VIOLET LISLE; OR, A PEARL BEYOND PRICE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 456, 13 April 1912, Page 2

VIOLET LISLE; OR, A PEARL BEYOND PRICE.

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By the Author of "All or Nothing.' "Two Keys," etc. s etc. PART 22. CHAPTER XXVIII. A REVELATION. Guy answered not a word, nor did he attempt to follow Violet. Something seemed to tell him that it would be worse than useless to attempt either. He stood.quite still, lis face pale to the lips, and looked after Violet. " I have been deceived," he said, " Deceived ! She is as good and true to-day as when I first met lier ; md she was as good and true then as ' the angels. Was I mad when I said what I did ? And now I have tost her ! No, no, I have not lost ner —I have not. She shall forgive me. I shall find a way to make ler." He had never been able to put hei out of his mind even during the months when he had thought of her as false to him and to herself ; and now, when he had seen her more than ►ver radiant in her purity and beauty his strong nature was stirred to its profoundest depths. The passion tvhich long separation and specious calumny had permitted to grow dormant now flared up in his heart with a fury that seemed likely to consume it.

He watched Violet until she was out of sight, hoping to see her look around in token of some slight yielding ; but she passed out of his vision without making a sign that he :ould see and he turned and walked moodily on to the hotel where ho bad sent his luggage, until it w T as time for thta train to take him to the village where his mother awaited him.

He had not seen his mother since the night when ba had said good-bye to her at Penarth Castle, and he had set out to meet her in Paris with something of his old aflection animating him ; travelling from upper Russia, where he had been shooting big game, for no other purpose, tn Paris he had discovered bow ill she had been, though without gaining any idea of the manner in whlich she had been deserted and left to die, if it had come to that.

He was hurrying now with all speed to be with her. Even his yearning to see Violet again must be overborne rather than lose any time on the way. But as for that, he knew in his heart that any effort to see her now would be useless, and he had no fear of losing her. After he had seen his mother, he would make it the business of his Jife to find some means of securing Violet's pardon and —he thought of it with grinding teeth —to punish the scoundrel who had led him to believe that Violet had been unworthy of herself.

All the way in the train he dwelt on the horrible mistake he had made. " To think," he muttered, " that 3 :ould have stood face to 'ace with tier, looking down- into those limpid blue depths, in which were mirrowed mgelic purity and devotion and then utter the horrible things I did ! Ob, [ shall ever hate and despise mjself [or it. And all the while my heart was crying out to be heard The wretch, the fiend that persuaded m( Df it ! Ah, my lord of Coldenham, it will go hard with you the day we meet ! I was no less guilty than yourself to. have believed what you told me ; but none the less, the da 3 of reckoning will be a hard one for j'OU." There was an ugly light in his lark eyes as he thought how insiduDusly Lord Coldenham had laboured to impress upon him the baseness ol the woman he loved ; how he had met him, seemingly by the merest accident, and had conquered the distrust that he might later fill has mind with carefully-prepared accusa tions against Violet, all let fall under the guise of a.pologies for her. He carried his troubles to the little inn where his mother so anxiously awaited him ; but when he stepped into the room and saw her so wan and emaciated, saw the hair that had been dark, all streaked with grey, he put his own sorrows aside for the time and too'x his mother in his arms with the same fervour that had once been her greatest joy.

" Oh, Guy, Guy !" she cried, " yo'J lave come back to me."

It was like the glad cry that had greeted him in the afternoon, and which he had repulsed so brutally as it seemed to him now, that a Pans shot through him and made him an swer, almost with a sob ' " Yes, mother dear, I have come back to you ; and in future we will be much together. You have berr very ill, then, mother, dear ?" " Very. There was a time when 1 was afraid I should never see yo' again. And, indeed, I should not but for an angel who risked her owr life to save mine." "So ?" said Guy with a fain! smile. " And where did the ange come from and where has she gone?"

It was something for her to tal of, and she sat down by the windo\ in the gathering twilight, and wit! Guy's hand in hers, as if afraid o losing him again, she told him hov she had been taken ill, how she liar been deserted, and how a Miss Mars den had corne to her, a perfec stranger, and. ha<3 saved her. " Only to-day," she said, " tin doctor told me that I would neve have lived through it, but for t!v tender nursing of the angel."

Guy thought of Violet and sight"! It would have been such a deed a she would have been capable of, h said to himself ; and then the bitte thought flashed into his mind tha she had been driven out of his I if by this very mother. He drew hi

hand aw a;.* with a sirMcn • :*:ri iln'ii repented as suddenly : i ;i " t!-c I r rilslinjc thought came to him that h' : :; mother had been unjust without I n-inn Violet., while he iia 1 boon s<: with a full knowledge of what an angel she was. He took his mother by the hand again and asked softly : " And where is Miss Marsden now, mother ? I ought to sec her and add my thanks to yours."

