The Swoop of the Vulture.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10715, 21 September 1912, Page 2

The Swoop of the Vulture.

'CUR SERIAL.)

, CHAPTEK XVI. (Continued.) "Good Lord, what luck!" exclaimed the colonel,, pill ling his stubby gray 'mustiiehu, and turning his bright biue-gray eyes sharply on the millionaire's bronzed, iixed and wondering, why he, Hedley Siemens, a man whose uncounted gold might have almost bought the hand of a princess, had lighted up so sirangcly while lie was looking on the fair face and exquisite, iigure.cf Grace lanston .«. "Av.d so th;* nw chap died on the threshold <;f a treasure house, which you had the the luck to unlock. Wei! well, the old story, J suppose the one shall be taken, and the other left. You made the millions, and he left. his bones there. By the way, what was his other name? Xot Godfrey wai it?"

"Yes," said Hedley Siemens, turning shandy round. "Yes —it was" — Godfrey Enstono; hut that can't be his daughter, because when I knew him his wife bad been de«d two or tlfree years and had no children. It can't ho the same man : ""d. anvhow as I've told you—he died there/" "I wonder if he really did," said Colonel Forester, in his soul, "and if he did, how? It wouldn't he the first time that two men have found the making of millions, and only one 03 them has corno away." Trfren bo went on aloud "That's quite right so far—she's not'h:« daughter, and the Godfrey Enstone 1 knew never had a child. She is Mrs Enstono, because she married the adopted son of Sir Godfrey, really the son rf an old travelling companion of his. a brother explorer, somewhere in central Asia. He died tliere. and Enstone brought the lad home, gave- him 'hi» name, and made him his heir." '

TliCj millionaire suddenly turned his bead away. A s«iH contraction of the eyes, a widening of 'the nostrils; and a. twitching of the lips, had instantly and irresistibly altered Iris whole expression. He had good reasons for nofc wishing the colonel to see it, so he pulled out his handkerchief. and took refuge m a very good imitation of a sneeze.

i "Oil —all —yes. T see. Brought him back from Asia.' Then, of course, it can't be the same man. Very likciy the poor chap J knew tn-the NeverNever land .had got hold M -a name that didn't belong to him. There are lots likethat in Australia now, and in tliosodayfi there were a great many more. But if you were a friend of this: Sir Godfrey's. I suppose you know the lady. Would you mind .introducing me if you have a chance?" Under tiie circumstances. Colonel Forester could not say no, and yet for some unaccountable reason he would rather not have said. "Oh, yes, I know her," replied, the colonel;'"hut if you really want an introduction, here comes Lady Pontife:; __..j lo 'lt do the needful for you a great deal better than 1 could." J A few minutes lateu Hedley SieI mens found himself making the usual } conventional inclination before the ouiv woman upon whom his. eyes had looked wfth interest since the days, now nearly thirty years ago, w,hen, sore-lioaited and soured through and through by the faithlessness of the prettv, feather-headed doll he had once c died wife, he had turned lis back on the world, swearing never 10 face it again. He had a ten minutes' chat on most 'commonplace subjects with Grace and Lady Georgina. and thou Harold came up. and was introduced. The gold king shook hands with him. and theieyes met for an instant, after which each felt thai; lis- know the other just as well as !»•> wanted to know him. Then Fiaro'd turned to his wife and said:

"T liavo iust had .a -message from the House to say that my voto is urgently required to saro ft .strumitis ministry from defeat, so 1 must go. ril take the brougham, and send it hack for von at once, and T suppose yon. can expect me when you see me. Ton see, Mr Siemens, that is one of tlio delights of trying to catch the speaker's eye. Well, good evening. 1 hear you are in London for some time, so T dare say we .shall meet again.'"

