THE NOVELIST. [Published by Special Arrangement.] THE ROAD TO LOVE

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 25 August 1909, Page 71

THE NOVELIST. [Published by Special Arrangement.] THE ROAD TO LOVE

By MADAME ALBANESI, Author of "Capricious Caroline," "Th« Strongest of All Things," "Susannah and One Other," "Love and Louisa," "The- Way to Win," ; Etc.," Etc.

[COPYBIGHT.] CHAPTER XXIII. ?TER he bad carried out the duty -which Ellen had suggested to him Richard Varley found himself going freoaienity Jta .Wyntihe" * - La4y £jfrel3^s>^imrfiher.~ JiadV been unasu^tty ; amena&terHndeed,. 1- . she - ' JiacE evinced _ great eagerness -to fell inr' -with j , .''Sbe.'eonfeeed-'ihat .-she_[ shotpld be^'glad- to send &ef gixlaw^y from- > 'WyiMjie~-.foT a- time.- . " - ■- ' "Lily 'Marbrooke' -will only r te too de^ lighted to have Evelyn at Breston. ' She wrote asking her only tbe atlher day. There is a big ■house party on just now-, , as h«r boy has come .of age, and there ; are great festivities. T aim not quite sure, i however, 'Dick, if Evelyn frill care about i going." j **Oh V sire must care. Let ma murage ; that." ... ! "Yon generally can manage Evelyn," ', I<ady •Norchester sqid with her faint smile.' * "She will do anything you want, Dick." - "WiH sh«?" queried Yarley witk a curious touch of restraint in bis voice. And Lady Evelyn had promptly proved the tru6h of her motfoer's ..words. She had meekly allowed Varley to arrange everything, and he had lost no time. For, in truth, "the girl's changed look distressed him. Lady Evelyn's freshness and her merry child-like expression seemed to have faded a little ; dive was dull and" listless, and\seemed 60 have no energy or inclination t6 occupy herself. Her daily visits j , to 'Miriam's side room had produced a mischievous influence upon her. VJarley .had only a slight acquaintance • with. thY J&axtdaionees -oi- Marbnooke, btA, ' toe .knewioae of 'her married daughters very J*seH,_ and he utilised tiiis friend- - chip adrottly. "Your * mother- Has • asked Evelyn Wynche t» Br-eston,. and' T- want you to j look after her \rhen. she . ; s there. ■ She i ~ wants rousing. 'Life ait Wyncne is pretty { dismal justr now." • • * ' "I shoqid iliiiik so ; it must be too miserable," was the reply. '•SomeJbody was saying the other day that Harry's '•wife wall never get any tjetter.- Is thaifc j so? <^f course I don't ivish barm to any- | one, bat I must oay in this case "J i and the eenteace was finished with a shrug df the shoulders. r I "I don't fancy Miriam is going to die," Richard Varley had made reply, "■bob I <do know that so much contact . •with sickness and worry is very bad for i ', Evelyn. She ought to be enjoying her- [, self— dancing and flirting, and all the j rest." • . j , "Evelyr is a disar," said the pretty i young woman to whom Varley was speak- , ing, "and I will look after her. She • ougiiS. to ixsasvy, but her mother is such ■ a reohise nowadays that Evelyn does not get her proper chances; she never sees anyone or goes anywhere. You can leave i her in ay hands. I will see that she ] has a good time at Breston." Ellen- was in Switzerland when she re- , oeived letters informing her of Lady ■ Evarya's doings. She was touched by the j ( prompt way in Trhioh "Vaorley had carried out her wishes. Lady Evelyt? herself wrote a long letter full of dhatter and' nems. She was undoub-tedily leißjoyiin^.her- . teW. There was to be a big ball at Breston, and thwioricak and a lawn tennis tourna- 1 mefl' t Unconscio'usiy the girl's spirit had ' caught the note of gaiety in the ataio- ; sphere about her. Her letters from ' Wvnohe had been very- short aod very | ' sad! ; "Marbrooke is a nice boyr," she wrote jo Ellen, "and quite good-looking, though his hair is furiously red. You know his father died when he was very young, and he has only just come into his property, ' tihough of course he has bad the title 1 always. His mother isv» proud of him, : and so anxious! She reminds me. of my ■ mother with Harry — only Lady-Marbrook* ; has three' other boys and two girls, both • grown up and both married. I think Ij ' shall stay on here some little wfhile. TJie j news from Wynche is that mother will go ' to Scotland as sooi? as the doctors cay ' Miriajn can be taken abroad. Dear Ellen, < I wish j'ou could see Harry <rith Miriam 1 I He is just an angel, and insists on being , 1 ■*ifch her all the time and Burßing her. It j is mfeat touching." ! There was a long -epell after this when J do letters came from Lady Evelyn. But < she was still at Breston. So much Ellen, < knew by occasional glimpses at English j < society papare and throuwh -JBiohard var- i ley's letters. She was moving about co < constantly that these letters did not reach her- regularly, and sometimes' she would ; * receive several all ait once, 'but he never failed to write. . " js- 1 Ellen liked her travelling companions < T«ry much, and the change of scene, the | 1 rao-ied interests and impressions worked most beneficiaily on her 'mind ; a certain 1 serenity dbole back to her by degrees. She i began to remiember all that had gone 1 .without hurt, and to judge "wihafc hod ■y passed oalznly and reasonably. 1 That oppressiv* sense of having done 1 wrong to Miriam almost vanished in these t days. §he tried to put k from her. In s her near meatail condition she realised c that them baA been so much storm and s

