A Fight With Fate.

Clutha Leader, Volume XL, Issue 43, 28 November 1913, Page 7

A Fight With Fate.

f Br MADGE BAELOW,

> ifltior of "The Cairn of the Badger," :. "Secret of the Black Bog," "LoTe Rods a Way," "Plyna o' tho Hall," Etc.

| CHAPTER XVll.—{Continued). . Solly laughed consumedly. "Suicide! Excuse me, it's rather funny." . "Or virrest on a charge of murder. Winch will he choose?" ••Neither. He'll snap his dingers and challenge you to show cause for his arfiest." "I can suggest a powerful motive as tvidenoed by you." "First you'll have to catch me," said Jfr Gollinger, inwardly. And aloud, "He'll diddle you whichever way you tarn. Lug him to the scaffold's foot, jnd deliver him over to Jack Ketch, and he'll contrive to diddle you. There's something guarding him, something not .good. Unless I'm mighty spry, it'll circumvent even me, and 1 was born old and 'cute."

He escorted Waring to the door, and 'detained him while he himself stepped tit on the landing and assumed a listening attitude. •'lt is possible that between ths third floor and the street you may oncounter a young man of swarthy hue, irith a remarkable development of the tasal organ." he whispered. "Herbert levinski, to wit, an employee of the ; Anglo-Oalifornian, etc. He and 1 had »scrap last night, a question of money, jnd 1 am lying up. you savvy, nursing »n injured leg." "Is the liurt severe?" Waring inquired, politely. "Excruciatingly painful," replied Solly, endeavoring to suppress a broad jrin. "If Herby asks for me, tell him jou were administering religious consolation and the physician in attendance is of opinion that mortification .vill supervene." "I couldn't when it isn't the truth," said the padre, sternly. "That's awkward. Do you carry a breviary?" -No/' "You could have gone down reading, ind pretending you didn't hear. How would it suit you to be absorbed in meditation? You could fix him with a glassy stare and walk past." "I'll manage to give Mr Levinski no information if 1 meet him.'' "Right-o! Shake hands, sky-pilot, ind say you bear no ill-will." With a smile of infinite weariness the padre took the proffered hand. "1 bear jou no ill-will, Mr Gollinger." "One of the best you are." Solly muttered. "And you'll be worsted on Friday. Paul don't care a fig for'you. His star's on the. wane, the boots he licked lire kicked him. and that's all he lired in dread of. I just wrung the ten thou, from him in the nick of time."

CHAPTER XYIII. It was Friday morning, and Bouchier las seated at his desk finishing an appelling specimen of penmanship, in ihich the letters were all crudely and eraokedly printed, and the orthography itrocious. This precious epistle, bore no tddress, and ran thus: "Dere lady, the gent Mister Fits- , zersld as met a orful axident and is dyin' fast. Ho wants you dredful bad. Fur Gawd's luv come aforo it's in lat«p.