“The House on the River,”

Wairarapa Daily Times, 9 December 1925, Page 7

“The House on the River,”

(PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.)

DRAMATIC STORY OF STRONG LOVE INTEREST,

(By Fred M. White.) Author of “The Cardinal Moth,” “The Crimson Blind,” “The Man Called Gilray,” etc., etc.

( COPY RIGHT. >

(’ll AFT MR XX 111 —Con t i lined. It was a tentative suggestion, with the idea of giving Claw some notion of where Jie stood, but Barr waved it aside as if it were a matter of no importance. “I told you we lmd quarrelled.” he Said. “At least, there was a quarrel on one side. No good purpose would be nerved by my seeing .Mr Geere, and ia any case he would probably decline to nee me. .Mind you, 1 am exceedingly sorry for him. and 1 want to do ail 1 can to help him. It's like (his, .Mr Claw, i am going out of business .altogether. I have made more money than I can possibly spend, and 1 have a good twenty years of active life before me. Those years I propose to spend more or less out of doors. So I am amalgamating all my concerns into one huge company, and L am going to allow the public to come in, if they like. Certain securities will be exchanged for others of ’equal value, which arc certain to appreciate in juice. That 's why j should like to get hold of Mr Geere \s shares, and exchange them for the new ones. 1 am perfectly certain that it will be to Mv (Score's benefit. If lie declines to see me, I shall write him a letter to that effect. ’ ’

(.’.'aw drew a long, deeji breath. He was Thankful now that ho had screwed up his courage to the point of meeting Barr, because it had given him the opportunity of learning something that was very vital to him. The danger was nearer than he lmd expected. W ithin the next day or two at the outside, it was a practical certainty that Geere would write to his bankers for those securities, and if Barr had not given this information lie would have found himself within the four walls of a prison before he was aware that the blow had fallen. He listened more or less vaguelv as Barr talked, but ail tne wide his mind was busily engaged upgaged upon the subject of bis own safety. lie was glad enough presently to find himself alone, so that he could devote the rest of the morning to tin 1 plan which was .already half shaped in bis mind.

and see the thing through.” Claw lin'd no word to say. lie wr.s full of baffled rage and spite; he would have given a good deal to have had .Enderby by the throat, lint there was no chance of that on a public platform crowded with people; so that he gave wav with a bad grace and allowed Enderby to lead the way to a quiet corner of tlie refreshment, room. “How did von find out?” Claw asked weaklv.

“Ah! that was a near thing,” htmuHered to himself. “If that man had not come here this morning I should have gone calmly on here until the police were ready to letch me. It s all lisrht now, and 1 must look to mys.'it. Now, shall 1 toll Enderby, or not .’ Why should 1! I owe him nothing, and if he were in my place he would do just the same as L am doing.” To all outward appearances Claw was going on with his work. His clerks

came and went, business acquaintances dropped iii, but on the whole it was a quiet .morning, nr.d by the time that Claw went out for bis lunch he had everything clear. He would take that boat express from Victoria at eight o’clock. He would quietlv fade out of London and be seen there no more. It would not be difficult to procure some thing in the wav -of a. slight disguise, so that he could reach Paris without a soul being aware of the fact that lie had leit England. With those securities in his pocket he could call upon a firm of brokers in Paris and turn the whole thing into cash in the course of an hour or two. Yes, that was- the scheme, and with any luck Claw would get away with the whole of his ill-gotten gains and lie safe somewhere, in the Mediterranean before his flight was known. He came back to his office after ]midi and worked on quietly enough till about five, which was hies usual hour folenving. Then ho sent tor his manager. and told him that possibly he might not be at the office on the next day. “Look- here, Walton,” lie said carelessly. “1 ’vc got a bit of business on that rather worries me. There is a good deal of money in it if matters go light, and 1 am not disposed to leave things to other people. So in the morning I am going to Manchester. I shall be there all day to-morrow, and just possibly all Thursday as well, and J don’t want anybody to know I’m out of town. You’ll see to that, please. By tl*o way, are you working late tonight ?” “Not. particularly,” the manager ■said. “I shall be here until about six, and the office will close then.” A little later Claw was on his way to his rooms. He packed his kit bag himself and told his man to have a taxi at the door a few minutes- after seven. So far as his slight disguise was concerned, he meant to assume That when lie reached Victoria. To his man he proclaimed the fact that he was dining out somewhere in the country, and that he might be back about midnight. But a few minutes pnsit seven lie was on his way to Victoria. He gave the taxi-driver his directions in the hearing of the man, and just for an instant or two he regretted that lie had mentioned Victoria. It would have been

just us easy to have said Eu-ston, and afterwards have changed his mind. But it was a very small point after all, and rcnly not worth worrying about. He reached his destination presently, and, watching his opportunity, slipped in to a lavatory and adjusted his moustache and board, which he took for that purpose from his kitbag. Then he took his ticket and went boldly down the platform in the direction of the train. But before lie' reached the barrier a rude hand grasped his arm, and a familiar voice—the voice of. Knderby hissed in his car: “Now, none of this, 'you racsal! I had half expected something of this sort, so I got ready for you. Off to Baris, are you? We'll see all about that, The game is quite plain. \ouc idea was to clear out with all Geere ; securities in your possession and leave me in the lurch. Now come along back