"I hope so." responded the millionaire, he nodded and smiled farowell: then, as Harold went away, he turned to Grace, and began talking to her in a. strange, subtle charm of manner, which would have paused no ; little surprise to any one who knew -him. About half an hour later, he and I Colonel Forester, who, in a quite respectable and honourable way, played the part of social jackal to his lion, and did many things for him which lie had neither the time nor the inclination to do for himself, made their adieus, and drove awav in Siemens' brougham to his splendid flat in flyde Park Court, overlooking the park. "Xow, Forester." he said, throwing himself into a deep armchair, and taking out bis cigar case, "I waiit you to tell me the complete storv of the Enstone tragedy. I've heard bits of it from the colonial newspapers, but I was flying about so fast just then, , and had so many other things to think j about, that I really paid no attention \ to it, though the, name struck me as I familiar." So Colonel Forester began at the

«BY-OWEN. MASTERS.

Author of "His Heart's Desire," "One Impassioned Hour," "Captain Emlyn's Bride," "The Dereroll Heritage," "The Ironmaster's Eaughter," etc.

beginning, and gave him tho whole history of the strangely involved tragedy, down to the death of Jenner Halkine in the snow, the claiming <jf his body by his sister and Doctor IzaliHam.il, and its cremation at Woking, in accordance with his often-expressed j wis he,'. For he first time for . many long ! years, Hedley Siemens, the man of perfect- digestion, iron nerves, and unruffled temper, sought the oblivion cf sleep in vain. Nearly thirty yeai-s ago Jio had awakened from what was almost a boyish dream of wedded love, and since then he had never looked upon a woman rave perhaps to admire her in a physical .sense; and now. , with the swiftness of\i Hash of light- 1 iting, the unexpected, which might also have been +ho inevitable, had come "to pa.?s. The ice was broken. The volcanic forces, which had been hidden for so long, bad burst into sudden aetion, and with something ] like-.incredulous amazement he found | himself passionately and. in a sense. even honestly in love with another man's wife, and tha.f. other man was the son of his greatest enemy, and the adopted son and heir of th« friend and comrade -whom he had deserted and left todie in the -'wilderness of the Never-Xever. Was it only an accident, or one of those slow revenges which time and fate work out between them? But the revenge might not be all on one ; 'd'\ He wiit. still in the very r>rime of Mfe. onlv forty-seven, and with his million o , bis perfect physical and rental health, and his strong., masculine beauty, so strangely enhanced by h'is almost feminine softness —wa.s ho not, a match, even for the fates themselves? And was it not. written th»t the sins of the fathers .should be visited upon tho children? >

CHAPTER XVII. IZAH-RAMAL REAPPEARS, The Enstone tragedy was ucarly two years old now, and, six months before the first meeting of Grace- Enstone and H'edley Siemens,- a fairInured, dark-eyed son had been born to the now lord of Enstone Manor, and was thriving apace, to the groat deliirlit of srtid his beaut'frl wife, to whose loveliness the joy and dignity of motherhood had added yet another charm. Tn all the world it would have been haixl to find a happier man and. woman than those two favored darlings of fortune, who had been firpfc brought together by the evil arts of the extraordinary criminal who had only escaped from the lifelong infamy of penal servitude through the purging fires of the crematory furnace. All that was over now. and they were doing*, their host to forget it, when one day J about a week after Lady Georgina. Pout if ex's ■reception, the whole miserable story was vividly brought back to them in the most strange and strikhi[\ fvshion.

On the twentieth of June. Avhen the London season was at it? height, ■md evervbodv who had any pretensions to be thought anybody was in the town, the two worlds of society and science startled, amused, and interested, after their different fashions, bv the simultaneous appearance in all the leading British and Continental iournah' of what was generally admitted to be the most extra- ' ordinary announcement that had ever appeared i"- newspaper columns. It was nor, in the form of an advertisement, though in some cases it was probahly paid for as such, and it consisted of a detailed setting forth of the aims, object, and working of the Institute of Physical Science, which was described as an international establishment for the shidv of the higher developments of mental and moral philosophy in nil their forms, exact :rid occult, and its main purpose was to he tlio nccomnlishinotit cf the tremendous task nf iniitin<l" the feliools of Fnsteni ami Western tltonalit. i which, so far. had been separated since their beginnings by an'" impassible gulf. (To be Continued.)