CHAPTER XV. A MOTHER'S STRATAGEM

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2048, 22 August 1885, Page 1 (Supplement)

CHAPTER XV. A MOTHER'S STRATAGEM

Luoia, Counte3s of Waldrove, was a farspeing, ahrewd, keen, quiok woman of the world ; she understood m^n and wom^n ; in her grvseful, indolent fashion sbe ruled them with an iro'i hand — it was an undoubted case of the iron hand under the velvet glove. She had studied her son'd character, and was not at all purpri'ed to find in it a considerable p.mmint of that charming quality oalled " contradiction," a qnality that Heems like peoond nature to the noble s?x of men ; she was prepared for it, and resolved upon managing him accordingly. She nasd to herself that if she mentioned the name of Lady Ethel Pierpont, and Bug gested that, as she was raarveloualy beautiful and wonderfu'ly rich, it would be well for her oon to marry her, ho would at once rebel, and talk t\u> u^nil nonsense about choosing for himself. Lidy W<i!dro?e understood him too well for that. " He shall pee Lady Ethel first," sho said, '* then we sbnlt nee what follows." One morning, nbout the third of tha duke'a visit, Lord Cir»dale went into his mother's room. She looked tired, and reclined on the couoh of amber satin— floss on a silken enshion at hf>r feet. The countess lookrd very grand and picturesque in a blaok velvet dress and head-dresa of Mechlin lace. She looked up with a smile as her son entered — she was always pleased to see him. " Alone, mother?" ha said. "I thought Linda w.s herp. " Linda is with tha duke, my dear. He ; flk \ '■ -r to take him into the rose-gardpn ; she wont Vu fin hour ago. Sit down here Ly me, Vivian; it is not often that I see yon abne. We Lave bat few tetr a-tctesnovr. Tell me wLat you think of tho duke." "Itt/nk he in very noble, frank, honest, honorable, but very proud." "Trend, repeated the countess. " I have not noticed that. In what way is he proud, Vivian?" cho asked, anxiously. " I can hardly tell. He says so murb about low marriages, and all that kind of thing." L»dy Waldrovo looked wonderiDgly into her son's face. "Is that all ? Do you cull that pride ? I Mil it proper spirit, and I admire him the more for it. Is that the only fault you have to find with him, Vivian?" " I know of no other, mother. I really like him very much, indeed — more than I can tell you. Has h" said anything to L'nda ? " 11 I fancy that is what he is saying to her now," wa3 the well-plea°edar"?er. " Vivian, give me that fan— the larg: oae. I find the morning warm." " You are warmly dressed, mother," said the young lord. I like to see you in black velvet better than anything you wear. He rose and went to the table in search of the fan. How was be to know that it had been purpoiely laid side by side with a superb painting, the portrait of the loveliest girl in Europp, the Lady Ethel Pierpoint? He utood gazing at it like one in a dreim, forgetting his errand, hU mothfr, his wife, and everything else, in the superb beauty of that fair young fase. Lady Waldrove raised lan head. " What are you looking at, Vivian ? What are you doing?" Ho went over to tho couch quietly, holding the picture in his hand. " Mother," he said, in a low voice, " whew portrait is this ? " The countess looked at it with an expression of great annoyance, though her heart beat fast with delight at the eucce«s of her •tratagem. "Yon must not touch that, Vivhn ; indeed you should not have looked at ic. " " Who is it, mother ? " he repeated. 11 That I woull rather not tell you," she rsplied. "Itis no ono whom you have ever seen ; it is the portrait of a friend of mine." •*A friend of yours, and I do not know her?" he said. " Her mother is a friend of mine," mul the countess ; " it in she who sent ma her daughter's portrait. I have seen her daughter several times. You do not knoff them." " That id true. If I hid seen the ori <inal of that picture, mother, I enould have rernptubered her. It is your favorito stylo of bsauty, too— Spanish and English mixed." "Put it down, Vivian," eaid the countess, affecting annoyance. Instead of obeying her, he carried it to tho light, looking at it with eyes full of admiration. " She has the mouth of a roclilph'," he ■aid, " and the moulding of her faco i-? perfect. What dark, bright ejes, proud and ■weet 1 " " Pray put that picture away, Vnkn," Etiid the countess, and this time sho fpoke in a firmer tone. She laughed to bprsetf. "If I had asked him to &drnire it ho would have refused," ehe thought; forbidding limi ta do, it gives it a z*at. Put it where jou found it," she oontinuod, " and bring me my fiiu." He went up to her, the picture still in his handf.

