CHAPTER VII. A FORESHADOWING OF EVENTS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 292, 7 September 1910, Page 7

CHAPTER VII. A FORESHADOWING OF EVENTS.

Tn an instant Arbuthnot had crossed the room and closed the panel. Then he as quickly drew the unresisting girl into the deep shadows cast by the huge chair in which he had been, sifting, in front of whieh he now stood. And Anna, to whom discovery by Elisc meant reeonsignnicnt to the fate which she had escaped, crouched down under its sheltering arms as Mrs. Strathcarrou came in at the eloor. Had she heard the piteous cry, "Alec ! Oh, Alec !" Jack wondered ; also would Alec blunder and betray his sister's presence ? But Alec stared stolidly at his wife and too!>' refuge in silence. "I—don't let me disturb you,'' she said. "I have only been giving some necessary orders, and looked in here on my way. You were both so silent i concluded you had gone to bed." "We were growing drowsy. T admit," interposed .lack, "but that is a habit of mine—l mean, to smoke until 1 a m thoroughly sleepy. Don't wait for me, Alec. I should like another cigarette if Mis. Strathcarron lias no objection." Their eyes met, and Alec understood. "Is Jack's room all right ?" be asked. "I'll come with you. Elise. and have a look round. Even his cem'ounded energy can't hold out much longer. Smoke your cigarette, .lack ; I'll come back for you in five minutes." Elise, taking her husband's utterances as a sign of returning aO'ection, wished Mr. Arbuthnot a gracious "Oootl night," and preceded Alec from the room. The door once closed on them, Anna sprang from her place of concealment towards the panel, but was intercepted by .lack. "Wait," he said. "Your brother will return shortly, expecting to find you here. Do not fear ; Mrs. Strathcarron shall not sec you." "You—you" she faltered, woneleiingly. "I am John Arbuthnot, Alec's frienfl, and very much at your service." "And —and you know" "I 1-now a great deal, Mrs. Vane ; the rest I can guess. For instance, it needs no stretch of the imagination to gaih-r the fact that you have not dined. You must allow me, in your brother's absence" There was something insistent — something compelling in his tone and manner —against which even the inborn pride in Anna St > at le-arron melted lil-.e wax before a flame. Evidently a person of resource, he had opened the doors of the big carved sielcboard, and finding within them some fruit, biscuits, and cak". spread them before the girl, whom he suspected to be almost famishing for want of food, first making her take a glass of wine, which sent thestagnant blood coursing through her veins. "Don't try to explain ; best not talk at all yet," advised Jacli. "Tryto think I'm butler, and concentrate

