For Her Sister's Sake; OR, THE LAVENDEN SECRET.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8326, 7 January 1907, Page 2

For Her Sister's Sake; OR, THE LAVENDEN SECRET.

CHAPTER IV. HOW FAITH HELPED DAVID GARTH. "Out, I suppose, somewhere in society, playing at being a gentleman of leisure, as he always loved to. Little he thinks what a pleasant surprise is waiting for him when he conies back. We have a pretty crow to pick together, you and I, my dear brother." . David Garth was 'muttering angrily, his words muffled by the feminine wrap that concealed his strong jaw and stern lips. He had been ringing at the door of the flat for the twentieth time, as if hoping a T ainst hope that it was tenanted, and, "defeated, had shrunk back into the shadow of the adjacent coriidor. More than one occupant of the flats, returning home in the small hours, had glanced at the tall figure as they went by. But no one had spoken to the seeming nurse. , .„ At, length a heavier footfall sounded on the stairs, and David Garth saw through the balustrade a burly form in a kind of livery. The porter of the mansion was descending. He turned toward the corridor, where the disguised convict had taken his stand. David Garth feared to be noticed and questioned, and drew more closely into his retreat. The frame of a convenient doorway offered an additional shelter ; he flattened himself into it. • . To his surprise the door yielded m his involuntary pressure. It was one by which Winifred Lavenden had emerged, and in her haste she had left it unlatched. The convict staggered back into darkness. Startled, but quick-witted, he closed the door silently, and heard the porter pass in serene unconsciousness of the curious episode that had just taken place. > A moment David Garth remained motionless, and then he glanced about him. A ray of light attracted his attention, and he found himself looking through the singular glazed spyhole by .which the door of. James Garth's flat was commanded. The door had a number on it; the number served to identify it as that outside which he had been waiting. ■ Amazed by the idea that crossed his mind, he listened intently. The light from the landing without, falling through the spy-hole, enabled him -to see that-he stood in a small passage with a door or two leading from one side of it, that on his right. He crept down it on tiptoe, .and saw a yellow gleam under ■ another door, on his left this time. It had the latch and bolts of a front door. He opened it an inch and peered out. Yes, it was the door at which he had been so vainly ringing. He was in his brother s flat! An exclamation of relief broke from him. He re-closed the door noiselessly and felt about for the switches of the lights—the lamps on the staircase of the building had told him that its illumination was electric. Coolly he turned on a light or two, and began to explore the little suite of rooms, drawing quickly such blinds and curtains as had not been drawn by James Garth before his momentous conversation with Winnie.

The apartments were _ apparently quite empty, save for their luxurious bachelor fittings. In the tiny dining-room the convict's eye marked a buffet. He leaped to it, poured himself out a glass of brandy, and raised itjto his lips. Then he shook his head thoughtfully, filled up the tumbler with soda, and emptied it thirstily. There were cigar-boxes on the sideboard; he caught up one of the masculine luxuries, lit it, and smoked with greedy enjoyment. "Brother James always was a good judge of tobacco," he said, half aloud, as he struggled to free himself from the tight sleeves of the nurse's cloak. "Now for a raid on his lordship's wardrobe.'' His voice had a new ring in it, a ring of hope and confidence, and his bearing had gained both elasticity and resolution. He flung off the cloak and started to leave the room for the adjoining apartment. He halted sharply. Passing round the heavy dining-table, his way had been barred by a terrible obstacle, the prostrate and rigid figure of a man in evening dress. It lay on the thickly-carpeted floor, - and had been screened from him by the flowing table-cover. And the fade upturned to him —tanned and; bearded as it was since he had last seen jt—was the'face of his brother, James Garth. David Garth passed his hand over his eyes—it seemed some hideous illusion. The convict stood for a . long time staring at the dead man. ' "Ended himself," he muttered. -"Poor Jim—l'm—l'm sorry. t Had a run of bad luck, I suppose, and it, got on his nerves." He looked down at the repulsive convict garments he wore, and his expression hardened. "Ah well!" said David Gai-th grimly, "he brought me to this, and saved his own skin. So I've no reason to grieve over him much." The convict glanced around, the quick anxious glance of the man ■who knows himself pursued, yet knows not how near or how far his pursuers may be. •"I must get out of this, he murmured; "they might think I I " He stopped abruptly, leaving the sentence uncompleted. A pair of antique candlesticks stood on the mantel; there were candles in them. David Garth caught one up, put a match to the wick, and proceeded to switch off the electric lights throughout the flat. This done, he carried the candle into the bedroom, and, after a brief

By R. Norman Silver, il irof "A Bauble Mask," "A Daughter of Mystery "Held Apart," t( The Golden Duiarf," etc.

["For Sake " was commenced on December 20th.]

investigation of his brother's belongings, dressed himself swiftly in a smart walking-suit. It fitted him as if it had been made for him. His chin was rough with a two-days' beard; he fingered it reflectively, then sought out the necessary appliances and shaved, rapidly, yet thoroughly. When his toilet was finished, he looked trim and well-bred if a trifle gaunt, not unlike a crack officer home from a spell of hard service in Eygpt, or India. The convict surveyed himself in the mirror.

"Better than I hoped for," he said, and he picked up the nurse's cloak and put it on again, together with the shawl and bonnet. His prison clothes he made a parcel of, rolling in them a pair of James Garth's boots —to take the place of the nurse's shoes which he wore —and a derby hat that he chose from the rack in the hall of the flat. Tucking the bundle under his arm, he stepped toward the door by which he had entered. Passing the door of the room where lay the silent figure in evening dress, he paused and went in, almost reluct-; antly, to extinguish the candle and replace it upon the mantle. Groping for the front door of the flat in the darkness, he satisfied himself that all was quiet in the house, and glided down-stairs to escape into the open-air, precisely—although he could not know it—as Winnie had glided down-stairs and escaped. It was well past one o'clock when the figure of the nurse crossed Piccadilly Circus, and the great circle of roadway was peaceful and deserted. Here and there a policeman moved noiselessly in his night-boots, flinging the light of his lantern into shop' doors and shadowy corners. Ojieo£ them glanced casually after ,the hurrying wayfarer in the hospital uniform. , I David Garth was going toward the city. Steadily, tirelessly, with the carefully studied gait of a woman,, he walked in the long blue cloak, ! the bundle with his convict garments gripped under his arm beneath the | nurse's cape.

CHAPTER VI. A MATRIMONIAL BARGAIN. "My dear girl, come to the point. For there is a point, I'll be sworn, and a sharp one. I haven't been your brother for thirty-five eventful years, Constance, without knowing that your motto is 'Nothing for nothing.'" George Merivale sat back in his chair; he was breakfasting in his own rooms. A servant in the Lavenden livery had only just taken an inaudible departure, after placing before "him a dainty marmalade-pot of crystal and silver and refilling his cup. Propped up against the marmalade-pot was a check on Coutts'. Bank, made out to George Merivale, and signed "Constance. Istria." The amount was more than a few hundred. [To be Continued.]