The Swoop of the Vulture.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10712, 4 September 1912, Page 2

The Swoop of the Vulture.

'OUR SERIAL.)

BY OWEN MASTERS. Author of "His Heart's Desire," "One Impr.ssioned Hour," "Captain Emlyn's Bride," "Tho Deverell Heritage," "The Ironmaster's Daughter," etc.

C iiAPTKK VI. Continued. "Hero, last night, you gave ovr unfortunate friend some diabolical drug which laterally turned his character inside out. After that you go- away with him, and get him to write mstrustions alnnit a will which I may say he never would have made if ho had been in his pronor senses. No, no. I have been, I admit, associated with certain transactions which would not quite stand the clear light that beats on the bench—but, really ,tbis is getting a little to much out of the w«iv. It's a complication of crime which I can hardly follow. For instance, ho'.v do 1 know that some fine day you may not find it in your head to work this infernal magic, or whatever it is, on me? Tt seems to me that you wield rather more power than is safe for any one man to possess," ho continued, unconciously repeating exactly what Harold Enstenc had said to Sir Godfrey a few days before.

"I think you are disquieting ■yourself in vain," said the professor. "There, is not the slightest danger of that so long as you and 1 pull together as we have agree to do. I, like yourself, have occasionly found it necessary to do things which are not exactly in accordance with the conventions of society. But one thnig I have never done, and that is—betray the trust of any one who has worked with me. Denver looked up, and caught a flash of those luminous eyes, which might have meant anything, from a friendlv warning to a threat "Of'course," he said, shifting in his seat, "there cannot be auy question of that; only, you see, Halkine, I have never been brought into connection with miracles of this sort before, and upon my word, it does seem a miracle. In fact, if anybody else had-shown me that, under the circumstances, J. should have said that it was a forgery." "Skillful knights of the pen, my I dear Denyer," replied,Halkine, "can intimate a man's signature wrth al- ] most faultless accuracy; but no forir- ; that ever lived could have written this letter in Sir Godfrey's usual handwriting, and also signed it with any chance of deceiving any one who had even a letter of his. "We are going to lunch with hnn to-day, and I want you to remember that the whole of this business was conducted over hero last night, and that I went with Sir Godfrey in order to help him carry out his intentions while tho ideas were still in his mind." '• "I 'understand," said the lawyer. "It's all wonderfully reasoned out, I must say. Where do you mean to stop. Halkine?" "There can be no end," replied the professor, almost- solemnly, "for those who honestly devote themselves to the service of science." ! "He's mad," was Denver's mental comment. But si ill he went to lunch at the manor, r.ml played his part ad- . mirably:

He noticed tlwt Sir Godfrey appealed a little astonished when Halkine brought'up the subject of the instructions for the will, and asked him to read over afrain whafchefyhad written the night before. . After a few mo-' ments' conversation, during which he vainly tried to take his gaze away from'the eyes of the man who was now his master, his doubts .seemed to vanish, he took the paper of instructions, and'sitting down there and then, at his. writing table, wrote to his lawyer at Alnwick, asking him to prepare' the will in accordance with the instructions. When it was ready it was to lie brought to the manor, to be duh* signed and executed. Mr Arthur Barthgate, .head of Barthgate Brothers and Son, one of the oldest established firms of. family lawyers in the north country, marveled not a little when he read the said instructions. There was no doubt that they had been written and signed by Sir Gobfrey's own hand, and men who had livedlives like his. and made their money in spite of all obstacles, were prone to make curious wills." After all, the provision _ for his adopted son was not only just, but generous. All that troubled him was the trusteeship of Doctor Jenner ■ Halkine. He knew him by reputation as oho of the most distinguished scientists in Europe, and he knew of his peculiar intimacy with Sir Godfrey; ■ butthat did not make his vague suspicion any the less xmeomfortable. "I should like to know something more about that fellow," he said to himself, after he 'had given hie confidential clerk instructions to draw up the will. "He is wonderfully clever by all accounts; but I don ! t like clever people being made trustees in a will which involves big estates, and money running into nearly three millions. These geniuses ought never to have the control of money. They almost invariably play the fool with it. However, Sir Godfrey's instructions are clear enough, and they must be obeyed. After ail, his money and his estates are his own, and Harold Enstone may think himself a vcrv luckv voung fellow."

