AFTER RELEASE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10592, 26 March 1912, Page 2

AFTER RELEASE.

OUR SERI.'.L,

By VIOLET M. FLINN, Author of "The .Master Passion. "What Stall It Profit?" "Veivma." "By Devious Paths," Etc.

CHAPTER IX—Continued

V.C. took the reproof in part. He did not speak as Lnd.vorth di.lidontly unfolded his plan. Would V.C. take from him a sum of money to ho loaned or given by him for Miss Graingers' musical education? 'Die bright eyes, scanned the yo'.mg man earnestly while- the duke explained, argued and reasoned. "Yes, I see. But it is only Eldyth who can decide the question. I tell you frankly, Ludworth, I don't think she will accept, and 1 shall be much disappointed if she d.o?s. I don't think she is suited for a nrofesional life in any way. I have known her since she was a baby. She is as dear to me as my own daughter would have been,and I dont think she v/oull be happy in such an exacting, trying life. Ho laid a heavy hand on the dukes shoulder." "Yoif.'o a dear chap, Jack, and 1 am .sure that if Eldyth. would take any help from a man it .would be from you. I am sure it is only of her you are thinking. I might suspect another man of ulterior motives, but never ! you! And Eldytih is not an attracti >-e j girl, unfortunately," he added, as an j apparent after thought. "Poor child I j She has been through deep waters and I dread to hear of anything that v. ill disturb the cakn that she has now readied." Ludworth went away pondering over many things. He could not understand V.C* regarding Eldyth as unattractive, but his conscience pricked him a little as to the praise ho had received. Still, as he argued, he had no ulterior object. Her voice had always come first and foremost in his estimation. .She was interesting, he con- ' fessed, but lie wasn't in love with her. He would tell Hermiouo all about her in the next letter. He did not think for a second that she would care to know. And, after all, Hcrmione was having her fling—why could he not •have his also? He was unaccountably anxious to hear the result of the vicar's proposal to her. He could not decide whether ho would be vexed or relieved if she refused the suggestion. It was difficult to manage a. professional singer; she was not of tlie stuff that most of them were made of. The pity was that she ; could not be trained, not for public, j but for tllie real inner circle of music enthusiasts and tine musicians who alone could appreciate her at her true value. I And then camo a. letter*whose characters ho had never seen before, and j yet lie knew from whom it came. it was justTlhe letter he would have expected her to write. It thanked him very courteously for the offer that he had wade through Mr Courtice, regrettetl tnfit she was unable to.avail 1 '! herself of it. Her personal inclination was against a public career. "But I do not like you to think that I aan ungrateful, and I should like j to say How mtich I appreciate your j kind consideration for my future. I j shall ahvays remember your kindness j with pleasure." ' I

He read and reread the let-tor. • It was not wholly her decision-that chilled him; it was the air of finality that seemed to pervade the whole letter.

"Our connection has boon of the sliglitest,due only to t'lio training. Now that is settled our acquaintance conies to an end.' That is what she implies!'' ho exclaimed. "Yes/ it does settle it. I am off to Caynhams in .the morning. They don't think tlie worst of a chap dawn there, or choke him off every time he tries to do a kindness." He was still fooling very irritated and ill-used, when, later in the day, lie found himself waiting for an obstruction to be removed in Piccadilly. A girl standing near looked up at him with a Jpnile of recognition, and he saw that it was the little "dross' 'hand that was often with Eldyth Grainger. A sudden impulse animated him. Jf she was not the rose she was very near to it. Connie blushed and dimpled as he raised his hat, but for an instant she was utterly overwhelmed when ho walked alongside of her. , "If the girls could only see me!" slnS thought ecstatically as her native selfpossession iir. J. !•?•;• cly wittodness asserted itself. It- was she who opened the subject that was in Ludr.vorth's mind. "It is a pity Miss Grainger does not see her way clear to go in for singing, isn't it, your grace?' she asked demurely. "My, I wish I had a chance like that! Just think what it would mean to her!" "Then you don't agree with her decision, Min EdleyP' i "I think she is a silly juggins," Connie said, and then relented. "She's a saint, that's what she is, one of the real ones; and, although I can't live up to her —I don't suppose I would if I. could. I like some fun and go in life —I can appreciate her. She's been awfully good to me. We were both iiv the Lady Doan Club when she first came to London, and I had pleurisy, and she nursed mo day and night." Tears .stood in the bright eyes. "I'd. do anything for her, even sing in the choral and teach dressmaking to the girls when I would rather bo at tho theatre! She has been good to everyone except herself." "Are you in a hurry?' Ludworth asked abruptly. "Won't you come in this tea place ,and we could have a Tittle talk while you are giving mo some tea." For an instant Connio hesitated, and the colour rose in her cheeks and she caught her breath-at tho marvel of the whole thing. The hesitation was due to Eldyth's lectures on prudent discretion; tho emphasis with which she acepted was entirely her own.

