Leaves of Destiny

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 401, 9 July 1928, Page 5

Leaves of Destiny

Igjp* V/

Dorothea Corbould

Author of " A Fata. Fr.endsh.p .•Hi. Fair Enemy. Held Bondaoe.

CHAPTER XIII. —Continued. “I’ve been a beast to you,” sbe whispered, “but, oh, Donald, I do love you! I have loved you all along, and —I never thought to feel so happy again! I have been, oh, so wretc!»ed and miserable and utterly despairing and now ”

“You shall be happier still,” was the reply as Donald’s lips met hers In a hiss which told them both that love should not fade between them while their lives lasted, “for it will be my one endeavour to make up to you for all you have suffered.” It seemed to Anstruther that Bar-

bara’s face was regaining all its former beauty, as they sat and talked of many things, of Keggip and the future, of all that had happened since last they met, and of the happy present. By-and-by, Cassy Waldron returned, her pretty face full of sympathetic joy that Barbara’s troubles were over and her future provided for, and her delight at the prospect of being bridesmaid to hex* friend was expressed by a vigorous hug and sounding kiss. •‘And now, Barbara,” said Anstruther, “I am going to take you to dinner at the -Savoy, and afterwards we will go to the Diadem Theatre. I got a box on my way here.” “Oh, but I haven’t anything fit to wear for evening!” gasped Barbara. “I couldn’t go like this! Besides, I must take back my work,” pointing to the pile of coarse sacking. "I promised it ” “I’ll take back that stuff,” Cassy put in before Anstruther could reply. “I’ll have plenty of time before going to the theatre, and you shall wear that frock of mine I got for the dance at the Forresters when I went, with Willie; it’s quite nice, and you’ll look lovely in it!” “Oh, Cassy! I couldn’t ” “Don’t be troublesome, please, Barbara; you’ve got to do as Mr. Anstruther and I tell you now, hasn’t she, Mr. Anstruther? And I’m going to tell Lil MacArthur that you are in the theatre, and —and —oh, lots of things that will make her green with envy and rage. I shall have the time of my life!” laughing gleefully. And when, later on, Barbara joined her lover in the lounge at the Savoy, looking radiantly happy and almost her old self in the pretty blue gown glittering with crystal embroidery, a blue ribbon in her hair which Cassy had arranged in a becoming “coiffure,” Anstruther found her as beautiful and adorable as ever, and told himself that he was the happiest man in London tha,t night. Bates was a happy man, too, for Donald had gone to the garage and engaged a car for the evening which the former was to drive, and above and beyond the handsome “douceur” he received as a token of gratitude for what he had done for Miss Denning, Bates was promised that, on the return of Mr. Anstruther and his bride .from their ,w«cLdijig tour, he should be

engaged as Mrs. Donald Anstruther's chauffeur. One little incident of that evening, almost marred Barbara’s happiness, if anything could have done so. As she and Anstruther were entering the Diadem Theatre they passed two men who were standing just inside. One of them came forward. “Miss, Denning!” he exclaimed. "This is indeed an unexpected pleasure!” It was Sir Lindsay Charters. Barbara did not vouchsafe him even a glance. She turned to Anstruther. who was looking at his watch and had not noticed Charters. “I think we are in plenty of time, Donald,” she said. “Have you my fan, or did I leave it in the car?” and she passed on, her head held high, her hand within the arm of the man Irom whom Sir Lindsay had done his best to separate her. They never met again. The next day was spent by Barbara and the delighted Cassy in a whirl of shopping. Anstruther insisted on supplying his bride-elect with everything she, wanted, only stipulating that the principal part of the wardrobe should wait till they were in Paris —and the girl was obliged by her desire to do herself justice as the wife of a weal-

thy man, to accept the sum he forced upon her, telling her the next day he would have endowed her with all his worldly goods and that this was therefore only an instalment. Cassy, too, was presented w T ith a trousseau which made her mouth water, and her passage money to New York, and Barbara and her husband waited in London for the former’s marriage to her “Willie,” an honest-looking intelligent young man, who bade fair to make his way in the world. After the wedding, Donald wrote to his parents from Venice, telling them of his happiness. “I am sure you will love Barbara,” the letter said, "if only because she is the one woman in the world I have really loved, and who can make me happy. She is a lady by birth, and strangely enough, in the hotel w-here we are now staying, she has found a relative —though a very distant one — in the person of Canon Redclyffe, of

Himinster, who seemed very pleased to find that she was a daughter of the Rev. Arnold Denning, who had been his chum at Oxford, and who had married, so he tells me, his own second or third cousin. So you see my wile is quite well connected, and you can spread abroad the fact in making my marriage known—because any slight to Barbara would be a slight to me. Of course, if you refuse to receive her yourselves, I shall set about finding another country home, but we must have Reggie with us.” To this Mrs. Anstruther replied that Barbara would be welcome at Collingham Hall, and that she and Donald’s father hoped the newly-married couple would make their home there. “For the place is large enough for us all,” she said in her letter to her son, "and we certainly could not part with Reggie. Rather than that, I, for one, would have consented to receive your wife, even with the knowledge of how she earned her living in the past. As it is. I am delighted to find that her social status equals our own, for Mrs. Grantley, who happens to know Canon Redclyffe, says he is quite nearly related to an Irish peer.” And Donald smiles to himself as he wonders whether even this latter fact would have opened his mother's arms to Barbara, if it had not been for the fear of losing the idol of her heart, her little grandson, Reggie. But in time, even as the boy had wound himself into the affections of his grandparents, so did his lovely young stepmother creep in there also, and with her voice restored, her beauty unimpaired, Barbara Anstruther came into her kingdom—the kingdom of love and happiness which had w'aited for her. “Locked up from mortal eye In shady leaves of destiny. - (The End.)