CHAPTER XVI. THE FUGITIVES ALARMED.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 315, 10 November 1888, Page 4

CHAPTER XVI. THE FUGITIVES ALARMED.

While these events were, transpiring, and changing the whole course of the Lady Nora's existence, where was she who loved the young hcire&s with more than a sister's tenderness? Where was the unfortunate Lady Kathleen ? On parting with her step-sister at the Drogheda railway station in Dublin, the Lady Kathleen, as had been said, enterod a cab with Bassantyne and her maid, and rode directly to an hotel. Bassantyne's fellowfugitive from justice sat on the box with the driver, and on arriving at the hotel he escaped her observation in the mist and fog of the gloomy night.

Then the young Lady Nora, in her close, dark prison, in tho centre of which she stood with gleaming white face, and wide dilated eyes, heard her throe enemies go downstairs, and watched through the yen- ! tilator over the door the fading gleams of their departing light. And a few minutes later, still standing there, sho heard tho rattling of tho bolts and chains on the outer door, and heard Mrs JFoErarty tramp heavily up the stairs to her own room. A suite of rooms was speedily secured, and the Lady Kathleen, accompanied by her maid, retired to her own private apartment. Bassantyne, attonded by tho man who acted as his valet, departed to his own quarters, which were a portion of her ladyship's suite. The doors between were, however, locked, and the Lady Kathleon put tho key in her pocket. The small parlour, with bedroom adjoining which had been assigned to tho young bride, was very bright and cheerful. There was a tire in the grate, and the gas was burning in tho cluster of ground-glass globes which depended from the oeiling. One of the Lady Kathleen's trunks was brought up, and Mary unpacked it. Her young mistress thon romoved hor damp outer garments and donned a pair of pink velvet slippers and a pink cashmere dress-ing-gown, and loosening her damp yollo v hair, permitting it to flow in a golden mass over her shoulders, alter the manner of the Lady Nora. She then drew up a chair to the lire and warmed her hands over the bla/e. ' You may ring, Mary,' she said, wearily, when tho maid'fe duties received an intermission. ' I will have my supper up here.' Mary obeyed, giving the bell a vigorous pull. 'Will — will tho master have his supper heie, too?' the girl a^ked, hesitatingly. ' The ' ma-tor ?' ' said the Lady Kathleen. ' You liavo no master, Mary. lam married to Mr Bassan byne, it is true, but he is no more to mo than a stranger. He will not take his supper with me.' The waiter appearing, the Lady Kathleen sent down her order, and was presently served with her lepast, which she insisted upon hei maul sharing with her. After supper .she sat for hours by her lire, thinking steadily, and at last arose wearily and went to bed. She was early astir in the morning. About eight o'clock, as she sat by the lire in her parlour, dretscd in hor black silk travelling robe, after she had given her order for breakfast, a knock was heard at the door, and a waiter appeared, bringing her ladyship a note from Bassautyne. It proved to bo a dcniaad to be allowed to breakfast with her, Bassantyne declai in^ that her conduct was calculated to bi ing suspicion upon him, and warning her that any disgrace that could come to him would be sure to fall upon her. To this missive the Lady Kathleen replied simply by the word ' Come. ' A few minutes later Bassantyne made his appearance. He had attired himself with scrupulous care. His long beard was carefully combed and waved and divided into two long points, which neatly cover his bosom. He came in bowing and smiling, with the grace of a dancing-master, seera- | ing to possess not a care or anxiety in the world. A->\\ifc glance around the room assured him that the Lady Kathleen was alone, her maid being in the adjacent bedroom. ' Good morning, my beautiful wife !' he said, with an affectation or gayety. ' You look none the worse for your journey.' 1 Compliments can be spared between us,' returned the Lady Kathleen, gravely. sße seated. Breakfast is ordered, and will be served directly.' Bassantyne drew a chair towards the fire, and sat down. ' I have a fancy that I saw a familiar face in the hotel lobby last night,' he observed, with visible uneasiness. 'It will be well to dispense Avith an hotel waiter; he might be a detective or spy in disguise. My man Murple, you know, can attend upon us, and that Avill keep him away from the tap, which he likes> to frequent." 1 Very Avell,' said the Lady Kathleen, indifferently. 'Your man can attend upon us.' Bassantyne's gloomy face brightened a iifcfcle. ' About your plans, Kathleen ?' he asked. ' At what hour can we leave for Wicklow ?' 'I am not decided,' was the reply. 'I am a little troubled about poor Nora, although I know she is with true and loving friends. I think I Avill drive mound and call upon her this morning.' ' And risk my betrayal or discovery ?' cried Bassantyne. ' How thoughtless you are, Kathleen ! In a large city like Dublin, no doubt a watch is kept for me. We ought not to prolong our stay a minute beyond what is absolutely necessary. I have ordered a cab to be at tho door in time to take us to the station for the next train.' A faint glow of displeasure tinged the Lady Kathleen's cheeks, but tJie made no objection. ' You see, Kathleen, 'pursued Bassantyne, ' that Avith the reward that is offered for my capture, I may well be uneasy and anxious. We can't be too careful. Of course I am well disguised, but then these detectives are sharp tellows, and it they look for me at all, they will look for me under a disguise. They won't expect to see a man on whose head a pi ice is set wandering about and answering in every particular to the items in the hand-bills. They know that I graduated out in Australia, and T am up to all kinds of dodges. But thoy will hardly suspect,' he added, with a grim smile, ' to find the bird they're wanting in the acknowledged husband of the proudest beauty in all Ireland. I'm safe here, if anywhere.' At this juncture the Avaitcr was heard approaching in the corridor, and Bassantyne arose and walked to the window, where he stood with averted face and negligent attitude, while the attendant spread the table and set out upon it tho dainty morning meal. 'You needn't wait,' said Bassantyne, carelessly, Avhen the waiter had finished. ' Send my man to me, and thore's something for you.' He tossed the man a small silver coin, and again looked down into tho street. The waiter Avent out, and Bassantyne then came forward, taking his seat at the table. The Lady Kathleen sat opposito to him, behind the small coffee-urn. She poured the coffee Avithout speaking, her face as cold and grave as if carved in marble. There Avas a haughty coldness in her manner that effectually kept her sinister bridegroom at a distance. He dared not address a word of tenderness or familiarity to hor, although his blaok eyes boamed Avith a look of admiration that Avas very near akin to love. They Avere silently engaged with their breakfast, when the door opened, and Murple, Bassantyne's valet, entered. The Lady Kathleen looked up, surveying him with perceptible curiosity He returned her glances Avith interest. He was a coarse, brutal, hang-dog looking fellow, dressed in seedy, slouching black garments. His hair was cropped close to his head. His cheoks, unshaven and dark, gave to the lower half of his faco a black muzzled appearance. His forehead was low and retreating, and a long livid scar mai'ly, traversed it. This scar of particular shape, although partly hidden by a pair of very i bushy eyebrows, gave the man a strangely sinister look.

