"THE WEB."

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8869, 1 November 1907, Page 2

"THE WEB."

CHAPTER XVll.—Continued. * For almost the first time in his whole professional career Medhurst had allowed himself to give vent to his feelings. There was a wealth of meaning in the exclamation, and Jack himself felt a sinking at the heart, in spite of himself the old unpleasant suspicion was beginning to force itself upon him. "And Miss Elders, where is Miss Elders? I must speak to her at once." - "Oh, she lias gone out to*. "With Miss Rentoul?" asked Medhurst eagerly.-. "No; Miss Rentoul, after a cosy chat with Esther last night, went off to sleep and then we all went to bed. It -seemed as though 1 had only just got my eyes closed when I heard somebody moving about, and saw it,] was beginning to get daylight. I heaH M,is3 Rentoul's door open; we had given her a room all as Esther was afraid she would go on talking as long as they were together, and have no sleep. I was just about to call out to her to ask if I could get anything for her when the front door opened and closed gently, and I realised she was gone. "And Miss Elders?" gasped Jack. "Oh, she has gone out to send a telegram to somebody. Won't you come in and wait?" Strang ways paused on the threshold, but Medhurst said somewhat sharply, "We should be obliged, miss, if you will ask Miss EHers to have the goodness to wait in when she comes back. We have an important errand to do just now." He clattered down the stairs with almost unprofessional haste, Strangways following closely at his heels. An early morning cabman was crawling slowly along on the chance of, picking up seme early bird. Medhurst hailed "him, and told him to drive as hard as he could to the house in Hampstead Road of which he had carefully noted the number. His face *was stern set; his square jaws were tightly clenched; he had the look of a .hunter hard upon his prey. Jack leaned back in the cab and left him alone to his thoughts. He had an uncomfortable feeling that his man was " going to have the satisfaction of saying, "I told you so." At Hampstead Road Medhurst again examined the gate. It had not been opened, and from this Jack was deriving some satisfaction. "They haven't come back yet, then?" he said when Medhurst informed him of the result of his observations. "No," answered the man grimly, „ •"and I doubt very much if they are coming back. The old saying about f,he woman, «• the dog and the walnut tree, the more they are beaten the more faithful they'll be " ~" "What the dickens do you mean by that?" "That although they have illtreated her, she has gone to warn them at the last moment." •CHAPTER XVITI.

When Strangways and Medhurst left the flat during the night, Miss Rentoul quickly 1 regained something like her old spirit. It was only a slight breakdown after the excitement of the day, and with a supreme - effort she regained control of herself. She refused, however, to give, even Miss Elders any detailed account of what had happened to her since she left "The Gappe." ■■' -"I really l could not remain any longer under the same roof as that hateful Theodore Beeton," she said. Esther Elders, smiled discreetly, and Miss Rentoul, noticing this, went on with exaggerated eagerness-/-"I really coufdn't; I tell you I hate the man/' "Vet, he came all the way from America to see. you, and he risked his life to save yours." There was a tenderness in the American girl's flashing eyes, but, determined to believe herself sincere, she all the more emphatically declared that Beeton was a deceitful •creature, and a man for whom she, • didn't rare.a bit. "Besides," she added, "the whole was detestable except yourself. They all looked down upon me because I was a lonely Yankee girl -compelled - to- earn my own living. Why did they take me there? I wish I had never seen the place. Gracious heavens! what unkind fate directed my wanderings to that house of all „ :places?" ''. ■ She covered her face with her hands, and sobbed bitterly. ."Come, come;.this won't do,",said Esther, gently 'forcing her hands from her eyes and wiping her tears. '"You arc excited and.tired, and-you must have a rest. Now do as I tell

you. I gave, up ray visit to Scotland and caino right away bere'tbis after- \ noon, for I had a strange feeling that you would want a friend in thia city. Something is troubling you, and I t'vink 1 know;.vhat that something is. You.tnufc. 1 - go to bed now. I shall leave* you i . this room by yourself, so that you ,i-.n have nobody, to talk . to, and the very, first thing in the morning, 1 am going to try to find Mrßeeton.'.' , - "No, you must not, you shall not. I'll never see him again. Promise me But Esther . had left the room and closed the door. The American girl threw herself in a dainty armchair , by the window, and, leaning her head wearily on her hands, gazed out on the stars with a look of infinite sadness. In (he morning she was gone, but Miss Esther Elders had found a telegraph office before St rangways and Medhurst r a turned, and had wired to . the shipping'office at Southampton a a rmle message informing Mr Theod rJ Beeton that Miss Rentoul would

