A Tardy Wooing.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8151, 29 May 1906, Page 2

A Tardy Wooing.

By Charles W. Hathaway. Author of " Marjorie's Stveetheart," "A Long Martyrdom,"2"A Rash Vow," "Joseph Dane's Diplomacy," etc., etc.

CHAPTER XXXlll—Continued. Of the two cousins she had decidedly preferred the former, till prudence reminded her that she must not throw herself away on a struggling lawyer. If the Towers were his, she would wed him without hesitation, for the more she saw of Harold the more fully she comprehended that she should never reach tho high standard at which he aimed. To be a leader of fashion, to gather about her each frivolous men and women as she had met at Mrs Maclnnes', and outrival all her female frienas by the splendour of her costumes, these were the joys she craved. She did not sigh for Harold's love, but for the Outram diamonds, and with the cynical Eustace she fancied she saw a better chance of enjoying life than with his less worifay cousin. "If 1 were to place it id his power to reign at the Towers, bis gratitude must insure his using me well," she argued; and so the idea grew and grew, haunting her visions in the night as well as her waking hours. Meanwhile Chris Kennett remained on in the house, carefully attended to by order of Sir Jasper, who conld not see his old friend suffering without compassionating him. "After all it is sufer to have him here, because we can take care that no one goes near him but our own people," Cyrilla decided. "His surgeon says he is to be kept quiet. He shall be kept quiet enough! Papa may go and chat with him over old. times as much as he likes, but no fine elae" However, she was wary enoughto try and keep her enemy in goo<3 humour by visiting him herself daily, and giving orders that every dainty taken to him should bo represented as coming from her., £ And Chris, aa crafty as the beauty, was almost servile in his gratitnde, never naming Harold Outram, nor appearing to retain any ill-feeling toward her for having jilted him in favour of her richer lover. Sometimes, however when he was almost profuse in his acknowledgements of her goodness, Misa Dartison detected an expression playing around his mouth that seemed to contradict bis humble phrases; and at snch momenta 9 h e would rssolve that ai; all hazards eho >would get from England and from him. But how was it to be done? Eustace Leyland seldom came to Ghißlehurst now, and when he did he devoted himself to, Linda Shirley, with whom he conversed on art and j literature; subjects into which Cyrilla could not enter. As for Harold—even if she could conquer her growing dread of him —bis undisguised coldness, his displeased s"use tha* they did not think alike, made it difficult to. hiDt that iff they went abroad immediately after tbe ceremony, Lady Dartison'a recent decease need not be made a reason for postponing it any longer. Restless, dissatisfied, as much with herself as her prospeots, who conld envy the beautiful Cyrilla? Brooding over her schemes made her so irritable that it was only for Sir Jasper's sake the high-spirited Linda- consented to remain; and Harold* uut'Bm—unable to hide from himself that he had made a mistaken choice—began to look so grave, so haggard,that everyone was inquiring what aUed him. "I fanoy'he has not been quite himself over since that accident of his," Eustace Leyland remarked in Cyrilla's hearing, and she looked at him bo oddly that he was about to apologize for it, when tho person of whom he was Bpeaking came into the room. Mr Leyland laid his hand on his cousin's arm. "I was just talking about you, old fellow. You look as if you needed a change. Why not have a trip to Paris or Vienna? Too much of the London fog make the strongest of us dull as ditch water." "I am very well," Mr Outram responded, curtly, aud changed the subject, not perceiving Oyrilia became very silent and sat watching him over her fan. Was his malady increasing? she was asking herself. In what other way could his moodiness be accounted for? She spoke, and he did not seem to hear her; she edged her chair , further from the one he had taken, he sat abstractly watching Linda and Eustace Leyland, who had stepped on to the lawn to look at a cluster of flowering shrubs, the artist proposed introduoiug into a piotrue on which she was engaged, Then Cyrilla remembered tales sbi had heard of men whose brains %»#ie diseased being suddenly suized with an impulse to murder the oreatrue deares'; to them. What if he ■were brooding over such an impluje, and her,own life were in imminent danger! She sprang from her seat, meditatinK flight, when the door opened and Wynnie appeared at it. She uame swiftly forward, saying, agitatedly, that Chris Kennett had heard that Mr Outram wbb in tbe house, and insisted on seeing him. Everything else was so utterly forgotten in anxiety te prevent this meeting, that she flew toward Wynnie, crying m.-grily: "How dare you bring such messages here? JSeror presume to enter tbia room agaiu v>hen I have a visitor!" As she spoko she gave the girl suoh a rough push that she would have fallen if Harold Outram had not promptlyinterposed and caught her. From the shook, or some other cause, she was trembling so violently that he was compelled to sustain her till she could reoover herself; there was a piteous appeal in the soft, eweet eyep, momentarily raised

