Hugh Gretton's Secret.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8479, 5 July 1907, Page 2

Hugh Gretton's Secret.

By EFPEE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS. Author of "Selina's Love Story," "A Splendid Heart," "Brave Barbara," "The Temptation of Mary Bar," "Ihe Interloper,» etc., etc.

CHAPTER Xl.—Continued. "He i« a nice, a very, very fine man," she said to herself. He was, indeed, a contrast to many of the men theg.rl had jostled against in her travels, and whose too ready admiration for her beauty had been not the least ot the burdens her position had ca'led upon her to bear. She often revived the remembrances of the first time she met John Bynge, and of the unutterable comfort his readv help had be~n to her that summer night in a New England State, when by mischance or. as Lady Yelvertoun had said coldly afterward, by her supreme stupidity —she had been left behind, to find her way liack to New York as best she could. "How strange to have met him again! How little I imagined that night that we should become friends in a sense, or that I should have ever been asked to his home. Truly, life is a mosaic of little pieces, which, tossed about and separated as they may be, work gradually together to fcrm a whole," Sigrid had said to herself dreamily, as she wrote her letter to Mrs Bynge, and then prepared to part from Charlotte, and go to her new destination.

last few years all my correspondence has been difficult, and somehow even my dear cousin, whom you know as Sister Marie, has drifted away from me. I remember," the invalid continued, after a little pause "I remember being almost grieved when I heard, perhaps about two years ago, that you had left the convent, and yet I was glad, too. It seemed so like a romance to hear that your friends had found you. I sincerely hoped that you were going to be very happy." Sigrid paused a few moments ere replying; she was still holding Mrs Harlowe's hand in hers.

"I have not been very happy," she said, and there was a quaver in her voice. "It was so dreadful to leave my dear convent, and everybody who loved me, and go with strangers. I felt —I knew," Sigrid said, half passionately, "it would never be the same again, but, oh! I never dreamed J. had said good-bye to some of them forever." *

Mrs Harlowe said nothing, she only moved her fingers softly over the little hand she held.

She had found the companionship of Millicent Gretton's maid indescribably comforting. It had given her a sense of sad pleasure to listen to Charlotte's rambling talk of her dead master and "Miss Millicent," and all, the charm and beauty of their Australian home.; As she had told Sir John, Sigrid could not rid her mind of a haunting thought that she had. quite indirectly of course, been the cause of that lamentable fainting attack which had commenced Mr Gretton's fatal illness. Even now, at times, she felt the startled sensation that had come upon her then, and she seemed to see the curious, fierce shocked look that had contracted Hugh Gretton's eyes as they met her's. Of course she knew it was merely fancy but she was so highly sensitive that such an episode was bound to have its lasting effect on her and indeed apart from this the whole circumstances of Mr Gretton's death and Millicent's bereavement were of the very nature to appeal to her sympathetic heart. She found herself offering illimitable pity to Millicent Gretton. "To have known such a father, and to have lost him so suddenly, so unexpectedly!" was what she said repeatedly to herself, with a shiver of sympathetic comprehension. The suggestion seemed to carry such a dearth of devastating pain that for the first time in her life, Sigrid was grateful for her orphanhood.

"Oh! to lose such a love!" she said to herself passionately. "Why, it must be worse than death!" Charlotte had been both touched and gratified by this unknown young lady's tender interest in her young mistress. "She has a sweet, tender heart, and no mistake," Charlotte said to herself, after she had seen Sigrid safely arrived in London and driven away to her destination. "I'm sure I hope she'll be happy and taken good care of, that I do." A little . nervous thrill passed through Sigrid as she reached Mrs Harlowe's house.

She realized in that moment what a strange fate hers was, to be so perpetually faced by new elements.