Never was there a. happier or prouder girl than Miss Edley as she made tea for the Duke of Ludworth. "If only Alf could see me!' she mused. "Not that he'd believo that he is a duke! Alf looks twice the swell that he does." When she had crooked her little finger and asked the duke if would have sugar and cream, her innate sense of "playing fair" reasserted itself, and she went back to the subject of Eldyth Grainger. 1 "She is too sensitive; she doesn't think half enough of herself, and yet she is proud in other ways. When she 'came up here she was in great trouble; her people had died and she had no home. But she was never one to talk freely about herself, though some- , times of a night I could hear her in I tho next cubicle crying as if her poor I heart would break. I think some of [ her relatives were a bad lot or something and she felt it very bitterly. \ She's no opinion of herself, you know v i She will never stand up to "Mocklaon," . but Mr Gillies —he's a particular gentleman friend of mine—he says she is like a race horse in a cab. She isn't a bit fitted, but sihe is game to tho end." To Ludworth the story Connie revealed was infinitely pathetic. She had no compunction in telling all she knew of Eldyth, and what she surmised. Brought up in circumstances of comfort and case, with no training for the 'battle of life, and then suddenly bereft of home, relatives and money, and with the shadow of a great sorrow on her, she had been flung into the vortex of existence, to sink or swim as best-she could. He recalled the proud face, the»sensitive, mobile lips, the inscrutable eyes, and his heart ached for her. "And yet she refuses this opportunity !' he exclaimed. j 'Connie glanced at him shrewdly. ' There was no doubt in her .mind that | il'"p duke bad long been in love with Eldyth'. Even before he had heard her sing. She did not forget the share he I had taken in determining the fate of the hand-painted dress. Under her practical commen-sense and shrewdness, Connie possessed a romantic taste Hero was a romance that was budding under 'her eyes, that dallied for her assistance. Miss Grainger was a lady, she deserved a better fato than Miss Louisa and her brother offered her.

Eldyth would never help herself to' her own advancement. It was surely, the duty of her best friend to help her. " I think it is just horrible the way Miss Louisa and AIY .Courtice keep her chained up!' she exclaimed. "No doubt they mean well, and are very fond of her,, but -they,.have been reforming people so long that they forget there aro some who don't need to be reformed. Miss Grainger is one of the, ones who does not need it. What she needs is to live, to have some fun, and laughter and a good time, not to bo an old woman before-she is thirty. I work for my living, but I am among taX pWn people, and I can get all the tun i like, but ; slie-r-she is just a.nigh.tr * ingalo that is forced to live in a henroost. I am sorry she would not take that money, but I am not in the least .surprised. She isn't the kind of girl, I'm sure ,to take favours from anyone. It would be different if—if it were from a friend." Ludworfch did not understand that *he used the word in tiho meaning it bore among her class, and'he answered her from Ins point of view as he leaned forward, stirring his tea with some energy. . '•Aljss Ed ley, I sun very interested •in Miss Grainger." Connie's eyes sparkled excitedly; her cheeks burned with excitement. "To me it seems a sad thing that she should waste her life and "her genius just because —because she has no money and no friend who knows what her worth is. I have got too much money, far more than I iiavo a right to spend on myself.' Connie sighed ecstatically. "And I want to bo Miss Grainger's friend." '"I bolievo you mean it-; you aro quite straight?" she demanded. He laughed with some embarrassment. '"'Yes, I mean it, and 1 am quite straight, I asuro you." "Then I.will help you,' she declared stretching out her hand. "I saw how it was, right from t3ie beginning, but, as I have always said, she will never do anvthing to help herself, so I .will do what I can. Yes, you shan't repent confiding in me, your grace." She leaned forward, regarding him earnestly. "I'll tell you something. It was not easy for her to say 'No' to going. aibroad, and last nigfht when I went to seo her she had been crying. I could see that, and she had been looking at some old photographs, too. But oil," she clapped her hands softly together, ( and her smiles came through impulsive tears, "I'll help you—l'll help you!" (To be continued.)