The Storgteller. UNDER A STRANGE MASK.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 318, 23 July 1898, Page 1 (Supplement)

The Storgteller. UNDER A STRANGE MASK.

BY FRAINK BARRETT. CHAPTER IV. —IMITtESSIOXS. When I was gone my little friend sat down and had 'a good think,' she tells me, and feeling very much more cheerful and happy for my visit, she is pleased to add. The real cause of her exhilaration was the new appeal to her heart; the new call upon her energy and faculties in behalf of the poor starving creatures on the Redlands estate. It was just what she wanted, said she to herself ; it took her out of herself, and gave her something more deserving of solicitude than her own petty grievances. With so much to do, such serious questions to consider, it was really fortunate that she was alone at the Court and had no summer friends to entertain. How strangely our lives are guided into unlooked for channels — always the most unlikely things happening? Often and often she \ had built up romantic day-dreams about that Redlands estate—being still of an age to foster pleasant illusions—settling what she would do with it, if it were only hers, to reclaim it as her father had reclaimed Soecliff, covering the barren land with plenty, and rescuing the unhappy dwellers on it from misery and the prison and the workhouse, to set them up happily in decent home?. Cut sh* had never thought that the dream might be realised, because it was a dream. And now it really was to be, she might consider the estate already hers, for that application to her grandfather for permission was a rrere form. As soon as his answer came she must begin work—not a day, not an hour, must be lost; the answer would arrive on Monday morning, and she must have her plans ready and in order to begin.' This reflection bringing Miss Syl vester to practical consideration of an immediate kind, she carried her lamp into the library, and set herself to read up all the information she could get upon certain subjects of primary importance in the undertaking. And here sac this excellent young woman in the stillness and silence of a lonely country house, when the last servant had gone to bed, surrounded by heavy encyclopaedia and technical works, reading steadily on, with a pencd in her hand and a note book by her side, long after the hour when most young ladies would have laid aside the most enthralling romance to seek repose. At length it occurred to her that there was still something to be done in the church before service began next morning; then she lit her candle and went up the broad dark staircase and into her own great ghostly bedroom, and soon afterwards laid herself clown to sleep, and, I warrant, dreamt of nothing more frivolous than lime-burning, ensilage, and matters of that kind, It looked damp and raw when she peeped out of her window the next morning, so she put on her old stuff dress to go into the church, for no one would be about at that hour. There having arranged the fresh-cut flowers she had brought from the conservatory, and taken a glance round to see that everything was as nice as she could'wish it, she seated herself before the harmonium to try over the hyms that had been selected for the day. About this time Lord Kedlands came down from his room at the inn, glanced through the open door at the murky day, and, looking at his watch, said to himself—- ' Detestable morning. Half-past eight. Nothing to see from the pier. Breakfast won't be ready for half an hour. There are monuments in the church that I ought to see, I suppose ; though if my poor old ancestors have crumbled away with their fortunes, it will not be a cheerful spectacle. ' I'll go and have a look at them ; there'll be nobody there at this hour.' I He put on his hat and strode off to the church, up the hill, and by the road that skirted the park—the first lord of Redlands, perhaps, that had found himself walking of necessity on the outside of that park. He came to the church door and found it fastened, it had not struck him before that, no one being there, this would probably be the case. ' No place for me even in the chnrch,' thought he; 'I must go back again.' Just then his ear caught the sound of the harmonium within. 'Someone in there. 'lf it's only an organist, 1 don't mind. One of th<jj*doors must be open; which 1 walked round the church There was a key in the little door of the tower; he lifted the latch and walked in. Everything that Miss Sylvester undertook she did thoroughly and earnestly; this simple hymn was as serious a business to her as a chorus of Handel ; bending over the closely-printed book, and softly hamming the melody to the accompaniment she played, she took no notice of the door being tried, and aaw nothing of Lord Kedlands |

until he was almost before her, as he walked slowly down the nave, with his hat in his hand behind him. She knew who it was at once ; he was just as she had pictured him in her imagination; he was too good-looking to be anybody else.

