SERIAL STORY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 292, 19 January 1910, Page 6

SERIAL STORY

ft ROYAL WARD. r\' PERCY t'.RKBXKR. (. 1 iy fpccial Arrangement). CHAPTER ll'l. LIEUTENANT EYERTSEN'S MJRTIMv "Soldiers' r ' Deborah exclaimed, as 1 the servant, opened the door. Half-a-duzm men stood without, bat only one entered. He glanced at Deborah, and then his eyes remained fixed upon the girl by the iireplace, whose figure had stiffened a little. "To what do we owe this late visit, sir'''' she asked, almost as a queen migut demand explanation of a subject. Her sudden dignity even astonished Deborah Cowper, who had long since learnt not to be surprised at Betty's moods and manners.

"I am Lieutenant Evertsen, at your service. In discharge of-my duty I am hunting a rascally Frenchman wiio oniy to-night landed secretly upon the..coast. "But why look for him at Abbots Chase?'' said Deborah.

I "Because, madam, he was seen 'o I enter the park, aiid would probably , enter the house if the chance offered, j Some of my men are searching the | grounds for him now." i "It seems an unwarrantable liberty I to take." ! "On his part, yes; on ours, it is in J the King's name/' "Indeed, we want to Frenchmen here,"' said Betty. "He landed secretly to-night, vou say?" "Not an hour ago," Evertsen answered. "We were in hiding to surprise a gang of smugglers; but I was prepared to find that smuggling was not the only reason for their secrecy. Spies from France are still busy with our affairs', you know. I am bent upon cap--1 taring this one." "It will bring you credit, no doubt, and I wish you good fortune," said Betty. "Will it please you to search the house?" "Could anyone enter Abbots Chase without our knowing it?" demanded Deborah, who appeared to think that a personal indignity was offered them. "May I take it, madam, that your natural kindness of heart has not given sanctuary to any man to-night?" "Sir, my kindness of heart would not extend to that una jr anv circumstances. As for a Frenchman, it may interest you to learn that this house is especially | bound to the King, since my young mistress here is a ward o? his Majesty's." ; "His Majesty is surely to be envied his 1 guardianship," Evertsen replied. "May T know whom I have been so unfortunate to disturb at this hour of the /night?" - | "This is Lady Betty Walmisley." said I Deborah, as though she felt there was magie in the name. It almost seemed that there was, for. Evertsen started slightly and looked at the girl more keenly than ever. "Lady Bettv Walmisley," he repeated slowly. "Indeed, I humbly crave pardon. and I am honored." "You are most easily satisfied, sir," she returned, with a sweeping enrtsev. "You speak my name as though it were not unfamiliar to you." "I have heard you spoken of in town." "Then I shall doubtless find a welcome when I go thither. It is pleasa™' to be so famous, yet hard to live ir ignorance of the fact. In these days very little news comes to Abbots Chas'e."

"Concerning this fugitive Frenchman, do you wish to search for him?" asked Deborah. "Shall I order lights, Betty? I doubt if the house has .suffered such indignitv since the Roundheads overrun it looking for honest gentlemen who served ;the King." "It is unnecessary," said Evertsen. "i am sure Lady Betty Walmisley would never harbor a spy." "She would sooner offer you entertainment to fortify you against the long watch you are forced to keep to-ni<,nit. P said Betty; and this she did, in .spite of Deborah's evident disapproval. "Is that the sort of man you expect to turn my head?" Betty asked, with a laugh, when Evertsen had gone. "1 think the head-turning was on his shoulders rather than mine . I am inclined to think it was his' duty to search the house."

"After our assertion that no one entered it!" exclaimed Miss Cowper. "So far as we know, Deborah, you ought to have said. There are more ways into Abbots Chase than through the front door and the windows of this room."

