A STORY OF ENGLISH LIFE. The Way of Love

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXII, Issue 22, 21 February 1927, Page 7

A STORY OF ENGLISH LIFE. The Way of Love

Vera Cunninghame.)

She gloried in the touch of the beautiful silks. It must be lovely to be rich, and to bo able to choose the things that suited one, regardless of cost or whether they would wear well. For a month at least the problem of clothes was solved for her, since she had found that she was expected to wear a uniform provided by her employer. She .caught sight of her reflection in the wardrobe door as she went to hang up a rest gown of lemon coloured georgette bordered with chinchilla, and made a mocking grimace at it. She looked the demure lady’s maid to perfection, she thought, a slim, trim figure in a simple gown of dull black. No one would recognise' Pearl Grayson, the dancer of the Imperial cabaret, in Marie Croft. She had decided on the change of name as more suited to the part she was to play. But the new costume was undeniably becoming, and her eyes were clear and shining and her cheeks very pink as at last she summoned up her courage and went down the stairs that led to the seivants ’ hall.

The room seemed crowded when she entered it. She had not realised that the staff was so large. There was Mrs Cummings, the housekeeper, a pleasant, motherly person who sat at the head of the big tea table and welcomed her cheerily, introducing her to several maids and a couple of chauffeurs, and one or two footmen. She found herself smiling nervously and stammering shy, awkward acknowledgements bf the introductions, then seating herself beside a tall man with a sleek dark head, who she learned was George Griffiths, the second footman.

She turned towards him as he handed her a plate of cake, murmuring some conventional remark. But as she met thO full gaze of his black eyes fixed on her, the words froze on her lips and for a moment it seemed that her heart stopped beating. For the man who had been introduced to her as George Griffiths was none other than the man to whom she owed all her misfortunes, the man who, as manager of the firm where she had worked, had by his attentions made her life there impossible —Halford Staines!

She never knew how she kept from betraying her amazement, and her fcai. Behind the amusement in his eyes was something sinister, a veiled menace as if he dared her to reveal his true identity. All through the meal at which she only made a pretence of eating her thoughts were in chaos.

What was Halford Staines, manager of a firm of considerable importance, doing masquerading as a footman under an assumed name? For what, purpose was he playing such a part? She had never trusted the man. Besides her personal dislike of him she remembered rumours that had come to her ears of his methods of doing business, the commissions he had taken from other firms without the knowledge of his directors. He had been thoroughly disliked in the office, though because of his position none had ventur-' cd to show their dislike. But he must have left the firm now, or he could not be here. Perhaps he, like herself, had been in urgent need of work and had taken the first thing that came to hand. But she sensed that there was something more in it than that, some deeper motive underlying his presence there. Was it an honest motive ?

She crushed down the thought, but it persisted. She could imagine Halford Staines, stopping at nothing if it served his own ends, and she had had bitter proof of his unscrupulousness. In spite of her hatred of him she felt that she must see him alone and find out if she could what was his object. The opportunity camo sooner than she expected, as she left the room aftci tea It occurcd to her that he was purposely lingering in the passage through which she must return to Christine’s rooms, and he drew her quickly into a deserted pantry. She shook his hand from her arm afnd Ifaced him (bravely, 'her cheeks' flushed a little more than usual, her heart beating with nervous quickness. '•'Well, what have you to say for yourself?” she demanded with more courage than she felt. He laughed softly. 11 1? Why should I say anything except that to sec you again is a great pleasure, as welcome as it is unexpected.” In spite of alt her efforts her colondeepened.

“You know what I mean,” she said sharply. “Why do you call yourself George Griffiths, and why are you pretending to be a footman?” “Perhaps for the same reason that -you are pretending to be a lady’s maid,” he retorted coolly. “I begin to think that my stay here will be more amusing than I anticipated. ’ ’ “It-won’t,” she said hotly. “Please don’t say such things to me, I told you before that.l dislike, them. You know that if I were to tell Mr Challandcr who you really are your stay here would be very Short.” He laughed again, but his eyes narrowed and there, was a gleam in them that made a quick throb of fear stir in her.

“Probably,” he retorted. “And if I were to tell him that Marie Drew, his daughter’s maid, was really Pearl Grayson, who was dismissed from her firm without a reference, I am afraid Miss Challandcr would soon be requiring another maid!” He saw her whiten, saw her eyes waver and fall before his, and he followed up his advantage remorselessly. “Come you had better bo reasonable. We can’t afford to quarrel, since I can make it as unpleasant for you as you can for me? But I don’t want to do it unless' you force me. I would rather be friends. I always admired you, and I think it was meant that you should cross my path again. You arc more beautiful than ever —: —”

He bent forward so that his eyes looked deep into hers, and for a moment she saw in them the look she hated, that in the old days had made her turn from him in fear and loathing. She drew, back sharply.

“I don’t want your friendship,” she told him fiercely. “If I keep silent it will be on condition that you leave me alone. Once before I told you that I hated you —now I think I hate you more than ever.”

Halford Staines shrugged his-should-ers, but there was something evil in the curve of his thin lips.

“Very well,” he said smoothly. “Since we are not to be friends we will be enemies. I can make a good friend and a bad.enemy! One day you will learn the truth of what I say to your cost!”

It was a threat and she knew it, but she laughed contemptuously, telling herself that he had no power to harm her now.

It was the afternoon of Christmas Eve, and Pearl was brushing her employer ’s hair. Christine had been more than usually capricious that afternoon, and once or twice she had spoken with an unaccustomed sharpness that made the quick colour flame in Pearl’s cheeks. She had brought out at least a dozen frocks for Christine’s approval, and the elder girl had discarded them each in turn.

“I must be ready by four o’clock,” she said irritably. “Tea is earlier to-day because my fiance is coming. He will stay over Christmas, and father has arranged a ball.to-morrow night in his honour.

Perhaps that was why her employer was so difficult to please to-day, Pear! thought. She was. naturally anxious to look her best for the man she was to marry, yet there was no excitement in her manner, only-the petulance of a spoilt beauty, and there was 1 certainly no look of happiness in her eyes.

What kind of man was he who had won the other girl’s love she wondered as she tidied the disordered room when Christine had at last gone downstairs. She was a girl whom any man would be proud to call his, beautiful and lovable in spite of her wayward disposition, and she would bring her husband a considerable fortune, for Mr Callander was generous, and he adored his only daughter.- How different was Christine’s future compared with her own I (To be Continued.)