CHAPTER XXV.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 323, 8 December 1888, Page 6

CHAPTER XXV.

* GUI1/T CONFRONTED. As we have said, the dog - cart which the young Lady Nora had seen, and had so nearly encountered, in her flight with Fogarty from Clondalkin, was occupied by her lover and her maid, the faithful Alleen j\]abon. ' After her secret visit of inspection to Yew Cottage, on the night of JMichael Kildave's latest visit to his imprisoned ward, Alleen had walked back to Dublin, and had. at the earliest possible moment, made her way to a telegraph office, from which she had dispatched a message of the mosb urgent description to Lord O'Neil, bidding him hasten to the rescue of her young mistress. It had so happened that the major - domo of Castle Ruin — the consequential O'Lafferty — was in the little town when the message arrived, and it had been transferred to him by the, usual messenger, who was only too glad to be relieved of the hard ride to Glen O'Neil. O'Lafferty had returned home at his horse's best speed, and delivered the telegram to his young master, and the latter had set out for Dunloy with scarcely an instant's delay, happily arriving in time to catch a slow train to Belfast. From Belfast he had come on to Dublin by the mail train, and had arrived at the Dublin station at a late hour of the 6ame evening — the evening of the Lady Nora's pretended rescue by Fogarty. -On alighting at the station he looked around him sharply and anxiously, in the hope that Alleen would be there to meet him. This hope was realised, for even while he looked, with increasing anxiety, a shrinking, 'dark-robed figure, which had been standing among tho distant shadows, a little apart from the crowd, came timidly forward, accosting him shyly. Ib was Alleen Mahon, but so worn and wan and anxious that Lord O'Neil scarcely recognised her until she spoke. t* Alleen !' he cried, in a tone of relief, yet .full of apprehension. ' I was looking for you. You expected me on this train ?' 'Yes, my lord. I was sure you would be here to-night. I have been waiting here a full hour.' ' And the Lady Nora, Alleen ?' exclaimed The", O'Neil, looking at the girl with anxious, burning gaze. 'I could make nothing of your telegram, except that your young mistresB is in trouble.' ' Hiish, my lord !' whispered Alleen, looking about her keenly. ' I have a dog - cart in waiting outside. Let us hasten to it, and as we go along I will tell you the whole story.' " ■ 'Why not take a cab ':' - ' Because we want no driver to hear us and ; hinder us,' returned Alleen. • We must be alone when I tell you what I have bo, say. ' Come, my lord.' < • j.Lord^'NenV silent and amazed, .followed his,guide*fr,6in:the station into the street. .Here.ardogrcart, in charge of an old roau, was found' to be-in waiting. His , lordship discoverod that Alleen had made all due arrangements .for the use.of horse and f vehicle. and aS.fche driver descended to the ground, " Lord O'Neil assisted Alleen to as'erib,* and : followed' her,' driving down the street. •v $ -, Which/way , 'shall . I ,go, ( Alleen ?' he asked _*J Towavd-Mountjpy Square? . t ' \ ;' you: must drive ' JoJOlohdalk" in. :'• Do .you .knbw^the, road ?' ,

' I know ib well,' answered his lordship ' Bub why. are i Sve going to Clondalkin' What-is all' this mystery, Alleen ? Why d'6 we nob go directly to bh'o Lady Nora V s , - ' ' My lord,' 'said Alleen 'I 1 wrote, you a letter over a week since—' * I have received no letter from you, Alleen, nor from the Lady Nora.' ' You do nob know, then, that my poor youi)g*lady,has' disappeared ?\- ._" " , ' Disappeared ! : echoed Lord O'Neil, in a tone of horror — ■ disappeared !' 'Yes,, my lord I wrote you about it, but the letter must have been intercepted. I see it nil now, 5 said Alleen, her thoughts recurring Lo the treacherous housemaid at Mr Kildare's. ' My lady has been gone nearly three weeks 1' The surprise and consternation of Lord O'Neil at this announcement are beyond description. But nob yet could ho realise or fully comprehend the enormity of the girl's communication, 'Has the Lady Nora left Dublin?' ho asked. 