The Girl a Million Knew

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 53, 8 April 1914, Page 2

The Girl a Million Knew

[Copyright.]

• . CHAPTER XXVI. (continued). ; The Woman wlio Lost* the 0-ame. v "A nasty low 'ound,'' she ejaculated then. "I've met some of 'era in my time, but I never met a worser nor Max Faweett, nor if I live to be a hundred an' all.'' . Which shows that Mrs Briggs had • not been a landlady for '' theatricals; 5 ' for close on 35 years for nothing. Meditatively she replaced the note, .-stuck down the flap, then, with a sudden she screwed it up into a ball and flung it on the kitchen lire. "This appeared to give her a ; big measure of satisfaction. '' Rather than see a "blighter like that gpt a hold of Miss Christine,'' she mujt- 1 tered, "I'd sooner see her dead. *1 ain't so very struck on the other one /.either, but 'e's got the beginnings •of a man in him." With this observation Mrs Briggs resumed her interrupted duties, while the subject of her concluding remark was hurrying homeward once more, with the hope that he might find Christine there. He was in no wise confident about it, . though. An indefinite foreboding of _ evil oppressed him., It had begun to take hold of him the very moment his quarrel with Max Fawcett began, when; - the latter had boasted about Christine and himself. ■t Back again in his flat, things were '"worse than ever, although he told himself he was? a fool. It was too absurd. Christine had met friends, and w?j,s , spending the evening with them, or slie had taken herself, off to a theatre. But j l it v?as of no use. In spite of all his efforts those groundless fears returned. They had come to stay. - ! He sprang up from the long chair as a knock came at the door. He hastened to open it. Surely that was she? But then his face fell. The girl who stood ' there was not Christine. It was Leila Mayne—the last of all people in the world whom he desired to see. The eagerness and expectancy vanished from Jus eyes; his face darkened as he stood there stupidly, giving no word of greeting. And Leila, searching his face without his being aware of her calculating scrutiny, gave a little laugh. "Mayn't I come in, Dick?" It was not possible to refuse.. But his unwillingness, his distaste, were perfectly obvious as he made way for her, and, after shutting the door, followed her .into the sitting room he called his Study. ! "Light the stove," she said, standing by the mantelpiece. "It's been'a gorgeous <Tay, but when the sun goes -it's as shivery as ever. Thanks; that's ■better.'' ; i)Jek stood up. ; "Why did you want to see me?." lie asked ungraciously. At any other time this would have provoked an angry outburst from her. But she had come with a settled plan, and was determined not to endanger its success by getting angry. i< lsn't that a little unkind?" she answerefl, her voice soft and sad. f f I used to be a welcome visitor." j Dick's face did not relax its hardiness, and he made no answer. What she had said was untrue, but what wfes the use of arguing with her? a She laughed again. "Especially |is I've come with an invitation for you. "My mother is giving a supper party to-

(By HEBBERT SHAW, author of "The House of Many Secrets," etc.)

night. It's a house-warming, really. All the old crowd you know will be there, and it's sure to be a jolly time. You 've met iny mother. She would be delighted if you'd .ioin us." "It's very good of her to think of me," returned Dick, with conventional politeness. "I'd like to come awfully, but I can't*-manage it to-night. There's some worlt;I simply must do." As he littered his lame excuse he hoped, without: much confidence, that his visitor would make a' move to go. But she did not'stir. He felt Leila's eyes upon him, aiid knew that this invitation was not the real object of her visit. "You haven't seen Miss Eden, I suppose?" he .asked suddenly. "Only at the theatre this morning." ".You don't know where she is?" "Not in the least," replied Leila, lazily. "I don't keep her in my pocket." ' I know that,'' retorted Dick, sharply, "See here, Leila, I don't reckon you'll tell me the truth for a moment," but I might as well ask* Have you had any hand in getting? Christine dismissed from the theatre? Is it your work, or isn't it?" j "You're very absurd, Dick. How should I get her sacked? If suppose Cardinal found she wasn't thfe geniua she had been made out to be. Bluff doesn't last all the time.'' An angry answer, was on the man's lips, but he thought better , of<it. The Silence that followed was strangely disturbing. Why on earth couldn't. Leila see that he would rather be aloili?? He had shown it to her plainly enough. h "Dick!" ■■■:;■ ■ i He looked up, surprised at the soft appeal in the way she had spoken his name. She rested her gloved hand gently upon his arm. , r i "Dick, why are you so angry with fine ? I came here to-night because " The soft words lingered, as if the confession was hard to make, and then, with a catch in her voice that was in : describably charming, she went on. "Because I had t.0." That gentle touch of her hand, light as a feather, seemed heavy and terrible to him. All the arts of her stage life %ere with her to-night —they were her armour. He had never known her in such a mood. a "I came here because I Was tired- of; all the quarrels, all the misunderstandings between us. I wanted to end them." { Swiftly glancing at him, she spoke more boldly, yet still in her voice re* fnained that infinite appeal. Many of the men who had admired Leila Mayne, the star of the Pharos, from the stalls, would have given half their lives to |iave her speak to them like that. "I want things to be as they were between us —befoye Christine Eden came across my life —came between you and me " Dick Tempest moved his arm quickly, and her hand fell away. ; "It's quite impossible, Leila," he said. "You know it's impossible." She did not seem to have heard. She Went on, in the same quiet and even voice. "It's a great deal for a woman to come on an errand like this. It meant a very great deal to me, but there was no other way. I can't bear to think of losing you—of seeing you go to an-

