PAID IN FULL

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21212, 7 September 1940, Page 7

PAID IN FULL

= NEW SERIAL STORY =

by H. S. Sarbert

CHAPTER V (Continued) j They consulted a time-table, and ' found that it would not be possible , to get to Shalford that night by train. j The only other way was to go by car. j James knew a man who ran a taxi. 1 He ’phoned him up and discovered ! that he could come round at once. j “You’ll make it in just over a j couple of hours,” James told Mr Preston. “Try to keep your spirits up. You will find your son much better when you arrive. I’ll be praying for you all the time.” Both Hilda and her brother had j seen how terribly upset their guest ; had been by the news. It was only natural, of course. Most fathers would feel upset about such news concerning a son—but there was something very noticeable indeed to those two about the way Harry’s father had taken it. A strong man, trying to control himself, under the stress of a very deep emotion. They had noticed, the involuntary clench- : ing of his hands, the perspiration ! that had gathered in beads upon his > forehead. When the car arrived : at the door Hilda came to a sudden decision. She spoke to her brother about it—and James nodded. “I was going to suggest it, my dear,” he said. “I’d have gone my- , self, but I’ve those two meetings in ' the morning. Now, you ” i “I’ll go,” she put in. “You’ll tell them at the clinic, will you, Jim?” “Of course!” And so when David was about to

start, Hilda came into the room. She was in her uniform. “I’m coming with you,” she said. “I’m a nurse, and I may be useful If not—well, I can come back again!” “That’s splendid of you!” David took the girl’s hand in a quick clasp. This was friendship—real friendship. These two people were his real friends. He had not known them very long, but they were proving their friendship. They were ready to stand by him in *time of need. There were long intervals of silence during the journey down, however. Except for a word of comfort now and then, Hilda did not attempt to break these silences, for she knew that her companion was deep in his own thoughts, that he might not like too many interruptions. Harry’s father had plenty to think about. In spite of himself, he could not help the feeling of anger, of passionate indignation, that surged over him when he thought of Carrie Lucas. She had been driving the car. Very likely it had been her fault that the accident had happened. He remembered his first meeting with the girl, how she had nearly run down the little child outside his own shop—-what a bad accident there would have been then but for his quick intervention. She was the type of girl who should not have been driving a car at all, at any time. And today, on the Sabbath, it had been she who had made Harry change his plans. But for her Harry would have been with him at church. The girl had come between them —had made all the trouble, and had smiled in her lofty fashion, glorying in ;.he fact that she was taking his boy away from him. And now, perhaps, she had taken him away for good! If Harry died A shudder ran through him. Hilda felt it, and she touched his arm “We must go on hoping for the best,” she whispered. “I’ve just been looking out of the window, and it seems pretty dark—but there is the certainty of dawn, isn’t there?”

j “I know,” David Preston respondI ed. “But he should have been with me today. He should never have gone off with—with that girl at all. j If he had come with me, it wouldn’t j have happened.” ! His hand had closed on Hilda’s i convulsively, and she returned the i pressure gently. | “It’s going to be all right,” she j prophesied. It was just after one o’clock in the morning when the car stopped at last outside John Winn’s shop. The old man had not attempted to go to bed, and it was he who greeted Harry’s father, and Hilda. (To be continued daily)