"Really, Betty, vou are doing your best to make me nervous and rob me of sleep to-night." Betty laughed, but she was not quite happy in her own mind. Lieutenant Evertsen seemed very certain that the stranger was a spy. Had she given shelter to an enemy of her country? Walter Evertsen was not devoid' of shrewdness. He was a good soldier, and it was predicted by his superiors that he had a career before him, yet it never occurred to him that Lady Betty Walmisley herself had not denied that a man had entered the house. He hud been absorbed not only bv the beauty of the girl, but by the curious coincidence. which had made them acquainted. It was no mere idle boasting when he said lie had heard her name in town. He had heard her spoken of many times under circumstances which were of peculiar interest to him. The adventure 'filled his thoughts all night, and was with him next morning when, leaving certain of his men to watch the park and neighborhood of Abbots Chase, he returned to Dartmouth. It. served in a measure to soften liis' disappoint- j mcnt at losing the Frenchman. ' |

"If T have lost 'him," he reflected, "he cannot. have gone far, ana ray cursed had luck seems about to take a turn for the better. When one hears as much

about a girl as I have heard about Lady Betty, one wisely expects to be disappointed, and I find her the most beautiful woman in the world. Yes', niv star is surciy in the ascendant."

When he arrived at the Castle Inn, where lie kid taken up his quarters, ho was inclined to modify this opinion. "How about the prisoners, Kent?" he said to a soldier who was wailing for him. "Any papers found on them?'*' "There are no prisoners, sir." "What! Escaped?"

"We loosened the cords about their ankles, and were marching them here, when from a hollow by the roadside a s'core of ruffians flung themselves upon us. We had all our work to do to defend ourselves, and we had beaten them off the prisoners had gone with t.hem." Evertsen's rage seemed to get the better of him for a moment, and Kent went oil hurriedly: "There's more in this affair than we're aware of, sir. These fellows followed the lead of a horseman, who came out of a clump of trees just as we were attacked. He wasn't one of themselves, sir, and he wore a mask." "Was it the man we have been hunting?" Evertsen asked. "No, sir; I think B could swear to that." "The whole neighborhood seems to be in rebellion against the law,' Evertsen returned. "Come to me in half an hour, Kent; we must run these fellows to earth." "It's poor work to put soldiers to," grumbled the man, as ne departed.

Late in the afternoon Evertsen crossed the harbor and made his way to an old house that stood on the hillside above Kingswear. He was distantly related to tiie owner, Sir Rupert Ashton, and he had a mind for company. It would be a consolation to talk about his ill-luck, and Sir Rupert might be induced to tell him something about Lady Betty Walmisley, for he must know a great deal about her since shi was his' near neighbor. Whether tie would talk of her was another matter. It was said that London contained a fair woman who had succeeded in changing the whole course of fc>ir Ruperts life, but no one could name the lady. From being a man known and welcomed everywhere, from Carlton House to places of less respectability, Sir Rupert had suddenly become a recluse, anu lived chiefly in his old house above Kingswear. Woman in every shape and form was anathema to him; he wouldn't have a female servant about the place, and the dames in Dartmouth had many a good tale to tell concerning the ludicrous management of such an establishment left entirely to men. Like most other tales of this kind, there was but a bare modicum of truth in them. A woman's eye might have noticed thai there was lack of a woman's hand at Kingswear Manor, but little more. Sir Rupert received his guest in a small oak parlor. He boasted that he spent all his waking hours' in ttiis room, except when the quostion of health drove him out into the air. He chose to be considered something of a Scholar,/and had plenty of hoojks about him, but no competent person had ever been able to probe the depth of ids learning. Certainly, lie "had been at Oxford, but in his day that seat of classical lore had been at its lowest level, incompetent students being passed for degrees by examiners who were hardly less incompetent or who were too slothful to take any trouble. Whatever the dept.. of his knowledge might be, Sir Rupert kept it to himself, and, his stalwart, muscular frame gave him little of the appearance of a student. "Why, Walter, I thought you were on your way back to London. * 1 fancied you had finished looking for these villainous smugglers. What keeps you in tiie neighboriiood? Not a woman, surely?" "Even your country wenches are deserving ot a second glance occasionally, and 1 nave seen more than one pretty face and bewitching instep in Dartmouth," Evertsen answered. "If Devon breeds some lawless lellows, it breeds some mighty pretty women to keep tnem company.' 1 "They don't interest me," was the answer.

