PAOLINA. OR THE MILLIONAIRE'S PLOT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10161, 10 February 1911, Page 2

PAOLINA. OR THE MILLIONAIRE'S PLOT.

OUR SERIAL.

By MARIPOSA WEIR. Author of "Evadyne's Temptation," "A Chase Round the World," etc

CHAPTER XXlV.—Continued. A few minutes later the steamboat came round the bend of the river, scattering a stream of sparks from her amokestack in dangerous proximity to the yacht, and passing so near her lurking place that a biscuit might, have been tossed from the deck of one to that of the other. As the yacht felt the swell caused by the steamer's swift pasasge she was lifted upon it so that for a second Paolina caught a glimpse over the top of the tules of her crowded deck. She had seen a man standing with folded arms looking down over the stern aparenptly into the white and yeasty water in the vessel's wake. During the brief instant that the picture remained before her eyes she had seen this man turn so that tho red light of the stern lantern shone down upon his face, and she recognised him as Hector North. Then, obeying the sudden, irresistible impulse that came over her, she called out for help, though what word .she used she did not know herself, but her whole strength went into that cry, and it rose and rang out on the night air with a volume that startled even herself. Instantly there was a commotion overhead, a terrible oath uttered in deep, harsh tones, reached Paolina's ears. Almost at the same moment she heard the Frenchwoman spring from the sofa with a snarl like that of a wild beast . "Fool!" she hissed, through her set teeth, as she seized the young girl in her powerful grasp and dragged her into the cabin, "will you make some trouble, then, after all my kindness? Ha, shall I choke you, ingrate? I f]M jmyself half the. mind. Cry out : but once more, and I shall choke you, miserable!",. As the infuriated woman poured out these threats and invectives she shook Paolina so violently and held her throat with so firm a grip, that her victim could scarcely breathe. Terrified by the woman's fierceness, and believing that her life was in danger, Paolina struggled to free herself with all her youthful strength, and by a vigorous effort released her adversary's grasp of her throat, and fled shrieking towards the cabin door, where she stumbled and fell. In an instant the . Frenchwoman was upon her, stifling her cries with one huge hand over mouth, anddealing her a succession of quick, sharp, blows with the other. How far she might have gone in her rage it is impossible to say, had there not come a loud bang at the door, followed by a voice, saying: "Let tho girl alone! She may scream now as much as she will; the steamer is too fair off for anyone on board to hear her. Let her alone, I say, I will not have her abused." It was a peculiar voice, strong and deep, but musical and almost sweet. It seemed, somehow, strangely familiar to- Paolina. Where had she heard it? Surely she had heard it before, long ago, if it were only in a dream. At any rate it was a voice that had power over madame, even in the paroxysm of her blind fury. She obeyed it at once, though reluctantly, for her. savage temper was up, and she would have liked the privilege of beating her refractory charge into abject submission. Paolina. rose, stunned and bewildered, returned to her little room, and gave way to a passionate fit of weepingl It was long past midnight before she. lost the sense of her wretched and helpless state in the unconsciousness of sleep. Then there seemed to come about lier the same singular odour that had pervaded her room on the night of her abduction. She thought the yacht came to land, and that the Frenchwoman again lifted her in her arms, and placed her in a .carriage. Then it seemed that she rode by night over a long, rough road, and was carried through a wide hall* and up a winding stair into a large room. At last the dream became still more real and vivid. Surely this could be no dream or nightmare. She must be awake now. It is broad daylight. Yonder sits Madame Campan, rocking herself back and forth, and sipping absinthe and water from a gob- 1 let at her elbow. Yet this is not the cabin of the yacht. It is a large room with four windows, looking out upon a wild, mountainous prospect, with a few great pines and evergreen oaks

near the house. Last night she went to sleep in the little stateroom, but was it last night? How came she there without knowing it? It must be a dream, after all, or was she going insane? She closed her eyes and reflected. When she opened them again, Madam Campan nodded to her with a mocking little laugh, and said: "So mademoiselle awakes at last, though late. She awakes to find herself at the chateau of Milor Huntingdon. Ma foil I cannot declare that, I admire Milor's country house. The place has no gaiety. All is dull and gloomy, and lonesome. The chateau seems built for the habitation of ghosts."

CHAPTER XXV. DR. SPIRETTI RECOGNISES AN IMPOSTOR. On the evening of the Sunday, the events of which have been v so fully described, Mr Daniel Barne, accompanied by Doctor .Spiretti, called upon Hector at his room, and found him awake, feeling much better and also stronger than in the morning. To Doctor Spiretti, Zip did not impart his suspicions as to the identity of Gina. He thought that if Spiretti and Hector wore brought face to face some additional clue might be found in their mutual explanations. In speaking to Spiretti of Hector, he had alluded to him "with confidential significance as "the young gent what was despritly in love with the young lady," while he had spoken of the .doctor as "a furrin gent, a'partickler friend of the Marlyannys, and was p'r'aps a relation," a person who, at any rate, "had know'd the young woman's family at home, and had been for years and years a-scourin 1 all creashun for the daughter." With such previous accounts of each other, it was but natural that the two should be prepared to meet with feelings of more than ordinary interest and curiousity. When the doctor described Paolina "Marliani, the mother of her he was in search of, Hector declared that every trait in the description applied to the Paolina who had just been spirited away, and when he produced a picture of her, the young man said that it might almost pass for one that had been taken for Miss Crancli. The doctor gave no explicit account of the. nature of the interest he had taken in his search. Ho had known the Marliani family intimately, he said; and the mother of the lost child, and her uncle, the Marchese Ercole, had been among his dearest friends. If the daughter could be found, and her identity established, she would probably inherit a prodigious fortune. Her mother had married an American artist, and had conic with him to the United States. Her fortune in her own right was small, and the bequest under which her daughter might become so immensely rich, was not made at the time, and probably neither she nor her American husband had ever heard of it. A report of the death of both, leaving no children, had reached Ravenna. Then came another report that they had died in poor circumstances, leaving a daughter. "I had just retired from military life," added the doctor, "when this rumour reached my ears, and I was desirous of a period of travel. I obtained all the information I could in regard to the Huntingdons, and traced them to the time when they embarked for California. Coming out here I continued the search without a clue, but becoming more and more' interested in it, until it finally grew so absorbing that I cared for nothing else. At length, while visiting the sick room of a French officer who had served with me in Italy, I met a woman who wore a jewel that I recognised as having belonged to the Marliani family. This woman was active in the capacity of professional nurse, and when questioned about the jewel she gave such .answers as convinced me that she had stolen it. It was evident, too. that she had lived in the Marliani family,, for she. knew several secrets in the family history, such as no stranger could have known. j (To Be. Continued.)