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a -------- -- : EE -- "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd {By Agatha Christie) ------ the conversation going. seemed affected by her sion, and Blunt relap ual taciturnity. Immediately after dinner Ackroyd le's depres- looked wretched, and ate next to mo- | "into his us- (Chapter 4 Continued) "Im going to marry Ralph, you Lnow," she went on. _ pleased. It keeps me in the family, ; you see." I took both her hands in mine. "My dear," I said, "I hope you'll - Le very happy." "We've been engaged for about a month," continued Flora in her cool voice, "but it was only announced yesterday. Uncle is going to do up Cross-stones, and give it. to us to live in, and we're going to p d to farm. Really, we shall hunt all the winter, town for the season, and then go yachting. I love the sea. And, ot ' course, I shall take a great interest in the parish affairs, and attend all the mothers' Meetings." 3 ust then Mrs. Ackroyd rustled in, full of apologies for bemg late, 1 am sorry to say 1 detest Mrs, Ack- royd. She is all chains and teeth and bones. A most unpleasant woman. She has small pale flinty blue eyes, and however gushing her words may I ---- wo "Uncle is very coldly speculative. squeeze, and began talking voluably. at first sight. Such so dark and she so fair: pard, the relief to a mother's hea "I was wondering. You are such ai old friend of dear Roger's. Roger is just a leetle peculiar about money. sound him on the subject? The OSHAWA, LIMITED FRIDAY WILL BE FUR COAT DAY Beautiful Furs at Savings that will Surprise You EXTRA SPECIAL ELECTRIC SEAL SELF TRIMMED - COATS - A Rare Opportunity to Purchase A Fur Coat at a Great Saving $89.30 Enquire about Our Easy Payment Plan Shop at The Arcade Dry Goods Millinery Ladies' Ready-To.Wear really known you just two years." ed once more, interruption. [I hate doctor?" ' "Yes, indeed," I said. at least by repute. He has shot more wild animals in unlikely places than any man living, I suppose, When you mention him, people say: "Blunt--you don't mean the big game man, do | you?" His friendship with Ackroyd has al- ways puzzled me a little, The two men 'ave so totally dissimilar. Hector Blunt |is perhaps five years Ackroyd's jupior. They made friends early in life, ana | though their ways have diverged, the "friendship still holds. About once mn two years Biunt spends a fortnight at | Fernly, and an immense animal's head, with an amazing number of horns which fixes you with a glazed stare as ! soon as you come inside the front | door, is a permanent reminder of the | friendship. Blunt had entered the sroom now with his own peculiar, deliberate, yet soft-footed tread, He is a man ot medium height, sturdily . and' rather stockily built, His face is almost ma- { hogany coloured, and is peculiarly ex- ' pressionless. He has gray eyes that | give the impression of, always watch- | me something that is happening very iar away. He talks little, and what he does say is said jerkily, as though the words were forced out of him unwil- ungly. He said now: "How are you, Shep- { pard?" in his uspal abrupt fashion, and | then stood squarely in front of the 'tueplace looking over our heads as | though he saw something very inter- esting happening in Timbuctoo, "Major Blunt," said Flora, "I wish you'd tell me about these African things. I'm sure you know what they all are." : [I have heard Hector Blunt describ- ed as a woman hater, but I noticed that he joined Flora at the silver table with what might be' described: as alacrity. They bent over it together, I was afraid Mrs. Ackroyd would begin talking about settlements again, bout the new sweet pea. | knew there was a new sweet pea because the Daily tail haa told me so that morning. Mrs. Ackroyd knows nothing abou horticutture, but she is the kind ot woman who likes to appear well-in- formed about the tupics of the day, and she, too, reads the Daily Mail, We were able to converse quite intelligent- ly unti Ackroyd and his secretary joined us, and immediately afterwards Parker announced dinner. My place at the table was between Mrs. Ackroyd and Flora. = Blunt was on Mrs. Ackroyd's other side, and Geoffrey Raymond next to him. Dinner was not a cheerful affair, Ackroyd was visibly preoccupied. He be, those eves of hers always remain | me off tp his study. I went across to her, leaving Flora by the window. She gave me a hand- ful of assorted knuckles and rings to Had 1 heard about Flora's engage- a ment? So suitable in every way. The |Pearing to do so. dear young things had fallen" in love a perfect pair, he "I can't tell you, my dear Dr. Shep- rt. Mrs. Ackroyd sighed--a tribute to | fire. her mother's heart, whilst her eyes remained shrewdly observant of me. | ment. We know how much he trusts to your judgment. So difficult for me--in my position, as poor Cecil's widow. But there are so|On a round table were various maga- many tiresome things -- settlements, you know--all that. I fully believe that intends to