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

Patea Mail, Volume III, Issue 233, 4 July 1877, Page 4

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

fßv Mrs. Harriet Lewis.]

CHAPTER XVI — Continued . PULFORD ON THU TRACK. “ I will,” exclaimed Pulford. “Your interests ami mine are now one, as you have said. I have planned ever since Bir Albert’s death a marriage with you, Edith. I have looked forward to sharing yonr illgotten wealth, to becoming an iniluencial member of society, to being a man of fashion, and I would commit any crime rather than give up my prospects now that they are so near realization. I shall start to-morrow morning for Zorlitz,”

Looking into his sinister countenance, all aglow with wicked resolve, Lady Trevor felt a thrill of reviving hope 4 ‘ Save me, Horace,” she exclaimed, “and all I have shall be yours. I will marry yon just as soon as she is out of my way, so that I have no fear of her.” “ Then yon will marry me next week. The girl shall lie safely disposed of before that time. You must be careful to maintain yonr courage. If you give way before the marquis, his keen eyes will detect something wrong, and he may get upon the track of your secret.” “ What shall you do with her ?” asked Lady Truvor, in a whisper. “ I have formed no plan as yet. The thing has come upon me too suddenly. I shall determine upon some plan before 1 arrive at Zorlitz. Trust in me. It is ?ny fortune that is at stake as well as yours, Edith ; my future is imperilled with yours. Leave all to me !” “ 1 know that I can trust you ! Good heavens ! what should J do in this peril but for you?” cried the widow, shnddcringly. “ Who could have foreseen that the pastor and his wife would have adopted and educated the girl after hearing that she was nameless and parentless? There is a fate in this, Horace, and a fear comes over mo that fate may be stronger than wo !” “Nonsense. We shall conquer fate, Edith. As easily as you swept aside an obstacle once you can do so now'. What trembling creatures women are when a bold work is to bo done ! Leave all to me and trust me ! Now, come and sit by me before the fire. Tell me all you heard this morning, just as you heard it. Throw all the light on my task which you can before I go !”

“ I can’t sit down. lam all on fire within. But I’ll tell you what I heard,” replied the baronet’s widow. She paced the floor with hurried steps while she rehearsed the confidences the countess had imparted during her morning visit. Pulford listened attentively, lying back at his case in a chair before the hearth. “ I think I won’t wait till to-morrow morning,” he said, when she had finished. “ I have caught your impatience, and will start to-day, within the hour. The yacht might take me down the coast, but 1 can go more quickly by crossing the country on horseback to Inverness.”

He arose and they exchanged a few words in parting. Then he sauntered carelessly out of the room, and fifteen minutes later Lady Trevor, watching from her window, saw him riding away from the castle.

As he began the descent of the rugged road, he halted, wheeled in his saddle, and waved his hat to her. He could not see her at the window, but knew very well that she must be watching, and the flutter of her white handkerchief responded to his signal. Then he started forward, disappearing from her view.

“I hope that he will arrive in time, and that he will be successful,” Lady Trevor said to herself. “ I know him so well—if he deems the girl dangerous he would as lief kill her as a snake. But the guilt will not be mine if he does kill her. And I should feel safer if she were dead. I am afraid that I shall never know another minute’s peace again while she lives. I had deemed her so safe in peasant obscurity and ignorance. But an educated person is so much to be dreaded. If he deems violence necessary I shill not be sorry. And now I must keep up my mask of gayety and lightheartness.” She descended to luncheon at the usual hour, and not a trace of her secret perturbations was to be seen upon her brunette face. She devoted herself to the old marquis, who repulsed rather than encouraged her. Determined to win his favour, she fawned upon him until he detecting her insincerity, sickened of her, and retreated out of doors into the park.

During tho afternoon site shut herself up in her boudoir, but at dinner she was unusually gay. Some one remarked upon Mr Fuiford’s absence, and she explained that he had been recalled to England upon important business, and would’'-return within a week. She again devoted herself to Lord St, Leonards, and he, unable to conquer his aversion towards her, retired to his own apartment as soon as he could do so without rudeness.

