The Swoop of the Vulture.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10716, 23 September 1912, Page 2

The Swoop of the Vulture.

'i)W SBH4L.)

CHAPTEB XVII (Continued.) Every branch of the vast subject was to bo studied purely oil its merits and without reference to .vcientiiic or religious prejudices. Students af all races and religions were to be welcomed. Neither blood, caste, nor color were to bo allowed to influence ft students carrier, and the sole title to admission ana membership was to be ability and devotion, j'iie strangest fact of all 'was Iha 5 no sub,sorptions were to be asKed tor, and no tees were to be charged. On the contrary, stmUm.s, if biiey snowed special aptitude tor the studies i:i question, and were too poor to forsake their employment and devote themselves entirely to the work, of the institute, would not only be maintained free of charge, l)iit would even receive salaries suhicient to support them in that ease and comfort, and I'rcetloni from all cares and responsibilities of ordinary life, which was considered to be an essential condition for the proper prosecution o; thei.- studies.

Tho director of the institute wa.s the pundit, Doctor Izah-liamal, late professor and lecturer in tho llniversity of London on Oriental languages and science , and from this fact alone it became clear that tho million which the genius and the crimes of Jenner Halkine had enabled him to extractfrom the fortune of his victim was really about to be devoted to the object described in Sir Godfrey Enstone's self-forged will. "Well." said Harold to his wife, when lie had given her ihe gist of the strango announcement, "there is just this ce?cJu':bii about it: Whatever ■Qua may think of tho way in which they got the money, they do seem to be trying to do some, good with it, aJ id that's bettor than levanting out of tho country with it, and using for their privato ends. I wonder if the Doctor Jzah-lininal will have the cheek to send us cards of invitation to the opening- reception and conversazione f"

"liui yen vro uid u'L go if he did, rta.ro.u, ..oulci voiir" silo saio'.

"J. Uiju U U JIV u u SmO-Uldll't,'-' ho Replied. "it's teir Got! trey's money uum/js uoing it- ana personally l aon t uou..- any - uag«. mat uuiomiiuiti? uuc.i} ot yoms nas, aiter all, only an example 01 ymu genius run a bit niau, tuid \i't_ must aanirt.tnat iie oniy did lor ins jrou-aiAs .science u great aeai loss ihau persecutors liave (tone lor uie honor at xneir creeds, aim yet, reuuiuu xue goott opiiuon 01 tue no da. ah any raw, he nau paid ine last penally a man can tor ills .sins and Jus, mistakes, ana mere, so far as i am eon cornea, is an enu of tko matter. It was a loc or money, but i don't uiink wo couJd have been any Happier vita ic. Ueatn closes all 'accounts, and i can't say that 1 fee! any pamcular grudge about it." "I'm very giad to near you speak J ike that, near/ sne vient, on, arter si little, '•because, alter all, lie was my liiotiier s broiiier. Jint tuen there is this v Hoc tor Kainal. Jrlow can we go to his institute, and make l'rienus with nitn 3 wnen for all we know tie may have been an accomplice? ' /

"Tho answer to that is that we don't know, and don't want to 'know. vJ'lhm'o. is not a sined of proof of it. This Doctor lia mat's antecedents are not only irreproachable, but mast distinguished ; and certainly if-any evidence of good faith on his part was wanted, liere it is, because he actiui!ly undertakes to spend tlio money very much as J thing Sic Godfrey himself would have spent it. I don't exactly know how you feel about it, but l,m ready to let bygones bo bygones." "That's just what I should like to do," she said; "ami so, if -we were invited, f suppose we shall go. Everybody will, bo there. For instance, just 1 imagine with what enthusiasm Mrs Howel-Grover will throw herself into it. I know that since that lust scandal forced numbers of respectable peoplo to give, lip Christian Science, she has been simply pining for a new religion, or something of the sort. And Princess Xatictf, too." "Yes," reqlied Harold, "Mrs Row-el-Grover is a. very nice;, jolly little woman, perfectly harmless, with all her fads, and the colonel is an excellent sort—quite an angel of patience, I should think; but the princess—do you know, I've always had a sort of — not exactly dislike or suspicion, be- , cause I'm not given to prejudices, ( but "

"So have 1," Grace interrupted. "A'kind of vague distrust, a feeling that although there isn't any reason to think so, she ought to go about marked ''dangerous.' She's beautiful in a diabolical sort of way, brilliant and universally informed, and she gets into some of the best houses in the country. Plenty of money, too, apparently, and I'm quite certain that Georgina Pontif'ex would he the very last woman to take up any 'one, princess or not, who wasn't quite worth reproach. By the way," she continued with a laugh, "what do you think her last ambition is said to he?" "From the gossip I've heard about her at the clubs, she seems crammed with ambitions, and half the men in town rave about her •beauty, her wit, and her general attractiveness. Yet. somehow, no one seems to have a really good word to say for her. What

BY OWEN MASTERS.

