The Nemesis of a Crime

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20834, 19 June 1939, Page 5

The Nemesis of a Crime

By ACEITUNA THURLOW

A story of Thrilling Romance and Exciting Adventure

“It was impossible to adcord him complete respect. Even I, infatuated as 1 was by both himself and his daughter, could not help disapproving. I knew he had done some shady things. I resented his treatment of Barbara, yet directly 1 came into his presence 1 had no feeling except pleasure at finding myself there. Meantime I was becoming madly in love with Barbara, and she certainly encouraged me. We used to spend delicious days in the pine woods, she sitting with her back against a pine tree, I lounging at her feet. I'p !•> that time my intercourse with the other sex had been conducted with the usual conventionalities. Barbara had no chaperone, nor was she ever likely to have one. The ladies of Wiesbaden were inclined to gather their skirts more closely about them if they passed her in the strep!, for fear that her touch might contaminate them. Barbara laughed gaily over the circumstance, and took every opportunity of shocking the outraged ladies. As ! became more intimate with the iislers I a..-o fell under the ban. My former arauaintances of the hotel took to bow-

ing coldly, and one elderly lady went so far as to remonstrate. Barbara delighted herself by mimidking them lor my benefit, unmercifully dragging to notice their weak points, and exaggerating their disapproval, and this she did in such a witty manner that the woods used to ring again with oui laughter. Sometimes she would be in a serious mood, and demand sympathy, and 1 liked this best. The Parting | “At last came the dreadful day ! when my father wrote angrily, say- | ing that he had heard from a former ; acquaintance at Wiesbaden, who had i returned to England, that I had mixl ed myself up with undesirable people, and he must request my immediate return. My father was a stern old soldier, with Puritanical ideas, and a Spartan notion of discipline—l was dependent on him, “My pariing with Barbara was painful. and 1 left Wiesbaden with an aching heart, i great many pleasant memories, and some lilies Dressed in a hook. 1 Hiring the following i months we eorresponded freely. I Then 1 rejoined my regiment, which

was quartered at Hythe. Finally came a letter from Barbara telling of her ' father's death, and soon after of her j marriage with Horace Gellender. I i swear to you, that I did my level I best to efface her memory from my mind and wished sincerely that I might never meet her again. I did not succeed very well. Barbara has a power of making all other women seem stale and unprofitable once you have known her well. During the time that followed her marriage I never succeeded in stifling her remembrance. It only needed a meeting between us for all my most vehement feelings to revive. This \ came about nearly two years after j she became Mrs Gellender. I was walking down Bond Street and met ■ • her coming out of a shop. She was ! I only in town for the day. She said ! j she wanted to visit the National j Gallery, and I conducted her there. ' !We found a quiet corner, and you j may be sure we did not trouble very ; much about the pictures. She told jme that her husband was a jealous ; i tyrant, who made her life a burden. I i She had married him for his money, ( and knew that by so doing she had l sacrificed her happiness. There was. 1 'as 1 knew, only one m.m who had ; | ever really touched her heart, and, .of course, adverse circumstances had marie her marriage with him ; impossible. It was partly out of pique and also because life, had seemed so | ineffably dreary after my departure, j that, she had taken Gellender. All 1 this coming from Barbara's lips, in i I hat charming manner that only she ! j can assume, was guaranteed to turn : a stronger head than mine.

“That was the first of a great many meetings. During the next, two months she came up frequently for Hie day, and on each occasion spent most of her time with me. I always managed to get lea-ve. Of course. 1 was more madly in love than ever. My conscience pricked me a good deal ut first, and I made a few’ feeble efforts to avoid these meetings. 1 told Barbara frankly of my state of mind, but she implored me not to bring our friendship to an end. as it was the one bright spot in her life. Of course. the | crisis came quickly. One day 1 could ; control myself no longer. I offered to | throw up my career and sacrifice my prospects if she would leave her hus- ; band and come away with me, and she ; accepted. It was all arranged. She | wanted me to stay in the house for j the ball but some remnant of decent feeling prevented me from being such a cur as that. I went to the hotel, lust, before supper I slipped away from the dance, and hurried to the lane, where my servant was waiting : with a dogcart.' lie was not unlike me : in height and general appearance. We changed clothes, and lie returned to j town in my place in 11 1 c morning. Meanwhile I waited .in the Jane till | Barbara came, carrying Molly, climbed : into the cart, and we drove off. Janet., who had been previously en- ; sconced in a cottage about twenty i miles away, kept us fill the coast, j was clear, and we could got abroad. I wrote to my father saying that | i had changed my name, and he ■should never hear of hip again. I ! bad sent in my papers a month before

“Barbara and I wandered about, and as our small store of moneys gave out she evolved a plan for gaining more. I was clever at cards —she was fascinating, and I had plunged too deep into the mire to have many scruples, and so we managed to rook a good many harmless fools. Barbara always said they ought to be grateful to us for teaching them the experience, even if we charged high for the lesson. She hated the idea of a cause celebre, and was delighted with the thought of disappearing. You know she had the most glorious hair. This she c-ut j off. and dyed it, so it grew to the dull ! shade you have seen. It was some j years before she hit on the daring I notion of returning to England and seti ting up a gambling place in London. | Of course, there was a great risk of ! detection, but her appearance was t changed, and her former acquaintances as Mrs Gellender were dull, county people who never moved from their , homos. We fell in with Prince Lct- ! rowski abroad, and he started her in j town. Our acquaintances on the Gonitinent and at homo were mostly men. ; Mr Gellender had entirely given up the search for Molly, and. a> you know, had elected to live the life of a recluse. With'the few women we knew Barbara was very cautious, hut. of course, we both realised the tiling couldn't last. Finally, the rumour of our house • reached Die police, and so Barbara j again evolved the idea of the yacht. I During the last year or two my life I has bepn purgatory, it was hard to know that the woman for whom I 1 n• 1 ruined my prospects, and then up my career, regarded me '.imply in the lichf of a mere tool to be thrown aside

directly I haq served my turn. I had j to bear the sight of first one man, and I then another, making violent love to her, and though I knew well enough , that she was perfectly indifferent to them the sight galled me. And I 1 could do nothing. Her answers were j perfectly logical. It was part of the ischeme. We had agreed that she was j to attract the men to the house. Each man had to pay something towards | keeping up the establishment. We ran ;it on the same principle as a club.; 'Anyone dined with us who liked, if .they paid—our cook was unexception- j able. We had all the papers, an ex- j i cellent smoking-room, and. added to i j everything, there were roulette tables, I |and Barbara. My love for her was I vanishing. I grew indifferent to the ; | multitude of her lovers, and could i jwatch the admirable way she manoeuvred them with cool admiration. Molly • was my sole care, and I longed to j bring her up apart from her surroundjinsrs. I sncjrcstPil s<-ttin? some lady to teach her. and Barbara, after great (grumbling, fell in with the idea. Like jail women, she is rash. Seeing your advertisement in tho newspaper she I made up her mind to have you. as she j wanted hear "f her old home. 1 | expostulated, hut she was firm. If she !was forced into having a governess. |she declared, she would least choose |whom she liked. Though if was only j a few days before we started, you were lawful mP'» when your cousin said she | must see Barbara. The only plan was ! for me m take hr r place, which 1 did. jas you know. .(To be continued dally.).