VIOLET LISLE; OR, A PEARL BEYOND PRICE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 465, 15 May 1912, Page 2

VIOLET LISLE; OR, A PEARL BEYOND PRICE.

A.ii Kigftfcs Ressrvod.

By tbe Author of "All or Nothing," "Two Keys," etc., etc. PART 31. " Father," said Violet, her blue ij-cs darkening with the feeling that 2rept into them, "if what \ou say aas anything to do with a reconcilation between Lord Darlington anc myself, I beg you will believe me when I say that any effort in that direction will be absolutely useless. Dh, papa ! Lady Darlington !" she broke out, " can you not see that it is only tearing open a painful wound to no purpose ? Will you not let me bear my suffering in peace ? I have said I would not marry him, and I will not —I will not." Lady Darlington put her arm around her waist, and wept in sympathy with the distressed girl.

"We have come for no such purpose, dear," she said. *' No, my child," said her father ; " what we have sought you for has reference indeed, to a painful period of your past, but has no bearing on the subject you wish to consider settled for ever."

" Forgive me," sobbed Violet. "If you could but know how I suffer you would forgive me." " There, there, my dear !" said her 'ather, patting her hand, a favourite action with him. "We both of us love you too well to take anything amiss you may do. Is it not so, Lady Darlington ?" " I think Violet will trust me for that much," said Lady Darlington, smiling. " Let me broach the subject a 1 once," said the earl, feeling that Violet would be glad of the diversion from her thoughts. " Read this paper, my dear." She took the paper he handed to her, and read it, with a startled, almost wild expression. " How came you by this ?" she demanded with a sort of gasp. " It has been in Lady Darlington's possession ever since the date which you may read, and which you will no doubt remember," answered hei father.

" Who gave it to you ?" she asked with a puzzled air, turning to Lady Darlington. " Lord Coldenham," was the answer.

" Lord Coldenham," repeated Violel slowly as if she were going over a train of thoughts in her own mind. " Lord Coldenham ! Oh, the baseness, the cruelty, the wickedness of that man ! Lord Coldenham gave you this ?" " He gave it to me the night he returned with you to your father's house." " And he said I had received this—this sum of money from him ?" " Yes." " That I had sold Guy for twenty thousand pounds ?" " He said so, and this was his proof." "Is it not your signature?" demanded her father. " Yes, it is mine. And Guy believed this ? Oh, Guy, Guy !" It seemed to those who listened that she had forgotten everything except her love for Guy. " Guy did not believe it then," said Lady Darlington. " It was only afterwards, when he could not find you, and many things seemed to point to corroboration that he remembered that you had told him with your own lips that you could not marry him because ho would not be rich enough. I think you cannot in justice blame him." " How did you come to sign this?" demanded her father, quickly, anxious to avoid any controversy yet. "I do not ask for the sake of Lord Darlington, but in order that I maj if it be possible, bring that scoundrel Coldenham to justice." " I did not sign it," caid Violet. " And yet it is your signature ?" " He had persuaded me to give up Guy, having made me believe that tc marry him would kill his mother, and bring social ruin and unbappiness on him. It nearly killed me," went on Violet, speaking as if she could see the whole scene enacted before her again, " but I felt that if il would be for Guy's good I must give him up. I believed—believed then—that Guy would have sacrificed himself for me had the occasion demanded, and I would have died for him willingly. Oh, how I loved him—, then ?" She buried her face in her hands and seemed to forget them. They looked pityingly at each other and her father touched her gently on the shoulder. " Tell us about the paper, dear." She went on with the story as i' there had been nothing else in her mind but to tell it. " He —that man —had already persuaded me to give up Guy, when we heard Guy coming. It would have been easier to die than to give bin: up. I knew that nothing but th« assurance from my own lips woulc make him believe me and I was willing, for his sake, to rivr that as surance. I was willing to write b down. I would have written it in in; blood willingly. He said it yas toe late to write it all down, and that i I would sign my name he would fil in the rest. How was I to believi that nu.n could live and he so vile ' I know men better now !" " The scoundrel !" ejaculated Jjorc Granthorpe ; " I never could ha.ve be lieved ray man could be so base." " And I employed his services t< help me to separate them !" ericc Lady Darlington. "Oh, my darlin Violet, forgive me, forgive me !" " What you did was right—at leas

