CHAPTER LXYII.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1595, 23 September 1882, Page 5

CHAPTER LXVII.

Jack was quietly breakfasting at a little hotel where he had taken up his quarters. He was anxious to sec the papers ; but an aged and amiable individual had taken unto himself the only morning journal subscribed for by the host, and it was not until he read it to the very last advertisement, that Jack ' could get it. Nor did the old man make the slightest discovery of its contents, although there was sufficient in the paper to make a frozen man speak. No, he would not do that much to please his fellows. A glance sufficed to apprise j Jack of the awful event of the last night. He saw that by some means Hector had learned that Bunakum had made a confession, and that he had resolved to forestall vengeance. At first Jack could not imagine how the inf orrnatHh had been conveyed to him; but he presently remembered the absence of Prudence, and at once conjectured what had occurred. The newspapers &et down the extraordinary event, for the fact that poison had been taken, was carefully concealed, to the fact that Hector had seen he would lose his position in a short time, and be relegated to private life ; and this had preyed so, much upon him that it had brought on a severe attack of heart disease, from which he had for years been suffering. This, of course, did not satisfy the general public ; and they invented numerous tales to account for Hector's sudden death, which, no doubt, will go down to their children, and assume the shape of portentous legends. After Jack had fixed Bertha comfortably in a little place at Emerald Hill, he returned to Grit, to begin the labor of life again, hoping Fate would be kind to him once more. After the terrible events of the past few days, and the death of aIL his enemies, Jack felt certain that a brighter future was in store.