It took her breath away with surprise to see him there, and she ceased to hum the hymn; at the same time, her fingers, paralysed for the moment, rested on a horrid squeaky note that whistled out shrilly as if purposely to attract the visitor's attention—the very last thing in the world she could have wished just then, for she was conscious that her nose was red, and that she must look a terrible little guy. Indeed it required all Bedlands self-command to repress a smile as, assailed by that sustained flute note' he turned and saw a long, thin, little face, with wideopen eyes, looking in astonish mont at over the harmonium from under the brim of that old Yoko hama hat, that seemed to bury her little head, and looked like nothing but an enormous extinguisher. •If I disturb you—'Badlands began, with a slight bow. 1 Oh, not in the least,' she hurried to say. ' Pray take no notice of me.' Discovering that she had still her finger on that abominable note, she creased her brows in anger at her own stupidity and blushed to think what an awkward little fool he must consider her. Then bending over her music, so that he could sec nothing but her hat, she set herself to go on with her work like a rational being, and as if the visitor were no more than the pew-opener or any one else. It Avas a simple air she was trying over, but she had to screw her attention to it, all the same ; after going through it twice, she felt she could play it over and over again mechanically without looking at her notes ; then she permitted herteyes to stray down the chancel. The young man was looking at the beautifully-carved stalls; he passed on, looked up, and then paused. A tablet on the wall recorded how his great grandfather feel as the siege ef B.ulajoz in 1812 mourned by his family, regretted by his King, and honoured by his country. A little further on he paused again, Co read the glowing enlogy in redundant Latin upon a still earlier ' Badlands —figured above with a high front and a flowing wig—who, respected alike from his public services as a just and learned judge, and his domestic virtues as a benevolent friend to the poor and a most loving parent died in 17G0. Another step brought him to the memorial of another Redlands, who admired in the field of literature as an elegant writer and astute his torian, and beloved by all who " enjoyed his.patronage " and shared his affection, died in 1701. Then he came to the monument where his Elizabethan ancestor is represented in life-size effigy, his four sons knepling behind him, ficing his wife <md her three daughters, to read how Sir Geoffrey Salbot, Knight of Badlands, after sailing with Drake in his memorable voyage abont the world, and furnishing two ships to meet the Spanish enemy (himself fighting them, to his own honour and the glory of his mistress the Queen), died full of years peacefully at Redlands Court in 1599. A ray of light from the window beyond fell on the' young man's face, seeming to reliect upon him some of the glory of that ancestor. He could not look upon that monument without exultant pride to think he came of such a stock ; it must have made the blood tingle in his veins and his heart beat faster tossa how, generation after generation, the Talbots of Kedlands had lived and died bravely as well, so thought Marian, and she thought she saw in his sunlit face that joy and pride with which her own heart leapt in generous sympathy. 1 Oh, if I were only a man,' thought this enthusiastic little lady, ' now I would go up to him and shako hands with him. ' But she was only a young woman, and so, as he turned about, she had to drop her eyes. Still playing the same air over and over again, she kept her eyes down until she felt he was near her; then she looked up—not thinking of herself now and what a queer littie fright she looked in that old hat, but anxious to exchange one look with the young man in whom she had taken such deep interest. He was quite close ; but he passed by, taking no notice of her whatever. The sunlight was no longer on his face, and all its happiness and exulting pride was gone. He looked straight before him, seeing nothing, probably hearing nothing. Marian was quite out of the range of his thoughts, or ho would certainly not have neglected to bow in passing. ' Poor fellow !' thought she, ' ho is perhaps thinking.' ■ If I fell, who would know what had become of the last of the Kedlands ? And who would care ? AVhat have I clone—what can I do, that anyone should think kindly of mo, living or dead ?' She watched him go up the nave and pass out of the church ; then her hands slipped from the key-board into her lap, and she gave her whole thought to him. If she could persuade him to seize the golden opportunity he was throwing away—if she could inspire him with that hope which had

