WINGS OF LOVE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3002, 27 September 1911, Page 70

WINGS OF LOVE.

THE NOVELIST.

(Published by Special Arrangement.]

By Guy Thornb. Author of "When It Was Dark," "Made in His Image," -'The Arrow that Flietli," "Mantrap Manor," etc.> etc.

[Copyright.] SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS. CHAPTER I.—Sir John Helland, the wealthy young amateur aviator, is engaged in perfecting a new and improved type of aeroplane. He haa had sheds secretly erected for the purpose on a lonely 1 * part of the Cornish moo-q, where ho is assisted by his man, Wilkins. Having completed the aeroplane, Sir John sets out on an experimental flight, and when about to return decides to essay a descent. He touches ground in a hollow of the moors, near on old house, and, having examined his aeroplane, is about to resume his flight when he sees a tall and lovely girl running towards him, evidently in great distress, 0 lie asks her what is the matter, tells her his name, and assures her that she can trust him. She confides in him that she, Muriel Moore, is a prisoner in the hands of paid gaolers, and that a fate worse than death awaits her unless she can escape and hide herself until sha comes of age. She bega' the young man to help her. Sir John does so with alacrity. He persuades her to take a seat on the aeroplane, which she does fearlessly, and he flies away with her towards the sunset. CHAPTER ll.—The extraordinary flight of Sir John Helland and Muriel Moore on on aeroplane is accomplished safely, and after a welcome meal the girl tells him her story. She is an orphan, and has been under the guardianship of Florida, an albino, and his Greek wife at Trewinoe manor house, where she ha.s been kept practically a prisoner. They have great respect for one visitor, Constantino Miles, a name which HelLand recognises as. that of an old Gre?k of sinister reputation. Only that very day Florida had told her that he is not hor guardian, but Milo'S's agent. Years before, Miles had boMl in love with her mother, who, however, refused his advances. On her death she entrusted Muriel to Milos. and he had her educated and trained according to his own ideas. She now learned with feelings of aversion that it was the old man's purnose to marry her immediately. The Florid.is having gone to the station to meet Milos, she takes the opportunity of escaping. Having heard her story, Sir John promptly faces the problem of her safe-keeping until sho

