PAOLINA. OR THE MILLIONAIRE'S PLOT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10155, 3 February 1911, Page 2

PAOLINA. OR THE MILLIONAIRE'S PLOT.

(OUR SERIAL..

Ey MAIUFOSA WJ2ZS, Author or -tvaayne's Temptation," "A Chase Rourc! tiio World,' eie.

CHAPTER XX.—Continued

At these words Hector uttered a terrible cry that made the doctor start back as if lie had been shot. 'The house across the way!.. A crowd! Policemen! It v.as no dream after all; they have kidnapped her, and 1, who was to watch over and protect her, am outwitted, and baffled, and beaten! Oh, fool that I am! , But I'll save her yet; I'll hunt them to the ends of the earth! At any rate I'll avenge her, though I have-to stain- my hands in' Miles Graiidin's heart's blood." '" While he was uttering these incoherent exclamations he had sprung out of. bed half-dressed as he was, and commenced looking about for. his coat.

oformed before being carried off. It was evident that whatever had been done had boen done quietly, and without violence. Xothing in the room was disturbed.

Hector determined to reserve what he knew about the affair until he could see Mr Sloane, who was the nearest friend of the family, and consult with him.

Presently there came a summons for Hector from' Mrs Crunch. The maid told him that he must be prepared to find her 'a little wild yet, thoxigh she wasn't hear as bad as she bed been." He found her, in a stato of hysterical excitement, i

Neither Mrs Robbins nor the doctor had any doubt but that he had gone stark mad, from the effects of the blow lie had'received.

Both of t'hem rushed out of the room, the doctor stopping just outside the door to note the next movement of the patient. ".What the. deuce are you acting in that way,for?" demanded Hector, wriggling into his coat, "do you imagine that I've got the hydrophobia, and am going to bite?". Then, catching sight in the mir■ror' of the bloody bandage, round his head, he added:

'I see'how it is.-- I must have been knocked down from behind with .a club by one of the ruffians. Come, in doctor, for Heaven's sake, and give me .what help you ; can; for a terrible crime has been conK mitted, "and there is no time to be lost, if worse is to be prevented." that-the young man talked "more Calmly, the doctor re-enjter-ed. the room, and listened to Hec-hurried--explansfti€nis/ .■ ; jA;.V<

"What villain has done, this?" ( she cried, wh a n Hector presented himself before her. "Oh, that I only had him by the throat! I'd tear him in pieces, the monster. Who ever heard of such an outrage, or anything so infamous? But Heaven will not permit it to succeed. At first I thought that you' had done it, fool that I ! I might have known that you hadn't energy enough." Thus she raved on, at one moment upbraiding .Hector for not preventing it, and the next herself for not taking better care of her darling. /•'■ jV •• '• ■ 1 Then, after a. lull in the storm of her grief ,she broke out afresh, more vehemently than ever.

; 'lt would be better*, that- 'you should; remain qui.ot for a day or two," lie said, ''after getting such a terrific whack as that. But if it is so very important that you should be about, and. you are resolved to make the .risk, I won't oppose unprofessional authority to your wishes." ;..'...■.'■ ■■.■;•.. He then took off the bandages, ex* amined 'thai wound, declared that the bleeding hdd stopped, and that, therefore, there would be ; no danger of taking cold in the wound 'by go-^ ' illg out. . ■ : ' " ':;'.-,'■;''., '•'."'•',"" When Hector had completed his toilet, • lie rapidly • Hastened <• across • the way/ accompanied by tlie doctor. A policeman who guarded the door, an 'intimate friend of tor's, passed him in, but objected to his companion. \Vhen v he understood, however ,that the' latter was a physician, ,/he . withdrew thei objec- > tion, saying that there: was .just now great need for. a physician in■side, as Mrs Qr'dijch'" had been going 1 out of one fainting fit into another ever since the disappearance of her she had ; been accustomed to speak of Paolina, had been discovered. policeman—was now- going for Mr Sloarie, Mrs Cranch's lawyer. •. ■' ■ , ; '.•■■>'"

