CHAPTER XLIX. "DO YOU LOVE ME."

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2081, 7 November 1885, Page 1 (Supplement)

CHAPTER XLIX. "DO" DO YOU LOVE ME."

Lord Carsdale was topsed on ttio sea of doubt ; he suffered more bitterly for this one apt of folly than some people suffer for a terrible sin; he could find no rest, no refugo for -his thoughts, no comfort ; ho stood as it were, between two women, eaoh young and tender of heart; one he l»ved dearly, the other bad the greatest of all claims on him. ♦ His heart was sorely troubled, his whole soul was distressed ; he was at a loss what to do. Ho loved Lady Ethel, and, as was natural, his love pleaded for her ; he pitied his young wife, and pity pleaded for her. He was miserable with his doubts and fears. The plan which seemed most feasible to him was that he should get a divorce from his wife, a legal separation, and then marry Lady Ethel. Was such a separation possible ? He did not know. lie bad, as a matter of course, no charge whatever to bring against his wife ; far from that, he had the greatest esteem for her,' Tho only possible grounds on which he could seek for a separation would be that he was married before he cams of age, without the permission of his parents, find that the marriage was in every way unsuitable. Then he said to himself that the very sound of these reasons was absurd. Still he would hog what was the legal view of tho matter. He was perfectly ignorant of the law of marriage, only he imagined that in the existing stage of the marriage laws it was easy to get a divorce, or to procure a legal separation, if it were desired. He did not quite know if he wished it. He did not like the idea of causing Ailie any pain ; he could not bear to think of it; nor, on. the other hand, did he like to think that Lady Ethel should suffer. Of tha two there was nq doubt which he preferred — life with Lidy Ethel would be one grand dream of delight; life with Aille would — well, he had not thought of it. His marriage, that Quixotic not of folly, was the one thing whioh of late years he had so earnestly tried to forget. It seemed to him that the first and the most just aotion wou'd be to sec if his idea were really correct — if Lady Ethel really loved him. Yet how oould he find that out ? Her proud reserve of the other evening showed him that she ,would never give any sign of her lovo unless ho asked for it. "I mußt ask her if it be true," he said. "Yet how can I ? — in what words ? She will think me a ooxcomb. Still it must be done. I can decide on no plan, settle no action, arrange nothing, until I know whether rhe loves me." Having formed some kind^of plan was a relief to his mind ; he would wait his opportunity, and then quietly, without any preamble, in brief word=", he wouM ask Lidy Ethel if she cared for him. With all his faultß thero was auc'i a vein of straightforward earneptneas in his character that he saw nothing strange or singular in such a courpe of proceeding. He felt somewhat at ea^e. Jmt as he crosPed the lawn, for he had been smoking in the grounds, he met the earl, who asked him it he would join him in r rido round the park. A few minutes afterward Lord Carsdale entered the morning-room, where his mother, Lady Ethel, Lady Gertrude, and Ailie were. Ho laid one of his riding-gloves on the table. " I am one of the most unfortunate of men," he aaid ; " every button belonging to me comes off twice a3 often as those belonging to other men. See, these are both gone." Ho laid the plove down upon the table. " I will do it," s&ifl Lady Ethel. But before sho could roach it Ailie had raised the glove from the table. " I have my work box here," sho saM, quietly, going over to the liltlo stand on which the box stood. Lady Ethel would have given anything to have stitched the button on the glove fnr him, but there was something in Ailie's manner, in the determined air with which she took possession of it, that forbada all interference. No one had tha courage to go to hot and say : " I will do that instead of you." Lord Carsdala saw it, bat said nothing. When it was neatly stitched Ailio brought it baok to him ; she never even raised her eyes to his as she gave it to him, co that any halfformed suspicion in the mind of any one present soon died 'away — sho had dono it to save them trouble they thought. But; in Ailio's mind there was a feme of quiet satisfaction — she had mended her husband's glove and prevented her rival from doing it. Then Lord Carsdale went off for his gallop, but more than once he looked at that glovo with thoughtful eyes. The same little inoident dwelt in Lady Ethel's mind, and disquieted her, small as it was. She fancied that Lord Carsdale would think she had not been so quickly anxious to serve him as his mother's companion ; so that when ha returned from his drive, she was there to woloomo him. She talked to him more kindly than she had for some days, and Ailie saw it all. She saw that her husband at n'rnt almost seemed to ntrugglo against the charm and fascination that the young heiress evidently had for him, then that he yielded to it ; and they spent the evening over some books and photographs. While Ailie watched wfth a jealous heait, flho showed no signs of it. Once oi twice, when Lady Waldrove sent her with different messages to her son or Lady Echel, eho delivered them with a smiling faco, and in her eyes no shadow of disoontent lay. She stid to herself that it was quite certain that Patient Griselda never looked cross or impatient — that if Bhe was to win her husband's heart at all, it must bo by always looking blight and cheerful, no matter what happened. In her heart she felt it, and she made no outward sign. She could not help seeing that Lady Ethel had a moat puprcino influence over her huebaud, and sho was powerless to counteract it. Lord Carsd^lo had decided upon a course of action, and he said to himself that now the sooner he brought his complicated mntterato some kind of settlement the better. Theiirst object he had in view was to see if he was

