A Fight With Fate.

Clutha Leader, Volume XL, Issue 45, 5 December 1913, Page 7

A Fight With Fate.

t By MADGE BARLOW,

Author of "The Cairn of the Badger," "Secret of the Black Bog," "Love a Way," "Flynn o'the Hall," Etc.

CHAPTER XIX. Curtis Row was a block of ancient bouses let on the tenement system, and taring for its pleasant frontage the iiigh wall of a disused churchyard. A.s 4 rule, the pavement swarmed with ■playing children and gossiping women m the slack afternoon hours, hut the fog had driven them to the domestic hearths, and Kitty had the whole Row ■to herself, except for a ;>ostman doing his rounds and a, gaunt cat stalking a sparrow in the gutter. The fog .got into her eyes, and she could not make out the numbers. She iirxs about to enter one of tho common passages and inquire for No. 13 when ■the postman gained on her, and, she apIpealed to him. He brought her to tho [far end of the street and asked which [family sh« was in search of, thinking ,he belonged' to iv band of spinsters Inown locally as "them dratted distric' risitors." : "I am looking for a Mr Fitzgerald," she said. : "The Dook! Attics, miss. Top left.". He touched his can on, and the climbed the stairs. The door at the left on the top landing was unlocked, tad Kitty burned the handle. It was a large attic, bare as a barrack-room and tmelling of recent applications of soapy irater and beeswax. Its furniture confisted of a couple of chairs and a table. , 8 folding bed shrouded in a brilliantly griped blanket, a shelf of kitchen utensils, a pipe-rack, and a calendar. Siie gazed blankly around. The emptiness of it suggested terrifying calamities— Jiick taken to hospital, Dick dead and removed to some dreadful morgue. With a low cry she hid her face in her hands and shook in every limb. A frenzy of despair took possession of her. In all the world she had only Dick. Nobody else cared what became cf her or had one tender thought for her, except, perhaps, the padre, «;aid be did not understand girls, so there was something wanting in his sympathy. She stumbled to the door, blind with aguish of heart, going to find him, and ignorant of where she was going, panic-stricken as a child who sees death or the first time in the person of its lest beloved. On the landing she tot- i iered into the arms of Dick, coming j juiignly home to tea. his tall hat pushed to the back of his sunny head; ; ad the wave of rapture that flooded ' :er piteous face, transfigured it. She! tubbed her cheek on his wet coat- j ileeve, kissed it, sobbed incoherently I that it was surely her Dick, alive, not j (ten ill, not hurt in the very !oa<-t. I Oh, let her hear that he was not hurt, ! that it mas a wicked' untruth. Tears of j terTous exhaustion gushed from her lies The agony condensed into the i let few minutes had worn her out. j He led her into tho attic and i listened the door, mindful of keen ears | jboutj them. "Kitty darling, what's the matter?) I'm not hurt. How could I be? Did, p think I was? I'm as right as the I ail, and as Mate, you poor dear. Dry j ;cur eyes and tell me the trouble." ' !

' "Bless you. I'd deserve r () have my j Hpd punched if T blamed you. But could have played you' the trick? oH'dastardly mean trick, too/' | ' ."Mrs Lessing might. She isn't 1 Mfanliy to me now, and I think she has ujdy things. Lots of people won't: to me since she stopped speaking. those who do are generally nasty.'" Hj "Mrs Lessing's weawms are of "the; ■ spproved ladylike stamp," said Dick, tightening. "She doesn't use ' §■* of description. No, Kitty, b'Sß'*'" 1 w)l '. n '' s F<> !lc l e "t wasn ! 't tlie fair An- ' A\ e owe a great deal to her. :>- : ore ir can guess; but that is ;:o; her "You—rou heard the gossip?" fhish"Mrs iWnthrop went out of her way ■B'j" tnligliten me and give some mother■■'J advice. She's a good creature. If ■■fe hadn't been compelled to hasten to ■■'ranee with her invalid husband, .she ■■'owed she would gag Mrs Lessing"s very effectually. She couldn't however, on account of Win■■tarop's lungs, and I doubt whether she ■■'KM have stemmed the torrent. An- j ■■S* Lessing's influence is vast." j ■■ft, nas SW€e^neiS itself when she ■Bwight you would consent to meet me . ■■"Siilarly at her house. It was .after refused the rift came. It seems doesn't it?" ■■ ■ ''There are wheels within wheels," k sternly. ''Don't bother about Kitty. Leave her and the rest ■■uour traducers to a just Providence. BHl°', dear, remember that when I reto meet you it was because you .so precious to me that I daren't anyone the smallest excuse for -cleIgS you. It's an evil generation, ■*d of tearing characters to shreds for 5Mf I ' sai(i rd never tast a b!ot tn m»yor n girl's name; I'd keep it clean ■g Kitty, and still the tar-brush MfT s daubed us. That's the part tlut ■fr's me. 1 can't conceive of any--18 m °re fiendish than a woman tryniin another woman's reputation ■ Pserve he,- petty ends, and I hop-? I'il to see Mrs Lessing duly rewarded. Bffi U h aU ' ly f ?, r her ' sht " tan sheltL ' r ,)e ' j stor H l . v ' ac '-* showed thiih. thanks ,v he knew more than ■b /- Kl of the fo! ' ces An g ( ' la hri<l K ' b Hp-Td oll ' SU( * ner r( ' asoll ' or dong :r. ■a? 1 «'»whier figured in his thougnhs B*hl man must; awave °f ■{■«■ was being said, and Kitty's life flibl■ l ' le ■ S( ' eiles might be made mi.se rwmuZ i ln - c<)ll6ei !uence. She would not ■j? pla J n . sh( -' had grit, but her features ■tin T,!' 1K ' n(K h an <l 6 l' e " rtias woefully ■Jr ■ bruiso on her forehead be■iJ e . Tlsll}le w l len sh -e pushed the strayBS* K ? S l ,a ' r under the motor-cap, ■■fcoM n f Ury lea P c< i mh ™ M *& J I !s«> did that?" he demanded. ■ toi ! he ( ™t here?" putting her finger mL't j tt m yseH, faling against 'KJ» ' IWM eaough to

