CHAPTER XV. LADY HELENA'S BALL.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 409, 9 October 1889, Page 6

CHAPTER XV. LADY HELENA'S BALL.

Threk days affcer, on Thursday, the fifth of June, Lady Helena Powyss gave a very largo dinner party followed by a ball in honour of her American guests". Vi hen it is your good fortune to number half a county among 1 your friends, relatives, and acquaintances, ib is possible to be at once numerous and select. The cr?me do la creme of Cheshire assembled in Lady Helena's hall of dazzling light, to do honour to Sir Victor Catheron's brideelect. For the engagement had been formally announced, and was the choice bit of gossip with which the shire regaled itself. Sir Victor Catheron was following in the footsteps of his father, and was about to bring to Catheron Royals one of the lower orders as its mistress. It was the Dobb blood no doubt oropping up— these sort of mesalliances loill toll. An American, too — a governess, a poor relation of some common rich people from the States. The best county families, with daughters to marry, shook their heads. It was very and— very \ sad, to see a good old name and a good old

family degenerate in this -way. But there was always a taint, of madness in the Cabheron blood — that accounted jfar a good deal. Poor Sir Victor— and poor Lady Helena ! But everybody came. They might bo deeply shocked and sorry, but still Sir Victor Cafcheron ,was Sir Victor Catheron, the richest baronet in the county, and Catheron Royals always a pleasant house to visit— the reigning Lady Gatheron always a desirable acquaintance on ore's visiting-list. Nobody acknowledged, of course, they went from pure, downright curiosity, to see this manoeuvring American girl, who had taken Sir Victor Catheron captive under the aristocratic noses of the best-born, best-bred, best- blooded young ladies in a circuit of twenty miles. The oventful night came—the night of Edith's ordeal. Even Trix was a little nervous— only a little — is not perfect self - possession the normal state of American young ladydom ? Lady Helena was quite pale in" her anxiety. The pirl was handsome beyond dispute, thoroughbred as a young countess, despite her birth and bringing up in, a, New England town and Yankee boarding-house, with pride enough for a princess of forty quartering^, but how would she come forth from the fiery furnace of all those pitiless eyes, sharpened to points to watch for gaucheries and s )lecisms of good breeding from the merciless tongues that would hang, draw, and quarter her, the instant their owners were out of the house ? 'Don't you feel nervous, Dithy ?' a3ked Trix, almost out of patience at last with Edith's serene calm. ' I do— horribly. And Lady Helena has got a fit of the jfideets that will bring her grey hairs to an early grave, if this day lasts much longer. Ain r t you afraid - honour bright?' Edith Darrell lifted her dark, disdainful eyes. She sat reading, while the afternoon wore on, and Trixy fussed and fluttered about the room. 'Afiaid of the people who are coming here to-night — is that what you mean? Not a whit ! I know as well as you do they are coming to inspect and find fault with Sir Victor Catheron's choice, to piiy him, and call me an adventuress. 1 know also that any one of these young ladies would have married him, and said " Thank you tor asking," if he had seen fit to choose them. 1 have my own pride and Sir Victor's good taete to uphold to-night, and I will uphold them. I think '—she lifted her haughty, dark head, and glanced, with i a half-conbcious smile, in the pier-glass , opposite— 'l think lean bear comparison by lamplight with any of these " daughters of a hundred earls," such as— Lady Gwen- , doline Drexel lor instance.' ' By lamplight,' Trix said, ignoring th< i rest of her speech. 'Ah, yes, that's the i worst of it, Edith ; you dark people always light up well. And Lady Gwendoline Diexel— l wonder what Lady Gwendoline , will wear to-night ? I should 'like to be the best-dressed young lady at the ball. Dc i you know, Dith,' spitefully this, 'I thin! Charley is quite struck with Lady Gwendoi line. You noticed, 1 suppose, the attentior he paid her the eveniner we met, and ther he has been to Drexel Court by invitation. Pa is most anxious, 1 know. Money wil be no object, you know, with Charley, and really ib would be nice to have a titlec sister-in-law. 