THINGS IN GENERAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15769, 18 November 1914, Page 11

THINGS IN GENERAL.

" Yes, but could she have got there by herself? Had she enough money to pay her fire?" • " I am not sure," I replied slowly, calmly returning the close scrutiny of her eves. '" But I fancy she had no money at all." " Then yon are paying for her, you are giving her your protection !* I nodded in confirmation of her statement. " Why " I told you she had no friends in this country, and I believe she is altogether without means. What else woula you have had mo do?" She withdrew her hand suddenly from the top of mine. "Do she exclaimed, with that evil look of cruelty in her eyes that I had noticed before. " I would have let her rot in the streets of Paris, like the strumpet that she is," T had always disliked the woman. I hated her now. " You use hard words, madame." " Are they too hard for the woman who has made me suffer as I have suffered. I would have her endure all the tortures I have had to endure a thousand times over. If I saw her dying at my feet I would not stretch out a. hand to save her." "You are expressive—at least. But for my own part. 1 always look for gentleness in a woman. "i consider it the chiefest charm of your sex." I could see she was baffled and suspicious. So used had she. been to seeing me playing the part of her devout admirer, that tho change in my attitude was only just beginning to dawn upon her mind. " M. Lovegrove," she stammered, " you —you of all people— cannot wish this creature well!" " On the contrary," I replied, "I wish her the very best of fortunes!" My wort took her completely aback. She sat upright on the couch, staring at mo wildly, and when next she spoke her words came from her lips in little gasps. " You—you cannot mean it." " Certainly I do. Any man -would. This unfortunate girl was brought here against her will by your husband. She was shut up like a convicted person in those dreary rooms in the west wing; she was quite friendless and alone. There was no one here to protect or help tier. Bfce was subjected to every form of insult, and you think that when I find her like this that I should not pity her— I should not do everything in my power to assist, her. I am afra.id you must be greatly mistaken in me if you imagine that I could be capable,of such callousness." Yes, I think I have been greatly mistaken in you." Savo for a. little hectic .flush on her cheeks, she was now quite composed. It was the calm before the storm. For myself. 1 had grown reckless. The woman's frank confession of the evil she wished Joan—my beautiful Joanhad scattered the last remnants of my caution. "Your attitude of mind does not surprise me, Mine. Hanoteaux. It would be impossible for any Woman to live in euch an atmosphere as pertaip3 in this house without losing much of her womanly charm." My tone was deliberate and cutting. She was no longer looking at me, but was sitting there stiffly with downcast eyes. " How long is .it since monsieur discovered this atmosphere, which must be very peculiar, seeing that it has made him : change so suddenly J"

" I have known it all along," I retorted rashly, if not with absolute veracity. She looked up quickly. " So you've been deceiving meail alone as well?" I was in a white heat of anger and disgust. My meagre stock of diplomatic gifts 1 threw to the winds. "Yes," I answered abruptly, "all the time." Her eyes, now cold and dispassionate, never wavered a moment from mine. " And what is the peculiar atmosphere of this house about which monsieur speaks with such agreeable frankness?" "If you ask me the question I will tell you, 1 said, folding my arms and leaning back on the couch. " This house is peopled with as precious a lot of cut-throats and blackguards as ever walked the earth. It contains the cream of the criminal quarters. It is a miniature hell, and your husband—" "Yes, and my husband?" she interrupted, "what of him?" "Your husband," I continued, unable to pause in my perilous narrative now that I was fully embarked on it, "is the arch-devil himself!" " Monsieur is delightfully frank," she murmured. " You shall judge whether mv criticism is deserved or not. Ido you the credit to believe that you know nothing of what has been going on. I would have spared you this had not your cruelty and callousness towards a " helpless and innocent girl—" '"Whom monsieur loves?" "Yes, whom I love, as you- rightly say, and for whom I would have gone through fire and water to rescue from this den of infamy. Listen, Mine. Hanoteaux, you will find my narrativo instructive. Your husband is an anxrehist—one of the chief of those ill-oonditioned creatures who lurk in crowds to kill and mutilate innocent persons with the insane object of destroying the foundations of society He has on his hands the blood of an old and helpless man, whom one of his precious gang murdered in England. That old man was the grandfather of the girl whose escape from hei prison here I managed last night. Yon know what they are building in the park at the back of the chateau with so much secrecy It was an airship that was to sail over the world dealing ont death and destruction and heralding by wholesale massacre the commencement of the beautiful era of individualism. It was the invention of a'half-crazed _ Scotchman who met his death not ten minutes ago a few yards from here in the hall outside, while you were sipping your coffee and petit verre. I saw her make a little motion with her hand at the narration of MacClintock's tragedy. "And how does monsieur know all this ? she asked in the same dangerouslycomposed voice. "I have made it my business to find out. She rose abruptly from her seat. Suddenly her face seemed to awaken into a glow of hate and revenge. "This man is a spy!" I looked round hurriedly. There at my elbow was standing M. Hanoteaux. In the excitement of my foolish tall: I had never noticed his entrance into the room. "Yeei" he said, in his deep emotionless voice, "bo I would gather from M. Lovegrove's exceedingly interesting narrativeYou will find we have a short way of dealing with Government "spies." ' ' (To be continued Saturday next.)