When Love Rules The Heart.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9576, 24 August 1909, Page 2

When Love Rules The Heart.

CHAPTER XXIII. A FATHER'S LETTER. It was an unequal contest, vigorous vouch against premature age. Still Etherington fought with the courage of a tiger until he was hurled to the floor blaspheming, breathless. Armitage knelt over him, a fierce light in his eyes. "Scoundrel! Where is Zilla Seton? What have you done with her?" Etherington's eyes rolled. He struggled to remove the savage grip' from his throat. The terrified screams of Mrs Strong in tha passage beyond rung through the house. "Where i 3 Zilla—-where girl who was to have been ray wife today? Speak!" "Let me get up," Etheington panted. He held up one hand in token nf defeat. "There is some mis take here! Foci—you are choking me!" Armitage relaxed his hold, and the elder ma to his feet. His face was purple, every limb shook, and he reeled to a chair. "Give me gome brandy—that sideboard !" he said hoarsely. "What is that woman yelling about? There —I shall be better soon. We have not met upon equal terms, Armitage. In my young days I was a match for the j best wrestlers and boxers in Eng-' land. Bah! I will meet you at twenty places, with pistols, whenever you please. I must have satisfaction! Mrs I Strong, everything is quiet. Go! And close the door aftec you. Mr i Armitage and I will soon under- j stand one another." The order wa» fierce and peremptory. The woman, who had returned to the room, obeyed him. Armitage waited. "And now, sir," continued Etherington, "you have asked me a question ; and you have called me a scoundrel, for which you shall apologise to me before you leave this house!" His manner had changed suddenly, and he glanced up almost wearily. "I am tired of this brawling. I hoped that we were gentlemen. Yet a pair of savages rouid not have behaved in a more revolting fashion —and before my servant, too!" "Gentlemen?" Armicage sneered, with an impatier.t get>ture."A creatue like you is worse than a pestilence! Ethtrinctcn, I came here in quest of Miss rfeiou. She was brought to this house yesterday by you ana llaience Mour.tarbon. Whtre is she? What have you done with her? The sight of you maddens me! If there is justice in England for such as you, sir, you shall receive it to the uttermost'"

[ Etherington laughed coutemptuj ously. "Listen, Armitage, less you run your head against a stone wall. If any one has transgressed the law, it is yourself. I believe now that you meant well, and it puts me to shame. I did not believe so until now. I re> tpect your heart, if not your brains. You love, Zilla?" He paused He saw the increasing fury in the young man's eyes. "Don't misunderstand me," he went on rapidly. "A hot-blooded youth, is not always to be accounted responsible for his actions. "You are one man in a thousand, Armitage; and I admire you, though I thoroughly dislike you, for your father's sake and your own.- It is some pleasure to me to know that I have made a rift in the lute. Fate is a curious thing!"' He laughed harshly. "You are quite right when you say that Clarence Muuntarbon, and I brought IVliss Seton to this house; and you have probably heard that sne left it again. The poor child was terrified by imaginary fears. You have also wronged and insulted me by the term'scoundrel'—at least, so far as the prtsent matter concerns me. I rescued Zilla from a position of doubt and danger. Both legal and moral right are on my side." A terrible fear suddenly occurred to Armitage. „ "Legal and moral right?" he repeated, in a dazed tone. "What do you mean?" "I mean that the young lady known as Zilla Seton, the street singer, is my daughter and my heiress!" Etherington noted the young man's incredulity and amazement with evident relish. "nnd, as such, I shall never consent to her marriage to the son of a man who has ever been my enemy! I see that you doubt my word andt my sanity. Let me swear that wha I say is truth. Zilla is my only child, the daughter of poor Bessie Hartley, whom I married and tired of. The man called Seton is my old valet. He had planned an ugly revenge, but at tha last his heart failed him. He cared for.the child, after a fashion, for her dead mother's sake. Zilla does not know yet how favourably fortune's tide has turned for her. When she does she- may learn to hate me less. She ran away from this house yesterday, probably to return to Brixton. The detectives will trace her in a few hours—it is only a matter of time, and then " He laughed sarcastically. "And then?" repeated Armitage dully. "I shall take her home; and she shall be publicly acknowledged, and some day suitably married. What a flutter there will be throughout society!" He yawned languidly. Armitige's face had turned almost gray.

2* BY OWEN MASTERS. 5 ? Author of "Captain Emlyn's Daughter," "The Woman (, 3? Wins," "The Heir of Avisford," "One Irnpas- U 7 1 / sioned Hour," Etc., Etc. /

"I would rather see her dead than your wife, Mr Duncan Armitage! I detest you! And, besides, Lord Uainhill would disinherit the son who married an Etherington. It is not to be thought of. I have no admiration for your style of harebrained chivalry. And Zilla -pshaw! she is but a child in years, and younger still in experience! I think that we may cry quits. You remember our meeting on the river at Henley and elsewhere? And you will remember our parting here' You have given me a sore throat, and I have given you an aching heart." He rose, and bowed mockingly. "Allow me to wish you good day, and good-by." Armicage flashed a bitter glance at the man whom he knew to be his implacable foe, and then turned to the door. But Etherington was Zilla's father—the young man knew it intuitively. He doubted no longer. He turned again and faced Etherington. "If I have wronged you in thought or deed, sir," he said simply. "I am sorry. I cannot say more. I should no* say thua much, but that I love your daughter. I loved her as a street singer, with a love that nothing can change. You have no sympathy with me; but let us be fair one to the other. If I have to move heaven and earth, I shall know "no rest until I have found my darling; I will make her my wife in spite of you! You are her father, but you have no love for your child. I shudder when 1 think—l loathe and despise you!" He rushed from the house, maddened by Etherington's contemptuous laughter. Strong and his wife were standing in the hall." The cabman was in the doorway. "Back to the Strand!" cried Armitage to the cabman. "Lose no time!"

But it was a long journey, and the horse was tired. The heat was oppressive; the pitiless sun glowed in a'cloudless sky, there seemed to fc« not a breath of air. The cabman grumbled on his box, and the jaded animal crawled along the dusty lanes. It was late in the afternoon, when Armitage once again climbed the stairs that lead to the office of the private detective. He had alreary taken the precautions to telegraph to Charlie Chatto. He was perfect y calm now. He was resolved to win. All hands were against him, and it seemed that his were against all other men. For this, however, he cared nothing. If he could only find Zilla! | TO BK CONTINUED. 1 ,