THE LADY IN BLACK.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8409, 25 April 1907, Page 2

THE LADY IN BLACK.

By FLORENCE WARDEN. Author of "An Infamous Fraud," "A Terrible Family,'' "For Love of Jack," "The House on the Marsh./' etc., rtr.

CHAPTER IV.—Continued.

Mrs Rose secretly hoped, too, that Mrs Haybrow,: through her connec tions at Todcaster, would be able to furnish her husband with proofs that Mrs Dale wa3 not a person to be encouraged. It was not yet 100 late to put off Mrs Dale, although Mr Rose had called upon that person to thank her for the invitation to his daughter and to accept it. It was the day of Mrs Haybrow's expected arrival,and Mr.anci Mrs Rose had driven to the station to meet her. Mabin, wondering whether the visitor, whom she had not seen since she was a child, would be "nice," was hobbling along the garden path, rather painfully, indeed, but at last without a crutch, when she heard a great rustling of branches of the lilac-bushes which grew close under the wall. And then, above the wall, she saw the face of Rudolph. "Oh!" cried Mabin, with a little fluttering of the heart, "I—l thought you had gone back to your ship." "Why, so I had," replied Rudolph, raising himself so that she had a view of his shoulders as well as of his head. "But I've come back again, you see." "lean guess what brought you!" said Mabin, wishing the next moment that she had not uttered the words. Rudolph took her up quickly. "Can you? Well, then, what was :it?" Mabin blushed scarlet. Of course, the thought that was in her mind •was that the charmsof the fascinating widow had draiin him to Stone. And just the least little twinge of .nascent jealousy had given a sting of pique to her tone. But she would not for the world have owned to this; and' the mere thought that he might have guessed it was misery. As she ■did not answer, Rudolph shook his head. "I don't think you are quite as •clever as you suppose," he said. ""And I don't choose to tell you what brought me back. But I may just warn you that you are likely to get tired of the sight of me before I do go away altogether, as I can get as 'much leave as I like while my ship is at Portsmouth. Rather alarming prospect, isn't it?" ,* "You will £et tired of being on shore, won't you?"asked Mabin, not feeling equal Co answering him in his own tone, which was what her parents and the vicarage people would have called "flippant." "That depends," said Rudolph, looking down with interest at the dried-up blossoms of the lilac-treesi. Mabin glanced at him, and began to hope nervously that she might not see too much of him. She had never seen a man whom she considered so handsome as this brown-faced young lieutenant with the merry black eyes, who made her feel so ridiculously shy •and stiff. And the very attraction he had for her seemed to the simple young girl alarming, since she raised him in her maiden fancy to a pinnacle from which such a peerless creature could never descend to her. In spite of,JJ herself, her tone sounded cold and constrained, as she cut short the pause in the conversation by asking of they were all well at the vicarage. "Quite well, thank you," answered Rudolph demurely. "I suppose that kind enquiry is meant for a snub, isn't it? And intended to imply that I ought not, to have addressed you in this informal manner over the wall, but that I ought to have called in the proper manner at. the other side of the house." fit wasn't meant to imply that," replied Mabin, with solemn straightforwardness. "Only I Wanted to say something, and I had nothing better to say. I must tell you that everybody says that I have no conversational ability." "People allow you very few good points, according to your account." "Quite as many as I have, though." "Well/ at least, then, you have one merit of unusual modesty." Mabin looked up at him steadily and frankly. "It's rather difficult fos me to talk to you, because I can never tell whether you are serious or only laughing at me. Don't you rather—rather puzzle Mrs Bonnington?" "Well, I am afraidj rather—rather shock her, too." "We must all seem, down here, -very antediluvian to*you. There is only one person about here you can speak to in way." "Mrs Dale." j " To Mabin's fanciful and rather jealous eyes it seemed that Rudolph's colour grew a little deeper as he uttered the name. "Yea." "Ah! You will have an opportunity of learning the art, if you are going to stay with her." "But it is an art which will be entirely useless when I get back here again. Papa and mama would think it rather shocking. Do you know, if they knew how lively Mrs Dale is in her ordinary talk, they wouldn't let me go to her?" "Then I shouldn't tell them, if I wero you. You will find a use for the art of conversation some day, you know, when you come across other frivolous and good-for-nothing young persons like Mrs Dale and me." Mabin would rather he had .not coupled his name with that of the lovely widow. "Were Mr and Mrs Bonnington interested to 'hear you had been to see her?" asked Mabin, feeling, as she spoke that this was another indis* cretion. But, Rudolph began to laugh mischievously. "They would have been extremely ' interested,' I am sure, if they had heard of, it," said he. "But I have too much consideration for my

