THE SPIN OF THE COIN

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 184, 3 August 1908, Page 8

THE SPIN OF THE COIN

By E. E. PUNSHON (Author of "Ensnared." etc.).

Or LOVE CONQUERS CRIME.

£>AII Rights Reserved.] •

SYNOPSIS OF INSTALMENTS I. TO 111. Dick Ainslie, a strikinclj- handsome young man, determines to decide by tossing Ills Inst sovereign whether he shall put an end to his existence or go on living the life of a villain. On the second toss fate seems to deride apainst him, but his pistol misses fire, and on the third toss he wins. Shortly after Teter Saunders, a little washed-out wisp of a man. runs up to him with the nows thnt he has seen Detective Cherry dissuised as a stonehreaker. Ainslie has just returned to England from Australia, nnd in crossing has become acquainted with Gwelma Gilmore, a Kirl who has lately come into a fortune and is coming to live at Fairview Lodge with her father. Colonel Gilmore. whom she has never seen before, and who las lately come to reside in Woolstone. Ainslie goes to meet Gwelma. who introduces him to her father, a somewhat coarse-looking man who has lost his left arm. Returning to Saunders, Ainslie announces his intention of breaking into Woolstone Hall that night, and, notwithstanding seeing on his wav the detective in the grounds of the Hall. Dirk continues with his purpose. On arrival at the windows of the dining-room he finds them open, and Lord Woolstone on the floor gagged and bound with cords. Dick releases the man and learns that there are already burglars in tbe house. He confesses that he is also a burglar, but helps Woolstone to pet clear of the men. Detective Cherry, down in the district on a special investigation, arrives at the Hall and recognises Dick's pistol, which is lying on the table On leaving the Hall Dick sees the two masked burglars in conversation with Colonel Gilmore. Gwelma. a few days after her arrival, dissatisfied with the Colonel's servants suggests his getting others, and is surprised at his indifference to their an honest living, Dick attends a dinner party at Fairviow. where he comes face to face with Lord Woolstone, who recognises his midnight visitor. CHAPTER VI. THE DINNER PARTY. " That," said Dick pleasantly, " is hardly possible—l have not been in England long." " Mr. Ainslie," Gwelma explained in as careless a tone as she could summon, though she was indeed so embarrassed, so distressingly conscious of her still reddened cheeks, that she hardly knew what she was saying, " returned from Australia on board the same ship that I was on." " Mr. Ainslie was privileged," said Lord Woolstone, with a bow. " I imagine, though, that since then " he paused, and Dick, looked straight at him with an admirably feigned air of somewhat bored attention. A puzzled look crept into the little peer's pleasant brown eyes, and he continued: "I must have been mistaken, then, and I must apologise for my error." "My dear," coughed the Colonel from the other end of the room, and they all in to the dining room. The men.l was as great a success as one so abominably cooked could' well be. Gwelma indeed nearly shed tears into her burnt soup, and sent it away untouched, but Woolstone partook of it with an air of such enjoyment as somehow seemed to suggest he rather regretted the usages of polite society did not permit him to ask for a second supply. And when later on he helped himself freely to sauce, remarking aloud on its " distinctive flavour," his reputation as an epicure—which stood as •high as his reputation for being the bestdressed man in England! — stifled the doubts of the other guests, if it did not altogether satisfy their palates. They decided, however, that it must be something new and daring, and ate it accordingly, and even Gwelma took some and, looking at Lord Woolstone, thought to herself that men must be the queerest things if they really enjoyed such nasty stuff. And that was all the favour Woolstone's heroism won him in the eyes of the beautiful stranger whom he was every moment becoming more anxious to conciliate.. But indeed the reverence in waich the little .peer v*as held! by the neighbourhood would have carried through even a greater burden than Mrs. Martin's cooking, heavy though that most undoubtedly 'was. As for Dick Ainslie he applied himself to his dinner with all the gusto of a, man ■who has had none for several days, and in the recollection of the " sausage and mashed," which had formed his last meal, all the eccentricities of the cooking passed unnoticed by him. Colonel Gihnore and the gentleman nho had been introduced to the company as Major Montgomery, both did their full share towards making the occasion a success. The Colonel had an agreeable flow of small talk and a bluff way of referring to his crippled condition that quite won the hearts of the ladies. "A baby, Madam, I do asure you," he said "even though my arm was lost for England's Bake. I often tell Gwelma she will have to feed mc out of the bottle soon," and then he would laugh cheerily while his fair auditors cooed sympathy. Major Mongomery, too, provedi a most agreeable conversationalist and told three or four stories that put the table in a roa-r, and even made sulky-looking Meg or Margaret—as the fiat had gone forth she was to be called—forget her duties in a fit of giggling. And Detective Cherry, uncomfortably perched in a tree outside from which he commanded a clear view of the dining room through the uncurtained windows, felt himself a little puzzled at it all; and the conclusions he had lately been inclined l to arrive at. began to seem less certain. All the time the purpose for which he had come never left Dick's mind. But the warning he had given Gwelma that young lady seemed to have laid well to heart, and no opportunity of speech with her did she give him. After they had all returned to the drawing-room she bestowedl her favours impartially on the Major with his amusing stories and] the dapper little peer with his quietly witty and observant chat, but at Dick she hardly so much as looked. Society chat had never been Ainslic's strong point, and he sat in a corner, and glowered, and called himself a fool for having ever had scruples about the happiness of a person so obviously hearties?, and so very well capable of taking care of herself, as she now decided Gwelma to be. There was in fact a kind of jealousy in his heart, as well as a rising and' sombre desperation as he thought o"f the slum he had left so reeemlv, with its drunken men and brawling women and universal penetrating filth, and contrasted it with this comfortable, even luxurious room filled with well-dressed men and women sparkling with jewellery. "And there is poor Peter Saunders" Dick added to himself, "with his hardearned savings and his grocer's shop in South Hackney all at stake. Well, here goes." He moved forward from his corner and, since be lacked neither skill nor audacity when once the pinch came, he was soon taking an equal share in the chat and laughter of which Gwelraa's chair formed the centre. And perhaps no young and pretty girl could ever quite dislike having, waiting on her, three such cavaliers, each handsome and

