever." "Where was this--er--curio usually kept? Can you tell me that, sir?" It was the secretary who "answered. "In he silver table in the drawing- Then, very gin- room "What ?" I exclaimed. The others looked at me. "Yes, doctor?" said the inspector ¢n- couragingly. "It's nothing," said the inspecto' again, still mere encouragingly. "It's so trivial" 1 explained apolo- ticallyy. "Only that when I arrived st night for dinner I heard the lid of the silver table being shut down in the drawing room." 1 saw profound scepticism and a trace of suspicion on the inspector's countenance "How did you know it was the silver table lid?" I was forced to explain in detail--a long, tedious explanation which I would infinitely rather not have had to make, The inspector heard me to the end. "Was the dagger in its place when you were looking over the contents?" he asked. "I don't know," I said. "I can't say I remember noticing it--but, of course, it mav- have been there all the time." "We'd better get hold of the hous: - keeper," remarked the inspector, ard pulled the bell A few m'nutes later Miss Russell, summoned by Parker, entered the room, "I don't think 1 went near the silver table," she said, when the inspecor had posed his question. "I was look- jing to see that all the flowers wer fresh! Oh! ves, I remember now. The silver table was open--which it had no husiness to ha and I shut the lid down as T passed" She looked at him aggressively. I sce, sad the inspector. "Can vou tell me if this dagger was in iis place then?" Miss Russell looked at the weapon composedly, "I can't say I'm sure," she replied. "I didn't stop to look. knew the family would be down any minute, and I wanted to get away." "Thank you," said the inspector. There was just a trace of hes tatirn in his manner, as though he would have liked to question her further, | ut Miss Russell clearly accepted the words as a dismissal, and glidéd from the room "Rather a Tartar, I should faney, eh?" said the inspector, looking after her, "Let me see. This silver table inspector's stare | is in front of ome of the windows, 1 think you said, doctor?" Raymond answered for me. "Yes, the left-hand window." "And the window was open?" "They were both ajar." "Well, I don't think we need go into * the question much further. Somebody --I'll just say somebody--could get that dagger any time he liked, and exactly when he got it doesn't matter | in the least. I'll be coming up in the morning with the chief constable, Mr. Raymond. Until then, I'll keep the' key of that door, 1 want Colonel Mel- rose to see everything exactly as it is. | 1 happen to know that he's dining out | the otner side of the county, and, 1 believe, staying the night. . ." i We watched the inspector take up the jar. ! "I shall have to pack this carefully," he observed. "It's going to be an im- | portant piece of evidence in more ways | than one." i A few minutes later as I came out ' of the billiard room with Raymond, ' the latter gave a low chuckle of amuse- ment. | 1 felt the pressure of his hand on my arm, and followed the direction of his eyes. Inspector Davis seemed to be inviting Parker's opinion of a small pocket diary. "A little obvious," murmured my is he? Shall we oblige Inspector Davis with a set of our fingerpr.nts?" He took two' cards from the card tray, wiped them with his silk hand- kerchief, then handed one to me and took the other himself. Then, with a erin, he handed them to the police inspector, "Souvenirs," he said. "No. 1, Dr. Sheppard; No. 2, my humble self. One from Major Blunt will be forthcoming in the morning. companion, "So Parker is the suspect, | _---------- Youth is very buoyant. Even the brutal murder of his friend and em- ployer could not dim Geoffrey Ray- mond's spirits for long. Perhaps that is as it should be. I do not know. I have lost the quality of resilience long since myself. It was very late when I got hack, and I hoped that Caroline would have gone to bed. I might have known bet- ter. She had hot cocoa waiting for me, and whilst I drank it, she extracted the whole history of the evening from me. I said nothing of the blackmailing business, but contented giving her the facts of the murder. "The police suspect Parker," I said, as | rose to my feet and prepared to ascend to bed. "There seems a fairly clear case against him." "Parker!" said my sister. "Fiddle- sticks! That inspector must be a per- fect fool. Parker indeed! Don't tell nme. we went up to bed, (To be continued) Whitby W. C. Reinke, Representative, Phones 434 and 342 NOTICE TO WHITBY SUBSCRIBERS 4 Any Whitby subscriber who is now getting The Times by mail may have same delivered by carrier boy at the delivery rate of 10c¢ a week if they will notify the Whitby vepresentative, Mr. W, OC, Reinke, or the office of publication at Oshawa, Reckless Driving Charge Is Result of Accident T. H. Jones, Toronto, Taken to Oshawa Hospital With Severed Artery in Head -- Fred Annan, of Pickering, Faces Charge Under New Law Requiring Warning Lights Visible for 200 Feet on Horse Drawn Vehicles --Man's Life is Probably Saved By Highway Officer Reid (Special to The Times) Whitby, Nov. 7. -- Five cars were involved in accidents two miles west of Whitby on the Kingston Highway about 6 p.m. Sunday, when two cars collided with each other due to the slippery condition of the road at that point following Sunday's snowfall. A McLaughlin car proceeding west went into the