'My sister, Lady Gwendoline Stuarb, will sound very well in New York, won't it ? It would be a very suitable match for Charley. ' • A mo^t suitable match,' Miss Darrel repeated ; 'age included. She is ten year. 1 , his senior it a day ; but where true love exists, what does a trifle of years on eithei side signify?— He has money— she bag rank.^ He has youth and good looks — she has high birth and a handle to her name. As you say, Trixy, a most suitable match ! And then Miss Darrell went back to hei book, but the slender, black brows were meeting in a steady frown, that quite i spoiled her beauty— no doubt at something displeasing in the pages. ' Hut you mustn't sit here all day,' broke in Trix again ; ' it's high time you were uf in your dressing-room. What are you going to wear, Dith ?' ' 1 have not derided yet. I don't care ; it doesn't much matter. I have decided te i look my best in anything.' She arose and sauntered out of the room, and was seen no more, until the waxlighbs , blazed from end to end of the greal nansion and the June dusk had deepened into dewy night. Then, as the roll of car riages came without ceasing along the diive, she descended, arrayed for battle, te find her impatient slave and adorer await ing her at the foot of the grand stairway. She smiled upon him her brightest, most beaming smile, a smile that intoxicated hiir at sight. ' Will I do, Sir Victor ?' she asked. Would she do? He looked at her as a man may look, half dazzled, at the sun. He could not have told you what she wore, pink and white clouds it seemed te him— .he only knew two brown, luminous, laughing eyes were looking straight intohis, and turniug his brain with their spell. ' You are sure I will do ? You are sure you will not be ashamed of me to-night T her laughing voice asked again. Ashamed of her— ashamed ! He laughed aloud at the stupendous joke, as he drew her arm within his, and led her into the thronged rooms, as some favoured subject may once in his life lead in a queen. Perhaps there was excuse for him. • ] shall look my be3t in anything,' khe had said, in her disdain, and she kept her word. She wore a dress that seemed alternately composed of white tulle and blush-roses" she had roses in her rich, dark hair, haii always beautifully worn ; Sir Victor's betrothal ring shon^e on her finger ; round her arching throat she, wore a slender line of yellow gold, a locket set with brilliants attached. The locket had been Lady Helena's gift, and held Sir Victor's portrait. That was her ball array, and "she looked as though she were floating in her fleecy white draperies, her perfumery roses, and sparkling diamonds. The dark eyes outshone the diamonds, a soft flush warmed either cheek. Yes, she was beautiful ; so beautiful that saner men than her accepted lover might have bean pardoned if for a moment they lost their heads. Lady Helena Powyss, in sweeping moire and jewels, receiving her guests, looked at her and d»*ew one long breath of gieat relief. She might have spared herself all her anxious doubts and fears— low-born and penniless as she was, Sir Victor Catheron's bride would do Sir Victor Catheron honour to night. Trix was there— -Trix resplendent in pearl silk with a train half the length of the room, pearl silk, point lace, white camellias, and Neapolitan corals and cameos, incrusted with diamonds -Trix, in all the finery six thousand dollars can buy, drew a long breath of great aud bitter envy. 'If one wore the Koh-i-noor and Cbronation Robes,' thought Miss Stuart sadly, 'she would shine one down. She is dazzling to-night. Captain Hammond,' tapping that young warrior with her point-lace fan, ' don't you think Edith is without exception 1 the mo3t beautiful and elegant girl in the rooms ':' And the gallant captain bows profoundly, and answers with a look that points the speech : ' ♦ With one, exception, Mias Beatrix, only one.' r .

