CHAPTER LXXXV.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 204, 21 May 1887, Page 6 (Supplement)

CHAPTER LXXXV.

" THEN', VIOLET, I MUST LEAVE YOU." ! The letter from the Lord Chancellor lay ' uppermost, and as Violet took it from tho salver she did not notice tho superscription of the other letter, which she dropped into her lap. She cried, eagerly : " Now, Edna, wo shall hear what he says ! Oh, I hope he has appointed wise and good guardians for my boy I" " I am sure he has," said Edna, dropping her work. "He would not do otherwise, as he is a wise and good man. " Violefc began to read aloud. After somo general condolences, and compliments, and explanations that ho would have come to her at the Towers had he not been a prisone- to the gout, the Lord Chancellor went on to say : •'You have committed to me a very important trust, that of selecting suitable guardians for the heir of one of the oldest titles and finest estates in England. Your child will have a long minority, over twenty years. It is necessary that I should not appoint old men for his guardians, but those who may hope to see him attain his majority. I would desire men of large, ' liberal, kindly natures, who would have sympathy with theii ward, and obtain his love and confidence. I should seek men of lofty ideas, pure lives, unsullied integrity, examples to him of all the virtues they should inculcate. I have thought deeply upon the choice of these, my ideal guardians, but high as is tho standard I have set, I think f have chosen men who attain to it. I have spoken to them, and they have ageeed to accept the trust. They are the Marquis of Alwold and Lord Kenneth Keith." Violet dropped the letter, and the two young women looked at each other across the fatherless babe, who, unconscious of questions at stake, lay on tho flooi between j them, playing with a gold coral and bells. A flood of crimson rose o^er Edna's fair I face and throat, afe this unexpected en- I comium and mention of the man she deeply loved. Violet grew paler still, in contrast with her crape, and under the widow's cap, which hid all the shininc rings of her pretty hair. She turned her eyes to Rupert, and said softly : •' I know Lord Keith loves the child : he said he would always be his friend— and he saved him his estate." "No doubt ifc is a good choice," said Edna, taking up her work again, and making various sudden resolutions, as she sewed little stitches. "Certainly I cannot dispute the selection, and I never thought of his making such," said Violet, Then she laid down the Lord Chancellor's letter and noticed the others, "Here is one from Lord Keith.*' she said, breaking the seal. She read aloud : " To the Honourable Countess op Leigh : —Dear Madam,— The Lord Chancellor has appointed me one of the guardians of your son, the infant Earl of Leigh, and I have found myself unable to resist the urgency with which ho pressed the office upon me. I trust I shall fulfil my duties for the child's good, and to your contentment. Lord Alwold, my co-guardian, has b-'en culled to Scotland, and as it is necessary to confer with you on proper plans for tho future, I propose to w ait on you at the Toweis next week. I shall trespass but two days on your solitude My mother sends her tenderest regards, and begs that you w ill receive her. with me, as she Is longing 10 see both you and Mies Haviland. Your humble servant, Kexxetii Keitii." Violet had not seen Kenneth when he came to the Towers for the funeral. She had parted from him at the railroad station in London, after he "had won her case for her. But the sole ran days which had p i ssed since then, and the terrible tragedy which had fallen upon her life, seemed to divide her, by years and years, from the girl whom Kenneth Keith had loved and mourned. Her futuie and her present were all for her child. It was in this mood thai., when Kenneth Keith came with bib mother, she moved to meet him. a pathetic little figure, in her widow's cap and weeds. The lector and Mr Storms were theie also, and Violet asked the lector to give her his arm to dinner, while Kenneth escorted his mother. When they returned from the brief and silent meal, Kenneth said : " Lady Leigh, I wish to confer with you and Mr Storms, as I am about to leave England for some time. My little ward will scarcely need much of my care at present ; and my co-guardian, the marquis, can perform all the duties that might fall to either of us. I think the little carl will suffer no detriment from my absence. I am going to India and China, and probably shall be away two years. Violet did not know that she had been .shrinking from the future and from meeting Lord Keith until the .sudden leap of relief which her heart gave at hearing he was going from England. She looked up at him almost gratefully, as she said, "She did not wish his guardianship to be a burden," and that "she was sure Lord Alwold could give all the advice needed." " Our little earl will want no more important tutors than a nursery maid dining the next two years," laughed Mr Storms. Violet slid her hand into that of Lady Burton and whispered : " Since you will be alone ltow you will spend a deal of your time with me, will you not, and teach me how to manage my child and my estates ? If you stay much with me I can have Edna here more." The talk wandered into discussions of the estates, and the rector gave long histories of various minorities of earls of Leigh, and he spoke hopefully of the future, and advanced the comforting doctrine that the sons of widows were usually good and useful men. "You will find Abvold most attentive and devoted to his ward, I am sure," said Lord Keith ; and theia., at the mention of Alwold, both Kenneth and his mother looked unconsciously at Edna. They could neither of them guess why for more than afyear, Alwold, who had seemed such an ardent lover, had abandoned Edna, and why, though a shadow had evidently fallen on her, she had endured her trouble in fiilence, giving no word or sign. Lord Keith and Lady Burton went away in two days, and then, for October, life flowed on very quietly at the Towers. However bravely Violet had striven to bear the burden of her married life, ifc had undoubtedly weighed very heavily upon her. " The lower nature linked with hers," and wore and fretted her. Her tender spirit had shrunk and shivered from harsh, repellent \yordfl, and looks and sneers, and she had lived in daily dread of evil. Now she lived in calm as one above whom the storm has wheeled away, and who has nothing more to dread. She gave herself ardently to the care of her child and her tenants. The rector and his wife found her forward in every benevolence ; the people' old and young idolised her. Wherever there was one sick or sad, an old person on the verge of the grave, or a babe new-come bo life, there the pony phaeton of the litfcle Countess Leigh stood by the gate, and her

sof t voice brought sympathy or consolation, and her white band. help. " Like sleep or peace, in dark affliction's place, She smoothed the furrows on tho front o£ care ; Clove with the Rlory of a loving face The dreary dons and caverns of despair. And pure as morn, sent forth her fair -whito hand, Bearing a blessing on from door to door ; Till liko a now-born light across the land, Hor heart's large lovo went brightening moro and moro." Thus they were when November came to them, and one day Violet went to Edna s room with an open letter. "Dearest Edna, I must tell you, the Marquisof Ahvold is coming here to-morrow, to see his ward." "Then, Violet," said Edna, quietly, "to morrow I must leave you. Igoto my cousin's."