A Daughter of Mystery

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10236, 12 May 1911, Page 2

A Daughter of Mystery

OUR SERIAL.

BY F. L. DACRE, Author of "Was He the ManP" "A Phantom of the Past," Sir John's Heiress," "A Loveless Marriage," "The Doctor's Secret," etc.

CHAPTER Vl.—Continued.

"With plenty of capital in the concern JLio.u'lcl can appoint a general manager, and gradually lie will prefer tho old life to grubbing in smoke and sulphur —I mean, when wo are married.'' •'A rather remote contingency, it things ara to go 011 li'ie this."

"My dear mamma" i wager a new hafc that we are married within six months! You leave it to me. I

will motor to this place—what's it called? Castio Claydon. H'm! Sounds big! Two hundred miles. Wo can >io it in six hours, and I'll, take my brother Charlie with me. It will bo a delightful run, and Master Ronald shall return with us. If tho worst comes to the worse, I'll publish tho banns myself. In the meantime, I'll sea my bankers, arid as they have charge of your finances also, it will be plain sailing." She jumped up with gay determination, and fixed her eyes upon some gently moving bushes at the extreme, end of the lawn. "Dick —Dick!" she cried. "Come out of it." Then she whistled shrilly, and a big, white bull terrier showed a long, repentant face, and a writhing body. "Oh, inv naughty dog, and J. told you not to follow me." The bull terrier wriggled across the lawn, making apobgies as ho oanio, and Eva shouted laughingly: "Oh, como on, you ridiculous pretender i All is forgiven!" Tho dog sprang up, and with two bounds was at her feet. "Well, mamma, I must go. I know that I shall scandalize the church folk, tramping tho country fields, with a dog like this at my heels." "When shall I see you again?" "To-morrow; I'll lunch with you—tea with 5 ou—conspire with you. Do not forget my especial teacup. I rather like its capacity." Mrs Heseltme kissed the girl <vith some show of affection.

and Paul Morosov, and the Jew. j "She must be a loyal little soul to 1 stick to those people as she does," fcho .clergymaa said. "Just see what she has suffered already, and ir is very evident that there aie great risks in hav- ; ing anythit g to do with the Russians. The whole business puzzles me.'' 'The puzzle will now soon bo solved," Ronald said softly. "You ek an that :ou will take Miss Tyndall ;vway ?" ...'"I nuv-vi that there will be a wedding within a. few months if Elneth is wiping." "How lovely!" Mrs Cooper sighed. Hes3lti>io indulged in >ome very pleasant dreams that afternoon. The vicar's study had .been turned over to him for his solo use and benefit during his stay. "I can work in the parlour," Basil had said, "and as you have a lot of business on hand, you must have home and habitation. And when you want a quiet hour —well, there you are!'' So Ronald dreamed, and planned to his heart's content, and the face of Elneth Tynaall never left his mentai , vision.

"My deir," she said gently, "I am afraid that we have allowed matters to drift quite long enough. You ean,not realise how Ronald has changed until you see him. The trouble is Russia, followed by the knowledge that he isn't a wealthy man at all! His is to be will be. You've kept dinner grey in his hair." "Oh, he'll look delightful! I love grey hair—iron grey 3 you know." "Well, well," Mrs Heseltine concluded, in a tone of resignation. "Do not forget that I advised you to pirt an end to this drifting—drifting—or you will drift apart and he will fall in love with, somebody else." "Pshaw!" laughed Lady Eva. "In love with somebody else, eh ? The squelching process would be very short indeed—if such a ridiculous thing were possible! Good-bye, mamma, until to-morrow. Come alone, Dick."

CHAPTER VII.

WAITING FOR ELNETH TYNDALL.

