THE STUDENT'S SECRET.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8448, 24 May 1907, Page 2

THE STUDENT'S SECRET.

CHAPTER I.—Continued. Sybil had scarcely breathed since i nterinß the library, and she had :>acome an involuntary eavesdropper. She gasped quickly as she heard her father step toward the curtain. "Why," saidM" Grey, impaticnt!v, "have you chosen this time, of ill others to worry me with your mlk? I know all about the cursed "•lationship. I know just what a •ontemptible loafer you are. If you v.-ant.money, name the sum " "T don't want money. I want a favour—a favour for my daughter— Mio onr]r living thing I care for. he's a handsome, high-stepping one. x'ou could make a lady of her. And he's got a lover, not a man of her own condition, not a loafer, as you say, or a dead beat like mo; but a {gentleman--one of your sort, Julian." Mr Grey controlled himself, and did not reply. "Well. Julian, the fellow can't ruin her in the common fashion—she's too smart and too proud for that. And he won't marry her in the common fashion—he's too proud for Uiat. So he wants to marry her on the sly. A secret marriage, he tells 'her to be acknowledged in due time. Now Julian, clever as Rosa is, she relieves that nonsense. She is going .'.<> consent to that sort of a marriage. l;ut you and I know how much it's worth. We know that a secret marriage is a mere sham. And that's what has brought me back to you tonight —to beg you to stop it " "Beg me to stop it! What have 1 to do with your affairs?" "What you might do is to square things a little, before God does it for you and grinds you up in doing it. Listen! 1 want you to let Rosa come hare—to this splendid home of yours -as a companion to your daughter ••jr a little while. She's mighty goodlooking; she won't mortify you. Press her up. Let her trail around over your velvet-covered floors. Let him see her here—as an equal, as your young relation. He'll forget that he made her acquaintance in his father's factory; he'll forget iie belongs to a disreputable fellow like me. He'll marry your guest, your Sybil's friend. Don't you -see the advantage? Won't you promise, Julian? It'll help to set things square." "You are mad," said Mr Grey, ■cornfully, "to conceive such a plan! it is utterly impossible." "Oh. don't say that— —" "Utterly impossible. I'd sooner put a viper in my bosom than to bring one of your breed into my house. It is my misfortune that you are able to claim a distant relationship with me. Hut never, never will I pei-mit any association between my child and yours. Now, I have heard you, and answered you. Go, or I will ring tor a servant'to put you out!" As, Mr Grey spoke, he stepped forward and slipped the velvet curtain along on the brazen rings. Sybil shrank further back into the shadow of the lofty book shelves, :md crouched there, silent and alarmed.

"You need not ring," said the inail. "I am going, I thought when 1 came that perhaps I could touch your heart. It wasn't much to ask of you; and if there's a living man who ought to be tender of a woman's honour, you're that man, Julian. But you have a heart of stone. You can only feel for your kind. Well, I'm going/ I'll leave you to your fine dinner and your fine friends. But recollect, the fruits of sin are sure to ripen. Yours will ripen yet, and may be its your darling daughter who will have to eat them." As he spoke he moved along, shuffling awkwardly between the statues and books. He was a lowlybuilt, heavy-browed, evil-looking man, in soiled linen and coarse clothing. * ' His shadow fell across Sybil as he passed. Who was he? What was the meaning of his threat? A sudden fright, a passionate pity seized the beautiful young girl. She sprang forward, clasping her hands. "Papa!" she "cried, "help him! Mave his daughter— do as he desires!" It was too late. The door swung ..oftly to. The ill-starred visitor was >;one. Mr Grey stood with his hands clasped against his head. His face was white. He seemed vtojhave received a shock. "To think of the risk I have run all these years," he stammered. "To think that I might have left that man my heir." He turned to his laughter. "Sybil"— with intense ■ lispleasure—"what are you doing here! What does this mean?" "Papa, I came for you " "Forgive me. lam all unnerved. Some water, dear; I shall be myself * in a minute." "It was that dreadful man, papa?" "Yes, I hoped you would never vivo to see him. Before I sleep this •light I must provide against his ■var setting foot within these doors iji'ain." Sybil took her father's cold hand vi thin her own. "Oh, my child!" he exclaimed, 'how I have wronged you- -" "Do not think of it now, papa. * >.u" friends are waiting. It will seem ;<> strange." "True. But they are old friends, 'iicy know till." "One of them is a stranger," said ■ jhil, with a blush. "Ah, yes, Max Charteris. You •ilist be very gracious to him, by ,-!i,y of making amends! I watrt you y< like young Charteris, Sybil. And tin sure he will find you irresistible. low beautiful my beauty is, toliCht." Making a powerful effort, Mr Grey imposed his expression and his ■ ice. Ho drew his daughter's hand •ithin his arm, and they walked onward to the drawing room.

