The Loveless Isle

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 30 March 1929, Page 16

The Loveless Isle

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CHAPTER XVJL. CIRC UAISTA NTIAL 15 V. 1 HENCE. Lady Fiske Telt acutely the absence of Bi'egg. She made herself feel i acutely, for she was one of those womei wlio enjoy a hcn.se ol’ martyrdom. Cruel ly robbed of her husband and coin panion. she revelled in an orgy of sel. pity. She developed a great vindicUvenos: towards Nairn, whom shf' biarned fo: jiregg’s callousness m leaving her. In deed, a tierce hatred of the linancie: alternated with the conviction that is Iliyas deeply wronged and misunderstood She refused invitations to go abroad with relatives, and stayed in town. Cowes weelt, however, tempted her, and obtaining the company of the impecunious but ambitious wife of a retired colonel, a woman who was ever ready to by s yerp’::vt:c and sympathetic so long as she was well-entertained, Judith Fiske went- down to see the yachting, and to parade her clothes ' and her troubles. One day. in Cowes, Lady Fiske’dropped her handbag, scattering its contents upon the door of a snop. Various articles were quickly retrieved by other customers, but a little, round powderbox rolled far down the shop, and was picked up by a woman whose lace seemed dimly familiar. “Why. it’s Lady Fiske?” saul the woman, handing the treasured box to its <A\*ner. •■Yes.’’ said Judith, “and thank you so much for rescuing my little box. I wouldn’t lose it for worlds.’ By this time Lady Fiske iiaa finished ,ner transaction, and the two women walked out ox the shop together Judith had a feeling that she ought to Know her companion, ami was a little embarrassed at her failure to recall the other's name. She chatted amiably, imping that the name might occur to her before they parted. At the door, a car awaited Lady Fiske. “Can I take you anywhere?” she inquired of the other woman. “That’s very kind of you, ', was the response, “J. am only going to the pier head where 1 am to meet my husband. It’s not far." “Never mind,” said Judith. I pass that way. Do step in,” and she gave instructions to the driver. No episode in her short holiday ati Cowes, a holiday made possible only by great economy and by much persuasion of her husband, pleased Ruth Wentloy so much as the short drive with oxpeii-sively-dressed Lady Fiske through streets crowded with fashionable people. It gratified the .suburban snob in her, and even had she known that from first to last. Judith Fiske could not even guess her name, Airs Wentley’s satisfaction would have been in no way ui mini shed. In the car, Ruth Wcntley took ail early opportunity of' mentioning the dance at the Albanian Legation at which they had last met. Reference to that occasion enabled Judith I'iske at least to recall her companion, and she remembered, too, how a girl whom this woman had brought to the party had taken Oscar Brega from her for a considerable part of the evening. Airs Wentloy could have purred with ; pleasure at the thought that Lady j Fiske had remembered so much nei-,-“Oh that was Pamela Langtrey, the daughter of some neighbour of ours, and”the snob in her prompted her to add. “and a friend of Air Russell Nairn, the city man, you know. »h« s just gone to Ganaoa for a holiday. . . T , “Yes yes, of course," said .Lady Fiske. “And here’s the pier head. ’ So Ruth AVentlev alighted, beamed a gcod-bve to Judith Fiske and the car drove on. She hoped Lady Fiske would not see her join her husband, tor Tom Wentley could not boast the .cornet attire of the aristocratic yachtsman, being turned out in rather shabby grey flannels, with a very suburban type oi light felt hat, and ail exceedingly democratic pipe. T ,irU+h Her fears were groundless, ioi Juditn Fiske would hardly have noticed her host friend at that moment So that doll-faced girl had just gone to Canada,” she reflected, Russell Nairn had just gone to Canada, too She liad read a paragraph announcing his departure barely a week ago. Fr.rthei, the cloll-faced girl was a friend of Russell

Nairn, and Naim .it was who had sent Oscar Bregg out ol the country. What dal it all meani She hound the plot intensely intriguing, and the more so when she realised that Oscar Bregg's neglect ot her dated from the evening , when he and the doll-faced girl danced • together sq much. { Now Bregg was m Buenos Ayres, sent there by Nairn, who had gone to Can- . ada witn tlie doll-faced girl. Well, she didn’t know that the girl had actually : gone with Nairn, but such an assump- . • tion made the story far more mterest- • ! ing, and, anyhow, it would do very well . tor Oscar. She would write and tell him. • She didn’t know his address; but she > would send the letter to Nairn’s office whence it- would be forwarded.

CHAPTER. XV 111, AT ANACAOMA. While Judith Fiske, revelling in her grievances., played away the August hours in the sunshine of Cowes, her iius- | band was working harder than lie had j ever done before in liis life, although even so genteel a profession as medicine makes stern demands on those who attain Its highest places, and Fiske had known some days of drudgery as a practitioner. Butj work as the chief of this reclaimed paper mill on the island of Anacaoma would have been fascinating to him, apart from the special, scientific interest he had in it. Restoring the 'derelict plant had, lor him, something of tin' fascination which he had once found in endeavouring to restore- to health some hopeless case. But, added to these considerations was the fact that lie was “trying out” a theory upon | which he had worked for years, and the! theory wasinroving itself successful. Cue off Jebin the mainland by two rivers, one bf which brought the timber ; down from the wooded heights of the north, his island was like a well-organ-ised, independent state. The workers were well housed in substantial huts, their welfare was his constant care, and his hospital was probably unequalled in any plant in the Dominion. To the visitor from the outside world, the little 1 group of huts which formed the office 1 and ins own living quarters would be ! regarded as the hub of the establishi nient, but to Fiske, the hospital was tile I centre of greatest importance, though i none but himself realised the fact.

Anacaoma had no feminine popula- ■ lion. From an industrial point of view j it was an Eve less Eden, “The Loveless ! Isle.” as Fiske had termed it in one of; his lighter moments. All the men re-] eruited for the plant were unmarried, i save one or two of. the senior officials, who were content to accept their ap-. pointments on the strict condition that, j their wives could not come to live on] •the island. . j Thus there were none of those distractions and unsettling cross-currents > of feminine antagonism which women undoubtedly bring into such small, selfcontained communities. The men were , content to spend their evenings playing I games, fishing, or in the small cinema ' which had been provided. Work was the outstanding feature of Anacaoma, work more energetic and more intense than the supervisors had ever seen before in their experience. “It must he the .air,” said one of them, iti discussing with a. colleague the most recent- figures of output. “It beats me. I’ve been 22 years at this game, and I’ve never seen anything like it.” The surgeon-turned paper maker over, hoard them and smiled and went along to the hospital to take a. peep at some : recently-joined' hands who were lying ] there. j “You must get out of here before the I end of the week,”, he said cheerily. “The i boss is coming out from England, and I want to show a clean bill of health.” Anacaoma was almost ready to receive

its nominal master, but none seemed to care very much. The senior officials curious to see what manner of man lie was but the humbler workers were indifferent. Only the lean, prey, restless man who had turned this derelict

plant into a- thriving, prosperous establishment, and a well-ordered community, showed any enthusiasm for the approaching visit, and ho, each night, spent hours with the record hooks and made complicated charts and tables of figures. (To he Continued.)