CHAPTER III. JUDITH TELLS HER TALE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 276, 27 June 1888, Page 6

CHAPTER 111. JUDITH TELLS HER TAL E.

Till 1 , morning broko upon their fruitloss search, a royal morning bom of I/he night of storm. Tho clouds rolled off in purplo wreaths of mist, and the sun arose above the Scottish peaks and set all the grim old turrets in a glitter. The iamoiib doctors did not return to London, as they had proposed ; they sat in the groat oriel library in .solemn consultation with Doctor Renfrew, and in the crimson stato-chamber the countess lay dying. ' Not a mite o' lu)j)e, they say,' whispered Mother (>ood\»in, when i-he and Judith met for a low moments below ; ' she's as weak a.s water, and sinking cvory minute ; and 1 neN or tee a spryer woman than she be last night ; 'tis fright have done- it, tho doctors say. ' ' And no wonder,' rotumed Judith, her face growing a shade paler ; ' it seems to me she would have died on the spot with tho air/hi I saw before her eye 1 -. ' ' What was it like, J udith ?' questioned a parlour-maid breathlessly, joining the circle that had formed about tho two nurses. 'What was it like ?' repeated Judith, | with a shudder : ' not like anything ab ever [ set eyes on before, or nny othor mortal for that matter ; I can't tell you.' 'Oh, Judith, do!' chimed halt a dozen voices ' Begin at the beginning, and tell ub all.' Judith reileetcd a mo»»ent, her brown, steadfast eyes looking very solemn. She was an honest, truthful girl, and did not) indulge m anything fanciful. ♦ Well.' .>lifc began at last, ' I had seen that all wa- right foi the night : my lady and her two babies were sound asleep, and 1 had just beirun todo/e when a tenibleei v roused me fiom my di earning, and 1 jumped up and rushed into my lady's room ; and theie she sat bolt upright m her bed, aholding up her poor hands, her face like a sheet, and her eyes wide open, and right befoic her wa*> the tcnible»t object I ever saw — a black, tall woman, with long daik hair, and a white face, and eyes like balls o' iire ; she had one o' the little babies in her hand, and it a squhming and a screamin<_r all tho time. My thst thought, 1 continued tho ' \\ as to get back the poor litllo baby, and I made am-h at the creature, but .shcwcntlikothewind, holding upthechild in one hand, and laughing all the time. I follow cd ab tar-t as e\ er my feet could carry me, but 1 couldn't overtake her. She was ri<rht ahead ol me— now here, now there, in at one dooi , and out at another, like a Jack-o'-lantciii ; and in the great hall at the entrance o' the western winfc, she disappeaied all of a sudden, as if the Hoot opened and swallowed hoi ; but for a minute after ] could hear the cries of the poor baby : I can hear 'cm yet; it mmmdv to me I shall i'cai 'em as long as I li\c.' A solemn silence followed. The little circlo scarcely .-ecmed to bieathe. I'ie{■"eutly Mothei (ioodwin spoke, in a hushed and awful tone . ' And it's (In boy, she said — ' the hltlo hoi/ baby. Did y">u e\ei hear the old saying, a& the lieml hisself comes, once in a while, and snatches oil the last one of a great race '! I've hearn o' sich things. Maybe the Strathspey race has run long enough, and this was the fiend's messenger to snatch off the last heir !' ' Oh, hush !' ejaculated Judith. 'It wa.s no tiend, though the Loid knows cho creature had no human look about it. I can only account for it in one way. My poor lady has enemies, and last night's work is their doings ; and it wa« then doings that laid her out like a corpse the other morning when we were out walking. I know, and 1 think l'\e some notion a.s to who's at the bottom of the whole proceeding. J was my larly\ maid when she lived at Aukland Oaks, before she married the earl, and I've heaid a thing o\ two that I won't mention.' ' Why not, J udith V Do tell us what jou know.' Judith laughed scornfully a:- she aiose to return to her po.st. '/prate on my lad)'.- prhate allah.-"' quoth she. 'I'm ashamed to think you ye such a poor opinion of me, and now 1 bid jou good-moimng.' ■A stucii-uj), conceited minx. I'll waruint she don't know a syllabic,' remarked Mothei (ioodwin. Meanwhile the Kail ol Strathspey, leaving the doctor in solemn conclave, mounted hislleetesfchoiacand rode outundcr the Minlet blanches of the giant oaks that lined the avenues of the spaciou.s park. His face was ghastly to look upon, but hi-* nerves were like steel, and he held his lems with as turn a hand as when, eighteen months belore, ho canteied up to the «iiim old castle, on his happy wedding da). .Now his bride lay dying, and hia .-on and heir was gone ' He glanced backward at the stately window of the crim-on chamber with a deep shudder. The suspen.se, the mystery, and the agony were almost moie than he could beai. U hat had he ever done that such an awful calamity should befall him ? What enemy had he, so bittei, -o revengeful, so crafty as to perpetrate an act so hoiribly cruel ? Such thought- as these lacked his throbbing brain as. ho rede down to the nearest town to superintend tho arrangement 4*4 * tor the search ior his stolen child. It must be tound, dead or alive, and hia heartiest- and vindictive foe be brought to justice. Arriving at the town, he tound that _ hit, agents had anticipated him in everything. They had put up immense posters, announcing the abduction of the child, and olluring a princely reward for its reco\ cry. They had telegraphed tocvoiy village and waystation, and to Scotland Yard, and Howstreet, putting the affair into the hands of the best detectives in the kingdom. Nothing remained for the earl to do but to canter back to the Towers across tho sunlit downs, and to wait- wait for his wife's death, and possibly for the recovery of his lost child ; but he feared that no earthly power could save either one or the other to him now. Ridinghomoward, and pondcringsolemnly upon the dreadful mystery, a sudden rememberance thrilled him. Ho called to mind the incident of the night before, which in his anxiety and excitement he had utterly forgotten ; the sudden appearance ot the shadowy figure which thrust the package in his hand, with the words : ' Lord Strathspey, your hoir is born, and here is his horoscope !' The earl remembered now that he had crowded it into his pocket, half unconscious at the moment of what he was doing, and the coat which contained it was hanging in his dressing-room at the Towers. He urged his horse forward at a rapid pace, filled with an eager deshe to examine the mysterious package, which, for aught he knew, might throw some light on the fate of his little heir.