CHAPTER XXV.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 283, 21 July 1888, Page 4

CHAPTER XXV.

TlfK MYSTERIOUS FOE A (.JAIN. Tuu Countess of Strathspey found herself hedged in with difficulties on every hand. The estates of Aukland Oaks and the French chateau were her own, but there was no available money, and it required ready cash in abundance to institute and carry on a lawsuit. Moreover, when she went to her lawyer, Sir Henry Galbraith, with a great many apologies, and in very polite phiase, he declined to take the ease in hand. He had never lost a case, and he did not care to lose one. Hers was simply hopeless. The Earl of Strathspey had accepted and acknowledged one child as his own, and there was not the least proof in the world to establish the claims} of this other one— nothing but that the fact he had a similar birth-mark. A dozen children in the kingdom might hiv\e the same thing i It was a weak case, and he was forced to decline either advice or action in regard to it. The countess went away bitterly disappointed, yet forced to acknowledge the truth of what the lawyer had said. She had no heart to make another effort. The winter Avent by slowly and drearily at Aukland Oakt>. Dark days and dismal nights to poor, heart- broken Judith and her lady. And spring brought them no hope. The young foliage began to sprout upon the oak boughs, and the Kentish hop fields to grow green in the genial sunlight, but tor these two there came no rift of light, no ray of hope. Lady Strathspey made no effort to see her own children, ller husband's decree should not be disobeyed. Much as she hungered, in her motherly tenderness, for little Pearl, even for poor, sallow-cheeked Angus, she made no effort to see them, and Lady Neville sent her no tidings in regai d to them. With the opening of the warm weather she and Judith journeyed down to Dover, and across the Channel, and into the green valley of the Tyrol. The shepherd's cottage was unchanged. The old man and his wife still lived, and little Romulus was growing to be a fine lad, stout and sturdy, and very handsome in his Saxon fairness ; and with every year the mark upon his fair, round arm grew deeper and ruddier. But the old woman had a strange story to tell. ' Only a week before,' she said, ' a strange woman had been theie, a handsome woman, dark and tall, but with a wicked look in her eyes. She wanted to see the child the Countess of Strathspey had sent her. Little "Romulus was called up and paraded before her, and she stared at him as if he w r ere a ghost, her face growing white, and her limbs shaking under her. Then she went away, but the next day she returned, and said the counters wished the boy to be brought to England, and feent her to pay the old people for their trouble and tike him away. But the old people refused to give him up, and held on to him in the face oi all this strange, dark woman could say and do.' Lady Strathspey grew white with terror as she heaid this story, and she drew the child to her bosom with a convulsive clasp. 'My dai'ling, jou are all 1 have,' she sobbed, 'and they would rob me of you.' 1 ' And you did not -=end the strange woman then, my lady V questioned the old man. ' Send her ? Oh, no, no !' cried the countess ; ' it is some vile conspiracy, some ciuel falsehood, to get him out of the way. But they shall not, they shall not have him ! JUy own boy, my darling, my darling r Romulus looked up with wondering eyes, only dimly comprehending the cause of the beautiful lady's tears, and listened gravely while the countess and the old couple discussed their plans for the future. Lady Strathspey desired to take the boy to England, and deeply as it grieved them to give him up. they thought it would be better. He might be stolen from them, and it was time, as his mother said, that his education was being cared for. Their arrangements were made accordingly, and after a few days' sojourn in the valley, the morrow was appointed for their departure. The afternoon was unspeakably lovely. A May afternoon amid the sunlit Alpine peaks. Lady Strathspey took her little boy by the hand and started out for a walk, leaving Judith to assist the old woman in I her evening labours. She strolled along the edge of the valley, the great mountain peaks towering above her, little Romulus gathering blossoms and skipping pebbles, andWolf,thegrimsheep-dog,totteringalong behind. The boy ran on shouting, and laughing, and shaking the blonde ringlets over his bright blue eyes ; such a handsome, manly little fellow, ho like his father, the husband who had wronged and insulted her cruelly. The countess watched him, her heart swelling and her eyes overflowing with tears. Presently they came to a lovely little nook at the very foot of a great cliff, a mossy bed all overgrown with wild blossoms and red berries. Lady Strathspey sat down on an arched rock, while Romulus gathered the berries and blossoms and twined them into a garland for Wolf's neck. The afternoon sunshine streamed around them in rifts of gold, and the murmur of the river and the notes of the ring-dove filled their ears with music. In a little while a flock of goats came bleating by on their way to the cottage fold. Wolf pricked up his ears and stared after them, and little Romulus followed, shouting and laughing afc the frolicsome gambols of the kids. Smiling sadly, the countess arose to follow, when all at once, as if the yawning mountains had sent a torth, a black figure arose before her, i tall, shadowy figure, with a wild unearbhlyfc face. * Countess of Strathspey,' ifc cried, with that same mocking laugh, in that same

terrible voice she so well remembered, ' have not my words come true ? You are robbed of your wealth and titles, scorned by your husband, and derided by the world. My hour has come.' Lady Strathspey reeled back agairust the rocks, half-fainting in her terrible fright. ; but a shrill cry, a child's cry, aroused her. She &tartcd forward just in time to see the black-robed figure disappear round the cliff, bearing little Romulus in its arms. The boy was struggling to get free and his cap had fallen off, leaving his fair head bare. The poor mother nover forgot that sight. With one wild shriek of agony she darted after them, but when she turned round the base of the clift tney were nowhere to be seen. Wolf, the sheep-dog, leaving his care of the goats, started off in pursuit, keeping his nose to the ground and baying deeply. But the scent seemed to baffle him. In the green valley beyond the cliff there was nothing to be seen but the browsing goats and the peaceful May sunshine ; and the poor animal, conscious it seemed that his little playmate was gone, ran back to the spot where his cop lay, and crouching down beside it, howled mournfully. Lady Strathspey made her way back to the cottage and told her terrible story. The old man started out and summoned His neighbours to help him. All night long, from the rising to the setting of the stars, they hunted, scouring the valleys, climbing the bold cliffs, peering into the locky caverns, but little Romulus could not be found. (To be continued. )