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The Romance of a Business Girl.

(;'UA.L r I"K-il XJI. (Continued.) . . . Jim (inunt-MOil away, opening his lotto: r. ji--i he v cut. Tho first wia from Captain Mayhow, and within was a check for the full amount of his indobtncsa to Girling. The letter was dated at Monte Carlo. "1 have heard about your piling, old mar.,"' ho wrote, "and 1 liopo to Heaven tint it will turn out as yon deserve, Never mind who my informant is . I shall send the bride a wedding present, although I have reason to know that she detests mo. I was in London a couple of days since, and got your homo address, from one of your people in Thames Street. J wanted toget otit of your<lebt. I enclo.se cheek, wnd shall never forget yon and your kindness. I havo had a run of luck at the .tables here, .and .practically broke the bank. I started with a trifle —and I can't explain wb:it im'pelle<lffi'eto>d<>'so.However, it is th»old story—never gamble with, a-man whose entire capital is half a crown. Tf you do to, yon are found to be skinned T havo sworn a solemn oath never to gamble -again, Oarling, and I*ll keep it. My wife' had reason to be unhappy. I've had some hard thoughts about her, but if ever I get the chance, I'll make, amends. T shall l>e on my way home- by the time this roaches you," Jim had paused under a blossoming lilac tree to read Mayhew's letter, and when he had finished he stood for several minutes in eohfnsed thought. What would Lady Laura's jewels fetch? Two or three hundred pounds, perhaps, sold to Continental dealers. ;This money, then, had provided Mmvj hew with ammunition with which to have a shot at the gamine tables, j He looked at the check, and the first impulse was return it Perhaps May-hew would contrive to return the. jewels. How could he grip Mayhow*s hand again, and, call him friend ? Impossible ? i A bloom from the lilac, stirred by the wind, fluttered down upon the open letter. Slight as it was, this disturbed /the current of his thoughts, ' and he folded check and letter, ca.ro- ' fully placing them between the leaves of his pocketbook. He continued his way to the arbor ;at tlie far end of the garden, before j opening two remaining letters. One I was of no importance, but the otiicwas from Serena's uncle. Mr Fleming [ had evidently written under the .stress of deep feeling. His niece's slight I had hurt him very much . He considered, that,.in no circumstances .on*'', j she to be married from any house but I his: He was her father's brother, and her father and.<he had.over been devoted to each other. Tlie last wish of his brother was that Serena should be placed in his care. "Ring me up, my dear Oarling, when you are back in London." he concluded.; "I've got a lot'. on my mind. . . . T must see Serena and have a serious talk with her." Jim's sensations were annoyance and anger. iFor one thing, he was wearied from the strain of the past few days, and there was the irritant knowledge that Serena was not exactly happy with his people. "Relatives are the very dickens!" lie exclaimed. "It appetrs to mo that a man doesn't belong to himself where the most important step in his life is concerned.' ' Serena surprised him -with a dark and 'worried look upon his usually sunny face.i The letter lay open on the arbor table,, and she saw that the signature was her unde's. She knew* the embossed note heading, and his sprawly, •' 'savage-looking signature. He a always «igriea'ihi s ; :with. a: quill pen-"prodigal of ink, as had been the rule of Ids firm before ho was born. "May I see it, Jim?" sh esaid suddenly. 'I know that it concerns me. Your face betrays it." ■*l didn't ,tnant to tell you to-day. but there you are. Nothing in it, only this continual interference. Of course he is right in a way, but you are not bound " He opened his cigar case, and began to «moko . Serena read iher uncle's letter, and pushed it over to him. "I 'wonder what he really means, Jim?" "Better .wait until wo hear what he has to say. I saw an uninhabited island offered for sale the other day, a thousand miles from everywhere. Let's buy it, Serena, and bolt." ♦1 almost wish that we could." She seated herself 'beside him, and he drew her bead to Jii s shoulder. "You are not happy with mv peopled "Not quite. The first day was horJim's face was strained. Anger

'OUP SERIAL.)

BY F. L. DACRE Author*:'* ''A Fleet of Dreams, ' "Silar o Money," "The Shadow 0 f Shame," "A Phantom of the Past," H ©hi in Bondage etc.

sprung into his eyes, to as quickly • vanish. He could nob entertain a hard ! thought i->r the f.;tlier ai'-d sister he ' loved .so well. j "They don't mean anything, Serena; it's their nature." j "I am such a nobody!" sighed the girl. "Rubbish! The old folks hero are very chuiish. Money doesn't enter their thoughts. Tho chap my sister's engaged to hasn't a cent beyond his' salary." ' "I love your mother r.lrendy, Jim. And," she nestled closer to him, "it will be all right with everybody soon. 1 i am ia stupid little fool, Jim; I never I knew it until now. I have had a nervous sense ofsomething unpleasant impending for days and days, and it frightens me. The suspense is intolerable. You know -wh::t I mean?" j "No, I don't, and I think it idiotic to encourage childish and fantastic bosh of any description. You have been left too much, to yourself this: week, so let's get otit of it. We'll walk to Perry Bar Station, and go by train to Birmingham. A whole day of it, Serena, finishing up with ia moving picture show." I Jim .was laughing now, and Serena straightened herself at once. She was ashamed of rfierself. ) "Forgive me," she whispered; "I think that I need a good shaking.-.-My egotism and conceit are responsible." 'Don't you abuse my sweetheart, Miss, or we snail quarrel!" he said. Just thirty minutes later they started for Perry Bar Station. Jim's mother gave Serena a fond kiss. Sarah was standing in the l>ackground, her face expressive of stern disapproval. I "She can smirk and smile, now that there's a chance to go gadding about,' she thought. "These butterfly women make bad wives. I ought to have kept a sharper eye upon Jim." The lovers went to the works at Birmingham, and to Serena this was a veritable wonder world. In this busy bivo a. thousand human beings were employed—men, women, and l>oy,s. It consisted of a series of "shops," roaring furnaces, humming machinery, and tho constant clanging of a hundreds of hammers. I In one of the shops were a dozen machines, ranged in ,i straight nwv. Each one stood upon a solid polished plate of tempered iron, some four feet square, and every inch seemed to I.e. alive with whirring wheels. There was one man to tvich m.uliine, and a b",v to serve him with rods of iron sixz'insr. < I at white heat. The boy took these 'rods' out of tlie 'jaws of a roaringfurnace, and the-man plunged them into the teeth of the machine—continually pressing them home until the 'hented portions were eaten away. ! , With every bite of the machine, which , was swiftly automatic, a finished "nut", or "bolt" dropped into a iw- ' eptacle on the other side. "One of my inventions, 1 ' Jim briefly said. "A- few years since, it took half a dozen men to handle a lint machine, and the thing weighed many tons , This does five times tho work-, jafc one-fifth of the cost." [Serena looked, and felt bewildered. ) (To bo Continued.)

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAG19121105.2.3

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10711, 5 November 1912, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,318

The Romance of a Business Girl. Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10711, 5 November 1912, Page 2

The Romance of a Business Girl. Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10711, 5 November 1912, Page 2

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