The Bantyre Fortune

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 997, 13 June 1930, Page 5

The Bantyre Fortune

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V

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CHAPTER VI. —(Continued.) i ‘ Time enough to discuss that when j we have talked to our new friend, he said. “Let’s sort ourselves out. My name is David Grierson: these are Miss Mara Whitton. James Burke/’ he indicated the smaller man, wizened, ferret-eyed, with a deeplylined face and a big, dome-shaped head, “and Paul Rosenbacli. \V e are Partners all—and friends! What are we to call you?” ‘‘My name is Mark Seymour. "So? Now we know each other. Put out the smokes, Mara, and name your drink, Mr. Seymour.” “I would rather hear what you want first.” ‘‘As you please, but we may as well be comfortable.” Drinks and smokes were set on the table and they sat down. “Just to clear the ground, Mr. Sevmour, was it cold truth you told that waiter when you said you had no money?” “Not absolutely. I have one penny. That is the full extent of my resources.”

“What about prospects? Isn’t there any work you can do?” “There’s none I can get to do. I have tried, but I have had no experience and can give no references. I wasn’t trained to get a living under orders from others.”

“I see. You expected to go through life giving orders and having the result served up on a silver platter, and now everything has gone smash y«»u don’t know where to turn. W ell, we think 've can show you how to make use of the qualities you have. You re

n gentleman by education and train ing, if you’re nothing else.” “And is the work you have to oft’ u such as a gentleman would be willing to undertake?”

“That is for you to decide. I’m a plain man and don’t pretend to knew just how a gentleman will look at things. But it doesn’t strike me as any worse than bilking an hotel. Mark came to his feet with an angry start, but Mara caught his arm and pressed him back to his seat.

“Don’t quarrel,” she said, caress ingly. “David didn’t mean to insult you. None of us wants to sit in judgment on you.” Mark subsided, but it was not tie cause ot her that be controlled hint Belt. It was at the memory of that other girl and the conviction that her happiness was in some way involved in whatever these people wanted or him. . . , “If you have a proposition to make, get on with it,” he said brusquely. “I'm coming to that. There were three people in the restaurant tonigiii Wayne Garfield, Hector Cousins, and a young lady—you know them, don’t you?” “I can’t say that I know any o_ them.” Mark kept his voice level and his face unmoved with an effort. £lis guess had been right! Whatever they wanted with him was connected with those three, and might be of serious moment to the girl! Mara broke i

sharply'. “Miss Bantyre knew you I saw her bow to you!” , “That meant nothing, he said, t happened to render her a slight service this afternoon and she seemed tc

lave remembered it. But we din’t | xchange a dozen words.” j i. “Rendered her a service, did you?" j c aid Grierson, thoughtfully. “That 1 nay be useful. Do you know anything t bout the firm of Bantyre and Co.?” f “Not a thing, except that I applied 1 here for a j'ob this afternoon, and c iarfield turned me down with insults." t “Which naturally didn't make you i ove him! Well, none of us will blame t ,ou for that. But if that’s all you 1 mow, It will be news to you that i Henry M. Bantyre died some four < months ago. He was nominal head of the firm, but, of late years, owing to : bad health, had left pretty nearly 1 everything in the hands of Wayne Garfield as manager. Bantyre died intestate, and it has been generally assumed that all he left would .go .o Hector Cousins as next of kin.” “Who is Naomi Bantyre?” Matt asked in surprise. “She is Henry Bantyre’s daughter. “But ” “Just a moment.” Grierson put up a big hand. “Twenty-five y'ears ago Henry Bantyre was a wild young spark knocking about in South Africa where he was up to no good. He met an English girl—Minnie Travers, a song and dance artist, getting a sort of living in the saloons up country, but with the reputation of being perfectly straight. They fell in love, chummed up and were together for a vear or so. Then they quarrelled and separated. A baby girl was born, and the mother remained in Africa, where she started a millinery business and did pretty well. Bantyre got a streak of luck, steadied himself aud came back to England to build up the business that exists today.” “Had there been no marriage?” Mark demanded, with a sudden blaze of resentment against the dead man. “That is the question that is troubling Garfield and Cousins now. Until a fortnight ago they bad never heard of Minnie Travers or her daughter. Then they heard that aud other things as well.” “What things?”

