A DEEP GAME. OR THE HONOUR OF THE TREVELLANS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10565, 22 February 1912, Page 2

A DEEP GAME. OR THE HONOUR OF THE TREVELLANS.

OUR SERIAL-

By Mrs Da V/Inter Baker, » L v * fi;„ nf Oarine." "Sir Blandford'a Protege©," "For Author of "The Sin of OarajJ,

CHAPTER XXXVll—Continued. I j 'Rio .padlock wns still fastened on - the outer door when lie tried it. A shadow cf disappointment crossed Ins sharp features but ho made no sound, j Marking which way the inner door • ( opened, he stood Hat against the wail 1 and waited. , I lie was quite prepared to wait out . ■there all day, if need arose, now that , Kric was safely confined to the root ■ ■ above him. But get- into the Black j Room he must," whether help came j , from inside or out. j - Two minutes passed—three. Listcuii,.r intently, he heard a faint rumbling inside the room. A moment s silence —then the rumbling sound was repeat- ~ cd It was followed by a sharp click. Cole would have given much tor a pair of N-Ravs eyes at that moment. Then came the supremo moment tor j which he had been'waiting. - The handle of the inner door rat- -i tied ever so slightly, and' it was cantiouslv opened from within A hand, ,■ <■ holding a kev, followed by another ! hand, stretched out. One of the sil- ■; ent hands caught the padlock, the other made to insert the key. \ short scuffle—a faint muffled «hrick, and Colo held the key triumphantly aloft. The next moment the padlock fell to the boards with a clat- ■ ter, and he stood within the Black Rt Graco Omer lay in a dead faint just inside the door. . , ' Hardly pausing to give her a look, he rushed across to the plush cmtain .and drew it back. He passed his hand rapidly over the hare wall be-Ll-then more caref u y as he failed to find what lie.was looking for. Ah I -at ast-he iP re S sed with his thumbthere was a click and a rambling note, and the wall swung back before his eves, -revealing a. yawning gap .of blackness, about the height and twice the breadth of a man. he looked down and then drew back hurriedly. Far light was gleaming, and he looked a eain-the light.had not moved. He %r 'tl»s* timc.a flight,; of «eep, Sone" stairs leading down, into the S, ))e I OW He placed one foot before him mid began t o descend. ])own-down-<lown-were the steps 'neve? going to end ? He must have cmne down the .whole height of the castle and a good deal besides, lne SSrt ne had tce» from above now was shining clearly, and he made it out to bo a lantern hanging on-the wall. At length he stood in the, .narrow tunnel ami took the lantern from the , nail A buzzing noise came to his eat s as he proceeded warily. He stopped at once, arid in utter amazement, recognised the sound of-a sewing machine { voice-* girl's voice was humming ■a snatch of song. The sound came from a low oak door at his right. 11 -was heavily bolted and barred on the 'outside, but with a rattle and a clang Cole used his strength and pulled the bolts •back.and rushed into a small.gasHt chamber. A young girl, horribly j white of'face, with a vacant expression and lacklustre eyes, was sitting at a ; sewing machine. tv.i6he looked up and jumped to hei -feet. „ . , nt '■■ "At last!" Norman Cole's cry ot 'triumph rang out along the width and .length of the murky underground i world into which he had penetrated, v 'Come along!" he said. "\ou are quito safe. Follow me!" "Follow you—who are you.'" . Hie j Girl's voice was hollow and throaty. ■° "I am Eric's friend. Ho is waiting for you up above.'' "Eric? Who is Erie?" . "-Colo gasped and wondered if imprisonment had turned the girl s brain :ke looked keenly at the girl, then air tho room in which sho had .been imprisoned. ~i "What was that he saw on, the side table? A photo—yes—a photo of— Grace Omer surely. He looked from it ■ ■ to the girl and back again, she watch- j ing him with the eyes of a cat | "Who are you?" he asked, though j he had half guessed already. ! "Mv name is Margaret, Who are you, and what do you want with me. came the .girl's emotionless reply.

CH APTKR XXXVIII. THE FINDING OF LETTICE. Cole's active mind grasped the situation at once. The girl, then, must be none other than the mysterious haunter of the Lime Tree Walk. She must be the silent shadow that flitted up and down the Walk by. midnight. How sho came there, or what her history was, however, must wait. Another far more urgent problem, awaited him somewhere, in these underground regions. The girl seemed to be trembling with fear now, so he quietly withdrew. Stepping out into the tunnel he now heard his name called faintly from somewhere overhead. With a frown he recognised Eric's voice growing louder and louder. His clothes torn, his hair awry, his nails ■bleeding, and his face badly scratched, Eric ca-mo down the steep zigzag steps from the Black Room like an avalanche, calling aloud to his friend. , ~ , ~ Ho made •blindly .for tho light of Cole's lantern and almost fell into his arms. . _

(To be Continued.)