“Oh, flint was easy,” Enderby sneered. ‘1 didn't trust you to begin with. After 1 had waited at the club for a quarter of an hour i. began to feel that something was wrong, s'o I telephoned to your rooms and got hold of your man. When lie said 1 hat you were going out of town 1 knew that you were bet raving me, and when I found out that Victoria was your destination it didn't take very long to guess what was in your mind. You dirty rat, wlmt do you moan by leaving’ me to face the music like this? ’l’on my word, I’m a better man than you are, after all!” Claw resigned himself to the inevitable. It needed a. man with far more courage than his to rise to a situation, like that and emerge from, it victoriously. Hr had been going to betray his confederate, and the other had turned the tables on him. Moreover, Enderby knew that Claw had those valuable securities in his pocket, and he told himself grimly enough that when the time came he was going to share in the proceeds.

“Now, look here,” 1 h.c said. “It’s 1 no use you and me quarrelling. That means that we shall botii be in the soup together and Geere will get his own back again. Oh, you needn’t put your hand in your breast pocket. I know exactly what’s in tftere. Now, suppose we talk the matter over. We shall gain nothing by squabbling. You may depend upon it. that we have been watched. There is some force moving behind Quint anil Somerset and Rent that we know nothing about, and we can do nothing until we find it out. I propose that we go down to the bouse on the »iver and see Geere as arranged. AN e can get anything we like out of a simple old fool like that. And, wlmt’s more to the jioint, we shall be able to ascertain whether Barr has seen his relative or not. I suppose von can see how vital this is to us'.’”

Claw looked at his companion with something like admirnrion in his eyes. “That’s true enough,” he admitted Trudging! v. “ Personally, I dim t believe that Barr lias seen Ceere. But perhaps- I had better tell you everything that happened in my office this morning. I mean about my interview with Bar.’.” CHAPTER XXIA'. Enderby listened with fluttering.-in-, teiest to all that Claw had to say. .lust for the moment lie appeared to be the better man of the two, and Claw was prepared to acknowledge it. “Ah!” Enderby said. “It’s just ns bad ns I thought. Barr will write- to bis relative, who, in bis turn, will write to his -bankers. Eord, what a fool Vi 1 wore to try and get. away, knowing what you do! Can’t you see what our game is? Why, it’s as plain as it’hut ugly old nose on your face. AVc must go and see Geere to-night. His invitation for you to do so was absolutely providential. See the man, and warn him that Barr is up to some dirry work. He ’ll behalf inclined to believe us, because lie’s quarrelled with Barr already. Tell him that Barr lias achieved a. nasty reputation in the States, and that lie ha-3' a big ramp on oyer these companies of 'his. That shoulTl explain why the old man lias never had any dividends. You must advise him, as a disinterested friend, to realise all his American securities at once. Goi him to l give vou an order on the l lilted Bank people to hand them over to you. You’ve got them already, but there’s no reason why Geere should know that. Then you’ll be safe, my friend, safe. Then we can make our plans accordingly and get away to some-place where we arc beyond the reach of extradition laws. AYe shall have plenty of time. But before we do that, you've got to hand half those shares over to me. 1 am ready to work with you because ■ must, but in future I am not going to trust you a single yard.” ‘Oh, all right,” Claw muttered. “All the same, I didn’t like that letter of Geere’s, and ! don’t like it now.” “Well. .1 wasn’t particularly pleased with it,” Enderby said. “But we’ve got to risk it. Damn it. wo must. Now chuck voiir kit bag in the luggage office, and let’s get off to Barnes at

once.” In due course the pair of them arrived at the house on the river and rang tiie bell. So far as they could see, the place was all in darkness, but after the interval of a few minutes a light went up in the hail and the door was opened was a tall thin figure in a flannel dressing gown and a deerstalker hat that on?y half covered the wearer ’s straggling grey hair. Hie face was partly hidden in a wisp of whisker, and his eves were practically unseen behind a pnir of blue spectacles. It was Geere right enough, as Claw recognised, though he had only seen his client once before. “Come in, Hr Claw, come in,” said Geere, in has quavering, falsetto voice. “ You have brought a. friend, I see. ” “Yes,” said Claw. “This is Hr Enderby, one of our great financiers-. I thought you wouldn't mind my bringing him down here because I never do anything without his advice, and I thought you might be disposed to listen to him. He knows as much about the money market as Rothschild himself, indeed, it is no secret that the head of that great firm does very little without asking Mr Knderby"s opinion. A most valuable man.” (To be Continued.)