PART II.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 5, 1 February 1900, Page 23

PART 11.

The following day Frank Lomer, Lieutenant in the Blue Dragoons, made his appearance on the scene, and was more than a little astonished at the coldness of the welcome he received from his mother. ' You seem to get a great deal of leave, Frank,' she remarked, when the family were assembled in the drawing room before dinner. ' Oh, well, I do contrive to screw a decent amount out of the chief,' replied her son. He was a good-looking young fellow of five or six and twenty, tall, and well groomed, and fully aware of his own personal advantages. ' Have you any objection ?' he added. ' Always glad to see you, my boy,' interposed his father hastily. His wife's countenance was an open book, wherein he could read threatenings of a coming storm. 'Of course we are glad to see you,' said Mrs. Lomer, with a suspicion of iciness in her voice. ' But that is not the point ' Here, greatly to General Lomer's relief, the announcement of dinner caused a diversion, and in a few minute* the trio were seated at an artistically decorated table. The lady-help, however, was conspicuous by her absence. ' Where is Miss Chester /' inquired Mrs. Lomer, as the housemaid placed the soup tureen before her. 'She is taken very poorly, please, ma'am, and sends her apologies, and hopes you will excuse her this evening.' A half-astonirhed, half-relieved expression crossed Mrs. Lomer's features. 'It must have been a very sudden illness,' she observed. 'She was evidently well enough to arrange the flowers.' 'It was very sudden, ma'am. She was taken bad about half an hour ncro.' 1 Well, see that she has everything she requires,' said Mrs. Lomer. She was aware that she had secured a treasure in her ladyhelp, and was fully prepared to treat her with kindness and consideration, but at the same time she was decidedly relieved by the fact of her non-appearance. ' We have set up a new institution since you were here last, Frank,' observed General Lomer, when the servant had taken her final (iepaiture. 1 What ;s that ?' asked his son. languidly. His usually cheery countenance- had become somewhat clouded, and there waß a slight frown, born of perplexity, on his broad, sun-tanned forehead. 1 A laiy-lit-lp. my boy, nothing less! and a deuced handsome ffirl into the baigain. She ' '1 will trouble you for a little pirk, James,' interposed his wife, in a tone of warning, whereupon the general, seeing ' breakers ahead,' hi-tily changed the subject. Grtatly to his moth(i"« relief Frank showed no sign of being at all interested in his father's communication, and when they rose from the t.ible he • x.nised himself, on the plea of a headache, and -aid h" wou'd go and have a quiet smoke in the garden. ' That boy has something on hi* mind,' remarked Mrs. Loin^r to h r hu-bi.nd, whe.i they reached the drawing room. 'I am 'tire I hop» not,' was the alarmed reply. ' That always means mo'i.y, and I have none to throw away at pro.-ent.' ' I do not tbiiik it i.s money ; I f inoy it is worse ; it is a vvonirn.' ' Oh, he will get over that,' returned the general, in a jaunty manner. ' I had been iv and out of love a dozen times when I was his ajj;v.' ' Ir, was not at all to your credit, then,' said his wife, coldly. 'But,' she continued, 'if Frank has got himself entangled with anyone unsuitable it will Le a very serious affair. He must marry money '.' ' Oh, well, my dear,' paid her husband, ' there is no use in worrying yourself until you know for certain whether he is entangled, and,' with a subdued chuckle, ' in any case the entanglement will act as an antidote against the attractions of the ladyhelp ' 'It is impossible to discuss any sensible subject with yon, James,' remarked his wife, in a tone of resignation. And she iearKd back in her chair wiih a t-igh and buried herself in the pajes of the Fort night I >/. Mra. T,OTer rrgaisled herself and her surroundings from a literal and highly serious point of view. She was, n oreover, one of tho->e women who conceal a warm heart and various other excellent qualities under a cold, unprepo-se-Bing exteiior and a Bome•vliat saroastic tonguo. The mask of reserve, which she wore perpetually, had become moulded to her features so that it was almost impossible to raibo it, and consequently the people who knew her md value I her at, In r real worth could be counted on the fingerw of one hand. And her own son was not amongst that number. From the days of his curly-headed boyhood he had stood in awe of hia impervious, dignified mother, whose smiles were so lare, and

whose words of reproof of such frequent occurrence. To be sure, Frank was a very naughty boy, and his misdemeanours were aB numerous as the sands of the sea-shore ; but it is an open question whether a little more love, and a little less severity, might not have had a beneficial effect upon his juvenile morals. The love was there, in as large or even larger proportion as the Beverity, but its well-spring lay deep below the surface, 80 deep that its actual existence was not realised by its object. ««•* Frank himself meanwhile was pacing up and down the moonlit garden, a cigar betwpen his lips and perplexity in his mind. He was, as he would have expressed it, in ' a tight place,' and so far as he could judge there was no possible egress. Presently, however, a possible solution, or at any rate a bright idea seemed to dawn through the fog of his bewilderment, and, first glancing cautiously round him, he took up a handful of gravel and threw it deftly at a lighted window on the upper floor. There was a moment's delay, and then the moonlight shone upon the charming face of Mrs. Lomer's lady-help, as she leaned out of the open window and smiled down upon this modern Romeo. 1 Go away, Frank, for heaven's sake,' was her somewhat prosaic greeting. ' Suppose anyone should see you V ' Oh, it is all right 1 The governor and mother are safe in the drawing room. Why did you not show at dinner, Ruth ? You are not really ill, are you, darling V Ruth laughed softly. 'Oh, well,' she said, ' I had a splitting headache, but of course I should have waited as usual if you had not been there. I felt I wanted a private rehearsal before I appeared before you. sir, in my new robe. Frank, haye — have you told them /' ' Not I ; I am puzzling my brains how I shall do it. The governor will be all right ; he said you were a '• deuced handsome girl," by the way, but mother looked like a thundercloud, and she always gives him his cue.' ' Oh, it will all come right, somehow,' was her cheerful rejoinder, ' and — good heavens, I hear footsteps !' And in another instant the window was shut and the blind drawn, and the lady-help had vanished.