A Tardy Wooing.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIX, Issue 8110, 3 April 1906, Page 2

A Tardy Wooing.

CHAPTER 1. (F c "SHE MEANS TO BE HAROLD'S J WIPE." * E What a change ia worked by c wealth! 1 Only a brief period ere the open- i ing of our atory, a beautiful woman. $ after liateuing to the worldly coun- c ael of her parents, had spurned the t advances of a worthy young man f who had lavished upon bev his i earnest love when her family was in moderate oircuuistances. A fortu- i nate investment proved the turning e point of JasDer Dartison's career, ¥ and bis quickly accumulated wealth t forced his beautiful daughter, Cyril- r la to suppress what had once been i the desire of her heart, and try to £ believe that she could do far better , than encourago the hopes of baud- c some, clever and gifted Harold [ Outram. The only objection to ] Harold lay in the fact that he was t poor. t Now luok had come to him. It was announced that an aged kins- t man had just bequeathed to him x the graud estate of Uutram Towers. His eligibility suddenly dawned anew to the mind of his former sweet- . heart; and now she awaits his re- £ turn to England, eager to be tbe , first to greet him on the arrival of the Calais steamer at Dover. The vessel on which it wa a de- j olared h© bad taken passage had arrived, but the search and inquiries £ of his friends proved useless—Harold Outram was missing. What bad be- j come of him? A score of voices t . were asking this question, and uot £ one could be foudd to answer it. { There were tbe half-dozen friends j with whom h<s had been touring in " t Nor . ay, all able to vouoh that on a certain day he, in the best of | health and spirits, 'had left them at Paris which' gay city they were on their way home—declar- j jug himself too impatient to reach • England to remain with them any longer. j "Then bia valet declared ne had packed bia valise and carried it to j the railroad station, whence he ( started, giving the man directions f to follow in a day or two with the j remainder of the luggage; and a j couple of acquaintances, who had encountered him .at Calais told f how gayly be bad saluted them, ( and yet how firmly be had refused ( to be tempted to stay and dine | ■with them. They were positive that be had made one of the crowd , thronging ou board the Dover , packet; yet, if they w v ere right, j where was he? I Had he changed his mind at the . last moment, and gone somewhere ( gI.S6? Nothing more unlikely. Charming j Mrs La vail e, the wife of the ambassador's secretary, and his firm ; friend, had whispered that he would find the fair lady of his love among -• the first to greet him on his arrival in England, and, as ho bade her adieu, he had thanked her warmly for the tidings; yet who had seen him step ashore, aud whither went be? "I cannot understand it," murmured Oyrilla Dartison/ pouting her ooral lip, and frowning under the exquisite combination of lace and satio,. pearls and embroidery, that shaded her face from the pitiless aun. She was standing on the Admiralty pier, watching the OalaisDouvres steam up the landing place; nor did she stir till every one of . passengers had quitted the vessel; and jet the glasß through which she inspected them told her that he whom she Bought was not among their number. "J cannot understand why he does not come. It is very strange arid very disappointing." And then a ohill crept over h»»r. She had permitted him to be sent away jvben he was poor; how if he refused to be recalled now that for- • tune smiled on him? "Eb, what? Was that you .said, my dear?" demanded a portly, elderly gentleman, who walked with a strut, and whose every look and movement betrayed an immense idea of his own importance. "He is pointing at us?—but where, % where? Tell me, that I may wave my hand and look pleased to see bim." "Ob, this is too absurd!" and Oyrilla broke into a vexed laugh. "Why are you so deaf, papa? Harold Outram is not on board the steamer at l all." "Not?" echoed Sir Jasper Dartison. "But, but " "Hush, papa, pray! I tell you he is not there, and I am glad of it. it. We are doing him to,o much honor in coming here to meet him; it looks aa if we were so disgust* ingly eager for/his return." Lady Dartison, of whom her daughter was a handsome and refined edition, now left off fanning herself she was uncomfortably stout—to utter a peevidh piotest. "If this isn't always the way with you, £'rilla! I begged and prayed that we might stay quietly at our hotel, and warned you that the heat was tremendous; and said over and over again, that, if Mr Outram oared a button for you he'd find oat where we were y?ithout taking all this trouble on his account. And, after'all, you know very well, my dear he is nothing but a common Wan." 'Tou mean a commoner!" her daughter interposed. / "Coipmon enough; for he hasn't a title to give you of no sort, and you rich and handsome, enough to marry jukes and princes! Oh! S'rilla, you ought to do better. You know you ought." Oyrilla jerked off the fat baud that was laid on her arm and walked baok to the end of tthe pier, her maternal parent meekly following. Lady Dartison had been a very 'happy mother in bygone days, when she stinted herself to buy pretty hata and gowns for her only daughter, and helped her to , conceal her flirt-; from het less indulgent father;! but changed oixcurastances had ..brought troubles in their wake. ; H

