Novelist. [ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.] Love's Labour Won: AN EVEENTFUL STORY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2629, 18 May 1889, Page 1 (Supplement)

Novelist. [ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.] Love's Labour Won: AN EVEENTFUL STORY.

]> Y JAMES GRAN T. Author of "Tim Umnaiico of War," "The Jilack Watch," " Fairer than a Kairy," &c.,

CHAI'THIi Y.—Usclr Gkijisiiaivs Turk at. Melanie heard the summons as if it were a kind of knell, and all the situation flashed upon her. She was home again—she had no other home—to the new, the smaller and more economical house, and her heart smote licr as she remembered the temporarily forgotten angry and selfish vow she had made when her aunt Chillington's invitation came, to acccpt any wealthy or advantageous ofl'er that came in her way ; and as she thought of her uncle's innate selfishness, of his somewhat hampered resources—-of the handful, she and her brothers—, especially the helpless Reginald—■ were to him, and all Sir JJrisco Jiraybrooke's £20,000 could do for them.

But then there was poor Montague —and she loved him so ? It seems but yesterday since I left you for London, and after all I have seen there," said she, " how still the world seems to stand with you here."

"Italwaysdoosiu our house unless when uncle's temper is up," grumbled Dick. Melnnic recalled an episode that occurred a day or two before her aunt's welcome invitation came. If her uncle hail not much, as he was fond of asserting, he spent it largely on himself—oil the richest wines, a

handsome saclcllc-horse, some rare dogs, and when in town, largely at his club. Thus she had resented such remarks as the following. "What are you complaining of now 1 Why so siient and moody, girl—oh ?" he snorted. " Oh—l need not ask, itis that eternal dance at tho Vicarage." " Yes, uncle, said Melanie, softly, " why cannot I go V' " Why cannot you go t" ho growled. " Yes, dear unclc—l ask you so seldom for money.' "The seldomer the better—money is out of the question—it cost me hard to make the little I liavo in Birchin-lane ; so put this entertainment out of your head; I can't afford expensive dresses. You have all tho necessaries of life, girl." " And you deem mc silly, grasping, if, like other girls, I look for very little more T " I certainly do." And lie out the matter short by draining his glass of Pomery-grano and quitting the dinner-table for his sanctum, where he smoked the most expensive cigars and, from old form of habit, conned the " money article" ; while Molanie forced back her tears and gave up all idea of Mrs. Brendon's dance at the Vicarage, lleginald writhed oil his «oueh when he heard her speak of the wished-for dress, and thought, as he had hopelessly done many a time before, what he might raise on the secret idols of his heart, his Eygptian medals and epaulettes, the poor remains of his loved naval uniform : but these would go but a small way to provide a suitable dressforayoung beauty like his sister. Matters were thus when her aunt's invitation came, and when Molanie, in the bitterness of her heart, registered the vow in question—the vow that the influence of Montague Lonsdale dissipated to the winds. Mrs. Chillington had written to her brother-in-iaw such glowing accounts of the impression Melanie had made in " society," of the conquests that were certain to fall to her share, and finally of the proposal of Bir Urisco, that already visions of the time to come tilled his mind —glowing and comfortable visions when one, if not all three of the children committed to his care by his dead sifter, would be off his hands, when his purse might be occasionally replenished by his affectionate niece, the nightmare debt scared away, " tho cripple Reggie" relegated to the baronet's abode, and all things made pleasant—-hopes and visions had been clouded by the visit of Captain. Lonsdale, whom he never doubted that she would now " throw over," if she had a grain

of sense remaining. He had an open letter in hisliand as Melanie entered and gave him a kiss which he frigidly endured, and then his eye glanced at her over it, while his bald head seemed more shiny, and his two grey side tufts more stuck-up than ever. His fingers fumbled nervouslyabout tho buttons of his vest till he found his golcl-rinimed eyeglasses, which he settled on his long thin nose, and after affecting once more to glance at the letter, he said : " Sir Brisco Bravbrook has proposed to you a second time, as your aunt (Jhillington informs me?" " Yes, uncle," replied she with a, sinking heart. " And you-—-yon " " Declined his offer." " Declined ! Are quite you mad V' " No." " Perhaps not quite, but nearly so. What tho—-why the " Ho paused, having no words wherewith to express the. rage that choked him. " Simply, dearest uncle—l do not love him." " Who wants you to love him 1 We wish you to vnarrv him—that is all V " Without regard, uncle V' " That will come in time, of couso I suppose." "I do not think so," said Melanie in a low voice, as she shrunk b;\ck a little.