“One was a hint that there had been a perfectly legal marriage and that Naomi has a right to everything her father left.”

As far as we know she is entirely ?norant of her right to do it. She oesn’t even know that Henry M. lantyre was her father. The mother nought her up in the belief that her ather died before she was born, and lo questiou ever arose that could ause her to make inquiries. Such liings are not discussed between mrents and children, and Mrs. Banyre seems to have settled in a disrict where her past was unknown md to have wiped all memory of the ipisode with Bantyre out of her mind.” “But she must have had some documents. t don’t know much about these filings, but oue gets the idea that a woman always clings to her marriage lines if she has them.” “Ah!” Grierson sat back with his glance roving round the room, and resting on the damaged safe. “If—mind, 1 only say, if —there ever was such a document, it passed out of Mrs. Bantyre’s hands by accident some lime ago. and Wayne Garfield and

“And has she come here to make her claim?”

else. Those two have been hand in glove for a long time. I have reason to believe that for years past Garfield has been embezzling on a huge scale and sharing the loot with Cousins, though I have no evidence that would satisfy a judge and jury.” “I would produce evidence if I had the books of the firm for half a day!” said Paul Rosenbacli. “That’s so,” agreed Grierson, “but, as Bantyre and Co. is a private company, nobody outside the firm can demand access to the books. The frauds were carried out on the supposition that Cousins would inherit on the death of Henry Bantyre, who was ill all the time they were going on, and that no exposure would ever come. But if Naomi learns the truth, not only is Cousins faced with the loss of the inheritance, but there would be investigations that would send both him and Garfield to penal servitude.” “Are you going to tell her the truth?” Mark asked. There was a short silence. Then

Hector Cousins would give a great deal to know where it is now.” “Was that what the burglar was looking for here tonight?” Mark demanded breathlessly, leaning forward. “I haven’t said such a thing exists at all!” said Grierson, startled by the intensity of the question, and evidently discomposed by the glances of his companions. The almost childish vanity which had so often caused his voice to rise boastfully in the restaurant had now led him to suggest more than he intended to. aud he tried to cover up the indiscretion by hurrying on: “You can see the position. Miss Bantyre doesn’t know the facts nor why she has been brought here from the Continent, where she has been studying since her mother died a year ago. She has been told some wild-goose story of a small legacy left her by a distant relative, but that was only to get her into the clutches of Garfield and Cousins, and prevent her meeting others who mighl think it worth while to tell her the truth.” “Do you mean that Cousins intend; to swindle her out of her inherit ance?” Mark asked in horror. “Am that Garfield is ready to help in th< villainy?” “That’s what it amounts to. and ii | plain fact they daren't do anythin;

try that on your own, my friend,” said Grierson, coolly. “If she listened to you, nobody else would, unless you could produce the proof, and ” he glanced round the room again—“there are certain difficulties in the way of any unauthorised person getting hold of that.”

Grierson said: “We are going to do what pays us best, and that’s where we want your help.” “Do you expect me to help you in robbing that girl of what is hers by every right?” Mark demanded indignantly. “It’s hardly robbery to keep her from having what she never knew belonged to her.” said Grierson, “but. I didn’t say we should do that. I said we shall do what pays us best, and for any help you give us you will get I your share.” He waved his hand “We don’t care which of them gets the business as long as we get our pickings!” ' Mark looked round at the four faces incredulously. Was it possible that human beings —one of them a woman —could take so cold-blooded a view of what struck him as an outrageous crime? Not only possible, it was a fact and, to judge by their expressions, they expected him to fall in with their plans! His gorge rose. “Has it struck you that, now you have told me all this, there is nothing to prevent me from going to Miss Bantyre and revealing the secret of her birth to her?” he asked sternly. ; “It wouldn't be worth your while to

Mark gritted his teeth. If their story were true, and they really held the proof, they were masters of the situation as far as the girl was concerned. He had no doubt whatever that they had already attempted to bleed Garfield and Cousins on the strength of what they knew, and that the missing servant’s attack on the safe had been the result. He guessed that there had been an attempt byGrierson and his friends to blackmail the other men and that these, refusing, had tried to make themselves safe by getting hold of the incriminating document by collusion with the man. Bastow.

