PAOLINA. OR THE MILLIONAIRE'S PLOT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10191, 18 March 1911, Page 2

PAOLINA. OR THE MILLIONAIRE'S PLOT.

OUR SERIAL.

' By MARIPOSA WEIR. -•.,...„ _ r . Author of "Evadyne's Temptation," "A Chase Round the World," etc

wered Zip, "and I couldn't sec; no sign that she breathed."

CHAPTER Ll.—Continued

"And you perceived that odour?"

"Bo patient a little longer, signor," returned Tripp, "the hour is at hand."

"As plain as I smelt it in that bowl of hospital soup. And that Doctor Guberlet's in the house."

The stranger seemed to he a man or somewhere between fifty and sixtyyears. His hair and beard, both of which were abundant, were springled with gray; but his eyes, which were largo and dark, retained much of the fire of youth. But his voice and manner had a certain refinement indicative of high breeding. "I am somehow impressed with the idea," said this personage, ''that yo ur knowledge is more certain than you have given me to understand, and that I am unnecessarily kept in a state of painful suspense. I trust that you do not delay the consummation of my hopes in order to enhance the value of your service. I will gladly pay twice the' stipulated price if my i child is v promptly restored to me." ' s l"give''you my word," returned] Tripp, ''that within twenty-four hours you shall-hold, her in your arms. If I have delayed bringing you together, it is in order that the proofs of identity may be complete. Would you remember the governess?"

"Ah! the villain!" exclaimed Spiretti. "That I should ever have imparted to him the formula!"

"But what'll we do for' ihe machine?" asked Zip suddenly, after they had driven a little way down the road. "I didn't think of that."

"Without a battery our errand will be vain," said Spiretti. "Fortunately there is an apothecary's shop still open, and inasmuch as in this country every druggist calls himself a physician, and is at least a dabbler in science, we shall perhaps be able to procure one there."

Zip pulled up in front* of the apothecary's. The druggist speedily produced a small battery, which they obtained the privilege of taking Avith them. "How long has she been in the comatose state?" asked Spiretti, when they had again started off.

"They said she died at half-past three this afternoon. It wasn't half an hour ago when I seen her, and then she,looked like a corpse."

"And this is she of whom you told

' 'Madame Lafort ? How could I forget her? She is not one whom it is necessary to see more than bnce in order to secure the remembrance of a lifetime."

me?" he said, in a broken voice. "It's the one," answered Zip. "I don't know whether she's the Marlyanny heiress or not —I'd give ten years off my life to be sure she was notv—but she's as like the picter as if it .was her photograph."

"And the child —would she be likely to remember Madam Lafort?" "I do not doubt it. She so dreaded her that, young as she was, the impression made on her mind must have been indelible; But good night, signor. I will retire to my rest, comforting my .heart with;the assurance you give. me; that I shall very soon embrace my child."

Aware of the value of time in this emergency,,. Zip. applied, the whip vigorously to the horse, and the buggy rattled over the road at such'a pace as to preclude further conversation.

Counselor Tripp sat, apparently in a profound meditation, for some minutes after the departure of Spiretti and the Chickadee. Then he rose and paced the room, soliloquising as he walked:

So saying, he bowed gravely to the lawyer and departed. He had scarcely been gone a, minute when the tall form of Dr. Spiretti appeared in the doorwav.

"It's clear they are in possession of the place, and, it would appear, without any fighting. Pretty nearly all the characters of the drama are there. I can have the rest there in three quarters of an hour. Why not now, as.well as any other time ? Why not now, and have it ended? Yes, I think the hour lias come,' !

"Thank Heaven!" muttered Tripp, "that the other has gone.' It has cost nie a world of trouble to prevent,these two from meeting' prematurely, and it would be- a pity to have one of my surprises spoiled, before the' mdmenfr comes for an understanding a]l round."

He rang the bell and sent for the chambermaid.

"Well,, doctor/' he said aloud, "I was just (thinking .of you. But who can that be who has come tumbling up the,stairs"in such headlodge fyaste?" .;, As he spoke a rapid step was heard ■upon the landing, and Zip presented himself in the parlour with a hound that laMscl himself in the middle of the room'. ■

"Please ascertain, if Miss Percy and MissHagburn have yet retired," he said, when the only female servant in the house had made her appearance. "If they have not, give them'my compliments—the compliments of Mr Tripp [ —and say I would be most particularly obliged if I could : see them for a few. ,fninutes." .:'

''Doctor!'' lie cried, panting and gasping for'ibreath, while Tripp and Spiretti stared ati him in speechless amazement, "com© with me. Don't stop to ask questions, for there ain't a minute to lose!"

CHAPTER LII.

COUNSELOR TRIPP RINGS UP THE CURTAIN.

"My young friend,", returned the doctor, "you seem strangely excited. Explain whathas occurred that so moves you." (

"There's no time for explanations," cried Zip wildly. "It's a case of life and" death. It's a case of poisoning with, the same stuff that put me into a deep sleep like the sleep of death in the hospital, when Gina said I'd left off breathing, and the doctors said I hadn't no'pulse; and you fetched me out of it. with a 'lectrical machine. There's ithe. same smell, and I'll swear it's the same stuff.' And, Dr. Spiretty, as sure as heaven, it's the young woman you've got in the picter you carry in your boosum, and which you've been a-searching all creation to find,"

"No;.only I shot that bulldog; he made such an infernal disturbance."

Before the speaker had fairly concluded this disjointed and incoherent appeal, which he poured out with inconceivable rapidity and energy of utterance, Spiretti had risen in a state of singular agitation, and snatched up his hat and stick.

Zip led the way at once to the Bedroom where Paolina lay. There was no one there but the Frenchwoman, Hector and Osborne. Spiretti walked directly to the bed. He had no sooner cast one look, upon the face than he uttered a vehement exclamation in his native language, aiid, burst into tears.

"Let us go," he said, in a voice that trembled with excitement. "Where is it? I am ready."

"And it is thus I find thee," said he, "after my long quest, pli, child of her that I loved! Was it for this I have all these years wandered in a' strange land, and frequented all the haunts of the debased and the vile—«to find- thee at last 'done to death . by ; means discov— d by my own perverted curiosity.'-

. "It's a, few mile out on the road," answeredJ&ip,- in the same eager, and breathless manner. "I've jest rid in, and by this time there's a buggy waiting for us below." Sp'iretti steadied himself with a hand on Zip's shoulder as they descended into the street, and got into a buggy that Zip had ordered. "You have seen Eer, then ?" he asked. "Has respiration ceased?" "She looks to me like death," ans-

A solemn hush pervaded the apartment for several minutes, broken only by Spiretti's deep sighs, and occasionally a few muttered words in Italian.

(To Be Continued.)

The horse was all in a lather of foam and sweat when Zip pulled him :\i the big gate, for he had come the last half of the way at a gallop. Ali.g'j';i'ig,': he picked up at the side of tho trait : a heavy fragment of quartz. Heathen clambered'oyer the.'gate; and u'tifk-,, ed the pacllock with such that it was utterly demolished' in half a-, dozen blows. Then, flinging the.gate wide open, he leapt into the buggy again, and drove up to the house. The sentinels, who were still on duty, re-, cognised him, and allowed him to pass. "Anything happened, Hunt, since I' have been gone?" he asked of one of them.