WOOING OF DARIEL

Taranaki Daily News, 14 July 1933, Page 11

WOOING OF DARIEL

By

May Wynne

CHAPTER XXI. — (Continued.)

I'm needing a drink badly, and whilst 1 Lu”n ond wait lot MoAlne to roton I’ll tell you the story of a 8 ° ’J nlng. First, though, I, v.ant you to locate Restyne for me. „ Ifi “He left me an hour ago, said Flavla slowly, “to ’Phone ° He had found a clue as tc> the 6 p of the man In Antwerp, who had taken my emeralds. 9° m t t” rn never beand tell your tale; but 111 never b ignored the last assertion. H© had known Miss Covell from childhood, and was sorry f or he , he would have been a g sorrier had she shown suffl^® nt w f O uM in him to play the game Sh "ould suffer for having let Restyne go. Seated in a big leather• chair in th Castle library, he sk , et . ch ® d J h L Xory, related In part to him by ham McAlne. He toid of C!uny Me Alne’s sin, and his cruelty to a 'woman whose life he had dehherately ■ rulnedl told of Colin Brinloch s caieer, and filled in—as poor Ellen had beeni unable to do—the details of his purpose In •coming to Glanferne. “Syd and I located Mr Brinloch as the thief before made .her confession, he said,the man is clever and, like many olevei criminals, attended to and «la every smallest detail, except one And that one gave him away. Rest^ e ’Jsj so-called tec., was his partner lu fact, his master mind. If 'I d °n take, Restyne has got clear away. We may take Brinloch and we may nc», We had ’phoned to the English police for help, and we shall fight hard. Yesterday we ’got into touch with Scotland Yard. You need not be afraid publicity, .Miss Consell, but—l am afraid credulity will cost dear - 1 •sure can’t quite understand one pom-. How it was you could believe a man like the Laird of Glanferne could act as thief and blackguard?” Flavia’s face was 'like stone. She was hard hit—and Durrock’s last words hit hardest of all. She had Jutend d to marry McAlne, had believed hersel madly in love. But the thought o having been robbed of a small fortuns ■had swept sentiment and a midsummer madness aside. It wounded hei self-love, her business instinct, hei passion for possession. She had s streak of meanness 111 matched to hei extravagance —and so she had become Graham McAlne’s judge and enemy.. Now r —she was to learn he had been innocent——and ■ that, the ■ man she had trusted and listened to was the thief. She could have cried, raged, screamed, in her exasperation, but she managed to mask despair, resolved, if possible, to brazen things out. “I was mad,” she confessed, “but .1 . shall tell Graham I can never be sorry • enough. He will be back soon with this woman, who will be better dead after she has confessed. I shall know how to make amends to the Laird. As for Brinloch, we shall not spare him. If you and MaHorie can arrest him, Hamel, you can ask your own fee." Durrock smiled and Flavla would •have been angrier still If she had known how shrewd a guess he madi as to the state of the case. x It seemed' a long time before Dr Moßoyle’s car stopped outside th< Castle door. Only Syd Mollone was with him. Flavla and Durrock hurried up. Both the doctor and, detective looked very grave. Mollone answersd his friend's question at once. “The woman Pearns Is dead," h( said. “She was In a state of collapsi when we arrived, and it took the doc,tor a while to bring her round. Siu made a full statement. Colin Pearns alias Brinloch, Is undoubtedly the criminal. He and Restyne have worked together." “And McAlne," Interposed Flavla, “where is he? Why did he not return with you? . I wish to see him.” The detective shook his head.? “1 am sorry to say,” he replied, “that Mi McAlne is very anxious on account oi the other lady—Miss Deene. He had left her in charge of Ellen Pearns, bui she w. ,s not there when we arrived. He has gone to Mallish Farm, and Dr McRoyle is taking us on there now. Mrs Pearns spoke of her son Colin —after she made her statement—she seemed obsessed by the idea that he was hiding near and, would return to punish her fO’ speaking ‘after he had taken the leddie,’ she concluded —and died before she could explain! CHAPTER XXII. Graham McAlne had returned to Glanferne Castle. It was a difficult position for him. Ostensibly Tony Waikes and his wife were in possession. The lease had several months to run, so Waikes explained to Durrock, who had questioned him. But, though the Waikes were leaving the place owing, as Kitty Waikes declared, to a “lamentable failure," the Castle could not revert at once to its owner.

"My patron," explained Waikes to the detective, "wishes to be anonymous; he financed us here, and, if the scheme had been the success we expected would have made a company of it, in which my wife and I would have acted as managers with a financial interest in it. Now it has failed and we are leaving, the Castle reverts for the remainder of the lease to my patron, who has been communicated with. Till his wishes are known, a caretaker must be put in charge—or, If we can arrange it, we will stay on —at any rate for a week or so. If Mr McAlne is staying as a guest we shall not interefere or in any way question his authority over the two or three servants left, who are family retainers.” This seemed well enough. The only difficultly—which Waikes did not explain to the other—-was the presence of the detective’s employer —Flavia Consell, whose company would hardly be acceptable to her recent fiance. But, though Waikes and Durrock said nothing on this point, both were of opinion that the two chiefly concerned must please themselves. Flavia. dressed in her prettiest frock and hat, sat on the parapet overlooking the sloping gardens waiting to waylay the Laird. She had fully decided on her role and rose to meet him as he came back up the terrace. steps, after seeing .Mcßoyle off.

