A FORTUNE LOST AND WON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13501, 27 July 1907, Page 3 (Supplement)

A FORTUNE LOST AND WON.

BY OWEN MASTERS, , Author of" One Impassioned Hour." "Nina's Repentance,"• " Her Soldier Lover," " Clviia's Love Dream," "For Lova of Jlarjorie," etc.

CHAPTER XIV. Till". JUDGE MAKES AN AI'OI.OGY. At. the very . hour • when the curioiw and the malicious were awaiting with confidence a very refreshing denouement concerning Harry Dash wood and'his wickedness, his early marriage with Lady Alicia wynne was announced. This was disappointing, to say the least of it, and those who had been most reckless in denouncing him- were the first to send fulsome congratulations. The gutter press also strenuously denied the truth of what it had previously gloated over, and stigmatised the canard as the work of a silly practical joker. At the same time these papers were trembling with fear and dread But through it till Harry Dashwood remained impassive, unmoved. Tic had returned to his country home. in ..Warwickshire until the judges took their seats in October. ' .Ho was not even disturbed when one of his friends wrote as follows :— "I am glad, old chap, that there was no truth in the confounded scandal; but why on earth don't you go for damages? Now, if you were a poor devil, like I am, what an opportunity to reap a harvest, of gold ! By the way, you will have to cut Tresdale's comb a trifle. I heard him boasting .at .the club that he would have horsewhipped you, or called you out, by jove, if you had treated Lady - Alicia Gwynne as badly as reported. I don't' care if you mention my name. By. the way, can you lend me fifty until my allowance- is due? Shy lock is obdurate since the governor paid the last loan less two hundred and fifty per cent, interest ! " Dolly." " Dolly'' was the sobriquet • of one Jack Berlwood, the younger son of an effete nobleman. He was no end of- a good fellow, and his pretty features had earned for him the nickname, which lie himself cheerfully adopted. He was in the Guards, swaggered, parted his hair in the middle, and wore a big moustache. Both hair and moustache were bandolined after a conceit, of his own. Yet, Dolly was at unique character. He was faithful in his friendships, but never repaid borrowed money; and his effeminate face nevertheless, he was as brave as a lion. He had omitted the fact in his letter that 'he had taken up the cudgels in Dashwood's defence, and offered , to fight Lord Tresdale at any time and in any place, but preferably in France. " Deuce take you!" he , bad concluded. You are mad because you want Lady Alicia, for yourself !" ' Dasinvood sent him a cheque for "fifty," but answered no portion of the letter. So the weeks, drifted away—driving with his mother, riding, fishing, and brooding in the seclusion of his "den." Lady Alicia was in Sweden with a party of friends, and was not expected home for a month, when the wedding preparations were to be actively begun. j In this short space of time Harry .Dashwood seemed to have aged several years. He was gloomy and taciturn, and feverishly waited for the daily post that brought him the office letters. He had returned a full score of briefs or passed them on to friendly barristers. He felt that he had no heart to work, and nothing would tempt him. " Whea I was a poor man," he bitterly reflected, " the world passed me by unheeding, and I could have ' rendered it better service then for a twentieth part, of the emoluments which I am now obliged to decline. She is certain to communicate with me some time; she knows who I am, and a letter would find Harry Dash wood, K.C., if merely addressed to London. And her father, 100 ! I wonder what has become of him? Thank heaven, there will soon be no further excuse for mooning here. The solitude is maddening. I start at the sound of a rustling leaf, the cracking of a twig." Lady Alicia wrote to him with wearying frequency, and her letters were so abominally long! Page after page of stuff describing ' the people and the scenery. He could not bring himself to read the whole of them. . It was with some relief that he found himself back in London. The days were growing chill, and a murky sort of gloom hung over the city of cities. One of ~t ile„ first men to call upon him was' Dolly Berlwood. " Heard you were at the club last night old chap, and am deuced glad to see you' But how jolly seedy you look ! You work too hard, by jove. I heartily wish that I had the chance of doing something. No decent war in prospect— the idea , of killing niggers ! Is the mater coming to town ? "No; she kept me in the leading-strings until I was twenty-five, but now. I am permitted to go about alone," Harry .answered half-jestinglv. " Country life suits her best, and 1 shall run down to Warwick every week end." ■ ' " And what about your place in town?" "Shut up. I prefer hotel life; I can't be pestered with domestic jars." "Ha,-, ha ! Deuced good for a man on the verge of the matrimonial precipice !" Harry looked up and frowned. " Jove! I believe you had forgotten it. I do, 'pon my honour! Lady Alicia is a fine woman. Lucky beggar, you . are ! Well, ta-ta! ! Hope to see you at Berkeley to-night."

