The Storgteller. UNDER A STRANGE MASK.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 324, 6 August 1898, Page 1 (Supplement)

The Storgteller. UNDER A STRANGE MASK.

BY BARRETT. CHAPTER VII. THE SIBTL. Redlands' excitement was accounted for. To find, on the eve of selling the last acres of his estate to cover his debts, that the land contained treasure to restore all that had bean lost in the past, and insure ample competence, and more, for the future, was surely enough to turn his head. It turned mine for the moment, so that 1 could only look at him in incredulous astonishment. 1 1 must have money to work it, Keene,' he pursued. ' You can raise ib on a mortgage, or something of that kind.' ' Yes ; there will be no difficulty in raising six or eight thousand on the estate as it is. Of course, when it is proved that there is a vast source of wealth in it, it will be easy to raise ever so much more. On that point you will take a surveyor's opinion at once, I suppose V ' No,' said he, ' I shall trust to my own guidance in that. I want to feel that I am good for something.' 'H'm—yes,' said I dubiously; 'still'—l was about to add that two heads are better than one, that though doubtless his theoretical judgment was sound, yet a man of practical experience might prevent him falling into a costly mistake, with other observations of a prudential kind, but he interrupted me. ' I know what you would say ; that of two fools, he who keeps his money is the least foolish ; that it is better to know my idea is worthless before spending anything upon it than after. I don't contest that. But if all the surveyors in the world were against me, I would not abandon this enterprise whilst I had the means to pursue it.' ' I'm glad to hear you so confident about it,' said I. After all, I thought, he will cool down in a week, and be more likely to listen to reason. ' Besides,' he continued, ' there's no time to wait for surveyors' reports ..; I must begin at once. You must let me have a few hundreds to-morrow, if possible. It was no worse to throw away a few hundreds over this folly than over any other, I said to myself ; he had not asked my advice, and it was not in my province to direct him ; my business was to serve my client, and so I promised to let him have some money the next day. «Thanks !' said he ; then, after a moment's pause, he added earnestly, ' You don't know how I feel about this; it's like waking from a dream of death to find oneself full of lifo and vigour!' # I was heartily glad to hear him speak in this way, and I said so. Then, my nag falling into a walk, for we were at the foot of the hill leading to the church, he said—' I won't trouble you to take me any further, Mr Keene. I'll get down here.' And with that he shook hands, leapt down, and walked off up the hill faster than my pony would have gone—which was perhaps why he proposed walking, being in this impetuous, eager mood. And now, to continue my story and keep the threads of it well m hand, I must again go greatly upon hearsay and my own conclusions, setting down what has been told me by a certain party intimately acquainted with the facts, and making such additions as the circumstances of the case seem to me to warrant. Miss Sylvester had left the schoolroom a little before the time —an unusual occurrence with her—and was some little distance down the hill Jvhen she met lledlands. There was something hopeful in the quick elasticity of his step as he approached, but when he was near enough for her to see the expression of his face, in which the apathy and dejection of the morning had giveji place to strenuous interest and eager exultation, she knew that the wish of her heart was achieved. ' Eureka !' he cried, holding out his hand, for his excitement had not been abated by the long pull uphill. ' Eureka,' said she, giving her hand ; ' that means—l have found it—does it not f ' Yes, I have found it, thanks to you, you little Sibyl, Oh, I don't forget,' he added, turning quickly from gay to grave —' I never shall —that I owe everything to you.' ' I. should like to think I have been of some use to you; but I would rather believe that you owe most to the prompting of your own heart.' « My heart!' he replied in a tone of perplexity; then suddenly bursting into a laugh, he added ' Oh, I see what you mean. You think I was touched with remorse by the deplorable condition of the people on my estate, and came to the virtuous resolution to build them a pier, furnish them with fishing boats, make the approaches decent, and, in short, do for BlackGap what Miss Sylvester has done for Soecliff; that's what you would

