A GIRL TO LOVE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9092, 19 May 1908, Page 2

A GIRL TO LOVE.

By BERTHA M. CLAY. Author of " Thrown on the World," " Her Mother's Sin," Beyond Pardon,",. "The Loat Lady of Haddon," " Dora Thorne," " An Ideal Love," etc.

CHAPTER XXIV. THE STOLEN LETTER. After Mr Trenwith's visit to Seaholme, Mrs Craig was both curious and suspicions. "A matter of the greatest importance brought me here," he explained, "and I am disappointed. But I have myself to blame; I have acted with thoughtless precipitancy. You say that Mr Pelham has gone to Birmingham in answer to a telegram? Then we are hunting for one another!" He smiled in his gentle way, and Mrs Craig marvelled at the beauty of his face. "Are you a friend—or perhaps a relative, sir?" she asked. "Pardon me, if 1 appear curious." He laughed softly. His'habit of fencing questions sprang uppermost. "Rather remarkable that you should speak my own thoughts regarding yourself, madam. I had no idea that Mr Pelham was with friends down here. He has seemed so much of a recluse, and lived, as it were, within himself." Mrs Craig knitted her brows. "You are Mr Pelham'a friend?" she asked. "The sincerest friend he has living," fervent response. The man's blue eyes shone, and his nostrils dilated. He believed what he said. Mrs Craig's trouble increased. Deep lines were forming about her mouth, and she nervously clasped and unclasped hsr thin, white hands. "I cannot understand him," she said at length. "He has never mentioned your name in my hearing, and I don't expect that you have heard of us before? No—l can see that you haven't, and yet Mr Pelham is to be married to my daughter to-morrow." J Jasper Trenvvith was a difficult; man to surprise!, and he looked Mrs Craig squarely in the face. His i heart gave a tremendous leap, but he made no sign. Within his mental vision he saw the divine face and figure of Nathalie Leighton. "Then I must congratulate you and vour daughter, Mrs Craig. Victor Pelham is a fine fellow, and a rising man. I should like to meet Miss Craig," he added softly. "I must tike the next train back to Birmingham—or run fo-the <me I intended going by." Hs reflected. "No, I must see your daughter, Craig. I am interested naturally." "I am very sorry she is cut." She hesitated, and then came the whole story of the cottage, and everything else. "But if you care to walk to Woodbine Cottage " Jasper Trenwith didn't < mind the walk, and the time would be no_ loss, since he had two hours to wait for his train. And, seeing that Mrs Craig walked rather painfully, he her the assistance of his strong arm. ■< "The worry, the work, and the excitement, have been a little too much for me," sha told him plaintively; and, by the time they were at the door of Woodbine Cottage, Jasper Trenwith was in possession of the whole history of Victor Pelham's romantic courtship, but he gave very little in exchange. A minute or two later he was gazing into„the limpid deeps of Isla's ayes, at the red-rose blush on her soft cheeks, and listening to her gentle voice, vibrant with her new-found happiness. "Oh, y«s " she said. "Mr leiham has anoken of you once or twice, Mr Trenwith. I think you were his employer, when " "When he was.masquerading," he interrupted pleasantly. "1 don't think that his name appears in the wages list!" "I don't approve of masquerading in real life," Mrs Craig said crossly. "We understood from the first that Mr Pelham was a very poor man." She glanced at Isla's engagementring, and Isla's face flushed a little resentfully. "There is no wrong, where no wrong is intended, Mrs Craig. I was in Pelham's secret all through. Ar.tl he may have to work very hard for a living yet. You must understand that he is mixed up with an ugly speculation, and is a long way from being out of the wood. Victor Pelham isn't the man to deceive anybody." Isla thanked him with her eloquent eyes, and from that moment he knew that he had made of her a staunch friend. He looked over the cottage, and adm'red it, and Isln told Dim soma of their plans for the future. "Enchanting," he murmured, gazing over the dancing, sun-capped, waves. He inhaled the sweets of the air and heard the Mithe song of the' skylark. "It must have been just such a song that inspired Shelly. Miss Craig, you have my wish;!; for your happiness. Some day I may make a holiday at Seaholme." When he took,his leave he pressed Isla's hand warmly. The acquaintance was very short, but he was Victor's friend. "You are sure, Mr Ti-mvitb, that Mi' I' "ham's trouble is nut—not very bad'.' ' she managed to whisper. "He itemed bothered last night, and I haven't felt exactly at ease since." "Wot so bad that it cannot he surmounted, Miss Craig. I hold the key to that." He spoke confidently mid reassuringly. "But if dreadful things liapp'i! —financially, i mean, would you it re?" "Or:iy for Victor. We are young, and wecan work. I always expected that." "But the cottage would havo to go, and all your pretty things." "I shouldn't care in the least—only for Victor. A si long as we have each other, vv'hat else matters?" ".;•;.,;..lag," he said, after a pau3e.

"I like to hear you talk —I like to look into your true eyes. Child, you are teaching me the sweetest of life's problems. Some day you will think of my "words, and understand." When he was gone Mrs Craig spoke crossly to her daughter. Isla had endured her mother's repinings for a long time, but as long as these repinings only concerned their own affair?, the serenity of her sunny nature remained unruffled. Her mother was not in good health, and how could , she help being a bit peevish?" 1 "I don't like" that man," Mrs Craig said, her imagination inflamed. "He is hiding something. He says one thing and thinks another. "Why should he use ambiguotis and cryptic language to us about Victor? When a man is going to marry a woman, there oughtn't to be the shadow of a doubt between them. I hate mysteries." "There are no mysteries, mama dear." "If we are poor, we are honourable, and we are gentle people. Victor haß not been exactly fair towards me, at any rate. Your father never pretended to be poor, and then 1 bought houses and diamond rings." Isla's face raddened painfully. Her father had merely acted in a reversed manner. He had pretended to be rich, while he was in reality very poor. "Please don't mama! What Victor has done has been for the best. He has probably lost all his money—Mr Trenvvith suggested something like that, so that there was no deception. I have understood," she added softly. "While I have been treated like a child, and kept in the dark! A nice thkig for you if it turns out that you have married a bankrupt!" Isla examined the window fastenings, and then turned to her mother. ''l've finished here now, mama, so that we can leave for Birmingham in good time." "I can't walk to the hotel," Mrs Craig said. "You must goon first, and send a carriage for me. I will lock the door, if you can trust me to do that much." Isla kissed her mother's cheek, and cheerfully answered: "Very well, mama." The minute she was gone, Mrs Civig became alert. Her agitation and suspicion had increased tenfold since Jasper Trenwith's visit. She was certain thiat Victor Pelham was leading some kind of double life. She watched her daughter's slender ligure along the dusty road until it became a mere blur in the distance, then a dusky red crept into her face, and she muttered: "No, 1 cannot do it, I never have been a spy in my life, and I won't begin now. But I hat« mysteries, and there should be no mystery where there are truth and honesty. I ought never to have consented to the hasty I marriage. There has been no courtship, and now that I look back upon it all, I am amazed that I have allowed myself to be talked into it. My ouly child's very life may be at stake. I could find it in my heart to wish that something would happen to stop this marriage—to delay the marriage —until—until Victor gives some account of himself." The half-wish caused her to shudder, and she regretted it as soon as uttered. It was unkind—impious— when Victor had done so much for her. But she could not banish the restlessness that had taken possession of her. In the circumstances it was only natural to be anxious. (To be continued.)