TO THE UTTERMOST FARTHING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10402, 24 August 1911, Page 2

TO THE UTTERMOST FARTHING.

CHAPTER lll.—Continued

Severance paused. For perhaps the ■first time since she had disappeared from his sight—her black figure swallowed up in the gloom of the staircase —the memory of his odd client of last night, the woman who had called herself Lydia Moncton, flashed across him. He had not mentioned her to Moorfield, he had forgotten her utterly. Would she keep the appointment that he had made with her, and broken P If she did it could not be helped. She was a woman to whom he had taken an instinctive dislike, and a woman who had told him at least one obvious lie. But it was odd how the sudden thought of her had disturbed him. "I am glad that my summons caused you no inconvenience. There can be no doubt that it is far preferable for you to be here," Mr Bethellsaid, and then hesitated; a sort of faltering and,confusion changed his pleasantly brisk manner. "I suppose —that is, I hope, Mr Severance, that you have brought Sir Bernard's will with you? "I thought it best, and I have done so," He made a movement with his hand toward the dispatch box, which he had placed upon the table. "I presume it will be wanted?" "Certainly! Certainly! There is your own position, you know, _ and there are various legacies, provisions j>

"I have not acquainted myself with the provisions. I glanced at the-will the day I received it, but I have done no more. As I was about to say, as it will be wanted I judged it safer and more satisfactory to bring it down under my own care." "Far safer —far more satisfactory! Quite right, my' dear sir—perfectly right!" With the same curious hurry in his manner subsiding as quickly as it had appeared, the little lawyer laid his hand upon the dispatch box. "Is it too early, Mr Severance, for me to venture to make a suggestion to you? "For my lawyer? Surely not!" Severance answered.

"Thank you!" Severance understood that he was thanked for more than the mere acquiescence. "Then for the present I have your permission to place this in safe keeping?" "The will?" "The will. We don't live in a world of romance, but I am by nature a careful man. Your box has probably but an ordinary key, and it will be far safer here." He unlocked and threw open a small safe let into the paneled wall, and covered by a short curtain of velvet, and Severance raised his dark brows a little. "You are very careful, Mr Bethell.'

"Unnecessarily so, in your estimation, sir?" asked the lawyer, quietly. "Faith, no! And I deserve the question for having made a fool's remark." He laughed, with the cynical touch wliich his laughter often showed, and crossed to the safe. "Is that lock a secure one?" "Yes, it was made by Sir Bernard's special order. He kept all his important papers here. His late will— Tie burned.it with.his own hand in the grate there—-was'always kept in this special pigeonhole. Your box is. only small, and it will go in, I think?" "By all means! And the lock is a special one?" "Yes, as you can see by the key. I personally gave the order for the safe to the firm, that 'made it. Sir Bernard was an especially careful and methodical man, a man who liked to have things near him, and also to keep them under his own control. His illness did not alter that." The lawyer looked with what seemed to be an unnecessary scrutiny at the delicately intricate wards of the oddly shaped. key which he had withdrawn from the- lock. "You wear a seal ring, I see, Mr Severance, and you will find all materials on thenvritingtable.there. May I ask you to put your, seal on the box before I put it in the safe?"

"My seal?'' Severance's surprise did not disturb his composure; the amused, half-smile in his eyes was only momentary; he was thinking of many things—thanking with shrewd comprehension, yet with a sensation of shock which was almost incredulity. "It would perhaps be as well if I did the same to the .safe itself?" he suggested ironically. •--."I-was ■■about-to-beg you to.do so, and, if you will, to take charge of the key," Mr Bethell answered. Severance had entirely recovered from his slight, curious hesitancy; his manner was prompt, cool, business like. In silence he placed his seal upon the dispatch box containing the will, slipped it in the pigeonhole, which admitted it easily, shut and locked the safe, and then sealed it in turn. That done, he quietly slipped the key upon the swdvel of his watch chain. "Safe enough now, or there's no virtue in lock and key," he said. Then his tone altered and became dry, as he meant it to do. "May I ask if Sir Derek Willoughby is iere?" he asked. , , -■■:• "Sir Derek?" He was a clever man, this little lawyer, and the keen eyes watching him granted as much. There was no change in his expression. "No, not yet; he has been wired for; I saw to that myself. But the telegram may not have reached him. Indeed, lam not quite sure of his whereabouts. I wired to his club." «L see ; He is in t<)Wn > * suppose?" lo the best of my belief he is. He never cared for country life. His vis-

(OUR NEW SERIAL.)

