LOVE SHALL PREVAIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14855, 5 December 1911, Page 4

LOVE SHALL PREVAIL.

BY ARTHUR W. MARCHMONT. Author of " The Case of Lady Broadstone," "The Gable House," "By Right 01 Sword," " A Heritage of Peril," "In the Grip of Hate," etc., etc.

| PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT. ' 5

[COPYRIGHT.] ' > CHAPTER XVl.—(Continued.) Mb. Bulstrode was leaving the room, ' but turned when he reached the door. " I am sorry for you, Kenneth, my boy ; but you had much better give this thing i up. You should not havo come clown 1 again. There is no more chance of Mrs. Armytage's becoming your wife than of my marrying Lady Flora Stanton. You , do not understand the position in the least; and if you are wise, you will keep away from the Fylde altogether." , "Which I shall not," said Kenneth to himself as he lit a cigarette; "and I am I g ol 'g straight there this morning." And . off he went. ' _ When Lady Flora arrived she found Mr. ■ u trodo in the garden. She was not a . lit wo excited by the prospect of the interview, feeling that ii she could win her ■ way into his confidence and work together . with him in any way, she would immensely 1 ™ prove the relations between them ■ Mutual confidence might lead to many • developments, if she used her opportuni- . ties discreetly. ' , T^ 16 had thought carefully over her part. • |Not a. hint of her more remote object must o allowed to escape her. Her sole intention must appear to be to work with him as a mutual friend of Olive's, and solely for the latter s benefit. She had created a very- favourable impression on him the preceding evening; for he had been very earnp. c ,<; indeed, in praising her. It was f n a / res ' l %ht on her character, and she tilt that that was the kind of character winch would appeal to him most. Moreover, there were other considerations why she should walk warily. It might be all right, to be an old man's wife; but it was essential that an old husband should bo rich; and .at present she know little or nothing about Mr. Buistrode means. He was reputed to bo wealthy. Both Olive and Galthorpe had said as much; but she must be sure. It would be too dreadful a tragedy to marry him on the strength of reports, and then, hncl that they were unfounded. t ball we have our chat in the garden Lady Flora?" ho asked as they shook lianas. "It is such a lovely morning." ' ( Certainly, if you wish it." " Well, now we must first know where we stand. You spoke last night of confidence for confidence, and vou explained how very shrewdly you had pieced together certain actions of mine and drawn a conclusion which I am free to admit was very close to the truth." " You mean about Keighley and yesterday's event?" •• . Exactly. Now I have formed certain opinions, but I do not feel that at the moment, and until I have confirmed them, 1 can tell you what they are. I tell you that at once lest it should bo a bar to your speaking frankly." "I have nothing to think of but Olive's benefit. You are deeply interested in her welfare?" . " Most deeply— deeply?" "And in he- marriage?" "Yes,"' he replied, not so earnestly. "Do you wish her to marry Mr. Galthorpe?" Tho question appeared to surprise him. ( Is there any chance of it?" There is a very strong desire on one 6ide.' That does not necessarily mean that the desire will be fulfilled. " An attachment—Ah ! you do not like him." he broke u as she sniffed contemptuously. " I should be very sorry to see Olive marry him. I will be verv frank with •Y°.- , Greg Galthorpe and I used to be mends, and I believed him to bewell as straight as men usually are. I have changed that opinion. ancL he knows I have. As a matter of fact, he has tried to separate Olive and me, and to set her against me." " Do you care to tell me why ?" Sho hesitated, and then shrugged her shoulders. ° Yes. \ou win form a poor opinion of me; but that does not matter. When Donald Armytage proposed to Olive I would gladly have separated them. It is a horrid thing to admit;*but I believed that no would ask me to marry him. I was jealous and—and furious." If this is painful to vou, please say no more about it." . * J Oh, it s out now. He never gave me any cause, I admit; but I—l cared for him, and—well, I fooled myself. That's all. I believe he was one of the best and truest men that ever lived. There that's over," she exclaimed with a heavy sigh. " I'm very different now." ; i " Had you anything to do with the trouble which afterwards Darted them?" asked Mr. Bulstrode with V touch of indignation. No. Fortunately for me, perhaps. I j had no opportunity. I have never ceased |to be thankful for that. If he had lived I would have done my utmost to bring them together again. *My close companionship with Olive has greatly changed me. Well, Galthorpe knew my feelings in the old times, and, if he dared, he would tell Olive." " If he dared?" ' " But he dare not. He knows that I see his present purpose—his scheming, I should rather say; and fears that I shall tell her. All this Chris Rochester business is just a sham, Mr. Bulstrode. Galthorpe knows something which has put the other man in his power. He pretends to allow Chris to have his chance to win Olive; but lie intends, when the moment comes, to expose him, and so make any marriage out of the questionimpossible." "But why? I do not eee any reason." "For the same reason that he told that lie about Mary Lorrimer. I do not know what the story was; but the object was to destroy Olive's respect for her husband's memory, and so lead her to contemplate marrying again. He is using Chris Rochester for the same purpose. Can t you see the probable effect upon such a disposition as"hers? I can. First her faith in her dead husband destroyed; then the man she once loved proved to be worthless— not that be the chance of chances for someone, in whose disinterestedness she still believes, to offer marriage?" '

