THE TEMPLE TREASURE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 288, 11 December 1897, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE TEMPLE TREASURE.

j Tale of India and New York

( BY W. C. STILES.)

r .YNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS I SnN INSTALMENT.

ii r trn nrder that new readers of the 'Star' M v- be"in with the following instalment §J f?j.i s story, and understand it just the ___ °me as though they had read it all from B SThpeinning, ive here give a synopsis of I *«> -oortion of it which has already been II ' h.._hed : The opening events of this Cry occur in India during the Sepoy ! hellion Lieutenant Castleton/ and a rS of British soldiers are in pursuit fa t>arty'of Sepoys who have retreated :_.l'a cavernous fissure in the hills.- In the '_ rkness the-- lieutenant' suddenly .-.dis-. nnsars Gar'rick Redmond,; a , young ffirer-with Castleton, goes in search of wm and finds him dying — mortally miunded by the Sepoys. Castleton Sore dying tells Redmond of a rich Sure concealed in a ruined Hindoo J.mole and charges him to get it- and nnvey it to' Castleton's wife, -whom he J?" i e ft in Calcutta. Redmond finds the treasure. While on his way to Calcutta with It he is robbed by Hindoo thugs, and X the endeavour to recover the treasure, .badly wounded. His life is spared by i hP robber chief, who proves to be his Se-Redmond's father having married a Hindoo woman. Redmond, supposing that S, is about to die, binds the Hindoo to Oliver the treasure to Castleton's widow. in the meantime, Mrs Castleton, having hpa-d of the death of her husband, leaves India for England with her baby. The .Md on which she sails is lost with all on hnard with the exception of the child, who is providentially saved. • Years afterward two young men, Van Buren Ordway and Dickenson Dv Page,- are passing the summer at the former's country seat in America. Young Dv Page relates to Ordway the narrative of a singular meeting he had with an English officer in TT-vnt four years previously. The English man recognised a peculiar key Dv Page wore on his watch chain. The officer also had a key of the same pattern, and he thereupon related the story of the temple treasure. When Dv Page finished his .tory. Ordway suggests that they go to India, and search for Hershi Righ, the Hindoo robber chief, to whom the temple treasure was entrusted.] CHAPTER IV. MISS OKDWAY'S DISCOVERY. 'Yes. In fact, I mean to be on my way in less than a week. You will go with me, of course. Together we will find this Hindoo traitor, and, who knows? very likely the gems that Redmond entrusted to him.' Dv Page smiled his incredulity. 'Quite improbable, Ordway. Redmond searched India for five years. In fact, he satisfied himself that one of two things must have happened.' 'What things?' 'That Hershi Righ was dead, or that he had left India. Redmond could find no trace-of him anywhere.' 'Does't follow at all. We will succeed where he failed. Problem: To find a Hindoo thief after • twenty-five yearsand recover his dishonest riches for the lawful owner. There's a nice little .task for Us, I'll' take an oath. But, why not?' 'You are wild, Ordway,' says Dv Page, with a sigh. 'I stand more chance of getting rich on my brush. You know how much that is.' 'Now don't go back on your luck. I expect to see your pictures in the Academy straight off. But first to find the East Indian robber. Fire up, man, wdry don't you?' 'I wish I might. But I assure you if you are serious I won't leave you to go to India alone, ..... ,We. jshall. have the -.neii- of the travel, arid India ig a country worth seeing.' . 'We shall leave on Saturday's liner, Shake,' Ordway sprang up, his face aglow, and grasped the young artist's hand. 'Too soon. Wait until the weather is cooler. India is a hot country, Ordway.' 'Bah! Heat will never trouble us. \Wego Saturday.' 'Very wdll then, Saturday three Weeks.' 'Next Saturday. Now don't baulk. Oh, I see. It's cutting off too suddenly. Pity. But Paula will approve my resolution, I' guarantee.' 'Paula ? I, ah !—' 'Don't hem and haw, Dv Page. She's the finest girl in New York, if she is my sister. All the same, when we tell her about Hershi Righ she will cry out and suggest the very thing that I propose. So will Mr Larrimore Doane, I am sure.' 'Will he ?' 'Will he? Don't be so confounded innocent, my dear fellow. Doane is quite passable don't you know? With you in India now, no one knows what might happen, especially—' 'I don't intend to go to India.' 'Oh! oh !oh ! You promised, young man. Faugh ! Don't you worry over my wicked little jesting, nor over Mr Larrimore Doane. I assure you he isn't in it. Besides, if any kind'of a little affair won't stand the strain of an Indian voyage, it isn't worth while to dream about it, old 'fellow. What kind of a girl do you take my sister to be ? You can be a cynic in general, if you choose, but not about her. I won't have it. You will go to India, and she will take care of Mr Larrimore Doane.' 