By CARL SWERONA, Author of "A Mere Ceremony."

I its here were mostly short." "You expect him to come, I conclude?" 'Certainly!" The lawyer's steady gaze met that of Severance, but wavered a little. "You seem to think it improbable, Mr Severance?" "Hardly that! Never having met [ my cousin, I can scarcely judge what I he is likely to do, given certain cir- ! cumstances. Frankly, if his case were I my own, I don't think I should apI pear. lam tailing it for granted that he knew of Sir Bernard's change of will?" "Certainly he knew. Sir Bernard stated liis intentions at the time of the quarrel which led to the breach between them." "Ah! I imagined that! lam going to ask you a blunt question, Mr Betliell. I know nothing of my cousin, and I don't press you to tell me the cause of the breach between him j and Sir Bernard, even if you know it. I That is their own affair. But, as the ! old friend here which you have called younself, will you tell me if you approved of the change in the will?" He had expected an instant and unqualified assent. To his surprise Mr Bethell hesitated before replying. "I will give you a candid reply as far as I can, Mr Severance," Mr Bethell said gravely. "For one reason, which I do not feel myself at liberty to mention. I deeply regretted the change in Sir Bernard's will. But to that I must add that it was not for sake of the present Sir Derek Walloughby." This was a (little puzzling, and Severance, mentally putting the point aside for further consideration, found himself wondering whether it was possible that Derek WillougUiby had, after all, been hardly dealt with. Yet, and he glanced at the safe in the wall, with the velvet curtain hiding it from view, and gave a mental shrug at his own passing simplicity. Mr Bethell was clever, but the trend of his thoughts had been atrifle too obvious. A gleam of satiric amusement came into Bernard's dark eyes. "So Sir Derek is not here," he remarked carelessly. "Ah! I thought he might be. I confess I am a good deal curious to see him. Mentioning him made me digress. It appears that you are not the only person anxious for the safety of Sir Bernard's will, Mr Bet-hell." "Not the only person?" the lawyer echoed questioningly. "It seems ho, or I should not have received 'this letter. May I trouble yoTi tf> read it. It is rather a queer sort of document in its way." Mr Bethell, having read the anonymous letter, uttered an exclamation of bewilderment. "Good Heavens," he said. "What an astounding thing! What can it mean? Who can have written it?" "Who? Do you not know it, then? Severance demanded. f'l?" the lawyer stared at him. "Is it possible that' you believe I wrote it?" _ "Since I came here, and you showed yourself so anxious about the will, I have felt confident that the letter must have .come from you. Did you not write it?!' "I?" Mr Bethell repeated. He kid his finger upon the letter. "Mr Severance, I declare to you upon my word of honour that I know no more of this paper than you do. I never set j eyes upon it before!" J Severance's reply was stopped, half I uttered, by the opening of the door, I and the entrance of the plump, decor- • ous man who had admitted him to the house. "I ask your pardon, sir," he said, addressing Severance. "Miss Throckmorton desires me to say that she has only just heard of your arrival, and that she is ready to see you at any time that you wish." "Miss Throckmorton?" Afterward Bernard Severance was amused to think-of how instantly, at the mention of the girl's name ,he forgot the letter, forgot the will, forgot Derek Willoughby. He looked interrogatively at his companion. _"I must be guided by your advice, Mr Bethell," he said. "Do you think Miss Throckmorton would receive me now?" ..' ...;■. "I think rot, my dear sir." ,'At another time Severance would have been quick to note the surprise upon the lawyer's face, and, seeing that a decided expression of doubt and uneasiness mingled with it, wduld have drawn the instant conclusion that Miss Throckmorton was not likely to receive him too graciously. "As Miss Clare sends you the message, I would suggest your seeing her at once. It will be, if I may call it so, a necessary formality disposed of. That is your won opinion, no doubt?" (To be continued.)