CHAPTER XL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10625, 21 March 1896, Page 3

CHAPTER XL.

Felix accomplished his voyage in safety; and one of his first visits in New t York was to the office of his old friend, Mr Olcott. He found the man of law busy as ever, but always ready to turn away from his papers and have a chat with Felix about the events of his former stay in America.

"So you got your friend safely back to England ?" he asked pleasantly. " You had a great deal of trouble with him, I remember. I hope he is grateful." There was a half humorous twinkle in his eye, and Felix suddenly remembered the dislike that Archie had taken to Mr Olcott. He laughed a little as he replied : '• I have all the gratitude I want, thanks," he replied, " especially from his wife. lam sorry to say, however, that Severne has been a good deal shaken in health by his experience out here, and I doubt whether he will ever be the same man again. " I am sorry to hear it," said Mr Olcott, politely. Then, with what seemed to Felix an inexplicable abruptness, he wont on to say, "I had a visit from our old acquaintance Strangways the other day." 11 Indeed 1 I hope he is doing well." " Some men have wonderful luck," said Mr Olcott, meditatively. "That man is a bora speculator. Instead of investing the money that was raised for him in an ordinary Bteady-going business, ha went and dabbled in shares. Any other man wonld have bsen rained, but everything Jerry Strangways touches turns to gold."

" He has been fortunate then ?"

" I do not mean that he has made a very big pile," said Mr Olcott, but it is quite as big a one as he requires, and will enable him to live in comfort to the end of his days, if he does not fool it away on some risky investment, He insisted on paying back all I had lent him, as he called it, and all that you had advanced also. I have ttie money for you here, and was just going to mail it to you direct."

" A gift is a gift," said Felix. Yon had better beep it in trust for him; he may come back to you penniless one of these days." " Very possibly. That is exactly what I thought of doing with the money he returned to me. By-the-bye, a novel thing happened when he was in the office."

"What was that? "said FeHx. He always felt a little anxieti on the subject of Jeremiah Stnuifiwaw.

" You will remember," said Mr Olcott, leaning back, and beaiing a tattoo with one hand on the arm of his cnair as he spoke, " you will remember that when you left New York, on what seemed to me a wild goose chase after your friend, you left various instructions with me concerning him, should he appaar unexpectedly in New York. You also left an old photograph of him, in order to help me to identify him. I have the photograph here in my desk. I daresay you remember it."

" Yes," Felix nodded; "it was & very good one."

Mr Olcott gave him a sharp look. " A good one, was it ? Well, now, under the circumstances, Mr Hyde, I would just as soon you said a bid one. As it happened, when Strangways called that morning, I was turning out a mass of old papers from my desk, and some of them still lay upon the table. The photograph was there, face downwards ; you understand 2 Strangwaya talked to me tor a little while, and then I got up to find a paper that I wanted, and when mybaok was turned he put out his long, bony hands—you remember his hands, do you not; they were rather a feature in the man's appearance ?—and took up the photograph. I heard a queer sound, which was like a sort of howl more than anything else, and when I turned round the man was positively livid, raging, almost foaming at the mouth. Of course I asked what was the matter, but it was some time before I could get anything intelligible out of him. But the upshot of it all was that he fanoied he recognised the likeness. A mere fancy, of course."

" For whom did he take it ?"• said Felix, quickly. " For the man who stole the lifebelt from his daughter. You remember the story he told us 2 Photographs," said Mr Olcott, with an easy amile, " are sometimes very deceptive." He was struck by a certain kind of rigidity in Felix's attitude—the manner of the man was of one dismayed.

" Bat what did you say 1" he a»ked,

" I did my utmost to quiet him," said Mr Olcott. "I told him that this wag a most respectable gontleman, who would never condescend to do a mean thing, and that he most certainly be under a mistake. I think I said that he was a friend of your*. I hope that it was sot an indiscreet statement; but I did not tell him your friend's name."

" I am glad of that," said Felix, recovering himself a little. "It would not have been pleasant for Mr Severne to be. the object of an unmerited vengeance."

" Unmerited, no doubt," said the lawyer, " though, of course, one cannot always tell to what lengths a man may go when he is in peril of his life. I suppose selE-preservation is the law of nature as much as it ever was. I impressed, as far as I could, upon Mr Strangways that he was mistaken, bnt I must confess that the mention of your name seemed to corroborate his snspicions. When you left New York on your homeward voyage, I do not know whether you noticed what took placa upon the quay ? "

" Yes, I did, indeed, and wondered what could bs the reason of the man's strange excitement."