distinguished looking in his different way, as Woolstone, the Major and Dick. "Talking of likeness," Gwelm observed after a time, "while father and I were in London the other day, we saw Mr. Ainslee's exact image in a porter carrying such a big sack of potatoes. It was a marvellous likeness." "Indeed!" smiled Dick, very well aware that she must have chanced to see himself, and conscious that the morrow; would probably see him at the same work again, "I must look him up, -a double might be useful sometimes." and he smiled again as he glanced at Gwelma and wondered what she would say if she knew that in winning her hand lay his only hope of saving himself from continuing tliat occupation. "Perhaps," he added, looking at Woolstone, "it was he Lord Woolstone saw, when he thought he knew mc." Woolstone made some jesting answer, and presently Dick inquired about a large mansion, named Denton Park, which he had noticed from the railway, and which a fellwrr passenger had told him had remained empty for some years. "I did think," he explained, "of taking a residence somewhere about here. I liked the look of the grounds there, though the house itself seemed too big for mc, I thought." "It is a very big place," agreed Lord Woolstone. "'There is supposed to be something wrong with the drainage which prevents it from being let, so there has only been a caretaker there for some time. You are thinking of staying in Kngland, then, Mr. Ainslee?" "It all depends," said Dick with a quick glance at Gwelma, who once again felt her cheeks going red; while the Major made a mental note of this young fellow who apparently possessed enough money to talk of taking a place like Denton Park. During all this time the Colonel had been performing his duties as host very successfully, yet with an uneasiness, almost a fear, that showed in his small eyes when he glanced towards where Woolstone sat close to Gwelma. He even made one or two attempts to draw the young peer away and leave the Major in sole possession, but in these he failed, his efforts being parried with quiet adroitness. But now one or the other guests said something which gave him an opportunity Woolstone could not evade, and an old dowager seizing simultaneously on the Major and putting him through a long and trying crossexamination as to his relationship with the Montgomerys of Ruthlandshire, Dick was given a chance, of which he made full use, Gwelma had just complained of the insufferable heat, so ne pressed her at once to step out on the lawn where some of the others were already enjoying the pure night air. Gwelma agreed, though with some hesitation, but when he tried to lead her away towards the north side of the house she suddenly stepped away with a slight shiver. "No, no," she said, "not there —let us stop here." "But it is quieter there," he urged. "I hate that side of the house," she burst out passionately; "it fills mc with such strange and morbid thoughts—l avoid it whenever I can." "Why," he exclaimed, "I thought the garden looked so bright and cheerful over there by that fine old hollow oak." "So did I," she answered, still with considerable agitation, "but now it makes mc feel so sad and troubled —as though it hid some dark secret that concerned mc and yet which I cannot discover. When I sit there I remember my mother and the last time I saw her just before she died; and sometimes I fesl as though father were dead, too, and lying beside her. It is all vague, but very strange and horrible." "And incorrect, too," said Dick as th.? Colonel's loud laugh rang out distinctly, "for your" father is certainly not dead." He looked at her curiously, for this was a new side to her character; hitherto she had always struck him as rather practical and matter of fact. "You ought to go in for golf and tennis and things like that," ha remarked. "I see you think mc an awful goose," she said, "with a little forced laugh, "but the fact is I saw something strange there the other night—very tall and wKite and thin—about seven or eight feet high, 1 suppose —and it rather frightened mc, so that ever sinve I have felt queer there. I was dreadfully frightened, but father was quite angry and said I was dreaming." Dick rather looked as though that were his opinion, too, but lie said nothing. Gwelma, on her side, was a trills vexed at her outburst, which slm was conscious must have sounded incoherent and even absurd. She felt, too, she was neglecting her duties as hostess, and, saying something to that effect, she suggested returning. But as th?y passed beneath a tree which completely hid them from the house. Dick paused and looked down at the lovely girl leaning on his arm, clad in such dainty attire, radiant with such rare jewels—and in his mind there rose again a vision of the foul alley where he had lain sheltered of late. "Each for himself," he muttered, and somehow it appeared to him that this was no longer a young and lovely girl who leaned on his arm but some fleeting victim whom the Fates, who rule the lives of men, had laid it on him to seize or else perish. His eyes hardened, the lines about his mouth deepened and his teeth set firmly together. "I'll not go back to starvation and homeless wandering," he muttered, "if I can save myself this way." "Miss Gilmore," he said aloud, "I promised to make you my excuses for having been so long in coming." Gwelma gave him a timid look, but 3he made no reply. Instinctively she felt what was coining, and she wondered what answer she should give. Her heart beat and her tongue grew dry in her mouth, but she listened with a strange tremulous joy she hardly understood. There was something hard and undecided in . this now voice of Dick's, something cold, stern almost, that, while it in a way increased her timidity, she yet liked to hear. She had been a little inclined to think him easy going and careless in temperament, but this new voice was the tone of a resolute and determined man. She waited to hear what he had to say; neither of them dreaming of Detective Cherry, perched uncomfortably in the branches about six feet above their heads. "When I landed," Dick began abruptly, "I heard, what before I had been ignorant of—that Miss Gilmore was heiress to a large fortune." Gwelma did not speak, but she felt she hated her money. She was, too, rather surprised he had" remained in ignorance of a fact which she knew had been much gossiped about on board the ship Dick continued" r

