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

Patea Mail, Volume III, Issue 293, 6 February 1878, Page 4

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

TBy Mrs. Harriet Lewis.]

CHAPTER LlX.— contd. “ It’s a long story,” observed Pulford, “ but I’ll put it in as few words as possible. My journey northward was the luckiest undertaking of my life. But for it yon and I would have been mined !” “ What do you moan ?” “ The girl had escaped from Black Hock.” “ Esc ipod ! Great Heaven! Escaped !” “ Yes. I arrived at Inverness and hired a horse, intending to make the journey across the country by the wild Highland passes to the northwest coast, and to Black Hock. But on the evening of the day 1 left Inverness, at a little mountain hamlet, by a lake called Loch Low, I, strangely enough, encountered Jarvis. It was a singular chance, that of our meeting. He told me that the girl was in a farm-house close at hand, with her old servant, and they had been there over a week; that old Gretchcn had written to Maldred Grafton to come to her mistress’s assistance, and that Grafton was looked for every hour. The old idiot—l mean Jarvis—had had no opportunity of sending for me without going to Inverness, as the post leaves Loch Low, only once a week, and he had stayeil on, not knowing what to do, but on the point of doing something desperate, when I, with my usual luck, appeared on the scene.” “And Grafton?” cried Lady Trevor, eagerly. “ Did yon see him ?” “ I passed him on the road the next morning; or, rather, he passed me as I was hid in a thicket, and ho rode by in a carriage. But the girl was disposed of before that time.” He told the story of Jarvis’s pretensions to being the proprietor of a mad-honsc, of Cecil’s illness at MacDongal’s farm-house, and of all the incidents of that night in which the house had been burned down. Lady Trevor listened in a breathless horror. “ And yon are perfectly sure that she could not have escaped ?” she questioned, when at last she could find breath. “ 1 wish I was as sure of gaining the title I covet,” answered Pulford. “ Sure? I’d risk my life on it, Edith. If yon had witnessed that fire, its swiftness and appalling snddoncss, you would never ask so senseless a question. The girl is dead, and so is the woman ! And as for the family, who slept below, they barely escaped with their lives !” “It was a bold and daring deed, hut it w;;s well done,” said Lady Trevor warmly. “ I could have done it myself. I wonder what Maldred Grafton thought when he arrived at the ruined home and found that the girl was dead. .Do you suppose that he will learn of your visit there ?” “ Ho will not know my name, for I usurped his and called myself Mr Grafton,” said Pulford, with a laugh at his own cunning. “ But if he did trace my identity under that borrowed plumage, he ciuldn’t prove that I fired the dwelling. I have covered my tracks well, Edith. Whatever Grafton suspects, he’ll keep to himself, since lie can prove nothing against me !” “When did all this happen? You came direct to London after its occurrence ?” “ No, I was detained two or three days at Inverness. My horse foil under me just before I reached the town after my visit to Loch Low, and I was slightly injured, enough to lay me up at the Caledonian a couple of days and put me under the doctor’s care. As yon may imagine, I kept very quiet, not stirring out of doors lost I should meet Oral ton, and when I came away on the train I muffled myself carefully and secured a compartment to myself. But, in spite of all my precautions, the hour before I left Inverness I was discovered at my hotel by Jarvis—” “Bv Jarvis ? You said he returned to Black Rock ?” “ I said that wo separated, he going toward Black Rock and I setting my face toward Inverness. And that was true. The rascal started for Black Rock. But he had gone little over two days’ journey when he came upon the dead bodies of his wife and the Portuguese woman in a wild mountainpass. The two women had been frantic with fear on being left alone at Black Hock, ho supposed, and had set out on foot to follow him. They wandered on the frail for days, then their provisions must have given out, and they, halfstarve 1 and feeble, had at last perished miserably by the way-sice, I tell yon the story briefly. Jarvis was half beside himself with grief. The beggar must have loved his wife. Yet he left her nn hnrb\i as she had fallen with her companion, and stricken with terror he V.m God about and hurried after me. H-a passed through Loch Low at night an 1 saw no one. Ha had just reached Inverness when I saw him, and ho came on to London by the same train with m but in a second-class compartment.”