right in hii suspicion— if L.?dy Ethel really loved him ; the second was, to take legal advice and see whether tho separation was prac ticable oe not— be could think of no other pan. Ah it was, three people wore unutterably miserable, three pfople were leading the most unhappy lives; the nnhappineca might be lessened. He wished that it wero possible. Could ho have taken it all, be would willingly have suffered it to have scon Lidy Ethel and Ailie happy. He resolved that evening to know something. The carl and counteaa wore bupy over a game at ccarfe. The visitors were en«f»ged each one in different fashion. Ho did not see Aihe ; she had loft the room. Then ho took Lady Ethel to the other eiA of the lonp drawingroom, where the groat glass doers led to the lighted conservatory. "Ilnw beautiful the flowers look," she aaid. Had any one else been with her aho would hv7o suggested that they should go through it; as it wan, Bhe refrained, and he did not mention it. They stood at the open glass door, where the sweet breath of the flowers came to them likp a fragrant mee3age, then he spol-e. •'Lady Ethel," he said, "your friendship and mine has been a strange one, co unlike all others, that it justifies me in asking what would otherwise bo a strangely insolent question." Khe looked up at him. " Ko question of yours could ever deserve that name," she said. "Tins will. I want to ask you, and I almost hate myself as I do so— l want to ask you " Then he paused. It seemed easier to die there than to ask that question, whioh he could not follow by an offer of marriage. He paused, and the brave, handsome face grew whito aa death. She 'aid one hand on his arm. " You need not ftar me," she said, gently ; " we are, as you say, such old and true friends. I fchould not have thought that there was anything oa earth you would have feared to say to me." "I would 3ooner face a regiment all with drawn swords than I would ask what I have to ask," ha replied. " Before I ask, will you forgive me, Lady Ethel ?" " Ye?," she replied, quietly ; " you know that I will." " Lidy Ethel, the question that I want to ask is thi3 : Do you love me?" Slie made no answer, and he continued : «• If I could toll you all— if I could give you the history of tho last five years — if I could tell you tho story of a— atorriblo mistake, you would understand that co light, mean, or unworthy motive prompts me, but a terrible anxiety, the result of which is life or death. I have no vain thought ; I ask you the question with the gravest anxiety a man can feel. You are too true and too noble a woman to refuse me an answer. Lady Ethel, do you love mo?" " I will answer as frankly as you have asked," she replied. " Yes." And thon there was a long silence ; across the white, haggard pain of hia face enme even in that moment a gleam of rapturous delight ; yet, oven in that moment, the thought crossed his mind that if she had said " no," ho need not have broken Ailie's heait. " Yes," she repeated. " I do noi know your motive in asking me ; perhaps some woman would have declined it, would have said ' no,' and sacrified everything for prMe. I am proud, but in owning that I love you I do not lose sight of this fact— that five years ago, when circumstances threw us together, you left nothing undone to win my love, and I have loved you ever since." Ha bent his head with alow murmur of pain. "Aa you say," she continued, " I do not know all; I have alwajs thought that there was some mystery in your life— some story which the world did not know — you will tell it to mo in your own good timo. Shall we go back ? Lady Waldrovo evidently thinks our Mr a-ti it a long one." •• May God pardon me !" he said. "If I have not been wicked, I havo been a reckless man." They went back again, and Lady Ethel, without another word, left him »nd joined a merry group just finishing a round game at cards. Lord Carsdale looked as he felt—unhappy. Ailie was notpresent. The countess called him to her. " You have found something very interesting to talk to Ethel about," she said; but, to her surprise, he made her no laughing answer. " I do not know that wp have either of us been very much amused," ho replied; and Lady "Waldrovo, seeing that ho looked both dull and gloomy, caid no more. (To be Continued.)