Silas Dennington's Money.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10658, 13 June 1912, Page 2

Silas Dennington's Money.

'OUR SERIAL.)

BY F. L. DACRE, Author of "Hold in Bondage,'? "A Phantom of the East," "Sir John's Heiress," "The Shadow of Shame," "A Daughter of Mystery," etc.

CHAPTEK I.—Cantimicd. . "A monthly ir.agas.ine of the higher class and from that down to the sensational novels. 1 enjoy oti'3 <oi your iurid slrndders even to this day." Jack" Pennington laughed joyously. "uon't leave out the Sunday books," interpolated Brown. "They :.dl like the deuce—l beg pardon - a few pages of spiritual treatment, at id u couple of hair-raising serials - abductions, flying machines, and gory I'fissnges, indicated, rather than <.!'.-• ■ scribed —and there you arc!" "Why, you Jiave made a study of the business, Brown!" "Unfortunately, I have. I on.v ■Marted a, weekly paper myself, and it; swallowed six freehold houses, in i-.s many months." Ho rubbed his hauls and chuckled. "Now lam selling uiy experience. I can savo you thousand* oi pounds, Mr Pennington,.and that'.'■.vhe.ro I come in. Then are dozens <\ ; shark-; perambulating Fleet Street on the lookout fa: beginners."

' !" exclaimed Sir "Peter. "By Jove! It's nearly one o'clock, •i,i !ne iunc:i at two. Nq, t.V «•-. can't, sis.y, Pennington Mv people don't even know that Margaret and I havo stirred from the Grange. Good ; ii.nr-.: «. Jack Good .MiBrown. We shall meet again soon, no doubt. The thing's got to be. taken up red-hot.' There will be no chance for the swindlers with Grantlcy Deninington at the legal side of it." There was a general shaking of hands, and Margaret whispered something in Jack Denmington's ear, and Jack nodded and laughed; ', "Great —simply great, ray dear girl!" he answered. "By-by. Perhaps I'll trot over to-morrow.'' He walked out into the hall with Sir Peter and Margaret, and having seen them off, returned to the library and Mr Brown. The financial agent was very much at home, and very much at his ease now. He was smoking his 'cigar with real enjoyment, and his thoughts and anticipations , evidently gave him the liveliest satisfaction. "Tf I had a tenth—a twentieth of your money, Mr Dennington, I should enjoy life, rather than embark on a brain-torturing and hazardous business," he remarked .reflectively. I Jack was standing on the hearth rug i with his back to the fire.

"If you had the money, Brown, and J the youth', and the incentive, you j would want to do what I intend doing. My blood (leaps before the battle! It means so much for others, too —my brother and the Tempests. We are all in it. Grawtley is the business man to his finger tips, and his .bump/ for organisation is tremendous. He has already steered half a dozen, big companies from chaps to calm a-rid afflueince. My temperament is essentially literary- Don't think that I am conceited, or vain-glorious. I know what I am worth., and no man shall discount it until I have made a ghastly failure of everything. Grantley is comparatively poor.; The place belongs to him, and he needs his earnings. He wants to get married; he has beera talking 'about it for five, or six years; but Miss Tempest is the last of am impoverished race. Enough, said about that. The emoluments falling to the share of,* moderately successful lawyer won?t keep up Dennirigtoin Court." , "No." , A far-seeing smile bad slowly .gathered' into the eyes of Mr Brown. He understood now; Denmington was ambitious for his brother, as well .as himself. • "Now," went on Jack impetuously. "I am all eagerness to set the 1 bad | rolling. Your credentials are good,

excellent, and I feel that I can -trust you, or 1 should not speak so.freely. You know what I want. Can you help 'me?-' Tell me something about yourself, ,aind I shall be able to judge what position will be acceptable to you in the new undertaking." ■ ' Mr Brown lost 'his calm ; his features twitched, and his eyes darkened with emotion. _ "Any business man. about 1? leet, Street will tell you that Teddy Brown is a rank failure— a schemer—a, .blood-sucker. I know tfem all—printers and publishers; papermakers and wholesalers; journalists and authors, artists and imwi Jack of 'em, and most of them have had advances from my bank They hate .me for knowing what I do. Afor myself, Mr Dennington, I started in Fleet Street twenty years ago, with hones as rosy as yours, but there Ayas I'ill stand by you to the finish, xou

little to,gild them with—a few thousands. :f published a weekly and there were some fine pickings Lithe vultures until I came to know things. The Fleet Street hacks, wno haunt the drinking saloons, sold to me stolen or libellous stuff. Bogus agents, frock-coated and silk-hatted, brought advertisements purporting to be. from the great advertising agencies, _ and drew twenty-five per cent commission in caslu All forgeries! Then I fell,m arrears with my printer and the paper maker, and they doubled their prices, -lid became vampires. I w-ent under, and should have drifted to the gutter, but lor the bank. The manager know mv ease, and offered mo a commission „n the business I could introduce. V\\c financial standing of the street is A. B C. to me, and I am a valuable man as financial ; tout. That's Toddv Brown, sir." , , •,., Brown had risen, and stqod racing

CHAPTER H

(To be Continued)

Donnhigton, his hands clenched, his head ■stuck forward.

