AT THE GALL OF HONOUR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14492, 5 October 1910, Page 4

AT THE GALL OF HONOUR.

PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.

BY ARTHUR W. MARCHMONT, Author of " By Eight of Sword," " A Dash for a Throne," When I Was Tsar," "The Queen's Advocate." "An. Imperial Marriage,' The Man Who Was Dead," *• Barita. the Carlist," Etc.. Etc. COPYRIGHT. CHAPTER XXVlll.—(Continued). Siik paused, as if reading over what she had written, and then rose and turned to him. "Now, how would you answer those questions?" " How did you persuade Rita to tni6t herself to you?" he asked, hie voice unsteady in anger and alarm. " Oh, must I explain that to the audience? Let me see. Oh, it could be done very simply. Helen would hear that Rita was going down with Ralph to some place —let's call it Darlingham—and for some reason ho fails to go to her. Helen might go insteadof course Rita knows the two are engaged to be married. Stephen has told her that; and Helen pretends Ralph has sent her to explain hie absence. Rita is too innocent to be suspiciousall stage heroines are- that—and they start together for the station. On the way they meet a motor —Helen's car— the man has a message that Ralph has heard it is dangerous to go direct to the station, and that Rita is to go in the motor to him at a certain address. I don't think I need give the actual address, do you? Result—Helen sees how to communicate with Drasili and then goes to Ralph, having arranged that the news will go to Drasili at a certain time if she does not prevent it. There you are," she exclaimed, with a lisjht laugh, as if in glee over her plot. " Now you can see how much depends upon Ralph's decision, and that it must be made quickly. Do vou like the situation?" she asked derisively, as he stood silent iu baffled consternation. " Do you know the result to Miss Bishop if you carry out this infamous scheme?" he asked at length. " No; nor do I care," she replied with a shrug of indifference. " It is for vou to think of that." " Have you thought that you may be sending her to her death?" "I? You, you mean. This is a very comfortable chair, Ralph." " For heaven's sake drop that maddening flippancy!" " 1 wish I was a man. This is where I should begin to —something ojjb of a comic opera. Have you a cigarette? You look as if you'd like to swear, Ralph. Don't consider my feelings. You haven't in far more serious matters. Say 'Dn!' I shan't mind a bit. He took no notice of her gibes. The dilemma was too grave and critical for them to touch him. Rita's safety was more to him than his own happiness: and there was no way of saving her except b}- giving in. After some moments Helen looked at her watch. You have not very long now in which to decide, Ralph." "I must have time," he answered doggedly. " You can have just half an hour. It is now half-past twelve: if vou do not giveme your answer by one o clock it will be too late." " You can't mean to do this abominable thine?'' he cried. Helen got up, her manner changed and her face set with determination. " If within that time you do not pledge your honour to make me your wife I declare on my soul that Rita Bishop will be in Diasili's hands as soon as the telegraph car. tell him where to find lier and he can get to her. He is waiting now for that message from me." A long silence followed, and was broken by Denton's entrance. " Major Torosto wishes to see you, sir." " Let him come in," said Ralph. "Have you any news, Mr. Anstable?" was Torosto's eager question. "Yes," said Ralph, bitterly. "This lady, Miss Mrs. Whitaker —is responsible for Miss Bishop's disappearance." Torosto, in the act of bowing at the mention of Helen's name, looked up with a start of amazement. " I do not underi stand," he murmured. "Mr. Anstable can explain if he pleases," said Helen. Torosto looked from one to the other. "Should I retire, Mr. Anstable?" " Mrs. Whitaker car. tell you all you wish to know." " If this be so, I beseech you, madamc, to relieve my anxiety. I am here in England for the special purpose of arranging the marriage between Countess Darla and Count Stefano, and her disappearance has plunged me in the deepest trouble and embarrassment." " I am also most anxious to forward that marriage," said Helen. _ " Probably more anxious than yourself.'" ' "Then you will favour me by eaying where I can find her?" "Certainly, the moment you can assure me that that marriage will take place, and that another will precede it." '.' I fear I have not the necessary facts to enable me to follow you." " You are relying upon Mr. Anstable's assistance?" ' "Certainly I am," replied Torosto confidently. "I am justified in doing so, am 1 not, Mr. Anstable?" Helen laughed. "This gentleman is waiting lor your assurance," she said to Ralph. " You had better know the facts, Major Torosto," said Ralph- " I was engaged to marry this lady, and circumstances arose which put an end to that tie. She has