THE QUEEN OF A DAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13307, 13 October 1906, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE QUEEN OF A DAY.

[PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL'ARRANGEMENT.] '

I ' - —; —;, BY J. 'S. FLETCHER. Author of " When Charles the First was King," " The Threshing Floor," " Grand Relations," etc. [COPYRIGHT.] CHAPTER VIII. ACTIVK HOSTILITIES. It may seem strange that it should have been so, but it is an undoubted fact that Italia's answer to my question, while it filled me with a joy which until then I had not believed it possible a man could feel, filled me also with an extreme sense of the necessity fur instant, practical action. I felt myself being strung up to do things, to' make plans, to guard against possible contingencies, to achieve quickly. " Listen, Italia," I said, when I had solemnly sworn my love and truth to her, "we must act at once, and you must do exactly what I wish. We will be married to-morrownot in London, but away in the country, at the village where I lived as a boy, and there we will stay for a day or two, and then we will come back here and you shall meet this man — now you can give me all, the truth of that letter. Where and when are you to meet him?" She drew the letter from her pocket and looked at the last paragraph. " The instructions are strange," she said. " They, frighten me. Oh, I am glad to be able to tell you everything! I was to leave your house at —this very evening. I was to drive to the Hotel Metropole and .take rooms there. There, the letter says, I was to await the visit of a lady who would give me further instructions. Oh, what a mystery it all is! I have tried to bear up under it, but it is making me afraid." "Never mind now," I said reassuringly. "You have me to stand by you." " But listen," she said. " The letter concludes by saying that it is useless for me to do otherwise than obey these instructions, for every movement of mine is known and I cannot escape observation. What does that meiin ?" " That these people, whoever, they are, are keeping a watch upon us," I said grimly. ."They have probably been doing that ever since they discovered that you were under this roof. They have doubtless followed us home to-night. . But never mind that — once you are my wife you are safe. They will not dare to molest you then—the law in England, Italia, is almighty." " But after we aremarried." she said, "how shall I fulfil this errand of mine?" "You may be quite sure," 1 said, "that these people will not lose sight of you. When they know—and I will take abundant opportunities and means of letting them know—that you are married to me they will probably write a civil letter asking for an appointment, which you shall give them on the strict condition that it is in my presence. I want you to fee! absolutely assured of thisl will not let you out of my safe keeping until this mission is safely accomplished. I can't help especially after hearing what is in the concluding paragraph of that letter— there is some danger to you, and we must- make it impossible as quickly as we can." " I will do whatever you tell me," she said. "After all, 1 have done all that I could to fulfil my father's wishes. It is .not my fault that the man could, not address me. My father could not have wished me to go amongst strange people in a strange city, utterly friendless and unprotected. And I was getting more and more afraid of the mysteriousness of it every day. I did not say anything to you—l tried not .to show it—but you do not know what it was to go to Piomanengo's, every night and sit there—even with you 'ait my side—waiting, waiting, waiting and wondering when the man would come. Oh, yesl will do all that you wish, because I can trust your love." ; " Then the first thing I ask you to do," I said, ; kissing her, "is to have some food and then to go to bed and to sleep, if you cam, for you will have to be up very early in the morning." ■f. As we had all three intended to dine out ', "that evening Italia and ...I, had , to content ourselves with a cold supper. I made her drink some wine and then sent her to her own room, promising to send my mother (to whom I had despatched a message) to her as soon as she returned. I bade her also not to admit anyone to her room except my mother. This seemed an unnecessary precaution, but I was not in the mood to neglect thing. My mother, who had been dining at a friend's house not far away, returned home almost immediately after Italia had left the room. I took her" into the parlour amd told ■ her everything: what had happened, what I intended to do. Like the wise woman that she was, she heard me out without interpolating a question or making a rcma,rk— she was also wise enough not to show, any surprise, however much she may have felt. • Now. mother," I said, when I had made an end, " what have you got to say?" She considered, matters silently for a few minutes. "Well, my boy," she said at last. "nine-ty-nine people out of every hundred would most certainly say that you were doing a ; rash, mad, impulsive thing, and that you would assuredly regret it—perhaps very quickly. But I don't say that." "Thank you, mother." . "1 don't say that," she repeated, "because, you see, Henry. I am the one person who knows you in a way in which the other ninety-nine cannot know you. The question that I put to myself is this. Is this plan of yours the proper plan to be adopted under the circumstances? It is a desperate one, you know." " It is a desperate remedy m a desperate case, mother." I replied. " To me it is the only possible planthe absolutely only way out of the situation. See, mother, let me put the matter before ourselves plainly. I love Italia in such a way, in such a deep, absorbing fashion, as I never thought to love a woman. 