By MRS W. H. PALMER.

"Doremus, Charteris," he said, "you know me too well not to know that this delay has been unavoidable." He advanced toward the little group, and, taking Sybil's hand from his arm, he put it within that of the young man. "Max, this is my daughter." The young pair surveyed each other with "half-embarrassed interest. They wore well matched. The blond-haired hazel-eyed, patrician girl, with her superb form, her proud, sweet lips, her unstudied amiability, was hardly more beautiful than the dark, Byronic, dreamyeyed, youngs fellow who bestowed upon her a well-bred, critical glance. "I am so glad to know you, for I love your dear, good father," said Sybil ingeniously. "Let me hope that the love for the father will be visited upon the son," replied young Charteris, in low tones, bending over her hand. Sybil was unused to persiflage of this sort. She bestowed d. long, thoughtful glance upon the young man's face. "I don't know," she said frankly. "And now, apology must wait on appetite," M- Grey was saying to his friends. "Let us to dinner." CHATPER 11. AFTER DINNER. Mr Grey's dinners were admitted to be model entertainments. The ceremony was never oppressive. The viands, the wine and the attendance were each superlative in their way. To-night no expense had been spared. The dinner was epicurean. One might have fancied themselves at an old Pompeiian banquet. The conversation, however, which Mr Grey usually led with tact and brilliancy, was a trifle dull. From the unnatural look of the host's eyes and his excessive pallor, it seemed as if he were much disturbed. Evidently something was weighing on his mind which even his habitual self-control was unable to suppress. JjjHe sat at one end of the polished table, after the cloth had been removed, his white-haired mulatto valet "behind the chair. This man, whose name was Pierre, with his bronze wrinkles, his hooked nose and stiff white hair, was Mr Grey's almost inseparable attendant. He remained after the other servants had quitted the room, rigidly erect, appearing neither to see, hear or comprehend. At the opposite end of the table, behind a tall epergne of flowers and fruit, Sybil and Max Charteris carried on a low-toned conversation, half flattering and wholly amusing as the animation of their faces and the ripples of laughter from their lips, indicated.

From the centre of the board Mr Charteris looked anxiously at the preoccupied host, and then with an air of relief toward the young couple who seemed so well pleased with each other's society. Dr. Doremus glanced frequently at his host, then at the young people, and occasionally held his wineglass to the light, letting his eyes rest absent-mindedly upon the ruby glow.

For a few moments none of the three middle-aged men had spoken. Mr Grey broke the silence. "Charteris —Doremus," he began, in a low, hollow tone, "I think I need hardly tell you—you who know me so well—that something unpleasant has happened. Luke Jastrum has been here to-night " "Again?—for money?" "For more than that. For a favour' " "Which I hope you did not grant," said Charteris. "No, I refused him But the interview has made me realize what I should have realized years ago "' Q "That the fellow's blackmailing might as well cease?" put in Dr. Doremus. The three men had drawn their chairs together at the beginning of the talk, and spoke in low tones. i "No," replied Mr Grey, "not that so much as that I am recklessly imI prudent in having neglected to make a will " "You haven't made a will?" echoed the doctor. "It isn't possible!" The attention of the young couple had been attracted by the serious tones of their elders. Their talk ceased abruptly. (To be Continued.)