CAMELLA OR, AN IGNORANT WRANGLER.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 2898, 10 February 1891, Page 4

CAMELLA OR, AN IGNORANT WRANGLER.

liy Mrs L. Erost Rattray (Anthur of " I'.nstonclcll,") CHAPTER \ 1. —Mr Bronx's Behaviour. Mi:i,iiOi:i;.\i': was reached at length, and after a few days' stay the greater number of the •' KomolaV passengers, re-embarked for New Zealand in one of the Union Company's largest boats. Here, of course, there was even less chance of seeing much of Camella and Stanley grumbled not a little at the way Mrs Slangston monopolised the girl. At the Bluff, he boldly walked oil" with her to clitub Elagstaff ILill, and on the way, entreated her to marry him as soon as they arrived in Auckland.

•'Kate Powys, wants us to be married on the same day that she is.'' Camella owned with a deep blush.

" Thai's splendid' " cried Stanley, '■ and wo can all go up to the Hot Lakes together. They will want to keep clear of us, as much as we shall of them.''

By the time they reached the steamer, the two young people had settled every thing very satisfactorily and were able to explain their plans to Mrs Slangston, as they sat on the deserted poop after lunch, most of the passengers having taken the train to Invereargill.

Dunedin was not much explored by Stanley and Camella, as they found there was a nice walk round the cliffs at Port Chalmers, which was more to their taste than the crowded streets.

Kate's excitement increased as they nearcd Auckland, and she could hardly control her impatience at the day spent in waiting for cargo and passengers at (iisborne.

The jlcxc morning, touncl her dressed and on deck, eagerly watchin l' for tin' lirst glimpse ot' the city which contained her sister and iover. As the steamer wended her way ! Lough the beautiful harbour. reaching at. length the Queen Street Wharf, the gui felt as if she must give vent to her feelings in a scream She grasped Camel la's arm as they lowly steamed alongside the outer tee, and could distinctly recognise ihe faces of friends on the wharf.

'• There's Ellen, my sister, and lior husband, but, oh ! Ella. I don't see

" Perhaps he is securing a cab," s'lgir-' -led Camella soothingly, (hough reeling for the girl's disappointmontas she could not have done sis weeks before. Another moment, and the gangway was run our, arui the two sisters were in eaeh other's arms. " Where is Hubert?'' murmured Kate. ''I Ic lii' could not come." answered 'lie older sister, ''Where is your higgag''. deal 1 T' " I s ho ill ( " gasped Kate, turning very white. " Xe. indeed, he is quite well," answered -Mrs Nousc-nt almost roughly. '•Then what is the matter " I can t tell you now, dear. We.it iill we get to our hotel, and you >h;i'l k'.'.ow everytitiug.'' •• ! can not wait. Come down to i:■ y cabin, and tell me the worst at ouee. !l"er \ nice was cold and hard, and Mrs Xonsent fancied that it would lie better to tell the poor girl her bad news at once. So she went down to the cabin, which fortunately : v.ns empty (lamella being 011 deck, '.v ti.chiiiLC the passengers claiming their luggage. Colonel Slangston was looking after theirs. " X ow. Ellen, what is it V '■ I'm so sorry for you, Kitty dear, but it only shows that he is not wur' !i I'ivlting after. ' " Is he engaged to some one • Wor. e. lli -'. lie is "dually ;<>;> rr;ed. " Matted '! 'I ie •.,>hm ..ecined to "lie round, ;>i,ti l> I a I; »v seconds K -i.ie del not I, whe! her she was i'.MJitw; ->r nui. Siii* recovered liers"!'' witii ri 'at eiiort and said I'.'idiv. I low 1 iid ir happen "lie lias behaved shamefully," •'! X' r, •• («;•! Alfred v. 'i::i •! !•> and iinrse-wllip him. | !u! i \\ as a I raid vm; r n 1 me might ! .• in' o 1 he qeanvl. and it ha V' In -11 au i: ward for V.C! to meet people after it. So ! persuaded him to let the neuter drop at least until you came. Luckily" said < iii■: pracl ieal elder sister, -'no one