given her new life since last night, willingly—with all her heart—she would relinquish the advantages that chance offered her. Oh, she had enough to do without that; and if she had not she could soon find something to take her out of herself, and make her forget her loneliness. That was nothing. Everyone is low-spirited at times, whether they are alone or have friends about them. When the weather changed —when the first bright frosty morning came—she would be cheerful enough ! That was not the question. The difficulty was how to approach this poor Lord Redlands. If she could obtain an introduction to him—which was unlikely enough, in face of his avowed disinclination —it would still be impossible for her to tell him what she thought and felt upon this subject. He would set her down at once for an impertinent self-sufficient, presumptuous, conceited, busy-body. That would not matter to her a bit, but she saw clear by enough that he would never act upon advice offered by a person of whom he held such an opinion. Yet, who else could approach him 1 There was only Mr Keene, and he had already failed, after doing his best—' and a terrible mess he made of it.' I fancy she must have s a id to herself, though she never in eluded this when afterwards c on fessing her feelings and thoughts to me. How she regretted that she had not her wits about her when he spoke ! She might so easily have offered to show him what was ivorth seeing in the church, and in that way introduced herself, and overcome in some measure his prejudice against her; a prejudice that she felt was unmerited. That opportunity wbs gone, and would not come again. To-morrow the telegram would come from her grandfather, and the young man, sick of Soecliff, would only be too glad to go away at once. Then his estate being all gone, to the last acre he, would never come again. In all probability she should nevermore see that face ; for it was scarcely likely that he would attend service. Contrary to her expectation, Redlands did attend service in the • evening, coming in just as she had finshed the voluntary, and dropping quietly into the first vacant seat he came to. When the congregation rose she could see his head above the rest; she could not help looking that way now and then, but she never found him looking towards her Nevertheless, he had cast one glance at her, saying to himself, ' Ah, that must be the queer little thing I found here this morning.' But he had no notion that it might be Miss Sylvester, she was so completely unlike the conception he had formed of her. Moreover, on first entering, he bad caught sight of a lady on whom he settled at once as Miss Sylvester; she exactly realised, his preconceived idea. This lady sat quite alone in the chancel, occupying one of the stalls near the pulpit. She was an assertively imperious young woman of thirty, bold and showy, with particularly white hands, of which she made considerable show, for they were ungloved, resting her elbows on the desk before her, and changing the position of her clasped palms from time to time, in order to display the speaklingstones in the rings with which her lingers were plentifully adorned. He never for a moment doubted that this was the mistress of Soecliff' The very fact of her sitting apart in solitary state proclaimed it, and her self-compla-cency and ostentation supported the claim that she herself evidently entertained to a position of complete and exclusive superiority. He could not get his eyes away from her. At first he was amused by the fatuous vanity of the woman ; he thought it not unlikely that she had expected he would be there, and had specially prepared herself to daz/.le him; but after awhile, disgusted with the obtrusive vulgarity, he become exasperated to think that henceforth she was to be the sole representative of those who had succeeded the fine old family that founded Kedlands. So while Miss Sylvester was glancing at him with growing interest and compassionate, tenderness, he was scowling at some one else;, with a growing hatred for the very name of Sylvester. He was so annoyed that he could hardly sit out the service, and was the first to leave the church, which he did vowing to himself that he would never willingly see Miss Sylvester again, or exchange two words with her, no matter ho.v many negotiations might call for them. As a matter of fact, the woman for whom he entertained such a decidedly lively abhorrence, was as I have shown, not Miss Sylvester at all, but the masterful wife of the meek vicar, who writes, I am told, the best part of his sermons for him, and spends three-fourths of his income, CUAPTKK V. —MISS SYLVESTEtt IN A NEW CHARACTER. Miss Sylvester waited withindoors until ten o'clock the next morning ; and then, as no telegram had come, she thought she ougnt to send me a message, that I might not come over to Soecliff unnecessarily. She determined to go down to the post herself, though there

