THE COLONEL'S ENEMY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3136, 12 March 1909, Page 2

THE COLONEL'S ENEMY.

BY WINTHROP B. HARLAND. Author of "Lady Elgin's Secret," "A Harvest of Shame," "Tha Elder Son," "Lord Ash ton's Heir," Etc.

CHAPTER XlV.—Continued. "You ne3cl not wond?r at the interest I fill, major. I had built so much upon St. Hilary's arrival. Nothing but that was wanted to mal;e my son's happiness complete. And 2iow, should he never coma, they can never marry." "Mother!" Leonard exclaimed, in dismay." "Never, darling," was the firm and sorrowful reply, "though it breaks your heart and mine. Living or dead, Col. Si". Hilary's wish and intention shall be sacred to me. Your marriage was to be postponed till he came; and till he comes, you shall never bb Dora's husband. Tell Mr Dacre so from me. He knows that I never break my word." "But, my dear madam," the major protested, "putting your prohibition on the marriage will not bring the poor colonel back; and why make this boy unhappy for what he cannot help? And what has it to do with Mr Dacre?" "He is her guardian, and he loves my son. He might let them marry without my sanction, even while the colonel is going mad in close confinement, or lying in an unknown grave; bat I could not bear it, and should be haunted. No marriage can take place, unless St. Hilary i 3 there to give his daughter to my son."

CHAPTER XV. A PLEDGE OF FRIENDSHIP. Nothing cuuld have been more inexplicable to Maj. Lugard than the widow's determination that her son should not marry Miss St. Hilary unless the colonel came back to give his sanction to their union; to the soldier it seems like yeilding a superstitious reverence to the wish of the missing man, sacrificing: Leonard's happiness to it, and putting on St. Hilary's words a construction he had never intended. But he saw that it would have been useless to reason with her. When he was about to speak, Leonard gave him a sign that warned him to be silent, and seeing that she was was strangely agitated, he thought it best to retire. ' "I may be the bearer of better news when I see you again," he said, "for, doubtful as the circumstances look at present, I have by no means given up hope of finding my dear old friend. We have no proof that he has not really gone in search of this man, and when he finds that .search a Vaiii One he will ielinquish it." "You have no proof, as you say," Mrs Dacre said, with more composure, "and it is quite clear that he started on that quest when he left the hotel where he was waiting for you; but surely it was not likely to lead him far, or keep him away for any length of time, he would have sent for you to travel with him?" "1 thought of that," the major said; "but when the colonel's mind is once bent on a purpose, he does not wait for friend or enemy—and, in a case like this, of .fugitive and hunter, he. ai the hunter, might have no time tu wait for me at any given point." "That, too, is possible," she assented; "and perhap3 I have been 100 quick to think the worst; but I was very much disturbed when I heard that he had not arrived. He has promised to write, I think you said." "Yes, in that t-kgram—if it came from him; and should a letter con,e we shall take the postmark as a clue, and follow him by it. The one thing clear is that within a few days we shall know whether we are being deceived or not." _ "And if you find you have been, deceived, you will offer a reward." "That is so—a large one—so large a one that no accomplice in the secret of his disappearance would be able ,to resist it. Had I had my own way, it-would have been done already; but I allowed myself to be dissuaded—first, by Mr Dacre, who pointed out very sensibly that, if thj colonel is being kept in captivity, it would drive M 3 keepers to their last desperate resource—get rid of him forever, and so render it impossible for one miscreant to betray the other, except at the risk of being placed in the dock as an accessory to murder." "A terrible thing to contemplate." "I look upon it as a possibility rather than a probability. Many men who would not mind assisting in keeping him out of the way for a lime wbuld shrink from taking a fellow-creature's life or having a guilty knowledge of it, and bad men are never faithful to "each other for long. I believe the reward would bring him to light; if he is in captivity his hidins; place would be betrayed; if he is following the man it would attract his attention, and though it might make him angry, he would let us see that he is still in the land of the living." "It is a pity you allowed yourself to be dissuaded." "There is Dora to consider; when reward is offered there is an end to secrecy; she must know the worst; she would know at lease that we suspected foul [.-by; and if the eolonel returned sjfe ami sound, with some simple explanation of his absence, he would nuturally be iruligwith us for causing unnecessary alarm." "It is wovl'i the risk," Mrs Dacre said. "She would soon get over that; and vet it ia so difficult to say, for the shock might bo fatal to her." , "That is our fear, and the reward will bo our last resource; if the colonel is in the hands of an enemy, and the worst has not been done, a few days' delay may not matter. We 1 ;ive some'very intelligent and sym-' ]) ithetic advisers, men who a'e accjstomed 10 deal with the darkest and ' most mysterious crimes, and their

opinion is that the purpose of those who have lured him away is to keep him lor a time, so that he may not recognise or give evidence against someone who has reason to dread his coming to England." "Someone, a wealthy man, and of honourable repute now," Mrs Dacr? said, "but with a past that would not bear the light of day, and that ; past known to the colonel; is that what you were going "to say." "On my word, von have anticipated me in a most marvellous manner, indeed!" the major said; "almost as if you knew mote of this than you j care to tell." ' "Women have quick perceptions, Maj. Lngard; we arrive at our concisions rapidly, because we areguided by instinct; your habit of reasoning is a slower process, though it maj bi a sursr one; but we are very often right, and to me this seems so j-imple. If the colonel is not dead, he is being kept out of the way till this person who is afraid of him can leave the country; and when he is safe St. Hilary will be set at liberty. That is my theory, built on what you have told me." "It coincides almost exactly with the theory of an experienced and intelligent detective now at work for us, and certainly displays wonderful intuition on your part." "I have thought much over this ever since I knew the colonel had not come to London," Mrs Dacre said. "I live so much alone that I give nearly all my time to thinking. I retired from society when I lost my husband. Leonard is my only companion, except the lady of this house. We are only in apartments, you see, for I did not care to have the trouble and expense of an establishment afcer Dora left us. Apartments are not nice as a rule, but Mrs Lawton is so much superior to the kind of person one expects to meet, especially in such a neighbourhood as this." "You must have been singularly fortunate in finding one who could be a companion to you." "I was, indeed. She is a lady who must at one time have held a high position. Ido not know much about her, for she is very reticent as to the past; but from afeiV words she has let fail at different times, I have gathered that her husband was a clergy mar, and they came from | somewhere near Bristol." ! - "I should like to see her," said the major; "she might be able to give me some information. I am very eagerlo on the lookout for an aunt of ' mine—the widow of a clergyman wise | bad a. living not far from Bristol." "It struck me at the time," Leonard said, "when you were telling us this evening. This lady has a daughter—Myra, a music teacherabout two or three and twenty, I should think."' "My cousin's name is Mary, and she would be rather more than thirty, so there the coincidence ends," the major said; "but I should like to see the lady, all the same. Is she accessible?" [to be continued.]