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When Love Rules The Heart.

V BY OWEN MASTERS. £ ? 7 (, Author of "Captain Bmlyn's Daughter," "Thu Woman i, V Wins," "Tho Hfir of Avisford," "One Impas- «* / sioned Hour," Etc., Etc. /

CHAPTER XlX.—Continued

"He will be with you soon, Miss— . er—Seton," responded Mountarbon. ' "You may trust me. My conduct.has not been actuated by any charitable motives"- his face reddened—"but vou are in good hand? " This ambiguous speech frightened her. She saw Mr Etherington in earnest conversation with an elderly couple, who were listening with interested amazement. To her excited fancy the faces of both the men and the woman were sinister and cruel They bowed in a servile manner to MrEtheiington. They were hi 3 secants, his slaves. SheUlooked up at the blue sky, at the double wall of funeral trees. There was no sound of the outer world. She h< ard the rushing of a stream down the hillside, the shrill note of a bird. "This is not London," she thought. "I am in the midst of desolation. I must have slept for a long lime. Oh. Heaven, help me!" She leaned heavily against Clarence Mountarbon. The voice of Etherington seemed to come from a long way off/ Everything became dark. Was it'an age, or but a few moments! She was lying <m a couch in a pleasantly furnished room. Her hat and jacket wei-d gone, and a woman stood beside her. Mr Etherington was speaking. Mountarbon stood a little apart. "I shajl be back this evening; and, if the fevi-r has nut abated, a doctor must be called in. I. do not wish it, but no risks shall be run. Publicity at some time is inevitable." He. bent over her, and their eyes met. He shrank from the dislike and terror, that he read in hers. The next moment he was gone. Zilla heard the sounds of the departing carriage die away in the distance, and the wild beatings of her quaking heart was stilled. The woman w«3 speaking. Her manner was kind and respectful. The girl did not notice it. "Your father will be here this evening, miss. You must r.ot worry. Now I am going to bring you a nice, cooling drink—not tea or wine. I am sure that your hesd must ache badly Your own room i* raady, if you would like to be | quite alone.' 1 ' "Thank yo j," Zilla answered. "I i should like to be alone. How dark I this house is! It is like a prison. Oh, |I wonder what Duncan will think of ! me, what he will say, when he I knows all? And Mrs Chatto? Have I 1 been here very iung? Mrs Chatto I and Duncan will be looking for me. i They will never find me; and it ia i better bo. A ' convict—a convict's child—accused of theft! The shame is too great to bear! A gipsy girl—a street singer—a beggar--a thief! We have been mad. • Duncan—mad! The beautiful lady with the angel fare loves you dear. Forget poor , Zilla, whose only wish is to die!" The woman listened, her face softening with pity. "Will you comowithme, my dear young lady?" she said gently. "You must rest your head, and then you will be better. " / Zilla wtnt unresistingly up a flight of narrow stairs, into a spacious (oeelled bedroom. The window was open, and she bared her hot brow to the fresh, coo' wind that swept through the valley. The woman brought her a cooling drink, and her mind became clearer. "You may leave me now," Zilla said imperiously. "You have told me that my father will be here to-night. Is it true?" "Quite true, young lacy." The woman waited a few moments longer, and then turned away. Zilla tried to thi'-k, to unravel the events of the last few hours. It was useless; the effort was agony. "'I have been brought here," she murmured deliriously, "by a man whose very glance terrifies me. Oh, how I hate him! He says that my unhappy father sent for me. I do not believe it—l cannot believe it! I have been decoyed from my friends. This is a prison—my prison—and the man and woman below are my jailers. He will be back soon, the wretch I loathe—the evil man with the eyes of a satyr—the man from whom my fairy prince saved me! I must escape—l hear his. returning footsteps Oh, Duncan, help—help!" She started [up, her eyes dilating with a terrible fear. A spurious strength nerved every limb. The hot blood coursed through her veins. She crept to the door and listened. Mot a sound was to be heard. The man and the woman were in the garden at the back of the house. They were talking of their master and his new-found daughter. They had known her mother, pretty Bessie Hartley.! They were recalling her taucy speehes, her bright face —recalling the old story, and thanking Heaven that the heart of wild Gus Etherington was touched at last. While they talked Zilla stole downstairs and out into the summer sunshine. She wore neither hat nor jacket; she looked not to the right nor to the left. There was but one thought in her.mind—to escape from the man she feared and hated, the. man who had decoyed her to this lonely house, (the man with the eyes of a pat.yr! I On she sped through the silent

valley, up to the wooded hills. A blackbird Parted with a shrill cry out uf the grass at her feet; a frightened squirrel hwhiit itself from tree to tree. Panting, Zilla paused at the top of the hill, and leaned against one of the giant cedars. She listened, but her jailers made no sound. CHAPTER XX. "THIS IS NO COMMON STREET HUSSY." Though her faculties were benumbed Zilla, as she made her way from the house to which Etierington and Mountarbon had decoyed her, was conscious of a haunting dread of being followed by the man she had hated and feared. "I am free !" she panted. "Free''' She laughed wildly. Her laughter echoed in the valley, like no human sound. She peered through the trees into the valley. No sunlight found its way to the house below. It; was her prison no longer. She saw her jailers in the garden. Zilla turned and fled across the hills —she knew not whither—she did not care. ' In a little while she was in the highway that wound through the verdant country. Her hair was dishevelled and flying behind her, her eyes shone; her face was crimson from her exertions.

The way was little frequented. A labouring man fhe met drew to one side with a look of fear, then hurried on. Zilla did not see him.

The sun mounted higher, and its heat grew fiercer. There was not a cloud to check the pitiless rays. There was no shelter along the white road, and not a breath of air to cool the girl's hot brow. Still she dragged her weary limbs along. Every step took her farther away from the man dhe hated.

An hour, two hours passed. Then some straggling cottages came within view. A group of children were playing in the road. A dog barked, and a rooster crowed lustily. Zilla's heart throbbed with terror. She was afraid of every human being. She heard the sound of a horse's rapidly moving feet—far away. Every moment her senses became keener. She shaded her eyes with her hand, and gazed over the green fields to a spot where the winding road waß visible. A horse and carriage swept into view. The clang of the animal's shoes sounded startlingly near. The carriage was tollowing the winding way, but as surely coming nearer. I TO BE fIONTfNtJED.I

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAG19090817.2.3

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9570, 17 August 1909, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,291

When Love Rules The Heart. Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9570, 17 August 1909, Page 2

When Love Rules The Heart. Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9570, 17 August 1909, Page 2

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