AFTER RELEASE.
OUR SZRI.U.
By VIOLET M. FLINN, Author of "The Master Passion, "What Shall It Profit?" "Veren«." "By Devious Paths," Etc.
CHAPTER XVl—Continued "Ho had everything in his favour In all my life I haf nev.v seen such a fiscinating man; the ladies were -!! raving over him. He was th-; '.ashljn wuh all of them, and ho knew ho.i 1.. keep friendly with their husbands ami brotiiors, and fathers. Oh, 'm wn» .i ■ cry clever man, this Stanton Nca"! And, mark you, at that time, iv -i?served his success. He was no char la tan; he knew his work and In: dared. If he could haf kept his head —but no, that was where he failed. He wa* t'io proud, too ambitious, and there was always in him thai: fatal knot — r.a waunscrupulous. It did not show at first, even to me, who had nothing to do but sit and watch the game; but it was there all the same. He went too last; he was not content to be powerful, and it pleased his vanity to play with men and women as if they i.-ero pawns on a chessboard.
"But there wore very few who saw flaws in him in those days. All the young ladies were in love with him,ana the young men thought ho was the. one to copy and follow, and of all these young men there were none so easily attracted to him as Lord Charles and Lord Marmaduke Marcham. Yo i kno.v what their life had been with their lady mother, the duchess. When they left her tutelage they went to the otii er extreme. It was natural, but it was a pity. Ah, the doctor was so much older than they were; he had quite the habit paternal, yet he could meet them on their own ground and for once they and the duchess had a feeling in common —they admired the handsome, clever doctor. "You don't mean that my grandmother was—was attracted by him?" Von Markheim shrugged his big shoulders heavily. "I was only the onlooker," he said equably, "but I know how the game struck me. < -Recall to yourself, mein Junge, .that;your, grandmother, was a widow .who had had her ownAvay allher - life, that' she was handsome and. well preserved, and only, it may be. a. few years older than this debpnnaire , doctor who was so much in request. , Haf there never heen any instances ' when a queen regent has stoopd from th throne and condescended to favour ! one of her courtiers, and, tell me, lias there ever been an instance- of a woman scorned forgetting—or forgiving the scorner?' I -may 'be wrong, but I tell,you my helief, and I haf held it all these years. Her ladyship, the duchess would have favoured the handsome doctor, and he —he juilted her. I tell you that the root of all the evil was jealousy and thwarted ambition." 'lt is more than possible!" Ludworth said er thought of such a thing, but it would explain many things!" "It explains all!" Von Markheim answered. "When did your lady grandmother ever play second fiddle to anyone? Was there ever a time when power was not all in all to her? She was, sho is still, it may be, a born tyran. On her stage there is, there was, only room for one, herself—and so it was only for her that the doctor visited the house ,she believed—it was only herself that was to be the prime factor in his career, but —the doctor .was popular—and, after all, she was to him, an amhitious man, only the duchess, likely soon to''be dowager, losing her jointure on her remarriage, with a pack of sons near his own age, and daughters who Avere younger and far mora attractive than herself. No, I think the clever doctor weighed all the pros and cons of the case, .and decided, foolishly as it turned out, that he would nofc touch the sceptre that the duchess was so kindly gracious to hold out. ISo he made a hitter enemy, where ho might a powerful friend haf had. It was undoubtedly the duchess wh'o was the prime factor in his downfall." "
"That we certainly know!" LudwortJi said. "The trial was public; property, and it came out that for years he had been living beyond liis income, and that he had undoubtedly 'been levying blackmail on some of those who nad 'beon his patients. Oh, he deserved Is is sentence if ever a man did. Bat it h the point about Charles that, bothers me. He was sent away some twelve months or so before Neal's exposure.." "It was all on the same ground," Von. Markheim said. "Dear mc, how it all comes back to one, and I liaf not thought of it for so many years. I. — everyone—liked Sir Charles, he was so bright, so kind-hearted, so generous; lie was you, mein Junge, but you haf. all that lie lacked. He was so easily Jed, so gullible, too. There was no one.: ijked his good friends, 'but, alas, he' j could never see that they were not his best friends. And so he was hand in ] hand with the doctor, so clever, so ; prudent, so/friendly, and he haf never seen that the Doctor-Neal was leading imn by the nose, and that he and tho j Lord Marmaduke made of him a cats- I paw." ■ | "Lord Marmaduke was a scoundrel 1" Tresidder said, speaking almost j for the first time. "And in the affair of the forged signature to the cheque | the blame -was put on Charles. He took I the blame, partly because, deep in his ! heart, under all the decklessness, he j held out tho old dictum 'Noblesse ] Oblige!' and partly, I now suppose, | because it iseemed the >best way out of his difficulties, which were chiefly mon- '■ etary, would be to make a home else- J where. And judging from what . you have been saying. I believe that ho be- , g«n to distrust Neal before this deal of the forged cheque, yet the man was clever enough to allay his distrust