" She has gone to Nice," answered Lady Darlington. " I wished her to terrain here until you came ; but she felt that she must go, and I could not urge her when I knew she was neaily ill through nursing me. But you shall see her some day. I will never let her go out of my life. It is not only her goodness to nie, Guy, but she is so good and sweet ! 0h : I am in love with her, Guy, and no doubt you will grow weary of hearing her praises sung, until you see her. I think, then, you will rave too. The doctor does —everyone does." Guy laughed wearily thinking inevitably how all that could be said of this Miss Marsden might justly he said with tenfold truthfulness of Violet. He was sincerely grateful to Miss Marsden and determined to make it his business to find her and show her how grateful they were tc her ; but he was in no mood to hear her praises sung-so continually, and he changed the conversation.

It was not so easy to escape Miss Marsden, however, and more than once that evening he was obliged to listen either to descriptions of her ravishing beauty or of her heavenly goodness.

".Let us admit," he said at length, " that she is a paragon." Then Lady Darlington laughed. " Poor Guy ! I weary you with my praises, do I not ? But wait until you have seen her ! I guarantee that you will rave as wildly as I do. And to think of that beautiful creature sacrificing herself to a perfect stranger !"

" All right, mother, I will think of it," answered Guy. Lady Darlington smiled with a woman's pertinacity, but refrained from saying anything more of her idol. After a whle Guy made her go to bed lest she should be overtaxing her feeble and she was too glad of his solicitude to gainsay him. But if Guy hoped he had heard the last of Miss Marsden that nigbit, he was mistaken ; for no soon?r was he settled in the porch for a smoke, than mine hiost, won as much by Violet's liberality as by her beauty and goodness, began his paean of praise, and kept it up until Guy who would not say a rude thing of a woman who had saved his mother's life, rose abruptly and stalked off to where he could hear no morfe of thf perfections of Miss Marsden. The next morning he frankly begged his mother to say no more of Miss Marsden, lest his own judgment of her, when he should meet her would be biassed ; and Lady Darlingtom smiled and acquiesced. But it was plain as soon as the doctor came, that Guy had yet more to endure, and he silently ejaculated, with the petulance of a man whose mental balance is disturbed, that he would come to detest this Miss Marsden if she were so constantly thrust upon his hearing. But presently he turned a startled glance on the doctor. The doctor's first words after his introduction to Guy had been * " I have discovered too late, confound it ! —excuse me !—-where I saw Miss Marsden." " Indeed ! Where ?" demanded Lady Darlington, all interest in a moment.

" You would never guess, Lady Darlington." " Oh, I know that. Tell me."

"It makes her kind care of you more than ever remarkable," said the doctor, rubbing his hands with the ?:lee of having a secret worth something. "Do you know her name?" Guy went to the window and irummed impatiently. The infatuation of all these people irritated him bcT ond endurance. It was then that ';e decided he would come to detest her.

"Do you know that I never learned what it was?" said Lady Darlington. " I asked her, too, several times n 1 finally she told me she was sel"om called by it and I never asked ■rain." "Of course, of course," chuckled the doctor, "it would have betrayed her at once if she hrld told you." " I shall fall ill again if you do not tell me at once," said Lady Darlington. Guy thought he had'never known ' is mother so childish. " Did you ever notice what a ;.veet voice she had ?" asked the doc- ' or. " Indeed I did. She had a voice 'ike a bird." " Did you ever hear her sing, my lady ?" " Once or twice," said Lady Darlington, growing excited, " and I remember thinking I had never heard such music in my life." " I should think not," cried the doctor, excitedly. " Her Christian name is Mabel. She is Mabel Marsden." " Mabel Marsden !" repeated Lady Darlington. " Not the famous singer ?" "No other," cried the doctor triumphantly. Lady Darlington was silent for a few moments and the doctor could see the tears gathering in her eyes. " Then," she said, slowly at last " diphtheria to her mcar.t more tha> to another !" "It meant the loss of the mo; exquisite voice I ever heard." " Ami for pure goodness i- ; hc ris--e. that wlvch to many woi.-M ha"« brer more than life, to save a fcota stranger. Oh, what an angel it '•'-fulness ! Guy, did yo'i hoar whal the doctor said ?" " Ye-', mother. It was a di-.-d o! more than human good '-'.ess. I ik not wondrr you call her good."

