CHAPTER LXXII THE END.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 303, 29 September 1888, Page 5

CHAPTER LXXII THE END.

Maggie Renfrew stood in the self-same garden where she had stood before in the flush of a spring sunset, her fingers crim- , soned with the juice of the ripe berries she was picking for her old father's tea. He was sitting in the sunlight with a happy smile upon his face, listening to his daughter's voice trilling a Highland melody. Down the green lane, bordering with white blooming hawthorn, came the young Lord of Strathspey Towers on his fleet black Arab. Seeing Maggie in the garden, he was out of the saddle and at her side in a breath. She gave him a shy, sweefc welcome, i her flaxen, cheeks blooming like the , petals of an openingjrose. , ' I haven't been returned an hour,' said the young man, his bright blue eyes full of loving delight. ' Oh, Maggie, I wanted to see-you,so — T seem to have been absent a life-time !' < , > , Maggie blushed, and, evading the subject she knew .was "coming, asked: \, ' ', And did you 'visit the Tyrol, arid find your foster-parent alive T ; , r : - /Alive and well, and. overjoyed to see ' Little Rommie ' again. * But you should have f seen ;theni, when their son , was 'jre-< stored to them—^ their boy they had mourned as,, dead. And, he ".wept, like a child. ._ I believe he'll leadja vir^tupjisjif enow.' ' And -Lady ■^Drummond, land. Berkit's son — I don't kpo^iyrKab to J2aU. Tim, phe ldbe Lqrdt Angus;—* wKefe' &ve~ they t 'continued -Maggie.;;'; l> ''^\~XS, h ','~ ; ;•>':' r '' r-Jr -J "-,1- ;'

'•Gone; never to setrfoob on < English' soil again, and ? thepundas, woman with them. I feel inexpressibly relieved ; we shall have no horrid trials, -no - punishments, or 4anytbirig of that; kind. I prevailed upon - the earl, my, father, ,to give the young man •omethingj and my mother added to it from her own private fortune. He goes to Australia worth a hundred thousand. I feel, after all, as if the poor boy was more sinned against than sinning, and it did me good to see him poing away in such fine, spirits.' 'Oh, Lord Strathspey,' cried Maggie, her eyes filling with tears, * how good and noble you are!' 'I am so happy, Maggie, I could not make my worst enemy suffer. Not' so happy, however,' he added, 'as not to need another bright drop in my cup of joy' Maggie, my beautiful darling/ imprisoning the little stained fingers, 'when will you consent to be my own ? You know how I love you, my darling, and I think you love me. '' ' I do love you, my lord. ' * Then why not be mine at once— when j Pearl is married ?' * Oh, my lord !' she cried, cam I indeed worthy to be your wife ? Will your friends receive me willingly ?' ' You, my Maggie !' he replied, with passionate ardour. ' Why, the king on his throne would be none too good for you ; and my mother, the countess, hasrepeatedly said that if she had her choice of all the women in the world, you should be my wife — you, and none other. So, little proud heart, it is settled, and you must get your bridal robes in readiness.' But the Countess of Mortlake took that trouble on her own hands. She sent her second order to Paris for bridal finery, this time for two complete trousseaus, one for a present to Maggie. On the night before the wedding morn a large party congregated in the grand draw-ing-rooms at Strathspey Towers. The earl and his countess seemed to have grown young again in their new-found joy. 'Do look at my dear mistress,' said Judith, standing with her husband on the terrace without, her own baby-boy in her arms, and looking through the glittering window ; { only look at her, Hendrick. I declare she looks almost as young as her daughter. How happy we are ! how bright it is after the long, dark night !' Within, in her royal velvet robes, with the great diamond flashing in her turban, and her jewelled stick rattling at her side, the old countess was at her gayest. She was having a rich joke. She had Captain Fossbrooke in the centre of the grand room, his black wig lying at his feet, and she was telling the earl and Lady Neville how shamefully they had been imposed upon. ' I thought it wouldn't do to let the marriage go on without divulging the secret,' she 'chuckled ; ' so now as you know the whole I'll introduce you, Lord Strathspey, to Sir Bayard Brompton, your future son- | in-law.' The earl arose and took Sir Bayard's hand. ' 'Tis quite bewildering,' he said ; 'but I am growing accustomed to surprises. lam glad to see you, Sir Bayard, and if my little Pearl likes you as well in your present oharacter as she liked Captain Fossbrooke, I am wholly satisfied.' Happy little Pearl was hiding her blushes on her mother's shoulder. ' And what does Lady Neville say ?' asked the wicked old countess. Her ladyship was pale with astonishment. ' Why, what can I say 1 ?' she cried. 'My dear Sir Bayard, I welcome you with all my heart, though I have to regret the loss of Captain Fossbrooke. Marguerite, love, come and kiss me. And Marguerite obqyed. A month later, in the lovely May weather, there was a double wedding at Strathspey Towers, a wedding that pleased the old countess to her heart's core. Lord Angus married Maggie Renfrew, and Lady Marguerite married Sir Bayard Brompton ; and two happier, loveliei brides never danced beneath the blue English skies. After the wedding there was a grand entertainment, to which hundreds and hundreds of the peasantry flocked, and a great supper and dance beneath the green, rustling oak-boughs. And who should open the ball but the Countess of Strathspey and Colonel Gilbert Verney ! [the end.]