1 Ye?, my lord. I'll toll ib as ib happened. One afternoon, nearly throe weeks ago, my lady wont cub for a walk around the square. She took a letter with her to post— a letter to you, my lord. The day was dull and gruesome, bub my lady was bright and cheerful as she always was. She went down the stairs singing, and I ran io an upper window bo look after her, as sho went down the street, so slender and glaceful and beautiful that everybody turned tc look ab her. And that's the last I evor saw of her, my lord !' Lord O'Neil nearly dropped the reins, in his astonishment and horror. ' She never returned to her guardian's, then ? : he demanded, his face gi owing white. ' Ye.', my lord ; shecamc back just at dusk, but the huu&eniaid didn't como up to her loom, ami must have diopped into the library, where she spent a pood many hours while, '.Mr Ki'dare was at his office. No one t>aw her go into the library, and no one saw her copie out. Rut the housemaid sajs that M$ Kiidare and Lord Kildave— the new carl, you know — came in and went up to the library soon after the drawing-room gas was lit. And the housemaid eays that, a while after, the lib'rary bell rang bharp fenMrs Liffey, the hotel-keeper, and Mrs Lifley went up. And it must have been an hour after that that Mrs Liffey came to me and said that Lady Nora would sib up late, and that 1 was to go to bed, which I did, supposing my lady had oidered it. A little before midnight I was awakened by hearing a light step in my lady's room, 1 supposing ib was my lady, especially as my door was" closed softly, as if to prevent my awakening. Id was like my lady's thoughtful kindness. The steps died out aft*r a litble, bub aboub midnight I heard a cab go away from bhe house. 1 supposed bhab Lord Kiidare was taking his departure, and so turned over and went lo sleep. ' Oh, if I had only guessed the tiuth — that my lady was in the cab. In the morning, when I got up as usual and went out into the Lady Nora's room, I found it unoccupied. Her bed had not been slept in. Her clothing was littered about in confusion, and one of her trunks was gone from the closet. 1 ran downfalls bewildered and half frantic. J\Jit> Liffey oame out of her room, cold and domineering, as usual, and asked bhe cause of my excitement. And then she said that my lady had been summoned at a late hour by a telegram to her step-sister at Ballyconnor, and that she had set oub immediately and alone !' Lord O'Neil had listened to this narration, with breathless excitement. Now he drew a long breath, as he exclaimed : ' And you have been exciting yourself in this way, my good Alleen, when you know your mistress to be at Ballyconnor ?' Alleen shook her head. < ' She is nob there,' she said. ' I believed Mrs Liffey's tale at first, until I made the discovery that there was no train to Wicklow at the hour mentioned. Then I took the alarm and wrote to the Lady Kathleen, and she answered me that my lady had nob beento Ballyconnor.' ' Not been there ':' ' No, my lord. Then I \\ rote to you, and that very day Mrs Litfey discharged m,e. 1 would not go back to '/Point Kildarej but went to a little inn, whei'e I have Stayed since. While I wa& at Mr Kildare's house I overheard Mr Kiidare and Mrs Liffey ?ay something about ' reduciug the Lady Nora to submission.' And che housemaid paid one day that Mrs Liffey had a sister living at Yew Cottage, Clondalkin. And I pub two and two together, ancVmade up my mind that my poor young mistress is a prisoner at Clondalkin.' ' But such a conclusion is far-fetched and unreasonable, Alleen." Mr Kildaie lo\e& his ward, and could have no object in im prisoning her.' ' Mr Kiidare may love his waul, but he is not the milk-and-honey sort of man people believe him,' asserted Alleen. ' J have used my eyes lately, and I havo discovered him to be cruel and pitile&s, aud bhat he has a will of iron. He has seb his heart on my lady's marrying the new Earl of Kiidare, and he may have slvub her up to compel her to yield to his wishes. Last night I went out to Yew Cottage to find out what I could, and while I was lurking in the garden Mr Kiidare came and wa* admitted into the house. He stayed there a long time, and finally went away as mysteriously ab he came. Why should he visit Yew Cottage but to see my Lady Nora f The girl's astounding communication, and her air of perfect conviction in announcing her conclusions, inspired Lord O'Neil with a similar belief. And yet it was hard to believe that the slender little Dublin lawyer, with his gentle ways, his soft, weak voice, his mild eyes, and his great, benevolent forehead, could have developed into the cruel tyrant Alleen believed him. They drove on swiftly. At the junction of the roads near Clondalkin, Lord O'Neil looked after the light waggon in which his betrothed was being borne from him and safety, but no suspicion that ib was the Lady Nora he looked upon came to him. I He hurried into Clondalkin, and drove directly to Yew Cottage. He alighted at the gates and secured bhe horse, while Alleen sprang to the ground unassisted. • • The two then hurried up the walk, under the shade of the tall, melancholy yews, and Lord O'Neil knocked loudly and impatiently at the front door. Presently, as on the occasion of Michael Kildare's visit, Mrs Fogarby pub up her window, and protruded her night-capped head. 