HER SILENCE JUSTIFIED.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3219, 17 June 1909, Page 2

HER SILENCE JUSTIFIED.

2* BY HENRIETTA B. RUTHVEN. jj 1 Author of "His Second Love/' " Corydon's'lnfatuation,' V C h jL " Daring Doia," " An Unlucky Legacy/' J( / Etc., Etc. /

CHAPTER XXVI.-Continued. At Nurse May suggestion Hal Dartford rode by the side of the carriage on,a stout little cob, ready to attend to the general if the exertion proved too fatiguing, or assist the Inexperienced charioteer should the ponies become skittish. j j Sometimes trembling lest her eyes ( j should betray her interest in their j escort—then uneasily wondering < whether he knew that she was for-*! bidden to hold any further intercourse with him —Lois found it difficult to calm herself sufficiently to attend to her work. The consequence was that her course for some minutes was such an erratic ona that the general, although the most fearless of men, began to wish himself safe at home, j

But Hal Dartford came to the rescue. The touch of his hands as he arranged the reins, and the sound of his gravely spoken directions, steadied the girl's nerves. He was beside her and must not he driven away by any exhibition of weakness; he was watching over her, and she must do credit to his care and teaching. And so the flush on her cheek gradually subsided, she ceased to bite her quivering lip, and ere long was able to control not the ponies only, but herself.

Laurence Hnydon met them at the door on their return. Always a spendthrift he could not afford to be on bad terms with his father any longer; but it vexed him to see how lavishly the money had been extended on Lois that he wanted so badly for himself.

"JRather unnecessary this stylish turnout, was it not, sir?" he commented, as he assisted his father to re-enter the house. "A close carriage is certainly more suitiable to you, and I'd rather not bav3 Lois encouraged in any puruits that may increase tendency to be fast and vulgarly strong." "Till you are ready to do your duty by jour child you need not criticize my attempts to make her happy," his father replied so sternly that he felt the necessity of conciliating him.

"If you knew how I feel the awkwardness of petting and fondling a grown-up daughter! But I am at Lois' disposal, if you can suggest any way in which I can make myself either useful or agreeable." "You can do both," he was promptly told. "I have bought her a mare, that she may have more exercise than she gets with me or Lady Marcia. Come and ride with her for an hour every morning, and make her as much at home on horseback as you are."

Laurence would have declined the task if he knew how, but he had to consent, jnd on the morrow, when Lois was told that the horses were at the door and she was waited for, she found that her father was in the house, prepared to accompany her. It was an unpalatable discovery, and she was a eager to avoid going as, a few minutes earlier, she had been looking forward to it. "I cannot ride this morning; my habit has not come " "A box arrived from Headfern's an hour ago," she was told, and Laurence Haydon's impatient gesture sent her from the room. But when Nurse May went to her assistance she found her leaning against against the wall, sullenly surveying the contents of the boxes as they lay scattered on the floor. "Why do you provoke Mr Haydon by kepeing him waiting?" Lois pointed to the tastefully made dark-green habit. "I'll not wear that dowdy thing. I'll have one like Queen Alexandra's or none at all." It took some amounc of catechising to comprehend her meaning before Nurse May discovered that one of Granny Wakely's most treasured possessions was a gaudy-coloured lithograph of her majesty, reviewing the troops at Aldershot in a ekirt of royal blue and jacket of scarlet. Lois had been taught to regard this as an admirable likeness; and to be dressed in similar style was the height of her ambition.

In few words her mistake was pointed out to her, and with the quiet authority few were able to resist, Nurse May compelled her to don the despibed habit. But she went downstairs in a rebellious mood, which her father's treatment did not subdue. That she looked remarkably well he could not have denied, but she was the living evidence of that mistake of his youth now separating him from Ambra, and he could not see her without chafing at it. "There will be a storm before they have gone far," tittered Miss Braysby; "oh! there is lightning already." . "Where?" asked Lady Marcia bertfousJy. ■ /;^/'" "You would have known had you looked in dear Lois' eyes," was the sarcastic response. "I wish I could have gone with them." And she carried her book to a window to w#j£h with ill-natured curiosity for their return. CHAPTER XXVII. COMING TO AN UNDERSTANDING. , Laurence Haydon's ill humour first visited itself oif Hal Dartford, who was walking round the mare intended to carry Lois, pafisfving

himself that every strap was properly buckled, and that the harness would not chafe the spirited creatured and make her unsafe or unpleasant to ride. "Sta.id aside!" excalimed Laurence sharply. "Where is Edmonds? Call him! He forgets himself when he leaves me to be waited upon by one of his underlings!" Hal smiled; the taunt did not touch him, for he was not under the orders of the elderly man who had been the general's faithful bodyservant as long as he was in India, and now held the well-paid sinecure of coachman, and lived in a neat cottage on the grounds. "Edmonds has had an attack of liver complaint and cannot attend you; but I have been overlooking the groom's work, and can call him if you prefer it." "If I prefer it! You have a free-and-easy style of speaking to your master's son! Who and what do they call you? An idler, kept to lounge about the establishment and give youiself aira?" "I did nut mean to speak rudely," said Hal, fearlessly meeting his angry eyes. "I am here to wait upon General Haydon, and take care of Miss_Haydon'3 ponies and mare." He might have received another reproof if Lois- indignant at her father's manner—had not so resolutely driven her mare between Hal and the horse Laurence was ridiug that both animals became restive, and set off at a sharp canter along the road.

This lasted till Laurence succeeded in grasping the rein of the mare and pulling her in. He had already forgotten Hal Dartford and was telling himself that, as Lois had obtained the ear of hefgrandfather, it might be good policy to enlist her influence on his own behalf, and see if he could not induce her to procure for him the recall of Ambra.

He had been at Maidstone on the previous day, there to ingratiate himself with the young lady's relations; and by dint of a great deal of manoeuvring he had secured a private interview with Ambra herself. But in vain had he pleaded, childed, professed to doubt her affection, and even raved and hinted that he would leave Enlgand forever. She wept bitterly, till he grew alarmed at her condition; but, in spite of the softness and sweetness that never left her, she could still be firm and adhere to duty. No matter what he urged, the answer was the same, though spoken with the tenderest reluctance to wound him. She could not break tier promise lo her guardian.; and Laurence had come back to London, vexed as well as surprised at the tenacity with which she ciung to it. | TO BE CONTINUED.]