The Rat Trap.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18630, 6 December 1928, Page 5

The Rat Trap.

STAR ” NEW SERIAL.

By

WILLIAM LE QUEUX

Author of “The House of Evil,” “The Scarlet Sign,” “ The Black Ore,” etc.

CAPTER I. (Continued.) Mr Quentin by no mean? gave the impression of being a gushing person, but it was evident he appreciated his beautiful young wife. Mr Martyn stood by, and did not attempt to join in his friend’s compliments. His face wore an expression of indifference. Aylmer stole a quick glance at the silent man, who did not mask his indifference under even a genial smile. He was not a bad-looking fellow. Ilis stature, a good deal under the middle height, militated somewhat against his appearance, btift he was good-looking, with clean-shaven, clear-cut features. In spite of these redeeming points, Aylmer did not take to him. His eyes were shifty, and he had a knack of averting his gaze from the one seeking his that produced a rather uncomfortable impression.

Young Peyton had thought that be was a bit of a bounder. Was the boy right? He had an uncanny knack of getting at the bottom of people on a very cursory acquaintance, in spite of his youth and want of experience. With his natural modesty, he used to allude to it as his one and only “ gift.” There was a slight pause after this. Aylmer, who in some ways was quite as modest as his young friend, felt a little embarrassed by Quentin’s suave compliments. Mrs Quentin, who did not appear to suffer from embarrassment, broke the silence.

“ Mr Aylmer dances divinely—about that there can be no question,” she said emphatically. “ I do hope, for purely selfish reasons, he is going to stay here as long as we do. I shall never find another partner like him.” And then Mr Martyn broke his rather marked silence. “You live only for pleasure, Eileen. I wonder if it will be always so?” He had the grace to accompany these peculiar words with a smile, but it was certainly not a genial one. Anybody could perceive that they were - meant in a depreciatory sense, as a reproach. A deep flush rose to Mrs Quentin’s beautiful face, and she seemed on the point of making an angry retort. But befqre she could frame it, her husband’s smooth tones broke in.

“ My dear Martyn, you must remember that Eileen is very young, little more than a girl. It is natural she should love gaiety ad pleasure at her age. It will be e ng time yet before she need adopt more serious views of life. Personally, I should be content that she never adopted them. Rather let-her teach us to be young, than we constrain her to be old.”

Aylmer took rather a fancy to the man for saying what he did. However intimate Martyn might be with the husband, it was a gross presuming on their friendship to address such remarks to the wife. Quentin had administered a justifiable, but very dignified reproof. At that moment Claude Peyton danced past them, with a very charming young girl with shingled hair. They were smiling and chatting merrily to each other like a couple of children; they evidently did not take their dancing too seriously. Mrs Quentin turned away from the undiplomatic and rebuffed Martyn, and watched them with rather a tender look on her fair young face.

“ Now, are not those two perfectly matched?” she said to Aylmer when the couple had swum beyond her gaze. “ She is a dear little thing, quite a child —I doubt if she has seen seventeen; but she is as wise as he with his twenty-two years, just a little bit more sentimental perhaps. Men don’t become really sentimental till they have turned thirty.” She added with a rather mischievous smile: “ And she dances as badly as he does. Neither can complain on that score.” Aylmer thought over one of her remarks. They had drawn a little away from Quentin and his friend, and he said to her in a low voice : “ Is it your real opinion that a man does not develop proper sentiment till he has turned thirty?” She nodded her pretty shingled head, and spoke in as low a voice as his own. “ I am sure of it.” His next question was delivered in a whisper. “What age is Mr Martyn?” She had a sense of humour, and grasped the drift of the query. She whispered back: “ Come a little farther away; he can hear through a brick wall. According to reliable evidence, he is thirty-five, and therefore ought to be overflowing with romance. As a matter of fact, he hasn’t an ounce of sentiment in his nature. He is hard, dour and joyless.” “ I thought he was decidedly rude to you,” Aylmer ventured to remark. She shrugged her shoulders, and her usually charming mouth took on a disdainful expression as she answered in the same low tone; “ When we happen to be alone, he is often much ruder than that. I don’t know whether he likes me or not. He worships my husband like a dog, and he may think I have come between them. And yet, in his own way, he appears quite fond of me. He would do anything I asked him. But he would like me to lead the life he thinks proper for a young married women. Fie looks upon me as light and frivolous.” “ I thought Mr Quentin dealt very well with him.”

“ Oh, yes; Richard knows how to set him down when he goes too far. lie is a kind old thing. I don’t suppose I am all that he would like me to be, but he will always take up the cudgels on my behalf.”

