For Honour's Sake.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIII, Issue 7947, 24 January 1906, Page 2

For Honour's Sake.

CHAPTER XllL—Continued. She was swept down, aud laft crushed, terrified, bewildered, with, through all, a maddening fieuse of .■her own fatuous blindness in failing to comprehend the strength ot her foe. She had attacked nim openly, and enabled him at once to grapple witb and disarm her. She ought to have waited and watched, aDd used, as opportunity presented iteelf, those "woman's weapons" which she had threatened to employ. Had she been wiser, her husband could hare had no just ground for accusing ner of slaudtr and innuendu; now she might be made to suffer for sins not her own. He would ask no •questions, but condemn her unheard ! Long after her husband had left her, Pauline writhed in the mental torture of a mean, jealous spirit, that feels baffled, and f eels the added stin? of knowing itself undone by its own folly, impotent ■wrath of malice, and the jealousy, not of love, but vanity. But, she asked.herself, when she had grown a little calmer though she still quailed before the memory of her husband's parting words and the look and tone that accompanied them was she indeed impotent? Was there no way by which sno could make Claude Verner feel the knife in spite of ber lover's threats? "There must be means," stie said setting her teeth. "I have made a false step but will retrieve it. I will call on the Davenants; Esrio cannot, for the girl's sake, he is so ; careful of her name oppose that; I shall see then bow the land lies and if the girl wants to keep her name untainted there will be some means of letting her know that she is giving it away for the world to play with if she lets such a man as Captain Stewart.who isn't in love with, bis wife see too much of her! I'll not forget one word you epoke to me to day Esrio. If a crumpled roseieaf touches Claude Verner you will burl'me down from my place, make me 'bite the dust!' I shall not forget. It is not my way to forget—or forgive!" But at luncheon she was fair, smiling well-bred, making herself agreeable to three or lour people who were present among them a young adorer who couldn't understand why Captain Stewart didn't worship bis lovely wife. But had the young adorer been married onlj three months to Pauline he would , have comprehended how very different the same objeot may appear according as you view it from one point or another. A. panther, viewed from the outside of the cage, looks sleek and soft, with its velvet coat and graceful movements, but if yuu were inside the cage you might be unpleasantly reminded of other attributes, calculated to discount the panther's .- beauty. 1 OHAPTEK XIV. , [SO NEAR, AND YET FAR APART. If Captain Stewart had needed an incentive to seek a uieetiDg witb Claude Verner, that evening, the scene witb his wife in the morning would have supplied it. It left him with the shattered feeling inevitable to a nature such as his, strong, passionate and sensitive,' the more deeply incapable of small ones; and this tad touched him so keenly, all the ohorda of his soul were set jarring; there was no soothing nor help, save in Claude's presence. This desperate pain was a kind of madness that made him tremble for bis own power of self oommand when he should stand face to face with the woman he loved; yet did hot for that make him, even in thought, draw back. He must see Claude, hold her hand in his, bear her voice, look into her dark eyes—tonight, to night!—be could scarcely wait even so long.. Oh, for orie hour of blessed oblivion! to forget the fetters that bound him, and believe himself free! He felt sometimes, he felt to-day, as if he dared not face the future. How he passed the intervening hours he hardly knew; he went to the club, met friends, tajked with them, transacted some business at the Horse Guards, remembered even, with the military habit of actitude, to call at a shop about some music he had promised to select, and ' have sent to a lady and ho was thiough all, outwardly, the selfpossessed man of the world.his brain was oleßr for the business he had to do; yet his real self had ho part in anything that he said or did; he was counting almost the minutes. hia heart was throbbing with the longing to see again the woman he loved. When the time came at last, and he went home to dress, he did not meet his wife, or even know whether she was out or not; but when he left the house he saw the carriage waiting at tbt, door. He was not curious to inquire where Pauline was going; he •could fully trust her—not because she was good, but because she was too heartless to be tempted, and too prudent to seek revenge on him by even appearing to be less than irreproachable; the strongest feeling ■of which she was capable would never be strong enough to blind tier to her own self-interest. Ho hailed a hansom, and told the maa where to drive, and then he flung himself back in the seat, pressing his band tightly over his heart, as if he could still its heavy throbs. "Heaven grant," he said, inwardly; ■"I may not meet her alone. I know not if I could be master of myself." / But there was little likelihood of that this evening. Ho had chosen a* at-home evening, jrartly that he might be sure of seeing Claude and partly to avoid the danger of meetuju her for the first time, after the tutig separation, alone. Ihe cab was driven fast, but it

Bj\ Bertha XKL Clay. Author of <•' Wife in Name Only," i( Wedded and Parted," "Dora Thome," "A Queen Amona Women," " A True Magdalene," etc., etc.,

seemed to Earic Stewart a tedious trip between Piccadilly and Clanmore thoroughfare; but at last the driver turned into the long roaa, lined with treesiu their April green, and pretty villas ensconced in gardens. "Here you are, sir; The Ferns," aud the cab stopped. Stewart sprang out, rewarded the driver with a lecklessly generous fare, and passed through the open gate into the garden. There were lights in the drawingroom window, and through the partly opened casement, came the sound of music and voices. For a minute Stewart paused bofore he rang the bell; aud yet, now that he was on the very threshold, now that in another minute he would be in Claude's presence a strange calmness bad come to him; though his heart still throbbed bo madly, he felt that he had himself well in hand. A man servant oaraa to the door, aud, after relieri..JLi the visitor of his wrapcoat, opened the drawingroom dour, and Stewart heard his name announced across the buzz of chatter. Then he was shaking handa with Mrs uavenant, and Da.venant's loud, hearty voice was in his ears, his large hand grasping the siigLt hand of the soldier. "Delighted to see you, Captain Stewart. Where's Claude? Ah! here she is." Yes, Stewart knew that; it was all he really did know. He had a general impression of there being a good many people in the room; but the only one among them he saw, wHose presence was more than a vague shadow to him, wast he tall girl in the cream and amber satin robe, with the dark, curling hair, aud the large, clear eyes, full of light, who was crossing the room towards him. He went forward to meet her, and their hands met. (To be Continued),