CHAPTER XXXVIII. WHAT'S THE MATTER ?

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 363, 27 April 1889, Page 5

CHAPTER XXXVIII. WHAT'S THE MATTER ?

Bon Moexinoton leant his head upon hi s hands and tried to invent every possible excuse in Dulcie's favour. He had asked her to wait for two whole years, and she had unhesitatingly signified her willingness to do so ; but supposing that, as her mother said, she had altered her mind, and seen the policy of accepting a wealthy certainty rather than a poor — a very poor — possibility, how could he upbraid her? What right had he to com plain? Was she not her own mistress? Did not other girls throw men over every day of their lives 1 Yes, but not Dulcie, not Dulcie. She was formed of such different stuff. He would stake his life on her honesty and singleness of heart. This was but a temporary cloud. As sure as he felt ot anything in this world he felt sure of her love. She could not have looked or have spoken as she had spoken on the night of Mr Denver's ball had she not cared for him very dearly. He could still feel the clasp of her soft arms round his neck, and hear her declare, in her pretty childish way, what a housekeeper she was going to become. No, there were moments very rare, but still they existed, when heart spoke to heart, and nothing could efface the impression produced. Dulcie had never changed in so short a time. But suspense was unendurable, and he would put a stop to it without; delay. His blood was on fire, and he must know the worst or the best. Thus resolving, he hastily scribbled a few lines on a piece of paper, thrust it into an envelope, which he addressed to Dulcie, and strode rapidly downstairs. His mother met him in the hall, and perceived at a glance, from the strange expression of his face and the angry light in his hazel eyes, that something had evidently happened to put him out. 'Bob, dear,' she said, gently, seeking for confidence, * what's the matter V 4 Nothing, mother,' he replied hastily. ' But I want a man to go over to Milnacot Lodge immediately. ' He did not volunteer further explanation, but immediately rushed off to the stables. The note sent, he glanced at his watch. It was nearly twenty minutes past six, and he would just have time to get a bit of something to eat before starting to meet Dulcie under the pines on Witherly Common. Meanwhile, the object of his thoughts was sitting under her favourite old appletree, in the kitchen garden, regardless that the sun had already sunk behind the western horizon, leaving a sea of flame in his wake, or that the air had grown chilly, whilst dark lowering clouds commenced to overspread the sky. She sat, there like a statue, motionless and apparently lifeless, with despair written on every feature, in the melancholy eyes, on the sweet mournful mouth, and on the pale, contracted brow. She would be eighteen next week, and she seemed already to have lived her entire life, Bince no future suffering could ever equal that which she had so recently undergone. All the joy and the hope and the happiness were at an end, swept out at one blow, and no gleam of light remained behind. She could see nothing but darkness ' — darkness — darkness. The mere thought of Dennis Denver tilled her being with unutterable loathing.