—A Frond." "That'll fetch her," ho elmoklcd. "If 4e knows where to go it's & sign that die has been there before." He placed tie product of his genius in an envelope lidressed to his wife, and stole out and .posted it in aii adjacent pillar-box. He glanced at the hall clock as he reKtert'd the house, and calculated that Kitty would get the letter by the early slternoon delivery. A fog was threatening—not the false, murky variety which -sometime-, toaverts London into a city of the blind, but a milder yellowish haz.\ through which objects arc i-een dimly, »through a gauze veil. Jn the fog k—Paul—could follow at her hods and Kte where Fitzgerald lived, besides taking cautious inquiries in the locality regarding his habits and hours of Silking abroad. Kitty was upstairs, keeping to he imks on one or other of her numerous pieiexts, for avoiding him. He darted 'look of hatred at the ceiling above his Mil. and tried to occupy his icsclrss Eiid with the morning papers He lunched alone, hit-, ears alert for 4e postman's rattle at the. gate. It pne, and he saw a maid take in the wter. The servant tripped down•tiiis, laid the empty salver on the hall*We, and went through the baize-cov-N swing doors into the kitchen. barely had they shut behind her when 'shriek and the round of a falling body ratified him. He rubbed his hands, ■to almost crowed as he imagined the 'Sony that preceded the fall. He heard much moving about upttiis—the house seemed in a commo""n for 15 minutes. Then Kitty's'voice "«audible, tremulously dismissing her Mais. Then silence reigned. In a m while there was an unsteady footW and a rustle of skirts. Someone H "Indeed, ma'am, you're not fit to »outi" And Kitty replied, "I must, iffi bettor. Give me the gate-key in *» I stay late." Peering through the crack of the door JJ saiv her wearing a dark waterproof j« motor-cap tied with a long blue veil. * brushed past the expostulating serf's and only waiting till she gained F*road he seized his hat and coat and Jwed. The yellowish haze had thiekJp 1 ! out her slender shape was recog''sable, hurrying on towards the net°'k of squalid streets which had P?g up around the old Court like "Sp in the night. Uurtis Row was not far distant, but were precious to Kitty, and J* toiled a 'bus at the corner and fluted to the roof, sitting with bet X t(J Paul. He raced to catch, it, ™™g and panting, and as he hopped j?jJle step a hand shot out, gripped f,' a "d pulled him on to the greasy "JWe-stones. to~%° ; " fie rasped. "Hang you! I™! d.ve mean?" Glancing at his'cap--5> be was astounded to see AA'aring. 1 1<J P your dashed nonsensical pranks," PPWled, "I was getting into that |i,' not coming off, chuckle-head. No* j,»gone. Le(j ROj aIK j t>]) spr j n t alter "•„ y Uke your paws off me!'\ i iou are going home to answer to me "ybe murder of Marv Hurst." fc»; # ared - The bolt had fallen un. and, in spite of his bravado K««fiorning, h 6 felt a distinct creep■r went room fronting the walled yard Rushed his teeth like a dog. WitU you know wnat you've done?" he Kjm 1 ' "Prevented me from following ■? W of a wife to Dick Fitzgerald's Kfc?w lodgings, or wherever wpb P*M h it ooatmti t« jfo,"

