CHAPTER XL.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 289, 11 August 1888, Page 3

CHAPTER XL.

LADY CECILIA FAILS. Pook old Sir Varney had been dead and buried for two months buried down in the Drummond graveyard, at his own old country-house in Sussex. The summe r grasses were springing u» thick and gicen upon his grave, and a showy tombstone, bearing a flattering inscription, marked the spot, erected by the loving remembrance ot his wife. Lady Drummond had mourned her husband's sudden death with apparent sincerity, and now, after two months had gone by, although the sharp edge of her sorrow had worn off, her crapes and bombazines were voluminous ; and whenever she' drove out, her pale, beautiful face was shut away from all admiring eyes by her heavy widow's veil. An object of great interest was my Lady Cecilia, for she had come into possession of all her husband's estates, which were very valuable, and also, because of some old entail, it was decided that Aukland Oaks, and bhe Chateau in France, would fall to her, in the event of Lady Marguerite Strathspey's death. And Lady Marguerite Strathspey was dead beyond a doubt. So Lady Cecilia was the possessor of an ample fortune, and one of "the most fascinating women in England, In all probability, Lady. Cecilia wa^ thinking of this very thing as she sat one morning in her pretty dressing-room at The Firs, gazing through the open window toward the grey turrets of Strathspey Towers.

when you are gone. But,' she added, 'I must shut up the Firs,, and run away to London.' The earl drank i his wine, uttering some polite and complimentary words, then he took her hand and raised it to his lipd. ' Good-byo, Lady Drummond, and may Heaven reward, you for all your kindness.'' 'Good-bye, my lord ; butyou willsoon drive over again ? You shall have this as ray parting 1 gift,' detadjung the spray of hyacinths from her hair and putting it in his button-hole. ' And now I must run away and sec Lady Neville. Oh, dear, I wish you all could remain !' And away bhe flew, with her graceful, gliding btep, smiling radiantly, with the tear-drops on her checks. But once within her chamber, a terrible chango came over her smiling face. It grew almost livid, and her eyes glaied like those of an eniaged panther in her wild passion and disappointment. ' Oil !' she cried, in an awful, sibilant whisper, her hands clenched and her teeth set, ' 1 have failed ! 1 have stained my soul with moidci, 1 have humbled my woman's pride, and, after all, I have Jailed ' " She threw herself into a chair, and rocked backward and forward m her humiliation, a piteous sight to tee. Then she stai-tod tv again, her eyes at whito heat. ' Earl of Strathspey !' &he hissed, menacing some invisible object with her clenched Land, ' yon die for tint-! Nothing will wipe out this insult but youv heart's blood, and I'll have ib if I loso my own in the effort !'