"Nor has' a woman kept me here,'' Evertsen went on. "1 let it be understood that we were going, because 1 wanted to lull all suspicion. I have found the place where these fellows run their cargo."

"Good, Walter, good. There's promotion close in front of you." "it's not so near as I thought it was last night. We waited for these "ellows, and, by Gad! tried conclusions with them, taking two of them." "Excellent, Waiter, Did you expect to take the lot, when these lellows were fighting 011 their own gr6und, and know every hole and cranny on the coastr "At least, I didn't expect that these two men would be snatched out of the hands of my soldiers on their way into Dartmouth, but so it was." "Then there is excitement about today, and I have heard nothing of it/' said Sir Rupert. "That comes of being a student and not stirring out for days together." "And that is not the worst," said Evertssn. "There landed wfith these smugglers a rascally French spy, who tricked us and got away. He used his sword indifferently well, but he used his cursed legs better. We caught a glimpse of him over by Abliots Chase. My men swore ho entered the park, so we playea hounds to the stag, and •' "And caught him?" asked Sir Rupert, showing keener interest than he Had yet done. "Not yet. The hounds are still watching. I went to the house and saw its mistress. Do you know her, Sir Rupert?" "1 have seen her with her nurse." "Not very lately, surely." j "I didn't mark the day particularly." I "She has grown into the most beautiful woman I have ever seen." said Evertsen. "Of course; and next week, or it may j be a montli hence, you'll have found j another so exquisite that Lady Eettv j will appear a very ordinary creature. I Why protest, Walter, it's the way wun men, and it's a wise proyidence which makes them so. I know the humor of it; I've been through the lire. It's to this one's eyes to-day. and to that ono's i lips to-morrow; and he's the lucky man)

J who remains out of the net in the end, What was' your French spy like?"

"In years about. my own nge, ana somewhat of my buiid. For running away purposes his legs were l etter tlm;i mine, as 1 have loid you. Inis Lady Betty is a ward of the King's, did you know that?"

"No; nor do I care." "And tiie Prince Regent acts for the King, Sir Rupert. Imu should make the uisj osai of the lady an interesting matLer."

"Most interesting for the lady," Sir Rupert answered. "Were he rid of his wife and other encumbrances which gossip savs exist, he might marry the lady himself, for she is very wealthy, 1 believe."

"Ah, Sir Rupert, I must not listen to such words concerning the Prince," said Evertsen. "As a .soldier, I must not, and since the Regent has honored me with his friendship, I cannot." "He's honored worse men than you, Walter," so there's not much to boast of. There, we can't all think alike in this world, and politics and the doings in town have nothing to do with Kingswear Manor. 1 trust you 11 be more successful with your spy than with your smugglers. After all," the latter are countrymen."

"And have your sympathy; is that what vou mean?"

"Gad! Walter, you pick up my words and then dance as if they were live coals," laughed Sir Rupert. "Let's get back to Lady Betty, she's a safer subject of conversation. I take it she had not seen the spy?" "No. She would have given him little sympathy, I warrant. You should have seen her eyes flash when, at first, she was inclined to resent my intrusion'." And afterwards?"' queried Sir Rupert. "They grew kinder," said Evertsen. "I took a glass of wine from her hands and felt "

"I wonder if it had paid duty." "Sir Rupert, 1 " "There's a deal in Devonshire that never has," said Sir Rupert; "and, of course, Lady Betty has nothing to do with the ordering of her cellar." "You must have heard much about her since she is your neighbor. You shall have an eager listener if you will talk of her?" "No, Walter. You shall toast her presently in as good a wine as she gave you, and afterwards, if you will, we can play a little. I did nJt slied all my vices when I 1 came to live in the country. There's a little devil within me who laughs when he sees a card or hears the rattle of the dice-box." The wine was good and plentiful, an I Evertsen was an eager gamester. Luck favored him to-night, and, warmed with the wine and flushed with success, he became confidential and boastful durin" pauses in the play. ° lor a man who has had experience, Rupert, you're a slow dog," he laughed. "What! Are you not * winning mv money fast enough?" Sir Rupert had drunk considerably less than his guest, and yet he played somewhat carelessly! Money! I was thinking of a woman, iou live within :v stone's throw of her, and know less of her than I do, who never met her until last night." And vet you wanted me to talk of her. Surely I should rather be the listener?"

