AN AUSTRALIAN MILLIONAIRE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 149, 23 June 1894, Page 9

AN AUSTRALIAN MILLIONAIRE.

BY MBS A. BLITZ.

S BOOK 111

CHAPTER Vll.—(Qontiued.) j&B truth was bhab, seeing her nephew overcome by this meeting and reunion with Hi daughter, MrsCalliport could nob stand v unmoved. Moreover, there was a W nctiby in it nob meanb for her intrneive e aze, 8° Bne fled t0 a litble room adioininß» ■' was appropriated by Jessie generally, BB d there sab herself down to bury her face Ib her handkerchief and cry as heartily as jjjgjehad on her father's bosom. There Theo found her, having uneuremonioußly sought lor her, as was his custom of old, in every room until his Lrch was thus rewarded ; and there, without apology or confession, unmindful i of bis seb speech, he opened the interview, anticipated with dread, with a qneation hoarsely spoken and of three words : •Ib she dying?' Mrs Calliport, nob aware of his proximity, started bo hear hia voice"'so close ab her ear; jjuteha did not look up, for abe sobbed her reDly in her handkerchief. •No, no ! don't say so—don't thick bo! Tbe .country will set hex up again—ib ""■She needs a doctor, and must have one at once.' ~ Lockstnd said bhiais his own old peremp•No doctor can prescribe for her.' Aunt ffeaaie raised her head and spoke a emphatically as her nephew. ' She needs change of air change of scene ; and she. poor child ! hates Phillipia. A doctor will worry her j D to fresh sickness with questions thab neither she nor I can answer. You trust her koine.' . , Lockstud folded his arms across bis chest and, gnawing his moustache, abruptly tarnedTon his heel and began to walk the room. Mrs Calliport's eyes followed^ him for a few seconds before she spoke again. •Come here, Theo, and sit down ; I wanb to Bpeak to you. I can better speak here, away from that poor girl.' But Theo stood still some few paces off, »nd said with bitterness: 'What man shall sib before his accuser— Ms Mge? 1 . , , . •I do nob wish to accuse or ]udge, she lowered with a stifled sob. •I am already convicted, then. That girl has sentenced me.' ■Ob, come here, do; don'b stand there 10!' entreated Mrs Galliporb. He obediently walked up closer to her chair, and stood before her With bent His worn, care-seamed face, his despondent attitude, his bitter repentance, representing to her a phase of his character totally unknown and unexpected, did more to soften her towards him than any seb epeech could have done ; and her maternal affeotion, bo chilled by the blast of all belief in his fubure redempbion, first genbly fanned into warmth by Roland's letter, only needed a strong breath such as this to enkindle ib; for the love sparks were by no means dead, bub smouldered beneath the ashes his irreparable crime had created— the ashea of withered hope. 11 moanb once,' she said, with no rebuke in her accents, 'to forget you had ever been as a son to me, to show you no more pity than you have shown to others ; but I did nob ask you to come to-nighb for con- ! lure, bub for peace. I am nob going to touch on what has happened or add to your distress. I have tried to do a mother's duty to you and must have failed somehow else there could not have been, bo much wrong in your life. I have scolded you, have preached and besought and with all have done no good. You have of ton laid your peccadilloes ab my door, and perhaps you've been right bo do so. But if we have both been in error'tis nob too late to turn over anew leaf.' •Ib is too late to change destiny,' he muttered,with his eyes on the carpet—too late.' • I don't believe in a destiny independent of our own creation, thab comes to us whether wo will ib or not; destiny is jusb what we make it; we can control ib for good or for evil—lead up to a rose-garden or a pestilence. Your destiny has been in my hands and I have nob worked ib properly, it seems. You see, I am willing now to take some of the blame on my own shoulders; • and becau?e of my faulty guardianship we all suffer now—you mosb of all—yet your suffering shall be your ransom.' 'I suffer more than if I were seb to breaking sbones,' he answered gloomily. ' There is death in that girl's face, and so inrely as she dies I am her murdarer.' His voice broke, and again he turned and walked away, his arms ptili folded, bis head bowed, a transformed Theodore LockBtnd. •She will not die,' said Mrs Calliporfc, with a sudden querulousness, as if impatient with him for hinting ab the possibility. 