FIGHTING HER WAY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 986, 4 March 1910, Page 2

FIGHTING HER WAY.

BY ROSS ASHLEIGH. Author of "Eleanor's Luck," "The Widow's Wager. "Pure Gold," Etc, etc.

CHAPTER XXXI.--Continued

Meantime, the sudden and unexplained departure of Mr Derring, the letter which had been left at the office, and which had occasined the violent illness of madam, and the hints dropped by the maid of imconjugal words overheard between the] husband and wife, just previous to Derring's leaving the hotel all occasioned a degree of gossip and suspicion little calculated to result pleasantly for the sick woman, who th°n lay unconscious of it all. No one save the self-installed physician went near Gertrude's chamber. A woman in her apparently affluent circumstances resting under such a cloud is not apt to have the attention nor the sympathy of the class of persons usually inhabiting a large hotel for tranient entertainment. In a few days she was able to leave her bed and be seated in the sitting room that belonged to the suite of apartments she occupied. Here she was waited on by a clerk of the house, vho respectfully stated that mauam must pay the bill for the expired week, and also pay in advance if she proposed to remain in the hotel. By this means Gertrude was informed of the suspicion that atached to her present position, which must be rendered still more doubtful by her inability to pay the extravagant charges until she could raise money on her jewels. She desired the clerk to call again in the afterI noon, when she would be prepared to settle her account. Atfer he had left her she sent her maid to Doctor Schley, requesting his presence for a few moments. To this gentleman she stated that her husband had been suddenly summoned from Londn by a telegram from Paris, that in his haste to depart he had neglected to provide her with money or cheques, and explained to him the predicament the landlord's demand'had placed her in. In conclusion, stie requested the doctor to take a case of elegant jewellery and obtain qn,it a sum sufficient for the present necessity; her husband, she said, would, of course, redeem the jewels on his return. Whuther Gertrude's talent as an actress was at fault, or the German's penetration exceptionally keen, we have no means of deciding, but certain it is that he did not believe one syllable of her story, and had already made up his mind concerning the part he intended to play in the little drama in which accident had given him a role. He listened quietly with downcast lids until she had finished her remarks, and was holding out to him the casket of rubies. Then lifting his bright, hazel eyes to her face he said, speaking scholarly English with a strong Teutonic accent: 'lf madam will be so kind as to permit me to assume monsieur's responsibilities until his return, there will be no need to pawn the jewels that so charmingly adorn madam's magnificent person.' 'What can you mean, sir?' she demanded, with a fine show of indignation that seemed utterly lost on the phlegmatic German, who shrugged his shoulders,, and raised his eyebrows as he replied suavely: 'Simply that madam must have some one to assist her out of a very \ disagreeable situation, and that I J am willing, nay, quite anxious, to occupy that position which monsieur ' seems to have renounced in a rather J inconsiderate manner.' Gertrude's face turned scarlet as j she thought of the letter that had been left open in her hands when she was attacked with the convulsion, and which she wis now led to believe the doctor had read. She ielt it would be her safest policy to confide in the man who alone of all in this foreign land seemed disposed to assist her, how ever doubtful his motives for doing so. But a desperate woman, already plunged in crime, does not hesitate long over expedients; and Gertrude made a plain statement of the facts connected with Derring's desertion of her, concealing, of course, those relating to her previous life. Finally she made a strong appeal into the magnanimity of the doctor to assist her in extricating herself from her present embarassment, and aid her return to her father in New York. Among all the vicissitudes of her life it seemed she had not learned that when a woman unmoors her womai hood from the deep safe haven of uncompromising virtue, arid stern morality of purpose as well as of action, she finds herself cast kose in a sea of dangers, and ovrrshadowed by dense clouds around which no guiding star sheds its tender, steadfast ray. Helpless she drifts with the contrary winds and cum nts of the treacherous deep, till at last she lies wrecked on wild reefs, i or stranded on barren shores, divided / by the wilderness of dark waters j from the fair land of innocence, of which she dreams as the lust angels dream of heaven.

