A SECRET FOE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10132, 5 December 1910, Page 2

A SECRET FOE.

(OUR SERIAL/*

Ty GERTRUDE WARDEN. Author of "Scoundrel or Saint?" "The Secret of a Letter," "A Bold "The Wooing of a Fairy," "The Crime of Monte Carlo," etc.

CHAPTER IX.—Continued. Iris, at the unexpected sight of Drogo Gordon, had felt agitated beyond her wont, He had been so cold to her on the occasion of their last brief meeting that she almost feared to approach' him; and had he not opportunely opened his eyes as she came near, in all probability she would have passed on without a sign. Now, however, it was plain that he was delighted to sec her, and in a few seconds they were sitting side by side under the drooping beech, which curved from behind their scat in a leafy archway over the gravel in front of them, clearly happy in each other's society. He was the first to speak. "You have something to tell me," he said with a note of enquiry in his voice, thinking of the telegram. "Oh, a great many things," she answered misunderstanding him. "First of all I am so glad that you are well again; and next that you made me very unhappy by . not allowing me to tell you how grateful I was. I could not imagine in what way I had offended you, and I have ' thought about it constantly since. Just think, Mr Gordon, if someone had done quite a little thing for you, such as returning to you a purse you had lost, or doing you some trifling favour, would you not be very anxious to thank them, and disappointed if the opportunity were not allowed you ? Then was it quite fair not to let mo speak one word of thanks when you had so nobly risked your life to save mine? Every day while you were ill I asked to see ■ you, and sent you messages; but the same answer always came—you were feverish and must not be disturbed." "I never knew you had once thought about me," he murmured, j with his eyes fixed upon her profile, •'which- leaked so beautiful seen against a background of cool, green leaves. j She turned upon him with spark- ; ling eyes. "Then, indeed, you must have thought me destitute of feeling—a heartless wretch, not fit to live! I j did not know, at first, who it was i that saved me. After that clumsy \ slip of mine, I remember nothing but the water closing over mo. But when I learned what had really hap- I pened, and tLr.t I owed my life to you, I longed most earnestly to thank you, as I do now, from the bottom of my heart!" She turned her head, and her eyes met his, tears trembling in. their blue depths. Ho also was deeply moved. The tremor in her address, delighted him. -- was all that he could do by the exercise of strong self-control not to catch her two hands in his, and tell her at that moment that ho loved her, as he now held that he did. But what right had ho to think of love? The greater part of his small income went in providing comforts for his invalid father and widowed aunt in the little villa at Surbiton, and love and marriage must be forbidden luxuries'for him for many years to come. 'Please don't say anything more about it, Miss Travers/' he said. "It would be odd, indeed, if I began to think myself a hero simply because I can swim. Now, pray tell me all about yourself. Where are you and Avhat are you doing?" "I am earning my living as a governess," she said. "For I lost all my fortune, every dollar of- it, when . the Atlantis went down." "A governess!" he repeated, his deep-brown eyes growing soft with pity. "But pardon me for asking, do your people know of your losses?" She shook her head and laughed a little sadly. * "No; but when they do, it won't make any difference. I have been sent to some poor relations, and my stepmother really doesn't care what becomes of me, so long as I keep away from Virginia. As to papa, j well"—her face clouded again—"papa will get used to existence without me, .no doubt; and the new Mrs Travers, being much younger than he, and handsome and energctic,will shake him out of his old ways, and perhaps in time even make him forget all about-Bones. But I can't help thinking that sometimes he will miss ,me when he wants to dictate, or to refer back to other books, he used to find me so very useful." That little pathetic note' in her voice touched the young man very deeply- His thoughts flew to the suburban villa. The rent was only fifty pounds a year, but the garden was charming, the river near, his father the best-tempered and kindest :iof men, and his aunt,; a pious, moutherly old lady. But what would be the use of having a wife, even if this sweet girl deigned to smile upon him, and of keeping her at Surbiton,while he himself lived at Mallyon Court, and was not able to get aw r ay more than once or twice in a month? Moreover, he strongly suspected that Lord Mallyon would not retain him as secretary under such" circumstances. And what had

