WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY. CHAPTER XXXIV.—CONCLUSION.

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 188, 24 July 1873, Page 3

WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY. CHAPTER XXXIV.— CONCLUSION.

And for your sake, Am I tin's patient logman. "Whkx the body of John the cleric lay upon the counter of the bank, and the men who were about him began to cut the clothes off him, that he might be put into warm blankets, and [such means taken as might give a chance of bringing him back to life, the knives of the cutters came in contact «kh a hard substance surrounding the body ; it was a hollow canvas belt iull of some kind of 'metal ; and as they cut through that too, a shower of gold coins fell out, and rolled all about the counter, and on to the floor. 1 Diaoul! he'd got the money with him,' cried thesergeant, 1 and all in gold. It was the gold as drowned him ' •iDear, dear' aps; it was the gold as drowned him; if h^i only taken Mr Rowlands' notes, he'd hare been alive now' Such was <he \erdict of the old women assembled about the bank ; and as the opinions of old women have overwhelming influence in mundaue affairs, probably this saying did much to keep alive the credit of Mr Rowlands' bank. ' I can't understand, though,' said Gerard to tlie Birmingham policeman, ' why he should have wanted to get me out of the ■waT.' 'Don't "you «cc, sir, he got your papers, and he found out you'd got the other draft with you— the genuine one? You'd got that hid up pretty snug, I expect?' ' Yes, I had that in a slit mmy waistcoat lining. I whs determined to stick to that.' ' Well, tuen, you see, sir, till that was forthcoming, there would have been no [case against him for forgery— or he thought so, at all events— and so he meant to sink you and the note together.' ' 1 wonder he didn't bolt when he'd got the money firth ' He didn't want to bolt, bless you! he'd have been lost out of his own country. Jf Rowlands had broke, he'd have had the management of all the books, and he'd have squared it beautiful. Bles3 you, he'd have been a magistrate and a member of parliament, I daresay, in a few years, if things ; had gone right ! Oh, he was a deep one, never fear.' From tins period, all Mr Rowlands' difficulties ceased. The dishonoured draft was paid with proper apologies and explanations. Mr Blenkinsop stopped and took charge of the bank Whilst Mr Rowlands attended his son's wedding at Xlanfeehan. Gerard was there too. After the business of the draft was settled, he got a medical certificate from the Hen Doctor that he was incapable of performing any business, and he stopped down in Wales for a month or six weeks on the strength of it. Of all the people who assembled to do honour to the bishop, to the banker, and to the parson of Llanfechan, no one but Gerard knew how near had been the chnnce that all the fair pageant of that Christmas morn had been utterly and hideously wrecked. It is spring-time in Wales. From all the hills are rising long, thin Imps of smoke, and at night the mountains glow with wreaths of fire, for now they burn the dried heather of the upland pastures. All the rough nelopean chimneys of Aberhirnant vomit forth massive volumes of smoLe, for now the goodwives clear their flues with fire Now are valleys plen^ant with the tender green of the hazel and the birch ; ■whilst in every burn the (routlets rise impatient to the fly, and in the swirling eddies of the waters lurk, shy but ravenous, the chieftains of the finny tribe, impounding all the tribute of tho «tream 1 And that shows, my dear Winny,' said Gerard, for it was he who was fishing that pleasant reach of the river, and who had just succeeded, after his third essay, in enticing a plump trout from under a gnarled root-stump, ' that shews the advantage of position. That old etump has afforded our friend here a position which has enabled him to get fat without exertion.* > ' Yes,' said Winny ; hi« *nf ness excited your cupidity and was the indirect cause of lua losing hit poiition and being put into your basket.' ' And that is the Nemesis of success, 1 said Gerard. ' Now, "Winny, haying caught my fish, we will sit down on this bank, where we get such a sweet view of Henfynydd reflected in the bosom of the stream, and talk over our prospects.' ' Our prospects indeed ! ' said Winny. ' Who gave you the right to say our prospects ? ' ' Well, your governor has, for one. I've had a tremendous talk with him this morning, and we've come to some sort of a conclusion.' ' Am I interested in the matter, pray ? ' 1 You shall hear. The old boy '— — 'Do bo more respectful to papa, Mr Robertson. Old boy indeed ! ' ' Well, then, the venerable party — is that respectable «nough ? No ? — the revered author of your being, then, has been making mo an offer ; no, not of you, Winny — you •needn't flare up so ! — but of a partnership in the bank. He wants some one to look after the business, and keep things together ; and as he's good enougli to entertain a high opimou of me, he offers me a partnership. Only, I must s*y that the re\ ered partner has a very tight hand. Three hundred a year guaranteed, and a share of increased profits ! If it wasn't for the honour of the thing, I'd as soon be a clerk. Now, Winny, do you think it would be possible ■to lire upon that in Wales?' ' Exceedingly possible for you, I should say.' 1 Yes, but for us two, Winny ? Come, Winny, anywl bach, don't throw up your head, but tell me plump and plain, will it do?' ' I don't see why not,' she said softly. And then they went off into matters of detail, where we •won't follow them. The Cambrian Archaeological Society, meeting at Aberhirnant that spring, was much interested in the discovery of >the cave near the Roman station. The president believed it to be a cavern devoted to the worship of tho god Mithras, and that in its gloomy recesses were performed the secret rites of those initiated into his mystic fmth. The national party, on the other hand, insisted that it was the hermitage of a Christian saint and martyr of the ancient British church. Ihe Hen Doctor ridiculed botli these theories, stoutly averred that this was nothing less than the last stronghold of the ' Tylwyth Teg ' — of the fairies — and that there wns some secret rift or cranny connecting it with tho underground world, where this people still abide. This opinion is shared by tho country-side generally, and the Sam Helen and the Roman walls ore more than ever scrupulously avoided by the natives aftrr dark. Meantime, tho negotiations for the admission of Gerard into the bank, and the consequent wedding of him to Winny Rowlands, are proceeding smoothly. The veteran banker is too slow for the impatient youth, who, in answer to the old mana often leitcrated ' Wait and see,' earnestly insists that the matter shall be brought to a satisfactory conclusion Without Further Delay.