BOOK IIL

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 199, 20 August 1904, Page 14

BOOK IIL

THE FINAL FIGHT. CHAPTER I. AT SHANcJiIAI. Hillyer at once showed the cable to the admiral, and the latter at once decided that, in view of possible international complications, a visit to Shanghai, which was only 500 miles away, or about three days' running there "and back for a craft like the Zanita, was of the first importance. A couple 01 fast scouu were at once sent out to pick up the Donovoi and bring her in, and so Hillyer. unless unexpectedly detained, would be hack in ample time to take part in the proposed expedition. Just before starting he had the satisfaction of receiving a long letter from Marian, quite of tiie sort that hi.-; soul most desired, but also of a nature quite too confidential for stranger-eves to read. Wherefore, he went on his way rejoicing, and more eager than ever for that final fight in which he hoped, fur reasons yet to be made plain, to prove. not only to the combatants in the Far East, but also to tho world at lartre, that he had succeeded in making warfare so hopelessly terrible that any nations which attempted to wage a war of aggression would have to "choose between arbitration and destruction.

Like all men who really are men, he was prepared to tight when just occasion arese, and not even the hope of winning Marian for his own would have tempted him to take the side of Japan if he had not honestly believed that the island kingdom was" fighting in the only rightful cause in which war can be waged—for independence and liberty, and the defence of hearth and home! Bat, on the other hand, like all soundhearted men, he loathed war as such from the depths of his soul. He believed it to be a crime against humanity. and he was d&termined, at whatever cost, to put an end to it if he could. He recognised, of course, that the pre-

sence of tiie stolen submarine on the tussian side at Port Arthur very con--iderabiy increased the difficulties of tis task. In fact, until L'Anonyme ,vas either captured or destroyed it would be sheer folly for the Japanese licet to approach within at ieast 15 miles of Port Arthur; wherefore, his counsel had been that all the fleets of the Mikaffo should be withdrawn into the dockyards and arsenals to undergo a thorough cleaning, and refit, vvuiie the Zanita and the Mermaid, of whose existence the Russians were totally unaware, should go and seek out L'Anonyme and fight her for the supremacy of the underseas. '•

It was true that this would give the Russians time to repair something of tbe tremendous damage that had been done by the fleet bombardntf—< = -id also to "proceed with the concentration ot their troops, but on the other hand the last action had proved conclusively iriat the finest battleship would be just as helpless before the attacks of this invisible enemy as the Ching-Yan herseii had been, and so, sweeping as the proposition was, it had been taken into careful consideration. This fact was in itself a proof that the Japanese authorities were even now beginning to learn the lessons of the new warfare.

As there might be some difficulty, ii not danger, in taking an armed vessel into Shanghai, which is not only a neutral, but also a treaty, port, Hillyer decided to leave the Zanita off TsungMing Island, outside the three-mile limit, and run up to the city in his launch. There was, of course, no fear cd capture now that the Donovoi had disappeared from the scene, but he knew there were three or four British warships in and about Shanghai, and tie didn't want to have any awkward questions to answer.

When he reached the English settlement he went first to the club, of which he had been made a visiting member on his trip out, to have a wash and get tiffin. He also hoped for the chance of meeting Arthur Erskine here before he went up to his house. The fact was that he had not yet been uhle to find a reason why the cable had come from Leone and not from her husbaud. Did Arthur know anything about it, and, if not, what was the matter. How, too, should Leoue have got involved in international questions, and Arthur not —or. for liie matter of that, what could either of tLc.y. have to dJ with such matters? To his mind there waa only one possible explanation. H- e knew now of soma at least of Sir Victor's dealings in connection with L'Anonynie. Did Arthur's sudden p.irture for Shanghai mean that he was i-eaily e;.t here as ids brother's agent, in other words, as a sort of spy? The. reflection was not a pleasant one, especially if .Marian's sister, a3 seemed miite likely, was personally mixed up in Sir Victor's dubious schemes.

The matter, however, was settled for him Uv lhe steward of the club, who, in answer to his inquiry, told him that a maple of days before Erskine had started on a business expedition up the

; ».:r..'-Tse tuwaiiU N nkin, and would i probably not he back for a week. Mrs Erskine had not gone with him. j This information decided Hillyer in the opinion that Erskine did not know of the cable, and that Leone had cabled ■to him instead of writing, so that she j could get whatever she wanted to do with him over before her husband re- '■ turned. .The prospect was not by any j means a welcome one to him, for he i was one of those men who have a conjstitntioual objection to eonlidcnces of any sort with other men's wives, or, for jthc matter of that, any women to whom I they are not related, engaged, or marj ried. Still, he had come to learn what , she had to say, and it was both his busi- , ness and his duty to learn it, and so ] when he had finished lunch and smoked a meditative cigar he took a rickshaw I and went to the address which the stewi arc! had given him.

