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30 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

"THE TEMPLE OF LIES."

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"THE TEMPLE OF LIES." By J. B. HARRIS-BURLAND, I Author of "Gabriel Janthry," "The Broken Law," "The Guardian of His Honour," "The Splendid Felon," &c., Ac. BEGIN THE STORY TO-DAY I Chapter I.-In a cottage an a Cardiganelijre mou:;ta:n, Erarys )(&I!. a consumptive, is being j3ited I hy Dr. Jones, of Trethol. Emry", who h," on:r three years to live, per?iia<J?s him to pro- nlaim him death, in order that his mother might H'CU", the ;CIO." for which he was insured.—Chanter H. fouls U., mother waitiiit for news from her ion! A yoJicitor calls with the nopws that Emsys has been left £ 303.>0 h> Mr. Richard Morgan. Directly x:ter Owladys Morgan t-he da.,?nte,, receivBs a. -c??age f-M DT. Jones ?hat &rnrys b;W "died." Emrya. ha'in pre- deoeared his relative, theIPgaCVTeVerS to Owen H.is?n* Owe?Hu?hpe aj?d Audrey Anw *i i, t.Ve daughzer o? n' 0 1)he r',hst men in Wales, in 'hich h, eonfe?es his ic,?e for her. Au'dfy tdis h'm that she )<?as Knirv«. Morris Ajiwyl, Audrey's iithe,, enters. and a d;U,¡æion takes place on th& question 01 capital and labo.iT, in which Anwyl loses his temper. Oiver? having o'rampioned the men's cause.—In C'hapter IV. l> receives a telegram irora Gwlad" vs Morgan, wrgently ask ing atit;aMr(\ (;Âts wrg: attempts to bribe b;I m .C" iap*r V. tails how Emrrs is abdt't. to escape from the cottage when there comes a knock tt t tho d;;or It turns out to be a tramp, who rnos Ernrys. Emrys seizes a whisky bottle and strikes the man OR the head, lea-viag him rncn;;ej(>ru- In Ch.t.ptfr'Vt. a. solicitor calls and informs Owen it ches of his jotd fortune. He decides to use it for th benefit of his fellow-men.—Chapter VII.—EmrVs a-rives at Cardiff Docks. and :!ai: on the Hvpatia, under the assumed nairie of William Ree.'>. He decides to ,e Audrey un~e m ,¡e. and with that intention goes up town.—Chapiter VUI.—tiwladys calls, apen AmVrey" In an uiterva. of silcnce there comes a.. stuirp tap upon the window. Gwiadys draws aside the curtain, and. by .le aid of the electric light, sets something move back I She knew that Da vid Jones was dead. „ i — — into the darknes*. In the morrinir Audrey coe« into th* garden and, to her consternation, picky; up a. gold match-box which l1e bad given to Emrys.— Chapter IX.—Dr David Jones reads in a newspaper of the total lo«s of the Hvpatia. The only survivor is 4 man named Arthur Rollin?. The doctor then calls ■■ upon. Lawyer Griffiths, who informs him that !r, Mragan intends to her joi's- body exhumed. Dr. Jon*s returns noine, writes a letter to hi .-> itrr. and poisons himself. CHAPTER IX (Continued). "David!" "he cried: "David! What is tbe! matter? Why do you look at me like The man did not answer, but his lips were -wreathed in a. glia-tiy nm-ile. Then he fell heavily forward with his face and arms cl.a the table. Davi<i! cried the d itracted woman, aud rhe rushed forward, her lank, black hair hanging down on her shoulders, her dressing- gown held round her with one hand, and the) other ftretohed out as if to grasp her b-ot c-r by the shoulder. But the fingers never so much 8i! touched the cloth of his coat. She drew them back. and screamed with fear, j Then the scream died away into a low wi,ii. I anti she cla-sped her hands together, and I) rtared at the bottle on the table. From where ehe stood she could read the inec no- tion etched on the glase. She had some knowledge of chemistry. for she had learnt. to help her brother in the dispensing of medicine. She knew that David Jones was dead. ) For a. minute she did not move; then site i crept round the room, keeping close to the wall. and as far from the table as possible. Another woma.n without her knowledge might have rushed out into the st,reet ¡ a.nd screamed for help. But Marj Jones knew that her brother was beyond the reach of all human aid. He bad killed himself, and the world must be led to believe that he died by acoident. That 18 all that she oould do for him. and that 11' what she had to do at once before she let the neighbours know what had happened. Then ehe 8aw the letter on the mantelpiece. and, snatching at it, she tore open the enve- lope and read the contents. "Dear Mary, Tan the message. "I'm sorry to leave you, but I cannot face the battle any longer. All I have, which is precious little, is yours. The force of circumstances has driven me to this. "Emrys Morgan did not die the other day in the cottage up in the mountains, and a j stranger, who died of exposure and exhaoe- j tion, was buried in his name. Morgan bribed me to help him in this with the thousand pounds he left me in his will. -1 rave a false certificate of death. The idea was to get the