"You mean that the man is a scoundrel ?"

" Greg Galthorpe is just Greg Galthorpe. Go back a bit. What were your thoughts at tho moment when you heard of "the loss of Donald's will ? *1 saw you glance at him."

" My dear lady, do you see the terrible charge you are implying? He himself suffered by the loss of the will. " "Yes. at present. But I am sometimes afraid of my own thoughts. If little Don had been killed yesterday there would have been only Olive between him and Donald Armytage's enormous fortune. And is she not so wrapped un in Don that the blow might have killed her?" Mr. Bulstrode drew a deep breath. " Surely, surely, you are allowing your dislike of Mr. Galthorpe to run away with you. Yesterday's affair was an accident oil which not even such a scoundrel as you paint could reckon." " It would have been a very fortunate accident for him, Mr. Bulstrode. Do you wonder now that what last night I called my womanly curiosity took me to Keighley 's cottage?" He did not answer tho question, and they walked up down the lane for some moments in silence.

" I have told you this because, after yesterday, I believe you to be Olive's true friend.'' she continued. " I did not always think so. But I felt I must tell someone. The thing is too big for me, too terrifying. I feel helpless." . " Your second judgment of me is right," he replied with a slow smile. " I am Mrs. Armytage's earnest well-wisher, and our mutual regard for her should be a firm foundation for our own friendship. If you will leave this to me, I may soon be able to give you what you askedconfidence for confidence.". „ ..

"I trust you as implicitly as Olive does," she replied with a -warm pressure of the hand as they parted. Kenneth returned from the Fylde looking very gloomy, and at lunch announced abruptly, that he was . going back to town. „ ~ " I understand, my boy, of course, said Mr. Bulstrode, " and I think you are doing the best thing to go, although 1 shall miss you very much." . In the afternoon he went over to tho Fylde, and found them all at tea under tho big cedar, discussing the occurrence of the previous day, and th© necessity tor finding a nurse in. Anna's place. Galthorpe had hurried down from town, and was loud in his protestations of concern and dismay, and questioned Mr. Bulstrode eagerly for details. They strolled up to the house together after a time, and went into tho library. " Don't you think that Keighley ought to be discharged, Mr. Bulstrode?" asked G-althorpo. " I wouldn't have him about the placo for another hour." " This appears to have upset you greatly, Mr. Galthorpe." "It has. It has. I was almost unmanned when I heard of it." " Well, I'm going to offer you a little advice. That is, to say no more about it, but to go away for a time." "Mr. Bulstrode! I don't understand you." _ " Take a change of air, I mean. Go right awayespecially from the Fylde and the city, andand keep away," was tho reply, steadily spoken., and with a very significant look. Galthorpe laughed. ... "Mv dear sir! Perfectly ridiculous. Absurd"." r , " Well, then, let us talk it over. You re a smoker, I think. Try one of these, ' and lie took a couple of cigars from his pocket. Galthorpe looked at him in unutterable amazement, as if he were a lunatic.- Then with a careless laugh he took one of the cigars. " If it will please you," he said humour-■ ingly. " You will know the brand, Mr. Galthorpe," said Mr. Bulstrode quietly, as he unfolded the wrapping of the stump of a third cigar. "They are from the top row of the box which you gave to John Keighley-" In-• his sudden violent start, the cigar dropped from Galthorpe's hand. He turned ashen white, and clutched at the arms of his chair as he stared at Mr. Bulstrode with parted livid lips and eyes wide with sudden overwhelming panic. Mr. Bulstrode paused, and then said very quietly, " You understand now why I advise a change of air, Mr. Galthorpe."

