Thereupon, Mr. Bellward was
hunted up and ultimately traced by his correspondence to The Mill
House. He was not found there, but was eventually encountered at
his London hotel, and requested to appear before the authorities
with a view to throwing some light on Mortimer. Under
cross-examination Bellward flatly denied any knowledge of
Mortimer, and declared that a mistake had been made. He cited
various well known city men to speak for his bona-fides and
protested violently against the action of the authorities in
doubting his word. It was ultimately elicited that Bellward was
of German birth and had never been naturalized, and he was
detained in custody while a search was made at The Mill House.
The search was conducted with great discretion, old Martha being
got out of the way before the detectives arrived and a careful
watch being kept to avoid any chance of interruption. The search
had the most fruitful results. Hidden in a secret drawer of the
Sheraton desk in Bellward's bedroom, was found a most elaborate
analysis of the movements of the transports to France, extremely
accurate and right up to date. There was absolutely no
indication, however, as to whence Bellward received his reports,
and how or to whom he forwarded them. It was surmised that
Mortimer was his informant, but an exhaustive search of the post
office files of telegrams despatched showed no trace of any other
telegram from Mortimer to Bellward save the one in the possession
of the authorities.
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