CHAPTER XXXIX.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 130, 26 February 1887, Page 7

CHAPTER XXXIX.

ARTHUR LISTENS TO AN ASTONISHING STORY, With bated breath and a fcfcrangeeen»ation ■ about his heart, Arthur ttood ptill ond watched, wondering at all tbtd caution and hesitancy. Another instant and ifc was explained. Uttoring a cry of astonishment and di* j may, ho sank down upon hia lounge, white, I trembling, and horrified. In the doorway, regarding him with equal atxmzeinenc and confusion, eiood Margaret Houghton, as if tnmetixed. For a moment she could neither move not speak ; then ail at once the truth flashed upon her. Louia had turned the tablefe upon hie foe ! He was free, and the wretch who had caused him co much suffering arjd trouble had boen cunningly eecured ; the real thief had been capturtd at labt. " Ah," Hho said, as soon as she could find her vrioe, "so the fox has fallen into hie own trap ! ' "What do yon mean ? Bow came you here?' Arthur demanded, looking be wilderei and wrt>Tc:hed enough to have eafri.'-ned hie bitterent eoeniw. " You are surynetd to see me, are you ?" Margaret askeJ, coming forward into the loom and re°ardiri£ him curiously. bhe had recovered her self - popeession Home« hat, and now teemed to take in the f>ituiition, it must De confessed, with evident eatief action. "Of course, I am purprbed. How do you bippen to be hero?" "Where ia Louis?" eho aeked, irrelevantly " What do I care whore- he ia ? And how on earth did ;you kn»w he wae here?" ' Aithur demanded " 1 havo known or ?u*pected it for some time," M-^gie answered, composedly. " You, Margie ?" " Vee, /, Margie. Bui I plmll be obliged to you if you \wil hereafter address me as Mi-s Houghton, if you must speak to me at " How long have you known that Louie Dunbar wu« in this building?'' he demanded, " I have suspected it pince one day when, sitting in my mother's carriage, I paw an old gentleman come out of tha alley below and walk up the Rue de Blanc." " What old gentleman ? ' '• A man with whits hair and beard, and dressed in a. long overcoat and tall black hat," and she pointed with t\ withering smile at tho?e very article" of apparel which I ay in a heap on the Us or beside him, where he had thrown them. Arthur groaned and be^an to see Ji^ht. Too well liQiemembered the day she ref • rred to, when he had been smarted in going- from that placs, to rind Mrs Houghton's carnage in chat locality. Ha had not seen Margaret, however, for eihe had concealed herstlf behind a curtain, and he had hoped the carriage was empty. '• what made you think it was I ?" he questioned " You had recently turned your ankle, you limped with your left loot ; co did thid old gans'eruan. I caught the gleam of his eyes as he passed, they had ,i familiar look, while the h.md in which ho cairied his ke^s was not the hand ot an old man !" " Curte tho lack ! Why didn't you accuse me then fotrhwith V " Becauae I kneY/ how cunning you were ; I could not., ot cjurpe, be quite &ure thac it wa^ you, although peveral thinge had ahsady conspired to mnke me mistrust that you hdd po > u"r'',inf> to do with Louie's disappearance." " Such a« what ?" "The loss of the diamond from your sleeve-button, tor one thing." " How could that bo ?" " Well, you lost it tho very night that Louis disappeared." " Yea : but that counts for nothing I might have lost 0, hundred other things at the same timo." "True: but it counted for something when I found it." "Did you find it?' ho cried, with a start. "Whore?" Very slowly and distinctly fhe ppoko now, und every word soemud to fall like a hammer on his brain. ' I found it in the folds of the draperies, in the corner behind the Jete a-tete, where Louis and I r>at on that night while we discussing our plan f j the fi.tire, and where ho also told me of the anxiety reguiding the large amount of meney ia his office " " Ha !" " You begin to comprehend, I perceive," Margaret obaervtd wifh quiet irony/" Arthur groaned : too well he comprehended. "When I found th-ifc diamond," Margaret resumed, "I knew, as well asifjou had told me, that, you had been concealed behind those druperie?, that you must have heard every word of our conversation. I knew that you hated Louis for long years, and that once you hud done him a great wiong, why then you would not beeitate to do him another injury. I asked myself, and