THE LUCK OF THE LINDSAYS

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12611, 23 November 1926, Page 4

THE LUCK OF THE LINDSAYS

(PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.)

BY

MARGARET TYNDALE.

[COPYRIGHT.]

CHAPTER XVIII.—JULIA’S NEW FRIENDS. “But you promised to take me up the river to-day; you know vou did,” said Julia pettishly, as she and her husband sat at breakfast a week or two after their anival at the prettilyfurnished bungalow that Gordon had rented for the remainder of the season. “You’re always leaving me alone now.” “But ray dear child, business is business,” answered Gordon, with a faint touch of exasperation in his voice. “Your business seems largely made up of pleasure, if you nsk me,” said the girl irritably. “You don’t seem to care a bit what happens to me while you’re away. I might fall into the river and get drowned, for all you would know.” “Don’t be silly, Julia-,” reprimanded her husband severely. “I shan’t be away long.” But when he had gone, the girl buried her face in her arms and sobbed violently. All too swiftly disillusionment had followed upon her hasty marriage. Without her knowledge, her husband had used the greater part of the money he had realised bv the disposal of the stocks and shares that were the source of Julia’s income, in order to settle one or two of his most pressing debts, and he could already foresee a time in the not far distant future, when he would have to force his wife to appeal to her father for more money. This he knew, however, would be a somewhat difficult matter, for one morning on calling at his club, he found a Tetter from Mainwaring awaiting him, telling him of the turn events had taken in the Lindsay household, and intimating that his share of the plunder, as he put it, would be most acceptable. To this letter Gordon made no reply, for Mninwaring’s reminder of the debt owing to him had come at a particularly inopportune moment; although in his secret heart Gordon was forced to acknowledge that it had never been his intention to accede to his accomplice’s demands. In spite of persistent calls' Gordon rarely found Lady Violet Gilderoy in, and this fact added yet more to his resentment at the unlucky turn in the wheel of fortune which his marriage with Julia had provoked. The girl had suffered his neglect for a time, but at last her strong spirit rebelled, and their quarrel of this morning had been only one of many such incidents in their short married life.

Julia took a book, and did her best to idle away the long morning after her husband had gone: but the dullness of her life had become almost insupportable. She wouldjhave written to her father, for she knqw nothing of the serious consequences '“that had been the outcome of her marriage: but her pride prevented her from adopting this course. Instead she wrote a short little note to Donald, begging him to do his best to soften her father’s heart; for Gordon had told her something of Lindsay’s attitude towards them.

Returning very dejectedly from posting her letter to her brother, Julia saw, while yet some little distance from the bungalow, a smartly dressed woman, accompanied by a bronzed, handsome man of about thirty, get out of a boat and pass up the tiny landing-stage. Julia’s astonishment knew no bounds, for although she knew that her husband’s friends were many and varied, she had had at present very few opportunities of meeting them. “Is this Mr Gordon’s bungalow?” inquired the lady as Julia came near. “I am Lady Violet Gilderoy—is he at home? You are his wife. I believe?” “Yes. He went up to town by the early train this morning," said Julia a trifle shyly, for the reception of these unxpected visitors was somewhat beyond her powers as a hostess. “But he is coming back to-night if you would like to wait.”

Both Lady Violet and her companion laughed. “I don’t think our visit requires that we should wait for him, do you, Teddy?” she asked gaily. Then turning to Julia, who had flushed at the merriment her words had caused, she added kindly: “This is my cousin, Captain Conyngham, Mrs Gordon; we are both very thirsty, and should feel so grateful if we might stay and have tea with you.” “Why, of course,” said the girl eagerly, with something of her old bonhomio. “I should simply love you to. I am very lonely here——” She stopped abruptly as if recollecting that the recital of her matrimonial troubles was hardly the proper subject for such an occasion. “I’ll go and give orders,” she added quickly, and thereupon disappeared into the bungalow with more haste than the moment really warranted.

“Ho has been neglecting her shamefully, you know, Teddy,” said Lady Violet with quiet indignation, when she and her companion were alone. “I can see it by her eyes. She’s a dear, pretty child, and deserves a better fate.”

Edward Conyngham nodded sympathetically. “If you ask me, Gordon is on out-and-out scoundrel,” he replied vehemently. “He merits a good horsewhipping, and I wouldn’t mind giving it him either, for neglecting such a jolly, pretty girl——” He stopped abruptly, for his companion was holding up her finger ivarningly; and at this moment came out on to the verandah. had removed her hat, a fact which, to Edward Conyngham’s mind, made her look more charming than ever. “We’ll have tea out here under the trees if you don’t mind,” she said, as she came and stood looking at her guests with an expression of great seriousness in her dark eyes. “The bungalow is so small, and Captain Conynghnm would be bumping his head

against the ceiling if he weren’t very careful.” “Your consideration is worthy of a better man, Mrs Gordon,” replied Conyngham gallantly, at which they all three laughed; and somehow after that Julia felt more at her ease. She entertained her visitors with a feeling of importance altogether at variance with that engendered by her husband’s treatment of her; but when she com-; pared herself with Lady Violet Gilderoy, she realised how far short she must come in her husband’s eyes, and she thereupon made up her mind that she would copy this charming woman of the world, so that in future Stanley might be proud to introduce her to his friends.