'In case she should not, I will take care of him on my return,' says Dv Page dryly. ' ' - •-"' ' \h-A- *■--■ Ordway laughed arid suggested pistols apd coffee. 'But I assure you I haven't the least right1 to talk"'b'f"yotrr listerW this fashion, Ordway. If she finds out that I do she will cut me dead, and serve me right, too. So pray be careful.' 'Oh! she hasn't confided in me— not yet. I fully expect an outbreak every day. If she does try to sound me I shall tell her that Dv Page is poor, proud, and madly in love.' . 'Pray don't. Poor, certainly ; proud — well, about some things. But, if you please, I prefer to tell her ■the rest of it myself, if you do not think, me too. presumptuous. * There I Since you have opened for me the. opportunity, I am glad to ask your approval of my intentions.' 'By all means. Haven't I planned this "for a year ? Ah, Dv Page, it^ is the darling wish of my heart. I give you my blessing in advance. Win 1 her, win her if you can, and I reckon, from all the sky signs and earth signs and star signs that- you can, if , you get at it right, old fellow—win her, I say, and be my brother in fact, as you are already in my affections.' Ordway, frank, hearty, and tender, pnt his arm on his friend's shoulder and looked .warmly into the dark eyes before him? 'Oh ! I call that cordiality ! Quite undeserved, though I won't pretend that it was. unexpected. If I go to. India with you—perhaps I would better take care of Doane before I go —don't you think so?' . 'Shoot him. do you mean .?' 'Well, in a.sort. At least' give him proper attention by a word or two with your sister.. She might then be able, in case Mr Doane should press his attention!;, to say— '■ 'A.A_2.. ... .....

'Yes. To say "previous engagement." Exactly. Good idea !' _ 'It will rest my mind while we are in India, Ordway. It is good to know some one misses one, you know ?' • Once fired with the sense of adventure that Ms resolution imparted, Ordway, with his characteristic impulsive enthusiasm, began immediately to put it into execution. He was delighted, as he had promptly assured his friend, to know of the regard which, the latter had revealed for his sister Paula, and between his interest in this affair and his fascination at the idea of setting on foot a search for the stolen gems, he became an overflowing fountain of exuberant good feeling. A few hours later he and Dv Page found Miss Paula in the hall reading. She was as fine a girl as her brother had affirmed, let us say, and quite as indescribable as any other witty and independent American young lady of these modern days. Of course she read the magazines "and the daily paper, which means that she was posted' in about everything that our grandmothers would have supposed that no girl ought to learn. But let the mossbacks show a finer type in the world, or in the past, than Paula Ordway, who, after all, may be set down as only typical of the finest generation of girls that ever have been anywhere born. To hear her rippling laugh was just to know that she was true-hearted and all womanly. 'Oh, you two nice, wicked fellows ! You rush in at exactly the wrong time. I was just getting to the climax in this love of a novel. And, oh, Van ! Just think where I went —in that cranky little canoe with ' Miss York !My ! Didn't it tip, though ! What if I had spilled out now ?' 'Oh, you couldn't, you know,' says her brother, laughing. 'That canoe is a regular tub. It wouldn't tip over if you sat on the gunwale. But don't talk about canoes. Just hear the news. I'm going to India—Du Page, too!' 'India !' The carnation deepens in her cheeks as she repeats the word, looking from one to the other. 'Saturday—lnman liner. Got it all arranged. Holy pancakes, sis ! You never heard of such a romance. Tell it, Dv Page. She's just bursting with curiosity, I'll be bound.' ' 'For gracious sake what tomfoolery are you up to now ? Any way, we couldn't get ready to go to India or anywhere so soon. Please give me light, Mr Dv Page. Van is beyond rational bounds, you see.' 'Oh ! He is only a trifle excited, Miss Ordway. Pray don't be hard on him.' They both laughed a little, and Ordway said, severely : 'You conspire together, do you, to abuse me thus ? I little expected it. All the same, we are off for India' Saturday. Of course I don't expect you and mamma to go. You will soon see why. In fact, we are going oii track of a thief. It's a most remarkable case.' 'But India—lndia is on the other l side of the world. This is some device of yours, Van, I am sure. What is he raving about, Mr Dv Page ? Pray tell me ?' T will if your brother will permit, certainly. It is quite a story.' 