THE DOUBLE SECRET.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9650, 15 November 1909, Page 2

THE DOUBLE SECRET.

CHAPTER XV.—Continued. "Your letter describes a friend whom 1 love much. She is, I feel ; sure, deeply attached to my interests; she has given me proof of intense affection. I did not know that she was in Italy. I long to see her. She fell from tne Boulogne boat, and was I nearly drowned before my eyes; she was rescued, and vanished from me. For some reason she fears my father, I think. Lile, with her—and, maybe, some one else —would be elysium. "Soho!" said Granitto as he read this. "She fears your father? Well, I do not take to him very warmly myself. And you love this woman, and would like to be near her? If she loves you, why can she nut con e up here to th> hills? My dearest lady will need a friend and attendant of her own countrywomen. I begin to see my way more clearly. Thia Englishwoman brought up here can tell me all that I need to prepare a home for my idol." Meantime, the woman who lodged in the little rear street haunted Palazzo Ridolfi, now on this side, now on that, and at last learned what she had set herself to learn—that the fez cap man was Madzo; that he carried the letters for Lord Harcourt's family; that he was inordinately vain, and just as inordinately fond of money. Having learned this, it was PQt long before she made a contract with him. "You carry the mail of Palazzo Ridolfi. 'I will met you there each day; you will drink a glass of wine, and I will look over the address of the letters—there may be one that I wish to see." "Signora," critd Madzo,aghast; "it is impossible; the Lag is locked." "That is nothing," said this hostess drawing the bag from him and pressins; a ball of wax against the lock. To-morrow, I shall have a key." gs "But, signora! I should lose my place; periiaps be sent to the galleys." J'Mot at all. I give you a pound a week; I never take from you, psrmanently, a letter. 1 might borrow one one day and return it the next. No one will ever know, ,unl2ss you tell them. 1 ' "J cannot, I daie not," said Madzo, trembling. "How HiUch di.l you receive," said the womaii, calu.iy, "for exchanging clothes with 11 Mattino, the batldit, and letting him in at the little rear gate of your master's garden 9 How long are you likely to keep your position if I mention that little affair to Lord Harcourt?" "Oh, signora, have n.ercy; I never harmed you." "Surely not; on the contrary, you can help me. I will meet you here every day to look over your mail bag; don't forget to come. I am too busy to have an errand at Palazzo Bidolfi." "Uh, signora! I cast myself at your feet. A million pardons, but you must be a partner of II Diavolo to be so crafty." "Don't offend me, then," said the woman tranquilly. t "I fear this is an unlucky hour," moaned Madzo. > "Not at all, if you have sense to be silent. Be sure I shall not publish that I am looking over the bag. Moreovejr, it is in the interest of II Mattino, whose friend I am. Be here to morrow." "I trust to your bounty to make the pounds plenty," said Madzo. Day after <'ay, at this hour, Madzo found the woman near the door of the Cafe Cazoni, loosing with interest into the shop of a dealer in antiqui j ties; then the two entered the cafe; the woman ordered a bottle of wine, a curtain was drawn before the recess in which the pair sat; the woman unlocked the dag, and her eye over the superscriptions of the lttters; if one was loosely sealed she was acute to open it with a hairpin, glance hastily at the contents, and reseal it. Once in a while she took a lßttter home, a letter which she wished to see, and the opening of which required nice care. Madzo, by degrees, became tranquil at this inspection of correspondence. Sometimes he W2s or.'ered to show the outgoing mail, hut custom hardens conscience, and the rascal began to congratulate himself over having a mistress, as well as two masters, to be served and to reward him with francs. The espionage exercised by Mrs Bemis did not bring her the corrfort which she sought. She opened as few letters as she could, keeping her object in view, and was doubly tortured by shame at opening any, arid by fear lest sh6 had neglected the very one which she should have seen. Madzo lived in some fear of Mrs iiemis, and in a fixed belief that II Diavolo bestowed upon her her shrewdness. Meanwhile Madzo tasted the sweets of revenge hy deceiving his mistress. Mrs Bemis. He voved to her that no letters passed between the lovers, and he assured her that the grave and stately Miss Percy was the object of Granitto's adoration. This Mrs Bemis alreadybelieved and considered ( within the bounds of probability, as

