A Tardy Wooing.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIX, Issue 8118, 12 April 1906, Page 2

A Tardy Wooing.

By Charles ir. Hathaway. thor of Mtirjorie's Sweetheart*"A Lonff Martyr-, dom," " A Hash Vow"Joseph Dane's Diplomacy," etc., etc."

CHAPTER V.—Continued. "Do what you oau but recol leott" she muttered in Wynnio'i ear, "you are not to answer anj •questions. Whatever you an asked, your answer is to be tba yon don't know." Very relutcantly, and not ventur ing to raise ber eyes, Wynnie movet lorwar 1. So dim was the light MrE jflarby had placed 0° the floor thai she could see nothing bub the outline of a tall figure lying on the pallet. The loud, imperious calls bad s ,n nk to moans, and, fancying the unfortunate sufferer must bt dying, fright overcame her compassion and she would have fled. But soon she found that tht Marbys hadguurded against this by -securing the door outside, She 'was a captivb as well as thf Stranger, she had come to succour, and fur 4 a tew seconds she was tempted to beat against tho panels and ehriek till they came and released her. "Is there no iwercy in this dreadful place?" asked the moaning voice., ."My lips burn, and no one •will moisten them, itre you dead, too, Cyrilla? Surely, you must be, or you would come to ine :n this sore extremity." ■Chen Wynnie made a great effort to be courageous, and carried the jug of water to the bed, buti alas! though these pitiful entreaties for it. were repeated aldain and again, the eyes were closed, the souses deadened, and there was no comprehension of what she wa3 offering. Then she grew bolder seelcg a silk handkerchief in the breast pocket or his coat, drew it forth, dipped it in the cooling liquid, and lightly . passed it aoroas his face. Partially aroused by the application, he tried to sit up. but fell back ere he had accomplished it; and it was not' till Wynnie had ' slipped her arm behind his head, and thus supported him, that, he was able, to drink thirstily, from the jug she helo to his parched ...lips. - She shuddered as his head Jay on her shoulder, fcr now she was able to (see that the ehort curly hair lying on bis brows was matted with blood. She wetted the handkerchief, and bathed the wounjl, i but with saoh siok terror lest it should burst out afresh, and suoh trembling fingers, that her ministrations were not very effective. tloWever, they calmed(and .relieved her patient. He seemed in some measure conscious of her .presence, for he courteously murmured his thanks even while he writhed beneath her light touch, and once he said, inooherently: ! "I know where you oame from, you with the fair hair aud eyes .so ■full of pity. You stopped out of Jif'ra Angelico'ti liiolui'd io Lbo Vatioan. He made all his uugola to

look like you! xeu rau j-jar -j name, thai I may preserve it iu lay memory." Bat. whllo Cii-lo Who ... J ."o '-"0 I oide whether this was cdo oi! the things she **ua uoL Lu kuo.vv, uu dropped into a lethargic: sleep or stupor, in which he was still wrapped when the sounds in t the court gave proof that It-: whs morning. Then Mrs Marby softly unclosed the doorman 5 beckoned to the youthfql nurse. •♦He's sleeping? that's luoky. You'll be too tired to go out with your biißket to-day, and yoa may be wanted again. There's a lot of v '"""old'VusMoria""'here 'that want unpacking, and the . horsehair well palled out. £ou- can do that and mind you do it well. And hark ye, Wynl I'll leave the key with you; if he gets noisy you must go in and quiet him; He Dans' - - be silenoed, remember, if you have to hold your hands over his mouth, to doit!" < "Will he be here long," Wynnie ventured to ask, and the uneasy look deepened in Mrs Marby's coarse, florid features, though she, answered, after her usual manner: , "What's that to you? Do you think we want him here? Marby's in a fine fright aß'oijt it. Only let bim catch you grying or talking! you'll not leaveSprigg'a Alley alive after that !*-' But Wynnie was leas teriiflod 1 by these vague threats than she had been. She would be silent be cause she was ..trusted and permitted to see that the Mabrys had not entered willingly upon this strange affair. It was.fov the gentleman's f sake she asked how long he would be detained .'.b'«e, for she divined that fiia hurfcs were of so aeriouß a character as, to require surgical attention, and that promptly. She contrived to get her jug refilled, and she had the hard'hood to carry to her patient the weak deooction of coffee ; Beoca had supplied her with for her oi*n breakfast. The heavy eypa opened 1 as she drew near, and the tasteless beverage was swallowed as i'! it had been neoiar. » ft l uannot think where I am,the young man observed, his voice thick fcnd uncertain, his brows knit ■ iu painful endeavours to collect his senses. "Has there been a railway accident? Yea, there must have been, and my head, is hurt.*j This is the cottage to which they have carried me, and you—kindly tell me/ by what name I am to address you'll please not to talk; it will make you light-headed again," pleaded Wynnie. , . , "But I ought to supply you with . my address," and he fumbled for his pocket-book. It was gone. Whatever valuables be had had about him some one—was it Mrs Marby or Beoca?—must have appropriated, wM; the exception of a oounle cf .rings that fltted ( on his hand too well to be easily removed. • ' "This is strange!" hp said. "Was the collision a very,, bad one? Are many hurt or any killed? Can one

of the surgeons cotue to me? I am not in much pain just at present, but there is a strange sensation here," be touched hia temples, "and a weight ujion my bean that affects my sight, 1 could fancy that you are not the si9ter of charity who oamu to me at first, but a thing of I rags and tatters—a miserably wan, frail child; and yet it ia the same laoe; aud this dimness of flight worries rue. Kindly fell one of the surgeons that Mr Outram—Harold Outraoi —wishes to speak with him. "I tbiuk I'll get up to receive my visitor," lie was saying the next minute and, essaying to vaise himself into a sitting posture, much to tbe alarm of Wynuie What should she do if he insisted cn going downstairs? She had neglected to refasten the door, and was therefore powerless to prevent bis departure. But there was nothing to fear. As soon as be sat up, the crushing, overwhelming pain in hie head returned with such violence be slid down again, groaning with agony. In a very short tirce he became quHe unconsoioua of everything but the,torture he was enduring and talked as wildly as in the night of tho demons who held bin) down and kept him affay from Cjrilla. Pitying his sufferings aud in continual dread leat his ravings should bring' the Murbyß to silence them, Wynuie passed a miserable day, sometimes in kn'eeling beside Harold Outram and doing what little she could for his relief, sometimes ongaged in stuffing rags and tow into every crack of the door through which his cries or moans might penetrate. The relief was immense when exhausted nature sank as before into one of these heavy arid dangerous 3tUDors that succeeded the paroxysms of pain, and Wynniehoped with ail her heart that it would last some time.' ■ It was a trying position for her, and she was left to cope with its difficulties-unaided, for ndu«'oame near her all that day save Becca: and she coutented herself with; leaying tha coarse fare she brought ou the topmost stair, and thrusting the infant into Wynpie's arras in the evening, with the remark that it was | an ill-tempered, little wretch, and she had had ntnre than enough of it. After this Wynnie, oame and went between the two garrets, attending to both her ohargea as well as she was able, wondering not a little what; was to be the end of Mr Outram's illness, but afaid to seek the Marbys and suggest the medical aid without which it was but too plain tnat his reoovery was doubtful, and hiß condition rapidly fceooming more preoarious. Afraid to leave him for the night, lest the delirium should become violent, yet too weary to do without rest, she rolled herself up in an old oloak and lay down in a nook between the two rooms, ready to hush the babyiov fly to bia assistance the moment he stirred. (To be Continued).