HIS FATHER'S SON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13870, 2 October 1908, Page 3

HIS FATHER'S SON.

PDBUSHED BY SPECIAL ARRANQEMEMT.

BY TOM GALLON, Author of "Tatter-ley," " Dicky Monteith," "Kiddy," "A Eogrue in Love," "Fate's Beggar Maid," " The Charity Ghost." etc.

SYNOPSIS OP PRECEDING CHAPTERS. The guests have separated after the . dinner winch celebrates John Baxendale's inheritance o! Ms fortune, and he has told Evelyn Kaylor, the Deautiful girl ho is to marry, that he has not a care 111 the 'world. Yet there is a strange foreboding of coming ill. He feels practically certain that someone is prowling about the grounds When the luff. guest has retired Fell* ' uoode, the . family lawyer, begins the unfolding of the sinister secret which is to alter the whole tenor of John Baxendale's life. In revenue for a wrong which his father did to a. woman named .loiiana Cridge she had stolen away one of twin living the awful message tkat, just as her life had passed into darkness and evil, so should his. " 8 should be educated, and vet trained to a life of infamy. That brother of John Baxendale may now at any time confront him. This story is .told mm at his father's request, under his lying injunction that it shall be preserved a secret. * Baxendale, when on the way to Ills room, hears a sound in the drawing-room. Entering, and going to one of the windows, he confronts and seizes a burglar, to find himself face to face with a man in his own likeness. _ Then John Baxendale does a dramatic thing. "inwy convincing him that this -man Is his own brother, he astonishes him with the assurance that he proposes to divide equally the inheritance between them on the sole condition that the newcomer leaves the country and keeps the secret. He is taken with Rufus* suggestion that he should go and see the life he has lived, and so one evening makes his way to Middleton s Rents, on the south side of the river. On 5?.»1 r ' n 5 ' 10 house he is felled from behind. With mischief in his eye, Itufua Cridge put* on the clothes of his wealthy brother. CHAPTER lll.—(Continued.) He made an awkward movement, and encircled her "with bis arm she drew away from him, hurt and offended and pained, and glanced with a burning face at Munby. Munby was looking, for his part, in undisguised astonishment at this extraordinary John Baxendale, whose manners seemed to have left him with the smoothness of his hands. "Oh. I'm sorry," said Cridge, with an awkward; laugh; " but wo don't count him, you know. I had your note; I was com-, ing to see you." "If you'll excuse me, Miss jvaylor, I'll walk back to the house," said Dick Munby, glancing for a moment at Rufus Cridge. " I shall see you presently,-Baxendale," he added, a little stiffly. - As he went away Dick Munby muttered to himself: 41 If I didn't know him, I should swear the man had been drinking. I wonder if, he's worrying over anything? I wonder if thing's gone wrong with him? He seems very strange—quite unlike himself.!'

- Meanwhile, Rufus Cridge walked on beside the girl, casting furtive glance* at her, and wondering what he should say. She was very .beautiful/with a beauty of which her portraits had given no real hint; a fierce feeling grew up in the man's Bund that here was something else worth' possessing, and -ready to his hand in that new character of John Baxendale. This, was • the woman John Baieadale was to marry; and here was the new John B;,xendale, cheated of his birthright for. so many years, and coming fully into it' now in good -earnest.