insurance money. "But I believe that Emrys Morgan is now dead. He shipped on the Hypatia under the iname of William Bees, and the ve?el WM lo?t with all hands, save one. You can read about it in the newspaper. "1 am not telling you this because I wish to unburden my soul to you before I die, but for a. definite purpose. These Morgans, mother and daughter, have played a mean trick On me. They have decided to dispute the will, and even suspect me of murder. There is talk of the grave being opened. If they had done this they would have cut their own throats, but, unfortunately, •Qaey would bave cut mime a8 well. Now I am beyond their reach, and I leave their fate in your hands. Strike hard, but do mot, strike till you are certain of smashing them up, till your blow will have most effect. The girl Gwladye is at the bottom of this. I Do not spare her a single pang of her humiliation. Wait and keep this letter till yea can do most harm with it. As for myself, a stra.nge madness is on me to-right. Perhaps a saner man would have fsaitcd, have bided bis time, and taken his own vengeance. But I feel as though the sword will be broken in my hands. I give it you; strike without mercy. I feel-I know that God has rendered me powerless to do either pood or evil. The wages of sin is death. DAVID JOXF-F." She looked from the letter to the motion- lew figure at the table. Then she mechani- cally folded up the two sheets, and replaced them in their envelope. "They shall pay." the muttered, as ehe mö\ed slowly towards the door leading into the kitchen. I will bide my time." C-be made her way into the surgery, found a bottle of some harmless concoction of per. permint, emptied it into a measuring glass, and returned with both glass and bottle to the sitting-room. Then she lifted the half empty bottle of poison from the table, poured its content* ir..to the bottle which had held the pepper- nuait, and replaced the latter near to her brother's outstretched band. Having done this, she emptied the concoction of pepper- mint into the bottle which had held the poison, and carried it back into the surgery, placing it carefully on the sbelf which was reserved for poisons. A mistake," she said to beteelf, 11 sncb a thing has happened before. 'Chen she made her way out into the paa- sage, opened the front door, and thrust out her head into the darkness. Serea-m after soream of terror came from Iter lips. CHAPTER X. "Well. Owen. how goes it ?' asked Reggie P<ywya with a laugh. "It goes very well, indeed," Owen Hughes replied; we're makiug money—heaps of money—and it's going into the pockets of thoee who have earned it." Beggiie Powya smiled, and leaning back in him ohaar, blew rings of smoke towards the ceiling. Owen Hughes, who was eitting at a large mahogany desk littered with papers, swung round his revolving chair, and began to ma.ke some calculations on the back of an e,IIeLo. Three ye-a-rs had pa?sed since t'he day when Owen Hushes* had eoane into his in-Heritance. Hia face was jrraver. more careworn, and more deeply lined. His body was as lithe and athletic as it bad ever been, but his mind had I' aged considerably. There are villages and even towns where I the passing of time seems to leave ecarcely a footprint. Three, thirty, aye. and in some caees, three hundred years go by, and the same grey houses stand in the same quiet ¡ streets. Costumes a.nd manners change, but I the town or village remain unaltered. On the oilier hand, there are places where time moves like a hurricane, blotting out field and houfe and tree. These are the places where life moves and throbs in the march of pro- gress, where men toil and strive for gold, where the city stretches out its dark tentacles into the green of wood and meadow- land, and the smoke of chimneyt hangs in the a.ir where a little while ago the lark Bang and hovered over its neat. And, as it is with places, so, too. is it with men. Three years had passed. The PIa", Bryriboul, let to an American financier in need of rest, wa3 cjuaint and lovable and old-fashioned as it had ever been—nestling among its woods at the base of a. mountain, and with its parkland running down to the sea. But the hundred acres of land near Cardiff— those hundred acres so jealously guarded by their former owner from the grip of toil and c.ommN-e-had been changed beyond all recognition. The grass, where it still existed, wa* stamped down and blackened. Sheds and machinery and chimneys stood out against the 7ky. And in the earthy below men laboured like- burrowing ants, in search of wealth. Three years had passed; Mrs. Morgan and her daughter still lived in Cardiff; but owing to Hughes's generosity t,hey had moved to a larger house in a bettor part of the terra. Audrey Anwyl was still unmarried, and her father had continued to heap up upon rich. Reggie Powys