A TERRIBLE MISTAKE

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10076, 23 June 1910, Page 2

A TERRIBLE MISTAKE

CHAPTER XXVIII.-ContiKucd. I ] Hildred fiv.iahed the tender letter | with a sob. I "Poor Eva!" she murmured. "Why j should she be taken and 1 left? Life j to her would be like a happy summer i dream. Life to me is a desert; waste." | Mrs Froat. took back the letier, her j eyes humid, her lips quivering. j "My darling may be spired to me for a long time!" shs said. "The 1 sea and the pure air often work won- | ders. I dreamed last night that she I was iully restored. Perhaps even j that is not beyond the oounds of possibility! The moat eminent doctors j occasionally make mistake.-." Hildrer] did not reply. She thought of Longfellow's lines, and shivered : "Life-giving, death-giving 1 , which will it be, 0 breath of the merciful, merciless seaV" "I am going (o church," Mrs Frost said presently. "It Li a long walk, but I do not mind that. Wo.ild you like to accompany me, dear'.'" The girl's eyes contracted with a sudden fear. "No, thank she [hastily replied. "Someone might recognise me. I want to be dead to the world. My husband must never find me!" "Her husband?" thought Mrs Frost sadly. "If he were, then I should be the last person on earth to assist in keeping 'hem apart. How woefully he must have deceived her, poor child! And in her heart of hearts she loves him through it all —loves him, and yet holds him in fear and bitterest, scorn! If I can manage i , tr.e faithless cruel man shall never cross her path again!" She went to church alone, and Hildred buried herstlf in the nur.zy old careen. She never tired now of trying to map out her future life; but ic was always unsansfuinory—a great desert waste, wrhcut water or trees, sunless, moonless! On Monday morning the warm, bright weather changed; the sky became overcast and the waving trees murmured waiiingly, \v:-<i 1 e v\a sea roared sullenly upon the rock;-. Several tradespeople called at the cottage, and every strange ruse caused Hildred to shrink from terror. her heart seemed to stand siiil, ma thin she trembled from nervous dreau. Someone left a newspaper at the house, tv.:t si e would not lock at it. Perhaps it contained the story of her flight—p-. rtiEpj Percy had communicated wich thi police. But she had left him of her uwn fiee wii ! , and no power on earlh could dnnz u r back. After his firat astonishment and annoyance he would probably feel greatly relieved. The "Old Man of the Sea" was gone forever, and the wife whom he had deceiveo—the obstacle which atocd between him and a princely iortune—was now out of the way. There would be no reason for any recourse to lawyers, and judges. He was free to marry the woman to I whom he was bound—the woman who loved him—the woman whom he perhaps loved. She was one of his own order—a proud, beautiful ; aristocrat. He could obey the mandates of his father's will, and unhappy Hildied, the innocent, trusting, country maiden The train of ber thoughts were broken, and an angry, jealous light flashed into the blue eyes, the fair white hands were tightly clinchec'. "No, no," she cried; "I will never again looli uj in his face —never again touch the hand which caused my poor grandfather's death!" 3 After all, she was little more than a child, wjth little more than a child's power of reasoning. In her anger, her indignation, her horror, she never once doubted that her husband had struck down her fretful and

Bi' *'. I. BACKE, Author of—The Doctor's Secret, A Case for the Court, Sir John's 3eire>?, A Loveless Marriage, Tren holme's Trust, 11 to.

ever-complaining grandfather, f ■ told herself that there had teen ~i \ premeditation; but, looked at ;n i e most favourable light, it was a co : - ard's blow. More than once she h. A seen fuiijus flashes of Percy's passionate temper —she had haard harsh and bitter words fall from his lips. He had no self-restraint—no selfcontrol. With his usual tauot-i and complainings, her grandfather had probably followed him into the plantation on that fatal night; and then, oh, the horror o£ it! If he troubled to follow her, and hi 3 quest proved successful, then she would tell him how much s'ne knew, and that she had lied at the inquest to save him. But she prayed to Heaven that an ordeal so terrible wou'd be spared her. During the morning a telegram came from London for Mrs Frost. It told her briefly that Miss Eva Frost and an attendant would arrive at Deal Station at half-past four that afternoon. Quite an exciting period followed, for the mother's tender heart was filled with hopes and fears. "I am sorry that the day is so dull!" she said again and again "I wanted my dailmg lo see ber new hornu in ail its brightness and beauty. First impressions are often lasting, particularly to the sensitive mind of an invalid." "It mayn't last long, ma'am,' old Maiy cheerfully replie-3. u "The weather on this coast isn't ibe relied on for long at a lime." By the telegraph messenger Mrs Frost had sent an order for a fly to take her to the station. The vehicle arrived „at three [o'clock, and she kissed Hildred a short good-by, her eyes moist and her lips tremulous. "In a little while," she whispered, "my darling will be here, and you must love her fot my sake." £°To Hil'dred the afternoon paused drearily enough. The rain was falling from giay, lowering skies. It fell with a monotonous "drip-drip." The breakers boomed on the shore with sullen sound, and a hsavy white mist lay uvc-r the silent earth. It was late when a four-wheeled vehicle crawled down the ,'muddy lane toward the cottage. Hildred saw Mrs Frost's face at the window, and she ran to open the door, her tender eyes full of infinite pity. "We have been obliged to travel I slowly." Mrs Frost said. "The excitement has been almost too much for Eva.". Her face was pale and drawn, her [eyes were encircled by dark rings. "My darling is much worse than I ever knew," she added, with a sob. "The nurse is with her in the fly, and will remain until the last, Heaven help me!" Eva was tenderly lifted out of the vehicle in the strong arms of Maiy and the hospital nurse, and when the sweet face was uncovered the girl's first feeble cry was for "Miss Dudley!" A couch had been arranged for her reception in one of the sitting: rooms, and in a moment Hildred was bending over her. "Eva," she whispered. "Welcome home! I have heard so much about you from Mamma that I love you 1 1ready." , "How beautiful you are, Miss Dudley!" was the half-wondering reply. "Your face reminds me o! ray drearrs of angels, only your eyes are so sad. Why are you sad, Miss Dudley?" TO BE CONTINUED