THE HEROINE OF THE MILL, OR A LANCASHIRE MAN'S REVENGE.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2785, 20 September 1910, Page 2

THE HEROINE OF THE MILL, OR A LANCASHIRE MAN'S REVENGE.

All Rights Reserved. PART '). CHAPTER IX. THE OPENING OF THE MILLS.— A FLAG OF TRUCE- THE MERCHANT'S MISERY.-LOVE ON THE HOUSETOP. It did many a heart good—to use a common expression—to note the cheerful faces and light steps of the of both sexes as thej hurried to the re-opening of Ritchison's great mills. At the breakfast hour you could see that there was an organised intention of doing honour to the proprietor and his family on this auspicious occasion. Men and women, too, felt that they owed something as reparation to their employers for their former violent and intemperate behaviour. Mr. Nabal Blackley and Dawsy Howarth were prudent enough to keep out of the way. The people, of course, knew nothing actually against these worthies but they had a vague kind of idea that they were the ringleaders in the late disturbances.

When Kate took her position, dressed in the neat garb in which we first beheld her, many a face wore an abashed look ; for all owned in their hearts that she had played a splendid part in the past and deserved the favour she now enjoyed. Just as the clocks began to strike nine the " master," true to his habits of punctuality, drove into the outer courtyard on this occasion accompanied by his wife and two daughters, and Zulieka Enumenides.

Dick rode a saddle-horse beside the family carriage, and was radiant with joy. Cheers resounded from every quarter. Kate stood in the shadow of the crane—her former point of vantage—and beside her hovered Gommy, his face showing an expression of mixed pain and pleasure. The pleasure was caused by the scene, and the pain on account of poor Scratch, whose already shortened tail had that morning been further abbreviated, and was now wrapped up in a surgical bandage of immense proportions.

" Scratch went off his chump this morning wi' delight," explained Gommy to Dick, who had dismounted to come and shake hands with Kate, " and ran all over t' mill. He forgot about th' danger of th' cardroom so he puts his tail in machinery and he's lost a bit. Poor Scratch ! an' him a swell dog, too, wi' a license to hisself !" " Poor old Scratch," echoed the lovers.

The dumb animal moaned with pain and appreciation of their sympathy.

It is worthy of record that during all the future of his life no amount of persuasion would make him cross the threshold of the *card-roora.

The prolonged cheering brought Mr. Ritchison to the counting-house window, his wife by hie side. Mr. Walton, Hal, and the young Armenian lady appeared at the others. The master spoke. " I have to thank >ou for your demonstrations of good feeling since I was able to announce our resumption of business. It is to my wife that you owe everything."

*' Three cheers for the missus !"

" I thank you on her part," resumed the merchant, " and, with her I hope that nothing shall ever in future arise to mar the good feelings that until the unhappy occasion to which I need not further refer, have always existed between the members of my family and every person employed on these premises." " Hear, hear !" and another volley of anplause.

" Most of you are aware that my eldest daughter is to be married tomorrow, if all goes well. I thought of giving you a half-holiday ; but, upon mature consideration, I have determined not to interfere with the routine of the week's work. However I have given orders for the supply of a cold luncheon and an appropriate quantity of good ale to be provided for every one of my people." " Chaps and wenches," shouted a respectable-looking workman, " I'm nobody but a poor hand at spouting, but I mus' say that Ritchison's the best master, after all !" That sentiment seemed to suit everyone for the joyous cheers again rang out. Then in their midst the great time-bell began to sound and every soul proceeded in an orderly manner to the station to which dutv called.

Kate received Dick's advances with resncct. She would not see the proffered hand and the yonng fellow was sorely perplexed. With the workine garb our heroine at once assumed the mill girl's manners. She looked with a new interest upon the nale, kindly face of her lover's father.

" It is impossible," she said, mentally. "He never would have committed a murder. The other being—his accuser—is much more likelv to be fruilty of such a deed. My heart bleeds for the poor master." Rawdon Ritchison like most Oldchester men was a most conscientious worker, and consequently expected every subordinate to follow his example.

In his own room he saw all the heads of departments ; then the corresponding, balancing, ledger, sale, and purchase clerks ; after that, the time-book was reviewed, and the usual routine began.

When the last necessary interviewer disappeared, the merchant dropped his head upon his hands on the writing table and groaned. The bell rang. He touched the spring that relieved the check upon the office door. It opened and the elder Enumenides walked in. " You are not well this morning," said he.

