A GREAT WRONG.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9990, 9 March 1910, Page 2

A GREAT WRONG.

CHAPTER I

THE FAIRY WEDDING. j ] Lynditb Hall, the ancestral home j J f the Trevethons, was grandly lecorated, and in a blaze of light. ( ?he spacious green-and-gold drawing- ( ooms were thrown open, and uterslly packed with expectant guests, ' mxiously awaiting the appearance if the bridal-train. And presently it :ame—the strangest bridal-party iver seen—filing down the oaken ( ;tairs, a glittering line of tiny crea- \ ures, reminding ona of Queen Mab ' ind all her region of fairy folk. The bride, robed iu satin and price ess laces, with her grand court train ir,d gossamer veil, and orange blosiorns; and she, a little mite, only ;hree years old, and barely able to each up to her father's hand. The bridegroom, dressed out in fine :loth and linen, in the latest London 'ashion, a handsome lad two years ilder than the bride. j In the rear of this infant couple :ame a train of twenty-four bridesmaids, all in a flutter of flowers and aces, and not one of them a day over seven. A bishop, summoned trom London to officiate on this" important occasion stood upon the elevated dais that faced the breathless crowd. As the shining bridal train swept through the room, he advanced to meet them; the bride was given away, the solemn :eremony was begun and finished I with not even a blunder. The little couple made their responses audibly, and at the proper time; the ring, a tiny circlet, was put upon the bride's finger, the solemn "What God hath joined together let no man put asunder, - ' was spoken, and Richmond and Lenore Trevethon . were pronounced man and wife. They were cousins these two children so married. The bridegroom was the son of Geoffrey j Trevethon, heir at law, to the baronetcy; the bride was the daughter of Geoffrey's cousin, and adopted brother, Arthur Trevethon. These two, Geoffrey and Arthur, had been reared together from their infancy, and had shared alike all the privileges of their position. Old Sir Geoffrey, late master of Lyndith Hall, was excesaively fond of his two boys, and allowed them every indulgence. When Arthur married, the old baronet settled upon him a fine estate, and a snug income, as if he were his own instead of his adopted son. Geoffrey, the son and heir, was the pride and- idol of his father, and the old peer was looking forward, witn infinite fondness and satisfaction to the time when he should resign all his honors and his wealth in favour of his only son, when what should that son do but contract a miserable mesalliance — take for his wife, and future Lady of Lyndith Hall, the pretty flower faced daughter oi a. London soap manufacturer. When the baronet, who was a man of inordinate and unbending pride, heard of his son's disgraceful marriage, he went off into a fine fury and cursed and raved like a madman. His son, sure of winning his father's forgiveness, hurried to the ancestral mansion, taking his pretty wife with him, a fair, winsome, loving little creature, quite as good as the best of the proud Trevethon dames; nut Sir Geoffrey thought otherwise. He met the.newly wedded couple at the door, insulted the pretty bride to her very, face, and ordered his son, with bitter curses, never to come into his presence again. His next step was to summon his lawyer, and in his presence destroy the wili he had made, by the terms of which the bulk of his property —which chanced to be without entail—had been left to his only son. He immediately framed a new will, cutting Geoffrey off with a single shilling, and ma'-ing Arthur his sole heir. Tne bare title would revert to Geoffrey. No act of his could prevent that; but the angry father inserted a clause in his will expressing his most earnest wish that his disobedient and unworthy son would refrain from claiming the title. He was a shame to his father and to his father's honorable name, and he deaired that his son should suffer the mortification and indignity of having the old title to go with the tamily estates to his cousin Arthur. This was the substance of the will, and one short week after it was written Sir Geoffrey Trevethon suddenly died, without the opportunity even if he had the inclination, to change his cruel decree or leave a word of forgiveness for his only son. It was, therefore, natural that the young man should feel deeply wounded when this unnatural will was read; but he was not of the sort to complain. He accepted the decree in haughty silence, and, despite all his cousin Arthur could say, not only relinquished his claim to the baronetcy, but gave up his father's name, retaining only his mother's, and in less than a month after his father's) death he had obtained a position in a foreign land, and sailed with his bride for India.

Or, The Mystery of Black Hollow Grange.

