ONE IMPASSIONED HOUR.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9067, 16 April 1908, Page 2

ONE IMPASSIONED HOUR.

By OWBM MASTERS. or o£ " Nina's Rrp:.'iifcance," " Olyda's Love J"»v«im," " tier Soldier i-ovor," " For Lovo of Marjorie," " The Mysh-yy of W.Kxi.-rufL" etc.

CI-1 AI'TES XXXIV. - Continual. "Searching for yon at the ntler i.nd of the initio," Charlie answered. "We shall find him wailing for y u. Here, take the lumps, Simmoiuk-i. .mil go abend." "Shalt I heir, to carry Mr Brrvington? Are you strong enough, ;;.irV" "Strong enough ! I'm a lion -I'm an abnormal monster. I'm as strong as Theseus, of Attica, wnen it i-n-nes to helping old Jack!" It was a toilsome journey up to th« shaft, and not for one moment would Charlie let go of his friend. The labour was equally divided between him and Warren. They made a chair with their hands and arms, coolie fashion, and upon this Jack Herri rigton was carried. ' "I must rest a bit," Charlie said, panting hard. "When a ni;tn's turned fifty his muscles/' stiffen, and he gets tired soon. All right, en, Jack? We're going up to God"M world again, old man." Berrington mumbled something, and Simmonds shouted to the men at the top. "Ready, up there!" "And steady," added Charlie. "There's a dead man here alive again! You first Simmonds, and away to the house for a chair. And break the news to Miriam." Up went the bucket, and down it curne again. Then Jack Berrington was lifted into it, and, supported by Eastwood unci Warren, he stood upright. "We're going up to heaven," aaid Charlie. "Goodbye to inferno! ■Can't you smell the flowers, and the grass, and the trees? Can't you see | the stars?" There was a great gasping sigh from the well-sinkera when they realized that the lost man was found —that thi dead man was alive! A dozan hands reached out to assist, and a dozen eyes were wet. Simmonds and a footman brought a'big easy chair, and.a rug which enveloped Berrington. "I will send for Allan," Charlie whispered in his frienTs ear. "Wow we're going to give you a bath, and put you to bed, old chap." "I'm very tired," said Jack faintly an 1 drowsily. Strong hands raised the chair, and as it moved off, his head fell forward. He slept. ****** Hurry-scurry, subdued voices, white faces; swiftly moving figurus, noiseless footfalls. An hour that was an age, and then freedom to breathe. Mr Berrington was peacefully sleeping in a bed of down, and the doctor was drinking port wine in a room below. "Marvellous vitality," he said. "Not a trace of fever, only very, verv weak." "Wouldn't any man be weak on a fourteen-day diet of coal dust and foul water?" Charlie laughed. "When we came upon him he looked' like the spectre of a blackamoor!" "Plenty of rest, and plenty of nourishment." The port wine was mellow with age, the decanter was well filled, and the doctor was unctuous. And how the news was flying. Distorted and untrue. And the curious flocked about the Priory. The officers who had come to drag the coal-master to prison were employed at the gates to keep out the unwelcome. VLook here," Charlie Eastwood said to them. "Just tell the crowd that everybody is well—no murder, no suicide, no marriage, no nothing! If they've got any business of their own to mind, let them mind it." Upton Warren it was who fetched the doctor, and then motored wildly to the lied House. He dashed indoors, and every lino of him awry. "Send Miss Linley to me," he ordered a servant. "The small study." "We will be beyond reach of the telephone call," he thought. "Must not be disturbed." However, Kate refused to come, and he glared at the man servant. "Tell Miss Linley that it is a matter of life and death. If she won't ccmo to me, I will go to her!" The servant vanished, and Warren skipped about the floor. He beat his handsitogethcr, he laughed, he said "Hooray!" In the micst of these exhilarations Kate Linley was framed in the doorway—haughty, pale, and btern. Had the man taken leave of his senses? He saw her, and became subdued. "Come in," he said. "I can assure you that if I am mad it is a very joyfjl madness. Shut the door; that servant may be lingering out there." "I think you owe me an apology, Mr Warren," Kate began icily. "No, I don't; you owe me one. You said that you nated and despised me for an unmannerly coid-blooded ruffian." "ion story-teller I The language is your own," indignantly. "I am sorry, Miss Linley," he said penitently, "but I hope you will rejoice with me, because your plot failed." "My plot!" she faltered. "Mr Eastwood is not arrested, and never will be. Your policemen are; milking merry at the Priory." "My policemen!" Kate was furious, but the tears would come.. "You traitor! You were engaged ly Allan-you are being paid by Allan " "To work in Allan's interests, and I have done .so. That hateful curate —clever, designing, unscrupulous, love-smitten, led-by-tho-nose chump. 'Pi,h!" ; Kate hud refused to be seated, and she now turned to the door. "Step, Miss Linley—for Heaven's sake, stop! I'm in love with you too, but my love isn't of the grovel-

ling, abject kind; hik! if I'm a common detective, I hope i am ■•■ .gentleman, ami ioyai to my friends. lam liot after ynnr money, cither." "If you wcri the only man on earth," .Kate's hand was on i.he doorknob; her ey<:* were blading, and she gasped rather than spoke. ''lf you were the-- • " "I'll win you in spi'o of yourself. Your love i'or Allan. c;;n't be love, because love- engender iove: it. is mere pique!" "If love alone negci:.-s love, then what must my iVeiings he towards you?" t~.hr- quivered, with loiter scorn. "I are eon cent, Kate. You would prefer me tn the parson. Stopstop! The news - -the glorious news ! Mr Berrington your uncle —your guardian, Is coining home!'" Kate nearly dropu.'d to the floor, and Wan-en helped her to a couch. "We discovered him in the mine—unhurt, quite sensible .Naturally, he had lost -h'sh, hut he is asleep ntw at the Priory, ami mustn't'be disturbed until morning. Aren't you glad?" "Glad—glad!" she sobbed. "I know how much you love him," he said tenderly softly. "Oh, Ido-i do!" "Then shout 'Hurrah!' We haven't told Allan a word about it yet, because his .father must have rest. But he will he home soon; I told him I should be here at ten, and we'll break thojoyful news to him — you and I together. Isn't it good? Isn't it splendid? And then we will call the servants together and tell them." Kate laughed and cried in a breath. "I want to take him in my arms, and love him !" she said. "To-morrow morning. We will drive over to the Priory early. Hulloa—that's Allan's step, and Allan's voice." He threw open the door. (To be concluded.)