But you shall marry him !" thundered her uncle, striking the table with his clenched hand. "Or what, uncle. " I shall know the reason why !" he hissed menacingly through his clenched teeth. Melanie. coloured with annoyance but made no reply. "He is wealthy, rny girl," said her uncle in a more moderate tone. " But he is deemed an old bore, uncle. "A bore—with £'20,000 per annum 1 Ah—you consider that detrimental Lonsdale more attractive, 1 have no doubt?" said he, with what he meant to be grim contempt. " Well, uncle," replied Melanie, a little deflpintly, " between rich bores and pleasing ' detrimentals,' a poor girl, such as I, has a hard game lo> play." "Then play it well. He is a match, Sir Brisco " " Yulgarly, a catch, were nearer the truth, uncle," interrupted Melanie, irritated at the manner in which Lonsdale's name was introduced. " And this so called engagement of yours—" began her uncle, with a withering glance.

" So callcd," interrupted Melanit? ag-ain. " Don't speak of it so, uncle. I -will not have it made public |U'operty. I do not want people interfering, advising and modelling—" "Or songratulating you," said he,

with a bitter laugh. "Few who know our circumstances would be mean enough to do that." Uncle Grimshaw had not, even at first, been disposed to do more than simply tolerate the idea of Montague Lonsdale's intentions ; but now the letter of Mrs Chillington, telling him of Melauie's "disgraceful contumacy," and the necessity for putting some pressure upon her in the matter of Sir lirisco Braybrooke, made him almost savage. "The attentions of Sir Brisco are an honour to our family," said he, loftily. " Then I wish he would turn them to Aunt Chillington, and propost' to her." " Do not dare to trifle with me," said Mr Gritushaw, rasping up his side tufts and polishing his bald head, as he walked lip and down the room. "This fancy of yours for an all but penniless man must be conquered." "ft cannot be," said Molanie, softly, as her eyes filled with tears. "Why-why?" "It is part of my existence." "Stuff!" Then after an angry pause he added. "Well—if-through your contumacy, as your Aunt Chillington vary properly terms it, we are to have this fellow, Lonsdale, on ihe ta.pis, and the baronet hears of the matter, your chances will be lost. In that event I shall have, nothing more to say on the matter," he continued, in a tone which implied he could say a great deal more if he chose. "You are rash, foolish headstrong, and utterly selfish. Melanie felt all the humiliation of her position, and sighed in silence. " I have been kind to you, I suppose T' said he, thinking that she was softening. "Oh, yes, Uncle Grimshaw," replied Melanie, with a bitter smile, which he was not slow to detect. " Have tree.ted you quite like a daughter, indeed ; but this kind of thing cannot go oil for ever—cannot go on for ever," he repeated, vehemently, thinking only of " the handful " his .sister's orphans were, and not of their trust-money, which had slipped through his lingers in tirehin-lane.

Cold and selfish to tho heart's core, ho felt no soft or real regard for the beautiful girl cast by hard fate ou his hands ; and as for her brothers, Dick was ever a worry, and tho helpless " cripple" a source of loathing rather than pity. To refuso such an offer as that of Sir Bi ■isco seemed, in his estimation, conduct without parallel in all tho legends of children, especially nephews and nieces, who have been poor, undutiful and ungrateful. Love was very poor stuff indeed! It never occurred to him that anything so intensely absurd, so utterly secondary, should come into competition with £20,000 a year ! " Beggars who owe tlieir food and shelter to others should not ho so difficult to please," said lie, with intense bitterness and concentrated fury, while his pale grey eyes—if grey thov wore—glittered like icicles in the lamplight; ''and I shall lessen tho burden put upon me in one way," ho added, with reference to the pressure to be put upon Melanie. " If, within a given time, you do not marry Sir Brisco, and thus take off my hands your brother .Reginald, ho shall go straight from hero to the ward of a common hospital! " And with this stinging throat, which, filled her afl'ectionato heart with new terror and dismay, ho quitted the room, and furiously banged tho door behind him. CHAPTER Vl.—An Unexpectk-i Meeting. The strange and bitter threat of her uncle and guardian, for Mr Grimshaw was both, concerning her brother Ileggie, made Melanie grave and unhappy. It filled her with anxious thoughts. With all his business training in Birchin-lane, she knew him to be a curious mixture of vanity, selfishness and meanness, and hoped the first-named element might prevail.

