"The Courage of Love,”

Wairarapa Daily Times, 21 January 1932, Page 7

"The Courage of Love,”

COPYRI GUT.

CHAPTER XXVII. —Continued. "You’ll not take me alone,” panted

Polly in his rage. "That—that young swine there —lie’s to marry this girl.” It was Lottie who answered. "That’s all right, old fellow!” she cried in a shrill tone. "There’s nothing against Francis. lie can’t marry anyone liecause lie’s married already to me! See.’’

The rage that overpowered Pelly, the language that poured from his lips, the light he put up, the noise and the struggle brought people running to the scene. But he was at last overpowered, and finally he was led away beaten, and yellow with fear. And then as Martin Joyce took Stanton and the girl out of the room, and Hugh was left alone with Miriam and Diana, he took the girl’s trembling form in his AIMS, <(ud he held her to his heart while lie'called her by name, and spoke words of love, and tenderness, and courage. The officials of the building had come forward, and it was necessary for someone to give a clear and concise account of what was happening. This fell to the duty of Martin Joyce, who was able to perform the task to the satisfaction of everyone.

And then weeping, Miriam Stanton was taken away by her son, and Diana was almost carried to the cab that was waiting, by the man who had loved her with so much faith, and so much courage, although there had been times when he felt he might never see her again. CHAPTER XXVIII. Though the hearts of Hugh Waverley and his mother were full of gratitude because Diana had been given back to them, they were also very full of anxiety. Martin Joyce had run after Miriam Stanton, and had begged her to follow with him to the house where Mrs. Waverley was staying. “I know how good you have been to the child,” he said, 'and she may look for you. She has grown to know you, and from what Edward Garrett

has told us she has grown to care for you, too. Of course, Mrs. Waverley will be like a mother to her, but still Diana doesn’t know her yet. So please, won’t you come?” And Francis Stanton urged his mother to do what wa; asked of her.

"We’ll see you later on,” he said. "You’ve got to meet my wife, you know, Mother, and when you’ve heard what a real good sort Lottie is, and what a fine part she’s played in helping me to cut out all kinds of old tricks and look on life in a different way, why, I’ll bet you’ll hud it as easy to love her as I do!”

So after Hugh had practically carried Diana up the stairs to the sittingroom where his mother was waiting so nervously it was not more than a few minutes before Miriam Stanton had arrived and was kneeling beside' the chair in which the girl was lying. “If she could be put to bed at once,” she urged, “and if you would be so good as to have a doctor? It is only that she is exhausted. She has gone through so much, and that man always frightens her. Poor child! She needs, to be treated so carefully.” And then Miriam looked up from the ground where she knelt, into Hugh Waverley’s face. “She’s spoke your name for the first time a. day or two ago. She has been like a creature wrapped about in a fog. Her memory has gone back to old things. She thought she was going to see her father, jioor child! That has been one of the cruellest parts of the game they played with her.” Both Hugh Waverley and his mother entreated Miriam to remain. They saw with whaf care, what tenderness, what real love she waited on Diana, and when Dr. Bravington had been summoned, and he had questioned Miriam and approved of her suggestion that Diana should be kept' iin bed awhile he at once decided that Mrs. Stanton should be engaged as a nurse. It was like facing a new world for Miriam Stanton to find herself surrounded by people who were grateful to her, who treated her not on,y with kindness, but with respect, and never spoke a word that might have been construed as a reproach because of her share in all that had happened, to Diana. .

Indeed, Mrs. Waverley was more than considerate with this pale, quietmannered woman. She urged Hugh to go to his work. “How you know that Diana is here, and I am taking care of her, and Mrs. Stanton is here, and is going to take care of her, too, you must go back, my dear boy. It will be the best thing for you to get your thoughts off all that has happened. You won’t be able to grasp it all quietly and sensibly for some little time. 1 know that, but it will come in time. All you have to know now, my dear, is that Diana is back in your life, and please God, she will belong to you altogether in a very little while.”

