PAID IN FULL

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21223, 20 September 1940, Page 3

PAID IN FULL

= NEW SERIAL STORY 5

by H. S. Sarbert

Ti 111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 n CHAPTLn Vll.—(Continued) I “Don’t revile her to me—l won’t. listen to it! I love her!” Harry cried j angrily. “And I believe her, too. j Can you look me straight in the I face?” ’“I can always look you straight in the face, Harry,” his father replied quietly. “It would be a very unhappy day for me if I couldn’t.” “Well, then—tell me this: Did you order Carrie from this house?” “I ” “Did you tell her to go?” “Yes, I told her to go,” the father admitted. “But I had good reason for doing so. She had insulted little ! Viola, who had done her very best ; for you—who had sacrified herself i in every way possible to get you well i and strong again, without any thought or hope of reward. And ! Viola only asked her not to upset you. , Yes, my lad, I admit it! I ; did tell her to go! I thought it was ; my duty to do so, and when she turned round, with a sneer on her ; bps, and said it wouldn’t be very long before you followed her, then I replied: ‘God help and pity you if you did!’ ” “You said that?” j Harry’s face had become white | “I said it, lad—and I meant it!” ! with anger. Carrie would have gloried in this situation if she had been here to witness it; to know that it was in her power to make Harry look at his father in that ' way, speak in that way—feel as he j now did towards him. The father saw the anger, the resentment, the antagonism—and it cut him to the quick. His own flesh and blood turning against him! The boy who had meant everything to him. “You meant it!” Harry cried. “You sent away the girl I love—ordered her from the house. I know what you had in mind. The thought—the hope—that you would be able to part us for good and all. But I tell you that you won't be able to do that, father. Just as soon as I can do so, I'm going straight back to London. I'm going to tell Carrie how sorry I am about everything, how deeply I regret the way she has been insulted.” “Harry ” The son made a quick gesture. “That's not all,” he went on. “I’m going to do my best to hurry the marriage forward. I’m going to ask Carrie if she’ll marry me at once. That’s the only way to stop this sort of thing. She said that you hated her, that you would do your best to part us, and I agree with her now. But when we are married all that will be ended. You feel that the marriage ceremony is lioiy, I know, so you wouldn't seek to come bei tween man and wife. ] “I never thought it would be like

this between us, Dad. I know you’ve been good to me—but perhaps it has been easy to be good .vhen I’ve obeyed your every wish. Now there has come a clash of wills. .Ve don’t see eye to eye with each other. You want one thing, and I want another. You want to choose my future life’s partner for me—and you can’t do it, father! You simply can’t do it! If I’ve to choose between you and Carrie—then I choose her. That’s all!” The father’s hands had clenched involuntarily. There was so much that was unjust in the son’s speech so much that was utterly and entirely wrong, that his very soul ros<? against it. There were hot words on his lips, but he controlled himself just in time. He must not say anything to Harry just, now that he would be l'kely to regret afterwards. He could not widen the breach. No, that would never do. Harry was not quite fit even yet. He turned from the rooms and went downstairs. He was glad that old John Winn was not about, glad that Viola did not see him. But there was someone who did. Hilda Holden had heard the sound of Harry’s angry voice. She could not help catching a few of the words that were uttered, and as she went into the room where David was she caught a glimpse of his tragic face. He saw the sympathetic look of inquiry, and gave her a few brief facts. “Maybe I’m wrong,” he muttered. “It’s not for a father to order his son’s future life or to seek to choose his wife for him. But when Harry talks as he does—Heavens! nurse, it doesn’t seem possible that it is my boy who been talking to me. We’ve been all in all to each other, such pals—it doesn’t seem possible that Harry could talk to me like that—or look at me in such a way—with hatred in his eyes. Ay, that’s it—hatred! For there was hatred as he looked at me and accused me of driving that girl away.” Hilda laid a hand on his arm. “Not hatred,” she said. “Your boy doesn’t really hate you, Mr Preston. He couldn’t. It’s just a passing phase. He’ll regret it later on. He’ll be sorry, and he’ll tell you how sorry he is.” “I don’t want him to do that,” David muttered. “I just want him to understand, that’s all. I want him to know that there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for his good, not a thing, and that what I did was with the best of intentions. It was the letter she wrote —a wicked, unjust | letter. I can imagine the look on j her face as she wrote it—the cruel smile that was on her lips. She would do anything to cause mischief between us. And as soon as he gets back he’s going to marry her!” “I wouldn’t take it too much to heart,” Hilda told him. “He’ll cool down. I'm sure he will!” The next day David Preston took his son to their home, and Hilda Holden returned to London. David looked forward very much ,to the time he would have his son. i It would be so much like old times, the two of them together, and David knew that he would be able to look after Harry all right. But the rift in th*e lute did not seem to be healing up. Harry had long periods when he seemed to find conversation very difficult. It