THE WOMAN WITHIN

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 303, 21 December 1903, Page 6

THE WOMAN WITHIN

By ATHOL FORBES,

CHAPTER XXXV in. Barking seemed in no hurry to talk. For once in bis life lie had acted upon Impulse. Just as lie was turning up Chancery-lane to seek the abode of his mother, the thought had come to him: Why not try Chetwynd? If the Captain ieie out of the way, his course would >c cleared at all events. And to get rid ,'i a formidable rival was something ,-ained. Though shaken in the interview with jlrs Langthorne. lie concluded, as we iiuve seen, that the game was by no means finished, aud over a whiskey his hopes had risen again, so that he determined upon seeing Captain Chetwynd. A directory gave him the address, and before he had made up his mind as to his precise action, he found himself confronting the young soldier. He was somewhat nonplussed by the calm, gentlemanly air of Chetwynd. The man twiddled his hat round and round between his hands, as if he -sought inspiration from its brim. Suddenly it Hashed upon Chetwynd where he had seen him. "You are in the employ of Mr Langthorne. are you not?"' Now. if there was anything which aroused Barking's choler it was having put before him the fact that he was in somebody's employ. He was a poor kind of scamp, for he was an easy victim to anyone who declined to be impressed with his melo-dramatic ideas of style. "I am. in a way. in my friend Mr Langtlionic's employ," he began loftily, '"i hough 1 only go to the office occasionally now. Barking coughed and wondered what lie ought, to say next, whether he should plum]) it out. or introduce the subject of hisHrisit gradually. He put his hand up to his chin, appearing all at once to l>e plunged into the dreams of contemplat ion. A smile flickered over Captain Chetwynd's luce. He concluded that Richards had put a. very charitable construction upon it when he hnd referred to his visitor as having merely had "a drop." He was inclined to look good-naturedly upon the youth. "I haven't the honour of being aeqainted with you. eh?" "Mr Douglas Barking. 1-et mc give you my card," and he produced one from a case.

•'Thank you, Mr Douglas Barking," and ( lietwynd placed (he card by his. side: I want to have a serious conversation some other time?" It seemed to him his visitor had wandered in aimlessly, under the social feeling that is not unfrequently the outcome of over-indulgence in liquor. "Thanks. I hope we shall be friends." Chetwynd'? eyes opened a little wider. ITe did not endorse the pious hope. "But the fact is. Captain Chetwynd. I want to have n serious conversation wifTT ybu." "Would it not be better at some other time?" '"I prefer to have it now, if it makes no difference, and it is in your interests, not my own, that I have called." "Indeed!"' said the oiiicer, curtly. "Then whal is it?" "I believe you are a suitor for the hand of Edith Langthorne?" If the floor had opened and swallowed them both up. Captain Che-twyud could not have been move surprised. "Really, my dear sir. that can be no concern of yours."' "Oh, yes it is." persisted the youth. ''f think not." Barking quite misinterpreted the quiet, gentlemanly bearing of the man before him. lie took it as a. sign of weakness, and regarded him as a milksop. Consequently he began to talk rather loudly, and (he louder he talked, the softed and quieter was Chetwynd's voice. "You talked about mc beinc in Mr fjHTigthovnevs employ. Lei mc tell you that my position there is that of a partner. I am just as much a gentleman as i'nii are."

"You will excuse mc. Mr Barking, hut if is not my intention lo discuss Mr Langthorne's business oiv my own with you. and if that is all you have come for. I must ask you to regard the interview as closed." "It is not all. 1 have come to warn you." "Warn mc?" repeated the other. "You are. if you will permit mc to say so. wasting your time. What have you got tr> do with my affairs?" "Miss Edith Langthorne can never be yours, and I have determined that she shall not. be. 1 have Mr Langthorne's permission to pay my addresses to her. and 1 have come to warn yon off —to be quite plain." "It is for your own good. If yon aiarry Edith Langthorne—" Captain Chetwynd. with a. curious light in his eyes, got, up. Tt required an efforl for him to keep calm. TTe opened the door. ".Mr Barking, you will do well to go now." "Not untili I have finished." "You will go now," he said, in the same ham voice. "I'm bothered if I do! You have got to hear a bit about Lan£rthorne's character before T leave, and I will only leave- —" But the sentence remained unfinished. Two hands of-a delicate white, but of the strength of steel, seized him and lifted-him clean out of his seat; next, a thrust sent him head first through the opeti door. Suddenly Barking awoke to the fact that he was a mere plaything in the hands of the man whose indignation he had aroused. In his terror at the disclosure, he leaped for the stairs, missed his foothold and fell heavily to the mat at the foot. Chetwynd stood at the top. Barking tried to rise, staggered, and fell back with a groan. In a second Chetwynd saw that the man was hurt, and at once sympathy took the place of anger. He ran down the stairs. "I am sony," he said, as he raised Ins head. Kichards was on the spot almost as soon as his master. He looked at him. "is eg is broken. I am afraid, sir." Larking had fainted. (To be continued daily.) J