For Her Sister's Sake; OR, THE LAVENDEN SECRET.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8364, 21 February 1907, Page 2

For Her Sister's Sake; OR, THE LAVENDEN SECRET.

".For Her Sister's Sake " was commenced on December 20th.]

CHAPTER XXXVl.—Continued. "To ask you," he said, "what you would have me do." He broke suddenly, took the head of the child, who stood near him, between his hands, and kissed the yellow curls. Julia came unsteadily to her husband's side. "Tell me," she whispered, "tell me the truth as you are his father. Was it you who—-who " She stopped, trembling, unable to go on. Her husband finished the question. "Who did for Jim?" he concluded. "Well, what would you say if I owned up, so that you could set Winnie free, and put me in her place?" Julia stared at him with wide, dilated eyes. David Garth laughed harshly. "It's the best way out of the muddle," he said. "I've brought you nothing but bad luck—bad luck for you and yours." He dropped on one knee and put an arm about Boysie. The child did not shrink from him, but yielded gravely to the caress,. Julia pressed her hands to her throbbing temples. "The truth!" she said hoarsely. "Tell me the truth! I will have the truth! You are his father. Is he the child of a murderer?" David Garth stood up and squared his shoulders. "What's the odds?" he answered roughly. "Think of Winnie. They may hang her. I'm only a gaol-bird anyhow. It doesn't matter for me. I heard Agnew this afternoon; let him stick to that line. All the jury want is an excuse to let her off. Then, when I'm taken, I'll make some sort of confession." Julia uttered a lovy cry. "You are not guilty," she said; "you cannot tell me you are guilty, and yet you will let them —let them " She covered her face. David Garth turned away his head. "I'm a bad egg," he murmured, "but I—l loved you, Julia. I love you still. It's all my fault this has happened. Only I can put it straight." He stooped to take up Boysie and fold him in a long embrace. A sob burst from him as he set down the child. "I'll keep a chance for my life," he added huskily. "If they let her off, I won't give myself up. Life's sweet yet." He looked pityingly at his wife, and moved toward the door. "Good-by," he said. "I wish I'd never crossed your path. I've only been a curse to you." Julia uncovered her face, and her eye 3 were wet. She held out her hands to him. "David!" she moaned. "David!" The convict caught her to him and embraced her wildly,, passionately. The-child beside them, startled, be- ' gan to cry. David Garth tore himself away. "Let me go," he said, and his voice broke in a racking sob, "let me go. It's for the best, for the best. She is so young, so young, and a woman, and she did it to save you, her sister." He forced himself free, for she | clung to him, shuddering and weeping, and sprang from the' room. In the corridor without he confronted Constance Istria. She started back, and he knew that she had been taken by surprise. "My news has upset Lady Lav ended," he said; "you had better go to her." And he passed her quickly, fearing that she might'seek to detain him. but Constance Istria made no effort to do so. But she looked after him as he went down the corridor, with a cruel smile. It faded from her lips, and she entered Julia Lavenden's boudoir with her usual air of haughty self-possession. As.for t Dayid.Garth, he descended the stairs, crossed the hall, and passed into the open air. The fixed, far-off expression had come back to his face, and once more he walked like a man in a trance. "My lord, I call the prisoner." The words came clearly from Edward Agnew's lips, rising above the vague murmur which had filled the court at the close of his brief opening speech for the defence. A sudden silence fell, and the click? of the door of the dock sounded loudly as an officer drew it ajar. A wardress stepped out, and then there followed a tall yet girlish figure in deep black. Since the commencement of her trial Winifred Lavenden had sat with bowed head in a corner of the ominous enclosure to which her fate had led her. Now, as she moved simply, yet shyly, across the court, she was visible to all. Another murmur stirred the crowded court—a murmur like the sound of sigh. Beautiful women have stood in the dock of the Old Bailey Court, to live or die by the dread decree of the law. But here was one who had not only youth and beauty, but the fleeting sweetness of some rare pale flower. Quietly she assumed her place in the box, the wardress beside her, and submitted to be sworn. The grim ceremony completed, her gaze found Edward Agnew's face, and rested there wistfully. A little flush throbbed in her cheeks, and her lips, parted like those of an expectant child,trembled. A sob broke the stillness; it was Julia Lavenden's voice. Winnie's glance travelled momentarily to her sister, where she sat in the courtroom. Then she put up a hand and covered her eyes for an instant. When she took it away again, her gaze sought that of Edward Agnew, nor did it stir from his set, grave face. When he spoke his voice had a thrill of quivering tenderness in it. His first few questions were studiedly unimportant, asked merely to steady her nerves-and his own. She answered them without effort, calmly and directly. He felt the strain less'

