Lady Trebor's Secret, OF THE MYSTERY OF CECIL ROSSE.

Patea Mail, Volume III, Issue 217, 9 May 1877, Page 4

Lady Trebor's Secret, OF THE MYSTERY OF CECIL ROSSE.

[By Mas. llaurtkt Lewis.]

CHAPTER V.— Continued.

“1 said that the suspicion had 1 taunted me, hut I must acquit yon of that crime. The French certificate of death, and the examination I caused to to be made upon the arrival of the little body in England, proved that she died of marasmus. But none the less do I believe you to be the cause of her death. The little frail body had not been well nurtured. You had neglected her, idtreated her, and deliberately planned her death that you might inherit her wealth ! That I do religiously believe !”

“ You wrong me, grandfather. My stepmother was very kind to mo. When all others looked coldly upon mo she tried to win my love. When I was cast off by you and my father for my foolish, willful marriage with Sir Albert Trevor, she pleaded for my forgiveness, although she pleaded in vain. And when she lay ill in a foreign laud, she sent for me and clung to mo. She confided her child to my care. I could never have repaid her love and trust by the awful crime of which you suspect me !”

“ You were poor. Sir Albert Trevor was .1 ruined profligate, who had wedded you in the expectation of receiving a fortune with you. He was a bad man, a villain and a scoundrel. You inherited your mother’s lawless nature. Guided by Sir Albert Trevor, I believe you would have been capable of any crime. I acquit you of poisoning the child, but I believe that you schemed against her life, that you planned to inherit her wealth, and that her loss lies directly at your door and that of your dead husband !”

Lady Trevor put up her hand to hide her convulsed features. An expression of terror was imprinted upon them, with a look of guilt which it was well for her that the stern old lord did not see. The marquis walked to a distant window and stared out upon the leadenhuod sea, and the yacht half-blotted out of sight by the gray, thick mist, and made a powerful effort at self-control. The sight of Lady Trevor had aroused all his bitterness of soul. His bitter wrongs at her hands aroused him to fury. But presently ho calmed himself outwardly and returned to her, with a face cold and hard as. marble, and eyes as keen ns sword-thrusts. “ Enough of the past,” he said. t{ The sight of you brought it all back •and aroused all the venom within me. Tt is barely possible that I may have ■wronged you. If yon have the blood of that adventuress in your veins, you arc also my son’s child and should have something of his noble nature. Yon mentioned in your letter to mo, requesting permission to visit Castle Cliff, that Lord Glenham would spend this month at the Lodge,” he added, turning the subject abruptly. “ Directly after I received your letter rumour came to my oars that Lord Glenham was your,suitor. Is this true ?”

Lady Trevor straightened herself from her cowering attitude, and assumed an air of coquetry in striking contrast with her recent ahjectnoss. <c Rumour speaks too soon,” she said, settling Tier bracelets. a Lord Glonham lias certainly not yet proposed for my hand, if that is what you mean.” “ He is years younger than you—” “ But looks older,” said Lady Trevor, with a complacent glance at an opposite mirror, I do not proclaim my age, grandfather, and Lord Glonham does not think mo greatly his senior.” “ Is there truth at the bottom of the rumour ? Do you like him ?” The brunette face flushed. The full curves of cheek and chin, the sensuous lips, the glittering black eyes, all quivered and sot toned with feeling. “I do like him,” she assented, with an affectation of frankness. “ More, I love him better than I love any one else. He bos paid mo many attentions, but has never professed to love me. A month in the Highlands will, I hope and believe, bring him to my feet.” “ Humph I” said the marquis. “If you arc really what I often believe, I’d rather see him dead than your husband. But if I have wronged you, his love may make of you a good woman. Glonham is the noblest of men, a grand and generous soul, made to win men’s reverence and a woman’s worship. To receive him as tny grandson would give me a new hold on life—a new and great joy, such as I never expected to experience. As you know, he has a great fortune in his own right, is a baron, and, coming of a distant branch of my family, will at my death become marquis of St. Leonards, and the possessor of my entailed estates. He will be Marquis of St. Leonards and Earl of Glonham, one of the richest men in England. His wife will have a brilliant destiny !” “ I know it,” said Lady Trevor, “ and I intend to become his wife !”

