POETRY

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 423, 2 June 1904, Page 2

POETRY

ONLt. Only a dear litt'e dimpled baby, Coddled to sleep in her bed, Only a nMighty brother, With mischief in hia head. Oily a little paint-brash handy, And color rs pretty and bright, Only a prick of conscience, To tell him it wasn't right. Only two eyelids closed so sweetly, Receiving their share of paint, Only a sigh from poor little baby, And a boy's giggle, fanny srd quaint.

Only a streak of bright blue colour From her crown to her dear little nose, Only two cheeke of green and yellow, & ad cbia like a f all-blown rose.

Only the sound of mamma coming, And a scramble from Beared Utile boy, Only a scream at Bight of baby, And the end cf a little boy's joy.

Only a lecture, a wail of repentance, Then the sobs come mild and faint, Only »he tan't see what babies was made for, If they wasn't nude to paint.'

1 1 can't b&y. Very probably you landed her at Bnst.'

Fenwick shrugged his shoulders and pointed oyer the side. 'Will you oblige ae by quitting my yacht P' he said, politely. ' You have not won yet,' said I, descending the saide. 'l'll find Lilian and thwart you at any price; you shall never finger a penny of that money. Who was the veiled woman P I demand that you tell me that.' ' I am not bound to tell you anything,' he shouted. ' The veiled woman is my affair, not yonrs. Adieu, gentlemen, both; in six months you will see me at Hengiat Tower to claim what will then be legally mine.' 'That will never be,' I muttered. And I kept my word. CHiPTER VI.—THE NEW MAEIANA. The ' Negress' was now a mere speck on the horizon, yet I still gazed at her, wondering the while whether after all I had been wrong about Fenwiok, Lilian was clearly not on board; and yet the man's threats to me, his giving her the drug, and the episode of the veiled woman, all seemed strongly to point to him as the culprit. Moreover, he alone benefited by her abduction. It was impossible to conceive that Lilian had left the Tower of her own free will. It wa3 all very conflicting and unsatisfactory, and I could come to no definite conclusion in my own mind. Aiding came up to m and we anxiously discussed the question.e ' Well, old chap,' said he,' what's to be done now f'

' I'm trying to think.' 'No go there, anyhow' said he, pointisg towards the fast disappearing schooner, ' You're evidently on the wrong scent' 'So it appears. What do you think yourself ?' 'lipon my soul, I don't know what to think. Everything seems to point to Fen wick as the prime mover in the conspiracy, yet if he is, he has done it all very neatly. Miss Marchand was certainly not on board his boat!' 'He might easily have smuggled her off at Brest!'

' That's tine; he might j but if he had, it's reasosable to conclude that he would hare remainod ashoze a bit longer to get her safely stowed away. No, I don't think there's much to be done at Brest, but there's Yarmouth/ he eaid, signicantly. • What about Yarmouth f

' Well, I'll tell you. While you were below on that last hunt round, I squared one of his Dagoes, and got out of him the places they had put in at since leaving Holyport.'

'Well?' I asked, impatiently, seeing that he paused. • Well, he repeated, coolly, ' they dropped in, it appears, for a couple of hours at Yarmouth, and they didn't touch land again till she berthed at Brest.' ' And what do you deduce from that ?' * That Pes wick did not kidnap Miss Marchand, or I fancy, he would have been in a greater hurry to get clear of British waters, Moreover, this Dago declared that no woman Bailed with them.'

'You forget Simpkin's story of the veiled woman!'

' No, I don't. According to this man she returned ashore.' ' Could it have bsea Lilian P'

' That is impossible to say. No one but our friend saw her. She appears to have been with him for about twenty minutes, and then to have been politely handed over the side. The yacht sailed without her!'

'Mrs Marchand, perhapsP No; it could not have been she. It looks as if there were another woman mixed up in the business.'

' That's what I think,' eaid Aiding. 'Now, between you and me, I should not in the least wonder if this veiled woman were—Mrs Fenwick!'

'Nonsense, man! Why. she lives at Yarmouth!'

' I know she does 3 but she might have come over to Holyport to see her husband. It's no distance from the Isle of Wight I' ' But,' I argued, in no wise disposed to agree with this theory, ' Fenwick sailed directly for Yarmouth, Why should not his wife have gone with him ?' ' Ah, she alone can tell you that,' said Aldipg with a yawn. ' Perhaps Fenwick may have induced her to carry off Miss Marchand so that he might get this money without suspicion being thrown on himself?'

'YeB, -there's something in that, Aiding/ said I, after a pause. ' Now, if we could see this woman '

' Nothing easier, my desr fellow, if we make straight for the Wight. But we must not rxpect anything approaching the truth from her. She will do all she knows to screen herself and her husband. In fact, I expect it will be jolly difficult to weed out from what she Bays anything that will really be of use lo us. Still, it's worth the try.*

•Of course, there's Twine,' I suggested. 'Yes, Twine, her old sweetheart, of course—he might be able to do something with her, At all events, it seems our only chance, so we'd better strike for the Solent at once. We must manage to get there before Fenwick.'

' Oh, that's eaßy enough—he's making for Bilbao.'

' Not he; that's a game of bluff, believe me. On the contrary, he is making for Hoiyport, You bet, he's a bit suspicious now, and will get back to look after things for himself. He's playing a deep game, Paul 5 but I'm determined to beat him if I can.'

' I can sever thank yon sufficiently for all this, Aiding!' 'Thank me when I am best man at your wedding, my dear follow,' he raplied, giving my hand so confident a grip as to raise distinctly my hopes of ultimate success.

Without further delay we steamed north. Cleverly as Fenwick had concealed his schemes I still believed that ha knew the whereabouts of Lilian, and had in some way arranged for her forcible detention bo that her absence might play into his hands, I could only hope to thwart him by discovering somehow «t least the approximate whereabouts of Lilian, and the possibility of accomplishing this rested so far as I could see, on the information one might succeed in obtaining from Mrs Pen wick. Failing something tangible in that quarter, there seemed but email chance of success, (To be continued)