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

Patea Mail, Volume III, Issue 284, 5 January 1878, Page 4

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

fßv Mrs. Harriet Lewis.]

CHAPTER L.— contd. Mrs MacDougal and her daughters, who were close beside the farmer, broke forth into pitiful expressions of their grief. Grafton tried to speak, but only a Imskv murmur escaped bis throat. He staggered back a step, sank down upon a rude chair that stood near, and leaning forward covered his face with his hands, Cecil had been almost within his grasp —and now to lose her seemed more than he could bear ? Dead ! Burned to ashes ! Destroyed almost in the hour of his coming! An awful wave of bitterness and agony swept over his soul. A murderous passion filled his being ! He would hasten after Pulford and kill him, for Pulford must have killed her. Then came a swift revulsion of feeling. She was not dead ! She could not have perished like a bird in its cage ! He sprang up, fiery and determined. “ Tell mo all about Pulford’s appearance hero,” he demanded. “ Toll me about Miss Uosse, and about the fire. How long was Miss Rosse in your house ?” “ Over a week, sir. She cam 7 the dav the auld worn.in wrote to ye, sir. The twa rode up thegitlier on twa used tip ponies an a skit shelter. The young h'.dy drooped aoou at the dure in a dead swuo.i, 1 carrit her into the boose. She 'were ill i’ bed for days. Iho auld woman were ill, too, wi’ the fatigue an’ iho fear. We mail 7 them wolcoom to a we had. It they were alive uoo, they wad tell ye. air, that the MacDougals treated them kindly.” Ay, that we did,” sobbed Mrs MacDougal. “ An 7 we never saw a prettier lassie, nor a bonnier, sweeter ane than Miss Rosse! Pair, lost lamb D “ The next day aft/-.’ Miss Posse an’ her servant cam 7 ,” continued the farmer, " there apperit a person ea’iag him seif Docht.ir Graham. He said he Imp 7 a mad-hoose at Incledon, an 7 that the-so twa were escaped lunatics, an’ previously unbeknown to each ither —” “ He lied, thou !” interrupted Grafton. “ I heered baitli sides,” said MacDougal, “ an 7 I tank! the young lady, if her story were true, that her men’s wad coom for her an 7 the doclulier maun wait until we could hear true Lnnnou i' answer to Gretchen s letter. Yester e’en, the mon ceding him sel Grafton appear! t, an’ coufairmed the story o' the dock ter. It was settle t liint Miss Rosse an 7 the auld woman should vac wi 7 the dochter this morning. Grctchen saw the mon, but the young lady didua see him at a 7, I 7 the night —I cauna tell how it happened — but wc were awakened by Mr Pulford creeing •' Fire !’ Yve bad barely time enoo to get oot o’ duros, wi the tew puir sticks vo see bore, when the roof fell in, an 7 the wa’s followed, an’ the young lady an’ her servant were buried i’ the ruins.” “ Pulford must have set the house on fire to destroy her,” ejaculated Grafon. « He gav, mo a hoonder pounds as a free gift toward robuildin 7 the boose,” '«That confirms my idea. He gave jou that sum to recompense the loss lie had caused you. He wished you no harm, and he believed his purpose accomplished. Are yon quite sure that the two women were burned ?” “ Quite sure, sir. We should hae boon burned to ashes oursels but for Mr Puliord. The women could na escapit.” (i H&vo you searched for hones among the ashes V' i: "Ay, .an’ found nano. The banes must a been burnt as wool. Grafton looked unconvinced. “ I think some fragment of bone innct have remained to show their fate, lie declared. “ See, there are bits of burning beams smoking among the ashes. All t race of two human beings could not, I think, ho so utterly lost. If it be indeed so, if these helpless women were bunmu tdivo by that man’s devilish ■mslmniiy, he shall hang higher than Human f All Britain shall ring with bis infamy and with that oi the woman who lias employed niui to destroy hoi rival. They shall expiate their crimes with their lives !” He raised his arm in fierce denunciation, his swarthy face pale and set in a stony sort ot despair, his eyes burning with a lurid flame. The little group gathered nearer him, staring at him as if fascinated. “ I will avenge her !” shouted Grafton, his voice ringing loud and clear, while ho snook his clenched fist and his eyes flamed with a demoniac fury. “ I will destroy them as—great Heaven !” ... His blazing eyes changed in their expression to a look of amazement, bewilderment, and overmastering joy. He staggered backward a pace, and lus long forefinger extended itself from his pointed toward the stableyard. The gaze of the awe-struck bystander? followed the direction thus indicated

Ami they beheld emerging from a small hay-barn, and approaching them

two figures—those of Cecil Rosso and old Grctchen, CHAPTER LI. EXPLANATIONS. Yes, the two approaching figures wore unmistakably those of Cecil Uosse and old Grctchen ! Both alive ! Both unharmed ! The girl sped forward with swift steps, her young face white as death, lier great read-brown eyes wild and glowing. Her gaze was fixed upon Grafton. The old woman hurried after her with uncertain steps, disheveled hair, and livid contenance, her eyes also fixed in a wild gaze upon the newcomer.

Mrs MacDougal uttered a cry of terror, and sat down hastily. The simple Highland neighbours retreated a few steps, half in superstitions dismay, as if they feared they looked upon disembodied souls.

