CHAPTER XIII (Continued).

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 40, 8 March 1884, Page 4

CHAPTER XIII (Continued).

"Well?" she asked, when he paused. " Are you convinced at last ?" Helena shook her head. " She refuses to believe him guilty. Do you hear, you shrewd detective?— this girl refuses to believe that they are one in identity." " Wait till she sees him," said Chester Harris, gravely. " She will doubt no longei\" '"But she has seen him. His carriage brought her here," persisted Hortense. "He is an inimitablo actor; his assurance is something -wonderful. But facts are facts, and we can prove beyond any contesting that Conway Searle purchased the ticket for the steamer passage in the name of Konrade Earl. Let me recapitulate the facts we can prove, to say nothing of those for which circumstancial evidence is strong enough to convince the most obstinate jury that was ever called to gether. " And Chester Harris drew forth his notebook and read dow n a page of its carefully jotted paragraphs. The dowager's face grew sterner still. " Grandma, grandma, you see that I cannot help it " ciied out Hortense, clinging to her for a moment Mildly. " I love him — surely I love him as truly as this girl ; but my faith is gone. Even if it bieaks my heart, let me see Konrade Earle no more !" "My child, your cause shall be protected. Your happiness must not be lightly perilled. Alas ' is there no end to the care and grief I must bear in my old age?" replied the dowager, kissing her darling fondly; but her eyes had a far-away look even while she Avas spe iking, as if her thoughts had flow n beyond the scene. " Miss Yerringlon, can It be possible you persist in belie\ing him innocent in the face of all this," asked Chester Harris, in a low voice. "It was not Conn ay Searle who sought the hand of Lady Hortense. It was not Conway Searle who met me as a stranger today," answered Helena, " there is some strange mysterj , some fatal complicity of coincidence I will believe anything but that he has c\er been false and treacherous. Oh, Mr Harris, you are not the subtle unmasker I believed you, there is a defect somewhere in your reasoning. That honest, uncultivated Silas Green has a truer perception. I must go back to him. I must return to America I must still search elsewhere for my Conway." " She is a monomaniac in her trust and faith for that scoundrel," said Harris, compassionately, as he turned back to the sorely distressed dowagei-. "Madam, I await your further commands." "Hark !" cried out Hortense, springing up and turning a wild face tow ard the door. "He is coming. Oh, grandma, Konrade is coming. 1 know his step. Oh, what shall I say ? What shall Ido ?" It was as she said. The opening door disclosed the handsome, eager face of Konrade Earle. "Hortense, pardon this unannounced intrusion. But I could not wait any longer. Are you convinced at last?" began he, eagerly. But as his eyes took in the excited faces before him, as he recognised Chester Harris, and read the stern gravity of the dowager's look, the words died off his lips ; he flushed deeply, and then grew very pale, and stood looking wistfully at hi* betrothed She was hiding her agitated face upon the dowager's shoulder. " Hortense '" he said again, slowly, imploringly, "I swear to you by everything high and noble that I have never been untrue to you in thought, or word, or deed. If you have ever loved me I ask you to have some faith in my honourable word to-day. Here is Helena Yerrington before you. Does she say that I have ever spoken the wicked vows to her of w hich they accuse me ? Does she believe I am her los-t lover ?" "No— more than ever no," answered Helena Yerrington, her eyes shining with a light that seemed to come from some miraculous source. " You are not Conway Searle, I repeat it." " Hear her, Hortense, as you have heard me, and answer me now. Do you believe the lips that have spoken their vows to you became sullied by broken proraises to her ? Do you believe now that I am Conway Searle, her lover, or Konrade Earle, your plighted husband ?" " Heaven help me !" moaned Lady Hortense. " Konrade, Konrade, the black evidence is before me." " But your heart should have assurance to outweigh it all, as hers has done," he answered sternly. " Hortense, I call lor your answer. Does the w oman to whom I have given my life-long happiness, my truest devotion, trust me as an honourable man, or turn from me as a perjured villain?" Clinging to her grandmother in a wild passion of weeping, Horten&e still hid her face, and answered nought. A bitter smile curled his lip. " Lady Hortense, you give me eloquent reply. Henceforth it matters little to me how soon or how late this ugly calumny is blown aside. Miss Yerrington, I cannot say that I have lost my faith in womanhood, for you have ncbly upheld your lover's cause, and shown me how a true heart can trust. He is a happy fellow, and I envy him, be he alive or dead, this Conway Searle. Lady Mildway, allow me to wish you good-day. You may say to Sir Frederic that no claim of mine will henceforth interfere with his wishes, and the consummation he has planned." What grand dignity was in his mien ! What conscious innocence in every look and tone ! Even Chester Harris felt his heart beat in compunction and sympathy. Before any one could break the spell, and find voice, he had turned and vanished. His step echoed faintly from the stair-way. Then Lady Hortense broke from her grandmother's arms with a heart-piercing cry. " Konrade, Konrade, come back !" And the next instant she sank upon the floor in the first fainting fit of her healthy young life. It was a scene of painful experience ; and scarcely was it a wonder that Helena Yerrington returned to her duties with Mrs Incnbald, paler and graver than ever before, instead of triumphing, as Hartmann anticipated, with the eclat of the good company into which she had strayed.