CHAPTER LXXXIII.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 203, 14 May 1887, Page 6

CHAPTER LXXXIII.

Till. LOKI> OK 1.KK.1l KOlt TIM. lA«T THIK iroMK. Again, with renewed number.^, the seaich went on. At three, Mr Storms came in and sy..d that as soon a*, the day was clear, they -hould diag the Black Pool. He lin<l .sent to the fawiily phy-wiun to conn; at once, feaiing foi Violet, a.nd desi, ing also the testimony and presence of tho physician m ease their woist f«us were lealised. Day dawned, and, .sleepless and haggard, Violet Leigh watched from, the eastern windows the brightening, of the primrose sky to red and go d. She had heaid tho tiead of iixauy h-ob, a>, ca-ruy ing. canoes and dra^My the men went by to- search out the societs of the- Black PboL The servants. Hung 1 about in little groups, faces awestruck and wan. Of all the- household only the babe was in tranquil rest. The sun was well up, whim tho boats were put out on the pool. As they vouched the ■water some one called attention to a certain, thing- vaught on a loaw braiioh. .-it the most di>tant point ot the pool. They lowed thither and found a %his felt hat known to be Lord Leigh's. In silence the two boat* parted at tliL poi.nr, and moved in opposite dheetieu.-* around the pool, to meet at the level, open spot ne;w the Foll> , where .stood Kemp, Adam, and Mr Storm-. When almost tho entire circuit had been made with the drags, not far horn the Folly, fclieie whs- a, re.-i>t;wioo ; the drag* of one boat caught some heavy object, and both bttit- cauu" together. In breathless, Urn riiied silence they drew slowly, slow ly ii om the black depths their prey. A whiteness gleamed under the t.mbid water; then, closely clasped together, two ■>HIL rV-vuis a woman, all. in snowy white, a man en a light woollen suit, heavy with water. Her aims wert clenched fast about hi? iR-dc : hi-> light aim held about hci waist, but his- left, hand, as *he dragged hnn clow.n T had instinctively grasped the Hist bhm« it touched, and that, ala*- ! r-he strong, tough root-- ot plants afe the bottom of the Poof, and as. he held fa^t to those in his death-grip, the doomed pair had not nscii ?\un once to thes.urfa.ee whim- they fell. They brought the bodies ni, and loosening ' the enwrapped aim.% Liid tlicm side by side uptm the sward ; amd Lord Leigh w.aiv stietchal at AdauiVie..^. ; aiul Helen, cold and still, lay before her luidegrooin. Kemp Ui\'rlt down and touched the btUUI gsirnuMit^. " She •-itid, wlu-n 1 baw her again it should be in the?e, M >-aid h+? ; " and she h.i> come, m} bride, but not at the altar. He Ua^ murdered her '." "■ No. Kemp : die- ha- vevwigetl he-i s~olf on him, and drawn him with her to he-r death. See this !'' said Mr Storms., taking liom Loid Leigh's ve^t ]>oeket t\ note, the comer of which had pH;tiiulcd v and Cxiref idly un- j folding it on hLs })alm. "Sco hore ! Shu ha- summoned him heu , and under a f.ik 1 nanve and plea, to insure his coming". She sought him, and not he her, in that fatal hour."' " That's the lady, and that* the note," hjiid a voice At the head of t lie two bodies stood the uiehin who had been Helen's la»t uie-sen-ger. '• Slio me.int to die with him,*' .said I\emp to Mr Storms. " Yes ; no doubt." " She never loved me, but— l loved her !'" said the man, bursting 1 into a vjlument passion of griet. The other men fell back, with the respect due to anguish, and indulged him lor a little space, as he knelt by the \\ oman he had loved, and smoothed the wet ban horn her brow, and called her by her name, and touched her dank bridal array. "We nuirit. take them to the house," said Mr Storms. The men lifted two of the lower shutters of the Folly from theii hinges. Over one they laid the lion-skin rug, and on the other the leopard .skin. Then on each improvised bier they laid a cold, .still foim, with water slowly streaming from its ga\ - ments, and through the narrow aisles of tho cedar wood they took their way with their burden. Some had run before, and the news had .spread. "They are found!" "Both together !'" " Dead !" " "Drowned in the Black Pool !'' These were the fragments of now.-, thai leached the hou»e. and tfhieh they meant to keep from the ears of the young Countess of Leigh. But she heard them, as such things au; ever heard. She heard the cries of horror, the bursts of weeping, the smothered warn; ings of silence, it was only what she hud been sure would come. She had known well, since midnight, how it would end. She knew by what way, at the avenue facing the great entrance of hei princely home, they would bring its dead lord in ; and, wan and trembling, out into the wide sunshine went Violet, Countess of Leigh, widowed and alone, Young and forlorn as she was and looked, there was a new dignity and resolve about her, that made her first in the scene, and suffered no remonstrances, as with set face and folded arms she stood upon the marble steps of the entrance, where the Leigh lions, asleep in atone, crouched on either hand. The rector had ,heard of the search and had'ebme over early: and he and the doctor stood 1 near, behind tho young countess as she waited tor her dead. > And thus, slowly eai-r ed, drenched and rigid with open unseeing eyes, and clenched hands,' Norman Leigh enine for the last time to his ancestral honi'*. Hlowlv up cho broad sUps cm mo the men, carrying the lir^t bier, whore thj iaee of the dead had been uovoixci with 4.dani"*j kei> chhif.

