A HEART'S TRIUMPH.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9130, 1 July 1908, Page 2

A HEART'S TRIUMPH.

By Effle Adelaide Rowlands, Author of "Rush Grettoa's Secret," "A Splendid Heart," -'Brave Barbara," "The Temptation o: Mary Barr," "Selina's Love Story," etc.

CHAPTER Xll.—Continued. No, he must keep his uncle in complete ignorance of his position with Cecil, no matter what it cost him. He had his own means to bring Cecil into.this bond of secrecy. The girl was a3 pliable as wax in his hands; he could bend her which way he liked; and a man of such experience, such wealth of plausible suggestion, could have no difficulty in dealing with a man so simple, so full of'innocent faith as Cecil's. In the band between them, therefore, rested their secret.

"Why should we share our happiness with the world?" Felix had said on one of his many visits to the White Abbey, ostensibly to see the sick woman. '"We are enough for each other, are we not, my dearest?" And Cecil was only too well tuned to such a mood as this. She shrank from the mere mention of the word "world." Nothing could have been more hurtful for her than to feel that her precious secret was given to others, to be spoken about and handled as though it was some ordinary thing. She had had one early experience of what outside comment could mean. To her inexpressible pain and regret, she had been forced to listen to words that were not robbed of any of their bitterness because they were spoken by one who, by force of circumstances, was unable to find good, or truth, or sweetness in any condition of life.

Felix was as yet unconscious that his real self had been so quickly grasped by the invalid woman whom Cecil's home sheltered, and the girl had resolved quickly that it must be her duty to stand forever between him and this knowledge. For Helen Brownlow's aversion to the handsome ycung doctor was not to be measured by words. It took Cecil a long time to recover from the start, the shock she had received by hearing such harsh, cruel words spoken against the man she loved. She had been so utterly unprepared for the attack. From the first moment he had visited her, Helen Brownlow was restless. "Why is this man allowed to com? into your life?" she had asked Cecil half-fiercely, when the girl had goiu up to her room after that last vital interview .vith Felix. "Where have you known him'' Who has brought him here? He is no fit associate for you. He is of that class that brings a blight on all human nature." Cecil had looked at the speaker in amazement. There was no mistaking the agitation which disturbed the sick woman.

"Doctor Bingham is Doctor Thorold's nephew. He comes here at my request," the girl had replied boldly. If there had existed the smallest doubt in her mind as to the power Felix held over her, this suggestion of antagonism would have shattered that doubt altogether. It needed, indeed,'only the vague thought that Felix would be misjudged to sweep her whole heart into the strongest loyalty and revealed faith. Helen Brownlow had looked at the young face with eyes full of an inscrutable expression.

"Ha is clever, then? Doctor Thorold believes in him?" she asked slowly.

Cecil's face lighted up. "He is very, Very clever," she said. "Doctor Thorold tells me he is one of the most skilful physicians for his age. ' lam sorry ycu do not like him. He shall not come again if you would rather he did hot do so." But the invalid negatived this. "1 am built of prejudices and miserable fancies," she said bitterly. "I" scarcely think there is one human creature in whom I have faith, save in you. Ltt this young man come. Perhaps, if he is so.clever, he will cure my heart of its many .diseased as well as my poor wrecked body, Ye 3, let him come."

Cec/1 accepted these word 3 as being offered in a spirit of regret, and the matter was closed, save that in the heart of the poor, suffering woman there had dawned the possibility of a new sorrow, and in the heart of the girl there lingered a little wound.

Felix came down several times professionally to see Mrs Brownlow. He had prescribed for her with wonderful success; and as Doctor Thorold was Unfortunately confined to his house by an attack of rheumatism, there was every reason why the young man should continue his visits. How little Felix imagined in these brief moments of pleasant, cheery,; professional chat up in the sick-room that his heart and nature were being searched by the mental eyes of one who was only too well skilled in reading the signs of evil, and that the first judgment Helen Brownlow had passed upon him was strengthened each time he came into her praifiice.

