PAOLINA OR THE MILLIONAIRE'S PLOT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10191, 17 March 1911, Page 2

PAOLINA OR THE MILLIONAIRE'S PLOT.

OUR SERIAL.

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

CHAPTER L.—Continued

"I thought our relations were Avell understood by both parties," he said, at length. "I have' never professed disinterested friendship for you, and my real feelings have not been more disguised than the laws of common courtesy demand. This clumsy and inartistic melodrama that ends so tragically was not of my contriving. From the first I objected to your complicated machinery and urged a simpler plan. But, in spite of all, I have kept-faith .with you and fulfilled my bond. I have to-night received your uninvited guests as you- proposed. I have duly figured in the role of responsible head of the establishment, and loving uncle and faithful guardian of the poor murdered; girl yonder. Having played iny part to the end I 'see no reason '"for* loitering oii; jtlie 'stage." ■•"■'■ - : : ;-"- ■• :, : : '-.'-"■*:•■"■'■■::". ■";:•'." UAs he concluded, Huntingdon turned and walked away without further leavetaking. A moment jafterward Grandin followed, and passing stealthily along the hall, knocked at the door of the chemist's apartment.

Hector seemed either not to hear what was said, or to be indisposed te give any attention to the request. His eyes were still fixed upon Paolina's face with a look of deep inward brooding. "What I want to say to you, sir," resumed Zip, "is something important. It may t>e a matter of life and death.'.'.

Hector started, and showed signs of attention and interest." "Sir," said he, turning to Doctor Osborne, 'you are a stranger to ine, but your face is one that inspires confidence. I wish; to leave this room for a few minutes; may I request you to remain here until my return, and sit beside the bed?"

Receiving no answer he entered without further ceremony. Guberlet was bending over a retort which he had just removed from a portable furnace. He looked up as Grandin entered, but did not speak. He seemed wholly absorbed in some experiment he was making. , "Doctor," said Grandin, in a sepulchural tone, "how recently have you seen the patient?" "It is an hour," returned the chemist, without lifting his eyes from the contents of the retort. "I went but a minute ago to the apartment, and, looking in at the door, .saw a man at her bedside who met me at the house from which she was removed, and also on the night of the removal. I did not think it prudent—on your account —to expose myself to view." ' "What was her condition when you last examined her?" asked the other.

Doctor Osborne assented with a simple bow, but did not speak; Descending to the lower porch; Zip led his companion out upon the porch. who had- been *;|>.o|^&:;,±^ : '^ pacing 'io and a 'few ■ yards', distance to' keep themselves warm, for the night was growing chill. "Did you notice any strange smell, around the bed upstairs ?" asked Zip, in an exoited rwhisper, when he had drawn Hector apart at the end of the porch. "It seems 1 to me that I did," returned he. "Yes l , lam sure I did, though my mind was too much disturbed for me to give' any attention to it."

'Just think a minute, sir. Do you rec'lect that you ever smelt anything like it before?" "Good Heaven!" he exclaimed, 'how could I be' so insensible! It was the same odour that pervaded her room on the morning after she was kidnapped."

"It was not as I could wish," returned'the chemist, with a disturbed look. "The fact had been concealed or withheld from me that for twentyfour hours before administering the potion she- had refused to take food. If from the withholding of a fact so important as that, an unfortunate issue of the experiment should result, I disavow the responsibility. In matters of such extreme delicacy every fact; is important, and one whaeh ; to. the. ■ unscientific mind' seems trivial, may prove of vital consequence. When the stomach has received no nourishment for twenty-four hours before administering the potion, all the vital functions are weakened, and their power to sustain the attack x>f. influences to which thoy are accustomed is seriously impaired."

/'Do you mean to say," asked Grandiri, in an agitated voice, "that life may have been . endangered by such an error?"

