A GIRL OF LOVE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9068, 20 April 1908, Page 2

A GIRL OF LOVE.

By BERTHA 1. CLAY. ,[' Author of " Thrown on the World," " Her Mother's Sin," Beyond Pardon," " Tho Lost Lady of Haddjn," " Dora Thorne," • v " An Ideal Love," etc.

CHAPTER I. JASPER TRENWITH. The gloomy court-room was full to suffocation; "and, obeying a signal i'rjm the clerk, a perspiring policeman opened the window at the top. A very recalcitrant prisoner was being dealt with, and a bitter smile rested on the lips of fair Charles the presiding magistrate. Themun had systematically insulted the bench, impeded the business of the court, while outside the skies were radiant, and the air sweet and pure. It was exasperating. The presiding magistrate consulted with his colleagues, shook his head, frowned, and then turned his gaze upon the sullen face of the ma.i in the dock. "Samuel Price," he said sternly. "You have pleaded guilty to breaking into Farmer Dan-all's barn and stealing therefrom a quantity of potatoes. But for the kindness of the prosecutor ■" "He's very kind!" interrupted the prisoner ironically. "I should send you to gaol out the option of paying a line." "Thank you, Sir Charles! I didn't break into the barn. I saw the door open, and as my kids were starving, 1 took the "taters." "Forty shillings, or a month's imprisonment." The man's eyes contracted, and his voice quavered. "And what's to become of the wife and kids?" The clerk motioned to the policeman that the'next casa was called. Price glanced despairingly round the court-room. There was a stir near the door. Price's wife was anxiously listening to the evidence, and a few moments later a fainting woman was carried out. There was tumult and confusion, and Price caught a gllimpse of his- wife's pinched and ghastly face. His trembling lips parted, he clenched his right hand "S-sh!" whispered the policeman. "The fine is paid. You're free." "Free!" whispered rrice. He was dazed. A burst of applause greeted him when he pushed his way through the crowd at the back of the court. The officer who stood on guard at the <lonr shouted "Silence!" in fierce tones, and then Price was outside, embracing his wife. "Oh, Sam," she sobbed. A month—that's what he said." "It's all right, lass. Lefs get home." A dozen sympathizers were trying to shake Sam Price's hand. A dozen voices congratulated him at once. The policeman whose prisoner he had been hurried after him. "It was Mr Trenwith, one of the magistrates, who paid the fine for you, Price," he said. "And he wants to see you at his house to-day —five o'clock sharp. He placed a fat forefinger to his nose, and added, "You're in luck. A nice setback for the presidin' beak!" "He's a hard man," said Sam. "He set my feelings all on edge. I lost my head altogether, 'cause so many lies were told. Fancy me doing a month!" He looked back at the court-house and shivered. Oh, it was good to breathe the sweet spring air—to gaze upon the olue sky., and feel the genial warmth of the sun! "And I was to give yon this sovereign for immediate necessities," added the officer. "S'>long!" Sam took the coin with trembling fingers. His brain reeled, his eyes swam in a mist. . "God bless Mr Trenwith!" he said huskily, and his friends repeated the prayer. . Sam and his wife went on their %vay, but it was a different looking Sam Price who presented himself at Mr Jasper Trenwith's that afternoon. Washed and shaven, his clothes well brushed, and with the light of hope ,in bis face, there was nothing about ihim to suggest the loafer or the -criminal. A servant conducted him into the presence of Mr Trenwith, and then Sam became halting and diffident. This man knew that he had been a petty thief; this man had heard him defy and abuse the court. _ "Sit down, Price," Jasper Trenwith said kindly, "I have inquired into your case, and think I can help you. I am not going to read you a sermon, but I want to know why you .acted so foolishly in court." Sam coughed and stammered. "It was the lies, sir—breaking .'own the barn door, and all that, as though a woman—" He bit his lips. "A woman?" Mr Trenwith s bluo eyes were reading him through and through. "Well, sir,l admit to you, and you alone, that it was the missis who took uhe 'later:). I'd been tramping about for three weeks, looking fur a jub, and it was Saturday night, and live youngsters expecting something." . There were tears in Stun s voice, and in bis eyes. "Not another word, Price. I should have done something worse in the savne circumstances. it is easy to b* virtuous when beyond the reach of temptation." Trenwith smiled cheerfully. "How came you to leave Sir Charles Leighton s service? I understand that you are an experienced gardener." Sam's eyes blazed with rer.entir.ent. "He would cut the hothouse stuff him::elf, sir, and I resigned. He spoiled everything. Then he refused to give me a reference, and swore hn'd drive me out of the village. That made me hate him!" "There--there," interrupted Jasper Trenwith soothingly. "My head gardener thinks that he can better

himself if ho goes to Canada, so you may consider yourself in his place. IVlak" a start to-morrow. Mow off with you, as I arn busy" Sam Price went his way with a full heart and a springy step. His humble suul was attuned to the caroling of birds, to the laughter of the wind in the preening trees, to the brightness and bluene«s of the spring skies Jasper Trenwith saw him go, and there was a curious smile in the man's blue eyes. Wonderful eyes they were—soft, humid, and soulful now, and the face wai a poet's conception of a masculine angel. In years, Jasper Trenwith was about sixty; his splendid head was crowned with a mass of wavy, iron-gray hair; his features were of the Grecian type, with the exception of the heavy chin, and the sensitive nostrils dilated in unison with the flashing eyes when his mind was more than ordinarily distrubed. He wore no hair upon his face; his figure was strong and upright, and, taken in all, Jasper was a man to admire, to love, to fear. Ten minutes passed, and he was still gazing at the turning in the drive where Sam Price had vanished from his view. Then a sigh passed his lips, and he swung round, half impatiently. His thougnts had been introspective, and not exactly satisfying. Slowly he quitted the room, and went up stairs, speaking rapid ordei'3 to a man servant on the way. half an hour later he reappeared, carefully dressed —the work of his owp hand;-, for he scorned the thought of a man fussing about him. His automobile was waiting at the hall door, and he stepped into it, with a few brief words to the driver. "Pendinas." He glanced at his watch. "There is no time to lose; Sir Charles dines at seven."

CHAPTER 11. VICTOR PELHAM. Three miles of lovely country lay between Pendinas and Jasper Trenwith's house—narrow winding lanes, banked with tender grass, and scented hedgerows—a cottage here and there, with gardens that flamed in the glow of the setting sun; fields of buttercups and dasies; then a stretch of woodland and the gleaming upper windows of Pendinas, the splendid home of Sir Charles Leighton. "Stop at the gates of the South Lodge," Jasper Trenwith said to his man. "I will walk to the house." H 3 stepped down from the automobile, and stood still to ai-range the camellia in the lapel of his coat. The vehicle panted away, and Jasper TrervAvith saw that a young moon was peeping through a break in the trees —a jewel in a setting of purple and gold. Reverently he bared his head, and his lips/ moved, but no sound escaped them. The new moon beamed upon him with a kindly light, and the wind in the trees murumred a ber.ison. For one moment it seemed that his face was glorified; the years dropped away from him; he was young again. He trod the broad avenue with a springy step, his figure erect, lithe, and animated with the delights of living and being. (To be continued.)