ditch to avoid striking either | of the cars involved in the origina! accident. W. Platt, of 361 Carlton street, Toronto, came along and en- deavoured to pull the McLau<hlin on the road. While engaged in this good Samaritan work, John Oke of 160 Bloor street west, Oshawa, arrived in his car, it is alleged, struck the Platt car, Oke, in consequence, faces a charge of reckless driving and will probably appear for trial on Friday at the instance of W. A. Reid, Highway Traffic Officer of Pickering, who was Already on the scene of the accident endeavouring to get the.road clear. Oke sustained a badly cut head (which was dressed by H. T. O. Reid. It is alleged that warning lanterns were in use and that the center of the road was clear, which adds to the seriousness of the charge against Oke. Others in the -car sustained minor bruises but none of sufficient import- ance to require medical attention. Thornton's Corners, Nov. 7.---With cold northwest winds and snow flurries last Sunday, winter has made her bow, and while the ground is white with snow, we shall realize that cold wea- ther is now at hand. We all have ap- preciated the fine weather for a few weeks. We wonder if the young people es- pecially the bovs, have been reading Jack Miner's talk about birds given every day in the Globe. It might be encouraging to the boys to go duck shooting these davs and cet thirty. seven ducks and bring them home did when he was a boy. Miss O. Taylor spent the week-end and over Thanksgiving with friends' in Niagara. Miss Grace Pierson visit- ed a few days during Thanksgiving week with relatives in Toronto. Born in Oshawa Hospital, on Oct. 28, to Baron and Baroness Karff, a daughter. Miss Helen Robinson of Oshawa visited last Sunday with Mrs. I. Huggins and Mrs. A. Robinson. Mr. and Mrs. A. Pierson and family spent Thanksgiving at the summer cottage on Lake Simcoe, --_-- The large number who came to Sun- day school last Sunday to join in the Thanksgiving services was very encou- raging. Mr. Harold Pascoe of Belle- ville spent the holiday at his home here. Miss Mae Ford visited at her home in Exeter over the Thanksgiving holi- day. © A number of the Scouts went for a hike last Monday and all enjoyed a long tramp in the winter air. LITTLE INTEREST IN LIQUOR STORE No Line-up and the First Cus» tomer Arrives 20 Minutes After Opening (By Staff Reporter) | Cobourg, Nov. 5. -- Local citizens ' refused to show much interest in the liquor store which opened yesterday morning at ten o'clock in time to sup- ply the needs of permit holders over the Thanksgiving holiday. Harry Greer, who is in charge of the local store, said there was no line up when the door was unlocked, and that the first customer, a local man, arrived at twenty minutes after the opening. Mr. Greer adds that there has been no local rush to get liquor permits af- ter the old ones became ineffective last month. Although there has been no liquor been open since the Liquor Control store locally, a beer aarchouse has Act came into force earlier in the vear. This warehouse is situated at the corner of University and Spring streets. Those assisting Mr. Greer in vending the liquor are W. Titford, Edward McCurdy and W, Kerry. ! ep ---------------- ep + | TERRIBLE SHYNESS { (Judge) Some fellows are so self-conscious that they can't look a pretty girl in the knees. myself with . With which obscure pronouncement Your Telephone Patrol a *PERSONAL Service Your service depends on more than just the way your own instru- ment and line are work- ah ing. Any moment you m call for connection wit a telephone two, ten, a hundred cor a thousand miles away. Your ca:l may hop un- derground and emerge somewhereacross town. .t may follow one of the great long distance highways, cr head off along some winding pole line into the next county. But. whichever it may be. your ser. vice ia constantly patrolled, in trucks and cars and afoot, along two million miles of wire in Ontario and Quebec --to see that storm and sleet, wind and flood are out-manoeuvred--to see that the track is quickly cleared for your call when the elements get the upper hand. These men are serving you personally With them it's not just an eight- hour day, but a job in Your interest. Not just that the traffic shall flow along normally, but that your call I tarcugh. H. M. BLACK THE BELL TELEPHONE CO. OF CANADA personal, ad). One's own, individual, private, as " to suit his personel conven- fence," " this is personal to myself" ; ete. -- The Oxford Dictionary It Pays to Adyertise in The Oshawa Daily Times jr JRe (recade OSHAWA, WEDNESDAY argain Day 1he Store Is Open All Day Dolls, 12 inches high, made of serviceable ma. terials and hard to break. Wed. nesday bargain MEN'S FANCY WOOL SOCKS Men's Imported fancy Wool Socks, mice pat- terns, all sizes 10 C to 11. Wednesday n SPECIAL SAVINGS THAT WILL CROWD THE Sport Silk Bedspreads, Col- C he Jot - sample at sme JC med Coats made LADIES' SAMPLE ' LADIES' CLOTH Tricotine and STOR EFROM MORNING UNTIL NIGHT ODD LOT SILK & WOOL { RAYON BEDSPREADS " e, Blue ims oni oid," Wed: | Purses, new de- signs and values LADIES' FUR (TRIMMED COATS A special in the newest Fall Coatings. DRESSES Ladies will have Blue Serge Dress- 3 4% C es. Values to # day Bargain HOSIERY large size Rayon 5 4 95 "Shop at The Arcade" Ladies' and Miss- Extra special 2 SAMPLE PURSES $2.5¢, Wednes- richly fur trim- gain these Blue SIMCOE STREET NORTH mpmmm--)