AGAINST HER WILL ; OR FORGIVEN.

Bush Advocate, Volume I, Issue 8, 24 May 1888, Page 4

AGAINST HER WILL ; OR FORGIVEN.

&*;\;,y ■■ ' V \ -'"• ■ '

v 'fckAPTER lll:— (Continued)

It was no use to prolong the pain of parting. Both were sad at heart. Perhaps Nell's pain was worst. Basil aijrleast, had his profession to dis- ; tract his fraindi he. wpuld be with * a brother he dearly loved ; but Nell had nothing to look forward to but . a dreary struggle with poverty. Another moment and Nell stood . /.alone in the little parlour, her lover hid left the house in Prospectterrace for ever ; the time of probation h&d begun. . , CHAPTER IV. Spring-was fading; into summer, the. June sunshine fell warm and "bright upon the earth, the London season was at its .height, and a ,ishabbily-a'rflssed girl in deep mournjng'threaded her way slowly down the crowded pathway, Piccadilly, looking as though she had little in common with the brillant throng which surrounded her. ; ■■•:-■ It was Nell Fortescue, our little ;herionej Basil St. John's promised wife. Very white and worn looked the girl in the bright sunlight. Little more than two months had "gone by since her lover left her, and i already sho was sadly' changed. -It seemed. to Nell sometimes that her . trials were more than she could bear, trial KeT : life of daily : humiliations was beyond her strength ; it needed every scrap of courage she possessed .: to' prevent' "her from writing to Basil and begging him at any risk *4of«Qme and- take her away from her xnißeryi'--'T.. ? r.v :,: . : •■.. '■: ' ■'•' :--■- For gi'sa-t changes had taken place . in tfaie : little family. They.po inhabited Prospect-terrace .. Within three' r days of .Basil's departure a strange gentleman had arrived and been closetted with Mrs \ Foi'tescuefor over an hour, , n -Th£lady came out exultant and tjdfld/Nefl her j)oor Uncle Thomas, in America, had died arid left her a rßaridsdme legacy which would set her up. With her stop-daughter's patient aid all the bills were col- >- fected ; anyone who had the slightest &(Blaimjon No. 9 was applied to for their account! : • The- welcome visitor carho again, -■■ topk.away, these trying, documents, which ne returned next dav re»

' ceiped jtyhen almost before-Nell had •' realised her good fortune, ; their boxes r were packed and. they moved into a 5 large house in one of the west : central squares, whero,Mi's Fortescue intended, to take lodgers. ' ■-. ■ r # ' But" prosperity did not agree with ';."ih^Wido\v. XThclc Thprrias's legacy, see^ne(l : tis have devoloped a greed ffot gafii • i ri her heart. From the day ; sfi«r look 'up her abode in South'Jtpurh6rsqiiare' she seemed to have bat Olio passion, that of making liipney .:. the house . was .filled- with loggers; her own family were crowded into the attics and basments; although, she was receiving liberal. • rents she grudged the necessary "alsiifaiice" in the, house, and tried her best to Convert Hell into a household drudge. ; • ; •i'-Jiji vain the girl. protested that if she was j|n tr o. way she could take ; a -situation." Mrs Fortescue declared; sjie{ would noyer be, the person to I turn. Jber husband's child , out' of doors. The : :Shrewd,..; keen-sighted woman knew prefectly that in Nell s she secured the work of two assis/tants^ Tind also r.the. entire trustworthiness of someone devoted to her interests, at ...the i cost of board : and lodging. No wonder she was . (anxious for. the arrangement to continue, though sho did boast to her ; Btep-dailghter of the charity which , iinacle.her-take such a burden on her herself as, a " great hulking girl; who had no claim on her or her uncle's ;;fottunc," Poor little Nell ! Never had she felt: so lonely, so utterly, desolate as How; her fond father was dead, her young lover had left her for months, .and Mrs Fortescue, with the petty Spite of a coarse-minded, irtrbman worked her beyond her •strength. Evet since the Academy opened* -Nell had been yearning to go and ace Basil's picture, the picture of whose acceptance he had told her on the evening when he 'asked'her to be his wife ; but it was hard to spare a few hours, and harder still to obtain the shilling necessary to open for her the portals of Burlington House. . But it came at last. In a fit of generosity Mrs Fortescue had given her half-a-crown. It was a Saturday . and most of the lodgers were going on the river. To her surprise Nell was actually free.

