A GIRL TO LOVE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9089, 14 May 1908, Page 2

A GIRL TO LOVE.

' By BERTHA M. CLAY.

Author of " Thrown on the World," " Her Mother's Sin," Beyond Farcb'i," " The Loa!; Lady of Kiddon," " Dora Thorne," " An Ideal Love," etc.

CHAPTER XX.—Continued. Just then a "Servant announced that dini.er was ready. "I hate the noise of a bell," Trenwith explained to Victor; "and nnnials are so fond of them. Come; the dinner need not ocupy us long, and 1 will order the automobile for ten o'clock. The night is cool and beautiful, in the light of a big moon. I shall enjoy the spin to Birmingham and back."

Half an hour only was spent at the dinner table, but to Victor it was a half hour wasted. Both men ate nex' to nothing, and hardly a dozen wor Js passed between them. Several times Victor caught Jasper Trenwith's luminous eyea fixed full upon him, in their depths the anxiety and expectancy which is sometimes seen in the gaze of a favourite dog. He endeavoured to interpret its meaning, but failed utterly. This Jasper Trenwith was a revelation to him.

A tiny clock chimed the half-hour after eight in soft and silvery tones. Trenwith started, and ran his long fingers through his hair. "What a terrible noise clocks make," he remarked. "I've Had every loud-striking clock in the house stopped. Even the ticking of this thing oppressed me yesterday. I see you have finished, Pdlhain, so we will go back to my snuggery. I want the ghosts to hear that the old Jasper Trenwith is dead!" He laughed, and Victor began to have doubts of his sanity. It was no unusual circumstance for an abnormally clever brain to suffer a sudden collapse. Trenwith led the way to his snuggery, and, having closed the door, threw back the curtains which draped the one wide window. A flood of moonlight bathed the room, | and from the woods came the rich i song of a nightingale. "Peace!" exclaimed Trenwith. ■"The peace of the angels! No artificial light is needed, my dear Pelham. We can smo'te and talk, and I can see my ghosts better in the beams of the moon. lam not afraid of them no"'. Have you observed that my house is everywhere fitted with the newest appliances for filling the rooms with blazes of light? lamps, and electricity. The halls, the landings, and the bedrooms are the same. I have bean so hideously afraid of the dark until now." "I have not observed it," Victor said, rather ironically. Ha was watching Jasper Trenwith narrowly. •" You are about the last man witn whom I should associate f«jar. I hope you haven't lured me here for tha mere salco of talking arrant nonsense. I shall miss the last train." He jumped up, and Trenwith at once became serious.

"Our arrangement stands, Pelham; we leave here at ten in my automobile, and I will drive you home. Before you go, I want to shako you by the hand, and feel that I am an honest man. Help yourself to a cigar, and listen. Don't answer, my questions if you don't want to, and don't murder me if you can help it!" He struck a matfh, and held it to the tip of a cigar; he puffed until the tip glowed red, and Victor saw his face in a fiery circle. "Pelham," he continued, "I hated yDU until two days since. You know why?" "I can guess." "And there was nothing in il? There could be nothing in it, and you marrying another woman. What a hideous mistake! Do you know tnr.t you are a poor man, Pelham?" Victor was startled.

"I have anticipated it," he answered evasively; then, with « faint sneer: "That ia why I am seeking the simple life. Things may not be utterly hopeles3 at the colliery, though," he added tentatively. 1 •'I am afraid they are. Your money is gone—every penny, and thousands of pounds' worth of debla incurred. Mr Owen is reckless—and the machinery and plant " Trenwith made a deprecatory gesture. "You take it conlly." "It can't be as bad as all that."

His heart turned cold within him. "I suppose Harry Owen has hidden the truth from me. What sort of a wedding-present is it you are giving me, Mr Trenwith?" "You are hopelessly insolventruined ! The old mines are worked out, and the deep seam you are after —•isn't there! Even if it were there, I could flood the new mines, wash you out, lock, stock, and barrel. If the Chase is so'd, t' e:e won't be half enough to fay your creditors. They would take your rural cottage, too. Can't you realize, man, that you are tottering upon the keen edge of eternity!" Vict jr sprang up amazed and horrified.

