Selina's Love Story.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8258, 11 October 1906, Page 2

Selina's Love Story.

CHAPTER XXXII. -Continued. 'I araVnot afraid of thieata,' Michael Siichoster said, and there was an element of contempt in his quiet, sad voice. 'You may be 1 kuow now that you are evil, but you are only human, j,Delaval, and with you, as with all other human beings, there comes 8 time ot reckoning! However great you may hold yourself to be, 1 know now that you have done things whioh, if kuoA?u to the authorities, would put you in to the grip of the law. Not from my lips shall a word drop. You cannot give me back my brother, neither cnu you take from me the recollection of these last two years in whioh I have loved and honoured you. I have come to speak to you to-night, to ask you to show c ome of that spirit whioh must have i).-on in sou ytK. <:i<i those great thiugu which arc written to your account. No man save a coward would ever wage a war with a wonittO. You are no coward. If .Seliua loved, you, I, who know har,?so well, tell you thie, that she v would go through the shadow ot death herself for your sake, if need be! And if she does not love you, all tne threats in the world will not givfl you that love. Leave her in peace, and before you go let me realize that there remains to me at least one trait of the friend whom 1 have lost.' Delaval heard him with a smile. • His composure had come back to him: a rneer had settled on bis lips. 'lbnoks,' he said, wiLh a drawl; •you will know by this time, or course, how sinoere has been rny, protestation of friendship. You have served ray use, my d*ar Michael, and now I am done wHh you, for the time being, at least. The future will reveal to yon, as I have just said, what kind of a man I am.' He passed out of t!'e door but as he went he stopped in front of Michael. 'You think to take her for yourself,' he said, in a low, strained tone. 'Be warned; I shall come baok and claim her. Were she twenty times you wife, she will come lo mo when I call her.' ,-, With a loiv laugh, he passed on and swiftly left the house. Next'ruoruiug it was reported in the papers that Mr St. John Delaval had started out once again on his travels, returning to West Africa. His uamo was never spoken between Mary Lascombe and Selina, and though they were thrown so olosely together, and there was so much opportunity for private speaking. Mary Lascomb« was too thankful to think thal'thu influence sbe had feared so much was ended, and that Selina was safe from what she had always known would ba a miserable future. It was a strangely peaceful life they led. The factjthat Dorothy was so delicate,and required so much care,that sho kept Selina waiting on ber hand and foot, and 'fretting about ber every turn, was a blessing in disguise- a least, so Mary Lascombe considered it. There had been one terrible moment when she had almost feared for Selina's reason; but as soon as the big duty was put into Selina's fcands the girl's brain and heart rose to the occasion. "'>' Thought of self dropped from her like a discarded garment. She turned t" give wholehearted dovotioQ to the pretty, plaintive creature whom George had bequeathed to her oare. But these months'seemou' very far nwny now, both to" Miss Laso'mbe end to Selina, and, uneventful as the life hud been in one sense, it bad brought with it a joy that almost served to set aside the clamour of grief. Por jus'fat the beginning of tho new year r. little son had been born to Dorothy—a'} 'delicato child, brought prematurely into the world. It was almost nitiful '„to j'Mary Lascombe to e!br love tnat aelina lavished on that little child. He was christened George, and almost from the Qrst he became Selina's child. Dorothy made a very slow recovery, and duringgthose weeks] she saw but little of her baby. Selina was ,'bis mother. If sho .could have had her way she would have had no nurse, but,- naturally, this was overruled. She .was, howevor,permitted to chooso a"woman to whom was to be given the precious charge of tier dead brothers ohild. „'. And after the birth oi'J the baby Dorothy began to drift back J perceptibly to what I she had been in thosn weeks th»t had proceeded her husband's death. Selina had commenced to picture an existence passed together always at the Gate 'Jonse, but as spring had come, and her health was folly restored, LadyDnrnstonoquickly demonstrated that she hud had enough of seclusion and of sorrow. It came upon Selina like a little shock to hear her discussing the corning soason. Probably, if Mary Lascombe had not been with them, friction might have ensued, witb a disastrous result, and Selina might have been sent away one ) more from her old home and from -ill that made life sweet. •Dear child,' Miss Lascombe bad said, *you cannot change people's natures. She is only responding to the voice of ber nature. You must not judgo her harshly. Remember, poor George himself saw how neceesary it wj»s to let her live with the world. Make no opposition. Be guided in this by me, Seliua. l am a little older than yen, dear ohild, and I want to spare you all that cuu be spared.' So, hs the year had developed, Lady Diirnbtoiiß had gone to ,Lon don.