'She is young, and money shall not be spared to buy back her health, hsr roses and dimples and smiles.' 'You are very good to us all,' he replied still tramping. He had often made this remark before, bub never with the present sincerity that gave the words the true ring. ' I have tried to be, tried to be,' said the old lady','^with a shake of her head implying dissatisfaction with the trial. ' But sit down Theo ; there is one thing more I wish to say to you, but your walking irritates me; old women are so easily irritated.' He drew a chair near her, and ab last sab down, ready to listen, and with his long white fingers palling and twisting ab his moustache; his nerves were, too unstrung for perfect quiescence of muscles and limbs. 'I juat said,' she wenb on, ' thab I am an old woman; well, that's a facb, you know ; and thab old women have sometimes nervous fancies is another facb. One of mine is thab my time has nearly run out. I am going away tor our dear Jessie's Bake; the efforb to leave my shell may do me good or may do me harm. I don't know. Anyway, " Who knows whab a day may bring forth ?" Therefore jb is just aa well for me to tell you something to-night, for ib is an excellent opportunity. If ib Bhould be ordained that we may not speak together again like this, I wish you to open that davenport of mina in the next room. You will find in a drawer there a little book, a history in your own mother's writing, my dear sister's. .It concerns you only, and for that rea'HMJ I wish no other eye bnfcVoura to see &,, no other band to touch it. It has nothing whatever to do with money matters.' Lockstud looked ab her curiously and waited to hear more, but she ceased for a moment, while in the act of drawing from her pockeb a bunch of keys, from which she selected one in particular, to be slipped from the steel ring. This being done, she handed it to her nephew, saying : 'Keep ib carefully, and if I don'b return you'll know whab to do with it. 1 'But,' he asked, 'what is the history? end fa whab way does it concern me?' She pub out her hand and laid ib on his.' 'My dear, yon will know all when you read the little book. There are strange coincidences in life, and you will be struck with one shown >o this simple little diary,

Ib is a secreb now, bub to be made known" bo you after my doath.' ' A secret ?' Theo thought the one secret of his life had been burdensome enough, and be did nob feel the least anxious to have another tbrusb upon him. Bub he took the little key and consigned ib to his waiscoab pockeb, wibh a shade of bis old impatience darkening his face and knitbing his brow. 1 Yes, a secret,' wenb on his aunt. ' Bub after what baa happened. to you and us, it seems to me the misery of her life was light in comparison. She left it to me bo tell you ab my own discretion, and now I think the time has come to bell you. Thab is all. I think we aaghb to go back co our poor girl.' They role together, and he offered her his arm ; thus linked they returned to the bedroom, where they found Jeseie sleeping calmly, with her soft and lengthy lashes resting on her cheeks and glistening yeb with her tears, with her lips partly open, and her bands folded as though she bad passed into slumber with prayer. ' Poor child ! don't wake< her,' whispered Mrs Calliporb, gazing lovingly on the sweet face. Lockstud did nob. His hearb sank again and his bosom heaved, as heySbooped and kissed her lighbly on the lips with a 'goodnight' and 'good-bye' only mentally uttered. ' We used to kiss—you and I,' observed his aunt, when he held oub his hand to her ab parting. • When you had nob found me out,' he answered somewhat sullenly. 'No, my dear; but I have found you oub to-nigbb, for the first time, to be made of better stuff than I thoughb. Now, sir, kiss me/ He benb his head gravely and obeyed her with the lirefc impulse of grateful affection he had ever felt for her, and so the rehabilitation was complete. * He went home conquered, a better man, bub one of the mosb miserable men in Phillipia thab nighb. He was a modern Prometheus, with more than one vulture gnawing at his vitals. Debt had been stronger than remorse, bub now remorse was more mighty than debt, and God help the man who falls a prey to both together. But Mrs Calliporb was sensible of more content than she had known for weeks. Would she have been so could Bhe have foreseen thab whab she wished to be a posthumous disclosure would nob be posthumous ab all ?

