CHAPTER III. AMONG THE ROSES.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 408, 5 October 1889, Page 4

CHAPTER 111. AMONG THE ROSES.

She stood beside him, her ceaseless smile at its brightest on her small face, looking like some little female Mephistopheles come to tempt amodern Faust. He put up his eyeglass to look at her. What a gorgeous little creature she was ! It was his> first thought. In the dim yellow light of the conservatory, the nmber silk glittered with its pristine lustre, the yellow roses she woro made such an admirable foil to her dead black hair. ' What the deuce brings me here ? Don't trouble your&elf to ask the question, vwn ami, your face asks it for you. ' I've been eavesdropping,' in her airiest tone ; ' not intentionally, you understand,' as the young man continued to stare speechlessly at her through his eye-glass. ' Entering the conservatory by the merest chance, I overheard Miss Dangerfield's last words to you; "a little more than kin, and less than kind," were they not? Permit me to congratulate you, Mr Dangerfield.' c Congratulate me !' Mr Dangerfield repeated, dropping his double-barrelled eyoglass and glowering vengefully at the fair creature by his side. 'In Heaven's name, on what ?' •On having escaped becoming the husband of a termagant. Believe me, not even Scarsvvood and eight thousand a year would counterbalance so atrocious a temper as that.' 1 Eight thousand a year would counterbalance with me even a worse temper than that, Mrs Vavasor,' the lawyer answered, grimly. 'I am only sorry lam not to have the opportunity of trying. Once my wife, I think I could correct the acidity of even Katherine Dangerfield's temper and , tongue.' ' No, you could not.^ Petruchio himself would fail to tame this shrew. You see, Mr Dangerfield, I sneak from past experience. I know what kind of blood flows in our gpirited Katherine's veins.' 4 Very good blood, then, I am sure — very good-tempered, too, in the main — afc least, on the father's side.' •Ah ! On the father's side !' The sneer with which this was said is indescribable. ' May I ask if you knew her mother, Mr Dangerfield ?' 'Certainly I did — a deucedly fine woman, too, and as amiable as she was handsome. Colonel Dangerfield — Sir John was colonel then — married Miss Lascelles, and Katherine was born in this very house, while they were making" their Christmas visit. You may have known her father and mother — you certainly seem to know Sir John suspiciously well — but don't tell mo Katheine took her tantrums from either of them — I know better.' Mrs Vavasor listened quietly, adjusting her bracelets, and burst out laughing when he ceased. , • I see you dp—you know all about it. How old was Katherine when her father and mother loft England for India V ' ,

