A Daughter of Mystery

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10259, 10 June 1911, Page 2

A Daughter of Mystery

OUR SERIAL.

BY F. L. DACRE, of "Was Ho the Man?" "A Phantom of the Past," Sir John's 1 Heiress," "A Loveless Marriage," "The Doctor's Secret," etc.

CHAPTER XXVl—Continued

A taxicab to Euston, an express train to Castle Claydon, and a night )f misery for Ronald Heseltine. With the rising sun he was seated at his writing table, wrestling with his problem. He wrote half a dozen letters to Lady Eva, and destroyed them. This seemed a despicable way of getting out of his difficulty. If he could only see her somewhere away from her family It was very certain that he could not marry two women! Justice must lie satisfied. Ho went down to breakfast at eight o'clock, and at nine was in his private office at the works. Aubrey-Smith, attired in white duck overalls, greeted him with cheery words and sparkling eyes.

"What a surprise maker you are, Heseltine! I thought you were enjoying the peaceful beauty of Sussex ; and behold! But, I say, old chap, you look devilish seedy." "T'm more than devilish seedy,*' was the half-savage retort. "Thinking too hard?" "T must work or go mad." "For a big fellow, you have a marvelous capacity for hard work. The little ones usually do the major portion of the world's worrying. Now, look at me. I've been at it since four o'clock, ancl am as fresh as a daisy." "Oh, you go hang!" Ronald growled.

"She's beautiful, she's good, sh's rich!" Aubrey-Smith continued, waving his hands. "She's a neighbour of ours. Heseltine, cannot you guess?" "Lady Eva Lorington." The little man became redder than before, ancl blew kisses from the tips of his lingers. "I wish you luck," Ronald said gaspinglv. "Honest Injun?" "I do, from the very bottom of my heart. I admire Lady Eva; I love her in a brotherly fashion! And you, Aub-rey-Smith, I believe to be one of the best fellows living." "Your hand upon it." There were tears in Aubrey-Smith's eyes, and his voice trembled. "And now," said Ronald quietly, "I will tell you a little love story of my own." But at that moment there was a knock at the door, and the managing cerk walked into the room.

CHAPTER XXVII. BASIL COOPER'S ADVICE

"Personal letters, sir," said the

clerk. He laid three letters in front of Heseltino and the la.tter muttered "Thank you," a strange tightening feeling in the region of his heart. The face of the top one bore the scrawly handwriting of Lord Lorington, and was marked "Private" in red ink. "The story I was going to tell yon will have to wait," he said to AubreySmith, "but it will lose nothing in the waiting," he added ambiguously. "You want me to skip. By Jove! It's fine to know that you have got a love story, anyway. People have talked about you and Lady Eva, but I knew there was nothing in it." "Absolutely nothing in it. Away with you; I'm busy." Lightly humming a tune, AubreySmith rolled another cigarette, lit it, and strolled from, the -office. The moment he was gone, Ronald turned "the key in the door and prepared to do battle with Lady Eifa's father. The letter contained vitriol and violence; he was sure of it. The savage scrawl on the envelope proclaimed it. Well, it was a good thing in its way; the end had to come, sooner or later, and. the sooner the better. Indrawing a deep, quivering breath, he broke the seal. The noise of the moving feet in the adjoining" office irritated him; the clang of machinery was in his ears; the voices of workmen in the foundry yard. With an impatient growl he gathered up the letters and thrust them into his pocket. He would go back to his room at the hotel and deal with them there. He was sure to be disturbed here. Oh, what a coward he was at heart! He needed something to drink to brace him up—something to steady his trembling nerves. At the hotel bar he called for a brandy and soda, and drank it eagerly. The landlord observed him with interest.

"There you are; no respect for the little one!" He mounted to the seat of an office chair. "From this altitude, perhaps, you will listen to me. [ now look down upon you and observe that your hair is getting thin at the top. My dear Heseltine, you are growing old, and it is high time you fell in love." • { <** Get down, you fool!'' Ronald rcowletl. •' "I will not be howled down, you minanthrope. Go you into the world and discover your antitype, and love will descend upon you, .surround you, ■envelop you as swift as thought! Love! The chords of two exquisite lyres strung to the accompaniment of one delightful voice, which will vibrate with the vibration of your own." "You're a lunatic!" "A happy one, Heseltine, because I am in love. You bear witness to what its ennobling influence has done for me. From poverty I have climbed to the dizzy heights of fame. Look here!" He flourished a letter over his head, the envelope of which bore the government seal. "A fortune for both, old chap. There have been times when I believed that you were in love . also, just because you have accomplished so much." "Is your love returned?" Ronald suddenly asked. "No; but I don't despair. You see, everything is against me. I'm absurdly small; my nose is a snub; my eyes are pale pink; I am poor; and my name —oh my classical name!" He made a wry face. "But I have determined to overcome all these diffi-|

culties. I have already tacked Aubrey to the name of Smith; I am in a fair way t omake a fortune, thanks to y«ur assistance. lam inventing a pair of six inch elevators for my feet, and have sent two shilling and sixpence to a face regenerator for a nose machine."

Ronald cut him short by tipping up the chair, and Aubrey-Smith sat on the floor.

"Get up, Smith. I want to talk to you."

"You don't look quite all right, sir if I may say so," he said. "Burning the eandle a-t both ends never pays. Now if you want a good pick me up at any time, you try a brandy and bovril. Almost make a dead man jump. Not after the soda, though. Things going on well at the works. Everybody's talking about you. A few more lik-j you, sir, would make Castle Claydon hum."

"Aubrey-Smith. Don't spoil the dignity of the thing. Now then, ola stick in the mud. where shall Ave begin?" He scrambled to his feet, and with deft fingers rolled a cigaretet. "Do not scoff at my teeny-Weeny little smoke;.l know that such follies are very suitable for women and children."

Ronald was not ill-pleased. His success in business gratified him. Thero was a grain of comfort in that, anyway.:., ..■■..

"Every department is going at high pressure, and the builders are still in possession.'

"I want to talk to you, Smith," Ronald said, rather wearily. "About your love affair."

"Ah!" the littlo man turned rosy red. and tossed his cigarette into the grate. "Delightful subject."

"J rather like your definition of love." Ronald resumed. "The exquisite liar part of it —1-i-a-r!"

Aubrey-Smith laid one hand over his heart, and his eyes became wistful. "Heseltine, I'm not jollying you. I have been frantically worshiping at the shrine of my goddess for years. The apparent hopelessness of it all sent me abroad, but I never really lost heart. 1 was dreaming and schemr>ing every waking hour of the day and night." "And—er—does the goddess know of your passion?"

"Know of it! I have told her scores of times. She has laughed .it me, scoffed at me, and called me cruel names. Odious little wretch —undersized upstart—insufferable microbe! Smith—ugh!" Ronald smiled in spite of himself, but sighed withal.

"H'm!" the landlord grunted, with a doubtful shake of his head. "If T had your money I should get out of worry and not into it. Millionaires and money grubbers- are the most miserable people on the face of the earth. They mike it their business to crush the little man, and when they get old they give the money away to churches and hospitals to salve their blessed consciences." "But I am neither a millionaire nor a money-grubber," Heseltine answered in a tone of protest. "I wasn't saying that, sir; but you have spent a sum here upon which you could retire in comfort." He shrugged his shoulders. "I w'ish 1 had the chance I I was only mentally comparing you with what you were when you first came to Castle Claydon. Why. you've aged ten year's and made heaps of enemies. You should hear what they say about you in this very house, at the street corners — everywhere." Heseltino stared in curious inquiry. "What do they say of me? The rabble, of course." (To be Continued).