CHAPTER XXXI.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 3100, 19 September 1899, Page 6

CHAPTER XXXI.

'■■ '^i? *2 V**tl OLD gTOBT, Aa aoon aa Charleston had disposed of bis share of tbe^oJd^Trenoweth decided to deal «-O--i. He went to the Victorian Treasurer and [laid, Alttheife&» t &fifon»> him'f-attd^fiaA'eply he got reassured him. * ♦sDivide?-tb*^mon4y i^nibngst the cbaritieß, my friend. The Government could not claimit, an^i'tVould'ta^ practfcftlly irapoa•ible to.find pbe; rightful ownerß. If ,you makeit public^oVwill have a lot of bogus claims sen,t in.andjn,o eijd^/iifflrpubijß^'x J The authorities at the Melbourne Mint /were" 'cbi&iderabl^i 'surprised at the large quantity of the precious metal which was io%red /them jbj^th tt, islander,'but beyond' a formal question or two the surprise was not manifested. >•' :- >-t The gold, was asiayed and found, Jjare, the regulation price paid, and !tlie trahsac- . tjpn en^ed. _„ -.. „.,.. „.; Various of the charities benefited by Tre noweth's gemerosity, and a large sum was kept for similar purposed to be expended in Tasmania. Neither vu Charleston a niggard with hie new-found wealth. His tastes were simple and his wants, on Clarke's Island, few The fact that he was now a comparatively wealthy man did not seem to have the slightcat effect on him. ' He was one of thoie few men whom riches does not demoralise. ■ ' '■" '- It occurred to Edward at tbii time to try and ascertain what had become of the parents of the'rtortona. He knew that Grey had no relatives in the colony, but he felt particularly anxious to know if the old couple who bad been bo suddenly bereaved of their aona were still "alive. '"-'■" The " missing f rienda " columns of the leading colonial papers were laid! under contribution, and in less tb»n a week the advertiser was surprised to be waited on by the couple he wished to see. Tbe story they told was an exceedingly affecting one. When intelligence reached them at Inglewood of the supposed tragic fate of their sons they realised the little moneytbey could and set off for Adelaide. From there they started into the interior, and actually travelled as far as Mulwa station, determined to set at rest all doubts as to tbe fate of their sons. At Mulwa tbey saw manager Anderson, and from the information givenby him, auri also by tbe remnants of clothes and articles found near the skeletons, they knew that death bad swept the loved ones for ever from them. The kind-hearted manager drove them out to the grave on the plain, and they had the melancholy satisfaction of knowing tl>»fc at least decent burial had been giren to tbe dead. .'\ :. ■} Broken in heatt and with almost empty pockets, tbey managed to get back to Melbourne, where they were making a precarious hvlihood. Trenoweth told them the story of the fatal expedition, as far as he knew; and he took care that the childless old couple ahould never want again aa long as life lasted. He made a provision for them that placed them in an independent position, and he felt that never had he derived more plea euro from the expenditure of money. " The daye went ewiltly by after this with -Trenowetb. In the society of Miss Ryan he seemed to forget all the troubles of his life, and be became again the happy youth he bad been when he worked the Wheal Merlin and his Ilife.sky had.never a cloud to mariiie sunshine. ' ' It'seemed as if he bad quite forgotten his promise to Mrs. Ryan to bring her husband and daughter back to the island in a couple oi weeks' time. -The old man himself, it must be confessed, did not appear in a hurry to return, and bis daughter, took an[almost childish delight in. seeing tbe sights of tbe city. She never seemed to weary, and she taxed the ingenuity of her .friends to find her now places and scenes. How long this blissfnl state might have continued it is difficult to say, bad not an xintbward event • happened^ which \causeds "Edward to bring his Melbourne visit* °to an end. (t was tbe month of November, and the beauty and fashion of Australia was graviHtftting, to tiie VictoriAu metropolis to assist in the prent racing carnivai of the year. o;! JJeua.Uy staid people seemed fprthe, month to be afflicted with a mania in the direction, otfc°rßW» cin ?r 1..;■ ■.:.'. •:"'; ■-. .n .Wii'ij. Tbey spoke of little else than theJUel-'-bouriie Cupi and tba universal topic of con--1 b'et^ng 1 J ' ':: i i ,: |',';'' fl:'" f 1 l '-' ft c sec'uiar' 1 newspapers! weye * filled with 1 .qactfttions of the, " odds./': minute d«s--cr!ptipns,.of.thß,la3t fast gallop. One day i» would be announced that the favorite had a bad leg, and a thousand limes more interest wftn manifested over the condition ofc^hat horse than \f it had-been the imoatrpowerful cr6w.ned:head 6fißiirope. r Tbfl religious jourqals^ thought the time opportune to denounce in scathing terms the frightful vjoe of, gambling, whioh seemed to have fixed' iia demoralising grip faat on the hearts of the people. Reverend editors wrote columns «f these denunciatory articles, and then they aotively satiated %\ their church bazaar and encouraged the begging young ladies in their monetary aataulte on the pursnof the bach•loll. . • ". ■'■." ■ ;