"What is your business with me ?" said Ritchison defiantly.

I "Oh, nothing much. My daughter was at your place last night." " Just bo," replied the manufacturer. "My wife invited her." i " Well I must not complain," said Enumenides. " I treated her harshly. I am afraid that on the occasion of our last meeting I also hurt your feelings." " So much so that were I guilty of murder, as you say I have been," responded Ritchison, grimly, " I would gladlj give myself up rather than submit to the annoyance that I now know jon have systematically favoured me with." " Nay, you wouldn't give yourself up," said Enumenides. " I would—and will !" cried Ritchison ; "and probably I shall then be able at whatever cost, to fathom your connection with my past life." " What you know, you know," replied the Eastern ; "but it is needless to quarrel. It will be mutually profitable to be conciliatory. I have gone too far. Indeed, your interests have always been at my heart." " Don't torture me, man—if you be a man!" cried Ritchison. "Leave me and torment me no more."

" Pafdon me " with the repulsive smile we know so well; "but have you looked at the policies you have redeemed ?" " I have." " Don't you think it time to renew them ?" grinned the Armenian. " Oh, plenty of time," said the merchant. He did not say that until he had danced over the insurance documents lately released .from his tantalising companion. " Ah, well," said the latter, "it is as well to be on the safe side. But I'll say no more. Let us be friends—" holding out his hand, which Ritchison would not take. "I hope you have stopped the prosecution and taken the detectives off the scent." A groan of despair from Mr. Ritchison.

" 1 knew you would," drawled the tormentor. " That scene in the meadow would be rather awkward on reproduction and— But I'll say no more until I make amends to my dear daughter, curse her !"

The two last words were hissed bebetween the speaker's teeth as he left the private room of the unhappy merchant.

He met Elliot on the threshold. The latter looked straight in his face, but gave no sign of recognition. " Ah, Rowley," cried the manufacturer rising.

" Pardon me, sir," said the solicitor, somewhat coldly, "but I cannot really make out the meaning of this no te " holding forth a small letter. " The instructions therein written must be followed absolutely," was Ritchison's reply.

*' What." said Elliot, in a tone of surprise. "We must not prosecute if we can find that we are right in our suspicions, the scoundrel who kidnapped and imprisoned myself and your son and then was the cause of our being falsely charged with murder !"

" You must not prosecute," moaned Ritchison. " And we must not endeavour to recover the lost title deeds !" went on the lawyer. " Not yet—not yet." " Do you know what that decision amounts to ?" inquired the son-in-law that was to be.

" Ah, yes, my boy—yes, too well," replied Ritchison. " It means that you confess to be the proprietor of the lone house of Cherry Street, that you own to be the stealer of designs paid for by other men, and that you are surreptitiously sending away works that belong not to you to the prejudice of your neighbours and friends in business. Pardon me, sir, but I can be no party to such a matter." " Then you desert me, Elliot, and leave my poor girl, Marion, once more a disgraced woman in the eves of the world ?" said Ritchison despairingly. " What is this mystery, Mr. Ritchison ?" cried Elliot, sternly. "You are twice my age and I have always had the greatest respect and affection for you. You cannot own that these men were in your employment, and that you wished to rob me of the key of my safe, that you might obtain the title deeds of this property. Oh, sir, believe me, that if you had but asked me for them, notwithstanding the lien, you might have them and welcome." Rawdon Ritchison rose with an effort—turned to Elliot—his face deadly white and a look of despair in his large, melancholy and expressive eyes.

" If it is the will of heaven," he began, "that the hearts of my wife and daughter are to be broken through an unexplainable blunder of minewhy, then, we must all submit. I can tell you nothing. Desert us if you will. I cannot blame you. Only first see my wife and Marion. My wife knows all. If then, you conclude to break with us, do so. I have no more to say." Elliot made one step to the door ; then he turned, came back, to the manufacturer touched him an the shoulder, and, seizing his right hand, said with deep emotion :

" Father, forgive me. How could I doubt you for one moment ? I will patiently wait until the time comes when you can explain. Meantime, Marion must be mine. Then I shall have the right—the equal right with Dick—of defending your honour, if need be, to the death !" " Heaven bless you. my boy !" was all Ritchison could say.

