BROKEN BONDS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 294, 14 September 1910, Page 7

BROKEN BONDS.

IV / • ' Pi—../ (Copyright.)

A THRILLING ROMANCE OF LOVE AND INTRIGUE, * » . ■ By MAURICE SCOTT, Author of "Tho Mark of the BroaS Arrow," "Tracked by Fate,"Etc., Etc. PART 7. Vet the apparition had vanished in (hat direction, and from thence came the strange rustling she had heard. Then she found that most of her husband's neglected wardrobe had been piled on top of an old oaken chest—once a thing of beauty ; now, like most things at Abbotsvale, falling to pieces for want of repair. Mrs. Strathcarron looked at it from all points of view, and then discovered where one of the panels was suflicicntly loose to move without raising the lid. She touched it, and it came out noiselessly ; then she inserted her hand, and, groping, pulled out a bundle. Ah ! She had been right in her surmise. Alec had played the ghost. Here she found the Cavalier hat, the long, flowing claok which had struck such terror throughout the household, the wig tied with a bow of broad ribbon. She smiled grimly as she replaced the Panel, scattering the disordered garments on the chest in the same condition as she had found them, and carrying away her " find " into a place of safety. She might—probably would —incur Alec's wrath if found out, but she resolved to risk it. The ghost had—so it was reported—been most erratic in his movements, and it was just possible she might return the disguise to its hiding-place by the time Mr. Strathcarron elected to again disport himself in the guise of one of his own ancestors. Fortune seemed to favour her enterprise, as at breakfast Alec and Mr. Arbuthnot announced that business would take them to Edinburgh that day, and towards evening a wire brought the information they were detained all night on business, but would return on the following after' noon. She waited with impatience until the household had gone to bed ; the minutes dragged as might hours, until at length the whole house seemed wrapped in silence, and she could almost hear the beating of her heart. For now Elise's nerve began to fail her. However great an incubus Alec might be, however great a bar to her ambition, however opposed to her desire for town life, still, as a protector, he was tower of strength. 'Twere easy to scout at fear either of the living or the dead while such a redoubtable champion were within reach ; but there was an uncanny feeling in prowling about at midnight, burlesquing one of the dead-and-gone Strathcarron! in a house whose inmates held the firmest belief in the supernatural. However, the chance had been given her. Should she let it slip she might never get another. She waited until the big clock chimed the hour of midnight, and then, when the reverberations had ceased, dressed herself most carefully in the Cavalier disguise, discarding her woman's skirts in favour of Alec's shooting knicker-bockers, and arranging the cloak over her mouth and chin so as to conceal the absence of Alec's beard and moustache. So interested and earnest was she over her task, that for the time she forgot her terrors. Iler lack of height was a disadvantage ; that old' Scottish cat might be relied on to have eyes like a whole packet of needier'. Still, for the first time she felt thankful there was 110 gas at Abbotsvale, thinking she could surely trust to the imporfect light to escape detection. Carrying a clumsy lantern—of which she intended to rid herself at •the first convenient opportunity —to guide her trembling steps along the dark) corridors and neck-breaking flights of staircases which must of necessity be traversed before the mysterious locked door could be reached Elise set forth with as much courage as she could .summon to her aid. And how the stairs creaked and groaned, even at her light weight, while now and then she seemed to hear strange whisperings ! Soon rushes of cold air passed her by, as though the creakings arose from the pressure of invisible feet. Perhaps some of the dead-and-gone Strath:arrons were afoot to-night, whispering to one another that here was ac alien to their blood —a wife bent on disobedience to her husband's will ! Pshaw! it was but a figment ol the imagination—an additional inontive to employ every possible means to free herself from the thraldom of narrow-minded superstition. At last ! She concealed the lantern in a niche, drew the long, flowing cloa': more closely about her face, and then knocked softly at the locked door. There was 110 immediate answer, and she knocked again. Then she heard tottering footsteps on the inside, followed by a whispered voice : "Is it your ainsel', Maistcr Alec ?" Nurse Macgregor ! Could she counterfeit Alec's tones ? In hei girlhood Elise had been considered a clever mimic ? She made an effort. "Yes. Jt is I. Let me in." She heard the key rattle in the big, old-fashioned wards of the lock, ane then the door swung back, disclosing a dimly-lighted corridor, on the threshold of which stood the faithful servitor—a picture of old-fash-ioned neatness. " I wasna' expectin' ye the nicht, Maister Alec," slie said, in a tone 01 affectionate respect, as she stooc aside, that the visitor might precede her into the passage. Elise for a moment wrestled with the impulse to throw off her disguise—to assert her authority as mistress of Abbotsvale, and demand to know what was taking place, unknown to her, beneath her roof. J Jut her indecision was speedily overcome. She knew this staunch old Highland woman bare an almost savage fidelity to the fetrathcarrons, and from the first had resented the introduction of the hated Southron in thir midst. Mistress Macgregor might frustrate hgr evea bow;

