A DEEP GAME. OR THE HONOUR OF THE TREVELLANS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10558, 13 February 1912, Page 2

A DEEP GAME. OR THE HONOUR OF THE TREVELLANS.

OUR SERIAL.

By Mra Db Winter Baksr, Author of "The Sin of Cariae," "Sir Blandford's Protege©," "For Weal or Woe," etc.

CHAPTER XX Vl—Continued. A moment later the dungeon was illuminated by a pale, sickly, gas flame. Lettice looked .around and proceeded to take her bearings. . . The room wjiis barely but sufficiently furnishL'd —here eyes dwelt. 011 <i washstand, chest of drawers, a small pallet bwl, a couch, and two plain chairs. Her portmanteau and basket lay on. the drugget-covered floor near a small fireplace. Around her the solid grim brickwork of the walls, glistening with dampness in places, shut her in remorselessly. r Jhero was no window for the sample reason that tlio room was some twenty "feet under ground. Tho solitary jet was the only illuniiuant. Lettice shuddered and pulled lieuwrap closer round her. Then siio remembered that she might as well dress and 'bo as comfortable as possible in the dreadful place. She found her watdh with her other small trinkets in a small jewel case in her portmanteau. Tho hands pointed to hvo o'clock, and the watch was still ticking. Lettice wound it up afresh, wondering how long sho had been unconscious. Littl-o did she guess that a powerful sleeping draught 'had been administered to 'her while she lay unconscious in J J!iat first faint. Sho had been asleep for fifteen hours, and it was now five o'clock in the afternoon. Lettice dressed lierself hurriedly, and eat down on tho couch to await developments. She was much calmer now. She remembered that Jason IwJl announced intention, to como and see her. Sho would be ready for him —oh, yes, die would he ready for him!

A' sudden idea struck her, and she jumped up and ran .across to the fireplace. Stooping down, she at once saw that it was far too narrow to admit of k'uiy escape from that way. Sho could see the sky above —just a faint glimmer.. That was something, at any rate. And simultaneously she woik dored if it. was five in the morning or . fivo in tho' afternoon;' ■ -

Risirig again, silio became aware that someone had silently entered the room It was Grace Omer, carrying a tray. Instantly Lettice flew 'across the room and tried the handle of the door. Alas! it was .securely locked. She turned to faco the woman with flushed, angry look. "Tea, miss." Omer placed the tray on the table. With a glance of surprise at the flaring gias jet, the woman ■turned toward the door again. Lettice defiantly barred her path. "Is that all you have to say?" she asked, and the question came from her tightly compressed lips. "Yes. Mr Jason will be coming in presently. He will tell you all you want to'know. Please let me pass! - ' "Oli, no, Mrs Omer. You and Mr Jason have seen fit to shut me up in this unaccountable way. Now you'll have a tnsto of it yourself.. If I can't get out of this room, neither can you!" Lettice drew herself up, breathing hard, and stared defiantly at the woman. • "" Omer smiied slightly. "Silly child, ' she said. "You must ,t2iink we are a couple of fools!" "You are a couple of fiends, at any rate," quoth lattice angrily. Omer drew a little silver whistle from her blouse, and blew three blasts on it. Instantly the bolts of the door were .shot back and Jason entered. Lettice tumed round with a start, "Please sit down and ihave your te.i like a sensible young lady," obsined Jason. "And you, Omer —please Yave us." Pool Lettice — the odds .wero two to one against her. She could only st.i re ia despair as she saw the chaplain <-pen the door just enough to .let Omer pass out. Still standing ■with his hack to the door, Jason now addressed the girl. 'Do sit down and drink your toy while it is hot, Miss Lascelles," no persuaded in soft, smooth tones. Lettiu;moved toward the table and inspected the tray that Omer had brought in. At any-nate, she wits hot going to be starred, she saw, and common sense bade her dr.i'rik si cup of tea. Sitting down, she poured herself out a cup, affecting not to see the chaplain Pensively she munched a piece ot but. tercd toast. The tea relieved her tremendously, and her headache died aA\ay. "I am afraid you musfc think very badly of me, Miss Lascelles,"the chaplain continued after some moments' silence. He did not move from the door, however, and Lettice did not reply. "Still I know you are a sen si bie girl, and the manner in which you have accepted your—or —temporary fate, now makes my task much easier than it would otherwise 'have been. I pay temporary fate, for it all depends on yourself how long you stay here." Lettice put tho teapot down with a bang on the tray .and rose to face Jason.

