VIOLET LISLE; OR, A PEARL BEYOND PRICE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 443, 28 February 1912, Page 2

VIOLET LISLE; OR, A PEARL BEYOND PRICE.

k\\ Rights Reserved.

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

PART 9. CHAPTER XIII. DEALING THE BLOW. No one had told Guy that Vio'iet had a visitor, and he had bright anticipations of the sweet face that would meet his longing eyes as he entered the little parlour in which he hud said good-night to her. Lord Goldenham stood in the shadow of the room, and Guy did not see him at first, but only Violet who was in the middle of the room.

"My sweet one!" he cried, springing towards her, " have I seemed long ? I could not make those prosaic folks understand how important it was that you and I should have a special licence—What ? Oh, I beg your pardon !" and with his arm already round the shrinking form of Violet he followed the direction of her glance. "Lord Coldenham!" he exclaimed.

It needed no power of divination to tell him that the visit of the marquis boded him no good, and he turned with a quick, questioning glance to Violet ; then he realised that her shrinking was not due to the natural shyness before a stranger but was the result of another and deeper emotion. He looked into her eyes, and as they fell before his, he saw in them an agony that caused him to turn almost with fierceness on the marquis, saj ing. peremptorily :

" Lord Coldenham, what is your errand here ?" It has been said that the man of the world held Guy in no little contempt for what he was pleased to call his weakness meaning his lack of vices ; but at this moment he saw something in the eyes of the younger man that sent an uncomfortable thrill through him end made him realise that Ms task was even more unpleasant than he had anticipated. " I am here to do you a friendly office," he'answered. '* I thank you, my lord," said Guy, coldly, " for your kindness. Pray tell me what your errand is." " Certainly ; but it were better iJ we were alone. If the young lady would retire" — Violet made a feebly frantic effort to free herself from the encircling arms of her lover ; but with an instinctive feeling of something being wrong, he refused to release her, saying :

"It is unnecessary, quite unnecessary. Remain with me, Violet." " Let me go, Guy, let me go," she panted, thinking that if she could but get away from him and out ol the immediate influence of his loved presence, she would fly where he could not reach her, where she could not witness the agony she knew he would suffer.

" No, my darling, you must not go. Lord Coldenham, I have but little time to listen to you, and you had better speak quickly, or postpone what you have to say until "I have made this lady my wife." '* That will never be," said Lord Coldenham.

Violet had now freed her;elf from Guy's restraining arm. She had not left the room however, for he stood between her aid the door. She had caught the back of a chair and was supporting herself by it, or hei strength would have been insufficient to sustain, her. At Lord Coldenham's ominous words Guy flashed a glance at Violet and another at the marquis. He did not ask the meaning of the words. " What Ifave you been saying to her, Lord Coldenham ? Remember, you are answering to the man who by his position has the right of a husband to demand an explanation." " I have told her what you should have told her before you enticed her away from her home." Violet's eyes were fastened hungrily on Guy's face, studying with passionate love every phase of his emotion ; but when he turned to hei with a reassuring smile her eyes fell hopelessly and he turned haughtily to the marquis. " You have taken an unwarrantable liberty, my lord, in telling anything to my future wife without my permission, and I find it the more difficult to excuse you that I can sec plainly that you have caused her distress. Let us understand each other. You come, no doubt, on tlu part of my mother —if you came or your own behalf I should throw you, despite your years, out of the window—and you have, unfortunately, had the opportunity to make this lady unhappy ; but there is no need for any further words, and I tel" you frankly that I shall be obliged if you will leave us. Violet, my darling, forget whatever he ma; have said to you."

Lord Coldengam was quick enough to see that he had made a mistake in his estimate of Guy and he wish ed most heartily that he had (inish ed the affair before the young man's return ; but he still depended en the girl who had not yet said a word. " It hardly becomes you," he said with a very good assumption of dig nity to threaten a man of my years but I can forgive that to your pas sion. I must refuse to leave here however, until you have heard wha' the young lady has to say." " Oh, no, no ! I cannot do it !' rather gasped than said Violet. Guy turned to her with an infiniti tenderness, and, despite her effort; to prevent him, put his arms arounc her and drew her to him. " You are disturbed, my darling,' he said in a low caressing voice " This shall never happen again.' Then to Lord Coldenbam : ■'■'- The bes-

