AFTER RELEASE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10618, 25 April 1912, Page 2

AFTER RELEASE.

OUR SERIAL.

By VIOLET M. FLINN, Author of "The Master Passion, "What Shall It ProfitP" "Veren-," "By Devious Paths," Eto.

CHAPTER XXm—Continued. At that moment the door was opened and "Mr John Bovili" announced. Jlawardo sprang to his feet with n vague idea of dismissing ihe intruder. The young footman who bad taken Roger's place stared aghast as lie knew by liis master's face that lie had done wrong. Ludiworth twisted himself round, recalling as he did so the scene in his uncle's library that morning. He saw a tall, thin, well-dressed :nn.n witli a pointed hoard, and quick shifting eyes, and ho, too, sprang up. "Stanton Neal-" he exclaimed. , For a moment silence reigned, for no one could speak. The newcomer's glance went round the spacious room as if seeking some means of esc-.tpp, and then he evidently made up his mind o brave tho matter out. A smile came into, his eyes and he bowed. "At your service, Mr Marcham!" he said politely. llawardo started forwunl. "We. will have none of that here!'' ho said-harshly. "You told me that your name was Bovili, and that you were not Stanton Neal.' Neal shrugged his shoulders.

"Whats' in a name? No man nood r reclaim his naone from a housetop." "I believe that from beginning to end you are-nothing but a him'bug!" Rawarde exclaimed. "Lud worth, I must—" But Ludworth, held out his hand.

He was standing on the hearthrug, surveying Neal with a quiet interest that was annoying to its subject.

"Please don't apologise, Rawarde. [am delighted to have this opportunity of meeting Mr Neal again. He has taken such an interest in our family affairs that I would like to be informed on several points by him. I should particularly like to knoß - why to-night he-addresses me as Mr Marcham."

"The man is a rogue,' Raw.-.rt'o said quickly.' "He is not worth hearing. He has a score of cock-and-bull storicse. I have been fool enough to hear some of them, but they are lies-" "Oh, are they?" Neal retorted. "You did not think so the last time I was here. You were ready enough |o believe me then." Ho turned from Rawarde to Ludworth, who looked from one face ; white with anger, to the other, cold in its fury. "I call you March anvbeca use that is what you are. You are no more Duke of Ludiworth than I am." "That is the tale you told when you came to see me. If I do not do you , an injustice, you hinted pretty plainly that for a consideration you would hold your tongue." , '.' Neal's eyes met his unflinchingly.' "I'm no Worse than my fellows. I suppose you would call my offer compounding a felony. Well, it is only what others closely related to you have done before you. ' If your estimable grandmother had been at home- —-" "I think we will leave the duchess out of the 'raatter,". ; Ludworth saidquietly. . "I do not fight against woni-: i:ehv or use themto gain, my ends.":; A • dull red crept into' Neap's face, but Ms gaze did not drop. "As to whether I am really the duke or not, I don't see that it matters much toyou."

"Does this matter?' Neal asked. He drew an envelope from his pocket and produced two papers from if. ' ''How much is your dukedom worth in the face of these?' he cried exultantly. Ludworth took tho papers from him. They were copies of two certificates, the one.tho marriage of Lord Charles Marcham to Annet Grainger in a parish church,.in Surrey, the other the birth certificate of Charles Bovili, son of Lord Charles and Annet Grainger, horn eleven months after tho marriage ceremony. "And if you ask me where that sor. is," Neal said—he' raised his hand and ipointed to Rawarde—"there he stands.'

CHAPTER XXIV. ■For ..a moment no one, spoke, then Ludworth's sense of. the. hximour_ of the situation, suddenly overcame hi».«.. -•,' "Thnt is absurd!' he saia. "For vears-T have"boon left in undisputed •possession of my own, and now appear two claimants, one willing and the other unwilling. Pray, how many sordid Charles Marcham leave?' ' His tono of raillery irritated .Jscal more than his disbelief. "It is all very well for you botn ;o laugh, but he Laughs longest who laughs last. You would never have become duke, if—if ? . ,-, "If you had rot gone into retirement for your country's good," Ludworth remarked coolly. "You see. I happen to know more of your historv now than I did.. Certainly, my knowledge of what you have done coos not tend to make me believe what vou sav now, but I am quite prepared to listen. Still', I ought to tell-yen that there is another Richmond in tho field, so my lawyers tell me. • . Eawarde moved impatiently, and liia dark face reddened. "I think it only right to say, w&worth, that I called upon your aw•vcrs in regard to tins claim When first I heard of my right —if right i« 1 be— to tho dukedom, I was inclined to believe it. But," he said formally,. "I. have since determined to take no further steps in the matter, either to prove or disprocve it."^ "Then you are a fool!" Neal saui, Ihis face working with passion. "To think how I have worked and schemed and planned, and now you refuse to

(To be continued.)

take advantago of your chances-" lie paused. "You've got to believe it, for facts."