on the business in hand, which is, I take it, making the best meal possible under the circumstances." And then he tmn-.'d away and appeared occupied in the contemplation of one of the dingy oi! painting.- inserted in the. panelling, at the same time keeping a careful watch on the door. Meanwhile, though his back was towards her, lie knew that the girl was eating heartily, if not ravenously, and admiration for her courage evoked that pity and sympathy which, we are told, is dangerously akin to love. How beautilul she was, too ! But she was another man's wife ; he must remember that. What unkind fate had so ordained their lives? Why had Darho Fortune kept them apart, only allowing the seeds of love to be sown too late?. If th \v —Alec and he—had elected to come over by an earlier ship, even a fewdays would have sulliced to save her fr.om And then, still gating at the old oil painting as if absorbed in it, John Arbuthnot silently .echoed Alec's vow that never, except by her own free will, should Anna lie compelled to return to the husband who had practically forced her into becoming his wife. Within the five minutes Alec returned, a nd took in the situation at a glance. His friend interrupted the outburst trembling on his lips. "In your absence I ventured to play the host, Alec," he said. " I will leave you now, but" "I would rather you remained, Jack. Anna, Arbuthnot is my friend, and 1 may need his advice. Need he go '?" Anna stood beside her brother, shyly, with downcast eyes. "Jack is to be trusted, Anna, dear," continued Alec. "Have I not already had proof of that?" broke in Anna, gratefully. ' But, Alec, it is for you to decide. You will want to hear what has happened, and It may be necessary to speak of Elise." "1 am aware of it," replied Alec, tightening his . lips ; "but I prefer Jack should stay" "You understand me," went on Anna, earnestly. "I have no accusation to ma'<o against Elise ; it—it is only that I implore both of you do not tell her that I am here. Sheshe thinks wealth and position of so much importance. She—believes love —can come after marriage. Shewould make mo return to—to him — for what she would call 'my own good.' " While Anna was pleading in low, throbbing cadences Jack Arbuthnot's heart thrilled and pulsated as he hael never known it thrill before. He was torn with pity for the girl's unhappy plight, and waited for Alee to give the assurance. "Why, in Heaven's name, did you consent to marry him, Anna ?" askeel her brother. '•' To save Abbotsvale-!—as I thought," she replied, despairingly. "He threatened to foreclose, to sell the house and lands. There was no help, as it seemed ; and then, wearied out with anxiety and suspense, I" Alec put his arm around her. "I want to know why you left him," he asked. "Why ?" ejaculated Anna, springing to her feet a nd forgetting the admiring presence of Mr. Arbuthnot in a superb outburst of indignation. "Why, Alec ? Because he broU; faith. He had promised that on the day I became his wife he would sign a full release of his claim over Abbotsvale. I gave him credit for at least common honesty, but soon after the train left Carlisle he admitted he hael no intention of fulfilling his word. More than that, lie had found out the existence of coal beneath our woods, anel meant to fell the trees anel sink pit-shafts where they now stand. Alec, he defied me —and alse> you —to turn him i'rom his purpose. I could have killed him as he sat, sneering at our helplessness. in the train. 1 did threaten to throw myself on the line, but" Anna became conscious that both men. were breathing hard —that two pairs of hands were tightly clenched and two pairs of eyes blazing a thousand fires. "Me went out into the corridor to find the refreshment-car," she continued, quietly, "and then I, putting on my tam and old golf-cloak, moveel into another compartment, remaining there until the train stopped at Penrith. I had previously secured one of the tickets from the pocket of his coat, which he had left in the train, and, unnoticed in my old clothes, got easily out of the station. I slept at a cottage that night, and next morning travelled back to Blairgowrie. I dreaded lest he had telegraphed instructions to detain me. but I was unmolested, and reached home safely. "Poor little girl ! Thank God you had sufficient money ! But. Anna, dear, why are you hiding ?" "Don't you see, Alec, Elsie might think I ought not to have done it, and then Oh, Alec, apart from my lack of money to hide elsewhere 1 hungered to get back, to cry out; my grief in the dear old homestead while yet it remained to us, to tell my sorrows to Nurso Macgregor, to pray her to conceal me in the deserted rooms until, perhaps, I could get across the Atlantic to you in Canada ! 1 got here, Heaven only knows how, anel slipped unobserved in: o -the house by the abbots' postern" "A long-disused entrance," explained Alec to Jack. "Hut though I watched and listened I could not find nurse alone ; and then, when—suffering from cold and hunger, 6 ' my eyes burning anei smarting in the darkness, I thought my reason \v a s leaving me—l heard your voice. At first I feared it might be an hullucinnt ion—-the beginning of the end—but soon I knew it was" a blessed reality. Alec, dear, dear Alec !" "My poor little sister !" What would not John Arbuthnot have given to have been in Alec's place, holding Anna in his arms, clasping her to his heart, soothing her and kissing away the falling fears ! "It, was not wrong for me to run away, was it ?''• she sobbed. "It was a contract, anel as he did not mean to keep his word, why should 1 lie compelled to fulfil mine ? But oli, Alec, is it true ? Has he the power to bore for coal —to raz* down the dear old house ?"• (To be Continued.)