CHAPTER XX.

Otago Witness, Issue 2579, 19 August 1903, Page 63

CHAPTER XX.

IIKN 1 opened my eyes again I found the room full of people. I looked about me in amaze. "What has happened?" I exclaimed. "Nothing very serious," said a. pleasant - faced stranger, bending over me.

"You will be all right in a minute. You have been wounded in the shoulder, and you probably gave no heed to it. Lots of blood and reaction from strong excitement brought on a slight fainting fit, that is all. It is not to be wondeied at. lam the Highgate divisional surgeon. Take a drop of this, ' and he handed me my own biandy flask.

I obeyed, and glanced about me again, slowly collecting my thoughts. Mortimer stood" at my side, with deep concern in his look?, and Maicella, with a faint tinge of colour in her face, eyes tenderly aflame, and a pathetic curve of the sweet mouth that told its o^n tale of alarm, came close and slipped her hand gently into mine. Then the recollect ion of what had happened in this, accursed hou.se leaped back

into my brain, and all was "well at onci with me again. "Oh ! yes," I said, springing to my feet, "I understand now. A wound, eh! Ol course. I remember noticing something oi that sort at the time, but forgot all about it, so distressed was I about this lady. Have they told you?"

"Everything. You have worked a miracle here to-night, Dr Williams."

"A miracle of miracles, indeed," I said ; '"but she must not stay a moment longer in this horrible den. Do you think she can stand the journey to Richmond tonight?"

"Perfectly," said the surgeon. "She has been pleading earnestly that she might be taken away, and that" — with a glance about tie room — "I oan scarcely wonder at. She is all unstrung, of course, but can bear the journey well enough. It would be a thousand times better than remaining here. Your friend., Mv Mortimer, has made all the necessary arrangements. He sent a message by a boy to the Highgate Police Station, and everything is in readiness. We have a stretcher . outside in which to carry the lady to the top, of the lane, where a close carriage from the Gate-House is in waiting for you. You can dismiss 3'our cab when you arrive at the foot of the hill. As for yourself, the hemorrhage has stopped. I have applied a strong styptic and bandaged the wound. It will not discommode you very much, I think." I thanked him earnestly, and then begged to know what had happened during my seizure ; whereupon a police sergeant in the room said : "Your friend here -has ex« plained everything to 'us. We had instruct tions from Scotland Yard about this lady, but unfortunately we have been on the lookout in quite another direction. However, you did very well without us, sir. For our share we have caught >ne of the two men. He is wanted, and is now at the police station. The other, worse luck, got clear a\va\."

'"But," said I, "there was still another. His name was the Baron Yon K : ssen. A' warrant for his arrest was issued to-day. 1 think you may find him in the pond down below. I struck him rather hard, I .am afraid, and there was a splash. Of course when I hit out, I never thought aboub there being a pond behind him."

The sergeant smiled grimly,

"Never mind about him, sir. I don'fc think it likely he will trouble you or anyone else again in this world. Of course, if he tumbled into the pond in the dark it was not your fault. Don't let that worry you one little bit, sir.' 1

I gave a sigh of genuine relief, and thanked him ; then turned once more to Marcella. The flush had fled from, her face, which had grown tense and drawn, and an imploring look was now in her eyes.

"Take me home," she said faintly ; "oh, take me home."

My ungrounded arm at once circled her waist, and by the light of the policeman's lantern I led her gently through the garden and the ga.p in the hedgerow, where the stretcher was awaiting us. I laid her in this, covering her with my overcoat, and wa were moving away up the lane when I felt a light touch on my arm, and a plead» ing voice in my ear said : "May I not come with you, sir? lam afraid to stay behind, and I may be of use to the lady."

I turned sharply and found the speakei to be our old servant. Before I could answer; a sweet voice came thrilling through all my senses. "Yes, dear&st, let her come. I wisi her to come."

"As my darling pleases," said I, het words filling me with an abounding joy, and then I bade the servant follow on.

At the top of the lane we found the carriage, witli impatient horses pawing tb« roadway. There, too, was our plucky little lad, Billy Watson, beaming with delight, his pockets heavy with loose silver Mortimer had given him. But for the sight of Marcella's white face, I believe hs would^" have cheered us as we drove away. I relegated the "servant to a seat bes : de the coachman. I wanted Marcella all to myself on this nignt ol nights, for, of course, dear eld Oharlev Mortimer was. as it were, one with myself, and I wanted him to enter into my joy, as he had shared my perils ol the night.

At the foot of the hill we found the cnbman, somewhat impatient and anxious. That was a sta.te of affairs soon remedied, and I wondered at the seemingly inexhaust'ble amount of Mortimer's loose change, unUl I learned that he had transformed a five-pound ncte into silver cons oi Ilie realm through the instrumentality of i fleet-footed policeman while I lay in i faint. fhon at last we weie off to Richmond and home.