CHAPTER VIII. THEODOKE LOCKSTUD SAYS ' FAREWELL.' Yes, Lockstud was in debb. Had he nob lost heavily by the collapse of the Nabob, and to recoup had he not dipped recklessly into speculations of divers kinds. A mirage promising an El Dorado—a tree goodly to all appearance, wibh clusters of fruit—a river running golden sands ; each and all allured him in turn, to drag him oub of bis depth into a sea of debt, wherein he floundered, catching at straws, bub sinking deeper and deeper. The reports which had reached the Pennacoves concerning him were nob without truth. As before stated, he had tried to sodden his mind* and its wholesale burden of care with drink ; but he was one of those who, so indulging, never quite sink the man, or raise the brute, bub thab incarnation of recklessness and excitement which, being neither brute nor human, must be a devil of its kind—a devil daring him to wield the cue, deal the cards, or back a horao, with equal dash and foolhardiness, quite anomalous to a character both shrewd and cautious. Unfortunately he began by winning. Success was the mirage —the Eldorado illusory, the tree bearing Dead Sea fruit, the river of golden sands proving a bog ; for be played higher and higher, betted wilder, staked hundreds on Asahel, the supposed winning horse of the Clatterbang Cup, and losb—losb all, more than he had won. So his substance waa dragged ; so Cecillambda, and whatever property he possessed besides, became mortgaged ; so the mortgage loan was absorbed ; so bis position aa bank manager was held by a mere thread ; and so, lacking the moral courage to correct habits of expenditure, domestic and otherwise, he, goaded to madness, contemplated a dangerous loophole oub of the wretohed maze. Things were at such a pass thub nighb when Priscilla soughb him and took the garrison. And thab morning, when she, having read and re-read Roland's letter, was eager there and then bo pub forbh her hands to snatch the brand from the burning, he was sitting ab his desk in bhe manager's room at the Civic. There were books before him, the business books of the bank, over which he bent with a chalky face and frowning brows, wibh the pen bebween his fingers ; bub he did nob write. Thrice he dipped it, and hovered over a lino or a figure ; thrice bhe ink dried, wasted on the nib. Ultimately he threw the pen from him with an oabb, and, closing bhe books with a heavy thud, he swore ab himself for a coward, and said : •I'll do ib to-morrow. My brain reels, my hand shakes ! I'll try again tomorrow.' Whatever ib was he thought to try again on the morrovr waß never attempted. There are fiery swords nowadays to guard forbidden ground, and one was thrust in the manager's face the nexb morning. ' Leb the memory of his past wrongs and his sweetness and goodness this day lead us bo peace and farther from sin,'Priscilla, the nighb before had said, in reference to their first-born. The words were still ringing in his ears, to conjure up thab dagger of wrath, that bulwark of flame, to dnnce in vivid lights before him and stay his hand. He did nob waste time or ink with a trembling hesitation at the bank books. But, locking himself in the strongroom, those precious bags, so weighty yet co small, which had been deposited in his escritoire at Cecillambda just before Priscilla had surprised him with her overture of peace, were now hurriedly brought forth to light again, gripped with a nervous clutch; there was a white distorted face, a groan, and they fell from his long lithe fingers back to the receptacle from which they bad been drawn nob bwenty-four hours earlier ; then followed the ehutting to of drawers and iron doors, and the fiery sword flashed victorious across the bloodshot eyes of a would-be thief at the threshold of tempting em. Nexb, hurrying to his own office, he turned to the lavatory, there to lave his hands, as if they were blood-stained, and needed the 'nitre' of holy writ, while he said in his hearb: •Poor 'Cilia! Will she ever know from wbab she has saved me ?' ' Mr Lockstud,' came a voice from without). Lockstud, drying his hands on bis towel, walked calmly to the d -or and opened it. •If you pleaao, sir, j m are wanted,' said a clerk. 'Coming,' said Lockstud, who, apparently as cool and dignified as ever, strode from the manager's room, if nob an honesb man, ab leasb no more diahonesb than when he had onterod it that morning. Who says an angel's wings had nob interposed between him and further fall? After this he waited for the olive branch that Priscilla told him he might expecb from Aunb Jessie, an olive-branch thab migbb give him something to cling to as a possible, rescue from the debb thab submerged him; and in obeying her call, he resolved to make a full confession of his difficulties — nob of the temptation *to tamper with bank books and bags. He could nob in reason expecb her to replenish hie wasted thousands. Yeb he looked to her to aid him in some way; nob for hia own sake as much as for the credib of the family.