was a drifting fall of thin rain that made going out of doors untempting. Perhaps she thought) she might possibly meet Lord Redlands ; who knows? She put o:i her thick boots, a water-proof, and a bonnet that couldn't be spoilt, and trudged off. There was not a soul to be seen in the one street of Soecliff, not even a> face at the window of the Old Inn. ' Has any telegram come for me?' she asked at the post-office. ' No, miss ; nothing has come for anybody,' was the reply. She wrote a message to me, and sent it off. Then she entered into conversation with the young woman who managed the postal affairs, and kept the fancy shop to which the post-office was attached. ' Mother's awful bad, miss,' said the young woman, ' and I'm terrible anxious al»out her. Doctor says she oughtn't to be left; but, you see, George has gone with the mail to Barington, and won't be back this two hours, and though mother only lives three doors off, I can't be there and here too at the same time. I could leave the shop, for there's not likely to be any customers such a clay as this, but there's the post ' ' Go to your mother,' said Marian on the instant. ' 1 can sit here as well as anywhere else. I am expecting a telegram ; if the bell rings I will fetch you.' After protesting that she really couldn't,' ' she didn't like to,' 'it was really too good,' and so on, the young woman ran off to attend to her mother, while Miss Sylvester, laying aside her waterproof aud bonnet seated heself behind the counter, took up the stocking and needles laid down by the postmistress and was presently knitting away as if she had no other occupation in the world. This was no unusual proceeding on her part; she did not know what pride of the false and contemptible kind was. It would have been more in keeping with conventional notions of propriety, perhaps, if she had gone to nurse the woman's mother instead of minding her shop, but that would have been less ikind to the woman, and maybe less agreeable to herself, depite the poetry that surrounds a sick-bed. There was not much light in the shop, for the windows in Soecliff are more or less overgrown with Virginia creepers and fuchsias, therefore she had to bend low over her work, so that it took her altogether by surprise when someone stalked up to the counter, and asked in a clear, full voice—- ' Have you a anything for George Talbot ?' ' She looked up and saw Lord Redlands before her. It took away her breath. 'I have been expecting a telegram,' he explained, seeing that she looked amazed; ' a telegram from Ooneyford.' ' Yes—That, is no,' she said in confusion. He smiled. 'Are you sure that no is not yes ?' he asked. ' When I said yes, .1 meant I understood you expected a telegram; when I said no, I meant that none had come in to-day I 'You have made it clear now. Thank you,' said he, still smiling pleasantly, for he liked pleasantly, for he liked the look of this simple little body, blushing aud confused with her blunder. It was an intelligent face, if not pretty, and, above all things, sweet in its possibilities—the sort of face a man would like to see in his home, if he had one. Nice to have a little sister with a face like that. ' If anything comes, will you send it up to the inn, sharp ?' he asked. ' Oh, yes, ' said she, rising from her chair, and letting her work with a clattering pair of scissors fall, ' directly.' 'He nodded and smiled, and said ' good morning,' then marched to the door. ' AVhat a little idiot I am !' thought Miss Sylvester, seeing this, her second golden' apportuniby, slip away more shamefully than the first, ' Well, this is too much of a good thing,' exclaimed Redlands, stopping short on the threshold and looking out at the rain, which had suddenly changed from a lluctuating drizzle to a determined downpour, will stand up hereawhile, 'hesaid, 'I turning about, ' unless I block out all the daylight.' ' Oh, I can see every well to do such work as this,' replied Marian, getting her needles into order, and trying to look as if she were not pleased, or unsettled, or anything else which she ought not to be under such conditions. As most of the light came through the doorway, Llodland came further in, which had tin; further advantage of bringing him closer to the pleasant little body. He had scarcely spoken a word since I left him on Saturday ; it was quite refreshing to think of talking to some one who seemed simple and human. When she had got her needles well iu hand, she glanced up at him before setting to work. He seemed to know the look of those large dark eyes. ' Surely,' said he, with sudden recollection, ' you are the lady I sawyesterday morning in the church — you play the organ there ?' ' I play the harmonium.' ' And you keep the post, mind shop, aud knit stockings V

