BARABBAS'S DAUGHTER

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 69, 23 March 1931, Page 17

BARABBAS'S DAUGHTER

S 1 By JK. M. BURRAGE. \ i

CHAPTER XII. Billie Writes to Violet Elchard,

Billie Paravel opened her eyes, and gave a long-drawn sigh of relief to find herself in lier dainty room—her own room that looked so dear and homelike with the sunlight of an early July mornjnc streaming through the window. It had only been a nightmare, a bad dream; tut what a horrible, real dream! She had imagined herself at the Beaumonts' house, playing cards and losing continually. From time to time she had gone to Beaumont himself for more counters, and each time she had signed another damning slip of paper. Her losses were piling up, faster and faster, and she was gambling madly, recklessly, in the hope of recovering the money before some impending disaster should overtake her. ~,.«# And then, just when she held four kings and felt certain of winning a big iackpot, Beaumont's voice was raised, calling her from the table. She turned her head to ask him to wait, and saw her own double standing by his side, with an angry, accusing face. No it was not herself. It was Lady Violet, and Beaumont was showing the 1.0.U.'s that Billie had signed. Then, it seemed to Billie, all the card players surrounded her, jeering at her, abusing her, threatening her. Shentz laid hold of her —though why Shentz should interfere puzzled her, even in her dreams—and bound her wrists and ankles with cords. And then —then Billie woke. But the dream remained with her, almost as real as though: she had actually lived through the misery and disgrace. Billie turned over, and hid her face in the pillow. It had hot happened; and it must never happen, of course; but what a little idiot she. had been. Before an everwidening circle of people —people whom she despised and had now begun to fear —she : was maintaining an imposture which might be detected at any minute, by any one among them. Violet Elchard was no insignificant, unknown girl, but a prominent person in society. Her doings were chronicled in the gossip pages as often as the writers of those newspaper sections could get hold of some activity worth mentioning. Any day the world might be informed that Violet was visiting at some house in the North, or had flown to the Continent, as she occasionally did. And then how could BUlie account for her presence in Sussex, and for those two slips of paper to which she had forged the of her school friend.

Forged!; People were sent to prison for doing things like that. Billie drearily wondered whether it was in the blood. She had told Mr. Paravel -that she did not believe in heredity,; but when she had said;that\ she had not imagined it pos-sible-thai she would be cowering under the bedclothes appalled at the prospeet of her siris finding her out.

Billie jumped out of bed and slipped into'% kpnonb. This would "never do; what' was required of her was some action such consequences as her nightmare had rendered so vivid and real.- Firit of all, she must make sure of Violet Eichard. Violet was a good sort, and;if prepared in advance to hear that somebody; was doubling her in Brighton, would be" ready to pass it off as a joke on BillieS part. But it had to be put to her irij the proper way. Billie took pen and paper, and, after several abortive efforts, succeeded in producing a", letter couched in the proper strain of light-heartedness, or so she hoped. C

Dear Violet (it ran),— • When I wrote to thank you for your; darling birthday present, I never thought \ that Tingaling would get me into a scrape, but, sweet as he is, he was, of my doing something rather idiotic. As it concerns yourself, you. oJigSt to hear, about it. I took him down to the front at Hove one morning, and sat on the lawn for a bit, because he seemed to like it. You know, old dear, that we were always being mistaken for one another; and the addition of a Peke to my outfit seems to have pointed the likeness. •Anyhow,- a-'woman on the next seat began to talk about Pekes to. me, and presently she said that she had one of my breeding. I knew at once, of course, that she had mistaken me for you; and I Should have corrected her at once, why I didn't I don't-know, except that 1 had nothing to do and was bored stiff at the moment.

I thought it would be amusing to let ber run on, and I was lunatic 'enough to go with her to her funny home to inspect her wonderful Peke. You ought to 3 be. hysterical with rage when you read this, I know; but it was really a bit thrilling. I met a lot of fantastic peopleS-which I had not reckoned; upon —tney all'of them were oozing money and respectful admiration of "Lady Violet."

