AFTER RELEASE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10598, 2 April 1912, Page 2

AFTER RELEASE.

OUR SERIAL..

By VIOLET M. FLINN, Author of "The Master Passion, "What Shall It Profit?" "Veren.*." "By Devious Paths," Etc.

CH APTER Xll—Continued. "Tea and crumpets like before, sir?' sho asked. "Have ho really been here so often?'' Eldytli cried. "It wounded dreadful," , ery nice, I think. 1 feel quite ■at home." "I like this room,' she answered, as he stirred the logs to a brighter glow. "It always reminds me of my home." "You always call Devon home.' ' "I always shall. Oh, how I love it!" Sho sighed and paused. "Sometimes ] can scarcely bear the fervent longing for the sight of the sea and the scent of tho pines. And yet :f I could go back it would not be what-it had been." She picked up a magazine from the table and opened it at random. "How curious! Here is an illustrated series, 'Historic Houses in Devon.' Caynhams? I have never of it, but it is lovely, isn't it?" She .was deeply interested in the beautiful illustrations of the house and its wonderful gardens. She called his attention to each detail —the group of yew trees trained and trimmed and known as 'Queen Elizabeth and her Maids, the great hedges and deep-set arbours out into thera, thc boxibordered flower beds and winding paths, the fl-nciet dial and old pigeon house. She gazed entranced at the old gable ends and open twisted chimney stacks, the hall with the musicians' gallery, the sunny drawing room from whose, open windows could be seen one of the finest views in the world. "Oil, what it must be to live there! I wish I did! Whose is it? Why, it's yours!" She put/ the paper down, and flushed crimson. "You might have told me!"

"You never gave me a chance. Besides, it was a great pleasure to hear" you praise i]fc. I was born in that room —it was, my nursery." He pointed to a rocking horso in the picture. "It had no i tail. ■ I pulled it out because mother had been itelling me about clie ; magic, horse—you remember ?—-a 11 d I w«nted mine t§ Ibe one too." . "Surely you might have been satisfied 'with what you have. Do you live i there much,"

"Not now; it is my own .place. It does not go with the dukedom. lam only a chance duke, you must know. When I 4 jras iborii there wero four lives betweeii-rae and tho title. , No one ever expected that I would be more than Jack Marcham to 'the end, lut they all went like snuffed candles. One was drowned, my father broke his neck in the huiiting field, anc another i nclo —" He hesitated a second, "Well, lie committed suicide."

I "Suicide?" Eldyth echoed. "Yes, it iw is pretty bad, and it was the best Uhing he ever did. He rwas ' my grandmother's favourite, they say. j I 'can't imagine tjiat (Spartan lady having favourites or any other weaknesses. He was aii awfully bad lot, and got into trouble,which nearly dis- , graced the whole family beyond reparation. I don't remember.much:about, j it —I was such a little chap—but T can ! remember the servants -looking i terious. I got hold of a v oi'd here ! and a word tlhere, as children will, and 1 knew thatMarmaduko had done something very bad, and the black man: had comp for him. I can remember so. well that -the - nurse stuck a iblack sash on my frock—l must have been a 'ybxinster,.mustn't' I—when I went dow'ii to say /Good-night,'"and my mother pulled it off threw it into the fire. And I bellowed,", hte'added, with o laugh. ' • She looked at him with her dark, thouhtful eyes lit up by a smile. He was always struck by the grave Inscrutability • x her eyes. Hermione's gsUe was always grave, but it was the gravity of' a child uncomprehending; Eldyth's gaze had the shadow of knowledge in it. Yet when she smiled it Avas as if the sunlight had suddenly l>oured i;<, radiance on the shadowed depths ci K'mt mountain tarn. ; "You must- have been rather'a nice baby, I think," she said. Ludworth's small teeth shone imdc-iv his fair moustache. "I believe people could always raise my anger by pretending to tak>i rue for a girl. You see, 1 am twice a ..Marcham, and they tire all fair; my mother and father were cousins in a degree. I can't imagine why I began on such a dreary subject, except that T r.lways do want to tell you everything. Oh, that reminds me!" He put iiisrhand into his overcoat pocket. "Have you read that? I put ill my pocket in case you haven't —in case I met youi" lie made haste to add. She turned over the leaves delightedly. A new book was a passum with her, a passion that Ludworth, having found out, was eager to satisfy.' It was always easy to lend lier a book and tell her to keep it a,s long as she,granted to. . It was certainly an attack on. Eklytli's weakest side, and her •protests were always very feebly uttered. She had an insatiable desire for knowledge on every subject, and was at one with Charles 'Lamb n tearing the heart out of evez-y book -he opened. She put tho book down at length and looked across the little table nt j him with eyes shining full of grati- j tude.