* FAUL URQUHART. [Publishedqßy* Special Arrangement.] [All Eights Reserved.]

be found at No. 13, Whitworth Man- j sions. "I really don't think there's any grave cause for alarm," she said, in reply to the agitated inquiries of Strangways. "You surely must have seen that Miss Rentoul, like most American girls, has ways which we consider unconventional, ant! she doesn't think it necessary to keep her friends carefully informed of all her movements. She will come back here sooner or later, and she will find the door open for her, never fear." "Did she tell you what had happened to her after she left 'The Gappe'?" asked Strangways guardedly. "No, and I didn't press her to. She was obviously worried about something and really, Mr Strangways, if you had eyes in your head, you would see what that something is. Indeed," added- the plain-spoken lady with a mischievous smile; "If 1 am not mistaken, I know somebody else who has been similarly worried from the same | C&US6 I Jack stammered out something j about everybody being mixed up and mistaken about everybody else, but Miss Elders, with the satisfaction of a discerning woman, saw that her shaft had gone home. Medhurst ; -had withdrawn a little way off, and was moodily looking out of the window. "May I ask, miss," he said, abruptly breaking in on this more frivolous talk, "if you 'happen to know where Miss Rentoul resided when she was in town?" "She had rooms somewhere about this neighbourhood, I know; let me see, can I remember her address? I fancy! wrote it down." | She found a little notebook and j hastily thumbed it through leaf after I leaf, much to the discomfort of Medhurst, who was impatiently waiting for her to find the right page, but woman-like she had written it on the first leaf where the book opened when she took it down, and had to examine every one of them before she ultimately got her finger on it. "Dh yes, here it is—2o, Elsinore Street, off Swan Square, first floor front. Walk straight in and ring the bell. The landlady only attends to lodgers when specially desired. But I don't think she'll have gone there; she is taking a walk on the Heath, you may depend." In a very few minutes, however, Medhurst and his master were bowling along to Elsinore Street in a hansom. They walked in, rang the bell, and gots.no answer. _ "What are you going to do?" said Jack; laying a restraining hand on Medhurst. "This is a matter of life and death; we shall have to act and explain afterwards," said Medhurst. In a couple of minutes the door was burst open, and tha two men found themselves confronted with an indignant ' woman who askeel in a scornful voice the meaning of "this outrage." "We were afraid, Miss RentoulJ that you might come to some ha*rro, and we followed you here for your own protection," muttered Jack, feeling decidedly uncomfortable with himself. Medhurst said nothing, but stood quietly aside, his piercing eye was in every corner of the room at once. Through the door leading to the inner compartment he watched with eager interest some officiallooking papers which lay rumpled on the little round table as thous-V they had been thrown there hastily when the door was burst open. . Strangways was at a loss how to proceed, "and the American was' determined that the onus,of explanation should rest on him. - "Are you quite sure it is safe for you to be here alone after what occurred last night?" he asked. "Well, after, what,has just occurred one seems to have swne reason for doubting it. When callers force their presence upon . one through a locked door, there comes back to the imagination a much - boasted English proverb of yours about a man's house being his -castle, although I suppose what applies among gentlemen of your country to- Eng- , iishmen doesn't hold good in the case, of American-women." "I assure you. Miss Rentoul, we are acting in your own interests. We rang and got no answer." "Because 1 wanted to be alone for just a few minutes in my own rooms, and now I must get .back to Esther, or. she will be getting anxious. I hope to be there before she wakes. I know they do not rise early as a rule, and that is why I have come out Without disturbing them." Jack thought she was remarkably anxious to make "this explanation in detail. i . • (To be continued.)