THE SECRET OF THE SANDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 147683, 31 August 1911, Page 3

THE SECRET OF THE SANDS.

BY FEED. M. WHITE, Author of " Trcßarthea's Wife," " The Weight of the C"-' " " The Edge of the Sword," " The ii Moth," " A Fatal Doao," cte.

PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.

COPYRIGHT.

CHAPTER XXXI.

Bastable repeated the figures with some pride. Kennedy appeared to be taken aback.

"Really!" ho exclaimed- "So much as that! Why, you have more anoney than I. Now, tell me candidly, what possessed you to be so foolish in the matter of Sir Horace Amory ?"

Eager as 1? as table was to speak, at first -ho words refused to come, but when h« was started it was not so difficult.

"I hated him,'' he said. "He always looked down on me, and when a man looks down upon me I curse him and plot revenge. He tried to stop my marriage, to deprive mo of the best wife man ever had. I swore I would ruin him. More than once I had him in my grasp, but he managed to elude me. Then came a real chance."

Kennedy lay back in his chair, watching his visitor with acute interest. He might have be*n a scientist studying a new specimen. " Quite so," he said, " a gift 'from the gods. You expected to crush your enemy without risk or expense to yourself. You are alluding to that promissory note of mine 1"

"That's right," Bastable went on. "I thought you were dead. I knew that when you were dead I should be your executor —

" You have no sense of humour, Joseph. But you will have 'to pay, my friend. You will have to pay _ Sir Horace the £14,000 you robbed him of fourteen years ago, at compound interest, which makes the sum over £30,000. You will have to refund the £20,000 obtained by means of tho forged bill. Please don't argue, becauso you are not entitled to do so. These are our terms, Joseph."

Dick and Ronald spent an anxious hour or so next day in tho police-court. It would, perhaps, have been better had Bowcn been legally represented, but in view of the fact of what was going to take place later tho policy amply justified itself. Besides the evidence of the letter and the telegram from Sexton found in De Lava's possession the police had no further testimony to offer. " In that event I apply for "Bowen said, eagerly. " I have been detained on the flimsiest evidence for some days, your worships." " Perhaps that is so," the chairman said. " Case adjourned for a fortnight. The prisoner is released on his own recognisances in the sum of £100. Next, please, Mr. Chief. We shall jo here all day at thij rate."

It was a piece of blind luck, of course— the story of an officious policeman and a pompous magistrate. It was not difficult to convey a certain sum of money to Bowen, who an hour later was on his way to London. When at length he reached the metropolis, Sexton no longer existed—Bowen was restored to his office. With grim amusement Dick read the story of Bowen's abduction in tho daily press next day. On the whole it was not a bad story, and sufficed Co satisfy the public. ' ■ . . .. v : : •

Dick had letters to write, and Ronald found himself with Vera.

" The whole afternoon to ourselves," Ronald said. "What shall we do?".

A long walk," Vera suggested. One of the walks we used to take years and years ago." " Very well," Ronald smiled. " Let us cross the park and go as far* as the Red House. I am anxious to see the bridge my father is building. • They have made wonderful progress in tho last ten days. The huge baulks of timber are all in place. Now that the big piles are in, they tell me the river has changed its course. What amazing things they do nowadays, with engineering machinery! Tho sands are ever so much firmer, and lower down, near the Red House, they have almost vanished. What will the place be without the quicksands?"

His eye roamed over what had once been r, wide expanse of shifting, quivering, grey sands. But how changed the scene! The boiling mass had gone, leaving a deep trick of hard silt behind. Tho steppingstones stood out in great masses of granite, liko'a row of grim sentinels. The bed was firm to the tread. Ronald scraped some of the yellow stuff aside with his foot.

"Fancy a few piles higher up the river doing this," ho said. Well, it is certainly less replusive. In a year or so when the golf links are open—"

He paused and looked down. Some glittering J hing was sticking out of the sand at the base of one of the stepping-stones. Ronald stooped and wrenched it from its place. " What ' treasure is this?" he asked. " What smuggler in the old days—" \ A sudden cry of illumination came from Vera. "I know what it ie," she said. "It is my aunt's jewel-case!" Ronald turned the contents of, the box out on to the grass. What at one time had been fine leather cases lined with velvet were now rotten masses of pulp. Embedded in the centre of each case was an ornament. They looked dull and lustreless, and not in the least suggestive of the fortune they were worth. "They seem like theatrical stuff" Ronald said. "Do you think it possible that the years of exposure to the sea water has done them harm? I never heard that such could be the case. The diamonds seem to be dull and worn at the edges. Surely, the sand could not do that. Well, I am no expert, so we will take these, treasures to Oversands."

Sir Horace pondered the matter deeply. He was asking himself a few questions. The lost gema had been recovered in their casket, bub they looked like rubbish. On the other hand two of Lady Amory's ornaments which " she regarded ,as paste had turned out to be of priceless value; they had saved the fortunes of tho family. Suppose, [suppose

It came to me like a flash," he said, "Lady Amory's sister made a mistake. She removed the paste from the proper box and replaced it with the genuine gems. Then she took the real gem-caso and threw it into the quicksands, and all these years nobody has taken the trouble to verify the story. ' This could have been done by critical examination of the stones. Of course, the imitations wore excellent, and it was only after they had been in the salt water for many years that the difference grew very manifest, even to the untutored eye." They broke into groups presently, Ronald and Vera strolling into the garden. "I am glad your people aro coming here this evening, Ronald," Vera said. "I am going to be very fond of your mother. Your father——" •

" There will never be any trouble between us, sweetheart," he whispered. " What a wonderful romance it has been, to be sure: And in so short a time, too! llt is only a few weeks since I first called here and saw the little girl who was my -old love in the days gone by. Then I —well, you will understand——"

[the end.] ANOTHER NEW STORY. We commence publication in these columns on Saturday of another new fascinating serial, " THE LOVE TIDES," by Frank H. Shaw.