knows what von were coining out to!. Tiler.' Weir some 1111 pi I ■ a-a 111 rumour-, i'>."M iiim some time ago, !,.■ j.,:,! hYi-d ,i in' 11:1.11 back tiiat i|;,'iv v. i- ho I I'll tli in them. Tile next, we lr ai'.l, tie: rascal was actual!',- mairnd. " ito voit know who she is al all.' hi Ihe same measured, coldly consi i'.i i aed VI HIV. " She is not a ladv, I believe. Sine: our. .said sl'.e was a barmaid, but I do no', really know. Now, deai'. von will come, and live with us, and never think of that, horrid man again. ■' I lave vou seen liiui lately •' I no indeed, and if I were to m,:et him, 1 should cut him, though I should dearly love to tell him what I think of him." " You are quite sure,'' said Kate, her voice losing a little of its studied calmness, "that all this is quite true. There can be no mistake V " I. am afraid there is no chance of that. Alfred met him last week in the street, just before we came up here, and he asked him plainly what it all meant. The wretched man tried to shuttle out of it, but Alfred insisted on his saying if it were all true.' " Well ?" as Mrs Nonsent paused, apparently hesitating how much she should toll her sister of the disagreeable interview. "They could not have a full explanation in the street, you know, and when Alfred tried to find him at the hotel, he had left.'' " Do you know where he is ?" " My dear Kitty, what do you want him for 1 You must not think of trying to see him, if that is what you mean." "My letters,"' murmured Kate, " I must get them back, or know that he has destroyed them." "Gracious!" cried Mrs Nonsent in a dismayed tone, "of course you must. I will get Alfred to see to that at once.' " Then you do know where he is?" Mrs Nensent reluctanty admitted that her husband did. A knock at the door interrupted them, and Camella entered. "1 have come tocollect my tilings," she began, then stopped, perceiving from the expression of Kate's face that something was wrong. " I beg your pardon," she stammered, " I am afraid I am in the way." " Ella,'' said Kate, " this is my sister, Ellen, Miss Pittersley has been very kind to nieon the voyage." She spoke in a dreamy way, and as if she were performing some task that she hid long looked forward to doing, and which had, therefore, lost all sense of novelty. She had indeed often thought of the time, when she should joyously introduce her friend, (of whose: beauty she felt proud) to her admiring sister and lover, but all sense of pleasure in anything was, for the time at least, gone, Mrs Nonsent shook hands with Camella, uttering some commonplace words of thanks which the girl disclaimed honestly enough, for she could not remember any particular deed of kindness towards her room mate. " Tell me how many boxes you have, Kate : I will leave you here, whilst I point them out to Alfred." Mrs Nonsent then left the cabin, only just checking herself in an exclamation of wonder at the number Kate named, as she remembered that the whole of the trousseau, and table linen had been brought out by the poor girl.

"What is the matter?" cried Camella, as the door closed.

Kate biiellv related her sad story, and Camella sympathised greatly.

'■ 13ut you are well rid of him, dear,"'' she said.

"If he had only written to me, explaining that he did not care for me, it would not have been so hard to bear," moaned Kate.

" I think he has behaved atrociously, 110 docs not know what a treasure he has thrown away. I suppose there is 110 chance of this turning out an unfortunate mistake, is there ?"

Kate shook lier head. "I did hope that, until Ellon said that hor husband had actually seen and spoken to him quite lately." She could not bring herself to say, " since his marriage."

Mrs Slangston's voice, in au imperative call for Camella to come at once, broke up the little conference, and, after a hurried embrace, Miss Pittersley ran lightly upstairs.

Left alone, Kate's first impulse was to bury her head in her hands and give way to her grief, but she controlled herself. She had all her life beforo her in which to lament her lost love, and hers was not the sort of griof which could be openly expressed and mourning worn for. Xo, self-respect demanded that if she must weep, it should bo done at the dead of night, not when the traces of tears would be visible to the jeering world.

People might say they were sorry for her. but underlying the outward formal expression, thcro would too frequently be a halfconcealed contempt for the jilted girl, as if somehow, it must be —indirectly perhaps—her fault. Some might even profess to discover that he had long wanted to be free, but that as she held him to his promise, and insisted on coming out to marry him, 110 took this desperate way of letting her know that he was certainly not going to wed her.

So "Kate resolutely forced back the wild rush of wounded love, and mortified pride, and with a face perfectly calm, though very pale, joined her sister. "Is all this yours, Kitty," demanded her brother-in-law, Alfred Xonsent. At any other time, Kate would have laughed at his tone, but just now it was all she could do to answer quietly. " Yes. it is all mine, ihough some of the boxes contain Ihings vour wife ordered. And Kale v.-a 11.. -d mi a v for a mons-^n';.

overeonie liv a recollection of the elaborate trousseau which mostly tilled her trunks. There were some very handsome presents,

too : ;md even in lcr burning sense of mortification. Ivate grimly won di.Ted whether they ought not to be sent back to the donors. How she got through that miserable day, she could never afterwards recollect. She had a dim sense of walking through crowded streets, of looking at some handson,e buildings, of staring at a group of Maoris, of eating a wellserved dinner, which she fancied ought to surprise her, and then at length of exchanging a warm kiss with her sister, and she was alone ! She could give way now. No one was sharing her room to-night: Camella and her party were at an hotel, whilst she and the Nonsents were at a large boarding-house in Symonds-street. " If I could only see him,'' she cried, passionately; "if I could oidy hear his voice just to tell me how it all happened, it would be so much easier to bear. Oh, it is hard !" and the poor girl sobbed as if her heart was breaking. " Robert. Robert," she moaned. " how could you be so false, so cruel ? Oh, how shall I ever live without you '! And I had counted the days and hours till we met. Oh, it is too dreadful; I cannot, cannot bear it." Then Kate, who was no heroine now, but a deceived and a despairing maiden, took out her faithless lover's photograph and gazed at it till the blinding tears hid it from view. Of course, she ought to have torn it up and burnt it and his letters. But there was no lireplace in her room—as a rule, fires are not required in bed-rooms in the North Island. " Oh, Robert, I loved you so, It seems as if I had parted with everything I cared for." She pressed the photograph to her lips and then Hung it from her. "I will never do that again," she cried. " I must teach myself to remember that his kisses are now giren to another, and that I ought never to think of him again." And so Kate Powys passed the evening, to which she had looked forward so long, as being the tirst spent in New Zealand, after a happy meeting with her lover. (To he rwil'inHcd.)