THE BARRIER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15263, 29 March 1913, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE BARRIER.

?ÜBLIBHED BY SPECIAL ABRANGBMEST,

A STORY OF SOCIETY SINS AND

SINNERS.

BY E. ALMAZ STOUT,

COPYRIGHT.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

A 'clever rtse.

Prince Ivan read through the letter which the governor handed him with growing wonderment and involuntary admiration. It was awfully clever of her, he admitted it to himself, to have got in the first : blow, and his own action in the matter, which still fdled him with shame, though he would hajve acted in the same way over again, was sufficiently dubious to lend colour to her accusation.

'"Dearest it "I have done something terrible,' something so terrible that until I know if he is aflive or dead _ I feel I ' must run away and hide myself. The cruel black-hearted villain! And I believed in him so, and was beginning to love him! You who know how he has followed me and made love to me can understand how natural this is, for he is so handsome and has such a coaxing tongue. I hardly know what I am saying. lam so confused and unhappy and frightened, but I must try and begin St the beginning, so that you will understand. " When I went out with the Prince tonight I told you, -didn't I, we were going to the theatre and supper at the Savoy? When we were at the Palace he changed his mind, and asked me to go to supper at hi& house. I daresay I ought not to have gone, but I trusted him— was a nobleman, and I thought him an honourable'gentleman. "I went, and we had supper. I discovered afterwards that he had sent all his-servants away or to bed, and we were quite alone. He gave me a cigarette, which I took in good faith, but it was drugged, and nearly deprived me of my senses (for a few minutes, but not quite. Then he began to make love to me, and I got • frightened. He told me I was helpless, in his power, and no one would come however much I screamed. I struggled and fought with him when he wanted to kissV- me against my will, but he was .stronger than I, and I was nearly exhausted. Then suddenly I caught sight of a big table knife, and, maddened by terror and indignation, I seized it and struck hipu '" He sank down without a word at my feet. Then I realised what I had done. I had probably killed a man, in my own defence it is, true, but still I had killed or injured him. I went nearly out ■of my mind with terror, and I felt I must run away and hide myself. No one saw me leave the house. I rushed, back here, changed my clothes, and I am going away to hide for a few days tilli I hear what is likely to be done to me. Darling mother, I am 'So sorry for all the trouble I am bringing on you, but . you, my mother, will understand and forgive.-— brokenhearted daughter, Nell." v A faint smile was on. the Prince's face as he handed the letter back to the governor, ' ■.

" Of course there is net ft word of truth in her story after . the incident of the drugged cigarette. I told you all that part myself." < ■ , Baines was looking dubious as he scratched his head. " Well, her story, seems less far-fetched than the Other, and you mast excuse me, Prince Krepoff, but I've . heard of you before. - You've got a name, you know, for being a gay gentleman with the ladies." \.she . Prince flushed as he drew himself up?; haughtily., " Gossip constantly takes . liberties with the names of men and women who are well known. i have already told you. the true story of last night, . and I tell you this , letter is a lie. Now what are you going to do?" .' 'You say my daughter lies, do you?' Madame Pannelli shouted excitedly. " It's you that are the liar. You've tricked and deceived . her, following and making love to her, and making: her think, because you were a , gentleman, you meant .to act honourably byjher. I—" . . , ° The Prince raised v his hand, with the authority 'of one accustomed! to be obeyed. VSHence, please. , I have already explained* to these gentlemen the reason of my pursuit of your daughter. She was sitting, in court at the trial of Richard Frampton. and I saw her face.. I had never seen her before, and I did not know her name then, but I felt I was looking at the face of a guilty woman. > Now I know her to be guilty. She confessed the whole story whep she was semi-unconscious last night. I promise you I mean to publish that story far and near." Everyone in England shall know tho truth, and and—", Ihe excitement he had worked himself into proved too • much for - him, and he suddenly turned faint and had to sit down. " Weil, she'll have her answer ready for you,"' retorted Madame Pannelli, "and if it wasn't that it might have made things hard for her, I'' should say it was a pity the knife she picked up didn't do its work better!" -

CHAPTER XXXV. AT THE GAMING HOUSE AGAIN, . <V. • • ' > 'A fortnight passed, and no trace of Eleanor Pannelli was discovered. The : story of that now famous supper party, as told by the Prinoe, and as told by Eleanor's letter to her mother, was discussed, pulled to pieces, criticised, throughout the length and breadth of the land. Some believed the Prince's version others the woman's. Women who had suffered from the Russian's fickleness of purpose openly adopted Miss Pannelli's cause, others, like Madame de Freant, warmly championed the Prince. As for Glory, she lost her head a little for the first time since the trouble had come upon them, and wrote long letters to the Home Secretary and anyone of influence she could think of, pointing out that everyone in their senses must believe the Prince's story,•> and that there could be nothing else to be done but to release her husband instantly. The Home Office, in deference to the storm of public discussion that was aroused, repealed the capital sentence on Richard Frampton to one of penal servitude for life.

