SIR JOHN'S HEIRESS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9697, 22 January 1910, Page 2

SIR JOHN'S HEIRESS.

CHAPTER XXXlV.—Continued.

'Yes, father; I leave it to you entirely.' 'Then I shall write to him to-day —it would not be wise to cable, for several reasons- and he will grt ray letter a little while Lefore you reach England. I will send it by to-mor-row's mail, anJ you can folio v on Saturday. Perhaps you would like to enclose a letter with mine?' Hilda glanced at him tearfully—in her emotion she could not speak.

It was a bulky letter which Victi r Linton received from abroad. It wan midday, and he was smoking out of doors in the little" garden behind tie house when it arrived. The sun was warm, the sir fresh and sweet, even in Euston Square. his face was thinner, and there w.re lines undtr his weary eyes. 'I must have a run to Llanberis,' '■ he had just decided. 'I cannot endure this inactivity and suspense much longer.' The housemaid was at his elbow with a letter. He took it mechanically; then his eyes rested upon the foreign postage stamps, and a faint color sprang into his cheeks. 'Carrington!' he thought. 'By | Jove, that man is a marvel!' He opened the envelope, and a smaller one tell out, together with Carrington's letter, which read : 'My Dear Victor: My joy is supreme, because I am able to return good for good—to you whom I have wronged equally with my daughter. 11 am in New York, and have been here for days and days. I went to France, and thence sailed to Buenos Ayres; but I could never get rid of the notion that the police were on my track, so I travelled from place to place, until I reached the States, and finally landed in New York, where I met my darling daughterHilda." Victor's hands shDok, and he gasped. 'I feel the hanJ of ProJ vidence is in all this. I cannot go into details; Hilda will tell you J everything. She is following the letter, aboard the Luscania, which is due two days after this." Victor waved the missive in the air, and nearly danced. 'Now, my dear boy, just assure my long suffering wife that I am safe, and will send for her soon. I dare not do it yet, lest her movements should be followed. To lose my liberty now would kill me. And the scandal must not be raked up again." Victor in a transport of joy, then read Hilda's tiny note. 'My Dearest: I am coming home at once, and I want you to meet me at Liverpool. I shall leave here on Saturday, in the Luscania. Thank Heaven the clouda are lifting! My father has told me everything. Now for dear old England, and my darling! 'HILDA/ Victor's first sane action was to tell his mother the delightful news; and then he sent off several telegrams, one ot which was to Harry Mayhew. In response Hkrry and his ] "sweet little wife,' Marian, hurried in a hansom to Euston Square, i- 'And now I suppose there will be an early wedding!' said Harry, after the rapturous congratulations were over. 'Dash it, this is more like romance than reality! It beats ours, out and out' He kissed Marian tenderly. 'But I feel jolly sorry for poor old Carrington I He's been a reckless sort of fool, you know, but there are plenty of men who can't help it at some period in their lives. They are born that way, and it is not altogether their fault. Couldn't we do something for him?' 'He will receive an ample allowance.' 'I don't mean that. My idea is to appeal to the authorities. My governor has a tremendous amount of influence; and he was saying the other day that Captain Vane Carrington I had been a dashing soldier in his time, and had a big record for bra- 1 very, and all that. Then there are his brother's services to the Crown to be considered —and Sir John was once a threat power. It's all in the family, ' an.i the governor wants to do some- ( thing after his shabby treatment of j us young folk.' 'ls it possible?' Victor's ayes shone. 'How it would please Hilda!' '

* BY F. L. DACKE, w Author of "A Legless Marriage," "A Change of Heart," jj ''Trentiolme's Trust," "A Case for the Court," / Etc, etc.

'The governor says it is quite possible, after the evidence aeainst that nigger prince. And for the sake of the memory of Sir John's Carring- ! ton, the name will not be dragged in ; the mire.' ! 'Then I will leave it entirely to j General Mayhew.' It was Thursday, and the Luscania was not due until Saturday, but Victor went to Liverpool that evening. Hilda Carrington and Victor Lin- | ton were married in London within a j month of Hilda's return from New York. It was a quiet wedding. The Fev. Mr Jarvis assisted at the ceremony. The happy couple were abroad, and almost the first news they received from England was from Harry j Mayhew. General Mayhew and other i. fluential friends were in a nosition to assure Mrs Linton that no action would be taken against her father, and that it would be erfectly safe for him to live quietly in Eng land. In the autumn Victor and his wife came home. They rented a house in town while a new and commodious mansion was being erected for them in Wales. The castle had been entirely demolished, the lake filled in, and the ruined tower swept away; and with its final disappearance had vanished also the dismal legend of Woodcrofr. THE END.