THE GRIP OF GOLD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3581, 22 July 1912, Page 3

THE GRIP OF GOLD.

By ROBERT HALIFAX.

(Author of “The Drums of Fate,” “The House of Horror,” “A Woman in Their Web,” “Law Society,” ect., etc.) (Copyright—All Rights Reserved.) CHAPTER XXHt, A MYSTERIOUS CONVERSATION. Steadily into each .other’s eyes the two men looked, as if fencing for an opening. Their hands had just mot, and then fallen apart. Spurr was first to break the pause. “You see me rather at a disadvantage, perhaps?” he asked, coolly. He had given one glance down for the other’s waistcoat. It was buttoned over by the immaculate frock-coat. “My dear sir, a medical man sees a good many of his fellow-creatures at a disadavantage—or lie starves:!” The ice .was.broken. Doctor Lancing laughed softly. Spurr found liis arm suddenly linked with an ease as enviable as stupefying. “Walk back a few steps, will you ? My chaffeur forgets what he hears- as soon as possible. but he is only a man. Thanks! Can yon guess what I have to say?” “Perhaps I can. That you find Miss St. John so much more unwell to-day that you have ordered her to keep to her room for two weeks instead of one? It will not surprise me.” He watched closely—watched a face as delicately carved and poised as those of the Greek gods. He halfadmired tlie man whose steely-blue eyes betrayed nothing. There was a suggestion of superior privilege and triumph in the curve of the doctor’s thin lips. “It need not,” he said softly. “Oh no—nothing of that. Miss St. John is still under the, soothing influence of the draught which I prescribed. “Why?” The fierce syllable would not be kept back. That melodious diawl set him quivering. It had'the ring of artificiality; it smacked of the surgery—and it hinted at the subtle advantage of his position. “Why? Speak plainly—speak like a man—if you speak to me at all!”

“My dear sir!” He laughed. “1 found it necessary; that is all. You have no knowledge of Miss St. John’s temperament, I believe. A curiously susceptible woman," apt to magnify little worries until they take tragic shape, I assure you! In fact”—iic flicked a tiny green fly from his coatsleeve a.s he glanced around—“l think seriously of sending her quite away. As -medical advisor to Mr Coder's household. I have never considered that tho Felcoto or, rather, the Manor House—atmosphere suited Miss St .John’s constitution. I am sure of it now.”

“Quite sure?” Spurr asked, still watching. “Quite! I have had considerable opportunity of judging. Er —try one of my cigarettes, Mr Spurr ? I seldom smoke myself, but I believe these are worth an experiment!” Spurr looked at the gold-mounted case, without seeming to see it. Ho looked away. His face had not moved a muscle.

“Do you ever smoke cigars?” he asked, absently. “Yes—once a month, perhaps,” came the quick answer. “I see. I merely wondered.”

Then tho pause. Doctor Lancing was- a little paler, if anything—that was all. He smoothed his gloves till the other man roused as from a vorerie.

“I have an idea,” Spurr said slowly, “that Miss St. John is a woman who will suit her own convenience in the matter entirely. And there we will leave——”

“You speak for her?” flashed from the thin lips- He bowed, smilingly. “That is a revelation for me. Possibly,..too, your own faith in doctor’s advice is limited?”

“As it happens, it is. I never needed the advice to any extent.”

“You have been fortunate, then!” “Yes,” he said, with a steady deliberation. “Perhaps I have.” And hi was moving away. “One moment!” His arm was gripped. Gilbert Dancing's voice came a trifle faster. “J can waive that studied insult—l can afford to. I’ll say what I meant to say. lam not curious in the least in regard to your intentions, but I have just happened to recollect something interesting. You may want mo before long. In fact, you may find me an indispensable factor in your .affairs. See?” “You?” Spurr measured him with his eye from head to foot, as if to gauge something for a future contingency. “You?” he repeated. “Precisely- You see, although Mr Loder lived without friends, lie could not die without fulfilling a legal condition. I believe—l am not positive —I am named as one of the executors o! your late uncle’s will. Ho mentioned gome time ago that he had done me that honor. He may have changed his mind since. If not, as I say, you may need me. That is all! Very little, was it, not?” “And who is the other executor, may I ask?”' - kj “Ten. may! It is Mr Carnforth <uf highly-esteemed minister bore. Like many other free-thinkers, Mr Lcrkr preferred a religious man foi that capacity !”

Minutes appeared to pass before Wilfred Spur rcoukt seem to rivet his

faculties upon tho development. His mind was still in the maze, following that velvet-footed figure along the shadowy paths. Ho was about to speak, when, for the second time, he found his wrist gripped. Doctor Lancing stared, pointed, and dropped it, with a palpable sneer in liis laugh. (To ho continued daily.)