'Meanwhile, my dear fellow, I mean to hunt up mamma and have it out with her. But she . will say "yes, alVj?ight,',,' l vhen-,I tell heY,- -.. And off he flourished, not heglecting to give a wink and-a nod to his friend on the sly as he went. An hour later he came back to the hall and found nobody. But, looking about a little, he caught sight of Dv Page and Paula coming up from the beach; and he felt quite sure, by the way they walked and posed, something out of the common had been accomplished. Paula did not look at him when she came in,, but: ran off upstairs, while Dv Page stood off with eyes cast down, looking sheepish. 'Ah, there, Mr Dickenson Dv Page ! Anything the matter ?' 'Well, not with me,' says the lover, with a laugh. 'In fact, I feel as if, to ■ speak in general, I have got that matter fixed about to my mind. Aren't you going to congratulate me —especially upon my incomparable promptness ?' 'I do congratulate you with all my ! heart,' says Ordway, taking both his i hands. 'Yes, you do get a rather quick move on us, but not a minute too previous to suit me. I hope all the obstacles to the India scheme are now removed.' 'What '. You haven't given up that yet ?' 'Oh, you unutterable backdown ! Given it up ! Why,. I tell you I mean to find those gems. Astonishes me that you have never tried it before. I Oh, come now ; get up an interest, can't you ?' 'Not a bit. I like it here better. 'But what did Paula think ? She didn't think it a wild scheme, I'll be bound.' Dv Page looked humiliated, but at last said, resignedly : 'She told me to go. In fact, she was almost as enthusiastic as you are. I wasn't flattered.' ""^Good-^or "sis, <,''._s6':.''ih*ai-.: settles .itFlittered'! " Well." I" "• understand her very well. She is as bright as a philosopher, She gets her liberty and time* -tO"-think over her.rash act while we are; gone. It is the-best-thing for you both—take my word for it.' Dv Page made a wry face and said something about medicine being bitter in proportion to its beneficial properties. '. Ordway hastened the preparations for their starting; every possible way, and his enthusiasm soon infected the whole family, including the reticent Dv Page, so that nothing was talked about, at. last but Hershi High and the lost: casket of gems. They; all".went;"back:to New York, where the*Ordways_;:resided. two days before the time set for their starting. Ordway was, on the whole, rapid and executive with any affair upon which his mind was set. He had quick intuitions and the organic sense of order. He knew, moreover, where, in New York, to go for whatever he wanted. __.__• Before the. day came for starting he had all India, in a general way, stored under his cranium, and every necessary book packed into his trunk, to be studied on the journey. Du'Pao-e left all this to his friend, and spent the greater part of his time strengthening.the barriers against Mr Larrimore Doane, or any other possible interloper who might chance to come by while he : should be m India. He was piqued a good deal at Paula s great willingness, not to say eagerness, to send him on this wild-goose chase after Hershi- Righ and the Castleton gems: He sighed and sighed, and even hinted his wish to abandon, the crazy scheme, as he denominated it; but Paula only laughed at him, and kept him up to his agreement by

a wholesome fear that __3we inspired m him that she might think the less of him if he should even dream of withdrawing. In fact, Paula Avas delighted with the adventurous aspects ~ t °f se- Any regret that she really had at parting for so long a time with her lover she was far too coquettish to display, and too modest to make ostentations. And yet there was just enough of it in her manner to keep Dv Page encouraged, yet not enough to warrant him in daring to abandon the journey. He would very willingly have given up the enterprise, in the possible success of which he had not. the slightest faith, in his cooler moments, when he was away from the infectious enthusiasm of his friend Ordway. Paula and Mamma Ordway, of course, accompanied them to the steamer, and saw them safely arranged in their staterooms. 'And don't you dare to come home without those gems, Van,' says Paula, as they parted on the gangway plank. 'Or, at least, with that old Hindoo's scalp as a compensation.' Her brother saw that she was talking to hide her liability to cry, and soon terminated the leave-taking by assisting them on to .the dock, where they disappeared in the family carriage and were whirled out of sight. 