By Efsie Adelaide Rowlands. Author of "An Inherited Feud," " Brave Barbara," *' A Splendid Heart," < l Temptation of Mary Barr," «' The Interloper," etc., etc.

She would have taken her child with her, bat here Dr. Poster came to Selina's rescue. 'The child must bo kept down here,'ho said. 'That is, if you want him to live. 1 won't answer for the consequences if you take him away from ail thai is so good for him. Don't forget, Larly Durnstone', the doctor eaid, gently, 'your ohild lias been reared with the greatest diffiuulty. I confess, indeed, myself that I don't know how it has been done. But there he is, to show us, what care can do, when it is used with such diaoreUou and so much unselfishness.' pouted a little. 'But London is such a healthy plftce,' she said. 'I don't cnre to Jeave my boy down here all the timo 1 am away.' Dr. Poster was famous for going straight to the point 'Very well, my dear lady,' he said, 'give up your trip to London.' This, however, was something Dorothy had no intention ot ooing. '1 am not going to enjoy myself,' she said several times to Selina, 'but 1 really feel I shall go mad if I stay here much longer. It was different when we were away bo much But now, espeoially at this timo of i the year, everything reminds me of poor George. It is not the same with you, Selina. After all, thoughyou did love him so much, he was only your brother.' Selina said nothing, only she became a little pale. She had kept her sorrow under for so long that to speak of it to anyone, especially to Dorothy, would have boon so cruel, so foolish. So Dorothy had gone, and Mary Losoombe had run down at once to the Gate House to spend the remainder of the summer with Selina. It was a quiet, and yet not an uuhappy, existence. Indeed, as day followed day, and the little life ovet which eho watched su bruathlessly blossomed into strength and health, it almost seemed to Selina as though all that had belouged to the dark, sad time had been wiped out of existence. Not that she ever forgot her brother. She loved him with all rhe old clinging tenderness. Everything that had belonged to him was sacred to her. That was why she had constituted herself a sort of guardian to Doro»by, why the old house was dearer to her, with ail it s new rooms, than it had been in the old times. She pictured to herself the happiness iGeorge would have bad in bringing Dorothy back gto the Gate House. She wanted to do everything for Dorothy that George would have done. She bore with Dorothy's ill torn per and selfishness because she know that tho dead .mar; would have suffered these things in silence; and, above all, she clung to George's child, because not only was this little eorap of humanity part of himself, but because she could picture to herself—as she did many a time with tears in her eyes—what marvellous joy her brother would have had in the ex istonco ot his sou. Now and then Michael Silchester came in to see them. He had dropped hack in a sense Into bis old groove with Selina, only that he was a little more sedate, juat as Selma was leas frivolous. If ever she wanted anything it was to Michael that she turned, and Mary Lasoombe sat waiting and watching for tho moment to come when this good man would have his reward. It was a great joy to Selina to feel that the old friendship was patched up again. Curiously enough, it was a great joy, too, to her to hear that he was not going to marry Nolla Poster, although tho neighbourhood had engaged them more than once. It was equally a happiness to realize that she and Mrs Silchester had brought their long feud to an end, and that Michael could come and go as freely as he liked. Indeed, Mrs Silcbester'a feelings toward the girl had been tremendously softened with the news of Sir George's death had been announced to her. (To be Continued.)