Hugh Gretton's Secret.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8492, 22 July 1907, Page 2

Hugh Gretton's Secret.

By ESFFEI3 ADES.AIBZ3 ROWLANDS. author »/' "Selhtas Love Story." "A Splendid Heart," "Brave Barbara," "The Temptation of Mary Bar," "J/ie Interloper,'' etc., etc

CHAPTER XXl.—Continued. [

She was dressed in her old simple fashion, but real beauty is so rare that dress, however poor, cannot mar it, and Sigrid's unfashionable gown, was acceptable, even to so smart a person as Lord Yelvertoun. He took her into Bond Street, and enticed her to look at eva-y window. His tongue never ceased chattering, and Sigrid could not but confess that the walk was doing her great good. Suddenly, as they wc-re turning away from a jeweller's brilliant window, a lady's voice greeted Lord Yelvertoun most cordially. "How charming to meet you! We are looking forward so much to our little dinner to-night, Lord Yelvertoun. So*good of you to think of me. I wrote ~aiid told Rupert of your kindness only an hour ago. He will be so sorry he is not with me to share your hospitality. 1 should like to introduce you now to Miss Gretton. May I?" Sylvia Langtone was looking inquiringly at Sigrid, but the girl had moved onwaid slowly with Powell the instant she saw that Lord Yelvertoun had met some friends. The young man had, of course, no alternative, but to accept the introduction of Miss Gretton, who was sitting swathed in furs in the luxurious shelter of a brougham. "We must not keep you," she* said, in her pretty fashion, as she bent her head to his salutation. Millicent's eyes went aprovingly .over Lord Yelvertoun's very smart person; unconsciously her mind drew a picture of comparison between this very nice young man and John Bynge, who was so different. Handsome as he was, John was not smart in the London sense of the word; he never wore violets in his buttonhole, and his unfashionable country clothes were certainly unlike anything Lord Yelvertoun had on. "I am so glad to meet you, Lord Yelvertoun. I have heard so much about you," Millicent said, prettily; then she explained, "from your aunt. Lady Yelvertoun. We talked of you much on board the Columbia, I really quite feel I know you," Millicent finished here, with her little? girlish laugh, and an attractive upward sweep of her eyes. She had not seen Sigrid, and Mrs Langtone's expression of curiosity and admiration mingled was therefore lost to her. John Bynge's sister was indeed struck with Sigrid's appearance. She watched the girl as she moved with Powell_jnto-tiitr croy^j^d-eOT-"~Df the -'"other two chatted on with that familiarity that comes frum kindred spirits. "We are keeping you from your friends, Lord Yelvertoun," Mrs Langtone said at last, and she held out her hand. "Was it not lucky, meeting you at the hotel last night? Millie and I had just arrived, as yon know. A visit to London is a very rare occurrence with me now. I feel so flattered you remembered me." "I am never likely to forget you or anybody belonging to dear old Rupert Langtone. By Jove! there aren't many like him going about!" And then Lord Yelvertoun shook hands with both ladies warmly, noting mentally what a tiny hand it was thtt Millicent Gretton put into his and how "jolly becoming" was her big black hat, with its glistening jet and many feathers, framing her delicate, pretty face and golden-brown hafr, and then he was off, flying after Sigrid and her maid in the greatest haste. "Such a nice fellow! Quite unspoiled," Sylvia Langtone said, as she and Millicent drove on again. "And he is an earl, too," Miss Gretton said, with a quite unconscious touch of snobbery, and an equally unconscious touch of envy. "An earl—without an income!" observed Mrs Langtone briskly. "Yelvertoun will have to marry money. Rupert has known* him since he was a little boy, and I have always liked him;" this with that air of unconscious endowment of benefit. "Hadn't - you better put up that' window, Millie, remember, you must not sit in a draft. If you should catch a fresh cold while you are in my care, John would never forgive me." "Oh, I am quite well. There is no draft!" Millicent answered-, a ittle facetiously. She was looking out again for Lord Yelvertoun. The carriage had to move down Bond Street almost at a crawl. The spring sunshine had , brought every one out, and the block in the traffic was great, but they eventually caught up with the young man in the \ery immaculate frock coat and the very glossy hat. "He is with such a pretty girl," Mrs Langtone said, leaning forward to get another glimpse of Sigrid as they passed. "Look, Millie, isn't she pretty? Quite a beauty, in fact! I wonder who she is?" "She ij very shabbily dressed, whoever she is," Mis's Gretton remarked, very quickly. She sat back in the brougham with a little flush on her face. A curious sensation and a remembrance came to her at this moment. She recalled those days of sunshine and calm on board the Columbia, when she and Lady Yelvertoun had sat together and discussed her future. Millicent had not needed much cleverness to read the drift of all Lady Yelvertoun's constant allusion to her nephew Nigel. Miss Gretton had only told the earl tbe truth when the said she felt she had known him quite well, for his name, his stoiy, and all about him had been the favourite topic between the young and the older woman in those idle hours. A little impatient sigh broke from Millicent's lips. What a delightful future that had been which she and

