A HEART'S TRIUMPH.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9133, 4 July 1908, Page 2

A HEART'S TRIUMPH.

CHAPTER Xlll.—Continued

This was why he spoke Felix Bingham's name; and though Paul showed no evidence of grasping what the young man had in his thoughts and words, Michael would have been more than satisfied if he could have known how deeply Mr Damely turned over this matter in his mind. In his visit to the home of his Detrothed that evening, which was already in the florist's hands, and was more or less uncomfortable and chaotic, Paul took the opportunity of speaking to Dora about Doctor Bingham. Felix had been, he knew, at one time a friend of the Sedworths, though Paul now'recollected Doctor Thorold's nephew had not been much at thfl house since Dora had been openly engaged, or, rather, since he himself had become a daily visitor there. Dora laughingly consented to give her lover just one quarter of an hour in the conservatory. "lam wanted in at least a dozen directions at once, and if 1 am not on the spot everything will go wrong, Paul. Remember, too, you are going to have me all to yourself for all the rest of your life, and that a bride is supposed' to spend the evening before her' wedding in solemn contemplation." "I shall not keep you ten minutes, darling," Paul said. It wa,s extraordinary, the powerful fascination this smart, pretty, most worldly young woman had for him. Dora Sedworth was undoubtedly' attractive and amusing, but she had no. individuality of her own. She was a type of girl to be met J with by the score in London ballrooms, always smartly dressed, always in the fashion, always selfish/pretty, and unintellectual. To Paul's eyes, Dora was everything that was sweet, womanly, charming. He imagined her clever, too, because she had a trick of ( talking well. And he saw in her well-built figure, : in her naturally brilliant complexion and neatly dressed head, with its profusion of curls brought it to the proper point on her brow, feminine grace and beauty of the higheot order. Belonging, as she had always belonged, to a good social set in London, Paul had been dazzled by her from the first, for he was himself of provincial extraction, and it would be a long time before this dazzling effect would wear away. After certain little neatly covered, unmistakably jeweller's packages had passed from the bridegroom's sleek pockets to the bride elect's eager hands, and their contents duly appreciated, Paul introduced the subject that had been pressing on his ) mind since he had parted with Michael earlier in the day. He introduced the matter rather suddenly. "By the way, darling, 1 want to ask you something. 1 know you used to see a good deal of Doctor Bingham —Felix Bingham. I want to know if you can tell me what sort of man he is."

Thanks to the very subdued light in the conservatory, Paul was spared the shock of seeing that the mention of Felix Bingham's name had disturbed Dora, and in ro small degree. The laughter and pleasure called up by the task of opening and admiring her fiancee's gifts died utterly away for au instant. "Felix Birgham!" she repeated, hurriedly, "Why, what do you want to know? What—what a funny question Paul!" Paul apologised for introducing the matter. "I have a reason for asking you about this man," he said.; "I want to know if he is dll right. I mean, if he is a man who is honest and atraightforward and all that 1 "' Dora laughed sharply, and opened and j-hut one of tho cases she held with a succession of little clicks. "Father would know more about that sort of thing than I do," she said, when she spoke, "All the same, though 1 am not a man, I- think I can read character pvetty quickly, and 1 don't fancy I should care to trust too much to Felix Bingham's honesty. We dropped him," Dora went on hurriedly, "because, the boys brought home" all sorts of stories about him. He is very wild, 1 believe, and every body knows he is up to his eyas in debt, but of course, he goes everywhere, because he is so good-looking and in the proper set." Paul remained sitting silent for so long that Dora felt a touch of her first uneasiness return. ] "What are you thinking about, Paul? What have you on your mind?" Ho told her exactly what troubled him, and gave, unconsciously Michael's impression rather than his own. Dora listened with mingled feelings, but anger was uppermost. "Oh, the girl's fortune is done tor if some one does not interfere, and either stop Doctor Bingham going there, or let her plainly understand the sort of man he is," she exclaimed. "Even as it is, lam afraid he must have made tremendous headway with her," Dora went on, her shrewd mind working rapidly. "It must have been he who bought thap broach she sent me. I wondered how a girl who, you tell me, hss never put her nose outside the White AbDey could have had the sense and knowledge to do things in so businesslike a way. Some one told me the other day that Doctor Bingham had evi • dently come into some money. Ob, Paul, how I wish now 1 'had not proven to] your going to Mian Lacklyne! It was wrong of me 1 Of course, I ought to have'Jknovvn that some scoundrel would be pi-etty quick to take advantage of the girl's unprotected condition, though I never could have thought it would have been Felix!" Paul Darnley was more upset by his fiancee's words than he cared to let her know.

, By Effle -Adelaide "Rowlands, Author of "Hugh Gfrotfcou's Secret," "A Splendid Heart/' * Bravo Barbori," "The Tempiation ■of Mary Burr," "Selina's Lovo Story," etc.

"Let us hope, darling, that our ferns are groundless. I am sorry to hear such a poor account of Doctor Bingham, for I have the very highest respect and liking Cor his old uncle, .and, apart from anything else, I should really grieve if the young man were to do anything to bring sorrow to Sebastian i'horold. As soon as we are back again we will go down to the White Abbey. I wrote to Cecil today, and begged her to let me know if she were really ill, as young Everest seemed to imagine." "Is there no one living of her family to whom you could write, and who would look after the girl, for a time, at least?" Dora asked, almost impatiently. Paul shook his head. | "Lacklyne told mo himself some time,ago the girl had no relation left on her mother's side, and the Lacklyne family have always held aloof from Sir Charles. They disapproved of him, and I suppose they carry that disapproval toward his daughter. "Even though he was so rich, Paul?" Dora said incredulously. "It is a rich family, I believe. Anyhow, the few kinsmen who turned up for the funeral had evidently no desire or intention to show any interest in Cecil, poor child, or to take any place in her life. "And this old woman who is with her now can be, of coux-se, of no use, I if she is a helpless invalid. Well, Paul, it must be your duty—our duty, rather—to take all the care we can of Miss Lacklyne; and," Dora added to herself grimly, "to prevent by every means in our power the possibility of Felix Bingham making her his wife." When Paul had left the house and Dora was free to attend to the myriad duties of the moment, she sat alone for a few moments musing deeply. At one touch all the pleasure and.the satisfaction her vanity had been reaping out of the events of the present, all the delight that the thought of her smart wedding and her own pretty appearance on the morrow had been giving her during the last few days, slipped away from her. She had been recalled by this news of Paul to one most unpleasant fact —the fact that the one man who had ever succeeded in touching what passed for love in her heart, and who had played with her just 33 carelessly as a child will play with a toy, not merely was about to crush out her small triumph, —and Dora had encouraged herself to regard her marriage with Paul Darnley as a real triumph on her part over the one who had so smilingly amused Inmself with her for the space of a few months—but who threatened to stand menacingly in the pathway of another social success, viz., the success she had promised herself should be forthcoming through the gold of this Cecil Lacklyne, whom she was now prepared to'like as much as a little while before she had disliked her. "If we can only step in and spoil this game," Dora said feverishly, to herself, when she was finally obliged to answer the numerous demands made for her presence. "I shall feel that I have paid Felix Bingham back a little of what I owe him." ! (To be Continued).