have done, or would have had mo do.' 1 Yes,' said she, ■ that is what I should have tried to do.' ' And what you might have succeeded in, having the patience and sweetness of an uiigel—for I know you have, Sibyl though you are. I have no qualities of that kind. I must do nothing, or take everything at the charge. I couldn't lay siege to fortune ; I must carry it by impetuous assault.' They were now walking side by side. Marian glanced uneasily at her companion, and he, catching that glance, again laughed, thinking perhaps what a long little face it was. ' My heart counts for nothing in the matter,' said he ; ' I'm afraid if you had known how material and worldly I am, you would never have sent me to Black Rock Gap.' Then he confessed how he had quitted the village in disgust, resolved never to go there again, and to get rid of it with the least possible delay ; and only changed his intention when he discovered the wealth of iron ore that lay in his estate. Marian was a little downcast to hear this, knowing so little of mankind, and having but girlish ideals. But she was ready enough to make excuses for his shortcomings ; because he was a man, and could not be supposed to have the same feelings and views as a woman. To be sure, her father was a brave soldier, manly in all things, and yet patient and tender withal; but then he was so much older. So with this undercurrent of thought she followed the course of her companion's conversation, gradually warming with his glowing description of the great find, and coming to share something of his enthusiasm. «To be sure,' said she, ' this will give employment to all those poor things at the Gap.' ' Assuredly, and to as many more as I can get together. And look, my dear little friend, instead of waiting till a pier's built and boats are furnished for a change in their condition, the whole lot can be got to work at once.' ' Oh, that is good ! she cried. ' But do you think they are capable of miner's work V 1 The first thing is to make an approachable road to the place; and anyone can work at that who has a pair of hands. There's work enough; my only fear is that I shall not be able to get as many workmen as I need. I should like you to see what there is to do.' 'There's nothing I should like better,' said she simply, taking him literally at his word. ' I may yet be of service to you.' ' I owe you too much already to neglect such a chance. I wish you would come.' 'I will,' said she, and readily agreed to meet him, where they were then stopping to separate, at eight ; o'clock the next morning, without the slightest suspicion that she was disregarding the conventional rules of society, as perhaps no other lady in England would have done in her place. As for Redlands, this sudden change in his fortunes had completely upset all his established rules of action; and it was not a bit more absurd, in reviewing the strange events of the day, to find that he had closely allied himself with a pretty little school teacher than in regarding his legs and feet to remark that he had a cake of red mud on each knee, and that the lustre of his boots was apparently gone for ever. It was only when he awoke the next morning from a long night's sleep that he asked himself what on earth he could have been thinking about to make an appointment to meet '■ the little thing ! this morning. He felt ashamed of himself—as one does the next morning when there has been indiscretion overnight—and looked forward to still more unpleasant consequences.' ' I shall have to drag her about all the live-long day,' thought he ; ' there'll be no getting rid of her ; a pretty beginning to serious business, upon my honour !' Marian, who was not conscious of any past indiscretion, had no such unpleasant reflections or anticipations. To her great delight, the weather had changed—a smart frost hardened the gronnd, and the sun, rising beyond the great fir-woods, cast here and there patches of glittering light upon the rimy banks. She was just as calm and self-possessed as ever when Redlands met her, only her face and eyes seemed to reflect the sparkling radiance and freshness of the morning. 'She is pretty, and that's the fact,' thought Redlands, wondering how it was that in her absence he always figured her as an odd little person. There was nothing odd about her. He noticed that her gloves fitted to a nicety, that her hat was very becoming, her dress altogether in good taste—indeed, it seemed to him that, for a country schoolmistress, she was decidedly fashionable. Nor was there anything unusual in her manner beyond its simplicity and a perfect absence of constraint; and, as he had remarked before, a more graceful, delicate bearing and a sweeter voice he had never known. Under the influence of that sweet little smile of hero all his

