CHAPTER II.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 348, 6 March 1889, Page 3

CHAPTER 11.

A COUNTRY SCANDAL. Ai'T-ER a shorb silence, during which the bluebottle buzzed more pertinaciously than ever, Mrs Shepperfcon said, ' By-the-by, have any of you been down to the village since luncheon to fetch the letters ? 1 am expecting Eome patterns from town.'

•Yes, mamma, I wont,' responded Marian, ' and there was nothing for JVlilnaeot Lodge, not even the excitement of a bill or a circular, but I heard a piece of news thab may probably interest you moie than it did me. 1 * News, child !' echoed Mrs Shopperton, suddenly looking as if sho had never felt a sleepy inclination in hor life. ' What news ? Make hasto and tell itab once.' 1 Why, Mr Denver, our absentee landlord, is coming back almost immediately. The housekeeper at Brabazon Hall told Bridle' (Bridle was the family coachman and confidential outdoor mau-of-busincss of the Shoppertons), ' and Bridle told Dulcie, and Dulcie told me, .so that there is nob the least doubt the report is tiue.' ' Well I declaie ! ejaculated Mrs Shepperton, drawing a long breath of astonisnment. 1 Wonders will never ceaso ! Just lancy Mr Denver leturning after all the^e years ! So he's actually coming back, is he, Marian ?' ' Yes, mamma — at least, according to Bridle — and ib appeals he had the news straight from Mrs Hopkins, the housekeeper. All the village people aie full of it, and can balk of nothing else.' ' And well they may be,' answored Mrs Sheppcrlon. ' Aha ! Denver of Braba^on Flail ! she murmured, with a smile of maternal satisfaction invading tho dimploij in her cheeks and chin. 'It sounds firstrate. Why, girls !' giving vent to an animated chuckle, ' who knows but what thero's "a good chance coining for some of you at last ?' ' There's no occasion for you to say "at last,'' replied Ethel, fiacbiou&iy, ' just as if we were regular old maids, and had been waiting and waiting to get married for at least a do/en yeais. Thank go dness !' with a supercilious smile, ' wo are none of us quite so old or ugly as all tha*". Besides, I suspect this said Mr Denver, who elects to spend his days abroad, and altogether appears a very mythical personage, is some hideously ancient fright who lejoices in a glassejeora coik leg, and is old enough to be our great-grandfather.' { Nothing of the kind, child. When last I saw Mr Denver he \va« a very good-look-ing young man indeed — in fact, taking his antecedents into consideration, quite unusually ssando — and as for his age, he can't be a day more than seven-and-thirty, or at the very most eighb-and thirty.' f I call that decidedly old,' put in Marian, with all the youthful seveiilyof her eighteen summers. 'Fiddle-de-dee! You won't hold such foolish opinions by the time you are twentyrive, and still a spinster,' retorted Mrs Sheppci ton. ' But, dear me ! how curiously things come about in this world, to be sure. I remember, just as if it were only yester day, old Mr Denver's first coming into the country. It was exactly at the time when poor Sir Thomas lobt such a lot of money on the tuii, and was obliged bo sell every stick and stone he possessed. Old Mr Denver Mas uncommonly pleased to walk into Brabazon Hall, although he had to pay a rare sum of money before he did so.' ' If he were ?o pleased to walk in, praj T , mamma, why was ho in such a hurry to walk out V asked the practical Chailotte, pettinently enough. 'He was not, my dear. He walked ofl instead,' answered Mrs Shepperton, with a feeble attempt at a joke. ' I doubt very much if he would ha\e uone othernice.' ' Walked off 9 Walked ofl u beic v * How stupid you are, Chai lotto, I mean, naturally, thab he died.' 'Oh; the old gentleman died, did he? It's a very strange thins?, but I've never heard any details of the Denser family history, although I base an idea ibis not paiticulaily cieaitable. There was some scandal, I knew, though up till now I've ne\er been able to get afc it.' ' It's ti sad stoiy. my tloar L'Wavlol to. and ono not altogether fcuitableto young people's cars-. I ha\e purposely e ideavoured to keep r torn you.' ' Upon my wolcl !' exclaimed the gii', with an expression of delighted curiosity stealing over her countenance, ' this i^ interesting in the extreme, (.io on, mamma.' 'Bub, my dear Charlotte, as I paid before, it is not quite — quite -the thing thab ab your age yon /should hear such a dreadful tale.* 'Let us ha\e ib at once,' ciied all the three Miss Sheppertons simultaneously, chaimed ab the least ion of impiopiiety. ' I really cannot, giils,' she piotcsted feebly ; bub her objections were summarily o\errnled by Ethel, who said, imperiously, 'Now, mamma, you know perfectly well you are dying to begin, for, it not, why did you e\er allude to the subject at all? | Having once aroused our curiosity, ib is only fair you should gratify it.' 5 Must I ?' asked Mrs Shepperton, with | weak compliance. j ' Yes, most ceitainly,' replied the three : youthful voices in unison ; while the thiee young, eag^r and expectant faces looked up impatiently. ' Well, then,' commenced Mrs Sheppei- [ ton, finding further lesistance impiacticj able, ' you must know, girli, that when old Mr Denser first anived at the Hall he was most anxious for his son to many — what he called a real "tip topper/ With this object he looked about him, until at length his choice fell upon the Honourable Margaret Travels, daughter of Lord Packhair, a poor but distinguished nobleman. Miss Travers was young, beautiful, connected with some of the first families in England, and appeared in every way to fulfil the required conditions. Young Dennis Denver, in those days, might have been about two or three and twenty, and, report said, had led a very wild life up at Oxford — so wild, indeed, that his father was anxious ho should settle at once. Peisonally, he had no wish to marry ; but, on discovering that his income was likely to prove entirely dependent upon his compliance with his father's wishes, he quickly fell in with them and expressed his readiness to propose. As for Margaret Travers, people declared at the time she was deeply in love with another man, being, in fact, partly engaged to him ; bub, when one fine day his marriage to someone else appeared quite unexpectedly in the newspaper, she accepted young Dennis Denver out of piquo. Be thab as it may, they ] were married shortly afterwards, and lived together for about a year. Then come the old, old story of disagreements, scenes, and incompatibility of temper.' 'Yes, mamma, go on,' chimed in Ethel, eagerly. ' Well !' continued Mrs Shepperton, gratified by her auditors' evident interest, ' some people accused the husband of downright cruelty, others said that the lady was high-spiiited and selfwilled to a fault ; anyhow, the county was startled when ib woko up one day to find that Dennis Denver had run away with the Avife of a well-known neighbouring squire. His attentions to the lady had for some time past been of a very marked nature ; still the denouement was decidedly unexpected. Luckily for tho misguided woman, she gob no further than Paris, where she contracted -typhoid fever and died in a life of misery. Meantime, Mrs Denver", only too glad of an excuso to get out of so unhappy a union, two years after her husband's desertion, sued for and obta ; ned a

