34° 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[January, igo6. 



a magnificent open space lay to his right, laid out with 

 flower beds and grass plots, and beyond a truly noble 

 flight of steps, broken with balustrades and statues, 

 forming the grand approach to the historic terrace from 

 which rose that noble pile, looking so much grander 

 when seen from below, of the Palace of Westminster. 

 For some time he stood wrapped in admiration. Me 

 felt that the British House of Representatives now 

 really equalled that of the States; for how would the 

 Capitol at Washington appear, from an architectural 

 point of view, were it situated in a depression, and 

 looked down upon instead of being looked up to? 



Further on, great houses with their shop fronts 

 again walled in the streets. To the left was a bridge 

 spanning the Canal, now packed with barges being 

 towed up and down to the various wharves lining its 

 sides. All was changed and altered ! Like the 

 inhabitants themselves ! The very buildings in their 

 grandeur seemed to cut the millionaire dead ! Calling 

 up a motor car he jumped in and was whisked off to 

 interview his lawyer and hear how things were de- 

 veloping. Rapidly he was sped along the smooth 

 asphalt down the great thoroughfare. Onward he 

 went under Westminster Bridge, past the great North- 

 umberland Avenue approach whence a glimpse of 

 Trafalgar Square could be obtained, till, passing up on 

 to the Embankment near Waterloo Bridge, he was 

 deposited before the great buildings of the Xew Temple 

 facing the Inner Temple Gardens. Here were situated 

 /lumbers of new chambers for barristers and solicitors, 

 who, in their increased numbers had flooded out the 

 older rookeries of legal experts. 



Entering the offices, he there found assembled some 

 half-dozen men, his associates in business and others. 

 The grey-haired solicitor eyed him gravely as he 

 entered, and spoke earnestly in a hushed undertone. 

 Serious, indeed, was the import of his words. The 

 interview did not last long. Tush, for a wonder, was 

 ver-- taciturn, and said but little in reply to the anxious 

 exhortations of the lawyer. Presently he turned and 

 caught sight of Bateson, who was standing whispering 

 mysteriously to one of the others with his eves fixed on 

 Cornelius. " You have brought all this on me," 

 roared Tush, livid with rage. " You scoundrel ! " 

 Then, turning to the others, he recognised some of 

 the prominent shareholders in the great company, some 

 who had been addicted to asking awkward questions. 

 " That I," he muttered through his teeth, " I, who 

 could buy up this whole blessed city, that I should re- 

 ceive such insult I Such ignominy ! You dare to 

 threaten me, do you ? Call me ' swindler ' and have 

 me up in your dirty Law Courts for fraud ! Xo, no, 

 my friends. You'll find f/iat won't pay. W'hy, I could 

 put you down a million apiece to keep your tongues 

 from wagging, aye, and not feel it. Only I wnn't. 

 I'll have nothing more to do with you darned Britishers. 

 I've got all the dollars I want out of you, and now I 

 can face my own countrymen, thank God ! Onlv I 

 should like to spoil all that fine street I've made for vou 

 first. Thankless curs I " And turning on his heel he 



left the room. 



CHAPTER IX. 



The New Thames. 



Happy is the man who amidst life's storms has ever 

 at hand a harbour of safetv wherein he can obtain rest 

 and peace; a home of refuge for his troubled mind, a 

 comforter and friend, in whom he can confide, and 

 luckv was Cornelius in having such a possession still to 

 fall back upon. 



Returning to his rooms in the palatial Thames Hotel 



he found his faithful Alma and his petted and affec- 

 tionate daughter. What soothing influence they 

 brought upon his agitated brain! "Alma," he said 

 calmly, " we must leave this cursed country. Never 

 again shall I put foot in it. We will return to our own 

 old States, and there we may find peace and happiness, 

 but not here; we must be off by the first bo;it.' His 

 tactful wife soon grasped the situation. She saw how 

 greatly her husband was worried over his business, and 

 she, too, knew how dangerous that was for him whom 

 the doctors had declared possessed of a weak heart. 

 She soothed him gentlv, but still she divined the serious 

 causes that influenced his intentions. "Cornelius," 

 she replied, " you are worried and upset. We cannot 

 start to-day. Let us, then,. go for one more delightful 

 quiet sail on the lovely river. It will do \ou good, you 

 know it always does." 



So leaving their rooms the trio went forth, bent on 

 enjoying the last few hours thev might have in 

 England. How little did they think that for one of 

 them it was the last few hours in any land ! 



Within a short space of time they were rattling along 

 in the train through the southern districts of London, 

 when, on passing clear of a large factory, a brilliant 

 scene was presented to their eyes. A peaceful, 

 pleasurable sight, yet one to sicken and embitter 

 Cornelius' feelings ! Another of his creations to be 

 presented to his enemies, for the train approached a 

 long, a very long bridge, and this bridge spanned a 

 broad stretch of water, the New Thames ! Looking 

 down from this eminence a good view of the grand 

 river was obtainable. Dotted about on this were 

 numerous sailing boats and small yachts, beating their 

 wav hither and thither, their white sails looking so 

 clean and bright against the blue water and the green 

 trees beyond, for there on either bank were the newly 

 laid-out gardens of many little villas cropping up like 

 mushrooms all around. This splendid artificial lake, 

 here of great width, but further on narrowing into the 

 gorge of the great cutting through the Surrev Hills, 

 formed, indeed, the much-needed playground for boat- 

 loving Londoners. How much appreciated it was by 

 the old hands who had steered their craft on the narrow 

 and enclosed reaches of the old Thames ! And what 

 lovely little surburban retreats there were springing 

 up upon its rising banks ! In a few years more, when 

 those voung saplings had attained mature dimensions, 

 would not those wooded slopes compare even with the 

 picturesque confines of the Bosphorus? 



Soon the party had alighted at the little station now 

 crowded with people clad in white flannels and straw 

 hats, for it transpired that a regatta was being held. 

 Thence thev walked down to the river-side and on to 

 the landing stage of " Tvler's," and soon were seated 

 in the smart little centre-board vacht, the Wafer Witcli. 

 This vessel had been bought by Cornelius but a few 

 davs previously as a means of escape from that society 

 which he now so disliked. But a few minutes more 

 and the little ship was sailing off gailv before the strong 

 gusts of wind which rippled over the deep blue water, 

 breaking up the monotony of colour from the ice-like 

 calm under the windward banks. 



No feeling is pleasanter, no motion more calming to 

 the mind, than that of gliding in a sailing boat through 

 the water in a fresh breeze, with the gurgling sound of 

 the tinv waves rippling against the sides of the vessel. 

 Cornelius, ever determined to have the supreme com- 

 mand in all things, took the helm and piloted the yacht 

 on its voyage. First thev sailed over to where the 

 regatta was being held. The course, clearly marked 

 out with buoys, almost as distinctly as a race course 



