PAOLINA. OR THE MILLIONAIRE'S PLOT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10156, 4 February 1911, Page 2

PAOLINA. OR THE MILLIONAIRE'S PLOT.

(OUR SERSA,L,>

By MARIPOSA WEIE, Author cr "tvaayne's TemptatSon," "A Chase Round fha World,* J ate.

CIT API' KIl XX.—Continued

"My landlady, Mrs Robbing," continued Hector, "will swear that sho was awakened by me violently running down the. stairs, and the bang of the street door as it . closed behind me; that she heard voices in the street, and. that, fearing that the house had been robbed, she got up and roused her servant; that on raising the parlour window she distinctly heard my groans'; that she then awakened her son, who, with one of the ledgers, found mo lying insensible on the sidewalk. The aperture in the partition shows how Miss Cranch was removed. Is not the evidence clear enough?" "It'is clear enough that the'young lady has been abducted. But where is there • anything to connect Mr Grandin with the act?" "Have I not told you of his intimacy with Guberlet?"

"Not that I recollect," said the lawyer, taking a pinch of snuff. "You have told me that you saw Grandin enter the house one night. If I had been watched, I might have been seen to do the same thing. I have been there a dozen times, and I think I know very well for what purpose Mr Grandin went there. Here is where your case breaks down utterly."

tion. Hector had not yet, by any means, recovered from the shock his nervous system had sustained from the murderous blow he had received, and he still felt in a measure weak and confused. For some minutes he sat listening to the conversation of Grandin and the lawyer without any clear understanding of what was said. He was puzzled by the way,Mr Sloane had put the true estimate, as he claimed, of the strength of the case against Miles Grandin. He could not help admitting to himself that the evidence would not go a great way in a court of justice. Yet his own conviction was in no degree shaken. But the lawyer mistook the young man's silence and abstraction, and imagined that Grandin's explanations and the imposing calmness, yet sympathetic friendliness, of his manner, had made Hector ashamed of his sus-> picions, by convincing him of their absurdity. Under this supposition he turned to him and said with a sarcastic smile:

"But Paoltna's rejection of his suit; his threats; her fears; her determination to go to Sonoma to. get out of his way—what do you make of all these?"

"You are satisfied by this time, I presume, Mr North, that it wasn't wise to jump at conclusions in moments of excitement.'" "If you mean to intimate, sir," replied Hector, "that I have changed my mind in regard to the matter of which we were speaking when v this gentleman came in, you are altogether mistaken. My conviction remains un-

"The fancies of a romantic girl, too much given to novel reading, arid.just, at the time of life when fancy is too. strong for reason or commonsense. I ! tell you, my young friend, that the ; case you make against Grandin is i too fjimsy to be entertained;, for a! moment. I have known him for years as a shrewd business man, with no nonsense about him. This sort of performance is out of his line." "Very well, sir," said Hector. "You will excuse me if I decline to accept your decision-as final. I shall assuredly lay the matter before the, chief of police, and have the detectives put upon Grandin's track. Nothing under heaven shall convince me that Miss Cranch is not in his power. He is doubtless far enough from San Francisco by this time, but I will find him out, and wherever he is found, the object of. our solicitude will not be far off."

changed." The old lawyer was nettled, by this reply. He refreshed himself with another pinch,of snuff, and said very

dryly:- ;; ' . ' ' ' "' "In that case had you better not tell Mr Grandin your theory in regard I to Miss Cranch's disappearance."■ ■.,, _ "Cannot the time be .■■■better ed than in stating theories?"" retorted Hector, wiih some asperity. "You, seem to be Mrs Cranch's.adviser; if yo\i have anything to recommend, had fwe better not see about executing it J at once?"

"You are right," returned the lawyer, "though I think a trifle niore of civility to a man cf my age would not be unbecoming in a man of yours. The only thing to be done is to set the de-r tectives to working up the case at once; and they must be stimulated" by the offer of liberal rewards. Can I see Mrs Cranch?" v) .

While Hector was uttering these impassioned words a firm but rapid step was heard in the hall. It paused a second at the drawing-room door. As he concluded, the door opened, and Miles Grandin walked into the apartment. >

CHAPTER XXI.

THE MILLIONAIRE'S AUDACITY. "I was at your house a few minutes ago," said Grandin, addressing the lawyer, ' 'and hearing of this strange affair, I came up the hill to enquire about it. Can it be true that Miss Crameh. has disappeared?.'? "It is, but too true," said the lawyer, in xeply to Grandinfs question. "She has disappeared in the most up accountable marner,, and v ~ar friend, Guberlet, the ieurned chemist, whom we consulted in regard to your projected smelting, and reduction works, seems to be mixed up in the matter." '"lmpossible," said Grandin. Guberlet left town on Friday; afternoon, at four o'clock, on the Stockton boat, and has not yet returned.' ' "I saw him twice this morning between three and four o'clock," said Hector, speaking with emphatic deliberation. "On the second occasion I exchanged words with him, and I was closer to him than I am now to you."

Hector said he feared that she ifak not in a condition to talk about business, but he knew that she would authorise any steps to be taken which Mr Sloane might think necessary. •- "That is all very, well," returned the .lawyer; "but her ideas and mine might differ as to. the expense that ought reasonably to be incurred, in which case I might be placed in an awkward predicament if I were to act without authority."

If he had expected to disconcert Grandin by these words, he was disr appointed.

"The man you saw," he returned, with quiet composure, "was probably Guberlet, the astrologer and fortuneteller; The twpjare cousins,.the sons of twin brothers who married twin sisters, and are alike as two peas in everything except character and attainments. There they differ vastly, the one being a learned savant, and the other a juggling mountebank." The lawyer now proceeded to recapulate to Grandin the facts which he had learned from Hector, suppressing, however, those circumstances upon which the latter based the charge of Grandin's- complicity in the abduc

"That consideration need not cause you any trouble," said Grandin; "ap an old friend of Mr Cranch's, and $ more recent one of his widow's, I say to you, spare no expense. I will honour your current drafts to any amounj; you may name; and unless Mrs Crancji makes it a point of pride to insist oh reimbursing me, that shall be the last of it! lam prepared to sign any writing expressing this agreement which you may choose to draw up." "Very handsome," said Mr Sloane, with a significant glance at Hector, "but entirely inadmissable. I know enough of my client's affairs to under--stand what she can afford; and I know enough" of lier nature to feel certain that she would give the last dollar and the last acre she possesses to stimulate the search. But come, let us go to the chief of police. I don't like to treat directly with these detectiives." This invitation was ad; dressed to Grandin exclusively. (To Be Continued.)