The Lady Kathleen shuddered, as eh'e met this man's furtime, cat-like glance. She wondered in her heart how Bassantyne , oould consoit with a man like this, although she felt that Bassantyne was at heart on better than Murple. 'Come along and wait on the table, Murple,' said his master, impatiently, with a glance toward the inner room. ' Her ladyship's maid may pop out any minute, and you will arouse her subpicions. Lady Kathleen, this is my valet, Murple, a good servant enough, but a little queer. Been down to the tap, Murple ?' The man was pale and trembling as if he had recently received a nervous shock. He approached the table, and took up his station behind the Lady Kathleen's chair, but his lips were blue and his eyes dis tended. Bassantyne began to experience a vague sen&e of alarm. 'If you don't quit drinking, Murple, 1 ho said, threateningly. 'I'll turn you out ! I swear I won't protect a man who does his best to impei il himseli and me too I have kept you with me because we were in the fcame boat, and J didn't care to lo&a sight of you. But; I'll go to the Continent and lose myself and you too. I won't live in con stant fear—' '1 haven't been drinking,' said Murple, hoarf-cly. ' I vent down and sent the teleixvfim to Ballyconnor •-hat you told me to. And on my way back 1 stepped into the tap — ' ' That's what I'm complaining: of !' declared Bassantyne, angrily. ' Why must you get drunk ?' 'I am not drunk,' asserted Murplc, .still huskily. 'I ordered a glats of half and half, and as I stood in the tap a diinking of it, up comes a chap and orders- a pint of Guinness, and he falls a looking at me, and 1 looks at him, and all of a sudden I recognises him — ' ' You recognised him !' cried Bassantyne, in a .startled voice, and full of excitement. ' Yes, »ir. He's a ticket-of-lcave chap we knowed in Austialy. He is Lamo Bill— 1 ' Lame Bill !' ejaculated Bassantyne, in consternation, his jaw falling. ' Yes, sir, it's Lame Bill. I knowed him the minute I fairly got my eyes onto him, although he was dressed like a gentleman.' ' Lame Bill !' repeated Bassantyne, in increasing terror. ' Why, the fellow hates me as he hates a policeman ! I knocked him down once, and he vowed to be revenged on me. Did he recognise you ?' ' 1 don't know. I'm pretty well disguised, what with dying my red hair black and my red face brown, and wearing those 'ere heavy black oyebrows in place of them red ones that got singed oif years ago. But the «car can't be disguised, and 1 own my heart went down to my boots when Lame Bill says he : ' Queer scar you've got there, >uy man. It's like a scar on a chap I knowed in Australy. ' ' He did recognise you, then ?' '1 think not,'" muttered Murple, dubiously. 'I said something about never having been to Australy, and he sauntered off. And I come up to your room, and along comes the waiter telling me to come up here. I think I've throwed Lame Bill off the scent. He has made up his mind that I ain't his man. But I'm sorry I come to Ireland at all,' he added, wiping his brows vigorously. ' Why so ? You are an Englishman, and Ireland is the safest place for you.' Murple's glances shifted uneasily under his masler's ga/.e. lie wiped hiss brows again on his red cotton handkerchief. 'I said I was an Englishman,' he remarked after a brief pause, ' but I ain't. I'm an Irishman, and the police will look for me in Ireland. ' ' The furies ! Why, you were" known as ' Newviile, the English cracksman,' in the colony ' ' Yes ; but my name ain't Nevillo, any more than it's Murple, which is the new name you gave me. My real name's Tim Fogarty. My mother lives near Dublin, at Clondalkin, in lodgings and about; and it's her sister as is houcekeeper to Mr Michael Kildare, the lawyer ; and the police must be on the lookout for me in Dublin.' Bassantyne turned pale. ' You miserable idiot !' he ejaculated. ' How dared you run your head directly into a noose like this . ; Why didn't you tell me the truth ? You have ruined us both !' He got up and began to pace the room hastily, with a great terror in his face. 'I will never be taken alive he muttered, the great drops starting on his forehead^ 4 1 will die by my own hand first ! The ignominy of the gallows will never bo mine ! Fool ! Why didl resume myownhonourable name when I returned to England — thatname which has never been associated with guilt, and which an honourable family bears to-day with pride, unconscious of my errors ? I will die before the world, and those at home I left years ago, shall know that Nicol Bassantyne is the man of a dozen aliases and a do/en crimes— the man whose life is forfeit to the State.' He plunged his hand into his pocket and halt withdrew a pistol-case. In this he carried, ready for instant use, a pair of tiny loaded pistols. Dropping the case back into his pocket, he hunied to and fro until he had regained his composure, ana then he went to the mirror and "regained his reflection narrowly. 'He Avon't I'ecognise me unless he is on my track,' he said: 'and he can't suspect my presence here. It is not suspected that you and I are together, Murple. We must act promptly, and the danger may be averted.' ' How, sir ?" demanded Murple, eagerly. 1 Instead of going directly to Wicklow with us,' said Bassantyne, ' you must ma nomvro to throw Lame Bill oil your trail. You mu&t slip out of the hotel by some rear way and make across the country to some station on the Drogheda line. Go to Drogheda, and from there go across the country to Mullingar. At one place or the other you must procure a wig— a grey one — and fit yourself out like a village pedagogue. Then go afoot to Tullamore, and by rail to Athy, afoot again to Ballyconnor. It's a round-about way, but it'll tire out any dogs of detectives, and Lame Bill ain'tcute enough to track you by all thoso windings. Can you do this ?' Murple's face glowed with revived hope. ' I can do it !' he ejaculated. ' Then be offat once. Lose no time. We shall be safe after all. Be on your guard, Murple — and avoid the taps.' 'lam out of monoy,' said Murple, hesitatingly. 'The Lady Kathleen will supply you,' said Bassantyne coolly. * You'll want a matter of ten pounds. ' The Lady Kathleen took the desired amount from her purse and laid it on the table. Murple snapped it up greedily and put it in his pocket. After a few minutes' further conversation with his fellow-fugitive, Murple withdrew. A little later he stole out of the hptel by a rear way, and escaped unseen. ' I wonder whether Lame Bill knew him or did not know him ?' muttered Baseantyne, uneasily. ' Pity about that scar : it's a mark you can't hide. I ought to have thrown Murplo overboard, and would have done so, if I had dared to. He threatened to split on me if I didn't keep him with me. He knew too much about me to be permitted, to run loose.' He settled his necktie and walked slowly to the window, looking out.