, strain in .her sojourn with Miriam that a ? certain degpee of hysteria and excitement ;h.ad almost inevitably communicated itself to her — a phase which had culminated on tha% night of acute anxiety ari9 agitation. And still she never forgot Miriam ; her desire to have Miriam's faith anc" confidence in hea restored was always with her. Now that she was far away the paibhos of Miriam's story came to her ] even more '/urely thar before, and dear • 1 as he was to her she could not deny the ! justice of Norchester's self-condemnation, j He had forced on the marriage, and once the glamour had faded he had "not made any determined effort -to arrange , his future in suob a way as would mean . peace and mutual comprehension, if not , happine?s, for his wife and himself. { PLten would have been the last to have , gainsaid the assertion that Miriam was | difficult: she was most difficult, an ex- j 1 oeedingly trying person to live witih, but j 1 largely, vejy largely, Ellen placed tihe re- ! sponsflrility of this with Norchester. The j ■ girl. he. bad married .had adored him ; she , | eouid: have shaped* 1 into soy - faaiuon i 1 , by Aps- hands,- and-he^-faad pesseeeed none ; •retf^tiie^ttsaiities tier/tSfe.'- • - : •- •[ ' ; Nevertheless, m "Ellen's eyses . hi» . mfc- , 1 | takes and, wrongs 'were/ all^ pardoned by ! -[ 'hfai 'present "conduct" 'ISie~ w|b" so glad [ • tbat./he" was constant to his: reeolntKxn, j that he ha-d accepted his -duties 6O loyally. She prajsed for him ' often, and arways-', that it might be granted to him to put j back Miriam's trust in him, and restore ! to him the love wJiich she, poor soul, : had lavished on him co passeoma-tely, so ! devotedly. | The winter was passed by Mr Blaydon j and bis daughter in Italy. There we;e : times wihen a curious feeling of unreality ! took posEcesion of Ellen, and the present - surroundings, . the classic beauty, the brilliant sunshine, the strange language, and the foreign element altogether seemed like a vivid- dream. Thess were the days in her old lite when she had been wont to be abroad for hours at a time in tJie saddle with her father ; when the old hall and dining room at Canbyr Court had always been busy with her fiattefs hunting and sporting guests. How little ehe had imagined t£te previous winter all'thait would happen in the year which was now coming to an end ! How happy ehe had been, sheltered by I her father's tender love, ignorant of ail j sorrow, l secure from all rough contact — ■ all things which could hurt and blight! I The anniversary of her father's dearth I was spent alone. Bhe had 1 already grown very surety • into the affections of the Biaydons, and received from them the "toogt exquisite consideration. ,The : -father, with his quiet,, reserved, manner,/ .his quait .speech, and dry, -humour, had ap- . I .pealed quickly to Elle-n,. The girl, Coa--j Buelo A was' just as humorous, but she was j bubbling, over with animation and high" spirits, and made -a very amusing companion. Ellen drifted quite naturally into j sharing - Consuelo B!aydon's various studies. "For," as she had said in tie beginning, "I am not a bit clever, and 1-wan.t 'badly to be educated." "Seams to me," the American girl had replied, "thai 1 I'm getting more than my Share. I know a heaip of things, and my father doesn't considei I air a little , scrap of good at any of them. Being ■ a "walking encyclopedia' himself he's keen [•to keep that in the family, I suppose." [ Just an outline, of couij&a, of Ellen's i story had been given tp Mr Blaydon by 1 Mrs Leggatt, and having experienced a great and sudden, loss and: tasted the bitterest kind of sorrow himself, this man gave Mien the wairmest, the surest sympathy. It was not until long after she " had ■come in contact with him" tfhat she realised how true add deep this sympathy was. "I do not know why you should have hesitated U) let me face the world alone. • I have found such kindness in it," she once wrote to RicKard Varley. "1 think the world a very splendid place." And to tlms hj answered some little time later: "There vare certain natures which compel unconsciously the best in otbsr jatures to stand forth. " "Yet this does not dhange my view about you or any young woanar placed as you are placed. lam emphatically not for mii dependence in women ; hvA then I am, as | ray aunt repeatedly telk me, a very oldfashioned person." At the end of this letter Varley wrote : "I wonder when I shall see you again." He made no .mention of Evelyn, or of any of the Wynche people, bui* Ellen knew through Norchester's mother tnat Lady Evelyn was paying a round of visits, and Lord Nortihester and his wife were in the ! South of England. The Dowiager Lady Norehester had passed through Florence, , while the Blaydons had been in the city, ' and Ellen had spent a long quiet day with faer. She found Lady Evelyn's mother changed— much softened, but "also much aged. | "I resolved to come ajbroad instead of going to Scotland. My niece, the Princii pesse di Liani, has begrged m« so often to ooma here and stay that I thought I would fall in «ith her wishes this autumn. Besides," added Lady Norchester, witii the ifaint jmile which had J so much sadness in it, "I know if I had gone fee Scotland Evelyn would have insisted' on going with me, and I want her to stay where she is for the time being." ' • j They talked then of Miriam— the things '. which Ellen heard -brought tears to heT 4^ eyes. It .hurt her terribly to know that ' , Miriam's- health was really very delicate. ' , ' "We feared the "mischief lay in her ] lungs at first — Che result, of -course, of the • accident, but it is now traced to the ■ heart. Her zncrbher suffered is the same ■ way. She has changed altogether." J Lady Norchester said softly, "I do not > know what is in her mind, because she ' never speaks, but a great calmness and 1 c strange silence have fallen upon her She can do very little for herself — is not i

