ALL OR NOTHING.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 591, 6 August 1913, Page 6

ALL OR NOTHING.

.(Copyright.)

A THRILLING ROMANCE

By tiic Author of "A Bitter Bondage," "Two Keys,' -"Stella," "Tlic Inknown Bridegroom," &c.,

TAUT 22. "Are they not pretty, Mabel ? And if these climbing: roses, these trailing woodbines could speak, is not that what they would say ?"

She laughed the sweet, happy, girlish laughter that has more music than the song of a bird. "I can never contradict yon," she said ; "you seem to understand tlu language of the Mowers so well. I only hear mortal speech."

"I have read a pretty Persian fable about talking roses," he said, "but I forget it. lam very fond of flowers, Mabel—more so than most men—not hot-house blossoms, with long Latin names in many syllables, but sweet wild-flowers like these and these. Who is it calls them ' breath of angels ?' 1 love even their names—the very sound of them is full of fragrance. Say the word ' hawthorn,' one of the prettiest in the language, does it aot bring to you at once a vision -A green lanes, with tall hedges on every side, white and pink ?" "Yes," said Mabel. "I have often thought some words are songs in themselves ; that is one of them." She had forgotten her shyness when he ceased to speak of her and talked about the flowers. She told him many of her sweet fancies, ter pure, girlish thoughts ; they were so fresh, so new to him, he listened in wondering delight. "You are sure to have graceful fancies, Mabel," he said ; "you innerit them from your mother. The only difference is that yours arc all bright, while hers seemed to be tinged by a Khq4e of passionate sadness. I wonder if. your father was a poet or a painter ?"

No shade of embarrassment cloudsd the ::weet, bright face. "I do not think so," she replied. "My mother would have told me." " Decidedly," thought Leonard, 'whatever Mrs. Morton's mystery may be, her daughter knows nothing :..f it." How the one hour lengthened into :wo ; how during that time Mabel :,ave him her heart, never to take lack the gift ; how they revelled in :he sunshine were long to tell. Purple shadows gathering in the west warned them it was time to -O. "Oh, Mabel," said Leonard, as they talked slowly through the broad oath —"oh, Mabel, how I wish life vas all made up of long hours with you in these quiet summer .voods !" Did it strike her that if he but said the word it would be so ? Did ;he wonder why the word was never ;poken ? CHAPTER XXXVII. "Now, remember, papa, you are to nake some excuse for calling on Dr. \insleigh, and you must invite him to dinner," said Alice Leyton to the ndulgent banker. "Very well, my dear," he replied, obediently. "And shall I invite any >ne else to meet him ?" "No," she said, decidedly. '" You ilways go to sleep after dinner this varm weather, and three people can lever amuse each other." "I will ask more if you like," suggested Mr. Leyton. "No," she replied, sharply. " I prefer receiving Dr. Ainsleigh alone." "I think, my dear," said her father with a bland, tuimeaning smile, "that you are very partial to Dr. Ainsleigh."

"A prooi of good taste if I am," she said. "Dr. Ainsleigh is a perfect gentleman—the best-bred man in Carsbrook—and I do like him very much indeed, papa !" The latter part of the sentence wasdelivered with so much emotion, with such unusual gentleness of manner, that the worthy banker looked up in surprise. His daughter's face was Bushed, her eyes dim with real tears. "Alice, my dear !" he cried, in surprise.

"Well, papa, I do like him. There is no use in denying a fact. But he has seen more of life than I have, and I am not beautiful, perhaps, as some girls are." The banker was xouehed by such unusual humility.

"Well, my dear," he said, "to my mind you are pretty enough for anything, but you may rely upon a more tubstantial charm. You will have money, you know. Most men know how to value that."

"I hope, papa, that I have sufficient good looks to please any gen tleman, even if I had no money."

"Certainly," said the banker, feeling that he was sailing in the wrong boat. "So you like Dr. Ainsleigh. Alice. Well, my dear, I have no objection ; you shall do just as you please."

A peculiar smile flittered over Lis daughter's face. "I know it. papa," she said. "There is another thing I should like to observe. This is the first time Dr. Ainsleigh has dined with us en famille. I wish him to be well impressed with our style. We must have the chest unlocked, and the silver dinner-service taken out. Mind, too, that . none but the' best wine comes up from the cellar ; you must attend to that yourself."

