THE LADY IN BLACK.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8410, 26 April 1907, Page 2

THE LADY IN BLACK.

By FLORENCE WARDEN. Author of tt An Infamous Fraud," "A Terrible Familu," "For Love of Jack," "The House on the Marsh," etc., etc.

CHAPTER IV.—Continued. So, when she had had a cup of tea, Mrs II ay brow went straight to "The Towers." She remained there :t long time, so long' that Mrs Rose wondered what the ladies could have to say to each other. And when, at last. Ma bin, who was watching at the drawingroom window for her return, called out that she was coming up the garden, the girl added: "Oh, mama, how pale she looks!" "She is tired, no doubt." said Mrs Rose, an she left the room to meet her frier.d a;j the latter came in. But she also was surprised to see how white Mrs liny brow had become. "You should have waited until after dinner. You look quite worn out," she saicl. "Well, and what had .your friend got to say to you?" Mrs Haybrow' paused, as if too much exhausted to answer at once. Then she said quietly,: "I was mistaken. She was not my friend, after all." "Not your friend! Dear me! You were so long gone that we were quite sure she was." "No. She is very nice , though—quite a charming woman." "Ah!" exclaimed Mrs Rose suspiciously. "But what do you think about her having Mabin?" There was another slight pause before Mrs Haybrow answered: , "I am sure you may be quite satisfied about that,." . But when dinner was over. Mrs Haybrow got Mabin to take her to see the new ducks that Mr Rose was so proud of; and on the way back she asked the girl whether she was •very anxious for her visit to "The Towers." And finding that she was, Mrs Haybrow added: "And, of course, dear, if anything were to happen while you were there, which seemed to you rather strange or unusual, you would.write or telegraph to papa and mama at once, wouldn't you?" "Of course, I see," went on Mabin, smiling, "that mama has managed to infect you already with hen own suspicions of poor Mrs Dale." "No,£dear,Mrs Dale seemed to me a very nice' woman, indeed, and very anixous to have you. But I am getting old, and I am nervous about girls away from their homes. That is all." . And she turned the conversation to another subject

CHAPTER V. A STARTLING VISIT. Mrs Rose was not a woman of ■acute perceptions, but even she was •vaguely conscious that there was something not quite satisfactory about the account Mrs Haybrow had given of her visit to "The Towers." Surely it was very strange that, after being so sure that Mrs Dale was a friend of hers, she should have discovered that she was mistaken! And again, if the pretty widow had really proved to be a stranger, why should Mrs Haybrow, tired as she was after her journey, have stayed L at "The Towers" so long? Besides, Mrs Rose could not help thinking that she had heard some name like "Dolly Leatham" before, although she had forgotten that it was from the lips of Mrs Bonnington and that it.had been part of the back-stairs gossip which Mr Rose would have been angry with her for encouraging. Mrs Rose was a person in whose mind few facts long remained in a definite'shape. Accustomed to have all mental processes performed for her by her husband; she lived in a state of intellectual laziness, in which her faculties had begun to rust. Mr Rose had complete confidence in Mrs Haybrow, who was indeed a .staid, stolid sort of person who inspired trust. If, therefore. Mr Rose trusted to Mrs Haybrow's judgment, and Mrs Haybrow saw no objection to Mabin's visit, surely there was .no need to fatigue oneself by hunting up obstacles to a very convenient arrangement. And so it fell out that when Mrs Haybrow's visit was over, and the Roses started for Switzerland. Mabin saw them all off at the station, and then returned to "Stone House," to pack up the few things she had left out which she would want durincj her stay at "The Towers." She had reached the portico, and was going up the steps of her home with leisurely steps, rather melancholy at the partings which had been gone through, and with a few girlish fears about her visit, when the door •of the house was opened suddenly, before she could ring the bell, and the parlour-maid, one of the two servants who, at the request of the new tenant, had been left behind, appeared with her finger to her lips. Mabin paused on the top step and looked at her with surprise. Langford came out, and spoke, in a whisper. "Shall I pack up your things and send them in to Mrs Dale's to-night, .Miss Mabin? Mr Banks has come, and he seems such a queer sort of gentleman I don't quite know how to take him yet. He came upon us •quite sudden, almost aa soon as the 'bus with the luggage had turned fthe corner, and asked, sharp like, if ■ they were all gone. And I said, "'Yes,' and he seemed relieved like, ■and I didn't dare to mention you were coming back to fetch your .things." j Mabin stared gloomily at Langford, who was evidently anxious to get rid of her. i "What's the matter with him? Do 1 you think it is Mr Banks., and not some man who's got into the house by pretending to be he?" i