By R. Norman Silver, titer of (( A Double Mask," "A Daughter of My *Uvy u "HelulApartSt "The ti olden Dmarf," etc.

exacting. "On the night of your visit to James Garth's flat," he continued, "you took with you a revolver. Why did you think it necessary to arm yourself?" Winifred Lavend'en coloured. "I would have been afraid to go if it had not been for that," she said. "Why?" she was quietly asked. She hesitated. Edward Agnew pressed the point. "I think you ought to reply," he S3id, "in your own interest." A flood of crimson dyed Winifred Lavenden's face from brow to chin. "Mr Garth was—he said he was in love with me," she faltered; "that was why he came to Lavenden House. He wanted me to marry him ; he said he would make Julia force me to marry him." Edward Agnew waited till the faint rustle of sensation about him had faded into silence. "Under what circumstances did you first allow him to know that you carried a weapon?" Winnie hesitated. "I—l tried to persuade him to let me see the certificate," she said, "and he told me he would if -—" "If— - i -" repeated Agnew. Winnie shivered. "If I would give him a kiss/' she said, "and—and then " "And then " Again Edward Agnew prompted her. "And then he held it in front of me, and I caught at it and it was torn, so that I had one piece and he had the other. And I was frightened because he sprang at me, and I pointed the revolver at him, and it went off." There was.not a sound in the close and crowded court. "What then?" asked Agnew. His voice recalled Winifred Lavenden to herself; she was gazing into vacancy. "He was not hurt," she added slowly., "only the bullet had made a mark on his cheek. He caught my wrist and twisted it to get the revolver from me." ' She looked around her pitifully, as if her nerve had suddenly failed. "And—and then I must have fainted," she stammered, "for I canr not remember any more." Agnew averted his gaze from the agonised girlish face; he felt his own fortitude giving way. "So far as your own conscience goes," he pursued, "you have no actual certainty that it was by your hand James Garth died?" Winnie started. "N-no," she said emphatically. "The second cartridge had not exploded when you fainted'?' Winnie put her palms to her temples. "I don't recollect," she answered. "I believe not. I only know that he was twisting my wrist and then everything is, black., I can remember no more." "Do not try," said Edward Agnew. "I have only one other question to ask you. It is this: When you went to the flat in the Grammont Mansion, did you intend or desire any bodily harm to James Garth?" Winnie drew a long breath. "No,, no!" she replied; "indeed, indeed, I did not. Only to get the certificate, so that he might have no power to harm either me or my sister." Edward Agnew sat down, a spasm of torture wringing his own heart as he realised that he had finally abandoned her to the ordeal of cross-ex-amination. The great counsel briefed by the Government rose in his place. "When you took this pistol from the case in the library of Lavenden House," he asked blandly, "was it loaded?;' « / • "N-no," said Winifred Lavenden, and her voice shook a little. "You loadeß it yourself? You are, then, acquainted with firearms?" Winnie hesitated. "I have seen my father load a revolver." she said. "Then, though you only took the pistol to frighten the man Garth, you thought it necessary to load it. Why?" The silence grew more'strained. "I —I wanted to be safe," said Winifred Lavenden. "From what?" Winifred answered him with a flush of proud simplicity. "From insult," she replied. The great lawyer made his favourite ges ture of bland acquiescence. ' "You isay that in presenting the pistol at'him for the first time," she was asked, "it exploded accidentally and the bullet grazed his forehead. Why did you threaten him with the weapon at the moment?" "He was trying to get the certificate from me," she answered, a little bewildered. (To be Continued).