f comes of age. He decides to place her in the oar© of bis sister Gertrude in London. To avoid my danger of pursuit, >a tug is chartered, and abe leaves Cornwall by sea, ■{? CHAPTER 111. PARTY of artiste with their paint-boxes were clustering gßjJpiP round the bookstall at St. B£jgj(y Ives, in Cornwall, waiting for the connecting train for London to arrive. >»JW"V Light-hearted young people of both sexes, they gazed sT round, commenting on all they saw, and exchanging studio slang one with another. Their attention was especially directed | to a somewhat odd-looking couple who stood in an attitude of strained expectation, locking down the line upon which the incoming train would presently appear. Tha couple were a man and a woman, the man, more especially, as extraordinarv a personality a,s one could hope to meet upon a summer's day anywhere in Europe. He was about sft Sin in height, dressed in grey flannels, and inordinately fat. His face, which was quite hairless "and pink, was almost as large as a ham. His eyebrows were white; his eyes .were pink, and his hair was of that dead yellow that one sees on perhaps only two living creai turcs—a human albino and a ferret. His j mouth was large and loose, with rather I ripe red laps oddly out of place in the colour scheme of his extraordinary face. Yet there was considerable dete.rinina.tiou to be discerned in the curve of the lips, and the fat hands that hung at his side from long ape-like arms suggested cruelty in some subtle way—and hands can be more significant of character than even the crack palmist is aware. By bis side, stood a talk, elderly woman, obviously a foreigner. Her face was pale and swarthy, but not with the delicate morbidezza that one finds in healthy women of the Latin race. Her hair, which was very profuse, though she was or considerable age, was dead black, with blue lights on it in the sun, and she was dressed with a curious primness. Her whole appearance, indeed, suggesting repression and a sort of camght-in-and-hidden eagerness. "The train won't be long, nor/, T should imagine," she said to the obese albino by her side The little man looked up at her, his pink eyes blinking in the sunlight, with the smile almost of a lover, though perhaps a careful observer might have detected something hideously ironical in it. "Not long, I think, my_ love," he re plied, in a purring voice which, when the young artists caught, they smiled at each other, more perhaps in wonder than in ridicule. There was something" very nasty about that purring voice, an undercurrent of menace in it. It was like the purr of a dynamo, something that had in it a note of power generated unseen. The odd couple stood together withoutexchanging any further remarks, until at last, through the little cutting towards Lelant, the front of the engine made its appearance, growing momentarily larger as if by some conjuring trick, and in ar minute was at hand. The albino hurried towards a first-class carriage, which was marked "Reserved" upon the window, and as he did so, from a second-class carriage a man-servant hurried up and opened the door. From the interior of the carriage there then appeared a figure stranger and more extraordinary than that of the albino himself. The artists had clattered noisily away with the friends they come to meet, and only a couple of expectant porters witnessed the descent of the new-comer from his compartment. It was significant that one of the porters, a young and presumably a sensitive person, turned away his head with a momentary and quite involuntary gesture of disgust. The new-comer was a man of medium height, thin and shrivelled, apparently about 62 ci- 63 years of age, This was the age at which one would have put him because of the curious aroma of j youth which still clung round him, al- ! though the unobservant person would j have put him down as elder. His hair, I which was scanty, was iron grey; his I ears were pointed like the ears of a goat. j His nose was beak-like, his eyes large, I lustrous, and watchful, with long black i lashes. His lips, which must have been J when he was a young man singularly fine in contour, were now pushed out a little J from the face. They were almost prehensile | lips—L'ps that seemed grasping cr groping for something, like the lips of a fish. Despite the warmth of the day, this singular person wore a heavy sable coat, ; and his long hands, upon the back of j which was a curious down of reddish | hair, were covered with rings. Mr Constantino Miles had arrived in j Cornwall. With the greatest obsequiousness, Mr | Florida, the albino, conducted Mr Milos I to a waiting carriage. Together they en- ! tered it, wh. : le Mrs Florida and the valet | trot into a waggonette with the iuggage. I The coachman whipped up h : s horses, and they rolled away up the steep hill towards Trewince. It was not until St. Ives had been left, behind some quarter of a mile that Milos ■ spoke. When he did so it was in soapy, I liquid, modern Greek, and the subsequent conversation was carried on in that language. Milos rubbed his ungloved hands together, and the sapphires and diamonds winked and glittered in the sun. "Well, how is she, Florida ?" he said. "How is the little bird? Your last report was splendid. Really, you have a style, Florida; you have a style. You should have been a literary man." He gave an evil little laugh, answered by a complacent smile on the face of the aFoino. "So Muriel is perfectly ready. After all these long years she has been brought