Lady Yelvertoun had sketched out together. This brief glimpse of London was dangerously attractive to Millicent; she felt her spirits rise and her heart thrill unconsciously as. she drove through the streets, and fet the throng and buzz of life about her. Thought of Big Drylstone was like thought of a tomb, and thought of John brought no throb of pleasure. He was good, so strong, and gentle, a:;d kind, but he was so grave, so much older than he had seemed in the days when she had first met him, travelling in California. But John's image dwindled into something faint and small on Millicent's first contact with even the outward influence of London life. The j gaiety of the streets was a kind of food to her. Every glance of admiration that, rested on her was a distinct and separate touch of pleasure. She had always known she was very pretty, but she seemed to feel the full power of her attractions for the first time. She did her shopping with a new air upon her. Vaguely her manner annoyed Mrs Langtone, who, of course, expected to be the person of importance in all such matters. l m The trip to town had been, as we know, her suggestion, and she had carried out her intention briskly; but, truth to tell, Mrs Langtone almost repented of her plan when she found herself with the complete charge of Millicent upon her hands. She came in full contact with the girl's real nature almost immediately. Charlotte the faithful was in attendance, but Miss Gretton wanted more than one person to look after her. The journey from Drylstone to town revealed this, and twenty-four hours' experience convinced Mrs Langtone that her brother's fiancee was absolutely selfish. However, Mrs Langtone, was prepared to shut her eyes to every fault; and even when Millicent put her advice aside, and gave her own orders in the most offensively independent way, Mrs Langtone managed to keep her temper. There was so much, moreover, that was sympathetic between them, that a quarrel, all circumstances considered, was never ve: y likely. Returning to Picca :illy and their hottl, they saw Lord Yelvertoun a second time, this time alone. Millicent blushed deeply as she returned his bow. She had a strange, resentful feeling upon her, also a faint touch of jealousy. " Had I the fortune Lady Yelvertoun spoke about so much, I should have chosen him, not John," was the thought that ran -at the root of these feelings. She was restlessly eager to go and see Lady Yelvertoun, and, Mrs Langtone being nothing loath, they drove that afternoon to inquire for the countess. The servants at the big house told them her ladyship was away in Paris. It was a great disappointment to Miss Gretton not to see her friend, who had promised so much. She was a little cross all the remainder of the day, till the time came for dress and dinner. Lord Yelvertoun just happened to be passing their hotel when they arrived the previous day, and he at once stopped to greet Mrs Langtone, and inquire after her husband who, though older, had been a college chum of the earl's before he came into the title. When he heard that Mrs Langtone was in town for a short while, to chaperon her future sister-in-law, he at once pressed hos- ! pitality upon her. He suggested a ' theatre, but Mrs Langtone felt compelled to decline this. j "Miss Gretton is in mourning, you see," she said. Millicent had passed indoors while all this had occurred, but when Mrs Langtone repeated the conversation, j Miss Gretton felt impatiently vexed. "Must I be kept in a big black box all my life?" she asked herself, and she once again assured herself that her father would have been the last person to object to her having some amusement and happiness. However, the dinner with , Lord Yelvertoun was better than nothing, and Millicent dressed herself with special care. She had bought herself some beautiful pearls in her Bond Street peregrinations, and in her long, clinging gown of softest black silken material, with those pearls massed round her pretty throat, and her beautiful hair dressed picturesquely, she certainly looked most attractive. (To be Continued.)