KATE, PLUS TEN

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 176, 26 July 1919, Page 21

KATE, PLUS TEN

By EDGAR WALLACE Author of "Four Jutt Men," •'Sanders of the Ricer," "Bosamoo," "Bo*-.," eio.

CHAPTER VII. THE PEIXCESS BACHEFFSKI— BEAUTIFULLY; DRESSED. Lord Flanborough gave a dinner party. He was a methodical man and invariably made his arrangements a long time in advance, and he was not unnaturally annoyed when at the eleventh hour his daughter suggested a change in the plans. "My dear Moya," he said testily, "don't be abdtird. Surely after what h&s passed—after his extraordinary attitude " '"Oh. daddy, what nonsense" said the girL Michael is really a good sort, and he will be amusing. I really cannot sit out a dinner with all those boring people, and it you don't invite him, I shall have a headache."' 'But, my dear." protested her father, "Sir Ralph will be quite entertainment enough, surely!" "Sir Ralph is the biggest bore of all,"' she said calmly. "Please let mc have my way. So. tc his surprise and amusement. Michael received an invitation to dinner, couched in su-ch gracious terms that he formed the wholly incorrect impression tha: some other guest had fa:led Moya. and that he was being called in to relieve her of the responsibility for thirteen people sitting at table. It was even a more dreary dinner party than Moya had imaciued-c-ir Ralph Sapc-on was amusing in his own way. but his own way was rot Moya's way. He was a stout, handsome young man on the right side erf thirty, immensely wealthy and, according to her father, immensely capable. Though there had been no definite arrangement, ie was understood, mainly by Lord Flanborough, that S:r Raiph , desired a closer association with tire Flan- | borough family than his director-hip gave him. Tlie remainder of the jiucs:s were oven jless entertaining than Sir Ralph. There ! were three other members of the peerjage: Old Lord Katstock. who was :i political lord who had once occupied a position as tTnder-Seeretary in jcin? foreign administration: the Marquis of Cheddar, who -as a sporting lord and had theories on the Bruce Low e system of breeding: Lord Dumbarton, who was a- soldier lord, very poor and very wicked, unless rumour lied : and an assortment of directors which included Mr. Reginald Boltover. who recognised Michael with wha.tpver in his dinner, hut waited with bated breath for Michael to reveal his guilty secret. There were two or three ladies, who crave Michael the impression that they had been dipped in diamonds by iheir herculean maids, and there was a thin, dowdily dressed lady vrtth a hooked cose. "" Ha* the Duchess borrowed anything, Moyn?" saSd Michael nnder his breath. ■" Xot from mc."" said the girl significantly. "" biu father is rather susceptible. She's an awfully cood FTt. reaHv. but I do wisL she wouldn't take snutT."' Michael knew, or .vas known to them all. " Its a rum idea of yours. 2oing into the police, Pretherston." said >ir Ralph, with that air of patronage which he reserved for people poorer than himself. '" It's just as rum an idea as your "oinff into trade and keeping shops," said Michael. Sir Ralph smiled indulgently. ~ We have to do something to make an henest living." he said. v I suppose the reference to the shops U my association with the Colonial Retail Stores. That makes a hundred thousand a year. Pretiierston.' , '" Then you have a hundred thousand reasons f.->r selling bad jam." said Michael. "' I've given up buying things at your shops.'' "" That U a tragedy."" said Sir Ralpti, with heavy humour. " Try us again, and we will endeavour to merit your patronage." "" I have another bone to pick with you." said Michael. He did not like Sir Ralph 5-apson. "I canie up the other day t'rom ?eahampton: the railway carriage was beastly, hadn't been cleaned for a month, and the train was tifty minutes late. The London and Seahampton i≤ another of your profitable ventures, isn't it?" " I am told that I have an interest in it,~ said S-ir Ralph, v. ith a smile at the girl: "'but really, my dear Pretherston. : when you find a railway so badiy con- ' ducted you ought to complain to the police." ' ; This amused him so much that h<* laughed without restraint, and was. as a result, compelled to explain his joke to fourteen people who were anxious to share ir. Michael had to leave early. " I should dearly love to stay and play bridge with you." he said. '" Michael, you are a little horrid, aren't you?" asked the girl. "Horrid!" he asked, puzzled. "You are so practical: you weren't always like that." "And you weren't always unpractical,' he laughed. She had hoped—she did not know exactly what she had hoped, but the new Michael was so unlike the old th.it she could almost have cried with venation. Gone \vft3 the oM recklessness, the oli extravagance (save in directions annoying to her guests) and the old adoration which shone in his eyes. There was an unpleasant feeling that he wae laughing at her all the time, and that did" no: add to her happinese. ""I don't think you're nice, anyway?" she 3aid. "'Won't you come more often to see us?" ''When you lose a pearl necklace, or find the hired lady surreptitiously carrying off your provisions, drop a line to Inspector Michael Pret'.ierston, Room 26, Scotland House, and 1 will be witii you in a jiffy." "By which I understand you don't want to see us at all." che said petulantly. "I am sorry I asked you tonight." "I, for my part., am very giad," he said. Later, when Michael had left, Sir Ralph was to find her a. very unamusing , companion, though why she should be j annoyed with her sometime suitor, only a woman can understand. She did not love him. In some ways she rather disliked him. and peseibiy the underlying I reason for her inviting him at all. was i in order to confirm and seal her indifference. If Michael had been in the least way attentive, had shown the slightest desire to recover the lost ground and to resume the old romance, she would have found an intense satisfaction in checking and would have gone to bed