and then, assuming a stride in Keeping with her attire, Elise passed over the threshold, through 1 lie corridor, and onwards into a room at the end, in which a light but made the darkness appeal - more visible. The mystery was solved, and Mrs. Strathcarron averted her face from the old nurse, lest the malicious triumph in her eyes should pierce even through the gloom. On a curtained and canopied bed lay poor Anna, her pale, wasted cheeks and heavilyshadowed eyes proclaiming the violence of the battle with the King of Terrors from which she had emerged scarcely as yet victorious. She appeared unconscious ; or was she, asleep '? Elise crept softly to the bedside, screening herself partly behind the curtains, and signing to Nurse Macgregor not to speak. Y'et there was not one touch of womanly pity in her callous heart for the visible suffering brought about by her own treachery. Her whole mind was concentrated upon the uses to which she could turn the knowledge which Aiec and Arbuthnot had conspired to keep from her, together with the best means of getting back to her own room unrecognised. On the other side of the bed Mistress Macgregor was leaning tenderly over the sick girl, but suddenly she tiptoed away, bcckomng Elise to follow her. "The puir lamb's sleepin', Maister Alec," she whispered. "As 1 tolled ye the morn, the fever's burned itself oot. Pinna wakken her. Gang back to yer bed. Please God, I'll hae ; guid tidings for ye the morn." Not hin' could have suited Elise better than this admonition, and silently she motioned to the old woman to precede her through the corridor to the locket! door, breathing freely only when, after ret rieving her lantern, she had regained her own apartments. Then with almost a cry of delight she divested herself of garments that were far from comfortable, and after restoring the disguise to its hidingplace behind the 1 roken panel ol the old oak trunk, she gladly went back to bed to weave schemes for the undoing of poor, suffering Anna which should redound to her own benefit, confident that Alec, finding his treasures in the same place in which he i had left them, would never dream of their having been removed during his 1 absence. * * * * * * Returning to Blairgowrie railway station on the evening of the following day in a f,n '. v of impatience with the lawyers, whom, he considered, had detained him so needlessly and with such unprofitable results, the Laird of Strathcarron was handed a letter by the station-master, whom he greeted in friendly fashion. "Mrs. Strathcarron asked me to give you this, sir. She had not time to write before leaving home." "Mrs. Strathcarron !" The astonishment in his voice was obvious. "Open the letter, man," said Arbuthnot, at his elbow-. Alec did so ; a hurried scrawl in pencil, scarcely legible. "My sister is seriously ill, and has begged me to go to London without loss of time. My only sister —you could not object. Write on arrival. " Elise." "Mrs. Strathcarron told me she had scribbled it in the carriage, sir," put in the station-master, as the two gentlemen tried to decipher the blurred lines under the bool-lin.g-oflice lamp. "She seemed to have had bad news bv the morning mail, and was very anxious to catch the ten-thirteen south." "Did she catch it ?" asked Alec, laconically. "Yes, sir, though, by a near shave." "Thank you, Murchieson. Good jvening." The tw-o men barely spoke during the long drive homewards, though the same thought, the same dread permeated the minds of each. John Arbuthnot feared treachery. Alec had never before known his wife to express any anxiety about the sister with whom, prior to her marriage, she had persistently quarrelled. They dismissed the station fly at the confines of the estate, and striding silently through the grounds entered the house by the Abbot's postern, and made their way towards the nurse's rooms in the west wing. Mrs. Macgregor received her young master with a cl- y of relief. " She's nane so well, Maister Alec,," she whispered. "Your coniin' last night seemed to "disturb the puir lassie, as ever sin' the puir lamb has been restless, and" "My coming—last night!" began Alec, when Jack Arbuthnot's hand on his arm hushed him to silence ; and now from the sick room came Anna's wailing voice. "Alec, Alec ! She has found me out in spite of your precautions !" They went iri by the bedside, to find Anna with a feverish spot- 011 each cheek, tossing violently from side to side. "Elise —it is Elise !" she muttered. "T see her eyes —cruel eyes—glaring from under the Cavalier hat. No. 1 was not dreaming—it was Elise. Alec, she will give me back intobon dage. Alec, save me, save me !" While Alec tried to soothe the suffering girl, who appeared to recognise his voice and to lie quiescent jntler the touch of his hand, >'ohn Arbuthnot drew Nurse Macgregor into an outer room. "llow long has jour patient been labouring under this delusion, nurse'?" he asked. "Since soon after midnight, sir." answered the old woman. "Eh, but she seemed to have dropped into a bonny sleep, but Maister Alec had 110 sooner gane out o' the door than the puir lassie began to toss in her oed an' to declare that 51 is tress Strathcarron had foond her oot, ami would gie her back to the husband she loathes and despises." ''Mr. Strathcarron visited his sister last night—last night ? Are you sure, nurse ?" "And why would I no be sure ?" replied the old woman, indignantly. "Maister Alec knocked soon after midnight, and I let him in. The puir lassie had just fallen asleep. I warned him not to wakken her, and he just stood Vesicle her, and then went away without a word." "He was dressed —.how ?" "As usual," answered Mrs. Macgregor, "in that ould cloak and wig that's scared the foolish lads and lasses in the servants' hall. "Nurse," said John Arbuthnot, ibruptly, "from midnight until half'

