The Unknown Bridegroom OR, THE MYSTERIOUS WEDDING RING.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 334, 4 February 1911, Page 7

The Unknown Bridegroom OR, THE MYSTERIOUS WEDDING RING.

(All Rights Reserveo.-)

By the Author of "Stella," "Two Ke\s," Etc., Etc.

TART 127. "It wus. I'ncie lioberl ; but I thought \ou were anxious to come, and I did not. like to have you disappoiniid." the fair girl replied. " Disap] oint I'd. indeed! I could lic!c in\ soli' for a fool !" sai3 'be nwn. wilh a twinge of guilt. as lie recalled his recent hopes that. Florence would eventually become JL.eisrhti.il. "Well, my little girl, it Ico'ns as if he had got yon in a very tight place." he continued, thoughtfully. "but we will sec what we can do for you." "Ah. I n: le Robert, if 1 hail only heedid \our advice in the first place !" sighed Florence, as she lifted his hand anil laid her cheek against, it. His glancu rested very fondly upon "I wi>h you had, dear." lie returned, adding, more cheerfully ' " Hut don't grieve over what is past : we all have to endure unpleasant experiences in life. I wish, though. we could come, across that other chap. Kgad. lie had a good ileal of the dare devil in him to do what he did, and 1 can't for I hi.' life of me understand what could have been his object"—this with contracted brows and puzzled air. "However." he went on. after a moment, "there is but one thing for us to do just at present, and that, is to get out oi this place forthwith : si pack your trunks, girls, this very night. and be ready to start for London tomorrow morning."

"Ah. but. Tncle liok'i't, 1 have still something else to tell you," she exclaimed. a nd thereupon she rolated Jamie's story, and concluded by 0 b" serving : "I am afraid if we leave tomorrow morning we cannot rescue the poor child. No one can be more eager to get. away from this place than T, but we must, manage some wav to save Mr. Carrol's protege."

"Well, well, well !" exploded the lawyer. ".More romance ! More mystery ! What does it all mean ? What scheme has Leighton in mind now, i wonder, that he should cage that child underground ? There is something about this that I don't like at, all : it savours of crime. I tell you what." he added, lowering his voice. "T think we will have to be wary—meet cunning with cunning —and so it may be best to remain here for a day or two longer. I will go to London to-morrow, as I had plami'd. see Carrol, tell him what had occurred, and act under his guidance about the boy. Besitlcs. 1 had almost forgotten. I have promised to meet Castaldi here again to-moriovv night. No; it will be best to postpone our leave-taking a little. Can you girls stand it to act as a couple of hypocrites for twenty-four or forty -eight hours longer ?" be questioned, glancing from one to the other.

"Fncle Robert. I am willing 1o sacrifice all personal feeling for the sake of baulking Waiter l.eighton's nefarious schemes against Jamie." said Florence. eagerly. "1 wish, though, we could liberate the poor little" fellow to-night, for it must be cold and desolate enough out in that tomb-like passage." "Where is the child ? Lot me have a word with him." cried 'Mr. Sea\er. springing to his feet. Flori lire conducted him to Ihe panel am' explained how she anil Monica h a d been able to raise, it a little, to a point where it stuck and would move no further.