-Fwrtbtrperiod man bowed-do wn i nr-woTehi j» Of course, it was arranged that Trenoweth and his friends abouldgo to the Melbourne ?£ ft? ■&$$ A select party^was formed^ consisting of Barr and his family with Trßi/owettHi«d bis guests.,^g rf-ei . ,Ypimxvs The young man, it_muislfbGlß;aid;:&pßS but little interest^ An and, had he cons lilted hia ~ mdi vidual v taste, ,Jia, y5 ould not have gone to the Fiemington coarse at all, ' ••t}:'>'. i^vSS ,Y?UiM The weather for the great ;raMn]re^e!it of tho^. year) was,::alli that ! 60ttld be desired, and^ha^quMe alone well worth gointr tO See/;, , ■ ,-. r . . ■ , a .:-jj iI., Tj The Bcbool •natter, used to the quietude of the isblatetrißland, was dri fen almost" bewildered by the rash and roar of the miyhtyjcrpwli ih'wbicib. he f#ttnp;hin)B>"lf at Fiemington'..' *' ; O r'\ Vv\ J-H i He liad never in his life seen anything to approach the excited multitude^ and it took Burr a considerable portion of his time to look after his eldp^ly-f rjend;> Trenoweth, of course, devoted himself to Miss Ryan, and was extremely assiduous in hißftttoutiona. ..,,. v.^fi h" i ;< • -sbi -.is I»V The operations of the " Ring" at lilt attracted tlieir notice.' ' ' ~' it ' v '' :| " '"' They had been on the couree for a little more than r an hour when, the brast-throated gcntryfwtfo makfe a livfog' / by '•^laying' the odds," caused i the >: pair 7 to: j pause in their ; peregrinations. I The Oup wafe the next race to be run, and [ it was on this event that the wagering was being made. -■■ ■- The din of voices resembled the confusion that must have; prevailed at tba Towor of Babel, :and it (wu quite incomprehensible ito both Trenowe.th and Misa Ryan, at the j fi^Ki .-,/, ,::i.ii,. -■ • '■■■■■ -■ ■■ : As they listened it became more intelli- | gible, and ;■ gradually they wwe able to distinguish what .all the shooting was about. ,: . . , .. , i ■._ One man in particular wag particular for his brazen throat, and Trenoweth pave a start as he heard him called 'Simpson by a gentleman who had just taken the odds from him. . Why he felt my surprise at the mention of that name he could., not tell at the moment, . , It was, as the reader knows, a man named Simpson who married Inez Jasper, but since that event Edward had met a number of people bearing the name. He looked at the fellow in front of him with considerable curiosity, and the more be scrutinised him the more confident he got that be had met with some one who had cro9aed his life. The face of the bookmaker was not » pleasant one, by any means. The skilled physiognomist would bare n<> difficulty in reading evil in that face, an') vice bad marked it in no uncertain manner. He waß evidently betting heavily, n« incould scarce find time to book the numerous wagers which were flowing in on him. The description given by Mrs. Trenoweth in her laat letter to her son rose up in Tre noweth's mind, and to a great extent it corresponded with that of tho man be was looking at. Tne difference could easily be accounted for by the lupse of time and the wiM and dissipated life which the bookmaker bad led. Then Trenowefcb recollected that his mother had said that Charles Simpson was a squatter, or had represented himself to be such. It wr.b quite feasible, though not at all probable, that the former squatter bad, b\ reverse of fortune, retrograded into a bookmaker ; but it was Bfcill more likely that tin Simpson of St. Columl/s Cove had falselj represented himself to Mrs. Trenowetb and Inez. If his object was to win the latter it was morally certain that had been done to gain bis point. He was bo engrossed in hie study thai Nelly llyan spoke to him twioe before he answered her,aud he had to apologise for bie fit of abstraction, as he called it. He reflected that if Siropson were reallj the man he suspfictci him to be, his wifp, if alive, would almost certainly be on tlitcouree. In a crowd of sixty thousand persons it would not be easy to pick out a Bingle individual, but if Inez Jaßper waß anywhere about Trenoweth felt sure he would see hei — even if the crowd numbered more than a million. When the race was run the young man noticed that bookmaker Simpson appeared ill at ease. His face was decidedly pale, and his lips twitched nervously, as though iometbinj. unforeseen liad happened. For a wonder, a red-hot favorite had won and there was a settled gloom on the faces of a good many bookmakerp. Their boisterous demeanor was now subdued, and it waß apparent that many o! them bad been heavily bit by the result oi tiie Cup race. Treuowoth and Miss Ryan strolled on to the lawn, and the young lady could not helj enquiring what made her companion 100 l so serious. He was fain to protest that not!) ing waithe matter with him, but his face belied by assertion. Tbey met Barr and the old schoolmastPi on She lawn and bad just turned away froo them, when Edward came face to face wit one that caused him to stop suddenly and utter an exclamation of surprise. Nut ten feet away stood Inez Jasper, or rather Mrs. Charles Simpson. She was staring full at him, with a peculiarly sarcastip smile on her lips. She nan altered somewhat, but 'not for the better. There was that indefinable expression ii her looks which spoke of unhappiness, ami care sat heavily: on her, ; JFor half a minute Trenowetb returned toe stare of the wbtriftn who had jilted him, wjhilst his companion regarded him with •ilent surprise. '! ' ' * ! Then, with an < abrupt apology (or his cbnducti.he 'offered; Wtißß Ryan his, arm; and, with a muttered excuse, turned back with her towards the spot where hit father and Barr were standing. : , ; ■-.; . s - :i -, „; > ;•• I believe I have seen ghosts to-day," ht said, with a sad smile, to his companion. " Twice this afternoon f have been startled by seeing people 1 thought' I irtaw, but it was only fancy." ; As the young couple lamed away Mrs. Simpson regarded them with an eager look, and remained motionless for several minutes. - ■_ .; ' ■ -. .- : \- . Then, with a half suppressed sigh, the turned and went off towards the grand staid.— T* it ContinuU. W P 2J