SIR JOHN'S HEIRESS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9672, 10 December 1909, Page 2

SIR JOHN'S HEIRESS.

CHAPTER VII

AT WOODRUFF CASTLE. Hiida Carrington's mind was in a j turmoil of conflicting thought. It was remarkable that Sir John should i ] have sent fo»- her—remarkable in , every way! That he had hated her she was fully convinced; his urdis- . guised cruelty, through Miss Morgan, ( and his fierce glance at her when they had once met accidentllv, had haunted her like an evil dream. Was this a scheme of his to heap upon her some fresh indignity"' Was he really injured as seriously as his servants had stated to the rector? While these questions were racing through her mind the local doctor s old carriage came rumbling through the lanes. One of the doctor's children attended Harlech Schuol, and Miss Carrington was not a stranger to him, although hitherto he had ignored her. Her reputation had been so bad! Now, however, he signalled to his coachman to stop, and called Miss Carrington by name. She faced him in her haughty resentful way. "Miss Carrington, I though—l hoped—that you were at Woodruff Castle by this time! I was with Sir John at an early hour this morning." He paused, and regarded her questioningly. "I have only just heard of Sir John's illness, Doctor Davies. Is he —is he really ill?" The doctor raised his eyebrows, as though irritated by the question. "111? ' lie answered sternly "He is dying! Sir John was injured a week ago, and, with his usual perpersity, would not permit a doctor to be sent for. However, end would have been all the same, though his intense suffering might have been alleviated to some extent. He has uddenly expressed a desirs for your presence at the Castle; and, if you havt* any consideration for your future welfare —if for no other reason —I should advise you to obey him." His tones were cold and slightly sneering. He had no liking for the erratic, quick-tempered girl, whose, dark eyes flashed angrily while he as speaking. "My future, for good or ill, is not in the hands of Sir JohiiCarrington!" Hilda said haughtily. "The rector has promised to escort me to the Castle this afternoon. I am sorry that my uncle is ill, but I canuot pretend any affection where none exists." She turned abruptly and continued her way toward the town. "How I hate this place and all the people in it!" she thought wrathfully. "They tiislike me, distrust, me, and regard me as some creature of evil. And what have I done to deserve it? Merely resented their Cruel oppression! Oh, yes; 1 boxed the girls* ears, and defied Miss Morgan! I know that, and I would do it again if they taunted me." Then her face brightened and softened. "But I shall always have one warm corner in my heart for Llanberis; for was it not here that I met my love, who protected me from my enemies and set me free?" At first Miss Lewis is incredulous, amazed, when Hilda told her the news, then she said: "I am glad. Matters will straighten themselves out, and you will be a great lady, Miss Carrington." Hilda flushed and paled. "What do you mean, Miss Lewis? Do you think that I would touch one penny of my uncle's money—the money of the man who has systematically ill-treated me and had me starved from my childhood? And I am not so blind that I ao not grasp the situation now! He has it in his mind to give me a parting shot, and I have determined to hear it because he is dying. I will not say one word in anger or reproach." Miss Lewis appeared to be somewhat perturbed. M "It is a pity in one way, and I hope that Sir John's life will be prolonged; for his death would Interfere with your wedding." "In what way?" "In what way? My dear child, you could not be married immediately after your uncle's death!" "It would not affect me in the least." Miss Lewis "'as horrified. "A wedding and a funeral! Married in black ! It would be positively unchristian!" "I shall not go into mourning; 1 cannot afford it, after buying these new clothes. Oh, don't bother any about it, please! Luncheon? No, thanks; I will just have a cup of tea. I have no doubt that Sir John will be surprised to see me l dressed r<spectably," she added. A little before three o'clock tho ► rector's hired carriage drew up at the door of Miss Lewis' shop, and I Miss Lewis went out to greet the clergyman. I "When will Miss Carrington come back here?" she whispered to him. j "She absolutely refuses to take a change of clothing with her; and Sir . John may want her to stay with him until the last." \ "I can advise nothing. Sir John is a strange man, and his niece represents him worthily"—and he smiled. , "But I have hopes ot her; she is ! good at heart. All this may mean