inswer to your strange demand will ec the departure from here of this ong lady with me. Come, Violet, [ sec your hat and coat arc here ; ;•„ t them on and we will leave this r .nt! email since he will not leave llien Violet made a supreme effort to command herself and do that .vhich was worse than death to her. 3hc pushed herself away from Guy, and with bosom heaving painfully, said in a low, shaddering tone : "He is right, Guy ; I cannot be your wife." " Cannot !" and Guy glanced with a short angry laugh at Lord Collie:: ham. "Do you think, my darling, that there is any power on earth to prevent you from being my wife ?" How handsome and noble and loving he looked to her at that moment ! and it seemed to her as if she could not say the words that ivould make him hate and despise tier. She lifted her eyes appealingly to Lord Coldenham who stood watching her with an anxiety he would lot have betrayed for the world. He answered her glance with a cold irown. " I cannot be your wife, Guy," was all she could say. Guy looked at her as she shrank before him, and a great pity for her welled from his heart ; for he knew the must have been sorely tried. And his anger towards Lord Coldenham was fierce and hot.

** What vile words have you utter--3d to this lady whose innocence and purity might have appealed to the arch-fiend himself ? What have you said to her ? What lies have you told ? What base thing have you been guilty of ? I will not ask her to tell me, but you—you, my lord. By Heaven, if you do not tell me I will tear it from you, though your age were double what it is. Falsehood and treachery are even viler in age than in youth," and Guy's eyes blazed dangerously, as he took a step towards the older man. But wicked though he was, Lord Coldenham was no coward, and Guy's attitude gave him the spirit to answer boldly : " I told Miss Lislo the truth, and only the truth ; and if you ask me, instead of obtaining the information from her, it is only because your violence frightens her. I will tell you, not because you threaten me like, a wilful boy, but because you have rendered the young lady incapable of answering you. I said that your mother would disinherit you ii you married her." Guy turned from him with a gesture of contempt, that seemed to say that he understood and fathomed the smallness of his nature.

" My darling, will you not put on your hat and go with me ? It is easier for me as your husband tc protect you from insult." " But it is true," she said, " what he says is true. That is what he told me ; and—l cannot—marry you." He smiled pitifully and incredulously " You are unnerved, my darling." " No, no," she said, wildly. "You must believe me—you must. I cannot —will not marry you." A look of perplexity crossed Guy's face as he looked at Violet. Her agony was so great that he could not mistake it ; but there was a settled despair in her refusal to marry him that sent a chill to his heart. " Do you know what you are saying, Violet ?" he asked in a low, beseeching tone. " I know —I know," she answered, looking wildly about her, as if seeking some mode of escape. " 1 said I would not marry you. 1 mean it, Guy. Let me go—do not speak to me again. I—l am not—not worthy. I—l oh, tell him, for I cannot."

" Yes, I will speak for you," beLord Coldenham. But Guy interrupted him in a /ioarse, menacing tone : "As there is a heaven above us. Lord Coldenham, if you interfere by ?o much as a word between Miss Lisle and me, I will do you a mortal injury. Violet, tell me what this means. It is only a few hours age that I left you, with the promise tc be my wife to-day, and now you say—what do you say ?" She shrank from his burning eyes, and wailed : "He will hate me ! He will hate me !" Then her love burst forth and h< caught her in his arms crying : " .My darling ! my darling ! wil! you let anything come between us ' Have we left parents for love o: each other to he parted now ? No no, my darling, no !" It was so good to be there, aftci the agony and woe that had possessor her soul, that for a moment she lei her head rest peacefully on his breast and he felt that he had regained her. But of a sudden her promise came to her, and with a sobbing moai she broke away from him and let tht unhappy loving lie find its way tc her unwilling lips.

" No, no, Guy. I thought yoi would be rich ; I did not know that your mother would disinherit you. J —I cannot marry you if you an poor." Guy stared at her as if he had gone mad. "It is a He—a lie !" he said hoarsely. "I do not believe it. M; Violet care for money ! She is mad And you"— he turned to Lord Col denham with such an expression dis torting his face that the noblemar felt himself in danger—"you have done it. Violet, my darling, com! here—here to my arms and forget al that has been said to you." Then Violet looked at him with c terrible agony in hex eyes. "I am not mad, Guy I knov what I am saying. I will not marrj you since you are poor. It is moncj as well as station that I want." " You are not mad, and you sa>

:his ?" and he ,\y--v \ Ms h-vls ~ver "is ryes as if he hor<;l i!' wiiy in remove the veil thr.t hang eeiwev.i •iim and th" Violet lie ;: ; ,,i i,-fl .-. f-w Dnurs brf( re. "Then T r.iusl le mad. You want my moiiry ninr-yv ! If the angels had told ir.e i'vs i rt'ould have said they lied. Hat yo;;r :)\vn lips say it—your own lips ! Vio.et —Violet ! Is it true ?" "It is true. Now. let me 30." " vnV, I v.-i3l go," he said, ana ivent reeling from the room.