Ludiworth surveyed him quietly, hut very intently. There was no doubt that lie was desperately in earnest, and that lie was fully convinced of tho truth of his assertions. "Was there ever such a fool!" he dried. "To hold hack because he is afraid of hurting the feelings of his presumed mother! Oh, if I could only I see her —pay her back!" I "Stop a minute!' It waa Ludworth j who spoke. "Am Ito understand that | it was not Mrs Rawarde who was An-1 net Grainger ' < He spoke the name slowly, lingering- J ly. Far more strange than the appear- j ance of a claimant was the n.ention of that name in such a connection. Annet Grainger! In the letter Tresiddtr told him that Charles had written to Nettie. Well, that was a link in the chain. But he had been hearing o? some other Grainger even more recently, "Little Anne!" It was Vivian Courtice who had told him the story of Eldyth's mother. He .read and rei read the name on the certificate, while his brain put the scattered fragments of the story into a, connected whole. Devon. It was —— He sab down ah daughter of Penwith Grainger, gentleman, of Bovington, in the county of Devon, tl was vHe sat down abruptly, his brain in a whirl. But it was Eldyth's mother who had returned to Bovington Manor, and died there, with"her child, only .a few weeks old, without divulging any a count of the last year of her life. Yet, if Eldyth was her daughter, how could Rawarde be his son? He caught his -breath with a curious sensation, like being on the "verge of a precipice, yet the fact that really seemed to matter was that the-stigma was lifted from Eldyth's shoulders and that she must be his cousin, of the same degree as Hermione.

It was impossible that he was making a mistake, for there could not have bee'i two Annet Graingers of the same age and same place, and undoubtedly Eldyth was the daughter of Annet Grainger. But Rawarde! He looked at the young man with quick scrutiny, and vainly endeavoured *:o. find a solution, to the problem in which ho was plunged. Neal did not hesitate in replying to his question. /'•Mrs Rawarde as you call her, is my -wife,' he said, and his reply again brought Ludworth' to a crisis. "If it had not heen for her nothing of this •would have happened;" Anger filled his face and trembled in his voice, "i owe her a debtil'll never be able to; repay," he said vindicitively. "It is no wonder she is afraid to meet me. Butj some day I shall get my ovviv ,back on, her: when.she learns tho truth' iproperly.? *' •;. ; c .\< v :•'.-' -. ' . ■ \ Ludwotth turned to his host witb.f gesture of dismay. "We are talking in riddles," he said.

'T don't" know,, of course, if what he says can he confirmed,: hut I can't Jet the. matter rest now;; It. will have to'be threshed out,- or '£'; shall feel myself to be a perpetual impostor. Hadn't we'better mako it a kind of family council, and aslc Mrs Rawarde to join us?" ho suggested, with the pleasant, boyish smile that was always so attractive even to his own sex. i. Rawarde shook his head. ! "They shall never meet again if I | can keep them apart," ho said. "Do I you think I cloa't remember how she | buffered, hc<w the thought of him is agony to her,even now? He shall never I work his evil way with her again so ! long as I am here to prevent it. Site gave up home and friends and fannly, for his sake. She was a loyal and loving wife, and her worst offence uas that she tried to save him from himself —she has never attempted to deny that since she found that he and Mar"Triadlike Marcham were .-plotting evil that would have and did bring shati.e and disaster, on the'innocent, and-a shadow on a.noble house.' She gave n formation that led to her husbaud s arrest and punishment/but wlr.eh. perhaps, prevented greater wrongs from, being done. And I shall always 1.-nrik that she acted like a .brave-and U«ed. woman, She did riot do it w4lh.gly, of easily, she did not think of hersejfbut only of those who migtJi have svfered from his wrongdoing."