" Of course, that only means he will be imprisoned until the woman is found, and the mystery of Gerald Donnithorpe'a death is cleared up," Mr. Barclay told Glory, for, like her, he fully believed in the story the Prince told. " The thing" now is to find Eleanor Pannelli."

But two weeks passed and no trace of her was discovered. She seemed to have disappeared absolutely and completely when she left her mother's house the night, or rather the early morning, after the Prince's supper. No clue to anyone in any way answering: her description was forthcoming.. Gradually those who had begun by believing in her story veered round. If she. -was not guilty, why did she remain in hiding? If she saw the papers she must know that the Prince had quite recovered and that there would 'be no prosecution for her attack on him. If only she could bo found, it began to be the universal opinion Richard Frampton's release would only be a- question of hours. However, in real life, as in fiction, it is always the unexpected that happens, and one day Eleanor Pannelli turned up at her mother's house quite calmly and naturally.

It was the signal for a rush of interviews by both the police and the press, and she appeared quite willing to see theni all. She adhered ,to her written story of the Prinoe's supper party, and laughed to scorn the idea of the supposed confession he had obtained from her.

. " I ask you," she said, turning her beautiful eyes to her questioners, " is it likely I could have entered and left Mr. Donnithorpe's rooms and remained there some time without either the porter or his man i seeing me? Besides, Mr. Donnithorpe was ! a great friend of mine—in fact, we were I secretly engaged to be married. Why should I want to injure him? ■ I won't pretend I j couldn't have the strength to do it, for ' when Prince Krepoff's scandalous behaviour j drove me to self-defence I proved what I .could do," .. ... ; jJ ..If.!' '..n,. .r-ftjJU ' y'l'tK i ! ". ' • /•! ' i,i. Ji"'-* viv

i And neither close croas-qtiestioning nor yet further sifting of the evidence pro* duced any faintest clue to connect heir, with the tragedy, and the authorities de* clined, on the bare word of the. Prince'# story, to issue a warrant or in any way to molest Eleanor Pannelli, though, at J Glory's urgent insistence, a watch was kept on her movements. Bit by hit public interest and excitement subsided, and in the minds of all but a very few the impression remained that it was a successful attempt on the Prince'® part to have the capital sentence on Richard Frampton rescinded for the sake of his beautiful wife, whom Krepoff was known to admire.

"Just a foreigner's dodge," some said.: "A low-down trick, because it inculpated a woman. It'll give the foreigners a lesson and show them we don't allow our justice to be juggled with, oven when the prisoner is a member of Parliament and his wife a beautiful aristocrat." Eleanor, meantime, was riding on the crest of the biggest wave that had swept into her life. When the craze for publishing her photograph and interviews with her was over, she was still enjoying public popularity at the Frivolity Music Hall. : Tho manager had offered her ail engagement for several weeks to appear in a. sketch hurriedly written more or less round the now famous scene where she was supposed to confess to a —that oE strangling her own husband— under the influence of drink. It was quite tho fashionable thing to go and see tho Pannelli at. the Frivolity, where she earned in a week a larger suns than she had ever before earned in six months.

One evening Glory said to Gertrude, '"I want to go to the Frivolity, and I don't want to ask dad to go; ho would hate it so. Will you come with me?" Gertrude looked at her with surprise in her soft eyes which had grown dnlt and dim with continual secret weeping. "Why, dear? Won't it seem queer fo? you to be seen at a music-hall now?" Glory lifted her head and her eyes? flashed.

"I don't care what other people think, and I know you don't. That woman is performing there, and I want to see her with my own J eyes. Gertrude, it seems awful to wish for the ruin of any woman, but I believe Richard's life and freedom are in her hands. I feel it. The men have failed so far in finding out anything about her. I want to try." "Of course, I'll come. After all, we can wear hats and veils and no one need rtfcognifee us. But we ought to have a man. Mr. Leyton would do anything for me. Shall I ask him?"

Glory knew that Gertrude had kept tip a. desultory friendship with the Keen, enthusiastic election agent, and as she both' liked and trusted the man herself, although, a few months ago she would have disdained the idea of inviting him to her house as an equal, she eagerly 'welcomed; her suggestion. During the performance of the sketch: 'which alone drew them to the. Frivolity the two women sat with bated breath and alert eyes which never left the stage. It was undoubtedly ' the best thing Eleanor had ever done, and when the curtain fell she fully deserved the storm of applause which followed. Glory promptly rose to leave the theatre* and her hand closed like a vice on Ger« trade's arm. • /'