1 love her with all of me— body and soul. ' Why is one given such a love as that if not for some special purpose? And since I have it, and since I have her love too, what can I do but do a, that in me lies to safeguard it? Think of what it means to me to feel that she is in any danger, even the slightest, that without me she is alone, defenceless. Once she is mine, once she" bears my name, she will be beyond danger—she will have me and the law as joint-protectors. Mother, I could not work, eat, sleep—live—if I thought my girl was in any danger of, harm!" My mother came over to me and kissed me. " You are just as romantic as your father was at your age, my boy," she said with a smile on her lips and tears in her eyes. " Now, then, tell your old mother what she is to do." " At present, nothing, nothing but to go to Italia, to stay with her, to get her to sleep and to sleep yourself. It is now only just eight o'clock—good heavens! what events have happened since six!but I want you both to retire early, because my present intention ■ is to call you at four o'clock in the morning and I shall expect you both to be dressed and ready for travelling by a-quarter to five." She kissed me again, said good night, and went away. I knew she would do all that I wished. Well, Italia was safe, at any rate! Safe for this night, certainly— I hoped and prayed, for all nights and days to come. So thev wished to get her away to the Hotel Metropole, did they? We would see. I clenched my fists as I thought of her being anywhere, lonely, friendless, out of my protection. —now that she had once, been in my arms she should never, never pass beyond their reach. Eight o'clock struck. The sound put me in mind of the fact that I had my surgery to attend to. But I put it off for a few minutes while I wrote two letters. One of these was to a fellow-practitioner, living very near, who had but little work of his own and would be uncommonly glad to supplement his income by doing mine for a few days or weeks. I begged him to come round to me at once. The other was to the head of a firm of private inquiry agents whose services I had once previously employed.. I asked him to send me before midnight two men upon whose skill, courage, watchfulness and resource I could place implicit confidence. __ These notes I despatched 'at once. Then i went to attend to my patients, of whom there was a goodly gathering in the wait- ! ing-room. There, was nothing remarkable j , 111 them or about them that night so far as j

I could see. Recalling them*"afterwards I • remembered that there were one or two j strangers amongst them, but I did not notice anything suspicious in their behaviour. ' And yet somebody who came to my surgery that night brought me a communication from the folk of the mysterious device. HilLsfurd, the man whose services as locum tenens I wished to employ, came round at half-past nine, and between us we finished the surgery work by ten. I had fastened the outer door and was about to turn off the gas in . the waiting-room when I caught sight of a square envelope which somebody had fastened to a cupboard door by means of an ordinary pin. I took it down, tore open the envelope ; and drew out a sheet of paper, at the foot \ of which appeared the design which had 1 also terminated Italia'." letter. There it ■ was without a doubt—the scarlet cross in j the centre glowed hotly in the gaslight. 1 The letter was short and mysterious; | like Italia's it was typewritten: — j " I wild write this," it rail, " earnestly j implore and advise you, if you have any ; real friendship for the lady now resident j in your house, if you really value her i comfort and her future happiness, not to - interfere in her concerns in any way. j Such interfere cc can only bring trouble j to her, and possibly involve you in serious danger j " It is absolutely necessary, for her safe- | ty aYid for the furtherance of affairs of I moment in which she is concerned, that j she should leave your house to-night in accordance with the instructions already given to her in a letter, her receipt of which has been witnessed. " I ask you to act the part of a gentleman and an Englishman by advising this lady to strictly obey the instructions given her and for your own sake as well as hers to rigidly avoid any further interference in her affairs. It is impossible, either now or at any other time, that you can have anything to do with her or them. "Failure on her part to obey these instructions, or yours to refrain from further interference, will only plunge you into hostilities with a. force against which you cannot contend." I read this twice over. There was a certain earnestness and conviction about it which for a moment made me wonder rather uneasily if there might not be some truth in it. But give up Italia? Give her up now that I was sure of her love? Not I! Not for a million forces. ' And as to hostilities we would see who would .fight hardest. Twenty-four hours more and I would have the law on my side. I put the letter in my pocket-book, made all secure for the night in the surgery, and joined Hills Ford in the parlour. Over a whisky-and-soda I explained to him as much as I thought it necessary for him to know and asked him if he could come round and