t lies, your double life, your inhuman cruelty,''said Waring. "Home with me, or 1 will shout your crime in the streets!" A wild, unsettled expression flashed across the tragic oountenoe and told Paul the padre would be as good as his word in the of resistanc*. Kitty had vanished. Mischance had spoilt his little plan. He yielded to necessity, and marched sulkily back to Fountain Court, his brain alert and active. In "I do not believe you 4 Paul. But if it were true, I would say she is safer there than here, for he is a, gentleman and an honest lad. I may as well tell you at once that I intend to take her to the Home to-night, and Mrs Mellish is perpared to receive and mother her. Kitty will never return to you." "1 dare you to do it!" The Teins in his plump neck swelled. "And 1 reply that you are no longer I a free agent, and cannot hinder me, Mary Hurst was murdered by yon, chloroformed to death, and you/ miserable life will pay forfeit for hers." Paul drew in his lower lip with a sucking sound. "Ah! Solly's the pimp. I see. A good plucked 'un, you are, Solly—a rare pal." His soft, purring accents, his slow, quiet smile, were a strange contrast' to the deril in his eyes. "Go on!" he said. "Do you think "I vo nothing to do but listen to your drivel ? State your business and begone." "I came to offer you as your punishment either public exposure, perhaps to be followed by arrest, or death by your own hand inside three days. Exposure, to you, means worse than death." "Bogey's got me, so it's waste of time to threaten him,' 'said Paul, hooking his thumbs into the armholos of his vest and sitting squarely in his chair. "It was to save my face in society I grovelled to you, to Gollinger, tothe'impudent minx I married, to the Lessing woman who used my wile to bring about my downfall. I stunk in the nostrils of the upper ten. For Kitty Goring's sake they tolerated me till she trailed her skirts in the mud, and then they dropped us both. Humpty Dumpty has toppled off bis cogglesome pcrcli, and all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't piece him together and put him back. I'm down, thanks to Mrs Bouchier, the highbred begf.ar who was to lie my passport into select circles. Can you push me any further doivn? Get out. I'm sick of you. Go to Bedlam." The padre's trembling hands were pressed to his breast to still a violent throbbing. "As for your suggestion of suicide, it's worthy of a March hare cutting antics in the mad month. Mary Hurst took her own life. Disprove it if vou can. Shout your story from the pulpit, the housetops, and 1 won't care a button. All creation is welcome to hiss and point the finger now that Kitty has rounded on me and sunk to the level of " With a bound Waring caught the fleshy throat and shook him as -a. terrier shakes a rat. "The blame is yours," Paul gurgled. "Vou encouraged her to rebel against her lawful husband." He wrenched himself free and slipper! between the table and the window, for that muscular grip on his throat was a revelation to him of what the padre could do when his righteous anger was roused. "Steal her from me, will you!-' No, sir-ee. Wherever 1 go she goes, and I'll make her wish shehadn't been born. From the way 1 loved her you can guess how I hate her." He paused to moisten his purple lips. ''And instead of dying to please you I'll lire to aggravate her and Kitegerald —live to be a hundred if 1 can, and flourish like the green bay tree. There's my answer. London isn't the world. I've my choice of whole continents, and you and the entire police force could not prevent me hooking a passage to-mor-row to Jerusalem if T wanted to. 1 challenge you to produce a single scrap of evidence that I ever harmed a hair of Mary Hurst's head. Hey! What's up?" The padre had reeled suddenly and collapsed upon the chair from which Paul had risen. His mouth hung slack. His breath came in heavy sighs. The sweat of dissolution glistened on his livid brow. Could it be possible that he was dying:-' That the exertion of wrestling with his foe, the excitement, had been too much for him ? The eager, gloating face of Bouchier thrust itself across the table and scanned the stricken man, read the fiat of doom in the ashy, clay-cold features, the glaring eye. "Feeling bad?" he asked. "Going to succumb in front of me, and you having such a lot to do? It's your heart, worn out, nnd tickling its last. A drop of brandy might help you. I won't give it you. The servants would fetch a doctor. They shan't. I'll let you die where you lie, with uo one to wet your lips or wipe your clammy forehead." In his wicked idee he danced. "And look you," lie whispered, his repulsive face again thrust close to Waring's, "I don't mind if I impart a secret to you because you can. never blab it. That tongue of yours is speechless; in t minute or less you'll be a carcase. Just to soothe your dying moments I'll murmur soft and low that I did ani>!y the chloroform, Can you hear? I did, and I'll live on when'you've dead 1 to laugh at you. She was a beastly nuisance. She went nice and quiet, without a struggle." The eyes of Waring turned and fastened on Paul, Something solemn and terrible in them checked his glee. Waring tried to speak, he half raised himself; the fight he made to conquer his weakness was superhuman, a battle between the strong spirit and the feeble flesh. "Out of your own mouth," he gasped. "Out of your own mouth." "And much good it'll do you now," exulted Bouchier. "I'm safe" from you. Where you're going it'll torment'you to know that you know and can't get at me._ I've bested you. Hooray!" Waring said no more. His head slipped to one side.Springing to the hearth, Paul lit a taper and held it to the, dropped face. He bounded into the hnll and, shouting for the servants, bade them run for a medical man. It would look well to have it said that he summoned a doctor at once, though he knew all was over. He rang up the nearest police, office and asked them to despatch an ambulance and a couple of constables to Fountain Court. "Mv dear old friend, Padre Waring, of the Darker Home. Is dead," he explained, brokenly. "He expired with startling suddenness while chatting to me." The doctor came-, a taciturn young; fellow who listened! to Paul's emotional recital of how it happened and said nothing. He raised the padre's lids, examined, the eye pupils, and wiaited, evidently puzzled and interested. He studied the body closely * until the ambulance arrived; Paul went to receive the group of m«n, *nd met tlwm on ths

