A GREAT WRONG, Or, The Mystery of Black Hollow Grange.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10012, 7 April 1910, Page 2

A GREAT WRONG, Or, The Mystery of Black Hollow Grange.

CHAPTER XIV. —Continued

'My brave, handsome boy, my dar- ; ling Ambrose Only to think of him ; lying under the drifts, stark and . cold!' Meanwhile the father and his party are scouring every inch of land between the cottage and the Fellside, but so far without success. They pause now, as the red sun comes soaring up on the wild hillrange beyond which the haunted ii>anor lies, worn out by their long tramp, and utterly disheartened. The father breaks out into a series of heart broken moans, and his grief unmans his comrades. 'Come, come, neighbour, keep heart!' cries one of the party. 'lt is not as bad wi' you as them at the Fellside farm—the squire adying, and the lass gone off to her ruin! We may stumble on the lad yet. Was he willing to the marriage, and full fond o' the lass, thir.k ye?' 'Well, he wasn't o'er eager, that s a fact. The match were o' the dame's making from first to last; but Ambrose wa3 fond o' Ishhel, and she were a likely lassie, and if ye knew my son, mates, ye wouidnt think him the man to back out, and leave his bride aweeping on her wedding night, no matter what she'd do!' 'Nay, nay; we all know that, neighbour. But what can ha' become o' the lad? He can't be under the drifts, and the dogs miss him.' 'No, no; they'd adug him out long ago,' Gerhart makes answer. 'But look ye that dog yonder, and hark ye what a cry he gives; and he did the same thing when we passed that place before—the lad's own dog, too, as slept at his feet every blessed night. Comrades, what does it mean?' He points across the hills, and they all see the gray dog that was the special pet and favourite of Ambrose scudding through the Black Hollow, and making a straight line , for the haunted house. He darts along through the drifts , his nose to the ground, a curious, whining cry escaping as he runs. The men stand and watch him, and a pallid awey'steals over a their rough faces. 'What does|it whisper one to another. 'Surelyjthejad canna be in that house.' Gerhart's face grows very? B white and his hps twitch nervously. 'Not unless he was decoyed there for some foul purpose,' he answers. Then, with a shiver running through all his strong limbs. 'Heaven above us, neighbours,' he breaks out, 'the old manor were all alight last night, a thing that hasn't happened for years.' They stand shuddering and silent. Gerhart watches the dog with anxious eyes. He runs on across the 1 grounds, through the gate, and up the terrace steps; then he pauses and looks back with a cry that awakes a hundred echoes amid the snowy ■ hills. 'Hark ye, mates he be calling us,' whispers Gerhart. 'He's struck the lad's trail. Look, he's across the terrace now» and on the doorsteps, and bark ye what a cry! The very cry he gives when he finds a lamb in the snow! Mates,' and he turns upon them with a white, awe-stricken face 'ye ha' been friendly wi' me in my troubles, and I'm not ungrateful. Get ye home now, an' ye can say ! to the missus as I'm gone to follow r the dog.' j He turns from them, and rushes headlong down the hillpath. They follow him to a man. 'Wait a bit, Donald,' they shout simultaneously. 'D'ye think we'd go abreast, and if harm comes, let ye i face the danger alone? Wait, man, j we'll go abreast, and if harm comes, ' lot it come to all.' I He turns and grips hand after hand in grim silence. Then they go tramping on side by side. Down the path, across the Black Hollow, where the murdered lady's I gravestone arises pale and spectral above the drifted snow, up thfi cliff and across the grounds to the'terrace steps. JIL2Z2 The dog sees them coming, and flies down to meet them, uttering cries of joy at.d fawning at his master's feet. 'What is it, my brave dog? Have ye found him?' aska Donald. The creature looks up, his eyes shining with an intelligence almost human; then, with a plaintive cry, he darts away. The dog bounds onward, closely followed by the meD, and does not halt until he corner to a spectral figure recumbent on ihe snow. A loud bark and an almost natural expression of pain call the attention of the men to the. motions of the intelligent animal.' Presently they come up, and a strange sight meets their eyes. The body of a young man lies prostrate before them, his upturned face ghastly in the wintry light, his manly limbs rigid, a pool of blood staining the snow beneath r .his right side. tHH i Thus they find Ambrose, the handsome bridegroom. A rude litter is hastily constructed, and with all possible speed they get

BY EMMA GAEET 017 JONES. Author of "Pelf and Power/' "Strathmore's Sin," Etc, etc.

him from the accursed place, and bear him across the s-ncwv hills to fiis father's, cottage—dead, as they believe him -fouly murdaed at the Haunted Manor on his wedding night.