"Lor', Miss Mabin, I never thought of that!" cried poor Langford, turning quite white. She had evidently entertained faint suspicions of her own, for at this ! suggestion she was about to fly into I Lhe house in search of the newcomer, and perhaps to brand him as an impoater, when Mabin, smiling at her alarm, caught hold of her to detain her. "No, no, you silly girl. Of course it's all right. It's sure to be all right. He's probably eccentric, that's all. Doesn't he look the kind of person you would expect?" "Oh, yes, Miss Mabin, he's every inch a gentleman. But " She hesitated, apparently unable to put into appropriate words the impression the new tenant had made upon her. "But what?" '•'He is rather—rather strange-look-irig. I—l think he looks as if he wouldn't live long. His face has a sort of gray look, as if Well, Miss Mabin,it's a queer thing to say, but he looks to me half-scared." "Mad?" suggested Mabin. more with her lips and eyebrows than with her voice. Langford nodded emphatically. "Oh, dear!" Then Mabin was silent, trying to recollect all that she had heard in the family circle about the gentleman who was so anxious to take the house. And she found that it did not amount to much. A rich man, a bachelor, of quiet habits, who disliked unnecessary fuss and noise, and whose references Mr Rose's lawyer had declared to be unimpeachable—this was the sum of the family knowledge of Mr Banks. "Did he come quite alone?" asked Mabin, in spite of the mute entreaties of Langford that she would take herself oft'. "Yes, Miss Mabin, quite alone. And he said his luggage would be sent on." After a short pause, during which Mabin made up her mind that there was nothing to be done but to accept the newcomer as the genuine article until he proved to be an imposter, she turned reluctantly to go. "Good-by, Langford. Bring me my things, and mind you don't forget to feed my canary. And you might come and see me sometimes in the evening, when you can get away. I think I shall be lonely." And, indeed, there were tears in the eyes of the girl, who was already homesick, now that she found herse'f thus suddenly denied admittance at the familiar portal. It was in a very sober a"d chastened mood that the young girl arrived, a few minutes later, at the gate of 'The Towers," but the welcome she received would have put heart into a misanthrope. Mrs Dale was waiting in the garden, her pretty, fair face aglow with impatience to receive her friend. She drew the arm of Mabin. who was considerably taller than herself, through hers, and led her at once into the house, to the room which Mabin had been in before. The table was laid for luncheon, and Mabin observed with surprise that there were two places ready, although she had not promised to come till the afternoon. "There!" cried Mrs Dale, triumphantly, pointing to the table, "was I not inspired? The fact is," she went on, with a smile which was almost tearful, "I was so anxious for you to come that I had begun to tell myself that I should be disappointed after all; so I had your place laid to 'make believe.' like the children. And now you are really here. Oh, it seems too good to be true" Mabin was pleased by this reception, as she could not fail to be, but she was also a little puzzled. She wa3 conscious of no attractions in herself which could explain such enthusiasm on her account. "I am afraid," she said shyly, "that I shallturn out a bitter disappointment. You can't know much about girls, Mrs Dale, or you would feel, as they all do at home, that there is a time, which I am going through now, when a girl is just as awkward and as stupid and as generally undesirable as she can Dossibly be."

"Hush, hush, child! You don't know anything about it. Don't you know that girls are charming, and that part of their charm lies in that very belief that they are 'all wrong,' when, as a matter of fact, they are everything that is right?" "Ah! You were never gawky and awkward!" "I wasn't tall enough to be gawky, as you like to call yourself. But five years ago, when I was eighteen. I was just as miserable as you try to make yourself, believing myself to be in everybody's way. It led to awful consequences in my case," added Mrs Dale, the excite rnent going quite suddenly out of her face and voice, and giving place to a look and tone of dull despair. Mabin, who had been made to take off her hat, put her hand in that of the little widow. (Tu be Continued.)