While the interviews we have described above were passing, something equally engrossing to the persons concerned was going on in other parts of the spacious premises. We regret to say that Dick—the hope of the house of Ritchison—descended to stratagem after his decided repulse by in the front courtyard at the beginning of this chapter. Any of you who know Ritchison's mills will own that they are quite a umdred feet in height, and that the tops are fiat, after the manner of Eastern mansions, and surrounded by parapets of three or four feet elevation.

The weather now being very tine, some cotton that had lately been made wet by the late heavy fall of rain won wjittjkrod nvar a nort of *li«

principal roof for the purpose of being dried by the sun. Gommy was in charge of this job, and assisted by Scratch he industriously kept turning the rich, white soft material, so that every fragment might be thoroughly reached by the heavenly rays. The poor half-wit • every now and then turned to look upon the wide stretch of the busy city, with its myriads of tall chimneys and he murmured :

" Cabs running ; lorries laden wi' bales o' cotton filling all th' streets; folks workin' and folks sittin' on infirmary steps starvin' ; but all our folks are at work, an' Gommy's at work, an' Scratch is at work, an* th angel's come back from th' sea, an' when I go to sleep to-night I'll look to th' skies and see her face there among the stars clearer than ever, an dearer than ever —an' then Gommy'll be happy—eh, Scratch " Scratch sniffed his agreement to this and wagged what remained of his tail, although the action caused him infinite pain.

" Come back to work, dog," said Gommy. " There's someone comin' up th' stairs. Ah, Master Dick !" he cried as that young gentleman appeared above the level of the trapdoor leading to the roof. " Gommy, go and tell Miss Fulford that she's wanted up here," said Dick.

" The higher th' better for th' angel. I'd like to take her up 'mong th' stars—ay' an' further too," said the witless weaver.

" All right, Gommy," responded Dick. "This will be quite far enough just now." In a short time Kate appeared, followed by the faithful idiot and his dog. In the centre of the roof was built a fcind of turret, on the top of which was erected a flagstaff and today being the happy reopening of the mills the Union Jack floated lazily upon the air. " Look after the cotton, Gommy," said Dick, leading our heroine to the other side of this little tower.

"What do you want with me ?" asked the mill girl demurely looking down.

" I want this, Kate,my own Kate— I want you !" " Eh, lad, you're makin' fun o' a poor lass now."

" For Heaven'B sake, dear, do not drive me to madness !" cried Did I. " You must have seen that I love you. Why, I've shown father, mother —ay, and all Oldchester—that you alone possess my heart." " Ay, you were bold enough in the court when you took me in your arms afore tti' whole crowd. But any poor chap there would ha' done the same when they saw a lass faintin' fro' loss o' blood."

" Kate " this very solemnly—- " don't trifle with me any longer. I love you. I loved you from the first moment you spoke on our behalf that miserable Monday morning." "Ah, man," returned the girl, " but thou often said afore then that you loved me. Why should I believe you now ?" " You must really forgive me," cried Dick. " Long before then I looked with longing upon jour angel face. I yearned for one embrace from you ; but I own, to my shame, that I only thought of you as a mill girl and one whom it was impossible for me to marry." " That's a nice confession for a gentleman to make."

" Don't be too hard upon me, dear" pleaded our hero. " I did not know your worth, your bravery, your unselfish friendship, nor your education—education obtained under the most fearful disadvantages from which women ever suffered."

" Mr. Ritchison," said Kate " now you begin to make me think that you mean to be very foolish. Your family would never consent to receive me. You are very young, and you imagine you care for me—a poor girl —simply because circumstances enabled me to do you and yours a small service."

" You know, darling," cried Dick impulsively, '* that I have passed a couple of seasons among the elite of society—the most exclusive circles in the .world—those of London. Among all the good and beautiful English girls of high birth, I have never seen one in town or in Oldchester whose charms have stirred up my heart with such raptures of love as yours have done." " The effect I have made will quickly pass away," said Kate,

blushing but smiling—the memory of the probable fortune to be inherited from her kinsman rising in her mind. "The effect will never pass away—so help me, heaven. Kate as long as I have life," cried the young man ; and before the girl could be aware of his purpose he seized her in his

arms and sealed the declaration by a dozen kisses. She cast him off indignantly.

He reeled against the papapet. One moment and his body would have been hurled over in the space beneath. His form trembled in the balance. The horror of the moment and his helplessness clouded his brain and stopped the action of his heart.