' Molhpr," he paid, " yon are really cruel to ire. Do tell me who thia is." '• Why do \ou wish to know ?" ahe asked. ' T5 -caves it u so beautiful, and there is gor-ietbiiig about it which *eems— l cannot pxprco myeelf ; the cyea smile at mo as though she and I had a secret between us." " What nonsenso I " p^id the delightod ronntes". " Obey me, Vivian ; replace the picture where yon found it, and forget it." " Why?" ho asked, briefly. " I will tell you why," said the eounfcQ3s; " because her beauty is an fatal as was the beauty of Helen of Troy. To look long on it is to long for it, and such longing would all be in vain." " Why ? " he paid, eagerly. 11 1 would rpally much prefer declining to answer your question," she said. He bent down and kissed her face. " Wh9n I wa3 a boy and wanted anything, I u u pd to kiss you for it, mothe/, ho said. " You are a boy now, and a big one," replied the proud mother ; " I am not sure if a kig? will have the same effect." She saw a determined expression come over his face, and then she knew all was right. " Mother, do not tantalize me,"' he said ; " tell ma why you do not wish me to look at this picture." "Because the beauty of it is great," she saH, "and fchit beauty is not for you." " How do you know that ? " he asked, entirely forgetting, in his eagerness over the portrait, the unfortunate story of his marriage. " How do you know, mother, that I could not win it if I choose : " he said. 4< I could win almost anything that I choose to win." He looked bo kingly in hia proud young beauty that his mother quite believed it. " It is not for you, my dear boy," she said. " The original of that pioture is the daughter and heirese of one of the most illustrious houses in England ; her parents will expect almost a royal alliance for her. Do not think about her, Vivian ; it would all be in vain." "I am not bo sure of that, mother," he said. "Bat I am. Put the picture away, and forget it. Sleeping or waking, steel your heart against it— do not let its beauty gain on you ; and it is very beautiful, is it not? " " I can hardly imagine that any living woman is like that," he said. Th? countess laughed. "My dear Vivian," she said, " she is not a woman ; she is only a girl — a slendor, graceful girl. She reminds me of a beautiful lily, or rather rose ; she will not be a woman of the world f.ir some time yet." "Mother," said Lord Carsdale, "having told me bo much, tell me a little more. Who is she? — what is her name ? " " She is the Lady Ethel Pierpont, the only daughter and heiress of the Earl of Pierpont. Hit) Beat it Mount Pleasant ; be has Falmouth Piirk alio. But you know the family, although you have not seen the Lidy Ethel." " Ethel Pierpont," he said to himself ; "it is a beautiful name, mother." " Yes ; but we will not talk any more about it, Vivian. Place the picture whore you found it, prul bring me ray fan." Thn time he obeyed, and his clever, diplomatic mother smiled when she heard him, half an hour afterward, humming the air of the old song : " If she ba not fair to me, What care I how fair she be ? " The counte?s was pleased ; her little plot was progressing favorably. That ai;ne evening aae called Indy Gsrtrudo to bsr. " Gertrude," she said, " I saw your brother talking to you very gravely after dinner ; would you mind tolling me what he wps saying ? Of course ifc was nothing confidential." Indy G3rfcrude was accustomed t« her mother's diplomacy— nothing ever surprised her. She answered, timely : " I enn have no possible objection to telling you every word, mamma. Vivian was asking m° all about the Pierponta." Lidy Walrlrovo could have laughed aloud. " How woll I underhand him," she thought. " now well I can manage him." "What did you cell him, Gertrude?" she aslced. " Juflt tho plain truth, mamma. Did Ido right?" " Certainly, my dear ; truth is always right. You told him that we met the Piorponts this year in London, and that we were charmed with them— above all, with Lsdy Ethel ? " " I told that exactly, mamma. Ha asked me a hundred questions about Lady Ethel, her ag->, who admired hn, whom she liked, what people said of her, and more questions than I could remember if I tried." "D:d he?" said my lady. "That is strange." Lady Gartrude made no comment : it was not the custom to comment upon what the oountess said. She smiled again when that evening she aaw her son come quietly from the morning-room. She knew quite well that he had been to take one more glance at the beautiful face of Lady Ethel Pierpont. " The spell is working," thought the counteas; " I shall have the wish of my heart after all : my daughters will raary well, and my son— my noble, handsome Vivian — will marry the heiress of the Pierponts ; everj mother in England will envy me." She was quito right in her ideas ; it was to visit the pioture onco more that he hid gone into her room, for the face haunted him. Ho could not forget it — the fatal, ba witching beauty; the fair, frejh young loveline33; the proud, awcet, frank, fearJeis eyes ; the 207e1j laughing lips and dimpled cbin. Ho went again and a^ttin to look at it. Of courso it wag only a piaturo — he know that ; ho only admired it as a work of art. This royal young beauty was not for him— they would want a royal wooar for her ; and yet, looking in tho fair, noble face, something in it drew his heart to hsr— thore vi&n a. look in the eyes c.l though thfy held a apcrct in common, a look in tho faco as though they never could be strangers. " I am sure I could win her," hi aaid; "no mattor what tha countess think 3, I could wia her. Proud, noble, frank, fearl^fs, refinerl — I understand her, even from looking at her face." Tnen ho stopped abruptly. How fooliah he was I What was he thinking about ? How could he win her ? Ho was married bimaolf — married to a dancing mupter'fl daughter — a bodutiful, untaught g' r '> who could never be a wifa to him — a girl whone mine he dared not mention within the walls of hia stately home. Ho found refuge in his old comfortit was for honor's sake. He looked at the faco a?aiu. 1 Sho would understand," he thought ; " sho wonld understand anything done for honoi's sake." Tbfn be founi Lirus,clf wishing that Lidy Ethel IVrpont had bron in Alice Darwent's phce— wishing thiit somo circumstances bad compelled him to mnrry tho young patrician whose faoc haunted him. " What care I how fair pin bo, If she be not fair fur mo ?" he whi'pcicd, but Iho words did not seem to five liiia much comfort. Ho almost wished that. Jit) had taken his mother's 6'lvicu, and had not !ookc-d at the picture. Or <;otirp" it wa i i only love for nrt ; no one could imagine that he would bo bo foolish as to fall in love with a pioture.