A Daughter of Mystery

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10247, 25 May 1911, Page 2

A Daughter of Mystery

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

OUR SERIAL.

CHAPTER XVl.—Continued. Elneth took tbe letter, and hastily broke the seal. Yes, it was from Mr Lawrence, but its very brevity made her gasp with disappointment. It read thus: "Dear MiBS Tyndall: As I have to pass your hotel on my way to the office, I shall do myself the pleasure . f calling upon you at ten o'clock tomorrow morniig. Kindly wait for me m the library. Yours faithfully, ARTHUR LAWRENCE." Elneth tried to take a cheerful view of the letter, but it was only a poor attempt at deceiving herself. If Mr Lawrence had any good or definite rows to tell her, he would have dropped a littel hint of some kind. No, there was to be more delay, and she was to make the best of it. Thrusting the letter into the pocket of her dress, she went to the breakfast room. It was already .filled with people of-both sexes. Silver and cub glass flashed and gleamed on fables covered with cloths of snowy whiteness. Palms and ferns and fresh flowers Aver© abundantly displayed. A cheerful hum of conversation fell upon the girl's ears, and the musical clinkin 9. of china. • Elneth sat down at one of the tables, and a waiter took her order, at the sanle time placing before her the morning "paper. ?he pushed it on one side. She had no heart for reading. Two gentlemen at tne next table were talking with considerable animation, and she could v not avoid overhearing them. "I suppose it is true, although only one paper has got it," said one. "Undoubtedly. A grand duke, two soldiers, and several civilians killed outright. Fortunately, the bombthrower was one of the victims." "Russia has no one bivt herself to thank. She is barbarous to the core — a standing menace to the peace of the whole world." "Yes, and we are harbouring the chief of her nihilists in this country. It is an open secret at Scotland Yard that the most fiendish plots of the terrible First Section are hatched in London." Elneth remembered Paul Morosov's threat, and shivered. She pushed the newspaper further away. She was afraid of it now.

The tastefully arranged tables, tho dainty china, the cleanliness, the brilliance, and the sweetness of everything induced an appetite, and she lingered over the meal until nine o'clock. The rain had almost ceased, and a white mist was blurring the buildings over the way. The road was deep hi slush, and the chug-chug of horses' feet bespattered the pavements with greasy mud. From the breakfast room Elneth [ went to the library, and to her intense j relief ■ discovered that Mr Lawrence j was already there. "1 am much earlier than the time appointed," he said, taking her hand. "Other important business came mxo the office after I left last evening, and as I have only a few minutes to spare, we will get our talk over as soon as possible. He opened his brief bag. and took out some papers, while Elneth watched him with burning, anxious eyes. "Sit down, if you please, Miss Tyndall. Ah! here we are! These are notes made by my brother, and I am very sorry to bring you disappointing news."' "Oh, I was afraid that you were promising too much, sir," Elneth said, her voice trembling." "My dear young lady, there would have been no disappointment, had you put me on the right scent. It appears that no offier named Ralph has ever served in the British Army, so that we are put out of court completely." Elneth stared at him blankly. "You are sure of this?" /"Positive." ,"Tl(en \ may have no right to the> name I ani using?" "We won't say that. Your father was very probably a Mr Ralph Tyndatf, who assumed a title of 'captain.' There are hundreds of men in England who are called 'captain,' but who never wore the uniform of either the army or the navy. There are captains of fire brigades, captains of cricket and foot ball teams, and so on." Elneth made an impatient movement. "Plea c o don't talk nonsense, Mr Lawrence. lam not a little child. Do you not see how much this is to me?"