"Not another word ; I am perfectly satisfied. This is your chance, and are my advance guard. Take oil: overcoat and have lunch with inc. Your bank's right out of this deal. /I want nothing your hank's got to sell. You can go back to London and look up th,e vacant buildings suitable for our business ; you can '.negotiate for the printing plant—the host equipped, the very latest; and don't bother about commissions; don't take bribes. ft would be lowering the tone of the firm, of which you shall be an acti'.t and well-paid member." "Mr Bennington 1" Brown leaned against the. tab!'; limply. His lips were trembling, his voice quavered. "Weli?" "All this seems too good to be tr'ue, after years of grinding poverty and getting older every day. How gen t. ous you are." "Not a bit of it. Just a plain business deal. You must lunch with me, and there's a lot to talk about yet." "Yes, if I can send a telegram to my wife." "Easily. My man shall take it to the telegraph office for you. Plenty, of blanks here." . Jack opened a drawer, and. passed a telegraph blank to Mr Brown.

JACK DENNINGTON'S INSPIRATION.* / Frr.TK i&iG name of it one would have expected Bennington Court to tie _ a p'r"to.»itious mansion, set in its th«t'sanc acres of gardens, parks, an'u r.ii- , lin;,' r.'cadow lands; but a ing .+itks is often bestowed on a mor.- J

centi'-sized country house, ana :o u ( was in the case of Dennington Court. ■ The founder was one George Deo 11 ;.;',• ton .a small London mercha.v w!;?>. at the age of sixty-five amassed a sm:ili , 'fnl.iioof some twer'Ly thoi;s;md 11 'H-.f'ds. About thi's".tin.u his hurt ! vLniJicd for a-peaceful ending L - h.i and he cast about for a safe inj vc- in cut, and a home in the <.•.••.ntrv } A bad attack of influenza hqd shaken bis robust health, and very probably impaired 'his mental balance, otherwise he might not have *bc6ii guilty of founding Dennington Court. _ He discovered s a. Surrey village, called

Eastlea, whose primitive beauty and eternal calm must have been much the same at the beginning of the world. Within two miles of the village ho bought thirty acres of wooded _ land, and in the very heart of it built ins little mansion. A stone lodge faced ( tho highway, flanked by a pair of tremendous iron, gates, and the gates open upon a broad avenue of lefty ant.: wide-spreading trees. By the time the Court was furnished and occupied. Mr Bennington realised that the bulk of bis fortune was represented by bricks" and mortar,' He wandered among the sudden splendour of his surroundings with the pleasure of a child:. his mind was tranquil, and why ■not:-'

He had no wife, and liis two sons were well placed' in the world. The elder, , Grantley, was a lawyer, and the younger, Jack, was lone, of earths lucky ones. Two thousand pounds a year, and heir to the vast fortune of fcis Uncle Silas, out in Nevada! At this time Grantley was seven- or eight and thirty years of age, and Jack was about ten years younger. Grantley worked hard every day of his life, wliilo Jack dreamed away the polder hours. The brothers were both + ta men: Grantley was darts, almost to sallowness, while Jack was blue-ey^ , and vellow-haired. To tins _ circuto- , stance his uncle's: favouritism was due When Silas Dennington visited. | the country he saw in Jack arepnea ot I . h : m?f i' rather what he was. at

the same age. Straightway, he_ too*. , theboy to his heart, completely ignoring Grantley. -He-paid for-his eduction, and made him a liberal allowance, and when, college .was done, with Jack joined m -'Nevada. Thenceforth his life Was full of colon, of vivid contrasts.'. The prairies and the valleys, the mountains- and tac i^Uhe'riveta^hecatarn^;.

something always doing m tt» dom of-the boundless West. Often his companions were cowboys and brov.-cL-Lsters.andhobecamea daring horseman and a mighty hunter. ; l>oi Sa Plenty of time for reflection,; and put bis pen to pretty writing exhaustive letters to i»* faflier and Grantley,...and storing up fragments of impressions for his book of the future. _, ' ',■■'," And the tetters from England. Wrf-h glowing pride he read ot>vauuley's .successes, and filled a scrapbook with his brother's speeches, 'cut Iron. .iAie newspapers. Then there wasJJjstory of the building of Pennington Court, .and after a while he and h* ■ unole began making plan for a hohdav in England. It Was to be a lon., Sday thLs time, free of worries, and Siks Bennington sokUvs holdings to a company. ~-j>o to misfortune him- He v:- w ? e and picked up stone dead. ■Sm tt came' about that »,few weeV f ■ to jS journeyed to England by Itself, saddened .an<depressed^ pressure more than a volume of wouds. * ....