parents to impart to them any information which would 'interest' them frv. dee >\y to be good for their digestions. I suppose you think that shocking, don't you?" ' But Mabin was cautious. There was mo:v uhan one gulf, she felt, between har and the merry young sailor, and she was not going to make any wider. "I'm "ire vou do wl:at is best,' she said modestly. "I've got something to tell you," said he. "But it's rather a confidential communication, and the-e lilac-bushes extend a long way. Will you come rearer to the wall, or may I get over it." "You may get over, if you like," said Mabin, coming, as she spoke, a little nearer to the bushes. Rudolph availed himself of the permission in the twinkling of an eye, and stood beside her on the gr«»ss path under the limes, looking down at the pretty nape of the girlish neck, which showed between the soft brown hair and the plain, wide turndown collar of pale blue linen, which she wore with her fresh Holland frock. "The man—l told you about the man I saw watching "The Towers.' Well, he has disappeared," said Rudolph, not sorry to have an excuse for whispering into such a pretty little pink ear. "Oh, I am glad!" "So I hope we shall see no more of him." "And do you still think—surely you can't still think -that he was watching Mrs Dale." "Oh, well, I don't know, of course. And at any rate, the slight objection I had to your going to 'The ; Towers' ha 3 lisappeareH." | Mabin felt a strange pleasure at ! the interest implied in this concern I for her. There v/as a pause, broken by Mabin, who suddenly started, as if waking from a dream. 1 "The carriage!" cried she. "They have come back. I must go in. bye." She held out her hand. He took it, and detained it a moment. "I may come and see you sometimes, when you are at 'The Towers,' mayn't I? For old acquaintance sake." "Oh!—for Mrs Dale's," said 'Mabin quickly, as she snatched away her hand and ran into the house. She was not so silly as not to know where the attraction of "The Towers" lay! Mrs Rose's lumbering old landau, which made such a contrast to Mrs Pale's smart victoria, had returned from the station, and as it drove slowly along the road past "The Towers," Mrs Rose was just finishing a long recital of her difficulties in connection with the doubtful new resident. Mr Rose had chosen to come back on foot, so his wife could pour out her tale without interruption or contradiction. "There!" she cried, below her breath, as they came close to the j gates of "The Towers," "you will \ be able to see her. She is standing just inside the garden, calling to her little dog. Don't you think that a little dog always looks rather, rather odd?" Mrs Haybrow thought that this was somewhat severe judgment, but she did not say so. She got a good view of the mysterious lady in black; for Mrs Dale raised her golden head as the carriage passed, and she and Mrs Rose exchanged a rather cool bow. To the great surprise of her companion, Mrs Haybrow fell suddenly into a state of intense excitement. "Why, it's Dolly Leatham, little Dolly Leatham!" she cried, with evident delight. "The idea of me meeting her down here. I haven't seen the child for years." "You know her, then?" asked Mrs Rose, in a tone in which relief was mingled with disappointment at the collapse of her own suspicions. "I used to know her very well. She was the belle of that part of Yorkshire. ' The last I heard of her was that she was engaged to be married to some man who had a lot of money. And they said she was being hurried into it by her people rather against her will." "Well, she has managed to get rid of him," said Mrs Rose coldly. "You see she is in widow's dress now." "Yes, so I see. Poor Dolly! It seems rather strange to find her here, so far from all her friends! And the things you have told me!" After a pause, Mr Haybrow said decidedly: "I must call upon her tomorrow. No, I'll go and see her at once. There will be plenty of time before dinner, won't there? There's something mysterious about this, and i I must find out what it is." ! (To be Continued.)