compunctious forebodings vanished, like the frost from the boughs in the glow of the sun. The prospect of having her on his hands for some time was anything but disagreeable —especially as she had not the dawdling gait of some young women, but stepped out as briskly as he chose to walk. To be sure, her conversation was so different from most girls—there was none of that vapid small talk which degenerates into fatiguing banter. Her bright, intelligent eyes were everywhere, noting every aspect of the' country about her with the keen perception of one who has taken the pains to learn and love nature. Every observation was a stimulant to fresh ideas, Redlands thought he had never found talking with a woman so easy and interesting; he felt that he must try and remember one or two phrases of hers—they were so pithy, and yet so pretty. When had that happened to him before ? Never. ' Our nearest way to the rift is to strike across the common from this point,' said she, when they came to a bend of the road. ' Then this way we will go,' said he, wondering how she had come by her knowledge. Presently they came to the edge of the Combe, whence you can look down the rift and see dark purple patches of ore cropping out amidst the tangled growth of ivy and bramble and fern. He seated himself on a rock, forgetting her for the time, to gloat over this sight; and she, seeing him so absorbed, sat quietly down hard by, thinking what a good thing this was for everybody. 'I suppose,' said she, looking about her, ' you will raise the ore to a stage hereabouts, and then cart it by a road up the Combe.' ' That would be easier, certainly, than laying a road along the beach and up that awful Gap,' ' And a much shorter way, too.' She took from her satchel a folded paper, opened it out and said, < See 'here is the rift, and here the Coneyford road; it is much more direct to cut through the Combe than to go round by the steep Gap.' ' Why, where on earth did you get this from V he asked in astonishment, taking the paper. ' I traced it from the Ordnance map. There's nothing surprising in that, is there V said she, laughing at his bewildered look. ' I thought you might want it.' ' You certainly are a witch—it's the very thing I needed. With this I can begin at once. Oh ! I can't tell you ' 'And I thought this might be useful to you,' she hurried on, to check his thanks, as she produced another paper ; 'it is the prospectus of a company that supplies a narrow-gauge railway, that i.« easily laid, and seems very useful where roads are to be made. There's an agent at Coneyford, you will see.' He took this in mute wonder. Was there ever a girl so pretty, and yet so practical and thoughtful ? ' It's a long roundabout way by Coneyford; but I suppose in time, when you get the pier rebuilt, you will be able to ship the ore straight from here to Wales to be smelted.' He looked up from the prospectus to her without speaking—' for still the wonder grew, that one small head could carry all she knew.' ' You know all about iron, too !' he gasped. ' Not much oiore than I read last night,' said she. ' She must have sat up half the night,' thought he—' thinking about my interests while I was sound asleep.' Then he said—- ' Have you got anything more in that wonderful bag of yours '?' ' Only this,' replied she, giving him a paper ; 'it is a list of men, and where they are to be found, who really know something about road-making ; for, you see, though any one will be glad to use pick and spade, only a few know how to trace and level. Those I have marked with a dash. Those with the star aro farmers who could lend you horses and carts. This one underlined has a saddle-horse he would lend you, and his son is a sharp little lad, who knows all the men I have written down, and would fetch them, or could take you to them, as you desired.' ' Why, you have saved me a week's work,' said he. ' I thought I might save you some trouble. That is why I ventured to do what I have, believing that you would not misunderstand me.' '' Misunderstand you !' he cried ; ' what an ungrateful idiot I should be if I failed to understand that you are the most delicate and generous little lady in the world !' He looked so happy and eagerly grateful that she could not but feel happy. She rose with a warm flush in her cheek, and held out her hand. * Oh, you are not going V he said ; ' what can I do without you V ' Work,' she replied, smiling. ' I have my own business to attend to, and it is getting late.' He insisted on walking back with her, but she would suffer him to go no farther than the road, and there they shook hands and parted. He stood where she loft him, watching her quickly retreating figure, and he was glad that she never turned round to look nack at him, for he wished to think of betas a lady equal to any of his own

class in refinement. Yet he was sorry not to have got another momentary glimpse of that fascinating little face. (To ha continued).