past two this morning .Mr. A let: with ine in a privat" sitting-room in the Castle Hotel, Edinburgh." "Heaven save us a' ! Then 'tw a s his wraith." "Perhaps not. More than likely Mrs. Strathcarron —penetrating her husband's disguise. 'Sh, not a word ! Mr. Alec must, not be told —at least, for the present," commanded Jack, in authoritative tones. "She is calmer now," said Alec, as they returned to the bedside. "It is the progress of the fever, of course." "Very likely,", responded Arbuth not calmly. 1138. CHAPTER X. The Blue Hungarian Orchestra sent forth its soothing strains from a palm-concealed bandstand in one 01 the great London restaurants, the .onductor tempering its tones so that, they mingled with rather than disturbed the conversation of the diners. On all sides clusters of e - trie stars were reflected and thrown back to the domed roof from th>? highly-polished entree dishes ami shining glass borne by deft waiters from table to table, while the wealth of greenery lent an air of rest I ulivess and repose to a scene which otherwise would be one blaze of dazzling light. A man, sipping his petite vcrre of cognac and smoking as if in deep thought after his solitary dinner, uttered a ii exclamation of annoyance as the violent shaking of the cluster of evergreens screening him from tho next table disturbed his meditations. Some leaves fell on him, but a waiter, watchful of the comfort of a good customer, swept them away with an apology. Tho man half-rose, when, as if struck by a word emanating from the diners at the adjoining table, he appeared to alter his mind, and moving his chair, thereby concealing himself still more elYectually, he resumed his seat and ordered a second glass of cognac. On the other side of the " leafy screen" two men were attacking the good things set before them with appetites that did credit, to the catering. "Strathcarron, you say ?" ejaculated one. "Well, that is the best thing Nick M'llwraith ever did. I suppose Alec's .in great feather ?" ".Jove, he had a narrow 4 shave of losing every acre," returned the other. "From what 1 understand, had Nick lived a month longer, the scoundrel of a mortgagee would have made ducks and drakes of the old place." " H'm !" responded the first speaker, continuing, casually, after a vigorous attack on a lilletted sole. "I wonder, Charlie, how it comes about that every mortgagee is looked upon as a scoundrel by the man or woman who has borrowed —and spent—his money ?" The solitary individual on the other side of the tree smiled somewhat sardonically and puffed rings of thin smoke from his cigarette, while he caressed his carefully-waxed moustache with a white, cruel hand. "Charlie" looked across at the elder man as if the idea had been suggested to him for the first tin>c. "I admit 1 am singular," went on the other ; "but I always had a sneaking sympathy with Shylock. Take your paw-nbrokcr for instance. You pawn your watch ; you cannot redeem it at the stipulated time ; eventually it ceases to be yours, but 110 one thinks of stigmatising the pawnbroker as an unmitigated blackguard. Why, then, the mortgagee ? I suppose young Alec allowed the interest to run on until the man lost patience." "By Jove, Erroll, one would think you held a brief for the bounder !" exclaimed Charlie Graham, adding, though with less emphasis, "I agree with you in the main, old chap, 'pon my honour, yet this is really a special case. ' Business is business,' one knows ; but in this instance the fellow went down to Abbotsvale and used his hold over the property as a means to extort a promise of marriage from Alec's sister —he, 011 his part, undertaking to free the estate on the day Anna became his wife." "And then Nick M'llwraith turned up his toes at the right moment" began Erroll. "That's where you're wrong," interrupted young Graham. "At least, there was a hitch somewhere. Alee was in Canada, and the bounder, having only women to deal with" — "Who w'as the mortgagee '?" asked Erroll. "Felix Vane." "Never heard of him." "Probably you will, Strathcarron swears, as only a Scotchman can, that he will have Vane's life rather than that poor Anna shall be forced to live with him." "Eive with hini ? Why, you don't mean" "That they were married —yes, I do. And if you want to hear the story, I wish to Heaven you wouldn't interrupt., Erroll," broke in Graham. "As 1 was saying. Vane, having only women to deal with, gave no more than a v erbal agreement, and then, the marriage once an accomplished fact, he had the effrontery to laugh in the face of his poor little bride, and inform her it was his intention to bore l'ot" coal under the Abbotsvale woods. Ah, now yon agree with me the fellow is a scoundrel !" ' f rlo." responded Erroll. "But when were they married V" "Only a day or two previous to Alec's return." was the reply. "He had cabled to his lawyers and also to his wife : but. —well, it seemed as though the latter message was tielaved in transit." said young Graham. who, as an old college chum nf Alec Strathearron's. felt instinctively that Elise had been faithless to her trust. "Hard luck," sympathised Erroll ; "but I don't see how Alee can Interfere. How many thousands fail to keep promises made before marriage and, if I understand you rightly, this one was broken only in intent?" "Exactly ; as, unknown to Yanc, his lawyer had been served with ' notice to redeem ! on his weddingday. Deuced near shave !" "Still, I'm afraid the law will uphold the marriage," was Erroll's rejoinder. "Strathcarron may not find it so easy to take his sister away from her husband as he" " ' Take her away ?' " broke in Charlie. "She has taken herself away. Real grit those Strathcar> rons." (To be Continucd) 4