RIVEN ASUNDER. OR, BERYL GRAYSON'S ORDEAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8377, 11 March 1907, Page 2

RIVEN ASUNDER. OR, BERYL GRAYSON'S ORDEAL.

A HOMANCE OF THE SAN FBANCISCO DISASTER.

CHAPTER IX.—Continued. "The wine was drugged?" ground Neil, between his teeth; "the treacherous scoundrel!" | "It must have been drugged," faltered Beryl, "for after regaining my room, and dropping upon my bed, I remember nothing until —until now. It was not noon then, yet here it is night. I must have lain in a stupor for many hours." ■ "You received no note purporting to come from me?" Neil asked, indignation and anger thrilling in his tones. "No," answered Beryl. "Did you send me a note, dear?" "I did not; but when I called for you, Jackman showed me a note which, he said, you had received, and which, he\tlso informed me, he had picked up on the stairs. That note .requested you to accompany the bearer' to San Jose, and was signed with my name. I marvelled at the time how you could have been deceived by the handwriting; still, bethat Jackman was your true friend,-1 did not doubt him at the moment, but turned to hurry back to the town, in an effort to find you. I see now," he finished bitterly, "that the note was a decoy for me, and not for you. I was to be lured away on a false scent, while Berdyne came for you in this car." Beryl shivered with the horror of it all. "Oh, how could men prove so treacherous, so void of honour!" she a half-sob. "Mr Jackman —it is" hard for me to believe that he would lend his aid to anything so despicable." "I am glad that I was able to pluck you out of that fateful snare," said Neil. "My p'oor darling! For months you have been surrounded by enemies. We may thank a merciful Providence that you came out so well. It might never have been able to rescue you, had it not been for Tonia." Beryl leaned over and kissed the Mexicana's lips. "At least," said she tenderly, "I had one true friend among all my foes; and I cannot help thinking that all would have been different if Mother Jackman had been ; at home." Tonita drew Beryl closer to her breast. "To the death, querida," said ' the Mexican girl; "you can always depend upon your Tonita." "Pray tell me all that happened," said Beryl, nestling comfortably into half of Tonita's cloak, whith was drawn around her. Neil and Tonita, between them, •went into details of recent events, and Beryl was thrilled by the recital. Her peril had been great, yet Tonita's cleverness and Neil's courage had saved her from a fate that was worse than'death. A prayer of thankfulness went up from her heart to the Father who watches over the innocent and the unfortunate. "And in this same automobile, •which was to carry me away with Mr Berdyne," murmured Beryl, '"I am now speeding out of the hateful power of my foes with my true-love and my dear friend. Heaven, indeed, has been good to me! And we are bound " "To San Francisco," Neil called back "to the house of the minister who is to give me the legal right to defend you from scoundrels like Berdyne and Trenwyck. We had nearly 50 miles before us, at the start. I have been over the road in a touring-car before, and, if we have no.breakdown, or /other mishaps, we shall reach our destination by daylight. In the morningv you shall be my bride!"

The last words found a delicious echo in Beryl's fluttering heart. They thrilled, too, like solemn music through the bosom of the Mexicana. 'ln the great Leland Stanford University at Palo Alto, her lover—a noble' youth of her own race—was studying to fit himself for the law. Some time they, too,.like Beryl and Neil, would join their hands in wedlock. "My trunk, my clothes, all my little store of goods," said Beryl, in dismay, the feminine instinct rising strong within her, "have been left at Sunset Ranch!" J- "Pray consider me, dear," returned Tonita gaily, "for I am but little better off. I came merely to make you a call, to do what I could to solve that had suddenly surrounded you, and behold! I am embarked on a journey just as I was, and am to be your bridesmaid/' Neil laughed cheerily. "Nothing shall delay us," said he, "until the ceremony is performed. After that, we shall visit some of the great stores, and what you ladies need, it shall be my pleasure to provide. Tonita shall telegraph to her people that all is well with her, and there shall be many days of happiness for us in the City of the Golden Gate."

