HIS FATHER'S SON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13869, 1 October 1908, Page 3

HIS FATHER'S SON.

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"—.. ,'*«*"'' ' ■ BY TOM GALLON, ', ipthor of " Tatterley," "Dicky Mouteitli," '. "Kiddy," "A Rogue in Love," "Fate's ';:•>,„■ Beggar Maid," " The Charity ■i:'.?^;--,'"., . Ghost." etc. , ■ ■•.'.' SYNOPSIS. - fua guests have separated after the dinner nhich' celebrates John Baxendale's inheritance of ... lis fortune, and be has told Evelyn Kaylor, the beautiful girl ho is to marry, that he has not , " i care in the world. Yet there is a strange foreboding of coming ill. He feels practically :ert3in that someone is prowling about the pounds When the last guest has retired' Felix '■■ '■;■': Soode. the family lawyer, begins tho unfolding ' -'- 5f tho sinister secret which is to alter the whole . tenor of John Baxendale's life. In revengo for i, i wrong which his father did to a woman named Johanna Criilge she had stolen awav one of twin ions, leaving the awful message that, just as her : life had passed into darkness and evil, so should '" , i.». He should be educated, and vet trained to 1 .; » life of infamy. That brother of John Baxcndale ..".' ! may now at any time confront him. This story lin. told him at his father's request, under his dying injunction that it shall be preserved a iceret. Baxendalo, when on the war to his room, hears ■ i sound in the drawing-room. Entering, and •.'■•' join.? to one of the windows, ho confronts and seizes a burglar, to find himself face to face with i man in his own likeness. Then John Baxendalo doe? a dramatic thing. Inquiry convincing him that this man is his own brother, he. astonishes him with the assurance that he proposes to divide equally the inherit- . ance between them en the sole condition that tho newcomer leaves the country and keeps tho secret. He is taken with * Rums' suggestion [hat he should go and see the life he has lived and so one evening makes his wav to Middleton's Rents, on the south side of the river On entering tho house he is felled from behind With mischief in his eye. Ruins Cridge puts on the clothes of his wealthy brother. CHAPTER lll.—(Continued.) : ';\. Coming to the house itself, Rufus Cridge ;\ . found himself in no bet tor plight. As wo al. ready know, his former entrance and exit had ■. been by means of windows, ' secretly. ■' Ho knew nothing of the house, in any way, and yet- was supposed to bo absolutely familiar ; with it. • With what confidence *he could command ho went up to the great doors, ! ; and way in due course admitted by an obsequious servant, who took from him John Baxendale's hat and walking-stick. Rufus Cridgo saw before him round the great hall half-a-dozen doors, and he decided that ho '- must make a plunge for one of them. ;■' His choice" was a disastrous one. Ho ■ *"' opened the door of a room, which happened to be tho smoking-roomi and came lace to ; face with a young man, stout of body and round of face, who was at that very moment l - lighting a cigar. It was, of course, Dick . Munby, who luid played his part of the. dormouse to perfection, and bad, in a sense, been utterly forgotten by John Baxendalo. v;,;', For Basendale, as wo know, had gone out <.. -to lunch on that day when Munbv should .hare gone to town; and, aa luck would ■ . have it, Dick Munby had slept through the whole morning, and had onlv woke up after his friend had gone out to see "Evelyn and her aunt. Then it had occurred to him that after a solitary lunch he would go for a walk, and would come back in time to ex- . - 'plain to his friend. But ho returned to '- discover that John Baxendalo had gone to 'London. Dick, having.no concerns of his own anywhere, decided that ho would postpone his departure and his explanation Until the following day.' So that here he was in the smoking-room, ready to meet- this new John Baxendalo. ;;■•;:;;■:Rufua Cridge stopped, and stared at the man , with natural astonishment ; and, : strangely enough, that was just the astonishment that Dick Munby expected. He laughed a little foolishly, and held out his hand. ':■/" -. ; "I'm awfully sorry, Jack," he said, a ' little lamely. "I overslept myself,. day—and then you bolted* off before I had ' a chance to explain. So I thought I'd wait and tell you how sorry I was that. 1 had outstayed my welcome"" . Rufus Cridge was quick to grasp the situation. j This was .a friend of John, ■ Baxendale, and must be treated with cordiality. He grasped Dick's hand, and laughed, and spoke with frankness. '~■;'" My dear boy, stay as long as you like," .'he said. "I should have been quite sorry to find you gone." £ ;j - ; , „■. ■ '...,',.,.,£ - ".But"you expected that J■ should i&vo gone'; yesterday morning," said Dick, in some surprise. •.-," What took you off in such a hurry yesterday?" "I had to go; to " London—on .business," said Cridge. " I suppose nothing's hap- ,: - pened in my > absence"/" ' '" v ■ '' "Mies Kavlor called this morning—quite "early, I believe," said Dick, puffing at his 1 cigar. "What a lucky fellow you are, Jack!" lie added. .":."''■,''"-*,". ..' ■'■■'* "I suppose I am," retorted Rufus Cridge, putting together the two points that a Miss Kaylor hiid called, and that he was a lucky "fellow on that account. He found himself wishing that he know Miss Kaylor's Chris- : ; tian name. Ho had, too, an uneasy sense that this man, whose name he did not know, was watching him curiously. "How glum you are, .Jack," said Dick Munby; " not like yourself in the least. What's wrong with you?" "Nothing that I'm aware of," said . Cridge, impatiently. "What should be . wrong with. me? Why do you stare at a ~'m an Uko that?" -