••Hello, my little num."' railed 1 he. lawyer, getting down to the opening and speaking in his kindest tones, ••are you <-t iil 1 here ?" "Vcs, sir. oh. are you going to let uie out?" cried .Jamie, eagerly. "I'm going to try," said 1 ho man, ns he grasped I lie nand with holh hands and pn.-lntl si rongly upwards. It yi.-lded with a stia|), which told that, something had given away, and i lie next moment a gaunt little figure with a uhasU.v face and great, frightened hlu- eyes darted through the opening into the room and looked curiously ahotit him. CMAI'TIOK XXX ll'. rilK KSCAIMO OF 'l'll 10 I'WISOMOK 'The child was ; , sorrowful. forlorn specimen of humanity, for his i-lothiiij;- was soiled a n,| wrinkled, his hair uncombed, his face and hands unwashed, while hi; was blue and lin'li'd from colli, a'ul from being sliul away so long from the sunlight a"d fresh air. "\'<}ii poor, poor child." said Florence, pitifully, as klk; gathered his icy hands in hers and began dialing them, '"how cold and wretched you look ! It must be ; , dreadful pla.-e down in that cellar." "It is." said .Jamie, with a shiver, while his great eyes devoured her lovely face. Then she questioned, earnestly : "is it you who knows my uncle Carrol '.'" "Yes, I know him very well." Florence replied. a blush suffusing her face at the question"Th n will you please take me to him ? I want him so. and I am sure he must be troubled because I've been gone so long." and the bov's lips quivered pathetically. "My hoy, you shall go to your uncle just rt - s soon as we can arrange it," said Mr. Seaver, kindly; "but it will not he possible to-night, for we could not get you put of the. house without arousing the suspicions of the man who brought you here, and perhaps thus get you into deeper trouble. Cut I am going to London to-morrow morning, mid 1 will try to bring Mr. Carrol back with me in the afternoon. "Milt this is the bad man's house. Won't he find me here?" questioned Jamie, glancing mv-asily around. Monica al this passed swiftly in.-to Florence's room and locked the door lradhie in!" i he hall, thus preduding I he possibility of interrupt ion by anv one without due warning. "I thin 1 -., we can manage it so that uo one in the house except oureet-

,s wii! susp.'i-i you ;:iv nee. Mr. :-'en ver replied. Tin n. I urning to Florence, he ask<d. "Cannot \mi ami Monica keep him hidden until 1 can u-i't i.'arrol here ?'' "Yes," sa'il Monica, who had just returned to Ihe room: "t here is that, great closet. leading out of our dressing-room. Our trunks are stored there. a nd wo e a n easily make up a bed for him behind that im-men-e Saratoga of Florence's, and no one would ever dream of looking lor him there." "That strikes me as a very good plan," Mr. Seaver observed. " only cou will have, to keep a sharp eye on the maids, particularly that Anna, for if the boy is missed Sir Walter will spare no effort to recover him." "We will look out for him. never fear," s a id Florence, with flashingeyes. "Monica and 1 will take turns remaining on guard all the time, and as I have forbidden Anna to show herself here again I think we need not fear that he will be discovered. Are you hungry, Jamie '.'" she cpiest ioned. the child's wan face smiting her keenly. "Not very, thank yon : 1 had some bread and milk this morning," the lov responded, in ~ patient lone. Quick tears rushed to the tenderhearted girl's eyes, and, springing to her feet, she went to her own room and brought ihe remnants of a lunch that had been served to herself and Monica earlier in the day. There were bread and butter, same dainty slices of cold longue. some tarts! and part of a bottle of wine. This she placed before the little waif, and told him to eat—a. command .which he eagerly obeyed, and after drinking the small glass of wine which his new friend poured out for him, a little colour actually showed itself in his face. "Now prepare a lied for him, and get him out of sight as quickly as possible," said Mr. Seaver. In less than fifteen minutes Jamie after a refreshing bath, was cosily turl-ed away behind the big Saratoga trunk upon an inviting pile of blankets, where he scion fell sound asleep. Me*antime Mr. Seaver had taken it. into his head to invest that mysterious passage behind the panel. He look a candle from one of the candelabra, and. passing out, found himself in a narrow passage that, terminated in a long (light of stone stairs leading flown into various regions unknown. On each side of him there was a blank wall—the outer oiw of rough-hewn stone, the inner one a plastered surface. Descending the steps, he at length came to another landing, where he found another door or panel similar to the one above.

