IZBA’S BID FOR FORTUNE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 144083, 30 April 1913, Page 5

IZBA’S BID FOR FORTUNE.

By MRS. HKRRIOT GORDON,

Author of “My Last Chance ” ‘Taring a Debt/’ “Stephen Delemore’s Crime,” etc. CHAPTER S. IZBA HAS A HARROW ESCAPE. Izba had been in difficulties before non/ but so accustomed had she become to success that the thought of her deception being discovered rarely or over entered her mind. And now with the suddenness of a thunderbolt it had burst upon her. She still stood behind the curtain, and with strained eyes and bloodless lips watched Lady Dunsmore and her visitor. '' • i She overheard the words, Izba Sutlit erlaml and ills. Dunsmore. A sickening feeling tool: possession of her heart; for.the thought hashed across her mind that her secret was discovered. She saw Ralph Derrick, the, man who had ruined her, and destroyed Die first start she had. made in life, smiling pleasantly to Lady Dunsmore, Her Mood boiled with rage and hatred of this'man, and she longed to rush in and denounce bin-. Had he come there to take her wealth, to hurl her back a second time to a life of poverty; and Izba ground her teeth, and clenched her hands at the thought.

Shu turned away from the doorway, and stood up in the centre of the room, not a vestige of colour in her features, but pale as the whitest marble. ■ Met eyes were glittering, and her pulses throbbing with a mixture of linger and terror.

She was not a woman . who would give up the name she had assumed and the position she held without a .struggle; and if it should come to that, Ualph octrick would find in her no mean opponent. ' She glanced again toward the opening. and the sound of his voice once more l eached her ears. The expression on her features became hard and bitter, and the light.'which shone from her eyes was as cold, pitiless, and cruel' as it. was on tli'Anight when she stood on the cliff at Barrnouth ready to cast her own child into the sea.

Again she approached the opening and peered into the drawing-room. To her surprise Lady Ounsmore was calmly seated, with her hands idly, clasped, and Kalidi Derrick was gone. Izba heaved a great sigh of relief, and tried to smile at her fears, but her. smile was like the last gleam of the winter sun falling on a bleak and dreary landscape. She know that she was treading on delicate ground, that beneath her foot lay."a volcano which might burst at any moment: also that her greatest clanger lav in the direction of Kalpb f).'ir : '-k.

And izba registered a vow in *.er mind that she would hold her position to the last, no matter what the consequences were, and if need ho defy this man. , .

That morning Izba paid a long visit to Air; Somers the.’inquiry ‘agent. Sim had seen him frequently during' the 'last' few months, and to-day she returned to her home apparently well satisfied with the result of her visit. ,

In the afternoon site found . herself alone with Lady Unnsmore, who intro; duoed the subject of her visitor of the morning. ‘‘l had a visit from Air. Derrick, the lawyer,” said Lady Dunsmqre. ■ “Yon know I gave him a large suin' of money to invest for me, and ho has been very fortunate in finding an excellent investment.” '

"I am dad ,to hear it. aunt.” remarked Izba, waiting for Lady Dunsmore to proceed further.

“He' was making some inquiries about the girt Izba Sutherland who was killed in that awful collision,” said Lady Dunsmove. “Knowing;, my dear Bertha, how much any reference to that subject agitates you, I did not consider it necessary to ask to see him.” For this forbearance Izba felt truly thankful, and she answered—

"Very thoughtful of you, aunt,” and Lady Dunsmoro went on—‘'Some distant relation wants to be assured of the poor girl’s death, of course, there can be no doubt.” ■ ‘‘None whatever,” returned Izba promptly. l T am so pleased that he has found so safe and profitable an investment for my money,” continued Lady Dunsmore. ‘‘Not that the income matters much to mo, but then money may as well be profitably invested as not.” “Certainly, aunt,” returned Izba, with a hard smile. Inwardly sho did not fhcl so.sure of the safety of the investment as did Lady Dunsmoro. A few days after the above incident Izba moved into a mansion which she had rented in Park Lane. There had been several scones between the two ladies previous to the departure of Izba, but she stuck to her point and refused to yield to the advice of Lady Dunsmore. She considered her aunt's ideas to be too rigidly proper, and Izba determined that her own ideas should for the future guide her actions. The house she had rented was largo and luxuriously furnished,' and here she entertained freely and her parties soon became the talk of society. Mistress of her own actions Izba lost no time in communicating with Mr. Fred Barton, the heir-at-law to the Dunsmore estates.

CHAPTER XI. THE FORGED DILL. On his return to town, Barton discovered that his father’s affairs were likely to give him a considerable amount of trouble. Mrs., Carfrae had handed over his father’s desk and papers to him with many a cough and sigh, whide he generously allowed her to retain the portrait of the late Captain Barton, which she appeared to value. . Amongst his father's papers were many which, had it been possible, he would have left unread, but. as matters were he went through them carefully. He found that Ralph Derrick arid his father had had many transactions, mostly all relating to horse-racing. Amongst them also were many letters and documents from the man named Galt, who, it appeared, had been his partner in the betting business. This Galt had lately written to'Barton on more than pne occasion. He insisted that he held a bill for £IOO signed by him, Fred. D, Barton, and which he had received from Captain Barton in payment of a debt. The bill had never been retired, and that if ho, Fred. Barton, failed to pay. within a few days, ho (Galt) would tako action. Barton remembered that on one occasion, when ho had ono of His few interviews with his father, yielding to his entreaties he did sign a bill for £IOO, but tho old gentleman had written him to the effect that it had been retired. It was with a sickly feeling

at his heart that Barton examined the papers, which showed him clearly the sordid, almost criminal, life his father iiad led. Derrick appeared to have been the most unscrupulous of his associates and this young man called Galt equally so. Captain Barton had borrowed from time to time a good deal of money from Derrick, giving as security his expectations of succeeding to the Dunsmoro estates. Ho also learned that the. necessary papbrs to prove his father’s clniip were in the possession of Derrick. Ho was about to put the papers away when a small packet, neatly fastened together, attracted his attention. On examination ho found it contained the identical bill which ho had signed at the entreaties of liis father. The bill for a hundred pounds which Galt hold was clearly a forgery, for he had only signed the one paper. Surely his father could not have committed this forgery, and yet something in his heart told him that such wan possible, A further search, and, strange to say, ho discovered' a duplicate of,the bill where his signature had not been' so carefully copied. Ho compared the signature with the handwriting of Galt and saw that without any doubt he was .tho forger, and that his father had not committed the crime lie felt thankful. This direm-eery, along .villi the others which he made, determined him to try conclusions with Galt. He communicated the facts to Gerald, who was for strong measures, and advised Ipm to nt once put the matter in tho hands of the police. Barton, for the sake of his father's memory, was unwilling to do this, and ho rcsolvgd in the first place to give Galt a chance of handing over tin? bill. (To be continued.)