is -with her all the time, and does everything for her.. His devotion and care are very beautiful, Ellen." Far some time Ellen had not been able to speak in answer to this ; then she had said, "If only I could know was happy !" To this Lady Norchester had shaken her head. "There is peace with her novr, of that lam sure — but happiness ! Ah ! ; my dear, who can answet tbat?" I And J~et, Ellen told herself, th«re must j surely be .something approaching happiness with Miiyam now tEat her oisband's mother could speak of her with such kind- . ness, now that all the old enmity -eesned . ait an end. And more than, this, surely | — surely Ellen's heart argued passionj ately, the realisation of Norchester's devotion, his untiring care, must bring contentment and healing ~to that aohino* heart? j "Everything that ;ar help her will be tried," Lady Norchester had said. "She is so young that we hope this trouble may be fought and overcome. The great I difficulty^ witih which the doctors have to • contend is her extreniejweatoiess"; [ tern i& terribly . en&ebledk'akd' reduced by such a lonjg ajid unnatural meat-al -strain, ' i '"Some ' natures can" resist these things, [ but ia- Mifianfs r .case it has- paved the ! way unfortunately foi ' tfie ' hereditary 7 disease fco declare rteel£ Wihat I hope /nost earnestly," Lady Norchester finished with a sigh, "is thaifc Miriam may be spared the offerings her poor mother endured." . rhait same night, when Ellen was in the quiet of her room, she wrote a little plea to Richard Varley : I am always akin;, you to do something for one, but this is so near my heart. Will you try and find out if I may write to Miriam? To 9ee h«r I know is not possible, bujt I have a longing to write—only, you see, I am afraid to dio this without knowing if my letter would upset her. We are going to Rome, the Hotel Excelsior, to-morrow. , Will yo* send me an answer there?