Literature.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 234, 7 October 1904, Page 4

Literature.

HER OWN EXEiIY. " Jliss Dorothy Harley sat by the firo knitting one late Spring afternoon. She was waiting for her niece to come in, when tea would be brought up, and probably Tom, her niece's fj . fiance, .would drop in and spend the ' evening with them. , Miss Harley was a sweet-faced old lady, with silvery hair, and finely-cut aristocratic features, whilst Molly Q'Brien was still in her teens, and had inherited the dark beauty of her Irish lather's family. \ Her mother ha 4 been the youngest ■ of eight children, whilst Missi Harley was the eldest, a fact which account- : - ed for the difference in age of the two occupants of Rose Cottage. " Molly was an orphan, and had been left to the guardianship of her aunt, .who had always been devoted to the child.. Presently she heard a whistle—the girl used to herald her advent in this fashion, out of a spirit fori mischief,

for the mistress of Rose Cottage was brought up in a generation which £"■ looked with horror on any woman .who whistled, ; "Here I am at last, auntie. Shall " I ring for tea ? I am so hungry—ll have been all the way to Northaiupton market, and you know that is quite six miles .each way." My dear child, whatever did you do that for ? You know I dislike you tramping about by yourself." " Never mind, you old dear, this once at any rate,'- answered the girl., as she flung off her jacket and sank 'down on a .stool at her aunt's feet. " You must know, dear, that the other day t was telling Tom what a good walker I am, and he said he was quite sure I could never walk into Northampton and back, so as it was such a lovely day 1 went there and got him some sweets that you can only buy in the market. Y'ou don't mind, dear, do you 1 " she added anxiously, as she saw a little * shadow on her aunt's face. " No, my love, I don't mind this pnee—X should have done the same at your age ; but that reminds me that I want to tell you a little story after tea, and Tom, 100, if he comes in."

At that moment, there came a loud knock at the front door, and Molly flew to open it, for she knew it was Iter lover. .Tom Marston was a fine specimen of a young Englishman, fair, blueeyed." and with a lithe, well-knit figuru ;he was a man of whom any woman might well be proud. "How are you to-day, auntie?" ' he asked, as he stooped with an oldfashioned grace to kiss the thin hand held out to him. Thero was something about Miss Harley that made people feel they .were in the presence of an aristocrat, - one of the kind that jested on the steps of the guillotine in the days of the French Revolution. Certainly, Miss llarley's grandmother had been an old French -Marquise, so doubtless iier air was inherited iroui her. ' Very glad to see you, my boy. I have just been telling Molly that 1 have something to say and to show you both after tea." I'm dying with curiosity, so hurry up, auntie, and let us begin." Directly that sociable meal was lended, Molly and Tom took their jplaces on the setee which stood close by the lire, w'hilst Miss Harley went over to the old bureau in the corner of the room, and , unlocking it, opened a drawer, from which she extracted a small leather case. "Now, children, you are the only .two beings 1 have left to love me, and I am going to tell you the secret of my life, a thing no one else has ever known. You see this case," hero she opened it and disclosed various pieces of jewellery to the astonished gaze of her hearers. " Every trinket you see here, has

a history of its own. You must know, dears, that when I was your age, I was considered a very lowly •girl ! " Here a faint flush came on the old lady's checks, as if in apology for her self-praisa-. " I should just think you were, Auntie ; you must have been quite exquisite ! " murmured M.olly admiringiy.

" Well, dear, anyhow that beauty was my undoing, for 1 was a sad flirt. I soon found that I could turn men round iny little finger, and I was thoughtless—heartless, if you like.

" Six men proposed to me, only for me to laugh at them, or in the case of two to become engaged to them for a few months, and then, tiring of them, to give thiem their conge. "I am afraid I never thought of the pain 1 gave tliem. I remember Captain Fitzgerald rushed out of the room, and a week later sailed for the Crimea, where, poor fellow, he was killed, I was told afterwards that it was his utter recklessness which made him stand in an exposed spot, and as tire bullets rained upon him, he fell with the words, ' Your doing, Dorothy.' " Here the old lady stopped to wipe away a furtive tear. " It was Some months later that I met Lord George Ormond, whose regiment was quartered at Northampton. It w as at a Hunt Ball that I first saw liim, and I thin]£ we mutually fell in love with each other. That was forty years ago, Holly, but I have never forgotten a day of that three months during which he was my accepted lover. " 1 had played with love before, but this time myself was tho captive. Scarce a week passed but what George brought me some fresh trinket. Look, dear, at this necklacy," and t ie old lady held out a circlet of beautifully cut crystals, with long, pear-shaped drops. " He gave me this the day lie took me up to London for the lust time, and this," she held out a little turquoise locket, "he sent me in the first love-letter he wrote.

" Happy? Yes—you and Tom may perhaps be able to guess at my happiness, then ; the days flew, the birds had never sung so sweetly, the sun had never shined so brightly. Earu was a veritible paridise to me, and then, in a moment it became a hell!" Her hearers fairly jumped ; such a word, from Miss Hurley's lips, and in such a tone.

The lovers drew nearer to each other, and Tom clasped Molly's hand in his with a reassuring pressure. " One morning," continued Miss Harley, speaking now in a dull tone as if she felt the horror afresh, " I had come downstairs in my ridinghabit, to go out with my dear father and George, when his groom tame up and handed me a letter.

" Here it i 9, read it for yourselves, I cannot ! " Tom took the faded letter she held out, and, opening it he and Mollyread in silence : " Dorothy,—You have broken my heart. You—whom I always thought so good and pure—prove to be a 'heartless flirt. The news of Fitzgerald's death has just reached me through a comrade who was at his side when lie fell, and w'ho had known of your conduct in leading him on, and then throwing him over like a broken toy.

" Y'ou, Dorothy, the woman I love !

" And yet I could forgive you this, but to know that you have allowed many other men to kiss you, have deliberately led them on, only to laugh at them, is more than I can bear. Poor fools ! They 'believed in you, as I have done, who, doubtless, am but another you will add to your list of triumphs.

"If I were to see you again, 1 might perhaps forget myself, might even wait for you to spuim me. So, good-bye, Dorothy ; never in this life will I willingly look on you again, nor can you gain news of me, for I have left here before this letter reaches you, and go forth, a brokenhearted man, to serve my country under another name, to die, as Fitzgerald has died, if God is good to me. 1

The tears were coursing down Molly's alieeks before she had finished, whilst Tom blew his nose in a suspicious manner, as he handed back the letter without a word. " Yea, deal's, I was punished, bitterly punished, for I never found my George. From that moment ho vanished completely, as if th e earth had opened and swallowed him up. "You have often, I dare say, wondered at the ring 1 wear on my left hand ; it was our engagement-ring. I could not return it, I could not send back these, for he haid g o ne. " For a month after I received that letter I lay on my bed, tossing in a delirium of brain fever, and when I rose up again my hair was white, a.s you soe it now. "I don't know why I have told you both, perhaps because it is just forty years to-day, that George told me of his love, perhaps because I felt I could no longer keep my secret | ~that I must have some human sympathy. ■ Vv *ny. my dear, don't pl a y witli 0 V'.' onl V comes once It is God's fl ? st ' & i!t ' and not to be lightly thought of." b Molly fluag doWn on t)]e hearthrug, ao d buried faco in the woman s lap, sobbing ti u . wWle . Tom, for his p a rt, had crossed over to the windew, and was looking out when he saw * man, I( i ainly u Kc , n l tleman, ■ stop a small- child playing 1 near, and then make his way to the little gate, which stood <u the entrance to Miss llarley's cottage. To this day Tom does mt know what promptod him, but fie went swiftly across to where Molly knelt, and, lifting her in his arms, Ixre her gently from the room, much to Miss Harley's astonishment. Molly's own indignation had been promptly uqipressed by a curious thrill in'tier. lover's voice a.s he muttered : " Hush."

Scarcely were they out of the rook| than a knock was heart), and u mait. opened the door to admit a tall, with irongrey hair and-"" I soldierly Bearing. Molly grasped Tom's idea, quicklyv^ nt J * n 'to '-he passage, dismissed the maid, ask- , ed the visitor his name. f' " George Ormond, a t .vour-spfvice,' ! younp lady, but does Miss " I 'Yes, yes, come 'along! " whis- | p e ,'3 the girl, throwing' open the ' door, and literally

(pushing the man in, she called out : " At last, auntie ! " and shut (he i Moor.

" Oh, Tom, how clever of you to think of it ! 1 am so happy, so glad. Come along, you dear old boy, and let us run into the orchard, w.here 1 can shout ! " and, suiting the action to the word, sfoe dived through the kitchen, followed by Tom, and out into the field at the back of the house.

Two hours later, when it was quite dark, .they hoard Miss Hurley's voice calling them, and want in to find her blushing and wailing, as she introduced her old friend. Lord George Ormond.

Hose Cottage is for sale, for two marriages will take place shortly, and it will then lose its occupants. I commend such a romantic residence to the notice of some sweet old maid, or shall we say, bachelor girl ?

Imprisoned by hep Husband, TOPE SHUT Ul' I.N A HOUSE FOR FOUR YEARS. MODERN' CINDERELLA. An extraordinary story of the ill-' treatment ot a wif« was told to the Bromley (Kent) magistrate!* recently. For four years, it was said, the woman was kept a prisoner ire her own house by her husband's orders. The wife, Mrs Eva Korer, summoned her husband, Otto Dorer, a jeweller's assistant, residing in Uecken-hani-lamo,Sifctortlands, to show aause why she should not have a separation order on account of his persistent cruelty and neglect. Mrs Dorer's counsel said that when the parties were married, the coniplainuiit, who was then a Miss Wickeiifj. was only twenty-one years of age. She was entitled to a sum of £I,OOO, which the defendant got possession of, purchasing the furniture with a part of it. At first they lived at 22, Lesliegrove, Croydon. While there the defendant introduced into the household a woman, ostensibly to act as housekeeper. Having got the woman installed in the house he established her as his wife, and degraded his lawful wife to the position of drudge. The other woman had been living with the defendant as his wife ever since, and had borne him three children, the complainant residing in the same house all the time.

-No Money and Little Clothing.— In 1900 they removed to their present address at Shortlands, and during the whole of the four years that had since elapsed the complainant had never once been allowed to go outside the house.

She received no money, only very scanty and filthy clothing, and was not allowed to communicate with her friends or neighbours. Recently, when the third child was born to the defendant's companion, the complainant managed to escape from the house.

Mrs Dorer, a weakly looking little woman, said that she slept, in a buck room, while the other woman shared her husband's room. She had her meals in the kitchen by herself. A neighbour who knew that fj'ic did not got enough food used to pass up some to her at her bedroom window in a basket tied to the eni of a long pole. Her husband had threatened to shut her up in one room if he found her talking to the neighbours. Mr Gregory, solicitor for the defendant, said that after this evidence he would not prolong the case. lie agreed that there should be a separation order; tho only questions wei.'j how much ho could pay and who was to have the custody of tlie two children. He was only earning 36s a week.

The bench granted the separation order and fixed tlie weekly payment to the wife at 15s, the wife also to have the custody of the two children.

The defendant was hissed as ho loft tho court.