CHAPTER XI.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 172, 14 July 1876, Page 6

CHAPTER XI.

fcOW OtTR TAIE FBIBHDS FAKED AT THE PAIB. The next morning during the breakfast hour Laura was announced, ready to proceed to her day's work. The Colonel detained Eosine as they rose from the table, to speak to her of the matter on his mind, while Doctor Hartland went directly to the library. Miss Marten was standing with her back toward the door, gazing at a portrait of himself and Aleck taken in their boyhood. He came suddenly upon her, and with a hand on either shoulder, turned her about instantly. " Laura," he said in a stern voice, "do you know that Le Compte with whom you conducted such an intense flirtation last evening?" " Don't be so rude," she replied in a vexed tone, endeavoring to shake herself free of him; " you are as rough as a bear, Ned!" " No, you don't get away till you've answered my question. Do you know this Dr. Le Compte ?" " No," replied Laura, coloring slightly as she met the Doctor's piercing gray eye, "now let me go." " Then let me tell you," said Dr. Hartland, loosing Ms hold and speaking a shade more mildly, " let me tell you once for all, if you burn your fingers with him, it is not without warning. He is one of the most notorious characters engendered in the foulest atmosphere of London, Paris, or New York. If I had a sister or a wife, I would rather see her —yes, I'd rather see her dead before my eyes, than to see her as I saw you with Le Compte!" Laura was a little frightened by the very serious manner of the Doctor, but she rallied in a few moments. " One would think, to hear you talk, that I had done some dreadful thing. I'm sure I don't remembpr anything so very much out of the way." " Liura Marten," continued Dr. Harbland, "I would not trouble myself to talk to you, if I did not know that you are a young vain thing, witnout father or brother to check you, and with no guide but your own will, which you natter yourself can never be matched; but let me tell you, there are men with strength of purpose and art Bufficient to crush you to atoms» only give them the opportunity, and Le Compte is une of them. To great personal attractions, information gained by society and travel, and insinuating address, he adds a wonderful magnetic influence. I know him in the way of his profession, and I know no more dangerous man as an admirer of a vain weak woman. I warn you of him now, once and forever. You can't come off from a flirtation with him as you might from one with Aleck or me." He smiled faintly as he uttered the last words, but there was no answering smile on her face, and she turned away to the window as Colonel Hartland entered with Eosine. The young girl saw that the Colonel in his heart would really be disappointed if she gave up her position at the table, and she could not plead weariness, for she was quite rested after her night's sleep; her conscience continued to fret her a little, but she had no time to listen, and the false plea that she was performing an act of self-denial quieted her for awhile. She was much disturbed by Laura's proceedings, and wondered if she had entirely forgotten Aleck; Laura herself was annoyed by the warning of Edward Hartland; it sounded in her ears continually, and Aleck's ring was on her finger, while her promise had been given to Le Compte for a ride next Sunday. She wondered if what Ned said of him could be true, or if he were jealous; she remembered that Aleck had told her in one of their confidential moments that the Doctor himself was not insensible to her charms, and her woman's vanity put the Doctor's caution down to the charge of self-interest. " That's it, he's piqued," she said to herself, and tried to forget his admonition. Each day of the fair went by much as the first. Laura was

