Fotheringay's Son.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10713, 20 December 1912, Page 2

Fotheringay's Son.

'OUP SERIAL.)

BY ALAN ADAIR

■CHAPTEII X. (Continued.) .'•How did you escape death;-" she r.sked. , . t "TV ship went down, and thro* ot trs ■soiled a small boat. H was all ti.- s --is Ht The others had made off with tin- large boats and were .swamped, I «S.-.ii(> lifiv« onrcred the bay salely " .said, Adelaide, "but a good many v'-li-s have hem washed ashore.'' "Exact! v. The two men with me have probablv been drowned. One " Ty .«;inr ba"k to save his wde and fWv" T. vim have no one, struck ~'..♦■.. ard made ,rv wav to the shore. Tjfo- ft, --ems has charm* even tor tV ', |V-Wn f had not thought of „„..., ir ,tn T \,-s aetnaTlv in the water, hurled onto a reef, where *h" b-at brnlce . T' happened to tall ;„ ,ln,.p«,- water than my-companions, n]1( l. ra ,u;{. hnviu"- my skull hat- , j' i . -,-, ..,,."1 ;.'«nihoi-<-.fl to the i.... „■!,,■,»- —l! m'-vt ]i"ve found me. - .•....,.' ..„„, !.«■■ tint. T had touched kt. '>' "•!•- to whom von '.i I - '--. •-~ -"it"'' - ' .:>-., •• ..-i'l '-'- ■< """. """■ T ,r:„ „„i „.>. i,,-.„ r--r"" ic: "-'ieivf"dv. but said. T),n rn"" 1 Tn - "•"•'"' Adel„m, , n „ «v.~ ,w*i v sundrv ,i P ,,.,, i, ,r n ..0 +i,o {*„•.<«. t""V the beli „ „'„/t i,lri V tho '■-i-p.oHorin'H wood" ;„* - 11.^. i,„„ 0 *i - ° ..:,.i- .:„„,., ±™ iriv-t- "--. Tto eall <<T ....... A.V.I,„M„ CS-,-,""'V +IIP <ui IP . daughter of the farmer In whoV« von «"•«•.■■ What name opii we call von Ivy?" , Tl"> ,"n,i difl net ntiwcr «t once; dno- his shnrn chin into the laven-der-scented sheets. ~ ..,-„., MI!VV ( ~Hm, John Lavender.

1,,. niM ;. <<Tnh"'J" she sueried. ' He was not lil.-A ", John.. ■" • - , "Tae 1 --. if you like." Tip nnswerea. ■in-.,.. t;,,.i. m,ib' me hotter." <m .i,.„c ;> " s lie .n"veed. "Can you ri..i.,T.T rr,u- vpi, livotli; T think you „o t ' hvpakfast to-day." _ Tl .„ f .„. -, v n« interested in hi? rr„es+ TTo eonld not out the his onllin"-. Tt was only ...1, 0 " ir- lip'l him stand erect i.n thnnoht of the army. _ «G"es<! von have heen a soldier? hj., said,' looking at him with admira"Yon've guessed aright," said JacK T/n-^nder. "Got i •^"■sio' 1 ?" asked Mr Sym„.„.U, n l "+- , - ; v- the gray streaks in hi« rmost.'.o hai' 4 . n vT!-"-'V- vvi f h a <rrin. uYo-i —«x-r> "M '- service lonP

."That, is r>->." «v.miV« + -h« i.uild «*f «■ cavalry ni.!i" " «ai J John Symonds. "T ean ride a horse with >any man," renlied the other. Tf +ook him' some little time to get nn his .* hnd it was ten days | v ,c-i..f>'l,f> fist—d fn<- a pen and' mh. "T simm»o T o-ip-l't. +i le!-. sorpf V„„„. thaf T am alive," he s\n'd to Mr 'Symonds. "f thought you had no helongirgs," ."No, T am writing to the lawyers. The- m.nv inst n« v»ll let me have in- hit of money. T sha'n't try to go :ih—a-d again." "TVre is no eall for you to move frrm here," John Symonds. replied. T like tn see you smoking your pipe in the chimney corner." Tt was quite true. Jack Lavender sopmod +o have the faculty of jnpfrimr affection. The old farmer, ed to fee him with his handsome head thrown hack against the hack of the •settle-find his long legs . stretched, (rut—just :n la/A" good-for-n'othinsr creature with no idea of work. Tf he had heen any one else, the old man would ha-e frrmnbled at him every minute'of the dav; hut handsome Jack Lavender "-as different from other men. and the farmer liked to see him there when he came in from a dav's work.

