CHAPTER XX.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 2012, 30 May 1885, Page 5 (Supplement)

CHAPTER XX.

Whueveh change had taken plac9 in A>w noah'ti plans after the stormy interview u ;th Pftvanoa on th? eventful night when iht strangers arrived in the Haj-py Iblo, he pined no bar in the -way of an intimacy bet w. en Herbeit and Orinora. A man of the keon^st 1 perceptions, be seemed to at once fathom Ilrbert's character, aud he felt that with him the innocent gill wna as safe a 9 with her faiJi»r. However, a few d-}> afterwards, aa they yore standing watohi. 1 ■. bost raee — an almost daily occurrence- .moah took the opportunity of fepe&kl'^ to Herbert, and it led to other conversation. " Herbert," said the old man, laying l>is hand affectionately on the lad's shoulder, "no one knows better than I that youth 1 1 Lea youth. It is probable that CK-inora and yourself will become companions." Herbert blushed violently. " I say," continued Aranotib, " it is probable, indeed, almost certain. My poor girl has ong pined, though Bhe could not have tell what she wanted, for the society of youth of her own race aud color — it was very.natui,il. Now she thinks she is as happy as the inhabitants of the bright Acbernar of her own aweet imagining. My* boy, I know I can trust you. There never was a sweeter ilower than Oiinoia. She ia as innocent as the angels in Heaven , as Eve before she was tempted by the serpent. She knowa nothing of evil ; I have brou jht her up ao that she should have no conUct with aught that would corrupt or degrade. Promisa me — I know I can take your word — that you will not destroy her happy dream. A time may come, but of that hereafter. Lot her be to you a sister, a dear sister. When she questions you destroy not her simple faith. Tell her of only that which is puie and good in the world whence you came. What good would it do to reveal to her the sin and misery and shame of that awful den of devils, the world? You may have wondered why I did not teach her to read. It was to prevent her acquiring knowledge of that which had better not be known. I have taught her the arts, music, painting and poetry, which embellish and beautify life. I trust my pearl in your hands : may I feel you will not flaw its now perfect beauty ? " " 3&u may," replied Herbert with emotion, " To me Bhe will be what the beautiful frost pictures on the window-pane^ used to be when I waa young— l was af i aid to bronthe lest they should vanish." "I felt it," was the only leply Aranoah made, and he turned his eyes to the stining scene on the lake. It was some time before Herbert disturbed him. He was revolving in his mind a question he had often wished to ask since he c-une to the island. When he left Melbourne one of his objects, though it never had assumed shape in his mind, for he looked upon it as visionary, was to see if he could not find the father of his aftianced, Alice, who, if he lived, dwelt on some island on the high seas. About the time he had become acquainted with Alice, a letter from John Morden had mysteriously drifted into Hobson's Bay, and it had assisted to crush his old enemy, the man who drove him from civilisation, William Whinstun. Since Herbert had arrived in the island strange thoughts had come into his mind. What if this man was John Morden ? Yet if he was why should ho not reveal himself, after Herbert had toU the downfall of his enemy and his own mission? This threw Herbert into doubt. Yet, 'after he found himself looking at Orinora in a thorough puzzle, so muoh did she recall the one he had for ever lost. Often, too, he scanned the furrowed face of Aranoah and thought he found there a faint resemblance to Alice. But when he looked again, especially at Orinora, he thought his surmises ridiculous. Alice was a woman of pronounced features, of strong mind. Orinora'a face was like a vision, her mind as fragile as her body, though none the less lovely. On this day he thought he would resolve his doubts. " Aranoah," he queried at l»ot, " you knoyr I partly oame to these seas to find the father of my darling Alice, and to restore him to her and to his wife. Do you know that at times I have thought you were John Morden. You came from Australia; your fate rusewbled his. Sometimes I appear to catch an indistinct resemblance to Alice in yourself aud your daughter." It was some time before Aranoah turned round and answered, he was so intent on the race. "Your • mistake,'" be said at length, "is somewhat natural. Anglo-Saxons have a natural resemblance. But dismiss the idea from your mind: I am not John Morden. Yet, strange to say, I knew him ; hence the agitation I displayed when you gave your name and when you reoited your history. You nobly avenged John Morden, and you have endeared yourself to me by youi aotion." Nothing more passed at that time. Herbert soon bsoame the constant companion of Orinora. They were attracted to each other by their youth and comeliness, by their similarity of taste 3, and by their dissimilarity of mind and physique : paradoxical as it may seem. To Orraora, Herbert waa all that is strong and handsome and intellectual. He was in her eyes a god ; a visitant from the shining globe she worshipped. Heretofore she had lived in the languid moonlight like a lily, happy in a way, in a dreamy sleep. Now the sun had risen over the mountains and quiokened her into a warm, living soul. She budded and. blossomed in his lrfe-giving rays. Heretofore she resembled Pygmalion's statue ere life had boon given it by the goddess : now she was the vivified marble, loving and being loved. She had been J;he Undine of romauoe before the knight appeared, and in giving her mortality, gave her a living soul. It would be difficult to analyse Herbert's feelings towards the lovely islander. He would not for a moment allow himself to think he was unfaithful to the memory of Alice — for it seemed she could no more be to him other than a memory— yet he had to acknowledge Orinora exercised * powerful influence over him ; that he was happier in her company than that of any other person » and that there was springing up in his heart an inexpressibly tender feeling for this fragile flower. The question has often been aßked if a man can love two woman at once. There is no doubt of it. Many a youth is for a long time puzzled which to ask for his wife of two or three girls for whom he has a tender regard. So Herbert at present felt that two women at present possessed him But his love for Alice was that strong, healthy afleotion that every roan should entertain for his wife ; bio passion for Orinora a wild, poetical feeling, such stuff as dreams are made of. It was not impure, for Herbert would have as soon thought of destroying a child as this trusting creature*, who seemed to have surrendered to him without tho trouble of a siege, who regarded him as a god, and who would have laid down her life for him without a question. Did Bhe dream of a future with him ? Only as tbe sister looks foiwurd to the company of her darling brother in the path of life. Had she any ideas of what love and marriage meant ? She had not. Into her pure mind the mysteries of this earth, the ooarseneaaen and the agouiea that attend its sweetest pleasures and dearest joys, never entered. She was indeed " A young ntar ! which shone O'or lifo — too sweet an linage for mch gro» t A lovely boiug ; scarcely formed or moiflded : A. rose with all ita sireeteit lenvei yet folded I "