Lord Mallyon meant by that enigmatical sentence which had so strongly aroused Drogo's ire. in that Iris "had confided in him, and that ho meant to provide for her" ? "Have you seen any other of our fellow passengers since you arrived in London?" he abruptly asked. "Onlv Mr Fitzalan." "Air Fitzalan!" He was jealous at once, and, as if guessing that, she hastened to reassure him. - "Our meeting was quite accidental. Three days after I landed, Mr Fit/, alan was at luncheon in the same house with me." "Thou you haven't seen Lord Mallyon?" he asked in evident surprise. "No." Something in the tone in which Drogo asked the question, in the look of evident relief which overspread his face on receiving her answer, made Iris regret that he must presently learn tha she had been engaged through Lord Mallyon's influence with members of his own family. Without knowing why, she felt certain that Drogo would be annoyed by his, and so hesitated about telling him. Already sho could not bear the idea of often din r; ' im. It was such a perfect afternoon, and he and she, under their leafy bower, were so delightfully secluded as they watched the nursemaids chatter, and the baby children, in their white frocks and frilled hats, dozing in their little carriages, or chasing each other in the sunshine, that it seemed a thousand pities to introduce a jarring element. So she sat in silence, wondering why the mere fact of sitting on a bench by Drogo's side made her feel so happy and content. As though in answer to her own thoughts she presently spoke: .have ever had any' talk together. Doesn't it seem strange?" Ho looked keenly into her face, , asking hemself whether she meant i more or less than her words convoyed. "Somemoments spent together," he said, in a low voice, "count far more in the shaping of people's lives than half centuries of ordinary experience. ,Did you ever read Browning's 'Christina'?" "No. I don't think I can understand Browning. "Do you understand this?" "And in a deep voice of passionate ■ feeling, he quolcd the third and fifth stanzas of the poem.

"Oh, we're sunk enough here, God knows! but not quite so sunk that moments Sure though seldom ,are denied us, when the spirit's true endowments Stand out plainly from dts false ones, and apprise it if pursuing In the right way or the wrong way, to its triumph or undoing. "Doubt you. if in some such moment as she fixed me, she felt clearly. Ages past the soul existed, here and age 'tis resting merely, And hence fleets again for ages; while the irc.e end, sole and single, It stops here in this love-way. with some other soul to mingle?" The villa at Siirbiton, his own small salary, Lord Mallyon's possible wrath, all these things were forgotten by Drogo at that moment when, for the first time in his life he looked upon a woman with the lovelight in his eyes, and all his heart in his voice. Iris, on her part, was stirred as she had not thought herself capable of being stirred. Her breath came quickly and the colour spread over her fair face. Surely he could not have so quoted those particular lines with the idea of applying them to his case and hers ? Had he then and , there asked her. to love film, there ' would have been little fear of an unfavourable answer. But the fates were alert that afternoon. For when i Iris, with a little nervous gesture to hide her blsuhes, lowered her head and affected to feel in her pocket for her handkerchief, she drew out with it a letter in its envelope, which fell at Drogo's feet. As he stooped to return it to her it was impossible for him to help recognizing the handwriting of his employer, Lord Mallyon, even if the paper haclTiot been stamped, with the crest and monogram. Without a word he gave the letter into Iris' hands. But the sun had gone out for both of them that day, and the moment for drawing near to each other's hearts had passed. "I have not told you,", she said, with strange awlnyardness, "that I am a governess.in the house of Lord Mallyon's sister-in-law." "' "Indeed.'' ..-.'.. ■ .r-> ~; "Yes, he was very, kind; When he heard of my loss he lent me some money, and sent a letter of introduction for me to Madame Mavrogodato's." "I am very glad you"' are comfortably settled," he said coldly after a pause. "And in what way can I be of ny service to you ?" She looked surprised. (To be Continued.)