make settlements upon dear Fiora, but, as you know, he | Very unusual, I've heard, amongst men who are captains' of industry. I won- dered, you know, if you could just Flora is so fond of you. We feel you are quite an old friend, although we have only Mrs. Ackroyd's eloquence was cut short as the drawing-room door open- I was pleased at the interfering in other people's affairs, and I had not the least intention of tackling Ackroyd' on the subject of Flora's settlements, In another moment I should have been forced to tell Mrs. Ackroyd as much. "You know Major Blunt, don't you, A lot of people know Hector Blunt-- so I made a tew hurried remarks a- | slipped his arm through mine and led "Once we've had coffee, we shan't be disturbed again," he explained. "I told Raymond to see to it that we shouldn't be interrupted." I studied him quetly without ap- He was clearly under the influence of some strong ex- citement. For a nunute or twe he paced up and down the room, then, as Parker entered with the coffee tray, he sank into an arm-chair in front of the The study was a comfortable apart- Bookshelves lined one wall of 1 Jit. The chairs were big and covered with dark blue leather. A large desk stood by the window and was covered with papers neatly docketed and filed. zines and sporting papers. "I've had a return of that pain after food lately," remarked Ackroyd casu- ally, as he helped himself to coffee. . | "You must give me some more of those tablets of yours." It struck me that he was anxious to convey the impression that our confer- ence was a medical one. 1 played up accordingly. "I thought as much. I brought some up with me." "Good man. Hand them over now." "They're in my bag in the hall. mm get them." Ackroyd arrested me. "Don't you trouble. Parker will get them. Bring in the doctor's bag; will you, Parker?" "Very good, sir." Parker withdrew. As I was about to speak, Ackroyd threw up his hand. "Not vet. Wait. Don't you see I'm in such a state of nerves that I can hardly contain myself?" 1 saw that plainly enough. And I was very uneasy. All sorts of fore- 1 odings assailed me, i Ackroyd spoke again almost imme- diately. "Make certain that window's closed, will you?" he asked. Somewhat surprised, I got up and went to it. It was not a French win- {hing 'Mrs. Ackroyd, Raymond, and | closed ' confession to you?" THE OSHAWA DAILY TIMES, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1927 "PAGE SIXTEEN ee... le... ll ea Come here and sit down. The door's too, isn't it?" f "Yes. Nobody can overhear; don't be uneasy." "Sheppard, nobody knows what I've gone through in the last twenty-four hours. If a man's house ever fell in- ruins about him, mine has about me. This business of Ralph's is thé last straw. But we won't talk about that now. It's the other--the other--! | don't know what to do about it. And I've got to make up my mind soon." "What's the trouble?" -------- ~ Joh Renfrew FUR COAT TIME IS HERE! Ackroyd remained silent for a min- ute or two. verse to begin. When he did the question he asked came as aReak, plete surpise. expected. 1 Sheppard, Jou attended Ashley Fer- | ars in his last illness, didn't >" "Yes, I did" ™ He seemed to find even greater dif- ficulty in framing his next question. 'Did vou never suspect--did it ever enter your head--that--well, that he might have been poisoned?" I was silent for a minute or two. Then 1 made up my mind what. to say. Roger Ackroyd was not Caroline. "I'll tell you the truth," I said. "At the time I had no suspicion whatever, but since--well, it was mere idle talk on my sister's part that first put the idea into my head. Since then I haven't heen able to get it out again. But, mind youn, I've no foundation whatever for that suspicion." "He was poisoned," said Ackroyd. He spoke in a dull, heavy voice. "Who by?" I asked sharply. "His wife." "How do you know that?" "She told me so herself." "When?" "Yesterday! My God! yesterday! It scems ten years ago." I waited a minute, and then he went on. He seemed curiously a-! Ai UNMATCHED FUR VALUE | Choose in Your Own Home from the Of Canada's Largest Furriers & Just as winter comes and you feel the n:ed of a fur coat Holt, rough our recently organized shopping service, the opportunity of standing values which are bringing so many Toronto people to our stor Holt, Renfrew are Canada's Largest Furriers. We buy pelts on a tremendous scale--and because of our influence, get the best. We effect important savings in making up Holt, Renfrew Fur Coats in our work- rooms. . We employ the country's cleyerest furriers. We are in constant touch with the fashion dictators of the world. Consequently no other Canadian Furrier can match our values. No matter how much or how little you wish to pay for your fur coat Holt, Renfrew offer you the best value procurable ay your price. lett Seal Goa $95 $115 Renfrew offer you sharing in the out- e this season, Out-of-town Shopping Service For the convenience of our out-of-town customers we have a Shopping Service which will enable