Tfihsm trJbxi S^cau'ers of the seo^vMilHer stood \ <c VAnjstii- siinall be done with--* woman's ' body r " Bpug'hei. 1 in," said the youm^owuntess, im. a* fi»in,, kvw tone } "one ca^ouot refuse hospitalii.y; to- the dead. " 1 Mr Stoisina passed first, and >>nt\ in arm Adauiand Kemp followed, each. flu* ruin of his. hope*~tli© idol of his life. They laid the bodies down in thW billiardroom^ aaid. then the rector, taking; Violet's hand, aaid drawing her to him as if.«ko were his ohilcl, sairl. while tears rained" over his while beaiid and wrinkled cheeks : " Dfeni* child, your work for him it!» ended. You. haive- still your boy ; come to him." And* bowed abovo the cradle of 'heir babe, the overwrought heart of Violet Leigh found, the relief of tears. "She oann&fc be alone so, poor, Mendless little- heirenp that hhe has always been," stud bhu Stones, pityingly. "We must send for some wie. For her aunts'?" "'lf I might be so bold," said Kate, " I suppose.' the> relations must be sent for, but Lady Burton. «jid Miss Haviland are the ones that can. comfort hei , and no others." Shut alone m her room, Violet .passed that teuriblu- day. The coroner's inquest was held., the 1 preparations for the funeral went on. Mesw/y Ainslie and his wife 1 ,- and the Earl of Montressor, anil Colonel Hartingjbon,, wtse summoned, but Violet saw no one unfti.l another da> dawned, and a.swifti step/pji^Kcd up the stair, and Kate gave a. ury, ol [py t as she opened the door of hen lady's roou^, and Edna llaviland folded the forlorn liMil'^ wnlow to her bosom. Held in those strong ioud arms, soothed by that sweet, loving; wagi*, she who had loai n.od''ta > console, havino; had many sorrows of her own in hei wnuig, innocent lite, brought the balm of omaSot t to the wounded hOaut of. Violet. Only a little ovei two yeai- had the tragedy of her -wretched, married lifu lasted. With its pain«. ami its patho.-., it, had ended now in darkness. Violet wa?> a.s onoiex*hauated, nearly lost, worn from hard battle with a st.or.niy. .s'm, cast at last into .shelter, but eonhcinu.v^tily as yet of the 10.-v. and Ike. storm. l>ut,,iij)<vlly, in the arm.-, of Edna, &he sunkvinto jju^tixil .slumbn 1 .