"The Chains of Bondage."

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10059, 5 August 1910, Page 2

"The Chains of Bondage."

CHAPTER X!.—Continued. "You telk like a fooH" he cri-d, in ; a rasping voice. "I am going to i summon the servants now ! The police must be sent for to arrest this scoundrel who has attempted my life!" The excited man, whom Jim was holding without difficulty, broke out wildly to his captor: "Why do you interfere, after the ruin that man has worked? My father's death lies at his door! He is a murderer, I tell you ! He lured my father to ruin, and last night my father shot himself—and because of that man!" And he pointed an accusing finger at Paul Raiston, who had paused halfway to the door with a grey face, as if arrested by the worcs screamed out at him. "My poor father lies dead at this moment in the home that that man there has ruined, as he's ruined hundreds of other Homes, with the bait of his lying promises to induce poor folks to And I find him living in luxury here, on the profits of his bucket shop, on the fruits of his ruin—money that is the blood and tears of those he has lured to ruin! And because the law leaves him scathless, I came to do what the law should do to siiCh scheming scoundrels!" The wild, excited words broke from him like a rtaian s torrent.

"Peace, yo*. maua,at>," cried Paul Raiston funo .sly. He was conscious of Jim's ey>H r.s'i-g on him questions riv. "«vc waut none of your lu 3 s here!"

"iNu:" uroKe in Jim swiftly. "Lies or truth, the man shall speak!" He was thinking of that poignant scene he had witnessed last night near the house where Elsie lived—the grey-haired woman who had rushed down the street, screaming and half beside herself, the wife of the man who had shot himself. And this man was her son; the words he had heard before entering the room had told him that. And he accused Paul Raiston. Was that accusation true? Jim meant to know the truth.

"Before you aend for the police the man shall spaak!" "Do you deny that it is your money that runs that ewinoliiig trap that calls itself 'The Legitimate. Investments?" bioke in the dead man's son passionately, no longer trying to struggle free from Jim s grasp. "Jt is no use denying it. I've found out; I know! You taka care to hide tne fact —you're not prouc of the way you get your dirty money, 1 suppose—but I know ! it was tnat bucket shop of yours that first tempted my father to gamble. You or your paid agents lured him on by dangling the bait of a fortune before his eyes; to invest first his savings, and then, when he was deeply involved, to embezzle money to retrieve himself! Oh. it U useless to make a secret of that, since it will be in every newspaper tomorrow!" cried the desperate man. "He has left that legacy of shame for his wife and son! Your doing---all your doing! Are you proud of your work, Paul Raiston?"

The financier's face was ashen and twitching. He did not speak. "If my first shot hadn't missed! I rceant to avenge my father's death by yours, and then I shouldn't have cared what happened to me! You have made me a disgraced man as it is, the son of an embezzler—a man who can never hold up his head again! Heaven, if I hadn't missed you!" "Is this true?" demanded Jim of his father accusingly. "Are you the man who runs this notorious swindling concern?"

"Why do you listen to this man's lying tales?" cried Paul Raiston passionately. "And by what right do you dare to question me? It is enough that I'm going to have this man given into custody—tried for attempted murder!"

He crossed over to the bell and rang it furiously. The white faced man whcm Jim held prisoner broke out vehemently: "Lying? It's true, every word of it! And I'll shout it out in the court lor every cne to know! I had a hint before. I watched down town today, and I saw you leave the building by that side door you use. I made inquiries; you are known as 'Mr X.' at the office! And you there finance a money-lending establishment, too, 'Mr X.' You send clients to this money lender for more money to lose in your bucket shop! I found out a good deal about ycu to-day, you see!" ne cried.

A audoen thought flashed into Jim's mind; the remembrance of something Tom Saxon had said to him last night. "fcilsie, when you were at this piace—this bucket shop, r s you discovered it to be—you saw the man known as 'Mr X,' the moving spirit of it. Was it that man?" And he pointed at Paul Kalston. "Yes," Elsie said in a low voice. She had been locking on, white and startled. She had known since that day at j&psom who and what Jim's father was.