Mr. Ley ton promised. He idolised this his only daughter, and she tyrannised over him as women will tyrannise -when a man is weak. H( dreaded nothing on earth so mucl as a frown on his daughter's face. Nothing distressed him so much as an angry word from her. He was scrupulously attentive to <-very wish she expressed, and his affection

met with the usual return. Alice took it all a.; ner duo ; she never thought of thanking him. when her whims were carefully complied with; but if he forgot any wish of hers, or could not attend to any request,, -he was not sparing oi reproaches. Po to keep this well-loved child in a good temper became the first object in the old man's life. He delighted in seeing her happy. He fancied himself very keen in having discovered that she liked Dr. Ainslcigh. He thought of it nil the time he was cm the road to the bunk. '■" if Alice really likes this ytnir.g doctor," he said to himself. " she sha'l r/arry him, and it will be well for him some day." No cue knew how much old Air. Lcyl on was worth. Some said one hundred thousand pounds, others said two. Besides, the Woodlands, tl magnificent house standing in the midst of superb pleasure grounds, was a fortune in itself. Alice had other expectations. An old maiden aunt, who had spent her whole life in saving money, and was generally supposed to have far more than she could count, had made Miss Leyton her heiress ; she had made a will in Miss Leyton's favour, so that it was not without reason that people looked upon her as one of the wealthiest heiresses ic that part of the world.

She had many admirers, and would have had many more, but that her ill-nature was so very apparent. A man does not care to make love to an ill-natured woman. Who could wish for a tender glance from shrewd quick, captious eyes ? But of the gentlemen she had ever met, she admired Dr. Ainsleigh most of all. Admiration was not what she felt for him—it was love, as deep and true and tender as she was capable of feeling. She would willingly have endowed him with all she possessed—her money, jewels, lands, her whole fortune—and in return she would have asked that he should devote himself to her—that he should never look iu a fairer face, never hardly speak to another woman. He must become entirely, unreservedly, devotedly her own, to the exclusion of all others ; ho must be patient with her caprices, blind to her faults ; he must think her beautiful and interesting, never weary of praising her ; above all, he must never exhibit the least weariness of her or of her society, and tlu.se wli.) knew Alios would not think the office a sinecure.

When the banker had gone to his office, Alice bethought herself that it would perhaps V.e quite as well to invite Mrs. Welford, who knew yo well how to make herself agreeable to the heiress.

"She will praise things, which I could not do," thought that wise young lady to herself. "She can call his attention to different matters which it would be bad taste for me to notice. Above all, she can remind him that one day or other all will be mine."

She despatched a note to Mrs. Welford, asking her to dine with them, and the lawter's wife gave glad consent. She always returned home from Woodlands laden with grapes, nectarines, apricots, and choice hothouse flowers. She knew the price of them, and paid it most cheerfully. She must flatter Alice, defer to her opinions, and praise indiscriminately all that she saw. The day came. Alice had looked forward to it with no little trepidation. To her it seemed to be decisive. If she could so dazzle and impress Dr. Ainsleigh by the magnificient show of wealth as to get one> word from him, the rest lay in her own hands. Yes, vain as she was, secure in the consciousness of wealth, she had an uneasy feeling, a vague unpleasing idea that he preferred the fair face of Mabel to all that she could offer him.

Mrs. Welford came early, and, being on confidential terms, was shown upstairs into Alien's dressing-room. The greeting between the two ladies was a very warm one.

"I am glad you are here," said Miss Leyton, cordially. "I want to know what you think of my dress." Mrs. Welford clasped her hands and looked ecstatic.

"Nothing could be more elegant or more recherche !" she cried. "As dear Lady Mackin says, ' No one has better taste than you,' Miss Leyton."

Alice looked and felt pleased. "Can you suggest anything that would improve it ?" she asked. "It Is simply perfect," was the reply, "and some one else will think so, or I am mistaken." "I do not think 'some one else,' as you call him, pays much attention to my dress," said Alice, devoutly hoping to be contradicted. "I happen to Know you are wrong, Miss Leyton." said the lawyer's wife, with a knowing little smile. She was not at all above inventing such little tilings as she knew would phase the heiress. "I know Dr. Ainsleigh said you were the only lady in Carsbrook who understood the true art of elegance iu dress." "I am the only one who can afford to show it," replied Alice, with a smiie of triumph, in which there was a tinge of spite. Truly her dress was exquisite- a pale, delicate pink silk, half-shroudea in rich black iaee, with a cosily suite of pearls. True, the face was not pretty ; the eyes wen. small, and had that quick, ill-natured look whier seems to take in every one's faults the complexion was sallow, tin. mouth wide and not graceful,: bu( the hands and arms were beautiful, the dress fitted to perfection, and Alice knew how fe& make the best oi herself.