Would he dare—would he be cruel enough to put such a threat ill execution 1 Surely not! Dick, observant and watchful, saw her pre-occupation, and mistaking the cause, said: "You must miss so mucin pleasure here —sight-seeing, balls, water and dinrer parties —- flirtations, and " These are not in my way, Dick." " Not now, perhaps," said Dick, thinking of Montague Lonsdale. " Uncle Grimshaw has just said something very cruel to me." " I don't think it is in his nature to say much that is kind," replied the boy ; " but I saw that ho did look wicked—just like a—like a trapped weasel," lie added, at a loss for a simile.

their nests, and where their eggs were to be found; he knew the trees, the wild flowers, the grasses, and where tho best fruit was to be found in the season ; he knew the cresses in cool deep brooks and the reeds that overhung them ; and every secret of the sweet true life in the country was lenown to the happy and heedless boy, who, though his pockets were often minus of coppers, yet had no care ; and who would lie for hours on his back, with Bingo for a companion, gazing at the Hying clouds, in the shapes of which he fashioned all sorts of things, at the rustling leaves overhead, and listening to the wind that sang, as music, through them. He would linger thus, in the woods and by brook sides for hours, and yet know no vacant time, though surly Uncle Grimshaw, who at the same age had been an oliice boy in the city, asserted that he had only the making of a gipsy--of a sea in p—in him. Two days had passed at Rose Cottage, and Aielanie had not received a letter from Montague Lonsdale, who, she feared, must have written to her old address, when she and her friend Amy, and her two brothers, set off for a kind of quiet little picnic in the, woods—• a favourite resort of theirs—-ljick, who was strong and sturdy for his years, alternately pushing and dragging the wheel-chair occupied by Reggie, and the basket containing the sandwiches, cakes, sherry, teaset, and other requisites for their simple entertainment. The July afternoon —which was to bring forth far more than the now merry quartette could have anticipated—was hot; so hot indeed that the wayside flowers lowered their thirsty petals beneath the rays of the unclouded sun as they streamed on the parched grass from a sky, blue and serene, while the dusty roads, the hedgerows, and copses seemed to quiver and vibrate in heat and light. Guided by Dick, who had already made himself master of all the new locality, they reached a cool, shaded, and seemingly, by the crop of grass that grew upon its pathway, a perfectly unfrequented lane, where the rays of tho sun failed to penetrate, so thick were the interwoven branches of the oaks and elms overhead. On both sides of the narrow way rose abrupt and grassy banks, studded with brighl-hued wild flowers, huge yellow-eyed and whitefringed marguerites, the pink geranium and convolvulus, mingling with meadow-sweet, and overhung by great and bushy hedges that seemed never to have known the woodman's shears.

A mossy and decayed gate barred further progress into a deep and silent thicket that lay beyond. A little runnel of clear water bubbled under the long-eaved weeds that grew thereby, It seemed just the spot whereon to piteli their little camp, and light a fire to boil their little tea-kettle; though a large white board, newly painted, standing vividly out amid the general greenery, and nailed to a beech, bore, in black letters, the ominous warning : — "Private Path. Trespassers in these woods will be prosecuted. All dogs found within this enclosure will be shot." " What are trespassers in this wild place?" asked Amy Brendon, gazing upwards at the board. " People such as us, of course,' said Dick. " An unpleasant notice," remarked Melanie, pausing in the act of drawing the gloves off her white and slender hands. " Oh, don't mind it, we are on the right side of that old gate yet," said Reginald Talbot. " The keeper and tho proprietor are a couple of surly old beasts — Argus and Cerebus combined —- regular cads !" said Dick, viciously, as lie had already " come to grief '' \ with them in his rambles. " The cad is a man of title," said his brother. "What of that? Even a king may be a cad," said Dick. " And what is his name ?" asked Melanie. " Sir lkisco Braybrooke." Melanie felt herself grow pale, while her heart palpitated, but not with pleasure, certainly. " And are these Ravensbourne woods ?" she asked, after a pause. "Yes." " Heavens ! Is our—is Rose Cottage so close to them ? " "Yes—a hedge only divides our lands from those of the aggressive baronet," said Dick, grandiosely, as he depositod an armful of dry sticks, and proceeded to light a fire, deftly arranging- a couple of stones whereon to poise th@ kettle, with a skill that Reginald said reminded him. of his shipmates up the Nilo ; but ore Melanio could speak again, and while Amy, with busy little hawls, was unpacking tho luncheon basket and arranging tho toauups —