" He came down to thank you for your kindness to him, which proves how dangerous a thing it is to do kindnesses," said Mr Olcotr, with good-humoured cynicism. "He had heard only at the last moment that you were going by that boat, and he came tearing down at the last moment on the chance of seeing you. As it happened ha was just too late, and though he fought hard to get on board, he was prevented. Butthereasonforhis excitement did not lie in any desire to see you, lam afraid. He maintained then, and has maintained ever since, that he saw on the deck beside you the man who had injured him, and on whom he had vowed to take vengeance. Till then he had firmly believed that that man was daad. I told him at the time that he was under an absurd mistake, and that the man whom he sought must have been lost on the night of the shipwreck. But although he stuck to it that he had seen bis enemy, as he calls him, on board ship, I assure you that I attach no importance to the statement, and never connected it with your friend until this incident of the photograph took place. Then, of course, I was a little struck with the coincidence."

Felix was more than struck with the coincidence. For the first time he began to grasp the reality of the thing which Archfe had confessed. It could not be mere coincidence which had caused Strangways to fix upon him as the man who had wronged him, while Archie, in. his turn, had nightly dreams of Strangways as his destroyer. It was a ridiculous improbability that two men should have the same delusions. No; it was becoming all too painfully evident. Falix had been mistaken in his diagnosis of Archie's condition, and the story which he had told to his wife and friends must at least be partially true.

For a few minutes he sat silent, thinking over the situation. Then he turned to Mr Olaott, who had been carefully confining his attention to the seals on his watch chain, which he was examining with curions interest. From the quick, shrewd way in which ha looked op when Felix spoke, it was pretty easy to see, however, that he had refrained from looking at Felix out of motives of delicacy, and that he had a very strong assurance of the truth. " I may as well tell you the whole story, I think," said F«lix, qnietly. " I begin to fear that my friend has been telling us a trne story all the time, while we believed it to be a delu3ios. You will perhaps be a better judge than I," atid forthwith he gave Mr Olcott an account of Archie's state, of the singular dreams which had haunted him for more than a year past, and of the fragmentary words of confession which he had first uttered and than dented.

" I am afraid," said the lawyer, with real regret, when the story was done, " that there is no doubt about it. It must have been this Mr Severne who, under stress, no doubt, of almost maddening anxiety, took the lifebelt away from Strangways' daughter. Well, it sounds a horrible thing to do, but you must make allowancas, Mr Hyde, for the agonising terror which some men have of death. To a young and vigorous man especially, it mast be an awful thing to see death slowly approaching; and if, as he says, the girl was quite beyond the chance of life, it might have been simply Quixotic generosity to surrender his own chance."

"That may be so," said Felix, "but I think in his place I would have sooner died."

"Yon and Mr Severne ara two very different kinds of men," said Mr Olcofct, giving him one of his ksen but not nnf riendly looks. "You have not very much lova of living for life's sake, I should say, and perhaps yonr sanse of the claims of others is a little keener than his. Hen are built differently. The point in question just now is, it seems to me, to keep Strangways and Mr Severne apart.

" That is easily done, surely. They are in different continents."

" Well, my dear sir, that is exactly what they are not. At the present moment, for all I know, they are even in the same country at the present time. Straogways left for England more than a week ago. I should say that he reached Liverpool yesterday afternoon, but I can easily ascertain, It will be in the ' Shipping Intelligence.' "

He touched an electric bell, asked a question of a clerk who appeared at the door, and received in another moment a slip of paper, which he quietly handed to his visitor.

" You will see there," he said, " that the City of London arrived this morning. Strangwaya went by that boat."

" What takes him to England 1" said Felix, in mnch surprise; " surely he has not gone to look for Archie Severne ? "

"No," said the lawyer, cautiously; "that was certainly not his avowed motive. It is quite possible tbat he may have some such scheme in his mind, bat, if so, he did not divulge it. Rough as the man looks, he has evidently very strong natural affections, and now that the shock of his daughter's death has to some extent passed away, and ha is likely again to bs prosperous in the world, he baa bethought himself of relations of his in the south of England, and is going in search of them. The young carpenter to whom his daughter was going to be married seems to be on his mind. I believe he wants to persuade him to come out here."

" The Booth of England ? " repeated Felix uneasily. " Did he tell you what county or tsvtn he waß going to 7"

" Exeter, I believe."