"No.aeed to doubt the result," Basil Cooper said, joyously accusing, when Heseline walked into the dining room. "There's heaven in your face!" "Heaven is everywhere for me, Basil." The young clergyman laughed hysterically. "I feel as excited as a schoolboy." He gripped the hand of his friend > both his own. "It's all right? Wonderful how things turn out." "Wonderful, indeed. I owe this happiness to you and your wife, Basil." "Nonsense! Fate, my boy. What iisto be will be. You-ve kept dinner ; waiting for I don't know how long. Nevermind." "Oh, you shouldn't have waited for me. I don't want anything. I've been so irregular for a long time." "Don't tell me that tale!" Basil rang the bell for the maid, and then ran out into the hall and called: "Edtlth —Edith, the suspense is ended, and the murder's out! Dini.er's waiting!" Mrs Cooper fluttered downstairs, and into the room, her eyes shining, her lips quivering. "It's like the fairy story," she sobbed, and laughed. "And you.are the good fairy," Ronald said. "I ehall always think of you and Basil " "Let's have some dinner," interrupted Basil. "You forget that I have gone through all this sort of thing. And I don't like being held responsible for what is to oome. Suppose that your existence is as miserable as mine?" "Miss Tyndall will call at the vicarage to-moirowi" Ronald was saying to Mrs Cooper, "in the afternoon. I want you to know her." "I wanted to know her long since. I have always felt interested in her. Isn't it .strange?" "That's only because she lived at the Rookery," interrupted Basil, as he deftly carved the joint. "I don't belive that you have fin atom of sentiment left," his wife said reproachfully. "Not when I'm hungry! Look at the sermo i I preached this morning Thirty odd minutes! And old Dough- i ty from tho brewery, was asleep all the time."

But Basil, for all his raillery, was quite as much interested as his wife n Klnctli Tyndall. and he listened eagerly to all Ronald had to say about her,

He went to church in the evening; it was so terribly hard to kill time. From church he walked halt' way to the Rookery, and told himself that in a day or two he would be a privileged visitor at the house of mystery. \ When he awoke on Morday morning the sun was peeping through the slats of the Venetian blinds. He jumped up, his heart as light as a feather, ?nd began to count the hours until he would see Elnoth. After breakfast he kept an appointment with Mr Golding at 1-he works. His prospective partner was a man well advanced in years He was tall an 3 grizsled, and his shoulders were rounded from long days of toil. "Mornirg," he -aid, touching his cap He couldn't help saluting the gentleman. Ronald Heseltine nodded pleasantly and held cut his hand. "Never mind the dirt, Air Golding ■ 11 ir.eai to work jny&elf soon." [ Goldinsc shook his I'iead. | "That's just where I've made a J mistake," he said; "I've stuck at the {bench, doing one man's work, while I thirty or forty men have been wasting their time, I should say—behind my back. I started this business thirty years since, in a shop behind my house, fifteen feet by twelve. You see how it has grown. I never had any capital; and if it hadn't been for the bad debts ,1 might have retired now. I'm sixty eight years old, and I can stick at it as I used to. Come into the office." The "office" was a grimy room partitioned off from the engineer's shop with matchboards. It contained a solitary rat-faced old clerk, whoso system of bookkeeping no accountant had ever been able to understand. Mr Golding motioned the clerk to leave the room, and then asked Ronald to sit down, watching him anxiously the while. "I hope you are satisfied?" he began. "Quite —quite. Now that matters are boiled down, I realize your position. You have a growing business. ( : but the administrative part of the thing has been neglected, and you are a bit out of your depth. My thousand I pounds are ready, Mr Golding."' The engineer drew a long breath, and the anxiety died out of his tired eyes. "I wish you could buy me right out. Why, sir, if some energetic party same along now —somebody with ten or fifteen thousand pounds—and built on the adjoining land where I keep the tackle used in the iron foundry, T tell you there would be a fortune in it. Only last week I had to refuse an offer of half a million axel brasses for Japan, and eighty tons of iron castings for Russia. Here's the correspondence." He pushed a letter book towards Heseltine. "I thought I'd get the thing done out, and make a bit of commission, but the contract's too close. They're up to the game." ."A great pity," Ronald answered, "as you have neither the plant nor the money." He shrugged his shoulders. "If you would rather I bought you right out, I dare say I could raise the money." _ "I want to wash my hands of it. sir. If I'm not absolutely boss here, after thirty years, without anybodv else having a right to meddle--'well, you understand?" "Yes," Heseltine said slowly. He noticed for the first time that Golding's face was morose and gloomy in repese; +he heavy chin was almost in line with the nose, and while it indicated determination and tenacity, unreasoning stubbornness was not entirely absant. There anr' then did Ronald Heseltine determine that then; ( should be no partnership. If he could not have the whole thing to himself, the venture would fall through. "So you think you can find all the money—a couple of thousand, sir?" "I will write to my bankers to-day —and then the lawyers can completo the purchase." He turned to the office window, which commanded a view of the yard. Thero was certainly ample room for the erection of a 'largo fouiidry. "Three acres and a, half," said Golding, interpreting his thoughts. "The coke. and coal, and iron are scattered about anywhere now and take up threo times the necessary room." CTS he continued.)'