The Colonel's Enemy.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3176, 29 April 1909, Page 2

The Colonel's Enemy.

CHAfTER XLll.—Continued. "You reason with the reason of a Cato,"said De Vigne. "Though a London man need noc necessarily be a Lundon fixture; and,-if the inducement were strong enough., I know ot one London man who might be tempted to open a practise «t Ravenskerne. As for the colonel's influence, it is unquestionable; and I know how beautifully Miss Walton reads. I have heard her many a time." • The memory of the times came back to him as a winding of the brought the soldier and his cousin into sigh again, with the two grooms, Ditton and King behind them.

He could see the little Fulham parlour, with its shaded lamp on the centre table, and Mary's graceful head bent over one of the volumes he | had bought for her. She had a j tolerable complete edition of the British works, from Chaucer and j Spenser to Tennyson, Praed, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and his name, with kind regards to Myra Lawton, was inscribed on the inside of every title-page. Those kind regards were the thinnest of disguises for the love he had kept unspoken too long. i There was some foundation for Leonard's idea that Colonel St. | Hilary was in favour of a marriage , between Mary and his friend the : major. I Next to seeing Dora and Leonard i united, nothing would have pleased , St. Hilary more. He had settltd { down at Ravenskerne as contentedly | as if he had never known any other, i home, and he liked <o have the |aces of his friends about him. To , haVS taker. ?way Mrs Walton, Mary. or even Aunt Haniian, .WUiIW. have i left a gap ih the household circle, j faever to be proDerly filled again. He found that the iron herve find , imperious temper that had sustained him in his protracted captivity were considerably shaken when the reaction came. He had an old soldiers longing for tranquility now that his fighting .days were over; he had won as much distinction as he cared for, and he had seen his private enemies go down before him under conditions that would have more than satisfied him,had he been a revengeful, or vindictive, man. He found it difficult to think, without regret, of Mr Dacre; but of that gentleman's too willing agent and confederate he thought with such pleasure as a Christian may reasonably feel when he hears that a tiger has been caged, or a wolf destroyed. Captain Crauliss had gone to penal servitude for fourteen years. The two men set on by him to attack Joseph Ditton had been sent to bear him company for half that

period. Having once consented to Dora's marriage, the colonel did not care how soon it took place. The sooner it waa over, the sooner the young couple would return from their honeymoon, and take up their abode at at Ravenskerne. There was plenty of rooti for them in the thirty or forty apartments covered by the rcof of that grand old mansion. The wedding was fixed for the middle of October,

Here in the bracing atmosphere at Ravenskerne, with its magnificent , views through which the Avon ran, Leonard took in new drafts of life, { and was a changed man in the pro-. spect of the gladness before him. The colonel was very kind to him. I Leonard was not of the stuff of which soldiers are made, but he had shown, from boyhood, a moral courage which lifted him into the lanks of hero* a. "I like you for yourself, my lad" he said, using the ""major's favourite , word. "I had some glowing accounts of you from my little girl, and, though I made allowances for her partiality, I can safely say that you have more than realised the highest expectations I could have formed of you. , She gave me many instances of your thoughtful and chivalrous devotion as a boy, and that to me, is a sufficient guarantee of what your conduct will be as a man." "If I live, Colonel St. Hilary, I will try to deserve your kindness, and her love." "Live!" the a. !onel said, looking at the young mans' well-formed, if slender figure. "There is nothing the matter with you; a few years in the service would have set you up. But I have seen many a recruit, with not half your substance, fill out like the major. You have no idea what a stripling he was. You have been cramped up in London. Take plenty of exercise, and you will soon grow strong." He could not have given more fatal advice. He knew nothing of Leonard's constitution, or the danger he was in. That was a secret, except to the major and De Vigne; but, when Leonard began to take long walks, and ask the major to give him riding lessors, he gently warned the young man not to overdo at. But here, for once, his advice was not taken; Leonard knew that Dora admired manly men; she herself was a fearless horsewoman, could swim, or row, for an hour, and walk half a dozen miles without showing the least sign of fatigue; he felt that, aa a mere bookworm and musician, he stood at a disadvantage, for tha major and De Vigne were accomplished athletes, and, with the fictitious strength born of hope and encouragement upon him, he overtaxed his strength; within a week of his marriage day, he came home tired, and had taken a chill; he bore up bravely through the evening, but in the morning he could not rise; and the day that was to have seen him Dora's husband saw him dead. He had seen those he loved best, his mother, Dora, De Vigne, and the rr.ajor with him on the night before he died, and he knew the end was near; he told them quietly that be

By WINTHROP B. HARLAND. Author of "Lady El-in's "A Harvest of Shame," "The Elder Son," "Lord Ashton's Heir/' Etc.

had known for some time that his days were numbered. "I thought I might outlive it, perhaps, with your love to help me," he said to Dora; "but, before I came down here, 1 went to a strange doctor, and told him I wished to take out a life insurance policy I knew De Vigne would not have told me the truth-that is why I went to a strar.ger." "A man who did not know your constitution," said Lugard "his opinion was worth nothing." "He tola me the truth major, mentioned every symptom I had sunered from, and then said I must have a change of air, perfect rest from business, and carriage exercise then I was to see him again in three months' time. I knew what he meant it was my death warrant."

j "Nonsense!" Lugard said, trying ' to smile. 1 "Ah, major," Leonard said, softly "you will never on this side of the ! grave now how much I owe to you ! but you have never deceived me for a moment now unselfishly you and Dora sacrificed yourselves for me and from my heart 1 thank you both and say Heaven blees you for your kind intentions. The love you would have given up for me will be your reward."

I They left him with his mother soon ! after this and they saw him once ! again before the morning it was for j the last time till his eyes were closed ! in this world and opened on another. I He left his mother to the major's 1 care knowing how sacred such a trust J would be. } "I always loved the lad," Lugard said when De Vigne came down and told him all was over. "It would ' grieve me bitterly if I thought I had ' ever caused him the least anxiety." 1 "Concerning Miss St. Hilary you 'ivi£an?" said Athpl. On that scove ' major", you hsd nothing to reproach ' yourself with. He did confess to a little jealousy until you showed us 1 hov mistaken we had been." j "Showed you, how?" I "By your attentions to Mary—- ' Miss Walton, I should say." j "That was part of our conspiracy—- ' a kindly one," Lugard said. "I knew the poor boy would be easier in his mind if he thought I had intentions there, and I asked Mary to let me make love to her till he aud Dora I were married. There you have the I whole truth ot that." * * * * * i The doctor did not leave Ravenskerne ; he opened a practise in the vicinity, and, betore twelve months were gone, realised that Mary was an I ideal wife for a medical man. : ; Colonel St. Hilary gave Dora to Major Lugard on the same day. 1 THE END.