My arms gently floscd about Marcella, and she, r.v some subtle instinct, nestled <lown upen my vildlv beating heartpillowing her he.id there HLe a tired child seeking rtst.

Oh ! *he ineffable happiness of that night! Tht'ie was golden fruition of hopes that for one brief, unutterable moment had lain dead and cold within me. Out from abTv.mil denths of blackest despair had Middenlv sprung a joy ecstatic, unspeakable. AVTiat pen could describe it? What voice give it utterance? Throughout the whole journey, all too s-hort for me, she lay thu« in my arms, sleeping peacefully, contentedly, knowing that mv strong arms shut her safe from haim Who could measure the '.unlit heiyhts of happ ; ness such as this? The wheels of the carriage whirled all too merrily on. We talked in whispers, Mortimer and T, when we talked at all, for those Wilful moments seemed not made for talk, and before T could realise or fully believe what Was happening, the carriage, with smoking horses, stood before my owir door.

There were lights all over the Louse, like welcoming beacons, and when Marcella awoke she srave a cry of almost childish joy as v h2 recocnised her now familiar surroundings. The door flew open wide at our annroach, and Mnrcella almost fell into Helen's arms ; and for a moment the two laughing thra"" 11 («>■= f>v]A not

speak a coherent word. Then Lucy Belton, with a wild cry of delight, sprang forward in turn and nearly smothered Marcella in the fervour of her embraces ; and lo ! the miracle I had long been praying for was suddenly wrought.

"Oh, Lucy! Lucy!" cried my darling, "you have done a wonderful thing ; you have brought back my memory to me at last. Everything that was dark before •is now as clear as the day. Thant God for it! Thank God!"

Then she grew hysterical with the very joy of it ; and, seeing that she was overwrought and in need of rest, I forbade her to say another word, and ordered her straightway to bed. To this she made no demur; and you should have seen the look of blank amazement in Lucy Belton's face and the glad light in Helen's eyes when I took my dearest love in my arms and kissed her "gocd-night" before them all. The three girls then lefb the room, but Helen shortly returned, and Mortimer and. I were just beginning to relate to her the moving adventures of the evening when we heard a timid knock at the front door. Somewhat wondering, I answered the summons myself, and there found the servant, whom I had quite forgotten, humbly pleading for admission. Helen gave a great start, and frowned darkly as I brought her into the room, but a few words of explanation and the manifest contrition of the girl .herself quickly overcame her repugnance, and we all agreed that she should tell \is her story at once. It was briefly teld. On the day following Marcella's mysterious arrival a strange man had stopped her in the street and offered her ten pouDds if she would leave her situation at once and arrange for the engagement of another girl— "a friend of his — in her place. As the money was a temptation too great to be 'resisted, she .wickedly consented, and concocted a plausible lie about a sick father and a sister out of work. She saw no more of the man for several days, when he called at the address she had given him, and conducted •3i3r to the forlorn old house in Millfield Lane.

It was explained that a lady would arrive there the same evening j that die would have the charge of that iTidy, and would receive further instructions from somebody else. That somebody else proved to be the Baron yon Eissen, and she very quickly found out to her terror what kind of a man he was and to what depths the ten pounds had brought her. A simpleminded girl, meaning no harm, seduced by the glitter of gold fiom her accustomed ■ways, she suddenly found herself enmeshed in a terrible and mysterious conspiracy. The Baron made that perfectly plain. He was most explicit. Further reward would re-

tyuite implicit obedience, but at the slightest sign of betrayal, her life might pay the forfeit.

' Here was a nice situation for a poor ignorant servant to be suddenly placed in! But, seemingly, there was no way out of it ; and she agreed blindly to everytliing —even swearing strange oaths that made jher very flesh creep to recite in attestation of her fidelity to the "Cause," whatever that might mean. Then yon Ei.^sen .went away, and from that time on she knew herself to be a virtual prisoner in that dogIceunel of a house. Show she so much as the tip of her nose outside the door, and a wickfd face popped up at once from behind the surrounding hedge-rows and frightened the life out of her. Throughout that whole afternoon and ev&iiing it was like living in a nightmare. Food of a eort had been brought her by a wild, hairy man — obviously no Englishman of the •wholesome breed of men she had hitherto been. accustomed to — and there was a bed, too, of a very strange sort to sleep in, and a solitary candle to see her duty by in this extraordinary emergency of her life. A thousand times d,id' she wish the ten pounds at the deuce, and she herself safely back in my kitchen. But she had bartered her peace of mind for this, and must, perforce, put up with the consequences and pray for lucky accidents.