it seemed right" to you.' "You"know that I never thought ill of you foi ..hit you did. Ah, now I sec win ic came to mc this morning. Now " Yes, and I see too," said the carl, with a grim sternness that recalled to Lady Darlington the first interview she had had with him. " And shall he go unpunished ?' " Let me attend to that," said he. " Go to your room, my child. You have suffered and shall rest. Pray Heaven you can find rest ! How cunningly the snare was set ! But ■lever mind him any more. He will give us no further trouble. I wil' answer for that. Go to your room, my child. Heaven bless you ! Take her to her room if you will, Lady Darlington ; but return to me, for 1 would talk with you. Return at once, will you not ?" He waited for her in the drawing"oom and smiled hopefully at her hen she returned. " I was afraid," he said, " that you might get talking of Lord Darlington, and I am sure it will be cetter not. By-and-by we shall talki of him." " I understood you," said Lady Darlington, " and I hastened away as sorn as I saw !her to her room. She is an angel ! Ah, when I think liow I percecuted her !" " That belongs to the past, my 'ady. Let us do what we can for the future. I shall seek the Marquis of Coldenham. Do you know where he is a guest ?" " At Manderby Castle." "I shall see Mm to-day. Will you be able to bring Lord Darlington here by a telegram ?" " Shall I dare ?" " Trust me. Send for him." " A mother's thanks, my lord." CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE END OF INFAMY. From profligacy and unbridled licence in his youth, the Marquis of Coldenham had come to actual crime in his approach to old age. The sins of his youth had been scarcely more than the virtues of his class. Even the pursuit of an innocent and helpless girl to the very verge oi death and starvation would not have injured him in reputation among his companions ; and a successful pursuit of her to her ruin would have redounded to Wis credit. He had not had any really easy moments from the time he had received from Lady Darlington the wages of his crime. He called i 1 that in his own mind. He told himself that he had lied for her and had broken an innocent young girl's heart for her, and that he was getting no more than he had earned when he took from her the twenty thousand pounds which he was supposed to have paid to Violet. Besides- he considered Guy worth fully that much to him.

The money carried him over hie trying ordeals at the time, but he had been no more careful than before ; and now he found himself in the desparate position of owing money to everybody who had been induced or cajoled, or deceived into trusting him of being unable to obtain more ; and, worse yet, of having the rascality of his treatment of Vio let exposed. It seemed to him life < an accumulation of horrors and if it had not been that his daughter, Lady Sibyl had at last seemed on the point of marrying a nobleman ol great wealth, he would have entirely despaired. It is not to be supposed that he was so utterly dead to all nice feeling that he had no compunction in going to Violet with the intention of making what he knew to be a cowardly and infamous bargain ; but it seemed to be his only salvation and he never stopped to weigh the lifelong misery of the victim of his necessities against his present needs. It was enough to him that he had a way of checking her tongue against the disclosures that would mean inevitable ruin to. himself. Utterly without honour himself, he had perfect faith in the honour of his victim.

Viol.it, defiant and scornful, con temptuous and bitter, kept rising before his eyes, a type of what th< world —his w-orld—would be to hirr when it was known that he had stolen twenty thousand pounds fron Lady Darlington. Once he thought desperately of going to Lady Darling ton and confessing" to her what hi had done, trusting to her share ir the separation of the two lovers tc induce her silence, if not forgiveness in case the matter should come to he ears in any way.

Then he pshawed that aside witl the question : How should she evei know ? Who will there be to tell her' Lady Violet Lisle will never tell. He rode away with almost murdci in Ms heart. Indeed he had come to that pass when it is not at ah certain that he would, not 'nave do liberated murder if he could have seen how it would benefit him. H( rode at a furious gallop, and punished the poor beast he bestrode foi the wrath that Violet had stirred in within him.