his papers. "You are not quite friendless, Miss Tyndall," he said kindly. You shall hear from me again to-morrow. In the meantime I beg of you to do nothing." "I have to face the future. The little money I have won't last long. : Mr Lawrence sat down again. j "You told me all about this yester- ! day, and I have been wondering what you can do. Governesses are a drug on the market. Companions are badly paid, and you are not the sort of girl for the work, either." "You consider me a useless creature, evidently." Her lips trembled, but her eyes flashed. He bent his head toward her, one elbow on the table, his face resting on his hand. "Why not let me be your employer? I have been advertising for a .lady typewriter for several days —confidential work." The quick blood rushed to her, cheeks. "Are you telling me the .'truth?" He picked up the Newspaper and •turned to the column headed "Situations Vacant." Down this he passed the point of his finger until he found what he wanted. "There you are, Miss Tyndall. I think that is my business address." She read the advertisement, and then glanced at him eloquently. "J3ut 1 have never usea a type-writ-er in my life," she breathed at last. "You can learn in a week or two. Easy as playing the piano." "Yes —after one is proficient. You are very good, Mr Lawrence. Before I decide I will take lessons at one of the typewriting schools. Give.me a week." "Very good." Ho rose hastily and shook hands. | The next moment he was gone. j The mists cleared away before noon, j and the spring sunshine poured from a sky of blue, flecked with fleecy-looking little clouds. Elneth went for a walk, and even in her perturbed state of mind she found some pleasure in looking into the windows of the great London stores. '. She lunched plainly at a restaurant I in Oxford Street, being under no obligations to waste money upon the expensive food provided at the hotel. While she was handing in her check | to the girl cashier, near the door, she noticed that a man was standing be-, side her, and she caught the gleam of a pair of mocking black eyes. She thenremembered that she had seen the same man an hour earlier in the win- [ dow of a jewellery store. He had seemed to be offensively near her then! With a sudden tightening of her heart, she left the restaurant and walked rapidly to the Oxford Street end of Tottenham Court Road. The pavements were crowded awith shopl pers and others. Loath though ElI neth was to admit it, she knew that | she was in a panic of fear. She had 1 seen too many Russians to be deceived in the man who had evidently been following her. Observing an idle taxicab, she beckoned to the driver, and was whirled back to the hotel. . With shaking hands she paid her fare, and was proceeding to her roomw, when a tall man rose from a lounge in the lower hall and stood before her. It I was Paul Morosov, pale to ghastliness, but with manners unimpeachable. In one hand ho held his hat, in the other a thick Malacca cane.

"I am sorry if I appeared to bo flippant. I have given the matter a great deal of thought, Miss Tyndall, and to get to the bottom of it means time, shil], and money. You have no other evidence? Nothing tangible?" "Nothing." "Merely the verbal statement of the man Morosov?" "That is all." "Well, don't be down-hearted." "I am not," she truthfully answered, "only disappointed. If 1 have to go to India myself, I will discover the truth." "Don't be rash. You have only Morosov's word for that, also." ' I "But I remembpr being in India. IJ was only a little child—-" I She broke down, and bit her lipsj' hard. The lawyer rose, and gathtred up 1

I "Elneth, my child," ho said gently. "Don't start away from me. I am here to save you from harm, even at. the risk of my life. The Nihilist Brotherhood know of your flight, and are shadowing you." He paused to moisten his lips. "I must talk to you somewhere —I have told the people here that I am your father—as indeed I am!" he added gaspingly. Elneth was too startled, too horrified for speech. Her father 1 She motioned him to follow her, and went upstairs to her room. Paul Morosov turned the key in the door, and sat down. Elneth faced him, he? brain in a riot. "Now," she demanded fiercely, "and don't imagine that I am afraid of you, or of any of your associates. Thave heard of the' murders of St. Petersburg, and' I hold you in the hollow of my hand. My father!" she sneered. "Is that your latest concoction?" "It is true, Elneth. Before Heaven, I swear it!" "And who is Captain Ralph Tyndall?" "An imaginary person." "Then I have no right to the name?" "It is your mother's." Elneth breathed hard. Her white face grew whiter, but she had recovered her normal self-control. "You say it is my mother's. Then she is still alive?" CR» be continued.)