THE WHEEL THE FATE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13812, 19 November 1908, Page 6

THE WHEEL THE FATE.

B;, NICHOLAS CARTER, Vuthor of "When Knaves Fall out,'' "The Seal of Silenct/' "The P«*icv of a Secret," "A Millionaire Paztncr," "Circumstantial Evidence," etc. CHAPTER XXL THE SHEARS OF ATiIOPOS. Ono intomiod of the sc\oral incidents last depicted would very naturally ihUm that the crafty brain oi Nick Carter had done much toward shaping them. No ordniPiy roasoner, liowoum'. delve thou"h ho 'might under the surhice. would be likefy to discern the motno jietuatiu'j, the groat detects c, or the object he" aimed to attain. ()nl.\ a genius could liave done what he Mas doing. e)nl\ a nipster hand could nave buii! as lie was building. Theie were other tactois at work on thai eventful night, each placing its essential part in the v. hill of tate. Atropos had her shears out, but it iv^ an open question what thread they would cut. Soon aitor nine o'clock, contrary to a prediction made earlier that evening, Nan Lot raw returned to the secluded old dwelling in which she for some tune had marie her homo. She wps alone and on foot. Seen in Hie starlight she did not look inviting. X is said that the devil in one will at times show in one's face. Hers looked thin, pinched and drawn, hazard and white. «i paleness accentuated by her intensely black eyes, then glittering v. ith abnormal brilliancy. Her supple, rounded figure had lost lioii. A finely trained thoroughbred, jaded by a racking race, could not have looked 'more worn and wasted. She walked like one wearied, one tasked to her limit. Only when she saw the house dark fiom roof to foundation did these signs oi' veakness vanish. "Now, where the devil have they policy" she hissed through her teeth. "Are they playing me false in any wa\ ? Have they found " Her query was cut short by the swift swell of her volcanic passions. "With Inv, twitching, with eyes gleaming, &he quickened her pace and let herself into the house with a key. The hall was intensely dark, yet she stood motionless for several moments and listened. Her eyes flowed in the ciaikness like those of a eat. They veined to have a light all their own. Not a sound reached her strained ears. "Came— that's sure!" she said to herseli, in vicious whispers. "But when, where, and for what? What can have railed all three away? Can they possibly ha\e found Ha! that devil V( r'nol may be here again! I'll be i<ady for him. If he lurks here after me--I will kill him in the dark!" She drew from a pocket of her skirt a small revolver, keeping it in her hand while she groped her way to her chamber, leaving no light below. In her room, however, after listening suspiciously and peering into each corner, she hastened to light a lamp, not ceasing to be alert nor dropping her weapon for an instant. Then she took the lamp and looked into the hall r.nd the adjoining rooms. She appeared utterly void of fear — j \e: she looked like a ghost. Returning to her chamber, she placed th--* lamp on a table and stood some books around it to hood it. The brightest glow was cast only on the ceiling. In the subdued light below, with her white face and gliding, sinuous movements, <~ho looked more ghastly than before, more than ever like an apparition. She darted to one corner, drew away a rug and table, raised one edge of the carpet, and removed from the floor a small piece of board. Glancing into the cavity revealed, a concealment under the floor, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Not gone — no, they've not found them," she muttered. "I was wrong in that. Yet they — where can they have gone? And for what? I'll wait, and watch, and see. I will know the truth. That Devlin — he may have other women! His vows to me may be onh hollow mockeries, 'only God. I would kill him! I will see and hear v. hoil they return. They will not know, w ill not suspect — not if the house is dark. I will know — I will know! That dc\ il Vernol — if I could only find him! 1 will seek him one more day, only one, imd then — ha! what is it to be then?" Her desultory mutterings were in accord with her desperate aspect, her suppressed excitement, her rapid movements. She replaced "the piece of board, the fold of the carpet, the rug, and table. She removed her hat and jacket and hung them in her wardrobe. She took her revolver to the lamp and examined it carefully, with her thin gray lips curled in a smile' one would have shrunk from \ iewing. Then she put out the light and went dow n to watch from the parlour window, cowering near it in a chair in the darkness. "I'll wait, and watch, and listen." she lepeated, with the instinctive suspicions of Ikm- own evil nature stirred to their depths. She had not long to wait. Seareeh half an hour had passed when Devlin and his companions arrived in a closed carriage, which dropped them at the gate. It was driven by a von of Barney Oldfield, a worthy son of a rascally sire. As the carriage was driven away the four men came up the walk. Devlin and the lawyer in advance, with their cloaked captive walking between them. "It's alf right, Sol." Devlin muttered, mimlv surveying the gloomy windows. "The house is dark. The cat has not returned." "Evidently not," Strait growled, somewhat sullonlv. "She'll not show up before midnight, as usual." Devlin added. "She ;s so hot in pursuit of Vernol that she is dead to all else. T'll have time for a talk with my friend here before the jade returns." "Mobbo so." "By that time. Sol, I'll make sure ! have her under cover, and effectually silenced for tlm night. Xan will start out on her hunt again to-morrow, and 1 ran then, if necessary, finish my chat with this girl. If it doesn't end to m\ satisfaction, I'll make an end ot her! (Jet a move on, back there. Wo must get into the house." Chick Carter, now lugging the ha:, of money , wa> approaching in the rear iw itly Barney Oldfield. and they quic\-■rne-d their pa<e. In a moment the door of the ho'.rc had closed upon t'u 1 enine party , am! they stood in the gloomy hall. '•Lights. Bain^v. and look sharp." rriod Devlin. ""We mustn't keep a \nd\ '-( and iii., lows, in t]ic dark. Rriiu-. one ot the lamps into Hie parlour. I'll lake this ejrl in there foi t time. Linhi the Jibi-niy. Sol, and look after that bag of dough."