"Have you found her?' he asked breathlessly. "I couldn't stay up there any longer, shouting and getting ,no answer. Found the door at tho top of the spiral staircase locked, so came down the rainpipe, hanging on to the ivy. Why did you lock that door, you brute?" 'Rain pipe—ivy?" Cole was too staggered to say any more. "Yos—bit of'a risky climb down,

but I did it and rushed round and insido to find you. I had a sort of idea that you wuold make for the. Black Room. I found the room empty and a piece cut out of the wall, and here I am."

"Oh!" said Cole resignedly. "Come tell mo,' said Eric. "How did you make that openingt in the wall up there?" "No time for explanations now. We must bo quick," Cole was thinking of Omer. If Eric had found the Biuck Room empty, sho must have recovered from her faint and gone to warn her accomplice Jason. Ho turned dowu the tunnel again, followed closely by Sir Eric.

Passing the doof of Margaret's room Eric was about to enter when Cole motioned him not to do so. "I have been in there, Eric. Miss Lascellcs is not in there, Come on!"

They were in tho right arm of the T ff-rmed by the tunnel hot, and when they came to the junction of the three turnings Cole was undecided which way to go. Eventually he decided to turn down the long turning to the left, and like eager hounds on a breath high scent,, the two men rushed along till they were brought up short in i lie vr ult beneath the chapel. The flash of the lantern shone on the steps of the ladder, leading up the ho.low pillar. A gleam of diyli.?ht struck him from above. Handiag the lantern to Epic, and bidding him remain below; Cole disappeared up the ladder, to return in .less than a minute

"Wrong track" he explained breathlessly. "This grows, more and more interesting Guess where I got to?" Eric shook, his head.

"I give it up." ' 'Right'up into your chipel. V» ea re now standing directly beneath the third pillar on the left-hand side of the aisle, and it is just a Hollow sham with a seciet door low down by the plinth. So you see there is a d"vct com unification between the chapel and the Black Room." "Great heaven!" exclaimed Eric, as he reminded his friend of the strange light that he had seen'set the foot of the pillar that night, ''Whore i-ow •'' ho asVcd. <- . "Back to the arm of the. tunnel ■•we didnr't explore,' 7 'commanded Cole, and off they sitrted again. - - The fever of 'the chase how. burned hot within Eric's veins. His cheeks | Ave re Hushed, his eyes burned brightly, ' and he kept urging his friend to go faster. Every moment was precious. ' The thought of his darling girl shut up somewhere in this awful place maddened him. Had Omer or Jason crossed his path at that moment, he would havo .felled them to the ground without compunction. ■ I "Faster! Faster! Norman,' ho cried •and collided violently with his friend's hback as the latter. stopped suddenly before a low oak door, studded with rivets and heavily bolted. Together they fumbled at the well-oiled barstogether they burst into a low-roofed gloomy dungeon, lit by a single, flaring gas jet. With a piteous cry, like that of a stricken animal, Eric hurled himself to his knees beside a couch. On this lay a girl's form—silent, motionless. Frantically he called to her —kissed her •bloodless lips. •,,,," "Oh, my God—Norman, quick!' he shrieked* as she made no answer. Already Cole had his hand over Lettice s heart. Feeble, almost worn out with anguish, and prostration, s it still flickered slightly. "Just in time!' 'he observed in a dry, husky voice. "Come man—to her head. I'll take her feet. Out of this occurs ad spot. We must get mto'hght •ami fresh air." • • lattice's poor, little lialtatarvcu little bodv was but a feather weight in the arms of the two strong .men. as together, they lifted her from her couch and carried her from her Jonl prison. ' , Up the zigzag steps they went —up to the light of day, and the pure air of t'ho upper world. . . Emerging through the opening m the wall they heard a woman a cry. Mrs Parfitt, "who had been watching according to Eric's instructions now rushed forward in alarm. "No questions," said Cole veiv Pr "Mis?Lascellcs' room-show us the way—quick!'.'

CHAPTER XXXIX. STAGGERING. NEWS. All was turmoil and uproar in the castle. A groom was dispatched m the dogcart "to" fetch the local doctor from Bickleigh. Chattering servants clustered together, asking what was the matter and learning nohing. Leaving Mrs Parfitt and Eric in charge of the unconscious Lettice, Cole took the command of tho situation. He sent the servants about their business, and met the doctor at the door of the cas°in a few words he explained what had .happened, binding the physician to professional secrecy as he led him to Lettice's bedroom. . J