The poor creature passed through an agony of troubled fc«r in these .days? She saw the danger drawing /nearer and nearer to the girl wl.o was t.e onlv being on earth that was a link between her wrecked life and hanven; and yet she was poweilses ti avert it. To speak op.iP.ly to Cecil of her conviction that this man was vile was to separate herself from an affection and a tender intreest that wee e*en yet new to her. I'o speak ta Felix himself, and place the truth of Cell's position before him, would have open simple madness, since she knew that tionou* was altogether lacking in his nature. To speak to Doctor Thorold and open his eyes into what might happen would have been her one chance; but the illness of the old doctor set this hopelessly aside. She could do nothing, therefore, but lie on her pillows and pray that she might have drifted into a wrong course—eithe- that she had maligned Sfelix in her mind, or that Ce:il might escape from his schemes, if he

were indeed the adventurer s»he feared. Felix went his way in utter ignorance of all this. He had speedily oecome master of his temporary gloom, and was now bent on bringing about the marriage as quickly as possible. For the actual ceremony it was necessary to get Cecil away from the White Abbey and its neighbourhood for a few hours, and to manage this was tut easy. Independent as she now was, Cecil had never taken advantage of her liberty even to pass beyond the grounds and make her way to Minchester. Her longing to know the outer world, seemed to have died with the passing away of ( her father. Felix would never have turned to Minchester for the purpose of marriage. The name of Lacklyne was too well-known in the neighbourhood, and however secret he might have been in arranging the necessary formalities, the secret would most surely have crept out. No; it was in London alone that the ceremony must take place; but how to get Cecil there? He spent hours in revolving plans; for, easy as the girl was to manipulate in other ways, he anticipated considerable trouble in influencing her will in this respect, since he knew how strongly rooted was her disinclination to pass out of the solitude of her own home. He, nevertheless, set his scheme in full working order in town, and the names of Felix Bingham and Cecil Lacklyne j were duly enrolled on the list of forthcoming marriages at a registry office in a crowded and out-of-the-way part of London. He had no intention of letting her know it was a marriage till the very moment wnen they were to be made man and wife. Not that he doubted her, but because he felt it safe to keep the secret a secret, even from her till all was done. The day he had fixed in his mind was one early in November. Cecil had asked him, in her quiet, gentle way, to purchase a wedding-present for Paul Darnley. She had signed a blank check and given it to him. Signing checks was still a novelty to her. "It must be something worthy of his acceptance," she had told Felix. "I can never forget that Mr Darnley was beloved by my poor father. Ido not know what to give him. Will you advise me? I have thought, perhaps, he would like something thac his wife could wear -some diamonds." Felix had taken the check. He grudged even a penny being spent on Paul Darnley. But he had seen in this a chance for working his own ends; so he had drawn a check for a couple of hundred pounds, and had bought a piece of pretty jewellery for Paul's fiancee with just half that amount. It was a brooch that looked double its value, and he wrote down enthusiastically about it to Cecil. i "I am imagining the exclamation of delight Miss Sedworth wity give when she seas your beautiful present. I happen to know her, and I am sure she has a weakness for dia--1 monds. I am going to send the jewels j to her in a day or two, but I will con- , fess I am delaying doing this, because I I want you to see the present before I do so. Unfortunately a great press of work will prevent my running down to see you, my beautiful Cecil, for | another .'week, and so I have been wondering if, out of love for me, you ! would take pitj on me and come and pay me a visit here some day. I feel I am asking almost too much, but I want to have you with me for one brief hour in my hard, dull toil. You could go also with me to choose a chair I have determined to send Uncle Sebastian. Will you come, Cecil, my darling? Send me a telegram, and fix Thursday for your visit. You will travel with one of your maids. There is no occasion to "tell any one you are coming; but just stop and imagine, if you can, the exquisite joy you will give to the one | who loves you, if you will only come!" I (To be Continued).