“THE BANTYRE FORTUNE,”

Wairarapa Daily Times, 11 June 1932, Page 7

“THE BANTYRE FORTUNE,”

PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL AKBANGEMENT.

COPYRIGHT.

CHAPTER Vl.—Continued. Mark gritted his teeth. If their story were true, and they really held the proof they were masters of the situation as far as the girl was concerned. Tie had no doubt whatever that they had already attempted to bleed Garfield and Cousins on thestrength of what they knew, and that the missing servant’s attack on the safe had been the result. Tie guessed that there had been an attempt by Grierson and his friends to blackmail the other men and that these, refusing, had tried to make themselves safe by getting hold of the incriminating document by collusion with the man, Bast o w.

Evidently there was nothing to choose between the two sets of sharpers, and Mark’s indignation was equally strong against both when he thought of the plots against Naomi Bantyre. But nothing could be done in her interest unless the proof of her legitimacy could be produced, and reason told him that lie was far more likely to help her by seeming to fall in with Grierson's plans, and so, perhaps, being able to force the production of the evid nee, than by openly showing his disgust and break ..g off relations. And he wanted to hel> Naomi very much! The case called for the wisdom of the serpent and, for the girl’s sake, he decided to dissemble.

“Where do I come in on all this?” he asked in a studiously non-committal tone. “What can I do that you could not do for yourselves?”

“If you are half as ready to exercise nerve and take risks as I judged you to be from what you did at the Riche to-night, you will get to Naomi Bantyre and find out just what her position Avith Garfield and Cousins is, and what they hope to do with her,” said Grierson. “That ought to be simple for you.” “It depends.” 'Mark’s heart beat more quickly at the prospect, but the unpleasant facts claimed acknowledgement. “Unless I am to waylay her unexpectedly or need only meet her at night there are difficulties. I haven’t a decent suit of clothes to wear in the daytime! ” Grierson laughed. “That needn’t worry you. Money will put it right and if you are with us you shall be supplied.” Mark heard and hesitated. Could he accept money from these crooks? Bid the cause justify him? Grierson was still speaking: “As a matter of fact, I believe Miss Bantyre is staying in Hector Cousins’s house. That is one of the reasons why none of us could hope to get at her personally. Cousins and Garfield know us all, and even you won’t find it too easy to meet her. She is likely to be more or less of a prisoner.”

I “A prisoner?’’ ] “Well, they are not going to risk Wing their flppleealt upset, ate. they? And, make no JluStflKe, those tAvo are ready for anything to get what they want.” Mark started from his chair. “But they won’t want it to come to that. There is another string to their bow.” “What is it?” Mark asked imperatively. “ Hector Cousins has a son—a wrong ’un like his father, but not bad to look at —and if they could bring off a wedding between him and the girl they could consider themselves safe. ’ ’ The blood rushed to Mark’s head and there was a buzzing in his ears. He threw out his hand, his mind made up beyond recall. “I’ll take your money!” he said. “And I’ll lind a way to get to Miss Bantyrc! ” CHAPTER VII.—ROGUES ALL. “That’s settled, then!” exclaimed Grierson, giving Mark a hand grip which was at once flabby and vieelike. “And now we can get down to business. The first thing for you to do is to get into touch with Miss Bantyrc and the simplest way will be for you to find some means of getting into the house where she is staying.” “Not so very simple if you are right in saying she is a prisoner,” objected Mark, putting into words a doubt which had suggested itself in opposition to his own strong desire to do just what the big man was proposing. 'Grierson waved his hand. ‘ ‘I said she is probably more or less of a prisoner. That doesn’t mean that she will be locked up in a dungeon and fed on bread and water! Cousins and Garfield will be posing as her friends and their game will bo to prevent her from suspecting they have any hidden plans about her. She will be treated as a guest, but we may be sure that everything possible will be done to prevent her from communicating with anyone not approved by them.”

“Then what it amounts to is that she will believe herself to be free to do as she pleases but will probably be subjected to a constant watch by Garfield and Cousins?” ■> “That’s about the strength of it.” Mark was silent for a while, thinking this out. “I can’t say I like the prospect much,” he said at last. “It sounds as though I might have to hang about this house of Cousins’s for days, like a love-sic.k errand-boy trying to meet a kitchen maid, and making myself a joke to all the neighbours!” “That needn’t worry you,” interjected the small man, Burke. “The house has no neighbours. It stands by itself in a lane off the main road where very few people pass.” . “How do you come to know that?” demanded (Rosenbach quickly. Like Burke, he had been almost silent, allowing Grierson to do the talking, but now he had suddenly sat up in his chair and was glarin ghard at the little man. “How do I know? Why wouldn’t

BY PRANK PRICE. (Author of “The Love That Lasts,” “The Man With £5,000,000,” “Master of Fate,” etc).