now.succeeded in getting the countess into her charge, and her present intention is to betray her to Drasili unless—" Ho j paused in considerable embarrassment. "Unless?" They both repeated the word together; but Torosto's was a tone of curiosity, Helen's a challenge. " Unless I consent to make her my wife." " Yon do not hesitate, Mr. Anstable?" cried Torosto, lifting brows and hands in protest. " You do not know the facts, Major Torosto, and I cannot explain them," said Ralph in sore perplexity. " I have no wish to intrude myself into a personal mattei of such extreme delicacy, but if I have your permission there are one or two points I should like to mention." " Hay what you wish, by all means," declared Ralph. " The matter is too urgent and too vital for me to raise any objection." "One moment, please," interposed Helen, who was shrewd enough to see at once which side the Italian would take. "You should know that Mr. Anstable's admiration for the countess was the first cause of trouble between us." " 1 was going to ask you a question, Mr. Anstable," said Torosto after a pause. "Did you ever meet Countess Darla before this mission was entrusted to your care?" " No and yes. When I first met her I was entirely ignorant of the fact of this projected alliance ; but I should not have met her had it not been for what vou term this mission ;" and he explained briefly the miscarriage of his father's letter. "I find myself in a very embarrassing difficulty- But I put it to you that you would never have met her had it not been that, as your father's representative, this matter was placed in your hands. The sole reason for soliciting your assistance.—most valuable assistance, given ungrudgingly and zealously—was that you should forward this project of the marriage, of which interests of such high and vital moment to His Highness and many others depend. Having pledged yourself, in your father's stead, to further that alliance, do you deem it consistent with your honour to allow your own personal feelings and wishes to render vou false to that pledge?" " I gave no pledge myself, and knew nothing of the projected alliance." "We are not discussing an abstract question of casuistry. Mr. Anstable. If you were in His Highness's place, how would you view such an answer as you have just given?" " At any rate, I have not pledged myself to marry someone else to please the

Prince," said Ralph doggedly. He was irritated to find himself being driven into a corner. ~ "Do you deny that you are pledged, as representing your father, to do \our utmost to further the alliance?" "No; 1 have done all I could. ' "How did this lady obtain the knowledge which enabled her to induce the countess to place herself in her charge? "Through Mr. Anstable," replied Helen readily. "She knew that I was engaged to him." Up went Torosto's hands and brows a<min. " Then, we have this development. It was the knowledge obtained through you, Mr. Anstable—whether given intentionally or bv accident, or through negligence is not" vital—which now threatens with disaster the policy you were pledged in honour to support. Does not that suggest to you the propriety of repairing the mischief in the only way that is still open to you?" Ralph was silent, and Helen turned away to hide her glee at the turn which the Italian's shrewdness had brought about. ~ " You do not answer, Mr. Anstable, said Torosto with a note of severity, after a long pause. "May I hope for your assurance that we have not trusted you in vain?" The torture of those moments of ordeal to Ralph was indescribable. . "I give vou that assurance, Major Torosto," lie said at length. The struggle was over, and he had obeyed the call of honour. „ " I was sure vou would, Mr. Anstable, said Torosto with deep feeling and earnestness. " Now, madame," he added, turning to Helen, his voice changing to a tone of sternness. Helen herself had been scarcely less agitated than Ralph, but she was more successful in concealing her feelings. "You pledge your honour to make me vour wife, Ralph?" "If no alternative is possible and you still insist upon it." " I desire it above all things on earth; that is why I insist." Torosto was turning away while the two spoke, but she addressed 'him next. "The Counters Darla is in perfect safety, Major Torosto; and the moment Mr. Anstable has kept his word and I am his wife I will tell you where she is." " No," said Ralph. "You must tell us now." Helen looked at her watch. " There areseven minutes left," she said. "It will ! then be too late for me to prevent the despatch of that telegram. I refuse to say where she is before our marriage." A long, tense silence followed. "For God's sake, Mr. Anstable!" appealed Torosto, in great agitation. For a few moments longer Ralph hesitated. " You leave me no option ; I agree,' he said then, and, overwrought with the tension of the struggle, he sank into a chair and buried his face in his hands, to hide the bitterness of a despair which all but unmanned him. CHAPTER XXIX. RITA'S APPEAL. Helen was far less agitated than either Ralph or Torosto, and after a short pause she went to the telephone. " Someone named Harefield wants to speak to you at once, Ralph," she said; " but he had better wait until I have sent my message." " No," said Ralph bluntly, rising at once and crossing to the instrument. " You must bo very quick, then. There are only two or three minutes." He did not answer, for he wa6 listening intently to the news which Harefield was telling. 