AN ENEMY HATH DONE THIS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15512, 20 January 1914, Page 4

AN ENEMY HATH DO NE THIS.

A NOVEL BY JOSEPH HOCKING, Author of "All Men Are Liars." The Scarlet Woman," etc., etc.

COPYRIGHT.

PART L

CHAPTER Xll.—(Continued.) I conttsxed to look around the room, hoping to fix upon something which would give me some hint as to his identity. "No, you will find nothing to help you," ho said, "and do you know that, beyond the few whom I trust implicitly, you are the only person who has been in this room since it came into my possession." " Indeed." " I am not the man who stands on the housetops and shouts," he said. I made no reply to this; indeed, at that moment my mind was filled with something else. On the casket which he closed 1 saw a square piece of metal, which was fastened to the wood. On this metal a coat of arms was engraved. I was only able to give it a cursory glance, but I felt sure that if I saw a copy of it anywhere I should recognise it again. "Wo will return to your room," he said presently, and then with the suggestion of mountebank bravado which I had noticed before, he continued, " You will see now that I have many ways of discovering secrets, and you will realise that I am not a man to be played with." "No," I replied, "I see you are riot." He accompanied me to my bedroom, and then, looking at me with a strange glitter in his eyes, he said: " This is our first and last meeting. Dr. David Launceston. Be thankful you are not dangerous to me. Good-bye, we shall never meet again, and the questions which have formed themselves in your mind will never be answered." He did not hold out his hand, neither did he remain a second longer. Quickly and silently he left the room, leaving my mind in a kind of maze. I sat in the arm-chair before the fire, thinking of all I had seen and heard. Yes. in spite of himself, the man had given me certain clues. My mind fastened upon three things. First. I was in Cornwall. Second, the man had been in the house only a few years. Third, the coat of arms I had seen on the casket bolonged doubtless to an old Cornish family. These things I determined to bear in mind ; I felt sure they would be of value to me. Presently I found myself growing sleepy, and my mind refused to fasten itself upon tho problem which • so interested me. I felt myself in a kind of dreamland. 1 was not ill, and yet I knew that I was in an abnormal condition. Presently, in spite of my utmost endeavours to "keep awake, everything seemed' to be receding from me until the world was a great blank. When I awoke to consciousness again I found myself shivering. I looked around me. and instead of the heavy mahogany furniture which had surrounded me I saw the trunks of great trees. In place of the armchair in which I had I fallen asleep I found myself lying on a carpet of leaves. The air was crisp and sharp; I knew it was morning. When I rose to my feet I felt as though a great weight fell from me. The memory of. my last night's experience flashed before me. Yes, I was perfectly well; every faculty was awake. It was a perfect autumn morning. The sky was clear, and birds chirped among the trees. The sun had risen perhaps two hours before. I wore my own clothes. My knapsack was fastened on to my shoulders. My watch had evidently been wound up. It pointed to the hour of nine. I felt in my pockets and found my few papers and my money. As far as 1 could judge nothing had been tampered with. I heard the rumbling of a cart. "That's good," I reflected; "I can quickly discover where I am." I found my way to a lane, where a miller's cart trundled slowly along. The driver was seated on a sack of flour. I looked on the name on the cart, and saw the words, "Walter Kernick, Trekurgy." I took the map I had bought when I started my four through Cornwall, and after some difficulty I found the parish of Trekurgy. It was situated fifty miles from Trevadlock. CHAPTER XIII. Tho miller's cart was still in sight. Evidently both horse and man decided to act leisurely on this glorious autumn morning. Now that 1 was away from the shadow of the trees, and stood in the full blaze of the sun, it felt like July rather than September or October, except that there was a bite in the air not usually experienced in tho summer months. I walked briskly after the cart, and in a few minutes overtook it. " How far is the nearest village away?" I asked of the young fellow. "'Bout a mile. Trekurgy church town," was his reply. "I be goin' there. Will 'ee ride?" I climbed into the cart and sat beside him. "You'm a stranger in thaise parts, I reckon," he said, after looking at me critically. "Yes," I replied; "I'm down here for holiday." " Nothin' much to come 'ere for." " Not much, except beautiful scenery, and glorious air." "Oa, the air es oal right, I spoase. Where do 'ee come from then, makin' so bould?" " From London." " Good Lor', and you've left London to come 'ere " Why not?" " Catch me laivfn' London, where trier's so much goin' on. to come 'ere wer' trier's nothin' goin' on." " Nothing?" I queried. " Well, 'ardly nothin'. The tav drinks be oal ower, and Summercourt'Fair es ovver. That was a fortnight agone." "And when was that? I mean what date?" " Summercourt Fair ! Whv, that's on the twenty-fifth of September. A fortnight to-day." I made a quick calculation. It was on tho day of Summercourt Fair that I had found my way to Trevadlock, and it was on a Tuesday. It was now the ninth of October. I must have been lying at the unknown house for soveral days. "This is the parish of Trekurgy?" "Yes." "Who's the squire of the parish?" "There ed'no no squire so to speak. Lord Seccombe do oan oal the land, but he doant live no where round 'ere.' Ho d'live up Liskeard way." "And who are the other landlords?" " Trier's Squire Retallick and Squire Magor. They be the ounly two that-I'd know 'bout. Squire Retallick do live t' Carnwinnick and Squire Magor do live to Trenouth. Boath pkaces be several miles from here." " Have you ever seen them?" " Awiss. A rare ould chap Squire Retallick es. He listed to be a beggar fur 'untin', but he's gittin' ould 'now. and very stout. I ain't never seed Squire Magor. He's a sodger ho' es. He's said t) be the tallest man in the county. Six foot six he 'es in his stockings." "And they are all the gentry around here?" " Tha's oal, except the passons." A little later we arrived at Trekurgy church town, a little village consisting of a parish church, two Methodist chapels, a schoolhouse, and about thirty cottages. "What's the best inn here?" I asked. " The Queen's Head es the only one," was thi reply. Bill Olver <Jo kip it."-