, more or less. And if Neal was the 011j ly ouo who knew of his marriage, then (that would be an inducement to keep fin with him, in spite of his growing suspicion." Von Markheim nodded. "I haf never before heard of this marriage, 'but it may be as you say. Perhaps, indeed, tho duchess also knew of it, marriage or entanglement, and thafc made her anxious that he should leave the country. Perhaps it was- the discovery of it that was the first step to the doctor's downfall. She would never forgive him if she found out that he had "liten playing a duoble game." There was a brief silence. Each in an was busy with his own thoughts. "I suppose,' you have no rcco'.lect'on of any girl, Von Markheim?" liudwortii asked ahuptly. "No. none. I was only a spectator. Lord 'Charles was very friendly, and he used to take some singing lessons from me. He had .a very fine voice and was musical, as all your family are, milord" —with a faint smile. "But he was the pupil and I the master. He had many theatrical friends, I know,' and he. knew thom through the Drf. Nea.l. He was indeed all things to all men; he knew and made use of all sorts. No fish was too large or too insignificant for his net." Ho sat silent for a while, pondering deeply. "You say that he haf -spoke of Lilla? Well, I do remember that there was a [dancer who was quite the rage of my younger days. What do they call her? [ —Lilla? Lilla Lighly, yes. That is so. Lilla Lightly. She was, well —she ; was nofc quite a lady you would introduce your sister to, but I do not think she was altogether as bad as they haf said. I haf heard of her doing very kind things as well as very silly ones. It is quite ptisible thafc a young man about town, such as Lord Charles was, did know her. But I haf never heard what haf become of her." Tresidder pondered gravely, while Ludwortli grimaced. .. 'I only trust it was not Miss-Light-ly who ib'ecaimo' my auiit, but that/is not at all likely. • If here had been :i : niarriage slieHvoi Id not have kept itquiet after Ms death, and,if there was none —well, the result won't co mfc ir. this case." "I don't think he could !uve ivarried such a person," Tresul.lo l .' said. "My inference is that the —the girl in question was in some position with this Lilla, either as companion or as a friend. But, whatever she was, she was >a lady, and one for whom Ch.n lcs had respect as well as affection. That is evident in tw ■.'!.> lino-he wrcto ' ' Von Markheim nodded. "Lilla Lightly was not a lady, but ' she was a good sort, notwithstanding het 'faunlts. It might be worth your while to advertise for her also. Any theatrical paper, would tell yoil if she* is alive ,or not. I feel sure that if tho Lilla you refer to was an actress she is the one he meant, I can remember now that there was a good deal of talk about her and Lord Charles. They were very friendly. You know how tin gossip gcnera.'y spreads, and mud" slicks, when -r- man or woman p>< s out of his sphere for companionship/' Ludwortli winced in spite of himself. He exonerated Von Markheim. r from any double meaning in his re-' mark. Tresidder did not appear to. heai it. "lb all hinges on Stanton Neai," ho said musingly. "I do 1101 know, J cannot understand, the reason why he should have gone away."_ "A guilty conscience,' Von Mark- I heim suggested. "If he alone knew jhe truth of Charles' friendship with this girl, he Jiad the game in his own hands'. In all probability he meant to spring the child and-mother on ilie duchciss—especially if i-he child were n boy. A bad prospect ioi you. Juuge, -eh!" . , i "Only Portland intervened!" .;iid- ' worth said dryly. There was a flash in his eye they could'not undersL-md. "And I. will tell you what I think'. I'resi cider. If -ho ever knew whe-r-3 fho.% were, .what became of them, lie has lost touch of them now, or he' would 'have -sprung his bolt long since." CHAPTER XVII. Ludwortli av.aited -V.C.'s arrival much, as he had anticipated his turn in the masters' study. He «:ul not mine l being thrashed, but lie did rot like the prospect hanging over him.' But when V.C. did arrive there was' nothing "of tjie pedagogeue with him. i He was pinched and cold, which was j scarcely surprising, as he had given , his overcoat away on the juorney. (To be continued.) '
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAG19120408.2.3
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10602, 8 April 1912, Page 2
Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,815AFTER RELEASE. Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10602, 8 April 1912, Page 2
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Wairarapa Age. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.