and trained to perfection of beauty, o<f oharm, of submissiveness. She speaKs my language as her own; she knows Om music our boatmen sing upon the shores of the Bosphorus. She is in every way, fitted to be the jewel of my palace in Crete. Florida, you have done weU. I The albino bowed. "I have done my best, Monsieur Milos," he said in a squeaky A-odce. "I have been worthy of the trust vou reposed in me, I believe. Muriel is exactly and precisely the image of her mother when you and I first saw . her in Athens thirty yearn ago." j Milos rubbed his hands once more, and there was a dry, crackling noise as he did so, the parchment skin with its red hair sounding like a five-pound note when one unfolds it. ! "Good!" he said, in an ecstacy of an- j ticipation; "good ! Again I tell you you have done well. All these years you and your Avife have lived comfortably, and no doubt you have saved money, and, as I promised you, next week, when Muriel and I are married, you will recei\e a cheque AAdiich will enable you to do as you will for the remainder of your years, j Everything is well." Florida accepted one of those strong, ' black Grecian cigarettes of Avhich dwellers in the East are fond, but as he took it from the gold case the millionaire held out to him, his fat hands trembled ever so little. j Milos noticed it at once. "Hullo!" b« said, in quite a different voice, "what is the matter? Everything is not well, then?" His deep brown eyes glared into the other's, and pale Avrinkled lids fell over the pink of the albino's. i "Oh, nothing, Monsieur Milos," the squeaky voice returned. "Nothing—that is, hardly anything at all. In conformity with your instructions I to-day told Muriel of the honour in store for her, and explained to her why she had been, brought up so carefully and in such seclusion. I assure you, Monsieur Milos, that the girl has never seen another man to speak to except myself, the gardener, and the coachman. I had not ihe slightest anticipation of any difficulty, but I must confess that a slight—a, very slight.—one has arisen." ' ".What is it ?" Miles asked shortly. j "When I told her," the albino continued, "she flew into an extraordinary state of agitation, and if she had not been so docile for all these years, so entirely under the control of myself and my Avife, I should have almost said of passion. She absolutely refused to marry you; said that nothing on earth would induce her to do so; and in short, Ave had what can only be described as a great scene." j The man in the sable coat nedded reflectively, and placed his finger-tips together. "Yes, yes," he ansAvered", in an indifferent, \-oice, "that is only natural; all girls feel so Avhen marriage is mentioned to them, more especially a child like this, to Avhom marriage is a thing so unknown and strange. It would have been the same if you had proposed to marry her to anyone else. It is merely natural, and in any case it dees not matter. The license is obtained. We shall all travel to London to-morrow, and the day afterAvards Muriel Avill be mine." Mr Florida turned his face away from his companion and gazed meditatiA-ely out over the sea. His countenance betrayed none of the calm certainty of his companion's, and in his mind Avas the thought that this difficulty would not be overcome so easily as Monsieur Miles imagined. The quick creature by his side seemed .intuitively to guess at his thoughts. He laughed unpleasantly. "Don't be alarmed, my good Florida," , he said; "I have neA-er yet failed in anything I .undertook, and after ten years of careful preparation, do you think I am ' likely to fail now?" Mr Florida puffed at his cigarette, re- 1 animated in his vieAA-s. He had leaned so long upon his patron, knew so much of his method and conduct of affairs, that his courage returned to him, and all doubts were dispelled. "Ah," he said, "it is good to taste the tobacco of the East again. I think, when you give me my cheque, I shall take Sappho back to Athens, and live perma- : nently at the Grand Bretagne; there is nothing like Athens, and a stroll to the , Acropolis in the evening, with the bees from Hymettus gathering their honey, ah ! i ah! it will be very good!" The two men spoke very little further. It was now dusk, and the carriage was mounting up the moorland toAvards Tre- i wince. < At length the broad belt of trees and the old manor horse came into vieAV, and the victoria boAvkd up to the entrance .gate. Suddenly the coachman pulled his horses up Avith a jerk. An ugly-faced old Cornishman in corduroys was standing at ' the entrance of the driA r e, his face frightened and full of consternation, Avhile behind him. two or three yards away, j Avere a couple of elderly Avomen servants. I "What is the matter?", Florida asked at once, in a sharp, authoritative A-oice. I "Miss Muriel, sir," the man answered, : "she AA-as in her room all right when you went. aAvav, and the door avps locked, and I have the key all f-afe, but a quarter . of an hour ago, as I Avas coming round j the back of the house, I saw that her j bedroom AvindoAV Avas opened, and the trellis work beloAv aa-hs bent and broken, in places. Mies Muriel, sheVe get out, sir, j and I don't knoAV where to find her." Florida jumped hastily out of the car- j riage just as the waggonette with Mrs , Florida and the valet ca.me up behind. He turned in fear to his patron. He was relieved, howeA r er, to see that the Greek's face only wore a somewhat . amused smile. "It is nothing," Milos j fcaid. "it is nothing at all. I like the '. girl for her spirit; it is what her mother would have done. She cannot be far j awav: there are no houses near, and she ] will be found at once. I am tired by • the journey. I will co to mv room and take some Avine. Meanwhile, do you