CHAPTER XV. BLESSED IS THE ttKIDE WHOM THE SUN SHINES ON. London dreariest this wintry morning. Smoke and yellow fog hang over everything like a pall; the gas lamps, still burning,although it is high noon flare and glimmer in the raw wind, and the incessant winter rain beats against the window at which Ishbel stands—a forlorn little figure to look at; her pretty child's face pale with weariness, the white silk bridal dress all soiisd and crumpled; and she is not a bride yet. The cold was so bitter, the drifted snow so deep, that Arthur decided to make no stop, so they have travelled day and night to London. j He has gone off somewhere to make arrangements for their marriage, and to draw on his banker for money, and Ishbel is alone. She stands at the window of the secluded lodginghouse and looks down upon the flaring lamps, and the dismal streets, and the bedraggled passengers, with a cruel pain at her young heart. She has never seen Loi.don before, and this first glimpse of it is unutterably wretched. She thinks of the cheery old home amid the Scottish valleys, of the glowing fireside, her father sitting in his great chair, and Maud at her little sewing sand. Do they miss her, she wonders? Will they ever forgive her and love her again? The door opens and the landlady looks in. 'Well, my dear,' she begins, fluttering back her pink cap-ribbons, 'how are you now? Not aery in' surely ? Why, that'll never do. You'll spile your, eyes, and look buite a fright when the gentleman gets back. A fair-spoken gentleman he 'pears to be, too, and not a bit close, which he paid me down in advance and two shillin' over an' above me charge, an' then put his purse — an' it a crammin' wi" Bank o' Hengland in mv Bellindy Janes' hands and sent her out to buy your outfit, miss, with orders to buy j the best of everything, and not to spare change, which I hope he means honest by you, miss; otherwise I should feel unwilliog to have you underneath my roof.' Ishbel turns round at last, with wide, tear-filled eyes. 'What did you say, madam?'she falters. 'I don't think 1 quite understand you.' 1 Mrs Hobbs makes her pink streamers flutter in her virtuous excitement. 'I aay, miss, as I hope as this young gentleman means to act honestly by you.' Ishbel's eyes widen and her lips quiver like a child's, but in her trustful innocence she does not fully comprehend the landlady's meaning. She turns back to the window, and down below, amid the smoke and ram, she sees her lover. A glad cry breaks from her lips, and her eyes light with rapture. In another minute he is at the door, and she flies to welcome him. 'Arthur, Arthur; I have been so wrethed! I am so you have come!' i He clasps her close, looking tenderly down upon the slim dishevelled figure. 'Never minJ, love, I shall not leave you again,' he says soothingly. 'My arrangements are all made, and here comes the young woman with your outfit. Nothing remains to be done now but to get yourself ready—and drive with me to church. Before this beaStly day ends, you will be my wife, and to-morrow morning, if I receive an answer to my message, we will start for Marlowe Hall.' 1 The landlady draws a long breath 01 relief. j 'l'm glad to hear you say the same, sir,' she puts in, pushing up in front of the your.g couple, 'though I was satisfied you meant her fair and honest.' The baronet's son silences her with a single flash of his handsome „ „ mr cyco. 'That will do, Mrs Hobbs, thinking you all the same for your good intentions,' he said haughtily. 'Please have the goodness to assist your daughter in unwrapping her purchases, and when we've selected a suitable outfit, I'll trouble you to help the lady with her toilet.' A good deal cut, the landlady compresses her lips and makes haste to assist Bellindey Jane, who comes in panting under the weight of her packages. Meanwhile Arthur takes a pretty casket from his bosom, and turns to Ishbel.

TO CONTINUED