'neath the shining southern cross,
news of gain and news of loss,
silver veining hidden rocks
changes hourly shares and stocks:
by the magic power of shares,
paupers turn to millionaires--
millionaires to paupers change;
transformation swift and strange.
genii, no, nor fairy kings
could not do such wond'rous things
as are daily done by scores,
on australia's golden shores.
what passed between maxwell and samson belk at their interview, mrs. belswin could never discover; but as archie did not in any way change his manner towards her she was satisfied that her name had not transpired during the conversation, or if it had, belk had said nothing detrimental to her in any way. as to belk himself, she saw him when he came up to london, but he refused to tell her whether he had overheard the conversation between herself and sir rupert, and she was therefore forced to remain in a constant state of uneasiness. although belk denied that he had been out of the house after his return from the four o'clock interview, and supported this assertion by the evidence of his mother and the curate, yet mrs. belswin had a kind of half suspicion that he had been on the terrace on the night in question, and had heard more than he was willing to confess. but, then, she argued to herself that, if this were the case, he would certainly use his power over her to force her into marriage with him, whereas he did nothing of the sort, but behaved as if he knew absolutely nothing.
it was now three months since the famous interview at the belk cottage, and samson had carried out the plan proposed by his mother. he had appeared at a first-class music hall as the "nineteenth century samson," and, by his superior strength, had easily distanced his rivals, both "the new milo" and "the modern hercules." they, of course, were furious at being eclipsed, but his mother was delighted with his success; the music hall manager was charmed at the crowds drawn by his new star, and perhaps the only person not thoroughly happy was the star himself. the reason of this discontent was, that in order to preserve his strength, he had to lead a very abstemious life, both as regards food and drink, so that, although he was making a large income, he was not enjoying it. despite his discontent, however, he still led his life of an ascetic, and saved all his money, which was a marked contrast to his former extravagant ways; but then, he had a purpose in economising, and the purpose was mrs. belswin, whom he had made up his mind to marry, as soon as he was rich enough.
in the meantime, that lady was leading a sufficiently comfortable life, as, when she ran short of money, she always drew on dombrain, who did not dare to refuse it to her. kaituna still lived with her, and, as some time had elapsed since the death of her father, she had recovered nearly all her former vivacity, and was looking anxiously forward to her marriage with archie--a marriage which was soon to take place, owing to the good news from australia about the pole star silver mine.
toby clendon had duly arrived in the land of the southern cross, and had sent home brilliantly written letters of his travels, which satisfied the editor, and delighted the readers of the weekly scorpion, in addition to this excellent literary work, which, by the way, was giving him a name in journalistic circles, he had made inquiries about the pole star mine, and although the information he obtained was disheartening enough at first, yet, after a time the pole star silver shares began to be inquired about, and in a few weeks were actually worth money.
archie, who had benefited by his mining experiences in the colony, and, moreover, had made friends with an enterprising share broker, who was, as they say "in the know," sent to kaituna for the scrip lying in the hands of dombrain. after some difficulty, archie, who acted as her agent, obtained it from the unwilling dombrain, and sent all the scrip, to the value of two thousand shares, out to toby, with a power of attorney authorising him to deal with them as he judged best.
acting by the advice of his stockbroker, toby judged it best to hold the scrip, as the shares were on the rise, and in a few days his confidence in the mine was justified. a lode was discovered in the pole star ground, which was said to rival the celebrated comstock lode in california, which sent all 'frisco mad in the old days, and the shares began to rise rapidly, so rapidly indeed, that toby was justified in thinking that kaituna would be a great heiress after all. they went from nothing up to twenty pounds a share; again by slow gradations they rose to fifty pounds each, and toby wanted to sell, but his stockbroker still advised him to hold. in a month they were worth one hundred pounds each, and toby still held on. the excitement in melbourne was intense, and other silver mining companies began to spring round the famous pole star, in several of which toby invested the salary he drew from the weekly scorpion. the surrounding mines were very fluctuating in the share market, but the pole star itself never faltered for a moment in its upward career, and at the end of three months, toby wired to maxwell that the shares were now worth the enormous value of two hundred pounds each.
maxwell, in a state of great excitement, consulted mrs. belswin and kaituna, and they, considering that a bird in the hand was worth two in the bush, decided to sell at that price. instructions were wired out to clendon to realise without delay, which he did carefully by selling the shares in parcels, as two thousand thrown on the market, for no apparent cause, would have caused a drop in the price. the selling took some time; but at the end of a month or so the whole two thousand were disposed of, and the amount standing to the credit of miss kaituna pethram in the bank of australia was somewhere about four hundred thousand pounds, which was certainly a very respectable fortune for a girl formerly penniless.
kaituna herself was wild with joy, and wanted to marry maxwell at once; but, strange to say, he that had urged on the marriage when she was poor, now held back, lest it should be said he was marrying her for her money. mrs. belswin, however, promptly settled all that, and talked him over into getting married at once. then a letter was received from toby, saying that he also had been successful in mining speculations to the amount of some thousands, and was on his way home to miss valpy and matrimony.
ultimately the two girls decided that they would be married in the same way, and archie felt deeply grateful that things had turned out so well; while mrs. belswin, confident now that kaituna's happiness was secured, both as regards income and marriage, looked upon her life's work as over.
of course she had to reckon with ferrari who still urged her to marry him; and as she had told archie that she was engaged to the italian, she did not very well see how she was going to escape this match, which was decidedly repugnant to her, as it separated her from her child, and gave her to a man for whom she cared nothing. belk also hinted that his intentions were matrimonial as soon as he had amassed sufficient money; so mrs. belswin lamented the good looks which had placed her between two matrimonial fires. while she was in this unpleasant situation, fate, in the person of mr. dombrain, intervened and decided the question in a highly unpleasant manner.
after his failure to convict ferrari and belk of the crime of murder, archie had quite given up the idea of finding out the assassin; and kaituna began to think that he would never be discovered. she proposed to archie when they were married, to devote their newly gained wealth to seeking out the cowardly assassin; but maxwell, who had grave doubts about mrs. belswin, ferrari, and belk, endeavoured to dissuade her. it will be said that if maxwell had doubts like this, why did he permit kaituna to remain with the companion? but the fact is, all his doubts were very undecided. he could not accuse mrs. belswin, as he had no evidence to go on, so he was forced to remain quiet and let things take their course.
in the acquirement of the money through the pole star mine, in thinking of the double marriage soon to take place, the death of sir rupert was beginning to be almost forgotten, when suddenly it was brought to the minds of all interested by a terrible event.
mrs. belswin was arrested on a charge of having committed the murder.
