The Mystery of the Downs

"My first impression was that the circle of figures represented some form of letters of the alphabet arranged on what is called the cardboard or trellis cipher, in which a messa...

DINNER was just over at Sir George Granville's house, and Crewe, on hearing that Detective Gillett and Sergeant Westaway had called to see him, took them into the library at his...

DETECTIVE GILLETT cycled across to Ashlingsea the following morning, after spending the night in Staveley as the guest of Inspector Murchison. The morning was clear, the downs w...

IT was not Elsie Maynard's first visit to London, but her visits had been so few that London had presented itself to her as a vast labyrinth of streets, shops and houses. The pr...

THE storm had descended swiftly, sweeping in suddenly from the sea, driving across the downs to the hills at high speed, blotting out the faint rays of a crescent moon and hidin...

His guest was so intent on the chess-board that he did not reply. Sir George Granville remained at the window, his attention divided between watching for his opponent's next mov...

FROM the front gate of Cliff Farm the road wound up the hill steeply and sinuously, following the broken curves of the coastline till it disappeared in the cutting of the hill t...

CREWE spent two days in making investigations at Cliff Farm and at Ashlingsea. He went over the farm very carefully in search of any trace of disturbed ground which might indica...

MISS MAYNARD'S statement made such an impression on Sergeant Westaway that he determined to ride over to Staveley that afternoon and lay it before Inspector Murchison. He was so...

DETECTIVE GILLETT made a journey to London in order to visit Somerset House and inspect the will left by James Lumsden, the grandfather of the man who had been murdered. He had...

AS the car swept around the deserted sea-front and through the scattered outskirts of the town, Crewe gradually increased the going, till by the time Staveley was left behind, a...

CREWE walked to the street known as Whitethorn Gardens, which he learned was situated in the older portion of the town, off the less fashionable end of the front. It was a narro...

SERGEANT WESTAWAY was flattered at the manner in which his theory of the murder had been received by men who were far more experienced than himself in investigating crime. His s...

With the lamp in his hand he was compelled to descend cautiously, and when he reached the foot of the staircase the girl had left the house. He extinguished the lamp he was carr...

"I MUST say that I feel very grateful to you, Mr. Crewe," said Detective Gillett after a pause. "You have certainly got hold of some facts of which I was not aware. And your ded...

It was seldom that Sergeant Westaway was so obliging as to make a voluntary offer of his services, but then it was still more seldom that a young lady of Miss Maynard's social s...

THE search for the body began in the morning, at low tide. Inspector Murchison had come from Staveley to superintend, and from the landing place he and Sergeant Westaway directe...

CREWE steered to the stone landing-place and tied the little motor-boat to a rusty iron ring which dangled from a stout wooden stake, wedged between two of the seaweed covered s...

CREWE engaged a room in Whitethorn Gardens in order to watch Mrs. Penfield's movements, and took up his post of observation immediately. As he did not want Mrs. Penfield to know...

"Yes," said Marsland. "It is not a story that I would care to tell to many. It is not a story that reflects any credit on me--my company wiped out through treachery on the part...

POLICE-SERGEANT WESTAWAY sat in the sitting-room of Cliff Farm preparing an official report, with the assistance of his subordinate, Police-Constable Heather, whose help consist...

CREWE and Marsland sat at a table in Sir George Granville's library with the cryptogram before them. The detective was absorbed in examining it through a magnifying glass, but M...

"WE have evidence, Captain Marsland, that the statement you made to Sergeant Westaway regarding your discovery of the dead body of Frank Lumsden at Cliff Farm on the night of Fr...

Her eyes met his frankly, as she replied, and Marsland as he looked at her was impressed with her beauty and the self-possession of her manner. She was young, younger than he ha...

"YOU are on the wrong track, Mr. Crewe," said Gillett, who was determined not to part with the theory he had built up round the evidence he had collected. "I was positive the mu...

STAVELEY only differed from a hundred other English seaside resorts by having a sea front which was quite flat, the cliffs which skirted the coastline from Ashlingsea falling aw...