Evidently there was nothing to choose between the two sets of sharpers, and Mark’s indignation was equally strong against both when he thought of the plots against Naomi Bantyre. But nothing could be done in her interest unless the proof of her legitimacy could be produced, and reason told him that he was far more likely to help her by seeming to fall in with Grierson’s plans, and so, perhaps, being able to force the production of the evidence, than by openly showing his disgust and breaking off relations. And he wanted to help Naomi very much! The case called for the wisdom of the serpent and, for the girl’s sake, he decided to dissemble.

“Where do 1 come in on all this?” he asked in a studiously non-commit-tal tone. “What can I do that you couldn’t do for yourselves?” “If you are half as ready to exercise nerve and take risks as I judged you to be from what you did at the Riche tonight, you will get to Naomi Bantyre atid find out just what her position with Garfield and Cousins is. and what they hope to do with her,” said Grierson. “That ought to be simple for you.”

“It depends.” Mark's heart beat more quickly at the prospect, but tue unpleasant facts claimed acknowledgment. "Unless I am to waylay her

unexpectedly or need only meet her j ! at night there are difficulties. i ; haven’t a decent suit of clothes to wear in the daytime!” Grierson laughed. “That needn’t worry you. Money will put it right and if you are with us you shall be supplied.” Mark heard and hesitated. Could he accept money from these crooks? Did the cause justify him? Grierson was still speaking: “As a matter of fact. I believe Miss Bantyre is staying in Hector Cousins’s house. That is one of the reasons why none of us could hope to get at her personally. Cousins and Garfield know us all. and even you won’t find it too easy to meet her. She is likely to be more I or less of a prisoner.” “A prisoner?” “Well, they are not going to risk having their applecart upset, are they? And, make no mistake, those two are ready for anything to get what they want.” Mark started from his cha r. “But they won’t want it to come to that. Theie is another string to their bow.” “What is it?” Mark asked imperatively. “Hector Cousins has a sou—a wrong ’un like his father, but not bad to look at —and if they could bring off a wedding between him and the girl they could consider themselves safe.” The blood rushed to Mark’s head aud there was a buzzing in his ear 3. He threw out his hand, his mind made up beyond recall. “I’ll take your money!” he said. “And I’ll find a way to get to Miss Bantyre!” i CHAPTER VII. ROGUES ALL. "That's settled, then.” exclaimed ; Grierson, giving Mark a hand-grip i which was at once flabby and vicelike. ; “And now we can get down to business. The first thing for you to do - is to get into touch with Miss Bantyre, I and the simplest way will be for you 1 to find some means of getting into * ; the house where she is staying.”

“Not so very simple if you are right in saying she is a prisoner,” objected Mark, putting into words a doubt which had suggested itself in opposition to his own strong desire to do

just What the big man was proposing. Grierson waved his hand. “I said she is probably more or less of a prisoner. That does not mean that she will be locked up in a dungeon, and ted on bread and water. Cousins and Garfield will be posing as her triends, and their game will be to prevent her from suspecting they have any hidden plans about her. fene will be treated as a guest, but we may be sure that everything possible will be done to prevent her from communicating with anyone not approved by them.” “Then what it amounts to is that she will believe herself to be free to do as she pleases, but will probably be subjected to a constant watch by I Garfield and Cousins?” i “That’s about the strength of it. Mark was silent for a while, thinking this out. “I can’t say I like the prospect much.” he said at last. It sounds as though I might have to hang about this house of Cousins’s for days, like a lovesick errand-boy trying to meet a kitchenmaid, and making myself a joke to all the neighbours.” "That need not worry you,” interjected the small man, Burke. “The house has no neighbours. It stands by itself in a tans off the main road, where very few people pass.” “How do you come to know that’’’* demanded Rosenbach quickly. Like Burke, he had been almost silent, allowing Grierson to do the talking, but now he had suddenly sat up in his chair, and was glaring hard at the little man. “How do I know? Why wouldn’t I know?” replied Burke, sharply, the thickening of his slight Irish tongue betraying a stir in his feelings. “That’s just what I’m asking,” retorted Rosenbach. “If you know so much about the house, you must have been there for some reason. What \ 1 for? Have you been calling on Hector Cousins there without letting the ' rest of us know?” “Calling on him?” Burke's tiny, ’ shrivelled face assumed an expression . of fierceness which made it at once . grotesque aud terrifying. “Are yon insinuating treachery against me, Rosenbach?” ) (To be Continued Tomorrow.)