had gone in for big game shooting, and had just returned from C'entral, Afric3, bigger and stronger than when he had left England, and with a. face browned by tropical suns. There Homed to be little outward change in ail these people. Mary Jones who could at any moment havo thrown -v. into at least two homes, had .stayed her hand. She was still bidiiig her time. But Owen Hughes had changed, and the change was almost as great as that which had taken place in the land whicth he had turned from green meadows to the blackened surface of a coal mine. The boyish enthu- siasm and chivalry, which had prompted him to yeU his first inheritance and throw the proceeds into the melting pot of a strike, had now, with the new re.?pont>ibiiitiee of wealth a.nd organisation, given place to a sterner frame of mind. The young champion of the wonting classes had become the grave and sober leader of men. the employer of labour, the man with a definite, purpose. Three years of work and con.flict had left their mark upon his face, and as he sat at his desl., making calculations on the back of an envelope, it seemed to Reggie Powys, who had not seen him for several months, that the pleaeant friend of his boyhood was dead, and that a stranger had taken his place "Not very glad to see me. are you?" Powys queried after a. minute or two of gilenoe" YeL-, Reggie," said Hughes without turn- ing his head. Of course, I am glad to see you. But I'm very busy. If jou will come and dine with me to-night." Sorry I oa.ii't, old man; I must spend my first evening wit-h the mater. Come, give me a minute or two; this isn't the way to treat an old pal, whom you haven't seen for a, year. "I m sorry, Reggie," Hughes- said quickly. Then he turned round in his chair and ami led, a little wearily, so it seemed to his friend. "I'm up to my eyes in work and there's trouble ahead—serious trouble, I'm afraid." "niot with your men. anyway," laughed Powye. "I hear they are capitalists-live like fighting cocks—invest money in the bank, and all that sort of thing. You don't mean to tell me they're not satisfied. Of course, I think you're foolish over them, but that's your own look-out. Youn mine is a sort of Co-operative Society, k:n't it?" It is a Limited Liability Company," Hughes replied, in which every man who works for it is a shareholder The shares are transferred to them by me, and they sign an agreement that if they leave the mine they give up the shares. It's simple enough." Very, Owen. And I shouldn't think that any of the men were in a hurry to leave you." "They aren't. But there are others who are transferred to them by me, and they a rumour of trouble with the Trade Union already; and, on the other hand, the Coal- owners' Association is giving me a. bad time." "Between the devil and the deep see, eh? Well, everyone who wants to do good in thi:- world has got to face trouble." That is so, Beggie. I'm glad you're learn- ing sense. Well, if you can dine with me to-morrow night." Very well. old chap, but you can spare me another minute or two. How are things going with you—outside businese?" I have no interests—outside business," Hughes answered quietly. I am oontent to do my work as well as I can-to eat and Bleep. That is my life." Reggie Powys frowned, and for a few moments seemed to be lost in thought. I'm sorry to hear it, old man," he said after a. pause. Life is not all work; there are things outside business. How are the Anwyls?" Owen's face darkened. I believe they are very well," he replied. I do not see any- thing of them now. Mr. Anwyl is no friend of mine, and if he had the power he would crush me out of existence He doee all he can to injure mQ" I'm sorry to hear that. You and Audrey Anwyl were such friends, weren't »ou ? I had hoped-" he paused, silenced by the terrible look in the other man'6 eyes. "Don't speak of that," Hughes muttered hoarsely. I and Audrey Anwyl are as far a.part as the two poles. She has no room in her thoughts for me, and I have none in mine for her." Are you too busy?" Powys queried with a smile- Yee, my work oocapiet all my tim,&-&ll my thoughts. There is no room in my life for anything else." Reggie Powys rose to his feet, and laid his hand on his friend's shoulder. "My dear old chap- he said. Then, as the door of the office opened, he shrank back, and relit his cigarette, which had gone out. Mr. Edmunds to pee you, sir," said the clerk. "Very well; show him in. Good morning, Reggie. Dinner to-morrow at 7.50." Powers left the room, and the little lawyer entered it. His face waf pale, and his hand tfembled as he extended it. What's the matter, Edmunds?" queried Husrhee. You look as if you'd seen a ghost." "I have. Mr. Hughes, I have; and I want to talk to you about it." TO BE CONTINUED TO-MORROW.

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