that night happy in the knowledge that ; I she had permanently attached to her, . I one for whom ehe had not the slightest ' tendernese. j. ! This is the way of women who. when offered a dish, a dress, a colour, a a material or a man, inrariably say, "1 s would like to eeo something else." j I Her abstraction wag so marked that Sir Ralph thought ehe was ill, which in- , ,stantly produced the headache which it! Jis every woman's privilege to adopt at a ' ' moment's notice. j "You ought to take care of Moya, , Flanborouch," he said to his host atU parting; '"she's not at all well." lj j '"I have noticed it," said the dutifull'i ! parent, who had notice:! nothing of the c J kind, and had inwardly remarked that t Moya was sulking about something. £ "You have .in extraordinary eye for things of that kind. Sir Ralph." ] "I understand human beings,' , admitted Sir Ralph; "'it has been my one \ study in life. It is almost a:l vice with mc. When a man cornea into [ 1 my office, I can generally sum up hUjl character, his business or his capabilities' < before he bio oponed his mouth.'' f "It's a great gift," said Lord Flanborough solemnly. ' Sir Ralph Sapson was in a particularly cheerful mood that night. In the bried interview which .ie had had with his 1 future fither-in-la.w. be had not only secure.! a tacit agreement of his right to ( be admitted to the family ami an ex-; preesiou of Lord Flanborough'e approval, ] but he had clinched a very excellent j business arrangement which had been i hanging lire for twelve months—an arrangement which may bo briefly , summarised— 11 Lord F'.ir.borough wa3 the chairman , of the Austral-African Steamship Com-,i pany which carried merchandise and : passengers between Capetown and. Plymouth. Sir Ralph ivae the chairman | of the London and Seahanipton Railway,' and was also chairman and a large share- . holder in thi" Seah.imptou Dock Improve-)i men: I'ompany. The docks had improved, much more rapidly than had the trado 1 which could justify their existence, and the deal which was really a side-line to • the more romantic business of a matri- ! m-onial alliance, was the ships of the A-A line should shamelessly aban- j don Plymouth and Liverpool, and j shotUtl have their headquarters at Sea-1 hampton, an arrangement which ottered advantages on botn aides, since Lord Flanborongh was not without interest in tlie >eahampton docks. The ni2-hi was eh!lly, a full moon rode, serenely in the ski?*; there was a touch of frost in the air. and more than a suspicion of frost on the sidewalk. ."-ir Ralp'.i Sapson's car was waiting, but he ordered the ehafl'eur to drive home, saying that h'- would prefer to walk. Sir Ralph lived in Park Lane, so that he had near!- a mile to cover, buc he .vas in that mood which made light of so unusual an exercise. He reached the door of his imposing residence, and his hand was on the bell when he heari his name called. He had noticed, as he walked up to his door, that a little distanve along the road was a big inotor-i-.ir. its head lamps gleaming, and a chauffeur bu*y tinkering with the enxlne. "I am afraid you don't know mc," said a swee; voice. Sir Ralph raised his hat. Tne girl who stood on the sidewalk was obviously a lady. :~he was beautifully dressed, and Sir Ralph. wlu> had an appraising eye, valued the ermine cloak she wore at something not far -hort of a thousand pouada. A single j broad collar of diamonds about her j sler.der throat was all the jeyellery rhe I wore. "1 am afraid I don't - ' he said, '■[ only met you oncp." said the girl timidly, "in Paris. You wero introduce,l to mc in the foyer of " "Oh, yes, at the Optra, of course," -aid Sir Ralph, who. amongst other things, was a patron of the Arts. She nodded and seemed pleased that he bad reirvm-berod her. a compliment which Sir Ralph did not fail to observe. -My car has broken down." she said, "and I ias wondering if I could beg -our hospitality. It is so horribly Jiivery here." She drew her cloak tighter around lier. "With all the pleasure in life." said Sir Raiph. heartily; "but I have only a bachelors establishment, you know," he laughed. He rang the bell mnd the door was opened instantly. "Put some light 3in the drawing- ] room," he said to the servant. "Is there a fire there':" "Yes. Sir Ralph.' said the man.

