THE MAN WHO CAME BACK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15649, 1 July 1914, Page 5

THE MAN WHO CAME BACK.

IfiF . ■■';■■'-" • ' gf EI MARK ALLERTON, '.'';' Author of " (Such ami Such Things," ffj ( "Tho Lady of the Bays." '■£-• " Lot Justice Be |§ Done," etc.

|| -.;;. COPYRIGHT. |f CHAPTER XXII.-tContmued.) ' • Jevktfb.b was about, to continue her % work when"her attention was drawn to ; : . a slip of thin paper on tho floor. Sho ■A' picked it up and examined it. I* was a piece "-orn from a foreign telegram. She rose and went to the basketful of correspondence awaiting filing, fearing that , she niieht in mistake have torn up the telegram which had just arrived from Toulon. But that telegram was there, and intact. She looked closely at the torn piece of paper. On it was written ** British Embassy." For a few moments she puzzled on what it could have been. Then it occurred to her that Giles might have dropped it. She went to the door and called: "Mr. Giles!" GiicJ detached himself from a group i of youthful clerks, and <amo into her room. " Yes, miss?" "Did you drop this?" Giles :ook "he slip of paper. Had Jennifer been looking at him sho would have seen his confusion. What's this?" ho asked, nervously. " It's a bit of a foreign telegram. 1 can't have turn up anything by mistake. Did you drop it'!" ' Giles forced a laugh. "It must have fallen out of my pocket," he said. " It's from tho British Embassy somewhere," she continued. "Wo haven't had a wire from any Embassy, have we?" " it was sent to me, not to the office," said Giles. "Oh, 1 beg your ;>ardon. That's all right, l!.en. I thought it was a telegram to the firm." She hesitated. A thought occurred to her. "Do you mind telling me*which Embassy it is?" Giles paused before he spoke. The desire to make himself out to be important before Jennifer was irresistible; " The Paris one," he hazarded. Jennifer turned suddenly and faced him, her eyas bright with excitement, "Do you know anyone in ihe Paris Embassy I" she asked eagerly. Giles nodded. " Oh, who ?" she begged. "I've a friend in the office there." Giles felt himself getting out of his depth. "Have you really? Oh, I wonder— wonder if you would do mo a-great, great ■■■.'.;• service ?" " Rather." Giles did not speak with enthusiasm. " Would you ask your friend to make inquiries about Mr. Andrews in Paris ? ■ ' People in an Embassy can do all that sort • ; : of thing, can't- they ? Would you ask him / for me' lam quite sun t'aat something '"i has happened to Mr. Andrews. It is .;:■ dreadful not to know what it can be. Will yon ask your friend to make inquiries ?" "Oh. yes." Giles flushed as he spoke. "I can do that quite easy." "1 should be so grateful. You won't forget, will you?" " No, I'll not forget. I'll write to him at once." Giles turned away. " Ard you'll let me know should you he«r from your friend?" Oh, I'll let you know." Jennifer clasped her hands. " I shall be so grateful to you!" sho exclaimed. Fresh courage shone from her face. She , grasped at Giles' lie as a drowning man gr.isps at a straw. Any effort, however remote its chance of success, was better than inaction. Hitherto she had regarded Giles as a rather inefficient clerk, who had on occasions to be snubbed. But nol7 it was to Giles and to no other that she looked to be relieved of her anxiety. He left the off.ee, murmuring something ii...udihle. He was ill at ease. He hoped that Miss Strawn would not mention "to anybody about that telegram. And he had sufficient manhood to be sorry for . wtat he had said. He himself was beginning to be seriously disturbed at An- * drew?' sudden silence." CHAPTER XXIIL Days passed, and still there was no wcrd of .Andrews. His name was net mentioned in th? office when Jennifer was present, hut she knew what,was being said abou!> him, and all her courage was necessary to combat the. suspicions which : even her father now shared.. Not for one moment did she allow herself to contemplate their troth. If Andrews were alive then she told herself he must have again - been seized with his mental trouble. But the dreadful thought kept forcing itaelf "-upon her that he was not alive. All her gaiety and brightness had fled. . She did her work mechan.cally and with a face so pale and sad that those who ,kaew the reason of her grief were filled i. with compassion for her. \ Maitland was more tlmn ordinarily ' effected, and he cursed Andrews .tiilently : for having come into her life to spoil it. He o<imired Jennifer, but he also fel*. towards her something more than jidVira- ■■■■' tion. There was truth underlying his jest .;.. that Andrews had cut him out. For a'though he bore Andrews no ill-will, he passionately desired Jennifer's happiness. The atmosphere of the office had changed. Where all had before been : ~ charged with electric energy and confident .hope there was now the influence of list- ' ■lesssess and disappointment. Granton's : ; had had a hard knock. The news of the :•; .catastrophe had spread to other offices, . _-' and the other eyes were upon Granton's to see how they would meet their loss. Granton's first letter from Toulon was I":' couched in terms almost of despair. He had bee i received not with sympathy but with hard words. The work was so dreadfully behind that he absolutely d:d rut know where to start. And so on. Ihe letter was short, but it brought to ' Maitland a realisation of the hole the firm wa.- in. . The cloud fell heavily on t'.ie Strawns' house. Jacob Strawn and his daughter ..seemed to have nothing left to speak about. They were spending one of these silent evenings when Jacob Strawn, whose ,■/ ovident nervousness had been increasing as ho pretended to read hisvpaper, rose from his chair and sat down on the sofa before Jennifer. " I've been watching you, Jenny. I'm ■,-.. Go grieved that you are unhappy. What - car I do?" he spoke pleadingly. "Nothing, father. There seems to bo nothing to bo done." Her big eyes were full of hcjjelessness. " It' 3 terrible hard on you, my girl. But you must try to put this behind you, and look forward. You'll be ill if you keep on like this." : ~;• "You mem that I should try to forget!" she smiled wanly. "I shall never forget, Oh, if I knew—if only I knew—" •■■;, "There, there," he caressed her as he ' . spoke. " Maybe wo shall know one day, but for the present the facts must be faced, Jenny, my girl. We've simply got to." He was about to continue, when Jennifer stopped him. " Wl.at you call the facts are l..es!" she cn'ed. "I will not listen to them. You believe that Jim is