''l got that this afternoon,'' she replied, fumbling in her pocket for the lying letter, and smiling through a staffer of crystal drops. He ran a. glance over it, a puzzled frown contracting his brows. "Nice jpistle, and a credit to the inventor," ie said, gravely. "And so you rushed i to my dying bed in spite of M r.s f ranclv." *

''l'd have come in spite of a thouesd Mrs G-nindys. Dick, you aren't femiitg me? I was simply mad with

"No fib*. Was it Bouctiier? I'd choko him if——" "I did faint, Dick. I was reading the letter on the hearthrug, and I ■slithered down and' hit a brass knob on the fender. It isn't awfully painful, and that's how it happened. Nobody struck me." "Kitty, you wouldn't shield him?" "I wouldn't when it was you who asked." "Aro you out unknown to him?" "He takes no notice of when I go oUc or come in, and I am seldom missed unless by my maid." "Has he ever spoken of me to you?" "Not lately. Why, Dick?" - "We'll say it's my inquisitiveness," ho smiled, gently. And, tapping the illiterate scrawl, "Have you any opinion as to whom the writer-may'lie? Think, dear; there's no hurry." * She shook her head.

"Well, I've got a peculiar notion that this message was intended to decoy you to my room, and the mysterious writer will probably call on us as soon as he or she tires of loitering outside in the fog. It seems my address was a dark horse on which you were to throw light. Am I a bad-minded fellow, Kittv?"

"Of course you are not." She was startled. "I didn't dream of being followed. Ought Ito go? If they come tin "

"It would rejoice me," lie said, his jaw firm and hard-set. "You shall stay to meet your enemy and mine, and make him or her do the flying. We have no cause to be affrighted, but somebody will if I get the sender of that literary gem inside my room, and my back to the door. Take a. scat and rosfc yourself. I'll kindle a fire and brew a cud of tea."

He applied a match to the wiper and sticks in the grate, filled the kettle from a pail of water and put it on the kindling coals, spread a coarse white cloth, and took cups and saucers and plates out of a cupboard in the wall, butter and a brown loaf, and a. saveloy. "I'm a splendid manager,", he said, gaily, giiaddened by the ripple of fun that crossed her sober face. "I do my own cooking, .shopping, and scrubbing. Had no tuition either." "Isn't it clever of you?" she cried, in a spasm of admiration. "The attic smells lovely. Fancy you on your knees scrubbing!'' "You should see mo swabbing down cabs. Kit. I'm a dab at it." "I'm sure they are the cleanest cafe in London," she nodded, her eyes shining. "Do they call you 'the dook' whore you work?" - "How did you hear?" lie laughed. "'I hey do; but there isn't a grain of malice in them. They are fine lads with a turn for quizzing."