* Two or three years, or thereabouts. It seeuis to "me — being so well acquainted, and all that, as you eay — you ought to know yourself. Was it. in England or India you name to know the governor so well ?' 4 In neither, Mr Dangerfield. 1 Or does your acquaintance extend only to the baronet ? Gad ! he looked like an incarnate thunder-cloud when presenting you. His past remembrances of you must be uncommonly pleasant onea, I should say. Did you know the late Mrs Colonel Dangerfield, Mrs Vavasor ?' 'I knew the late Mrs Colonel Dangerfield, Mr Dangerfield.' ! ' And yet you say Katherine takes her temper from her mother. My late aunt-in- . law must have greatly changed, then, from the time I saw her last.' 'I repeat it,' Mrs Vavasor said, tapping her fan. l Katherine inherits her most abominable temper from her mother, the only inheritance her mother ever loft her. And she looks like her — wonderfully like her— so like,' Mra Vavasor repeated in a strange, suppressed voice, ' that I could ! almost take her for a ghost in pink gauze.' ' Like her mother !' cried Peter Dangerfield. 'I beg your pardon, Mrs Vavasor, but you must bo dreaming. She is no more like her mother than I am. The late Mrs Dangerfield was a handsome woman.' 1 Which our spirited heiress never will be. I agree with you, Mr Dangerfield ; and yet you told me you were in love with her, and wanted to marry her.' ' I meant what I said,' the young man responded, sullenly; 'I do want to marry her.' I Or her fortune — which ?' I 1 don't see that time's any business of yours, Mrs Vavasor, and I don't see what I ' am standing here and abusing Katherine to you for. You don't like her, do you ? Now what has she ever done to you ?' 1 Nothing whatever — / haven't scon Katherine until to-night for fifteen years. She was two years old then — a little demoiselle in pantalettes, and too young to have an enemy.' ' Yet you are her enemy, Mrs Vavasor, and you sit at her table and eat her bread and ealt. And you speak of her mother as if you detested her. Is it for the mother's sake you hate the daughter ?' • For the mother's sake.' She repeated the four short words with a concentrated bitterness that rather repolled hor companion. ' And you hate her for her own, Mr Dangerfield.' She laid her little hand suddenly and sharply on his arm, and sent the words in his ear in a sibilant whisper. 1 We both hate her ; let us make common cause together, and have our revenge.' Peter Dangerfield threw off the gloved hand that felt unpleasantly like a steel manacle on his wrist. ' Don't be melodramatic, if you please, Mrs Vavasor. Revenge, indeed. And I a lawyer. You would make an uncommonly good first actress, my dear madam, but in private life your histi ionic talents are quite thrown away. Revenge ! bah ! Why, the vendetta has gone out of fashion even in Corsica. We don't live in the days of the handsome Lucrezia, when a perfumed rose or a pair of Jouvin's best kids sent one's adversary to glory. Thero is no such word as revenge in these latter days, my dear madam. If one's wife runs away from one with some other fellow, we don't follow and wipe out our dishonour in his blood ; we simply go bo Sir Creswoll and get a divorce If we run away with some other fellow's wife, that other fellow sues us for damages, and makes a good thing of it. Believe me, Mrs Vavasor, revenge is a word that will coon be obsolete, except on theatrical boards. But at the same time I should like to know what you mean ?' 1 What is that you sing me there?' Mrs Vavasor cried, in the French idiom she used when excited. ' While the world lasts, and men love, and hate, and use swords and pistols, revenge will never go out of fashion. And you hate your cousin — hate her so that ii looks were lightning she would have fallen at your feet ten minutes ago. " A little rickety dwarf." ' She laughed her shrill, somewhat elfish laugh. ' Not a pleasant name to be called, Mr Dangerfield.' His face blackened at the remembrance, his small, pale eyes shot forth that steely fire light blue eyes only can Hash, ' Why do you remind me of that ?' he said hoarsely. ' She did not mean it — sho said so,' ' She said so — she said so 1' his companion cried, scornfully. ' Peter Dangerfield, you're not the man I take you for if you endure quietly such an insult as that. And look at her now with Gaston Dantree, that, penniless tenor singer, with the voice of an angel and the face of a god. Look how she smiles up at him. Did she ever give you such a glance as that ? See how he bends over her and whispers in her ear. Did she ever listen to you with that happy face, ttiose drooping, downcast eyes ? Why, she loves that man — that impoverished adventurer ; and lovo and happiness make her almost beautiful. And she called you a rickety dwarf. Perhaps even now they are laughing over it rather as a good joke.' ' Woman ! Devil !' her victim burst out, goaded to frenzy. • You lie ! Katherine Dangerfield would stoop lo no such baseness as that !' • Would she not? You "have yet to learn to what depths the baseness of a woman like her can stoop. She has bad, bitter bad blood in her veins, I tell you. She comes of a daring, unscrupulous race. Oh, don't look at me like that — I don't mean the Dangerfieids. And you will bear her merciless taunt, and stand auietly by while she marries yonder handsome cox comb, and go and be best man at the wedding, and take your hat off for ever after when you meet Gaston Dantree, Lord of Scarswood Park. Bah ! Peter Dangerfield, you must have milk and water in your veins instead of blood, and I am only wasting my time hero talking to you. I'll detain you no longer. I wish you good evening.' She had goaded him to the right point at last. As she turned to go ho caught her arm fierjely and held her back. ' Stay !' he cried, hoarsely ; ' you shall not go ! You do well to say I hate her. And she shall never marry Gaston Dantree if I can prevent it. Only show mo the way how !• Only =>how me !' he exclaimed, bieathless and hoarse, 'and see whether I have blood in my veins instead of milk and water — a man's passions in my 1 heart — though it be the heart of a rickety dwarf !' Ah ! that blow struck home. * Look at them once again, Mr Dangerfield, lest your brave resolutions should cool — look at Katherine Dangerfield and her lover now.' The baronet's daughter was waltzing again — she had a passionate love of dancing, and floated with the native grace of a Bayadere. She was waltzing with Dantree, her long rose-wreathed brown hair floating over his shoulder, her happy face uplifted as she whirled down the long vista in his arms, to the intoxicating music of the ' Guard's Waltz.' • You see !' Mrs Vavasor paid, significantly ; 'he who, runs may read, and he who stands still may understand. .> His melancholy tenor voice, his lover-like sighs, his dark, pathetic eyes have done their work. ' Katherine Dangerfield is in love with Gaston Dantree 1 It is a very old