He went away, humming the fctinV of »"' song : . . • ._ • To be handsome, yotfnsr, nnrl twenty-two. ■ With nothing elao on earth to do But all day lons to bill and coo. It were a pleasant calling! - " Young aj!B !" muttered Dashwood. H« yawned. "No letters of importance. What on earth" can T do; with myself ?- I think I'll go to LitUehampton and look., up ' the shipbuilding people. ,v Watson writes that the work on the Coral has ; ■ ' not yet been begun." ' "''''' ' lie had always."held that indecision bad at any time, but he was becoming ias changeful as She wind. He turned | over a bulky, brief, glanced at the numi ber of folio;-, and writhed. It wan marked, and "the figure/ were high. H«'pn?h« ed it aside, and touched an electric hut-' ton. A clerk; appealed. I " I can't accept.thi.*.:*'l,am too busy*-''-. The clerk stared. There was no business in the oilice. Darhwood smoked a cigar in heedleER 5 j fashion, his eve-, fixed upon the -window, but seeing nothing. At list Tift'lff f" his chair, and looked down into the cloistering temple. A thick fog. was gathering, but he fell positive that a man below was gazing upward at him. He snatched up his hit and ran downstairs. The fog was getting thick —choking. There was no' one in the passage, but lie caught sight . of a man's burly figure swinging round the block. Surely it was the form of Captain Theodore Christy ! The very thought—the very suspicion was exhilarating! There might be news of Winifred, and,- in any case, no wanted an explanation—an understanding. Be-,' sides, he wished to give up Miss Christy's pictures and the gold brooch studded with amethysts. Strange that he should have forgotten the brooch until now! '' Swiftly he sped round the block and through several courts, now and.then catching a glimpse of the flying, burly i form. lie called Captain Christy,"by : name once—twice—thrice. ' The mab'i activity was marvellous. "Captain Christy—Christy * ■ He plunged into somebody, and some-, body spluttered and gasped. • It«was the judge who bad cut him dead at. Littlehampton. "Confound it sir! What, you, Dashwood ! Where the dickens were you going at such a headlong, pace?'! ' • " I thought J saw a fellow whom I knew," Harry stammered, .."Sorry, I'm. sure." ~ . " No harm done," laughed the judge : " but I am getting on in years, and little impacts like that are somewhat disconcerting. By the way, Dashwood, I owe you an apology—" , i "Don't—don't, please. I deserved all you thought, of me then." , So good feeling was restored, and he dined with the judge, the invitation was so .pressing. It. was, perhaps, the widest' thing he could do; the time hung so heavily on his hands. - He went to the office early next morning, always with one hope. -Was there news of Winifred He felt positive that he had seen Captain Christy on the preceding evening, and but for that unfortunate meeting with the judgeHe took a. handful of letters from tho post-box : and began to sort the private from the business.' There was one from ' his mother and one from Lady Alicia. lie sighed, and deposited them in his pocket. He guessed/The contents of both.' His mother wrote /the same letter every week, when he was away from home. She hoped that he was taking care of himself, and not working too hard, and ho must be sure to spend the week-end with her. And Lady Alicia was " doubtless* suggesting some delectable; spot for their honeymoon. * " ./,"""/ '.'.!'.' . ■' ""'I, ' His life was' now running in "a' wretchedly small and colourless' circle. 'Tho torrent was dammed, but behind the tiny outlet an avalanche was forming. • . Another letter. And he had seen the writing before somewhere— "Yes, it was—it must be Winifred's !'* CHAPTER, XV. ' JIBE GUAnUIAN.' Yes, it.was from Winifred Christy. He; knew the square, strong' hand, although ho; had seen it but once before in his life. -Ha. looked at it again, and while the characters became misty arid grotesque; 'his' pulsesquickened to "fever-beats. •• * ' Reverently he hid it away ' in'- an 'inner pocket of his coat until he had briefly examined the business letters. One by one, bo tore them open, making upon each a fewnotes in pencil for' the information' of tho, managing clerk. ■ ' -~'.