VIOLET LISLE; OR, A PEARL BEYOND PRICE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 436, 3 February 1912, Page 2

VIOLET LISLE; OR, A PEARL BEYOND PRICE.

All Rights Reserved.

By the Author of "All or Nothing," "Two Keys," etc., etc.

PART 2_ " But that is cruel," he exclaimed, " and I will not submit to it." She looked at him wonderingly and a little thrill of happiness which she did not comprehend stole over her. " Why," he went on vehemently, '"should you and I not know each other ? It may be very little to you, but to me " He suddenly stopped, aware that he was sajing strange things, considering the brief time of their acquaintance. Violet smiled, for she was thinking of the strangeness of the fate that had put the sordid barrier of money between the acquaintance of two persons who themselves scorned it. She was frankly sorry that she was to see no more of the gay and handsome Guy Darlington. "I do not regret telling you of the loose plank.'' " And you do not regret the time you have wasted talking to me?" " No, I am glad to have met you. You are the trst gentleman besides my father I have ever talked with, and it has been very pleasant." How innocent and pure she was. " Will you tell me your name ?" he asked in a low voice. " Violet," she answered; and looking up their eyes met. " Violet," he repeated softly ; "and my name is Guy." " Guy !" she repeated under her breath ; and his heart gave a great leap. He wondered ever after why he did not then cry out the words that rose to his lips —" Violet, I love you !" As it was, he was dumb, and wondered at himself for it. It seemed a long time that neither of them spoke, for she, too, was as if under a spellthough the words had not come to her as to him, and she was in a sort of maze at her own tumultuous feelings. " Good-bye, then," she said, at last, slowly, as if she did not like to go. Then he sought about for some excuse to detain her lon'ger, and his eyes fell on the sketch-book and he said : " Have you been sketching ?" . " I have begun a sketch of the old abbey," she answered. "May I look at it?" he asked, and she frankly handed the book to him. He turned the leaves slowly looking at each sketch and seeing none of ] them, for his mind was full of her. When he came to the last page and saw only a broken outline a light of joy jumped into his eyes, and he said : " You will have to go again." " Oh, yes, I shall go every afternoon until it is finished. I did not accomplish much this afternoon —I was interrupted "; and she blushed when she thought of what the interruption Had been. The thought of Martin Jenkins' offer of his hand had not made her blush befqre, and she found herself wondering vaguely why it should do so now. But Guy thought nothing of the blush. He gave her back her book, and took her hand and said good-bye with such a look of hope in his eyes that'she wondered at it. Then he leaped on his horse and was gone, and she walked home with a feeling of sadness in her heart ; for it seemed to her that he had gone off with less care to meet again than she had —though how a meeting onuld have come about she did not ksiow. She said nothing to Goody White of this meeting ; for wibat would be the use ? And she said nothing of it to her father ; for, agairt, what would be the use ? CHAPTER 111. A SUDDEN WOOING. The next day Violet did not go singing and tripping to the abbey. She was strangeJy *<piiet, yet not unhappy. She went had returned on the day befeffe, and she found herself lingering on* the bridge md thinking of the very ."words that bad been spoken there. And when she seated hexself and Vegan her sketching, her pencil did not move very swiftly, and ist came into ler mind that the ruins before her belonged to Guy Darlington. That was a sort of pleasure to her, and she wondered why. Strange, too, how she would think of ihim as Guy, instead of the more formal Lord Darlington. Then there came a crushing of the leaves from a distance behind her, and she knew someone was con ing. Some one from the viTtoges, she ; «,ul to herself ; but her colour was ceding and going, and her heart w ■« beating, and she wouQd nc t look iround. Then, whoever it vas, stoo.l aver her and looked down and she felt the blood forsaking: her face ; but she looked up slowly.. It was Guy Darlington,, a: ad it had been in his mind to seek . her there and say something to sko\ T her he was surprised ; but when stot > looked ,up at him, and he saw into h er eyes, that little deceit, of pretrafl ing he had not expected to sec her, passed out of his mind, and his; fsee was as white as hars, as he said;,, soli ly : " I hoped to find youi faext. , Vio let." " I did not hope," she zmd'■ - " hul I am glad." He made no answer to 1 tfnswt • I' 1" sat down not far away, and lit okee at her, she trying to use hea" p> mci as if he had not been- there, am ' fit last putting it down, and' foliliryr he; hands in her lap.. Then* sheetttin ie<

and looked into his face, and saw, •vhat she had known without seeing, hat he was glancing at her. She ooked down a while and then dropped her eyes.

