THREE MEN AND A MAID.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9030, 22 February 1908, Page 2

THREE MEN AND A MAID.

CHAPTER XVIII

HANNAH SEEKS ADVICE

An hour's delay, aided by a thick cloak, OiinhkvJ ftlarjo.-ic to reach the Gi'cyiiound in her father's company without arousing the curiosity of loiterers in the village street. Nevertheless, lie had scarce entered the door He fore Hannah pounced o\\ her, ready to glut her rage on_ one who usually proved an easy victim. The cold rebuff administered by James at the station had stirred her vindictive nature to its depths. She hadilown home in a rare temper, vowing vengeance on James next clay, but eager to find some object on which to vent her present anger. Aunt Margaret was the first person she encountered; but the old lady fled to her room at the Jirst outburst. Not that she was really afraid of her niece, or dreaded any display oi physical violence, for Aunt Margaret was n stalwart in more ways than one but sh? was shocked by anything approaching a scene "in front of the servants." So Hannah clattered about the house, and her quick wits told her that her father's unwonted absence at such an hour was bound up with Marjorie's non-arrival at Hudston. Hence, she was on the alert, and Marjorie's wish to conciliate the sister who had proved so unsisterly was rudely, indeed coarsely, repelled. "You've come back, then," was the ungracious speech which greeted the vounger woman's appearanace. "And with father, too! I'm ashamed of you, father, that I am. You know'what folks are saying about Marjorie and Warren, yet you bring her here as though she had been behaving herself properly." "Hush, lass, hush," said Jonas, "that's no way t'> talk " "No, people never like to hear the truth. Going off to London so that she might meet Warren. A nice thing! As if we weren't disgraced enough already. Her name's in everybody's mouth." A'hot "flush leaped to Marjorie's brow, though she had it in her heart to he forgiving. "Perhaps few are saying worse things than you at this moment, Hannah," she cried, striving to control voice and temper. "How can you be so unkind? You, my sister, to utter such words! You alone among my relatives know why I left horre two nights ago " "Do I? That may be so. I heard what you said after you left the tower, but you are deep, Marjorie, too deep, and all Hudston has taken your, measure by this time, as you would have found out if you had come to the station with your man. As for you, father, helping her in such goings on, I think you must be mad." "I'll tell you what," roared Jonas, stirred to sudden frenzy, "I'll not be spoken to that way in my own house by nay bairn of mine. Get ye to bed, ye vixen. Get ye te b»d, and thank the Lord ye hev a faither who has mair sense than te tak' heed o' your cackle." Hannah tossed her head scornfully. "I'll let you all see in the morning who is to be considered here," she cried. "Don't you run away with the idea that Philip Warren is going to escape scot free for killing the Squire. There's a man in Hudstnn who will take care of that, and I have no doubt he told you so in London, Marjorie, though why James should be so infatuated about you is more than I can fathom. Even the cleverest of men can be fooled by a woman, I suppose " "You have a lot to say r.bout men, came a voice from the stairs. "Happen it would be a good thing for you to keep fast hold of your own man and leave Marjorie's alone. Welcome home, honey. I was the one to bid you leave Hudson, and now I hope you will never leave us again, but that you have come back happy and loved bv the man you have been so faithful" to." Aunt Margaret swept Hannah aside fearlessly, and folded Marjorie in her arms, while the girl's mother, hearing the unexpected clamour in the hall, came forward, too, to embrace the runaway. Hannah, by no means anxious to have the whole household arrayed against her, thought fit to modify her atti-

tude. "What' 3 the use of pretending that our neighbours are not full of gossip about Marjorie?" she said. "I only meant that it would be better if Marjorie had stopped in London, ' seeing that she went there of her own free will. And are you all crazy to pretend that Mr Warren won't be tried for murder? Am I making up a stow to suite any one? isn't the country full "f it? Sec to-day's papers if you doubt me." Now, during the long journey in •the train. Philip and Marjorie had gone so carefully through the v/hole of the facts known to them that Mr Winter himself could have added but little to the caai theymade out against James Courthope, and it was but too clearly established that Hannab had been "not only his dupe but his confederate throughout. It was on the tip of Marjorie's • tongue to rebuke Hannah for daring to cloak her malice under the guise of friendly concern, but she recollected the detective's earnest request that she would betray no item of the knowledge she possessed, so she contented herself by saying: "You do not need me to tell you how unjust public suspicion may be, Hannah. Search your own heart and bend your knees in humble prayer. Perhaps you may be vouchsafed light and guidance. Above all else, believe that Philip Warren demands and will cheerfully undergo the closest scrutiny of his actions. He has nothing to fear from inquiry, but

By ROBERT ERASER. t'

[Published By Special Aeraxgejient.]

[All Eights Reserved.]

(To be continued.)

just the contrary. To close the investigation into the manner of Robert Courthope's death, or leave unsolved the causes which led to it, would do Philip the greatest injustice."

Hunnah became dumb so suddenly that Marjorie feared she had said too much. Yet, reviewing her words in the privacy of her own room later, she could see no other course open than to proclaim Philip's innocence. And to her mind, not being versed in legal subtleties, she could see no flaw in the evidence connecting James with the murder. True, the chief witness would be Philip, and the case against James depended wholly on circumstance, but what judge and jury would fail to believe her Philip? And was not nearly every secret murderer convicted by circumstantial evidence?

Of course, Marjorie soon reasoned herself into sweet and untroubled slumber. Hannah, on the other hand, tossed restlessly until daylight. At the first possible hour she went to Edenhurst Court, and asked to see James, but a man-servant brought a curt message that "Mr Courthope was ill and could see nobody." "Tell your master that he must contrive to give me a few minutes," she said stubbornly. "Tell him I have news of the utmost importance" The footman, rather afraid of her, yet dreading the loss of his situation, sought the butler, and. the butler, risking James' anger, conveyed Hannah's earnest request in person. But James was tired of Hannah's urging towards an early marriage, and he had determined to play in his own way the serious game which lay before him. Her insistence, her pleading, the mere sight of a face that became wan with anxiety the moment he was in her presence, angered fretted him. So he bade the butler tell her that he was asleep, under the influence of an opiate administered by the doctor, but if she could come to the Court about the luncheon-hour, the Squire would certainly be awake then. All content, Hannah, walked back to the village. At one o'clock she was at the Court again, where she received the chilling intelligence that Mr Courthope had arisen soon after her early call and was gone to Darlington. Somehow, Hannah's unquestioned pluck failed her at this crisis. She realized that James meant to cast her off—that he was not to be terrified by anything she might do or say in vain effort to bring him to her side again. She held her head high before the solemn-jowled footman, but when she reached the shelter of the avenue of elms she broke into a storm of tears. This calmed her a little. She dried her eyes, and resolved to take a wa'k over the moors, thus giving herself time to think and plan, while the exercise would serve to compose her features and remove the redness frum swollen eyelids. She was tall and strong, a fine figure of a woman, and recent events had developed in her nature a dour tenacity of purpose which few would have suspected in the buxom countrymaid of a year ago. Careless of time and distance, she pressed along a moorland road until a spire peeped over the shoulder of a hill. That was Nutworth Church, and the sight of Nutworth brought Bennett to her mind.