A GIRL TO LOVE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9091, 18 May 1908, Page 2

A GIRL TO LOVE.

CHAPTER XXlll.—Continued. "Now," he began, "let me have the truth. How long ia it before we strike coal? I must know, because we sha'n't be able to pay the wages on nothing. I must bring Pelham up to the scratch. You know how easygoing he is. Pile it in thick for him, Ireland." The ground-bailiff fidgeted about. He dared not face Owen's restless and flaming eyes. "It would be best to abandon the speculation as long as Mr Trenwith holds us in the hollow of his hand," he blurted out. Then he turned cold ' <v 'before the storm of words that poured from Harry Owen's frenziel lips. "You to tell me this—you, who have led me on! Rather than live to see the death of my hopes, I would jump into the new shaft and end it all. Leave the colljery now, with Pelham half, if not wholly, ruined? Never! If this ia all you have to say — gv, go, and I will find some means of bringing Trenwith to reason." Ireland's determination resolved itself into mist. He was afraid of Harry Owen's violence. "We can't go on without money," he said evasively. "Now you are coming to the point. 1 waot to know how much—just name an approximate sum—and I will arrange it with Pelham. Don't de»ert v us, Ireland; the ship isn't sinking yet How stuffy the office is! Come ; out into the cool air and the moonlight" They strolled as far as the enginehouse —talking, ever talking. Then Harry Owen pointed to an advancing figure. It was clearly revealed by the flaring brazier fires. "Who's that?" exclaimed Owen. The ground-bailiff backed into the shadow of the engine-house, breathing hard. "It's the enemy!" he panted. "It's Jasper Trenwith. I know that uister he's wearing." "Trenwith!" Harry Owen muttered. "So it is!' Spying about—planning, plotting, scheming to ruin men who are striving for an honest living, and he a miliionairj! Those who; won't be gathered to his foH he obliterates. Now he's gloating over our empty boata and skips; he i» measuring the length and breadth of our losses. He is calculating when and how he rhall give us our deathblow." He snatched up a heavy pike-shaft, and crept swiftly after the hateful I enemy, with Ireland in his wake, j -every whit as vengeful as ho him-j self. A sudden rush, and their vie- j tim was beaten to eurth. •' *■*■'■# ♦ * * "It's of no use lamenting, Mr: Owen," ' the ground-bailiff said. "We've made an awful mistake, and > the secret must die with us. There are two live men, with responsibilities, against a dead one with nonr. As Mr Pelham is wearing Trenwith's' l ulster, Trenwith knows that he was coming to see you." He gazsd anxiously into Harry Owen's face, but the word 3 did not appear to affect him in the least. Ireland wrung his hands despairingly, j He looked around him shudderingly. The shadows), pecrhap3, held a witness.

"Well," he said desperately, "if you wont' listen to reason, I'm off. I don't care to be found here now." He was deciding upon flight, arid calculating hi 3 chances. He was a much older man than Owen, and Owen might give chase. ' "If I can get away," he "I will go direct to the police. Owen struck the blow, and Jasper Trenwith ' will supply the motive. I saw noth- ,,, ing; I must protect my wife and children. I'll leave the co'intry; Canada shall be my hunting ground. : 0: course, Owen ia certain to Le nung." $ He backed a few paces prepared to make a dash. y iY "I'm going into *;he office," ho . said. Owen was watching him with flittering eyes. "You don't mind if I leave you for a minute." "Remain where you are while I speak. I have decided what is to be done. Listen, John Ireland; I have killed my friend and my hopes of salvation at one blow. I have no further interest in life, but this is murder, and there are two of u3 in it."

