CHAPTER XXVIII. MR DENVER's RUSE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 359, 13 April 1889, Page 4

CHAPTER XXVIII. MR DENVER's RUSE.

Why do you come hor© ? What do you want?' ciied Dulcio, ns soon as she had somewhat recovered from her surprise. A malignant sneer curled the corners of Mr Denver's thin lips. 'Two such simple questions are easily answered. I want that other dance, which) I have been patiently looking forward to for goodnefS kno va how long, and I am here because MrsiShepperion, having commented on your prolonged absence, has commissioned me to bring you back to the ball-room immediately.' Bho stood quite still, glaring at him defiantly. ' Shall we make a move, Bob ?' she said, ignoring Mr Denver's speech. *By all means,' he responded readily, feeling a growing difficulty in c mtrolling his indignation ; for in Mr Denver he had long since recognised a rival. The pair now wa ked oil towards the ballroom, leaving their host to follow at his leisure. Meantime, Dulcie sought counsel of her companion. 4 What had we better do ?' she whispered. ' The question is, had I not better re-enter the ball-room with him rather than with you? Mamma is less likely to scold when she sees I am under the wealthy Mr Denver's wing.' Consequently, directly they omerged on to the lawn she waited for Mr Denver to rejoin them, and said with assumed graciousness : ' I'm afraid you must think me excessively rude, bub really I did not understand that this was our dance.' Whereupon she executed a deep reverence, full of fun and pertness, and forthwith placed her hand on Mr Denver's arm. That gentleman's spirits rose twenty per oenfc., while Bob, feeling he had received his conge, wisely withdrew. ' Ha, ha !' chuckled Mr Denver, contentedly. ' I've got you all to myself at last. Come, now, what will you give me to hold my tongue, and not tell mamma about the two pretty little love-birds I caught cooing together in the summer - house, eh ?' His coarseness and impertinence disgusted her beyond measure. ' What do you want to come prowling after people for,' she cried, resentfully, * exactly like a detective ? Have you nothing better to do, or have you mistaken your natural vocation ?' Mr Denver laughed. He had a peculiarly harsh, sbx-ident laugh, and it jarred discordantly on the girl's sensitive ear, seeming strangely out of keeping with the soft grey heavens and shining stars. •Ha, ha!' he giggled. 'So you've discovered my little dodge at last, and found out that that story about your mother was all nonsense ?' lln other words,' she said, severely, feeling she had been cheated out of quite another ten minutes of Bob's society, ' you have told a most abominable story.' He winced under the scornful gaze of those clear young orbs, which seemed to read him through and through. ' That's rather a harsh expression,' he rejoined uneasily. 'Call it strategy instead, since, as we all know, everything is fair in love and war.' ' Every thing is not fair in love and war,' she retaliated, hotly. ' How can meanness, lying, and deceit ever be fair ? I thank you, Mr Denver, for your kindness and hospitality, but you must not feel surprised if I decline ever to avail myself of them again.' She stood before him, looking in hor white robes like a youthful prie3tc?s, animated by a righteous and holy indignation against some low, unworthy object ; and for one moment a glow of shame suffused his ruddy countenance. ' Isuppose,'she went on, contemptuously, ' your great idea was to take me away from Bob •>: The mention of his rival's name roused all the worst passions warring within him. ' And what then ?' he cried, in a fierce, smothered voice. 'Is that young jackanapes always to monopolise your attention ?' She drew herself up with a queen'y gesture of disdain. 'Please remember, Mr Denver, that the person you abuse is my best and dearest friend.' ' Friend !' he exclaimed, catching eagerly at the word, while his eyes shone with a dangerous brilliancy. 'Is that all ?Is Bob I Mornington nothing more, nothing nearer or dearer than a friend '{' She strove hard to keep cool, but it was growing more and more impossible to lesist that subtle contagion which excitement in another always inspires. ' You've no right to ask such a question,' she said, warmly, 'and I decline to answer it ; for the relations existing betvi een Bob and me can be no possible concern of yours.' Her words lashed him into sudden fury ; and, before she could even guess at his intention, he had seized both her hands and retained them in a vice-like grasp. 'No possible concern of mine ?' he echoed, overcome by a blind, unreasoning passion. ' The time has come when I muct and will speak out. My rival shall not have everything his own way. He shall find that -I intend to oppose him Oh! Dulcie, are you so blind as not to have seen that I love you— love you quite as truly and devotedly as Bob Morningbon ? I can offer you more than he can. You shall bo happy, comfortable, and wealthy ; whereas he has not got a sixpence in the world to bless himsef with. I can give you ' 1 Enough,' she interrupted, impatiently. 'It is not necessary to make an entire list of your various goods and chattels ; besides, such arguments aie wasted upon me. 1 do not care for riches, neither do I value them as the one motive-power of the whole universe. As for your love,' she continued vehemently, ' I tell you to your face that I doubt it. I doubt even whether you are capable of it ; whether Love would ever possess sufficient power to make you forget Self ; and whether your personal wants and gratifications would not remain always, as they are at present, the first and chief considerations.' Her words stung him almost to madness ; for how had this girl — whom, up till tonight, he had been wont to regard as a mere child, a pretty plaything — come to possess so clear and penetrating an insight into his character ? They were still standing on the lawn close to a, group of coloured lan torus whoso