' Why,' said she, at last grasping the chance, ' bow drill our life would be if we had no occupation !' ' Yes,' said he, with a dismal drop in his voice, ' it is dull ! * Whereas,' she went on, determined to follow up her advantage, ' if we only knit stockings it is something done.' ' What a cheerful, sunny disposision the girl has !' thought he, looking down at the bent bead and nimble, slender fingers ; but as he said nothing, she feared she was going too fast,and so added quietly, 1 1 don't know what wc should do without kniting in the winter. In the summer we are occupied with the visitors wdio take the rooms—they want so much attention ; but when the season is over, this keeps us employed. It was just the thing we wanted. Two years ago only one or two women knew how to knit; but now we are all busy—as much as we can do. Gentlemen give plenty of orders, for these stockings wear a long whhe, and we sell them as cheap as we can. ' I think you are the busiest little lady in Scecliff,' he said, following his own train of thought rather than, hers. ' Oh, if you went into the cottages you would find there women just as busy as I.' ' But the men —they seem to be the laziest set I ever met with. I came here on Saturday aud I have not seen a single boat put out.' ' There is no market for fish on Sunday, and to-day is so wet.' He laughed. ' That seems an odd excuse for fishermen.' ' They are old men and boys who stay here ; and I don't see why they should not take care of themselves as well as other people —when it rains.' She. looked up into bis face as she spoke, so that he could not doubt the thrust was meant for him. He liked the fearless look with a Hash of mischief in her eyes. ' True,' said he ; I suppose they have as much right to be idle as any one else.' ' If any one has a right to be idle,' she added, going on busily with her needles. ' Some assuredly have. There are cases in which it is our duty to do nothing,' said he. She laid her work in her lap, and looked up in wonder. ' What wonderfully changeful pretty eyes they are,' he thought. I cannot ' understand that,' she said—' cannot imagine any such case.' ' Supposing I took up your work and attempted to finish it,' said he, smiling ; iu all probability 1 should make such a tangle of it that you would have to undo all and begin again—proving that, I had done better to leave it alone.' She liughed. ' That only proves,' said she, ' that you cannot knit stockings.' Then, with sudden pathos, she added ' Oh,, I am sure you could do something inSnely better than that.' That look thrilled him with a feeling to which he was a stranger. There was a deep, tender eagerness in it that told him she knew what the burden was that made him weary,of life, and would, if she coqld, take it on her own slight shoulders. ' I wish,' said he wdth an earnestness that was also new to him, ' I wish you would tell me what I can do. I belive you know me, and have nob been speaking on this subject without a purpose.' ' Yes,' she said quietly. ' I know who you are. I knew you when I saw you in the chancel; I imagined what was in your mind that made you forget me as you passed up the nave to go away. I have thought of it since.; and I have been speaking with a purpose. You ask what you can do ? Go to Black Rock Gap, and you will find the answer there.' He shook his head, ' It is a parallel case to the hitting,' he said. ' I should find work there, that will be far better done by somebody else. ' There is work there that none can do so well as you.' ' That is your opinions ; but do you think that any one lessgenerously disposed—Miss Sylvester, for example—would think as you do ? 'Yes.' ' I don't,' said he emphatically. ' Do you think you ought to say that of one you do not know V 'I do know her—as much as I wish to,' he answered sharply, thinking of the woman sitting alone and making a show of her finery. ' I saw her last night in the chancel, and unless she is a consumraatfe actress, I am not wrong in believing her to be a vulgar, affected—He checked himeelf suddenly, and added. ' But 1 am certainly wrong in saying this behind her back.' Miss Sylvester was amused, as well she might be, by this mistake ; in addition, sho was not displeased with Redlands' opinion of the vicar's wife, for she had her womanly failings, this little Miss Sylvester and was as pleased as you or I might be to find the object of her own dislike hated by somebody else. 1 Would you say this to Miss Sylvester's face?' she asked. ' I should find it difficult to conceal mv opinion if I had the misforto be brought in contac!; with her,' he replied. ' As she did not reply, he said presently ' T should like to know what is passing in your mind.' ' I was thinking,' said she, ' that