" Violet," he said, and there was a faint sound, as though it was l.ifficult for him to speak. She looked up at him, and saw on his face -n expression of pain and almost .'ear. " What is it ?" she asked. " I find I must say something to vou, and I would like you to listen. Will you ?" Something of the fear that was on his face rose up to hers, but she answered that she would. " When I left you yesterday, I intended to come here to find you. 1 told myself that I would come here to day and every day until, perhaps, if it was to be, I could make you love me as I love you. Please, dc not look frightened. I will not say a word that I ought not to say ; I will stop when you tell me to stop. I knew that it was not usual to make ove in a minute, and I could not expect you to feel as I felt —you might never feel so. I had no right to hope it. I would have liked to have gone to your home and have your father's sanction to our acquaintance ; but you explained that to me, and I knew you were right, and that it would be the death of my hopes to try and woo you in that way. I had it in mind to come here until you could love me, if it was to be ; but when I am near you and feel your purity and innocence I realise that I cannot deceive you even that much, and so I say to you now that T love you and ask you to be my wife.' Don't answer too quickly. Don't say no to me. Think it over, and try to "find some hope for the future for me. I know it is sudden and unusual ; but I can wait until you c a n learn to think more calmly of it. I will leave you now, and will come to-morrow." He rose to go, and her eyes followed his face, and when he glanced down into them he saw a strange beseeching in them. The next instant he was by her side, and was holding one of her little hands in his. They sat for manyminutes in silence, and he was not yet sure of what she was going tc say to him, only she did not take her hand from his. Presently she spoke scarcely above a whisper. "It is all very strange, but I think I love you." He had not the boldness to do more than kiss the little hand he held. There was a long and happy silence, and then Guy spoke : " What shall I do, dear ? Shall 1 go with you to your father, and tclJ him what we have done." " If that will be best—yes." " Perhaps, since he is proud ano sensitive, he would like it better if 1 and my mother were to call on him" and Guy smiled proudly on the wonderful face upturned to his. " It shall be as you say, Guy. 7 have only one fear." " And what is that?" " Could anyone understand how wt could know each other for the first time yesterday afternoon and — What will be best to do ?" she asked him, suddenly. " I wish to do what is wisest," he answered, " and I do not know what that is. Let us think it over. Meet me here again to-morrow and wc will say what we have thought. Let us think of ourselves now." That at least was the easiest, if not the wisest thing to do, and the afternoon slipped away in the blissful talk of newly-found lovers. There was so much to say. They knew sc little of each other. And each re "elation was a delight. CHAPTER IV. The Countess Darlington was suet a. woman that one would have expected the mother of Guy Darlingtor to be—stately and beautiful. Digni Sed to the verge of haughtiness with others, with Guy she had always been the tenderest and most devotee of mothers. She had watched his growth frorr. boyhood into perfect manhood with e pride that knew no bounds. He had been a little wild, but never vicious : had made her his confidante and companion as much as a young man very well could ; but in the abounding health of both his mind and body there had never been any confidence; worthy of the name to make. She had told him to go and see the world, and he had gone as a young prince might have gone, scattering his gold right and left, meeting everywhere a welcome that was most royal—a welcome that was accordec partly to his wealth, partly to Ms title, and very much to his joyous manly nature and his extremely gooc looks. Perhaps he had unintentional!} broken some hearts—his own ha< never been seriously touched ; thougl he had been the object of many <• well-calculated attack from the com blned forces of designing mamma am guileless maiden. All such assault; Lady Darlington had either ignore* or smiled at in her own lofty fas hion. In her infatuation she ha< believed the chief reason of Guy's in sensibility to be the failure on he: part to urge him to the selection o his life's partner, an infatuation an consciously fostered by him, who knowing nothing of love, but as h had read, talked so rationally of r with his mother that she could no help but think with him, that h would marry, as a matter of course when the time came. It was the coming of that tim that was the cause of all tin trouble. The time had already com when both mother and son wer ready. He had met Violet Lisle ; th countess had chosen a mate for hir from among his peers. It was t bring the lady of her choice and he son together that she had urged th visit to Penartb Castle, where the