"H'm! This evidently leads into the library, through which he brought the boy." he muttered. "If he should appear upon the scene at this moment it might be rather embarrassing for both parties." Passing down a few steps more, lie came to a ponderous door partially open, and with a great key in the lock outside. Pushing it wide, h ■■ descended some more steps and found himself in what appeared to be a cellar partitioned off into various compartments, damp, ill-lighted, and gloomy. Passing on. ho peered into each one. but. found them all bare until he came almost to the end. when he saw- that one was rudely furnished with a bed, one chair, and a table strewn with some scraps of bread and meat, a glass, a nd part of a bottie ol' milk. "II in ! The fellow is surely a villain ; but his object—what was his object V" he muttered, in a tone of perplexity. Leaving this compartment, he came upon another that had no entrance apparently, for the wall, from floor to ceiling, was solid. "Well, well, this is a queer place!" he observed, as he began to retrace his steps. "It was probably built in an age when secret pas-ages and places of concealment were necessary ; but in these enlighten d days nothing of the kind is needed except to cover up devilry. I'd just like to I now what Leivihlon is up to." He made his way back up the long flight of steps, and when he reached the landing hading into Monica's room he observed for tlv first time a door at the head of the stairs. It was a ponderous affair, and as he attempted to shut it. the rusty hinges shrieked like a human being in distress. It was a weird, uncanny sound, but the man persisted, and gave a grunt of satisfaction upon closing it to see that there was 4l rusty key in the lock.

It. required no little exorcise of strength to turn it. but he- succeeded line! experienced rotisid"ial,le satisfaction in the thought that no one. would be able to come upon his wanks from that direction unawares. Thin he eiite'ivd Monica's room, closed the panel, pushed (he bolt back- into its socket, a'ul eatvfully aeiiii'-ted tin- draperies. "'I here!" he observed, as he replaced the candle in its socket. "Wh n lhat scamp misses the boy he will fml it a dilliculi, matter to trace him: but doubtless the mystery will be a tantalising one. and he will do some pretty strong raving te> himself. All, L wonder if I cannot fool him. and make- him think that he left, the bars down for the to t to escape '.'" he concluded, a peculiar smile wreathing his lips. A little later Mrs. Soa\ er came up, and was taken into the confidence of the others, when they arranged just how they would manage with their little refugee during the n-xt day or two until' Air. Seaver and Air. Carrol could confer with ea'h other and decide- what course to pursue. Had it not been for his appointment with August for Ihi.. next evening, antl the secrecy which he wished to preserve in connection with his plans for the apprehension of the Kin-.s, the lawyer declared that \\c would boldly confront Sir Walter with the lad, and then take him directly to his uncle in Loudon. \fter arranging their plans the ladies retired, while Air. Scftvur went below to have a smoke, to inform his heist Of his intended trip to London ~n the next day. and to trv to carry out a certain plan which he had in mind. f. » * * * * I loiit,i less the. reader has experienced s"ni" curiosity t" know" how Sir Waller l.eichion discovered a socotul eiitrane-e m i In- oM wine vaults ol th". Tower-, and which enabled him to coni'ea'i his \outhful victim there ■Hid ministeT to his needs without arousing th-j suspicious of his house-

hold. After his return from Paris, anc just previous to the visit of the Seavers and other guests, he was o'ie day examining the furnishings of the drawing-room and library with a view to freshening then soMicwhat—especially the draperies —wh n he discovered a panel. or what appeared to have once been a door, in the wall of the library. "Why this must have been a dooi leading to that old dining-room ol which the butler told me." he mused a'id forthwith began to -study to see: how it had been fastened up. He found the bolt, like the one \r. Monica's room, and upon removing it found that the panel would slide upwards, as if arranged on a pulley.