"I could not bear to think that you might suspect mc of being a. fortune hunter —" "Oh, never, I could never have thought that," she interrupted with such venemenoy that Dick hurried on with what he had to say at the top of his speed, conscious' of an ; odd feeling of -anger against the girl who protested that she trusted him so. "Not the lowest thing that crawls on earth," he continued with a savage delight in what he said and felt he said truly, "but would despise a man mean enough to cheat a woman like that— to steal her money by offering her an imitation love." "Yes," said Gwelma, "I, too, despise all fortune hunters, but I have been warned against them and am always on my guard. lam sure I shall never be deceived by one." As" nearly as possible Dick burst into a peal of wild laughter. But if she were so self-confident, if she declared her self warned, the game seemed fairer all at once. t "But the business," he continued, "on which I como to England has prospered,— I am now richer than I was," and he smiled grimly as he thought of what remained to him out of Peter's ten pounds, "though my wealth -does not, I think, equal yours, Miss Gilmore, will you marry mc?" "Yes," she answered, "for I trust you as I love you." "My God, my God!" he said in his heart, and as hu lips touched hers he could have cried elmi , with shame and agony. "But I will go through with it," he said to himself fiercely; and suddenly the Colonel's voice was heard calling loudly for his daughter. "Oh, let us go," she said quickly. "Here I am, father," she called, and a very puzzled detective looked after her and Dick as they moved away. "Well, I'm hanged!" he muttered "don't young Ainslie know what's on? —or the girl?—but then it was to her I traced the notes!" "Why, child, where have you been?" asked the Colonel, and he looked troubled and angry as he glanced from one to the other. "If s so cool in the garden," stammered Gwelma, and then all in a moment she recovered her composure by a great effort, and became once more "the smiling and debonair hostess. Their absence and their looks when they reappeared had not gone unnoticed, though VVoolstone, who baa only just made his escape from the drawing-room, had seen nothing. But Major Mongomcry, still rather flushed and heated, from his encounter with the. inquisitive dowager, slipped to the Colonel's side and whispered: "Do you see? There's something on between those two! There will be trouble with that young fellow, I expect." "Then why didn't you cut him out?" snarled the Colonel. "Mother Martin depends on you to keep her away from the little lord and this chap." "Then she shouldn't shy kettles of boiling water at mc," said Montgomery indignantly. "Jimmy, I've an idea." "Keep it to yourself," retorted the Colonel: "If it don't agree with Mother Martin's." "Oh. stuff, you are all scared of that "old woman!" said the other airily. "What could she do?" he muttered to himself as the Colonel "urned away. "Gwelma Gilmore's husband and the master of her fortune, could snap his fingers at Mother Martin, and with the aid of Meg and Jimmy—which might be bought—and a little judicious pressure, it could be managed." He moved away in thought and the old dowager to whom he had been talking remarked to him: "What a charming and lovely girl our hostess is, Major, is she not?" "She is indeed," said Montgomery, and Dick, who was standing near by, heard the remark with a start of quite genuine surprise. "Why, by Jove!" he said to himself, "I suppose that's true—she is a charming and lovely girl," and he looked as though that had never occurred to him before. (To be continued daily.)