FIGHTING HER WAY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9711, 5 February 1910, Page 2

FIGHTING HER WAY.

CHAPTrJR XI. —Cou ued

Doctor Howard attributed her silence to dissatisfaction with his proposed adjustment of the matter, and added: 'Any expense connected withie-, placing your goods with fresh ores will, of course, be. included in the estimate which .you can make cut at once.' This quite exhausted her patience. She looked up again with a steady fire in her lovely violet eyes, and a tremor over all her features; she was still too weak for.much self-com-mand. She said brokenly: "Doctor Howard, I am not fit for any business now. I shall have a consultation with my lawyer in an hour, and he will settle with you all the details of this matter. lam too ignorant, as well as too ill, to undertake anything.' 'Who is you lawyer?' asked the doctor, with ill-concealed uneasiness; he had not calculated on this direct display of good sense in so young a girl, and a legal investigation of the affair was precisely what he was striving to avoid. 'Mr Roland Graffel Marlow will attend to my business, sir.' A quick, devilish gleam of satisfaction flashed into Doctor Howard's face. He smiled scornfully, and in a tone of the crudest satire, said: 'Mr Roland Graffel Marlow! Humph! Well, indeed, Miss Castlebar, if you will allow me to make a suggestion, I'd say that a "young woman of your calling and condition better put her business tbatj may come into public notice [into the hands of some other person than the high-born, handsome young lover that visits her after hours.' A .vague expression of resentment had come into Christine's face in the beginning of this caustic harangue, of whose termination it was impossible she could form the least idea; but as the vile, slanderous implication fell point blank from the bitter tongue of the speaker, she let the bouquet she was tying up diop to.the floor, a wild, haggard look .came out on her pale face, a low, stifled cry broke from her lips. 'My God!' was all she could say; the next moment her head fell forward on the table as if a heavy hand haa smitten her senseless. Alarmed at the sudden and dreadful effect of his words, Doctor Howard lifted the girl's face and sprinkled it from the bowl of water standing on the counter for wetting her flowers.

No life came into the white, white face; and. sorely perplexed, he took her in his arms and carried her to her couch m the chamber. Having loosed her clothing, he ran to the drug store on the other side of the street and procured some powerful salts and a little brandy. With the aid of these he succeeded in reviving her, but the instant her eyes met his she drew herself away with a sharp shriek, and ordered him to leave her sight. He endeavoured to calm her, but in vain; he»" nervous system had become so hyper-sensitive that she had no power of repression or resistance, but continued to utter scream after scream, ijt a hysterical, wild way, that brought the neighbours and people passing on the street to investigate the meaning of it. 'Poor thing, she must be mad!' said a woman who had rushed in with the otheis, These words put an infernal idea into Doctor Howard's mind. His lip shook with the horror of it; his eyes burned as if a spark from the lower regions had kindled in his det-p sockets. He gathered himself together with the concentrated effort of a man determined on a desperate deed; he turned himself to the bystanders and said, very quietly: 'i'oor child, she is mad.' Hearing this, Christine lifted up her arms and a wail, so dreadful that it brought the cold sweat to every brow bent over her couch, came from her white !ps. Speech seemed frozen in her throat; only this wild cry protested the inhuman lie that she seemed to understand the meanings of with prophetic clearness. She felt that God had abandoned her to the designs of this wicked man, and that in the whole world there was not one arm strong enough to save her from him. She had not the faintest idea of how she had gained his enmity, but instinctively she knew that he intended to destroy her; one device had faihd, and now he was going to try another. She almost felt she was going nud. She cluctched at her throat frantically, as if to remove the choking sun sation that hysteria produces, so that she might speak and proclaim the wrongs he had already perpetrated against her, the more foul wrong he was about to commit. \ But all power had gone from her, even the power to cry out with those inarticulate shrieks*, and she lay there gazing piteously around her for help. 'Go away, my friends; it excites her worse to see you here. Leave her to me.'

BY ROSS ASHLEIGH. Author of "Eleanor's Luck," "The Widow's Wager." "Pi, re Gold," Etc, etc.

Doctor Howard was too well-known for any one to raise a question against his skill or his authority. The people went out as he bade them, a hushed horror on their faces. Doctor Howard whispered to one of the men: 'Get me a close carriage, quick, and two policemen.' Very soon the carriage was at the door, and the policemen in Christine's store. I CHAPTER XII. A YOUNG LION ON THE OLD FOX'S TRAIL. During the brief interval required to carry out his instructions concerning the carriage, Doctor Howard had retired from Christine's bedside to the store, thinknig it best to leave her for a while, as he was thoroughly conscious of the effect his presence was having on the overwrought faculties of the invalid girl. He made a rapid survey of the.whole situation as it related to what had already occurred, and that which would ensue if he left Misa Castlebar free to follow the dictates of the strong, good sense he had not given her credit or possessing, and to which was now added a righteous indignation for the calumny he had given exprssion to concerning the young lawyer. That it was base calumny, Doctor Howard was too worldly-wise to doubt for a moment after seeing the look of horror with which she received the vile insinuation i.e had ventured, more to sound her character than because he really believed there was any just foundation tor it. He had seen a spirit flashing in Christine's proud eves that told him he had gone a step ! further than he could either stand to or retrace. She would expose the whole proceeding from one end to the other rather than not lift her fair fame free of his aspersion. For a thousand reasons Doctor Howard was not prepared to have his reputation as a physician assailed because of a professional blunder like that, still less to have his brutal conduct about the removal made public; and although he had discharged the ambulance driver for a show of indignation to soothe Fred Alcot's anger, yet he had paid the fellow to say the whole thing was his own work, and any shrewd lawyer mignt hunt this man and get testimony most damning to Doctor Howard's reputation. Such an expose, besides costing him his social and professional standing, would forever destroy his hopes in regard to Fred Alcot's fortune. The doctor knew too well of what honourable stuff the young man was formed to hope he would ever forgive what could easily be proved against him. This unexpected crisis in had defeated a little plau Doctor Howard had formed for causing Christine to refuse all further attention from Doctor Alcot. This laudable plan was to assure her that gossip had already associated the devotion of the rich and handsome young M.D. very disreputably with her name, and also that her acceptance of his favours hereafter, while they would seriously injure herself, would also be the means of ruining the happiness of his daughter, to who Fred was virtually engaged. He had justly calculated on Christine's pride and chastity to combine with his arguments to put an end to all inter- [ course between herself and another ' woman's affianced lover. So complicated had the entire problem become since his entrance into the flower store, that now Doctor Howard saw but no way out of it; he must persist in having the girl locked up as a lunatic. A capacity for evil, that had never before been fully developed, now became manifest in this cold-blooded, selfish, cruel nature, that had hitherto contended itself with practicing its dominant propensity by tyrannising over his family and inferiors generally, and by indulging in a sublime egotism that recognised no law that contradicted his pleasures. This phase of his character was of course kept in the background of his life. To the world he was a shrewd scientific and learned physician, and a most efficient member of the profession. In a community like New York a man has two livesone for the public, tne other for his home and his fric ds. The two need seldom clash. Doctor Howard did not intend that his dual character should clash through the instrumentality of an obscur 0 , weak, almost friendless little flower merchant. When one has begun to perpetuate a great villainy, it is far easier to stride forward than retrace a single step. Doctor Howard's reflections had reached this point when the carriage and the policemen arrived to demand action, in place ot thought. He whispered a few words tc the two men who, knowing' him perfectly' looked grave, but ready to obey. TO BE CONTINUED