"Dick, are you ever sorry you didn't try for a clerkship or —or a secretaryship?" "I won't deny that I have grouching moments,'' he replied, unscrewing the lid of lu'.s tea-caddy. "Nevertheless, I'll stick t<> driving till the last particle of nonsense is knocked out of me." He measured the tea- into the earthenware pot, pleased that he had -diverted her thoughts from iho spy in the street, for he was convinced that Bouchior had laid the sun re to catch her. and he was listening while lie chatted lightly for liouchier's foot on the stairs, asking nothing better of heaven than a chance in te.ieh the evil-minded cur a lesson he would not forget in a. hurry, and in-til such fear into him that he would hesitate to continue lus persecution of Kitty. "By the way. I had Sir Watty here,'' Dick said, as she filled the cups and cut bread-and-butter in wafery slices, which were an inaiit to his" healthy K!)p:'t : te. "He got -on my trail and pinned me quitting the yard. I fancy .Ui-s Winthorpe gave him the hint. Watty offered me a post among the p;:kles—a rattling good one—and 1 said no. Failing that he urged me to go home and make peace with my lather, and I said no again. 1 haven't forgiven my father." "Sir Watty is perfectly inhuman to, expect it of you," said Kitty, wrath-' tuiiy.

"rie preached the reverence children owe their parents and was very glum at my reiusal to be impressed. Whispers had reached him and Sheelah, spewings of scandal, r.nd he said it would be best lor you if 1 accepted one of his proposals, and I told him you and I didn't need dry-nursing and our honor was sale in our own hands. Ho replied that he knew it, but it would correct people's; erroneous impressions of my character if I were of the firm of Jaikes and Co., or resumed my proper place as the son and heir of my respected parent. I laughed at him. It's a far cry to the days when public op'iiion was my fetish." "Sir Watty was nice to us, Dick. You could have accepted his offer without sacrificing an atom of pride, and the work—it would have been more congenial; it might lead to a-partner-ship. Sheelah must hate me. I've been a lowering influence in your life, and you are her only brother. It's evading the subject of the ruby and dawning on me "that she has as much reason to detest me as I think I have to detest her. I wish you had taken the post in that factory, not to stop anybody's tongue, but because——_" "Because you arc a thorough little aristocrat and prefer to see me kidgloved," he rallied her. "I didn't, and that ends it, Kitty. I would have jumped at it six months ago. Now I've just mvself to consider, and my6elf's an independent rascal." "It is the best self in the world," she said, warmly, her lips quivering. "The bravest, the manliest. Everything you do is right in my eyes; it always was since we were little kiddies, continually in mischief and fleeing before Aunt Goring. I wonder how dear Derrybawn looks?" she mused, softly. "Watty says it's the same old grey ruin. Mrs Goring is sunk to her neck in debts and difficulties once more; Blanche and Adelaide are vinegarish and dispirited; and Larry is toiling yet for starvation wages. When I'm feeman of the yard I'll send for him and keep him as a pet." "Poor Larry," she said, remorsefully. "What an ungrateful, selfish wretch I am. I could have sent him a few pounds, and 1 was too engrossed in my own affairs, but I'll do it to-mor-row. And I'll write. He'd like me to. I wonder if he hit on the truth when he suggested that the jackdaws might have stolen the ruby?"

"I saw none in the grounds that night," .said Dick, abruptly to get a candle, and speaking in a constrained tone. '

"Nor did I," she rejoined, rather surprised at the change in his voice,' and lifting her head quickly. "The candle should encourage our friend below to oome up," he caid, walking to the window. "I'll allow this shadowy person three minutes' grace, apd in the meantime tie your veil on and get ready to go home. I'm going with you—tt© blessed fog gyants me tb.« priyiloge, Ourtie Row $U (tot be,

aoroad to stare and comment andfbower witty smiles upon us." He returned to the fireside and bent over her, his hands on her shoulders, his young, strong face full of earnest pleading. "Dearest, have you secret Tomes you are concealing from me?"

"Boy Dick," die answered, hertiaikfringed lids drooping nervously, "don't be absurd." "That's no reply," he insisted. ."Well, I haven't." "It's no use. You won't tell .ae," he sighed, ''Faithful to your salt. aren't you, Kitty? You wouldn't lo a Goring otherwise. I want you to bear in mind that if you require help at ?ny time old Dick isn't far away, ready to stand by you in danger or distress, to run at your call and- lay down his life for you," "I'd !>o less lonely if I could ieel sure you were near, that you wouldn't desert me," she said,'-clasping his wrists.

"I shall be near, though we may not see or hear from each other, for we are hedged round with thorny convention;that forbid us the commonest foi-n of intimacy, we that were lovers once, and might have been husband and wife. We couldn't convince abominable men and women of the innocency <f cur thoughts and actions. Oh. Kitty! Heaven keep you as guileless is jiur eyes confess you, as ignorant }f' tie world's viciousne&. or it will break fie heart in you. And never fret for anyt!> ng you may hear of mo—lies !'.\J uc.a>'s,~ invented for some wicked purpose. I'll come to no harm. My life isn't my own, it's yours, and for yi.-i.r sake I'll guard it, for the service it may do you when you need a helper most."

