The Scales of Justice

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8532, 10 September 1907, Page 2

The Scales of Justice

[All Eights Reserved.]

CHAPTER XXVIII.- Continued. George knocked at the door, and asked to see Mrs Dunlop-Gordon. if she were alone. The fentman seemed to recceniso the caller, for he respectfully askid him inside. Mrs Dunlcp-Gm'on had dined, and was at present in the drawing-room. There was nobody dining here tonight, only one gentleman who was staving in the house. George smiled quietly to himself as he realised who the gentleman was. A minute later aid he was ushered into the drawingroom. He managed to avoid seeing her outstretched hand as he took a chair. "Thir. is very informal and delightful of you," the woman said. She looked very beautiful and majestic in yellow satin. "All the more so as your people have never called here." "They don't call much," George murmured. "My uncle is very conservative in his tastes. But I do not come here to-night to trouble you to any extent. My visit here is to see a guest of yours. I am alluding, of course, to Captain Cardrew." The woman's face changed for a moment, her smile vanished. She looked very hard and cold. "I know Captain Cardrew," she said. "We are old friends. But when you say that he is staying in this house, why. I am bound to reply that " "That I have stated an actual fact," George interrupted. He met the woman's eyes as he looked up, and read the challenge in them. And George knew that this beautiful creature knew everything, and that he would have to speak plainly. . "I am going to be frank with you," he said. "lam not the only person who is looking for Cardrew, and for much the same reason. He came to England almost as soon as I did. He was going to marry my sister. Fortunately, that catastrophe has been avoided. For reasons best known to himself, Cardrew chose to disappear at the . very time when he ought to have been available. I discover the fact that he has been here." "He has been here? You are quite certain of that?" "Absolutely. You seem to forget, my dear madam, that my sister encountered him at Tower Royal on the night of the duchess' dance. You also forget that he drove away with you When the dance was over. You will not deny this?" Mrs Dunbp-Gordon played slowly with her fan. The smile was on her face again now; she appeared to be auite mistress of herself. "You would make a first-class detective," she said. "Most men do when honour and good name are at stake," George retorted. "I have had to defend both against a man whom I regarded as my friend. Come, Mrs Dunlop-Gor-don, I know that Cardrew was dining with you to-night!" "Is there anything else that you know?" the woman smiled. "Many things. And what I cannot tell you my friend, Gilbert Doyle, can. Your past and your future are no concern of mine; neither do I care to know why you have left the fields of your many brilliant exploits to come and live in a dull place like this. But unles3 you are going to help me to-night, I could make things very unpleasant socially for the lady known to society as Mrs Dunlop-Gordon, but better known to some of us as Madame Regnier." George spoke slowly and deliberately, so that every word told. He saw the woman's face flame with anger before her lips grew deadly white. "So," she said, "the simple soldier is a more dangerous foe than it would appear. That is a very neat stroke of yours, and I appreciate the cleverness of it. lam bound to admit that your story as to who I am would be very awkward if it became public property. I suppose it is no use to ask where you got your information from?*' "Not in the least," George replied. "The sting of the thing lies in the fact that I could prove it. I did not mean to use that weapon to-night, but I. am not going to lose such a chance of seeing Captain Cardrew as this. Will you kindly send for him?" With a lazy action Madame Regnier indicated the bell. "Please ring that for me," she said. "I have enough to do defending my own cause, without bothering over the affairs of other people. You shall see Cardrew; in fact, your pluck and your coolness of resource fully entitle you to that victory. James, ask Captain Cardrew to come to me for a moment. He is in the billiardroom." All this in the coolest and most collected manner. Mrs Dunlop--■Gordon proceeded to talk of other matters—the prospects of skating if the frost lasted. George was a little amused, bui he forgot that feeling as Captain Cardrew entered. He came in with the debonair manner tha>. George knew so well. Nobody could 1 • more friendly and fascinating th.. i that handsome ne'er-do-well when he chose. There was a gay tune on his lips, but he would have hastened from the room, only George was too quick for him. For a soldier who had a high reputation for courage Cardrew looked very white now. "No, you don't!" George said, between his teeth. "I have had some trouble to find you, and I am not going to let you go till you and I have come to a proper understanding!" Cardrew stood there, saying nothing. He flashed a reproachful glance at Madame Regnier, who laughed as she left the room. "I could not help it," she said. "My hand was forced. I would have protected you if I could, but Captain

By FRED Iff. WHITE,

[Published': By Special Arrangement.]