an impostor. I know you do now, I know you believe that he stole that Money, than he has disappeared with it, and that unless the police find him we shall never hear of him again. It isn't true. I know it isn't true." _ Strawn shook his head. " Please heaven "t isn't true," he murmured. "I would far rather that he were dead than that he should have deceived us— especially. If Andrews stole .hit money"—and he raised his voice—"then there never -:; . was a more deceitful villain!"

" That's just it," Jennifer spokt, eagerly. ■ "Don't you see that if ha did this he ; must have been planning it for years. I' Can vou believe tlu't? Can you believe v; ■ that be would put all his knowledge of ;./: engineering to the task of stealing a few ■; _ hundred pounds? Why, how was he to : know that ho would be sent to Toulon! „, Or that, wen if ho were, the mutiny .'.would bo entrusted to him? Look at it from any point of view you like, father, *',i<l can't understand how you can bring /■ yonr-elf to believe for a "moment what I they are saying about Jim."

"But the money, Jenny--" "May have been stolen-from him." "Why did ho ever cash it?". " Perhaps he didn't. Perhaps the papers wore stolen and someono else cashed it," said Jennifer, eagerly. : "But his signature-—'" j "May easily have been forged." i Mr. Strawn sighed. "All that may be,"' he said, wearily; "but the case against him is very black—just as black as it can bo. There's no use, Jenny, lass, in shutting our eyes to that. Let us grant that what you suggest is th& case. Why, then, didn't he send us word ? Surely he could , havo raised tho price of a postage stamp." I "If ho were robbed," argued Jennifer | again, "ho may have been injured, perhaps oven killed. Oh! It may sound im- ! possible, but not nearly so impossible as ! that Jim is a thief. I know that he is as 1 good and as honourable as any man living, and if tho time ever conies when he is asked to explain what he has done I shall believe him." t Shu spoke simply and quietly, with the confidence that ia born of love and trust. j Strawn bent forward and kissed her. "You deserve all. the happiness in the world, Jenny," ho said, softly. i Her eyes suddenly filled with tears. " I wonder if I shall ever be happy again?" she said brokenly. "If there was only myself it wouldn't ho nearly so bad. But I can't help wondering if Jim is ill and helpless—perhaps with nobody to look after him. I think of that when I am ! alone, and I get frightened. It is too 'awful!" and she clenched her fists. "I hate Grantons' now. I hato to go there. Everything reminds ma of him. And when anybody looks at me I know what they are thinking of. Mr. MaitJand is the worst. He pities me because of Jim. He believes what they say of Jim. It is too horrible! It is all the fault of the firm. If they had not sent him to Toulon all would have been well. They trusted him then." She spoke passionately. "Yes, they could say nothing too good of, Jim. 1 And now. without waiting for any defence, they speak of him as a common thie!;." I Strawn did not reply. He did not urge that there is little use in waiting *cr the defence of a man who has utterly disappeared, and who has taken tho firms money with him. i "The point is," he went on in a low [voice, "what are we going to do now? Wo shall have to make other arrangements at once." J Jennifer looked at him inquiringly. I " About the house, and all that," he J explained, with much hesitation. " Are we to remove, or are we to got rid of the other place? I'd like to do just what would best please you, Jenny:" Jennifer looked at the ground, her hands trembling violently. Strawn saw that the 'ears were streaming from her eyes. What he had said had made her realise with a shock that all that to which she had been looking so forward had been but a dream. The little house about which- they had made such plans, the furniture they had bought and stored—what