HER SILENCE JUSTIFIED.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3183, 7 May 1909, Page 2

HER SILENCE JUSTIFIED.

CHAPTER JV. —Continued. "Oh, please don't begin to scold me for my silly forgetfulness. Werfi you not the cause of itV As soon as I had your telegram to ask when I might expect you, how could I think of anything else? I was so overjoyed that I lost my head, and should have said 'yes' and 'no' indiscriminately if the Zoological Society had offered me thb loan of their great bear and a dozen monkeys. Only do somebody help me to make apologies and explanations. I always forget what 1 ought to say, and should find myself offering to atone for my rudeness to the officers with a chest of tea, and asking the Mactavish converts to have some more wine. As soon as i heard that the gentleman who came with you, general, is a reverend, I bad a bright thought. Why shouldn't he reconcile all these conflicting elements forme? A capital idea, isn't it and iwll save ma such a world of trouble." Wilfred ' Stuart now entered the loom, and on learning Lady Marcia's difficulties, readily consented to order a banquet for the military gentlemen at a neighbouring hotel, and induce Mrs Mactavish to transfer her monster tea-party to a ]arge room not far from Exeter Hall. Her ladyship exerted herself to follow him down-stairs, and extort a promise that he would return to dine with ner; and thus the father and son were left alone. It was the first time for years. General Haydon had sometimes fancied that Laurence seemed to avoid him, and preferred any society to his. Ah,, he never suspected that a heavy secret lay between ihem, or that the frank, affectionate intercourse for which he yearned was impossible.

CHAPTER V. "BE GOOD, SWEET MAID. AND LET WHO WILL BE CLEVEK. Plunging into conversation, Laurence talked of hia journey—of the people he had met—the last ministerial crisis—in short, everything but himself; till the faint replies he received, and the lines- of suffering around the general's mouth, awakened him to a conviction that j his father must be suffering terribly. "Good heavens, how thoughtless of me," he exclaimed remorsefully. "You are quite worn out, and hore am I letting you undergo fatigue for which you are thoroughly unfitted. I* will go away and send your servant to you.'' "Nay, don't be in any hurry to leave me," said the general, cheered and revived by this, burst of feelin<r. "Touch the bell; nurse May will hear and understand the signal." Laurence paused on his way to the table. "Nurse? Do you mean the woman I saw on my arrival? Is she in attendance on you?" "Yes; her cares nave brought me back from the gates of death more than once. Heaven bless her for it. You must never let her want, Laurie." Mr Hayaon coughed down some uneasy sensations. Hitherto he had imagined this woman to be attached to Lady Marcia's household, and he was strangely and disagreeably affected by the tidings that she was in constant attendance on his father. "Who is she, and whence does she come?" he asked abruptly. "Who—-nurse?" queried the general, who was growing drowsy. "She came out after one of the battles—l forget which—with a band of nursing sisters; and when I was so badly hit, Romney, our surgeon, brought her to the bungalow / where I was lying, and asked her to stop with me to the end. The doctors had given j me another twenty-four hours—no more: yet hore I am, thanks to her, and they prophesy a hale old age for me if I do not succumb to the venom still lurking in my veins. Call her, Laurie. When my shoulder aches and throbs with such burning heat she alone knows how to attend to it so as to give me ease." But nurse May was in the room before she could be summoned; and, retreating to the window Laurie Haydon vi'atched her while she bathed the aching arm with effective anodynes, nener losing her calmnes's when tho sufferer writhed and groaned in agony nor seeming to feel the least fatigue though called upon to support him in a position that must have cramped her limbs while casing his. No matter how impatiently he murmured, sh? was never irritated into retaliating by word or look, but stood or knelt beside his couch till the demon pain was exorcised, and he.sank ?nto a refreshing slumber.

Then, and not till than, Laurence came softly forward to praise and thank her. Whether she had been aware that he Was m the room he could not tell—certainly she had given no sign of it; nor did she take the slightest heed of hirn when he planted himself directly in front of her. "This has been a most trying haor for you," he observed sympathetically. It was second nature to Laurence to lower his voice when ha addressed a woman, no raster whether she wan young or old, pretty or plain. iand address her with flat terms earnestness. But nurse May_simply glanced at th» cloc!'; on the 'mantel p.nd was mute. "For your attentions to my father I am greatly ycur debtor," exclaimed Laurence sincerely. A slight curtsy was the only acknowledgement this speech received. The woman was dsf'ly rolling bandages. and had the air of being engrossed in her task. Irritated by her immobility, and determined to elicit some reply from her, he produced his purse, and tock from it a half sovereign. "I am ashamed to offer bo small a

BY HENRIETTA B. RUTH VEX. Author of "His Second Love," " Corydon's Infatuation," " Daring Dora/' " An Unlucky Legacy," Etc., Etc.

sum to my father's kind attendant, but: the expenses fo a journey from the centre of Africa have drained me. However, this is only intended the earnest of gifts more worthy your accep f ance." "You are very liberal, sir," she said, in the monotone through which i there rang, no matter how vaguely, | the echo of a cord that thrilled him !in every nerve. "You are very J liberal, sir, nut General Haydon gives me a handsome salary, and I might not like me to accept pres- | ents." j j "He will not object to anything I do, and yours is such a trying occupation that you cannot be requited too highly. What induced you to take to such a life?" "I had to work or starve," she said curtly. "Then you have been unfortunate. Is there any way in which my father or I can serve you?" "I have a very good place here, sir; I could not wish for a better master." And, so saying, nurse May dropped the roll of linen into a case of surgical appliances, pulled down a blind, arranged a curtain, fetched another rug to lay over the feet of her patient, and then took up a position beside the general's pillow. There she sat as methodically, as silently, as if alone; while the impossionable Laurence watched her every movement, asking himself angrily if it was her nature to be stolid, or whether she had discovered the effect her presence bad upon him, ani played this part to irritate his curiosity. "You will not refuse my gift?" he said, still tendering the half sovereign. By her acceptance or rejection of it, he though to gain some insight into her true character; but again he was baffled. "Thank you, sir, I will ask the general if I may take it. He is a little peculiar sometimes, and I cannot afford to offend hi"n. If you will put the piece of money on the shelf, sir, I'll mention the matter to him when he wakes."

Laurence tossed the coin into her lap, and walked away, vexed with himself for having allowed the looks and manners of a professional nurse to take Su .serious an effect upon him. "I must have a touch of the marsh fever still hanging about me," he argued. "The last time it attacked me, I dreamed of Daisy. The follies of my youth are like the poisoned arrows aimed at my father, for, in spite of the long ago, they send a thrill of pain through my whole system whenever anything awakens recollections of those old- old times." Nevertheless. Laurence appeared to be in brilliant spirits when he took hi? seat at Laoy Mareia's dining-table. He was the only gentleman present. The general sent his excuses, and Wilfred Stuart was unable to return in time. [to be continued.]