'We mustgo over to the east side for those rugs, dear,' said Mrs Ordway, as they drove away. There was a sale of Indian and Persian rugs, and Van had bought several fine ones the day before. The vendor had declined to deliver them, being only a wandering and transient' fellow, and they must go after them, since Van had assured them that the rugs were a very unusual bargain. When the carriage stopped they were in a cheap-John section of the Bowery, and hardly liked to alight from their carriage, so crowded were the sidewalks with a conglomerate of merchandise, advertising signs and passing throngs of people. 'I'll go in, mamma ; I'm not afraid,* says Paula, but with a rather reluctant air. However, she got to the sidewalk and across it. On one side of the dingy front was the rug store, even then the scene of an animated auction, and nearly filled with possible bidders. Paula did not see how she was to enter easily, and invoked a little mild, sisterly wrath upon her brother's head for sending her and the mamma to such a place. She stepped to one side a little, and thus stood in front of another window, evidently of a jeweller, for in it were displayed various kinds of jewellery and many precious stones. But when she had looked for an instant Paula gave a sharp cry of astonishment. Well she might. For there, on a black velvet tray, in the centre of the window, she saw a small metal keg-shaped casket bound with three silver bands. She stepped back and looked up at the sign. It read thus : 'H. High & Son, Diamonds and Jewels.' CHAPTER V. A BEGINNING OF CONTRADICTIONS. For some seconds Paula stood as transfixed, staring at the sign. Her quick wit soon came to her assistance, however, as she thought that so much now depended upon her. . - Qrdway-and Dv Page were on their way : to,;'lndia, to, seek, the very, thing upon • wliicli she' had accidentally stumbled. She. ran to the carriage, crying : 'Oh, mamma ! I have found Hershi Righ—and the casket, too '.' 'You ? Impossible ! For heaven's sake be calm, Paula, dear !' 'Oh !oh !oh ! I can't. Nobody could—see over there in the window. I can see it from here—the casket.— the keg with the silver bands ! Look, mamma ! And the sign—H. Righ. Oh ! It must be ! And they are off for India.' She was speedily able to convince Mrs Ordway, for the sign was indeed there, and the casket also, now and then visible, as the sidewalk cleared, by little spaces of the passing people, who mostly shut off the view. 'It is too late to stop them, dear. But we can use the cable. It is wonderful, I declare ! says mamma. Paula, who had determined not to leave the place, begged her mother to wait in the carriage while she should undertake to find out whatever she might inside the store. She soon took her resolution and walked' straight into the jewellery store. She had noted by this time that, although it was small and dingy, the window was rich in the display of jewels that were there exposed, and, on going inside, she saw that these were guarded by a most singular person. He sat mostly concealed behind a screen formed by the folds of a rich Indian shawl that was spread over a tall easel, and if one had looked under the folds of this shawl where it fell over a shelf in the frame of the easel, he might have observed that it covered a pair of ugly-looking revolvers, all ready for use. Paula, looking all about, observed nothing unusual in the place, except this young man guarding the window. : Aild" He was a. much cTpformecl. '.qui-Ce missliapen figure; with bumped shoulders and short neck, but with the smallest;- most delicate a.|id shapely white hands Paula, had ever seen upon a -man and; a face so clear-cut, refined and intellectual that, these characteristics, or something else in the look or cast of it, began at once to haunt her so that she could scarcely look in any other direction. But she was not easily thrown from her self-possession, and, assuming a semi-careless, semi-business air, she approached the counter on the other side of which he sat, and asked : •Is this Mr Hershi Righ's place, plca.se?' The hunchback turned upon her his liquid, Oriental eyes and flushed with evident admiration. _, 'Mr Hershi Eigh is engaged. Can 1 serve you madam?' Paula was thrilled somehow by the cadence of 'his voice and a little embarrassed by his admiring eyes. . 'I am the son of Hershi High. It you have any business with the house I may—' ■• , . , 'Oh, a curiosity. Pray, do not interrupt, Mr Eigh. I noticed a curious little casket—that one in the window. Is it on sale?' She probably betrayed her nervous emotion as she spoke, for the hunchback looked at her with new interest and said, 'That casket? No. Why do you wish to buy it?' The direct question came near completing her confusion, but, rememberin<r what was at stake, she rallied presently, and affected to be looking at the gems in the show-case upon the counter. 'It's of no consequence. I merely thought it resembles one that belongs to a friend. It is not. likely that two

such caskets—by the way, how long will Righ be engaged?'