1 " Yes, here—instantly," he replied, and ; hung up the receiver. As he turned there I was a complete change in his manner. " I must have another half-hour for consideration, Helen," he said in a tone of sharp decision. " You have already agreed. I have your word. I will not wait," she answered with equal firmness. " Then I decline. Major Torosto,. I have decided to let matters take their course, and leave Mrs. Whitaker to do a 6 she i pleases, unless I have a further half-hour for consideration." "It was all settled, Mr. Anstable,'" said Torosto, in great distress. " You passed your word." " And have recalled it. The happiness of a whole lifetime might depend upon this, and it is not unreasonable to ask for half an hour's delay." " Madame, you must see that," said Torosto in his smooth, conciliatory, diplomatic manner. " A few minutes cannot make much difference." " There are now only two left," answered Helen uncompromisingly. "You yourself fixed the limit, and can alter it," said Ralph indifferently. "I am leaving town this afternoon, and must make mv arrangements at once," and he rang up Dr. Cotteroll. " I am going to Dar!ingham this afternoon, doctor. Will Mr. Ross be well enough to travel with me? Good ! I shall go bv the three-thirty. Will you oblige me by coming with him to Paddington? Thank you. Good-bve!" and he rang off. "Do you want the telephone?" he asked, turning to Helen and speaking quite casuallv. Then he glanced at his watch. "Oh. I see: the time's passed. Well, it doesn't matter." " Mr. Anstable!" cried Torosto, intensely agitated. " There is no cause for alarm. Major Torosto. I merely wished to see how far Mrs. Whitaker's animosity would carry her. Miss Bishop will be here in a few minutes." Tho others stared at him as if he had gone out of his mind, and the colour faded slowly from Helen's face, leaving it an ashen grev. "It's all right," said Ralph with a smile. " I have just heard the news over the telephone. Harefield is a detective who has been working for me in this matter, and Miss Bishop is with him on her way here. I didn't stop to hear how he had managed it, but I think I can guess. Your car is No. 33,516, and one of his men took the number yesterday when you changed into it in Queen's Gate. Harefield saw it at the door here when he came, and I expect he succeeded in persuading or frightening your chauffeur to take him in it to the house at Wimbledon where he drove you yesterday." " Thank the Holy Virgin!" exclaimed Torosto fervently. " I don't believe you," said Helen in a low. unsteady tone. Ho shrugged his shoulders and called Denton. "Is Mies Armstrong's car still waiting below 7" "No, sir. Mr. Harefield drove away in it about an hour and a-half ago." " Shall Denton call you a cab ? You can't stay here." He 6poke sternly for the first time. "I don't believe you," she repeated. " That is nothing to me. In any case vou have shot your bolt. That telegram has gone by this time. We shall all go to Darlingham this afternoon, and I shall then instruct Mr. Leaf as to what has been discovered, and he will communicate with you." "You have beaten me. but I am not so base as you thought. I never meant to give anv information to Drasili." "It is immaterial now," he answered coldly. • "It was only my love for you drove me to this," she said unsteadily and hurriedly, lowering her voice. He made no reply, but his eyes were less cold and hard. "It is true, Ralph; as true —as true as that vou hate me. Hate me! Oh, my God!" she cried, clasping her hands wildly to her face. But she mastered her emotion quickly. "But, of course, you don't care. You will shake hands?" she said brokenly as she held hers out. "It is no sin to have loved you," she cried when he hesitated. He took her hand then. "Good-bye." She seized it in both hers, pressed her lips to it feverishly, and hurried out of the room. As tho door closed behind her Torosto turned from tho window. "That is a remarkable young woman, Mr. Anstable," he said. " If you please, we will not discuss her, Major Torosto," answered Ralph with curt decision " I beg your pardon," said Torosto with a bow. "Now with regard to the young countess. You will remember ' your pledge— "I am not likely to forget it," interrupted Ralph. " I have been much tried by all that' has occurred, and, with your permission, I will write some rather urgent letters while we wait for her." (To be continued on, Saturday next.}