[Frontispiece: 'WHAT A JOLLY LITTLE PLACE!' REMARKED MARGARET] THE SECRET OF OAKLANDS By M. HARDING KELLY _Author of "Philip Campion's Will," "Roy" "Tom Kenyan," etc._ LONDON R.T.S.--LUTTERWORTH PRESS 4 BOUVERIE STREET, E.C.4 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE WHITEFRIARS PRESS LTD. LONDON AND TONBRIDGE CONTENTS CHAPTER I. PARTING OF THE WAYS II. OAKLANDS III. TRIALS IV. INFLUENCE V. THE GREAT FIGHT VI. OLD FRIENDS VII. BOB IN TROUBLE VIII. DISCOVERY IX. A BOND OF UNION X. FIRE XI. AN OLD CRIME XII. HAPPINESS THE SECRET OF OAKLANDS CHAPTER I PARTING OF THE WAYS "Father, what _is_ the matter?" The question came in sharp tones of distress from a young girl who at that moment entered the breakfast-room. Quickly she sprang to her father's side and began chafing his cold hands, as she gazed with fear-stricken eyes into the beloved face before her. Cyril Woodford made no response, but sat as if stunned, staring with apparently unseeing eyes at the newspaper before him, which his nerveless fingers had just dropped. His face was ashen, and there was a nervous twitching about his lips as he tried to moisten them with his tongue. "Father dear, speak--tell me why you look like this! Has something terrible happened?" No answer came in words, but with a shaking finger the man pointed to the heading of a column in the newspaper in front of him. GREAT FINANCIAL CRASH FAILURE OF SAMPSON'S BANK, LTD. For a few seconds Margaret Woodford looked at the words with a puzzled expression wrinkling her brows, then something of the trouble involved dawned upon her mind. "Sampson's has failed, I see--does--does it mean you have lost some money, dear?" she asked a little hesitatingly. "All--_all_," he said huskily, while a shiver shook his frame as though he were attacked with ague. The girl's face paled. There was silence in the room for a few moments, and then, rising from her cramped position at his side, she said gently: "I'm going to ring for some fresh coffee, father; yours is cold." "I don't want anything; I couldn't eat," he answered. But, ignoring this remark, she rang and gave her order, and in a few minutes a fresh cup of the fragrant beverage was poured out and brought to him. "Drink it, just to please me," she said coaxingly, "you are so cold; and presently you will explain it all to me, won't you?" For a minute or two longer her father sat silent, then hastily drained the cup before him, rose a little uncertainly, and went out of the room, leaving his breakfast still untasted. His daughter remained seated, mechanically eating a finger of toast, and deep in painful thought.