While she drank her tea, therefore, Julia watched her visitors as closely as she possibly could without appearing ill-mannered. She noted carefully the way Lady Violet had her hair dressed, the various colours of her simple toilette that blended so artistically with her big red sunshade, and was too absorbed to notice that in turn Lady Violet was studying her, though perhaps not quite 60 patiently. What Lady Violet saw was a pretty, though perhaps a trifle petulant face, with rebellious brown-gold hair and expressive hazel eyes. That the girl was not really in love with her husband she felt instinctively; instead she had been fascinated by her apparent conquest, and led into marrying him by the glamour of secret meetings and a runaway marriage. Marriage, Lady Violet always contended, either made or marred a woman, and in this particular instance, in view of what she knew of Gordon’s real character, she feared that the latter case would almost inevitably be Julia’s lot, since the girl was not sufficiently worldly-wise to make the best of the bargain when she found it was not to her liking, and with her impetuous, untrained nature an unhappy married life would undoubtedly bring out the most undesirable points in her character. Curiously enough, the fact that fate had stepped in to prevent her own marriage with the man whom, in spite of his faults, she sincerely loved, had not served to embitter Lady Violet against the woman who had intervened. She knew very well that a girl of Julia’s temperament could have no possible influence over the man she had married, and the thought aroused pity in the heart of this woman whose experience of the world had been none too happy. She therefore decided to put into operation a plan that had speedily formed itself in her mind, and one which, she believed, would, give pleasure both to herself and Julia. “Please come again soon,” said the girl eagerly, as her visitors took their leave some time later. “You will always find me in whenever you come.” “Poor child!” said Lady Violet compassionately to her cousin when they were out of earshot. “I have decided to persuade Stanley Gordon into taking her up to town and giving her a good time, and I -urn going to ask your mother if I may. invite them both over to lunch at Riverdene one day soon. Then I shall have a few earnest words with Gordon, I can promise you.” ■’ . |

Edward Conyngham lighted a cigarette and began to smoke reflectively. Then he said quietly: “You know, Violet, for your sake I’ve never ceased to be grateful that you didn’t marry Gordon. He’s the biggest scoundrel alive, if you ask me. He keeps this young, girl down here where no one but. a- ycrv few people like ourselves of her existence, and he’s up in town spending her money like water.” “I recognise his faults onlv to well, Teddy,” was the sad answer, “hut they wouldn't have prevented me from marrying him. Women are strange creatures, you know.” “They don’t know what’s good for them, that’s a dead certainty,” put in Captain Conyngham practically. Meanwhile Julia was awaiting her husband’s reutrn in a fever of excitement, and when somewhat late in tlin evening, he put in an appearance, the girl could hardly contain herself. “You say that Lady Violet had her cousin with her?” he said thoughtfully after a moment. “What was his name?”

“Conyngham—Captain Edward Conyngham,” replied the girl. Gordon gave a low whistle of surprise which Julia could not understand, and then asked if Lady Violet had promised to call again. “Oh yes,” answered Julia gaily, “she’s staying with Captain Conyngham’s mother at a place called Riverdene a few miles from here. She's sure to come again.”

Gordon nodded. “Who are they, Stanley?” asked his wife after a 1 short pause. “Oh —friends,” he remarked casually. “But look here, Julia,” ho added, “if they do come again, you are to be very nice to them—especially Captain Conyngham—he’s a very great friend of mine, and can give us heaps of good times if he likes.” A few mornings later, to Gordon's satisfaction, there came a note from Lady Violet Gilderoy asking him and Julia to lunch at Riverdene on the following day. He accepted it with an alacrity which would have surprised both the writer and her cousin had they known the cause: and the reason for his desire to meet Contain Conyngham was to be found in the fact—which he had taken great pains to verify—that Edward Conyngham was reported to he one of tho richest men in London.

“That’s a bird worth plucking my hoy.” he told himself with intense satisfaction, as he sat down to write an acceptance of Ladv Violet's invitation. “Well,” he added cynically, as ho addressed the note in his large, sprawling handwriting, “there have been some jolly rum birds in m.y netf up to the present, I must say ; hut, this time its wings are gilded—that’s a dead certainty!” (To be continued.)