was to be done with these? They were now all noth'ag but the symbols and tokens of a tragedy. She did not want to see them again. She controlled herself with an effort. "Will yem phase do that or me?" she begged. "Let us stay-here. But don't get rid of the other things—not yet, anyhow. .It would seem like— giving in." Thero was a long pause. Then Jennifer dashed away her tears. "If I were 'a man I'd go, right away now and try to find Jim," she said, bravely- " I'd go as it is, if you'd let ne." There are people trying to find him," replied Strawn. " Yes, but they are not his friends. It's terrible'to think that everybody is against him now. If only he had one good friend working for him I shouldn't feel the hopelessness of it so much.- I wish I could do something.- The only suggestion I made has had no result." "What was that, dearie?" " About Mr. Giles' friend at the Embassy." "Mr. Giles's friend in the Embassy," repeated Strawn in a bewildered fashion. Didn't I tell you? Mr. Giles has a friend in the British Embassy in Paris, and he promised to get him to make inquiries." "No; you didn't tell me. I shouldn't have suspected that Giiis h&d a friend there. Are you sure that he's telling the [truth, and not bragging?" "Oh, quit© sure. He got a wire from his friend some time ago." " Indeed. Did he show jt to you?" "No, I found it—a j»rt of it— for the moment I thought it must have been a wire from the office, which I had torn up in mistake-" "flow did you know it was from the Embassy?" "I saw the words ' British Embassy,' and I asked him." Strawn looked puzzled. "You asked him to get his friend to make inquiries. What did he say? 1 ' "He said he would." " Has he done so?" "Yes, but. with no result."Jacob Strawn picked up his paper again, but he did not read He was not satisfied that Giles had not for his own glorification been endeavouring to deceive his daughter. Giles was not the sort of youth to have a friend in an Embassy, unless that friend was one of tho domestic servants.. A wire would not be sent from one of them as from the Embassy. Strawn did not trust Giles. Ho belonged to a typo that Strawn despised. So long as he did his work Strawn was prepared to ignore him. But the thought that by his bragging he might have unduly raised Jennifer's hopes made him indignant. He laid down his paper suddenly. About that wire, Jenny," he began, "do you remember if—" But he was interrupted by a knock at tho door. Every knock that now came to the door sent the hearts of both of them leaping. Jennifer hurried from the room. The next moment she returned, followed by Maitland. Jennifer was silent, but her eyes were eloquently pleading to Maitland to speak. She saw from his face that ho .had news. She wanted to cry to him to tell her what it was, but her lips were closed in fear. There was on Mr. Maitland'* face a look that made her afraid. " Maitland!" Strawn sprang to his feet. "What is it? Any news?" "Yes, there's news?" He spoke a a though the words were wrung from him- He kept his eyes averted. Jennifer, gripping a chair, stood erect her head flung back. "Is be alive cr dead' Quick, man, can't vou see you are torturing us?" " He's alive.'" A i?asp broke from Jennifer's lips. j "What's the matter, then? Is it— worst?" demanded Strawn. Maitland nodded. "Good heavens!" "Tell me, please." Jennifer's voice was firm and clear. "How do you know that it is the. worst? Has— Jim said so?" "He hag been found in a prison in Paris." Maitland kept his eyes on the carpet. " He's serving a sentence for having bilked a hotel proprietor." Maitland cleared his throat. . " That's all I know as yet, an' if it hadna' been that I promised to come an' tell ye I'd ha' kept that to mysel'. I can't tell how bad I feel about it." He raised his head. The next moment he had sprung to Jennifer's side. But he was too late to support her. With a low moan, she fell unconscious to the floor.