'It is impossible to say, madam. Shall I send him your card?' - ••'

'Oh, a small matter of business. He is a judge in the matter of gems— a connoisseur, I believe?' She shot this bow at a venture, feeling her way along. The hunchback dropped his eyes and turned partly away. He saw plainly enough that his visitor was practising a little f cmi? nine dissemblance, and reasoned that she must have some purpose in it that perhaps did not concern'him. 'It's I who judgepreciousstones. Pardon me, possibly you have gems of which you wish to dispose?' Paula saw that he had drawn into his shell, so to speak, and hardly knew how to proceed. < 'Not I,' she says, laughing a little. 'I might be more likely to buy. ,1 took a passing fancy to the casket. Pray, sir, how much'do you think it would be worth if it were full of gems —say diamonds?' T know exactly. It. has once been full of gems. They were valued at about a half a million dollars.' 'Oh!' 'Yes. They once belonged to a Hindoo priest, or to a Hindoo temple. Afterward they came into my father's possession and then into mine. 1 am Roger Righ.' Paula caught her breath. In a few concise sentences he has revealed the whole history of the casket.' There can be no doubt after this that she has found the thief who robbed Redmond. The time since then has been so long, and this is so far from India, that now .he makes no concealment of the matter. So Paula reasoned. Her brain was all awhirl and she could scarcely restrain herself from breaking cut with her tongue. But she counselled with prudence and said cunningly: 'What an interesting history. And have you kept all these gems? My! It is a fortune, isn't it?' She smiled and beamed upon him with her expressive brown eyes and her white teeth, and melted out his reserve instanter. He smiled in return and blushed like a woman. 'No, madam, precious stones draw no interest.-These of which we are speaking were long ago sent the way of trade, to make money for me. They have doubled several times. Here, however, is a diamond —' He drew out of the safe behind him a small black box, opening it by a touch, and disclosed a monstrous diamond, flashing under the gas-light which always burned in the dark and dingy shop. 'There are but three in the world as large. But, unfortunately, there is a flaw in this. It was, and is nevertheless, one of the great diamonds of the world. It was in the casket, with over six hundred other stones of all sizes and values.' 'Your father must have been very rich to be able to purchase the casket, I should think,' says Miss Cunning with an air of great, sweet simplicity. 'They never belonged to my fatheronly to me. But I see that he.is no longer engaged. Will you see him, madam?' 'Ah, yes. Excuse me, Mr Righ, but I am greatly fascinated to think of such an accumulation of gems. Yes, pray, say to your father —' The hunchback touched a bell and a boy came out from a rear room. 'Show the young lady to the private office. My father will see you ft once he..gays.' . t .. ~' ' . Paula was - somewhat sui^'ised—*|this, as she-had seen no evidence of any communication passing between the youth and his father. It was simple enough, if she had only known that within reach of his hand was a little electric thimble by means of which he could send and receive a small code of signs to and from theoffice where Hershi Righ then Was sitting. She made a passing, remark or two and then followed the boy* who conducted her through a rear room and up half a dozen ste{.__ into this dingy place Hershi Righ, no longer a Hindoo outlaw, but one of the richest dealers in gems in New York —brown, tall, heavy-browed, and not over-clean in his personal appearance — rose from his chair and desk when Paula was shown in. He made a low, Oriental salutation. 'And whom have I the honour—pray be seated, Miss. Paula looked him over sharply, not yet knowing what she ought to do or say, as she gave him a stiff little bow and took the designated seat. If she could not browbeat and frighten him, then she might alarm him so that he would escape with his stolen grain's. But she reflected that a." man .as marked and as well known as Righ could always be found by the police. On the whole she resolved to try a bold course. She first turned upon the boy and said: 'If a lady call for Miss Ordway, say I will be there before long. I beg pardon, you are Mr Hershi Righ, are you not?' 