I immediately vegan to suspect you nf knowing something about the mystery which no distressed us. I began to watch you, to weigh all your words and actions, and my suspicions W6re almost confirmed when I recognised you through this diegui-e. I had feeen you come out of this building, and 1 naturally wondered what poesiblo interest you could have in this locality, a r> d in these Buppofced empty buildingß. " Do you remember, "hli© continued, growing excited aa she tnus *eheari?ed the story to him, *'that etorcuy evening when we played euchre at home, how I would not play wifch you ? I played against you, and 1 told you that I wan playing; against you with all my might. I meant far more than i appealed to at that, ume, for I was playing a desperate game against you. Then, all at once, I began to cultivate your society. Oh, how it went againrt ma. How I hated myself for my duplicity ; but, L had a eecrefc to worm out of you." " Aha, that was your game, then ?" interrupted Arthur, growing white to hie lips, a3 he realised how he had been fooled. "Yes; do you eupnose I would have tolerated your company for one moment after what you had said regarding my be, trothed husband, if I had not been impelled by a powerful motive ?" "But how, under heaven, did you contrive to get into this building?" questioned Arthur, growing interested in this thrilling account ia £?pito of hia own desperate situation. I ** Simply by the use of two keys," and she held them up before his astonished eyes ; I keys precisely like those be had possessed until compelled to give them up to Louis. *• Where did you get them ?" be asked, breathlessly. "I had them made." "How?" " I have already remarked that I began to cultivate your society, and that I had a powerful motive in so doing." "Yes," he interrupted, bitterly, "you tempted me, making me believe v- •„ ••>

for me, only to betray me, when I loved you to idolatry." fche drew beruelf up haughtily. "I never gave you the slightest encouragement to epeok of love to me. I always repelled you whenever you attempted it," she eaid, coldly. "I confess that, for p, time, I aH6umed a friendliness whicu I did not feel, and it wad not an easy thing to do, either, simply to uccomplish a purpose." " What purpose?' "That ot getting poseoseion of your keys to this building." "But you never succeeded ; they have never been out of my popseesionjfor even one hour," he cried, excitedly. '• No ; bat I took an impression of them, !'* •'Then alt that was pretence — your fascination lor coins and curious kejs?" he taid. "No, not wholly ; 1 have a passion for old coins It was a hoax about the keys, though. 1 thought perhaps I could entice you to hand over what you had to me, and in that way I could get an impression of tho two that 1 wanted." " But you did not catch me that way," ho retorted. " No," she returned, regarding him with a curious expression. "For hearen'a Bake, don't sit there and look at me in that way. You have triumphed, it seem?, and i should like to know just bow you did it." "Surely, you have not forgotten all that occurred the day ot the fete when I waa your guest." "No!" the young; man excitedly cried, light at last beginning to break in upon his mind. " Well, I went there for a purpose that day, and I accomplished it." "I see," said Arthur, with a crest-fallen air, "your weariness was all a pretence; you had eeen those keys whon I showed you the in videu ide of my desk ; you pretended that you needed rest and quiet, and, while we all thought you sleeping, you improved your time by rummaging and taking an impression uf those keys. An honourable return, surely, for one's hospitality," he concluded, eatirically. She faced him with Hashing eyes. " Do you presume to talk about ah honourable return for hospitality," she d ied, indignantly, " you who bad tho meanness to conceal yout>oif behind the draperies in a lady's parlour— after having been courteously received as her guest fci m»*ny months — and listen to a conversation that was purely confidential, almost sacred ; and then, taking advantage ot what you had thus learned, go forth and commit a crime to ruin the man whom she lovtd more than her own life. Really, Mr A^pinwall, you need coaching in the science of discrimination," she concluded, with biting ea<casm. "Yes, I did 'rummage,' as you express it," she went on after