He would have returned to Londor at once, but his fears made Iriir think that his hurried departun would arouse suspicion, and so if was that he was at the castle wher the Earl of Granthorpe sent up hit card to him. " Tell him I am not at home,' said the marquis, with ail oath and a singular tightening of the lips. " Beg pardon, your lordship,'' sak the footman ; " but I heard him asi one of the gentlemen who said yor were at home." " Curse the mecklling fool, whoever he was !" exclaimed the mar quis. Then realising ■ that his v.nr.cv musi seem singular, he at»tenvrr.:ed to ex plain it to the wondering but sr.olii servant by saying be had wished tc do something else. And then think

ng that, his cxplanat ir n m.!;!:t. se 'in still more singular, h - r-r.r,: the servant for n< t go'ng a!oi:i, his busi--ICSS. What has he come for '.-" inuttcr;d the marquis, his eon-eiencc, or •ather his fears, putting him on the rack in an instant. He had a. wild vh.-maht. of avoiding :he interview in some way-- any way; Hit he 'mew that woah] not. do. "in losin.v my head," lie muttered ami turned to a hot.tie of brandy poured out one wineglass and then ■mother, which he tossed down his throat. 'the Earl of Granthorpe was loo"ng through the window at a Kay party on the lawn when the mary'-is ntered the room, and «'lm he did lot turn his head the latter felt rush Dver him that sudden murdcro-s i'«dulso of which we have spoken, end ie even glanced stealthily around as if to see if he could be seen by r.nyDody. But it was only an impulse which his judgment if not his better nature condemned.

" A charming sight, my lord," he said, with an assumption of unconcern and naturalness that was perfectly marvellous under the circumstances.

" Yes," answered the earl, turning and looking steadily at the marquis, "it is a charming sight. Youth is always charming. I trust that wc are quite alone here, my lord."

"We seem to be," answered the marquis, looking around the great room with a sort of indolent surprise at the question. " You called upon my daughter, yesterday," said the earl. "I had the honour and pleasure," answered the marquis, so lightly that no one could have suspected that he was suffering tortures internally. " The visit," said the earl with slow distinctness, " was no more one of pleasure that it was one of honoui my lord marquis." " You surprise me," answered the marquis, determined not to betray himself by a word, for he hoped that the earl was ignorant of the one important matter, and as he ran it quickly over in his mind, he could not see how he could be otherwise than ignorant of it. "Do you mean that you are surprised to he told that you have been guilty of a dishonourable act?" demanded the earl.

" Your words are unequivocal, my lord," said the marquis, haughtily ; "end if it be a quarrel that you seek, I can gratify you without descending to insults which are unseemly in you, and unnecessary towards me. What is your meaning ?" " I mean distinctly that calling upon my daughter to induce her to silence concerning yourself, by threatening her with the disclosure of her past and that of Lady Westall, wa/ the dishonourable act of a man ca£. able of any crime and any meanness."

The marquis advanced a pace threateningly, but the earl raised his hand with a contemptuous gesture. " You Bhall answer for those words," said the marquis, in a tone of concentrated fury. " I am ready to answer for them Shall we call in the guests yonder, and shall I repeat them before them? What say you ?" " I say what they would say," answered the marquis, recovering himself, " that you must be mad." " Well, it does seem like madness to accuse a peer of the realm, the owner of a proud old title, of being so dishonourable that his acts almost pass the possibility of belief. But I do accuse you, Marquis of Coldenham of being that very thing, and I hold the proof of what I say in my hand." He took from his pocket the receipt and held it out so that the marquis could see it. But it needed no prolonged look for the wretched man to recognise it. He knew in a second, without even glancing at it what it must be, and his breath came hard, and bis hands clenched tightly. At that moment assuredly the life of the Earl of Granthorpe would not have been worth the value of a pin had it been in the power ol the marquis to secretly kill him. " What is the nature of the proof you speak of ?" he presently asked. "I see you know ; but I will tell you. It is the receipt of twenty thousand pounds—a receipt which you gave to Lady Darlington ( anl which you said my daughter had signed after taking the same sum from you." " Well ?" " That sum of money you obtained from Lady Darlington ; but you never gave that sum to my daughter ■ior did she ever sign the receipt." To be Continued.