THE COLONEL'S ENEMY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3114, 13 February 1909, Page 2

THE COLONEL'S ENEMY.

BY WINTHROP B. HARLANB. Author o£ "Lady Elgin's Secret," "A Harvest of Shame," "The .£ Elder Son," "Lord Ashton's Heir," Etc.

CHAPTER ll.—Continued.

Child as I was. I grieved for him more passionately than I ever can tell, and I had a long illness, brain fever, and many things went out of niy memory. I used to ttiink we were rich, but I found we were poor, for my mother used to take in needlework. At fourteen I took a situation and was fortunate enough to obtain evening work as well. We had only three small rooms, but there was no sweeoer place on earth to me. When you have seen my mother you will not wonder at my love for her and why I worked for her so willingly." The soldier smiled on the young man with increased kindness. If mother and son were alike, he could easily understand the love that existed between ihem. "Had you no friends to help you?" he asked. "We would accept no help," said Leonard, proudly. "There was one member of the family who sent itoney at intervals from abroad, but my mother would not touch it, and my own salary was rising every year. I began at seven shillings a week. When I was eighteen I had a pound. It when from that by steps till, at two-and-twenty, I had forty-five shillings; and now I am junior manager with three hundred pounds a year." "And the not far distant prospect of a partnership," Mr Dacre said, quietly. "There may not seem much in Leonard's story, as he has told it, major, but it was tull of a patient endurance and loving self-sacrifice that amounted to heroism. I take pride in him for it, but I am afraid he injured his health. I want him to give up his work and let me allow him an income; but he is s.> independent that, though I intend to make him a rich man, I believe I shall have to do it against his will." "Tiie colonel will like him none the worse for that," Major Lugard said, giving the young men his hand; "and if you ever stand in need of a friend, Lugard, you have one here in me." "There is no one, major," Leonard said, gratefully, "to whom I would come with greater pleasure, and though I am not likely to require your help, I shall prize your friendship highly." "You have it, my dear boy, and may depend upon it always. When my affairs are settled and I come back from Somerset we shall see more of eaph other." "Your are going to Somerset, then?" "Yes;an uncle of mine who never did much for me, when I was a youngster, has Jeft me an estate there. He might almost as well have left me a white elephant, for tam not to sell it, and I am to live there six months in the year. Just imagine, a large, straggling property in an agricultural county, to a man who knows more about a sword than ' a plough. I must hunt up some of my relations to fill the old house with; but as Ido not know one of them by sight, or Christian name, I expect I shall feel as lively as Robinson Crusoe on his island without bis man Friday." "Many a peer would gladly exchange hih coronet for your inheritance," Mr Dacre said. "Think of your position, major, as one of the landed gentry in perhaps the noblest of our English shires." I "A shooting-box in the highlands, and a couple of rooms in St. James', would have suited me as well. I have no ambition to be a local magnate, but I dare say I shall be able to make .myself amiaole to the tennantry. It is a dull prospect, though. The nearest town is Bristol, and my place —Ravenskerne —is seven miles from a railway s at on. "You will not spend the winter there?"' "I am going down in a few days and may be there some time. If I am wanted, Mr Dacre, you will send me a telegram. The colonel will write to let you know the name of the ship he is coming by and when you may expect him." "You will go to meet him at Liverpool, of course." •'I should like to do so, for he will want taking care of after the long .voyage. Hut should Ibe detained, I think I may so far trespass on your kindness as to ask you to take my place," "I will do that," Mr Dacre said, "with pleasure," "And you will take me with you, papa?" Dora pleaded. "Papa" was an affectionate compromise the girl had made in her own mind.' Kind as Mr Dacre had been to her, and deady as she loved him, she could not call him "father." That tender and sacred name was reserved, even in her thoughts, for the idolised veteran in India. "I think" the major suggested, with a thoughtful glance at her fragile figure, "that you had better be here to welcome him. Eight miles by rail, in the depth of winter, might be almost as fatal to you as the ourney from India would have been to your father twelve months ago. Leave it to Mr Dacre. The colonel will be safe with him." "I should like to go," Dora said obediently; "but I will not if y"U think 1 had better remain here." •'I do," the major replied, with a smile. "Surely, after waiting for him all these years, a few hours will ajot make much difference when he is so near, and I shall be there as well --that is, if you let me have a telegram in time." CHAPTER 111. A SILENT WOMAN'S WARNING. major had intended to start for Fori r; er on the following c'ay, but sevv lal weeks elapsed before he turned his back on London.

They made him very comfortable at Mr Dacre's establishment. Freder- J ick Lugard did not object to roughing it when he was on active service; he would sleep soundly with his saddle for a pillow, and dine on a handful of rice, but his experience in this direction had not destroyed his taste for a luxurious bedroom, the attention of well-trained servants and the culinary attainments of an excellent cook. He had all these ai. his disposal when hi accepted the invitation to make the little house in Canon Street his home; he did not trouble his club for more than an hour or so i:i the morning, and very willingly devoted the rest to his new friends. But for the major's age, Leonard might have been jealous of him, for ML'sSt. Hilary took possession of the soldier from the first, as if she had a perfect right to him; he was never tired of answering the questions she was never tired of asking about her father; the colonel was still as much Frederick Lugard's hero as when he took the friendless subaltern under his care in the days that were gone. Sometimes the major found himself wondering how Dora managed to pass her time when she had no visitors in the house. Miss Dacre came downstairs at regular intervals and disappeared like a shadow, rarely contributing more than half a dozen words as her share of the general conversation; she was a depressingly silent woman he had ever met, and when she did speak her voice had a monotonous depth which was rather startling to a stranger. As fcr Mr Dacre, he was always engaged in some mysterious calculation that involved the writing of innumerable figures on alips of paper and adding them up with a result which never satisfied him, apparently. He did not neglect his duty as a hest, but it seemed to cost him an effort to remember that be had a guest under his roof. Maj. Lugard's favourable impression of him had not worn away, but it had not increased; and yet there was nothing in his behaviour to which Lugard could take exception. His list of acquaintances, is not a large one, but was eminently select. He was a liberal patron of art and science, though he was never seen in public. He gave practical advice and help whenever he was asked for it and was always accessible to an applicant. The major became tolerably familiar, by sight, with the reguhr visitors, and there was one of whom he took particular notice, without knowing why. This was a man who gave his name as Capt. Crauliss, and though he was, or had been, in the army, Mr Dacre did not introduce him. "He is not the kind of man you would care for," Mr Dacre said, when Lugard mentioned it. "I find him a useful fellow. He gives me information about companies and investments generally, but he is not up to your level." [to be continued.]