A GIRL TO LOVE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9106, 4 June 1908, Page 2

A GIRL TO LOVE.

By BERTHA M. CIAT.

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

CHAPTER XXX Vl.—Continued. "You can take a spell of rest, gentlemen," said the engineer. "We don't want to burn tho boilers through. Lay your hands on the bed and feel how it trembles. The j water's all on the jump." "How long, engineer," a=sked Trenvvith. I "Half an hour, sir. Heaps of time, and tho cage is ready, flow many are going down?" "Six or eight, with tods and lan- " There'll be fifty to spare, sir. Look how tho colliers are flocking here. They've seen the smoke from the chimney." Jasper Trenwith rested on the edge of a skip, and wiped his reeking face, now black with coal-dust. "There's just a chance that Owen may be saved," he thought, "and a blow on tho head doesn't always kill." . , , "Your automobile's coming back, sir," said Barrows. "Good! I sent my man for brandy, wine, a physician, and an ambulance. You see how sanguine I am. No sign of the police yet. Oh! wo will go down without them." The car came bumping over the uneven coalfield, and deposited the doctor almost at Trenwith's feet. He was an alert young man, who rather enjoyed the adventure, and the prospect of some notoriety. "Three clays isn't a longtime," he said, "if the men are really in the mine. Let us find them before we attempt to measure the extent of their distress. I sincerely hope that what skill I possess will be needed. I don't mean to aay that I prefer mangled bodies to sound ones. My wish is that the men may not be past human aid." A hundred volunteers crowded upn the banks of the pits, and from these Mr Trenwith selected four stalwart young fellows—men who knew every inch of the mine. When they were in the cage with their tools, Trenwith and the doctor joined them, and, amid the most intense excitement, the great pulley over the shaft began to revolve. "Good luck'!' roared the onlookers. Jasper Trenwith waved his cap, an i the cage vanished. Into the next thirty minutes an ordinary-month's anxiety wad crowded and crammed. Hardly a word was, spoken by any one of all the six men. The instant the cage touched bottom they leaped out of it, and started along the black, cavernous ways to the west workings. "We'rcs nearly at the finish," one of the colliers whispered, at last. "Mo and Jordan shifted the last nugget in the mine." They stopped,, and flashed their ! lanterns around. "My God, it's true!" the same man gasped,. "Look yonder. The roof's in! T-he 1;wo unfortunates are buriod there; I'll swear it!" Down went the'lanterns, and the men braced themselves for work. Stern of visage, they looked mutely into each other's eyes. The tragedywas here. "Ready'!' said Jasper Trenwith. He was gripping a big shovel himself; then he raised one hand for silence, and a wild, delirious shout burst from his lips. He had heard a voice, or was it only an echo? "Pelham!—Owen! Which of you?" he shouted. "Both.1" It was Pelham's voice, feeble, gasping, but still Pelham's. A terrific cheer shook tho mine, and tho work began. Tho mountain of earth was eaten into like magic, and soon the doctor was busy with both ' the entombed men. "Only a cracked head," Victor said weakly, "and starvation. I tried to get through that stuff, but tho tools were buried, and the darkness was against me. I meant to do it, though. Wo had plenty of air, as you can see, or we should have been suffocated very quickly. There's a against the crowned-in roof. Is Owen very ill? He has been raving all the time." "Brain-fever," the doctor .said. "Hopeless, I fear. Help, here, lads!" After taking a - little wine, Victor insisted upon walking, with the assistance of Jasper Trenwith. His anxiety concerning lala was distressing, but Trenwith allayed his fears. "Oh, I feel well and strong, already !" he said. "Jasper Trenwith, you are my good angel! My head is pretty bad, and Owen has told me all *bout it in his lucid moments. Poor beggar! I never gave up hopeentirely, only I was so weak. 1 in r tended finding my way to the main shaft, and kicking up a noise. Only three clays? I thought that it must be a week, at the very least." Pelham, Jasper Trenwith, and two of the colliers went up first; then the cape was sent down for Owen, the doctor, and the other men. The i-cene that followed is indeacriuable.; j.lore than a thousand people had congregated by this lime, and hundreds more were coming in a steady stream. H. * * * * Two months elapsed, and again it waj Viator's and Isla's weddingday. The doorj of the beautiful old dmrch at Saho were thrown open wild, ar.d who:o/vt:r lisle i entered uie hou-e of God. And amenj the motley crow.l was Tom Kennedy, tins -<1 in his tpdt, n<oer, smiling nnn cheerful. Nathalie Leightmi was there Jasper Trenwith and Sir Chanca Leigbton. It was really a fashionable wedcing on a small scale, mid some people were puzzled to know why the old church atSoho hud baeti so much honoured. The vicar and John Rutherford officiated, and when the curemony wasj concluded the bells pealed out joyously. The clergymen slojk hands with the bride a .d bridegroom and the bride's hnpny mother and wished them

"God-speed." "Peace at last!" John Rutherford whispered, his voice vibrant with emotion. "God give you all true happiness in the future." Victor glanced at the faces of his friends. "Only one missing'," he thought. "Poor Harry Owen. His mind was cone; fantasy after fantasy, and—death. Heaven rest his soul!" Then he felt Isla's trembling hand upon his arm, and caught the flash of her shining, happy eyes. "My wife at last!" he murmured in her ear. "And we are crossing the borderland of Elysium!" THE END.