Fotheringay's Son.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10713, 29 November 1912, Page 2

Fotheringay's Son.

OU8? SERIAL.)

CHAPTER I (Continued.)

To say that ho dazzled her was not to ,<-, ay too much. Virginia had had it season in JXiblin and' had enjoyed many easily won triumphs. She had not regarded thorn, for Virginia differed from hor father and mother; many of the good things of the world had an attraction for her. But wJu she. looked at Anthony Fothoringcty ehe found herself in the company of J handsome man, and she lost her head a little. And when she looked at him it was all over with the brilliant guardsman. Suddenly ho felt himself ven' insigiiiiieeet, very very humble, and of no '.count libido the beautiful Virginia.

It seemed to him that only to look at her was a privilege which ought to bo accorded to very few. He went homo that day, after having been cordially welcomed by the Raybums, feeling a different man.

He could not understand his emotions at all when he wa-s away from her. Virginia had como into his heart to stay—that was the heginnig and end of it. To no one but Arthur Damian could he speak of her, and the •honest fellow felt a parig- when: he heard the first confession of .love for;. woman that fell from Tony's lips. Ho had so loved those words of Tony which were: "But they mean not}'-, ing to me. old man, nothing at all."* And now Damian knew that he must give up the first place ill Tony's n | fections. He must stand by and let j a woman take his place, and for ■ j little time it hurt him keenly. He j knew that Tony would dash at love in I tho same way that he would dash, at | everything. Nothing would content him but the one object of,his desire; j nothing would matter to him.as;long as he had her. And it made it alt the worse-that he had never cared j for any woman before. For Damian j was not deceived; he knew, however, irresponsible, however reckless ■ Tony . might be, this love.of his was rooting! itself in his heart.

Like the good fellow he was, Damian troubled himself with futile wondering as to how the young couple, whe seemed made for each other were to live —a question which, by tho way, never troubled Tony at all. When Tony spoke to him by the' hour of Virginia's beauty and his love, Damian would only in the very remotest manner make suggestions as to the wherewithal that was so much in the background of this consuming love, and Tony would, only laugh and say:' "God old boy. why, wo shall ,rub along as T have always rubbed along! There is my five hundred a year, you know, and my pay . A man cannot starve on that."

"But you owe hundreds-—thous-ands!"

"Oh, don't worry about that! After all, we have some connections. Arthur, you incorrigible dog, if you talk about money bags when I honor you "by mentioning her name to you I shall never speak to you again." I "You could not keep silent about. I hor," said the other. "You must have a vent, you know that, Tony."

Anthony laughed. 'lf you knew what life means to me now l". If., you could only guess the 7>est and the keeness there is for everything! You simply can't understand, Arthur! I had no idea that love was like this. Why, it makes one's, everyday, commonplace life a would not do, there is nothing 1 could ! what it means to play p-010 and to fee! ! her looking at you ? Heavens, her 'oyes spur you«on! There is nothing I sort of continual glory! Bo you know not do while her eyes are on me!" Arthur Rinnan would not have loved Tony as he did if there had not been the feeling of romance in him. There was something of the knight of romance hidden under the homely exterior—he hated himself for what he called his sordid thoughts, and his friend's carelessness of mundane things in the throes of his; passion appealed to him on the. one side, although it frightened him on the other. When Tony spoke as he spoke just now Arthur could fancy him standing oiit head and shoulders above his fellow men in achievement as well as in attractiveness. "T understand," ho said, his fac glowing. "With.' fasr to encourage you,, you feel the world at your feet." j "And all to lay at hers!" exclaimed Anthony.

'They aro simply colossal " Damian muttered to himself, on 'his way home. "There i» nothing to cqu." them anywhere I They aro made for each other. But -how can it be done —how?"

Then there camo the feeling thai to Anthony- Fofcheringay nothing was really impossible. As he loved Virginia Rayburn, some mea.ns would be found to bring about a -marriage with "her. It was not to be thought of that

BY ALAN AD4IR Author of "An Island Princess," "A Marriage of Folicity " Etc.

(To be Continued.)

a great passion like this.should liavo no definite ending.

And so it came to pass that Anthony Fotheringay and Virginia Rayburn wo-ro sitting onsconced in their roso-decked nook in the hall of tho Firmains' house. They had had cue perfect dance together, and so well were they matched, and no exquisite was the manner of their dancing, that even in a London ballroom men and women stood by arid watched. Fotheringay, at his handsomest in tho scarlet and gold of his uniform'—an it was always his uniform that became him best —danced with a 'perfect easy motion that made ovorytni' he did interesting. Virginia, in her gown of rose-colored silk, danced with wonderful grace. She wore no jewels —indeed, she had none —but a deep-red rose lay among tho fragrant coils of her rich brown hair. No one but a beauty could have worn her dress.

j Lord and Lady Rayburn stood by watching the matchlass pair with tho deepest satisfaction, just as if Tony had been heir to thousands a year instead of a, poor captain in the guards whose debts represented his only capital. They had been good to look at . themselves when they had married, and they had delighted in each other.. When Tony should come to ask Virginia's hand, from her parents, they [would in all probability say "yes" with a light heart. True, they had brought Virginia to London so that Lho should marry well, but they had j fallen victims to Tony. They were j both of them mere children who play>ed at having a daughter to marry. Lady Rayburn, who would neve? look 'old any more than she could feel old, and her husband, were equally unfit to pos6ess;va beautiful marriageable f daughter.' And "if Virginia had not • possessed just a little grain of com- ' raon sense was well out of sight and ..hidden; away, and she. was, under the domination- of the man whose only hope of salvation lay in the possibility of his marrying an heiress.

Let it, bo «aid to his credit, however, that Tony, for several reasons, had never for one moment thought of doing such a thing. He had too great an ideal of love to debase it by a mercenary marriage. Furthor, he iiad never really faced the situation, and was therefore more or less ignorant of the real state of his affairs. But to-night at the Firmians' he know that he had reached to the end of his tether —he knew that he could not go on any longer without making sure of Virginia, He felt jealous whenever another man had his arms arlound her. She was his—must be his! !He must not lose another hour. With these thoughts in his mind he swept her away at the end of their waltz to that rose-embowered retreat which seemed to him a fitting 1 place in which to declare his love.

CAUSED MOTHER SLEEPLESS NIGHTS. "Chamberlain's Cough Remedy completely cured my children of a dreadful chronic cough which caused me many sleepless nights. I called in the physician but they did not improve with the medicine he prescribed," says Mrs J; Woods of Duku, N.Z. "My sister-in-law advised me to get Chamberlain's Cough Remedy, and after the first few doses I could see that they were getting groat relief , and were soon completely cured."