THE COLONEL'S ENEMY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3137, 13 March 1909, Page 2

THE COLONEL'S ENEMY.

BY WINTHBOP B. HARLAND. Author of "Lady Elgin's Secret," "A Harvest of Shame," "The Elder Son/' "Lord Ashton's Heir," Etc.

CHAPTER XlV.—Continued. "I have no doubt she would be 1c you," Mrs Dacre said; "and I &m sure she would willingly wive you any imformation in her power. When will you corse?" "To-morrow, if I am not called away to gain further tidings of the colonel; it would be a great relief to me to find my relatives. Plenty of my relatives have found me, but they are not the kind I want. Mention it to Mrs Lawton, please." "I will." "And if I come to-morrow, I hope it will be with better news; but at the worst you will give me leave to try and change your determination concerning Leonard and Dora. We, who have outlived our youth, must be as gentle as we can to the young." "My son will always trust me to decide what is best for him," Mrs Dacre said gravely. "On that point, Maj. Lugard, and on an> other, no one has come between him and me. He has never disobeyed me yet. I have always had his tenderest devotion. Do not let the first shadow on his love and duty be cast by you." "Heaven forbid!" the soldier said; "but I like the young man, and I would willingly make some personal sacrifice to see him as happy as he deserves to be; and let us hope there will be no occasion for your prohibition, for, on that point, I am afraid I could not be silent." Mrs Dacre only shook her head as she gavd him her hand. He saw that this gentlewoman, with her sweet face and soft, low voice, was not to be moved from his purpose. S v, e would have gone to her own martyrdom with a smile for the sake of a principle, and in the same spirit she would have sent her own son out to die, as the Spartan mother did, at the watchword of duty. "Good-night," he sail; "I 'will come to-morrow if I am not called away, and just one word: I am a poor hand at dissembling, and Leonard told me that you did not wish Mr Dacre to know of my visit here." "It does not matter," she said, after a moment's reflection. "It may be as well that he should know, and I want you to come often, for Leonard's sake. He thinks so nuch of you, and lam sure he could not have a wiser or a kinder friend." "He shall always find me a true one," the soldier said; "but you must not trust too much to my wisdom as a counseller for him. Still, I will try my best to be such a friend to him as St. Hilary was to me, and if he cannot benefit by my experience, he, at least, shall take no harm by my I-should like him to spend his vacation at Ravenskorne, and he knows where to find me in town." "You are very kind, major,"young Dacre said, somewhat embarrassed; "but Ido not see why I should be forced upon you in this way. My mother thinks I must be welcome anywhere." n lf you were not welcome to me, I should tell you so," Lugard said. "I have always found that the plain truth is the best, however painful it may be at first; but you will he welcome for your own sake as wail for Dora's. Ravenskerre would be nothing to ma without the colonel, and no place on earth would be anything to him without her; sue! as I do not suppose you would give her up to us entirely, yon would have to come, if only as a necessary evil." "And to think," Leonard said, when the major had gone, with a smile at the last playful word-, "that I was almost jealous of hi in once—that was tin: first time Dora kis.-ed him —but i urn used to it now. He knew her when she was a baby, you see. and tresis her jtist as if she were a little sister."

"H-; would, naturally, being her father's oldest friend, and if anything were to happen to Col. St. Hilary, Maj. Lugurd would be her guardian." "He would take uncle's place, you mean?" "Mr Dacre has noplace or power, legally. It was simply a temporary arrangement. I gave her up to him at his own earnest request, and because 1 did not wish her to be so much with you." "Why?" he said, w-ith a smile. "Were you afraid we should fall in love with each ither." "I was afraid that if you were so much together you might fancy you were in love with each other, and that would not have been fair to either Young people are very apt to mistake the affection that grows of early companionship for the love that should exist between husband and wife. And of all the mistakes in life that is the worst, because the discovery of it comes too late." "I thought it hard at the time," Leonard said; "but I can see now that vou were right. We stool the test, Dora and I, and there can be no doubt of our love." ~,< ~".\ Mrs Dacrc was not so surj about that. There could ba no doubt of his love for her, and he belonged so far to a more intelligent and better typa of man than any she hud met in society, and the contrast was therefore in his <"avour; but with the return of her father, and her introduction to such a man as Maj. Lugard, Mis-' bt. Hilary would have a new and wi-"!er field of action. Her quiet, petted, uneventful life in Canon Street gave her no more experience of the v,wIJ than a child would have had. But Leonard had,no misgiving, his jealousy of the major had pas>si.«d away, and he could not find too much to say in that gentleman's praia-.' while the subject of his serious enthusiasm was walking at a leisurelv rr.u-e towards his Piccadilly lodgings. ic 'i.'id been a very singular inlervi >w to and t.lere were moments when he could not rid his mind of an impression that Mrs

Da ere mi£ht, had she chosen, have thrown pom 3 light upon the mystery. "It is easily explained, however," he said to himself. I remember, now, that she was one of Mrs St. Hilary's dearest friends, and that, in addition to the fact that the colon T's is Dora's father, would naturally make her anxious over anything which might affect him to his injure. And Leonard poor fellow, who has taken such a liking- to me, if the dearest wish of mv heart were in his way, I should have to stifle it; and he is so gentle ihat I could not destroy his faith in me, no matter wr.at sacrifice I may be called upon to make."

CHAPTER XVI. MR FLETCHER BECOMES CONFIDENTIAL WITH THE DOCTOR. There were no tidings of the colonel in the morning. No sign of the latter that had been promised in the Boulogne telegram. Maj. Lugard sent his man to the club, as he had arranged with Inspector Darlington, and there was nothing for him but a written message to tell him that the druggists' traveller and his companion were still under the strictest surveillance, but all their movements free from suspicion. 'lhe principles of the wholesale firms they had said they represented, indorsed their statements fully, and gave them an excellent character, and so a clue that had promised so much came to an end—lor the present, as Mr Darlington added, significantly, at the finish of his communication. The soldi;.r called at Canon Street, and was sorry to find Mr Dacre much worse than he had expected from the effects of his accident; the shock to his system following so soon upon the fatigue of h ( is journeys, had left him nearly prostrate; and Dora, who nursed him with the tenderest solicitude, had insisted upon calling in a medical man. He was there when Lugard v/ent in and Miss rit. ITiiary introduced him as Dr Athel de Vigne. "I want nothing but a few days' rest," Mr Dacre said, with the shadow of a smile, as he gave the soldier his hand, in spite af the evident pain it cost him to turn; "but Dora would persist in sending for Dr de Vigne. He is an old friend, I may say, and I could not keep him out, but I would not have seen a stranger. He knows I have no faith in the profession." "I know that you say so," the doctor said, " but as you are one of the most liberal subscribers to our hospitals and charities, I must accept your statement with a reservation. You are badly shaken, Mr Dacre, and you ought to be in bed. If you want to avoid a long illness you will keep to your room for a week at the least." [to bk continued]