The Storyteller.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7823, 16 May 1905, Page 4

The Storyteller.

|£ THE DIFFICULTY OF HUGH 1 |£ • CHESTER, ] (Continued). - 1? "Is that young lady a friend of i' P yours ?" Jbe asked, when he had , |T been 0 n board a couple of days, as 1 £- jib exceedingly lively girl with mct'i'y | f? fclue eyes nodded gaily and wared | fc, her band as she moved nearer the | jjl ' jbond with an attentive escort of I SR chosen young men. I

?' " Yes," replied Miss Burton, "«c ! are oM Echo»l-fricnds, and now we g • are both going out lo Colanfbo undcr the ca*o of the captain." L - " Oh, then she is •llisa Bertram," P said Hugh, without thinking, and g,-' 'then saw what a nrlstaEe ho had 1 made. t'i His companion looked at him in surprise. "Do you know her, then'?" I dM asked. «■, . oh, no," he cried hurriedly ; "oniW* ly I heard the captain had a Miss

M, Burton end a SliSB Bertram under | E' ■ bis care as 'far as Colombo, and I I* messed that might ilbie she," and s .. then, to turn her attention from his I- contusion, he added : " She seems to> bo having a good time," alluding to ■i'iter train of young men, and an ' open .flirtation with one, of the ship's " officers, which he had already notic"ed was tHe cause of much amusj- - men I to tho other passengers. Miss Burton Sashed an indignant ; (glance at him from her frank grey

p eyes. gp.; - "She is such a child, and has had grr suelt a' dull life at home." Hugh was pleased at her loyalty, and longed to say, " So have* you, but you don't like that," fe but he recollected that she had an ►„ -- additional safeguard in that slio y, ••was engaged, and would think it T wrong to flirt. His were som <l - K; what old-fashioned. kf ti " 1 beg- your pardon," he replied, jj|f "I ought not to haye critised your friend's conduct, which cannot con•L' eern me. All the same, if you will excuse my saying it, as having so i&. much mora experience of the world fe 'ttan either of you, it would be as P" • 'weH •' you warned your friend that §J : She is causing remark anion;; the |s.. passengers." jU '•"She is going to someone whio B, Wl know how to take care of her," Iv; she answered. " and Ido not like discussing my friends behind their BSfc-' backs." . Two evenings later He was leanIt SF ovw tho ship's side with Miss Unrton, and a silence had fallen upife on them at the sight of the glori!tr *? ~s topical moonlight on the heav's, ',?* ocean, a silence that showed an Q intimacy that was full of sweetness, te- Bhe feeling the balmy air laden with r,&:, unspoken love, found the silence t* r fraught with too much meaning; and " Is it not beautiful ? " - Hugh, however, answered with un- ■ seeming irrelevance : \ '",7 <<Mnorrow we sJlall see Colorn- ( For some minutes they said nothj|&."hut at last she remarkod ; it "It has been a very pleasant voy•"i; - "go." and her voice broke over the »-v commonplace wordspSH " Since Aden——" he prompted,, jji- »go taking her slim white .hand in his stopping the very words on his lips k ' ' and he folded her in hits arms. Suddenly she drew "herself away. Ipci " Oh, stop, Mr Chichester, befo'rt p? you say one wor-d more ; I must tel] JK you the truth about myself; I canK. - not keep up the deception any long' Sp er. You think lam Kit Burton. ] am not. I am Kathleen Bertram." "Good God ! cried Hugh, recoil ■fs ing in horror. " I suppose," she went on hurriedI' ly. " you think lam very wicked !.< E bo travelling under an assumed nanu

and telling so many lies, but it was s> only to please my frfend Kit. Now g-P do listen to me before you judge eitfeer of us," and she put her hand i on his arm as he leant heavily > on ' the ship's rail with averted head, rt' Hib horror seemed to her rather disproportionate to her oHence, yet she v felt she was fighting lor what was more to her than friendship. jM!' " Kit was a dear friend of mine," I; she continued, "and I was delighted to hear she was going to get marjf rled and got away from her unhappy home. When we arranged to travel ij. together she begged Hie to change names with her. She said she had ■- never had any fun or freedom in her life, and she was now going to be married to a man much older than * herself, and she wanted to have lier fljpg first. You inust not blame her, she is such a child, and she will no , doubt make him all the better wife & .. lar it. She did not want to go out flabelled '■ engaged,' she said, and she f* wanted to have fun without the captain and , everybody crying ' lie ' - upon her. So I consented. I did not like il, but she says she has hud a splendid time, the time of her lif'.s : 1 and, after all," she added defiantly, "it has done no one any harm." 5 Hugh repressed a groan. No harm! Then Miss Kathleen liertiani grew angry with hiui. What difference could it make to him? Why did he not reassure her with the words of love that she had only checked : through an exaggerated idea of 11011- '■ our ? And she cried indignantly : "I suppose you htfce never got ' yourself into a mess .through trying lo oblige a friend, Mr Chichester ; and since jou evidently think I have E - sinned past forgiveness, I will ceas,.- %• to trouble you with inv presence r Good evening." and she sailed away, with a dignity that only lasted till i... she reached her cabin. Shaking off at last the icy feeling of despair that seemed to cause a Z-. physical numbness, Hugh turned and stretched out his arms to her with a %-■- gesture of love and longing, but she Ik; was gone, and he let his arms fall |,' again to his side with a groan, p, What had Kit done in her wish for gi fun and flirting ? What had lie done in hia romantic attempt to gain the (£ love of his bride before they were &<.. wedded ? How could he hlaine the ft. sf* wh:n, after all, it was his litres tfe plot, so innocent in intention, g£,.' tja't had turned the comedy into BR tragetly ? fv Am ® how. was he to unravel the | tangled sk'eiii}* Was he bound to the fe young girl to whom he had practifefs Cfllljf confessed his love, and whose gfe i ,at ' so successfully set him-fig-A" w:n . or the light-minded litW&:. tie flirt who had journeyed across the HK' oocan to marry him, and from whom Hwjs turned with a real dislike ?