“ So the two women, Mrs Jarvis and Maria, are dead too ?” muttered Lady

Trevor, “ That is well. We shall have

nothing to fear from them.” Isotliinat- CTliey hfive served our purpose, let them perish. “We need not fear Jarvis. I think he’ll leave the country, he’s so cut up about his wife's death. The way he described the finding of those two bodies, huddled up in the road, would have made your flesh creep. The women must have been frenzied, or they never would have attempted to cross the country on foot, and in such cold as they must have found. Why, the snow lies thick in some of those passes now !” “ I feel as if I could breathe freely at last !” said Lady Trevor. “ Thanks to me, my dear. Our marriage-day approaches. Are yon ready ? Is the momentous affair of the trousseau duly settled ?” “ Everything is ready !” answered Lady Trevor, with her hand at her breast, an odd smile on her hard lips. “ I am glad to hoar it. I suppose that grandfather shows no sign of relenting ?” said Pulford, airily. “ None whatever. But I expect overtures from him. lam his only living descendant, and I have played a filial part lately toward him that most have won upon him, notwithstanding his old dislike of me. Besides, I have had a visit from Lady Glenham. The earl, of course, never told her of the little scene between him and me in this drawing-room. She had heard the report of my betrothal to you and had come to ask me if it were true.” “ And yon told her—” “ That it was true—that I intended to marry you. I told her that ours was to bo a pure love-match, that 1 found in yon my very ideal of manhood,” said the widow, speaking half truth and half falsehood. “The countess sighed: she had wanted me for her daughter-in-law: she even shed a few tears, but in the end she gave mo her blessing, and promised to do her best to reconcile my grandfather to mo. I wish her joy of her task. I would rather face a lion in bis den than the old Marquis of St. Leonards when he is angry ! Yet, lady Glenham may induce him to keep up an otward semblance of friendship with me.” “ She lias influence with him, and may induce him to come to a truce with us. Have you seen the earl recently?” “ Not lately. He has left town, Ids mother said, upon another of bis wild goose chases. He is fast becoming a monomaniac in regard to that girl. If he should ever discover that she is actually dead, I presume he’d go mad entirely. I hone that I shall never see him again.” “We will go abroad directly after onr marriage, Edith, and remain away at least a year. And when we return, we’ll cuter society, and grandpa shall use his influence to get me a title. That is all 1 shall need to complete my happiness.” He took one of her hands in his in lover-like manner. It was cold and clammy, ami trembled with suppressed excitement. As he remarked upon this, lady Trevor drew away hastily, exclaiming: “ Have yon not told mo exciting news ? Do yon suppose I can hear such things unmoved ? The truth is, I have scarcely eaten anything since yon wont away, Horace. I have lived in a state of constant anxiety that deprived me of all appetite. But, now that all is safe, I begin to feel hungry again. Let me order supper to be served, and we will share it together.” Pulford assented. The proposition was one that Lady Trevor had often made to him before. He had shared in many “ little suppers” at that house during the past year. He arose at her request and touched a hell, summoning a servant, to whom the lady gave her orders. A few minutes later, when the widow was in the midst of an account of some amusing occurrence that had transpired in town during his absence, the butler announced that supper waited. Mr Pulford gave the widow his arm, and they descended to the breakfast-room —a smaller apartment than the great dining-saloon, and more suited to a tete-a-tete repast. Lights glimmered softly in this luxurious room. The oval table was laden with delicacies. Lady Trevor dismissed her servants, and exclaimed, gaily: “ I remember your fondness for coffee, and shall pour a cup for you with my own hands. And yon shall mix the dressing to the salad. I remember that Sir Albert used to say that no Frenchman could equal you in dressing a salad.”

Pnlford accepted his usual task, and set to work with an ardour worthy of a gourmand. Lady Trevor watched him a moment, saw that he was absorbed in his work, and then, still keeping , her eyes fixed upon him, silently withdrew one of the phials from her breast. With a sleight-of-hand movement she turned half the contents of the little bottle into one of the cups. Then, hiding the phial again, .she gently manipulated the coffc-um and filled the cup with the fragrant beverage. u There,” said Mr Pnlford, pleasantly, “ I flatter myself that this salad will delight you. Let me help you, Edith.” He did so, and received the cup of coffee from her hands. Had his eyes dwelt upon her face he would have noticed her grayish pallor, her livid lips, the uneasy glitter ot her guilty eyes — but he did not look. His usual “ luck” had deserted him.

Lady Trevor trifled with her salad and biscuits and fruits, and watched him stoat'til Jv while he drained hi s cup ox coffee, and passed the cup for more. “ Tlie oeffee is strong to-night, unusually so,” ho remarked, “and I will take a double snpph. I want to visit my club after 1 leave yon. I have an appointment with your lawyer our lawyer, I menu—and I am about due there now.” Lady Trevor refilled the cup. There was a little more conversation and Pulford arose to take his leave. “ I will look in upon yon in the morning,” he said. “ Our marriage-day is close at hand. Good-night, Edith, and dream of rnc !” He kissed her with lover-like ardour, again and again, and then made a last adieu and departed, humming a tune. Lady Trevor returned to the drawingroom, her knees trembling under her, her heart throbbing wildly. “ It is done,” she whispered to herself. “ Had I given him the full dose he would have died upon the instant. Half the the contents of the phial means as surely death, but grants an hour’s reprieve. He will die elsewhere ; there will be no scandal; and I shall never be suspected of killing him. The deed is done—his doom is scaled —and I am free !” pro BE CONTINUED. J