• "I will retire from the law, he decided. "My brain is in a whirl. lam unfit for tho work. I could not possibly do justice either: to my clients or to myself." :,•' • He' went to his own room and turned the key in the lock. ,He heard; the caretaker moving about in the corridors, and did not want to be disturbed. . . ; A. "No, no!" " bo"; shouted, crossly. . "No sweeping or dusting "this morning.' Ho laid Winifred's: letter "upon the table before him unopened and face upward. His eyes fondly traced eveiy line, every curve. Then ho took it between his fingers and pressed it critically, calculatingly. Perhaps it merely contained the money she believed' 'was'due' him, and some address to 'which' he was to forward her belongings. : . ,-■ His heart grew cold at tlie thought, and yet Tie had no right to expect more, j-,- « '-a Another minute and he was reading it, his face flushed, his eyes smouldering with halfhidden fire's. A letter from no other creature on earth could so disturb him 1 "I am in peril—dreadful peril. I have, no one else to appeal to, and perhaps Tvrm' foolish to run away from you and into this new trouble. But you are a man of honour ;• I know that intuitively. Oh, it is hard to. have to ask you to help mo again; but nay enemy is here, waiting in the street tinder my window, even while I am writing this. I only want to get away where he cannot find me. ; I am bribing my landlady' to' post 'this.to you. I think that. lam mad with terror.", ,-' '• , One moment-his face softened and his eyes were humid; the next,. his whole form was alert, electric, and every nerve strained with the tenseness of a- tiger about •to spring. . The address Winifred' had given,was at Brixton; and, after; scribbling it on" his shirt-cuff, he secured the letter in his pocket-book, and crammed on his hat. In the very doorway he encountered' his managing clerk, an elderly gentleman.' of severe ■ aspect. -. ■ < ,-.']'* "Ah, I am glad that I caught you, sir,-, he said. "I came half an hour earlier with that express purpose." "My good Williams, I am sorry that it; will avail you nothing; I am. off. Your in-; structions are there.'.' . "But, sir, we are getting' into serious trouble over the Trevor case. If you remember, it was partly heard-?-"> * "Williams, if you .obstruct me, I shall kick you out of tlie office. lam giving up the law, and you can tell ■ all and sundry | who bring their briefs here to go to the devil." ! "Then, sir, I tender my resignation,"; MV. Williams said, with ' dignity. He ha&i failed twice as a lawyer, and' knew, with »'. sinking pain at tho heart, that employment' was difficult to get. But he must show his dignity and independence at any cost. 1 "Ass!" Harry brushed past him and ran downstairs. * The great clock over the Royal Courts was booming the hour of nine. , Fleet-street was crowded with men and women, quick of movement, determined of aspect. There was no room for aimless | wanderers. The negligent and the luxurious were yet abed. ' ' ->.- "Twenty-seven, Summer Lane, Brixton. > [ Lose no time." -'•.'". i . i. j The cabman puckered his beefy face into an anticipatory smile. He knew Davit-, wood as ""one. o' the blokes as- wore a wig," ' and thev were usually generous to chaps of; ; his ilk. ' ■ ' ; :■.:..- The cab rattled away,; and- Harry tried,to. think. tie knew : that he was rushing ..on, to an unknown fate with blind fatuousness. He knew that one little call from Wiuifnxl.. ' Christy would carry him across the world I with outstretched arms. But she trusted in. him absolutely, implicitly, and he hat! to. i remain loyal to another woman. , Sometime.'.,. he endeavoured to ■ picture . what the , } end i would be. His life had turned topsy-turvy,.., and he was half-inclined to take destiny into,; his own hands—the bit between his.teetbrrtf indifferent to the world's opinion,, But, for • Lady Alicia ~ - . -,' His thoughts took a different turn. What was lie to do with Winifred? Under what '; pretext was he to assume the control of herfortunes? And he would have to deal with, Vernon, or Scott, '..Winifred always called . ■ him. . i " Arid, by the Lord, lie shall feel the .. weight of my hand," he growled furiously. ~(; (To be continued on., Wedneßday; n,**t.> .;'■: