Literature.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 142, 20 June 1904, Page 4

Literature.

u*e ■ . ,— _ . j. ; THE WOMAX HE LO .-ED. , j,i ' - ItoLey Bane and Alice 1 arl-y sat I an the verandah togetlier, and he f 'Sd"bWi reading to her. Suddenly i '• -Hife'latter looked up and a keu : r you wholly trust tho wo- " !■« answered. lU'< • = t& «ace upturned to his , k 2SMU i» "is eyea thatbrough fc tTit a flush like that you see in the > L wild roses when the sunshmc h ttustme wholly, as I shall trust hei. ' <£{hW >vau iwould trust me too >,' WW<V you. are the woman 1 ■ down and kissed tar.. r awkhc woman who was watching i EStf ifbat behind the curtains oi a 8 ttSreerf ! 'tOg«aier, and her mce was J! ■- fvWJealouS .pain- as si* witnessed ' f 1 he-would think., if he knew what 1 rio ?" she vvhispered. I' ■WfSWact. "if Alice' Farley « ' ZM him? K does not seem o ?, te possible that she is capable of < web deceit, and yet-wlml else can P- \Wey what I have &• wen ?1} he knew-if he only knew ! f aft.e.noo!., as Hodney Dane " «nd ' 'Alice Farley were walking up r- ami down' the path that led alo rt g(,the '' '" river baffliU. Margaret Worth joined t.'- tbem. * ■ , , % "We have been talking about !T t ■ rfiosts," Alice said; "I believe in x Sheri; Sndfltodney does not. What jr do you think about them?" ► "I am half inclined to believe in

P" them," answered Miss Worth, c" "though I have always been sceptii i at "o| the siibjecV, but last night t flaw 1 one, ' I think.' It was just as the 'etoclc. «was' striking twelve—the r traAid6naT v h6Qr for ghosts, you know—when I saw what convinced f me that there were stranger things ; in earth than I had dreamt of. I .-—was. sitting by my window,for I had bad* a headache all day, and wad unable to sleep. I happened to look down>~ thejpatih, and 1 saw a gbpstly figure " coining towards the" place g where we are now standing. It was fata& fo*-m»:tP<ta.a'bleto <"> I- »*«lgWSh' its «atufcS,» tut in general g appearance It resembled you, Miss iEarley.'' i*- "• Alice Farley's face turned sudden- £ ly white, and the hand that was toyjp jT»g with a -rose shock with some * strong emotion. Then, feeling, that j. t^fKlnej;i)anet's. eyes were on her, a ft Hk, J, $E* n ge aau.Hy-lookijjg, flush, took the ( »j plwje.of .the j»lldr that iliss Worth's seems4- t9.;feave opcasicinod. '' oi* '''^ t i ™ u st have been a ghost in fe' on Miss Worth, with her r* Seen eyes on Miss Farley's, face,; to f_ note the effect of her words ; "for it r, - had evidentij! come to keep a gfhostly f tryst. .It was met by another ghost > and thS ineeting J was very much like * ,»*t4»at b<; lovers .who are in the flesh." E Alice Farley's face was white ayain I and.the eyea she lifted, for a [, moment to Eodoey Dane's had a frightened look in them. . t "Did you dream this, or is it a iitromance .of tho.imagination for our amusJ'nient ?" asked Dane, ray- , stifled by Miss Worth's wonls and 'i manner, and their effect on Alice Farley. "I did not dream what I have told you abdn*;''aod'l did not imagine it, I saw precisely what I have told i i?CUi" answered Miss Worth. "If I fidid'flot'seo ghosts, wltat did I sec?" *' Don't let's talk about such things," Alice said, with a shiver. '■' The river has a tempting looktake us out for a row, Itodney.-"' But tho river could not charm .Vbo,/spell that Miss Worth's ' Strange w : ords had left behind them. w jfiodney ; Dane could not helpwon'derwfafT' what-meaning lay hidden under Alice Farley knew well enough what he was thinking .._. "Tie little rift within the lute," r Miss Worth kept whispering to herself, exultantly, as her keen eyes saw what thoughts wore> a* : i?£rk. That evening Rodney" Dane met Margaret Worth in tho hall. "What d£d you- hiean to-day ?'•' he asked in an imperative tone. , "I meanf— I scarcely know what," * Ae'lnsA'erod. "But your talk atfeut ghosts brought to my mind what I |j trad seen and I spoke of it.'i i "'Of course you did not expect us to believe that you thought you bad * ttelly'teeß a ghost," he said. "What was it, or rather, who was it, that you saw ? I am curious to know, you see, what romantic maiden holds midnight meetings with her lover." "I cannot tell you that, because I do not know," she answered. "It looked like Miss Farley, but it scarcely seems possible that it Could have been she." "Of coursfc! it was not she," said Dane, but for all he spoke so de*sKJ«Hy<'MKss Worth knew that there was a sort of doubt—or perhaps feai was a better word to use—at work fn his mind. It was a feeling that he-could give no name to, as yet, ■because it was so vague ; but because of that vagueness all tho more tormenting. *■ It was on tiic following night that Rodney Dane saw the ghost that Mie# Worth had seen. He was sitting at the window, Watching the lurid effect with which frejjuent flashes oj Hgatning |H up a Vftv-.al iarkocsk. He could never Bleep during a thunderstorm, so he m* loofcjagKiut of the window, -, * vivld t \ made the landscape rf-Mjjfht as'SMy, "and showed to him a woman's figure"" stealing down the path. fleforg""the lurid light had ■died away, the woman looked back us if fearful of being seen, and he - saw the face of Alice Farley, "Heavens,'' he cried, "where can sno l|e go.ngi on such a niyht as this awl at such?" H e threw u th * WK" Dd « out i,lto the ni K««Another flash showed her to him further down the path. Then there was Wite an interval of darkness. When the next flash came, it showed him the woman he loved with a man's arm about her, and he saw her face lifted lor a kiss. kS Iflr 0 ' the *« ht W£ * like a to Aim. Ha scarcely knew what he was ahout as he made

preparations to Rave the place in" which his dream of life had comet to him, and tho terrtble awakening from

"False ! False !" he kept saying. Whoa morning came he was ready togc. He hoped to got away without Alice, but he did not. She met him in the'hall. ■'•'l am going away," he said, while his face was white. "I can scarcely be expected to stay longer alter what I saw last night." She grew pale to the lips. "Oh, Rodney, if you only knew ! " she cried. "Believe me, you wojld not blame me if you knew." "Perhaps not," he answered coldly. '■' Hut not knowing, I judge by what I see." "Oh, Itodney, trust me!" she cried. "You shall know the truth by and bye. 1 would explain it all now, but I dare not. until " "And yet you ask me to trust you !" he cried, breaking in upon her with words full of cruel scorn and unbelief. "I wish to heaven I had never seen you—l hope I shall never see your face again !" Taen he. turned away, and a moment later was gone ; while Alice Farley stood there speechless and pale as death, and listened to the sound of his departing feet, and felt in a kind of numb way that her heart was breaking. A week later Uodney Dano heard that Alice Farley had left her father's house for ever. Why, no one knew, but she was gone, and her father had forbidden anyone to .speak of her to him. "Let it bens if she were dead," he said. (To be continued.)