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

Patea Mail, Volume III, Issue 249, 29 August 1877, Page 4

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

o fßvr Mas. Harriet Lewis.] CII APT Ell XXVI. THE EARL AND THE TRACTOR. Upon the same day on which Lady Trevor arrived at St. Leonards, the Earl of Gicnhani, accompanied by his mother, returned from his trip to the Continent, ami proceeded directly to his private family hotel in Piccadilly. He had visited Zorlitz, - and had learned, to his amazement, of the Herr Pastor’s death and of Cecil Posse’s departure for England, attended by old Grctchen, He had been informed also of Maldred Grafton’s visit to Zorlitz, and was greatly puzzled to account for it, he having been kept in ignorance of his companion’s passion for Cecil, Ho was even more puzzled at Grafton’s reticence in regard to that visit, and daring Ids jouney back to London, had telegraphed to his treacherous kinsman to meet him that evening at his hotel.

Lord Glenham dined with his mother in their private parlor. After the dinner, they settled themselves to await the coming of Grafton, both anxious and restless. The countess esconced herself in a high-backed chair at the corner of the hearth, and shaded her face with her fan. That haughty, highbred face wore a greatly troubled expression. The proud old eyes were full of anxiety and apprehension. She had known before her departure lor the Continent that Cecil Posse wa-s no longer at Zorlitz, Grafton having deemed it best to inform her of Ids secret visit to the 13lack Forest, She had kept this knowledge to herself until now, but at what cost she best knew. With a nice sense of honour, proud of her truthfulness and courage, it required all her idolatrous love for her son, all her strong determination to save him from the clutches of a supposed adventuress, to reconcile her to the part she was playing. The earl was too absorbed in his own anxieties to pay special heed to those of his mother. His fair and noble lace looked haggard and worn ; his warm, gray eyes were full of trouble. He arose and began to pace the floor. “ Strange that Grafton docs not come !” he exclaimed, looking at his watch. “ Perhaps ho did not receive your telegram ?” suggested the countess. “It would have been forwarded to him, and if he were in England he would have had time to precede ns here. I have trusted him as if he were my brother. 1 cannot suspect his motives in revisiting Zorlitz secretly—yet why

did he not tell me ? He knew that Herr

Brocken was dead, and that Cecil—my innocent, child-like Cecil —was in London. Where' can she have found refnge ? I tell yon, mother, when I think of Cecil, so ignorant of the world, so unsuspecting and guileless, adrift in tins great, wicked London, exposed to a thousand perils, I feel as if I should go mad.” “ You forgot always that she has her servant with her, Gordon?'* Her servant,- a simple peasant woman of the Black Forest, as credulous as a child, would bo no protection to her. To the contrary, Gretcheu might load her into perils, which, if left to herself, her superior intelligence would cause her to avoid. But it cannot bo impossible to trace Cecil. . Her youth, her wonderful beauty, her patrician air, will render her marked wherever she may be seen—” A knock upon the door caused them both to start, A servant entered, bearing a card upon a salver. “ Maldred Grafton 1” rend Lord Glcnhnm, taking up the bit of paste-board. “ Show him up at once.” The servant retired. Neither mother nor son spoke again until Grafton was ushered into the room. The traitor came in with a smile on his swarthy visage. His manner, as usual, was plausible and insinuating. His'small black eyes were joyful in their expression, and he held out his hand with a cordiality that appeared to apprehend no failure of response, But the carl kept his own hand at his side. His blonde features wore a stern look. The warmth in his eyes gave place to a coldness which Grafton had never seen in them before.

{! How do you do, Gordon ?” inquired Grafton, not appearing to note the changed manner of his kinsman, or the tacit refusal to clasp Lis hand. “ Welcomehome again. lam glad to see yon, Lady Glenham !” The countess arose. Grafton wasin a measure her confederate in her scheme to save her son from a marriage distasteful to her, and she was compelled to greet him in a friendly manner. / But she, animated by noble; bnt mistaken motives, and by an idolatrous affection for her sou, was as different from Grafton as day is different from night.- She was secretly ashamed of her confederation with him, ami despised him Tor his readiness to cheat the friend who had so implicitly trusted‘in him, yet she believed that his aid"‘was essential to her plans. _ > “I am glad to see/--you again, Mr Grafton,” she said, shaking hands with him. ■ a Wo are just returned from Zorlitz.”