' CHAPTER XXIV.

Mrs. Cadell was seated at her desk in her tiny library, methodically strapping up documents in little bundles. The library was fitted with a telephone and a large safe, which made it look more like a man's private office. Mrs. Cadell had an orderly mind, and she liked to work amid orderly surrotmdinge. This morning she looked a trifle worried. She had had to speak sharply to her cook, and domestic servants were the only people of whom Mrs. Cadell was more than, a little afraid. Still, the household, expenditure simply had to be cut down. It had been her duty to explain to the cook that orders were given because of the necessities of the household and not because the butcher and tho 'fishmonger and the baker and the grocer were such agreeable and deserving men. , , Ishe still felt irritable after the interview, end when her maid appeared in

answer to her ring she spoke somewhat sharply. • ' "If Mr. Barkway calls show him in here at once," she said. " And, for goodness sake, put vour cap on straight." Tho maid said '" Wm" with humility, and went downstairs to give tho very latest information. If Mrs. Cadell supposed (as, indeed, she did) that the character and antecedents and'present occupation of Mr. Barkway were not known to the company downstairs, sho was very far wrong. Long ■ before Mr. Barkway rang the front door bell it had been docided that Mrs. Cadell was in another hole (which was quite true); that she was a fool to have anything to do with Barkway (which was to. some extent also true), and that there would soon be a bust-up, unless something happened (which was pure speculation). What that iiomething should bo had already been arranged downstairs. It was only concerning tho somebody that doubt ex- . isted, although the cook insisted that anybody with half an eye would put their money on young Mr. Lester. Since nobody had possessed cither the money or the other uncommon qualification, no business of a sporting 'nature was done. Mr. Barkway arrived and was shown into the library. Mrs, Cadell was seated at her desk, and looked up at his approach. "I do wish," were her first words, "that you would buy yourself some new clothes." Yo?. can afford it, goodness knows!" ' Israel Barkway chuckled. " Old friends are betht friends," ho said. "I don't care what you wear, except that the servants must talk," she grumbled. They will talk in any case, my dear Mrs. Cadell. They always do." He sat down, resting hu lons} thin hands on his knees, and rocking himself gently to and fro. His dark eyes noted the orderly desk, tho bundles of papers, the businesslike, 'atmosphere of the room, and he was ; pleased. There was nobody he liked to do business with so well as Mrs. Cadell. They understood each other. Ho know, and'was not at all disturbed in consequence, exactly wli?t she thought of liim. If he had not 'thought so highly of her he would not have acceded sO ( generously to her proposals. Mrs. Cadell fldgetjed in her chair. " I saw your name iii the papers this morning." she said. 51 Did you? Oh, yeth. I vath thony it got into the papers. Nit for my thake. I am.uthed to it. But young Lord Perrith will be so annoyed. If he had only been roathonable —' "I'm not referring to your action. I saw your name down for five hundred in the Barston Mine list." (To bo continued on Saturday next.)