and your servants—Peterson will assist, you —make all speed to find the girl." i Milos was conducted to the bedroom prepared for hian. Some Burgundy was brought him, and he was left alone. It was a soft hour and place, and the man became sunk in reverie. Once more he saw the brilliant pact, when he had tried to win another Muriel among the fair isles of Greece. He saw the mother, young, lovely, and inviting, and a stab of pain came to hini as the old sorrow of rejection was renewed in memory. And then, as the generous wine warmed his veins, the coming days filled all his thoughts. His old hand trembled a little; his eyes grew bright, and ere half an hour had passed, his foot in its patent leather boot was tapping impatiently upon the floor. He heard distant shouts and callings; every now and again some echo of the search reached him in the quiet room, but he grew more and more impatient as time went on. He took out a jewelled watch—Florida and his people had been away for near an hour. His vigil, however, was net much more prolonged. Florida, dripping with perspiration, and his big face creased and wrinkled with anxiety, came hurriedly across the lawn, followed by one of the maid servants. Miles left his room, descended the _ old oak staircase into the hall, and met him. "Well," he said, "you cannot tell me that you have not found her?" Florida threw out his hands Avith a gesture almost of despair. He cringed before his patron. "Monsieur Milos, Ave have made the most exhaustive search of the grounds, the outhouses, and the whole of the house. A mouse could not have escaped our scrutiny. It is impossible that she should be anywhere near. She has got away on to the moors, and is going for a long walk. I have sent my wife, the gardener, and the housemaid away in different directions to find her, but if she has travelled far it will be extremely difficult in this light. The moor stretches away for miles towards Penzance, and any person walking upon it-could, easily be seen in the day time with a pair of glasses; though, of course, there are big depressions here and there. But there are also big boulders arid piles_ of granite which could conceal her; and, in j short, I am at a loss to know what to do." The old Greek's face grew pale and faded from olive to the colour of putty. Hi® eyes gleamed with anger. He turned upon the albino with a swift movement, as if about to burst into a torrent of excited epeech. Then, with ail equal swiftness, he caught himself up s with, an iron self-control. His quick brain had seen at once that Florida's cooperation was absolutely necessary, and that if he terrified the man too much he would become absolutely useless. And he also realised that his tool was pot really to blame. Such en event as this could not have been foreseen; and even in locking the. girl into her room, after her outburst of passion, Florida had done more than he had ever done before m the way of control, and had taken the Arisest steps be knew. "Well, Avell," he said, "it is not your fault, Florida, or the fault of. anyone here. Of course, you Avould not bav» exnected this, this sudden outburst of initiative and self-Avill. The girl has always been so suppressed and quiet; she has always been obedient, but she must be found, that is essential; she must be found at once." "She certainly will be found," Florida answered, "but probably nob before the morning, unless she returns herself, which eeems unlikely. We must organise a proper search through the night." "She could not get away farther than St. Ives or Penzance?" Milos questioned. "She might, of course, get to St. Ives," Florida replied, "though in that case it is odd Ave saAV no traces of her upon the way. But Penzance Avonld be quite beyond her range: it is miles and miles away, and even if she get to either of those two places, she would be like a foreigner in a strange land. She has no money, and Avould be ineAntably detained in her present condition." "Then Avhat are we to do?" Milos asked, impatientlv. "How are we to conduct this search?" "The only Avay I can think of," Florida replied, "is to send to the various coastguard stations within driving distance, and to enga'2o those men who are not on duty to search throughout the night. Also we can get hold of various of the small farmers dotted' about here and there on the nicer. A radius of twelve miles is all that Ave need search ; it is impossible for her to have got beyond it." . "Then take steps at once," Milos ansAvered. "There are tAA r o carriages here. Let my man Peterson and your gardener get to work at once, and organise the whole thing. Money is not to be spnred. Even-one will be well paid for their night's work, and AA r hoever finds Muriel Avill receiA-e a very substantial present." Florida hurried away. From the hall. Miles could hear bis voice for several minutes instructing servants exactly what they were to do. At 8 o'clock the next morning, the old manor was the soene of unwonted bustle. Kitchens Avere cr&Avded with tired men in the uniform of coastguards, with labourers and small farmers. Huae breakfasts were being prepared by the fatigued maid-servants; a babel of talk resounded everywhere as the sun rose OA - er the moors and the birds began their morning hymn of praise. In Mr Florida's study, a sombre, book-lined apartment, the heavy curtains AA - ere still drawn over the AvindoAve, Avhile candles burnt loav in their silver holders. The air Avas full of the acrid smell of stale tobacco smoke. A Avriting table was littered with a tray of glasses, an empty bottle or tAro, and a tantalus of spirits.

