Fotheringay's Son.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10713, 18 January 1913, Page 2

Fotheringay's Son.

(01)2 SER'AL

f.i.Vi'T K!\ XXVI. (Continued.) Ai thu n:;r, i:-sit they were j"hud •• > : aicl. in a brotherly "wilY dollM Villi always WOai' '"'.V.vs'vv-' she rs';r;l. "Do you like ■ V iis!"-":" !.y,, . | You look like a great j., jt; —it becomes you. l'am ' ol ' ■'' :l '' , { ' • '"ail I f tl:> not want to .- J M ' ' i'lV'doU 1:10. you are lr „ "Are they all going lml! lor tea. Sylvia.' L they do T will make my escape ; yon will have, to go in." . "Yes." she said ruefully. T wish T were von. Mortimer." He laughed, raised his hat. linked his arm within Donald'-, and strolled awnv. Sylvia turned to go into the house and almost ran against Lady Wilmington. _ "You are a. woman. Sylvia, the latter said gravely, "not a httle girl any longer. Your mother must brine ynii out early next season—you will like that." . , , . "f suppose'T shall enjoy it, out i like ouiet." . •■You won't have that,"'said the older ladv. "You will have a great su-cess, 'and you will enjoy it immensely. Then'ynu will marry early." "! do not mean to marry. "You will have to marry." said Lady Wilmington emphatically. "Your mother will find a suitable match I'nr you. Women of our position cannot please themselves as if

t)i:»v were- dairymaids." . '' The,- had reached the hall, which wa% full of ne'sple. Sylvia went to a table and began potiling out tea, and Lady Wilmington made her way to where the governess was serving. - <>,\fy dear Miss- Mor.se," she_ said. "1 am, delighted to see you.again! 1 think it was high time Lady Glazebrook returned." "Whv do you say that?" Miss Mo>'se was ln.thing if not emit? exact. "Simply because i thinly Lady Glazebrooks made a mistake. "Tn what way?" "In letting a man as handsome as Adonis come down to Gla/ebrook. "Of whenn are you speaking . J " "Why, of Mr Lavender, of course!" Miss Morse smiled. "Miss Glazebrook has never met Mr Lavender except in the preserve of her brother and myself," idie said. "[ dare say he admires Sylvia vow much —vou could not look at her and not admire her—but she has no leelI iug for him. You know, they have f uot very deep aftections. as a family. | <o you need not trouble yourself about I that."

"1T..,v do ye know she has no ! hoiityll{s about him ' "She never Miows any desire to see him and verv .-ohhm speaks to him. We have ier- ,: c ''very evening, and there is nra'ficaliy )'o conversation. (Mi, re., she is not that ><>r': of <_drl — :ile' is too eeihhious! Tam no!; al-inn-

i\'J. Ar t-ho same time. as you well lii'li.f.n'o, T have kept a very careful watdi." •• I : !•■' you may riu'lit ." Jl:11 IVi- all that Lady Wilmington ivn•; tint sati'-iied. Dinner vvas ;.ot to he lnitil half nasi eight. and Lady Wilmington sought - her friend. "!)urd." .-aid, "what made you send a handsome young m-nri like Mr Lavender down to G lazebreok ? I :un 11't• Sylvia interested in him.''

"Nonsense!" said Lady Glazebrorik, lather sharply. "T do not believe it. The thing is ridiculous. Besides. T do not think it would matter if she were interested in him. Tt is better to get that thing over before marriage than after. You know the man whom Sylvia will marry. ITer father •-•poke of it while she was a child." "Oil, everybody knows that! 1 was not thinking of marriage," said Lady Wilmington. "But T don't think* it advisable that she" should in the meantime lose her heart to her brother's tutor." "Oh. it won't do her any harm!" cried her ladyship gayly. "Look at me-—r am suopescd to be very much in love myself. These things add an interest to life."

"Hut if it- were more than a passing fancy?" "My dear Clara, it can't be! She is not eighteen, and she is a Glazebrook. The young man would not dare to breathe a word of love to her. He looks quite a well-conducted young man, and Sylvia can't do it all by herself. He must encourage her a little."

"How do you know he will not? What makes you consider liim such a paragon? What <io you know about l)im ?" "My Ijrotlicr-in-law interviewed him for'me, and the head of the school he was in spoke very highly of liim. Besides, ho is a more nobody. JTo would not tlaro!"

"Don't you think a mere nobody would be less likely to appreciate the gulf that .separates him from Sylvia than one of her own social standing would bo?"

BY ALLAN AO AIR Author sf "An island Princess," "A Marriage of FelloIt "*

"liie speak to her?"

"()!i, ye-, she held out her hand to him on tiie terrace! She ni;n! "> straight for him as he stood then l among all the olner men. They iaugh"d and talked as if they wore oil i ,'i ins of familiarity, and Ghi/.cbrook c'ciiirtl to take it as a matter of cours "If I were a fti'-sy mother I should fee! a hi tie disturbed at what you say, 1)ui lam not fussy. Still, I must maks Sylvia understand that her brother's tutor is a little bit above the butler, and not quite .so valuable as my chauffeur, who is a perfect dear! I think that will be the best plan. You see. if f were t<> talk to Sylvia, it would he like admitting the possibility of her being interested in him, and 1 do not care to admit that." v "ft is not too late to #r.ivo that girl a heartache, anyhow." thought Lady Wilmington. "But most of us have had heartaches in our time, and 1 do not know that we are much the w:<rso for them." CHAPTER XXVII. "T am sure, Sylvia, your dresses will need a little rearranging," said Lady Glazebrook ; "they look so childish, and. I shall be accused of being •>, a mother who keeps back her daughter in order that she herself may seem younger. I shall have to send Madame Louisa for some gowns for you." So, for the first time, Sylvia appear- j ed in a real evening dress. She. met Donald in the corridor on her way to the dining room'. He stared at her, and she dropped him a low curtsy. "Don't you know me;'' .she asked, in her sweet, teasing voice. "I have grown up since this afternoon —J am a young woman now!" "You have changed," he said. Men speak as it you regretted it." thought it impossible that the:*.:could be any improvement," ho -aid, "But vcu must confess there is'r" she said quickly. "I am very glad, for, although 1' may look changed, \ am not really. lam the same as ever to my friends." "Am .1 counted among them?" he asked, in a low tone. "No, ' she said gently, "you stand alone; you are not •'among' the others." "11 that is so—■ —" he began. The swish of ii silk gown put end to tiie conversation. Ladv Glazebrook suddenly appeared on the scene. She, looked at her daughter critically. "\ cry liice, dear, but a little, too flushed; yet that is only natural at your age. Comedown with me." She took no notice of Donald, who knew intuitively that ■-die had meant to v.ntb him. At first he felt inclined in go back to his own rooms and dine aio;;e. Hut, aiier a moment's hodtatm'i, be made his way (low nstairs. Me ■«v::in ed to see Sylvia again. (To be Continued.)