'lt/is not impossible," returned Gube'rlet. "All the vital forces depend for the maintenance of their vigour upon the stomach.; But enough' of disquisition. If you will cause the departure of the stranger from the room of the patient, I will investigate her condition."

i ' .' CHAPTER XI,

ZIP'S! RIDE

' Huntingdon had, scarcely left the ' chainlber' of death, after his final inspection of the countenance of his .niece,'; when the door was again opened, and the shaggy head of the Chickadee appeared at the aperture. , Doctor Osborne, respecting Hec;_tor's painful emotion, had retired to the window, and was looking out upon the night. Madame Campaax was supporting herself against the wall, near the head of iue bed, with her eyes upon Hector, who had just risen to his feet,, and was gazing steadfastly into the face now so strangely altered. Zip approached the bed unnoticed, until he stood between Hector and' the .Frenchwoman. There he paused, sniffling the air like ai hound that has lost the scent. Suddenly he advanced a istep nearer, and bent Ms face down close to the spot where the lovely head had indented the pillow.

"And it's the same that I once smelt in ,a bowl of broth that they giv' me when I was in the hospital. Now, mark my words, sir. Who was it that doctored the broth, or hired some of the hospital nusses to doctor itp It was Mark Punderson, the man we h'isted out of the old shaft an hour ago; the man I heard explaining, this whole game on the night when he set Kinge's groggery ■.afire,- and came near roasting Seth . and me; the man who's been in this game from the beginning, with the big 'furfin woman Upstairs, and Doctor GoQ»erlay,who makes the p'izen, and the rest of 'em. And now, sir, what happened to me after I took half a dozen spoonfuls of that doctored 'broth ? Why, sir, I'd hardly swallowed it before I got so sleepy I couldn't 'hold my eyes open:; I felt as >if I'd like to go to sleep even if I knew I'd never wake up again. And I went to sleep; sir, and if it .hadn't been iior* Gfina who"'seen' that' tlieer was something wrong, and 1 for Doctor' Spiretti, who "fetched me to, I never should have woke up. The hospital doctor thought t that I was gone, and would hev give-.me up or tried to pump the broth out of me with a stomach pump, which Spiretti said wouldn't hev ;been of no use, for he knew all about the pizen I had tooky and what to do, and'so he got a 'lectrical machine—a galvanic battery, I think : they called it—and set to work at me, and brought me to. I won't deceive you, sir, I'm afraid that young lady is father gone than I was;, but I'll swear she's poisoned with the same , stuff; and, sir, if there is any man on top of the earth who can bring here back to' life, it's 1 Dr. Spiretty. Don't interrupt me, sir, there ain't no time to : be lost; I've already lost too much, in talking. Spiretty is in Sonora, and I am going after him. You look after the lady and don't' ■ - r' ■■-•.'.' ' - ■ . let Gooberlay near her. In an hour I; will be back with Spiretty, dead or alive!"Scarcely were the words out of his mouth, when he vaulted over the balustrad of the porch, and darted off like an arrow into the surrounding darkness, before Hector had, time to utter a word in reply to what had (been said.

"What is -it you wish ?" asked Hector abruptly, almost angrily, as he noticed him (for the first time.

"I wish to see you. a minutealone," replied Zip, glancing toward the Frenchwoman-, "and the sooner the better. Will you step outside with-me, sir."

Reaching the great gate he clam•mered over it like a. cat, and, running to the spot where' the horses had been left, selected the one that seemed 1 to him to promise the most speed, and was the next moment galloping towards Sonora with the recklessness of a man riding a hurdle race. As the clock.over the bar of the Plaza Hotel struck nine, Counsellor Tripp entered the public parlor of that establishment, where a tall gentleman of imposing presence and dignified demeanour seemed to be waiting him, for he rose as the lawyer entered, and speaking in a foreign accent, said:

"I had almost despaired of you. Has the houi l at last arrived when you are prepared to give me sure intelligenc of my child?"

(To Be Continued.)