CHAPTER VII. ' CASTLE RUIN.'

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 307, 13 October 1888, Page 6

CHAPTER VII. ' CASTLE RUIN. '

"With the air of a 'gold stick in waiting,' afc the very least, Shamus O'Lafierty ushered his master's guests, the Lady Nora Kildare and her attendant, good Mrs Kelly, into the great central hall of Castile Ruin. This hall traversed the building through its width, and was some thirty feet wide by a hundred and fifty feet in lengbh. At one end weie the great entrance doors, on either sido of which were great arched and mullioned windows. At the opposite end of the hall were other two immense aiched windows, corresponding in size and position to the first, and between these last a glazed door opened into a quaint, sunns and old-fashioned garden, where flowery bloomed. Doors opened off either side of the hall into the state apartments or the family rooms. Between these doors pictures were panelled. At equal distances from each other, at one side of the hall, were three great old-fashioned fireplace?, whose yawning mouths were just now filled with little forests of spicy pine boughs. Above the panelled pictures weie hung ti opines of the chase— tall, branching antlers, a stuffed deer's head with life-like eyes, and stuffed birds of every description. Over the wide and quaint old mantelpieces were skilfully artanged, in patterns of wheels and stars, fowling-pieces, rifles, pistols, knhes and swords, many of the latter heirlooms of the family, and with strange histories of daring deeds attached to them. The furniture was in keeping with the room. The oaken floor, uncovered by a carpet, was polished until it shone like a mirror. Here and there a gay but worn rug was deposited before some high-backed carved settle or big arm chair. The only luxurious aiticle of furniture to be seen was a low, luxuriously shaped sofa or couch, artistically draped with a magnificent tiger skin. This stood conveniently near the front door, and the young Lady Nora bat down upon it. Mrs Kelly seated herself at a little distance in a tall, straight-backed chair, and looked cuiiously around her. ' Sure, you're not goings to sit down in the like of this, Lady Nora ?' demanded O'Lafferty. ' Let me take you to the yelly drawing-room, where the sofap and chairs are cu°hioned with gold-coloured satin, and the carpet looks like gold velvet, as it is, to be sure ! My lord won't like it if you don't have the best, Lady Nora. Or, if you won't go into the yelly drawing-room, here's the crimson parlour — ' ' I would rather remain here, Mr O'Lafferty,' returned the Lady Nora, concealing her smile at the steward's look of involuntary anxiety under all hospitable entreaties. 'Be kind enough to go to Lord O'Neil.' 'At wonst, my lady !' exclaimed O'Lafferty, with a breath of relief and a graceful flourish of his hands. 'The O'Neil may be in the flower-garden, or may be it's in the park he is. He can't have followed the hounds this morning, although the hunters are in splendid condition. I will find him at wonst, and tell him of the great honour the bonny Lady of Kildare has done us this morning.' He bowed and skipped away down the hall like a dancing-master, disappearing through the glazed door into uhe flowergarden. ' Hounds ! humph !' muttered Mrs Kelly, who was not to be imposed upon even by Shamus O'Lafferty. ' Does he call those mastiffs and bull dogs hounds ? The like of them being hounds ! Why, thei-e hasn't been a hound at Castle Hum these twenty years, since him as was called the Mad O'Neil broke his neck leaping the ditch, betune this and the bogs below. Hunters, ha ! Sorry a hunter is there here except ' the sorrel mare that O'Lafferty took for a debt, and which The O'Noil rides, and the shambling pony that's dying with age, and the work horses which they use for carriage horses when a carriage is needed, which is seldom enough, true for it. And as for the yellow drawing-room-She glanced at her young mistress, but the Lady Nora was paying no heed to her muttered criticisms. She was too busy with her own thoughts. A sudden timidity had seized her, and she was beginning to regret her present visit. I Mrs Kelly, seeing that her movements were thus likely to be unmarked by her young lady, arose, crossed the slippery floor, and peeped into the various rooms opening off the hall. These rooms were ' all grand in shape, but most of them were dismantled and bare. The crimson room was octagon-shaped, and onjits gi ey, damp walls hung a rag of crimson tapestry, the last vestige of its former splendour. j But of all the spectral chambers, the yellow drawing-room was the rno3t forlorn, because, perhaps, ib contained .the most relics of former grandeui'. A Ijfireadbare carpet, worn to rags, still remained t on the floor. The chairs and sofas wore tne roost decrepit specimens to be found of their kind, ,and the yellow satin that had once covered them had long since disappeared. The rickety tablos stood on three legs, or were propped up on two. A few faded strings at the window were all that remained of the amber satin curtains of an earlier date. The only articles of value in this rag fair were the few choice pictures that still hung in their faded, soiled frames on the damp walls. « Well, the face of that O'Lafferty !' cried Mrs Kelly, in amazement. ' This is his

yellow drawing-room, is it? Why, the very horses at Kildare Castled turn up their noses at the like of this for their drawingroom.' ' With more of sorrow than of anper ' at the duplicity of the wretched O'Lafferty, Mrs Kelly returned to her seat. And not |an instant too soon. She had scarcely ensconced her dumpling figure in her chair, when the glazed door at the further end of the long apartment opened, and Lord O'Neil came up Ihe hall toward the Lady Nora with a quick and ringing tread. Behind him closely followed his stewai'd and major domo, the consequential but beaming O'Lafferty. The Lady Nora arose at her lover's approach, her piquant young face all aglow, and her sunny brown eyes all alight. She held out her little gauntleted hand to him, and he seized it in a warm and hearty clasp. ' Good morning, my lord,' she said. ' I am out for a morning ride, and took Castle Ruin in my way.' 'It seems like old times to see you here again, Lady Nora,' replied The O'Neil, in a rich, deep voice. ' You used to come here often enough with yoiu- father. Let me thank you,' he added, with a touch of courtliness, 'for this unexpected honour.' The Lady Nora blushed, and withdrew her hand from his clasp. He was a grand young fellow, this last of the O'Neils. He was tall and straight as a young pine, with a well-knit, agile figure which gave promise of statelinesß in the coming years, and with broad shoulders and a full chest, which gave effect to his unconscious air of command. The fnce of Lord O'Neil, The O'Neil, or Wild Larry, as he was variously termed, was in keeping with his person. His features were noble and clearly cut, and were indicative both of mental and moral strenarth and refinement. He had a grand forehead, above which waved carelessly his tawny hair ; and his firm yet pleasant mouth, now curved in a smile of rare tenderness, was shaded by a soft curling moustache, which seemed tinted with the sunlight. His blue eyes, as keen as the eyes of a hawk, yet tender now as the eyes of a Avoman, revealed a noble, pure and spotless soul. The garb of The O'Neil was scarcely in keeping with his title or person. He wore a shabby old shooting jacket, which had been repeatedly patched and mended, and which was only redeemed from utter seediness by the spotless and dainty whiteness of his linen. Nevertheless he wore it as if . it had been velvet. ' You find me at my work, Lady Nora,' he paid, smiling. 'Our chapel is greatly out of repair, and I am superintending the mending of the roof and windows. To tell the truth,' he added, 'I was helping to slate the roof when Shamus came for me.' {To be Continued.)