••\«m lift I'll loo'; altii i<-" • 'Tak-p jiood mi.- of Diilt.m also. I He's a sir.inivr lie n\ \ <>v k" ( >\\. ;^' ( 1 j [n< t<"> u0,,cl a pal to I>P nc;;!cctpu." •Tlipf, i-j^ht, to-> '" Strait uarmly assonlrd. "Oh. I'll make imscli' at home, Mi Devlin, i.ncv I not the hn of the house, 1 ' laughed Chick. "That', n-ht. p-il.' 1 Devlin cried apprmin»h. "Do so. In all means." "Don't he afraid," Chick .said, with ,-uMe significance, meaning it for Belle. '-I'm an ens.x do^ to t-ike tlnrnis as they come."' "(ioorl for \ou. Dalton! Ah, here's Bniiic\ with the lamps." Oidheld had appeared wuh an oillamp in e^rli hand. He placed one on the hall table, untie Devlin took the other, still gripping Belle Cardiff b> the arm. "You come in here with me," he said (tilth. ' Then J'll remove thpt handKercliuf, that -win ninv speak as well as hear. I'll join you -soon, palb, m the libran ." He drew Hello into the pailour while speaking, and placed the lamp on the tj'ile. There was now no si^n oi Nan L^eiaw in the room. Chick Carter followed Strait and Oldheld into th" library, noti;:i; tint he passed the entrance to a roar parlour, the two rooms, boinji divided by n broad open doorway. He glanced into the rear room and saw that it was vacant. "Now, h\ thunder! I'll count thi'money." Strait ulcofully declared, upon on ton njr <ho library. "I,l's moron I o', ci handled at oi.ee in my life." He poured the contents of the 1)3 li, on the table, and Oklfield f|iiieklv drew nearer t.i linger the packages of banknotes and <') '-tare with v.'ide eyes. "Jerusalem!" he hoarsely mutt-rod. '•I'll quit v ork after this. \ou bet." '"You'll <j,o to work break inii; rocks," thotight Chick, with <i.r''m satisfaction. Then he remarked aloud: "You'll find it all there, Mr Strait. 1 reckon. Look it over and make sure." "So I will, Dalton. By thunder, ihr, t i > a windfall, and no mistake!" "I'll stretch out on the couch heie, if you don't object," added Chick, in a careless way. "I feel a bit knocked out." '.'Sure! Make Aourself easy, perfectly comfortable," Strait heartily cried. "After what you'\o done to-night, the best in the house is none too good." "Oh, I'm not fussy," laughed Chick, stretching himself on the couch. It stood against the si do wall, and ho had quieklv noticed that he could, by lying on his side, see through the hall, the rear parlour, and into the room into which Jim Devlin had led Belle Cardiff. By listening intently, moreover, he could hear much that was said ; for the brutal boor, being entirely indifferent to whether he was overheard, did not trouble himself to close any doors. He removed the handkerchief from over his victim's mouth, then thrust her rudely into a chair near the wall. "Sit down there," said he, with a malevolent nod. "Sit down and make yourself easv — if you can!" Miss Cardiff was very pale, yet outwardly calm. There was a gleam of mingled scorn, and defiance in her matchless dark eyes. She had suffered none ab yet at the hand of those knaves, and her tine, cultured face had lost none of its superb beauty. Amid the gloom of a room directly across the hall a figure was crouching, a woman in whose eyes there gleamed and glowed the light of one ready for murder. But these eyes ucro fixed, not on the girl, but on Jim De\]in. (To be continued.)