HELD IN BONDAGE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10527, 15 January 1912, Page 2

HELD IN BONDAGE.

OUR SERIAL.

BY L. F. DACRE. Author of "Sinbad'a Valley," A Phantom of the Past," "The Shadow of Shame," "Six John'B Heires*," "A Daughter of Mystery," etc.

CHAPTER XXV—Continued. j "I suppose so, but at leaves poor old Meg tied up to that brute." "That's her own lookout," retorted Alf. "It was you wiho egged (her on to obtain her freedom Kit any price. You weathercock 1" AH' coloured painfully. 'Don't be too rough on me j I know what you mean. I thought at one time that I could not live without (Margaret Thornton. We Iliad known each other so long, just shallow sentiment, netliing else. And I wanted to protc.-t her from one of tihe biggest brutes living. You don't know what tilio man is, .at all!" "Chivalrous youth!" laughed Edith. with scorn. . "Don't be rotten. I had not seen you then," he blxirted-oiit./and'tlheli-shivered at (his. temerity. "Oh!" '■■''. '■'■•' '•■*.■' Edith''turned round and looked out of the window. She had known that this would come before very long, and had been revolving the question in her. mind. , "It is ttrue, Edith. This is love, tihe other wins sentiment and chivalry." He felt quite plucky while he could talk to her back. She wheeled round and fixed him with her steady,.grey eyes. ■ ' 'Now, what do you mean, Alf ? Out with it." "I wamt you to marry me, Edith. I want you- " "I'm not a nurse,' she flashed. 'Come, that's a,bit stiff. A fisherwom&n round the corner told me to go home to my ma. Be decent—r-you know, what I mean. I think more of you than all tihe, world. I don't like to km>.v that you are ■working 1 for your living, and slumming laway like this." ' "What do you offer in excchange?" "Anything. We could go to Canada —dashed a£ this doesn'tjsound like its swapping marbles." 'No, thank you !"■» Ediih answered with decision. "I am quite satisfied with England, and a certainty. "/Don't you make fun of my home," she said smilingly. "I am very proud of it. and my independence." I Maxwell stared at her in blank consternation. "You won't leave England ?" "Never, to make a home elsewhere. There's no place like England for Eng* lish people." "Oil, very well,. Canada's no place I for -me. I'm not going to go out on my lonesome to clear the earth of roots ': forty"feel/ down, and build log cabins • everlasting sun j and be dissectCedvand eaten by millions of blinking in- ■ ; sects'l Not much. The.black fly, the sand fly, the mosquito. No books or (newspapers for weeks and weeks, and a shave every six months. What 'lo you take me for ?" r Edith laughed loudly. "Wliat on earth has it to do with > me?" ' •;' ' "You proposed it, or anproved it. No! England, home and beauty for ,me!" , "Then what, are you going to do?" "I have enough of my own to live on," Alf continued seriously. "And I shall give all of lit to my wife—marriage settlement —not postnuptial either.' Then the governor would give his ' twoieyes to keep me at borne; and as f for my mother, well, you know what mothers are! lam the only kid. Dad is turning the brewery concern into a limited liability company—that means he is selling it to the public for.a lump of money, and still keep a grip on it. •J .can; be.managing-director 'with a stiff salary, stump round the offices now and then, and attend the; hoard meetings. Simple enough. Yes, that's my fate, and my apprenticeship to the law fits me for the job exactly. Does that appeal to you, Edith ? We can have a, nice home anywhere you like ; servants and motors, and I shall be the proudest and 'happiest main on eartih!" He was speaking with suppressed eagerness and anxiety. Edith shook her j head. i "I am quite satisfied as I am, Alf!" "Oh, good heavens, you are not going to cast me off, are you?" His jauntiness was,gore; his Jos* . was killed. "I can't listen to nonsense. You a husband! It is ridiculous to contemplate. You want years and years of experience; youv'e got to make good Alf." ' j "I will —I am making good. And it J will wear alrigjlut. I'm as stubborn as j a mule when I make up my mind to a thing. I can wait. Tell me one thing —is there anyone else in the way ? T want you to be straight with me!" "No!" Her lip curled. ■ "Iv'e got a very poor opinion of men. The same old ruck ; savages, most of them; selfish, unreasonable. Women were created to minister to their lordly wants.

(To be Continued.)

j On a pedestal to-day , as the mood takes them ; in the dust and dregs tomorrow. I haive had to snub three who asp:ted to annex my earning. No, there is nobody else, and you are quite out of the running, Alf, till you are more of a man. I like you, or I should not have mothered you as I have done you." Alf was silent for some time aftcEdith cessed speaking. Once or twice he turned bis eyes upon her wistfully. ' 'There is a grain of comfort for me —just one- little grain. Why am 166 infernally young ? What do you want me to do, Edith? Dye my (hair grey, and grow whiskers?" "Cultivate character and common sense. You are no younger than lam an years." ... ' 'Lord! Tell me how to begin. Whja/t is the matter with me? These are not the days of Galahads. What can I' &>?" ' '.■*'■■'"■ '", "Make good anywhere, and I will marry you if you are a success —say in three years' time —providing iihat your fancy has not changed. You have started splendidly, but look at your style of dress I You look like a circus outrider, or one of the freaks that prodoes any man wiamt witih brilliant coloured socks, or necktie to tmatch? Vulgar jewelry, and blue and green headgear.? I am ashamed of being seen in the streets witti you." "It's the foshion,' 'he said blanklyy and almost irestfully. "It's tihe fashion for some women to wear harem skitits," she said scathingl*' ' •* ,• Alf thrust his 'hands deep into lus pockets, and whistled. . "Why didn't you tell me about this before?" , "I hadn't a. right to." "And you have got a right now?"— eagerly. "You asked me to marry you." ■ "And} by gad, you shall marry me, Edith! You are the grandest womaij that ever lived! I will start the manly act at once. If "I" make goodi you' must shorten that three years a bit." "That depends upon yourself, Alf. Now, be off for the day is full of work, if I am to get my week-end." "Hurrah!" he criedi He seized her hand and kissed it rapturously. Her lips were beyond him yet. "I'll prove to'you what I can do for the sake of the woman I love!" ,- CHAPTER XXVI. AFTER THE STORM. Nature had ransacked her treasure house tlhat afternoon when 'Margaret end Dolly were driven in a fly from Leatherhead station to the picturesque villa at Weodlea. The heavens were of that soft, Jiazy 'blue seen nowhere else but in England. Here and there, tiny clouds, white as swan-down, floated in the ether. The air wias warm and very sweet, the music of birds, was everywhere, Margaret lay. back in-the carriage and sighed—-a long-drawn sigh,; breathing relief'. Wonderful—wonder-i ful was the calm here, after, tihe storm and stress of the last few months. The' horse jogged contentedly along; the driver drowsed on (his seat. Past fields of buttercups and daisies, fields o f i wheat, which rippled like the waves of the sea, green oairks. where the cat-, tie rested under tihe shade of the trees farms and cottages, winding, narrow', lanes with luscious hedgerows—a mere j strip of shining- way through an Ar cadian wood: '

The carriage stopped, and Margaret saw a. creeper-covered cottage standing W>las»" -with flowers. Hardly a square foot of the cottage brickwork could be. discovered. Even the chimneys were' overgrown with greenery. There were four small windows in the front of the cottage, and the doorway was hidden by a treffised porch covered with'roses and clematis.