She read approval in Dr. A ins leigh's eyes when they fell upon her. He was punctual to the time appointed. The dinner was what Alice intended it to be, a triumph of th« culinary art ; the dishes were recherche and well cooked. The dining room altogether pleased her. Tlu furniture was suitable, the few

picture." good—everything was - substantial—m* n"n.-ense of dowers or liciit. i'ooli.-'u Mn;..ii;.'i:!.\ ■ .;<!! a? Mabel wouid haw doiij.hied in. A dining room, a. Alice '--as accustomed in observe, was meant for a place in eai in. There Was a large sideboard, nil v.nich stood massive silver plate, and arranged in excellent siyle. .Mice, as she entered the room on 'Or. Ainsieieh's arm, felt proud and elated. The "silver service" was displayed to the best advantage ; the delicate, costly glass and white damask linen were such as the mistress of any house might be proud of. "I wonder," she thought, as " the young doctor took his place, "whether he guesses that some day all this might be mine and his if he would but ask for it."

The well-trained servants did their work admirably, and woe to any one who made even the slightest mistake under the keen, critical eyes of the young mistress of Woodlands. The wine was of the very best. Mr. Leyton had ordered up some of his choice Madeira—wine that he declared was worth double its weight in gold—so mellow, so fragrant, that money could not purchase its like. There was champagne that sparkled like diamonds in the sunlight, a dessert of rare fruits, all grown in the banker's own hothouses ; grapes from the vineries, pineapples, peaches a perfect picture of luxury ; and Leonard, who had an artist's eye for colouring and effect, felt that it was all very pleasant. Pleasant on this warm July evening to sit in the cool, shaded din-ing-room, with the luscious fragrance of ripe fruit .and rare wines.

Pleasant to have the mistress of all the splendour and comfort he saw around him lavishing smiles, kind words, and attention upon him. Pleasant to drink rare amber wines that warmed and gladdened his heart, to be in the very midst of luxury and kindness. There came to him as he sat there a keen knowledge that whoever married Alice might have all this for his own, and there came to him a kind ol vision of what his house, his diningroom, and his dinner must be if he married Mabel. CHAPTER XXXVIII. Alice was certainly an excellent hostess. The dinner was a great success, although the conversation never rose above mediocrity and- somewhat commonplace gossip. Still, it was lively, and Mrs. Welford related several refreshing anecdotes of her dearest friends. Dr. Ainslcigh rather despised himself for enjoying it ; yet enjoy it he certainly did. At the proper time Alice rose, followed by Mrs. Welford, and went to the drawing-room. The banker knew the state of matters too well to attempt to keep Dr. Ainsleigh over his wine. The followed the ladies in a few minutes ; then Mr. Leyton found an easy-chair and sat down. "I know what you want, papa," said Alice, with a kindly smile. Perhaps Dr. Ainslcigh and Mrs. Welford would like to go through the conservatories ?"

"There is nothing that I would like so much," said the young doctor, who had a perfect passion for flowers. But Mrs. Welford, with true tact, begged to be excused, saying that the strong perfume of many flowers always made her head ache.

"We must entertain each other, then, Dr. Ainslcigh," said Alice, with a very pleasant smile ; and in some vague way Dr. Ainsleigh felt as though he were walking into a trap. They passed through the long French windows on to the soft green grass. The purple haze of evening lay over trees and flowers—a soft, beautiful light, solemn as that seen in the grand aisles of a cathedral church.

Alice stepped with the proud air of one who feels herself a queen. She noted Leonard's admiring survey of the well-kept, trim pleasure grounds, the flower gardens, the long range of hothouses.

"I had no idea that Woodlands was so large," he~said, at length. "You have fruit and flowers sufficient to supply a whole town." "Papa has spent a great deal of money «n the place," she replied, carelessly. "One has some interest in beautifying one's own property. Our head gardener lived with Lord Felton, who is celebrated for his gardens. Lady Mackin told papa about him."

• "Lady Mackin seems to take great interest in you," said Leonard, remembering the conversation he had overheard.

"Natarally so," said Alice, haughtily. "She knows my ideas—l may, perhaps, say my ambition. People cannot help what they are born tosome to poverty, some to wealth. Lady Mackin knows that I shall have the responsibility of great wealth ou my hands, and she has promised to advise me. Ido not intend to live at Carsbrook always, Dr. Ainsleigh."

•"It is not to be expected," he said, seeing that something was required of him. ?'Expectations are very olten nothing better than mere will-o'-the-wisps," continued the. lady ; "but iu my case they are certain." Leonard tried (o look interested. 'Alice continued :

-'My aunt has announced her intention of making me lut sob- heiress and her proptriy anio,:u(s in ovn eighty thousand ponmis. '.any .'dace ir knows that. Whenever it i.'H- leiivv I shall leave Carsbnu.k, and ;.•• i o London. Tier ladyship wiii \<u roduci me everywhere— sin l ha: !.e,eai--e,i t< 'do so—even to her most i'i\ei-ii.-Majesfy. at one oi the !"■■•■.■.■ im .Rooms. Perhaps you will re :i London then. Dr. Ainsleigh. and w< may meet there." (To be Cominaeu'.