The Troubled Journey

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19897, 28 May 1936, Page 4

The Troubled Journey

SERIAL STORY

[ SYNOPaIa. . : Joan .\iartin cannot "get on" with Janet, iher stepmother. The other Martin child.ren, Felicity and Jimmy. feel the same lbut it is easier for them, as Felicity 1.7 married and living in London, and Jimmy ‘ Is {itwfistmigggom‘voh - re withl-‘elicity. Ehe attse'ngsnda fiievsatéOcélnvfi ll‘hjd‘gial school owned by Derek Graham. 8 . 8’ nidm‘er, and later is successful I‘ll: Obtainlng a post as secretary to Geotey Matthews, head of the vast commei‘ Cial enterprise of Matthews and \Vyatt. Meanwhile, avarice has bitten very “reply into Janet Martin‘s mind. She hates llier stepchildren, and plans to hurt vhem “1 every way she can. ,Fenl‘ity’s husband goes abroad to superVlse an engineering job. and Felicity ecEOmDanies him. After seeing them on“ at bouthampmn, Joan is surprised to ilnd lhereh Graham waiting to run back to ondon. _— CHAPTER XVl.—-(Continued.) As frequently happened, very little was said between them. Dorothy dropped into a reverie, and Joan think—ing, as ever, 0! Ralph, was well pleased to be alone with her thoughts. Ralph—~— Would the agony which that name spelt never ease? I c 3 n t For the past few weeks. Geoffrey, Matthews had been his old self again.‘ lie was even getting popular with the other members of the staff, and had‘ little time to spare in semifina- . The office was certainly hBDDY‘ enough; but. it, reminded her. very strongly, of Ralph. She learned that he did not tele—J phone these days. Whatever husb‘ ness he had had with his father seem— ‘ ed to have been forgotten, or finished. Joan tried not. to think about it, but she found it absurdly easy to spend .1131: an hour of her homeward Journey I thinking of one 0! other or the Metthews. Geottrey Matthews was not going to have his hand tornad. 'He WES 8”ing to declare his own bankruptcy. it was soon alter she had type-d‘ those letters that Joan saw help“He burst into the cities, without knocking, and she saw that his ayes were red-rimmed, as if he had not been sleeping well for weeks. But. there was a glitter in them too‘Hold everything: he said. and ‘his voice was thick. " I‘m 5881118 Jacques again this afternoon. and I think I can stop him.‘ Matthew‘s eyes hardened as the faoed lhis son. “ It will come, sooner or later," he said. ” Not if we can get another year to work in." _said Ralph. Joan had never loved him more than she. did at that moment. He was faced with adversity, and it was obvious that he had [been suffering. But there was Isomeihing about him which would have compelled any man‘s admiration. ’iie looked as if he would be prepared to tight to the last; and he looked cap‘able of winning his tight. There was a brief pause. Father and lson looked hard at each other. Geo!,irey Matthews eyes dropped first. , “All right,“ he said. “ Try.“ Ralph swung round. Just tor a moment he looked at J oan. and there was a sudden ohan'ge in his expression. a softness which made her heart leap. Then he left the omce. He left Joan feeling worried, and afraid. She hardly knew why, but it seemed to her that something was happening in Ralph as he had been there, as it he had decided to take a risk, the only chance there was of saving his father’s firm. \Vhat would he do? Why was he seeing Jacques again? Geoffrey Matthews shrugsed his shoulders as he looked at his secretary, and said: ' "Tear the pages of those letters out of your shorthand hook. 11155 Martin. and burn them, will you?" Joan complied immediately. Mat—thews dictated other letters, but he was obviously still worried. After half an hour he started up whenever the telephone bell rang. He was wait—ing anxiously for the call fr‘om Ralph. None came. None had come at half—post live. when Joan was finished (or the day. Matthews looked at her, grimly, and shrugged his shoulders. “ It doesn‘t look as it he's had any luck," he said. “\Ve should have let those letters go, Miss Martin." “But surely there’s a chance or saving the situation." said Joan. Her employer shrugged his shoulders again. ‘,

By MARGARET GLENN.

“ There is. but it‘s a. very faint one. The truth of the matter is. Bites Mar—--3 tin, that we‘ve been playing on our 5 shareholders‘ money for a long time. ; I won't say that I didn‘t know about it. but \\‘yatt—that's the other part- ! ner, handled most of the work. \Vell i —Wyatt died. Everything was left in l chaos, and Jacques learned what. we‘d ' been doing. He's been :blackmailing ' us, and Jacques learned what we‘d i been. doing. He‘s been fhlackmailins : us. ‘until we can stand it no longer.“ Joan said nothing. There was noth—ing which she felt she could say. sit though she appreciated the fact that I Geoffrey Matthews had told her just ) what had happened. She had never known whether the other partner. Wyatt, had been alive or not; certainly he had not been interested in the running of the firm. She 3 understood why. now; and she was i fully prepared to believe that the - Matthews had not been the originai tors of the crime. But they had condoned them. She knew, from her experience at 5 Matthews and Wyatts. the seriousness of “ playing" with shareholders money. It really meant that the profits and capital, all assets of the com- . pany. in fact, were false. Money hadl i been used for purposes other than! » those for which it ‘had been intended. ’ It mattered nothing that the Mat—- } thaws themselves had not used the money. personally. They, or their iirm, had gamlh‘led with it and had lost it. That was what the situation amounted to. Jean saw it very clearly i —-and she saw the consequences. She felt afraid.‘ ; It was a week after Derek had been taken to Glen‘ham that the first sign of the impending disaster was revealed to Joan. She had been down to Glenham for the week-end. and she arrived rather late to the office on the Monday morning. It was very rare that. she was unpunctual. and she was not unduly concerned about it. As she opened the door of Geoirrey .\latthews‘ omce she heard voices raised in anger. One was her employer‘s. The other was familiar, but she did not at once remember where she had heard it. before. Then, with a little shock, she saw the oily face of. the man Jacques. “I've finished." Geoffrey Matthews was saying, and his face was twisted in fury. “Get out, damn you. and do your worst!” The fat man's smile was unpleasant. "That will he nasty for you, Mat.— thews.“ he said, suavely. You'll be much wiser to pay me—and to keep paying me.“ ”You've had all you‘ll get out oi me.” snapped Matthews. i Then he saw Joan. who had been standing in ithe doorway. rpstrifled.| She had had no desire to listen. but her limbs had seemed paralysed. She was staring at Matthews and Jacques. as though she could hardly believe her ears. Jacques saw the direction or the other man's gaze, and swung round. 'l-lis little eyes glittered as he recognised her. "Your secretary. eh, Matthews? She seems to come at the crucial moment very frequently.“ Joe—n hardly knew whether to retire or to enter the cities. Matthew's settled the matter as he spoke quickly. ”Go downstairs, Miss Martin. and ask Johnson to come up. Tell him that there is someone here who wants rem twins-mummy 1" Joan could hardly believe her ears. Jacques went a deep red. and his 1 lips spat out a vile word. Matthews' voice was raised immediately. “That‘s more than enough of that. Jh-CQues. Will you get cut. or shall 1 have you thrown out?" Joan had never seen such a venom—ous expression on a man's {are as there was on the fat man's at that moment. "I‘ll go." he said. viciously. “hut you'll regret this. Your day's over. Matthews, your's and your precious son's." (To be wontlnued.)