THE PRIME MINISTER'S SECRET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14359, 2 May 1910, Page 3

THE PRIME MINISTER'S SECRET.

BY HOLT-WHITE, Author of "The Man Who. Stole the Earth," The Destroyer," etc., etci "

J PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.

5 ' :■■ .-.- . ■■ ■■■'■.■:■;■■ "■■•■'■<■: ■/.'■"."' •' ... :.-' ■ J;j COPYRIGHT. ■.■■-.,,.'■< ' ■ SYNOPSIS. . .'.'.' ' iChapters I. and The.storv opens on board til's: liner Gigantic, where Sir Paul Westerham, who had inherited a baronetcy after 10 years of hard, strenuous life as a miner in America, enters his cabin and discovers Captain Melun rilling his kit-bag. Against Captain - Melun there was much vague suspicion, and, under cover of Westerham's revolver, he is . made,; to listen to srmie home truths. Melun, under Westerham's directions, picks up a piece of ;paper,. a portrait of a girl, and, knowing evervone of .importance in Europe, identifies it for Westerham as a picture of "Ladv Kathleen Carfax, daughter of the Karl of Pon'shurst, Prime Minister of England. Melun adds that he intends to marry Lady Kathleen. " Forgive my being rude," replies Westerham, "but 1 should not be on my way to England if I had not everv intention of marrying the lndv myself." : ■<Westerham's keen brain and ready residing of character told him Melun was a blackmailer, and had been searching the bag for purposes of blackmail, and that Melun purposed to gain Ladv Kathleen through blackmail. Westerham guesses rightly that Melun is a leader of an international gang of blackmailers, and offers him £100,000 for certain services. He tells Melun that women were few and far between in the mining camps, and he (Westerham) had never cared for a woman until he saw the portrait of Ladv Kathleen. He was now going back to England to fight.—to win the girl of the picture-from Melun. For the £100,000 he expected Melun to place his services, and the services of the whole: gang at his (Westerham s) disposal. Melun agrees, and Westerham indicates that he will land in England incognito, and remain incognito as long as it suits, him. In answer to a question Melun admits he is still thinking of Ladv Kathleen. "Then you. make a vast mistake," said the baronet, as . he opened the cabin door and released his prisoner. * , ~ CHAPTER 111. THE GIRL IN .THE PARK. . . , , On the ".. same ) night' tire oily quality ,: departed from the ; swell. It came on to blow, , and blew hard until the Gigantic crossed the Mersey's turgid bar. . It-was sufficiently:rough to justify a great number of persons .- remaining in their cabins, but it was hardly sufficiently rough to excuse a two-days' absence of Captain Melun from the.poker-table. V There were some who were fools- enough to grumble at Melun's :■■ absence, alleging against -him that he sought to rob them of that revenge which they desired to make. But while the rough weather kept Captain Melun below it brought Sir Paul Westephnm on deck. And those maidens whose beauty, was ' weather-proof rejMced in the fact ihal^yilJl unattainable baronet now seemed vfrtotiA. friendly advances. But they, poor HttfetfeirSi f id not kntw what Captain Melun did— dreams of endless millions were unspoiled bj. an y knowledge of the little paper which WestC*" * ham carried in his breast-pocket. ' On the. third day, however, there came a complete right-about-face in the conduct of the two men whose personalities had most impressed themselves on the' ship's company,; for while Melun came on deck looking sullen and morose, the baronet pleaded a slight attack of fever, and hid himself in his stateroom. Nor indeed, until with all that serenity on the bridge and 'all that shouting on the quay which goes to the berthing of a groat liner, did any of the maidens, clamorous for hie presence, look' upon Westerham's face again. The gangway lashed securely to the Gigantic' - side, the first to step aboard were the As reporters, anxious 'j and eagereyed/keen on rinding the miner who was I now a baronet and a millionaire. They proposed to wire his life-etory, up to Lon- | don for the : benefit of readers beyond number. Hard upon, \ the reporters came the fussy relatives and friends of paseengers, and amid : the ' general kissings and handshakings on deck .; no one had much thought for any particular individual be:yond himself. " ;- ; / So, A without arousing any comment, there stepped from the. main entrance to the saloon a tall, * spare, clean-shaven man in clerical garb.. Even the fact, that his face was exceedingly ruddy and that his eyes were of a peculiar sea-green shade aroused no comment. ' Carrying a little bag in his hand, the apparently athletic ; curate swept his way to the head of the gangway, where his fresh and smiling face invited confidence from ; the reporters who hovered there,nervous' lest the baronet should escape them. .•'-■ ' ' ' . ■.;';:;' A.A '' . ■ ■:. One of them lifted his hat, and, stepforward, asked the tall, youthful parson if he had seen Sir Paul Westerham. > A; ■I, The parson smiled, and said gravely:: - "Yes, I saw him two minutes ago .in his state-room." There was a stampede on. the part of the journalists, and, smiling blandly to himself,- Westerham settled his clerical hat firmly on his head and sped down the gangway. In the days he had spent below' decks Westerham had mapped out for himself a sufficiently daring and ingenious plan £ of campaign to satisfy the A most exacting"of romantic minds. •■, It was, , indeed, with almost boyish zest that he entered on the adventure, and with all the enthusiasm of an amateur detective had paved the way for slipping up to London/ there to become a lost nonentity. . ' He knew better than to take the boattrain. Instead, he went up to the Adelphi Hotel, where fewer of * his ; fellow-passen-gers were likely to congregate than at the North-Western, deposited . his bag, and thereafter sauntered out to enjoy a stroll through the crowded streets of Liverpool. At the Adelphi he slept that night, proceeding up to London on the. following day. He arrived at . Euston about ; one. o'clock, and drove straight to Walter's, a small yet comfortable hotel on the north side of: the Strand. ; ; A; ; • ■ ' Before A going there, however, he had taken the precaution to buy some passable, if ready-made, clothes, together ■ with a tweed cap, so that there was left about him no trace of the clerical disguise which he had assumed on arriving at Liverpool. A, : A Hifi presence, indeed, was sufficiently honest and prosperous to warrant not the slightest inquiry as to his bona fides -at the hotel. In an hour he had comfortably settled himself in his new and\ temporary home, taking a small bedroom and j a small sitting-room . on the second floor. ; j Immediately on taking the room he had written a note to his friend. Lord Dunton, j who' was oraetically the only man in' the whole of London whom he considered he could trust. '■•'•'' •' "': •. - • ' Dunton called at about five o'clock, and the two men spent a couple of hours in a quiet; corner chuckling over the vivid accounts in the various newspapers which told 'of the mysterious disappearance of the miner baronet from the : Gigantic. A Every theory winch could be advanced was exploited to the full—murder, suicide, lapse of memory, and accidents of every sort and descriptions were set forth to account for Sir Paul Westerham's vanishment. There were interviews with the captain and purser of the Gigantic, interviews with a,* score of passengers, and,; much to Westerham's amusement, numerous bearded portraits of himself in a miner's guise. >■: Then, over a whisky-and-soda, Westerham briefly outlined to Dunton the adventure with Melun in ' his cabin and of., his voluntary disappearance. . / ;- ' "The only '~ thing that"j troubles /.me," Westerham concluded, "is whether you will stand - by and see me through. .;.It is practically impossible for me to achieve what I consider necessary unless I have J at least one friend who will keep his mouth shut, tight.";-: -:'/: ..'.,- .- . "My dear fellow," said Dunton, earnestly, "I assure you that if this is your whim I see; no : reason why ' I should ". not do my best not only to humour it but to help it. "By jove!""he added, "but it's a ripping good idea!" For Lord Dunton, who was very lighthaired, : very blue-eyed, and very- vapid/ had in his composition a great tendency to what he called "a ripping • good : laugh." " A