Days passed by, and Jack Lavender had had no reply from the lawyers ; yet he tlid not move from the farm.' The' only person who tlid 1 not get more friendly with him was John, the son. There was no doubt that he, was jealous. Ho now only made furtive visits and he did not like any mention made of his courting. It was he who finally suggested to his father that Lavender had been at the farm long enough. "He has been here four .weeks, ' f doing nothing but eat his head off. If the mail mill not work, he oughl uoii.l<i eat." "T don't grudge liim the bite he has," said the old farmer. He had been out with his guest for .a day's "rabbiting," and was still aglow with enthusiasm at the 'man's*' skill in shooting. John Lavender had started out in excellent spirits, and they had had some'two hours' capital sport when the old man had remarked admiringly* , , . ; 'This is not the first day's shooting you have had?"

Author of "An island Princess," "A Marriage of Felicity" Etc.

"No," John Lavender had replied slowly. A- «trange look had come over his face-, and the old man had noticed : t. "What's wrong?" ho had asked. "Nothing—only it occurs to me that the best day's shooting that I could d:> would be to put a bullet through myself!" . .lack Lavender ■ had said, arid then gone, on "potting" | at the rabbits. I They had walked down as far as the i village together, when they parted. ! Lavender entered a tobacconist's shap and John Symonds proceeded home. The farmer was detailing his guest's skill when Jolin the younger made the [ remark already stated. | Adelaide, had her back toward | tliom. Neither her brother nor her father noticed her, yet Symonds, the ! esldor. knew that Adelaide felt a tenI derncss for the young man. Strangely enough, it had been a secret from him from the very first day when he had told Adelaide that ho would not allow her to sit up with 'the sick man. He had known what it was that the girl felt. Of course he, had no idea of the depth of -Aw feeling. "There's been same kind of pother," old Symonds would say to himself. "Nothing disgraceful, of course but just enough to upset him." John, the son, grunted. WJien his father had said, "T don't grudge him the bitp he has," he knew that Jack Lavender might stay at the farm as long as he choose, that his. father liked hirii. there, and it made him feel bitter in the extreme. "He does not care for his own fleili and Wood as he does for the strangei'!" ha muttered to himself.

The door opened, and the stranger entered. Tho old man looked up. "Come and sit by the fire } Lavender," he said. "You look cold." "Thank you!" Jack replied. Adeljaide stepped back to let Lavender ! pass. She saw that he wa,s in a ,bad mood, and her face changed. John Symonds, the younger, noticed the look she gave Lavender. "They are all fai "ina/ed with him !'' he muttered, and left the room-ab-ruptly. CHAPTER XT. Lavender sat in the chimney corner smoking his pipe. Ho did not'sr.y a word. The man was sick with longing. The vivid contrast between his past and present life had come to him that afternoon a-s he was with the farmer "potting" rabbits. The longing for the woman whom he had pof> sionately loved and who had jilted him, was well-nigh unbearable. Ho was conscious of the eomnav sionate glances of the fanner, nnd the tender pity of Adelaide. He knew that Adelaide loved him. Ho was used to women and men loving, him. iThere had only heen one'who had not loved him enough, "and who had sent | him to his? ruin. * art the sad part o/ I it was that he loved her still with i love that nothing could quench.: He I craved for her with all the passion of a strong, disciplined, ardent nature. Life was narrowed down to one woman and one woman only, and .she was the wife of another! For the present he thought only of his 1oe»s of her. If he had thought of another man's possession of her he would not have been able to hear it. The fact had never come home to hirb. ' For one reason he had know--, quite well that she did not love her husband, and, therefore, in a .wayshe was his still. (To he Continued.)