"Out. of my . sight," ; she, cried, and never let me see you again! A pretty lover you are ,to be sure, standing l there helpless, while—but,, oh, Heaven, I cannot bear to think -of it. Doctor, unless you give me 'to make me forget myself; for a while,; I shall lose my senses." . She sank back exhausted, and the doctor!,, moistening a handkerchief; , with chloroform, held it to her nosi trils. Just as he; began to breathe regularly, and/ 'seemed to be sinking into sleep, Mr Sloane' was announced. • '■■ ; ■ • ■"■ ; :

-, Hfector went, down to meet him in-the drawing-room, and after inr forming him of Mrs Crahch's condition, related all the facts that he knew tending to throw light /upon 'Paoliim's- mysterious disappearance. The old gentleman listened to the strange narrative with wondering incredulity. ■'•.'• "Miles Grftndin," he exclaimed, when the young man had concluded, "Miles Grr'andin concerned in such • a b.ugaboo plot as ,this! My deai- young.friend 1 , it is impossible! But even if it were true, it would be useless*to teh sxich/a story. There 1 ' is not a sou! in San Francisco that, would believe it." • ."

The lawyer, as he spoke,,eyed Hector askance, „as'. if he: had 'already set him down as a lunatic.

* .There did'not seem to be anyone in the house who had any authority to give directions, or. who knew aiiy--1 thing about the matter. ■, .'', Having made these explanations, the policem&n-hastened away on his while the 'docttyv-was -conducted by Mrs Cranch';s ; maid apartment of that lady , and Hector proceeded directly to'Paolina's room'..

"Do yoir doubt niy; word ■*, . -sir?" demanded 'Hector, with vehemence.,' "I do not charge you with intending .to deceive," an&wereclj the other. "No doubt you 'are yourself a believer in,this preposterous plot. It is, not an thing that ■ a' man of excitable temperament and. lively imagination may. be able to practise illusions upon himself which he, cannot make ; v equally 'real to; others."' '■.■'■ • ' '

Hector made a great effort 'to retain his coolness. ; : . : •: ;'

"Let us begin at the beginning," he said. -"It is certain, in the first place,, that .Miss',.Cranch ..lias dis-. appeared.". v , ■■'.■ : . ■"'".

At, the head- of the stairs lie' met a well-known detective, with whom he had some acquaintance, and; who had just issued. from the room, and i was just in the act of locking it. At Hector's request he./ returned with him into the compartment. "You see,?.' he said, ; "we want < to keep everything' as near' as>p6ssible just as it was when it was first found that the lady had disappeared. Strange piece of business, Mr .North; something quite original of the usual way. Just look at, that closet: :'.

But Hector didn't require to have his 'attention drawn in that direction. It was all clear enough to him now. The detective threw open the door, and stepped thi'bugh a spacious aperture in the back of the clocet into the adjoining house. "You see," resumed the officer/ "these two houses were built at the same time/ and, with -;a very ' slim sort of partition - ; wa11.,. Then there is' 1 these two closets, back to'lJack; and here's where they came, in and went out;"

When they returned into Paolina's room Hector became aware of a singular odour that pervaded the apartment. ••'■•'■ The officer said that it had been much stronger when he first entered the room, and that he had no doubt that the lady had been chlor-

"Unfortunately there seems to be no room' for doubt: on that' point." 'lt is/equally certain that she has riot voluntarily : absented herself—ithat she has been abducted-:-'' \\ 'I have no doubt ori. that point, either," assented'the otherr'.',;. ''The girl ; Jennie's confession shows that Guberlet was actively engaged in the business in its inception. I can swear:l have seen him going in and out* of , the; Ihotise several times during the last that I saw him enter it this morning, that I saw .him, half or three quarters of an hour later, come out of it, followed by the large woman, carrying what seemed .to be a female . form, arid go toward the carriage in which lie and the woman had, arrived; that just as he pretended to accede to my request to see the face of the ■ person they were caryring off, I received a stunning v <h'low: from behind which stunned me:" \ , '.'"'.: (To Be Continued.) . !