LITERATURE.

Patea Mail, Volume I, Issue 3, 31 October 1887, Page 4

LITERATURE.

UNDF.II THE SHADOW. C! IA TTEII I. —Continued. In addition to her beauty sdj» had inherded another gilt , *he hud the voice wi.ii li is ;;ivi nto so many of the ehihlren of 'he f-.unny couth.— a voice as dear and lull and niin-i al as a iiigniingah: s ; imperial in its sl;(.rv.Ch. and divine in its grace and power "i espres.-i-.n. IP,. ,:: ( p : ;:dte a- it ur.s, it was not often heard ; to-, strange to ray, Ho :fn y Kniclv-m, oniiae most fathers, was not phn.s-d when ids daughter s mg. Bo Hr.* sang out in the woods, - .her own v. nods, where none came i ut the gcmckecpcrs or llie la bon rots, — or in her own rooms. D m’l -jump to the conclusion, because ],,, ,:ji! not Him to heat his daughter's voice in song, God Hey Knighton was a bard or unkind fa dvr ; no man could lovo a daughter mor* t'-ndt-ry, more pansi timely than he di i Lis. Cold, stern, almost 1 o»bidding to the rest of tin- world, ha was t, ijde:ness i'soii to her “ Cu d and hard,” though expressive enough, scarcely convey any idea of his maimer to ihe outside woilit. He was a man who spoke seldom and smiled never, dust as a Homan lawgiver, he nue'y melted to mercy, mid woe bo to the poicher caught red-handed in the act, or the thief found in the lien roost or the peach orchard ! And yet, though t-o inflexibly just, he was gen* runs to a laul 1 . lliere wcie no poor in Knighton, and no Klraimer was *ver turned away from Hovel A g tes until 1m hud appeased bis hj mger and got Hott.o!hing in the way ui com to heip him on his vay. But there seemed to lung a cloud OVCf Godfrey Knighton, and the faint tinge of sadness in Id As eyes was but the vague reflection of a deeper melancholy in his o«vn. A shadow Inmg over the Revels, but of its nature and cause everyone, even Iris heiHfelf, was ignorant Ho had left England a young m in of twenty, had left it and disappeared us completely as if he bad been dead, a in, had returned fifteen years nficiwaids with Ins young daughter beautiful ‘'Ven then, though with on'y n promise of her future loveliness, riho was fourteen when ho came hack, and beyond her age she km-w nothng. Of ali that happened to him during his nhsenee, Godfiey Ivnignton said not one word to n ll v living soiii. Of his dead wife lie told nothing. lii» past life in the faruway south remained as dark and inyster.* oii» as it. had ever been during his absence, and there was cert duly no one of_ Ida friends who dared to ask him a single qm at ion. On had married, Ids wife had died giving birth to a daughter, and Iris was lh 4 ; that was nil that was known, though no one could say that he had actually stated oven this much ; but the county was only too glad to have him back on iny terms, and welcomed with open arms the man who was lord of Iho manor of Beverley, and the magnificent Bevels which had &o Jung remained closed and desolate.

Lis may have been thinking of ali fids or she may have been thinking of nothing at all. Of one thing she certainly was not pondering, ami that was —love. The heiv« hs of the Bevels, if she had been as ugly as sin is popularly supposed to b; —instead of being most dimming and enticing, alas ! —would have been sure to have bad plenty of suitors : liowlmnch more certain then was Irhi Knigh'on with her almost marvellous beauty and grace ! As a mutter of fad there was not a youth wi:iiim|a nidus of tweny miles who didn’t worsi'ip her, ami dicam of her, am* wish that ho con id, at any rale, die for her; hut Ids had reimdnod untouched and unmoved l>y one and all. When they cunn; finiteing nmml her tsho looked at Hit m will a far-away g.w, and ami led at