A man servant had opened the dcor. Probaoly be had been listening with ,the other startled servants in the hall, he had answered the summons

BY IMILY B. HETHEEIKGTON.

Author of—" His College Chum," " Worthington's Pledge," " A. Repc-n unt Foe," etc

so quickly. "Matthew, go ior the police!'\cried his master.

"Stop!' 3 said Jim sharply. "Matthew, you are to do nothing of the sort!'" t And the man paused on the threshold of the doorway, glancing from father to son in surprise. Jim cried to his father: "I say this man is not to be arrested! He is to go free. First, he will give me his word of honour never to attack you again, and then he goes fr?e. Haven't you injured him and his enough already? I say he shall not be punished for the desperate, frenzied impulse of a man driven half mad by despair and horror! He is to go free!"

"¥ou aie mad to talk like that — mud, I say!" cried the older man in fury. "I'm going to have, him arrested, and he'll get five years! I hope he'll get five years. He tried to murder me. Matthew, you beard my orders!" Matthew turned tn go, hut again Jim's voice checked him. "Wai* one moment, Matthew! Listen to me" he cried to his father. "It seems useless to appeal to any generosity or pity in you, though this poor fellow's father lies dead, a disgraced, ruined man, who but for you and your dirty trade would be alive to-day ;who but for you would have been an hon ourable man still! This lad, his son, will give me his word never to repeat that mad act born of a frenzied impulse, and then he will go free! '

"When he leaves this bouse it shall be with handcuffs on him!" stormed Paul Ralston. "Matthew, don't you hear my orders?" "Very well," said Jim, with dangerous quiet; "you insist on sending for the police? Then the consequences be on your own head. For, if Matthew goea for the pjlice, I shall relpase this man at once; and chuie aai ad ed revolver at his feet—a revolver that I should not be surprised at him using, since you say you will have no mercy on him." He saw the startled look that leaped into his father's face as he spoke the words quietly. Then Paul Balaton made a quick step forward, but Jim was quicker, divining his intention of snatching up the revolver. He put his foot on the weapon. "Now, send for the police, it you .will—only I have warned you!" he cried. "My sympathies are with this man, against yuu— yea, with him, in spite of his rash impulse of a few minutes ago! The moment Matthew leaves the room I shall release my prisoner! This is not an idle threat. Probably I saved your life. Well, I claim his freedom in return. If not, the revolver wilLba in his hands be'fore Matthew reaches the front door! ! What use he might make of the revolver—a desperate man with the prospect of five years' penal servitude —he knows best!" For a momsnt there was silence. Matthew did not move —Matthew, who, though footman, was human, and had the utmost difficulty in maintaining his usual well trained impaasiveness oi face. He would have dearly loved to shout out a wild "Hooray!" in his sympathy with Jim'H attitude—which would have been exceedingly foolish on his part, since it would have cost him his place. "You scoundrel " began Pjll Ralston furiously. 1 But be saw he was beaten; t* a Jim meant his words, and that i man would have to go free. Ht ua.iu not keep his threat. Jim looked across at his father with a passionate light in his eyes, and his mouth hard and stern. * ; lam indifferent to your opinion of me," he said. "What I have learned tc-night has made me ashamed of my relationship to you! It makes me sick to„know that I have lived on, and owe my education, owe everything, to money amassed in such a way—tainted money! I tell you, it makes me sick!" And there was a ring of intense earnestness and passion in the scarcely raised voice. "You spoke of disowning me? No; it, is I who henceforth renounce you! To-night we part, father and son no longer! What money I have in the future shall be earned cleanly, honestly! I'll never touch another pem,y of your3 —money wrune from ruined livds and ruined homes! IJ leave this house tc-aight! I no longer acknowledge you as my fathfr!" I TO BTI CONTINUED