"I am certain now," she said in a low* tense voice. "Her eyes , are cruel, audi she has the face of a woman who could do anything to be revenged. I am . certain! the Prince's tale is true, and I shall never, : rest now till I have - dragged the truth, from her, if I have to • follow her like a, detective "myself, . X vow .1 , will leave, no : stone unturned, no matter what it coats me!' ■ - • ' - . , ■ ■ _ --, 1 ' It was just a week later that old Johri Frampton, who, with his wife was spend-. ; ins some months in London, for they -both' felt that they could not bear the quiet and ; 'naction of the country with the terrible loud hanging over their only' eon, came tot ;

see- Glory." * • , - . ... • He had never forgiven, her for; what ha ' ; called her "airs" when . she . was staying ' "with them, and though he admired her &9 • much as ever, he openly his re-> gret at his"ion's marriage".' ' 'C-l '. , "I was -wrong and the boy w^ right*? he said to his wife.# "Do you remembtt 1 ho , said once she had no .heart and was i all for pleasure and amusement?. Well, she's been no sort of a wife to him, and' indirectly has led him; into v. this -awful trouble, for he'd never ever have heard!: of Donnithorpe if :it hadn't been - for her.. - I can't forgive her for marrying him just 1 for his money, and then flaunting isi his; face the fact that she despised him. bet cause he was my son." • "Oh, come, father,'' replied Marthi mildly, "she didn't do that. ' ' ~ ' "Yes she did, • the i saucy hussy!" re-*' torted the old man hotly,;; who was as. ready to see nothing but bad .as; he had before been to see only good in the girl; who was his son's wife. - y '.v.But his grim old face, fallen in andlined, with all the ruddy colour gone, - was stern as he knocked at Glory's' front door. . t , Yes, she was in, and expecting him, ,the servant said. i But he } seemed. not to see the hand she held out as ■ she came forward to greet him with a pleased smile.. "I've not come in a friendly spirit, li admit it," he said doggedly, ;as ,he- sab. down. "I've come to ask you a plain question — rather more than one, • ana - aa; Dick's father I have a right to know. Is iti a true , thing that before you married him you gambled and played cards in. places ; where no decent woman should go?" Glory's ace ' flamed. "If • anyone- • but' Richard's father had said such a thing to; me I should have him shown the door on the spot!" •' ' " ; v *»"?: _-v - ; Vv •'ls it true? • Did you do it? Did you lose so much at the accursed game that you pawned your'jewels, got into debt, and was so deep in Mr. Donnithorpe's power that you married Dick only to get*, money to help you out?'" ;• Her face was as white aa her gown. "You are putting things very cruelly, Mr. Frampton, but it is all more or. lesstrue." -V ■ ■ He started to his feet, his old eyes blaz-. ing. "You—you— don't know what to! call you." He pulled at his collar as if he were choking. "And you are the woman who has dragged him down to his awful fate, for I begin to believe he really killed the man, as I would have done if what I've just been told is also true. After you were married, did, you still go on gambling, against my boy's wishes and orders, and did you go with this man whom he had. begged you not to see?" ■ "I—yes, Mr. Frampton, I did. But yon can believe me or not as you like, but I have bitterly regretted it. _I can only fay, I think I was m;td at "the time. " "Mad at the time!" roared the old man. "Then you are still mad? Is it true what I've been, hearing, that you are still going to low gambling places, /here men ana* women of the lowest sort areadmitted, in the company of a man who is being openly] called your lover, while my son, your, bus* band, is lying in a foul prison where yon? evil ways have sent him? Is this true os is this a lie?" '. "Will you tell me where you have heard all this?" Glory asked in a voice of deadly

calm. „ "Never mind how I heard it. When I • J was told it I wouldn't believe it, even of you, cruel and heartless as I think you. : But I was told by someone who had see a you go again and again, late at night*, when the rest of the. household had gona to bed. If it is true, you are a disgrace to your sex, daughter of Lord Westacx€» though you may be." At this moment the door opened. and. Lord Westacre himself came in. He looked ' from Glory' 3 white, stony face to the in-» furiated face of John Frampton. ''Has anything happened he asked gently. "les," roared John, before Glory could speak. "I am telling your daughter to her face she is a disgrace to womanhood,, While her husband is lying in prison, con* victed of an awful crime, she is going now, almost every night, to shameful, iow places where folk bet and gamble. Do you Know- ; : of this, Lord Westacre? If so, you're no \ better than she is!" . * " ' ,f ; "Silence, Mr. Frampton, if you please* ; • Though this is your son's house, you shall not insult my daughter. _ How dare ; you) :: ); ; accuse my daughter of doing anything so r impossible, so outrageous?" - -» , j "Hush, dad!" Glory said, facing hia| ; : v.; with a deathly face. "What Mr. Fr»mp« -fj ton is paying is perfectly true!" (To to continued daily.) |

■ The precise weight of an ; English ouno+ ji was' fixed IH.y who decreed tfeti - A>iu>jdd ,i.iKh 640 grains o| *!»•$*