'Isibyou, Mr Kiidare?' she asked, in a shrill whisper. • The neighbours '11 hear i you. I'll be down in an insbanb.' She drew in her head without having detected the presence of Alleen on the steps, or that her' visitor was nob the Dublin lawyer. A little latter, the couple outside, heard her coming heavily down the stairs. j Then followed a groping at the door, which ab last swung slowly on- its hinges, and Mrs Fogarby appeared on the threshold, habited in a sltirc and short-gown. - 'Anything the matter, Mr", Kildare ( ?' she whispered. '' The girl— • ' ' - ' Lord O s Neir quietly put her aside, and stepped into^the hall, into the full glare of j the, one tallow candle which had been de posited on tK£ hall shelf. ' , . ' /J

Alleen glided after him like a shadow. . - , Mrs Fogarby sprang., baok with a cry of horror.' , ' ' ■ 1 Nob Mr Kiidave V- she cried. ' Oh,- help ! Murder!" Thieves I 1 \ Allen closed the outer door. Mrs F ( ogarty glared around her like a mad woman. I Hush 1' said Lord, O'Neil, in a stern commanding • voice. • ' 1 am not here • tp harm you, woman !' Mrs Fogarty hushed her cries, shrinking back againbb the wall. Somehow the handsome young lord, with his stern bluo eyes,, inspired- her with a deadly terror. - 'What do you want?' she stammered, he/ teeth chattering. ' Why do you come to my house at this hour, and mo a poor lone widely woman V 'I am come to see the Lady Nora Kildaro !' replied Lord O'Ncil, fixing his stern gaze upon her. ' I demand to see her instantly !' Mrs Fogarby uttered an involuntary cry. Hue looked at once terrified and defiant. ' There its no such person here !' she exclaimed. ' I know nothing about your Lady Noras ! Lsave my house, or T will call for help !' I 1 have renson to believe that the Lady Nora is here, and I intend to resolvo my doubts before 1 leave the house !' eaid tho young lord, firmly. ' Your own words have confirmed my belief. I shall go up stairs and look ior myself.' lie moved, toward the staircase. "With a bound like a tigress, Mrs Fogarty dashed past him and ilew up the stairs. ' Tim*! Tim !' she panted. ' Wake up, Tim ! Firo ! Murder ! Thieves !' Lord O'Neil Look up the candle ami sped swiftly up the stairs, arriving at the landing at tho moment that Mrs Fogarby burst into her son's room and found it empty. ' Hc'b gone !' cried the woman, rushing out again. '(Io back! Go back, I say! Where's the police '! I'll call the neighbouis !' At ibis junctuie her i^antic gaze rested upon the key that had been left by Fogarty in the lock of Nora's room. With a .swift movement sho flung open the door of the dark room, and found it, like her son's loom, empty. Hor cry ot rage ran through the house. ' It's Tim's work !' she exclaimed. ' He's cheated me ! He's robbed me ! He's rescued the girl — the unnatural son ! He's robbed me of a fortuno !' W hile she was thus uttering her wild lamentations, Lord O'Neil and Alleen passed into the dark room with the light. A single glanco buth'ced to assure them both that it had been lately tenanted by the missing heiress. There was a scarlet ribbon on the floor which Nora had worn in her hair. Alleen knew it at once The Lady Nora's trunk stood in the corner, open, and with a litter of clothing in its dislodged trays. A shawl of hers lay on the little low bed. Lord O'Neil folt a swelling in his throat a^ he surveyed the little bare cell, .^o destitute of comfort, so like a prison. ' And it was here you shut her up, woman ?' he cried sternly. ' Where is &ho now '"' ' I don't know,' lamented JMrfe Fogarty. ' Where would &he be like to go ? Oh, I am ruined! I'm mined! Mr Kildaie will kill me !' Loid O'Neil asked himself that question — Where would Nora be likely to go ? ' To England, of course,' he said to himself — ' to her other guardian, Sir Russell Ryan.' And with this thought cauie the remembrance of the light waggon he had seen as he approached Clondalkin. Like a flash of light came the conviction that the couple in tfie waggon weie Nora and Fogarty. ' Come, Alleen !' he said hastily. { We must be oif at once. We may overtake them yet. ' Unheeding the laments of Mrs Fogarty, he hurried down the stairs, out of doors, aud to his waiting vehicle, closely followed by Alleen, who climbed into the dog-carb while he untied the horse. Then the young lord sprang in after her, and drove swiftly down the street, communicating to the anxious girl his newly-formed suspicions as he went. ' She probably went to Kingston to wait for the packet,' he said. *"We shall find her at a Kingstown hotel.' ' I think not,' said Alleen. ' My lady is under age, and