THE DOUBLE SECRET.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9607, 29 September 1909, Page 2

THE DOUBLE SECRET.

CHAPTER lll.—Continued

"Surely, Mrs Birkin, I could not keep track oi her. She stopped here two months and better at'ler Mrs Olden left me. She was not a woman I woull take to, but .she put men wild.'' "Rh, indeed' how was that?" "How could I tell? They were not of my mind, 1 promised you. Yon are eating no marmalade, Mrs B irk in. Take plenty of the butter; such is not often on a table. Yes, as I was saying, she put men wild. Our cleiic was a widower then, arid ir.to love he ft I Is, and she scorns him quite. Then there came a cockney fishing here, with hi 3 wife, and imejithe slights his wife and hangs about this one so soon as she puts her head into ' iane or garden. Savs she to him one evenii g, right before my face, 'Keep to your own side of the house and garden,' says she; 'the men I'm used to wouldn't take you for their lackey." So, next morning, as you may btlieve, them lodgers left me. Then, Mrs £5 irk in. the retired physician who had visited her and Mrs Olden's babe from pure goodness of heart, coming first to see Mrs Olden, and me piteous asking him to stop to see this woman when she got ill — why, he being a rich bachelor, falls in love with her, too. I heard him one evening out yon in the garden t>y that big lilac-tree. Says he, 'lf you'll have m?. you shall keep your own horse and chaise.' 'How dare you speak that way to me says she; 'what have I done?' 'My intentions are most honourable," says he, 'and I'll have the banns pronounced ' 'Be quiet,' cries she; 'I can't bear the sight of you, or any man but " and up she jumps and flies into her parlour, and shuts the door. So, next morning, Mrs Birkin, when I goes to lay the breakfast in her room, she was off —the money owing me laid on the middle of the table in a paper; her box was corded up, and in an hour >'ft t T, a carter from New Castle comes with an order for it, and I never set eyes on her more. Them's the style of women that sows trouble in families — fiery tempers, proud, and brazingfoolish men." "I don't care one penny fur her," remarks Mrs Birkeh loftily; "but, as J knew Mrs Olden. I am interested in the chili'. Wei'c there any marks on her c!oth f ;s, or on her body anything that could be known by or her real name found, or like that, Mrs Bolton?" "No, indeed, Mrs Birkin. The clothes were qjitc goal, but unmarked, and she gave them away as cue £rlad to be rid of them. As for the child, I never washed or dressed her, for when Mrs Martin came she was poorly clad and hired a little girl from the village to wait on her.; so she minded the child after her mother go bad," "It is all very curious," srid Mrs Birkin, drawing back her chair from the little round table. this the room this Mrs Martin had?" _ "No; hers was the other wing. Mrs Olden had this, and her child died in this very room. But, speaking of other things, Mrs Birkin, one of the queerest in my life happened when 1 was nursing Lady Harcourt." "] remember nothing queer then," said Birkin stiffly. "Maybe it was kept secret—hushed j up, like." "The Harcout family live in daylight," said Mrs Birkin; "they have no secrets (o hush up." "Oh, to be sure; but this was a curious little circumstance, Mrs Birkin, and I make no doubt that when I recall it to you, you will understard it at once. When the young lady, the heiress was was born, and they were dressing her in an adjoining "room, I went in to satisfy the mind of my lady about her baby, and takin her on my lap, the first thing I remarked was right on her neck three little moles as bhek as jet set in a triangle, Says Ito the doctor, who had come in after me; 'Here's the queerest mark ever I saw on a babe, and isn't it fortunate, sir, that it is below where a low-neck dre3s would come? This mark can always be covered.' He looked at it close. 'lt is an odd mark,' says he, 'but nothing to mar the child's beauty.' 'Nor a kind togrowaway,' says I. 'Oh, my, no,' says he; 'nor will it increase, nor lcok worse.' And then the grandmother. Lady Astraea, came in, and I remarked on it to her, and she looked at it closely.' "I see nothing strange in all that." said Birkin, who, af*;er twenty years of service, was opposed to having her family talked about. Mrs Bolton loiked mysUrious." "There's nothing so strange about a child' as having a mark," she retorted, "but you haven't heard the test, Mrs Birkin. 'ihe very day the child was two weeks old, at night it was undressing. I went into the nursery. 1 just bethought [myself, and I say let me see that mark on thr neck, nurse, and with that I looked and if you'll there was not sign of a mark k on that child's whole body." "Tuts, you were mistaken, that's all," said Birkin. "Not I. The nurse was surprised as I was. She knew the mark well, but disremembered about having seen it for a dav or so. Then Lady Astraea, the dowager, came in. and she heard what we were talking about, and then she took the babe in

BY DUNCAN iMKEGOK Author of "Kennedy's Foe," 'Tshmael Keforme "A Giiiuo of Three," "Edna's Peril," I' tc, etc.

j hor hands to the window, and looked at it close. I stood right be> hind her, and I heard her whisper 'this is r.ot the child,' and as she turned I touk notice that she was very pale. "She rang the bell, ' and asked many questions, as to who had gone, and who had coma in the nursery, and then the head nurse said the dress the child had on in the evening was not Ihe one she had on in the morning, but the unriar house-maid took leave to contradict her. saying she had took particular notice, and about half an hour later in came the dress the nuree claimed to have put on, it coming from the woman in the village who did up the fine muslins for the Towers, and she sent word she had forgot it when she sent the other muslins home in the morning. "I took observation that Lariy Astraea looked worried and anxious for along while after that. But no sign of a mark on the baby after, and she took a much whiter skin, a kind of pearly skin, that never be■ longed to either Lord Thomas Harcourt or his lady." Mrs Birkin threw up her head. "Lady Pauline Astraea Harcourt has the most beautiful complexion ever was seen," she said. "Her mother's skin was like ivury, white, soft and without any pink or red, but Lady Pauline takes after her mother's grandmother, who was a very fair lady, and pure pink and white, She needs no cosmetics, does Mrs Harcourt, and there's nothing in your story, Mrs Bolton, I do assure you, saying merely a little mistake, and I do no hold it is not best to be dwelling on mistakes; we exalts such into mysteries oftentimes; it is human nature." And th reby we see that Mrs Birkin was something of a philosopher. "After that several times Mrs Bolton endeavoured to lead her lodger into a discussion of the Harcourt affairs, but quite without success. At the end of a week Mrs Birkin de-. clart'd herself very much improved ! by her country visit, and that her j vacation-time was over, and she must return to her duties, so away she went, with her box, having not once I mentioned that her mistress was ' quietly stopping at New Castle. [TO FK CONTINUED.] Mrs Sarah Mcßurnoy, Upper Butt,' N.Z , says: "Chamberlain's Cough Kem- ] edy is the best medicine for croup in children that is made. I have no tear in I recoir men ding it, as, affer a lengthy 1 trial, I have found it to have no bad ef- ' ect. Have used it for years, and will have no other. All my friends sav the same." For sale by all chemist- i.nd storekeepers