RIVEN ASUNDER. OR, BERYL GRAYSON'S ORDEAL,

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8386, 22 March 1907, Page 2

RIVEN ASUNDER. OR, BERYL GRAYSON'S ORDEAL,

A KOMANCE OF THE SAN FRANCISCO DISASTER.

By Julia Edwards, Author of "The Little llidoir," "Sadia, the Rosebud ," '-Prettiest of /ill," "Stella Staling," "Laura, Bray ton," etc.

CHAPTER XVllL—Continued. The knife v:v.s raised; and it would have fallen but iov Trer.wvck. With all his strength the lawyer caught the ruffian's lif'cd arm, and, amid oaths find cursea from the latter, twisted the dagger from his grasp. .... Neil was only momentarily at a disadvantage. His hands flew up, twisted themselves about the scoundrel's throat, and with an irresistible movement of his body, he overturned This antagonist and held him.to the floor. "Tell me all, or you shall die!" he cried fiercely. At that instant Neil's eyes noticed an object on the rug. Some of Gorsline's ghoulish spoils had been shaken from his coat, and among the articles was a ring—the ring Ntiil had given Beryl! "Oh, you fiend! You inhuman wretch!" shouted Neil, in a spasm of wild rage. a lf any harm has befallen my wife through you, I'll >> Gorsline attempted to speak. Neil Telaxed his fearful grip to permit intelligible words to come. "She is safe—l swear it!" gasped Gorsline chokingly. "Where is my darling? Tell me, or by Heaven you shall never live to leave this house." "The library—the door on the left," said Gorsline thickly. "The door is locked; he has the key," put in Trenwyck. Neil saw a key on the rug at Gorsline's side. Picking up both the key and the ring, he sprang from the ruffian and rushed to the door. Another instant and he had turned the key in the lock, opened the door wide, and leaped into the library. "Beryl, my wife 1 ! My darling!" But his glad cry faded on his lips. The room was empty—there was no one there. The awful disappointment almost unhinged his reason. He tottered back against the wall, breathless from his late struggle no less than because of his conflicting emotions. ""Beryl, Beryl!" he continued to cry, but his staring eyes saw only, vacancy. Thinking he had been tricked, he turned back into the other room, but Gorsline and Trenwyck were gone. Blast after blast of exploding dynamite shook the house, yet Neil had no thought of leaving until he had learned more. He ran back into the library. The smoke was thickening in the other rooms, but the library as yet was fairly clear. A chair caught his eye; about it "lay the make-shift ropes which Gors- . line had used in binding his unhappy* prisoner. Neil examined them. Aye, he persuaded himself, it must be! Beryl had freed herself. But how ; had she escaped from the morn? His glaring eyes, smarting with the smoke, passed around the walls,' and finally reached the openings, where the windows had beer. He rushed to the broken gaps in the outer wall and looked out and down. There was little doubt in his mind then. Beryl had freed herself of• the twisted cords, and escaped from the house by one of the windows. By this time the air was like that •of a furnace. Without pausing an instant longer, he hurled himself out. A mighty detonation, accomp,|>anied by„a jurid glare, followed his flight; and with one arm thrown across his face to protect it from flying debris, he plunged on into the chaos of the street. CHAPTER XIX. A FRIEND IN NEED. Beryl had been but a child in the cruel grasp of Gorsline. He had hurled her into the leather chair, bound her securely, with the twisted sheets, and then smothered her lips with a fold of cloth. He feared she would cry out, and that some of the Tefugees who were fleeing along Sutter Street would come to her aid. This grievous work finished, he tore the magnificent diamond from Beryl's finger and went back to the other room. Trenwyck had already left to search for Berdyne. Poor 'Beryl could not plead with the wretched thief to spare her the ring; she could not tell him how the golden circlet symbolized the tie that bound her to the man she loved better than life; nevertheless, her eyes expressed the mute agony she felt, and the sad, despairing tears dropped from her long lashes. She had been deceived by these hirelings of Berdyne. Tonita was not there; the promise of meeting her had been a trick to lure her into that deserted house. And that "good news" which was to tell of Neil's safety, and of the place! where he was impatiently awaiting his beloved—ah! this, this was as false as all the rest! How was it that, in the great world, there could be hearts so base! And the faithless one who had led her into that trap had gone in quest -of Nicholas Berdyne! He would come there; again she would find herself in his ruthless hands. The very thought roused her tortured soul to action. She tried to ,scream, to wrench herself free so ' that she might fly with winged feet from the hateful spot; but her struggles were vain, and she gave up with a choking sigh. Then, in that supreme moment when she thought the fight was lost, a voice came to her. . „■.,-. "Tell me this, my poor-girl: Were you married, married to Mr Preston?" It was a /-woman's voice. For an instant the stricken girl felt that she must be dreaming. She looked up ;and saw Irma Lee standing before