divorce. This affair, as you can imagine, created an immense sensation in a quiet, slow-going country like ours. Dennis Denver inclined so much odium that from that day to this ho has never set foot on the Brabazon estate. Time, however, heals the deepest wound.s, and so many changos have latterly taken place that Mr Denver probably considers people have either forgotten or forgiven the unforlunate little escapade of his youth.' * I feel quite curious to maketho acquaintance of this hero of romance,' said Ethel. ' I like a man with antecedents and a history. They render him so interesting.' 1 1 quite agree with yon,' answered Mrs Shopperton, Iceling proud of her daughters sound common-sense, and looking admiringly at the girl's deep violet eyes, abundant black hair, and soft creamy complexion ; while tho thought flashed through her mind that no other mother in the country could show four such handsome young women —for even Dulci 0 , when dressed in her Sunday clothes, was by no means plain. 'Andically, ruanings-away and comings-back have grown so common, more especially in the highest circles, that they are -looked upon as quite oidinary occurrences. As lor Mr Denver, ho is far too lich to be ostracised, for long riches cover a multitude of sins.' It was painful hearing this weak, worldly mother instilling such principles into her daughters' youthful minds — insidious poison which, in process of time, might peivade their \ery beings. Charlotte, as we have si en, was capable of forming her own opinions. Ethel, however, inherited \o a great extent her mother'? shallow disposition, and appiovcd as piactical wisdom the maxims thus conveyed. But Maiian, in spite of her natural timidity, rebelled against such tenots, and said with a sigh : 1 ' 1 don't like your doctrines, mamma. Somehow or other, they to destroy all one's ideas of light and wrong, and I c&n't bear them.' 'What can't |j}ou bear, .stupid?' asked Mrs Shepperton, sharply, for Marian was the lea^t good-looking and the least talented of her daughters, and theicfoie met with small consideration at the maternal hand. The girl Ihu-hed crimson ' I can't bear the theory,' she answered, in a low voice, 'of people only liking >ou on account of jour woildly possession?, and, 1 pretending to oveilook or ignore things that aie wrong in themselves simply because \ou happen to be born with a golden spoon in your mouth. For my part, 1 never wish to make Mr Denver's acquaintance, and think had he shown any good feeling he would not have come back to Braba/con at all.'