, CHAPTER XVII. AT MIDNIGHT. Galthorpe waa so overwhelmed by' Mr. Buistrodea words and action that soma minute or two elapsed before he could command himself sufficiently to attempt any reply. Then he tried to bluster. "I don't pretend to understand your extraordinary conduct, sir; and the only conclusion I can draw is that you have lost your reason." ■ " You will find there is reason in my madness and if you are prudent, you will accept the advice I have given you —to go right away and give all this up." ' "I'm not in the habit of accepting the advice of lunatics," cried Galthorpe, ris-

ing. ■ , j "It is, of course, for you to decide. If you prefer open exposure, it is all the same to me. I have only given you the opportunity to choose." c " ■' "If you were a younger man I would—" /'No, no," interposed Mr. Bulstrode, with a gesture. " You are too much of a coward to do anything of that sort. No mere bluster will avail you now. The position is this: at present, I alone know the truth; but if you leave this room, I shall at once tell everything to Mrs. Armytage." Galthorpe paused a moment, and then flung himself back on to his chair, with a laugh of derision. " If I consent to listen to you, it is only due to my desire to save Mrs. Armytage from being troubled by your infamous insinuations."

, ."I make no insinuations. "I make a direct charge, sir. I have had'you under observation for -a longer* time than you are aware." . . .

"I'm hugely obliged to you, on my word," burst in Galthorpe. " I know that you are heavily in debt for one thing; to heavily • that you have shall we call it borrowed—large sums from the city office. I know the circumstances of ; the apparently mysterious loss of Donald Armytage's will; and I know the object behind that loss. I know of one use which you made of the loss of it to blacken the dead man's character in the opinion of Mrs. Armytage; and I know that ' what you told her was a deliberate lie." "Anything else?" scoffed Galthorpe. " Neither flouts nor jibes will help you. You proposed marriage to her, choosing the moment when you believed - 5 you had prejudiced her against her late husband. When Captain Rochester arrived.*,you used your knowledge of a chapter in his life to get him into your power, and you intend to use him for a purpose which is also known to me." • •' * '

"You have a vivid imagination,.at any, rate," said Galthorpe; but there was much less swagger in his manner now. "Now we come to yesterday. You know that Mrs. Armytage's devotion to her boy stands in the way of her marrying again; and what is more, that while the child lives, he is the obstacle between you and the fortune you are resolved to obtain. That he was not killed yesterday is little short of a miracle; and if he'had been killed, you would have been his murderer." "This is more than infamous." " Too true, indeed ; for, in order to gain your end, you deliberately risked the sacrifice of two other lives. Hearing that tho boy was to go in the car, you went to Keighley with the lie which induced him to show you the box of cigars which you had given him. You placed in it then four cigars which you had drugged; and you induced the man to take one of them at once. That you did with the sure and certain knowledge that he would bo overcome, and that, losing control of the car in consequence, there would certainly be an ' accident' in which the child's life might bo lost." "-A pretty tale, that." "No, sir. A very ugly tale. A very infamous and villainous tale, every word of which is as true as truth itself, and proves the nature of the scoundrel who planned it with such cunning." "I should call it a mad tangle of distorted fancies without a shadow of proof to support it," replied Galthorpe, striving hard to hid© his intense agitation. " The proofs I have in mv possessi m will suffice with Mrs. Armytage, sir. You need not buoy yourself with any false hopes on that account. I know your object. You are trying to draw a 'circle of peril round Mrs. Armytage and her child ; but your hands are not strong enough to draw it, now that I know what I know. I wish to spare her the pain and distress of hearing all this—a solicitude vou lyingly professed just now— for that reason I am willing to hold mv tongue about you, if you go right away." If you refuse, the end will still be the same'for you. Again I tell you it is for you to decide." ' 1 • Galthorpe eat thinking with folded arms, his frowning sullen face drawn and haggard, the beads of sweat thick on his forehead. . i ■ - " I will go," he said at length, with a deeply-drawn breath, his voice hoarse with passion. "You pledge your word to be silent if I do." " Yes. I have done with you," exclaimed Mr. Bulstrode with a contemptuous wave of the hand as he rose. "Go abroad somewhere, the farther the better; and I will see that money is sent out to you." , " I must see Mrs. Armytage to explain." "No. I will tell her vou have had to leave hurriedly. You will have no sort of communication with her or with her child again." . " But—" " I have said my last word; sir," cried Mr. Bulstrode sternly. "It is for me to make the terms and for vou to observe them." (To be continued daily.)