"I didn't mean to upset you, Evelyn," he said presently, schooling his voice toia new softness. " Only you know that I love you,: you, know what my feeling for you is—" " . - '...,■ - : " Oh, it's ; all right, Jack," she replied hastily, with a smile and ; blush, "Only you were a. little demonstrative, you know. We won't say any more about it. I want you to tell me what it; was that took you off in such a-hurry, and Why you seemed eo worried yesterday. * Come, • tell me everything." • '~« - ■ ■ y She slipped her hand coaxingly into his arm; he kept those tell-tale hands of his in his pockets. " Oh, it was only a matter j of business," he said—", a.< sudden call to London.: I want you to promise me something, Evelyn—something, that means more to me than life or death-—or anything." He.stopped; and he now' stood facing her; - his hands were gripping hers. < "Yes, Jack—what is it?" she asked. . " I want you to marry me as soon.as possible;; I want there: to be no delay," he said.. :"I've gotl an idea that all sorts of things might happen—all sorts of things do happen to a man who has money. I want you to marry me— as soon as it can be arranged." -:,v ; : ":".' ' "But it is to be in: a month, dear," she pleaded. "I couldn't be ready, before." " You must be," he answered. . '" I'll make arrangements somehow; you must be ready." And then suddenly he put his arms about her and held her close," so that she struggled a little, protestiKgly, in his grasp. '.' " n "Jack! Jack! You hurt me!" He kissed her roughly, and let her.go. She looked at him for a moment, and then turned, muttering something about going .back, and ran away from him through the woods. . " . He stood looking after her, laughing. "I'll do it," he said. "If I marry her I cement my position; I'm John Baxendale to the end of time. Let,the other man have a turn at being Rufus Cridge—loafer and thief, and what not. I'll defy him to come back. I*he game's mine; »o ose'll find out the truth until it's too late. It's -a better game than I thought." . His exultation was bound to find a vent and the dull, quiet house- was scarcely the place hi- winch to find it.. Dick Munby went oS early in the evening—dismissed a little curtly, if the truth be told, by John Baxendale ; and thai John BaxendaJe, as be was supposed to be, looked about in search for amusement. Nothing presented itself, ■ and he determined that he would go further afield. Before doing so, however, he nerved himself for the coining ordeal with the aid of a considerable quantity, of champagne at dinner; and then sallied out, and made his way into the quiet and unsuspecting little town of Deepington. .-'.'■■ ' There is a quiet little inn at Deepington, known as the Baxendale Head--the very model of what an inn should be; but on that particular Might it was disturbed and shaken to its depths. Mr. Felix Goode. having other business to transact with Mr. John Baxendale,, after his return to London, had suddenlv made up his mind to journey down to.Baxendale Hall; and, as it happened, on that night he walked through the little town of Deepington on his way to the hall ; for it was a tine night, and the old man felt he would enjoy the walk. Coming in time to the . Baxendale Head, he beard a great disturbance—a sound of rioting and shouting and singing; and stopped for a moment in some curiosity. The highly respectable landlord', who had known Mr. Goode for years, and who happened to be at the door, ran out, and caught him by the arm, and implored bis .help.-' ' .''■'., It seemed that young Mr. Baxendale had, in the most unaccountable fashion, entered ! the inn, and had "made free," as the laud- | lord expressed it, with everybody; had with difficulty been coaxed into a private room, and locked in. The landlord could not understand it: would Mr. Goode go up and talk to the young gentleman? Very much perturbed, Mr. ■ Goode went up and- opened" the door, and shut himself in with Rufu<? Cridge. Rufus Cridge, recognising him even in his drunken condition as "the lawyer man." begged him to sit down and make a night of it. "John Baxendale,, what is this?" exclaimed the old man, in deep distress. "What have vou been doing?" "To the deuce with John Baxendale!"' exclaimed the other. " Call me Rufus, old friend, and we'll make a night of it!" ,- Felix Goode stared at him, going close to him for the purpose clapped a hand upon his own lips to restrain a cry. "The other man!" he whispered, falling back from the reeling creature before him. "But where's John Baxendale?"

CHAPTER IV.' ' John Baxeifdale awoke to consciousness with but; a dim remembrance of what had happened. That Strang© dual personality puzzled him now while he thought of it. He found himself, as in a horrible nightnnujey going patiently oyer th«> points in

the story, in a vaia ©nde«ivour to discover whether he , was . John. Baxendale, or whether, by some extraordinary chance, he was that other man called Ruiu« Cridge, who had. forced his. way' into ' Baxondale HaLl at night. Now, as in a waking dream, he saw the grinning; face of Rufu's Cridge over the back of the chair, and '-yet-'heard John Baxendale's voice .challenging the old lawyer; now he came face.to face with his brother in a dingy room', and then lost every tiling in a moment. He came to himself in what seemed to be a sort of cellar. It was dry and fairly clean, and was lighted .from above' by a grating, covered with glass at the' other side,-, and" seemingly part of a pavement. A heavy door resisted all his efforts to open it; his cries were beaten back upon himself, muffled and futile. He sat down to think about all that had happened, and ■ to work out, if possible, this puzzle in which he was so suddenly involved.