Filled with vain longings and regrets, and with nerves aba high tension, he ab i length entered the houße. Bub seeing Jossie, as he though, with death stamped on her young face, bis resolution faded ' away; he could not touch upon his losses .that night. Up to thab time, though moved to contrition, be had yeb struggled to subdue and smother an emotion which, in its novelty, was torture, since ib tended to crush his self-esteem and turn him stonedeaf to a comfortable sophistry called up for a salvo, and becoming an irritanb. Row, however, the struggle ceased, and the emotion, no longer fettered, broke from its restraint and mastered him, like the bursting of a man-made dam; the God-given-water forced an outlet, and flooded his soul to pain and purification. Ho listened to his aunb speaking of the book in the davenport, showing first a slight) curiosity, and then an indifference, for he attached small importance to ib. • Probably,' he told himself. 'Ib tolls of some girl's folly in my mother's early days, which she believed in keeping for my matured worldliness to jndge, that ib might be accepted with allowances, and nob condemned too harshly.' If the debt thab oppressed him as ib did became a minor grief in the presence of bis daughter, and before tio white face thab haunted him after, ie is small wonder bhab the existence of his mother's diary should fail to arouse in hitn a strong interest. So he left his aunt without having said a word in reference to his monetary position; bub later on he thought he would see her again to-morrow, and speak of ib then, her manner being rather an encouragement for him to confide in her. It never occurred to him to adopt for bis own text certain words of hers used thab night)} ' Who knows what a day may bring forth ?' Can it nob be well understood now why'he was the most miserable man in Phillipia ? He saw death advancing and debt pursuing—demons of his own evoking. His memory was charged with crime—'a hag to ride his dreams ;' a with fifty tongues jabbering and jeering eternally, ' Sin, debt, ruin, deabb ;' a peal of infernal, witch-like bells clanging discordantly ab his bed, his board, and his desk. Pro metheua is a myth. We know ie ie against all organic laws thab a liver should be gnawed ab perpetually without decrease or decease. Bub human law does nob forbid the heart to be stretched on a self-con-structed rack to crack and writhe and waste with its agony. Rewards and punishments are meted oub on earth, and whatever awaits us in that wonderful mysterious future, it shall be some positive of the negative caught here below, in sunshine or shadow, the negative clear or blurred according to the stand we take—the light or the shade—before the abiding, omniprepenb, holy camera, reflecting; recording word, deed, and thought for ever and for ever. Lockstud suffered his senbence. He passed a sleepless nighb, and rose the next morning more daggered, more grey. Priscilla's eyes filled when she saw him leave for the bank. • Poor fellow,' she thought; ' how eorry —how awfully sorry ho is ; but ought I to wish him bo be less bo ? She did nob worry him with sighs or tears, bub did a score of little services to show her pifcy and prove her devotion, and only in her eolitude cried out her sorrow. She was suprised when he returned about mid-day, for he generally lunched, in the city and never came home till the bank was closed. • What is the matter ? You, are ill ?' she questioned, dropping hurriedly some needlework as she rose from her chair. Ib fell unheeded on the floor. 'Not ill,' he replied, with an attempb ab a laugh to reassure her, as much like a smile as a streak of lightning is like a sunbeam — 'nob ill, but hipped, worried. I couldn'b breabhe ab the bank. I wanb a spell, and I'm going to have ib for a few hours.' She gazed anxiously up into his face. How very ill he looked, she thoughb. 'You must rest—you must lie down,' she urged, not knowing thab for him to lie down idly would be no rest whatever. • Lie down ?' he repeated. *No ; I'm going firsb bo Aunb Jessie and to see our Jessie again. Then I may be able to rosb.' Prisoilla answered this quickly and wibh some guprise: ' You bade them good-bye last night, I thought, and ' •Yee, yes, I know,' he interrupted; ' but I must see Aunb Jessie on an important business matter that can'b wait, won't wait.' 1 Bub, dear, they have gone to Wondoo. Didn't they tell you lasb nighb of their intention to start this morning ? They were here this morning after you left on their way to the station to Bay good-bye to the children and me.' She could not understand the expression of dismay that crept over his face, or