The Ironmaster's Daughter.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8292, 21 November 1906, Page 2

The Ironmaster's Daughter.

CHAPTER XXl.—Continued.

But this incident provided Dick with very substantial food for thought. The hostility of the unemployed was becoming serious. And how could it be dealt with? Lucas Isaacs was making inflammatory public speeches, without exactly committing himself. His innuendoes were artfully expressed, and the duel between them was not so one-sided as Dick had imagined. For the second time that day the police inspector presented himself at the office, and his face wore a confident smile. •'The scuffle has been reported to me, Mr Tressidy, and I'm going to have half-a-dozen plain-clothes men in your neighbourhood. We must put a stop to this sort of thing." "Do as you like. I'll pay expenses, and prosecute when necessary." "Very good. There's bound to be trouble before the election. I know the symptoms, You remember Mr Perkins, the nut and bolt manufacturer? He gave the mob offence, and they suspended him over an old Coal shaft, half-a-mile deep. He was only hanging by a rotten rope, and his hair turned gray with fright. I rescued him the next morning. By the look of it you are in far worse trouble than that." "I'll take precautions," Dick smiled. "Bill Hebden is my henchman ! " It was getting dusk when he left for home, and as the carriagei passed through the slums he was careful to lean well back. Policemen were posted at both ends of the street which led from the highroad to the works. In the wide thoroughfares there was no danger, and his thoughts ■reverted to Duke Deverell. The man was of excellent family, but he had disgraced himself at Oxford. A .drunkard, a profligate, a "blood" who delighted in corrupting his fellows. He had been expelled, and had drifted into the army, and Avas •dismissed for embezzlement. Then he became a free-lance, and had happily been lost Fight of. ' He harboured a grudge against Dick Tressidy, and he was not a man to\>get or forgive. Dick had publicly called him down for some contemptible offence, and then cut him dead. Other men followed suit, and finally Duke Deverell was requested to "get." With these thoughts in his disturbed mind, Dick was gazing mechanically through, the, open window of they carriage;: H£ rioted the spot where he had picked, up Miss Craven on the evening of the great storm', and he: remembered that he had made no effort to inquire into her antecedents. .He was trusting her implicitly now. And there was the House at which she [had called, It was only a cottage with the great name of "Balmoral" painted on the garden gate. Perhaps she had relations there ? All at once he started as though stung. A man was standing just within the porch, and thtit man was ■'—Ditke Deverell!

CHAPTER XXII. DEATH OF MR TRESSIDY. "Great heavens ! " muttered Dick Tressidy, " that girl is hookwinking me after all, and I, condemned fool that I am, believed' that I. had got her measure. She can't be any good if she is even on speaking terms with a scoundrel like Duke Deverell. He.reddened with dismay, and anger. No doubt every word he said in the office, everything)he did, was carried to Duke Deverell, and thence to Lucas Isaacs. "No man .if? a match for a woman," he decided. "The faces of j angels, and the hearts of devels! To-morrow, Miss Craven shall be sent about her business, unless she can give me a satisfactory explanation. I have played with fire too long already .j I will tell her exactly what I think she is in John Bull English, and oft" she goes ! This should be a warning to me. I've been helloing before I was out of the wood. But all this was forgotten when he arrived home. Charlie Mostyn met him in the hall, his face serious, and a certain repression in his manner. "You are late, Dick." "Yes —rather. Work and worry —worry and work." The butler took his hat and coat, fl-nd he made for the stairs as usual. "Half-a-minute, Dick," Charlie said. "Well?" •'I want a few words with you," "Wait till I've seen dad. He expects me to tell him the day's doings. He never goes to sleep at night until after our little talk." "He's asleep now," Charlie whispered. "Asleep!" Dick face turned as white as paper. "Don't—don't misunderstand me, old chap. I've given him a sleeping draft; he had a shock. There's -no danger—at present I've been waiting here for hours to intercept you " Dick wiped the dew from his ace. "Come intc my den, Charlie, and toll me'the worst. I'm as limp as

Bv OWEN MASTERS. Author of ■*' Clyda's Love Dream," " Kina's Repentance," "Her Soldier Lover," ''The Mystery of Wood- ' croft," " For Love ofMarjorie," etc. ["The Ironmaster's Daughter" was commenced on October 17th.]

a rag. And yet I oughtn't to be surprised at anything," he added, with a sigh, "t seem to be weighed down and thoroughly depressed. Last night I awoke with a feeling upon me of utter desolation." He dropped into a chair. "Have your ever experienced it, Charlie? The wind sobbed a kind of requiem in the trees, a branch of ivy tapped wierdly on the window-pane, and the vapory moonlight cast spectral shadows everywhere." "To be laughed at with the first ray of sunshine!" Charlie smiled. "I know what it is. All very sanguine temperaments suffer in the same way., But you are run down—you are working too hard. The constant strain for the past six months is pulling you under. You must take a rest " Dick shrugged his shoulders. "Now then, about dad." Charlie became serious." "Mr Tressidy had a relapse this morning, caused by shock. His mental pain was so acute that I administered a powerful opiate. The effects should last until morning, and then, Dick, you must be prepared for the worst. I have telegraphed ior a London physician, who specializes such cases, but he will not be able to do more than I have done." [to be continued.]