, She was thankful to sit there quite alone, i doing absolutely nothing, feeling so crushed by pain and misery as to be almost callous [ to any outward sensations. Her senses : seemed completely numbed after the . intensity of the inward struggle she had ' experienced. And yet, despite this present deadness and weariness of spirit, the anguish never lefb her. For was not this Saturday, the day on which she was to have met Bob by agreement ? — the day to which, only one short week ago, she had looked forward with such shy delight and girlish impatience? Whilst now — with a pitiful sigh of sorrow — now — what would there ever be in her whole long life to look forward to again ? What was left her ? Nothing, save submission to Dennis Denver's will, and outward acquiescence in Dennis Denver's wishes. Oh ! how hard ib seemed, when one was young and hopeful, and felt all the capacity for happiness strong within one's bosom, to have to stifle such feelings, and voluntarily to renounce them ! The world was so bright and beautiful, and might be such a delightful place, if only the right people were allowed to come together and live with each other, instead of life's great lottery always turning out blanks, and jumbling up all kinds of ill-assorted folke, whose ideas, tastes, thoughts, and feelings were utterly at variance. But perhaps (Jod would «how some mercy, and let her|die early, for at times she fancied she was not very strong, and when she caught cold, which she often did, felt a curious laden weight about her chest. And then she fancied how sorry Bob would be, and how he would come and look at her grave, and plant sweet-smelling flowers at its head. The thought brought large salt tears of self-pity to her eyes, and a tight sensation to her throat. Then by degrees her thoughts wandered off into another direction, and as she sat there, with fading light falling athwart the green apple-leaves, casting sombre shadows on her delicate face and childish contour, she said to herself : 'Ah ! now Bob will be in the train, thinking of me, and wondering why I have been so unkind as nob to have written ; now he is perhaps driving along the fragrant hedgerows and shady lanes, whipping old Blunderbuss on in a desperate hurry, for fear of being late for our rendezvous ; and now, quite likely, at this very minute he may be trudging down the Witherly Road, expecting to meet me, to see me under the pines. Oh, dear !oh dear !' with a burst of uncontrollable grief ; ' how I wish that T was dead and buried !' ' Miss Dulcie, Miss Dulcie,' cried a voice that came ringing through the garden. ' Where are you ? Here's a letter just come over from Mornington Court, and William said as how he had better wait to see if thero was any answer/ And Betsy appeared, running breathlessly. Dulcie took the note in silence, and read ib through. Ib was, as she suspected, from Bob, but it contained only a few hurriedly -written words : — ' I must see you at once. Immediately upon the receipt of this come to the old pines and wait there until I appear. I have but this instant arrived.' A sudden faintness stole over her frame as_ she read this laconic but imperative missive. It was quite clear that Bob knew all. And now he wanted to hear a vehement denial from her own lips while she — oh ! misery ! — could nob make it, could merely confirm the truth of what he had been told. She turned ghastly pale, and leant her swimming head against the trunk of the tree. 'Is there any answer, please, Miss Dulcie ?' asked Betsy, inquisitively, looking as if she longed to make herself mistress of the contents of Bob's lebber, and retail them in the servants' hall for the edification of her companions. The question roused the girl from the stupor into which she had fallen. ' No, no answer. You can leb William go back whenever he pleases.' She looked up ab the clock in the stabletower and saw that the hands stood close on seven, whilst the shortening Sepbember day had already begun to draw in, and twilight rapidly approached. There was not a minute to be lost, and albhough insufficiently clad, if she wen tat all she mnststarb that very moment. Bob had bidden her come, and she must go. So she stole cautiously oul of the kitchen garden, and from thence to the road. Once arrived there, and the risk of immediate detection over, she set off walking at a rapid pace. Witherly Common was between two and three miles distant from Milnacot Lodge, and she knew that, however greab her speed, darkness would have closed in ere she reached her destination. The weather had completely changed since sunset, and was now inclined towards rain, for the sky was sombre in tint, whilst great black clouds sped along before a perceptibly i-ising wind, which threatened to increase to a gale. Bub ab present the downfall delayed, and the white dusty road could still be seen with tolerable clearness. So Dulcie stepped out bravely, susbained by an inbense exaltation of spirit that thrust all sense of physical fatigue into the background. She was going'to see Bob, and deep down in her heart lurked a faint hope that per.haps, when they came to talk things over together, he might suggest some way out of the difficulty. She passed swiftly through the village of Milnacot with its clean little white-washed cottages and cheerful plots of garden, filled with old*fashioned fragrant flowers, then by the greab red parish workhouse, and Farmer Brigman's comfortable homestead, where dozens of big yellow corn-ricks bore evidence to the plenteousness of the harvest, until at la3t she came to the wide Withy, on whose swiftlyglidingwatersships and barges innummerable fought their way up to the Witherly Docks, and there discharged their various cargoes. Over the slender suspension bridge, with its strong yet graceful lines, she walked, and ipausing, glanced down ab the black silent waters. The nearer she gob to the end of her journey, the more did her courage fail. For Bob was so passionate that he might even refuse to listen to any explanations, and his reproaches would seem doubly unendurable, seeing that her whole sympathy was with him, and she should not only have tofighb against his eloquent pleadings, but also against the clamourings of her own heart. What a bibter, bibber fighb ! And yeb she must not only go through with ib, bub conquer ; musb !|o argue, persuade and enbreab, as to make him see with her eyes. She had passed the bridge now, and was walking along a straight stretch of road which led direct to Wibherly Common, and already she was able to distinguish the three greab storm-beaten pines, with their pinky-grey stems and noble dark crowns, standing up black and gaunt against the murky sky. And as she got still nearer, she perceived that she was first at the trysting-place, and Bob had nob yeb arrived. A sigh of relief escaped from bebw'een her dry lips ; for her hearb beat so fast that she felt thankful for a few minutes' breath- ! ing space. , Unconsciously she noted the gloomy aspecb o tbo sky, and how fiercely the wind

whistled through the tall branches overhead, tossing them to and fro with a giant's strength. She began to feel very lonely, for it was nearly dark, and the common by this light looked dreary and desolate. Save for a hardy, long-coated donkey, who placidly munched away at tne prickly gorse and sparse green grass growing on the sandy soil, there was not a living creature in sight. Many a picnic had she and Bob had together on Witherly Common in the olden days, when the sun shone out, and the golden broom scented all the atmosphere with its delicious fragrance ; but now everything seemed so dark and stormy that she grew frightened at being here all by I herself, andalmostwishedshehadnevercome. And, to make matters worse, two or three great drops of rain fell from the threatening clouds, while the wind howled and raged so wildly that she was chilled to the bone. Five minutes ago she had rejoiced at Bob's absence and felt grateful for it, now she longed for his presence with a feverish impatience ; but, then, five minutes spent in waiting for somebody ono loves often seem longer than live hours of ordinary existence. At least so thought Dulcie, when suddenly she saw a tall, well-known form, looking taller than ever in the mists of evening, come striding towards her over the short tufted grass and sandy hillocks.