It was as nearly as she could judge about 11 o'clock when, having gone to bed, she Leard loud and persistent finger-tappings on the window. Attiring herself as decently as she could, with teeth chattering and *a consciousness of • being '•goose-flesh" all over, sho lighted the candle and unbolted the door. Then, wonder of wonders, the mysterious lady she had seen at my house a few days before was carried in by two men and laid upon the bed. Another man brought in a box. That she was either dead or unconscious was obvious at a glance. Yon Eis&en, entering at that moment, stated the case blunt.lv.

"This is the lady you are to look after," said he. "She is not very well at present, but will I/a better soon. The dress she har. on I want ; you will find another in the box here So replace it. When she awakes you are to give her no explanations — you know nothing. Neither of you is to attempt to communicate with anybody outside. You are aware of the penalty if you attempt it." With that he went away, leaving her alone with Marcella, who shortly awoke full of consternation and terror. What had befallen her? Where was she? What new devil's work was this? Nearly distraught, the poor girl gazed in stupefaction at the bare walls, the grimy nakedness of ihe floor, the squalid furniture, the one guttering candle on the deal table, and at the girl's face that was both strange and iamiliar to her.

What could it mean? Her last recollection of anything was of sitting at dinner in a cosy fire-lit room in Richmond, with her heart fu]l of joyful content. And bow — she was where?

Surely it xosfc all be a delirious dream! But the servant, tnoroughly consciencestricken, gave her such information as she herself possessed, and then Marcella felt the whole horror of the situation, and abandoned herself to utter despair. The servant did her utmost to reassure lier, but in vain. . IVo days and nights passed thus. Strange men were ever coming and going. Their every movement was

I watched. The servant was constantly on the alert for a chance of escape, but not | the slightest opportunity offered. Marcella, utterly broken down, permitted hedress to be carried away without a word of protest. Her sables were taken, too. Of money she had none.

Late in the afternoon of the second day Vcn Eissen reappeared. His manner w?3 more threatening than ever. He threw off all disguise. Marcella's father had, in some way, broken faith — violated a sacred oath — committed some dire offence against somebody ; and it was for Mareella to put the matter right. It was in her power to do so. She had but to sign a paper, which he produced, and the thing was done. She then would be free to go whither she would at once.

Marcella flatly refused to sign. He then said that the suggestion was made solely in her own interest. It was quite indifferent to him whether she signed or not Her disappearance from the world suited his purpose just the same. But she was young and beautiful, and it seemed a pity that her life should be suddenly cut short. Would she sign or not? Xo, she would not sign. "As you please," said he, and left the room shrugging his shoulders — a wicked smile on his evil face.

A man came in about half an hour afterwards with milk and a loaf of bread ; and as I listened to this I felt an unholy gladness in that I had been a humble instrument, under Providence, in sending that wicked Yon Eissen to the jjerdition he so truly deserved.

Night came on, and the servant, venturing into the garden, saw nobody about, until, over a hedge, she espied, by the light of a feeble moon, a small boy, whom she instantly hailed. We know the result of that interview ; but this aJso I learned : that it was the servant who gave him the ten shillings, ana but for that all-atoning kindness I probably should never have laid eyes on my darling again.

Shortly after the lad's departure with the note to me, Marcella drank a glass of milk, and almost immediately was in the throes of mortal agony, and within a very few minutes expired, as the servant' had every cause to believe.

Nearly frantic with terror, she was about to rush forth at any risk, when VonEis.'en stood before her. With him were two men.

"Go back," said he ; "and if you move a siugle step from this house until I return you will never see daylight again." Then he glanced at Marcella. "Bad again, eh !" he said. "Come, men, we must take her out -of this before she wakes. It is her own fault — she would have it so." With that the two men lifted her up ar.d carried her out. Yon Eissen, following, paused an instant at the door. "Remember !" said he, with an ugly scowl ; then he, too, disappeared in the outer blackness, and the wretched girl was left alone with her terror-stricken conscience until my appearance upon the scene.

Her. story done, Helen said that she might go up to her old room and stay with us, for a time afcleast ; and for this the girl seemed profoundly grateful.

We three — Mortimer, Helen, and I — sat far into the night discussing the situation, and it was finally agreed, .in yiew of what we now knew, that I should marry Marcella without delay 'and trust to chance for the elucidation of so much of the mystery as still remained unsolved. It was plain from what Lucy Belton had said that Marcella was in, complete ignorance of the contents of her father's letter to m», and until the letter itself was found I could not divine, or even so much as guess at, his intentions. But that they were friendly towards myself I had not a shadow of doubt, and I had an instinctive feeling, too, that in marrying Marcella I would be acting in conformity with his wishes were he alive. Now that he — her natural protector — was dead, my duty seemed absolutely clear and well defined, for heaven only knew what further perils threatened mv love.

This momentous decision arrived at, we three, too, wont to bed, and a truly event- ! ful day came to a close at last.