]?ut ho did not turn from tii.lo'.v. 110 admit.lod the o>:1 r.: » try goodness of iUahol .Marsdon V.'M Ito was jealous that it had no!, in - [oil out. ih.it his love —Vidiot. LiVc—had 1-ccn so situated as to prove that she too would he capable o such a sacrifice. Oh, that he had been able to call her his wife ! " Good," exclaimed the doctor fervently. " She is the sweetest as 'dhe is the most beautiful woman I ever saw. She is ' as good as she is beautiful and that is saying all that ;an he said." " I remember now," said Lady Darlington, " how anxious her friend was that she should lose no time in •egaining her strength.. "Yes," said the doctor, "Lad) Wcstall was very anxious about her." It was then that Guy wheeled round from the window and stared at the doctor. '* Lady Westall, did you say ?" he asked slowly, and with his hands tightening until the nails dug into the flesh of his palms. " Yes, do you know her ?" Both Lady Darlington and the doc:or looked at Guy, the former more than the latter, noticing his agitation.

'* I think I have heard the name," ae answered, remembering distinctly that Violet had so called her companion. "Is she a large, fi'ne-look-ng woman something under fortyfive years of age ?" he asked, marvelI'ng nt himself for remembering the 3etails of her appearance.

" Yes, yes," replied Lady Darlington. " With a deep, mellow voice, snd a somewhat brusque but kindly manner, and showing by every action that she adores her younger friend. But who could 'help that ?" Guy leaned against the window-sill, ind drew a long breath.. " /nd Miss Marsden ?" he said, huskily—" is she about the medium height, with violet-blue eyes, a comflexion of milk and roses, teeth like pearls, lips that break into dimples when she smiles, hair like spun gold —Why do you stare at me ?" No wonder they looked at him ! He had begun in a low husky voice, and had swept into a torrent ol sweet memories, describing Violet, not as he had last seen her, but as he remembered her in the early days before sorrow came upon her. " You must have seen her," said his mother, breathlessly. ■ " Must have seen her !" he repeated, his breath coming and going quickly with the anguish of his thoughts that crowded tumultuously into his. heart. " Must have seen her !" Then he grew cold, " Yes," he said, slowly, in a low tone, " I think I saw her yesterday." The doctor was acute enough to see that an unexpected mystery lay behind this little scene ; and although his curiosity was aroused, he was to« much of a gentleman to prolong his visit ; so he made a hasty excuse a Q d bowed himself out.

Lady Darlington was even better aware than he that something unusual had disturbed ' Guy, and she looked anxiously and wistfully at him when they /were alone. " What is it, Guy?" she demanded gently.

" What is it ? What is it ?" he repeated dreamily ; then, with a sudden lighting of his.dark eyes, "do. you remember, mother, that three years ago you refused to let me 'make known to you the woman I loved ?" " Oh Guy, my darling," murmured thn poor mother.

"I am not going to reproach you with it now," he cried witU a strange laugh. " But your paragon, your angel, your saviour,' your Mabel Marsden, is Violet Lisle, the woman I loved."

For a moment Lady Darlington was stunned, shocked by the sudden revelation and all that it implied ; but suddenly, with a woman's quickness, she saw the bright side of the situation', and'exclaimed : " Then let us thank Heaven, Guy, that my eyes have been opened. I would go on my knees to her to ask her pardon for the wrong I did her, and I would beseech her to forget th( past and come to us as you would have had her cotae'then." " And she would not come mother." " Oh, yes she would. She is too angelic to refuse."

" I saw her yesterday, and spoke with her. She has told me that she wished never again to hear my voice. She sent me from her. I insulted her and she will never be my wife now. I had hoped before I knew this ; but now I know she will never forgive me. She is lost to me for ever." "Ah, I know her better than that" cried the mother. "I will fiad her and she will listen to me." " I will not seek her," said Guy. " I am unworthy of her." (To be continued.)

ABSTRACTING THE ABSTRACT. He was a huge man of the nawj species, and as he stood in the wit-ness-box, counsel eyed him dubiously He knew he would be a hard nut tc track —a very hard nut indeed. "What we want to get at," he began, "is, who was the aggressor ?" "Eh," said the witness, puzzled. 1 "Let me illustrate my meaning,' Said counsel. "Supposing tint 1 should meet you in the street, anc stritl? you in the face, I should lie th< aggressor." "You be a fool said the witness with growing emphasis. "No —no, ! " said counsel, witt heightened colour. "You don't uiv derstand. I was speaking only in thi abstract. Suppose we met. and, with out provocation, 1 struck you. ! shou!d he committim: au act of ag gression." The navvy hunched his big shoulders. "You'd be committing suicide, mis ter !" lie remarked grimly. "You may sit down," snappec counsel.