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

Patea Mail, Volume III, Issue 288, 19 January 1878, Page 4

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

FBy Mas. Harriet Lewis.]

CTIA PTE R L 1 Y.—contd. “ A clever idea, bu 11 Aar impracticable. Let me see the picture.” Gretchen opened the note-book and extracted therefrom a scrap of paper which she placed in his hands. Grafton held it to the light, stared at the picture delineated upon it, started, and uttered an ejaculation of amazement. The picture was evidently the portrait of an Englishman, and was drawn with spirit and accuracy. It depicted a fair and rather effeminate face, with a. lev/, narrow forehead, small blue eyes, the left one having a peculiar droop, almost amounting to a squint. There was a big unde upon the loft cheek, which the lung side-whiskers could not be coaxed to cover. The mouth, contrasting singularly with the smallness of the nose, was heavy, thick-lipped, and strangely cruel in its expression. Taken altogether the face was not unluuulsome, and could scarcely be termed remarkable; taken feature by feature it indicated a remorseless disposition, which would stop at nothing in the way of the gratification of its desires. Craftou actually turned pale as ho regard eel tins picture, ills nostrils dilated; he seemed struggling with a profound and terrible ‘agitation, lie seemed like one who has made an appalling discovery. “ You know the man ?” cried Gretchen, shrilly, all excitement. “ You have seen him ?” Grafton gave a last long look at the picture and gave it back into her hands. “ I think I have scon a face like that somewhere !” lie said, slowly. “ I can’t be sure. You must give mo time to collect my thoughts.” “ But you recognised it—” “ I seemed to, perhaps. I have certainly seen a face like it. Hide that picture, Gretchen. Keep your own counsel, and leave everything to me. I promise you that I will unravel this mystery of Miss Rosso’s origin.” “ You will, sir ?” “ 1 will. If your young mistress has been wronged, 1 will see that she has her rig]its. I will clear the stain from her name. You have done well to trust me. 1 will win Miss Cecil’s gratitude—yes, and her love, also.” lie rose up, his eyes glistening, his manner still agitated, yet indicative of strange exultation. Gretchen replaced the note-book, and after a few last words of grateful thanks, returned to the chamber of her young mistress, where, upon second thought, she had determined to pass the night. Craftou heard the door locked, and then lie laughed softly—a strange, triumphant laugh, “ That picture is a revelation,” he muttered. “ It is a key to the whole mystery. That pastor’s wife was cunning. The picture —groat Heaven ! —to think it should fall into my hands ! The picture is the portrait of the hue fcjir Albert Trevor !” Ho began to pace the floor with hurried yet stealthy tread. “ No wonder that Lady Trevor schemed to destroy this girl !” he said to himself. “ She would have killed her, not because she was her rival in Lord Glenham’s affections, rut because sac feared her fascinations with the earl, but because she dared not allow her again to meet the old Marquis of St. Leonard’s ! The whole ghastly mystery begins to dawn upon me ! i have a suspicion as to who the girl really is!” His excitement had reached feverheat. “ By Heaven, I am right !” ho whispered, almost audibly. “ The girl is—but I’ll prove her identity and claim her rights when she is safely my wife. Was ever a more daring game yrractised ? She is more than ever a prize ! I’ll run no risks—l’ll keep her safe as any miser ever kept his treasure—l’ll marry her within a week, and then burst the whole thing upon Lady Trevor and Pulford ! in a single week all England shall ring with the infamy of these Trevors and worship me as the hero of a romance ! In the meantime, 1 must not forget that Lord Glenham. is close upon my track, that ho now knows that Miss Rosse is alive and with me, and that ho will prove himself a very tiger when he discovers my treachery and her peril. I've a hard task before mo,” and he smiled exultantly, “ but I’ll conquer ! My pretty Cecil, my Lady Trevor, Mr Pulford, my Lord Glenham, my proud Marquis of St. Leonard’s, what would you not, one and all, give for my startling discovery of to-night? I hold the clew to the whole mystery of Cecil Rosse. And I bold you ail in my power, in the hollow of my baud, to crush or release, at my pleasure ! One person will come out of the game winner, and that person is Maklred Grafton.” CHAPTER LV. A SECOND DJS.U'I’KAIIANCK. Lord Glenham pursued his journey, reaching the hamlet of Loch Low soon after nightfall. The earl’s spirits were in a high state of exaltation. He believed that