How ill 'and anxious lie looked?

vexed Flavla' to note that he never even saw her, but - walked with his gaze riveted on the groundIt was she who arrested his progress, standing before him. “Graham.” she cried, "you’re not blind, and you must speak, to me. Im just heart-broken to think of my folysues I won’t pll. up a excuses. I want you to be generous and forgive me right away. He looked up—and she have known by his glanoe of how little she counted In his life thoughts. in have seen “I am very sorry not to nave bo? von ’’ he replied, raising his hat, x was’ too deep in thought. . me ---but you will have heard of our’ anxiety about Dariel Deene. I am going Indoors to ’phone. La J e^ r feturnlng to the has been courtesy Itself —but 1 ieei will be better for me at the Farm, a your splendid Mr Durrock promises " Pl“ VmadaTimpatlenl 8 eslu»; am not speakhlg of Hamel, nor yet of “ y or /neves.’’ ah« “I’m talking of ourselves. You and i nre more to each other Grah am, than are mui interest I—l doubted you, £r 0U ln“ m S Limed. I I shall buy Glanferne Castle and give it you back on our wedding day.” II Sound them lay the soft suns glow showing the old Castle at its loveliest If ever man had reason to be proud of his home, it was Graham McAine at this moment, and here was a beautiful woman, telling him he ha her and her love into the bargain. And yet Graham- McAlne. eeelns tte beauty rf lnie r |t ““.’ “/I"' ing to an offer nine men out of ten would have rejoiced over, shook his ■ te *T am sorry, Miss Consell," he .replied, “and yet I thank you, both for vour olain speech and generous conCon I will be as frank. For your natural suspicions against me I freely forgive you. I should like to feel we ire friends, but—l cannot reriew my jngagement. I have learned my lesson, too. I ought never to have.accented your offer or to make a bust transaction .1 Ills'. «™«te.‘ crown. I did not love-you. not love me. You gave me my freelorn, because-you believed me to .be i criminal/-'lf you had loved me you never would have erred in that way. I am glad you erred, for It leaves me no regret. If you wish to buy thGastie my lawyers will listen to your proposals. ' If not, if will have to go into the market, as I need the money. ! mav be leaving Glanferne shortly. That is uncertain. What is more certain is that I am marrying the girl 1 love—Dariel Deene." Flavia Consell’s hands were clenched, tier lips straight. "Very well,” she said; “I shall sure not repeat my offer. You have refused me. But there’ll come a day when you’ll break your heart with regret for marrying a penniless girl when you might have had—love and Glanferne. It is too late now.” “No,” said McAlne, “not too lata for love—and I have found that Glanferne counts less. Now I must be off. As I told you, we are anxious on Miss Deene’s account. She is missing. Mr Durrock and Mr Mollone have kindly offered their services in finding her." Flavia blazed at that. “Durrock and Mollone are employed by me," she •retorted. "I retain their services in searching for Brinloch and my jewels. You’re sure insolent to attempt to bribe them.” McAlne did not wince. “I fear,” he replied, “that both tasks march side by side with mine, since we have proved without doubt that Colin Brinloch has carried off Dariel Deene. In fact, only a short time ago—a matter of half an hour —he ’phoned to me to say that Dariel was in his keeping, and if we did not hold our hand for a week in trying to find her or to arrest him or Restyne we should never see her again.” . Flavia laughed scornfully. “An idle threat—sure," she replied, “and my detectives will have arrested Colin Brinloch within the next three days." CHAPTER XXIII. To Graham McAlne it seemed impossible that a woman would dare risk the ruin of another woman’s life by defying a criminal’s threat. His own wish had been to temporise with Brinloch and whilst searching for Dariel take active steps in arresting two criminals.Flavia would not listen. Durrock and Mollone were in her employ, she said, and would obey her orders. Her jewels were her only concern. It was Durrock himself who arranged matters with the young laird, who had at first been desperate. “Leave things to me,” he said in his sing-song way, which suggested nonchalance. “We can fix Flavla, and not a chance will be lost in cheating "that rogue Brinloch.”

And with that Graham had to be content. In the meantime, where was Dariel? She had looked in vain for escape when Brinloch had confronted her in that lonely wood. Nor did he conceal his purpose. “I have overheard every word,” he said slowly, “of that interesting conversation. Later I hope to let my amiable parent here have my opinion of her treachery. I should deny the whole tale, but unluckily I have reason to believe those gentlemen from U.S.A, have been getting busy. am a gambler, my dear girl, and I am gambling to win. Possibly I know more of your own history than you suppose. No, don’t interrupt or get agitated. We can let sleeping dogs lie. I shall simply tell you what I intend to do. You’ve heard of hostages, eh? Well, you are going to be my hostage. A prisoner of war—and a. charming one. I shall ’phone McAlne and make my own terms. 1 don’t intend to go to prison; my

career is only in Jhe bud. Tye no scruples, not one, and that makes things easier. You had better keep that in mind. I am taking you to Foggett’s Mill, on the outskirts of Digdale Marsh. My car is at the head of the glen. The mill, for your edification, is said to be haunted. The most obliging of grisly spectres, of a more flamboyant kind that its cousin of Glanferne, wanders in and out the place and contrives to keep the premises strictly private.

(Jo he ConUsufidJ.