The story that had to be given to Cyril Greham Townley was a very exciting one, and it was Martin Joyce who told him the whole business.

It had been indeed an exciting morning on the whole for Martin Joyce, because before snatching an hour or so of sleep on his return from the newspaper office, he liaf. glanced in at the room where Henry Burke had been put to bed and had seen that the man was still sleeping heavily. It had been no easy task for Joyce to bring Burke away from the office, and lie had had to ask help from one of his colleagues. Y’et when he got up very early) and went to see how his unexpected guest was looking, to his dismay he found the room empty, and

PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.

BY MADAME ALBANESI. (Author of "Love’s Harvest,” "The Road to Love,” "The Way to Win,” etc).

But his identity was revealed, however quite naturally by Edward Garrett, who had gone to this hospital to visit a man he knew who had also met vith an accident. While he was there he had caught sight of Burke, been given the story of this unconscious man, and then he had been able to acquaint the hospital authorities with the fact that he recognized Henry Burke. And so it was that the papers when they printed the news of Burke’s death they also stated that lie had been an accomplice of the man George Pelly, who had committed suicide when he had been lying in prison awaiting trial on a charge, of murder.

(To be Continued)

THE TAXI-CAB MURDER. When the taxi-driver came out of the entry of the fiat building, two police officers were awaiting him. “Is this your cab? one of tuun asked. “How long has it been here, unattended? ’ Only a short time.” replied fhe cabdriver; then he stopped short and gazed inside. “Why, there’s someone inside,” he added. The occupant of the taxi was strangely quiet, and one of the officers opened the door and looked in. Puzzled, he shook the man suddenly, then felt his pulse, and steped back, horrified. “He’s dead —murdered,” he said, “and it strikes me you know more than you’re telling!” Don’t miss the fujl story of our splendid new serial. “THE ORANGE TAXI.” By Charles D. Leslie. It teems with unusual situations and tense drama, and will commence publication in our columns on Monday next.

Burke gone. The man must have slept off the effects of his - heavy drinking lit, must have got terrified, and stolen away. It was a little disconcerting to Joyce to have to confess that his qirisoner had escaped, but the way in which Pelly had been cornered, gave the most complete satisfaction to him and to Gresham Townley. “Now I shall have to get well,” said the man who had been James Ladbroke’s fellow worker and friend, "because I shall have to convict this beast of murder. Burke is a secondary consideration. Without Pelly to fall back upon I don’t exactly know what he will do. But I shouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t run into trouble right away. Now, Joyce, you have to persuade your good friend, Dr. Bravington, to hjt ',„ L > get up ncH’/Ulse I iiillsf see Janie’s daughter. 1 have lost him, but his child still lives, and that is going to mean a great deal to me,- Martin Joyce. ’ ’ CHAPTER XXIX.. Little bv little, gently, softiV, gradually, the mind of Diana drifted) back to where it had been before her accident. Dr. Bravington had urged that she should be taken out of London, and so Hugh Waverley’s mother, to her great delight, was permitted to convey her boy’s future wife in a-car back to the farm where Hugh’s father 1 was waiting to receive them. During those weeks in which all those who loved her watched (putting

aside their own wishes until the girl was restored to something like health, and her mind was soothed and comforted) many things had happened.

In the first place unexpected tragedy had fallen upon the two men who had robbed Diana of her father, and who would have made themselves master of all she possessed. ‘One Man’ Pelly, was never brought to justice! Where lie had hidden the poison was never known, but lie was found dead in his cell before His trial came on.

Burke had disappeared, at least he was supposed to have disappeared, until, in the queer way in which destiny moves, the newspaper for which Martin Joyce worked, recounted the death of a man who- hacl been knocked down and very badly injured by a motor omnibus. The pajier told how this man had been taken to a hospital, and had remained unconscious for a very long time, and had finally died without regaining consciousness, or being able to reveal anything about himself.