he would 11 nd Miss Rosse in this lonely hamlet, for Gretchen would never have voluntarily become separated from her young mistress. lie believed that he would find Craftou here also, since ho had not met Idm on the way to Inverness, lie thought of Grafton as bis true and devoted friend, who had hastened hither to aid Miss Rosse and to restore her to her 10v..-r. No suspicion of Grafton’s perfidy invaded his noble soul. He was too honorable himself to lightly suspect dishonor in another. Ho drew up before the door of a shepherd's hut upon the ontskirt of the hamlet, and, without dismounting, rapped upon the door with the handle of his riding whip. The occupant opened the door, thrusting out into the starlight a shock of flame-colored hair, and a stolid but inquiring visage. “Can you direct me to tiro house of Mr. MacDongal ?” inquired the earl, courteously. ■ “ Hay, sir,it be burnit doon the last night, sir,” replied the shepherd. “ And Mr. MacDongal ?” “ Is at the hoose o’ Ids neebor, Angus Mac Lean,” said the shepherd. “ The hnig-hoo.se wi’ the thatched roof beyond the turn i’ the road, sir. There be a mort o’ people hae coom o’ late to see Willum MacDongal,” he added, regarding the young ear! inquisitively, “ I oanmi ca’ to mind when so niony strangers hae coom to Loch Low before.” The earl expressed his thanks for the information rendered, but did not pause to satisfy the evident curiosity of his informant. He rode on through the hamlet, passed the lake which gave name to the group of houses, and came to a halt before the dwelling of Angus Mac Lean, whoso hospitalities to the MacDongal family, to Mr. Pulford and Jarvis, to Miss Rosso, Gretchen, and Mr Grafton, we have already noted. He knocked loudly upon the kitchen door. The fanner himself appeared in response to his summons. The earl inquired for Mr MacDongal. “ Coom in, coom in,” said McLean, hospitably. “ YcTl find a’ the family here. We are a’ thegither, sir.” He flung open the door wide, and the earl entered. He found himself in a long, low kitchen, with heavy beams over head blackened by time and smoke, and with a great cavernous hearth blazing with logs. About this hearth were grouped the men of the McLean family with their male visitors. The women were gathered about along table, upon which were several tallow candles, and all of them, hostesses and guests, were busy sewing homespun cloth into gowns and nnderwaro for the benefit of the despoiled MacDougals. “ Wilium,” said Mr McLean, addressing MacDongal, “here is a visitor to sec ye.” MacDongal arose and came forward. The women suspended their sewing, the men paused in their tasks to stare at the new-comer. The stately bearing of the young carl, his fair and noble beauty, his gentle courtesy and air of high and perfect breeding, as apparent here in this lonely Highland dwelling as in the Queen’s drawing-room, made a profound impression. His lordship bowed to the sturdy Highlander in polite greeting, and thou sent a second long and searching glance about the apartment. He bad expected to find Miss Rosse here, and his kinsman also. A look of disappointment clouded bis visage as he marked their absence. “ Permit me to introduce myself, Mr MacDongal,” he said. “ I am the Earl of Glenham, the friend of Miss Rosse, whom I expected to find at your house.” “ My hoose, my laid, is burnit doon,” replied MacDongal, respectfully. “ An’ I an’ my family are dependent upon the kindness o’ a neebor for shelter, as ye maun see.” “ And Miss Rosse ? Where is she ? Is she not here also?” demanded the carl, quickly. “ Take a cheer, my laird,” said MacDongal. “If so be, ye are a frien’ o’ Miss Rosse, there be mooch to tell ye. Sit doon, uion.” “ The young lady is safe ?” “ Ay, safe as a bird i’ its nest,” declared MacDongal. “ Hae ye travelled far, my laird ?” The carl, with a great sigh of relief, took possession of the chair McLean placed for him near the hearth. “ 1 came from Inverness to-day,” he answered. “Is Miss Rosse at the house of some neighbour ? Has Mr Grafton been bore ?” He cunt the marniu’,” responded MacDongal. “ There hae been the very witches’ wark in this matter, ray laird. We were imposed upon by thenion Pulford—” “ By whom ?” cried the carl, starting “ Mr. Pulford. An’ before him was the mon Jarvis, bis accomplice. The young lady lure been shuttit oop a’ the past winter i’ the loneliest an’ most God-forsaken boose i’ a’ the Scottish coast. It was a’ the wavk o’ ane Lady Trevor—” The earl started yet more violently. “ The work of Lady Trevor ?” he repeated, in amaze. “ A J> so I gathered frae the speech o’ jSIr. Crui'toD v.i’ ZSliss Kosse. JS'Xr*. Pulford com’ lie re yestev evening, ca’ing himsel Mr Craftou, an’ coufaimied the wards o the juou Juirvis. An it was a sottlot that they should talc awa the young leddy this maruin, but Providence prevented.”

MacDongal, warming with the story, related, in graphic but simple language, the manner of Cecil’s arrival at his house, her illness, the appearance of Jarvis, who called , himself Doctor Graham, the proprietor of a mad-house, and all the incidents connected with the stay of the young lady and her persecutor under his roof, ending with a description of the burning of his bouse, the narrow escape of ins family from death, and the supposed destruction of Miss Rosse and her servant. The earl listened breathlessly, not once interrupting the narration, although more than once his anxiety to learn the present whereabouts of Miss Rosse nearly overcame Ids patience. Only the timely rcmemberancc that MacDongal bad declared her ‘safe and well' enabled him to listen quietly to the long story. While MacDongal was thus employed, Mrs Mac Lean and her daughters were busily engaged in the preparation of supper for the unexpected guest. The MacDongal family and the men of the Mac Lean family paid close attention to the narrative, and now and then interpolated an explanatory remark or an ejaculation. f"TO BE CONTINUED, J