so seldom went, and where, under thr pretext of a little shooting, Gu> could be free to meet her with ; very few select friends. Lady Sibyl Coldenham had ever.attribute which the daughter-in-law of the Countess of Darlington should have. She was beautiful, accomplished, gentle, of irrcproncha.hh lineage, rich and willing. At hast. her father, the Marquis of Coldenham said she was willing, and the patrician mother of Guy had looked ;m further. She had married as her parents had chosen ; she had been ." ,: happy as it was necessary for one ir hcr position to be; and, moreo\ er, Guy would marry as she chose—an argument in itself. The days after that first, meeting in the abbey woods had muliipUc i into weeks, and still nothing Imd been said by either Violet or Guy to inform the father of the one, othe mother of the other of what had happened. Each shrank from doing what might by some chance interrupt their happiness. They were both secure in the innodencc of their motives, and there was neither lack of moral courage nor of conviction that both parents would approve to deter them from speaking ; but there was a sense of the uncertainty of the temper of Violet's father, and in the happiness of the moment neither was anxious to disturb the cloudless sky of their loveHad Violet said one word to betoken uneasiness, Guy would hv-'e hastened to tell his mother or her father of their intention to link their fortunes ; but she felt no uneasiness ard said nothing, being more than content that Guy should exercise his own better judgment and reveal hi-; soft secret to the world when cat how h2 chose. Always gay and joyous of temper, aiiy in those days was so overflowing with happiness and goodwill that all around him were infected by his spirits, and the visit of the noble party at the castle was voted by all to be a supreme success. Even Lady Sibyl, who had bowed meekly to the decree of her father as to a tain 7; there was no gainsaying, but who secretly mourned another lover, yielded Guy the homage of respect and liking, and found it easier than she had supposed it would be to contemplate a union with him. She was the only young lady of the party, and partly as best, and partly from liking of her, Guy paid her a great deal of attention, devoting his mornings to her, so that no one should think to question the propriety of his solitary afternoon rides. Perhaps even hJs manner had something of affection in it ; for he was in a mood to love all the world, and it never occurred to him that his brotherly gallantry could be misunderstood. Something seemed to tell him that Lady Sibyl received his advances in the spirit in which he made them, and he was so full of his dear love that more than once he had been tempted to share his happiness with the sweet-tempered girl, who was so much more natural with him than it was customary for the British maiden of high rank to be. And Lady Darlington, looking on, saw with delight that again, and in this important matter, her dear Guy was of his own accord, ratifying the choice she had made for him. She let the companionship continue without interruption by sign or word and secretly congratulated herself and the marquis on the happy issue of their plan. And the marquis, who was a thorough man of the world, and who was overjoyed at this opportunity to dispose so brilliantly of his daughter smiled complacently at the countess. and sardonically to himself. To him the candour and frank manliness of Guy were only proofs of his callowness and inexperience and he laughed in the privacy of his dressing room as he thought how the young earl would some day surprise his doting mother by the wa; he would scatter the rich revenues of the Darlingtons. How any such, development of the vices of this kind might affect his daughter he never thought, for the very simple reason that he did not care. Love and happiness might do very well for the vulgar herd ; but for those who lived on the social heights they did not exist. Lady Darlington was in no hurry to announce her delight and approval to Guy—for it did rejoice the mother's heart that Guy's happiness and duty lay together—but one day the time happened opportunely for it and she took advantage of it. They were sitting before the lire. aha- in her boudoir and Guy had been telling her of some merry escapade with Lady Sibyl. "I am glad, Guy, you like l.ady Sybil." " Like her ! Why, of course : h<>w could I help it. She is so free from affectation and prudery." " She is an accomplished and gif; cd girl, and her lineage is as good as our own, Guy." " Yes, I believe so. Goes back t. the time of the Conqueror, 1 thin'-." There was silence for a few m'n utes, during which Guy gave himsdf up to thoughts of one whose ancess ry was quite as good as bis own. but whose virtues lifted her to heights he could never hope to attain. He was thinking, however, that he would at least strive to be worthy of her. when his mother, who had been proudly watching his handsome face. said : " I have been thinking, Guy. that it is almost time for you to take a wife." Guy blushed through the bronze on his cheek ; but looked up with a joyous air at his stately mother. " I have been thinking so, too,''' he said. (To be continued.) A politician who screams is nevci likely to occupy a commanding plact in the House of Commons.—Augustin BirrelL ? -•--