'"Can I get you some coffee or a little wine?" She had pulled a big , chair up before the blaze, and was resting her little white slippers upon the silver tender. Her shapely hands were outapread to tJie nre, and Sir Ralph noted that though many jewels glittered on her fingers there was no sign cf the plain gold circle of bondage. '"You will think it awiulh' rude in mc, but I cannot recall your name," he , said, when the servant had gone. "I don't suppose you do; my name 13 rather a barbarous one."' she laughed. •"I am the Princess Bacbeffski."' "Why, of coarse!" said Ralph heartily, "I remember distinctly now." To do him justice. Russian princesses ' are not unusual phenomena in Paris, and he had a very bad memory for foreign names. "I suppose. I am bein£ very unconventional," . she said with a little grimace, and for the first time he noticed that she spoke with the slightest accent; "'but necis must when the devil drives, and I had either to sit in . j that cold car. or grasp the good 'fortune which fate threw in mv way. ''And you. Sir Ralph, are looking the, 'same as when I saw yo-.i la.-t. You are one of the big business men of London, aren't you?" '•I have a few interests," admitted Sir Ralph, modestly. They talked of Paris, which Sir Ralpi) knew, and of Russia through which he lhad travelled on one oe-i.-ion. and '>f (London, and then the coffee came and. ; a few minutes later, her chauffeur, to 'tell her that toe repairs had been effe.-ted. "Before I ?o I want to you one favour, Sir Ralph,"' she ~-.uA. I She was a little embarrassed and ner,vously twisted a rin.z on her inigor. Sir Ralph ear this and wondered. j '"You have only to a.-k Prin.ceec, and it i≤ granted," he <aid. gallantly. i She hesitated a moment and bit her lip in thought. I ■[ am goincr to take yon ir.tn ray confidence, and I know ;is a man of homur" (Sir Ralph bowe.i, -you will noi betray mc. I am in London, but 1 am n v - p :posed to be in London." ' >iie looked at him anxiously as sirmade tiiis cenfe-rion. 1 "I understand," said Sir Ralph, which not true. "You have probably noticed -you wore so quick ;it seeing those thiu:i-> —-that I 'am not wearing my wedding ring. We!!.' |*he hesitated, "Diniitri and I !:ave .\nar .relied, and I do not want him to Sn i mc. I haven't been to t!:e Embassy, or to call on any of mv old friends." I "You may he sure." said Sir Ralph. i"ti!at your secret it> .-a;'e. I may say.'' he added, "that this i> not ti".«- first time jl have been entru.-cd with a conSdeu c 'as delicate."

"I know I can trust you," she said, warmly gripping his hand. '"I am staying in a little furnished flat which I have taken in Half Moon Street. I have a duenna with mc for the sake of the proprieties—Dimitri is so funny about those things—go if a busy man. can spare the time, I am always in between four and live " "It will give mc the greatest happiness to renew the acquaintance," said Sir Ralph, and raised her hand to his lips. Sir Ralph retired to rest more pleased ■with himself than ever.

(To be continued on Saturday next-)