THREE MEN AND A MAID.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9049, 7 February 1908, Page 2

THREE MEN AND A MAID.

CHAPTER Xll.—Continued

In their tense excitement, and because they were now almost in the dark, none of them had noticed the advent of Hannah. Indeed, she had erspi iip and listener at first, having followed Marjorie with the skill and secrecy of a prowling fox. She had arrived too late to hear the impassioned avowal of Courthope's love, but her fierce resentment of the innuendo ir. Philip's stinging outburst led her to break in - upon their, like a thundercloud. By this time, Courthope was prepared for any emergency. Had his cousin's soectre risen through the floor to rebuke him he would have faced the wraith undaunted. He sprang towards Hannah, and grasped her shoulder with a compelling hand. "Not a word!" he hissed at her. "Leave this to me. You do not know what has happened.y What better vengeance can you demand than thdt your sister's lover should be in a felon's call? Take Marjorie home and let me prevail on Warren to come to the village. You hear me? See that you obey!" His immense energy conquered her. Spiteful, suspicious, fiercely determined though she was to maintain her hardly-won rights as his affianced wife, she was overborne not only'by. his imperious manner, but by the dim horror of a half comprehended tragedy. 1 Sullenly yielding to his_ will, she approached Marjorie and lifted her from the rough stones. "Come," sho said, with some show of sympathy. "Come holme, girl. This is no place for you." "Philip, dear Philip, will you not listen to me? One word, for the love of Heaven, for the sake of the love you plighted to me on that night— But Marjorie's beseeching fell on palised ears, and James Courthope cried again: "Home! Take her home, I tell you!" . So Marjorie was led away, crying her heart out, because the sky had fallen on her and she was crushed utterly. Philip saw her go, and with her went the last gleam of light out of his life too, for in the worst pangs of his lonely despair theVe had ever been a gleam of joy in the thought that Marjorie would mourn though she might contemn his seeming faithlessness ! He little recked what the future had in store for him. He was a man withered by he blast. James Courthope murmured softly at his shoulder: "Pull yourself togather, Warren. Perhaps things are not so bad as they look. Take my advice, and come with me " Philip turned on him. "May the Lord strengthen me and keep my hands clean," he cried, his rage nearly mastering him, "but if you do not leave me I shall strangle you where you stand." "Oh, very well," was Courthope's amiable response. "I only wished to do you a good turn. If you refuse my help that is not fault. This is the se:ond Had you taken my advice you would 'have never met Robert in Lancault. So, good-bye, Warren. Au revoir, sans adieux!" He strode off in the darkness. Philip heard him whistling an air from a popular opera as he crossed the moor towards the Court, taking a short cut which would lead him away from the path followed by two sisters. Philip stood at the door, gazing out over the sombre moorland. The last red bars ot day were visible beyond the deep blue of the western horizon. It was a peaceful night, for the wind had gone down with the sun, and there was a hint of froat in t.he air. And his mood was strangely akin to the mood of nature. He was hushed, melancholy, with an aspect of exhaustion after a storm. He remained there a long time, with mind and brain quite blank, conscious only of a numb pain at his heart, when suddenly he became aware of a curious chinking sound on the other side of the tower. It seemed to ascend and then it ceased, but instantly he heard a further movement on the roof. A match was struck, and some person, walking with a firm, sure tread, came down the upper flight of steps within. Then Philip saw a bulletheaded, strongly-built Irian appear through the lower trap-door. The man was carrying a wax taper, and smoking a cigar which had been recently lighted. Philip's amazement shocked him into ordinary speech. "Well, Kir," he said, "and who the devil are you?" "I am Detective-Inspector Winter, of Scotland Yard," was the astounding reply. "It's deuced cold up there, and I was unwilling to wait all night. Will you walk with me towards the village? Ard have a cigar! It will do you good."

CHAPTER XIII.

THE UNFORSEEN,

Philip was brave, but the bravest may tremble whom the law stretches forth its hand. Philip was in doubt, too, because the statement that Robert Courthope was dead had sown a poisonous seed in his heart. None Knew better than he how secret and mortal had been their strife. He remembered Courthope's panting distress when blind chance had left him victor. What if wounds inflicted in the dark had combined with .sheer exhaustion to rob him of life? If that were so, the law would hold his adversary guilty of murder ; so Philip Wan-en felt as a hunted animal feels. For an instant the strongest passion of all gleamed in his eyes. The fierce energy of youth surged up within

By ROBERT ERASER.

[Published By Special Arrangement.]; [All Bights Beserved.]

him. If this stranger embodied the law, let the law prove its right to crush its victim. The detective, holding the wax taper aloft, knew that look when he saw it. Whether it came from the last madness of crime or the last despair of honest men it took the same form. "You ought to be told," he said quietly," that I could have arrested you at any hour during the past ten days, Mr Warren. It may also save you some heart-burning if I add that I have only to shout for assistance and twu policemen will help me to overpower you." "Am I under arrest?" "In a sense, yes. A coroner's warrant charges you with the 'wilful murder' of Robert Courthope. I must warn you " "That anything I say will be taken down in writing, and may be given in evidence against me. I know the formula. I haard it used in the case of a poor wretch who pilfered some of my uncle's silver. Well, I surrender." "That's better. Now, as to the cigar?" "You are a polite executioner, to say the least. Yes, thank you, I will take it." Philip thought that all sentiment had gone from him. The wild impulse towards freedom passed as suddenly as it arose. Marjorie was untrue, so let misfortune do its worst, but let it be speedy—that was all he craved. fij "No, not the taper," said Winter. "Here is wooden match. Wax gives such a nasty taste to tobacco." Philip, almost smiled. The new order of detective at Scotland Yard was outside his ken. The light of the match was full on his face when Winter asked abruptly: "If you are such an expert with the rapier, Mr Warren, why did you leave your weapon firmly wedged in your opponent's body?" Philip was genuinely startled. The cigar-lighting stopped. "You say that which is meaningless in my ears," he cried. "Of course, you do not know what happened, but at the close of the fight I was disarmed, and Courthope's sword was at my breast." "Was that how he wrung from you a promise to go away for five years?" "No, that was our prior bond. Fool that I was, I agreed to fight, being sure of beating him. I might have wounded, but I would never have killed him. If any one plunged a foil into Courthope it was not I. Thank God you spoke thosef words! I was afraid—Courthope—might have died from shock. Firmly wedged in his body did you say? How could chat be? We were alone. None knew of our meeting. Ah! One man may have known! One man! I threw Courthope down in my rage and grief, i threw him down with naked hands. I wanted him to kill me, and he refused. He fell on his back. Oh, for Heaven's sake say that he did not fall on my sword!" "He was stabbed through breast and heart. He was found lying on his back, and the rapier was planted there as though to pin him to the ground." "Then lam innocent! Howsoever black may be the outlook of my wasted life, I am innocent!" "If I had thought so, Mr Warren, I should now be in London and you in Nutworth prison." "You! Thought so! Then you suspect " 1 "Sh-s-s-h! You are as bad as Miss Marjorie, whom, by the way, you treated extraordinarily badly when you interrupted Mr James Courthope's love-making a little while ago." "She, at least, has nothing to do with this affair." "Nothing to do with it! By Jove, if ever a woman was up to her neck in. every turn and twist of a first-rate tragedy, Miss Marjorie Neyland is that woman.. Talk about a Drury Lane heroine " (To be continued.)