"How do you know all this?" "Because lam the smiling fiend who has wrought it—l and my creatrues! I hated you, but you were too strong to be merely despised, and I resolved to ruin you, as I havo ruined others. I always found a means t > an end—gold! The ground bailiff, wb.j has lured 011 Mr Harry Owen, was in my pay." "You scoundrel! you rogue!" Victor was almost speechless; his fury choked him. He clenched bis liaii.k and his eyes blazed wrath and hatred.

"I 'fiuat go, or I may kill you!" "j. told you that you would want to murder me!" He smiled ruefully, .and raisad a detaining hand. His luminous ejes became moist, and his voice trembled with emotion. ""Kogue and scoundrel I have been, but my soul shall be purged of every slain, though 1 become a beggar in the land. Here is my cheque, Pelham, for an amount that will cover th j lo3s wr.i h have I made for you—fuiJ a p., j - ■■: for the bride!"

CHAPTER XXI.

He thrust a blue velvet ease into Victor's hands, find Victor stood dazed, and bewildered utterly. He looked at the cheque; then he opened the cfise mechanically. A blaze of iridescent fire seemed to fill the room, in the glittering sheen of the moon. It wns a diamond necklace —worth a small fortune in itself. "For the soft-eyed, the amiable, the lovabla, bride," Jasper Trenwith said gently. "Will you take my hand now, Pelham? It is clean as regards yourself. Thank Heaven for this. Another ghost is laid!"

IN QUEST OF HARRY OWEN

For some minutes Victor's brain was incapable of connected thought, and he closed his eyes. He clutched both the cheque and the blue velvet case, the rainbow flashed from the diamonds playing over the ceiling and the walls. "I am a judge of character," Jasper Trenwith was saying softly. "I have made of character a lifetime of 3tudy, and she is a second Perdita —a second Hermione—the lady who is to be your wife. Put the cheque into the case with the diamonds, Pelham, and I will seal it up securely. When your brain is clear and you have time to go into figures, you will find that I have only given you twenty shillings for every sovereign that I, with the connivance of Mr Ireland, the ground - bailiff, have caused you to Jose. I have warned him of my intentions, and maybe work has stoppei at the new shafts. It is for you to settle with Mr Owen. The old pits are worked out, too." Jasper Trenwith switched on the electric light, and, producing a shal--1 low cigar-bcx from a cupboard, tossed towards Pelham. "Put. the diamonds and the cheque into that," he said. "Wrap it in ' paper, and seal it fast." 1 Victor obeyed almost mechanical- ! ly, Trenwith handing him paper, . htring, and sealing-wax, as required. "if 1 take you home, Pelham, there , will be no risk of loss." Then he j smiled. "I don't believe that you j have looked at the face of the, cheque." j x "No," Victor answered dully. I "Thirty thousand pounds. But it must be understood that all the macj hinery bought by Ml- Owen is trans- ' fered to me—and that you must pay I the liabilities which he has incurred. 1 This should leave you a clear twenty thousand, and the old mines, just as you were before. But if you take my advice you will sell the colliery for I what it will fetch. There is no j earihly reason why you should dis- ' tract your thoughts with business. Your life now should be Arcadian." Victor was silent. His thoughts were now running at race-hor.se speed.

"I am afraid that Harry Owen has nit been faithful to his trust," he said, at last. "No debts were to be incurred, and the glowing picture? I must see him tonight, Mr Trenwith. He must understand from me that his airy castles lie in dust at his feet." "As you will, but I don't care to face that violent young man. He still believes in his millions; he is crazy. I can drive you to hi 3 lodgings, and then wait for you somewhere." (To be continued.)