all ilu ir co:i)i 1 ini; nls wi li her absent, dreamy smite ; and Inlf maddened by her indifference limy one and nil declared tint the exquisite creature was like a lovely statue, all beauty ami no heart I Ami yet she would sit for hours with a pick child cm.i;" d to her bosom, and hei proud eyes would giow dim ami moist a: . any s ory of Borrow and mi-wry, and nc * one hj id ever asked her for help and foam) lior heartless or deaf to their apnea! ! She sat so lung and in so rapt a dream that she did not hear the sound of nnolhoi horse's feet upon tho thick heather,, and it was not until the big bisck horse, who was called, from sheer contra! incus, Snow, pricked np his pointid curs* and began to fidget with his ‘runt legs, that she awoke, and lucking round, saw u gentleman ruling towards her. Tim faintest expression of annoyance—well, rcaicely umi lyance, but boredom—came into her ryes us she saw him, and she looked fudf inclined to gather up the reins and lly ; but wi'.b she tinned Snow's bend, and nat awaiting tbe new comer with a grave, pensive regard in her dak ry hj. • I]o was a young man, with a fair and by no n.eaus had-bioking face,-— though rather ton pretty and womanish, — and tin was dressed us nicely and carefully ns ,]f be bull come cut of the Burlington Arcade : the neatest of coats, glossiest of bats, tho prittlest primroao gloves, the shiniest of bools, and a tare orchid in bis button hole. Am he enmo nearer his fair face grew first pink and then red, and in bis bashfulness and agitation the eyeglass, which had heeu stuck in his left eye, fell with n clutter among Uio buttons of his pretty cost. ** G—good morning Aliss Knighton!” he pnitf; he stammered slightly, ami he had a little diltlculty with his “ r’s ’'which would pn nonneo themselves like w’s.” “ Good morning, Lord Montacute !”mdd

Irks, and she held uul her small guaullstod hand. LI is lordship took it ami shook it, nnrl grinned, not because he was a foo', which he was not by any means. hut because lie wan head over heels in lore with the divine young goddess, tml whenever he was near her all his senses seemed to desert him ; his heart heat wildly, the colour camo rushing tt> his face, ami lie stammered worse, and found greater ditlicuitc with his “ r’s " than usual. •• It it’s u line morning isn’t it ?” ho said, inmbling with his eyeglass after the manner of a nervous man, “J (!s t the morning lor a wide, isn’t it? Wu shall have s —summer lure pwesenlly, shan’t wo.* Awluly glad tnmm-.t’s comitig, 1 »rt n’t yon ’ ** Vos, ’ slid Iris, in her low, full v.uco. Tin tv was sin-neo fora moon nt, while tio* voung non racked his brains lur something to H -y, and Collldi.’t it ml it, becail-e the oniy WotUs that ir.ug in Ids e is wore “I love yon’. I love you I” x Inn Iris ),.e ked at his huise, which was panting a lilt '*, and sain', — *■ Have you linden fur, L rd MorrUtCllte?” lie to’onred and alnmtneied, Hu had seen her I'iom the windows of Mont acute 'i oW'*;s, ami had d shed tuto the yard, got his burse saddled, leapt on its back, ami pimply taced it up the hill to overtake her. That "was why the turn d ranted end threw tiig white JJ.-cks of iu in iicin i'.s mouth,

U T^f—er —r.—o, not very far, I—l wrs going to ride over a;i• 1 see Mr Knighton about the —I In*. ” —he hesitated a second for an invention, then wound up,— the ball, you know.” -Oh yes ! ” s >id Iris. ‘‘You will find iny father at home. He was in the library wlnn I left ; and you will catch him before he goes oui, I thmk. I am going to the Holt, (ji.od-bye !” and, with a nod and a rmile, she touched her horse with the tip of her Unger, and was off. Lord Montacme looked after her, and his lo ad drooped. Ali the way up the heath ho had resolved as he raced ah.ng to ask her botdiy and without hesitation to let him come with her ; and now—now there she was, alines; out of sight, and he was left to carry cut his absurd excuse, and go down to iba Levels , At that moment he would have giwr. his Norman name, his ancestral mat, the Towers, his wealth, everything, to ride beside her, and—she had gone I Fur u moment a wild idea of racing after her and puttidg the request after ail, seized him, but he hadn’t the tourago to meet those deep. Itislions, grave eyes, fixed so calmly and sweetly upon him, and ihe look of faint wonder rn.J enquiry which he kn-w would shine in them, and dis onsolaic y, disappointedly, altogether wretchedly, tire Karl of M> macuto stink his eyeglass in his eye and rode down the hill. ( To be Continued.)