THE COLONEL'S ENEMY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3174, 27 April 1909, Page 2

THE COLONEL'S ENEMY.

CHAPTER XLI. ! A FRIENDLY CONNSPIRACY. "I knew it would end that way," De Vigne said to himself; "and what is more natural than that she should make a hero of the man who sought her out in her obscurity, and filled her life with sunshine? Well, I hope they will be as happy as 1 wish them, for he is a splendid fellow, and he with her womanly intelligence and gentle heart, is all the most exacting husband should desire. I used to think she would be an ideal wife for a hard-working doctor, and that is what I feel she always will be —only an ideal, the , reality is not for me." i This held him silent when Mary and her mother went to Ravenskerne. I Mrs Dacre and Leonard did not go with them. It was the major's wish that his grand old place should be a home for them all but, in, spite of his persuasion, he had to leave the widow and her son behind. The party he took with him consisted of Colonel St. Hilary and Dora, with Mrs Walton and her daughter; Aunt Hannah stayed with her sister-in-law. The money found on Captain Crauliss was returned to Mrs Dacre by one of the treasury commissioners, who gave it tJ her without inquiry or remark. He had evidently been instructed by thos6 .in high authority, for no awkward questions were asked, no painful investigation made. It had doubtless been proved that this portion of Mr Dacre's wealth has been legitimately earned, and they knew it could not be in better hands. She "steadily refused to touch a penny of it till the major came to the rescue, with his practical good senses "All that your husband did in the way of restitution will have been done in vain, if you, for whom he toiled so hard in his later years, refuse to benefit by it," he said; "and if you refuse to accept it, what can become of it?" "I would give it to the-poor." "Yes; but in what manner? Benevolent societies and institut.ons are tedious and clumsy in their methods, and, where the work of distribution is not done voluntarily, it becomes so expensive as practically to nulify the intentions of the giver. In your own hands, the power of doing good would be infinite, and you already have a heavy charge to fulfil. The pensioners, whose names we found in a list among Mr Dacre's private ir.emoianda, are many, and they must not be ncglecttd." "You would really advise me to retaip it?" "Most certainly. The income, though a large one, has a limit. You. •Could not depend upon more that from seven thousand to ten thousand a year, and, when it is knoWn that you are charitably inclined, you will easily find a use for'that, and have more applicants,than you can satisfy' Then there is Leonard to provide / for." "On that point he will not listen to a word, even from me. iHe intends to remain at work, and live m his salary, as he has hitherto done."

"Let him have his own way for] the present," the major said; "I j shall be better able to reason with i him when the recollection of recent events has grown less keen. I wish j he would come to Ravenskerne, he j would be very welcome; the change j would do him good, and he is not so well as 1 should like him to be." "His heart is breaking," the widow said, with the pathos of a mother's despairing love; "not even your true I and generous friendship can cure his disappointment and his sorrow. I fear someiimes that I shall lose him soon." 1 The major knew she would, for the doctor had told him it could be but a question of time, and not a long tims; but he shook his head with a smile at her misgiving. "He is young," the x major said, "and over-anxious. He is tormented by a false pride that keeps him away from his best friends ;• he has but to think of. his own career, what it has been in all its brave, unselfish integrity and industry, what it may be if he will only come to those who see him as he is, i ..d noc in the darkMess of an imaginary shadow." "It is like you to speak so," Mrs Dacre add; "and yet it is for your sake he forgoes the dear pleasure of your society and Dora's —he thinks you love each other." "And so I hope we do," and major said, with an air-of invincible simplicity. "I knew Dora when she was a baby, and she loves me as her father's oldest friend. Surely your Leonard, whom I have taken to my heart as a brother, would not be jealous of that." "But are you sure, major, it is only that?" "Bring him to Ravenskerne," the major said cheerfully, though he was guiltily conscious of an evasion, as Dora had been. "If you come, he is sure to come with you, and then he will see for himself how much he has been mistaken." "Is it true, then, as 1 have sometimes thought, that Mary is more than a cousiri to you?" "Now, my dear madam," he said half playfully, "is it fair to try and entrap me confession? Why will you never allow that a man may he happy in an independent stagp? Can there be no such thing as friendship between man and woman, or girl and man, without the misconstruction that would place a bachelor's liberty in jeopardy?" "Leonrd will be very happy when I tell him this, that he has been mistaken," she said; "but he does not expect her to keep her word after-—'' •; 1& -&.. "After the sad truth was known," said Lugard gravely. "But St. Hilary is too just a man to visit the sins

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

of the father on the son. And then, Leonard is your son as well, and, if the colonel were a king, he could not but be glad to give his daughter to the son , f such a mother; he has told me so." "And I may repeat it to Leonard," she said; "and that he has been mistaken; and that Mary Walton and not Dora stands first with you?" "Bring him to Ravenskerne, and let him judge for himself," the major said, with a reassuring smile; "and, if he is not satisfied, he will be very hard to please." "He shall come when he takes h.is holidays, in about: a month from now," the widow said; "had he known it was Mary, and not Dora, that you cared for, his life would have been brighter for a long time." The soldier sighed rather heavily when he left her. For the sake of the poor boy's happiness, evident that he must encourage the belief it was Mary Walton, and not Miss St. Hilary, who was first in his regard. Major Lugard had been in what he called "a fix" many a time during his adventurous career. In the jungle, with a wounded, but not disabled,, tiger in front of him, and one sole remaining cartridge in the barrel of his rifle; in the enemy's lamp, disguised as a native soldier, and with the fate of a beleagured city depending on a cipher message rolled in the folds of a turban; beaten, to his knees in action and with half-a-dozen natives to be kept at bay with the swift circle of his heavy saber; and the strength of the athletic Englishman, backed by his well-trained nerve, had carried him safely through; but his courage failed him at the thought of making love to Mary, and neglecting Dora for the sake of keeping up appearances. He went to Ravenskerne, leaving a cordial invitation for Leonard and De Vigne—not accepted in either case ho warmly as he could have wished.

The doctor's prospects, though steadily increasing, were not such as would have justified him in making an open declaration to a rich man's favourite cousin, and he was, perhaps, a little jealous of the major. Miss Walton's affection and admiration were undisguised, and A the! vas one of those who did not approve of too much demonstration, except between accepted lovers, and that is what they thought they were. What he saw later on, when he went to Ravenskerne in the autu-nn, d d not tend to undeceive him. He might have gone down earlier in the season, but he waited for Leonard, whose holidays were then due; and, when the major had a telegram to say that they were coming, he tried to arrange a friendly conspiracy with Mary. [to be continued.]