A GIRL TO LOVE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9076, 28 April 1908, Page 2

A GIRL TO LOVE.

By BERTHA M. CLAY. Author of " Thrown on the World," " Her Mother's Sin," Beyond Pardoi,." "Th 3 Lost Lady of Haddon," " Dora Thorne," "An Ideal Love," etc.

CHAPxER VII.-Continued. Five minutes later father and daughter came in together, and Victor was assailed by a fusillade of questions and lvpioaches. "I've heard all about; your latest fad from Mr Teen with and one would think that you were a penny-a-liner in search of sensation," Sir Charles said. "The experience will either dispel the illusion wich you are afflicted, or make an out an;i out revolutionist of you!"

Victor smilingly shook his head. "Wa will agree to differ, Sir Charles. The poor are not the pest vou would have me believe them to be. If lam afflicted, it is with an intense desire for the betterment of humanity at huge." "Your heart is running away with your reason, my clear Pelhtrm, and you'll go your own way; but mind you, don't full among thieves." He "lowered his voica. and there was a flash of meaning in his eye, which Victor failed to interprer. "You will have a cup of ttsa with us" he added, his manner undergoing a swift change. "I want to have a chat with you. In the meantime, I'll finish my Jettars, and leave you in my daughter's care." He sighed involuntarily, and hurried away. "And vou are leaving us soon, Mr Pelham?" Nathalie said softly and half shyly. "To-moLTOw, Miss Leighton." "But not for very long? You will soon tire of the life—the surroundings—every tiling." "A few weeks or possibly months. I shall finish my book in the slums, at any rate." "You may find some difficulty in workincr. A street organ, and a crowd of unwashed, noisy children under your window, and perhaps a drunken man beating his wife on the next floor!"

"Local colour!" he laughed. "Are vou «sra*tn a i: my going, also, Miss Leighton?" Her face flamed, and she lowered her shining eyes. "Yes: I hate the idea of it. The whole scheme U stupid—quixotic. You are not offended with me?" "We view things from different standpoints," he said gently. "With me it is business and pleasure. I cm enthusiastic, too, and everyoody has a hobby of some kind. I only try to run my hobby to death. Some men ai\J insane in the matter of gardening, golfing, fishing, racing, and ultimately do little if any good with any of their crazes, unless these same crazes prevent' worse mischief!" "But yours is such in an uncomfortable* hobby, Mr Pelham! You wiii let us know how you are getting 0:1?" "I will promise that, Miss Leighton." "You will write to papa?" "No; ho is not in sympathy with ma at all. I will write to you. ence 11 week, and I hop j the letters will afford you some amusement," Victor said. "I shall adopt the name of Lyslie Grant—my pen-name—so be careful not to give the show away." Nathalie was gazing at him with shy but luminous eyes. Her face was flushed and her pulse quickened. "The letters will afford me the greatest pleasure," she answered, her sweet voice trembling. "I shall writa to nobody else, Miss Leighton." Victor was flattered that this perfect woman should prefer him to other men. He could see it in her eyes, hear it in her voice, and he was wondering- ■ wondernig Love

CHAPTER VIII

THE FIRST STAGE

(To be continued.)

begets love, and hearts beat in harmony then the responsive vhord is touched.

Nathulie saw bis softened expression, and half expected him to say something which might bring them nearer to each other, but at that very moment Sir Charles blundered into the room.

He glanced from one to the other, and a.half smile of approval flitted across his face.

"Nathalie, I wish to have a talk with Mr Pelham. And you may huiry up the ten, as I want to go to the post-office. We shall be ready in ten minutes." Sir Charies looked after' his daughter with fond eyes; then he knitted his brows, and, folding hia hands behind him, paced the floor. "ft is only fair that you should know the truth, my dear Pelham," he began. "And I may not have another opportunity of speaking for goodness knows how long. The tact is, I'm in a deuce of a mess financially. SOme years since, I was, infected with the money-making fever, and p it myself unreservedly in the hands of Jasper Trenwith, the builder of fortunes--for himself! His calls for remittances have been so often and so insistent, that I have been forced to mortgage my estate up to the very hilt; I am in debt to the tune of about fifty thousand, and my assets are foreign bonds which appear to be next, to worthless at the present moment. 'Hold them—hold them!' says Trenwith, but I've held them until my fingers are burned off." Sir Charles laughed bitterly.

"Still, 1 haven't worried overmuch until now, j.s I regarded Jasper Trenwith in the litfht oil a prospective son-in-law. I thought that my daughter was satisfied, but it eeema that she never really vntortniiied tho idea of marriage with Trenwith; and now that you have appeared upon the Heene "

Victor wae startled nod embarrassed. A jumble of worries rose to his lips, but remained unspoken, for Sir Charles went on talking. "Nathalie ha 3 told Trenwith very plainly that sho will have none of him; and, to do hirri justice, Ibelieve that he h passionately fond of her. But one nevei" knovv3 what he

will do next, and he isn't the man to take 'no' without a struggle. So cleverly has he encompassed me within his net that I must, sooner or later, go under, but I would rather suffer that than see the happiness of my only child imperiled." Sir Charles Leighton, with an audible sigh, stepped over to Victor, seized his hand, and shook it heartily and feelingly. Victor was bewildered. He stammered something, and saw Nathalie's slender and graceful figure framed in the doorway. Her blue eyes were shining like stars. "Tea is waiting," she said shyly, "in my own little snuggery. No servants—no bother."

"Now, if it was a man's room," Sir Charles said, "it would be called his 'den.' And instead of flowers and knick-knacks, and fanciful uictures, and musical instruments in every bit of available space, there would be sporting prints, pipes, foils, and boxing gloves. And a3 for lace curtains, and doll's furniture " "Papa is recalling his own young days, Mr Pelham. This was his den thirty years since." "And my father's and grandfather's," sighed Sir Charles. "A Leighton has ruled at Pendinas for a century and a half." And amid the talk, and the tinkling of china, Victor Pelham was thinking. It seemed that his expansive life was suddenly narrowing into a circle of very cleany defined limits.' He saw the flash of a white hand, he heard the music of a woman's voice, and thought, "Why not?" She admired him —she loved him, and she was the only woman whose society he had ever cared for. He had inspired this love, and dallied in the sunshine of Nathalie Leighton's smiles. She had read his books, and she sympathized with moat of his aims and objects.

Again he murmured to himself, "Why not?"

"Hydraulic power and diamond drills soon satisfied me that the new shafts should be sunk here," Harry Owen said to Victor Pelham, locating the ground with a wave of the hand. "But the thousand-and-one expenses will run into a pile of money before we touch the wealth below." "I have placed the whole of my available capital at your disposal, Harry. If that is insufficient, we must mortgage the old mines, and then —beggary! You see how blind is my faith." Owen's face paled, then he snapped his fingers and laughed scornfully. "Don't don't talk of failure, Victor, with millions under our very feet." A savage scowl disfigured his face. Two mile 3 away the great smoke stack of the Stonewall pits belched forth an inky cloud. "You haven't done anything else with Trenwith?" he asked. "I mean in the matter of the—in this matter?" "No." , "He hasn't broached the subject?" "No, but as we are upon friendly terms '.'