“THE HONOUR OF HIS HOUSE.”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16543, 29 September 1921, Page 5

“THE HONOUR OF HIS HOUSE.”

OUR SERIAL.

By

FRED. M. WHITE.

CHAPTER XXXlll.— Continued. “ Oh, you needn’t laugh at me. You know what I mean- I expect Philip takes after his mother. She was a lady, you know. Her people went out to Australia nearly a century ago, and they belonged to tho north country Bradleys. People wondered why my wife ever came to marry me.” ‘‘ Women do quaint things,” Lady Shorland smiled. “It is one of their charms in men’s eyes.” “ Well, at any rate, Philip’s ail right. Wherever he goes he is popular. And I don’t think it is for the sake of his money eithei;. Look how thick lie is with the people an Borne Abbey. Why, he more or less lives there. And they have known from the first that I used to be a boy in the kitchen. One of my ambitions was to marry Philip to Lady Edna. I was going to force her into it more or less. And then I was going to tell them who I was—but that’s all knocked out now.” “ Very strange,” Lady Shorland said thoughtfully, “ liow an awfully clever man in one thing can be a perfect fool in another. Now, that little scheme of yours would never have answeredIf you had ruined the whole* family it would have been just the same. Lady Edna would not have married Philip even if she had been dying of love for him. Still, as you so tersely put it, all that is knocked on the head now. And th© strange part- is that you knocked it out yourself.” “ I don’t see that,” Saltburn exclaimed. “ Oh, yes, you have. You would have ruined everything by that selfishness of yours. Now Philip and l)cidy Edna are very much in love with one another, and the whole thing was going beautifully when you blundered into it in the way you aggressive men have. It would have all come right in the end. ‘ You don’t expect a pauper, as your boy will be if he hands everything over to you. to ask Edna Cranwallis to share his lot with him, do you? You can't imagine Lady Echia out in what you call the ‘ back blocks,’ scouring her saucepans and cooking her own breakfast, can you?” “ I begin to see that I have made a fool of myself,” Saltburn muttered.

“ True. Mv good man, what’s going to become of all this money of Philip’s when he insists upon giving it to you?”

“ He’ll have it all back, and more, in ten years’ time,” the capitalist -cried. “ All, I’ve not come to grief altogether.” ‘‘ There is no reason why you should come to grief altogether. There are scores of great financiers in the world who would be only too glad to have you as partner. Naturally, you wouldn't go in on your own terms now. You would have to take a second place, though the world wouldn't know it, of course. You would be a kind of glorified servant, with your name over the shop door, so to speak, but you wcuid be a servant all the same.” “ Show me the chance,” Saltbrn-n said doggedly. “On the other hand, you could get rid of all your worries without losing your reputation, and you would have more money than any one man would be able to do with- And again, you wouldn’t be in a junior position for long, you are too strong and masterful and unscrupulous for that."’ __ c ‘ That’s pretty plain speaking,” Saltburn said. ‘ I brought you here for plain speaking. Do you know that I am a very clever woman, Mr Saltburn? If I hadn’t been clever 1 shouldn’t have married Shorland. Oh, I knew what I wanted*, arid that, of course, was a matter of time. And I shall make something of Shorland yet. And lam very anxious to Philip in the family. He would be exceedingly useful to me later on. But it is obvious that Philip can’t come into the family if you persist in taking his money.” “ I see that,” Saltburn said grudgingly 4’ Very well, then. In that case, it *s your duty to do as I tell you. Why don’t you go to one of the big Americans and get him to come in with yon? Several of them would be only too*glad to have the chance. And you can make your l wri terms pretty well. I know half a dozen men who would give an ear to have a partner like yourself on this side of the Atlantic. There’s van Ritter, for instance. I’m perfectly certa-n he’d jump at the chance.” But I don’t- know him,” Saltburn said.

B©]], 1 d O . And hoeis in London ;:t the present moment- And lie is a *:ond nan, he is rich simply because lie can't help himself. But that doesn’t prevent him from having a desire to be richer still. He has a scheme for controlling the markets here and in New i ork, and he was only telling me last night that he could do if he had « partner after his own heart. And to be perfectly candid with you, Mr Saltburn, I mentioned your name. Of course, T didn't tell van Ritter that I knew cf your position, because that would be giving the game away. I treated the whole tiling ouite as a matter of business, and I get a commission * b r mg off a deal with you. Now, Mr Saltburn, you are never going to be hard-liearted enough to prevent a. poor creature like myself from earning an honest penny P Besides, Shorland and myself are dreadfully hard up, and J have a lot of heavy bills to meet. Still if you don’t like th© idea I can try somebody else.” But Saltburn did not appear to be listening. He rose from the seat where he had been sitting and began to pace up and down excitedly between the flower beds. His quick commercial mind grasped the possibilities of this opening at once. By the time he had taken half a. dozen turns he saw his way clearly. “ I’ll do it.” he said. “I could double van Ritter’s money in a few years. And I suppose you’ve got po thing definite? ’’ Lady Shorland smiled innocently. Oh, yes, I have,” she said. “I told van Ritter for his own protection he ought to put it in writing, because, you see, people make such funny mistakes and then afterwards they go about and say that they’ve been robbed and all sorts of stupid things. So vou see we drew up an agreement, and when 1 left London, he actually complimented me on it. Now, don’t you think it was very clever of on ignorant little woman like myself to get all that down right? ” Oh, 'you’re very ignorant,” Saltburn said grimly. £< Still, I owe you something for this, and you shall get your commission. You bring van Ritter and myself together. And so far as I am concerned Philip is quite free. I shan’t want his money now. And a 3 to you, well, you ought to have been a man. And J can’t pay you a higher compliment than that.” (To be continued 1