VIOLET LISLE; OR, A PEARL BEYOND PRICE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 447, 13 March 1912, Page 2

VIOLET LISLE; OR, A PEARL BEYOND PRICE.

AM Rights Reserved.

By the Author of "All or Nothing'," "Two Keys." etc., etc. PART 13.

Guy turned with an angry unwillingness as if acting against his bet:er judgment. " How do you know this ?" he demanded. " Why," was the quick answer, " it was onl> this afternoon that Jenkins was boasting of it in the village ; but it won't last, my lord ; for he has no nore money than she has ; and after all that's been said, he will lose his :uracy here." Guy turned sick. Could it be his Violet that was being so talked of ? "Good Heavens ! Was it possible the paper Lord Coldenham had showed him was as true as it seemed ? Had he been dreaming all these weeks ? He could not brook the :houghts that surged up in his fever*d brain at the accumulating evidence of the falseness of the woman he had loved with such an idolatrous worship. His first angry impulse was to spring on the man whose words were a defamation of her, and to choke the lie in his throat ; but the fearful dread that it might not be a lie made him turn and rush away to where his carriage waited. " To the castle," he said. Half an hour later he stood with his mother in her parlour, and her heart sank to look on the stern, drawn face of her son. She realised to the full, then, that she had lost the boy who has been hers scarcely twenty-four hours ago.

" You have had your will in this matter, mother," were his first words uttered in a hard, passionless voice. " I shall not marry Violet Lisle." " I acted for the best, Guy," she answered piteously.

" I cannot judge of your motives," he said in the same tone. " I know that my life is ruined." " It would have been ruined if you had married her, Guy." " That is as it may be," he said. " I cannot believe it in my heart, although my head is convinced by the testimony. But I did not come here to discuss this with you. It belongs to the past now and there let it remain. Violet is lost to me for ever and I can only pray Heaven that between you and me we may not have ruined her fair young life as my own has been ruined."

" Oh, my boy, mj boy, do not take it so hard, there are other women"— " Yes, there are other women, but there is but one love ; and I say to you, now, mother, that whatever Violet may be, I love her still and only her, and so I know it always will be. I have come to say good-bye to you." " Where are you going, Guy," she gasped. "I do not know. I am leaving England. I will write to you from Paris, where I shall go ; but before I leave you I have one last word to say." He paused with lowering brows and set ;'aws, and the mother who had boasted more than once that Guy was like wax in her hands, saw with an indescribable agony that he had become to her as the hardest flint ; and then she realised that she was weakness itself in comparison with iiis iron determination. The delicate handkerchief, of costliest lace, which she held in her nervous hands, was torn like tissue paper as she waited in an anguished silence for him to go

" You threatened me, mother, with the loss of your wealth, if I should marry Violet Lisle. If I had had Violet, I should have been rich enough. I have lost Violet and I will not have a penny of that money which was to have been the bribe to make me give her up. It is through you that I have lost her, and I would starve rather than use a penny of the money." " Oh, Guy, Guy, you will kill me," wailed his mother. " I do not mean to toe even harsh," he said : " but I will be just to my own manhood. Good-bye, mother." " No, no ! Don't leave me, Guy, mj boy ! Marry her, I will go to her and ask her pardon. But don't go from me in this mood, Guy. I have been wrong. I did it for the best ; but I will admit that I was wrong. I will go to her now, Guy. Wait here for me."

It was a terrible shock for Guy, black as his own mood was, to see his stately self-contained strongwilled mother bend so before him. He put out a gentle hand to detain her, and said in a low, sad voice : "It is too late, mother."

"It cannot be, Guy dear. I will go to her father, and I will moliifj even his pride." "He turned her from his door and sent her out into the world with a curse."

Lady Darlington shuddered. Then she said, eagerly :

"She must be somewhere near and we will search for her and bring hei here. You see, I will not stop at anything to please you, Guy." "Is it not true, mother, that she accepted the money she gave that receipt for ?" "Yes, it is trua,; but I am sur< she loves you, Guy.*"

Guy laughed a hard, mirthless laugh of scorn. "Loves me ! Oli, Heaven ! Bui still it is too late, She has gone to London—gone—witli—a formei lover."

The words fell from hig lips lik< drops of blood wrung from his heart His mother looked at him piteouslj and then threw her arms around his neck and sobbed ;

" Oh, Guy, I am your mother. Do aot hate me !" " No, mother." " A n-d you will not leave, me?" She fondled him beseechingly ; but he looked down at her sadly enough but with no abatement of his deter.nination. '•T must go, mother. All this reminds me of her and is hateful to me." " Oh, Guy, Guy, you mean never to come back," she cried. The gloomy light in his eyes told 'icr that she had guessed the truth, and she clung convulsively to him, seem ins-; only to have just realised how great her mother's love was. "The future is a closed book, mother," was all he said. " You will let me go with you, Guy ?" she pleaded. " No, mother." " Have you turned to stone, Guy ?" she wailed. " Have you no love left irr me ?" " Y'ou are my mother," he answered, " I never forget that. Ido not mean to be unkind." " You will always write to me ?" she asked. " Always." " And Guy, dear, will you not draw on my bank for money you may require ?" " No, mother, I have enough of my ->wn to supply all my wants." " Then you will not forgive me, Guy ?" " 1 do forgive you, mother, but I cannot take your money. I said to myself that if I could not have your money with Violet, I would never touch a penny of it. I have lost Violet for ever, and I will never break my promise to myself." " Oh, then," cried Lady Darlington breaking from him, " you will never forgive me in spite of what you say ; and my curse be on the girl who has come between us !"

