PAOLINA. OR THE MILIONAIRE'S PLOT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10157, 6 February 1911, Page 2

PAOLINA. OR THE MILIONAIRE'S PLOT.

(OUR 3ERU,i,..

By MAIUFOSA W£33, Author or ••tvaairne's Temptation," "A Chase Rowte tlia World," Bte.

CHAPTER XXl.—Continued. Hector, however, would not have allowed himself to be repulsed by this rebuff, had it not been for the fact that he began to feel himself incapacitated for any further exertion by absolute physical weakness. His head throbbed as if it wore about to split open, and as ho followed Sloane and Grandin to the door he became so giddy that lie reached out his hands j and supported himself as he walked, j by pressing them against the sides of the hall. As ho felt this weakness" overpowering him at such a crisis, his heart was so full of grief and bitterness that' he could have cried aloud against fate. He came near falling down the front steps, and had to grope his way so slowly that when he reached tho sidewalk Grandin and fhe lawyer wcv already half a block off. Just as they disappeared round the corner of Washington Street, Grandin looked back, and could North have seen tlie, expression of his countenance as he did so,I think it would have startled him. '

locked, he bent down, and applying his nose to the keyhole, gave one or two sniffs, and then descended the stairs with as much catlike celerity as he hod ascended them, just before the servant returned with tho reply that tho doctor would be disengaged in a moment.

When the doctor appeared, Zip informed him that the gentleman over at Miss Bobbins' was taken very bad again, and so the man of medicine promised to call upon him immediate-

"If I'm'to hav the bossin' of this case," muttered Zip to himself, as he started back to Mrs Robbing', "it ain't a goin' to be a great while till I give this med'eal gent his walkin' papers. According to my idee, that style of nose ain't a stiffykit of ex*actly the sort of talent that's needed beside the bed of sickness in a dellikit case."

Mr Sloano had just said to his companion:

As he re-entered Hector's room, the latter was groaning as if in agony. ."The doctor'll be here right off, sir," said Zip, by way of consolation, "and he'll soon find something that'll help the pain."

"Do you know, Grandin, that that imaginative young fellow has actually got it into his head that you have caused the girl to be carried off ? I am quite in earnest, I assure you—and, egad! so was he; in downright earnest, and swore like a high-tragedy ranter that he'd never rest till he'd found you, and that wherever you were found, there the girl would be found, too."

"It isn't the pain," moaned Hector piteously; "at least it isn't bodily pain. It's that my strength deserts me just when I need it most. It's that I can do nothing, nothing, but must lie here helpless while that fiend incarnate is. having everything his own way, with no one to hinder him, and —oh,. Heavens .'—with no one to save her! It is too horrible!" . '

To which. indiscreet or malicious speech of the old lawyer, Miles Grandin merely replied: , /'The young man is an even greater fool than I supposed."

"Come, sir," said.Zip, "you're a deceiving yourself. • It ain't as bad as all that. He ain't having of it all his own way; and there is someone a.wprkin' ag'inst him,,.and a-working to save her;"

CHAPTER XXII.

A NEW AND EFFICIENT ALLY.

As Hector was steadying, himself at i the edge of the sidewalk, he became I aware of an odd little figure at his side that was regarding him with j great intentness. ''Let me help you, sir," said the odd figure, in a -shrill, boyish voice. "It's no wonder you ain't quite stiddy on yer pins after being knocked on the head in that there cowardly wa.y. : I'm af eared it wuld hev upset me, though I'm a pretty tough un, myself. Jest take my arm, sir, and though not of gigantic statur', I'll manage to get yer safe, to yer room." Hector looked at his voluble and oificious interlocutor in a puzzled, wondering way. The countenance seemed shrewd and friendly. At any other time he would have felt amused at this overture. -.: "I can't say that I remember you," lie said; "but P'do feel very weak, and my sight seems to be failing me. I'm much obliged to you for your kindness." • "Oh, don't mention it," returned Zip, drawing Hector's arm through his own; "and don't be afeared to lean : on • me-«-I'm tol'rable strong. This way, sir; stiddy now, and here we air." When they reached Mrs Robins' street door Hector thanked his new acqiiaintance once more. "Lord bless you, sir," said Zip. "I can't think of leaving you Until I'v<? :: seen you comfortable in bed. Here's the stairs, sir; you jest put your other [ hand on the bannister and hang onto me with the other, and we'll have you lazided in your quarters in. less'n a minute. Second floor front it is, I believe. And now, here we air ag ? in." Hector sank upon his bed quite helplessly, and Zip proceeded with great dexterity to divest him of his coat and boots, and then, covering him up snugly, he inquired if there was any "pertickler nodical gent that he preferred,, becau'se'if there wasn't he'd like to recommend a gent in that line, who would do anything short "of raising the dead, and he had seen him do the next thing to that." Hector managed to make his newfriend understand that the doctor who had charge of his case was at present in the house across the street, whereupon Zip darted from the room without a word, and was the next moment tugging vigorously at Mrs Cranch's door-bell. Having been admitted, he I demanded an intervied with "the doctor." No sooner was her back turned, than Zip darted upstairs and made

"What do you mean?" cried Hector, starting up iii bed and eying his \companion with a bewildered stare; "Who is working against him? What do you mean?"

) Zip straightened himself up and } stood for a few seconds encountering

J Hector?s astonished and eager gaze in j silence. Then his face suddenly grew earnest in its expression; his eyes lighted up, and he answered: "I am workin' agin' him!" ; "You!" exclaimed Hector, in a tone of derision.

"It perfectly true," said Zip, with a touch of asperity in his voice, "that I'm not as big as all outdoors; but it ain't the biggest fellow that always does the best in a game like this. Yes, I'm working against the head villian in this Avicked business. I've been astudyin' up his game, and I expect to beat it." Here Zip bent forward over bed and emphasising his words with ' his forofinger, added in a mysterious whisper: "Shall I tell you thepiead villian's name? His name is Miles Grandin." "Who are you?" demanded Hector, as soon as h© could recover from the amazement produced by this speech, ; •"and how do you come to be interested \ in my affairs?" . j "That's two distinck interrogat'- i ries, as the lawyers say. As to the fust—who* I am—l'm,.not altogether certain as I- can answer it myself; but, to the best of my knowledge, mformashun, and b'leef, .my name is Dan'l Barne. Leastways it seems to ine as if I remember hearin' my father spoke of as 'Mr Barne' when I was just beginning to run about; and it's about the recollections of my childhood's days, that ihe boys called me 'Dan.' But I'm more familiarly known as 'Zip, the Chickadee,' the former being a nickname they give me in consequence of "a habit I "had, of hollerin' 'Zip!' whenever I hit •a fellar a good one, and the latter was ! a disparagin' allusion to my size, bein' the name of a kind of sassy-iook-in' little bird of the sparrer specie that was quite common where I came from." (To Be Continued.) I _____