RIVEN ASUNDER. OR, BERYL GRAYSON'S ORDEAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8400, 15 April 1907, Page 2

RIVEN ASUNDER. OR, BERYL GRAYSON'S ORDEAL.

A KOMANCE 0? THE SAM FRANCISCO DISASTEU.

CHAPTER XXXVl.—Continued. Then it was that Berdyno's moment had <:ome. From his coat he had drawn a dagger, watching the progress of the clash between Neil and Gorsline the while with catlike eyes. Beryl, observing Berdyne steal up behind her husband, fought with despairing hands to free herself from tho clutch of Hargreaves. Oh, if she could only cry out a warning to Neii. If she could only .shriek one word to him that would apprise him of the creeping, bloodthirsty monster who was stealing upon him from behind, prepared to deal a fatal blow. The agony of that critical moment was something Beryl was to remember to her dying day. She saw, as in some horrible nightmare, Berdyne bend evesgleaming like the arch-fiend's , the shining dagger raised. For an instant the blade hung aloft, as though. the sloe-black eyes of Berdyne were searching for a vital spot; then--then Shasp, incisively, a shot rang out, echoing around the old gardt'.. Beryl saw Berdyne drop.the knife, spring erect, throw both hands to his breast, then pitch headlong to the. earth. "He struck me!" came a passionate voice from the pavilion; "he would have killed me as mercilessly as he was about to slay you, Mr Pren • ton" \ Irma Lee stood in the summerhouse, pale as marble, her eyes glowing a smoking pistol in her hand. * Hargreaves, dismayed and terrified, released Beryl and stood erect. The girl fluttered to her feet, trembling and with, barely enough strength, to stand. Neil, at the sound of the shot, had turned fror-.i Gorsline to see what had taken place. Gorsline, taking advantage of hi*; opportunity, rolled away and sprang up. , Shouts were coming from the direction of the house, and there was a crashing of undergrowth which signified the approach of the officers.

"Gut for it, Hargreaves!" yelled Gorsline. "If we make a get-away, we'll have to be lively! The cops are upon us, an' Berdyne's done for" Like evil shadows, the two men darted away. Neil ran toward his darling Beryl. "My wife, my heart's idol !" he cried. "At lasi! at last!" She tottered into his arms, and their love, taking heed of naught else in that supreme moment, breathed its holy incense aloft in gratitude to the Giver of all good. "There is a comfort in the strength of love; 'Twill make a tiding endurable, which else Would overset the brain, or break the heart!"

CHAPTER XXXVII. i " i, RE-UJNITED. f The captain of the police, who had hurried out of the house on hearing the pistol-shot, came at a run to the old garden, followed by three of his men. They found Berdyne desperately wounded. He was conscious, however, although unable to move. Every one else, apart from Beryl and Neil, had vanished from the scene. Irma, had .disappeared from the pavilion, but another was just rising, through the floor, mounting upward from the dark passage way beneath. , It was Tonita. "How did this happen, Mr Preston?" inquired the captain, pointing to Berdyne. "That man," returned Neil, "together with two other scoundrels, was here. They had my wife, and were debating how they could carry her off, I leaped out among them from the summer-house, and two of the villains set upon me. Berdyne, who is lyir,g there on the ground, was about to plunge a knife into my back when he was shot by a woman who came upon the scene as I had done." J£"A woman?" repeated the captain. "The same woman," went on Neil "who while I was standing at the door—the one Berdyne tried to murder. But for her," added ,Neil, with deep feeling, "I should have been slain." "But I don't understand," muttered.the captain. "How/did you get here? Where did you find your wife? And where were Berdyne and his confederates while we were in the house?" "I discovered a secret panel leading to a stairway from a room on the second floor," answered Neil. "You were downstairs at the time, captain, and I feared there was not time to call you. The secret stairs led me downward two flights, and then into an underground corridor, which ended under the pavilion there." "Oh, ho!" cried the captain, "I am beginning to undertsand the secrets of Marm Kinney's opium - joint. You have found your wife, so I suppose you are satisfied?" "If that scoundrel yonder lives," cried Neil, pointing to Berdyne, "I ghall not be satisfied until he has paid the price of his evil actions to the uttermost;," tr We'll take care 'of him, never fear," answered the captain. "Where are the men who, you say, were with him?" "They took to theh' heels," said Neil, "and I doubt whether you will ever be able to overtake them." "We'll try, at all events," answered the captain. "Come, ladsP' he called, and with his men at his back he ran into the tangled bushes. "My darling!" It Was Tonita's soft voice, tremulous with joy at finding her dearjfriend alive and well and

By Julia Edwards, Author of "Utc Linlc llMo-w," 'VW/a, the Rosebud," ''Pre'thst of All," "bulla Sterling," "Laura. Braytou" etc.

safely-re-united with her husband. "Tonita!" cried Beryl, and the girls flew into each other's arms. Since the *irls had'entered the door of that fateful house they had each suffered keenly; their joy, therefore, at finding themselves free, and Beryl once more under the living protection of her husband can better be imagined than described. Beryl told how Gorsiinc a:u Tlargreaves had entered Irr. prison chamber just after Inn a Lee had reached the house, and had prevented the outcries she would otherwise have made; then she heard a door crash inward, and, a few minutes later, Berdyne rushed into the upper room and said that Neil had come -and- the-house was surrounded by policemen. Gorsline and Hargreaves hastened •away to remove Tonita fr m the rear room into the secret passage, while Berdyne caught Beryl up in his arms and flew with her down the dark stairs, never dreaming that Beryl's shawl had been left behind to afford Neil a clue to his darling's whereabouts. At the foot of the first flight, Berdyne was joined by Gorsline and Hargreaves, who had brought Tonita through a hidden door in the wall of the rear room. Hargreaves went on to help Berdyne take care of Beryl while Gorsline lingered and attempted to slay Neil by flinging his knife at him. Gorsline, after the failure of his murderou3 attempt, had raced on after Hargreaves and Berdyne, and their captive to warn them that the secret passage had been discovered and that Preston might soon be upon them.

Gorsline was for instant flight, abandoning Beryl. The difficulties of conveying the captive girl across the city to the water-front, in broad day, were greater than the ruffian dared to face. But Berdyne would not listen to leaving the girl behind. While the two were discussing the matter, Neil came, reaching the old garden so quickly that the baffled plotters were astounded.

Tonita, in her turn, described what had happened to her, and how, dir* ectly after Neil had broken in the door, Gorsline and Hargreaves had rushed back to the rear room, lifted bodily the chair to which she was tied, and had carried her through the concealed door into the dark passags at the foot of the first flight of stairs. Neil and Irma came very soon, and, while Neil dashed on, Irma remained to remove the cords that bound Tonita's limbs. This work accomplished, Irma hastened after Neil.

Tonita's limbs were so cramped by the tight ropes that had been wound around them that, for several minutes, she was unable to stand. The sound of the pistol-shot fired by Irma, however, had alarmed her and drawn her along the passage to the summer-house. She did not know where Irma had gone; in fact, she had not seen her since she had fin-i ished untying the cords and had fled I through the darkness in the direction taken by Neil. Leaving the girls to talk and con- \ gratulate themselves over their escape from Marm Kinney's and the ruthless hands of Berdyne, Neil walked over to where the baffled villain was lying on the ground, groaning from the pain of his wound. "Perhaps you think this is the end,' Preston," said Berdyne, "but I swear to yqu it is not. If I live you shall hear from me again!" - (To be Continued).