'At your service, ma'am. What can I do for you?' He scented a customer, or, at the worst, some rich young woman anxious to sell her jewels at a sacrifice He has the trader's avarice, and in his eyes something of the look thai Redmond saw when he lay wounded in' the Hindoo boat. ;.o :- Tarn Paula Ordway. I was passing your sifafc. and saw-,.a casket {« your window. I wish to know why you failed to deliver itr-4he casket, I mean —and its contents, twenty-seven years ago, to the widow of Lieutenant Roger Castleton, in Calcutta.' Righ sprang to his feet and stared at this fresh, lovely young lady in her chair, as if the. ghosts of his ancestors had been visible in her person. She looked at him back.feeling sure that she had struck a heavy blow, but quite, unable to determine whether H'.rshi Righ betrayed in his face the astonishment of a guilty conscience or mere surprise at her sudden attack. 'For the love of.Brahm! Aud what do you know of all that? The casket —Calcutta—you amaze me, young lady. Wait ! I see that you have, learned somehow about the gems. Ah ! Roger has been telling you. I see. He is not wont to be so communicative. Pardon me. It is your beauty, Miss Ordway, that has opened my poor son's confidence so unusually, depend upon it. Poor Roger! You see he is unfortunate. He has never ; stood upon his feet. So he told, you? And you wish to learn more? Truly, it is rather a strange story. Very well. I must make an appointment ,then, if he desires it. Come to me —pray name some hour, to-morrow—or next wreck at any time.' '.. ■•; 'Your son told me nothing—that is, ' almost nothing. Yet I know all. You took the casket from Redmond; swearing to deliver it safely. When you reached Calcutta you gave her the casket, but the gems were not in it. Tray how does the casket happen now to be here in your window in New York?' ' 'You are interested in the story I;;

see. Very well, young lady, I am willing' 'to tell you how the casket-—the •empty casket—which I caused to be '■.delivered to the widow in Calcutta— ■well, it -was by no means the one that I received from the dying hands of Redmond. The casket I received from Redmond, then full of precious stones, is the: saime that you saw in my window..' "■ • _ 'There were two?' 'Yes. Listen. Since you'seem to have learned' part of the story let me tell 'foil the whole. Redmond was beset —in danger of his life. The. .casket had already been .stolen from him, and in attempting to recover it he was fatally wounded. I rescued him and the casket/froni the robbers who had taken it and agreed to carry it to Calcutta.^ This I did. In Calcutta I found,- .first, the son of Supercargo ■Wilson, of the East India company, and. incautiously revealed to him my mission. He was quite too willing to take _ charge of the casket, declaring that Mrs. Castleton was too sick to attend to.it. His manner and a thousand slight impressions that I received piadfe me cautious. I did not think it prudent to entrust so large a fortune to -his care. I satisfied myself, however, . that Mrs Castleton, scarcely strong ; yet since the birth of her child, and half Wild with grief op account of her husband's untimely death, was too ill to. take the casket in charge. The ship was about to sail. I went to metal worker whom I chanced to know, and in afew hours he had fashioned a keg, keyhole and all, quite like the one containing the jewels, which, with its contentsj I had already shown to young Wilson. I also had made at the same time three or four keys to go with it. One-of these I kept for the genuine casket. I then took the empty casket to Wilson, charging him to deliver it to its owner whenever she should become well, enough to receive it. I believed that he would open it as soon as he should be alone, so ou leaving him I ran away as soon as I could. I shaved Off my long beard and otherwise' disguised myself, and shipped as a foremast hand on the Dover, the vessel that was to convey Mrs Castleton,1 and which happened to be shorthanded. .1 carried the genuine casket oh board and concealed it in my chest. It was my purpose, on reaching England, or even before, if it seemed best, to deliver it to its owner, for had I not sworn to do so? Hershi Righ never yet broke faith with man or woman.' The Hindoo paused. . His eyes glowed and sparkled. He was dramatic and intensely interesting. • 'You . .on the Dover? Impossible! She was lost with every soul on board,' says Paula, now wrought to a pitch of great excitement at, hearing the strange! story of the Hindoo. ,'Not so. The Dover, indeed, was lost—lost in a tempest so dreadful that I hope never to see its like again. But it is. not true that every soul was lost. ... I myself could. not have been lost, you see, since I am here. So far >as I know, I and one soul . besides were all that escaped with life.' 'You-' and one other?' 'And one other. I thank heaven because i:I thus have been able to fulfil my oath to young Garrick Redmond.' ■ 'What do you mean?' 