THREE MEN AND A MAID.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 903, 24 February 1908, Page 2

THREE MEN AND A MAID.

[All Rights Reserved.]

CHAPTER XVIII. -Continued

Suddenly she stood still. A daring thought had gripped her so firmly that it seemed to clog her very limbs. What of Bennett as an ally? She had often heu-d whispers o!i his capacity for double-dealing here, then, was an opportunity for tlu display of his ripest taient. Why not throw in her lot with BeunettV If she helped him to gain the wealth he laboured before with such ignominy, he might help her to secure a husband and an assured position. The more she pondered over the scheme the more she liked it. At last, throwing hesitancy to the winds, she set out at a good pace, and never paused until she was inside Bennett's office and asking for him. Though absorbed in her own affairs, she did not fail to notice that Jeffry was disturbed at seeing her. She little dreamed how uneasy was the clerk's consciousness—for to speak of Jeffry's conscience would be to name the thing that is not—but, being a novice in the schemer's art, she attributed his quick pallor to something James had said about her whereas Jeffry, more acute in scenting mischief, guessed exactly what her errand was. "Well," she said in her brusque way, "what are you gaping at? Tell Mr Bennett that Miss Neyland wishes to consult him. Miss Hannah Neyland, you had better say, to prevent mistakes." "Yes madam. Mr Bennett will be disengaged in a few minutes. Will you take a seat?" "Is anybody else with him?" "No, madam." "Then tell him I am here. His documents can wait." She did not want Bennett to marry her, so she was by no means timid, now that she had resolved to burn her boats. Nor did she quail when admitted to the presence of the great little man, who was civil enough in manner, though he scrutinised her with a wary eye.

She opened the attack boldly. "I have come," she said, "to have a chat with you about my affairs, and yours, too, for that matter. You know, of course, that lam the promised wife of Mr James Courthope?" "I —er —Mr Courthope has not—er —confided his intentions in that respect, Miss Neyiand." "Oh. Hasn't he? It is high time he did. You have heard about him and me, lam sure, but you are too clever to admit it. Anyhow, you can't say next time it is news to you. James Courthope has promised to marry me, but he seems to have gone mad over my sister, and J have good reason to believe he wants to throw me over. Now, I won't let him do tnat, Mr Bennett, and if you are half as wise as you look, you will help me to bring him to reason." "Really, Miss Neyiand, what can I do? Mr Courthope is a gentleman who would form his own opinions on such a matter, and I would lay myself open to a very severe snub, if I ventured to discuss it with him."

Mr Bennett pressed the tips of his outstretched fingers together, as was his habit when solving some knotty legal problem, but Hannah's scornful retort startled him into a less complacent attitude. "Better that than lay yourself open to a long term of penal servitude," she snapped, her eyes sparkJing and her forehead seamed in anger.

"What on earth do you mean?" cried the lawyer. "You don't understand me, eh? Look here, Mr Bennett, just keep your pretences for those who believe in then. You know all about that will, and' if I have to sink in the struggle for my right, I will take care that James Courthope and you go down with me. Wait a bit" —for the solicitor's thin lips opened in protest —"you just hear me out. lam fighting for myself, and I don't want 4:o injure you. Lawyer and all as you are, 1 know James better than you do, and he will give in with a good grace when he finds the bit in his mouth. If you assist me in this business you will be the gainer. It will prove that you have tha whiphand over him, and you can ask your own terms."

"What in the world are you talking about?" asked Bennett to gain time. Hannah smiled sourly. Notwithstanding her limitations, she read accurately what was passing in the man's brain.

".Sorry if I have upset you," she said in a quieter tone. "I did not mean t'i speak crossly, but I do hate people to pretend they are innocent when they are up to the neck in a thing all the time. It is very simple to understand what I am talking about. Robert Courthope made a v/ili leaving everything he possessed to my sister, Marjorie——" Bennett was a versatile rogue. The only question before him was whether he should throw in his lot with James or with Hannah. He chose instantly. A man might be depended on for fixity of purpose, a woman never. So his finger-tips automatically sought each other's support, and his waxen face creased in what passed as a smile. "You are talking sheer nonsense, Mis 3 Neyland," he broke in, "sheer nonsense, my dear young lady, and it would be unkind of me to let you proceed further without correcting ytur outrageous statement." it had never occurred to Hannah that thcra could be any dispute between the four conspirators who gathered in the library of Edenhurst Court •on the afternoon of Robert's death. When James Courthope summoned her to witness the signing of the will, he had incautiously blurted out that it was his cousin's intent to disinherit him in Marjorie's favour. She was not able to decipher a great deal of

By ROBERT ERASER.

[Published By Special Arrangement.]

the large documents s read on the table, but she had dawdled as much a-3 possible, even in the matter of removing her gloves, and she had fastened on to two phrases: "I appoint the said Marjorie Neyland sole executrix I hereby revoke all former wills and codicils. . . ."

Some patient scrutiny of works of reference revealed to her the immense importance of those words, and she was well aware that, the will submitted for probate was dated some six years earlier. Yet here was this man, with a face like a mask, telling her that she was wrong—that no such will existed. Her mouth set in a close line, and her eyelids drooped.

"Oh," she almost whispered, so tense was the venom in her voice. "Oh, is that it? Very well, Mr Bennett, there are others who will listen if you won't." As a matter of fact, one other was listening then. Jeffry, who had long deemed it prudent to be more conversant with his master's affairs than the said master seemingly desired, had followed the precedent set by Dionysius of Syracuse in constructing for himself a "King's Ear" in the floor of the room overhead. By moving a deed-box and a loose-plank, and laying his head between two rafters, he could hear fairly well all that passed beneath. Bennett, watching Hannah closely, bethought him that he might have used more diplomacy in his denial.

"I repeat," he said, "that it is nonsense to speak in that way to a solicitor. Let us imagine, for one nstant, that what you say is true—do you realize what it ireans? Mr Courthope, and I would be held guilty of a most serious offence, we both would be sentenced to long terms of imprisonment, and you would lose a husband and a fortune. Surely, if Mr Courthope has promised to marry you, he can be brought to fulfil his promise by a less drastic method than that which yoa propose, especially as the mere hint of such a charge would render you liable to arrest for criminal libel." Hannah, though boiling with temper, was not deaf to the suggestion underlying Bennett's smooth sentences.

"1 see what you are driving at," she muttered. "You haven't earned your character as a sly fox for nothing. Naturally, you will be the last man to admit that you have committed a fraud. But all this pretence is wasted on me. I know there was a will, and James knows it, and that lean clerk of yours knows it. I heard enough at the inquest to feel sure that a smart lawyer would turn you inside out if he had you in the box and you tried to deny that will. Yet I tell you that I seek nothing of the sort. Keep to the real point. Will you help me to marry the man I want?"

"Yes," was the instant reply. "I will do everything that lies in my power, Miss Neyiand." "Now you are talking. What does lie in your power?" "Well, let me see. Your sister is engaged to this Warren, I take it?"

"I suppose so. What all the men see in her "

"And Warren is to be tried on some absurd charge next Tuesday?" "So they say." "Have you heard vshy the police have dropped or apparently dropped, the charge of murder?" "I don't know. That meddling detective, Winter, seemed to think that sums other person killed the Squire." "Some other person?"

"Yes." The eyes of the man and the woman met. The man saw a fierce glare which; told of. storm ill pent, the woman saw a new suspicion adding, if possible, to the wily aspect of the man. (To be continued.)