When the hoy ushered him into the wicker chair half-lilled with furs and cushions and cajne towards him, saying in a voice which sounded somewhat

strange to him: "Ah, and so you have come. How good of you to come so soon! 1 hardly thought it passible, even with that wonderful yacht of yours." He looked at ber in the half light, for the afternoon sun was shining on the windows and the shades were down, and as he took ber hand in his he both felt and saw that a great and serious change l;:i<i come over her. She was no longer the beautiful and brilliant girl whom he had known as Marian's sister in London only three short months before. She looked five years elder, and his first impression was that she was just recovering from a bad attack of river fever. Her hand, too, had lost oil its spring and grip- The eyes which lie. like others, had admired so much were dull and heavy and ringed with blue-grey shadows, and her voice seemed to have the echo of a great sorrow in it. In fact, he was so astonished at the sudden change that he could not help paying:

"My dear Mrs. Erskine, before wo go any farther, for goodness sake tell mc what ha.3 been the matter with you! Either you have been very iii or the East 'ir.s begun to disagree with you very -inickly. What is it, fever?"'

"No, Mr. Hillyer," she replied, in a slow, weary voice. "It is nothing physical, Fin sorry to say. It is just sheer misery, and I may as well tell you that at once and save time.''

"Misery! You miserable!"' he said, in s. low tone. "But how on earth can that be? You—only three months married, v.ith one of the best of fellows for a husband, and everything else, except, perhaps, Park Lane and "Peter Robinson l' Honestly, you've completely astounded mc, and I don't quite know how to put it. Still, you have asked mc to come here, I presume, to see if 1 can help you, and that explains something—but there! it's no use going on guessing. You are Marian's sister, ami if you're in trouble I'm going to get you out if 1 can. I suppose that's what you asked mc to come over for. Well, now. here I am. Suppose wo sit down and you tell mc all about itf

His voice had grown much softer as he went on. He could see that she was suffering, and of all things he hated most it was to see a woman suffer.

She sank back with a slow, weary motion into her chair again, and he took another opposite to her.

"Don't sit there, please," she said with a quick little wave of her hand, "sit more round this way. I don't want you to look at mc. If you do I can't tell you what I have got to." "Surely, it isn't as serious as all that!" he asked, moving his chair, and wondering what on earth was coming. "It is quite as serious as it very well can be," she replied, putting her'elbow on the arm of her chair, and leaning her chin on her hand, so that her face was turned away from him. "So serious and so—so horrible—that ever since I sent you the cable I have been torturing myself with the thought of this talk with you." "But is it absolutely necessary?" he

asked—"l mean to tell mc? I suppose Erskine knows. Why didn't you leave it to him?"

"My husband does not know," she said with a note of hardness in her voice, "at least, lie knows part of the horrible story, as you will hear, and there"s no other man or woman that I could or would tell it to but yourself. Besides, my husband could do nothing. He would be totally helpless. You. perhaps, can and will help u S) and, if you are going to marry Marian, it is only right that you should know-"

"1 certainly am going to marry her, whatever it may be that you have to tell mc.. Mrs. Ersk'me," he replied quietly, "and, furthermore, of course, if it is anything that concerns her perhaps I'd better hear it as soon as possible." She noted the change in his tone and turned her face halfway towards him as she replied:

"Of course. But I had better begin by explaining that Marian, happih\ S so far has not the smallest notion 'of"anything that I'm going to tell you about." "I can hardly help saying that I'm glad of that." he said, '"and 1 hone 1 need not say that if it's a matter of protecting them from any trouble or sorrow, you may consider any help I can give as already promised."

A possible sigh escaped Leone's lips. If it had only been her happiness to have won such love and trust as this from such a man: If only she had learnt to love as Marian )u?d done, instead of falling a victim to the blind mania for excitement and extravagance which is the most grievous curse of the modern girl in society; if she had riot entered upon the fatal course which sooner or later infallibly lords into the clutches of the harpies vho prey upon such folly as lie is —in a word, if she had not begun by worshipping money ami the trinkets which it can buy, and had waited contentedly for that which no money can buv —how dili'erent everything would have been. But it was too late to think about that now. She had sinned, and now the time had come to pay more of the penalty. Some of it she had paid already in the misery of a marriage in which there was now r.o love on either side—only fear and aversion. "Yes, I thought—l knew—that you would say that; but you must not say any more until I have told you everything. Now, listen, and for pity's sake don't intervu.pt mc until I've done." "That also I can promise you," he said, ' with a note of sympathy in his voice 'which helped her a little. And then she began ana told him in a hard, strained, unn itural tone, which nevertheless shook every now and then with a quiver of shame, the story of the forged cheque and ; the use that Sir Victor had made of it.

He listened in silence, and with an amazement which was not altogether unndngled with anger and disgust. When she had finished she got up and faced him. and with a half-fearful, half-ques-tioning look at him said:

'There, that i-; the first part of the story, and so much, of course, my husband knows. Now, I will tell you the part that he docs not know." And" so saying, she went to a little writing table, unlocked a drawer, and took out several sheets of notepaper covered with her own handwriting. (To be Continued.)