'The hther -' 'Yes; who was the other?' j 'Wp. -tvpj-a hntl. savecLan.the sea oh H'h'^a___e^f_f?!-'raft, I pulled him tfomthose dreadful wavesr-ah," that awful night—pulled hiiri up on my whirl-; ing raft ' 'Tell me, of whom do you speak? Saved whom?' 'The infant son of Roger Castleton, who still lives.' CHAPTER VI. MR LARRIMORE DOANE BECOMES DRAMATIC. Hershi Eigh smiled. He was pleased to see the interested excitement of the beautiful girl before him. 'It is true, then,' she cries, clasping her hancls and thinking of Dickenson Dv Page. 'But ;I do not understand yet. ' Tell me, then, how it came to pass that you were separated—that after saving the Castleton child, you have left him all these years—in short, why do you not restore to him the casket and the gems, and why is he now. obliged to go to India to search for, the man. .who ' She faltered and paused quite uncertain of the ground, and Hershi Righ. said, in some surprise: 'You seem.to -have been misinformed by somebody. Roger and I—the Castleton child. and I—we have never been separated since that day. We were wrecked off the Arabian coast, and- after three days of suffering we were-swe.pt ashore, where being kindly cared for by the Arab villagers, we soon together went across the country with,a trading caravan and made our way. to France and thence to England. I engaged a nurse on the way and mostly carried the child in my arms.' ..; 'What.. You are not speaking of— of Mr Dv Page, then? Do you mean? ah--J_ thought. Oh, then they have gone to India for nothing. How, then for heayen's sake, came that key about lils negk?''',..;;"..'.'., •'■''■',"' '..'-;'-'■:.'.; ■■'A'A .' i. 'Very siipple.- His mother placed jt there. It is one of the Calciftta keys that. ,'•l*ent.t 4» - h££-.* itMh'©' #Jse > eas* kef.'- .■ { ■ -t- ■■•■■■"<"■ __,-, ..,..,-;;,. , , :• .''•-.- ■■■ 'Wait. You are speaking of some :other person, while I am talking of Mr Dickenson: Dv Page. Listen to rhe,. if you please, Mr Hershi High, j ,1 have a—a friend, one Mr Dickenson. Dv Page. He was picked up in the sea by the crew of the fruiter■ Corso,..immediately, after the wre.ck of the. Dover. He was an infant, and arpiind his neck by a little silk cord was fastened the S shaped key to your .casket there in the window.'- " . .-■• 'Incredible. ... Totally incredible,' cried Hershi..Righ, staring, at her in amazement. Then recovering himself, he continued: : ■ , .'Your pardon, Miss Ordway, but what'you say. is most astonishing. Who' could have that key but Roger ■Castleton's boy,? But I myself took that boy from-his nurse on the deck of the Dover and undertook to reach the-life'raft .swinging over the side. It swung, against his body in some way and at the.same time was swept loose. I reached it and succeeded in pulling hirii after me from the waves. But his injury'was permanent. He is a cripple for life. The young' man '■whom you saw below at the window is Roger Castleton's son.' f V- - 'Oh, I do not believe it, Hershi Eigh. Why did he tell me that he is your son then?' 'He has never known any father but me. And to him I have given the care,that, had heaven blessed me with a.son, wouldJifve been lavished upon ,a child of my own.' 'Wait. He, may be your—why should I not begin to think—?'

'That I have stolen the gems andinvented the story to enrich my own child? Is that what you would say, Miss Ordway?' 'And if I think so—pray are not the circumstances on my side of the case ?' 'How so? Tell me how.' T have already told you. Dv Page had on his neck the key. Y rou might have any number of keys at will and the casket also. But he could have that key on his person when picked up in the sea only by one theory. Is not that plain?' 'You have indeed stated a mysterious circumstance, Miss Ordway. But, believe me, you are deceived.. In some way this Dv Page of whom you speak—or, if not he, then some one who is misleading him—has stumbled upon this story of the casket. But I alone know the truth. The son of Roger Castleton, .the first and only child ever, born to him, sits down there at the window with a hump in his shoulders, a cripple for life, having no use. of Jus limbs, but the owner of the gems, or,. rather, •of the vast wealth that has come from them. My son! No physiologist would say that, young lady!' Paula was palpably beaten and ready to take refuge in tears. This provoking old Hindoo, thief or not, was. so calm and dignified and serious and evidently so sure of his ground and of his facts that her own faith began to quail before his steady manner and his clear, coherent story. 'But the key —have I not seen it myself?—a little S-shaped key tied with—' 'Was it like this key?' (To be Continued.)