"Yon are very kind to me," she said, almost solemnly, and for the moment she seemed to lie little more than a girl. "Mr Courtice says" you are one of the most gener.ous, kind-heart-ed men that he has ever known, and I am sure lie is right." He laughed gently. It was not often that'the position was reversed. As a rulo it was lie who was the receiver of

j favours —a humble courtier with a carelesly inclined queen, whoso miml j was so often occupied with affairs of state that it was only now and again { Ho was not sure that ho did not prefer j togaz-e and worship rather t hn n t<s PeCGi've her gratitude, yet it was unI doubtedly a pleasure to know that he jJiad it in his power to gratify-her. "Old V.C. should certainly rank himself the first,' ho said lightly. "Ho is-very near as had as that old person who sells his teeth to send an ailing child to the seaside. Now, I I only do what I liko doing, and I am | rather afraid that there is no chance I for me to put my teeth in pawn unless I go in myself with them." Her soft, rich laugh rippled out like music through the quiet room. There ;wero very few people there on that dull day. Their solitude was almost a deux in the soft, glowing, cheerful warmth of the log fire, with the fragrant scent of hot tea and cakes in the warm atmosphere. "How absurd you are, and how you love to disparage yourself! It is such a pity —people arc always regarded at their own valuation,' she answered reprovingly. "No. they are not. I don't regard you at your own valuation, by. any means,' he answered-promptly, and he r. himself rewarded as h© watched the rich colour rise oinder her pallor. When Eldyth blushed he was always reminded of the rich sweetness of a damask .rose —soft, dark, hidden, and exquisitely beautiful. But compliments, he had discovered, had to be very judiciously paid, and he made haste to cover his words and to drive away the little shadow that Iliad crossed her face.

"Were you and Miss Edley able to use those concert tickets?" lie asked. "Have you any more tea for me P I heard the violinist play last night, and was not at all impresesd by lier."

• The conversation drifted on-to matters musical, and the little shadow seemed.;to tiirp\i', hei-self absorhedly into of the concerfc to which.slie and Connie had been takeii' by Miss Louisa. She discussed the different singers"and musicians. _ "V Ludworth witlidrew himself'aTlittle into the shadow of his high-backed chair, and watched her animated face with its ever-changing expression., the gleam of her white teeth, the play of her slender, long, white hands. Eldyth ;at that moment was .'a study in vivacity. Ho . loved to watoh her, to I see the. fire cast its ruddy glow on her [smooth cheeks, to admire the curve of -the round firm chin, the slender grace of her full white throat ,the play of shadow in the dark, expressive eyes. Beautiful she was not, ibut it was the character in .her face that appealed so istrongly to him —the true, open mind shining in her eyes that drew .him .with fingers of steeL She was absorbingly fascinating to him,her personality was unique inj its charm; while to hear her utter even .commonj place remarks was to listen to her I pure melody perfectly phrased. ' Her [voice, with its haunting cadences, its (perfect enunciation, haunted' him sleeping or waking. .He leaned hack* in the SiadoWs and listened and looked —and he felt himself perfectly satisfied. He knew little of her history be *, yond the hint of the tra'gedy that Connie had spoken of. He liked' to .-hear her talk of Devon, because* then she .was moved to her depths and her voice, gained . its most thrilling notes and lier face its»keenest'rapture. Strange as it.had all been, incredible as it appeared, Ludworth nnd she were actually friends, findiug in each other the complement that'each ,oi*o wanted. They could talk or be silent, neither misunderstood. Very often, after a pause, eash would start- to talk on the same subject. .-There w.as between them an affinity of thought, a likeness of ""temperament that was as tare as curious. To him she was a marvel of undeveloped genius. She might have succeeded as a singer, >an artist, or a writer had her technique been equal to her natural gifts. '"'lf she had only had a chance! be thought regretfully. ' "V.C. was the very last .man she should have had as her predominating influence five, six vears ago—well meaning and thoughtfully sincere, .but- with as much sense of fitness as a clod." He was reminded of a .worthy hut utterly pragmatical husband who took a famous authoress from her writing desk and set her to_ the distribution of soup and flan- ! nel garments. "Ho looked at 14 the firelight, and he thought of the draper's children, the hundred and one disagreeables of he l ' daily, incessant toil to keep her head above water —and his heart grew hot within him. j What was the use-of his wealth, his good will, if he could do no moro than leave her in the crowd. (To he continued.)