BY EMMA GARRISON JONES- . Author of "Pelf and Power," "Strathcore's Sin," Etc, etc.

Seven years went by, and his friends in England heard not a word from the banished heir. Sir Arthur reigned at Lyndith Hall in his cousin's stead, enjoying all the benefits of the vast Trevethon wealth; but the one aesire of his soul was to see Geoffrey again, and to restore him to his rightful position. But Geoffrey did not come, and, for aught his cousin Knew, he might be dead and buried in far away India. Meanwhile, the London soap manufacturer died, leaving the accumulations of a lifetime, amounting to a snug little fortune; and some time thereafter his daughter, the wife of Colonel Peyton—that being the name the haronet's banished son had assumed—arrived in London, with her little son, to look after the fortune, of which s..e was sole heiress. She came under the escort uf one ot her husband's brother officers; her husband remaining In India. No persuasions or entreaties, his life averred, could induce him to return to England. Hearing of her arrival, Sir Arthur at once repaired to London to meet and welcome her, and the pretty little wife was escorted to the grand old North country home, of which she should have been mi&tress. and treated like a queen. The Hall, with all its stately grandeur, pleased her immensely. She would dearly have loved to live there, and drive through the green lanes, and hold banquets on the lawn, and Ibe loved and honored as the Lady 1 Bountiful of the neighbourhood, instead of sweltering under the burning sun of India. But that was out of the question. She knew her husband's character too well to indulge in the faintest hops that he would ever return to his ancestral home, or accept one rood of the acres, one penny of the wealth, his father had willed' away from him. Yet the knowledge did not give her any great pain. She was a thoroughly loyal little woman, and she loved her soldier husband quite well enough to be willing to follow him to the end of the earth But her boy, her only son—little Richmond! For him the fond mother's hopes and ambitions were boundless. | To secure for him even a portion of \ j the wealth that should have been his J father's—to establish him in that j position of honor from which his father had been so unjustly banished —she would have periled her life. i She was a wise little woman, quite as shrewd and farseeing as she was winsome and pretty, and it was through her adroit management that the "fairy marriage" with which our chapter begins, was brought about. It had been planned between the two, the boy's mother and Sir Arthur's wife, and then a couple of letters went flying to the banished heir at his foreign post. "My dearest love," the wife wrote, Dlottiing the dainty sheet with April tears, "1 implore you not to deny me this one request. You know, dearest, I have not murmured, though you saw fit to resign all that, rightfully belonged to you. Your will has ever been my pleasure. For myself, I care nothing; but for the boy, our only son, I entreat you, permit the marriage to take place. Send us your consent by return mail. Little Lenore is such a darling, petite and amiable as a fairy; and your poor brother so desires it. Married and betrothed now, he says the two children will grow up feeling that they belong to each other; and he shall go resigned to his grave, knowing that the great wrong which has embitered the best years of his life will be brightened. Husband, darling, do not deny us." 'An excellent letter, and very well expressed,' said Sir Arthur when, an hour later, he entered the writer's . temporary boudoir, and she read the letter to him. 'I will endeavour to strengthen its appeal by my earnest personal request. And, mark me, I feel assureed that we shall melt him to our purpose.' 'Nay, Geoffrey, cousin, do not refuse your consent,' Sir Arthur's letter repeated. 'We have all set our hearts on seeing the dear children formally betrothed. Such formal be- ! trothals are common enough in high life, and quite sensible, too, when the little ones are rightly mated. Your son must inherit the title and the fortune which his father lost. If Sir Geoffrey had lived six months i looger he would have repented of his injustce and revoked his cruel , decree. But I am powerless to • change it. I cannot will your son a ' single shilling, but through my j daughter he can inherit all. The j children are fond oi each other. ! Geoffrey, give your consent to the ', I marriage for you son's sake, for your ' wife's sake and for mine.' i 'A marriage between two children! ', Why, Jennie, the thing is preposteri'ous!' the colonel wrote back. 'lt , would not be considered valid; and j would cause the youngsters to detest '. each other by and by. It is not a wise plan to fetter young hearts. . However, poor little wife, I cannot '. find it in my heart to deny you. I have denied yuu so many things, and i made so many promises, jjhat have ' been broken. [j ' TO PR CONTINUED