A SENSATIONAL CASE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9191, 14 September 1908, Page 2

A SENSATIONAL CASE.

By FLORENCE WARDEN, At the i oi" The Lady in Black," "An Infamous Fraud," "For Love of Jack," Terrible Family," "The House on the Marsh,"

CHAPTER XXVl.—Continued. a a The express seemed to crawl along the rails; by the time Hugh reached the hotel where he had stayed on his previous visit to town he was in a v fever. . d A waiter stepped up to him as lie r was on his way ito his room. "Beg pardon, sir; but here s a letter for you that came two or three days ago. Mrs Hutchins is very * sorry that she forgot to k. 0 Hugh took it with a presentiment of evil born of his despondent frame of mind. The postmark was Wimble- f don; the handwriting, for it was f shaky and irregular, he recognised «s h Gerard Waller's. It was only a h note: , , v "Dear Thorndyke: Come down nnd h see me if you can. I am awfully i t may pop off the hooks at any moment, jj I believe. Yours, I, "GERARD WALLER. Sick at heart, weighed down with the gravest forebodings, Hugh stag- o gered down the stairs and called for a c hansom. u CHAPTER XXVII. ® —— I A MYSTERIOUS ILLNESS. V a Between his fesrs for Netelka arid his tears for Waller, Hugh Thorndyke t was scarcely in his right mind by the time he reached Wimbledon. If, on his arrival at "The Firs," he had „ been met by the mild-mannered Linley, he would have been unable to a keep his hands off that gentleman'-' a graceful person. t It was nearly two months since his last visit to "The Firs," and the bare branches and plain red walls of fc JVarch had given place to the leaf a and blossom, the delicate hanging t creepers of May. "The Firs," was v transfigured; the stately old house ( was buried in a net of exquisite foli- g age; the wisteria hung in dusters about the darkened window of Wall- a er'fi room. s Hugh hurried up the pathway, ~ dreading what he should hear. "How is he? How is Mr Waller?" he asked of the servant almost before j the door was opened. "He ia much the same, sir," said e the man in a tone of more than con- a ventional ragret; "that is, much the t same as he was yesterday; but he's a s good deal better than he was'the day € before that, sir. Ws all thought he t wouldn't live through the night on t Sunday, sir. Mr Hilliard sat up r with him all night, sir." , "Oh!" said Huch shortly. "Is Mr j Hilliard with him now?" j "Mo, sir. He's gone away to see Mrs Hilliard." ] Hugh strode at once into the house, r on his face an expression of amaze- t ment, which the servant noticed. It c was the sort of household in which r very few things escape the criticism of the servants' hall. • "Who is with Mr Waller now?" _ asked he. "Will you see if I can go j up to him?" The man showed him into the draw- £ ing-room and retired. Hugh paced up j and down, picturing to himself what the inner life of the woman must have been since she found out what manner of man she had married; and ( his heart ached for her. j Then the door opened suddenly, { and there entered—skipping, fluttering, all unnecessary draperies, and flying ribbons, and little meaningless smiles and airy gestures—Mrs Collingham. She wore a large apron and deep cuffs, to denote that she had taken upon herself the duties of a sick-nurse. She descended upon Hugh like a raincloud, light in itself, but depressing in its effect-J. "How do you do my dear Mr Thorndyke? I am so glad to see you, and so sorry to have no better news of our dear Gerard!" she exclaimed, all in one breath, with a profusion of touching little sighs. "He's such a dear, nice fellow himself, and Mr and Mra Hilliard are bo fond of him, that I wouldn't have anything happen to the poor, dear! boy for the world! As soon as f * heard that dear Mr Hilliard was going I to see his wife, I'determined to leave j my own household to take its chance, , and to devote myself to the duties of a nurse. It's a great fatigue and a | great responsibility of coarse; but | still, in the interests of friendship, j we must make sacrifices, mustn't wt? i And, when dear Mr Hilliard told me | that he could trust me as he could I himself I felt repaid for all, I assure you." Hugh felt bewildered by this harangue, but he managed to stammer out some vague words which satisfied the lady, and gave her time to get breath for a fresh speech. "mid Gerar.l is the best ai;d most, unselfish of patients, l assure you. He is always begging me to go back home; and, when you were announce el, he quite insisted that I should come down and see you. Otherwise. I am sure you will believe that 1 would not on any account have left the dear boy." Hugh expressed in suitable terms his delight at such power of self-tac-rifice, and asked wnether he might see Mr Waller. Mrs Collinghim professed to look doubtful. "You see," she said, "the doctor says he must ba kept very quiet, and, really, I don't know " Hugli cuuld not liblp smiling. B "I'll he very good," protested "'and as quiet as -as you yourself could be. Will tnat satisfy you?" Mrs Collingham pave way, sweetly, coquettishly, with a few shrugs, and many admonitions, to restrain his wild exuberance and to rernemoer that he was bound hy his promise to her to move and talk with as little noise or excitement as possible. Then, to Hugh's horror, she insisted on accompanying, him up-staira. | Waller was lying on the sofa in his bedroom; he looked thin, white-faced,

and worried. As Hugh bent over him and stretched out his hand to take the cold fingers of the invalid in his, the younger man looked up with a wistful expression in his eyes. This, however, changed to one of dismay when he caught sight of the flying draperies of his self-constituted nurse, who was closely following the visitor. "Is there anything I can do for you, old man?" asked Hugh, in response to a look of earnest entreaty on Waller's face. "Kill that," murmured the invalid. Hugh turned to Mrs Collingham. He did not venture to obey his friend's injunction to the letter, but he gently suggested that Mr Waller had urgent private affairs to discuss with him, and promised not to allow him to excite himself. With the enthusiasm of the amateur, Mrs Collingham shook her head, and set all her draperies flying and fluttering.. "I really don't know whether I ought to," she protested. "If I do consent, mind, it's only for ten minutes." Hugh was ready to bind himself to anything to get rid of her. She tripped off airily, waving her hand to Hugh, and kissing it to the patient. When the door closed, Waller uttered a deep sigh. "That creature was driving me mad," he exclaimed irritably. "I you hadn't come, I should have thrown something at her." "Don't be ungrateful, Gerard. "She's a good soul " "Her soul may be all right, for all I know. It's her detestable personality I can't stand. I always have the feeling that, if I dare to h<pld my finger out, she'd try to hop upon it and say' Tweet-tweet!' And, all the time that she's pretending to be so anxious about me, she's only trying to find out my 'intentions'—accursed word!—toward her stepdaughter!" "Jem!" exclaimed Hugh, with a start. Waller nodded and looked curiously at his visitor, who had turned crimson at the mention of the girl's name. "What!" cried Waller, opening his eyes very wide; "are you? Do you " "No," replied Hugh, promptly and epmhatically, with a severe frown, "I am not and 1 do not. I don't mean to say that she isn't a very nice girl and a very pretty girl, but she's so eaten up with thoughts of—of somebody else that—" He stopped, and there was a pause, which Gerard did not try to break. Then Hugh said impatienty: "Why don't you marry her? It would put an end to all your difficulties, and to all hers." "Why, would it" said Waller dryly. "My dear fellow, never try to make a marriage. Those marriages that don't make themselves" he went on in a sententious tone, "are made, not in heaven, but in the other place. If I were to marry Jem," he went on, raising himself to give emphasis to his words, "I should break her heart, and my own, too!" Hugh was silent, and discreetly absorbed in the pattern of the carpet. Presently he said, with confidence: "Wouldn't it be better, then, if you don't think ot marrying her, for you to go away from here? Of course, I've no right to interfere; but, well, do you think this place agrees with you?" (To be continued.)