BY DUNCAN McGREGOK Author of "Kennedy's Foe," ''lslimael Reforme "A Game of Three," "Edna's Peril." Etc, etc.

it was not likely that the daughter of a great lord, the much sought after Lady Lina. would throw herself away on a penniless, outlawed Italian. 'I bus the astute Madzo was ! false to all his employers. Dugald Probyn's visit at Torre del Pocco was ended, and lie returned to the city firmly resolved not to let Lady Lina know where he had been. He was determined to frequent Palazzo Ridolfi, so as to feast his heart on the sight of Pauline, but he was anxious as to how she would greet him. Lady Lina relieved him from all embarrassment; she took frank possession of her truant cousin herself, and was unconsciously the very screen needed to save Pauline from feeling that she was pursued by Dugald. Lady Lina demanded Probyn's attentions in the coolest, possible manner. "Grandmamma is in horrors of neuralgia, and Lord Thomas is feeling poorly, Cousin Dugald. I have ordered the carriage and you are to ride with me in the Cascine." What place mora fit for private conversation than the Oascine, with its gay crowds, its rolling chariots, its everybody too intent on themselves to heed their neighbours? Lady Lina fixed her sweet eyes on Dugald. Under their gaze he must be Washingtonian in honor—"he cannnt tell a lie;" or even the most delicate makebelieve. "Cousin Dugald, you have been at Torre del Pocco with my Granitto. You must tell me all about him, and the Torre. "By my word!" cried Dugald, "how came you ' to know where 1 have been?" "Granitto told me,"' says Lina tranquilly, "and referred ine to you for particulars." Says Dugald to himself: "I will tell her all about it, and it will shock any English Lady, and wean her mind from its dangerous fancy for Arriann." , Foolish Dugald! On the contrary, Lady Lina thought it beautiful, and exalted her Granitto as a hero. And yet, loving as Lina was, and warmly as Granitto entreated, she was not so ready as he had hoped to fly with him to the hills. Her present life was , happy, and she shrank with a proper maidenly feeling from taking this fatal step. February came, and Lord Harcourt was taken with fever, and now, though he was not very ill, Lina knew what was due to her parent, and would not take advantage of his ill health ty carry out an elopement, and Arriano gie>v frantic for a sight of her face. On one of these February days .Mrs Bemis had removed from Madzo's bag a large letter with a London postmark, and was in the evening shut in her own room opening this envelope. She had bef ire her on the tabie a littie tin vessel, tightly closed, bubbling over a lamp, and a very small bent metal pip was inserted in the top of this vessel, conveying the steam in a fine stream along the sealed edge of the letter. "Much safer ar.d easier for operating th?n the old-fashioned seals, which must have been so difficult to replace," said Mrs Bemia. The letter fell open; within was a sheet written in a bold hand and a bank cheque. Mrs Bemis read the letter. "My Dear Miss Percy I send you your half-yearly income, always with the keenest regret that it is not greater. This small sum seems so insignificant in comparison with the proper expectations of such a young lady as yourself. But what amount would equal my ideas of a sufficiently noble portion for Miss Percy? The packet which you intrusted to m°. is quite safe. I consider it so valuable that —because so much of your interest is invested in it —that I shall not send it to you, but bring it myself if you will allaw me, and wait a week or two for it. The proper date when you might claina it is March 5. I have during that month an important case tor a noble client, which was will prevent my setting out for Italy until the twenty-seventh of March. If it suits you to iiave me bring this packet, expect me at Palazzo Ridolfi about the first of April. I have a very important matter on my mind, of which I desire to speak to you, but which I date not venture to write. "Believe me, dear Miss Percy, your obedient servant. ALLAN BIRD. Mrs Bemis spang to her feet. "At last! at last!" she cried. "Now I know who has the secret, and when it will come this way. Knowing this, I can secure its capture. I must ingratiate myself with II Mattino, get by some means into Torre del Pocco, and obtain his promise to capture Allan Bird, and deliver me this packet, the parting with which was so tremendous a folly." She replaced the cheque, without delening to look atits face, re-sealed the letter preparatory to having it find its place ori the morrow in Madzo's bag. I TO JRE OONTING'ED. j