she knows her guardian could capture her wherever he could find her, and take her home with him. She would fear that Mrs Fogarty would discover hor escape, and &end a messenger to Mr Kildare. No, my lord, the Lady Nora would not dare wait for the packet.' ' You are right, Alleen. She would embark to-night, and Fogarty would go with her. Nora would not risk the delay. >She would sail from Kingstown or Black Rock. Wo will make for King&town.' He drove direct to Kingstown, arriving there after midnight. Of course, all inquiries here were futile. Loid O'Neil came speedily to the conclusion that tho Lady Nora had not been to King&town, and h6 took his course to Black K,ock, keeping his jaded horse ab a good rate of speed. Ab Black Rock he got track of the fugitive. Securing his horse as Fogarty ha;l done, he wont with Alloen upon the wharf. A party of two or three men wore in the act of putting oif in a small boat to a fishing village out in the bay, and in response to Lord O'Neil's interrogatories, one of the men said : ' There was a couple went off in Flahive's sloop a couple of hours ago ; one of them a rough-looking chap, and the other a real lady. Flahive'll tell you about them, sir.' Securing Flahive's address, Lord O'Neil, accompanied by Alleen, went in searoh of him. Bub Flahive, on being discovered and awakened, dashed all of Lord O'Neil's hopes by informing him that the couple who had engaged his boat were a pair of lovers on their way to Scotland— a sailor and his betrothed wife. The young lord turned away with a sick heart. ' We can do nothing more to-night, Alleen,' he said. ' I will take you to hotel, and stable tho horse. I will then wander about the wharves till daybreak. Something ltfay have occurred to retard the movements of this Tim Fogarty, and he mav arrive at any moment.' Theae ideas were acted upon. , Alleen was taken to ari hotel, and lodgings procured for'her. The horse was stabledj .and Lord O'Neil paced the wharves till daybreak. By .that time_ he -was convincqd»,tl}ab the , fugitives voiu Id not appear at Black .Rock, and procur ng a saddle he rode over to Kingstown. Here he made the clo&esb, investigations, bub to no purpose. . ,He visited the hotels, but there was no arrival lhat,mighb corr.es., pond with the one besought., Fatally he proceeded to, the proper ofliceand telegraphed s to Sir- Russel Kyan,< in forming- him that the Lady, _Noi;a had* gone ( , to Engla,nd,> and, desiring ,to<, be, .informed immediately, Ufjpn herl arrival... . ' Then he returned to the pier. .The day wore ;on. The 1 packets' sailed, but $lichaet Kildare, although hetnvust have long since heard of his ward's escape, -did not appear at- Kingstown. Lord 'O'Neil was puzzled thatthe lawyer "took" no steps, I to "recover 1 or. intercept the flight' of v his ward. ( - ■ , * _ < i

The young* lord made monlal calculations! of'jbhe time that /the Lady Nora's ypyage,| would probably take, and anxibusly ! awaited the announcement of her presence in England, But' at night came only an anxious message from Sir Russel Ryan to the offect that 'his lordship mustx/haveibeen misinformed,; as fcJir Russel had hot seen hisward, or cyen heard from her. jj' ! , k r " ' By this time the anxiety' of LoubO l N6il bad become insuppor table. ! - ' ' " He had sont back to Dublin the dog-cart, | which AJtaen "had, engaged on the previous evening, ' and Alleen was still at the hotel aft Black Rock. Mounting his saddle horse then, liia lordship &et out from Kingstown for a wild canter across the country to Yew Cottage. He Mas determined to see Mrs Fogarty again, and to question her more closely concerniug her son. It was nearly nine o'clock, and already dusk, when Lord O'Neil rode into the garden at Yew Cottage, and secured his horso to a tree. There was a light burning in tho house. He went to tho door and knocked loudly. Mrs Fogarty, with eyes red and swollen with weeping, and an air of great general distress, answered his feummons. She had despatched a message to Mr Kildare early that morning announcing his ward's o&eapo, and had been awaiting tho lawyer's arrival over since in terror and foreboding. 1 Oh, it's you !' she exclaimed, recoiliucr at tho sight ot her visitor of the pievious night. ' What do you want now V ' Only a little information,' returned the young lord, displaying a gold piece, at the fright ot which &he brightened a little. 