Over the latter Montague had gained an advantage. Ho had openly and honourably announced his engagement with Mclanie, while the baronet had made no movement as yet to ingratiate himself in his favour, and had contented himself by reporting his want of success to Mrs Chillington—which somewhat piqued Uncle Urimshaw's vanity. 'Dick, though as yet educated chiefly by Mclanie, for the sake of economy, was a genuine country boy, as stated, in his twelfth year, and by nature was a genuine lover of it. i lie know the name, the haunt and j habits of every bird, and where

" Oh, the dovil!" exclaimed Dick, as a sharp, vigorous, and joyous barking announced an accession to this party, and, as if defying the warning - on the board, his terrier Bingo came dashing' obstreperously down the lano towards tliom, and having secretly followed their footsteps through the woods, was driving' before him in mad career to the holes in a bank, a couplo of y.'hitc-tailed rabbits. "Now, Bingo A\'as a faithful, bobtailed and sagacious, but eccentric specimen of his breed, who accompanied Dick, in all liis botanical, I ornithological and piscatorial

rambles; and his presence on the confines of Ravensbourne woods was not desirable now, being da?agerous, personally, to himself, as any moment might find him " covered " by the gun of that " old beast/' tho keeper, as Dick called him. Not many days before this, poor Bingo had come limping homo, with part of a charge of No. 5 shot in his off hind leg, given him by tho keeper in question, who resented his coming in quest of the rabbits and hares; hence, Dick's heart was full of vengeance against this long-gaitered official. So busy were the two girls with their culinary operations, and so busy, too, was Dick in making his dog fast with a piece of corcl to a wheel of .Reggie's bath-chair, that none of the party perceived two gentlemen who had approached th::m unseen. Both were clad in light tweed suits, with caps to correspond. Each had a cigar in his mouth, and with their arms resting on the top of the low gate referred to, they were watching the group, one with the deepest interest and the other with something of amusement. An exclamation escaped Amy, and then Melanio looked up. " Montague —Captain Lonsdale— you here !" said she, in a low and startled voice. " Lonsdale, by jingo!" cried Dick, with unmixed satisfaction. '• Mel—Miss Talbot—l did not know that Sir Brisco's residence was so near yours when I came here a couple of days ago, with my friend Musgrave—allow me to introduce liini," said Lonsdale, unlatching the gate, and lifting his cap as he advanced. Melanie's too evident confusion was now covered by Dick, whose terrier had got loose in a thicket, whence a shrill squeak was instantly heard. " Oh, Melanie !" he exclaimed in consternation, " Bingo has pinned a rabbit, or something, d—n it!" " Dick !" she said, reprovingly. " Well —-what's the row '1" asked Dick, tarily. " The devil will get you if you use such words." " Then he had better begin with Captain Lonsdale." " Why r " I heard him say the same thing." " When " The last time he left Uncle Grimshaw," replied Dick, as, in terror of the keeper, he plunged into the thicket, and quickly emerged therefrom, carrying a dead hare by an ear, while 'Bingo trotted in triumph behind him.

" I must hnle this somewhere, or that beast of a baronet will be clown on Biugo for poaching," said Dick, as he produced another piece of cord from that emporium, his trouser's pocket, wherewith Reggie " hitched " the terrier, as he nautically termed it, securely to a wheel of his bath-chair. And now to describe Montague Lonsdale, who courteously and warmly greeted the little party. With close-shorn hair of the darkest brown, and eyes that were splendid, of a hazel so deep that they looked quite black at times, a fine, clearly cut, and slightly aquiline profile, a figure above the ordinary height and well set up, he looked the stereotyped style of a genuine English gentleman, " with his white hands and well-bred tranquility, hard, but polished as line steel," to use the words of a recent writer ; and with the expression in his features of one who had faced and overcome much in his time, though few would have thought so, from the serenity of his manner and the composure of his bearing, the result of habit, training, and society ; and singling him out from among the many who admired and hovered round her, during her brief glimpse of life in London, Melanie had soon learned to love him ; he was so gentle, and withal seemed to possess "that mingling of force and tenderness, with a reserve of both," which, we are told, " is most enthralling to womenkind." While introductions and commonplaces were being exchanged between his friend, Horace Musgrave, of the Hussars, Miss Brendon, and Reginald, the unfortunate tenant of the wheel-chair, he continued, in a low voice : " I am on a visit to Horace's uncle, Sir Brisco Braybrooke, who took quite a fancy to me at his club. When I left town with them so abruptly, I little thought that I was to have the joy of being so near you and your new home, darling ; but I fear that I shall not be very welcome there."

