CHAPTER XXIII. Continued.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 14016, 22 September 1909, Page 1

CHAPTER XXIII. Continued.

Author of "The Ocean King Mystery," "The Sentence of the Court." "The Kis-s <>f the Eiii'iny," 'Link by Link," Etc., eU:. [COPYRIGHT.]

<)m h.i(U«anl -lanci' tlnmi-li th .ilici tun (it tii< (linn w.t\ .Mn i hi ih.iL the otht r man li.kl -pi ting t.i hi- ■ ,t, .ni.l that he uas iii-imu H> lli«; (l< 111 Wllll lllllH'tUOU- stlldf- tll.it WOlll'i <i\«lt.iU« hei bet.ue -h<- liiid goiK' nil • tops. To the ent'iUH-e ol ill' \aiil, where al<uie at thai tune oJ nigh' ,i doubttul seeunt> would await lit r, it nai a ,"<><xl hnii(li< 1 \arils. With the calm bred of desp.'ir she < hecked hei 1 i,.. :il walked .straight into th" room', narrowly mibMiig the onrush oi her wtntld-be nitorc-eptoi. .She affected to draw back in suipriw at the sight of the masks, looking ft»in the man in the chair at the table to the man who had nearly knocked hei down. . "I thought I heard tho voice of a friend of mine—of Lord \Vargra\e. she said, shrinkingly, though eyei\ pulse of her heart gave her increased strength to parry things with a high hand. If thehe murderous rufhanfeaied bluff they hhould June .t -ihe right sort that is bred in the Land <S the Brave and the Home of the l'if<;. "Why." she wont on, pointing at tli<-M-ated figure, "so I w .i.s noi ni'staken. I should kimw those eye-, aii\«h»ic A tia'iie of era}ie mts them oft uonderiilllv. Hut, to be seilous. wlrit does tliis niasquerade me.vi. when al! it. said and done, Lord VN'argra've.-'" She wondered it tie was going to «!<■- nv his identity; but no. With a ripple <,f pleasant laughter and a graceful flourish of his well-sh.Mx'd hand he reii'oved his. mask and. rising, came forward to meet her. She realised that he was tr\ ing to lude a devouring curiosity as to how long .she had been in the coriidor, how much she had overheard. "You are not more suipris>ed to see. me here, dear Miss Bourchier, than I am to !>ce you," he said. "I presume, though, that wo aro really here <m the same business—the ffiatter upon which, unijer my advice, you wrote to Owen Lipsconibo-"' Marian, thinking desperately, saw that it was to bo a deal of wits, with her lover's life as the price of victory, At this stage it did not occur to ber that her own might be in danger. Her right policy seemed to be to preserve [ a friendly attitude, pretending that she ! had heard nothing of the murderous j conspiracy, and then thwart the latter j by tne mere fact of her presence. Whatever complex conditions might be crcat- ' ed by Owen's arrival in igndrance that she was at the yard, she coulu not believe that violence would take placo before her very eyes. Wargrave was not the man to barn his boats and, before a, witness, commit a crime which would not only daah his hopes as » suitor for her hand but drive him forth a hunted fugitive. His manner suggested eliat he had not yet abandoned thciso opes, and the cunning by which ho meant to retain her regard, and yet <Hirry out his murder scheme against Owen was what ah© had to guard against. ' ' So she made the apparently frank admission: "Yes, I have been curious as to the result of the pilgrimage taken by Mr. Lipscombe under circumstances for which I was partly responsible, and I ran down to-day Jo satisfy himself. I am putting up at the Railway Hotel. and as it was not far I strolled round to see if by any chance be was here. I am an American, you know, Lord Wargrave, and therefore prone- to do things that may seem unconventional in this country" He bowed in acceptance «rf the explanation, and placing a charr for her with -easy grace, resumed his own. At the same time her eyes which watched " his every movement with uriceasine; vigilance detected a scarcely perceptible sign pass from him to hi,s masked confederate. The latter, who still wore bis mask, glided ant into the corridor, but almost immediately returned. "And why indeed should you not be unconventional" said Wnrgrave. after receiving the slightest of nods from the other man. "I and my friend must plead' guilty to being a little off tho beaten track ourselves in invading Mr. Lipscombe's private room at midnight, but no other course was open to us. His interests absolutely demanded it. We are expecting him here before long—to confer with us upon the matter which has enlisted your sympathy, Miss Bourchier, as well as my own." "Hence the masks?" said Marian, lightly, but straining her ears to catch the first sound of footsteps in the corridor. "Hence the masks," repeated Warcrave in graver tone. "They were not designed to deceive Mr. Lipscombe himself—far from It. But we have to deal with a very tricky customer who might slip through our fingers if we did not take due precautions." "1 see," Marian replied, aoting superbly, as she. treated the smoothspoken lies a* gospel truth *'I expect I know who tho tricky customer fs — that ancient mummy, "Wilmer Kite!" Wargravo smiled significantly, but avoided a direct answer. "Af present we are on the best of terms with Mr. Kite," he said, adding after a brief pause and with an air of ■ great candour: "I do not see why I should not fully confide in you, as you are such a staunch friend to Mr. Lipscombe. That gentleman arrived at the anchorage this afternoon in my yacht, and Kite has gone with a message to him, asking him to come here at once.'" Marian was taken off her guard, just as her wily antagonist intended. Blazing with indignation at this persistence in the malicious calumny which Bintry had'exploded, she rose to her feet, majestic in the vehemence of her wrath. Womanlike, she was now more deeply stirred by the slanderous assertion than by the cold-blooded assassin a- " tion whick she believed her presence to have rendered impossible. ' "Isn't it about time that there should be an end of that lie—of that treacherous attempt to besmirch Mr. Lipscombe," she cried. "Whether or no you came round from London in the yacht I cannot say, but tins I do know —that Mr. Lipscombe did not come by sea at all. He left Liverpool Street for Grandport yesterday morning by train, and must have reached the Hall last night." She knew that she had struck home by the 6pasm that crossed his handsome features, but he gave no other sign that in those few angry word* she had crushed a great ambition which had her fortune as its reward. In fact, his gentle answer, accompanied by a still gentler sigh, tended to show that he meant to "save his face," even if he liad not got hop^s of restoring himself to her favour. "There must be some mistake —some grievous misconception on .•your part," he said, in a pained tone that did not deceive her in the least. "I lent my yacht to Mr. Lipscombc for the pur-1 pose, as he told me, of coming to Grandport, in consequence, as I naturally supposed, of the advice you and I had jointly given him. He w-as to iioard her at Ora^epend last night, and >-he anchored inside the bar this evening " "Pray spare yourself nil that," Marian stopped him scornfully. "Mr. Carwardine camo to me, as you expected he would, but fortunately he fell in with a gentleman at Oravesoiid nil.) is working in Mr. Lipseombe's inteicsts. The fairy story you would have had She stopped abruptly, for the masked man. who had stood silent during the wordy warfare, suddenh moved to the table, and, landing down, whispered in Wargravc'h ear. (To lx> continued.)