A DEALER IN ANTIQUES

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17351, 16 May 1924, Page 10

A DEALER IN ANTIQUES

NEW SERIAL.

By

BASIL TOZER,

Author of “ The Irony of Marriage," “ Bound the World with a Millionaire,” etc. CHAPTER THE SIXTH. The people you see at supper at the Ritz belong tor tho most part to a class quite different from the folk who go to supper at a certain fashionable restaurant in the Strand. At the latter place the tables are occupied largely by people who are out expressly to spend money and to let others see how recklessly they can squander it. Generally many of the men are accompanied by ladies of the theatre, “artists” they call themselves, though a big proportion, have only their pretty faces and their sometimes prettier ! clothes to justify the claim. That is not so at the Ritz. There the supper parties are made up chiefly of men and women who from childhood have been accustomed to an atmosphere of refinement, and to the best of everything. They are not oi the new-rich set, and their aim is to enjoy themselveswithout indulging in vulgar ostentation. Many are members of the real nobility and aristicAnd as it was with the latter set that Reuben Montgomerie, aimed at ingratiating himself more and more, and had, during the weeks he had been staying at the Ritz, already m*de considerable headway, it was natural that after 6ir Ivor Carstairs and Har boro had gone, and he went into the supper room with his friends, he should receive smiles of recognition, and welcome from several of the tables. “I think that, on the whole, our day lias been successful,” he said, smiling pleasantly on his guests, as the waiter helped them to quails in aspic, and another waiter proceeded ! to fill their glasses. ! “Up to the present the fates have been very kind, so may they continue to be kind,” remarked tho pale-faced young man seated facing him. “Here’s to ourselves,” lie added, draining his glass. They drank in silence, and then Montgomerie, addressing Mrs Anstrutlier, said: —“At what time is Guy to meet us?” “At one o’clock, so we have plenty of time,” she answered. “Ho said this morning that all was going smoothly, but that we must continue to be cautious. One person he advises us to be on our guard against is young Harboro. Ronald Marboro is extraordinarily astute, Guy says, and nothing escapes his notice. Guy saw n lot of iiim during his engagement to Jessie, and lias told me that Harboro mistrusted him then even move than Sir Ivor did. in fact, at one time, Guy says, Harboro almost succeeded in making Jessie break off the engagement. Vjuy owes him one for that, of course.” “And noiv the next thing to be done is to get rid ol that dog of Pamela's,” she went on, alter a pruse, looking down at her bandaged -hand wistfully. “1 can assure you 1 was never so scared in my lile as, when the brute rushed at me! It was all so unexpected.” “How shall you get rid of it?” the pale young man asxeri. He had a thin, reedy voice, and a peculiar expression. “Oh, never mind how, Estor,” she answered, with a hard laugh. “It’s going to be got rid of, I can assure you.” The other woman had hardly spoken : since they had sat down to supper. I i She was rather striking-looking, with tho most wonderful red-auburn hair, and a dead-white face which accentuated the deep-set, psychic, grey-blue eyes that kept glancing‘furtively about the room as though they expected to see somebody she knew. She turned her attention to her friends at last, and her voice had a curious timbre. “J don’t kno.v it? you know we arc being watched, Reuben,” she said. The words were auduinl? only to the three, and they continued their supper as though she had not spoken. ■None of them looked in the least per turbed. As they went on talking, however, she cast a sw-ft glance towards a table hallway across the room, where two middle-aged, clean-shaven men sat at supper. Montgomerie’s glance followed hers. Then he looked away again. “So that’s it, is it?” he murmured. “Our friends from Buenos Aires—what ?” The woman inclined her hea<l. “Oh. we needn’t worry.” Mrs Anstruther remarked, tasting her peclie Melba, “they have no imagination.” “But they have information,” Montgomerie answered sharply. “Still. I don’t think they will dare to act while popular Reuben Montgomerie remains in the high society lio mixes with now. ’ and he laughed. “Money opens all doors, and shuts all mouths, in Loudon, if you have enough of it or people think you have! And how some of the high rank folk kow-tow to me! Take that ass Carstairs, as an example Why, has he asked me to dine with him, do you suppose? Only because lie hopes that by fawning sufficiently lie will induce me to invest money for him that will firing a big retum. And there’s Pamela/' he laughed again. “ He’d like to marry her. of course—yes, m spite of his daughter Jessie’s marriage to Guy Tell me.” he addressed Mrs Anstruthers, “is Pamela Carstairs as lovely as people say she is?” “You might think her lovely. 1 don’t. But I am not an impartial critic. In my opinion Jessie is a good deal better looking. Guy was a fool to marry her. all the same.” For a while they sat smoking eigarthe woman with the red-auburn hair glancing about the room, one eye all | the time on the two clean-shaven. , middle-aged men who, having finished j their supper, were now smoking cigars. | Presently they paid their bill, rose, | and went out of the room apparently j unaware of the presence of Montgomerie anil his friends. “Better bo going hadn’t we, j Estor? ” Mrs Anstruther said some moments later to the young man seated 1 beside her. “ Yes, it is time. I’ll ring up and | sa r that " e -M'o starting.”