The Rat Trap.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18641, 19 December 1928, Page 4

The Rat Trap.

" STAR ” NEW SERIAL.

By WILLIAM LE QUEUX Author of “ The House of Evil, The Scarlet Sign,” “ The Black Ore, etc.

CHAPTER SIX. (Continued.) The barrister returned to town, as he had a busy day in the Courts before him. Aylmer had been asked to stop the night’ and the two young men went into the smoking-room for a final chat and a drink. “ I'm afraid you’ve found it a bit heavy, old man,” remarked Claude to his friend. He had the greatest respect for his parents, but. in common with his sister, he was fully aware of their limitations. “ The dear old boy is not cut out for general society, he isn't giddv Where he shines Is when he has a snug little dinnerpartv of his business friends and can talk shop to his heart's content. -Now, let us have a good pow-wow. We can stop here as long as we like, for the best thing about him is that he allows his familv to do practically what they like, no stupid restrictions or anything of that sort.” Aylmer politely, if not quite truthfully, disclaimed any impression _of “heaviness.” He said some very kind things about the old people, and expressed his pleasure at having met the future son-in-law, whom he considered a most excellent and cultivated fellow. He thought it time to break to Peyton the news that Quentin had given him an invitation to Hampstead. He was not absolutely certain how Claude would take it, but he was pretty sure there was no paltry jealousy in his composition.

“I rather wonder he didn't ask you,” he said a little lamely in conclusion. ‘‘But I expect you're a bit too young for him to be quite at his ease with you. I am just the right medium, I suppose.”

When Peyton spoke there was certainly no evidence of pique at the fact that his friend had been preferred to himself. ‘‘l'm not at all certain I should have gone if T had been asked, he said quietly. “Mrs Quentin gave me to understand at the beginning of our acqauintance that she did not care for very young men, and it may be bad taste on my but I never had the slightest inclination to try to arouse her interest. Very charming and all that, but she always struck me as too much of an unknown quantity. With regard to the husband, agreeable and plausible as he is, there was something about the man—l can’t in the ieast define what it was —that failed to attract me. I never had any wish to cultivate a deeper acquaintance. And, of course, you will go ? I need not ask that question.” He looked very searchingly at his friend as he put the quer\-, hnd Aylmer could not prevent a faint accession of colour. “Oh, yes, I shall go,” he answered, assuming as careless a tone as he could with that keen gaze upon him. “There is something about the couple that piques my curiosity; I should like to have a peep at their home-life. When you meet people amongst crowds, there is always something a trifle artificial about them.” The 3*ounger man lowered his glance and made no further comment. But his thoughts were very busy. He had not failed to notice that during the last few days of their stay at Ostend, there had been a certain growth of intimac}' in the relations between Eileen and his friend, a certain subtle change of manner in their demeanour to each other which confirmed his worst fears. Privately he thought Aylmer was more, than foolish in running into obvious peril with a young woman whom he looked upon as a very dangerous siren. With the calm, practical nature he had inherited from his hard-headed father, there was no chance of his ever involving himself in disastrous entanglements. But Aylmer was of a totally different temperament. That rather quiet manner of his hid a great faculty of romance, a strong tendency to impulse, to act on the spur of the moment. He was just the sort of man to fall an easy victim to the devastating influence of a great passion to count the world well lost for the sake of love. Claude felt profoundly sorry that his friend had ever come across the Quentins.

And then his thoughts turned upon Quentin himself. He was no fool, this quiet, suave-spoken man. Surely, he must have seen what was so obvious to Peyton himself, that these two were more than ordinarily interested in each other. If he had seen it, why had he gone out of his way to throw them together? Truly, there was something about Quentin he did not fully comprehend. It was with difficulty he refrained from uttering the words of' wisdom which were surging within him, but for the best of reasons he forbore. He was well enough acquainted with human nature to know that anything he could say would be useless. A man deeply enamoured pays no heed to advice, however sound it may be. Aylmer must know as well as he did the danger of the course he was pursuing, and was recklessly stifling his sane judgment. If he was to l:>e saved, nobody could save him but himself.

And, although Aylmer was not as acute in many things as the younger man, he could form a pretty shrewd guess at what was passing in Peyton’s mind, as he sat there very silent, with a preoccupied look on his pleasant face. Yes, from his point of view, Peyton was quite right in thinking him a fool. But then, he did not know the real facts of the case, that Eileen was a free woman, free to love without injury to her supposed husband. If she had not made that startling confession to him, he was sure he would have had the strength to decline Quentin’s invitation. He was far too honourable to make love to the wife of another man, however much he adored her in secret.

The next morning the three men went up to London, father and son to the City offices, Aylmer to his comfortable suite of rooms in Ryder Street, where he was received by his valet, who had taken his own holiday during the time his master was at Ostend.

The young man had a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, not to mention relatives, and he was a popular member of three clubs. There was, therefore, no difficulty in filling up his time, in spite of the fact that he was, in Mr Peyton’s sense of the word, an idle man. But the days seemed to go very slowly, the real truth l>eing that he was awaiting with feverish anxiety the advent of that important letter from Eileen.

And at last it came, and brief as it was, he read it over half a dozen times, as is the way of ardent lovers. It told him that they had arrived in England four days ago, and that she had taken the earliest opportunity of redeeming her promise. She would be waiting outside the Cafe Mario, the place at which they had appointed to meet, at half-past one. (To be continued.)