A PLUNGE INTO THE UNKNOWN.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16607, 3 December 1919, Page 10

A PLUNGE INTO THE UNKNOWN.

FASCINATING STORY OF POPULAR INTEREST

BY CHARLES D. LESLIE.

Author of “A Wiki Wager,” “LovcP for Herself,” “The Errington Pearls Mystery,” “The Power of the Purse, etc., etc. CHAPTER XXI. IN GLADSTONE PARK. Eva was fairly caught. The calamity she had chiefly .feared while masquerading as Lady Doulton had noy. befallen her, and &ho was confronted by that lady’s husband. This time there was neither friend nor taxi to afd her flight. Escape was impossible. She nacl nothing to say, nothing to urge against this mans jus..wrath. Put Lord Doulton _ was _suenr too. the silence of stupefaction. Standing face to face with Eva Wantage, in the bright light of a summer s day, her amazing likeness to his wire hole him dumb. But tor her first blank look of astonishment before _s'jo recognised him, and the knouieugo Evr Wantage existed, ho would have taken the youug woman before him for the young woman who had been wife to him a year or more, it was a likenesf of face, figure, pose—of everything that goes to the making of a human being. He stood and stared, but there war neither wrath nor offence in his face, and Eva, though feeling terribly guilty .—had she non two days before masqueraded as his wife at a big social gathering?—saw lie did not appear to be angry with her. And his first words confirmed it. , “Well, I’m dashed,” the hus banc, said slowly, “T was told the likeness was amazin’, but how amazin’ 1 never credited till now. How' in the nanu of fortune d’you come to be so much like my wife?” “I don’t know,” confessed Eva, *i never heard of Lady Doultou till the day before yesterday when Mrs. Tourmaline ” “Yes, I know all about that. It a finished and done with. Pro forgiven Berlvu and you, but 1 shall have something to say to Mrs. Tourmaline nexl time I meet her, and I guess Ladt Doulton will, too, when she condescend; to reappear. But, look here, you v( been playing cup and hall with the affections of Arnold Bcrlyn. n Eva took refuge behind a rampart o‘. silence. “I’m in his confidence, y know. WoVe sworn pals since i learned he wasn’t running away w.th my wife tho night before last. lie goes tc see you. asks ycu to marry him, and comes away carry in’ out of your flat the necklace you swore you'd uove! scon or heard of. And then ho {toco and asks for an explanation, and yoi refuse it.” “That’s finished and done with, Lorn Doulton. The necklace is back in Airs. Dickson-Dickson’s possession, and Mr. Bcrlyn has told me he means to hnvi nothin" more to do with mo. And i accept his decision.” “It’s not finished and done with, ho told her. “Me are suin’ to tall it over. Sit down,” and he dragged his chair round the tree trunk. Unwillingly Eva obeyed. Her tears had -dried on her hot checks, but he heart was thumping painfully. Slu didn’t want to talk things over. Sh< wanted to ho alone. She felt wrotl with Fate tor thus treating her, she had come to this secluded spot to mourn over the tragedy o! her wrecker life, and had been caught bv the las man —save Arnold Bcrlyn—she desiroi to meet. But there was no getting away. A strange and sudden change, a metamorphosis in fact, had taken place h the mind of Francis Doulton regarding the necklace mystery. One look _ a - , tin's girl so amazingly like is is wife, and he was surveying the problem otthe assumption Eva Wantage was perfectly innocent.

“Soo here, Miss Wantage, Bcrlyn sot detectives yesterday on the missing necklace, as lie promised Airs. Dick-am-Dicksou, and one of ’em came to him only an hour ago, when 1 was sittirp with him and iryin’ to cheer him up, and said ho was on the track of the thieves. That Niold stole the, necklace, and that she had a male accomplice named Ransom, and they’d be off to Holland, and the ports must bo watched. And that made Bcrlyn so mad he wouldn’t listen and sent the fellow packing, but dash it all, 1 believe ho was speaking the truth, only of course his knowledge wasn’t up to date. That is how it was, isn’t it.?” “I am sorry—l can toll you noth-

ing.” “Who’s the man,” pursued Lord Doulton unruffled, “who called on you at the fiat before Bcrlyn came and left his coat and tho necklace in it in vonr hail?” “I shall not tell you.”

“Then I’ll toll you. His name is Ransom, and if you won’t tell mo about him, what he is to yon, I 'll find out. It’ll he (pule easy, lie's known to the police. I’ll set detectives ierreting into ids past, and th-',v’!l find what connection ho has to you ”

“Oh,” she cried, “you will have it then. He’s my father.” Lord Doulton smote his knee. “I half guessed as much ” he declared. “Well, Miss Wantage, wc aren’t allowed to choose our fathers, and it’s not the present fashion to judge children harshly for having had parents. EvaV, as straight as a die, and you're as like Eva as two peas in a pod. I don't believe you’re 'crooked. I don’t believe you’d anything to do with the theft of the necklace. I don’t believe you knew it was in you fiat. I believe you had the surprise of your life when you learned Ransom was concerned in the affair and had lost the necklace in your fiat.”

Eva’s silent obstinacy melted before this speech, and she gave him a look misty with gratitude. “It's quite true,” she confessed, "every word you .said was true . But who’d believe it?” “I believe u merely by lookin’ at sou. And I’m a reasonable nun. And so’s Arnold Bcrlyn. And he only wants half an excuse to believe it. But you didn’t give it him. I want to do him a good turn. I want to bring him and you together again.” But Eva shook her head sadly. “That can never bo,” she said.

Arnold Bcrlyn was not permitted to eujov the luxury of solitude. He had sternly told Pool he was not at home, and by the simple expedient of imlionking the telephone receiver had literally cut himself off from that sometimes inconvenient convenience. But. about four o'clock, just when Lord Doulton had surprised and captured Eva, two ladies, fashionably attired and ’evidently pei-sons of social importance, confronted and intimidated Peel. They simply must see Mr. Boriyn, they said.

AVith reluctance he admit led them. A harassed man was Peel that day. Throe years he bad served bis present master, and fondlv imagined that he knew him and bis ways thoroughly. But. over since the evening before, when, for no reason. Air. Berlvn damned his offer of samlwiebes. bis mood had been of a nature unknown _(o hi; servitor: something had evidently happened. Peel wished he could guess what. And the ladies would not he denied, so he bowed to superior moral foree, conducted them I,'to the draw-ing-room and took his mnsFor their cards. (Continued daily.!