Wei], I got away, and never gave another thought to it. But now; when I go ; to Brighton, I'm continually encountering the consequences of my ' misdeeds. Twice people . behind counters have called me Lady Violet, and I am always running into somebody who met me on that fatal day when I-was a fool. What to.do about it I don't quite know; out it seems to me that you ought to Know what a little idiot I made of myself. *

So-please write, old dear, and tell me Jf there is. anything I can do about it, beyond correcting people every time they mistake me for you. In a week or two we shall oe off on a long holiday, and ln my absence I expect Brighton will soon forget that I'm Lady Violet. It was a lunatic thing to do; and there's nothing I look forward to so much as to escape from this limelight, and be never again mistaken for anybody but Yours remorsefully, BILLIE FARAVEL. Having composed this rather laborious Sanation, Billie felt just a little safer. Violet would not be entirely unprepared rt l° me u " his P ers reached her of a double who had impersonated her in Brighton. . Billie liad to ring up Lady uolet's London club to make sure that the letter would reach her without-de-lay,: and was lucky enough to learri where her friend was staying in York-

is a long way from Sussex," «Ilie murmured to herself, as she wected the letter. "I must put a stop to this at once. As soon as I have recovered those 1.0.U.'s I'll say I want a change, and get right awav from it somehow., What an idiot I've been." Her allowance was due at the end of June, and it was now early July; .but she .went'.again to. the bank with no confidence that she would be able

to draw upon her account. Mr. Paravel had a trick of delaying the payment, having made a sort of joke with Billie out of the practice. He liked her to remind him that she.was "broke"; and Billie had always entered into the little comedy with goodwill, since it gave her father pleasure. But now she simply could not refer to the matter. If the money was not there, she must just wait until Mr. Paravel chose to put her in funds again. Looking back on the days before her birthday, Billie felt herself infinitely old, wicked and careworn, all in a week or two.

As she had feared, her inquiry at the bank produced the reply that there was no money to her credit. The bank manager was severely official when Billie asked how she should know that it was possible to draw a cheque again. "If you desire it, Miss Paravel," he said coldly, "you can be informed when your allowance has been paid to your account. Or you might find it more convenient to speak to your father, in whose hands, of course, the matter rests entirely."

He was worse than chilly, he was suspicious. If he had said so in plain words he could not have conveyed m'ore effectively his conviction that Billie had transgressed in some fashion, and was being punished by the stoppage of her allowance. Billie went away from the bank, suffering under a loss of selfesteem which provided her with a novel and most unpleasant sensation. A few weeks ago she had assumed that she had the liking and. respect of everybody; now she was haunted by the awful feeling that she had been detected for an impostor.

It was, awful to think that she dare not stay away too long from the house in Majesty Avenue. Beaumont would be expecting her, and he would also expect her to redeem the' promises she had. written in Violet's name. Either that, or to come prepared to lose an abundant supply of cash. She had no money to redeem the paper, no cash to risk, no way of maintaining her pretence any longer. And yet she dare not stay away for fear Beaumont might become suspicious. Suppose he began making inquiries about Lady Violet? It was easy for anybody, with the ordinary books of reference, to discover that Lady Violet was at present in Yorkshire. And then, suppose Beaumont wrote to Yorkshire demanding his money? While Billie was miserably debating her next step, a letter, in answer to her own, reached her from Violet Elchard. "Dearest Billie,— "Just a line to tell you that I quite understand how you got into your scrape. In factj I am planning to get even with you by spending an evening somewhere as the - charming Billie Paraveh It must be thrilling to escape from yourself, and to be somebody else for an hour or two. So if you hear of your exploits at a bottle party in Chelsea, or that you have been selling buttonholes at a charity fete in Wiga?), you'll know that little Violet has taken her revenge. "Don't worry a minute, darling. If any of my doings in Brighton come to my ears, I'll manage to assume responsibility for them. I know-you haven't let me in for anything that I cannot laugh off easily enough. And now that you know what a ghastly nuisance a title can be sometimes, you can understand how careful one has to be. "If some girls who call themselves niy friends were masquerading as myself, I shouldn't sleep a wink until it has been stopped. But you are different, my sweet. Mind, I want to hear all about it when we meet again. Until then, "Doubly yours, VIOLET ELCHARD. The letter, tactful and trustful,at the same time, served to open'Billie's eyes to possibilities never before »considercd by her. Violet trusted her, and was sure that she had done nothing that could not easily be laughed off. Well, all that she had done was to borrow money in Violet's name, from the keeper of a Brighton gambling hell. And the money was still owing. "I am worse than a thief!" Billie cried to her reflection in the mirror. "To steal money is a trifle; I have stolen my friend's good reputation; I am my father's daughter, and I shall end where he did!" And as she inspected her face it seemed to her that lurking behind its mask of youth and beauty she could see every evil line and feature which made •her loath to look at her own father.

(To be continued daily.)