The Ironmaster's Daughter.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8292, 22 November 1906, Page 2

The Ironmaster's Daughter.

CHAPTER XXll.—Continued.

"Poor old dad." Dick's eyes 'were wet. "And the men who robbed him are his murderers as surely as if they had stabbed him to the heart with steel! I'll never let up on them—no, by Heaven, it s either them or mo! ■ What was it that upset him, Charlie ?" f "That diamond business of his. "Oh, curse the diamonds ! Ive spent days endeavouring to be interested in them! I've promised to devote my spare time in perfecting them, and I haven't an atom of belief in the things. The two specks of lustre in the safe are the result of trickery, in my opinion. ' borne „f my father's scientific friends have had their little joke." "No," Charlie said. "They were genuine enough, such as they were" ~ , 7 "Such as they are," corrected Dick. . _ ~ "They're gone—exploded—evaporated in his hands this morning." Charlie waited, but Dick did not , apeak. "Don't let me spoil your inner. If you have a very careful peep at your father no harm will be done. Going to dress now. <>No—l require no dinner ! h oocl would choke me."' Dick walked to a sideboard, and poured out a stiff glass of cognac. "Well, try and make some pretense at feeding. Don't upset Enys." "All right." Dick went up to his father s room. There was a choking sensation in his throat when he looked at the' waxen features. The face was masklike in its rigidity. He stood there until a servant came to tell him that dinner was waiting. The bells had been hushHe nodded and motioned the man away' then walked down-stairs, and out into the moonlight. It was the same moonlight that had played tricks with his fancy the night before. The wind was in the trees, too, chanting the same requiem. He paced onward— onward, noises in his ears like the booming of the sea. The pulses of his brain were throbbing double-quick time; his mind was chaotic. Eleven struck—then 1 twelve. Dick retraced his steps, and discovered Ctarlie Mostyn beside him. "The London physician is here, he said. "He can do nothing, Dick. I have been watching your father. Won't you go to bed? I'll send for you the moment he awakens," »N 0 _ m y place is there. I might miss his last words—his last smile. The parson and the rest of them can have their turn when I am done,, if my father wishes it." He strode up-stairs, and his vigil at the bedside began. It lasted till '■■ the sun was flinging upward a thousand silvery lances, and the birds were tuning their voices for the fuller songs of adoration to come. Mr Tressidy's face contracted, and his opening eye 3 fell upon Dick. , He smiled feebly, and Dick took his hand; it was cold like death. "The fight is almost over, my lad," he murmured. "My soul is ! crossing the bar. But God has been good to me at the last; the honour antftbe fortunes of the Tressidy's are safe in your hands. Where is ■ Enys ? In a little while will do. ' I shall watch yon patch of sunlight to the first panel in 'the door, and th en —the reincarnation." ' "Would you like to see the vicar, i father ? He is in the anteroom." "Not yet—not yet. He has called me an atheist. We men of science are the enemies of the orthodox beliefs —of religion itself, the parsons say. In reality we are the true teachers. God is fully revealed to me, the parent from this bit of matter, the body, springs; and back it goes to God, bigger, better, greater, than when He dropped it into this lower world. This is reincarnation of the soul, and we lose our individuality in the immeasurable Personality of the only One." His eyes were fixed upon the patch of shifting sunlight. From the wall just under the ceiling, it had crept down to the top of the door. "Don't let go of my hand, dear lad. Where is Enys ? I don't want anybody else." Dick tapped the floor with the toe of his boot, and his sister glided to the bedside, her sweet face wet with tears Charlie Mostyn and the ■ vicar kept within the shadows. Mr Tressidy never spoke again. His eyes were turned upon his children—they lighted up with ineffable jov, then became fixed. The sunlight had reached the first panel in the door !

CHAPTER XXIII. A SURPRISE FOR MR BEN SON.

Richard Tressidy, the scientist and philantrophist, was dead. The passing bell tolled. Panegyrics 1 were spoken from pulpit and platform; panegyrics were printed in .magazines, and newspapers, and virtues which he had never possessed wore lauded to high heaven. . And yet in one financial difticulty in his life the world looked the other way.

Bv OWEN MASTERS. J«f/* o r o/ "Clyda's Love Dream," "Nina's Uepentance," "Iler Soldier Lover,'' "The Mystery of Woodcrott," ** For Love of Marjorie," etc. P'The Ironmaster's Daughter" was commenced on October 17th.]

"Leave all the bother to me, old chap," Charlie Mostyn said to Dick. | "Give me a list of the people you wish to come to the funeral, and I will undertake to see everything through. I'm getting afraid of you. You have the living to think about— Pauline and Enys. The cousins and others don't count now, although they've become clamorous of late." 'JYou area good fellow, Charlie; the" edge of my grief is just at its sharpest now I might have been a better son had I realized the true meaning of life a little sooner." "I've telegraphed to Miss Keitz," Charlie said. "And your chief clerk broke his vacation the moment he heard the news. He is waiting in the library for instructions, so you may be able to let the works run along without you for a day or two." "I must," Dick answered dully. He went into the library, and talked to Benson for a while. ■ "It's very good of you," he said, "to think of me in this way." "I'm happier ut work, sir; my heart's in the business. It's my duty to/be on hand, when you are unable to attend. I feel awfully cut up, too, about the old master." "You are my right hand, Benson," Dick said, with emotion. He had forgotten all about Miss Craven and Duke Deverell; and just now the intrigues and- the scheming of Lucas Isaacs and Co. seemed like an ugly dream. [to be continued.]