I thanked the miller's son, for such he was, for the lift he had given me, and found my way to the inn. I found Bill Olver to be a man of some importance. He was not only the owner of the inn, but a farmer of some importance, as well as being a parish overseer and a registrar of births and deaths. I found him very willing to talk, and while some ham and eggs were being cooked for me, I obtained all the information possible about the neighbourhood. As far as he knew, no man in any way resembling my late host lived within a radius of twenty miles of Trekurgy. I was not surprised at this. Evidently I had been placed in some sort of conveyance, and carried through the night to Trekurgy. a place far distant from the lonely house. The man had not boasted without reason. I had jiot the slightest idea who he was, or where he lived. Unconsciously I had been taken to his dwelling and unconsciously I had been taker* away. The whole of the episode might be only a dream. From the hour I had felt the great darkness fall upon me daring the time I was talking with the two women, to the time I awoke to find myself in the woods about a mile from Trekurgy village, I might have been dreaming a strange dream. . Everything was mysterious. If I had described my experiences to any unimaginative man he would have told me 1 was romancing. But I knew that it was more than a dream. The facts were as I had described them, strange and inexplicable though they might be. Ihe other thing, moreover, was not real enough. My love for Avenel remained. Who she was, or what her story was, I could not tell. I had crossed the pathway of her life, seemingly by pure accident, but life could never be the same to m© again. I knew too that she was in need of help, and come what might, I should never rest until I had found her again, and delivered her from her enemies.

Before long my course of action was decided upon, and by six o'clock that evening I found myself at the Red Lion in Truro, where I found my luggage. The following morning I started for Trevadlock. I had to go a good many miles by train and then take a long journey across country. This I decided to take on foot. For one thing, I found it exceedingly difficult to get a horse and trap, and for another I decided that it might hamper me. I did not know how long I might have to stay, in the district of Trevadloclc, or what duties I might feel called upon to perform. So after having made a few inquiries at the little wayside station, I, with many conflicting thoughts in my mind and a strange feeling at my heart, started for the lonely house. As fortune would have it a man with a horse and trap overtook me, who gave mo a lift for several miles of the journey, and as it was early when 1 left Truro, I found myself within a few miles of Trevadlock by a little after twelve o'clock. It was glorious weather. The summer had been wet, but the autumn was doing its best to atone for tho cold, rainy summer. The autumn tints were more beautiful than I had ever seen them, and the air seemed like some fabled elixir of life. Presently I heard the sound of the sea, and as the road on which I tramped, after the friendly farmer had dropped me, led to the summit of a hill, I obtained a view of perhaps the finest coastline in England, if not in the world. Never had I seen a sea so blue as it appeared that day, and as it. rolled on the hard, yellow sand which lay at the foot of the mighty cliffs, I feli that if people from other parts of the country knew of the glories of this Western county they would flock to it by thousands. From the point where I stood I could see at least twenty miles in each direction, and whether I looked north or south a grand panorama spread before me.

In spite of myself too. the keen autumn ai- caused a feeling of exhilaration in my heart. I felt strong and vigorous too; my strange experiences had not affected my health, ana I laughed at difficulties, I was confident that I should be able to deliver Avenel out of her troubles, and rosy pictures of the future appeared to me. (To be continued daily.)