'Twas only a second, and then her strong, fair arms were around him, and once more she had him safe all to herself ; and, forgetting all but the greatness and purity of her virgin love, she returned his kisses a thousandfold and he awoke to consciousness and her enraptured embraces.

" Ah, darling," he whispered, " I knew you loved me." She had no word to say—the expression of her mobile face alone betrayed her, nevertheless her selfrespect and independence came to the rescue.

"You have surprised my secret," she said, humbly ; " but I can never be your wife." " By Heaven, you shall." " Hush ! what will your family say ?" she said sadly. " Most Lancashire families of note are proud of being self-made," cried Dick. "Did my father discard me, I thinh I could manage to carve out a future for myself." " Mr. Ritchison," responded Kate, smiling in a melancholy way, " of this you may rest assured, that I shall never become your wife unless

I am cordially welcomed by evwy member of your family." " You shall be ! I'll see my mother now. She shall tell you that—" cried the lover. "I am onlj a mill girl," quietly finished Kate. It is useless to tell here how the f young fellow preyed and entreated Kate to come to his mother. She avowed it was against the fitness of things. ! Then his sorrow and despair seemed so great that she relented—for she loved him, remember. And then she told him of the little mother's packet—the probable fortune—and the volatile youth's hopes rose again until they nearly reached the shy. " Who's the solicitor ?" he asked. "Mr. Barnett," she replied. " Why, that's mother's man of business !" cried Dick. " Indeed," said Kate. " We'll go to him to-morrow morning," said Disk. "I go alone," replied the girl. " Give me one kiss. Come now, little woman !" entreated our hero. "Mr. Ritchison!" cried Kate, amazed and indignant. " Only a little one," pleaded the lover. You know how lovers tantalise and annoy each other—how they quarrel and agree. On this occasion Gommy, hearing sundry unaccountable sounds never heard so near the stars before, came round the corner of the turret and found Dick passionately kissing "the aneel," who to tell the truth, was clinging to him lovingly, being, lin tact, no angel, but only a mill girl. CHAPTER X. EAST AND WEST.-AN EASTERN EXPERIENCE.— " FEEDING THE DEVIL." The Ritchison premises extended over a great tract of ground, and at the extreme end, near the junction of the river with the canal, there stood an outer office used for lading boats, and to which from the warehouse ran two lines of rails. While Kate o' Fulford's and young Mr. Dick Ritchison were billing and cooing upon the roof of the principal block of the buildings, Mr. Hal. Wainwright. the junior partner and cashier of the establishment found an opportunity to have a few words with the Eastern lady of his choice, Zulieka Enumenides. Mrs. Ritchison and Merry Maud were making a kind of visitation among the female workers, endeavouring to discover if any were in the immediate want of feminine help—which means assistance of a nature too delicate to be openly Proposed to people of the other sex—such as clothing for themselves and their children. Mr. Rowley Elliot had " found good means " to retire into the seldom-used showroom with the sedate Marion, whom on the morrow, he was, at length, to make the partner of his joys and sorrows, where although within sight of the busy clerks, they were, by reason of the noise of the machinery and the hum of the looms, completely out of earshot of their nearest neighbours.

"My Zulieka." began Hal Wainwright as they gained the shelter of the old Dutch-like porch of the office on the quay, " why are you so reserved with me ? You know that I am ready to sacrifice ever} thing to make you happy."

" Tt is useless, Hal," said Zulieka shuddering violently. " I am not of this world."

" You say truly, darling," whispered Hal passionately—" you are an angel." "Ah, you understand me not," murmured the girl, sorrowfully. " I mean that T have not long to live ; and even although the world is fair, and my friends are good—so goodvet I wait patiently until the good God takes me to where ' the wicted rease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.' "

" Dearest, you must not speak like that," cried the ex-lieutenant ; "you break my heart. Why should you die ? Why should you not live to make me happy ?" " Why should I not lire !" repeated the girl dreamily. " Because honour belongs not to the name of Enumenides ; because he whom I call my father may at any moment kill me ; because now—it may be —he contemplates mv death."

"Nonsense !" cried the cashier. "We are in England where every person is protected by the strong arm of the State against their nearest relatives."

" And yet the. two most powerful

citizens in Oldchester are entrapped by this father of mine, and have no reparation," cried Zulieka. " Alas, rm Hal, vou know him not !"