And so the two men arranged the matter between them. They dined together very quietly in a;little restaurant in Soho, where nobody i who knew Dunton was likely; to meet t»>em, ! and "where the cooking, if ; unpretenti- »os," j was at least good. '■, ;-■ Afterwards Westerham • went back:- to i Dunton's i rooms in Ryder-street, where j they talked far into the night. ; They, sat together, indeed, until past two o'clock, so that even the polite porter at Walter's raised ■ his eyebrows at Westerham with some disapprobation when he 'finally re- , turned to his hotel. , ;;--,;:/--'-. Next morning Dunton called early, and together the two men went up to the baronet's solicitors in Lincoln's Inn. There I they had a long and not wholly placid in- 'j terview with Mr. Victor ;Hantell, a somewhat elderly gentleman with pronounced views : on the law < and the propriety of ] abiding strictly by it. ' " > In answer to all his objections?, however, j the baronet, had one ; extremely awkward reply::. ...-.-. ."•'■; ,' . Did or did not the lawyer ; wish to remain entrusted, with the care of his vast , estates!. and fortune? * . So after a couple of hours' talk matters were i arranged to Westerham's. way of thinking. ' :;.'.' , A hundred thousand pounds were to be paid into Lord Dunton's account in order that Westerham might, be able to draw such sums of money as he required without any knowledge in any quarter of the fact ihat the baronet himself was dealing with the bank. : '-;.-'■' \. *■■ " • ''■■ Mr. Hantell, moreover, was pledged to complete and absolute secrecy, so that with'the exception of the lawver and Dunton, no one knew of • Westerham's arrival in London. j The only tinge of humour that was introduced into, the debate -on Westerham's affairs was when, from time to; time, a sleek and grave-mannered senior clerk entered : quiet]v. and placed on Mr. Hantell's desk a card that bore the name of-some gre'tt London newspaper; for the newspapers had discovered quicklv enough who Sir Paul's lawyers were. But they sought information in vain. ; - > „ ; - (To be continued daily.) ,v