here is the case of knittting stockings reversed. You have expressed contempt for Miss Sylvester, which proves that you have qualities higher than hers—for we can despise only those whom we recognise as being lower in thought and feeling than ourselves- Then why should you permit her to do that which you are better able to perform V ' In a practical sense she is undoubtedly better than I am.' ' Our practice is governed by our principle, it seems to me,' she said, still working steadily on ; tor that occupation enabled her to concentrate her thoughts on the subject, and gave her more scope for reflection than if she had been looking in his face to divine what was in his thoughts. 'And if our principle is wrong our practice cannot be right —morally.' Her reasoning astonished him, as well it might, considering, as he did, that she was only, at best, a fairly instructed intelligent villager. ' Where on earth did she get all her ideas ?' he wondered. After a pause, he said—- ' I should not know how to begin. Certainly you must have thought more about this subject than I have. You have settled in your own mind what you would do in my place, haven't you ?' 'Yes, said she quietly, 'I have. But my notions are only a woman's, and may be no better than Miss Sylvester's. Still, I could tell you how to begin ? ' Tell me.'

•Do as I suggested just now, go over there and see what is to be done.' He hesitated. ' It is less than an hour's walk,' said she, looking up, 'and the rain has ceased.' Then fixing her eyes on him earnestly, ' If you asked me to do this for you, I would do it ; or if I thought I could do you a service I would go there without being asked.' ' Will it please you if I go V he asked.' ' Yas, you cannot tell how greatly it will please me,' she answered. ' Then I will go.' She dropped her work, and, rising offered him her hand. He took it in silence, an unpleasant suspicion crossing his mind that this young person, under her simplicity, was a crafty little coquette. Wa3 her temerity the result of naive simplicity or was it the result of receiving a good deal of attention from gentlemen visitors to Soecliff ? The latter was not unlikely, for she had an intelligence very much beyond the range of even well-educated girls ; and now he came to look at her, he was surprised to find how pretty she was. And her ways were winning—fascinating beyond those of any woman he remembered to have met. He did not like the notion that she was a flirt—a symptom of jealousy that showed the dawn of strong liking for her; it was unpleasant to think that idle fellows had come there before him, and spent hours in chatting with the little postmistress. Of course, as postmistress she would be always there for anyone to amuse himself with. ' If I don't see my way to doing good work after my visit, what then V he asked. ' Then,' said he. ' I can but let you know what I thought of doing.' ' Good,' said he. but not overcheerfully; for some unpleasant suspicion led him to think she was but contriving the means for further interviews, with a possible flirtation to follow. 'Of course, I shall find you here V ' No said she ; ' I am only staying here while the postmistress is away with her mother. She will be back soon, and positively you will never find me here again. He brightened up at this. ' Then where may I find you !' he said. She reflected a minute. ' .Do you know the school-room V she asked. 'The new building beyond the church 1 ? yes.' < Well my class is over at halfpast four, and then I leave. ' Oh thought he, more cheerfully than ever, 'she is the schoolmistress that accounts for her playing the organ in the church, and her intelligence, and all that !' ' I shall be at the school room door at half-past four,' said he; then he offered his hand and they said good-bye—with bright happiness shining in their eyes : and he hurried off, with the strangest feeling in the world giving elasticity to his steps and animation to his mind. It never struck him that what he was doing now he word I have regarded as absurdly impossible an hour before. ( To be continued.)