light shone full upon the lovely, scornful ' face, glistoning eyes, and shapely form. Her beauty called his passions into play, and at that moment Bhe appeared to him a creature not only to be coveted but won. He forgot tho groat house in Grosvenor Square waiting for an ornamental wife ; forgot the respectability which a well-bred, fresh young ghl would presumably confer upon hia stained and wasted life ; forgot the petty motives which drovo him into the contemplation of matrimony, and, for the first time in his career, genuinely fancied h'mself a victim to that love of wtych he talked so glibly. Perhaps, for the nonce, his affection was sincere ; anyhow, he determined to stake all on one venture. 'Dulcie,' he said, after a slight pause, 'perhaps I have not been sufficiently explicit ; thorofore, once for all, I a&W, will— you— lo -my— wife? Mrs Denver, with, six thousand a year pin money to spend as sho chooses !' 'JSTo ! I will not.' The answer came stern and decisive, fraught with an indomitable resolution. 'No?' starting back aghast. 'Surely^ suroly, you cannot be in earnest and do not know what you are refusing ? This proposal has surprised you ; you require time to reflect upon it, and to weigh the pros and conn quietly.' 1 Thank you,' she replied. ' But when I marry, please God, there will be no need to weigh the })ros and conn just as one would weigh a pound of butter or a packet of sugar.' Sj saying, she wrenched her hands forcibly from Ills grasp, and turned quickly away, in order that he should realise the finality of her decision. Tho action simply succeeded in rousing hib jealousy an&w. 'Are you — leaving — me — for Bob Mornington ?' he asked, fiercely. She paused, and, panting, resolute and indignant, faced him like a stiicken tigress. ' Yes, I am leaving you to go to Bob Mornington ; and in so doing I go from a bad man to seek a good one.' 'Stop!' he c v ied, giving full vent to his naturally ferocious temper. ' Are you so foolish as to imagino I shall put up with such a state of things ? Do you suppose I — I — Dennis Denver — will quietly stand by and ?ee the prizo I fain would obtain fall to a round-faced empty-headed noodle V ' Hold 1' she said, imperatively. ' Abuse can do your cause no good. On the contiary, it only serves to strengthen me in my decision.' •If you think,' ho continued, 'that I shall allow you to become Bob Mornington's wife, you aie very much mistaken ; for,' raising his arm on high, as if to invoke the Deity, ' I swear to God I will do everything in my power to prevent such a marriage ; and, if you do not marry me, you shall never marry him !' As he spoke, his features were convulsed with rage, while his ejes &hone with a deadly and revengeful purpose. She shuddered. His words sounded like a curse, and chilled the very marrow in her bones. The wind had begun to freshon, and now sighed amongst the tall tree- tops likea living thing, whistling coldly round her bore nock and shoulders, and sending a shiver through all her frame. Again did that dim presentiment of impendinp evil overtake her.