! CHAPTER XXXII. THE BANISHED CHILD. Franz Voltkmann was a model of punctuality in his duties as well as of devotion to the gentle mistress whom he served. The flower store La Bijou was always among the earliest opened of all the shops in that quarter of the city, notwith-, standing the fact that Franz had to call for and bring with him to the store each morning the supply of cut flowers from a florist to fill the orders of Miss Castlebar's customers during the day. On the morning after their unpleasant experience from, which Roland Marlow had rescued them on their way to the boarding house, Franz, arrived as usual, I about seven o'clock, at/the flower [ store, and after seeing that all things i were in proper order, set himself to work at preparing the flowers for Miss Castlebar's deft fingers to arrange. That is to say, striping the superfluous leaves and thorns from their stems, and placing them in jars of fresh water. Z.^Z^^-<^, It was Christine's habit to enter her store about half-past eight each morning, and Franz always became anxious when her coming was delayed, lest his dear mistress might be ill. Ihe sensitive heart of the lad had noted, with increasing concern, how much more fragile and colourless the girl's beauty was growing constantly; but her uncomplaining cheerfulness and assiduity in her business contradicted the idea of physical suffering. When the hour of nine o'clock arrived, and Christine did not appear, Franz made sure she had been taken sick, and prepared himself to discharge the duties of the shop for that day. But very soon he received a note from Miss 'Jastlebar, directing him to carry on the business as usual, and to report to her in tae evening. Instead Of going to the flower store, Christine had made a shopping excursion early in the morning, from which she returned to her pretty rooms supplied with all the materials necessary to the making up and painting of a dozen silk hand screens, in tioral desigrf;%gimilar to those which her dead riJother had manufactured for theifjj support in her infancy. | It was not without reluctance and keen regret that she abandoned the thriving business she hail built up for herself, and in which she had become thoroughly interested, not only from financial considerations, but with that nobler zest that a tj;ue artist —whether in the fine or the practicalarts —brings to his or .her labours. In La Bijou she had not only established herself in a lucrative occupation, but empowered herself in a little world of beauty and fragrance. She dearly loved to tend and cultivate the rare exotics of her miniature conservatory. Each one of them had its individual place in her affections. She almost fancied that the bright faces of her flowers smiled a welcome to her as she approached them each morning, trowel and waterpot in hand, to dresti and nourish their delicate bodies. Ihe tendrils of her luxuriant vines leaned lovingly down to kiss her guiding hand as she wreathed them into symmetrical growth on the cords and wires arranged in fanciful designs for their support. The wonderful orchids seemed to take more fantastic similitudes under her careful culture, and even the mosses and ferns among the rock work about the fountain held their distinctive charm for her. As to the birds, they had life and voice akin to her own; she could see love in their glittering eyes, feel it in the fluttering pulses of their happy little breasts when she went from cage to cage, feeding and talking to them in a language they seemed to understand and reply to. Their throats almost burst each morning in their loud chorus of welcome as she entered their several habitations. It was not strange that it cost her a sharp sorrow to leave all this sweet companionship for her lonely life—to embark in a different occupation and new interests. But the thought that she was doing it to gratify her lover's wish—or, rathsr, save him from siiffering, quite weighed down th§ balance agains the personal feeling. A loving woman finds the highest and purest joy of her existence in giving pluaaure to, or averting pain from the heart of him who is lord of her love. Her own happiness, if contrary to his desire, loses all importance with her in the more engrossing thought of pleasing him. Selfishness arid that love which is indeed a divine pas3ion, have nothing in common. "Thy will be done," is the sole creed of every true lover, whether the heart be given to God or one of His creatures. In this frame of mind Christine had cheerfully and with determin ation assumed the new occupation that was to replace the old. TO PK CONTINUED