a moment of thought, " and I felt justified in bo doing. I believed that the fatu of ono, dearer to me than all the world beside, depended upon that hour spent in your room. I knew I was upon the right trail, for, before lunch, while you weie- out, I had been in your closet, and been protruding from one of your trunks, a few (/ray hairs, and knew as well as I did later when I saw the whole,. that your disguise was there. But about the keys ; I was sure that by using a little btrategy I could take their impression T could have others made, and then I could come and s-ee for mypelf what in-to-ested you in this building. Doubtless you wonder why 1 did not confide in my father and «avo mypulf all this trouble and perhaps danger. It waa because I wished to do you no wrong in the estimation of others. If my auspicious, regarding your agency to thus crime, should prove to be incorrect no one would be tlie wiser, you would not be injured in any way, nor be wounded by what 1 have done. It, on the other hand, they proved to be true, then, I reasoned, it would bo a very easy matter to bring you to justice." "Go on— pray go on ; I am deeply interested and would like to hear the whole of this interesting story," Arthursuid, bitterly, as he paused fcr a moment. " I do not r.bject to telling it," Margaret returned,, with! i slight smile ; •• ifc may serve to thow you that u woman's cunning and intuition can sometimes outwit a villain's most deppe ate pebemes." " You are getting compliraentry as you proceed, Miaa Hcughton !" he interrupted angrily. "lam Mmply sating fads. Bur toreturn to my subject : Left alone in your room, I went directly to your de.-k, where I found the ke>s I had been wanting to get possession of for po long, togother with wax and taper?, and it was the woikof but a few moments to get impressions of them both. I confers that I felt very uncomfortable to be be thus playing the part of a spy and prying into your affairp, and nothing but eterrtest necessity could have tempted me to violate my sense ot honour iv thai; way." " Your apology comes rather late in the day vo bo of u>uch account," sneered Arthur. "The next day," she resumed, without heeding his interruption, " I took my impressions to a locksmitn, had keys made, and a few evenings later I came hither between eight and nine o'clock to test them and the truth of my suspicions regarding you." " Then your headache was all sham. T supposed Miss Margaret Houghtoo to b© above the moanaess of lying," snapped Arthur, anguly. "And so 1 am," Margaret returned* with dignity. " I have told no falsehoods — not one ; I have simply employed strategy that waa perfectly justifiable. My headache was no sham, it was terribly real, proceeding from nervousness, lee>t any of my plans should fail. But as soon as I hact pent you, and mamma, and Floy Arnold off' on your excursion to Buttes Chamont — " "And Floy Arnold was only a decays then ?" groaned Arthur. "Of course. I knew that neither you nor mamma would go and leave me at home believing me to ba ill, unless jou stood committed to accompany seme one else, and Floy proved to be a very convenient decoy. I could not carry out my pleas unless you. were out of the way, ond eomething seemed to make me feel that I must work quickly. As soon as you were gone I came directly here to bring the file and «aw, and I waa also inspired to briDg Louis papa's revolver." " Ah ? that was Mr Houghton's revolver then ?" " Yes ; it was a good thing, my bringing^ it, for it peems thac Louis has made goovi, use of it," Margaret replied, significantly. Arthur swore roundly at this reference to> hi 1 * uncomfortable situation. " You are forgetting your manners, Mr A spin-wall," Margaret said, reprovingly. "X do not think it is exactly kind to eyult over a fallen foe, but I must confess that it affords me infinite satisfaction to find you here, when 1 believed you had left the city. I should not have come here to day, for Loui* told me not to venture again for a few days, but for what you said last night about) going away. I felt that it would be eafen under these circumstances, and I wanted to ascertain how my hero waa getting along,, and perhaps aid him a little in his work. Ah 1 I think ho must be cuming now !" eh& concluded, a step was heard upon the* stairs. The next moment Louis entored thej room, (To be Continued).,