CHAPTER XIV. MARTIN JENKINS FORGETS HIS CLOTH. No one can tell how ill nrvs travels, but certain it is that it travels so fast that good news seldom overtakes it—if there should he any to go after it. It would have been impossible to say who first told the story of Violet's elopement with Lord Darlington, and perhaps it would have been equally difficult tc say what the story originally was ; for, by the time it had gone through tho hamlet it had assumed a very different guise. A few affected to believe that Violet had gone to her ruin, but the faith of most of them was so great In Violet that it was the common expectation that she would be with them presently as Ladj Darlington, and the sick and needy looked forward to that event as a sort of millennium.

The news spread through the neighbourhood, too, and many a yeoman who had looked at Violet with eyes of love passed a heart-sic 1 * day in consequence. But it is to the credit of human nature that fur the most part they all wished her the happiness in life, and those who knew Lord Darlington as well had no hesitation in saying she had found a husband as near to being worthy of her as possible. Here and there was one who in his disappointment at being robbed of the hope of ever obtaining the sweet flower of Penarth, vented his ill-temper in saying the most spiteful things of the two runaway lovers. Only Martin Jenkins, the good curate who had worshipped at Violet's shrine, did not give a thought to the elopement. He thought of Violet, certainly, for that was in the verj nature of things with him—he was always thinking of her. Not with any hope that she might one day be his, but because he felt to have loved her was a happiness quite equal to his poor deserts. . He aid not think of the elopement for the reason that hie had work to do which kept him isolated indoors all the morning and he had not heard it spoken of. It was not until the afternoon that the news came to hi-fi and it then came in a way that marked an epoch in the life of tbje simple curate. A simple soul, Martin Jenkins verily was ; simple with a meekness, ar honesty, and a loving-kindness that made him loved by the very folk whe believed they looked down on him for his simplicity. There had been a little change ir him recently. The fact of his coming into twenty-five thousand pounds had something to dc with it ; but he knew that loving Violet had had more. The love had given him more of the respect foi himself which he had lacked, and which he needed, and the twentyfive thousand pounds had added a little touch of independence which people had rather felt than noticed. The rector, particularly, found it less easj to browbeat Martin than he had done. And yet few knew of the legacy ; for Martin, with praiseworthy modesty, had been disinclined to speak of it to anyone, lest he should be thought guilty of worldly pride. Happiness the money certainly had given him, for it enabled him to give his aged mother a home, such as the meagre savings out of his scanty pay had never previously enabled him to do. He had, at his first coming to Penarth, wished to have his mother with him but the rector had very promptly told him that he didn't want any more women to piake mischief in the parish, and, thaugh Martin's meek soul had boiled with wrath at such a suggestion he had said nothing, and had nearly starved himself in order to save enough to keep his dear mother comfortable. And now he had had a villa near London ready furnished unknown to her, and he was going down to see her and take her to her new home. It was in order to forestall work that he had spent all that morning indoors. In the afternoon he buttoned his coat about, him and hastened out to make some of the visits that could not be neglected, and to notify those who looked for his daily visit that he would he absent for a day or two. He noticed at the blacksmith's a knot of young farmers of the district and wondered why they were congregated there ; but it was not until his visiting carried him towards them that he discovered ; for he had been so hurried in his talk with the cottage people that none of them had had any opportunity to discuss the latest sensation. He nodded to the young men wh" saluted him, and would have gone hi;way, but one of them remarked : " Well, sir, what, do yon think ol the news ?" " You'll have to tell me the news." said Martin with his pleasant smile. " Tell it to you ? Why, sir, you'll never tell us you haven't heard about Miss Violet Lisle ?" Martin paled at. the thought oi possible evil to Violet. " I have heard nothing. What about Miss Lisle ?" " Run away with Lord Darlington." Martin paled with generous angei this time. " A sorry joke, young man," he said with a new dignity for him, and turned to go away. (To bo continued.)