"tvTt 11 f e , rlg ' Evertsen answered. Did I tell you that the Prince Resent honors me with his. friendship?" "That is well known, Walter." 'So news does find its wav to this forsaken ""hole sometimes. Friendship ot this means fortune, Sir Rupert I have been useful to the Prince, and he does_ not forget it"

Indeed; then those belie him who comnlain of his bad memory?" "It's useful to forget ' sometimes" laughed Evertsen, "and you cannot be at the service of every cringer for favor, l looked for nothing, and find myself marked out for distinction. But it's a secret at present, and we forget the game." °

"And the wine," said Sir Rupert, nlmisr his guest's empty glass. They played again, and" still Evertsen won, and emptied his glass more than once.

"Did I tell you how friendly the a«ain gent was to me? " he .said

Play, Walter, play. I'm eager to recover something 0 f my losses." Tne night is before us," Evertsen ™eTi? 'f n ° hUrry ' and there Tif'-i i + } between Sir Rupert, w •; cn ', shou,d kl,ow * the rising f° "nes; nf (| le family." T?. i 0 certain] y he welh?s • 1 :St ' leanin o hack in receive*" PrCl,ared t0 Ever tsen pt the canl . as . de bent forward across the, table. ■ ellas to mo that all I lack » an ample fortune. Ton must marry matter f"" 6 ' I,at fI ° CS the K haVr- Sh ° I,i,sa fort,lnn in Rupert?" ' 1 m that ' Si! "

"SQlomon come to earth nyain," was the quiet answer.

I Wl r 1 T 1 *-' 1 f,n ' hmc " «>»- i S Awr ' ms l,is * n , ° r " o S PTs 11 foi'tmi". he pxI bet* 1 ' " i thu WOIIUIIK At the ' £ les • ffenera "y plain nnd homely much of his wite unless he ehoo-rs" Uiat is true. Walter." t,H ' I'l'iiice I'nuud tile ):idv '' F--cyf-S'Ji'sLr™",. | lllt l.umst in tni' (-'>irin ri diil PVr'T a ?* n ],vv <i« :^t«." hy should vouV' | 1 l! mt * *! r why should I? ■ t»r ;in>-t!iiiio-- :i I now T'> ,U ' V ' V ' i U <h(l ]t And I now jj OJ . ~ | "Ave they very dreadful?" Vv.L?' I '"] i <l " an '" l with tint you keep the wine , ,'l r!l ' ° ° tal ' K Fitl ,ho ■ ln 'l H! .toast: ner again." i lm * a, ''l r Rupert, doing as I tore-M I'jok of keen inhad come into his far,.. ~ - I ' ll in. if you Will,"' | ;: l "S"yd tvertscn. >ta-.;erin- to his feet. 3 j ii"iiil. the Prince arranged it To '•|.y future wife. Si,- rt |)r , lin t||( , if - T - But his guest had reached the limit us powers. His shaking' hand raised ,'iii , ' s . !ie limply back into Ins e ian\ throwing on.' of the candle,' from the table as lie did so. s "' Rupert picked it up. and then went to tiie ,]oor and summoned help Two men entered, lurching illto t]|( , V()nl)i vm " a curious gait—straime sort, o| servants indeed. . ''The gallant soldier bus been drowning ins disappointment." said Sir Rupert, a smile twisting the corners of ),;< mouth, "'fake him upstairs and let him eep it of}. His two prisoners carry . Slll uggler-hunter to bed drunk upon win© that has never paid duty: there is humor in the situation,'' (To be continued in Saturday's '