Day by Jay these two jouth f ul brings drey c'osci , day by day tboy brcimo dear to o>v; ■ircther. Thoughts bepp^i to ante* ialo IJ rh r a mind oj which at one time he would not L:\.t 1 dreaaed. If he was to le an exile, to remain on the«e islands for ever, what hope lia-1 be of happiness but the affections of J'hh pearl of lifo. * Then he would revolt against the possibility of being unfaithful to his \>comised brUe.. Generally speaking, howe v er, he endeavourod to east aside ihe bitter a id gloomy thoughts oalled up by the fate that appended b'u doom, and to live only in the preeent. Bo tho days glided by in w'..at soeinnd happiness. There was always an undefined hope of ffape ; it seemed impossible they could remain for ever here. Youth never loses hope. One beautiful afternoor, when Aranoah and Ebby were engaged in eorae abstruse experiments', Herbert and Orinora took the boat and rowed among the islets towards one which Herbert hid not yet seen, and which Orinora had named the Spirit's Repose. Herbert rowed while Orinora played with tho tiller, hardly ever taking her eyes off his face, Sac seemed to drink in its beauty as if it me life. Tho Spirit's Repose wa3 a lovely little islet, quite in miniature. It had been laid out with threat tut in a number of mazes, formed of dwarf-gro.viny trees and shrubs, whose beautiful flowers and pretty fruit added to the quiet charm of the scene. A mighty palm rose in the very centre, towering above all like a guardian deity. Under this had been made a bower of plants, whose foliage was impervious to the ray 8 of the sun, with Beats and a'coves. The bower was so oontrived as to command a fine view of the lake and islet ; the frowning heights fading into the purple distance. Heie Herbert and Orinora amused themselves for a time by chasing eaob other through the alleys of the mazes, pelting each other with the gorgeoun flowers, and playing hide end Deck like children. The bright, clear, rippling, happy laugh of the girl, and the deeper laughter of the lad completed the sylvan charm. Herbert thought of our first parents in Eden, of the Grecian scenes depicted by the pan of the poet and the pencil of the artist, and found in this their realisation. Surely suoh a life as this was better than the toil and pain and passions of the terrible world which these cliffs shut out. Surely with such a companion he could live in Eden-like happiness — " Tho world forgetting — By tho world forgat." Never had he felt so serenely happy — so free from all that destroys enjoyment. No serpent lurked in the flowery turf of the Spirit's Repose. Tired at la&t of the chase they retired to the bower, loaded with pleasant fruits, which Orinora, daintily spread out on the rustic table, and they drank the delicious juice of the fresh cocoanuts in purple goblets which Orinora had brought with her. Sitting side by side there, looking out upon the enchanting scene, watching the boats of the natives going to and fro, a strange silence came upon thorn. From the day Herbert had anived Orinora had not kissed him again, nor even touched his hand. The electric thiill hhe had felt thou seemed to have altered her nature — why Bhe could not tell. There woie strange workings in her mind, but she could not comprehend them. She knew that sho longed, as she never longed for anything, for Herbert to put his arms round her, to embrace as if they would never .part, to glue his lips to her's, to give her that wonderful, that electric, sensation which seomed to have imparted to her a new life. It appeared to her &i if the touch of his lips en that memorablo day had given to her a new soul. At first she had thought it was the nature of the gods that had been communicatd, but shadowy thoughts began to float in her mind, telling her it was something very human. But, oh, how she longed for his embruce, his kiss. Yet— and this was to her inexplioable— something held her back from taking him in her arms and kissing him.' She had Barer felt anything like thiß before. It had been her habit to kiss everything she loved— her father, her pets, her attendants. And yet she could not kiss Herbert, though she felt he was dearer to her than all her world. For him she would, have left all ; with him she would have braved the terrors of the gulf ; had he tried to escape, and asked her to bo hid companion. At times the thought that he might go »a he had come, that he might return to the Hereafter without her, nearly bereft her of life. How she longed to ask him never to leave her, to remain until both together winged their flight to Aohernar, and yet she could not speak. The great joy of his being beside her at times made her almost faint with rapture ; to be succeeded by the chill and horror of the thought of purting. Ob, that they could live together for ever in the Spirit's Repose ! (To be continued.)