story ; a lady of high degree has " stooped to conquer." Sir John won't take it, I dare say;" but could Sir John refuse his idolised darling anything ? If she cried for the moon she would have it. And she is so impetuous, dear child ! She will be Mrs Gaston Dantree in the time it would take another young lady to decide the colour of tho bridesmaids' dresses.' I She shall never be Mrs Gaston Dantree if I can prevent, it !' Peter Dangerfield cried vehemently, his pale blue eyes filled with lurid rage. • Yes, but unhappily there is the rub — if you can prevent it. You don't suppose now,' Mrs Vavasor said thoughtfully, ' this Mr Dantree is in love with her ?' ' I know nothing about it. He looks as though he were, at least— and be hanged to him.' 4 That tells nothing. She is the heiress of Scarswood, and Mr Dantree— like yourself, I haven't a doubt — is in love with that. I wonder if either of you would want to marry her if she hadn't a farthing — if her brown hair and her tine figure were her only fortune V c I can answer for myself — I would see her at the deuce first !' • And unless I greatly mistake him, Mr Dantree would also. How &he looks up ab him ! how she smiles ! — her, infatuation is patent to the whole room. And after her, you are the heir at law, Mr Dangerfield.' I 1 don't see what that's got to do with ib,' the young man retorted sulkily. 'I am likely to remain heir-at-law to the end of my days, for what I see* The governor will go off the hooks, and she will marry, and there will be a son — half-a-dozen of 'em most likely — and my cake is dough. I wish you wouldn't talk about it at all ; it's no use a man howling his lifo out for what he ne^er can get.' 'Certainly not- -for what he can't get ; bub I don'b perceive bhe " can't get " in bhis case. Three people stood between Colonel Dangerhold and the title six months ago, and thoy — as you express it in the elegantly allegorical language of the day — " went off bhe hooks ;" and lo ! our Indian officer, all in a moment, steps in three pairs of dead men's shoe.s, a title and a fortune. Scarpwood may change hands unexpectedly beforo the year ends again.' • Mrs Vavasor — if that be your name—/ don't understand you. What's bhe use of badgering a man in this way? If you've got anything to say, say it. I never was any hand at guessing riddles. What the deuce do you mean ?' Mrs Vavasor laughed gayly. •Foicible, but nob polite ! Did you ever have your fortune told, Mr Dangerh'eld ? I have some gypsy blood in my veins. Give me your hand, and I'll tell ib, without tho proverbial piece of silver.' He held ib out mechanically. Under all this riddle-like talk, he knew some strong meaning, very much to the point, lay. What could bhe mean ? Who could she be? She took his pale, cold hand, and peered into the palm, with bhe prebtiest fortunetelling air imaginable. 1 A strangely chequered palm, my gentleman ; all its strange future bo come. I sco a past, quiet and uneventful. I &cc a character thoroughly selfish, avaricious, and unprincipled. No, don't take your hand away ; it will do you good to hear the truth once in a way, Mr Dangerfield. You can hate with tigerish intensity ; you would commit any crime under heaven for money, so that you were never likely to be found out. You care for nobody but yourself, and you never will. A woman stands in your pabh bo fortune — a woman you hate. That obstacle will be removed. I see here a ruined home ; and over ruin and death you step into fortune. Don't ask me how. The lines don't tell that, just yet ; they may very soon. You are to be a baroneb, and the time i& very near. How do you like your tortuno, Sir Peter Dangerfield, that is to be?' She dropped his hand and looked him in the face, streaming fiie in her black eyes. ' Husli-h-h ! for Heaven's sake !' he whispered, in terror. 'If you should be overheard !' ' But how do you like ib ':' 1 There can be no question of that. Only I don't understand. You are mocking me. AYhat you predictcan nover happen.' * Why not ?' ' Why nob ! why not !' he exclaimed, impatiently. * You don't need to ask that question. Katherine Dangerfield stands between me ; a life as good — bettor than my own.' The little temptress in amber silk laid her canary-coloured glove on his wrist and drew him close to her. 1 What I predict will happen, as surely as we stand here. Don'b ask me how ; I can t tell you to-night. There's a secret in Sir John Dangerfield's life — a secret 1 have been paid well to keep, which J have kept tor fifteen years, which no monoy will make me keep much longer. I have a debt of long standing to pay oft — a debt of vengeance, conti acted before Kabherine Dangerfield was bom, which Katherine Dangerfiold yeb must pay. What will you give me if within the next three monbhs I make you heir of Scaiswood ?' ' You ?' •I !' ' Ib is impossible !' 'It is not!' She stumped her foot. • Quick ! Tell me ! What will you give ?' 4 1 don't understand you.' ' I don't mean that you shall yet. Will you give me ton thousand pounds the day that makes you — through me, mmd — lord of Scaiswood ? Quick ! Here come our lovers. Yes or no ?' 1 iw 'Ibis well. I shall have your bond inptead of your piomise soon. Not a whisper of this to a living mortal, or all is at an end. We are sworn allies, then, from this night forth. Shako hands upon ib.' They clasped hands. He shivered a little, unprincipled though , he was, as ho felt the cold, steely clasp of i her gloved finders. She glanced up, a flash of triumph lighting her eyes, to where Kabherine Dangerfield, sbill leaning on her handsome lover's arm, approached. 4 Now, then, my baronet's daughter— my haughty little heiress— look to yourself! I am a woman who never yet spared friend or foe who stood in my path. Vii victim !' She vanished as she spoke ; and Peter Dangerfield, feeling like a man in a dream, his head in a whirl, glided alter her, as his cousin and her cavalier stopped under the arch of rose and myrtle. {To be, continued.)

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