When he thought over the happenings of that evening, Frank Aylmer found much food for reflection. Eileen Quentin was a dangerously fascinating girl; he could not quite think of her as a woman in spite of her married state. She had told him in an indirect way that she was not attracted by very young men. Was she really in love with this rather serious husband of hers, who he guessed to be nearer twenty than fifteen years older than his young wife? Or had it been only a marriage of convenience, and was she pretending in order to save her face?

And where did the unsmiling Martyn come in this apparently inseparable trio? What were his real sentiments towards his friend’s wife ? lie had been guilty of rudeness to her in Aylmer’s presence, and, according to her account, he was often rude to her. If Quentin was in love with his wife, why did he not get rid of this churlish person ?

But then did Martyn really dislike her? Peyton was by no means clever or profound, but he was sharp in some things. Fie observed a good deal that escaped Aylmer, in spite of the latter’s experience and deeper knowledge of the world. He said that Martyn showed her as much, if not more, attention than her own husband. Clearly, then.

he had seen something that Aylmer had missed. Was the man’s rudeness and fault-finding a sort of revenge for his baffled hopes, for his chagrin in knowing that she belonged to another? It was a puzzle! Aylmer was terribly 1 fascinated with this beautiful young married woman; he was half in love with her after the briefest of acquaintance, Was it wise to stay and lose his heart irretrievably to her? He was an upright and honourable young man. Would it spell disaster to both if he remained? lie was singularly free from vanity, but he could not help seeing that Eileen—he already called her that to himself—had taken a great interest in him. She seemed to hold Martyn in contempt; Peyton she regarded as a callow youth; but he was sure her feeling for him was altogether different. If he stayed, would he not be playing with fire ? CHAPTER TWO. When Aylmer came down to breakfast the next morning later than his usual custom, he found that his friend Peyton had already breakfasted and gone out, leaving word with the waiter that he would be back in about an hour. The table where the trio had sat at dinner the previously night was occupied only by Quentin, whovbeckoned to Aylmer to join him. “ Eileen danced too much last night. She is not very strong, and has to pay the penalty by having her breakfast in bed,” Quentin explained. “ My friend Martyn is always an early bird—-

■ comes down before us and gets out for ; the morning air as soon as he can. I see you are alone; Mr Peyton left when I came in a few minutes ago. We might as well join forces, if it is agreeable to you.” ' Aylmer, who had taken rather a i liking to _ the man for his dignified defence of Eileen against Martyn’s-sneer-ing attack the previous evening, declared he would be delighted, and took . his seat at Quentin’s table. He said . something suitable about Mrs Quentin’s fatigue, and expressed the hope that she was not seriously indisposed. ; The grave-faced man, whose hair was thinning rapidly at the top, smiled reassuringly. “ Oh, dear, no, nothing of that sort —just a little bit overdoing it the last two nights. One could not call her exactly robust, but as a rule she has excellent health. The only thing wrong with her is her heart. That is a trifle weak and pays her out if she Over-exerts herself. She#will just have to take things quietly for a day or two, and she’ll be nil right again.” Quentin was a very slow eater, and Aylmer, out of courtesy, accommodated his pace to his. In consequence they sat a long time at the breakfast table, and during this period the elder man never allowed the conversation to flag. When he recalled that conversation, Aylmer came to the conclusion his new acquaintance had a strong streak of curiosity in his composition. For during the time he had adroitly succeeded in inducing the young man to tell him a good deal about himself and young Peyton, and, in return for these disclosures, had revealed some portion of his own history, and a little of Martyn’s.

He had begun with a very direct question. “ Very nice chap, that young friend of yours. Looks to me as if he had got the public-school stamp about him.” Aylmer explained that his surmise was correct. Peyton had been at Rugby, and from there had gone straight into his father’s office. A year ago he had been given a junior partnership, and was now quite proud of the fact that he was a full-fledged stockbroker. Mr Quentin pursued his inquiries. “I know his firm very.well by repute, although I have not had the pleasure of knowing any of the partners personally. A fine business, I understand, and an old-established one. I should say you hailed from a public-school, too.” • Aylmer, who was a little amused at the man’s determination to ferret out everything, modestly stated his credentials—Harrow and Magdalen, Oxford. Mr Quentin nodded his head approvingly on receipt of this information. “ I was right, then. I have rather a knack of classifying my fellow-crea-tures. And have you got a snug business, like your friend, or are you a gentleman at large?” “ Very much at large,” laughed Aylmer. “ Circumstances have made it unnecessary for me to work, and I am afraid at heart I am an idle fellow. I love this roaming about from one place to another, following just the whim of the moment.” The elder man's tones were thoughtful when he spoke again. (To be Continued.)