CHAPTER XXXV. DUTY VERSUS LOVE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 361, 20 April 1889, Page 6

CHAPTER XXXV. DUTY VERSUS LOVE.

Dulcie had lived nearly eighteen years in the world without ever having experienced any very grievous trials, but she recognised now that-such a crisis was at hand as would shapeall her 'future career. On the other side, she pictured herself as Bob Mornington's wife, supremely happy and content, living ip perfect sympathy, and union of spirit, with every aspiration satisfied. On the other side, she saw long years" of. misery, a life without one thought , or feeling in common, and the breach' growing steadily wid,er and , deeper, .She/ could fancy her scorn and contempt in-

oreasecb to " downright loathings* and iyet having to j endure in, silence, while 'all the ,time subjected to a slow process, of moral whose creeping venom ,would darken her clearer judgment, and end by exercising a certain mastery over it. She could fancy her mental standard, becoming po bewildered, so debased, that, at length, weary of perpetual strivings after higher things, wider aims, and noble truths, she would sink disheartened in the contest, and fall. never, to rise again. With a passionate girlish horror,, she shrank from the mere idea of Dennis Denver. All her energies were concentrated on the one fixed motive of gaining time in order to consult with Bob. She had loved him from hex' childhood upwards, and could not care for anyone i else. And yet other people before now had had to sacrifice themselves, just as she was called upon to do : they had been forced to give up all they held most dear, voluntarily to relinquish every chance of personal happiness, even personal peace, for the sake of others. She crept up softly to where her mother still remained standing, and touching her entreatingly on the-ahoulder said : ' Mamma, dear, please don't judge me hastily. lam neither so wicked nor so bad-hearted as you imagine, and I cannot bear that you should think me capable of such selfishness.' •If you cannot bear it,' returned Mrs Shepperton, sternly, ' alter your conduct and prove your sincerity by acts, not by words. Until then don't expect me to believe your protestations ' And so saying, without a softening word or look, she marched out of the room, shutting the door to with a vicious bang, and leaving Dulcie to digest her remarks as best she might. The girl felt cruelly this want of motherly forbeai-ance and sympathy. Love, faith, hope, all seemed slipping from her ; and , she could only see through a glass darkly. ' Oh, mamma !' she cried out heart- . brokenly, after Mrs Shepperton's receding | form, • give me time, give me time. You cannot expect me to do what you ask all at once, for,' with a great choking sob, ' it is so hard to renounce one's love at a minute's j ( notice.' ! . Mrs Shepperton heard the words, and smiled triumphantly to herself. ( 'It has been a hard fight,' she mused, ; complacently, ' but the child will live to thank me for this day's 'w^ork, and I have .. saved her from sinking into a povertystricken nobody.' But Dulcie fell prone, face downwards, upon the sofa in her misery, calling aloud t to the great God above to assist and cuunsel her during this seul-rending crisis. ' Surely He who cared for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field would not I remain insensible to her need ? All that night, and the one following it, , Dulcie Icy wide awake, tossing restlessly trom side to side, whilst ' Nature's soft nurse,' in the shape of ' Sleep, which , knits up the ravell'd sleeve of care,' refused to come toher assistance. And during all these long hours she found it impossible to arrive at any decision. She could neither make up her mind to give Bob his conge and marry Mr Denver nor yet to abandon her mother and j sisters to their fate ; and between the two f never was girl more thoroughly wretched. {To be continued.)