her. How could it be that Irma Lee was there, in thai; room', when she and Beryl had last met in the wooded path at Sunset Ranch? "Ah, how brutally you have been treated!" exclaimed Irma Lee, seeming to notice for the first time the cloth that covered Beryl's lips and prevented speech. Without loss of a moment, she unfastened the cloth and removed it, and then deftly untied the knots of the makeshift ropes. "You here!" exclaimed Beryl wonderingly. "Not so loud, Miss Grayson," warned Irma, in a whisper. "Remember, Gorsline is in the other room. The door is closed and locked, and so we may talk for a little time." "But how did you come?" persisted iseryl. wctmnn The other pointed to one of the window openings. "It was comparatively easy to enter this room in that way," she said. "You knew these men were here?" continued Beryl. "Not until a few moments ago." "I left you at Sunset Ranch, and now we meet in this desolated city ! I cannot understand it:" An inscrutable smile played about Irma's lips. "I followed Berdyne and his lawyer hireling," she murmured, "and was on the same train that brought them to San Francisco, although they had no knowledge of it. They evaded •me at" the Townsend Street Station and I had gone to the Palace Hotel, were Berdyne usually stays when in the city. He was not there. I had no more than learned this when the shock came, and I'was thrown out in the street, with all the other guests. Since then," she added, "I have been a wanderer." "A little while ago I chanced to see Trenwyck in Portsmouth Square j_ tt "Trenwyck?" queried Beryl. "The man who brought you here," explained Irma. "He told me his name was Percival." "He will tell you anything that best suits his purposes. As I was saying, I saw him, and I followed him in the hope that he would lead me to Berdyne. But he did not. To my astonishment he met the man Gorsline, talked with him a little, and then I was dumbfounded to see him approach the Stevenson Memorial and acldress you. I thought there was something wrong, and, when you and he left the square. I followed you." 4 "Waiting and listening at the side of the house, I was not long in discovering that you had been brought to this room and made a prisoner. After the door closed, and I knew your jailer as gone, Icame in through the wrecked a window.", . "You brought me joy and hope when you came to me before," said Beryl with a quivering lip, "and now you bring me liberty—release from one whom I would rather die than meet again!" "I am your friend in need, Miss Grayson," said Irma, "and yet I cannot call myself your friend. What I dp is because of?my' love,-for Nicholas Berdyne, and ' because I could see that you are removed from his power forever." Her eyes flashed and her bosom heaved with its pentup emotions. "And now tell me," she went on, with feverish eagerness, "are you the bride of Neil Preston?" "Yes," answered the wretched girl, with brimming eyes, "but I fear that—that he is dead!" "Hush!" cautioned the woman. "You must not give way to your grief here. One lurks beyond that door who is capable of anything. Do you feel well enough to leave this house? Are you able to walk?" "Indeed, I am strong—stronger than you think!" "Then come with me. We will get away from here before Gorsline discovers that you have been released. Trenwyck has left the place. Neither he nor Gorsline knows where j to find Berdyne, yet the lawyer has gone to try and find him among the crowds of fugitives. Amid such confusion as reigns in this city at present, it is labour wasted to try to find any one." "It seems a providence," said Beryl, "that you were able to find me." Irma, climbing to the sill of the window opening, leaped lightly to the ground, and immediately assisted Beryl to descend beside her. Then they fled into the street. j (To be Continued).