THE COLONEL'S ENEMY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3169, 21 April 1909, Page 2

THE COLONEL'S ENEMY.

CHAPTER XXXVII.— Continued. "Dearest father, try to forgive him," she said; ''it breaks my heart to see him like this." Sc. Hilary was not entirely unmoved; he began to feel that there was something to be said for the man he had driven to the desperate step for which he was now paying such a heavy penalty. "I will say no more iust now, he said, "only this I have never regretted anything so much as that this man ehoulJ have been my enemy instead of my friend. Perhaps some, j day, when the recollection of our long separation grows less keen, I may | forget that he ever was my enemy. X begin to think that his desire to make atonement was prompted by a j genuine repentance, and what he has i suffered should be pgcepted as his ex- j piatioV I "My expiMioii?" Ht P««J s »'°; I with a sad and sombre smile. -•* j you want to know the true meaning I of the wcrd, Col. St. Hilary, hear . just a little of my life's history, and here is one who can tell you, as 110 jgtjiey can, when my expiation bo- ( Tattoo* had opened agalri, this time to admit Mrs Dacfa and Leonarrl | she took in the situation with one swift glance, and them in a manne , that made all present gaze at her in surprise, sh 3 Went and fetood by Mr Dacre's side protectively, with a challenge in her fearless eyes, as

a cnKJieugc - if she would defend him; and he, as if he gathered strength from the firm contact of her hand upon his arm, drew himself erect once more with a dignity of an accuser rather than the humility of the accused. "Just," he said, "as I must soon be judged by Him who judges all, for lam an old man, and my days have been shortened by the work of thJ last few months. I wish to refute one charge,' on which my lips have been sealed hitherto. When Mrs St. Hi - ary stayed at my house in Scotland, it was said that I poisoned her mind against her husband; that for a purpose of my own I endeavoured to keep them asunder. The implication, in all its blackness, is of a nature that I cannot dwell upon here; but let me sav. with the mosj;'sacred vow a man can take, that there was not a single word of truth in it. Those who know me—and there is one here, this lady by my side who knows me best—will tell you that my love of children and my reverence for women would render it impossible. "I can speak of his conduct to Mrs St. Hilary," said Leonard's mother. "The bond between tnem was an intellectual friendship, /the purest sympathy; of slandering y° u > colonel, or trying to Keep you and your wife asunder. I hold him guiltless. I was an inmate of the house, I was her confidant and companion,, and I know." The colonel bowed; such testimony was not to be doubted for a moment. "Why," he asked of Dacre, "was this not told to me before?" "There are some points, colonel, on which a mere suspicion is an outrage too gross to be resented except by silence. My moral character was to me what your honour, as a soldier, is to you. An imputation could be brushed aside as easily as if it were a dead leaf falling on your sleeve. I made no defense, my friends, who knew me, did not need one; for the opinion of the in general I did not care one jot, tnat is where, for the first time in my career, I was short-sighted. The blow aimed at my moral character was the beginning of my ruin. When the rumour once went forth that I was a wulf in sheep's clothing, my business friends and their families fell away from me. When my domestic integrity was called into question, people began to doubt the soundness of my financial position. 1 \?as the victim of a combination. A rirer was formed for the sole purpose of driving me out of the market; ] had grown ton powerful; I had filled to large a place in the financial world, and when a run was made upon my bank, those whom I hac helped,' and to whom I had looket for help, were the first to refuse me and to help to crush me. "And just as this time I received a heavy and an unexpected blow. My brother, who .1 I had placed< al the head of a branch business, took to speculating on his own account, lost capital, and, in a panicstricker moment, ran away. I had to make his deficiencies good, and I did but the drain on my resources destroyed my lest chance. I was charged with treachery and fraud, with robbing the widow and the orphan. Had I stayed to meet the charge, I should have been condemned unheard. I had been reckless, daring, perhaps; success had placec me on such a a dread oi failure was beyond the region oi possibility. But the failure came, swift, overwhelming, leaving me nc chance of safety but in flight. : "I knew that with the few thousands I had saved from the wreck, and with my knowledge'of the stoci market, I could make another fortune un3er another name, and in anothei land. I cannot on looking back, defend my course of action; the rials I ran with money not mv own meant ruin to thousands if I failed. "I did fail, and it is no defence tc say that such things are done everj day; not a week goes by without a financial crisis coming so near that the crowd of investors wpuld be startled into terror if they knew; but that is no defence for me.

"Many of the people whose monpy I had lost were personal friends, and there were some heartrending scenes before I went away. My wife could not forgive me; she saw more than I did—where the misery came in. She did not know my real position; up to the last moment I kept it from her, and people with the boundless faith in her integrity that she had in mine, believed her when she said that the

By WINTHROP B. HARLAND. Author of "Lady Elgin's Secret/' "A Harvest of Shame," "The Rldur Sou/' "Lord Ashton's Heir," Etc.

I rumours of my impending insolvency ' were the inventions of malicious enemies, and, believeing her, they brought their money in even to the eleventh hiur, and then I l ad to tell her how I had deceived her. "I am an old man now, but my love for my wife beats as strongly in my heart as when I married her, nearly thirlv year 3 ago. It was not alone for her beaury, though that was in- | comparable, but our lives were a ' perfect harmony. The arrve qualities of sympathy, and tact and quick ap- ; preciation were all hers; and above j all, she was a pure and womanly j Christian, whose faith in me made me try to live ud to her idea]. "Here was my expiation, jSolemnly, sadly," and with a resolution , never faltered, she told ma that never | again in this world would she think ,of herself as my wife until I had i made full restitution to those who I I had wronged. She would not touch a 1 psnny of my money. She would not | let ttiy own boy k«ow name,. i or that I was his father." j "My influence envied ffie to aid I him secretly indirectly, and I had |at last satisfied even her exacting > senso t)f justice, and she was com- ! ir.g back to me, when liKe a blight, Maj. Lugard came with the news that Col. St. Hilary was returning . home; and when he disappeared she ' suspected me, and I l'jst her this time for ever. She is here by my side, but no more m;; wife than as if we had never met; and surely to have lost her, is more than expiation I fnr any of my sins."

CHAPTER XXXVIIII. STRICKEN DOWN. The only two to whom this revelation did not come as a complete sur- j prise, were the major and Dr. De Vigne. Mr Darlington's discovery that Dallas Crombie had a wife, an eccentric sister, and a son about seven-and-twenty years of age, had in a measure prepared them for it; but Leonard, when he saw what the disclosure meant for him, reeled, and would have fallen had not .Lugard caught him. As it was, a fleck of blood appeared on his lips. "My father, and not mv uncle?' he said; "and it is you who have done this deadly wrong to Dora's father. I wish that I had died before I knew it!" "You must take back that foolish wish," the colonel said kindly. "I am not one of those how would visit the father's sins upon his children. Major Lugard has told me what you are, and his word, as your credentials, would outweigh any recollection of your father's wrongdoing. If you have Dora's love, I am quite satisfied with you." t/ "In my son's name, I thank you," iMr Dacre said. "I did not think any human being could be so no'_,!y generous." I [TO BE CONTINUED.]

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