By Charles W. Hathaway. Author of " Marjorie's Sweetheart t ,f (t A Long Martyrdom," Ci A Hash Vow,' t t( Joseph Dane's Diplomacyetc. t etc.

Somehow she diclu't get on with the child as well as she used to do, so she confided to a sympathising auditor. C.vrilla had become so terrible masterful that she didn't hare her own way in anything. There was the loveliest of red brocades hanging in her wardrobe at the present moment, as well as a violet velvet, fit for « queen, and yet Oyrilla wouldu'fc let her wear anything but black, that made her look no better than a walking mummy! The black dress Lady Dartison regarded so distastefully was a very elegant one, and threw into greater prominence the exquisite toilet of lier daughter, whose tall but wellrounded form was arrayed in some lustrous material of the flame pale greenish hue as the waters into which she stuod idly dropping the crimson carnations she had worn at her throat. She lingered there so long—was she still wrestling with the fear that had assailed her?— that her mother grew impatient. "I'm never able to eujoy my dinner if I have to dress for it too hurriedly. Aren't you tired of standing, S'rilla? 1 am." "Bother Mr Outram," she added, in a peevish tone, on receiving no answer from the absorbed damsel. "I wish we'd never heard his name." "xWaria!" exclaimod Sir Jasper, who had just strutted up. "I'll not have my daughter badgered; ifc'a bad form, and only exposes your ignorance. Why don't you rise to your position as Oryilla and I have done. Mr Outram will be our nearest neighbour when we reside at the shooting box 1 have just purchased, and as we have heard that he oomea .home to-day from Where is ho noming from, Oyrilla?" "He has been fishing in Norway; he was to come to day from Paris," was the reluotant reply. . . . | "True: I remember now. He has been fishing in Far is, Maria; and it's only neighbourly to come and tell him we're glad to see him at home again." "Hush!" breathed Oyrilla, who baa been glancing over her shoulder. "Here comes his cousin, Eustace Leyland. How provoking! And he has seen us—we cannot avoid him. Ob! mamma, do be careful not to make any of your malapropos speeches in his He would eatarize us unmercifully if he knfW that we oame here in the hope of meeting Harold!" "What's the matter , with my way of speaking I should like to know, that 1 am always called to account for what 1 say?" demanded the offended lady. "First your father finds fault and then you! I should hope I kuow how to behave myself as well as my daughter, though 1 doii't pretend to have had her advantages— hundred guinea-a-year governesses and music masters ' "Ah!* Mr Leyland!" and, finding it useless to attempt to Bilenee her mother, Oyrilla glided gracefully ! a few paces to meet the newoomer. "Are you going to desert old England before the season is half ended? Ihe heat drove us from London to Folkestone three dayß ago, and, for want of anything else to do, we oame to this tpwn this morning to amuse ourselves by watching departing travellers, but did not exueot to see you among the outward boucd," (To be Continued).