ONE IMPASSIONED HOUR.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9062, 10 April 1908, Page 2

ONE IMPASSIONED HOUR.

By OWEN MASTERS. / or o? " Repentance," " Clyda's Love Dream," " Her Soldier Lover," " For Lovo of Marjorie," " The Mystery of Woodcroft," etc.

CHAPTER XXX.—Continued. ''Oh, pupa, lam so tired. I am not good tic ttlii:ig little lib?, and funnel Uat iho servants were watching, and that there were prying eyes everywhere. Then Mrs Eastwood—--" "JVlirnini!" "Well, I don't know what else to call her, papa. ' Oil, I'm sure I'm vers sorry for her." He laughed with wild scorn. "What of that woman?" "She followed me, and walked ' with me to the galea of the lodge, and I had to pretend I was going to the village. Then she lingered in the drive, and I was waiting, with the parcel growing heavier every minute. But lam here, and so glad to see you, dear papa." He looked down at her lovingly, frowningly. He wondered what Stella had been staying to his daughter: th*n he dismissed all thoughts of the woman with a savage gesture and an oath—under his breath. "The kettle is boiling—l've boiled it threa times. Oh, yes, I've had a very jolly day. smoking, and thinking and looking out of the window. It 4s wonderful bow the golden hours slip by when one is free to waste and ignore them, and how they linger when one can make no use of them. I was born in this very house more than half a century since, and I have only learnod to appreciate the beauties of the blue sky and the green earth in the past twenty-four hours." Miriam smiled at him brightly, and took off her hat and gloves; then she spread a white cloth over the table. There was no lack of clean linen now. And so the tea piogressed. , "Allan delayed me a little while," she said, "at the telephone." "Ye?." He was painfully alert. "They are still pumping, but are meeting with opposition from somebody." "The Coal Mines Regulation people," he remarked. "An.l another descent has been made but Allan is not so hopeful." "There is positively no hope," he said gloomily. "Go on," he urged. "There is nothing more, papa." "Isn't it dreadfully warm?" he said presently. "I feel overwrought —there's a weight of oppression in the air. The birds are still, there isn't a flutter in tha trees, and the ■'"skies are bending low over the earth. •A few more days until the sham Charlie Eastwood comes. Now let U3 be cheerful, Miriam." "I am trying to be cheerful, papa. She smiled ruefully. "You haven't , touched the strawberries." "I don't like strawberries. Sickly, i isipid, flavourless. They are fraudulent deceivers, Red and lusciouslooking, fragrant to the sense of smell, and then—pah! You can put the tea into my tea, Miriam. . . . I had a long walk this morning, through the park and down to the lake. I smoked a eigar in the silent hours of the early morning. I shall venture again to-night. There will be a new moon, Miriam, and I hope the skies are clear. . . . How i many men are working in the ' shaft? A dozen? Oh, they will soon bore through—very soon." "The well-sinkers will work all night, papa." "Yes; I told Simmonds to insist upon it. Every minute may be more precious than diamonds." j When Miriam left the tower she j was not feeling glad at heart. Her i father was unhappy and depressed, and her spirits had dropped to zero. He lasl ed himself afterwards, and strode about the loom like an angry lion. "I have wilfully caused all this trouble, and others have to suffer," he growled; then he raised his voice, and beat the air with his hands. It was a relief to let off steam. Mr Simmonds came at ten o'clock, but there was nothing new—nothing new. The business of the colliery was in perfect order, and a large consignment of coal had been delivered to Berrington's iron-works. Oh, yes, the pumping was going Jon, and a cordon of police surrounded the j scene of operations.

"And what is the general opinion, Simmunds? No man is above the judgment of his fellow men.' Simmonds was perplexed, "There are two partisans, sir." "You mean that a section of the public has condemned me?"

"I fear so." Charlie Eastwood's face flamed; then he laughed wildly. "I stand in fear of being lynched. Look here, Simmonds, we must prick the bubble; but how?" . "How?" repeated the secretary. Neither of them oould answer this question, and Charlie Eastwood pondered it long after Simmonds was gone. He pondered it again at midnight, while stealing forth into the shadows. He looked up at the clear skira, studded with glittering stars, and saw that the crescent moon was gone. He had alivady bared his head to that same moon, for luck, not believing for one moment that th*s ft tion would influence his luck in the least. But there is a streak of superstition in all mankind. Thi oppriisfku was gone, and the purple arch was millions of miles abova him. No longer did he gasp for air. He lighted a cigar, but kept the glowing tip covered with the palm of his hand. 'From a safe distance, be saw the operations at the abaft. Naphtha lights were flaring and poi#<png the air; men were moving to find fro, up and down, like grotesque giants; an engine throbbed savagely and inaistei t'y; and there was the clank of atael, the grind of the winch, the creaking of rope 3 and pulleys, and) the drone of deep voices.

"Let come what may, I will haad the search," Charlie decided. He crept away to the lake. The trees were dense there—thick, black, and almost impenetrable. He felt that lie could spend tho night in the shadows, without fear of discovery. There were gruesome stories about the lake, and the servants were afraid. Gliding into a thicke 1 : of bushes, he sat himself upon a bank of soft, deep grass. He had spent hours in the self-same spot in the days of his youth, for rats abounded there, and afforded a mild kind of sport. He almost fancied that he could hear the wicked snap of his revolver, and the double echo from the Priory walls on one side and the distant hills on the other. The rats were disturbed now; they squeaked angrily, and splashed into the silent water. Charile lay back, and half-closed his eyes. A canopy of feathery ferns was above his head, and behind the ferns a bush of sweetbriar. He could just see a very bright star twinkling between the foliage, and he could hear the nightingales calling love! love! love! "People sleep away the most delightful hours," he reflected drowsily. "How sweet-smelling the earth is, and all the growing things after set of sun. How peaceful the purple skies, and the glowing stars, and the birds of night chant soft and low." His thoughts passed into dreamland. He was at Biarritz again; he was walking across the terraced gardens of the Casino to the promenade. The waves of the Atlantic were splashing in the bay,. dashing over the rocks, and hurling silver and pearls, emeralds and rubies, high into the sunlit air. With pulses leaping he sought one figure in all that crowd of moving colour—the figure of a woman—tail, graceful, lissom. Pier diess was white, but there was a splendid flower in her hair, a geranium, as scarlet as blood. At her throat was a gleaming broach of rubies, and in her smoldering black eyes he saw the fires of newly awakened love. His lips moved, and shaped themselves into one /word—the woman's name. "Stella!" He held out one hand imploringly; he frowned and shuddered. He opened his eyes and listened. The nightingales were no longer singing. He listened again; something was creeping upon him, and a form loomed from the night and the shadows. It was shaped like a woman, and he heard a sob. "Oh, Charlie! Charlie!" (To be continued.) j > TN THE CONSTRUCTION. of your dotlies our first consideration is quality. Every inch of material .used v'hetlr,r seen or unseen is of thorough roliab'e quality. Then the cut and work- ! uianship is as good as can be, for years of experience in the designing and making of apparal for men qualifies us to produce absolutely the best result. These lactora combine to make your suit a ponrco of satisfaction to you and a credit i > ns. Spiling strictly for cash means a. saving ot money to you. Morrison and Penney, Oash Tailors, 73 Willis Street, W^Uiif+nn. Woods' Great Peppermint i are for Coughs and Colds never fails. 1/6 and 2/8.