stay in the house while I was away. There was nothing to prevent that, he said, and after a while he went off to his own rooms to fetch his traps, promising to be back in half an hour. During' Hillsford's absence the two men from the private inquiry office arrived. Judged by outward appearance they were i just the sort of men I wanted—strong, middle-aged, sharp-looking men, whose presence inspired confidence and trust. I took them into the parlour, gave them drinks and cigars and had a short talk with them. Both had served in the .police —one had a good record as detective-in-spector; the other an equally good one as sergeant. They brought with them a letter from the office stating that I could depend upon them thoroughly. I explained to them what I wanted. It was a simple matter. I wished them to accompany my mother and a young lady to Saxonstowe, a village lying on the edge of the old Forest of Sherwood, in Nottinghamshire. They would leave King's Cross by the train departing at a quarter-past five. They were to drive to the station in the cab which would also convey the ladies there. At the station they were not to lose sight of the ladies for an instant—they were to keep in constant touch with them. They were to reserve and . secure a first-class compartment and to . travel in it with the ladies, taking care that no one else entered it. ■ At Retford ' they would engage a conveyance and drive , immediately to the hotel at Saxonstowe, , 'and there they would keep strict guard , over my mother and her companion until my arrival some hours later in the" day. , I did not tell them that I should arrive with a special marriage license in my pocket—there was 110 need to tell them that just then. What I chiefly, entirely wished to impress upon them was the urgent necessity of keeping a strict guard over the two ladies whom I was entrusting to their charge. I told them there might be danger. I also told them that I had nothing but vague fears of what that danger might be. The two men promised to carry out my instructions faithfully. I do not think' they were particularly afraid of any danger in the case. . Seeing that I was unable to tell them where any danger might come from', at what point it might happen and what form it would take, thev appeared to come to the conclusion that, I was alarming myself needlessly, and that there would be no realisation of my fears. " I suppose the young lady is the important figure in the matter, sir?" said the elder of the two. Yes. that, is so,'! I answered. ' " You're not afraid of her friends attempting to kidnap her, eh?" he asked with a keen look.- . " She lias no friends in the , world—or in Englandhut my mother and myself," I replied. "But it is possible that an attempt to interfere with her may be made. It is a strange case—T cannot tell you more about it, but I do beg you to use your utmost vigilance. T shall be very anxious until I join you." The elder man sipped his whisky with an air of great ease and appreciation. "I don't think you need have much fear, sir," he answered. "There is verv iittie chance of molestation nowadays under such circumstances as these. We will see the ladies there in safety, I promise you. You aren't in any danger yourself?" That made me think. "Well, perhaps I am a little," I admitted. " But I am not afraid." "You had better travel with us, sir," said the younger man, or let us wait for you." _ « But that did not suit my plans. I wanted Italia to get away from London. I was not afraid for myself; but I was afraid for her. And I wished to steal a march on the hostile party That night I did not go to bed. The two men made themselves comfortable on sofas. Hillsford and I sat up talking for awhile, then he too went off to his room. I remained in my consulting-room, putting some papers in order and writing out a memorandum of instructions for my locum tenens. And all the time I was thus engaged I was thinking of many things, but chiefly of the fact that Italia loved me. For a long time after finishing what I had to do. I sat considering the whole position as seriously and as dispassionately as I could. I honestly felt that I was acting for i the best in giving the woman I loved the , protection of my name at the moment when j she seemed to be in danger. Once my wife I could stand between her and harm in a fashion which, until she was my wife, was not possible. At four o'clock I called my mother and Italia. When they came down everything was in readiness for their departure. The two men had breakfasted and a cab was at the door. At the last moment I decided to see them —it was 110 use going to bed at that time. There was not a soul to be seen about when we set offthe street was deserted. Nor did we see anything suspici- i ous at King's Cross, and I really believed that they got away unobserved. Ipromis-.j ed to be with them by three o'clock that afternoon, and gave my mother my last "in- instructions as to what to do at Saxonstowe on j arrival there. The train got off without in- j cident. ' ' i 1 walked home, bathed, changed my | clothes, and later on breakfasted with Hills- i ford. The post camethere were 110 letters ; of importance. And there being nothing i more to do I set- off at nine o'clock for Doc- j tors' Commons in l search of the special license. i As I opened my door a cab pulled up op- ' £osite to it, and from it, gazing first at the house and then at me with speculative eyes, ■ descended a lady in the black, trailing gar- ; ments of a nun. j (To be continued on Saturday next,) v -.