"Mr Jason," she said, in cold, dearcut tones, "before I listen to you J would like you to hear mo speak. L demand to know by what right you and Mrs Omer have entrapped ine into this place. What wrong .'have I done you that you should treat me like this? Do you understand that you have rendered yourselves liable to prosecution for assault and illegal restraint. Are you going to release me at once? I never heard of .suolx a thing —luring a young girl out of .her room by an abominablo lie, and shutting her up in an underground room. What; does it mean? What do you want of me?" Lett ice's pretty face was fic'''y red, her hands tightly clenched. "Ah, now we can'get to business.

Miss Lascelles. Your last question shows that you appreciate your position as keenly as I do. What do I want of you? you ask. Can you [.ossibiy [rues:;?" Lettice started back in alarm, mk' tho chaplain was now smiling at her just as ho had smiled when ho ;ud caught her alone in the corridor outsid her bedroom. "I see you understand,' 'ho went on in a purring voice. "Now, to be quite candid with you, Mis Lascelles, 'and J may say, that, in 'placing you under temporary restraint, I have been actuated by two dcsiresrOn e is the desire for you to 'be my wife, and the other is to save you from marrying a man who ought- never have asked you to marry him. I refer to Eric Trevellan." "If you are going to try and trade on my fears, I am afraid you will find it quite useless, Mr Jason. A mere waste of words: I would as lief marry a cannibal as you!" was Lettiee's sharp retort. The chaplain raised a deprecatory hand. "Listen, Miss Lascelles. You remember that on a previous occasion I told you that Sir Eric could never marry you. I did not t ell you why, oeoaiuse I thought his better nature would assert itself, and. that, with his own lips, he would tell you why he could not marry you. As, however, he has not done so,'but seems rather determined to carry out 'his nefarious plian, I have been forced to the expedient of shutting you up in order, to save you from him." "Nefarious plan—Save me from hi.u —I fail to grasp your meaning, Mr Jason!" Lettice now spoke in icy tones. "AJi, but yon will when I tell you that Eric Trevellan can never marry you because he is a married man, and has a wife living." "Sir Eric riiarried? I don't believe you. It's another of your horrid lies. The thing is absurd. Sir Eric is a gen. tleman. He could never have " indigutition set the girl's breast heaving, her" breathmg grew rapid; she paused at a loss for words. "One moment, Miss Lascelles. Have you ever noticed anything peculiar a"bout tho castle? Anything savouring of mystery, I might say?" Had she noticed anything savouring of mystery? Lettice laughed very harshly. "There are indeed certain things I I do not understand in Trevellan. Castle, Mr Jason.' But what can they have to do with Sir Eric?" •| "Such things as a moonlight vision 'in the Lime Tree Walk, 'Miss Lascelles, now," the chaplain broke in abruptly upon her indignant retort; "the figuro of a young girl—a young girl in white dress?" ''Yes —who is she? Tell me quick!'' Lettice almost gasped the question, and yet somehow dreaded to hear tho answer. There was something in tho chaplain's demeanour that sent lier heart thumping wildly in her bosom "I found her handkerchief, and it was marked "Margaret." Who is she?" "Margaret—the girl you saw in the Lime Tree Walk on the the first night that you wer©;iii Trevellan Castle —is Sir Eric's wife," came Ins answer in triumphant, sibilant accents. "Margaret is Sir Erio Trevellan's wife!" Having played his trump card, Jasj on lost no time in leaving poor littlo Lettice to indulge in melancholy inedi- ! tat ion. She swayed hack onto the couch at the announcement, and now sat with her hands to her eyes, her head was bowed low to the .stunning shock. "It grieves mo to have to cause you this pain, Mis Lascelles—it grieves me' deeply, I assure you. 1 will not in- ' trude upon your privacy any longer now. There only remains one thing to be said before I leave you. The moment you consent to bo my wife you will be free to leave this room. That is all. I will come back later, for your i answer." I With a quick movement the cliap- | lain turned and let himself out of the j dungeon. A moment later tho dull I clang of bolts was heard; then all was ! silent again. j But if Jason imagined that lie had j advanced one step nearer to the goal I by the story he had just told to Lettice j —he was sorely mistaken. The lustre of i Lettiee's love for Eric could not thus be dimmed ,for it was love that was life to her —a Jove that Eric himself had created, a .lovo that could never, never be cast out of her heart now. Long she there, 'her face wlntc and her eyes dry and hot. At first ! she found herself utterly incapable of ' any dispassionate view of the awful ' situation in which she was placed. | Over and over again to herself she hugged the warm, pulsing words of love with Avliich the young baronet had wooed and won her. Over and over again she repeated to .herself the terrible accusation that Jason had just brought against him. I (To be Continued.)