Even MacDougal himself stood dumb and awe-stricken, unable to utter a word, his eyes staring incredulously. Grafton was, for one moment, as if turned to stone. Then his arm dropped to las side, and lie bounded forward with an exulting joy stamped upon every quivering feature of his swarthy face. The girl bad reached the outer edge of the group. She paused here at his impetuous approach. He reached her side, and, in his joy, would have embraced her but that she recalled him to his senses by extending her hand with a sweet, girlish dignity tempering the warmth of her glad welcome. “ Miss Rosse !” he exclaimed, seizing her hand and carrying it to his lips. 11 Thank God ! yon are alive and well ! They told me you were dead !”

“It is not the fault of our enemies that we arc not dead !” cncd old Grctchen, sobbing aloud in her delight. - Oh, Mr Grafton, I feared that you had not received that letter—that you wore not coming to us !” Grafton wrung Cecil’s hand in his fervent pressure, and a tear dropped from his eye upon it. She loaned more heavily against him. _He regarded lier anxiously. Her face was whiter than any snow-drift. Her joy and relief were 100 much for her, alter hours of terror and anguish, and a deadly faintness had seized upon her.

With the tenderness of a woman Grafton lifted her in his arms and carried her to the huge, high-backed, wooden settle that had been rescued on the previous night from the burning house. He laid her upon it. The Highland woman, recovered from their superstitious fears, brought their plaids to cover her. A man hurried to the nearest house for restoring drinks. Mrs. MacDougal and her daughters gathered about the young girl, and chafed her hands and ministered to her.

Cecil presently revived and sat up, her face still white, her eyes supernaturally large, her countenance radiant with her gladness. She held out her hand anew to Grafton, to whom she Lad not yet spoken. “ Let me thank you,” she said, brokenly. “ You have saved our lives. Oar enemies—” “ Arc gang !” interrupted Mrs MacDougal. “ Gone !’" “ Gang !” echoed Elspeth MacDongal. “ Gang their separate ways, ane o’ them to the east, an’ the ither to the west!” “ But if they were here they would not dare to harm you, Miss Cecil, now that I am here to defend you,” said Grafton. “ You are no longer helpless and defenceless —” “ Thanks be to Heaven !” interrupted Gretchen. “ We thought yc were burnt alive i’ the hoose, Miss,” said Mrs MacDougal. “Did our enemies think so too?” asked Cecil, eagerly. “ They did. They hao gang awa’ to spread the ill news.” MacDongal came forward, his Scottish countenance sot in an expression of severity and stern reproach. “ We hao a’ mourned ye as dead, Miss,”' ho exclaimed. “We believed ye had perished i’ the fire. Your enemies were deceived, like ourselves. Whether ye were mad or nay, I wad ask yc, hue ye made a proper return for our kindness to ye baith ? Ye cam here ill an’ tired; wo took ye in, according to the wards of the Holy Scriptures ; we mad’ ye wolcoom; we gay’ ye the best chamber i’ the hoose, the best linen, the bast food ; the guicily if o ministered to ye; my dochthers tended ye like servants —an? this is our reward !” He pointed with an indescribable bitterness at the lonely chimney and the gray ashes that were all that remained of his once prosperous and hospitable home. “ I am very sony,” said Cecil, in a faltering voice. “Yc should hae’ been sorra beforehand,” cried the farmer, with an outbreak of passion, “ Why should ye bum us oot o’ hoose an’ hame ? It is a maircy we cscapit wi’ our lives !” “ An’ my beds, an’ linen, an’ dishes, an’ furniture all burned oop!” said Mrs MacDongal, in a burst of housewifely grief. “ An’ a’ the guid homespun, an’ the best claithes —it is vera hard, Yc were sore temptit, I doot na, Miss, but it were a hard thing to do.” Cecil looked from one to the other of lur accusers, with a dawning comprehension of their meaning.

<l Do you mean to accuse me of ( setting fire to your house?” she demanded, a red spot burning on either cheek, her manner showing haughty surnrise.

“An 7 did ye nae ?” demanded Elspeth. “ I did not. How can you dream that I would do such a thing ?” <i It wad hae been the foreign woman, then ?”

i '- It was neither of ns. Wc do not know how the fire originated,” “ The man Jarvis may have set the house on fire, 7 ’ said Grctchen. “ How did you escape, Miss Rosso ?” inquired Oral ton. “ Grctchen came up to me last evening and told me that Mr Pul ford, Lady Trevor’s agent, was below in the farm-house kitchen. She said that he called himself Mr Grafton, and that the MaoDougal family believed his pretensions. She said that he had corroborated Jarvis’s story, declared him to be a doctor, and ns two escaped madwomen. She said that the MacDougals had consented to our removal from the house this morning by those two men, and that there was no hope for us. She had discovered, too, that Mr Pulford was the secret enemy to whom wc owed our long imprisonment, and who had schemed against our lives. We dared not remain in the house over night. We determined to hurry away as soon as possible. We dressed ourselves in our warmest garments, and removed the barricades softly from the door, and listened and waited. We heard Mr Pulford go up to his room ; then we took off our slices and left our chamber, and crept down the stairs to the kitchen. And there we waited and listened again, our hearts in our throats. The honse-door was open. The servants had retired. The family wore in the adjoining rooms, talking among themselves, and procuring bods and blankets. We seized our opportunity, and slipped out of the house unheard ai.d£ unseen, and ran to the stable-yard. Wo waited there a few minutes, undecided whit to do. Finally we decided that we must obtain our ponies. We should not bo able to walk to Inverness, and if we attempted to do so, onr enemies would surely overtake ns. Wc dared not attempt to secure the ponies until the household should be asleep. Wo dared not go to any house in the hamlet. We could only rely upon ourselves.” pj'o BE CONTINUED.]