Mara Whitton affected him in an entirely different way from the rest. She had taken up her position close beside him and there was not a moment when lie Avas not acutely conscious of her neighbourhood. He could not conceal from himself that this Avas the effect of her deliberate purpose; she Avas doing her utmost all the time to attract his attention and to impress herself on him. Without an atom of conceit, it Avas impossible not to realise that it AA'Ould be the easiest thing in the Avorld to establish very close relations betAveen them, and, for one moment, he tried to get an impartial vieiv of the advantages such a course promised for his designs in Naomi’s favour. But he thrust the thought aside at once. There Avas something in Mara Whitton Avhich filled him Avitli repugnance; he could have no traffic Avitli her that Avould smirch the purity of his devotion to Naomi.

When, more than an hour later, lie rose to leave the flat, he had come to an understanding, not only Avith Grierson and his associates, but Avith himself. He had agreed to all their terms, but Avith unspoken reservations Avhich he felt to be fully justified on every legal and moral ground. They Avere self-confessed rogues, pitting their Avits against those of others like them, and there Avas no crooked trick they AA’Ould not play to accomplish their nefarious ends. Naomi Bantyrc stood in ignorance betAveen the tAvo sets of scoundrels. She did not even know of her right to the Avealth they Avere plotting to rob her of, and the one ouststanding fact. Ava.s that Avhen she did know she could make no effective claim unless evidence of her mother’s marriage could be i)roduced. (To bo continued.)

I know?” replied Burke sharply, the thickening of his slight Irish brogue betraying a stir in his feelings. “That’s just what I’m asking!” retorted Rosenbacli. “If you know so much about the house you must have been there for some reason. Wliat for? •Have you been calling on Hector Cousins there without letting the rest of us know?” “Calling on him?” Burke’s tiny, shrivelled face assumed an expression of fierceness which made it at once grotesque and terrifying. “Are you insinuating treachery against me, Rosenbach?”

There was a deadly coldness in his voice which seemed to set the air in the room quivering and his ferrety eyes appeared to lie boring through the Jew, whose blustering tone fell to one which was almost apologetic. “I’m not insinuating anything,” he said sullenly. “I’m simply asking a question. ’ ’ “And it’s like the questions you’re too fond of asking!” returned Burke hotly. “I’ve told you of it before and I’ll tell you of it again: You’re always so ready to believe somebody is going to betray you that I can only account for it by supposing that you judge others by yourself!” “What do you mean?” Rosenbacli came to his feet with a start, blustering again. “Are you accusing me of wanting to do the double on you?” “All, sit down and don’t be trying to 'put fear into me by making a noise!” said Burke, with a supremity of contempt that sat oddly on his physical insignificance. “I’m just advising you that when a man is always looking for treachery in others there must be something in himself that turns his mind that way—so that if lie doesn’t keej) a watch on himself, others will have to do it for him. There has been treachery at work,” he pointed to the safe, “and we’ll have to look into that in good time; but we have to settle what we want Mr Seymour to do now, and our internal affairs must wait. As for my acquaintance with the house Hector Cousins is living in, if you had remembered it was there Henry Bantyre died and that I was out several times while he was sick to get the latest news of him, you would not be seeing evil in the little I know! ’ ’

“Why couldn’t you say that at first!” said Rosenbacli sulkily, sitting down again. “I don’t want to make trouble if there’s no need for it.” The discussion of the best manner of approach to Naomi was resumed, but this little sidelight on the relations of the plotters had net been without its illumination for Maik. Though neither Grierson nor Mara Whitton had taken part in it, he had observed them closely while it was going on- and their expressions had shown plainly that both were on the alert for am- +ll ° +

might be construed as evidence that either Burke or Rosenbach was contemplating a double deal. With the forced safe still ©winging op>en before them as a ”onstunt reminder that treachery had been b; their midst, he could sense constraint and doubt among them all.

'Studying their faces he had asked himself if there was one of them whom he could hope to influence in the cause of right and justice, but was driven to the conclusion that no way out lay in that direction. Gierson was obviously a thoroughly determined scoundrel utterly immune to any finer feelings. There was something about Rosenbach’s whole bearing which seemed to Mark to justify all the doubts thrown on his loyalty by Burke. His flabby face, shifty eyes, an evident sneaking cowardice had contrasted badly with the fierce, almost comic indignation of the Irishman at the doubts cast on him. Mark could not help an inclination rather to like Burke, but lie knew instinctively that it would be useless to look for help from him. Ho would bo loyal to his associates and no moral argument would avail to win him from them.