The old lord paced the floor restlessly. u I •will come to the chief purport of ray visit,” he said, presently, with some effort. I( I should never have seen you again, Edith, had it not been for Lady Glonhara.” “ Lady Glenham!” “ She wrote to me at Vichy. She is very proud—as proud as I myself. Knowing her son to be the next in lino

of inheritance to my title, and for other reasons, she wrote to say that she would like to bring about a marriage between my granddaughter and her son. The rumor had reached her ears, also, of an engagement between him and yon, ami that rumor set the current of her thoughts in your direction.” “ I am grateful to the countess,” said Lady Trevor, reddening with delight, “the more so that she has never seemed to like mo. My mother’s character and my husband’s profligacy have always seemed to make her cold and distant to me. What can have changed her so ?” “ A simple cause. She looks upon her sou’s marriage with you as infinitely better than one he contemplates. He docs not love you, Edith, although yon may think so. He has fallen into the toils of an adventuress, just as my sou did. These noble, unsuspecting natures are most easily imposed upon. Lord Glenham has fallen in love with a nameloss woman, a person whose very birth is unknown, and he desires to marry her, and begs his mother not only to receive the girl as her daughter, but to go to Germany and sec her. Was ever suck madness? It is the old story of my sou over again.” The stern and haughty face of the marquis grew sterner and haughtier as lie continued his walk. Lady Trevor, with sudden pallor, leaned back in her chair. “ Impossible !” she whispered. “It seems,” continued the old lord, “ that the girl sent the carl away for a year—a streak of coquetry, of course. No doubt she did it to deepen his ardor, and expects him back by every train. But, being honorable, he took the stipulation in good faith. He is determined to marry her next year, and will do so unless the girl is proved unworthy, or something intervenes. I cannot hear that the carl’s life should he wrecked, or that he should graft a low adventuress upon his noble line. So I came to yon, Edith, to toll yon that yon have a rival, and that Lady Glenham would be happy if her son were to make yon his wife. If yon have any influence over him, if ho has any affection for yon, persuade him to give over his hair-hrained folly, and to consider his mother’s happiness.” “I will. What is the woman’s name ?”

“ Lady Glenham did not mention it. She was in groat distress, us you can well imagine, and did not enter greatly into details. We understand each other, Edith. If you marry Lord Glenham, 1 am willing to be on friendly terms with you, and shall make you my heiress. I will remain at Castle Cliff a day or two, as I shall call upon Lord Glenham tomorrow. And now, as the hour is growing late, 1 will dress for dinner. The butler informed mo that my room was unoccupied, and I ordered a tiro to t be made in it, and sent my valet up to lay out my clothes. We will discuss Lord Glenham further after my visit to him.” The old lord bowed in stately fashion, and withdrew from the room. Lady Trevor was left alone with her perplexities, pale and troubled, with a trembling shrinking from the. future. 11 What am I to do ?” she asked herself. “ I love Lord Glenham, and he loves an adventuress. Pulford has sworn to many mo, and I hate him. Yet I am in his power. He could crush me at a blow. lam more afraid of him than of death itself. What can I do? I will not marry Pulford. I will marry Lord Glenham, Upon my marriage with the earl hangs love, Lord St. Leonards’ favour, everything I value in the world. Yet, if Pulford were but to be angered at me, ho could plunge mo into ruin and despair—into disgrace, and a felon’s cell. What answer shall [ make to Pulford to-morrow ? I stand upon ft frightful precipice, where a false step means death.” She brooded over her situation, and her shrinking from the future grew upon her into a deadly terror. f'ro BE CONTINUED.]