The Romance of a Business Girl.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10713, 23 November 1912, Page 2

The Romance of a Business Girl.

CHAPTER XX. (Continued.)

"Worrying about nothing, old chap. Shy hasn't told you about every aeqvr.iulaiioc vet. feonio old fiiends turned up exjK-ckvily. 1 called, upon jii. s I''.. and fthe was A-I. Got c.il;! 11 my wife, ftn<t is making jraoo al, .»:• : r.i Bho is a jewel of a girl C';i vliPossess your eoul in patient, i d'.ui't go looney over nothing."

"I think you are right, Mayhew. T thought of going to Ha instead, but it will only upset the Flemings." Mo sat down, and wiped 'his perspiring face. "Dine with me, Carl in g. It will he!]) to kill the time." "Thanks—no. I am too restless to be good company. 'l'll go back to mv hotel. I forgot to ask if there was a letter there." "Cool off a hit first No news of thoso jewels. Not a thing Ijeon offered to the pawnbrokers, as far as the English 1 and Continental police can find out. Lady Laura has written me a nice letter, and X going to soo lior to-tnovvow. They talked in desultory fashion for a while, but M.iybew saw that Carling's thoughts were elsewhere, .so did not press him to stay.

When Jim got baok to the Cecil, it was almost dinner time, and he killed another leaden hour at the table. He wan just finishing his coffee when an attendant glided up to him. "A gentleman wishes to see you, sir.' "Where is .lie? Who is he?" Jim nervously asked. "A foreigner. He refused Ids iia.me. Sav's that lie must see you, sir."

"Take him up to my room; I'll be there in a few minutea Another cup of black coffee, with a nip of cognac." Jim tossed away a half-smoked cigarette, and produced a-'black cigar. H.is nerves were all on the jump. What con Id a foreigner, who refused his name, want with him? -Good heavens, if anything had happened to Serena!

# 0t»«? ; 3 fcK|V;,.)

He swallowed his coffee, and, puffing at his cigar, left the dining room, and went to his apartments. The anteroom door was standing open, and near to it, but just outside, the attendant was discreetly waiting. "Ho is in. the anteroom, sir." lie whispered. Jim nodded, and walked in, to find himself face to face with a slim, dark man—perhaps thirty years of

ago. His dancing black eyes were afire; his lips twitched, his hands flew about.

"Hello!" exclaimed Jim. "You I wont to see me?" "Yes —yes." "Well, you see me. What's up? Who are you?" "This room is not private. Can't you be decent to a gentleman?" ■ ( "French, eh? Anything to do with j my syndicate? Nothing. You should know me —Gaston Cuveilla the bird- J ■ man. the great aviator." "T beg your pardon, Monsieur Cuveilla. Your face is familiar; I've seen pictures of you in the illustrated papers, of course. Come into my sitting room, and let's hear your yarn. Sunday isn't a business day. with nu\ and T may say at once that I haven i the least interest in the sonstruction of flying machines l . My hands arc already too full ol what T have made a life study of." "Bah! I)o you take me for a fool ?" Jim stared at his visitor, and his quick temper showed :ts?lf in his darl- ening face. "What the dickens do von want? i Out with it." I "You would throw dust into my eyes; you cannot. I am now come for satisfaction . Where is the lady ? ' Jim was really, astonished. He looked the Frenchman up and down; ho I burst into laughter —half amused, j half angry. * j "My excitable birdman," ho grinn- ] ed "you have evidently come to the wrong shop. Don't you think that y.ou had better fly away? You have a tile looso in your top story." "Bluster—brag! Yon cannot' bully me, Monsieur Oarling. You have caused.me ruin! f repeat —where is the lady? You have taken her away from me —she who was my partner. T. have lier contract in my pocket now." He danced and waved his arms. "She wag so much to me that I bad already learned to love her. I had engagements to fly in France with a lady passenger. I was to be paid large sums of money, and she was the drawing card. You took her from me, and I have broken faith with tho public; I am ruinedV' Jim saw that there was some truth in the Frenchman's statement even

if he had made a tremendous mistake,

BY F, 1. UkQHi Author of "A Fleet of D ream v. Sii tr iKnrHnpxois Money," "The Sbado p. ■; " :i - '• h Ph.-n----tom of the Past," H ©ld in <-tv.

(To be Continued.)

and ho adopted a pacific attitude

"You accuse mo of doing something with :i nasty llavr about it, Monsieur Cuveilla, hut- r m not That kind of man." "You lie!" screamed the Frenchman. "Men who call me a liar take a great risk," glowered Jim. "Do you want mo to throw you downstairs?"

"Ah! Touch me with your brutal hands, you boast, and I will light 1 I am not S3 big as you, but I am an

athlete. You are a bully! Hah! 1 could eat you. Have I not seen you with ray lady partner three limes? Have 1 not tracked you •hero? Now 1 demand to see her; 1 will not bo fcole:l. Answer me —is it yes or no?" As the Frenchman wildly gcsouhited, Jim caught his profile—or cleancut, small black mustache —and he reeled under the shock. It was ±He man whom ho had seen la u.o u~.> with the girl whom ho had then believed to bo Serena.

He very promptly recovered himself.

"Look here, Monsieur-Curveilla, if you will try and act less like a monkey on a hot, brick, we might bo able to clear ih) the trouble." "I ask for the lady, not for your insults —pig!" By a stupendous effort Jim controlled himself. "Well, I called him a monkey." be reflected, in extenuation. "Tell me the lady's name," he s '.d "Ah--bah —dam! She has mam names! What is one, more or less? Bring her out. She is hi.lui,;; in t'o J other room." ho raved.

"That settles it," Jim quietly said. "Are you going to get out? Do you hear me?" he'added, raising his voice. The muscles of bis nock yivelled like living things. He grabbed the Frenchman's whirling arms, and' flung him out into the. corridor like, a bag of shavings. A couple <of lattendants seemed to appear from nowhere. "We heard the noise, sir," one explained. "Turn" him out/' said Jim."l don't know the fellow —mistaken me for somebody else. The police had bettor handle hira.'* (Saston Ouveilla shook his fist at Jim. '

'You have robbed me, but 1 will get even. Hands off ,canaille! J am quiet—see! My fury is for that man —there."

"He wouldn't listen to reason," thought Jim, "and the whole trouble is in a nutshell. There iy some ladv very much like Serena; 1 can bear that out, because I was once deceived. But what an ass to come here kicking up a rumpus. He has seen mo driving out with Serena, and that's the sum total of the mischief.' ' He put his hat on, and went downstairs. There was no sign of Gaston Cuveilla, and he heard that !'' b.-i left quietly. So far, good: 1 • had an uneasy impression that the Fi'QiichmHa would crop up again, might annoy Serena. But if he saw her face to face, it would end the folly. Of course! It was past seven now, and he walked from the Cecil to the Strand, with the intention of riding on the top of a motor bus as far as Peckham Rye. Thence he would walk to Dulwich. The journey, done in this way, would occupy an hour and a half. It would soon be time to meet Serena, and end the absurd anxiety.