4 What kind of a man is this son ol yours, Tim Fogarty ? Is ho capable of a generous act ":' Mrs Fogarly &miled faintly through her grief. ' When ho's paid for it he is, 1 dare &ay,' sho replied. ' He likes money pretty well, does Tim '.' Lord O'Neil looked grave. What had the young Lady Nora to give in return lor 6\)gurty\s services ? She had lost her property. Sir llussel could not attend to reward her rescuer. ' How was your .sou dies&ed when he left i your house V he asked. i ' I can't &ay. But all day yesterday ho wore a sailor t> suit. As it ain t in his room, it's likely he wore it away with him.' Light "began to break upon Lord O'Neil's mind. Tie recalled the fact that Flahive had let his boat to 'a saiior and a lady.' Might nob this ' sailor ' piove to bo Fogarty, and his companion the Lady Nora ? The stoi y of their being lovers might have been dovi&ed by Fog-arty to throw pursuers off tho scent. The coincidence between the flight of the pair of supposed lover.s irom Black Rock on the preceding night, the man in the guise of a sailor, and bhe flight of the Lady Nora with a pretended sailor, was certainly striking. ' 1 do not ask you to betray your emj ployer, for, of course, you would not do that, nor criminate yourself,' said Loid O'Neil, giving to the gold piece ho had I displayed a companion. 'But I do not believe that your eon has> taken the Lady | Nora to England. I can easily inquire out his character Irom any resident of Clondalkin, so yon may as well bo fi an k with me, ! especially as I wifl reward your frankness What i=i your business V * Ke has none' ' Ah ! No bu&ine-s ? Has he lived at Clondalkiu all his life ?' ! ' No, .sir,' returned the woman, somewhat sullenly, yet with her eyes fixed intently on the gold pieces in Lord O'Neil's hand. ' He's been misfortunafce, has Tom. He's been to Australy— ' Her manner told more than her wordfc. I The young lord comprehended her mean- | ing. She had told him what ho could have learned in the village, that her son had been a convict. The Lady Nora alor.o on the sea with a i convict ! The idea was torture to Loid O'Neil. He trembled for her safety. 'One word more,' he said, in a voice sharpened by his sudden anguish and terror. ' Only one word : Where can I tind your son ? t will promise you not to haim him, but I must find him. Whore would he be likely to go if he wished to hide himself ?' The old woman rctlected. The commanding air of the young nobloman awed her. His money tempted her. And yet she would not ha\c betrayed hor son to this stern-browed lord for more money than O'Neil had at his command. She resolved to tell him a plausible lie, take his money, and rid herself of his presence. 1 Well, I don't know,' she said, with pretended hesitation. ' We've got relations up in County Down, and it's a wild set they are, if 1 must say it. I'm used to swear by thorn in tho old times, and yesterday says he, ' Are the old cousins alive yctV And it maybe it's there you'd find him if he wanted to hide, but that he's not wanted, I'm sure.' ' Where do these cousins live ?' askeci Lord O'Neil. ' On the coast, sure,' said Mrs Fogarty, glibly, ' a few miles abovo Dunmove Head, betwixt that and Dundrutn Bay. It's under the Mourne Mountains they live, as> one might say. Their name is Fogarty, being Tim's relations by the father's side, and the Fogarty '& wore a low set, peace to em ! Is that All ?' ' It is all,' said Lord O'Neil, handing her the gold pieces. As he did so a shrewd look gleamed in the old woman's eyes. She believed she had outwitted this pursuer of her son and sent him off on a false trail. She had made up her own mind that her son had taken the Lady Nora to England, and was to be rewarded with the young lady's puree and costly jewels, pome of which were on the person of the \ oung heiress. 'It's on a wild-goose chase lies going," hhc thought, putting the money in her pockec. * Won't them Tfogartys up in County Down open thoir eyes when this young chap comes asking for Tim -Tim, as they haven't seen for years ? He may go away with a flea in his car, I'm thinking.' But Lord O'Nfiil dotected nothing of her double-dealing. He did not suspect her of falsehood, believing that his promise not to harm' her son had had its effect upon her. He had been anxious to discover to what place Fogarty would be, likely to convey the Lady Nora in the event of his keeping her a prisoner, and the question had been answered' to his satisfaction. He turned to go. But, as he opened, the door, a quick, light tread ascended the steps, and Lord O'Neil found himself face ,to face with the Lady Nora's unfaithful guardian and kinsman—Michael Kildare. ' The recognition was mutual. 1 You here, my lord !' faltered the lawyer, turning pale. ' What does this mean ?' 1 Y"es, I am here, Michael Kildare !' declared our hero, sternly. ' And I'll tell you what it means ! Come in here !' , t He seized Eildare'.s arm, drawing him, into the hall, and,, closed the outer door abruptly. * * i '■» j