AS PURE AS THE DRIVEN SNOW.

Bush Advocate, Volume I, Issue 52, 4 September 1888, Page 4

AS PURE AS THE DRIVEN SNOW.

CHAPTER VI. (Continuod. ) He spoke very passionately, not so much to us I thinkn but because his thoughts were growing, intolerable* and it was>a relief to put them jntd' Words. ' Then he* turned to, mother— ' _ , " Arrange my coat for me, Mrs Raß, will you, please? And if you Mr Vale, will be so good as to take this message to the post-office I will >go;upto the Hall and try to, see "Uscdles. If anyone can explain ..:■ Lenore's disappearance, if she is still in the world of living people, he , knows -where, she is ; but I have a v horrible impiession'that she is dead, and now she may be- lying in 'some lonely spot, done to death by ancl treacherous hands." '*•'■ Was it tnat his words .expressed my. own fear, or. that a fresh shade of horror settled, uyon my soul ashe jjpoke? 'Shuddering I knelt by the .fire and strove to put some heat 'into my chilled frame, and Alick, thoughtful for me, brought me more coffee; and made me drink it? Then , I rose to bid him good bye before he put, and as I uttered a few faltering words of hope I heard the sound pf many voices r outside the window, and looking forth saw a crowd of people approaching, in the .midst of which were four labourers bearjng something upon a rude sort 'pf ; stretcher.: ; The horror in my ' heart' grew deeper now, so deep and great; as to still speech utterly, for I thought they were bringing my lady home to us— -dead ! . '4«-Whatis it?" I heard Mr D'Este asK " Well, Vale, what is it?" A Then Alick left the room hastily, . and I, still looking out, and quite incapable of speech or. movement, saw r him meet the crowd, and say something to the foremost of the men ; then there was a sudden halt, and, the next moment he came rushing back' and on his white face i was. a horror greater than I had | ever seen , before. The next moment he was in the room, drawing me away from the. window, and, with a shakidg hand, pulling down the blind. ."Come away, child— Phillw, come f 'away. There is something coming which you must not see," and then Isaw his eyes seek- Mr D'Este's face, with an awful look of fear in their steadfast depths. " What has happened, Vale?" T Mr D'EsJjevdemanded,. "You may 'tell me surely / . " Sir," Alick said(to me it seemed that his tone was full of a great pity)^ " there has been dreadful work^.dcm 8 this night. They are bringing-yhere the body of a mura derea r m'an ! which w9s found in the park this, morning." He paused, and the silence which fell upon us was strange and tolerable. **■'/": Wio[ is it?" I gasped findingvoice at- last, though speech was hard to rne'/and Alick, still looking at Mr.p'Este,and,not at me, made ,aiiswer slo^wly- 1 - „ ■ iiil - ■■■"■ It ip'Captain : ;Lascelles." Looking from* one, ghastly face to • the other I saw something . drawing in each which froze the blood at my. heart/ and^f or a. moment stilled its throbbing. Then >as , one hears things in a dream I heard" Alick say slowly. and steadily--' ' '■" "Suspicion is already bu3y. P'oople do say that the murderer is ] ten'owfly* •; ' .-: ' ;j He "paused again, ; and- another aw^M ■silence fell upon' us. Then Mr D'Este started to his ' Uet.'- : ■'' "•■ ' , "Dead!" he saidj " murdered!"' and looked from one to the other of , us as if he could not understand. "Jn the Park last night," Alick answered, in the same steady tone. "Fo&Heaven sake! Mr D'Este, tell me if you know anything of this. You were almost the last person to see him, perhaps the last with the exception, of .jtjhe murderer." " What should 'I' know of it?" Mr D'Este demanded ." All I kno w, all I fee), is that through tjie man's ' death we lose almost our only hope .of finding my darling. He is dead, ''and if he knew, the mystery of her disappearance his kno.wledgo is dead with him." v . Tjiore were strange sounds out3'side in the passage; the tramping of heavy "feet, the smothered voices of men as they brought their ghastly burden, in. They laid him in the great empty club-room, and gradually they stole away again, to reassemble presently for the inquest. Oh, the long miserable day ! Mr D'Eete went to the telegraph office himself and despatched a message to Scotland-yard \ then wandered restlessly about the village seeking in vain for" some clue to Miss Lenoru's hiding-place. And Alick stayed with me, saying nothing of the fear and horror which I saw in his eyes and heard in each tone of his voice, but trying to comfort mother and me in the trouble which brooded over our home. ■«• ■■'■-. -For it' was an awful thing to , think that within a few yards of us, r just ; 'across the passage, there lay ■ ; the body of a man who but yesternight had t spoken and touched me—-whose-Heart then was full of hopes and plans and memories 1 — and who, to-day, cried with dumb lips of .vengeance upon the hand which had spilt his blood. The inquest was fixed for the afternoon, and just before it com nienced Mr D'Este camo in, lookv ing very weary and ill. . ."JPhillis," he said, calling me by J my Christian name, as if he felt that I was /indeed: hig friend, "what is $.ere about me. that people should

shriiik away, and look at me so strangely ? I met a mother and her child just now, and the little one, looked, up and laughed ; but the woman caught him up in her arms and hurried away as if I were plague-stri cKen. 'PJii^rr-Vale — what doe's it mean ?" But I could not answer, and Alick would not. . . •"■■" "We shall have to give evidence at the .inquest," Alick said, "and you, too, of course, Mr JD'Este. I wish it were over. If there is one thing I hate more than another it is suspense.'' : „ " Yes," Mr D'Este said, absently "it is horrible. But in this case the verdict cannot affect any of us, so -we do not feel the suspense so keenly as his friends. I wonder who did the deed 1 It was a cowardly thing to shoot a man from behind, but most murders are cowardly." " Yes," Alick said, " they are." Then we were summoned to the room where the coroner sat, and I told briefly what I had seen of Captain Lascelles in the evening. The coroner's questions were clear and to the point, but I cannot tell Jiow it was that I was made to speak of that meeting with Mr D'Este in the lane, only as I 'told I saw the faces of the jury grow more int3rested, and the coroner questioned me at gome length as to the conversation which took place between us. Ah ! and I knew, growing sick and faint with the knowledge, that every word I spoke added to the suspicion lurking in each heart there. Yet what could I say— what could I do ? Who had spread that suspicion throughout all Yarreston — who had sown the seeds of which so bitiera harvest must be gathered? , But yesterday no man knew that Raoul D'Este and Lenore Eskell were aught to each other. Now 1 saw in every face full knowledge of his love for her and the natural hatred he had borne Lascelles. Again and again I. asked myself that question, and, suddenly flashed into my, mind with a distinctness which was wonderful, I remembered Vyvyan Eskell's strange face and wild eyes, saw once more the change which came upon him when we spoke of murder, and knew as well as if I had seen him do the deed that this was the man. I was free to go at length, and went back to my old place in the parlour, thinking— thinking of the strange events crowded into the past three days. Three days!. They might have been three years, they were so full of joy and trouble, horror and fear, and the worst was yet to come. Alick w,as called next: but, of course, his evidence duly corroborated mine. Then Mr D'Este, and as he went my heart went out in a passionate prayer for him who so sorely needed help. • Alick came to my side. " Sweetheart, this is a dreadful Christmas for you, and I am powerless to keep these things for you. But out of all the evil one good thing has arisen— we are together again, and I do. not think mother will 'forbid me the house any more," "No I think ndt. But, Alick, I cannot think of myself nor even of you, now. Do you know who murdered Lucien Lascelles for / do /" (To be Continued.)