THE HAND OF THE OPPRESSOR.

Evening Star, Issue 12040, 11 November 1903, Page 2

THE HAND OF THE OPPRESSOR.

TO OUR REAPERS.

WE SHALL COMMENCE On SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, Tiie Publication of a NEW SERIAL From the pou of John W. Myall (author of 1 Paying the Price,’ etc.), entitled

Outline of the Plot.—Jasper Kolroyd is a lawyer whose unscrupulous dealings have Ended him into a hole from which he can only extricate himself by taking bis own life. Just- as he is about to pul this fatal resolve into execution he receives a visit from an old chum, who implores him to take charge of his baby daughter while he goes away to India on service. This Jasper Holroyd gladly undertakes to do, and puts the child out to nurse. After the lapse of a twelvemonth the death of Captain Richard Carsdalo is announced in the papers. The Tempter seizes this golden opportunity, and Jasper Holroyd is not proof against his wiles. Were it not for the child ail the fortune left by the late Captain Carsdale would be his. The child must die! But how? Again the Tempter whispers ways and means, and the unfortunate child is lodged with an infamous woman Jane Williams, who makes her living by fanning unwanted babies. But Jasper rcyd has reckoned without his host. Another being, more wicked than himseif. and better fitted to carry on a commission of evil, exists in the person of his confidential clerk, Ephraim Fogg, and it is this young man who circumvents Jasper and thoroughly outwits him. Jane Williams is arrested, her house raided by the police, and she herself is awarded penal servitude for life. The child, Winnie Carsdale, is sent to a home for orphans. Ephraim Fogg, the greater evil genius, thoroughly cowes the lesser evil genius, Jasper Holroyd, and henceforth there is in store for Jasper a long teem of .scars «£ sufEcrints, so

exquisitely humiliating and painful as to su"gest that his tormenter is a fiend incarnate ■rather than a human being. The outcome of ali this treatment is the slow but sure evolvmg of another fiend incarnate in the person of Holroyd. But the author mercifully allows thrae otherwise uneventful years to pass by. ahd skilfully brings the reader to the nest turning m the narrative. Ephraim Herbert Carsdale, the first cousin of the iat-e Kichard Carsdale, a dissipated unhealthy specimen of the society yoimg man. By the judicious offer of money enough to cover this young fellow’s debts, Ephraim obtains all the information he requires. Herbert Carsdale’s uncle. Sir James Carsdale (father of the late captain), lives on his estate at Garden Oaks, He has a young girl living with him, an adopted grand-daughter. Winifred Carsdale, whom Herbert supposes he will have to marry some day, if he is to inherit the estate and the pot of money which he says the old man possesses. The reader is now introduced to Garden Oaks and its inmates. Mrs Carsdale Herbert’s mother, and the wife of the late Henry Carsdale, meets her son at the little country station, and after informing liim of Sir James’s failing health, the two plot together bow to get hold of Winnie and obtain possession of the estate. This is not an easy matter, for the girl has a sweetheart in the person of a stalwart young soldier, Jim Verrance, son of General Verrance. But Mm Carsdale is a born manager, and carries everything before her. Jim Verrance is ordered out * acl '; L > and is irritated beyond endurance by finding his endeavors to obtain a private audience with Winnie completely frustrated b\ the over-watchful widow. At last he writes a hold to Winnie begging her to meet him in a certain spot. He himself keeps the appointment punctually, and is confronted by Mrs Carsdale._ The widow is most sympathetic. Winnie is obdurate. She will not even see Juu- Mrs Carsdale hints that her heart i 3. bestowed upon Herberts, Jim, accepting his fate with outward fortitude, goes away broken-hearted to India. We shall leave our readers to sympathise with Winnie’s sorrows and to unravel the machinations of the various villains, with the assurance’that right finally' triumphs over wrong and the whole winds up happily. The love element is prominent throughout, and the author’s skilful development of the plot makes the story one of sustained interest.