why he made a gesture of impatience an be walked to a lounge, and there, sitting, benb forward wibh bis elbows on his knees, and nursed his bead in his hands, as one meeting wibh a dire disappointment. • I never thoughb bo ask, nor she to tell me,' he said, moodily. I Why, Theo, whab is wrong ?' she asked, going over to him and taking a place ab his side on the lounge. Ib was in that little arbour of a room which he, in a tender moment, had called •'Cilia's Bower,' before Roland had come to them, and where Aunb Jessie had reproved her for taking things too easily with her tripping, faulty husband; where the vines were still clinging, and baby roses blossomed, bloomed, and faded, to blossom and bloom again ; where caged, birds still hopped and chirped, and gold-fish sported in the sun-rays slanting through the trellis, and the breeze freely played and trifled now with the soft loose tendrils of her bleaching hair. 4 What is wrong?' •Mucb.' He never raised his head. * Hor right hand stole to his neck fondly ; she nestled closer to him. ' Don'b speak so, Theo, you alarm me. Is ib eometbiug thab will nob pass away with time ?' • Yes,' he thoughb; 'ib will pass away like a whirlwind, perhapß, after sweeping all before it. It was on his lips to say, ' We are ruined,' 'bub he held his peace, desperately clinging to bis aunt as a means of averting catastrophe. He signed and shook his head only. • Can't ib waib bill she comoa back ?' queried Priscilla. • No ; I must see her at once.' And then a sudden idea leaped bo his brain like a flash to lighten the annoyance of learning she was ab present beyond hia reach. He lifted his face, and turned to his wife as if to speak, but hesitated beforo he gave his resolution words. I 1 shall go to her. I shall starb by this afternoon* train. Ib will be the best.' 'Is it so urgent?' she faintly asked, her i heart beginning to tremble with a nameless i fear. •Very urgenb.' • And can ib be about money V uhe asked again. ' About debb,' he replied, forced to say something. i 'Debt,' she exclaimed, wibh a painful i start, bhinking of whab the word implied, , and of all Aunb Jessie had already done for them with monetary help. ' Debb ! Oh, i Theo, is it, can it be' for a large amount ?' tlt occurred to her then that Roland, * having alluded bo bhese rumours of her husband's habits, had nob been misinformed. ■ but her idea of the debt was wide of the i reality, and her simplicity was unable to ) comprehend the depth to which a gambler ) may be hurled. ? JJitbijrto avoiding anything like ft

scrutiny in words, which she knew he would not brook, she now broke forth into overwhelming interrogation in her eagerness to learn tLe worst, and comfort) him if ehe could. Bub he answered her with his wonted imperiouaness, ' I can'b attend to all your questions,' and rose from the lounge to walk from the room, and escape from what he felb to be Inquisitorial torture. Presently she heard him ordering one of the servants to pack up Mb dressing-case and a change of linen, and then she listened to his receding footsteps, and felt half dazed with a new terror as they gradually died away, and she guessed ha had gone to the far-off room of hie one-time exile. She shivered, and knew nob why, while an indefinable longing to accompany him to Wondoo so possessed her that she followed him to propose herself as his companion on the trip. She found him, as she expected, in that same room, bub so busy at a small iron box, where letters and business papers were accumulated, that he did nob notice her entrance. He was on his knees, fumbling amongb the paper litter, until he came across a letter which evidently concluded his search, for he ceased the fumbling, and commenced to read ib, bub did not finish, for Priacilla gave a little cough, and immediately the letter was viciously ribboned, and the fragments fell from his fingers, tossed anyhow and anywhere on to the floor. It was one of the few that; had come to him from Isabella Goldwin—only a hurried, businesslike letter, bub still hers—bearing her signature, and one which he felb impelled to destroy, as if determined to sever all connection with bhe very name. s He ehutto the box with a sharp click as Priscilla- faintly made hor proposal, or rather her appeal. ' Theo, I wanb to go with you to Wondoo. May I?' 'Ib is besb nob.' He spoke gently enough, but his negative was painful. He never looked at her, but flicked the dust from the knees of his trousers as he gob up from his kneeling. ' The trip will do me good, but there will be too much rushing over it for you. I will be back to-morrow, and at the bank.' lAh ! do take me with you. I don't mind the rushing.' She pleaded child-like, yeb ready to obey his decision. He was afraid to consent — afraid of failure with Aunt Jessie, and the consequent desperation in himself that would make him a sorry companion. 