tiiem. "In here," he said in subdued, reverent tones befitting the occasion. "It's a shockingly sad affair. . Ah! These are police officers accompanying you. Step in. Yes, ha is quite dead, a painless passing." The shrinking figure of Levinski gesticulating to him behind the group flurried him. Herbert Waa dishevelled and excited. Ho seemed like the bearer of important tidings. Paul motioned him into another apartment and slid in after him. "Anything wrong?" he murmured. For a time Herby could not articulate, and the hum of voices in the other room exasperated the questioner. He, wanted to be there, glutting his triumphant soul with the sight ol the cold corose.

"Wh-what's the row?" Levinski stammered. "Have you got himP" "Got who, you ass ? A man fell dead in my house. He's lying yonder, and they're taking him away."' "Is isn't Gollinger? Say it is, and I'll jump for joy." "Is isn't. What has Gollinger done to your"

"He—he's slung his hook," moaned Levinski. "Cut and left us in the lurch, the clerks not paid, me not paid."

"And I," said Paiul, "am stripped of a cool ten thousand pounds." "If you'd told me plain and straight the facts about that deal in Abalones I'd have kept a strict eye on him," replied Herby, venomously. "It was either a loan or a gift, for he was on his last legs, or p'r'aps it was hushmoney of some sort. I don't care what it was. He would naturally clear with so much of the ready in his pockets and a warrant for arrest suspended over his head, and I'd have been wiser than to let him. I'd have had my share or throttled him. I've slaved to do his dirty work on tho understanding that I'd eomo out of this venture flush of the dibs, and he's ruined me." A sob pulsed in his throat. "He hasn't even paid my wages." "And I'm tired of lending," Paul said curtly, anticipating a plea for financial aid. "One sovereign," Levinski whined. Hut his expression betokened that he held something in reserve, a sharper arrow, which would wing home to Bouchier's hard heart and rend it.

"When you complete the job I spoke of the other day I will give you the sum I promised. Meanwhile, not a shilling. I may need your services shortly. Be at hand. If you are hungry the servants will feed you, if you lack a bed there are vacant rooms at the top of the house; but henceforth no man sees the color of my money unless ho earns it."

He was pale and savage. He had trusted Solly as rogues trust • one another, though they view the bulk of honester men with suspicion. He had counted on shilly-shallying methods of reimbursement, never on barefaced imposition, trickery and flight. "I knew you were a skinflint," said Levinski. "That's why I couldn't believe about the ten thousand pounds when 1 heard of it this morning; that's why the other bit of news made mo think I was going dotty, or you were. Did you do it in your sober senses, or did Solly hypnotise you?" "What bit of news? I can't stay J ought to be with them." He took an impatient step to the door. "Wait," cried Herby, snatching at his coat-tails. "You signed a paper for Gollinger. Heavens! I can't credit it yet. though I've seen it, that a chap of your kidney could be such an out-and-out idiot. It's in the official cha.mbori —he sent it—signed., and witnessed, MiMiiped, correct an any lawyer could frame. A plain undertaking on your part to shoulder the whole " "Hush !" Paul's lips were twitching. He lifted a silencing hand. The stretcher was coming into the hall, its burden outlined long and narrow beneath the covering doth. A police officer drew him apart and asked several questions, which he answered glibly, excusing bis aibsence from the room on the ground that a messenger bad brought a business communication which had to be promptly attended to. The officer was courteous and deferential. In reply to n query he said the doctor had ordered the body to be conveyed to hospital on account of certain peculiarities in. the case. "Peculiarities?" Paul said, sharply. "He died a natural death." "Perfectly natural, sir. Nobody disputes it." "Then I fail to sec your meaning." "Dr. AVade will tell you himself, sir. Pardon me. . I must" have the lamp above the gate lit. The fog has grown dense inthis sunk spot. The house lies low, sir."

He went to help witAi the lighting of the lamp, and stood beside the ambulance while they got the stretcher in. The taciturn doctor was particular about the position of it. He folded the cloth below the chin, leaving the ghastly face unshrouded. Paul's blood ran chill. He thought the half-closed eeys were staring at him. AA'ade came out to him. "The padre was probably suffering from some strong mental emotion when he lost consciousness, Mr Bouchier?"

"No," replied Paul. "AYo were discussing the weather," "Really? He is a melancholic subject, I suppose, rather 'inclined to hvsten a. Have you ever known him to fall into a cataleptic trance before?" "Trance be jiggered-" spluttered Paul. "He's had heart trouble. It was of that ho died," There is no appearance of rigor raoi'tid setting in, and in many respects this case resembles one ••which occurred in my practice several years ago and roused the liveliest interest in the profession. That's right"— to a constable carrying blankets and rubber bottles, and frankly sceptical. "Pack the hotwater 'bottles round his feet an<] we'll get him taiway. _ He'll be carefully tended, Mr Bouchier, and kept under observation. If my surmise is correct I'll inform you personally. He may remain in a condition of coma for days, even weeks, or he may emerge from it in a few hours."

"He—ho may die in the ambulance, doctor?"

"It is possible—but cheer up! I am going with him to watch for any change." Medicus dived inside the vehicle, one of the police joined him, ami the}' glided into the mist, the whistle's warning cutting the stillness of the rood. The solid earth rocked beneath PauPa reek He had admitted his guilt to Waring. If the doctor's fantastical notion had foundation in fact, and the thing so like death was not death, Waring would prove a dangerous, dogged foe. He bemoaned the ill-timed glee that had unloosed his tongue. He had seen people die. How could he have been mistaken in Waring? Merciful Heaven 1 how was he to live through the dragging hours till eertajnty of eome sort ease<} bis torment? (To ta