BY F. L. DACRE, Author of "A Lo joless Marriage," "A Change of Heart" •'Trenholmo's Trust," "A Case for the Court," Etc, etc.

misfortune for >oung Linton, though,'" he added in a different tone. At that moment Hilda appeared at the door. "Misfortune for Mr Linton?" she repeated. "I could not help hearing the words, Mr Jarvis. You have always been my friend, and, if you really believe that my visit to the Castle will bring trouble tn the only being I care for in all the world, I will not go. What is my uncle to me? Nothing!" The rector looked worried and foolish; he had been thinking of the words which his wife had let fall. "It was a silly speech!" he admitted. "Illness and death, I should have said, always bring trouble in their train. You are ready, Miss Carrington?" Hilda entered the carriage with the rector, feeling very depressed. i What would Victor think and say of all this?

"I will be a delightful drive," the clergyman remarked; "th® scenery is now at its best. The autumn tints _____ t' "Please don't be tiresome!" interrupted Hilda. "I have other things to think of. And will you order the driver to raise the hood? I don't like being stared at by inquisitive people." Mr Jarvis meekly obeyed. After this there was complete silence between them, while the carriage bore them along the familiar road. Hilda knew every inch ot it, every tree and'every rock. The mountains were half veiled in a haze of j blue; the valley stemed to be sleeping in the soft September sunshine. Now and again the barking of a dog or the crowing of a cock disturbed the stillness. "I should like the hood to be thrown back now," Hilda said suddenly. "There is a good view of the Castle beyond the Pass of Llanberis," She gazed, not at Woodcroft Castle, but away toward a bit of woodland on the lower slope of a great hill. A leaping rivulet flashed in the sunlight; the song of birds was borne to her on the breeze. It was there that Victor Linton had told her of his love —had half mystified, half frightened her with his passionate declaration. She hsd not understood it then, but now ' A grand view of Woodcroft Castle!" exclaimed the rector. Wl{at a magnificent; relic of the feudal times! It seems to me a pity that Sir John ever altered the name of the place, and I know that the people hereabouts were hotly indignant over it for a long time." "Has it no always been kaown as Woodcroft?" Hilda asKed rather afmlessly. "Oh, dear no! The original name waß Ogof Llech Castle, and the old Welsh people never call it anything else. For centuries it was held by the Idwals, who were called princes until n few generations back. The last died childless tome twenty years ago, and, the castle and estates being found to be mortgaged to their utmost value, Sir John Carrington bought the place right out. People said he had given too much money for Ogqf Llech, but no doubt he knew his own business best." Hilda was tlightly inttr<sted, fir she answered abstractedly: "So the princes ot Idwal are extinct! 1 heard once that there was a daughter, Lady Mary, of Ogof Llech."

The rector glaneed at her sharply. "Yes—she died long since, fully a year before her father, the last of tl e race. She was his only child, ana some mystery surrounded her death. But Ah, here we are at last!" The carriage pulled up before a granite archway, in the roof cf which the groove still remsiined wherein the portcullis had glided up and down centuries before. Above it was a tower, pierced with eyelet holes and surmounted by battlements. The broad moat was spanned by a modern bridge, and along its shallow sides wild flowers flourished in profusion amid the mossy grass. The lodge-keeper appeared; then the iron uate swung back, and the carriage passed into the courtyard. Hilda could not but contrast her present visit to Woodcroft Castle with the former one. Then she had with difficulty found her way to the great entrance hall, and afterward had been practically thrust from the doors by insolent servants, who now were only too anxious to wait upon her. The butler came forward to meet them, and the rector inquired about Sir John. "No different, sir!" wan ; the solemn answer. "A had time for some of us: for, with all his faults, he was a good and just master !"\ "I suppose that he is anxious about Miss Carrington ?" "Yes —and I am glad that you have prevailed upon the young lady to come." He loweted his voice, "When I refused her admission some time ago, she gave me v. look that I shall riot readily forget! I nope, Mr Jarvis, that yt u will put a good word ini\r me if Mis-s Carrington is to the unstress of Woodcroft < : astlc." TO JSK OOimNUID.