"By heavens !" almost shouted Wainwright, " he shall never possess you again. You know I understand the tongue of the Hellenes having passed some considerable time among the isles of Greece. I heard your father threaten you at the cathedral on the morning that Miss Marion Ritchison ought to have been married. I noted his fierce, vindictive look when you gave the unexpected evidence in the police-court respecting the rightful ownership of the lone house of Cherry Street. You shall not return to his roof. I will apply—or rather Mrs. Ritchison shall ask a magistrate for a protection for you." "It is useless, my friend," responded Zulieka. "I an his childhe has a right to do with me as he pleases. Besides, I have not long to live. A few months, and then I join my mother—my angel mother." "My darling, you distract me," cried Hal. "Why should you die ? By Heaven, you must not die—you must live for me !"

And, regardless of the probability of being seen, the young Englishman clasped the bending, lily-like form to his manlv breast.

From a distant window the malignant eyes of the poor girl's father glared upon the pair.

She submitted to his embrace passively, yet a wonderful light came into her glorious dark eyes. The ecstasy of the moment, the completeness of the bliss, was for the time so true, that she closed her long-lashed eyelids, and her rounded bosom rose and fell in even but impassioned swells. At length she drew herself back, and said : " My true knight—my Christian

knight of St. George—love me not—" " Love you not !" cried Hal Wainwright. " And why not !" " Because I shall never be thine!" " Do you hate me, then ?" he inquired " How can you ask me such a question ?" she said, sweetly, gazing into his brown eyes so franklj that he stooped again and showered kisses upon her fairy-like hands. " No, I can never be thine, heart of my soul —for I shall not live. I knew when my darling mother was done to death that I should soon join her there, where her spirit form waits to clasp me in her arms." " Was your mother murdered ?" asked Hal in a horrified whisper. " Murder here in the West the act might be called," replied Zulieka. "In Tunis the husband holds the right of life and death in his own hands, especially if he be rich and powerful." " And did your father cause the death of your mother ?" cried the cashier.

" Even so," was the sad reply. " Then, by Heaven, he shall not escape the righteous punishment of the law as it is meted out to those who wilfully shed the blood of a fellow-creature !" cried Hal, his eyes eyes flashing fire. " You forget that my mother was a slave. My father is an Armenian, and was then the trusted financial Minister of the Bey of Tunis. England could not interfere."

" England shall interfere if he tries his Eastern games in Oldchester," cried her lover.

At this instant a light silvery voice wa6 borne upon the air to the enraptured couple, singing sweetly : " My love is fair, so fair to see, My love is blind, he loves not me: But when the time comes round he'll miss The rapture of my heaven-born kiss."

Then the first two lines were repeated, and the lovers saw Merry Maud Ritchison, turning away from an open window high above their heads.

"There goes your wife that is to be," cried Zulieka as if moved by a sudden inspiration. " I shall never marry but one woman, Zulieka," cried Hal, " and that woman is yourself, my angel." " That will never be," whispered Zulieka tearfullj ; " and oh—it is so hard, but then I remember the message of my mother." " The message of your mother 7" repeated her lover, in this position so full of romance, and yet so practical in business.

" Yes, my mother, on the night of her death," said the girl with a choking sob. " You have been to Tunis ?"

" Yes, Zulieka mine." " Then you remember the Ion? ranges of vineyards stretching higher and higher upon the eastern slope above the city ; you have inhaled the sweet odours of the orange groves ; you have noted the drooping heads of the broad-leaved palm-trees ; you have had your eyes dazzled by the far-stretching glittering ripples of the

cerulean blue hay ; yon have heard the harmonious sounds of the flapping oars of the great and small galleys a 6 they returned to evening prayer ; and you have listened to the rail from the minaret of the great domed mosque upon the name of Allah as the sun set."

"Yes, darling ; you make me forget my homely surroundings—forget all but you and love." " My mother was of Georgia ; and she had a brother in Stamboul in the service of the Turk. This brother was implicated in an intrigue of the harem and was condemned to pay a fine of one thousand. piastres. He had heard thst my father was a Frank and the keeper of the purse of the Bey. Therefore he despatched a message for assistance by an effendi of the English Navy. This Frank was received in the outer court of the palace of my father by my mother, and was asked to come the following night, as our lord was of the most passionate. Mj mother would first speak to him. How it came about I know not, but as the English lieutenant arrived by appointment the following night he was cast without the gates- of the building, and my mother was borne within the inner apartment of the female court."