And 7on, they flew, with Love, vigilant and determined, at the steering wheel; on through moonbeam and"'" starbeam, along tree-lined avenues and dusky groves; on through the sleepy languor of the night, past Redwood City, San, Carlos, Belmont, San Mateo, Burlingham, Palo Alto—little recking that, before many hours, vine-clad cottages, stately villa, palaces, and princely marts would be torn, and the very road over which they were passing fissured and gashed. They baited but once, and then at a wayside tarrying place, quaintly known as "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Here-Neil secured some refreshment for his fair charges. A few moments after the journey was resumed, tired girls were nodding drowsily in each other's arms.

Neil,.alert, watchful and tireless, ibreathed a sigh of deep content. Triumphant love had wooed his heart away from thought of revenge; a

By Mi& Edwards, Author of "The Litlh> JHc7<w," "Sadia, the Rosebud.," ''Prettiest of All," "Stella Sterling,'" "Laura Braytoii," etc.

languor wrapped itself about his soul —a delicious softness, born of the starbeams, which in no wise diminished his vigilance or lessened his firm control of the car. 'Twas like — "The silver light, which, hallowing tree and tower, Sheds beauty and deep softness o'er the whole, Breathes also to the heart, and o'er it throws A loving languor which is not repose." CHAPTER X. "CORSLINE IS THE MAN TO HELP US NOW." Berdyne's fury at having his longconceived plan • foiled at the very moment when success seemed certain was something terrible to witness. His wicked nature broke through its thin veneer of respectability, and he indulged in wild denunciations and horrid oaths. The faithless Jackman was heartily sick of the whole affair. The little gold cross which poor Beryl had given him for his wife, and which he had laid in a small cabinet until his wife's return, had weighed upon his soul like a cross of fire. True, he had wrought his best to bring about the evil triumph of Berdyne, for, had he not done ,°o, he and his wife would have been cast forth, penniless, from Sunset Ranch; nevertheless, he drew a long breath of relief when he heard that the dauntless Neil had appeared on the scene, and had bravely rescued ' his precious Beryl out of ! Berdyne's very clutches. Trenwyck's shouts, and the noise of the conflict, had drawn not only Jackman, but several of the ranch employees, to the scene. The lawyer stepped up to Berdyne, and laid a hand on his arm. "You are merely wasting time, Nick," said he. ' Berdyne tossed the hand furiously from him. "You are a skulking coward!" he hissed, through his teeth. "Had you been half a man, Preston would not have been able to get awpy with the girl and the automobile." "The fellow was a perfect whirlwind," returned Trenwyck humbly. "I will admit that I have no desire to meet him face to face; but let me j have the chance to deal him a blow from behind, and I can promise you, Berdyne, that you will not be disappointed in me." "A curse on him!" ground out Berdyne, "I shall yet lay him low, and the debt he owes me shall be fearfully repaid! That was the second time he laid hands on me —and I could kill any man for doing less! As for the girl, what has happened merely whets my passion for her. The more difficult an object is in the attaining the more I long for it. Hello, Jackman!" With the last worc|s, Berdyne turned toward the house, where Jackman was standing in the light that streamed through an open door. '"What do you want?" demanded the rancher. "I want a team of your fleetest horses and your lightest road, wagon!" was Berdyne's vigorous answer. "We must go in pursuit of the automobile." "I have but one good team," returned Jackman, "and my wife took that when she went to attend on our sick neighbour. The most I can do is to give you a buckboard and a pair of draft horses." "A pursuit with race-horses would be fruitless," interposed Trenwyck. "The Red Flier is a-fast car, is it not, Berdyne?" "Yes among the fastest in the State," was the rueful response. "And it was equipped for a long journey?" *'l had it in readiness for the trip from here to San Francisco," growled Berdyne. "It was my purpose not to halt, after I had once started, until I had landed my prize in a safe retreat somewhere in or near the city. From there, after I had reduced the beautiful little termagant ' into a state of subjection, I should > have taken her to a yacht which I have chartered, and which is now 1 lying off Sausalito, or to a houseboat belonging to a friend, which, at present, is in Belvedere Cove. 1 May the arch-fiend take Preston!" ' he added, the ,thought of his. tfne ■ plans and the way they had been frustrated putting fresh spur to his temper. (To be Continued).