“ Oh, indeed !” exclaimed Grafton, easily. “ I received your telegram, Glenham, last evening. I was in Yorkshire, and it was forwarded to me. Yon are looking ill. Has anything happened ?” “ Will you sit down 7” asked the earl. “ You cannot be unprepared for what I, have to say to you, Grafton, now that you know that I have been to Zorlitz. Has your conduct during the last few weeks been that of a loyal friend ?” “ It has, indeed !” exclaimed Grafton, heartily. “ Why do yon ask such an absurd question ? Do yon suspect me of disloyalty ?” “ I have been informed of your secret visit to Zorlitz. When you left Breezy Lodge on the very morning after our arrival there, pretending that yon found it absolutely necessary to return to London on business, you went straight to Zorlitz, as fast as steam could carry you. Can you deny this V “ I cannot. I have no ■wish to deny it. By Jove, Gordon, you don’t mean to condemn your best friend and throw him over without giving him a chance of explanation or self-defence. I wouldn’t have believed that you would have condemned me unheard.” The air of injured innocence which Grafton assumed staggered his accuser. “ If you have anything to say for yourself,” said the earl, gravely, “ 1 am ready to hear it.” “ I came to London from Breezy Lodge on business, as I told yon,” declared Grafton, boldly, having planned his defence in advance ; “ and when I arrived in town 1 found that my seal ring—the Ciafton heirloom—you remember how greatly I have always cherished it, and with a sort of superstition, as I am willing to confess—-I found that my ring was missing. You can imagine the panic 1 was in. I remembered that the last time I saw it was in our lodging at Zorlitz. I laid it down upon my wash-stand in my bedroom. I had no remembrance of picking it up again, and I knew that I must have leit it there. I could not telegraph to Zorlitz, so I took the first train to Dover, ami posted through with all speed. And I found my ring 1” He pnllod off one of his gloves as he spoke, and displayed his massive seal ring. His story was told with such an appearance of honesty that the young earl was constrained to believe it. But Lady Glenham knew that the tale was false, and her haughty old face flushed hot with shame that she should be leagued with this man to deceive her son.

“ When you arrived at Zorlitz, you found the Herr Pastor was dead,” said Lord Glenham, “ and that Miss Eosse had departed for England. Yet when you returned to Breezy Lodge yon concealed these facts from me.”

“ I plead guilty of the charge. But how could I tell you, Gordon ? You wore encumbered with a party of invited guests. You could not have discovered Miss Eosse sooner than I could have clone. I never for one instant faltered in my simple loyalty to you, my friend, I kept my societ, fearing to distress you, and determined to seek Miss Eosse and find her, and then to tell yon all. I never once imagined that my motives might be suspected. I thought that wo had been friends to long for suspicion to come between us.”

The carl took a step nearer Grafton. Then he paused again, in indecision. “ Hare yon sought Miss Eosse ?” he inquired. “ Have you found her V Grafton hesitated. His intimacy witli the Earl of Glenham had benefitted him very materially in many ways. He could relinquish it for the sake of Ills love for Cecil Eosse, but Miss Eosse had disappeared mysteriously, leaving no clue to her fate. Until he could regain her, it might be well for him to maintain his apparent friendship for the earl, to watch his lordship’s movements!, and to share his life. He concluded, upon the whole, that the earl would discover through Lady Trevor that he, Grafton, had visited her to make inquiries after Miss Eosse ; and it would be best to forestall Lady Trevor, and make confession in a manner to reflect credit upon himself. “ I have sought Miss Eosse everywhere,” he exclaimed. “ You remember that I made but a brief stay after my return to Breezy Lodge, I was anxious to find Miss Eosse, and to restore her to you. I searched London from one end to the other. I haunted the streets at f .the West End. I made inquiries in . every place I deemed it possible that she had taken refuge. And at last, quite by chance, I found her ! ” “ You found her?” cried the earl, springing forward, his eyes alight. Lady Glenham started. Was Grafton about to reveal the conspiracy she had ([entered into with him ? Would her son, whom she idolized, despise and hate her for the part.sho had taken ? A low moan escaped her lips, and she sank back in her chair, pallid and gasping. ■ No one noticed her agitation.

“ Yes, I found her !” replied Grafton, recoiling before the earl’s impetuous advance. “ I met her in llegent-street, attended by GJretchen. Miss Rosse was doing embroidery work for Madame Lange, a French fancy-work dealer. She gave me her address, which I have written upon a card somewhere.” ' ITO BE CONTINUED, J