Drunimond was too clever for me. You will find me in my bcudoir presently. And do try to respect the furniture, Captain Drummomi!" The door closed on the speaker, and the two men ,vere left together. George's pulses were leaping, he felt all the hot insurgent manhood rising within him. "Well, you paltry scoundrel!" he said. "What have you got to say for yourself? Why have you been hiding in this way, yuu coward? Speak out!" "There is some mistake here," Cardrew stammered. "If you take me for " "If I take you for! Do you think you are going to carry it off with me as you did with my sister You stood up before her, and pretended that you were not Ronald Cardrew, but somebody else." "Well, so-1 am. I can prove to you that I am not Ronald Cardrew at all. Have you not heard of those cases of extraordinary likeness before?" "Yes, I have," George responded. "There was a famous case not long ago, when an innocent man suffered a long term of penal servitude for a rascal like you. But your double does not exist, simply because you are your own double. You say your name is not Ronald Cardrew?" "1 can prove that to you. I would give you a thousand pounds if it were not so." "Do you remember that night on the hills above Fort Gna?" George asked him suddenly. "Of course, I. remember it!" the other said, taken off his guard. "Well, what am I speaking about? Oh, thati could prove that my name was not Cardrew at all!" "Pitiful!" George resumed. "You have just betrayed yourself past all redemption. And it is no news to me that your proper name is not Cardrew, seeing that I din already aware of the fact that your real name is John Lancaster, and that Miss Cameron, of the Moat House, has the misfortune of calling herself your halfsister!" The listener's jaw dropped, he turned a ghastly green. Perhaps he had hoped to get out of his desperate quandary in. this way. He stood there, dejected and miserable, watching George out ot the corners of his eyes in a fearsome way, as if expecting personal violence. "Why try to play the same trick on me that you hoped would be successful with my poor sister?" George asked. "I know you. I should know you anywhere. I have found you out, and lam going, to have a full confession from you. You disgraced your .own family so much that you had to go abroad and take anew name. By stealing the exploits of a dead man, you managed to get a commission in the Army out in South Africa. You came into my regiment. You are a plausible scamp, and ■ you imposed upon me so that I took I you to my home, and you managed to gain the affections of my sister. But you were ever a coward at heart, and you proved it out in India. When I lay wounded you showed the white feather and then tried to push the blame off on me. Luck seemed to stand you in good stead,"as luck has done before. You thought Sergeant Bexhill was dead, and you had it all your own way. But Bexhill is not dead, and he has come forward to clear my name. And you are coming forward to do the same thing." ".No, no!" Cardrew cried. "There is no occasion to do that. They will hold a court-martial on me, and I shall be dismissed the Service. I —l should hate to have to stand out before my fellow-men like that. I've got a pretty vivid imagination, and I know what it means. I always wanted to be a soldier—the Service always appealed to me—but my imagination is my great curse. At times I feel brave enough for anything. Then that feeling of a bullet in my brain; the idea that I might lie in agony on the battlefield for hours—you know what I mean. And that is what 1 felt that night at Gna when you came to grief. I lost my head and gave the order. Five minutes later I would have given years of my life to recall it. And when Bexhill was out of the way I put the blame on you. I—l thought that " "That for my sister's sake I would be silent. I had to be silent for a time. I was not going to charge >ou till I could substantitate my charges. Well, I will not be harder upon you than I can help. Write me a full confession; that is all I ask." "Come to my rooms, then," Cardrew suggested. "I couldn't do it here. And I will say anything that you like and you can make any use of it afterwards." "A few words will suffice," George said, as he followed Cardrew up the stairs. "A curt statement to the effect that you gave the order after I was wounded, and tried to put the blame on me. And I shall publish it, mind you. And when I come to think of the way in which you have treated me, it seems to me that I am letting you down very easily indeed. Now take the paper and begin !" (To be continued.)