"The Chains of Bondage."

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10081, 31 August 1910, Page 2

"The Chains of Bondage."

CHAPTER XXXlll.—Continued

What but one inspired in some way I by the jealous haired towards the dead woman's daughter, that her own words to-night had revealed —to injure Elsie in some way? George Craven, the dead millioniare, was a reputed bachelor; yet on the back of the photograph—a photograph taken nearly twenty years ago, as he knew from the accompanying letterpress in the paper that had ' produced it—were the words: "Your loving husband." The husband of whom? Had this man been secretly married nearly twenty years ago, and in Australia? Elsie's mother had been married in Australia nearly twenty years ago. ' From something that loquacious Mrs Saxon had orice said, he knew that Mrs Hood's husband had cruelly deserted her; that she -had lostsight of him. These thoughts passed swiftly through his mind, and the startling deduction he "drew frorn thenv he put into words now, and he. "Sybil, I want the truth! \ou ye been fencing with me so far. Did Mrs Hood, before she died, hint that George Craven was her husband? Was it the excitement caused by discovering in the photograph in the paper the face of the man who deserted her that caused her death? I want the truth!" he sternly cried. And then suddenly a cruel thought like a winged inspiration of evil flashed into Sybil's mind. And she spoke the lie unflinchingly. "What a detective you would make Jim! Since you insist in knowing, yes, there was.a connection between Mrs Hood and George Craven. And if I was silent it was for this girl s sake—for her sake, do hear? Only you forced me to speak." Sybil Ellstree paused; then, with scarcely veiled malice, "The girl you love was George Craven's daughter—but not his heiress; because the marriage he was supposed to contract with the girls mother was no marriage at all, as Mrs Hood discovered later—the secret tragedy of her life. She was never legally George Craven's wife. And that's'the truth!"

CHAPTER XXXIV

DEATH IN HIDING. The evening had come in with storm, and a heavy peal of thunder broke over the building as Judith went up the stone steps to the flat on the top storey at nine o'clock that night.

Herbert Wace himself opened the door. For a moment he glanced past his visitor at the door of the opposite flat, where he now felt sure his enemies had their retreat. His vigil last night had been in vain; ,110 one came.out: -Toiday:they hatit made! iro sigh. ' Wace chuckled to himself I All his preparations were made. To-night after he had accomplished the revenge on Ellstree, he would slip away from here never to return; his enemies not prepared for this sudden move, would- be put off the scent.

"I am glad to see you, Miss FairI fax," he said, the boyish face that | marked the crafty, scheming brain of ! a past master of villainy looking as frank and ingenuous as ever—except for his eyes. There was a look lin his eyes that-Judith noticed, a glint of suppressed excitement. "My man happens o be out, and, being alone in the flat, I had to be my own footman and open the door." He gave a laugh as Judith met his greeting with a cold, unsmiling face —a queer laugh that made her look at him more closely. Wace had been drinking hard all ' clay, drinking to keep up his nerve. But he was a man who could drink deeply without the effects of it showing noticeably. He held open the door of the sitting room. He smiled to himself as Judith passed inside. He had her in his trap. As he stepped back to shut the outer door, she did not notice that he locked it and removed he key. Then he joined her in he room. She was standing by the window; outside a flash of lightning tore open the dark sky for a moment, followed by a heavy peal of thunder. "I'm afraid that this is likely to be the,last time I shall have the pleasure of meeting you, Miss Fairfax," he murmured. "I am leaving England at once, and so our pleasant acquaintance- " She interrupted him impatient- :

"Please spare me this," she said brusquely. "I want to hear what your object was in asking me to come here and see you to-night, that I may be gone. I think I can guess," she said scarthingly. ' 'You are not satisfied with the blackmail you have already extorted ? I suppose professional blackmailers never are. Well, I am prepared to buy the documents you spoke of; only on that condition will I pav more blackmail." She felt ashamed of this trafficking, this conspiracy wih a scoundrel to hold her uncle's fortune by fraud; acutely she felt the degradation, the infamy of it. But she had been caught in the fatal quicksands of the lure and lust of wealth. She had tasted he joys of riches and power —she felt she could no tgo back to

poverty now.

BY EMILY B. HETHERINGTON. Author of—" His College Chum," " Wortbincjton's ' . Pledge," " A JUe).entant Foe," etc.

It would have been different if she had never tasted its- enjoyment; she would not then, this woman told herself, have tried to snatch this foruiie from another; only having obtained it, by right as she had believed, enjoyed undisputed possession for months, she could not bear to lose it now; to give it up was to lose everything in life. She would not give it up. Herbert Waco laughed. "Yes, I have all the. proofs—l expect Miss Elsie Hood would think them worth paying a good price for!" he added meaningly.

Judith read the implied threat. | She faced him steadily. "No doubt—but don't forget this. I have letters of youre that are indiscree," she said. "If once it came out that I had no right to this fortune, then the day of reckoning for me would be your day of reckoning too. I shouldn't fall alone. I could prove you had blackmailed me for keeping this secret, this secret, of .our,.joint, jruilt—and I would prove it! Your be-' trayal now would recoil disastrously on your.own head. Your power oyer me," she went on, eying him steadily, "lasts'exactly as long and no longer, than the keeping of the secret. Once there, is no longer asecret, you will find yourself in the clutch of the law." Again Herbert Wace laughed. "Candidly, I have a different motive in asking you to come here tonight," he said. "As it happens I don't mean to part with the proof "that Miss Hood is really the real heiress —I used that as a bait to bring you here. I may as well -be frank now. Those documents happened to be worth more to be than the money you would pay for .them— I forego that money as the price of my revenge!" Judith looked at him startled. ; "Revenge!" "Yes. Not on you, though incidentally I'm afraid you will suffer — inevitably suffer. Revenge on Ellstree." Judith looked at him in sudden dawning horror. "I don't, as you know, particularly love Ellstree. And I'm going to strike at him through the woman he cares for. j About as complete a revenge as I can think of!" he added smiling.

On receiving her answer to his letter that morning by telephone, Wace had written to Ellsree asking him to be at home that night 1 after nine; and adding that the writer wished to see him most urgently, that he had news affecting both. Miss Fairfax and himself that it would be well for Ellstree to listen to. As a matter of fact Wace had no intention of going to see Ellstree, as his note implied; his object was to make sure of knowing where a telephone message would reach Ellstree at a certain hour that night. "What do you mean?" broke; •from Judith's lips,, a sudden great, fear fallings blackly over

"Just this.. I'm going to ring up Ellstree on the phone, telling him to come* to my flat—to find you here alone with me here at this hour!" For an instant Judith listened in half-incredulous horror, realising in a flash the whole of this subtle, evil scheme, designed to compromise her fatally in Ellstree's eyes. And should Ellstree find her here, how was she to explain her presence to the man to whom she was engaged ?

He had forbidden her to see or hold any communication with Wace, and had given her as his reasons that the man was a scoundrel and a blackmailer. What explanation could she give if Ellstree found her here alone in this man's rooms? The only explanation that she could give was that she was a theif, paying this man blackmail for the hiding of her guilty secret! For a moment Judith covered her face with her hands, as a wave of horror swept blindingly over her. "He'll find you here alone with me here of your own accord, as he'll realise," said Wace smiling. "Will Ellstree marry you then, fond as he is of you? I will wound his love crue lly_and that will be as good a revenge as I want; to rob him of the woman he loves!" ,;„,,. "You despicable coward!" broke in Judith passionately. . And with the cry, she sprang forward, striking in her indignant anger at the evil, mocking face. He caught her wrist before he blow fell. "What a spitfire you are!' he laughed. (To be Continued}.