to his, that thrilled through him as Oyrilla's bolder aud more ardent glances bad never done. "Go!" cried Miss Dartison, with a stamD and an imperious gesture. "Tell Kennett that Mr Outram is engaged; it is most impertinent of him to ask such a favour!" "Impertinent or not, I intend to comply with his request, 1 ' said Harold, firmly. "He cannot be more desirous of seeing me than 1 am of putting a few questions to him. Will you, Miss Moyle, kindly show me the way?" But she had already disappeared, and Cyrilla, though raging inwardly, would have been compelled to supply the information herself when seated in «n invalid chair, malicious triumph depicted on his ghaßtly features, Chris was wheeled into her presence. She could comprehend now that it was to warn her of his approach that Wynnie had ventured to break in upon her privacy. But, instead of feeling grateful for this attempt to prepare her for the coming of her persecutor, she ouly view angrier that it had not been made more quickly and adroitly. However, fortune seemed disposed to befriend her. The exertions he had undergone, and jerhaps his mental excitement, had a greater effect on Kennett's weakened frame than he had been prepared for; and when Harold drew near saying, "You wished to apeak with me? he was too faint to make any reply. "Wheel him back to bed, cried Oyrilia, imperatively. "It was madness to let him leave it. She was obeyed, but, in spite of her strenouua efforts to prevent it, Mr Outram chose to accompany him; and, wild with wrath and fear, she ran upstairs to find some one on whom to wreak her fury. It was Wynnie who was to blame, and into Wynnie's chamber she burst so suddenly, that the girl, who was kneeling beside a table weeping over something lying upon it, had not time to hide it from CyrilldS piercing sight. It was a ring! Miss Dartison had seen and|identifled it. With a furious exclamation, Oyrilia was olatohing the band that held it firmly clasped to its owner's bosom. CHAPTER XXXIV. "BE MERCIFUL TO YOUiiSELF AS WELL AS TO MEi"

There were moments in wliicb ] Wynnie rose superior to the proud, passionate woman who regarded her as a dependent, bound by fevery tradition of servitude to 'Q*oey her every mandate. And this was one of them. Neither winoing nor avoiding those angry eyes, she stood calmly meeting their glare, and waiting till Miss Dartison was ashamed of her violence and released her. "What is it you are hiding from me" she was asked. "Is it a fair question, Miss Dartison" "Fair or not, I insist upon an answer!" But Wynnie remained silent. Her secrets were not to be forced from her by a person she disliked. "You will not? You are afraid to do so, for 1 have found you out. I know who au what you are." She changed colour now, and regarded the speaker anxiously. "You have imposed upon Linda, upon me, upon all of us!" vociferated Cyrilla, whose tones always rose to a scream when she was excited. "You are a thief and a hypocrite! That is a ring you have in your palm. Give it to me!" "You have no right to ask it of me. Not to you, Miss Dartison, will I resign it." "No right! Don't tell me such nonsense. It is Mr Outram's ring; I reoognissed it as soon as 1 caught sight of it! You stole it from nim! How many similar articles uave you appropriated? I dare say there is not a thins 1 have missed since you came here that may not be found in your trunks!" Secure iu her innocence, Wynnie could hear this assertion with a smile of contempt—a smile that increased her acouser's irritation. "What! have you hidden them so cunningly that you think not be able to find them? I will soon teaoh you differently, my saucy minx! I will havo the police here to search for them!" "You would not be so cruel?" gasped Wynnie, now really frightened. "Give up that ring; confess how and when possession of it, and don't attempt to prevaricate! I will know the truth!" "1 have nothing to confess to you; but, if you will know all I have to tell, this ring is t ;mine, my very own, until I choose to resign it to Mr Outram." "Then you acknowledge that I was not mistaken—that it is the lost one for which 1 have so often asked him? You do not deny it! But this is not enough; yous must and shall tell me how it came into your hands. Did you not steal it?" "1 am no thief!" Wynnie proudly told her. "Then he gave it to you?" and now Cyrilla'.a face was crimson with jealous rage. H ..... ft (To Be Continued.)