'Our cab is waiting:, Kathleen,' he said. 'We must be off. And as I live,' he added, agitatedly, ' there's Lame Bill pacing to and fro on the walk waiting for someone to come out ! (Jan he be waiting for me ? Doos he scent the truth ?' The question was still on his lips when two of the hotel servants entered to announce the carriage and take down the Lady Kathleen's trunk. • i must risk it !' thought Bassantyne, in a mortal terror. ' It's like running the gauntlet. How can I bear Lame Bill's eyes on me ? Will he read my indentity through my disguise ?' The servant? went out, and J3assantyne ran again to the window, peering out cautiously. He beheld a lame man pacing to and fro on the pavement like a sentry on guard, his face turned toward the hotel entrance in evident eager inquiry. He was unmistakably waiting for someone. Was he waiting for Bassantyne ? Desperate, and almost mad with terror and anxiety, Bassantyne schooled his face to calmness, and turning to the Lady Kathleen, .said : ' Take my arm, Kathleen. Lean on me. Everything depends on how we pass this ordeal. There's a man waiting below who knows me, who h"tcs me, and who would give ten year 1 * of his life to df liver me up to the police and handle the reward ofJered for me. My downfall isyourmin. We sink or we Bwim togethor. Come !' He extended his arm. The Lady Knthleen drew her veil over her white face a-, her maid came out ot the inner 100 m and picceded them downstairs, in obedience to a gesture from her mistress, and her ladyship then took Bassantyne's arm, and they passed down the stairs together. (To he continued.)