"Mrs Lorrimer's Folly."

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 12 June 1913, Page 2

"Mrs Lorrimer's Folly."

(OUR|SERiAL

By Charlotte M. Sianiey. Author of "Edna's Vow," "His C ountiy Cousin," "How an Oath Was Kept," "A Wo man Wrouged."

CHAPTER XXVl.—Continued

! John Brown vaulted over the paling and disappeared among the trees, peering out at the house from their shadow. Ho was at the back, and though it wag partially dark, there were as yet no lights in the windows. Ho looked at them curiously, eagerly. Oh, that a woll-known, well-loved face would look out for a moment from one of them! But he saw no one. One room, with large French windows giving out upon a lawn, appeared to have been recently occupied, for tho windows stood open, and half in the room and half out of it was lying a white wool shawl,;* as if someone had dropped it in passing through. Hia eyes rested upon that for a few moments, and then roved over the house again. Suddenly he heard a sound—something between a gasp and a faint cry —that startled and thrilled him. A voice—oh, that voice! —cried out: "My God! am I going mad?" and then he turned toward the sound, and his eyes met Lillian's. She was standing in the open window, tali and spiritual looking, in her long, white rol>.e, and with her hands , pressed to her throbbing temples. ; As their eyes, met, - whatever doubt had still lingered in her mind vanished, for she threw up her hands and uttered a wild, piercing scream. Next minute he saw her fall, fainting, upon the floor. l He sprang forward. The first uncontrollable impulse of his soul was to rush to her assistance. Too late; others were there before him. He saw lights brought hurriedly into the. room, and heard voices. Then two women-nher servants, evidently —came forward and raised her from the ground. Next instant the little girl he had seen on the beach was there, clinging to her, and crying wildly: "Mamma—maimua! What has happened? Oh, dear mamma—oh, dear mail ma I"

At the sight he turned and retraced his steps, stealing quietly back into the road again. "I am not wanted there!" he muttered bitterly. "Her daughter stands between us." And ho went, on his way toward Saville'h Hotel, through the gathering darkness, heartsick and sorrowful.

CHAPTER XXVII

Bertha sat in her own room all j alone. , It' was after eight f and supper was over, and the hotel'| had settled down into evening quiet- I ness. Dick when not absent J from 'home, was always in the office at thi g hour, and up to ten o'clock, and Bertha had whispered to Will that her head ached sadly, and she wanted to have a quiet quarter-hour or so alone. So the boy.was in the office, also, and she had \\ei- way, and no one came near her or intruded on her. ..I. -..-'. VFor a while,, at.least, she sat in her rocking chair, swinging to-and fro a«d deeply musing. Lillian,*-and the subject of their talk that afternoon, was in her thoughts. * What to do, what to do for the best Tha.. was i tho question. There, had hnni iif ehnr.cp yet '••> 'discuss tho .matter with Dirk: t'i lrV < him that their-adopted child was heir to a'splendid-fortune. On any oth"r occasion her impatience would scarcely have waited for the office business; she would have called 'him to their private room at once, and poured into Ins ear the astounding, news ; bat c-i this occasion it was a peculiar and an especial one; for, to their bewilderment, .ilieil' house had for. a guest that evening. Sir Gilbert Holme! The circumstance udded. greatly to J Bertha's uneasiness. "Keep the boy i out of the way, mv dear; don't Tot { him talk .to him," had been her hur- ' ried caution to Dick; for Sir Gilbert showed no inclination to confine him-1 self to tho room that had been allotted him, but sat smoking and chatting pleasantly in the office. j Such an affable, plausible, goadnntured creature as he seemed, too!" j Honest Dick Saville would have been, q'uito taken in, had not a few words of Bertha's previously prepared and warned him. He accounted in tho \ simplest and most natural manner ; possible, fur iris presence at the hoU-i \ that night. "My wife,. Lady Holme, has a residence close by, as you know, but she has visitors —visitors with' whem I'm not. upon quite friendly tarnis, a"d whom I prefer not to meet. Thos.? family differences cannot always bv avoided, you know, Mr SariUc. Lady Holme suggested ihy coming here. Relations of hers, are you not? ' 1 am really* quite delighted to meet you." Tho delight appeared to bo all on his own , 6 ide, however, for Dick Saville's manner was uneasy and constrained, and Will —without any caution or hint from his adopted father —openly snubbed the baronet's advances. But Sir Gilbert was too thorough a man of the world to notice this, and went on chatting pleasantly. > j The boy watched him and listened to him with a dislike and distrust for which be would have found it difficult to find a rea-son —a reason which s hould have seemed satisfactory to an unprejudiced person, that is to say—for Will knew well enough in this heart why he disliked him. It was simply and solely because ho knew him to be the husband of Lady Holme. For Will—told plainly that the shipwrecked tailor, so long thought dead, was his own father, Fred Lorrimer, and knowing, therefore, that the wife of that sailor, who had mar-

, ried a wealthy husband, must needs I bo his own mother —had begun to put certain incidents and circumstances ! together, and arrived at something ! very like tho truth. Why had Lady Holme cried out at sight of him: "Can .the sea give up tho dead?" Why did shelook at him so sadly and embrace him ho tenderly? Putting these questions to Bertha, she 'had the answer ready for him tliat Lady Holme was related to the family anci interested in its vicissitudes, and had known Fred Lorrimer many years ago. Questioning her still further, concerning his real mother, she had answered that this was a subject to bo discussed with his father alone. Rebuffed thus in his efforts to pierce "this mystery, he had fallen back upon his own instincts and observations — and these had gone very far toward convincing him that his real mother was no other than Lady Holme 1 So ho looked upon the baronet with intense dislike as the wronger—whether consciously or not—of his unhappy father. As to supposing that Lillian must have been in any way to blame, the idea —now that he had seen and known her —never once occurred to him. He looked upon her as something so beautiful and gentle and sweet as to be "only a little lower than tlia angels," and if any one had suggested to him that blame could attach to her he would have scouted the idea with indignation. No; Sir Gilbert was the serpent who had stolen into his parents' Eden of love, and poisonous trail, on all the flowers! Meantime, while Will bent sullenly over a book and Dick Saville evaded as best he could the baronet's courteous and skilful attempts to "pump him" upon family subjects, Bertha still sat in her private room, alone, and full of thought. The evening was sultry and close, and there were occasional doep mutterings of thunder in the distance tliat boded a comi>ur r,ffi-m ; the light fmin- her room streamed out acros s tho road like a beacon flame fmm the open door. Sho looked put, up and down the road for a 'Tinmen t. and then came back to her dliair and her thoughts again. "What to do for the best?" The question worried her as much as ever. If Fred came hack to decide it, as Dick contended, all would be well, of course—or, at least, the responsibility would re-' uj>on the proper shoulders; But sutwosino' that Fred, in lite avoidanco of his wife, should not come liack —'how then? (To be Continued.)