When Love Rules The Heart.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9558, 3 August 1909, Page 2

When Love Rules The Heart.

CHAPTER XL—Continued. "DEAREST HELEN: Only a tew lines. My brain is in a whirl. You have already heard the amazing news. My father wrote to you yesterday. It seems too good to be true. And yet the victory is no victory at all because there has been no struggle! We shall meet in a few days at Rainhill Court, I suppose. My father and I are very busy. He is dreaming of beaitiful times; and, as he has been so good to me, I must acquiesce in all his plans. I have so much to say, and I cannot say it! Dear, dear Hellen, in a little while all will be made plain! lam picturing you as I remember you in the happy days j)f our childhood! You looked like an angel, with your eyes of heaven's own blue, your sun-bright hair, your sweet smile! We never realise the meanting of true happiness until it has flown. Life at its best is but a feverish march to the grave! "And this is a love letter! One would imagne me to be a cynical old man of sixty, instead of a young fellow of twenty-four. But my moods were always changeful. And who understands me like the daar little sweetheart of my boyhood?"

He signed the wandering rhapsody, then ilung down the pen, his face drawn, his eyes full of pain. "I hate it," he exclaimed, "this cowardice, this cruel deception ! Why cannot I tell her in plain language that my love for her is that of a fond brother—that my heart is elsewhere, with the vagrant singing eirl? I might have done so, but ray father has made it so hard! The shock might break her gentle, loving heart."

He went out and maild his letters. It was midday. The sun was shining brightly. He was too much occupied with his own thoughts to notice the approach of a smart koking barouche. The street was crowded with vehicles of all kinds. The barouche pulled up for a moment, and the oc oupants exchanged significant glances. They were two men—Gtis Etheri"gton and Clarence MountirDon. Duncan Armitage passed on. His face began to brighten. He was thinking of Zi la, and of the delightful afternoon ,they would have together. He had forgotten Hellen Howard. At the corner of Piccadilly circus a cab swept alongside him. The driver touched his hat, and his face broadened into a sird >. "Chatto!" txdaimed Duncan. "Good morning, Mr Armitage. I'm a little before my time, but I expected you would not mind that." "Everything is «11 right?" Duncan asked. "Oh, yes, sir!" Duncan entered the cab, and ic bowled merrilly in the direction of Brixton Hill. He felt half ashamed of the sudden unaccountable fear which had chilled his heart. All was well. Chatto had said so. A few days longer and Zilla should be rescued from her perilous position. They should be married by special license at once. As for Lord Rainhill, the Mow would be a bitter one to him, iio.doubt. He could not help that. He was ready to give up uome, name—ail—for love of Zilla It was the secrecy, the dishonesty, which galled his open nature. The journey aeemtd to be interminable. He luoked at his watch from time to time. Only forty minutes!

The cab stopped and Duncan sprang out. Zilla was standing at the parlor window. He saw the curtains move—saw her lovely face, flushed and smiling. A faint scream passed her lips, then she vanished and appeared at the half open door. "Duncan—Duncan!" She was sobbing in his arms, and he kiqsed the sweet face. "Zilla, my darling—my beautiful pearl!" His voice was full of tenderness and passion. "You were waiting for me?" "I have been waiting for you ever' since you left me yesterday!" she sobbed. "I am so lonely here —so frightened!" He led her back into the parlor and closed ne door. "Why are you afraid, sweetheart?" Duncan asked caressingly. The slender form was shaking with half suppressed sobs. "I cannot tell. I suppose that I am silly. lam constantly oppressed by the dread of some impending evil." She turned her tear-stained face to his. He felt that she was trembling violently, "My poor Zilla!" Duncan whispered fondly. "Your nerves are completely unstrung. Come and sit beside ms for a little while, your hands resting in mine, your head on my shoulder. I want you to be the happiest little woman in all the world. I cannot bear to see your tears. I have planned a pleasant day, and I am not going to leave you until quite late to-night." "When will you come again, Duncan?" She shuddered. "I wish that you could t;ike me away with you from here, anywhere out of England. I dreamed last night that you would never come back!" "And you believed in a foolish, empty dream?" he said irritably. "Do you not understand what my love is to me? It ab?or v 's my whole life and soul!" .The intensity of his

BY OWEN MASTERS. Author of "Captain Emlyn's Daughter," "Th>; Woman Wins," "The Heir of AvisforJ," "One.lmpassioned Hour," Etc., Etc.

passion' st3rtl«djher."£,"There," he added soothingly, "you believe me—you will not doubt me again? I have planned such a day, Zilla! We will have tea together here in this little parlor, and then you shall go out with me and look at the shops. I want to buy you so many things-an engagement, ring, a wedding ring, and some pretty frocks to wear.!" She smiled brightly at him, and cluiif to his hand. "How good you are to me, Duncan ! And I am so thought! 3ss, so .selfish! I will tell you ,my dream, and then you will forgive me for being miserable. I though that you came to me once, twice, % three times—you the noble gentleman, I the poor singing girl. You loved me well at first, or believed that vou did. Yoj loved my beautiful voice, you pitied my condition and took compassion upon me. Then I waited and waited, and you came no more! Inte ad, I saw the evil face," the malignant eyes of the man who calls himself my father. As from afar. I heard the sweet music of wedding bells, but they were not mine. They were yours and another's—the beautitul lady with the fair face, the blue eyes, and sun-bright hair!"

"Foolish little Zilla!" His voice quavered in spite of himself. "The beautiful lady with the fair face, the blue eye*, and sun-bright hair'" The words stung him. "I cannot bear It," he thought bitterly; "I cannot face Helen and Lord Rainhill! I must fly, like the coward that I am!" Silence fell upon them. Zilla nestled close to her lover's breast; she c?uld almost hear the beating of her own heart. A long drawn sigh passed her lips.

"You are not cross with me, Dunan 9 " she ventured to ask.

c "Cross with you, dear? No — only bothered a little. I thought that you were stronger, braver; I though that your faith in made was greater." he Hushed guiltily. He was deliberately deceiving another woman as fair and as sweet as Zilla herself. "You make me writhe! in my self-esteem; you anpraise my love, my constancy so meanly! Mere impulse, mere chivalry—my fancy awakened by the sight of a goodlook ins girl in distress! And, when my ardor cotls, I glide out of the brief entanglement—l flung back the love of a true-hearted woman as I would toss away a withered flower whose beauty and fragrance are gone! It is an ugly picture. Zilla! I hone that I am not so despicable a cur!" He tossed his head angrilv; th*re was a strange lie-lit in his eyes. Zilla did not move. Her gentle heart was thrilled with ecstasy and ran. | TO 1*1! Oi.'NTINiJI-n.'i