"No—no!" the ground - bailiff chattered. • "In the eyes of the law. yes, unlers I take the whole thing upon my shoulders. You thought ofplayirg the traitor just now, but if you do it will be fatal to yourself." Ireland shook in his boots. "You are wrong," he whined. me what you want ma to do?" Owen reflected for a few moments; then h') turned his glittering eyes upon th 3 ground-bailiff £gain. "Yu.J can save your ntck by doing exactly as I te'l you. Ooey rne, and 1 will exonerate you. Twill rnalce it i npoasible for any suspicion to be d.rected against you." "You are very kind, Mr,. Owen." He started violently, and str&in?d his eyes in an effort to pierce the survonn 'iiig darkness. The fires in the br k .. i were now at white-heat, and J b-i.V'j.. i. utter darkness. "1 hear I foot a'.-'," he whiskered. But Owen paid v..) hoed to hi* i'eim. ''R-ii;;a tho-duaiper.-j," be we;;t on' ":r*d pu: coal or, the furnace ("H'l j .<. Steam la neariy tip TiD'-y. i'n; going to t: ; ke :i',v e: u;: into th'.' mine aw;-*', to end of th;} vek workjrxs. "l: wi!! b* :i ... fitth:;.; burial pkii.v, ;n;:: t'.ia \v. r.'d "i will nyvar know. H'.:r:'y--Irdu;,,:. ' Slurry! You are a hi: of i.»r, ?n'.v:!:-jor; I you Bha'- -ierid down the I'a^i 1 , u;;d i bring. ii up at? ain when I j thsh~ -freedom ~-a:!fi horrid!" | T«ia ground-bailiff iUd to do hia bid- ' ding. [-Is clung to the (temper draina

By BERTHA M. CLAY. Author of " Thrown on the World," " Her Mother's Sin," Beyond Pardon," " The Lost Lady of Haddon," " Dora Thorne," "An Ideal Love," etc.

—he raked the slack out of the firehe flung bright coals into the gaping mouths of the furnaces. Soon the gr.eat chinmey-stack belched forth a cloud of smoke, and Ireland trembled when ha saw its bla:k trail against the light of the moon. Others might see it, too, and wonder what was doing at Pelham's colliery. Huge tongues of flame licked the full length of the horizontal boilers, then leaped into the greedy shaft with a rush and a roar, until the engines.' vibrated with the hissing steam. Ten —twenty minutes. It seemed an age to John Ireland. At last he ran over to Harry Owen and whispered that the cage was ready. The perspiration was trickling down his gloomy face —his eyes were staring and bloodshot. Between them they carried Pelham to the mouth of the pit,and tenderly placed him in the cage. Owen was perfectly calm and cool. "Don't lose your head Ireland," h said, "or you may have a seconi death to answer for. I shall take m; chum on a trolly into the old work ings. It may be the last descent int' the pits. The money is gone, th< mines are worked uut, and the owner vanished. What a nine days' wonder! I shall pay off the men on Sat urday, and there's an end to it all When I signal, I shall be ready t( ascend. Steady does it. Good-bye!' Ireland pressed a lever, and th< machinery began to rumble. He wai afraid to go faster than a third of th< usual speed. The cage disappeared and he waited, every nerve tense' The minutes passed; his eyes wen glued to the indicator; his ears wer< strained to catch the warning of the electric signal. Thank God, the cage had touched bottom. Now he began »o calculate how long it would be before Owen ascended. The west workings were a mile long. An hour, at least —a full hour. Oh, it would be dawn by then; he dared not wait. He fancied that myriads of ghoulish eyes were watching him —he hearJ gibings in the wind, in the rushing steam —in the roar of the furnaces. If he fled now ■ The whir-'r-r of the electric signal thrilled him through and through. His hand never left the lever, and again the piston leaped back and forth with the sound of a great heart-throb; the wheels revolved, and the cage was flying upward again. Now John Ireland began to pluck up heart .once more. It wouldn't take long to drop the dampers, and bant the fires; to lock up the office and go home —never to return to the accursed spot again. Then MriOwen could face the music in his own way, but he—yes, he and his family would go abroad to Canada,' and this horrible incident in hia past—•-*-"Whir-r-r. . Tinkle—tinkle!" He stopped the engine, and walked to the cage. "Thank Heaven you are back again, Owen. Don't tell me anything about it." Then he rubbed his eyes and looked again. "Where are you, Owen?" The cage wa3 empty! (To be continued.)