you to purchase the fur coat of your choice without com. ; "You understard, Sheppard, I'm tell- ing you this in confidence. It's to so! no further. I want your advice--I can't carry the whole weight by my-, self. As I said just now, I don't know what to do." "Can vou tell me the whole story?" I said. "I'm still in the dark. How did Mrs. Ferrars come to make this "It's like this. Three months ago I asked Mrs. Ferrars to marry me. She dow, but one of the ordinary sash type. The heavy blue velvet curtains | were drawn in front of it, but the| window itself was open at the top. Parker re-entered the room with my bag while 1 was still at the window. "That's all right," I said, emerging again into the room. . { "You've put the latch across?" "Yes, ves. What's the matter with vou, Ackroyd?" | "The door had just closed behind | Parker, or 1 would not have put the | question. : Ackroyd waited just a minute be- | fore replying. "I'm in hell" he said slowly, after | a minute. "No, don't bother with those | damned tablets, 1 only said that for | Parker. Servants are so curious. | -_ Living Room Model to 4 Made throughout in Canada, and sold everywhere on a fair oner price basie--$450 ' The Williams Piano Co. Limited Oshawa - s Ontarig . 0) SE For Sale by Johns Piano Store 80 Simcoe St, N, Phone 251 - | Sa -- We are DIX Solvay Coke Sole Agents Jeddo Premium Coal The Best Produced in America : General Motors Wood -- All Fuel Orders weighed on City Scales if desired. ON'S Telephone~-- 262 Four direct lines to Central A refused. I asked her again and she consented, but she refused to allow me to make the engagement public until her year of mourning was up. Yester- day I called upon her, pointed out that a vear and three weeks hid now elap- sed since her husband's death, and that there could be no further objection to making the engagement public pro- perty, I had noticed that she had been very strange in her manner for some days. Now, suddenly, without the least warning, she broke down com- pletely. She--she told me everything. Her hatred of her brute of a hus- band, her growing love for me, and the--the dreadful means she had tak- en. Poison! My God! It was mur- der in cold bleod." I saw the repulsion, the horror, in Ackroyd's face. So Mrs. Ferrars must have seen it. Ackrovd is not the type of the great lover who can forgive all for love's sake. He is fundamen- tally a good citizen. All that was sound and wholesome and lawabiding in him must have turned from her utterly in that moment of revelation. "Yes," he went on, in a low, mono- tonous voice, "she confessed every- thing. It seews that there is one per- son who has known all along--who has been blackmailing her for huge sums. It was the strain of that that drove her nearly mad." "Who was the man?" Suddenly before my eyes there arose the picture of Ralph Paton and Mrs. Ferrars side by side. Their heads so close together, I felt a momentary throb of anxiety. Supposing--oh! but surely that was impossible. I remem- bered the frankness of .Ralph's greet- ing that very afternoon Absurd! : "She wouldn't tell me his name,' said Ackroyd slowly. "As a matter of fact, she didn't actually say that it was a man. But of course--" "Of course," | agreed. "It must have been a man. And you've no suspi- cion at all?" For answer Ackroyd groaned and dropped his head into his hands, "It can't be," he said. "I'm mad ev- en to think of such a thing. No, I won't even admit to you the wild sus- picion that crossed my mind. I'll tell you this much, though. Something she said made me think that the per- son in question might be actually a- mong my houschold--but that can't be so. I must have misunderstood her. "What did you say to her?" I ask- ed. "What could I say? She saw, of course; the awful shock it had been to me, And then there was the question, what was my duty in the matter? She had made me, you see, an accessory after the fact, She saw all that, I think, quicker than I did. I was stun- ned, you know. She asked me for twenty-four hours--made me promise to do nothing till the end of that time. And she steadiastly refused to give me the name of the scoundrel who had been blackmailing her. I suppose she was afraid that I might go straight off and hammer him, and then the fat would have been in the fire as far as she was concerned. She told me that 1 should hear from her before twenty-four hours had passed. My God; I swear to.you, Sheppard, that it never entered my head what she meant to do. Suicide! And I drove her to it." "No, no," I said. "Don't take an cxaggerated view of things. The re- sponsibility for her death doesn't lie at your door." . "The question is, what am I to do now? he poor lady is dead. Why rake up past trouble?" "I rather agree with you," I said. "But there's another point. How am I to get hold of that scoundrel who drove her to death as surely as if he'd killed her. Hé knew of the first crime, and he fastened on to it like some ob- ing to Toronto. 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