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

Patea Mail, Volume III, Issue 278, 12 December 1877, Page 4

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

fßv Mas. Harriet Lewis.]

CHAPTER XLVll.— contd. Elspeth find tlie maid Lad slipped out ■.lid prepared the joint room of the l on nor and her sister for Pulford’s occupancy. Thu chamber was now ready. Mrs MacDongal lighted another tallow candle, and bade the new guest follow her. Pulford made his adieux for the night with pleasant grace, and followed his hostess’s guidance.

ile was shown to a I’oom up stalls which was separated only from that occupied by Cecil and her maid by a thin partition. It was a low, spacious apartment, with sloping roof, and dormer windows, with a bare floor spotlessly dean and dotted with sheepskin rugs, and wHh furniture of the simplest and cheapest description. Yet two gaudycolored {.irints on the wall, curtains of white netted yarn at the windows, a netted coverlet on the high bed, and a cry stalked bouquet on a wooden shelf, showed the same desire for beauty and ornament in that lonely Highland farmhouse. sis expressed in the uiovo luxurious •ulorurnenUof homes in the very centres of civilization. “ Your niece has the room next yo, sir, on this side,” said Airs MacDongal, setting down her light. “ There’s nao dure between, ye sec. An’ on the ither side is the dochthcr’s room. Mak’ yorsel co-.. dor table, sir. Is there onything more ye wad hoe ?”

“ Nothing, thank you,” replied Mr Pnlford. “ You are very kind, madam. 1 can never sufficiently express my gratitude to you for your great kindness and hospital hy, not only in me but also to my poor afflicted niece. Goodnight, madam f’ He escorted her to the door politely, rhHuy 'r gently after her. Then he sat down on a high-backed rush-bottomed chair and took a leisurely si;. ,of the room. He heard Jarvis ircclu the stairs to his own chamber, and, a minute later, fling his boots noisily on the floor. lie heard the sound of moving furniture below, but presently ■ i silence succeeded. He removed his own boots, and crept across the floor, and placed his ear to the wall of Cecil’s room. A murmur of voices reached his cars, but he could not distinguish words. lie listened thus a long time, but failing to make out anything of the conversation going on so near him, he returned to his seat, Tii-r silence deepened throughout the house. The hour grew late. Pnlford consulted his watch several times. The hands pointed to midnight when his door cautiously opened, and Jarvis crept noiselessly in. He put up his hand warningly, enjoining the utmost guarded ness. Jarvis did not speak until ho had reached the side of his employer. “ Every one in the house is asleep xce.pt ourselves,” he then said, in a whisper. “At any rate, the family is snorin' below beautiful. They arc all backed away in the lower rooms like hemts’s in a box. We’ve got the whole

upper floor to ourselves.” P alibi'd pointed over his shoulder ■significantly in the direction of the room occupied by Miss Posse a nd her servant. “ I remember,” said Jarvis, nodding. “ They may he awake, very likely, but I will be careful not to arouse ’em. You played it splendid to-night, Guv’nor, • -like a born actor. The way yon told idem that ’cro story about the gal being di ■ip’nv.ed would a dvawed tears iiom a stun. I could hoar old MftcDougal himself a-snuflling. They think you the most tender-hearted man alive.” “ Put lor &11 that,” whispered Pulford, “notwithstanding their faith in me, I should find it difficult to get away a ilk the girl in the morning. In the first piii.ee, she is not insane ; and, if they are not fools, that fact must dawn upon the understanding of some member of the family. She will be too keen to go into a rage like Grctehem She will demand an investigation, and their infernal Scoich caution will Wake them yield to her demand.” “ You read ’em like a book, sir.” “ We have no time to wait, even if we dared risk the investigation, Grafton is likely to arrive in the morning. It’s a wonder to me ho didn’t arrive to-night, ' We must be out of the way -before he comes. In short, Jarvis, to avoid all risks, the girl and her sexwant must be disposed of to-night.” “ According to the plan already made and devised, 1 suppose ?” “ Exactly. I can think of nothing bettor. Are you sure that these boots are such sound sleepers that our proceedings will not be overheard or suspected ?” “I am positive certain. They sleep like logs. They rise at daybreak and work hard nil day, and at night they couldn’t be ’wakened short of a Limiidor- ' icp, and p’raps not by that. 1 went down last night to the kitchen, about this ■ ’me, for an extra pull at'this jug of aiskey, and though I stumbled over < n . chair, no one heard mo.” “ Good. They mast be in the midst of their first and soundest sleep now. 'lh-T!, then, is our time of work. You know where they are—go down for the combustibles.”

Jarvis assented, and noiselessly with- ( drew from the room: Pulford listened while he descended the stair, but no sound betrayed Jarvis’s movements. Pulford then listened anew at the partition dividing his own from Cecil’s room. No sound came from the girl’s apartment. “ They must be asleep,” he muttered. He resumed his scat. The minutes became half-an-hour. He war; growing anxious, when Ids door again opened and his ally re-entered, bearing two immense baskets well laden. “■lt’s all right, Guv’nor,” said Jarvis, in a whisper. “ I’ve had splendid luck. See what I’ve got.” He displayed the contents of the baskets. In one were shavings, pine cones, and bits of dry wood. In the other ivcro a box of home-made tallow candles, a jar of ‘drippings’—or kitchen fat—a bottle of spirits of camphor, a pan of lard, and a quantity of butter. Pulford examined these effects and expressed his satisfaction. “ I rummaged their larder,” said Jarvis, “ and took everything that seemed likely to serve our purpose. And not a soul of the family stirred. They’ll be lucky if they awake in time to save their lives.” “ There is a bed of loose straw under my feather bod,” said Pulford. “I discovered it while you were gone. Get that out.” Jarvis obeyed. “ There’s a straw bed in my room,” he whispered, when he had deposited the huge sack of straw on the floor. I’ll get that too.” He went to his own room and procured the straw bed and laid it clown in the hall before the door of the room occupied by Miss Posse and Gretchcn.

Pult'ord brought his own bed, heaping it upon the other. Then the two, working swiftly and silently, pausing frequently to listen, piled upon and interspersed between the sacks of draw, the contents of the two lingo baskets. The lard and the butter was strewn about tbe mass, the spirits of camphor was poured upon it, and, finally, Jarvis brought chairs from his own and his master’s room and added them to the pile. The door was nearly hidden by the outer barricade they had thus raised. Jarvis brought a small table and some other articles, while Pnlford listened with a wildly-heating heart. “ AH is safe !” he wispered, at last. “ The girl is doomed. Who has barricaded her door on the inside with light deal furniture which will catch from the blaze of this mass. Nothing can save her—”

l: She may escape from her windows !” li I think she’ll suffocate. The house is dry as tinder. The thatch will catch and burn like tow. They don’t stand much chance of escape by the windows; but, to make all sure, do you go below and lie in wait for them under their windows. I’ll stay here until the last minute possible.”

Jarvis assented. Pnlford drew out his match-case, and deliberately lighted a match and dropped it into the lower strata ox the inflammable pile. The drop of fire grew larger and brighter, seized upon the straw and grease and spirits, and leaped up upon the instant into a giant red blaze. Jarvis beat a swift and silent retreat down the stairs and out of doors, staiioining himself under Cecil’s windows. ["to be continued.J