Charleyjs- there, and perhaps there can] be no ; doubt aboutMt/tHat -.Charley is, 1 ..without exception, far and away, the beatlooking man. , Charley gazes at his cousin for an instant on the arm of her proud and happy lover, radiant and smiling, the centre, of all that is best in the room. She lifts her dark, laughing eyes as it chances, and brown and grey meet full. Then he turns away to a tall, languid rather passive lady, who is talking slowly by his side! 'Is Miss Darrell really his cousin ? Really ? How extremely handsome she is, and how perfectly infatuated Sir Victor seems. Poor Sir Victor ! What a pity there is insanity in the family— insanity is such a very shocking thing. How pretty Mies Stuart is looking this evening. She has heard — is it true— can Mr Stuart inform her — are all American girls handsome ?' And Charley— as Captain Hammond has done— bows, and looks, and replies : ' I used to think so, Lady Gwendoline. I have seen English girls since, and think differently.' Oh, the imbecile falsehoods of society ! He is thinking, as he says it, how pallid and faded poor Lady Gwendoline is looking, in her dingy green satin and white Brussels lace overdress, her* emeralds and bright golden hair— most beautiful and most expensive shade to be had in London. He is thinking how the Blanc de Perle and rouge vegetal is showing on her three-and-thirty-year old face, and what his life would be like if he listened to his father and married her. He shudders inwardly and gives it up — ' that way madness lies,' and while there is a pistol left wherewith to blow his brains out, ho can sfcill hope to escape a worse fate. But Lady Gwendoline, freighted with eleven seasons' experience, and growing seedy and desperate, clings to him as the drowning cling to straws. She is the daughter of a peer, but there are five younger sißters, all plain and all portionleas. Her elder sister, who chaperones her to-night, iB the wife of a rich and retired manufacturer, Lady Portia Hampton. The rich and retired manufacturer has purchased Drexel Court, and it ip Lady Portia's painful duty to try and marry her sisters off. The ball is a great success for Miss Edith Darrell. The men rave about her, the women may sneer, but they must do it covertly ; her beauty and her grace, her eleerance and hiph breeding, not the most envious dare dispute. Music swells and floats delioiously — scores are suitors for her hand in the dance. The flush deepens on her dusk cheeks, the streaming light in her starry eyes— she is dangerously brilliant tonight. Sir Victor follows in her train whenever his duties allow him ; when he dances with others his eyes follow his heart, and go after her. There is but one in all these thronged rooms for him - one who is his idol— his darling— the pride, the joy, the desire of his life. IMy dear, lam pioud of you to-night,' La'Jy Helena whispers once. ' You surpass yourself — you are lovely beyond compare. You do us all credit.' And Edith Darrell's haughty eyes look up for a moment and they are flashing through tears. She lifts the lady's hand with exquisite grace, and kisses it. Then smiles chase the tears, and she is gone on the arm of some devoted cavalier. Once only once, she dances with Charley. She has striven to avoid him— no, noc lhat either— it is he who has avoided her. She has seen him— let her be surrounded bv scores, she has seen him whispering \i ith Lady Gwendoline, dancing with Lady Gwendoline, fanning Lady Gwendoline, flirting with Lady Gwendoline. It is Lady Gwendoline he leads to supper, and it is after supper, with the enchanting sirains of a Strauss waltz filling the air, that he comes up and asks her for that dance. ' I am sure I deserve it for my humility,' lie says plaintively. ' I have stood in the background, humbly and afar off, and given you up to my betters. Surely, after all the bitter pills I have been swallowing 1 , I deserve one. sugar-plum.' She laughs— glances at Sir Victor, making his way toward her, takes his arm rather hurridly, and moves off. lls Lady Gwendoline a pill, or a sugarplum ?' she asks. ' You certainly seenf to have had an overdose of her.' 'I owe Lady Gwendoline my deopest thanks,' he answered gravely. 'Her efforts to keep me amused this evening have been worthy of a better cause. If the deepest gratitude of a too-trusting heart,' says Charley, laying his hand on the left side of hi 3 white waistcoat, « be any reward for such service, it is hers.' They float away. To Edith it is the one danco of the night. She hardly knows whether she whirls in air or on the waxed floor ; she only knows that it is like heaven, that the music is celestial, and that it is Charley's arm that is clasping her close. Will she ever waltz with him again &he wonders, and she feels, feels in her inmost heart, that she is sinning against her affianced husband in waltzing with him now. But it is so delicious — what a pity most of the delicious things of earth should be wrong. If it could only last for ever— for ever ! And while she thinks it, it stops. ' O Charley ! that was a waltz !' she says, leaning on him heavily, and panting ; ' no one else has my step as you have it.'" 1 Let us trust that Sir Victor will learn it,' he responds coolly; 'here he comes now. It was a charming waltz, Dithy, but charming things must end. Your lawful proprietor approaches ; to your lawful proprietor I resign you.' He was perfectly unexcited. He bows, smiles, yields her to Sir Victor, and saunters away. Five seconds later he is bending over Lady Gwendoline's chair, whispering in the pink, patrician ear resting against the glistening, golden chignon. Edith looks once— in her heart she hates Lady Gwendoline — looks once, and looks no more. And as the serene June morning dawns, and larks and thrushes pipe in the trees, Lady Helena's dear five hundred friends sleepy and pallid, get into their carriages and go home. ( To be Continued. )

The fruit-growers' conference at Melbourne wa3 brought to a conclusion on baturday. In discussing- the question of insect peste, it was suggested that wellqualified entomological" inspectors should be appointed, and that legislation should be passed to secure general operations for eradication of the pests. It was acknowledged, however, that if the growers kept then trees in a thoroughly "healthy condition, there would be but little chance of the trees being attacked by insects fco any great extent. A paper was read on the fruit-growing industry in Victoria. In an address on the culture of the orange the opinion was expressed that the orange and other species of the citrue family could be profitably cultivated in many portions of the colony, especially in the northern districts. In our issue of August 17, says the bydney "Freeman," we gave the following figures as to the financial results of the Irish delegates' mission : — Victoria, £9,500 ; Queensland, £6,000; New South ' Wales, £3,050 ; South Australia, £500. This total of over £19,000 showed how up s to that date the mission of the delegates had "failed " as the cablegram from England told us it had. We have now much pleasure in stating that the sum has been increased by further subscriptions to the handsome total