; or a day or Wo more guarded, but before the week was over she ivas persuaded that Ned Hartland must be mistaken ; she knew jnough of the male sex, she thought, to find out something of the rillany of such a man as the Doctor had represented Le Compte, in a whole week's acquaintance. Eosine ventured to ask her the snly moment they were alone, "if she thought Aleck would be pleased to see her so fond of her new admirer." " Fond ! nonsense !" she replied, "it is only for a little amusement. It would be absurd in Aleck to wish me to mope around alone during his long absence, or shut myself up like a forlorn widow ! He has too much good sense to ask it." Doctor Hartland proffered no advice, but when he saw how matters were going on, he sternly commanded her on no account to introduce her new lover, as he called Le Compte, to Eosine, on penalty of having her removed at once from the table. As Doctor Hartland had predicted, the excitement and fatigue of the fair told on Eosine's delicate nature ; but the true cause of her restle&A nights and unquiet days was to be found in a letter, which cam¥ through Sister Agnes, to avoid the iuspection of Mr 3. Hartland. It was written with a full knowledge of her wants and wanderings, and she felt that her delinquencies, her want of Christian courage, had added a new weight to the already \ery heavy burden that rested on her beloved parent. The excitement and stimulation of the day, and the reproachful whispers of the night, soon brought loss of appetite as well as loss of sleep, but she did not complain, although she felt the strain upon her nervous system in great weakness. Lessons were resumed after the fair was closed, the money counted, the excitement over, but she found herself wholly unable to fix her attention, and she was surprised by her French teacher inquiring in, the midst of her reading if she were asleep. The next morning while endeavoring to elude the watchful eyes' of Dr. Hartland, by appearing to partake of her breakfast, she became so faint as to be obliged to leave the table. " There, Eosa," said the Doctor, rising and going to her assistance, "I have been looking for this ; you'll have to give in; I have watched you dragging yourself about, but have waited till you were ready for my advice." The faintness increased as he spoke. "Here, mother," he added, "just loosen this child's dress; I think we can prevent an entire swoon. Simple exhaustion ! Perfect rest and quietness is all she needs," he said to his father, who stooped over her with distressed face; "she must just lie down and rest body and mind." Laura Marten came in the afternoon while Eosine was vainly trying for a nap on the library sofa. Her friend was excited as she knelt before her and kissed her cheek. "I'm sorry dear," she said, " this fair business has used you up so completely. lam as weak as a chicken. I've just heard the Pocahontas is in the harbor, she will bring letters from Aleck, mine will come enclosed in yours. You will be careful, dearest," she continued, seizing her hand, " I don't know but Ned would nearly kill me if he knew, 'but you will be careful." " It is not right," said Eosine, her heart beating violently with the thought of being accessory to a clandestine correspondence ; " this is not right, and it is a sin for you to go on so with Le Compte. I wish you would not. I asked Ned about him last night, and he was almost angry with me for speaking his name, and said it was a marked disgrace for any girl to have made his acquaintance. Do be persuaded." " Ah, you little goosey," replied Laura, putting back the bright golden locks that had fallen over Eosine's flushed face, "you don't know much. Le Compte means nothing, neither do I ; he knows this, so do I ; what possible harm can there be in getting a little amusement out of the man ? I have never seen anything of the monster Ned makes him ; indeed, in manners of a gentleman, he bears comparison even with Dr. Edward Hartland. I tell you, Ned views the subject with jaundiced eyes, and bends his brows upon me in a most terrific manner ; but I like the game, if it is only to make the Doctor snarl; but my engagement with Aleck must not come to his ear. if it did, he would pounce upon me with authority, and perhaps shut me up in an insane asylum. So my precious and only friend, don't open your letter in his majesty's presence, lest he should spy the enclosure." " But don't you fear," exclaimed Eosine, rising in her excitement, " that he may write to Aleck about the matter ; it would be most natural to speak of you in his letters ? O, Laura, do you, can ! you love Aleck ?" added she, covering her face with her hands and I pinking back to her pillow, " it seems to me almost as bad as if a married woman should flirt." Laura started from her kneeling posture and walkedjaway to the window without a word. " I did not mean to hurt your feelings, dear," said Eosine, agairfv attempting to rise, " only to tell you how it seems to me." Dr. Hartland entered before Laura had recovered herself sufficiently to reply. He bowed stiffly to her, and took his seat by the couch, noticing at once the flushed face and traces of tears upon his patient, and bit his lip in silence while he counted her pulse. •* Miss Marten," he said, with knit brows, " this young lady must dispense with your company for the present, you have talked her into a fever." Laura bowed naughtily and left the room. "This visit has done you essential harm, Eosa," he said* modulating his voice to gentleness as the door closed, "it has put you back at least two days. What could have been the subject of conversation to bring you into the state you are at this moment P" he continued, laying his hand against her hot cheek. "I wish you had a worthier friend." j "Laura doesn't mean as badly as you think, Ned," k she replied, timidly. " " Don't let her wheedle you into that notion. No woman can do as she has done ever sinco she was a woman without meaning harm. But you must not talk/ he added, seeing the color fade suddenly from her cheek, " you would be more quiet up stairs, I will have your room prepared." He gave orders accordingly, and

in a few moments a servant appeared, Baying, "Mrs. Hartland was waiting 1 for Miss Rosine." " Hero, sister," said the Doctor, stooping over her, "just put your right arm about my neck/ '• O, Ned, thank you, but I can walk perfectly; well," she replied. "Two flights of stairs in your weak state might hurt you seriously," he said, still retaining his position j "if the Colonel w.ere here he would carry you ; as it is, you must accept of my services." Kosine saw there was nothing to he gained by resistance, and she yielded. " There, mother," said the Doctor, as he landed her in her own apartment, "just assist this little woman to undress, she must literally go to bed for at least two days; in the meantime, shall I say,' he added, whispering to Rosine, "don't let any one be admitted?" , No ; please Ned," she said, beseechingly, " d© let Laura come j>« once to-morrow." \" I will see how you are in the morning ; take this," he replied, giving her a powder, " and don't trouble yourself about anything or anybody, but just stop thinking and go to sleep, and you'll be about again in a few days ; but if you are not careful you will bring on a nervous fever, which is one of the most uncomfortable and uncontrollable of difficulties — so I caution you. Good-night."