"I bag your pardon, I'm sure," retorted the other, a little ruffled. By the way, there are some letters for you there, and a note left by Miss Kaylor. He pointed as he spoke to some letters on the table. It was strange work opening .mother man's letters in the presence of a witness. : RnfnV'Cridge ;; hardly liked it—not from conscientious scruples, but because he had : . not yet persuaded himself fully that lie was : safe in this new character. However, he contrived to open the letters, finding nothing very interesting in them until he came to the note this mysterious "Miss Kaylor" had written. He could scarcely control the laughter that rose up" in him as be opened the note and read it. It whs wonderful to think how he held this girl. as well as John Baxendale in his power. '. "Dearest,—l am a little worried and anxious about, you; you seemed out of sorts yesterday, and I cannot understand thia sudden and mysterious going away. You .. * "should have no secrets from mo, Jack dear. If anything trouble* you I want you to let 'roe /help you. Please come and see me 'directly vou return. Always your own.— , KVEI.Y.V." • He was to go and see her and he had not '< the. remotest notion where she lived. So' much was gained, because he knew her name now; but he dreaded this encounter more than he had dreaded anything yet. His knowledge of the world taught him that the eyes of a worn? were keener than those of - a manespecially the eyes of a woman in love >s she might penerate to the heart of the . business at once. Yet that was unlikely, because it was obvious from the letter that John Baiendale, although troub'ed about ~ this; strange discovery of his brother, had :,S toll the girl nothing concerning ,it. There--5 fore she would be unsuspicious— in thai .'" %lßufus Grid go's safety. ] t "Nothing the matter, I hope, Jack?" »aid . Hutibv, watching the other's serious face. '»; "No—nothing the matter," answered ■ Bridge. " Only she wants me to go and see her." '-.'"Well, that's easy enough, I should th'tk," said Dick, with a laugh. "I sup- . .«se, by the wav, you won't mind if I stay '. till the" evening*?—there's nothing to take . too to London in a hurry," he added. "My dear bov, I'll be delighted," said the .. - other'; " and if "you've nothing better to do, . : you might walk down with me. I'll go and —see Evelvn at once," ' , That artful" thought had occurred to. him As an easy way out of the difficulty. But : he was to be checkmated in an' unexpected fashion; for Dick Munby laughed, and his ' wsply meant a dashing to the ground of «ufns Ci'idge's hopes. '■ • "With pleasure, my dear fellow, said Pick: "but you'll have to show me the way. I've nevi;r bad the privilege of -visit- '«<? Miss. Dorcas Stubbs or her niece, and 'bow nothing about this part of the county. Come along, I'm your man!' : Here was a prettv situation! Kuius "'; bridge would have to 'walk out of the house and start off in some direction or other; : «ti be would hare this man, whose eyes , already seemed to be watching him with : suspicion, as a witness of the extraordin'tj* fact that he did not know his way to Hie ;.-house of. the lady he was to marry. However, to do him justice, Rufus Gridge was no coward—he faced the situation at once. In some fashion things would play ; ■'-, into his hands. He would trust to luck to P»ll him through. ■ V Y"'',. '~ Fortune certainly fought; for >Jfaum>-on trus occasion. . -* by'a species' of -instinct: no

Started to. -walk .through the grounds accompanied by; this mm ariose name he SL W 2;i^^ ,; ? a , Triahed,he had looked more carefully - a , the photograph ho had W on i the night of Lis first coming to Baxendalo Hall; but even in that matter lie was to bo helped marvellously, for suddenly the man beside him exclaimed, How impatient these '■ lovers are! She's coming to meet you!"—and he saw coming towards them through the trees a young girl. Ho began to wonder desperately then how ho should greet her, and what she Would **y to. him. "I'think I'll leave you together," said wide; but Rufus Cridgo took him by the arm, and drew h-m on. And in that way they met the girl who was coming straight towards them, and looking only, as it seemed, at the supposed John BaMndale. Dear Jack!" she exclaimed, in a low tone, as she took his hands. And then m a moment she had dropped her eyes irom his face, and was looking curiously at tho hands she held. "Why, what navo you been doing with your fingers?" sue asked m amazement. Ho understood at once that this delicate woman had discovered what a man might not have noticed— in the place of the smooth, well-kept hands of John Uaxendale were the hands of Rufus Cridgo, with hard, rough skin, and with broken, stumpy nails. Ha almost snatched the hands away from her- with a laugh that " a mit something of defiance. ~ Wtot should I have been doing with them? he demanded, roughly. "A little secret business, if you must 'know; a little rough work of an amateur sort. How are you, my dear?" (To ho continued dally.)