"Aha !" he exclaimed, as, peering out into the passage beyond, he could just discern the flight of steps leading both up and down. "This grows interesting." He passed out and down, and came to the door giving entrance to the cellar. It was closed and locked, but as the l-l'.v was in the lock.- it was easily opened, and lie soon found himself in what lie was assured must have been, the old wine-vaults of which his butler had told him. He spent some time examining them, l)iit shrunk with a shiver of disgust upon reaching that compartment which had been walled up, and which he surmised to be the tomb of the unfortunate man who had ended his miserable existence in that dreary prison. On emerging from the weird place he merely glanced up the long flight of steps. "They must once have led to the apartments over the old diningroom." he mused : but he did not have interest enough to pursue his investigations further, and so returned to the library, in utter ignorance of the fad that another pan*-1 or door led into a room above. lie was convinced, however, that he had discovered how the unfortunate brother of a former baronet had been cared for, and the knowledge of his existence kept a secret from all the world save his own family and the keeper in charge gi him. He decided not to disturb the furnishings of the library at. this time, although those in the drawing-room were replaced by more modern ones. And thus it happened that when he had come so unexpectedly upon Mr. Carrol and his protege down by the sea on that quiet afternoon, and discovered, as he believed. th a t Jamie was the long-missing heir of the Leightons. he conceived the diabolical plot of kidnapping the boy and imprisoning him in the very vaults where his luckless ancestor had died. He hoped in this way to preserve to himself the title and magnificent property to which he had so recently proved himself to be the only legitimate heir. He had succeeded almost beyond his most sanguine hopes in carrying out his plans, a nd everything had happened just as Jamie had told the story to Florence.

]t was so early in the morning that none of the servants were about —at least in the front of the house ; therefore Sir Walter had easily succeeded in getting the toy into the library, through a low French window which he had left open on leaving the house, with the hope of accomplishing his nefarious purpose.

Jamic had been utterly unsuspicious of any wrong, and as the baronet had made himself very sociable and entertaining, he accompanied the man with the most implicit confidence and a truly boyish eagerness to see the "nice horses." It was only when he at last found himself alone and locked in those dismal vaults, which were but dimly lighted by means of the thick blocks of glass that composed the walk above, that he began to realise how imprudent he had been to trust an utter stranger. Every morning, before" any of his household were astir, Sir Walter stole down to him, bearing a basket of food and a bottle of milk, which he himself had secretly conveyed from the pantry. But he would never talk with the boy or heed his j.leadings to be released. He simply depositee! the food upon the table and then hurried away as quickly as possible. Once Jamie, having grown desperate, had sprung past him and almost gained the door, where, when overtaken by his captor, he had fought like a \oung tiger for his liberty. But it was of no use. The brute force of the man was more than a match for even his frenzied determination to escape. Sir Walter had flung him savagely from him, a nd then left him. bruised and half-stunned, upon the cold floor of his prison. The lad bad never made a se-cond attempt, realising how utterly useless it would be, but he began to lose heart and -to fail physically from that time. Leightoii saw it, and at times an uncanny sensation would creep over him as the possible necessity of having another vault walled up in the near future occurred to him. ****** Air. Se'aver joined the gentlemen in the smoking-room after leaving Monica's room : but after chatting sociably for half an hour, he remarked that he had business which would call him to London by the early train the following morning, anel il Sir Walter would excuse him ho would go to the library to write a couple of letters before retiring. "Certainly." Leighton affably replied, and added that he would give orders to a groom to have the dogcart at the door in time to take him to his train. Air. Seaver thanked him : then bidding the company good night he repaired to the library, where lie was soon absorbed, to all appearand', in his letter-writing. While ha was thus engaged, he heard his recent companions go up to their several rooms. A little later the butler came into the library a nd fastened the windows for the night, and put out all the lights except the shaded lamp which the lawyer was using, and which he: told the man he would extinguish when he.- finished his work. As soon as the man was beyond hearing Mr. Seaver quietly left his seat, and going to the end of the room pulled aside some draperies, and f'.'ini'l what he. expectod to find the pa if I which he had seen earlier in ill'.- eni'iiing while he war, ijvestigating lhat secret staircase thai led t'j the vaults below. (To be Continued),-