A SECRET FOE

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10131, 9 January 1911, Page 2

A SECRET FOE

ly uERTRUDE WARDEN. Author of "Scoundrel or Saint?" "The Secret cf a Letter," -A Bold IWwntion," "The Wooing of a Fairy," "The Crime oi Monte Carlo," etc.

CHAPTER XXT.V. —Cciitilmed. "How can I toll you:-' Sli ■ know, I suppose, that I was o: co presumotir,v enough to hope :~> win yo \, and she trusted that how. Mallyon's dislike and suspicion might no aroused." Suddenly Iris covered her face with her hands. The humiliation of the "thought stung her. "Go on," she whispered, with bowed head. "Of what-H°e do you accuse her?"

long ago recovered her consciousness and her grief at one and the same moment, and when at last an aged and weary man of sixty-two awoke from his protracted swoon and rose trembling to his feet, he found himself in darkness, neglected and alone.

In the hall there were lights, and Lord Mallyon's valet, who was sitting up for him, hurriedly prepared his master's old rooms for his reception. It was so late, Lord Mallyon explained to the servant, that lie would not disturb Lady Mallyon. Nor did the man dare to comment upon the change in his master's appearance, upon his unnatural pallor, and the word and sunken look about his face.

"On that night of :he outrage at Cazalet -Lodge it was not Lady Cazalet, but you, against whom the dastardly, attack was aimed. Lady Cazalet wore your cloak;, the night; was dark and foggy——" '.■•».: "I know all that," she cried despairingly. "But what po-sible prcjof have you that Dagmar, my close, friend ,meant to injure me for life, if not to kill me outright?" "Unfortunately the proof is overwhelming. Wheeler, Hi? groom, instantly recognized her voice and figure as she fled past him'at the gate, and by means of detectives the whole of her journey from Bayswater to Regent's Park has ' e~n traced, even to the various shews at which she bought her disguises, while the clothes themselves have been found in the Regent's Canal. '

Early next morning Lord Mallyon sent for Dagmar. Her eyes, alight, with eager curiosity, noted with secret delight the change wrought in her uncle's appearance by the events and when, in avoice out of which the melody seemed for the time to have disappeared, he told her that his suspicions regarding his wife had been proved true, Dagmar could hardly conceal her joy.

"I came home in secret as I had planned," Lord Mallyon had said.' "I let myself in by means of the key I had taken with me, and I found this fellow Gordon, son of my oldest friend and my godson, a man wlio has for years lived under my roof and eaten my bread, on his knees at my wife's • f f-?,i, covering her hands with kisses, :ti)'l calling her his 'darling Iris.' In xhe weak state of my heart, the shock although hot wholly unexpected, was too severe for me, I must have fainted, for when I becme again conscious of my surroundings I was quite alone. It was two o'clock,"and all the household but Jackson had.rotired to rest. I sat Up, till five, putting together certain notes which I intend to place in the hands of my lawyer, Wilcox, this morning, when he comes by previous appointment to draw up my will, and it is about that will that I now wish to speak to you."

Iris sank back in her chair. A deadly pallor overspread her face. 'lt is not possible," she murmured, almost inarticulately. "Dagmar —my friend " The words died on her lips. Vol the first, time in her life Iris had fainted; and seeing her there, so pale, and to all appearances lifeless; Drogo fell .on. his knees. before her in passionate despair, alternately kissing .and chafing her hands.

"Iris," lie cried. "My darling, speak to me! Speak to me and forgive me!"

'■' And just..these' words, and- just this picture, greeted the eyes and ears of Lord Mallyon as he parted the velvet curtains of the smokingrooni, and gazed at his wife and her companion. ■ , .

CHAPTER XXV

He paused. Dagmar lowered her eyes that he might not detect the look of fierce joy which lurked in their depths. Her our of triumph over her enemy was surely at hand at last.

LORD MALLYON MAKES HIS WILL.

Until a late hour that night Lord Mallyon sat alone in the dressingroom attached to the sleeping apartment he had used during the years of his widowhood, busily engaged in writing. . He was glad to remember that his lawyer ,Mr Wilcox, was to arrive on the following morning. He had very much to say to that gentleman, and his time for many hours that »night was taken up in writing notes to be used during the approaching interview. All his intentions with regard to his will were altered now; indeed, his every plan in life seemed to have suffered shipwreck since that scene which he had witnessed on the preceding evening, every detail of which was indelibly fixed on Jhis mind—his wife's pale face and lowered eyes, and the passionate selfabandonment of the young man on his knees before her.

"If a case can be made out against Lady Mallyon," Lord Mallyon began again abruptly, "I shall divorce her. } Meantime I shall accept Gordon's rer signation, and request him to stay in this house just long enough to enable, I him to put my papers in order for his ■ successor. I myself shall leave the house this evening and shall stay at my friend Lord Hedmouth's place at Sevenoaks for a few days. During; . my absence a close watch will be set upon the movements of Lady Mallyon I and. Golf don, a watch in which you, [ who will remain as my guest, will | take an active part." "Oh, Uncle Jasper! Don't ask me to spy upon Iris!" "It is your duty to watch her. your duty to your family and me. If she is innocent you will not harm her; if j guilty, she will have justice donehor —justice and no more. Personally I ! have little doubt cf her guilt, so little that in the will which I shall make to-day I intend to leave her a small, income in case I do not succeed in ob T taining a divorce, an income sufficient for her wants, but for nothing, more, solely on condition that she does not remarry. If I gain the divorce, in such a case as.hers, that of a' woman ."who could not be faithful for even a few weeks to an over-indulgent husband, who raised her from poverty, then no allowance will be made. She and her-lover will live on, what they can make, with the opinion of the whole world against them." j His voice rang out harshly, and his i face looked stern and set. Dagmar ! realised how much his pride had suffered, but she had no pity for him. 1 "If you had only told me," she cried, " I would never have let you marry her, knowing, as I did, her engngag6ment to Drogo Gordon." "All that is past now. It is useless to go over old ground. In case I should not marry.again, and my recent experiences do not tempt me to a third experiment, you, Dagmar, will be my sole heiress, for I believe in your unselfish affection for mo, and I have been much touched by the kindness and sympathy with which, even against your own interests, you have sheltered your worthless friend." (To be Continued.)

"Iris, my darling, speak to me?"

These'words in Drogo's voice so rang through Lord Mallyon's brain that it was with difficulty he .directed his attention to any other subject. He had not realised that his wife had fainted, or that it was to deaf ears that Drogo had directed his passionate appeal. Shame, anger and b'tter jealousy had stunned him, and in the sudden agonising pain at his heart he had been physically incapable of noting the subsequent incidents in the scene, the summoning of Lady Mallyon's maid, and the removal of her mistress from the room. Lord Mallyon's eyes had been so blinded, his senses, as it were, petrified by the realisation, as he conceived it, of his worst suspicions, that his feeble heart could not withstand so cruel a shock; and the door had scarcely closed upon Lady Mallyon, her maid, and Drogo Gordon when from behind the velvet curtains came the sound of a heavy fall, and the master of the house lay insensible on the floor. No one knew of his return to the house.; no one heeded him. Baron Mallyon j'- of Oldborough, attorneygeneral of England, might well have been the humblest of her Majesty's subjects as he lay there hour after hour prone and motionless.

Drogo Gordon had left the house to walk off the effervescence of his pent-up feelings.

Lady Mallyon, in her room, had