CHAPTER XXXIV.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 189, 29 January 1887, Page 6

CHAPTER XXX IV.

"I BOW TO M\ FATfc." «* Why are .you borer' cried Violet, angered and ashamed that any eye should witness her secret ertef and battle, " Do not b<? angry wi.h me," said Helen, Bitting down by her, and taking her reluctant hand. '" I would like to comfort you. Do not mourn over a trifling quarrel ; these t.hlng3 oftou happen, and are iiexfc day forgotten." " What do you mean ?" said Violet. " I havo- not quarrelled. I never duarrel. I am not so '" She stopped. "Not so ill-bred?" said Helen, with a mocking smile. "I beg your pardon. I forgot that I was speaking with one who baa been Qurssd in the tatin lap of nobility. 1 judged you by niyaelr, and I have the passions ot vny kind, and my ' manners have not that repose that marks the rank of Vere de Vero ' '' Vioiot triad to rise and go back to her home and her guests. Helen's words had stopped the current of woe aud tears, not by consolation, but as a sharp frost stops the welling streams of the spring-time. Don't so," said Helen, holding her fast, i «« I did not mean to offend you. My inference that you were aryins: over a quarrel -w^ve xnost natural, as I saw your husband going away from his little lover's nook with a black cloud on hie face." " My husband ! He was not here. 1 ' "Pardon me; he was—l saw him. Ij could have touched him." " But he has gone out from breakfaston business." "Oh ' So ? Then perhaps it wa3 not you with whom he quarrelled, aud you did not cause tho black cloud." •'You always pu^le me," said Violet, fixing her ingenious eyes on Helen's handsome, dark, but secret L^ce. "I never know just what you mean." "You force me to bo very plain," eaid Miss Hope, steadily. " I consider T,bar it is Miss Ambrose whom your hasband met-, and with whom be has qinrrele'l. Ho ha- had an infatuation for her. I heard t=he was here, and of course they wei'3 meeting, and I came hero to warn you ; tor, ns I told you, I want to be your triend i think you tried to be kind to me, and I am very sorry for you." " It yout feeling is so kind," said Violet, "I fh;nk your acts are very unfortunate. Surely you cannot make me more comfortable by coming to uio u ith tales about Lord Leigh. It there aie unpleasant things, that I cannot ninder ; it were much better that I had not Unov< a them Ido not expect to be • happy, but I should like to be at peace." "And you would ignore jour husband's unfaithfulness?" 44 Hucjh !'' said Violet, angrily. " You are now slandering You are merely surmicintr- burtnise gooa, not evil, if you are a good woman ' A man may surely renew an aoquavntance without being accused o f unfaithfulness." "Bat. what would you do if the accusation weietrue?' 1 cried Helen, holdiug her fast by both bands. " Ivvould endure in silence, '' said Violet, firmly * k What ! for a man who doe 3 not love you, whom }ou do not lo^s? When you mierht tree >oni>elf by a divorce !"' 11 Stvp, wicked woman ! Do you think for any cau3Q I would make my name, my home, tha line I have entered, a cauee lor public ?candai, the talk ot all England? When nothing e'-e is left me 1 can at least patiently endure." "When jou might free jourself, and marry one you love ?" " Weak and foolish a? I may be," said Violet, rather to herself than to Helen, " I should never fall ?o low a= to desecrate marriage in that way. What you suggest 5a wicked, shameful." " Are you resolved nothing shall part you from Lord Leigh ?" "Nothing but death." "And vet, there is one whom—forgiveme, bat I &aw you together at Berne, and tead your story in your faces — whom you love, and who adores you, and would gladly make you \ds " " Only in honour, and as God could bless," said Violet, white to the lips as itn the agony dicier spirit. "I know whom you mean. Oace we were engaged, but it i 3 all over now. Understand me, thare has not beej a word oi a thought between us two that his mother does not know, or that God would condemn, or *hat Lord Leigh could rasent. ivi y part is taken lam Lord Juaigh's wife, and I thall try to be a good, Uiad wife. If you ever loved him, .18 you *ay, you should be glad of that." "I am too much of a woman ever to be glad to sco any woman sacrificed," cried MU*< Hope. '"You vail die; I see it in your eyes ; you are pining away." " That ooe? not frighten me ; I am glad of that." Helan began cares j ing and kissing her hands. " Ho* 1 noble and good you are ! Forgive me ; I was only testing you. You are quite right, you are angelic. Oh, how I wish that Buch. swaernoss and ic-ifh could save Loid Leiijb. ! They could, it ho loved you. But love wa=> not m hi? vie a* of maniage. Tho Lords oi Leigh marry tor money ; and for heir-i. He has tho money ; and it he had the heir you might die, and he would forget you in a month. You ace, it 18 a very natural ambition, that of these ancient families— to build up their riches &nd peroetuate their line. AH ia to be eucrificed to that." These ccafty words were exactly fitted to rouse the anger of pocr Violet. She said indignantly : • c I cannot be expected to understand or approve setting up such an altar and making sacrificsa on it. lam half of a city family, and I don't see why lords ehowld be aa/ed from bankruptcy any more than znorebsnts; nor why the Lords of Leigh should expect their line to b/) immortal more than Bogg3, tho blacksmith." "Thab ia rank heresy," sneered Helen. "I tell you that women, hearts, loves, lives, are as nothing ; they are to be sacrificed in hecatombs to this demand of a peer for money to waste and for a eon to inherit hie name. You call it arrant nonsense? You do not appreciate how much nobler it is to be the mother of oarls •than of clodhoppers, although the earls may be blacklegs and the clodhoppers decent, honest men !" " Oh, why will you come to mo and talk so?" sobbed Violet, in a flood of tears. '• You drive me wild. Your wicked thoughts haunt me like demons. Leave me ; never see me again ; for whatever you say or make me think or feel, one thing I am reßolved on— l will do my duty till I die. I «dmit that lam wretched ; but I recognise