"I will remmber," she whispered, unspeakable joy thrilling her. "And vou'll let me know if anything goes wrong?"

"If it's anything serious, Dick, 1 will."

He took her hand, blew out the candle, and lifting his cap and overcoat led her to the stairs, They deconded unobserved, and paused on the pavement, his gaze straining through the murky pall in quest of the man he had hoped to confound that night. '!';■„> r-trcet was"stil : - and deserted as the pia.'o of graves al the back < f the liig'i wall opposite. But lie wa s poisuadwl that it Bouehicr had not iollowed Kitty someoni had, yet who else would do it on such an evening? And Bouchior, slinking home again after seeing her enter seemed scarcely compatible with a jealous husband seeking to entrap his wife Knitting his brows he tucked the girl's arm snugly in his, and they proceeded, she chattering in low, musical accenL'and snatching happiness while she might. "Let us walk the whole way, Dick r " she said, coaxingly. "Will it weary you?" he asked. "I couldn't be weary when you are with me," she said, and her blithe 'ace raised to his filled him with an insane longing to gather her to his breast and swear that she shouid not go back -to Paul Bouchior, that it was a desecration of her sweet vouch and bcautv intolerable to think of. He fought it down resolutely, but he v/ouid have been more than man if he had not felt it Vi To Kitty the misty streets wore enchanted hind, for was not Dick beside her, no longer stiff and aloof, cheerful 'as in tho days of their courtship, ten derlv concerned about the wrapping up of her throat lest she should catch cold, lull of delightful care for her. Too soon the arched gateway of the Court came in sight, and she stood and looked at him wistfully. His doubt of Bouchiei revived.

"Kitty." he said, "you must let me go in with you, and give me that letter, in case—in case you are asked where you have been, and why. N( one who saw your excuse could be angry." A gaop of dismay escaped her. "No. no. I shall not be questioned. You needn't be anxious. Paul and I don't see each other for days sometimes." "He may he watching for you tonight."

"He will not, indeed. He goes early to his rooms. And, Dick, you would get me into trouble if you came in. He hates you. There is his lamp in that upper window in the gable. He won't hear me slipping in. I have the gate key and a latchkey for the front door." "But. Kitty " Her distressed ejaculation strengthened his tear that she was in terror of Bouchior. She cut short his attempt to reason with her, laughed tremulously at his suspicion that Paul might have lured her to Curtis Row. He had to tell her his doubt in the end. She ridiculed it gently.

"Paul isn't even aware that you are in London, and ho imagines people dropped us because they neither like him nor want him. He hasn't heard anything or he would speak, he can't contain himself if he's enraged, and nothing would enrage him worse than to know I was talked about, no mattei how undeservedly. Please, Dick, bid me good-bye and go. I am quite safe. I wouldn't say it if I were not," Against his will, in spite of his apprehension, he yielded to her persuasive plea. "If you really love me and wish to heln me, don't do this," "I'd rather you let me, but since you will not I'll wait here till I think you are all right," be said, folding 'her hands in his, reluctant to release them. Their eyes- met and clung in farewell. Kitty smiled with unsteady lips and tore herself away. At the gate she looked round and motioned to him to go. Inside the high walls which concealed the lower storey from the outer view a shiver ran through her. Lights dared mi the ground floor of the house and Paul sat keeping watch, his shadow silhouetted on the blind, his head bent over something he held in his hollowed palm.

CHAPTER XX. To return to Bouchier ant] Levinski at tho point where wo left them standing on the load. "Out with it," yelped Paul, gond» 1 beyond endurance. ""What's Solly done.? What have I done?" "Didn't you sign a paper for him?" ''Nominally an agreement to buy 6hares, hut I lent him that ten thousand I'm lamenting, ,an<ll the agreement was ai kind of guarantee I'd not repent my generosity and snap the cheque back." simplicity!" chuckled Levinski. "Here's Simple Simon for vou! I won't reproach you for denying to v\v face that you gave him money, and I'll tell you what you signed. It was » legal document drawn up by a person in the know, and! in it you contracted to take over the entire Abalone muddie. (shouldering iall responsibilities and liabilities, and annexing the profits (he thrust Ms tonoue out derisively) for the ma fixed; by % sellet aaa pro-

prietpr of tie concern, £10,000." "Bah! you grinning clown. I rend the agreement through before I put pen "to paper." "Tho paper your servants witnessed F" "I—l believe so." . "Solly may have shown you an innocent document like the one you pin your faith on; but had he a .chance to substitute another, Paul's memory travelled backwards, and his confident expression changed. "He had!" he answered/ and Wore fluently. "Then Solly did it!" "It won't stand in a court of law if he did."