other woman. There was no other way —because I love you, Dick." She made ar quick movement, and in that instant her arms were on his shoulders, and thus, as she looked up into his face, she held him an unwilling prisoner. From a day long dead there came to Dick the memory of another time when Leila had held him thus, in the eoffee room at the old Bear Hotel at Englefield. He had revolted against her action then; he revolted against it now with all his heart and soul. Her eyes were shining as though with tears, her beautiful face held all the appeal of a whispered prayer—but Dick saw only the face of Christine, flower-like and calm. * [ - Almost rudely he took Leila 's hands i and, dropping them, shook himself free. | Her face changed, but only momentarily. I She' had been prepared for difficulty, ! but it wasn't the end of the game yet. [ "I want your answer, Dick. It means all the world to me." Her voice was sweet as before/, and of all the men perhaps, it was only Dick who had learnt to read Leila, who would have known, as he knew, that she wasn't sincere—that all this mood of hers was put on for some purpose, as the grease-paint is put on nightly be- ! fore the mirror—sham beauty for the sham stage-world. ; "You've had my answer," he said, quietly. A dangerous quiet, though; the finality of it was plain. '' If you want me to repeat- it I will. There is nothing between us, Leila. What has been between us was little enough, but it is ended now." "Not even friendship?" Still in that same level, dispassionate voice. There was a slight pause, before Dick replied"Not even friendship. How c,an you ask, Leila?" . , He spoke decisively, and his word produced in the woman a wonderful change. "You can't mean it!" she cried. l i I refuse' to • accept it,< Dick. I ; refuse to let t'ilat bit of girl steal you from me, and ruin my life." i i She made a movement so swift, i unexpected, that it was like the begih- ! ning of a wild animal's spring, and now heir arms were around his neck, locked around him, and, taken utterly by surprise, = he could not for the momevit shake them off. Her action was wholly unforeseen, and it swept him off his balance and left him dazed. Her face was close to his own, and she was drawing his face even closer as the words came fast from her. '' Dick, there's nothing I wouldn't do, if you were with me. Oh, Christine isn't the girl for you. She doesn't know you as I know you. Nothing .I f wouldn't do. I'd give up the stage if you wanted me to. Anything, anything for you're all my world." . j Her voice broke on the last wor,(j, that voice,over which she had such perfect control. Oh, indeed, Leila was a born artist. She deserved the positioh her talents had won. She was sobbiiig now, little sobs that might have melted a statue. Dick felt that he could not breathe; there seemed nothing in the whole room, in the whole world, but the sound of the sobbing. Yet there was somteliing else, and he was well conscious of it. ; He knew that Leila was acting a part, for what reason he could not guess. But never for a second did he think her display of emotion was sincere. She had never cared for him. She did not care for him now. The thought of Christine was with him still. And angrily, with a violence upon which Leila had not reckoned, he took her hands in such a grip that her sobbing changed to a cry at the sudden pain of it. A secontj., and he was free. "It's done with, Leila. I tell you again, nnd for the last time* You're to understand it now and for all." She had played her last card, at the

cost of all her pride. She had played jit, and she had lost." moved away from her. Then, leaning against the ! mantelpiece for support, breathing I heavily, Leila looked at him. There i was a new glint in her eyes; Again | Dick thought of a wild animal, doing its hunting calmly, vengeful, and relentless. "If you won't have me as a friend, Dick " "There's no friendship possible between you and I," he burst out again. *'' Are you any friend to- Christine ? " For once in her life Leila Mayne spoke the truth without hesitation. "I hate her," she: answered, slowly. '' If you 're an enemy to Christine, then you're an enemy of mine," the man cried. ' , '' Exactly. It is just what I was going to tell you —that I make a bad enemy, Dick, a very bad enemy." At that Dick half turned his back on her. He would not answer. And Leila said, with a malice in which she delighted:— "Christine will never be you." Then Dick turned on her quickly with such a lire in his eyes that she shrank back, for she believed he would have struck her where she stodfl. - "What do you mean?" cried. "I believe you know where-§he is. , You've got some beastly plot against, her. By Jove, Leila, if I find tha^ 'you have —" "Don't talk nonsense, j don't know where she, is, and I don 't care. But you won't £et Christine,, for this reason —Max Fawcett wants her. He's mad about her.as a love-sick schoolboy. And what Fawcctt's out to "get he gets in time. He's marked her down—that's all. Well, I gave you yoijr chance. You haven't taken it. It's war,between up, Dick." , .. . She turned and went, not. ill-pleased with that last shaft. Dick ,caught her up at the door, and his eyps were blazing. His cold voice stung. ,h,er senses. "Listen here, Leila.You ,talk to ine of war. That's little enough to me, and I laugh at it. But if, as you half make me believe, you and Fawcett are together to try and ruin Christine, I warn you to look out. I warn, you, and just you carry a warning to that brute Fawcett, too. Tell him from me that, if he harms Christine in the leas,t, (Jegree, I ? m out after him. I've given liim a thrashing already that he 'll remember. Remind him of that, and tell him that if he doesn t leave Christine alone I'd not stop at killing him like a dog." Leila wished to laugh; she craved-to insult him. But before that terrible tace she could not laugh; she could find nothing to say, and as she began mechanically to descend the stairs Dick slammed the door of the flat. In spite o± herself the woman who had lost the game shivered at the noise. The sound seemed, to her strained imagination, to split into a thousand echoes, each one ot which possessed power to wound, to entorce upon her the consciousness of her defeat. An hour later Dick went out into the j fill r, lyi , Ug a P a P er > he read of the ! death of his brother, and knew that he St ™ n S° th *t they had i»t sent for him. Then he remembered Slll . ee * dfPute with Anthony some months back, he had taken on his presaddress' purposely withheld his Poor Anthony!" he muttered. (To be continued to-morrow.) ;