The next day was that appointed for the dinner-party. The Earl of Glenham, the countess, and their guests, arrived in good time, and everything passed off happily. The baronet’s widow was especially faseinctiug, and tried all the I it'lo arts she had fennel of use to her -•vCi'ctoiore in society to win Lord

Gleuham’s admiration nud affection. Her toilet was exquisite, her jewels sumptuous. Her beauty was at its best. Her maid had exercised her choicest skill in touching up her ladyship’s eyes and complexion with carmine, and belladonna, and kohl, and various other cosmetics, and the hard, black eyes bad been made to assume a soft and languishing expression, and the rouged lips wore a soft, alluring smile that many men would have found irresistible. But Lord Glenham was proof against all these fictitious charms. The memory of Cecil’s splendid young beauty, her red-brown eyes with the golden glint in them, the red-brown hair with the gulden glimmer, the slender, young shape with its lithe grace, the rare and perfect loveliness, was in his memory by day and by night, and in comparison with Cecil the widow seemed coarse and common-place. When the party broke up and the guests departed, Lady Trevor knew that her arts had been all in vain.

“ But lie shall never marry her,” she said to herself, setting her teeth hard together, “ and he shall marry me I Let Pulford serve my turn and rid me of the girl ami I will rid myself of Pulford remorselessly, even if to do so I commit an awful crime ! ” and she shuddered and grew pale under her rouge.

A friendly intimacy was established between Castle Cliff and Breezy Lodge, The Countess Glenham and Lady Trevor were together every day. The earl visited the castle often, but it was quite clear Unit lie came only as a friend and not as a lover.

The day after the dinner-party, the old Marquis of Bt. Leonards, attended by his servant, left the castle in the carriage in which he had come from Inverness, on his return to that place. He journeyed on to London, disheartened and discouraged, not having been able to move Lord Glenham from his allegiance to Cecil Posse, and feel ing more than ever a repulsion to the granddaughter whom he hoped to sec the wife of the young earl. It was on the evening of the day after his arrival in London that lie met the adventure in which Cecil Rosse had bo opportunely come to his relief. Lady Trevor, after the lapse of a few days, began to look for news from Pulford. The journey to Inverness was some sixty miles, and a groom occupied a full day in going and a full day in returning, with relays of horses upon the route. She detailed three grooms to this especial service, sending one every day in succession, but it was more than a week befere her anxiety was relieved by the arrival of the looked-for letter. It came at last, and she retired to her room to read it in solitude. “ Good news, I hope I” she muttered. “ How I tremble! I am sure that Pulford has killed her. I know him so well. He has made all sure ! ” She tore open the envelope. The letter read as follows : “ Zorlitz, Sept 10, 1781. “ My Dear Edith —As you sec by the above address, I am in the depths of the Black Forest, in the very village we remember so well. Prepare yourself for bad news. “ The pastor, Herr Brocken, in whose care the girl was left, is dead. Frau Brocken is dead also, her death having preceded his by a year or so. If Lord Glenham knew of the pastor’s death, be would fly to this place on the wings of love to befriend the girl left desolate and alone. “ But if he came he would not find her. The girl is gone ! Worse still, she has gone to England. No one can give me her address. An old German servant went with her. “ Imagine my consternation at this complication of affairs. The girl in England—escaped from this obscurity —educated and intelligent—we have the most serious cause for alarm. There must be, as you say, some fate in this thing, but as I declared to yon, I shall conquer fate. “You are aware that Maldrcd Grafton Lord Gleuham’s especial triend and toady, quitted Breezy Lodge on business upon the very day after his arrival there. Well, he carac secretly sneaking back here to make love to the girl when Glenham should be safely out of the way. He found that the pastor had died, and the girl gone to England, and ho followed after her, although, of course, he could not obtain her address. “ Our difficulties, you thus see, are increased. The girl lias two lovers. The earl is open and above-board, an honorable gentleman; but I have my doubts of Crafton. Can he suspect anything? He is trying to win the girl secretly from his friend. Docs he fancy that he possesses a clew to the mystery of Cecil Rosse? All this I must discover.

“ I do not attempt to conceal from you the fact that new perils have sprung up in our path, in the girl’s -departure to England and Grafton’s pursuit of her. But you do not know me if you think me daunted by this new aspect: of affairs. Trust in me, Edith. I shall be snore than a match for them all together. One thing should reassure us-—Crafton is as ignorant of the girl’s new address as I am. 1 will find her before he can and make all things sure,,

“ I start for London to-night, and as I shall travel as fast as the mail I shall post this letter there. I may be detained in town some days. Write me at yonr town house, and let me know if Grafton has returned to Breezy Lodge,-

Von might question him artfully and see if he has any suspicions of the truth, and if he has a clew to the girl’s present whereabouts ; but beware of exciting his suspicions as to your interest in the matter. He is as keen as a briar.

“ In haste, your lover, “ Horace Pulford.” fro BE CONTINUE©.]