The Ironmaster's Daughter.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8286, 14 November 1906, Page 2

The Ironmaster's Daughter.

'CHAPTER XVl.—Continued. "Yes—yes. Oh, Dick, kiss me •once more, No matter what happens I'm yours, in life, in .death, in enternity! You understand my wild passion—you respond to it, and I am happy—happy —happy!" It was late when he left Pauline's house, and he looked back with a half sob, and growled: "Now for three weeks of purgatory !" CHAPTER XVIII. MR. BENSON RESIGNS. • Into the next day Dick Tressidy 'Crowded a phenomenal amount of work/ He iffeually fought an ill temper and a disturbed mind with his physical forces. And he was certainly in a bad humour, the causes of which were many and diverse. Important drawings and specifications had vanished from under MiBenson's very nose. A new and vast railway station was in the course of construction, and estimates had been made for the ironwork— j columns, girders, and arches. The columns were of an unusual size, and costly experiments were necessary to gage the shrinkage after casting, and to ensure their perfection and symmetry from base to capital. The plans and the results of weeks of thought and labour were gone! Dick knew nothing of the loss until! he had sent for the police inspector, and complained of the brick-throwing outrage. The inspector promised that a man in plain clothes should be engaged to watch the loafers. Then Bill Hebden sought an interview with his master, and he was so perturbed that he forgot to smile at Miss Morris, the typewriter, when he walked through the office. "What's wrong, Bill?" his master asked cheerfully. Hebden was an old servant, and had been a favourite of Dick's in his youthful days, Hebden was a good deal of a hero. He had saved the lives of half a dozen people at the risk of his own, and nearly the heavy weight fighting championship of England. He had been a reckless sort cf fellow, too, and when in drink was a dangerous man to friend and enemy alike. But for months Bill had been "good." He,had tumbled into love with a bit a ,of fresh-faced, yellowhaired girl, ten years younger than himself, and she in turn admired the hero of a hundred scars. He had turned over a new leaf, and was keeping it clean. These were the conditions laid down by Miss, Polly Morris, and Bill observed them faithfully. "What's wrong, Bill ?" Dick asked. "Sit down, man." < "Wrong," said Bill, with a fierce scowl. "A good ideal, sir. Some dirty thief is walking about from public house to public, stealing away your good name, and setting v,.up...the mob against yon. We needn't go far, neither, to say where it all comes from, and than's next door! They dursn't do the dirty work themselves, so they are bribing others." Dick's lips curled. "I am delighted to hear it, Bill." "Why should you be, sir?" "Isn't it proof that they are defeated? Lucas & Co., I mean." "That's all right, but you don't want a thump in the dark, do you? You don't want a riot, do you ? That's the game they're up to. They want the mob to smash you. , The loafers ain't forgot the cottages going, and they all say that you are the cause of trade being so slack around here. A machine that does the work of ten men ain't to their liking." "I am paying a thousand pounds weekly in wages alone, more than any other employer here," Dick said. "The local men would not conform to the local regulations, and our staff of workmen has had to be got together from a dozen different countries. If I can bring this home to Lucas & Co. " "They're an artful lot, sir!" growled Bill, clenching his great fist. "What I can make out of it is that a swell in a light suit an' brown boots, smoking a big cigar, goes about talking to the men, and treating them to beer. If I catch him there'll be a case of assault and battery." Dick smiled. "A baby scheme, Bill. It will fizzle out. Lucss & Co., must bo getting reckless. We'll have Tressidy'sold words within a year." "Hurrah!" Hebden exclaimed. He was of an excitable temperament. "Now, sir, I going to keep my weather eye skinned, and, if I meet Mr Light Suit, he's going to feel the weight of my hand." "Don't hit him too hard, Bill." Dick walked out of the office with Hebden, and went into the works. He made a point of being familiar with the details of every department. From draftsman to. the pattern-maker, from the patternmaker to the foundry whore the castings were made-, and thence to the engineer, until the manufacture was complete. Then there was the wrought-iron work, from tbo forge to the rolling mills, where snakes

Bv OWEN MASTERS. Auihtr of "Clydct's Love Dream," "Nina's .Repentance "Her Soldier Lover," "The Musteru of Woods' croft," (t For Love of Marjorie," etc. .P'Tiie Ironmaster's Daughter" was commenced on' October 17tli.]

of living fire whirled and glowed as ;they lengthened into a fine wire, over which would some day flash the news of a wrecked empire. Dick went a round of the works, his brain in a tumult. There was Pauline to think about, "and his fathers condition was worrying. There was this savage rivalry between himself and the people next door, and the hatred of the workers who never worlc and never intend to. These were the men with a grievance. It occurred to him that a nice little mob could destroy fifty thousand pounds' worth of delicate machinery in a very short time, and the seriousness of things appealed to him strongly. He returned to the office, and there awaited him the news of the loss of the plans and specifications. What he said is untranslatable. Then he caught the eye of Miss Hilda Craven, and he became calm. Miss Craven had only just arrived, and he inquired kindly if she was any the worse for her wetting, while Mr Benson looked on with mixed feelings. "More losses. Miss Craven!" Dick said, with a sigh. "Come into my office, please." [to bk continued.]