There had been, a John Baxendale, of Baxcndal© Hall, only son of a John Baxendale that was dead. So much he remembered clearly. Stop! Not the only son, for somewhere in the world was another man, born in the same'hour, and having almost equal rights with liimself. That man they called Rufus Cridge. John Baxendale had meant to do a great act of 'justice, of reparation— was to share with the outcast the estates he had expected to enjoy alone. He remembered setting out to do that; knew that he had: meant to see first that darker side of life Rufus Cridge had known, the better to understand how much the poor wretch -1 had lost. And then, in some fashion, he had lost consciousness, and had found himself locked in this place. ' Ho remembered what that man Rufus Cridge had looked like his shabby clothes, and broken boots, and deplorable look— remembered all that perfectly. And then suddenly John Baxendale looked down at himself and cried out in horror. For lie was Rufus Cridge—worn and shabby clothing, and brokeu boots, and everything. How had the change been effected? ' ~■ It took a long time for him to understand what had happened, or how this man he had meant .to benefit had tricked him, and changed places with him. It took him longer still to come to the .understanding of the fact that that ex-gaol-bird and ruffian— was at large upon the world, clad as John BaxendaJe, and walking in his actual likeness. What would ho do firstV The thoughts of the prisoner fle\> to Baxendale Hall. In a flash he- remembered that iio one there knew of the coming of this Rufus, Cridge but himself. As by am instinct he seemed to understand "that Cridge would make for that place straight; would take up his life there as the John' Baxendale everyone know, and would take it up with perfect safety and impunity. From that thought it was but a. step to the thought of Evelyn— another man, in the imago of John Baxendale, enjoying John Baxondale's privilege, talking with her, laughing with her, holding her hands -—embracing her. That way madness lay, and John-Baxendale. flung himself-against the barred door, and shrieked for help and liberty. But no one came, and his cries were apparently'.'unheard, although above him.more than once he saw the shadow of passing feet'over the glass beyond the bars. Meanwhile, *. in the room above—that room in which lie had been struck down— a conference was being held; for those who had this desperate/ matter in hand had axes to grind on their own account. A night •had passed since John. Baxendale had so strangely , changed places with Rufus Cridge, and in - that night, while : all the house slept, the stunned man had been carried down into the depths," and hidden away beneath the house.' In Middletons Rents ho one was likely to pay ranch attention to any noise or an shouting; such things were of -.much too frequent occurrence. . ;''.;V' "" -..--'.■ ' ..-; ■ • - , ; " ~-•/..

The old woman of the dark eyes had changed her position from the fireplace to the table. There ■ she.■' sat now, with her elbows planted upon it, and her long thin fingers plunged into the' heavy masses of grey hair that crowned her head. It was a craving, anxious, eager face—the face of one who had waited long for an hour that was coming, and had. come to the b our at last, and was ready,, foi* it. On,,.either; side; of her was a .man— -two who had been in the room when first John Baxendale entered it, and one of whom had struck the blow that brought him down. , It was the man of the grey head and the i venerable beard who was speaking. "Vengeance is all very: well, Mother Cridge, but I it's empty stuff to feed on," he said. "We've ! had a lean time lately, a deuce of a, lean time, and suddenly Rufus taps fatness. It'* always been share-aa' -share alike. Why i couldn't -mo an' Tuttle-go down with 'im, eh':" - ■'■ ' ' ';' "All!" said the man referred to, at the other side of the table^— lean, thin, meanlooking creature, with shifty eyes-too near together, and with a voice as thin and mean "as himself—"why not? Mark my words, when it comes to Rufus "swing 'is chance of playin' the gi'ntieman, we shan't get go much as a look-in." . " SilcHce '" exclaimed the old woman, bringing a strong hand heavily down on the table. "I toll you we mustiliave patience. Have I waited . all these years to have my chanojs thrown away now by others Rufus "I can trust; you shall share the spoils afterwards. He'll sack and burn, aad destroy, and drag down; you're the wolves that shall rush in when I let you ■ loose." ; : ''. ',',:" 'seems' to me," pursued the grayhaired man, " it. ■ really seems to me that you've forgotten, Mother Cridge, exactly how we're placed. Look at the position. Before tbis John Baxendale came 'ore there wag a' John* Baxendale out in the world, and •. a Rufu.« Cridge 'ere. ■Now the' position's the same. ■■ There's a John B*xe»dale out in the . world (or what looks like one) and there's a- Rnfus Cridge down below; in .this veiy'ouse." He' pointed to the floor, and nodded meaningly' as he spoke. , " I tell you again that I trust Rufus," said • the woman. "Do you think I have lived the life I have for all these years— poverty and wretchedness, hunted, and despairing, and forlorn— to know by this time what I mean to do? -Rufus precipitated matters "in coming face'to face with the man when he did. I had prepared another plan. But 'he acted as I might have ex-pected—-he lured John Baxendale here, and made the most of his opportunity. There's one danger, and one onlyand that's the girl."" ' _ (To be. continued daily.) .;