"Detestable tyranny!" cried Hal Wainwright.

" Even so, sun of my soul !" continued Zulieka now in the rich, allegorical tongue of the East, which had been acquired by the sailor. " Well, then, the end is near. He, my father, drew from his sash a long plain steel dagger and pierced the bosom of my mother who slept with her fathers with a smile upon her face. Then the galley was manned, as the mother I loved so well was borne upon the bosom of the waters, and in a sack containing many stones sent to recline upon the coral rocks at the bottom of the sea." " Oh, this is monstrous !" cried the incensed Englishman. " Hush, my comforter," continued Zulieka. "As I lay down upon the cushions of my divan that night, there opened to my entranced vision a wide expanse of sea of molten gold; birds of the most exquisite plumage skimmed its waters ; fish, whose scales were formed of rubies sapphires pearls, carbuncles, and other fine stones were seen swimming through the rich liquid forming an everchanging gigantic range of sparkling rays. The great sun was more brilliant than human eyes ever dared to look upon, until a merciful curtain was drawn in front of its resplendency, and this curtain was like a woven sheet of a million rainbows ; and up in the amber haze from the darkened golden sea rose the figure of a white-robed angel with wings whose shadows covered the surface of the waters. In her right hand she bore aloft an olive branch with which she pointed to the pure vault of heaven. My soul stirred within me, for the face was the face of my martyred mother, and her voice floated through space until it smote upon mine ear, and these were the words she spoke :

" ' The hand that my lips have kissed hath slain me : but thou. m»

daughter, shall not be sacrificed by man.' Allah will take thee to himself in the pride of thy youth and beautj." " But, Zulieka darling, that was but a dream," cried Hal Wainwright. " You shall live to bless me, and do honour to our free Western life." " Pardon me," interrupted a suave voice ; " the party is waiting for us. It is arranged that we go over the different departments of the mill and then adjourn for luncheon;" nn:i M. Enumenides smiled his most brilliant smile.

" This lady is the guest of Mrs. Ritchison." began Hal", angrilv. "I have to apologise to my dear daughter ; but I was carried away by a combination of irritating circumstances."

Here he took Zulieka's right hind, and drew it over his left arm leaving the lover "out in the cold" so to speak.

If the young ex-lieutenant had noted the crushing squeeze the man's strong right hand gave to that of the gentle Zulieka or the girl's countenance there might have been a different ending to this authentic history.

Mr. and Mrs. Ritchison Mr. Rowley Elliot and his fiancee Marion, Mr. Walton and Maud. Hal Wainwright and disconsolate Dick now parted from the mill girl, and Enumenides and his daughter went over the dif-

ferent parts of the mill, and evinced great enjoyment, much to the amazement of the poor spinners and weavers.

At length they came to what is called the mixing-room ; then to the willow or • what is vulgarly termed " the devil " which tears cotton to pieces. The workers call supplying this formidable machine " feeding the devil."

It is a wonderful and fearfully constructed accumulation of many-tooth-ed- wheels enclosed in a handsomely built case of mahogany or other neatly-painted wood, leaving an opening as large as the door of a Belgravian mansion, but not quite of the same shape. Wheels of every size were revolving with fearful rapidity. The noise was dreadful—the danger great—the air filled with myriads of scintillating infinitesimal fragments of cotton dust. Mr. Ritchison was explaining the use and action of the machine, when M. Enumenides suddenly turned his shoulder roughly throwing his daughter out of place. A moment's pause, and then a wild shriek alarmed the whole building. Kate o' Fulford's rushed madly forward, dashing everjone aside, and seizing Zulieka Enumenides in her round comely arms, tore her away from the fraeroents of her skirt and outer petticoats which disappeared in a thousand fragments among the relentless teeth of the never-failing machinery. In another moment the spectators would have been splashed with the blood of the poor Armenian girl, whose beautious form would have come forth hashed into unrecognisable atoms. Hal Wainwright caught Zulieka in his arms and pressed her to his brenst. Dirk Kitchison took Kate to his heart crying : "Darling, von are the guardian anfpl of us all." To when Knte returned the horrified whisper : " Her father pushed her on to the machine ! I saw him do it !" To Ik> Continued.