Author of "His Heart's Desir c," "Odo Impassioned Hour," "Captain Emlyn's Bride," "Tho Dtveroil Horitage," "The Ironmaster's Daughter," etc.

is it?" "Haven't a notion." "Her affinity, if you please, is no other thon Hedley Siemens, gold king, railway king, steamboat king, poet, artist, scientist, and goodness know.-; how much else besides—a woman hater, or, a J j any rate. vronian ignore;-, into the bargain. The joke of it is that vh talks about it in the nioyfc delightfully naivo manner, and says she really doesn't caro who knows it, even the. great Hecilcy himself."

"J)o you naow, Grace," ho replied, "there's something that man I don't like; and, more than that, 1 somehow havo an uncomfortable lecling that I either know him, or have seen him before, and J can't make out where. The man luis every possible advantage tuat >ou could imagine the Fates giving to any one." "And, therefore, quite a good affinity, I should think, for her diabolical highness, the princess," laughed Grace, turning toward the wincWw. "\Yluiu a nair they would make! Aml yet, Hal, I can hardly agrc j with you. Although ] can hardly say I know him, he gives me the idea, of a man with an immense reserve of power in him. Then he's so different from thb ordinary millionaire; and, whatever you may say about your men at the clubs, theres no doubt that the women like him."

"And some of them, I suppose, would very much' like liim to like them just.as that evil-eyed princess would," he replied, a little harshly. "Is there any truth in the rumor that the proud Lady Georgina .herself would not object to sec him and his millions at her feet?"

"There is a rumour of that sort, but 1 don't believe a word of it. J think that Georgina would rather see a match between the princess and his majesty than herself. And now I must go and look after Harold the second. What arc you going to do with voursel; till hinch time-'"

!"l'vc got a little mooting on at Winchester Hausu, about, i.hat nc«v i coal mine of ours that's going to make lus even more scandalously ric.i iiuui we are, and then there is that express ocean mail, i had a. note last night from Davidson to bay U;at i.ur nuiuia; frienct, the gold Ki;;g, \>ants u Jjjw.u i;i that, and 1 don't exactly like the prospect. He's a hit too clever and too ricli'to make a saf..\laca>J'v partner, I think."

"What nonsense!" said, with smiling reproach. "You know perfectly well you could hold your O'ivn with him or anybody else. Oh," she went 011, with quito l'eminino divergeance, "while you are in town, do try and had out wuat people in the city -are saying .about this Institutes of Psychic Science. It's Georgiua's athome day, and I'm going. .Hiereil bo a. lot of people,-and they'll all be talking About it, so I want to have

something to say, too." "Your ladyship's commands shall be obeyed," ho laughed ; then he went on more seriously: "lint won't that ho a little awkward lor you, dear?" "Certainly not. Everybody knows the story, .and my real h'iends think about it iv-j ue do. ..Now, good morning, and mind you bring me back a nice big budget of news." Then she kissed Ihim and disappeared, to spend a couple ol hours of unalloyed pleasure in the society of the new master of >he house.

CHAPTER XVIIf. ' A COMPACT. T'iio opening reception and conversazione at the Institute of Psychic Science, the local habitation of which was on a pleasantly wooded estate, sloping southward horn Denmark Hill toward Dulwich, was a unique and a curiously fresh sensation. 'i'lie Enstones, ;uul all Lady Georgian Pouifo.x's particular set, including the princess Natioif, and Air Medley Siemens, received cards of invitation, and a .second batch reached the yet more extensive acquaintance of the Honorable Airs Kowcl-Grover, the wife ol : a distinguished colonel of engineers.

:Scienee, in the persons of many of Doctor Ilamal's friends and forme;.' colleagues, attended, mostly in an attitude of tolerant and large-minded skepticism; and even theology was represented by several more advanced exponents. The fact that the institute asked, neither for patronage, nor for subscriptions went .a long way toward allaying certain suspicions which they might otherwise have, had. for even people of the most rigid views or the most exalted morals are inclined to look indulgently upon anyhing that promises to be interesting, aj-ul that co^ts-nothing. The remainder of tho European and American portions of the guests was made up chiefly of those earnest hut het-erodov seekers after truth and notoriety who still believed in, or had grown dissatisfied with, the-tenets of theosophy, Christian Science, and kindred forms of spiritual diversion. (To be Continued.)