In a long fur-lined dressing gown, the collar torn from his thin brown neck, Milos sat exhausted in an arm-chair. There was a continuous nervous tapping of his slippered l feet upon the carpet. Florida, was pacing uneasily up and down the room, his vast flabbine&s encased in blue silk pyjamas, a horrid sight in his dejection. " The big, white, hairless face trembled like a jelly; the pink eyes were rimmed round with dark purple circles; the creature seemed to have fallen in upon himself, and all his suavity and aplomb of manner had disappeared. During the whole night long the search had been continued; some forty or fifty men had been recruited; the moor had been .searched by experienced _ folk who knew every hole and cranny of it. No trace of Muriel Moore had been found; no trace at all. "I cannot understand it," Milos said for the hundredth time; "it is incredible that the girl could have got away like this. There must be some foolish error somewhere ; she cannot be lost!" At that moment there was a knock at the door. Peterson, Monsieur Milos's entered. < ■ "Telegrams have been received, sir, be said, "from the various stations. The lady has net been seen at any of them. It is quite certain that she cannot have got away by train. She must be in the neighbourhood." "And the farm houses," Florida broke in, "all the houses around—what of them?" "Well, sir," the valet replied, "the inhabitants have all protested solemnly that they have not seen the lady, and as most o.f them have been themselves engaged in the search, knowing that they are to- be paid well for what they have done, and also knowing that the one who finds the lady will receive £SO, it is extremely unlikely that anybedv could have sheltered her. «.In fact, I am certain, from what I myself have seen, and from the reports the coastguards and others have made to me, that this cannot be -so. The inhabitants of the outlying farms have offered us every possible facility, even allowing us to search their houses. The lady is not in this district, sir—she cannot be." ''Well, how on earth could she have gene?" Florida said, his squeaky voice rising into a wail of despair, wringing his fat hands and trembling all over. Peterson withdrew, and the two men were once mere left alone. Milos rose and tore the heavy curtains, letting the cool air and light of the morning stream into the room. "I cannot stay here," he said. "Ocane, Florida, come; let's fcect the morning. It may give us some ideas." Florida caught up an overcoat in the hall, and folded it round him. Milos had buttoned up.his dressing gown, and the two passed moodily out into the sunlight. They strolled through the gardens, onened a wicket gate, and came out into a long meadow of short grass, walking towards the centre of. it, and seeing nothing. Their eyes were fixed upon the ground, and both, were lost in thought. Suddenly Mir Florida stopped, as a sporting dog steps when it points. "Look! look!" he said, pointing with one fat finger to the ground at their feet. "What are these marks? What are these tracks ?" Milos craned his head forward. In the centre of the meadow, for a length of about 70 or 80 yards; were three deeplyimpressed tracks, as of wheels. They started apparently in the middle of the meadow, ran in a curve towards one side, and then ceased as abruptly as they had bsgun, a great many yards from the nearest hedge. "A motor car !" Milos cried. Florida shook has great head. "No, no," he said; "see, they begin and end; if it were a motor-car, how did it get out of the field?" "But it is, I tell you," Milos replied, quivering with excitement. Look here!" He pointed to a little bare patch in the grass, upon which, glistening in the sam, was a small pool of thick, black oil, such as motors leave behind them after a stop. The two men, their eyes blazing with excitement, stared at each other. Even as they did so,' from the house at. the right came the throb of a motor-car and the toot' of a horn. They ran towards the hedge, passed through the wicket gats among the trees, and hurried to the front of the house, trembling like leaves in the wind with excitement and hope. They were just'in tirre to see a motor vani&hing down the drive at a great pace, driven by a little brown-faced man, who crouched over the steering wheel. One of the coastguards was standing in front of the hall door, with a little packet in his hand, gazing stupidly at the receding motor. Milos ran up to him.. "What is it," he cried; "what have you get there?" "A gentleman in a motor," the coastguard said stolidly, "drove up very quick, put this 'ere packet in_ my 'and, and, as you see, sir, is orf again." Milos tore open the packet with trembling fingers. In it was a small gold and" enamel watch with a slender filigree chain also of gold —a watch such as a parent pivc« to a schoolgirl. It was a present of his own. given to Muriel Meore some five years ago. A scrap of paper whs tied to the chain, and on it, in the girl's handwriting, were these words: "With Miss Moore's compliments to Monsieur Milos, as she no longer requires it." (To be continued.)