CHAPTER XXXI. CONFEDERATES.

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

CHAPTER XXXI. CONFEDERATES.

MuAXWim.r., Mrs Shepperton was sitting by herself in the drawing-room, feeling somewhat sleepy and out of .sorts all round. Neither did her occupation tend to alleviate this state of things, for she was engaged in adding up bills, and making abstruse calculations on the fly-leaf of a lean cheque-book lying near. The worthy lady's mental condition at that moment was, to tell the truth, a remarkably unhappy one, for only a few minutes ago she had received by the afternoon's post a most untimely communication from thoso well-known bankers, Messrs Smith, Holloway, and Smith. In it, this eminent firm politely called Mrs Shepperton's attention to the fact of her account being overdrawn by several hundred pounds. ' We do not,' concluded the letter, 'wish to cause any inconvenience, but, at the same time, we reluctantly feel compelled to point out that any further advance will i be incompatible with our mode of conducl- ! ing business. ' Mrs Shop per ton read this epi&tle over carefully. She was no manager, and for many years past her financial arrangements had been carried on with a peculiar looseners and want of fixed method. Mcssis Smith, Holloway and Smith's communication came as a sobering shock. For there —before her very eyes — lay the bankers' demand for a sum amounting to little short of six hundred pounds ! How could this sum possibly be paid, unless she reduced her establishment, altered her mode of living, gave up visiting hor neighbours, and being visited by them in return, and left Milnacot Lodge — just when there seemed every prospect of marrying off one of her daughters ? Even as she pondered over the dilemma, dozens of hitherto unconsidered debts rose' to her mind. First and foremost there was the house - rent, which owing to his representations, and to Mr Denver's agent being a personal friend, had been allowed to stand over for a whole year, and would certainly figure close upon another couple of hundred^

Then Mademoiselle Virgin ie would require payment in full before leaving at Christmas, and the milliner's account had accumulated with alarming rapidity, and the singing-lesson must be paid for, besides (when once ehe began reckoning) no end of outstanding bills, both large and small, demanding settlement. , Thus fairly brought tace to face with her difficulties, Mrs Shepperton, like most weak and thriftless personages, leapt from one extreme to the other, and jumped at a single stride from a state of reprehensible indifference to a condition of feverich anxiety. Circumstances which really only required a certain amount of economy, circumspection, and self-control, she now regarded as entailing absolute ruin. Her mind collapsed under tho Midden strain thus put upon it; and rising from the writing-table with a sigh, &ho began nervously pacing up and down the apartment. The tears welled up into her light watery blue eyes and fche probabilities are that in another minute she would have wept outright had not Betsy appeared to ask if ' Mtesus was at 'ome to visitors ?' ' Missus ' wiped her eyes and signified her willingness to receive. She hastily arranged her front curls before the chimney-glass, and this had hardly been accomplished when Mr Denver entered. Ho advanced smiling, though beneath his customary ma&k of outward assurance a clo.-e observer might have detected a few underlying touches ot ic^braint, Of all guests he was the cne Mrs Shepperton least expected to see. She held out her hand a little Hurriedly, but contrived to wreath her features in an artificial smile, and to &ay volubly : 'Oh ! Mr Denver, this is indeed kind, your coming to see me so soon after all the terrible excitemenb of last aight, and I hope you have completely recovered from your exertions.' ' Thanks,' he replied, shaking hands absently. 'I'm pretty flourishing.' Upon which he took a chair, placed it close by her side, and devoting himself for a few seconds to the profound scrutiny of his gloves, gave one or two little dry pieliminary coughs. She looked at him askance, and a dim presentimeut stole o\er her that something was about to happen. ' How fortunate wo are in our weather,' she remarked by way of helping on the conversation. 'It is wonderfully warm for the time of year.' 'Yes, yes, very warm,' he assented, uneasily. Then, feeling he had not walked over to Milnacot Lodge for the purpose of listening to commonplace meteorological platitudes, he said, plunging boldly into the very midst of the difficulty he had come to surmount : 'Ahem! Mrs Shepperton, 1 hope you will excuse my abruptness, but I have called here to-day tor the express purpose of indulging in a little private conversation with you.' Two thoughts flashed through her mind — the rent and Dulcie. Which had he come about? Oir any other afternoon in the whole year her daughter would have proved the first consideration, but now ehe felt convinced that Mr Denver had heard how much the rent of Milnacot Lodge had fallen into arrear. Consequently, she turned a trifle pale, and said : 4Oh ! really ? I suppose Mr Perkins has been having a talk with you ; but, my dear Mr Denver, give me time— only give me time — and I promise everything shall come right. I have had so many expenses to meet lately that I admit to being a little behind in my payments; but such difficulties are only temporary, and need occasion you no alarm.' ' Pray, Mrs Shepperton,' he said, 'don't think of the rent for one moment. It i& a pure matter of detail ; and you will not find me a very stern landlord, more particularly if we can pull together as I wish.' ' We are sure to be able to do that,' she rejoined, feeling vastly relieved. ' I trust so, especially since I have come to peek your co-operation in a very different and, I venture to hope, a much more interresting subject— ono, I need hardly say, that lies far nearer my heart.' Something in his manner of delivering these words roused her expectations to the utmost, and her pulses throbbing like a girl of eighteen. Then, Dulcie, after all, was the attraction ! {To be Concluded.)