"Maybe not. Anyhow, he has taken steps to shift his burden to your back, and at present you are the Abalone Company. It'll guck you dry, supposing you give in tamely. The swindled public will pounce on you like kites on carrion, and leave nothing but your picked bones. They're besieging the office to find out who's the new management, and when they hear they'll call you and treat you as if you were no better than Solly. That brother of mine, the diver, has come home and is telling tales in newspaper offices. It's goine to be a dirty business." "I'll fight." "But—er—-if Solly's laid by the heels he'll explain the why and wherefore of that loan,"

•' "What do you mean?" —bouncing forward.

Levinski recoiled, and threw tip his arm as if to ward off a blow. "Just that you wouldn't have shelled, out unless lie had the whip hand of you somehow."

Paul gripped his chin, and thought of tho sinister import of the transaction if Waring lived to charge him with murder on his own confession—if Goliinger were arrested at his (Paul's) instigation, and declared that the money was a gift, the price of his silence. Between them these two could place him in the dock, and it would bo no comfort to send Zollinger to penal servitude and have to go along with him in the event of the capital charge 'being reduced to one less serious.

Of course the case might fall through. And it might not. His guilty conscience exaggerated the danger, and he forgot that men have confessed crime and escaped for lack of proof to substantiate their own statements. He licked an icy sweat off his upper lip and felt a constriction of the throat as though a- rope were tightening round it. No. Until ho heard_of the death of Waring he dared not risk fighting Gollinger's impudent claim. He must submit to it,

Even if he had to let them despoil him he would still have a reserve of which nobody knew anything. Fortunately, he had told none of the provision made years ago for a possible evil day. "Gome into the house," he said, abruptly, his face working. "Will you remain with me?" he asked, pouring out whisky for himself and Levinski.

"Beggars can't be choosers," was tho doleful reply. "I'll stay. What do you projiose to do, guv'nor?" "Nothing." "Nothing? Let yourself be fleeced and left?" "They won't get much off a sheep already shorn. I'm considered wealthy, but it's surface show mostly, built up on unlimited credit. The sum I lent Solly crippled me. There's very littla to my name in bank or scrip." "Tell that to the marines," Levinski laughed. "Tt's a deplorable fact, Herby." "Well, I won't contradict you, but I'm at liberty to think different. It isu't in your nature to take things so cool unless you have a lie-by, and it don't matter to me so long as you treat me decent." "I'll do that because I need your help. I may have to leave England at a few hours' notice, and I'll dismiss the servants to-nisrlit."

Levinski nodded. He was toe familiar with the type that finds it convenient to leave England in a hurry to show any surprise. "I want you to get hold of that fellow Fitzgerald, and do you know any roughs who'd batter a man's face to pulp fot five Dounds?"

"Rather! I know two who'd oblige for five shillings." "Hire This photo, of Fitzgerald will assist you to identify him. He is in the locality. I'd have spotted him I'o-day when I was. following my wife, hut an acquaintance took ill in tho street, and I had to fetch him here—the chap who died—and she got away from me. worse hick. Handsome face, Master Dickie, ain't it? I want it disfigured, smashed into such a hideous caricature of humanity that he'll pray Heaven to hide it under a coffin-lid."

"The job is as good as done," replied Levinski, stroking sallow cheeks and trying to conceal his amusement. Bouchier's jealousy had been_ a constant source of amusement to him. "And about the couple of hundred you promised?"

"the money is in the house, Herby." "Then I'll get my men to-night." "If I have to go before you catch him T'l l manage to see the English papers, and 'when I read the account of how thivouebly you've done the work I'll send a hit extra, That will stimulate your efforts." "It just will. I wouldn't miss him now for anything He's no gentleman to come crowding and aggravating you." "He has been the bane.of my life,-' hissed Paul. "And to | plant himself down in the same locality as yovt and your sweet voting missus! A saint couldn't stand it. Don't be afraid but we'll give; you a qrand revenge. Mr Bouchier. I'll be off tho minute I've discussed a plate of cold Wf. and a loaf, and a pot of coffee. I've had neither dinner nor tea, and T'mi famished." The food was ordered in. While .Levinski ate and drank Paul raved alternately of Gollinger's wickedness «mtl Fitzgerald's. (To be continued.)