1 No,' he said. * I must go alone;' and she turned away, importuning no moro, bub accepting his veto. In less than ton minutes he lofb the house, saying he would be back in time for lunch, and he took a cab to drive as far as the young ladies'college where his'second daughter was boarding. He wished to say good-bye to her for some inexplicable reason. As she was absent six days out of every week, only coming home on Sundays, be could have taken a run to Wondoo half a dozen times within the seven days without her being any the wiser; yet he went, and surprised her with his visit and unusual genbleness. He had been so churlish in the matter of his kisses and caresses towards his children thab he quite understood her expression of wonderment, but not the transformation in himself which had caused it. Some invisible hand was seemingly urging him, willing him to acb aa ho bad never acbed before. Irresistingly he became the agenb of some occultforoedetermining bis movements—his very words. The same force sent himdriving hurriedly back to the Civic Bank, ostensibly to give his son Jack a message relative bo the business of the bank, bub in reality to shake hands with him, and surpriso him, too. •Going to Wondoo, is he?1 said Jack, with elevated eyebrows and shoulders, as he watched his father return to the cab. ' Bub why this tbuanesa ? 1 never saw him look so down.' And Jaok looked ab his right band, etill warm and tingling with the parting pressure, as if he would like to read there the meaning of ib, and then drew it hastily across his eyee, which had suddenly gathered mist. When the hour came for Loekstud's departure from his home to meet the train, his buggy was kepb waiting ab the gate while he kiseed his younger children, still in the school-room. Priscilla looked on, her nerves sbrained, her heart in her throat. There is something pathetic in seeing the world-hardened man forgeb his coldness, and stoop to kiss a child with a new-born warmth jof sentiment gracing bis features and his action towards ib. She felb it so, and when her burn came to say good-bye she could nob speak bhe lasb word to him then. But she had an unexpected opportunity of trying aeain; for when he was only five minutes gone, he nbarted as one does with the memory of something ; important left undone, and with the impelling of that will which did nob seem his own, be called aloud to his coachman : ' Drive back; I have forgotten something.' Righb-about-face turned horse and buggy. Returning, he alighted, and hurried to the 'arbour,' where he had loft his wife. She was there still, but on her knee* bitterly sobbing. He wenb over to her and raised her to her feet, and ehe, never stopping to think why he had come back, was only anxious to apologisefor what seemed violent undue grief: ' Oh, Theo ! I can'b help ifc. I never felb like this before when you have been going for a holiday. It must be seeing you so unhappy, and my inability to cheer you. Ib is the debt like lead on your hearb and mine,' He made no allusion to the debt), bub held her in his arms as he spoke with difficulty : 'You have cheered me'; I—have—come —back to tell you so. I have been a brute to you—no, don't stop me ; let mo speak while the pride i 9 wrenched away—l have been a brute in some things, have kepb you from a worthier husband. 'Cilia — good little woman, faithful and true — forgive me, and — and pray for me: I can'b form a prayer for myeelf. And here, take this'—be drew a little key from his waistcoat-pocket, and pub ib into her hand—' keep thab till I come back. Ib belongs to Aunt" Jessie ; • I mighb lose it, and if I don't come back ' •Oh ! whab can you mean ?' cried out Priscilla. 'Nothing, nothing!' he answered quickly, startled by her look, and rousing himself as if from a dream in which he had spoken aloud. Nothing. I don't know whab lam aaying.' Of course I'll be back to-morrow. Good-bye, goodbye, good bye !' A burning kiss for each good-bye, bob bears on his face and hers, and he was gone. She heard the rumbling of bhe buggy wheola, the wild pit-a pafc of her heart, and ! ruahed to the front verandah to catch a lasb glimpse of the buggy as it swerved round a corner. And yob ha meant to be home acain on the morrow, and parting from him for a few days like thia was no j novelty. " 9 i But ib was nob the temporary separation that was oppressing her; it was the manner of it. Theodore Lockstud was gone l (To be Continued.)