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

Patea Mail, Volume III, Issue 227, 13 June 1877, Page 4

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

o—[By Mus. Harriet Lewis.] CHAPTER XIL MOTHER AND SON. - It was the morning after Lady Glcnham’s arrival at Breezy Lodge, a magnificent autumnal morning, with crisp and frosty atmosphere, clear and bracing, and with splendid sunshine flooding the valleys and glorifying the hoary and nigged mountain tops. It was n morning for sportsmen, dogs, and guns, and Lord Glen ham’s guests sallied forth with' 'their Highland guides in cpiest of feathered game. The earl remained with his lady-mother, who desired a private interview with him. ’ The two were together in the dravungrooin of the Lodge-—a long, low, wainscoted room, with seven windows overlooking the steep descent and the wooded valley below, and commanding a majestic prospect of mountains and distant sea. The furniture was oldfashioned and substantial. A fire was burning on the hearth, and Lady Olenlmm sat before it, with a feathered screen in her hand. Bhc was a noble-looking woman, with a. peculiar majesty of hearing that rendered her exceptionally distinguished even in the queen’s drawing-room. She was fair and haughty, with gray hair arranged in puffs above her forehead, with frosty blue eyes and a firm, proud mouth, and she - carried herself like an empress. Bhe did not look like a woman given to tenderness. Her leading characteristic was pride, yet with all her soul she lorcd her son. That he had remained unmarried until now had sorely troubled her. That ho had never loved till now had been a grief to her. His fair and splendid manly beauty was the delight of her eyes and heart. She knew him to he noble, manly, bravo, and honorable. He had the high-bred Englishman’s horror of untruth, and his love for her was chivalrous and reverential. She Lad deemed him perfect—until now. Lord Glenham had drawn a scat near her own and Lad prepared'himself for the attack he expected. He had not long to wait. “ You ought to call at Castle Cliff this morning, Gordon,” said tho countess. “ Lord St. Leonards loft his card yesterday in person. And Lady Trevor will naturally expect to see you—such good friends as yon have always been with her,” “ I have been friendly with her, mother,” said the earl, “but it was principally because I like the marquis and pitied his loneliness. Ho is old; she is his only living descendant. It seemed to me that he would be happier if he would be reconciled to her, and she would delight in ministering to him.” “ Lady Trevor is a very handsome woman,” observed the countess. “ Very handsome,” replied the earl, rather* absently. “ But I like fair beauties best,” ami ho looked aftbetionatcJy into the fair face beside him. Lady Glenham flushed a little. She could not hear unmoved her sou’s praise.

“ Lady Trevor lias not always been wise,” she remarked. “ Her marriage with Sir Albert Trevor was a folly and madness, but she has repented it. She has a great fortune, inherited from her step-mother, through the death of her little step-sister. I had hoped, Gordon, that you would present her to me before this as my daughter;” and Lady Glenham’s voice slightly trembled. “ You love her so well, mother ?” asked the earl, gently. “It would be a suitable alliance,” said Lady Glcnham, evasively. “ Her beauty, rank, and wealth render her a match for a duke. Her grandfather is become reconciled to her, I suppose, and she will have another fortune at his death. You will succeed to his title and estates : how fitting that you should marry his descendant!” “ I dout quite agree with you, mother. I don’t love Lady Trevor, therefore I cannot ask her to marry me. Ido love one far superior to her in beauty and genius, and who is many pears younger than she. Mother, if you would only see Miss Eossc you would love her. Think what it would bo to you to have a daughter so youthful, so lovely, so gentle, who would love you as I do. It you would only go with me to Zorlitz—” “My poor boy, you have been deceived by some wicked adventuress. You said that the girl was English, and the adopted niece of the German pastor. Now who are her English relatives ? You said that there was some mystery about' her; that the pastor did not know her name or identity ; that a man had brought her to his house and asked him to care for her and bring her up, offering to pay for her support some trifling sum. You said that this

mysterious guardian stipulated that the , girl should be brought up as a servant. The man then disappeared, vanishing as mysteriously ns he had come, and never again showing himself at Zorlitz, nor wrote, nor sent a messenger to

inquire after his unfortunate charge. There is but one explanation to all this mystery, Gordon. The girl has no right - to any name.” The eaiiVfair face reddened.

“ I suppose you are rigl.it, mother/ he said, in a low voice, “ in respect to your theory of her origin. The pastor said as much to me. But whatever her origin, Cecil Rosso is a pure and stainless lily, a noble, lovely girl who would be an honour to our house. >Sho is an angel, mother, and I adore her !” “ For the sake of an infatuation that is wonderful at your age, Gordon, you would present to me this nameless creature as my daughter ? would make her Countess of Glenham ! Think of it! You would bring to me, the daughter of a duke, this girl as my successor !” “ If you would only see her—” “ I will not see her. I would not lower myself so far as to go to Zorlitz to look on her false face. I have seen one such marriage as you contemplate. Lord Harry Ravoudalc, the only son of the Marquis of St. Leonards, married an adventuress, ami repented his folly in anguish and bitterness. I would rather see yon dead than the husband of that woman—” “ Mother ! ”

“ I speak truth. Marry her, Gordon, and I will never look upon your face again. More—l will give you rny curse—” “Mother!" The earl sprang to his feet, white ami startled.

“ I moan it,” said the countess, sternly, her haughty face rigid as marble and singularly stern. “If you degrade the name I bear by bestowing it upon her, then I shall curse yon 1 ” Lord Glenham’s face grew stern also, but sorrowful Oven unto anguish. “ If I do not marry Cecil Rosso,” ho exclaimed, “ then I will go to my grave unwedded. You know that I never loved before. I never hud any boyish lancics. 1 never cared for any woman save you, mother. And now when love comes to me it comes in a resistless torrent, an overwhelming passion, that cannot be conquered and which will grow stronger with every day and hour of my life, Ifit.be true that souls arc made to mate, then is Cecil Rossc my twin spirit. I cannot marry her, if she would accept me, and brave your curse, mother. But what a frightful thing to say to your son ! I think she loves mo. Can you bear the guilt of wrecking her life and mine ? ” “ Far better than I could bear to see her your wife. The girl is unworthy of you, and the conviction of that fact will sustain me even, under your reproaches, Gordon. Oh, my boy, how can you wreck my life for the sake of th’s woman ? 1 have built all my hopes on yon. My son, my sou, do not disappoint mo so cruelly ! Have pity on your mother’s gray hairs ! ” pleaded the countess, her voice suddenly breaking, her noble features working. “ I have made yon my idol. Must Ibe punished like this ? ”

Sho wrung her hands in an agony of grief. Her son leaned against the mantelpiece and looked upon her with an agitation equal to her own. “ Mother, you agonize yourself for nothing,” lie exclaimed. “ I will stake my soul on Cecil’s purity and truth—” “ And ou that of her parents ? Can you tell rnc the veal name of this creature you would marry ? Oh, my son, my dear boy, have pity on mo, if not upon yourself! Leave this girl, who should have been a servant, to her obscurity. Be worthy of your name and race. Ho not let this infatuation be curried further, I implore you ! ”

What the earl would have answered cannot bo told, for ho had but opened his lips to speak when ti.e rumble of wheels was heard upon the drive without. A minute later the door was flung open, and a servant announced: “ Lady Trevor and the Marquis of St. Leonards ! ” pro BE CONTINUED,]