; She set out about four o'clock. She felt as gne .who. walked on air. Already tho sweet. June sunshino, the bright scenes around her, were making her -forget her home. •troubles, and given her face the old : glad look it had borne in the days ; when her father called her his com- .. fort/- Very soon^he would see Fasil's picttire-^the picture she had watqhsd him work' at, and which .-a^asKo-dear to him. There were many people at BurJJngjton House that afternoon but ;•• / Btiir ; the . crowd : was not incon : Vehienfcly gi'e'at. ; Nell hardly looked iat the, pictures she passed, she was f 'ib^iicn a hurry to find the one seemed the great ; |^uhd it.at last, and, to her jo^ul surprise, other, people shared her atyjjiroy^; : ,Tjiere were quite a woncier of wonder ! it was " on the Tfifp » :; "7, ; ,

- She stood and gazed as one who could not gaze enough. It seemed almost as though her young lover stood before her. She felt near to Basil as she looked upon his work. It was a simple subject, though a sad one—^ The ; Reaper and the Flowers " of Longfellow's poem— "The Angel Reaper and a Little Child." Both had faces of remarkable beauty ; but all who looked at it agreed that the chief feature of the picture was the child, and one or two- who were there that particular afternoon, and saw the thin, sadfaced girl in plain black dress, fancied that Basil St John must have had a mode) not unlike her. Nell did not know that" Basil, owed his fame to her, that the dark blue eyes, the bright-tinted, hair, and the sad, sweet . smile on the child's face were her very own. There were no oiie to tell her ; she had no thought of self as she stood there — her v hole heart was in her lover's success. " Surely they will come and see it, she thought to herself, suddenly. " Surely Basil will come to England before the Academy closes."She noticed that the picture was marked " Sold," and she wondered who had bought it ; she envied the person who would have the pleasure of seeing it day after day upon their walls. <3he was thinking a little wistfully that riches must be pleasant thing3, when , a voice fell on her ear. : '•-" Ah ! poor young St John's picture. I always said the boy had talent, and the strange roving life* 1 his brother made him lead was just the'thing to bring it out." ' . Nell looked up. The speaker was an old gentleman, almost seventy years of age ; he was talking to a lady somewhat younger — a beautiful silver-haired matron, whose soft black shawl just suited her stately figure. She, two, . pressed forward to look at the picture, and Nell waited. What did it mean ? Why did they call Basil " poor young St Joh. ?". There was a tear in the lady's eyes as she gazqd r .? ; " It is only a chance resemblance f course, John, but it is a very striking one. Don't you see it ?" Her husband said J" Yes," very [ slowly, and asking if she would not like tp sit down. "No; I have not looked at this picture enough. John, I wish this picture was not soldi" " It's net sold, or I would have made an effort to get it for you my dear, by offering the purchaser a liberal bonus. It seems poor Vernon can't bear the idea of parting with it and so he had his own name entered as purchaser." " Well it's natural. He loved the boy well." "Better than if they had been whole brothers. I met a friend of his yesterday, Helean, and he. says the earl was dreadfully overcome ; that he could hardly command his feelings at the grave. They brought the poor boy homo, you know, to bury him with his mother in Vernon churchyard.'*' ik sudden noise, as someone falling, caused a little stir among that fashionable crowd. The shabby girl some of them had .noticed before, and wondered what brought her there, lay senseless on the ground. . "Np.w.pnder she. fainted," remarked the. old gentleman, little guessing his words had done the mischief. "It's too hot for anything this afternoon." '■ The Academy was emptying fast but his wife and another lady lingered with Nell. She had been placed on one of the velvet seats, and the two aristocratic matrons applied aromatic vinegar and smelling salts as kindly as though she; had been one of their own set. " You are better now V said the Marchioness of Orville, when the patient gave a weary sigh and opened her eyes, the first sigh of returning life. Was it the blue eyes or something in their wistful sadness which went to the lady's heart? But a few minutes before she had been overcome by the picture's resemblance to her only child ; it seemed to her that a living and stronger likeness to her May was before her no\V. " I am better, said Nell, faintly ; " I am sorry to have been so trouble some." "Tt was no trouble, declared the marchioness (the other benovelent. matron had gone oy this time and left her to enact the part of Good Samaritan by herself). "The heat is so great I don't wonder at your faintinjr Are you quite alone here," "Quite." '• And have you far to go ?" " Not very far, thank you. I am better now, I shall get home nicely." (To be Continued.)