A couplo of days later Mr -Barthgate mot Professor Halkine at the manor. He disliked him at the first glance; suspected him of all sorts of things during the first hour of thenacquaintance, and at the end of the second, which was spent over luncheon, ho 'had come to the eonclusou

that hewas one of the most charmingly intellectual, and, at the same time, most unbusinesslike men of gL'iii:;.'; ho had ever met. In Mr Denyer he found a- colleague •who was entirely to his liking—a thorough man of tho world, sharp, shrewd, and well-read, yet kindlyhearted, and possessing tho widest and most generous views of life. Wherefore, on tho whole, he felt that the disposition of Sir Godfrey';; fortune was quite properly provided for. The only thing that puzxlcd and (somewhat annoyed him was the singular change which, seemed to havo taken place in Sir Godfrey's manner andgeneral lines.of thought since, ho had last met. him; He did not seem to bo tho samo man. It appeared almostat; though ho had reverted to some previous period of his life, and treated things generally in a rough-and-ready sort of way, which at times almost shocked the custodian of family affairs. "You don't appear to- bo quite yourself just now, Sir Godfrey," he caid next morning, after breakfast, while he was waiting for the broughamto convey him to the station. He had the will, signed and witnessed in duplicate, in his nocket. "I hope you haven't been overworking yourself over those scientific theories of yours. Why not run up to town, and sec Alderson?"

"My dear Barthgate," replied Sir Godfrey, in a tone which the lawyer thought -suspiciously boisterous, "that's all rot—l mean nonsense! I never felt tetter in my life —in fact never so well for twenty years past."

"What on earth is the matter with Sir Godfrey?" mused Mr -Barfchgate, very seriously, as he drove away. "He really seems entirely changed. His language ;is entirely different; and ' s for that last remark of his—well, really it was most vulgar, and the idea of Sir Godfrey Enstone being vulgar is quite impossible—at least it would have been a short time ago." Nearly a fortnight passed, and the personality of Sir Godfrey "slowly but steadily deteriorated under the ruthless treatment of Professor Halkine. Yet, unknown to the man who bad already committed forgery by proxy, and was now deliberately planning a murder without parallel in the history of crime, there were certain lucid intervals during which he .secerned to escaue from the evil influence, and his better nature was able, partial; if not entirely, to reassert itself. Fortunately, as it was afterward proved, for the interests of justice, he employed most of those periods of returning sanity just as such a man might he expected to do—in writing a diary in which he analyzed his symptoms, as far as 'possible, and drew almost every deduction but the right one from' them. Perhaps the most extraordinary feature of these strange in- ! tervals'was the fact that they appealed to have inspired him with a fear or distrust of his friend, the professor,

which, liapily prevented him from letting him know anything about the diary. H ho lind done so, it is practically certain that Halkine would have'used his evil influence to got possession of it. As soon as he heard that Grace and Tlavoid were coming;" back from London, where, they had made a stay of about three weeks,;.the professor at once stopped what he had called his treatment, and the result was that, although Harold f-aw a distinct change, in Sir Godfrey, it war, not sufficiently striking to encite either uneasiness or suspicion. He simply put it down to overwork, and the too keen devotion to his somewhat uncanny studies. ' It only appeared to him as a sort of mental depression, which the excitement of the approaching festivities «nd wedding would certainly dispel. i A month later 'the wedding took place, and went off as similar weddings do. Mr Bonham Denver, who had returned to town a few days after the execution'of the will, was invited, and brought with him a very pretty, diamond-and-emerald bangle as his offering to the bride. When all was over, andHarold — happiest of men—had taken his beaujtiful wife away for a six weeks' run J through the Italian lakes, and the south of France, Halkino and his friend found themselves once more together at the dower house, discussing the events of the day over their pipes.