The maid who had come to fetch her said very little as they drove a way together; but as Sigrid stood in the hall, looking wistful, pale, and very lovely, the woman said hurriedly : "I am not sure that you know it, miss, but my mistress is a great invalid. She had a stroke of paralysis a few years ago, and is quite helpless and nearly blind. She is quite looking forward to having you with her. miss; it seems she remembers you when you were a little child." Sigrid's heart seemed to beat more freely at this remark. "Can I see her now?" she said, and forthwith she was taken up the wide staircase with its dull red walls hung with many a splendid picture, till a large room was reached, and Sigrid found herself bending over an invalidchair, in which a poor, crippled, distorted woman's form was resting, supported by many cushions, an object of such pathos to Sigrid that the tears rushed to her eyes unconsciously. The welcome given tc her was very sweet. Illness had weakened the voice, but not destroyed its music and the big brown eyes that looked up almost sightlessly into the girl's face were lull of beauty. Sigrid felt something of the old peace,the old rest, rush back over her heart, as she sat talking with Mrs Harlowe about the convent and its beloved occupants. The irfvalici's worn hand seemed to find a pleasure in clinging to Sigrid's.

"You were such a lovely, lovely baby!" Mrs Harlowe said half smilingly. "I very nearly stole you, I remember I warned poor sister Therese that she must look after you very closely, or I should carry you away. You would not remember me; you were a little tiny thing, just beginning; to run about. But. oh! you were so beautiful, my dear." Sigrid blushed, even though there was flo one to see her. "You are so good to let me come here," she said hurriedly, and with her gratitude ringing so sincerely in each word. "Oh!" Mrs Harlowe said, with a repetition of that faint smile, "there is not so much goodness after all. I dare say you would be surprised! to know how often I have thought of you, and wished your bright youth might have come into my life. For a long time I had regular news of you; that was when I could write, but the

"You will stay with me as long as you can?" she said, half eagerly, when she felt that the girl had conquered her sorrow. As Sigrid hesitated, she went on more quickly: "Of course, I know, dear, you have others to consider but still, perhaps they can spare you. Will you tell me your, exact position? Marie has given me no particulars. She merely said you were alone at Southampton that you had wished to return to the convent for a time, and that as this outbreak of fever made it impossible for you to do this, she would be glad if I would take care of you till something further was arranged." Sigrid put the truth before her pew friend very simply. "I wanted to go back to the convent not for a little .vhile but for always," she said wistfully. "There was nothing else for me to do when I found myself separated from Lady Yelvertoun. One thing I must tell you," the girl went on a little eagerly; "it is this: I am quite sure Lady Yelvertoun would never have left me as she did if she had not known my great wish to go back to the convent. I had asked her to let me do this several times. I think she grew tired of hearing'this and as I was really of little use to her she let me go. As she undertook to explain everything to my—my aunt" —it was never easy for Sigrid to speak of her kinship with Hannah Carleton —"I felt sure I shall not be interfered with any more." The middle-aged invalid woman who listened to these words had drawn her hand away from the girl's. It was evident that what Sigrid had just told her had startled her conI siderably.

"And all this time thj.t I have thought of you as happy in your proper home you have been a paid servant to Althea Yelvertoun!" she said when she spoke at last. Sigrid looked at her quickly.

"Ycu know Lady Yelvertoun?" she asked, and a thrill of nervousness passed over her, even at the possibility of being called upon to meet that cold, beautiful woman whom she had known so well, and yet so little. Mrs Harlowe laughed faintly. "My dear," she said half quaintly, "I have known Althea Yelvertoun nearly all my life; it is certainly the strangest thing in the world that I should never have been told of your presence in her household. Nigel could surely"—but here Mrs Harlowe paused and put out her hand again to Sigrid. "Perhaps you never met Lord Yelvertoun while you were with Althea? Oh, I do not mean her husband—he died long before you left the convent—l mean' Nigel, the present earl. A young man—in fact, to me, still a boy." Sigrid shook her head. "No, I have never seen Lord Yelvertoun. He was abroad, I think, when I first went to Storr, and since then Lady Yelvertoun has been travelling all the time, and we have been in England only for a few days in nearly three long years." Sigrid gave a little unconscious sigh .over those three long years, Mrs Harlowe laughed faintly as Sigrid ceased speaking. "Yelvertoun is my nephew, my godson, and my heir," she said. "He is the only child of my only sister, and I love him as though he were my own boy. It has been a case of my influence against Althea's where Niel is concerned, ever since he was born. You have no idea how angry Lady Yelvertoun has been with me, my dear." (To be Continued.)