the irrevocable vowb that I have taken. I bow to my fate," " 1 have not intended to hurt or vex you, ' said Helen. " I really meant to aot a* a friend. Wo see theso things differently. I tiuly think that where a pair are ini?erabie together — where the hueband is faithleaw, nnd the wife, if free, could make a marriage ■where she would be happy and good- then ?he had better get free by process of mvv. You differ. Very good. That ends it. I only wanted to aid you, and some oue else, to happiness," v i ihiuk I had better never see you again," said Violet. 'I thiuk your views aad words dangerous and wicked." She turned away. Helen Hope stood, with folded arms, to watch her gliding, a slender white shape, through the green aisles of the park. Helen had, in the madness of her revenge and pa?sion tor Lord Lei^h, come here to sow disunion, to goad Violet towards a divorce, or beguile her to rocklossneas that might open to her husbanH the road to divorce The purity and simplicity of Edna and Violet, causing Edna to leave the vicinity of Leigh Towers, and Violet to scorn a happiness pm chased by what she considered tho bin ot divorce, for i the time defeated Helen's plans. Rebuffed ! for the present, she did not admit herself conquered, and made herself strong to wait and work— unhappily destined to bring a mo?t awful tragedy on the line of Leigh. Violet went straight to 1 ord leigh, and seating herself by his side, put her soit hand on his arm. Almost auy man would have been moved to tendernes3 by tho sad appealing face, the confiding, sensitive manner, tho dainty beauty of this youug creature. Loid Leigh, how over, was all absorbed in a mad memory of the illuuiinoud beauty Edna. *' Lord Keith and his mother left renewed good-by for you, Norman." " Yes ? I had them good-by at breakfast." " I shall miss them," began Violet. " You have company enough, madam, I should say. The bouee is filled with your gueste," retorted Leigh. *' I ahould not want any guests, if we could only bo happy togethor, Norman," she said, softly. "If I only know how to make you happy— if you only would bo fond of me » " What now ?" said Leigh, harshly ; j •'don't you have all your own way V Are you not surroundod with splendour ? What new gewgaws will you have? Shall I rebuild the Towers ?" "It i 3 not that, Norman," said Violet, tears trembling on her long lashes. " You know I do not care for splendour ; what I want is sympathy, kindness, love. If you only " " Nonsense !" eaid Leigh, " what new whim is this ? You don"t want splendour ? You want love in a cottage. I suppose " " I would rather have love in a cottage than a palace without love," said Violot. " We promi&ed to love each other, and we ought to try and do so. We are not trying, I'm afraid. Let us strive and have more confidence— more love, that community of interest that we should have." " I'm not up to tho sentimental flights," retorted this man, who within a week had been pleading at Edna Ambrose's feet, that " love deserved response,"