PAID IN FULL

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21216, 12 September 1940, Page 3

PAID IN FULL

“ NEW SERIAL STORY = I

by H.S. Sarbert

CHAPTER VI (Continued) * His voice had become very weak. This interview had been too much I for him. It was the kind of thing the doctor had warned them against. And it was more than Viola could tolerate. She felt she could not let it go on. From the other room she had noticed the change in Harry’s voice, and hurried into the sick-room. One glance at him was sufficient. In spite of himself, his eyes had closed with weakness. “Has he fainted?” Carried asked. “Oh, this is terrible! I feel like fainting myself.” Viola did not answer. She took Carrie’s arm and led her from the room, closing the door after her. “If you want to faint, perhaps you will be good enough to do it out here,” she said pointedly. “What do you mean?” “I mean just what I say,” Viola answered. “I told you what the doctor had said—that Harry was to have no excitement at all; that anything in that nature would surely retard his recovery—and you have not paid any heed. I must ask you to go now, please.” Carrie smiled. “This is your ‘little hour,” isn’t it, Miss Winn?” she said cuttingly. “I don’t understand you.” “Oh, yes, you do—you understand me quite well. You are in love with Harry Preston. You thought you were going to make sure of him —that he was going to marry you. He might have done if I had not come along. And then—well, he just preferred me to you, didn't he? and that was the end of everything for you. You must have cried yourself to sleep quite a lot, thinking of that!” Viola could not help the little ( spasm that passed over her face. 1 Harry’s father, coming into the j room at that moment, saw it, and his | first impulse was to make his pre- J sence known immediately, to stride i forward and tell Carrie exactly j what he thought of her. But he waited a bit. “You’ll make the most of the present situation, of course,” Carrie went on. “That stands to reason. You’re going to nurse him, aren’t you? Perhaps you think you’ll win him back to you. But I don’t thirifc you will. I think you will be very disappointed. Harry loves me. You cannot get back a love that is dead, however much you try.” “Will— you— please—go!” Viola pleaded. “Of course you can tell me to go, for this is your house. That’s just the sort of thing you would say. I’h go; but with the knowledge that as soon as Harry is well enough, he’l. come back to me.” The boy’s father than made his j presence known. “If he does—God help him!” he j said. He moved forward then—stood towering above Carrie, who retreated a couple of paces. “I heart all that you said,” Mr Preston wen. on slowly. “I couldn’t help hearing. I know my boy thinks he loves you —but I’m telling you now that it’s not the right kind of love. I’m telling you what I’ve told you before—that you’re not the girl who is going to make him happy.” She shrugged her shoulders. * “Only Harry himself can decide that!” she said “And it seems that he doesn’t iig.ee with you.' “There’s one thing you’re going to do,” Mr Preston told Carrie, not raising his voice, but speaking witl. \ a note of authority that Carrie could not ignore. You’ve insulted this lass, and she has treated you with dignity. I know you’re supposed to be a lady—but I know also which of you two has seemed io be a lady to me. Now go—as you’ve been told to. Go!” Carrie went to the door and then looked back. “I’m only too glad to go,” she said, “ancl I shan’t come back. I shall never enter this place again. It has not appealed to me in the slightest. I can assure you of that. But Harry will want some sort of explanation—and I leave it to you to tell him whatever you like. It will be rather interesting. And try to keep him away from me—if you can!” She went then, and David patted Viola’s arms. “Don’t be taking to heart anything she says, my dear,” he sympathised. “It doesn’t count for much. I can give you my word on that!” Just Common Sense • Carrie Lucas went straight back to London. She telephoned to her j father, telling him not to worry ! about her, because she was not so i hurt. Her father also wanted to j know about Harry Preston, and | Carrie answered that she would let | him know ail the news when she i arrived in town. I She got home to have dinner alone j with her father. Lucas was inj dined to scold his daughter a little, j “You know you’ve been a very j naughty girl, Carrie,” he remarked. “You’re a reckless driver—always have been, and in taking that bend, surely ” She made a q’..:ck gesture. “For goodness sake, father, don’t begin to nag me as soon as I get back,” she said irritably. “It’s not a question of nagging, my dear—it’s just common-sense,” her father replied. “After all, you might get badly smashed up yoursdf one of these days. Something j might happen, for instance, that would seriously spoil your beauty. Think of that: ’ Carrie shuddeied. “I don’t want to think of it,” she cried, “and youk’e very mean to j make such a suggestion. You’ve ' robbed me of all appetite. I shan’t ' want any dinner at all now.” ! She made an excellent meal, and I then she gave her father the full details of the accident. The car was “in dock” of course—there was quite a lot to be done to it. And i Harry had been badly knocked I about, but the latest news of him was that he would get better. ’ Of course. | his people wanted to fix the blame on her. They would be only too pleased to do that. They did not approve of her —wanted Harry to marry someone else—some village ’ 1 maiden, a grocer's granddaughter or ' something of the kind. | (To be continued) I

A “ Rap ” was a forged halfpenny circulated in the reign of George 1.. giving rise to the expression, “ Don’t care a rap.”

A merchant at Teddington, Eng- I land, hid 7000 sovereigns under the floor of his house during the last war for safety against air raids.

Every time a British 3 6-inch naval gun is fired it costs £2OO. The guns themselves cost approximately £45,000.