FBlix drew a breath of relief. Exeter and Southminster were very far apart. "He did mention another place," Mr Olcott went on reflectively; "some little country village, I believe. Now, what was the name of that place? Something tbat ended in wood, I believe. BlEckwood— Beech wood—Redwood ; that was the name." " Kedwood! " said Felix, in a tone of dismay. " But what can take him to Redwood? That is the name of the village where I live."

" Oh, I remember," said Mr Olcott; " Redwood Hall was the address you gave m&.I

think, but I did not understand that it was the nama of a village. Redwood Hall, Sonthminster. Bat Redwood is not such a very out of the way name, is it? There may bs another Redwood near Exeter for all wo know."

"No," said Felix; "I do not believe there is a Redwood near Kxeter. It is not a very common name. Bat what should take him there 1"

" I understated, certainly, that one of his relations lived there. A young girl, I believe; the child of a cousin of his, whom he never seems to have thoogh't of until now. I believe she was brought up in the workhouse, and sent out to domestic service. He did not mention her name to ma."

" OE course," said Felix, rather gloomily. " I can have no conception who it is. There are, no doubt, many girls in the neighbourhood of R9dwood who would answer to that description."

"Exactly. It is quite possible, however, that Strangways will not go to Redwood, but will simply write to his young relation to meet him at Exeter. If he does go to Redwood," said Mr Olcott, rather hesitatingly, ."is there any reason against it? "Is Mr Saverne likely to be in the neighbourhood?"

"It is his home, unfortunately," said Felix. "He aad his wife are living there juat now."

It was not often that Mr Olcott was betrayed into an expression of surprise, but on this occasion he wrinkled his brow, and uttered a low sibilant sound, not unlike a whistle, " That U a contingency for which I was not prepared," he said.

" You think thsre is absolute danger ? " Felix asked.

" Certainly, if they meet; and if Strangwaya recognises Mr Severne, which I fear there is no doubt about hie doing." " What can be done 1" said Felix, starting to his feet with an irresistible impulse upon him to take action in rame way. Mr Olcotfc shook his head. "I do not see exactly what can be done, unless you choose to telegraph to Mr Severae to be or* his guard."

Felix reflected for a moment. What would be the effect upon Archie in bis state of overwrought nerves and weakened brain of an alarming telegram of that nature ? It might upset tho last remains of Archie's selfcontrol. Felix felt it possible that his mental equilibrium might be completely overthrown. "If there were time," he said, " I would go back. I should like to ba on the spot. I might do something to calm Strangways, or I might, at any rate, prevent him from meeting Archie at all; but that would take a week, and in the meantime "

" Iu the meantime it is not very probable that Strangways will have fonnd bis way to Rad wood so soon. If he goes to Exetsr first, and sees his relations there, he is pretty sure, I shonld think, to linger on a few days." " Ooe can hardly trust to that," said Falix. " No, I must do something, but it is difficult to say what."

" Can you get the young man away from Redwood for a time 2 "

" I might do that. I might cable to him to spend the next few days in London, or at some mora northern town, so as to be out of Straagways' way. I could do that, I think, without fnlly stating my reasons; though, of course, I risk his not choosing to adopt my suggestion. Archie is not exactly under ray orders as to his place of residence," he concluded, with a smile,

" I would think it well over before I acted," gaid his friend. "It is not likely that a few hours' delay will produce any serious complications. Think it over."

And Felix thought it over, bat with the result which he had foreseen almost from the beginning. He decided to go back to England instead oi proceeding with his journey, which he had intended to mako bo lons and so adventurous. It seemed a fcama conclusion, but he was ■seriously anxious about Archie, and determined, if, possible, to prevent any meeting between him and Strangways. Bat, first of all, he despatched a message to Archie, which, although enigmatic in its wording, would, he thongtit, be likely to produce the desired result, Tbe message ran as follows: " Spond next week in London, leaving addrs93 with Marjory only. Important reasons." That was all. He dia not gend word that he was coming home; the cablegram was expensive enough without unnecessary additions, and Felix did not see that it was needful to add the assurance of his return. It was an omission which he afterwards regretted; he thought that he could count pretty certainly on Archie's habit of submission to him, especially in their present relations to each other as employer and employed. He himself would hasten back to Redwood and reconnoitre. He would then obtain Archie's address from Marjory, and would give Archie his reason in parson. In this way he thought that he could contrive to avoid a meeting between the two sworn foes, and he counted the days and nights with eagerness until he conld set foot once more upon the shores of his Dative land.

(To be continued.)