The Ironmasters Daughter.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8275, 31 October 1906, Page 2

The Ironmasters Daughter.

Bv OWEN MASTERS. Avilwr of *'Cl/fda's Love Dream," "Nina's .Repentance "Her Soldier Lover," "The Mystery of Woodcroft," " For Love of Marjorie," etc.

["Tiie Ironmaster's Daughter" was commenced oil October 17t11.]

CHAPTER X.—Continued. 'Allow me to finish. r do not know anything that you have done. I lent my money; I foreclosed; I sold; 1 gave you each a quarter share. That is ten thousand pounds eaoh.' 'Oh, stuff!' interrupted Stanley. 'Silence!—if you please. I am satisfied with my bareain; 1 am an employer of labour—fire hundred men. It gives me great po!itioal power here and among our customers, and among the people to whom we are customers. Now we must stick close, and meet every attack with cunning and s'rengtb, Nothing must stand 10 our way. You understand me? I do not know what Dick Tressidy means It may be temper, nod it may not. He's got backing pomewbere, but mv 'inofcs a fool for long. After ail, what can he do?' 'He is no fool, and that is where yoa are wrong, Luoas,' gloomed Stanley. 'Still, what you have said is all right in the maic. We have got the works and we will stick to them. If it means, more cunningmore scheming—more villany—well, we have got Weeks, here, and yon-— —' The meeting had hetter close,' interrupted Lucas Isaacs with dignity. 'What we have to do now is to watch and wait. Mind you it is three to one,, and while we not only hold the citadel, we are armed at all points. Uentlemen, there is nothing to fear. Have a cigar, Stanley?' * * * * * . In the meanwhile Dink galloped to Birmingham, and flung himself from his hoise at the door of Mr Dinks' offioe. He staiked in, and was at onoe ushered into the presence of the auctioneer, and man of many ** He shut the door after him, and drew a chair to the table. Mr Dinks waited. «1 have been at •i'ressidy'a works; I have seen the three thievee, and cannot arrange a deal.' He grinned. 'I explained to them my opinion of .them, and of things generally. That relieved the pentup steam. Now tbo business. I want you to. buy up the cha'n works adjoining Tressidy's at once. Mr Dinks seized a pea and a pad of paper.' 'We must not appear too eager— —' he began. . •Eager be dashed 1 Buy the works at any price— Bwiftly—secretly, or the enemy may put in a spoke. •Ah, 1 see. It shall be arranged to day. My client is hard up—financially.' 'Good! Draw upon me for what money you require." He jumped up. 'We must use ♦he wires pretty freely now, Dinks,* he added, grimly. 'I boi going to plan the new works—l am goiug to cable to the United States for what I cannot buy in England. Every ounce of the new place shall bo modern. I will revolutionize the iron trade of the Black Country; I will have such appliances that 1 can produce at twothirds of the cost of my rivals and I will crush them —crush them!' He strode away without saying good morning, jumped upon his horse and olattered homeward. 'Lord 1 murmured Mr Dinks. 'There is going to be some fun. Una! How much do I make out of it?' He began to figure on the paper pad, CHAPTER XI. A MODERN ALADDIN. •My darling Dick Tressidy,' so Pauiine wrote, 'I am coming in June, and I am coming to stay, so you must have a- rnodesi little house ready for me, with plenty of gardens and wooded grounds, and a large cage for Sultana, something after the style of the oue here. I do not want to have the 1 servants or the neighbours frightened, and her casse must ba oovered io, so that escape is impossible; not that Sultana would hurt a fiy if sho did get away. I am an independent sort of young weman—some people oall Hie unsociable—and 1 prefer to have my own little home, and my own particular servants, until you and I decide to get married. I should prefer the ceremony to wait until you can learn to love me as I love you. It would kill me to find that I had made a mistake, and yon aro ao dreadfully cold. But, there, I did not mean to utter a word of doubt or anything to bother yoa, becaußo papa says that your head will ba fall of worries for some time to come. I shall leave you to furnish my little house—all with the exception of one bodruom and one sitting room. Things for; these I ehnll hiing with me, to remind me of my home here. And 1 shall bring three personal servants —my maid; Peter, who looks after Sultan ta; end an aged negreas, who is dependent upon me. 1 do not think yon saw her, as she is rather infirm. We call her Nelly, and she is one of the old slaves belonging to my grandfather. ' A'itb all the love of my fond heart, •PAULINE REITZ. 'P. S. DEAR—DEAR DICK: I am expecting a uloe, loving letter from yon, and I shall write to j ou twice every week. You must tell me all that you are doing, and all about your father and your sister. 1 suppose you have told then) about me?' Diok groaned. He bad said in bis oa ble message that he was writing, ■ahd had forgotten to do so. He

looked again at the fond letter, and sighed remorsefully. How could be simulate an affection that he did not feel? Nothing that he could houestly say would satisfy Pauline's cravinge. And he was so busy. 'June—June!' he reflected. '1 have got a little breathing time, anyway; and, on the whole, this letter is distinctly cheering. Pauline does not want to be a guest at Birchdene, and prefers her own place. So I should think! < Panthers and niggers! Poor girl! I wish I could care for you. I am giving nothing for everything.' While this fit of remorse and tenderness was upon him he wrote a very nice letter, whioh he would have destroyed had it not been sent to the post at onoe. This was four days after his oall ucun the new owners of Tressidy's works, so that he had plenty to tell Pauline, and the packet which was mailed tu her contained no less than eight letter sheets of writing. The old chain works had been boughG out and out, together with the tumble-down dwellings of sixty families. These wretobed cottages were ocaupied by the poorer class of work people, who herded together in tilth and squalor, because they had never seen anything better. They upon sulphurous, smoke-laden air, and the stenoh of a stagnant canal. Within two weeks every house was emptied, and in the course of demolition, and awful were the threats of men and women against young Dick Tressidy. They had been compelled to get nearer the green fields and the open skies, and they did not like the change. (To be Continued*)