A Tardy Wooing.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIX, Issue 8116, 10 April 1906, Page 2

A Tardy Wooing.

By Charles W. Hathaway. th'or of " Marjorie's Sweetheart*" "A Long Martyrdom," il A Hash Vow,'( "Joseph Dane's Diplomacy," etc., etc.

CHAPTER lll.—Continued. How long she had slept she knew not. She was roused by an imperative call. Was it Mrs Marby who uttered it? Rubbing ber ojyes, she started up directly, puzzled in the first moments of awakouiug to know where she was. The cull was repeated. CJose to ber ear it seemacl. "Come to me—come quickly!" the speaker said. "I am here." Wyunie tremulously responded. "Who wants me?" "Water— bring me water! I am dying with thirst! Water and a light! There is a demon sitting by my bed who holds me down when 1 attempt to move. Come and chase him away —come quickly!" In an instant the truth flashed across the frightened uirJ. The Voice came from the other side of thepartitloi against which ahe was leaning. . ~ ■. r»i There was a captive >u that little chamber in tbo roof from which she had been so unceremoniously ousted, and ha was awakening from the stupor of insensibility. Ag»in he oalls. Ah! Heaven, what shall she do?

CHAPTER IV. "VOU DRACi M.Y NAME IN THE DIRT!" Sir Jasper Dartisou's beautiful daughter vainly looked for her lover on the morrow; as before, became not, neither did any tidings reach her of his whereabouts. In angry mood she both telegraphed and wrote to her friend at Paris. Madame Lavalle; but this lady's replies only deepened the mystery that surrounded Harold Outram's whereabouts. Incited by his daughter Sir Jasper ■visited the steam-packet on which the young man had undoubtedly crossed the Channel; but among the many, Harold appeared to have passed unnoticed; and Cyrilla began to ask fearfully if some accident could have befallen bim on the way. Wbou this suggestion was scouted by her father as utterly improbable, she began to watch with eagerness for the return to England of Mr Outram's kinsman, Eustace Leland. He waa next heir to Outram Towers. On him would devolvo the duty of asoortpining if all was well with the prosenfc possessor; and Oyrillu, imbued with u feverish restlessness, haunted the pier and watched the arrival of every boat. But a thrill of dread pervaded her whole being, when she found her rejected suitor by her side, heavylooking, awkward, slow of speech, and gait, as U3ual; no ,flt associate n his badly fitting clothes, for the elegactlv dressed girl, who drew her skirt* around her lest they should come in contact with this old acquaintance standing thorn, 100 well h itisfied with himself to be easily

rabuffed. ' '"-''<■'s "You here!" aba exclaimed under her breath, her eyes -wandering around to see if anyone was remarking him—"you here! I thought; papa paid you to go away and leave us in peaoe!" ri -.-»r~< "I have had some work offered me in this town and am stopping to have another interview with the gentleman, aud aee whether we can oome to terms," he told her "Then pray do not let me detain you!" and the yonng lady moved away. . ~^ But he followed. In the pride and vainglory of her beauty she bad been merciless to this man; it had amused her to play off upen him the whole artillery of her charm. She had aroused bis sluggish nature—she had taught him to love ber passionately. Had Sir Jasper never become a wealthy man, Oyrilla might have been content to wed with Oristopher Kennett; he Would have been a devoted, if uncultured, husband, and she would havej been a fairly good wife and mother; but with riches came ambition, and the young lady who aspired to marry a lord, or failing that, a gentleman of ancient lineage, could no longer tolerate her old lover. The trouble was, that be refused to be fluiig aside and now sauntered beside her along the pier, plying her with questions. _ "I'm a bit curious, Uyrilla; that's helped to keep me here. 1 want to see the smart chap who's supplanted me "

my dissappoiutment, and go my w£>y aud bother you no "Mr Outram ia not here," Cyrilla felt herself compelled to avow. "I don't undertsaud," her auditor averred, with an inquisitive stare. But she could not school herself to make a humiliating explanation. If Harold had failed to keep bi9 tryst, hoiv admit this to the man who, of all others, would exult over her auuoyanoei "News! Oyrilla, news!" exclaimed ner father, hurrying up; and before sbe'vcould make him understand, or even see her signals to forbear, he was blurring out all he had to say in the bearing of the curiously interested Christopher Kennett. Prowling about the harbour, Sir Jasper had met with a man just discharged for idleness from the identical steamer from which Harold Outram was said to have landed on the English coast, and this man had supplied a piece of information that the knight brought to his daughter as important. Hia informant knew Mr Outram by sight, having once, when thrown out of a boat, owed his life to that gaullemau's gallantry. Mr Outram had remembered his face, aud given him a tip that evening for carrying his valise across the land ing stage, where ho had consigned it to the;'cburge of a servant iu livery, with whom, after some little conversation, the gentleman walked away. Cyrilla gnawed her beautiful lip, and refused to believe the tale. "Papa, Mr Outram may not have known frorn Madame Lavalle that wo should be awaiting him at the hotel; but 1 am positive that he woold not permit .himself to be invited elsewhere; at all events, until he had seen us.V "Don't be gulled by reports made up for the mere sake of squeezing a few coins out of your pookefc old Jas!" was Mr Kennett's admonitoiy speech. j"Now, I don't quite know what you are talking about, but it's pretty plain to me that you let this "fellow tell you just what be pleased, and never cross-questioned bim to satisfy yourself how far he was to be credited." "Mr Kennett is right; you should have brought him here, papa," Cyrilla cried; "he might have been able to describe the livery the servant wore, or to aay«in what direction Mr Outram went with him, or have overheard the message which the man was the bearer. Oh, I could have asked a thousand questions, that did not enter your miud." ;- Sir Jasper as vexed Miat his perspicacity should be doubted, but Kennett sidled closer to the young lady.

"For Heaven's sake!" she oried, disgusted at his familiar way of expressing himself "for Heaven's sake do not speak of Mr Outram in those terms. He is a gintleman, both by birth and education." "And talks of making you a lady, en? Bat what do his friends say to it? You see, there'll be plenty of folks ready to tell them bow old Jas Dartison used to work at the onrpen ter's benoh till you were nearly a nromc.il grown, and her ladyship usod to do bor own cooking and mending.'' "Need you remind me of these tbiugs?" asked Uyrilla, flushed with mortifloation. "After all, there is uo dictgraco attached to them." *Q&\ "1 should, rather thing not! When 1 was in Hyde Park last summer, and you rode by with your smart groom behind you as uioo as ninepence, 1 was proud to be able to tell those who asked your name that you were the daughter of my own sbopmote." "Have you done?" Oyrilla queried, with the enforced coldness of intense annoyance. "Can you imagine that it gives me any pleasure to hear what you ate saying? You profoss to retain your vaunted Jibing for me, and yet drag my uome in the dirt, and gall me with your rude remarks at every opportunity." "You are out of temper this morning, my dear girl," was the reply. "Introduce me to this favoured sweetheart of yours—let me satisfy myself that he's a better man myself-and maybe I'll put up with

"Would it be a satisfaction to you to see this man, and talk to him yourself?"

"An immense one/ Oh, Mr Kennett, if you would find h m for me!"

In her anxiety to have her wish gratified she laid her gloved hand on his arm, but ho recoiled, and for a moment the expression of his features was positively demoniac. (To be Continued).