"To Uncle Grimshaw —I fear not," murmured Melanie, as her dark eyes of grey-blue clouded for a moment, as she felt herself on the eve of troublesome and vexatious complications. Under approaching footsteps, dry branches and fir couos were heard to crackle, and down the wooded path to the gate came a tall, stout figure in a rough grey Norfolk shootingjacket, long brown leather gaiters, a briar-root between his white-mous-tached lips, a wide-a-wake, garnished with hooks, flies, and lines, and an expression of surprise twinkling in his eyes, under their shaggy grey brows. "Oh, the devil—the baronet!", exclaimed Dick, scurrying about to conccal the hare under some long grass. " My friend, Sir Brisco Braybrooke," said Montague .Lonsdale ; , " Miss Talbot " And I are old friends," said Sir

Brisco, putting his pipe in his pocket, and ceremoniously lifting his old wide-a-wake, as he took her hand and retained it in his a trifle longer than courtesy required ; and Melanie now found herself face to face with her accepted lover and the man she had refused. " What is this," asked the latter; " afternoon tea—cd frescol We are in luck, Lonsdale, Do you live in this neighbourhood, Miss Talbot V "At Rose Cottage—yes." " I heard that it had been lately let, but knew not to whom. This is a most unexpected pleasure !" To Melanie it certainly was not. " I fear we are trespassing," said she, at a loss for a remark. " Trespassing —how can you say so V " This is jolly !" thought Dick ; "I shall have the run of the woods and moor. ITe is not half a bad sort, this old baronet," he added aside to Lonsdale, who said : " I have not forgotten my promise—you shall have that gun." " And may I shoot here ?" exclaimed Dick. '• When I give you permission— but not to have dogs in the covers," said Sir Brisco. What else could he say, with Melanie's soft eyes upon him ! The baronet was a strict preserver of his game, and had been for years the terror of any poacher in Oxfordshire ; he had succeeded in impressing on all—his neighbours particularly—that he held his shootings for his own delectation, and had ordered his keepers to be merciless to all wandering clogs—hence the charge of shot that had sent Bingo limping home.

" Meantime, will you give us some tea V' said Sir Brisco, laughing, as he saw that the kettle was boiling vigorously now, under the superintendence of Amy Rrendon and the Hussar, who was professing to assist her, while Dick acted efliciently as " stoker," in procuring dry branches for the fire. The addition of these to the party, when cups and saucers had been provided for only four, caused much merriment, and took the "edge" oft any awkwardness that might have been felt by Melanie and Sir Brisco, of whose secret—if secret it could be called—Lonsdale was, as yet, ignorant. Melanie remembered the halfuttered hints of Miss Tremayne, and when Sir Brisco was lingering near her elder brother's chair, and talking to him in a kindly and sympathetic manner, she could not help asking her fiance if he know that young lady. " Know Hilda Tremayne ? Of course I do," said he, laughing. " Half the fellows in the service know Hilda. I knew her in India." " I met her at Ohillington, and she spoke much of you." " .Flattering. She used my Christian name. I have 110 doubt." "Quite appropriated you, in fact." " Girls of Hilda Trcmayne's kind adopt that style. She is now on a visit not far from here." " Indeed !" " Yes, she is at Oxford, with her uncle there, a professor at Trinity." He knew of this. How and when did he come to know it? was .Melanie's suspicious thought. She disdained to inquire ; yet the circumstance. or fact, though openly acknowledged, annoyed and piqued her, for Miss Tremayne enjoyed the reputation of being dangerous. (To be contwwtl.)