The Marriage of Felicity

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10654, 8 June 1912, Page 2

The Marriage of Felicity

OUR 3EH9AS.*

BY ALAN ADAIR. i Author of "The Earl's Wife," "The Pride of John Middletam," "His tftb&r's Son," "Bertra m's Folly," eta.

ORMAI-TTCR, XX—Continued

When Felicity gave L<,obcl hack th<-> f paper, hor face was devoid of colour, hut she kept control of herself. "Ye.s, ilm+- Ivs -nwlo plnm to me," she said. "I TOi.derst.and now wliy ho married me." ''And you .also understand why I went down to Southampton to-day. I thought you would he too ill, that he would not let you come . It has been a bitter disappointment to botli of us." There was a. brief pause, until Felicity's voice, no longer steady, broke the silence. "Will you tell me one thing more? Havo you seem —him —since our marriage?" She could not bring herself to mention his name. "Of course I have. Ho called on. me tho day after he came home." "Will you tell me what passed between you?" "What passed between ns?" TsobeVr. voice grew hard. "Ah, you may well ask that. Ho came to mo In very great despair, for he had found out that you might live for years. His purposo was to induce me to consent jj ' • "He waaited to leave me?" "He laid at all before me, but I did not agree. We had made .a plot, ami it had faifed. My practical answer was to engage myself to Sir Edwin Grant, who had long wanted, to marry me. But to-day, well, I was weak, and gave i way, and You frustrated'us by accompanying him. Now I suppose it must be good-bye for ever, for once I am Sir Edwin's wife, Mark must be to me as ono dead." Felicity clenched her hands. . "He is false!" she exclaimed. "A traitor! I will have nothing more to dowith him! Let him have the money ho wanted—the wife he did not want will trouble him mo .more." She- sank .back with her lips closed, and a look of anger and despair in her eyes. The train rushed on till it reached the well-lit terminus,;"/'Then Isobel rose and began to take' dowii her belongings from the rack, biit > quite a minute elapsed before Felicity realised that she had reached her destination. Isobel got out very slowly, and stood by the carriage window. "Good-bye, Felicity," she said wry sweetly. "Kemember that you would have the whole truth. If I were you I would make it up with Mark. What is done cannot be. undone. Your secret is quite safe with me,' and mo one shall ever know why and how hemarried. you. Neither he nor T played a very reputable part in the affair, but our great love must be our excuse." Felicity looked up vacantly. It occurred to Isobel that it might be as well to look about for tor maid, but she dismissed the thought from he/ mind. , ''lf Ido not want Sir Edwin to know that I went to Southampton I must notconoern myself any more with Felicity," she said to herself. "When the girl finds that she does not come she will disturb herself and come and look for 'her. Anyhow, it as not my. business." She nad craved for revenge and had got it. She was satisfied., ■ .

CHAPTER "XXI

FdicityV, maid saw Isobel and she mad** a .note of her presence there. "So «!he has .been , to Southampton, too,' 'she said to herself. "It is not right of the master." Seeingthat h?r mistress did not appear, she went toward the train, and searched every carriage until she came actoss her. She was shocia-d at the change in 'Felicity, and tried ro infuse some life into 'her . •'Madam should endeavour to bo.vr up," she said. "I am sure Mr Leighton would not like to see you'so downhearted.., Miss Hewett looks quite.as usual, and I suppose she weiiu -town 10 Southampton too. ' "Marie," said 'her mistress, and the maid was a little frightened at her tone, "what do you mean by that?" "I meant nothing," stammered the girl. Felicity looked iat her steadily, but said no more. •■■•■■ So the very servants knew. What a humiliation! Now that she could look back upon the past, Felicity held the key to many little details, all bearing upon Mark's duplicity. She remembered the trouble that Mark had experienced in writing a love-letter to lier, his many silences, 'his avoidance of talking of what would happen in the future. Yes, every word Isobel j had sadd was undoubtedly true. In the 'immensity of her.despair she forgot that Mark had been increasing- ■■ ly loving to her. The one thought that possed her was that that the husband, who had always been to her,what the incarnation of a chivalrous ■gentleman ought to bo, had lent himself to a vile plot. It almost maddened her. That he had behaved so dishonorably for love of Isobel made,his conduct .seem even more heartless to her. On the way to her own room she passed the .study, so haunting with its associations, and! dt seemed to her that there must ,be two Marks—the one who had married her looking forward to her death; the other, the tender, loving Mark, who had told her that it was almost-like the bitterness of death to part from her! V And it wia® the second Mark Whoso absence pained her. She felt so ill that she thought there was a prospect, of lier fulfilling the specialist's predicl'ion. Then Mark would have his

'.vish. Yc(, R Jio rebelled against it . J 'J. will not die," .she said to -herself. "He sulci Tsohcl &hall not work their wicked will 'en mo—they shall not make inorrv over their credulous lit—tlo victim." for dinner. She was determined to for dinner. She was deermined to keep lip her strength. '"i rtill get someone, to come from • Ettringkim and live with nie,-"''" .«lie said to herself. "We will go out and— " and—enjoy ourselves. It will prevent mo from thinking, from dwelling on my misery. I will live!" But it was dreary work, and the night that followed was more dreary still. Toward morning, quite exhausted, she slept. The next day she lacked the energy 'to get up. On the third day she received a note from Mark, who had written it. on board the 'Morella.' The sight of* his handwriting roused her. She opened it hastily, her old lovie for Mark being uppermost. It seemed as though''' -ages had passed since she had last seen him. She felt his kisses on her lips still —those kisses that meant nothing. 1 And when she read the letter the tears ran down her cheeks. It was a pure love letter —the letter a man writes to the wife who is everything to him. It was a letter full of tenderness, and yet it was written by the man who had written that note to bell "Always he your lover, MARK." She rose and dressed herself. Then she went downstairs and busied herself about the house. The letter spurred her to action. Her reflection in the glass told her that she was looking wretchedly ill, but she was certainly not dying. ' She decided to write a last letter to Mark. - "I will just tell him in a few lines that I 'have seen Isobel and shall prefer not to hear from him again. When he returns from Africa we shall meet face to try to think "-of' something to do with my wretched life.'"' !"I will not trouble you for a long letter," she wrote. "I have seen Isobel and she has told me everything. I need not tell you that she gave me the proofs of what she said, and that 1 was forced to believe her. The conclusion I have come to is to waiti till I can let you know my intentions in regard to the future. You might hare had pity cm a poor girl who was left alone in your charge. Ido not write to complain, but I shall never live again with you as your wife. You who know quite well what you have been to me, must realise what is costs me to write this. FELICITY." < (To be Continued.)