"Hush mother ! Are you mad ?" said Guy sternly. " What else should a mother be who has lost her son ?" she murmured. " Will nothing change you, Guy ?" " Nothing, mother." " When do you leave ?" " By the first train, whenever that may be. Robert will send my luggage after me." " I v-iu see you before you go," she said with a forced coolness. Guy bowed and left her. She sank despairingly upon a couch, and tried to understand the change that had come over Guy. And then, as weak human nature will, so laid the burden of the fault on Violet and she conceived for that innocent suffering girl a bitter, passionate hatred.

CHAPTER XIX. THE BLOW 7 OF AN ENEMY. The compartment into which Martin and Violet hurried was, fortunately an empty one, and there was no one to remark the agitation of the poor girl, as she leaned forward and gazed out of the window at where Guy had disappeared in the station. She saw him run out of the waitingroom just after the train had started and then she lost sight of him and sank back in her seat and covered her face with her hands. The distress of poor Martin was beyond description as he saw how greatly Violet suffered, when it was out of his power to say a word or do anything to aid her. He could only do what his gentle nature prompted, and that was to leave her undisturbed to her sorrow. He made her as comfortable as he could without being too obtrusive with his attentions, and then leaned back and watched her pitifully from his cor-

It seemed to him a long time before she spoke ; but he would not for anything have disturbed her. lihe had been sitting in the same attitude all the while, her hands covering her [ace, and no movement betraying the feelings that racked her breast. All at once she let her hands drop from before her face, and looked at him out of her blue eyes in which agony seemed to sit enthroned. " You are very good to me, Mr. Jenkins," she said.

"Oh, Miss Violet," he exciaimed, in a pained tone, "please don't say that ! If you could only know how glad I am to be able to serve you." "I am sure of that," she answered, with such simple trustfulness that Martin felt his whole being suffused with happiness. There was a short pause, and she went on as if forcing herself t,c speak.

"You are so kind that I ought tc tell yuu why I am here." " No," he said with quick eagerness, " please do not. I could guess if it were necessary ; but it is not. [ know, without being told, all that is needful that I should know —that you have all the right on your side." Her eyes dimmed with tears tc hear him speaJc so earnestly. " Thank you for saying that, Mr Jenkins," she said, "and I will not tell you all my story ; only I must tell you that Lord Darlington is not to blame for anything that has hap pened—it is right I should say that.' : Martin Jenkins could not say anything to show Ms disbelief in hei statement ; but down in his heart he was thinking scornful, wrathful thing: of the man who had had such e

treasure in his grasp and had no\ kept it. He could not conceive what had happened ; he was only certain that Violet was an innocent sufferer ; and he thought, with the a gony of a loving soul, how he woulc have sacrificed everything to posses; the pure love of Violet Lisle. " I have been thinking," Violei went on, after a pause, " since '. have sat here. I could not thin! before. I cannot think now of wha< has passed since last night excepi as if it had happened to another.' How his heart ached to note how al the joyous music had gone out of he; voice ! " But you ape so good t<

me that I have hern a'.do to ihrn* l of the future. Before you came r.n help me I could only see death : hut now it seems as if I could find s unc way of living—" "Oh, Miss Violet," ho broke in. '.-,-it-h troubled eagerness. "if you would only let me speak wiilimit offence. " " I am not too proud to accept advice, Mr. Jenkins," she said, sudl\ enough. "It wasn't only advice. Miss Violet," said he, his voice trembling '.vith the fear of what he was going to say. " I want to tell yon about •nysclf—-not that that, would matter except under these circumstances ; but it will show a way to your own 'uture. Do you remember I told you that I had been' left some money ?" " Yes." " Well, the first thing I thought of was my mother and how it would make her life. easy. She was always such a good mother to me ! \rd so I have taken a house at Norwood and furnished it, and I am now going to take her to it." "It was like you to think of her first,"said Violet in a low voice. A deep flush overspread Martin's face, and it seemed as if the words burst out before he could stop them. " That was not the truth. It was you I thought of first. Oh, forgive me, Miss Violet, that is all past. Not that I would not give my very life to restore you to happiness ; but the folly that I uttered that day is past. I will never say anything to recall my presumption." "It was not presumption, Mr. Jenkins. A manhood so noble and true would add lustre to any name. I thought so then, and I know it now more truly."

" Thank you," he murmured ; then, after a pause, " My mother is a plain little woman, and as true and good as any one who was ever created, Miss Violet," he said, timidly, " would jou not make your home with her ? Don't say no until you have thought. It would he such a kindness to her. She will be so lonely in the house by herself." The tears came into Violet's eyes, and in a moment she was sobbing unrestrainedly. Martin wrung his hands in his distress, blaming himself for not saying it mora delicately. "I am so stupid and rough," he said piteously. " Please don't Miss Violet."

" How good and noble you are !" she said. "Indeed, I would do as you ask me if I could, and I would be so grateful—l am grateful ; but I must work in some way— l don't know how. If you only knew what I have suffered ! Oh, I must have some occupation, I must. I am truly grateful to you and I am happier indeed I am, for meeting you ; but 1 must do something." " What can you do Miss Violet?" he said, remonstratingly. " You are not fit to go alone. Oh, Miss Violet, I could not permit it. Don't misunderstand me. I don't mean tc say what you shall or shall not do; but I am a man and can judge better than you."

Violet half smiled through hei tears ; for it was patent even to her that Martin had very little more worldly knowledge than herself. And she would have liked to yield to his insistence, for the picture of a retrent in the peaceful little house was very enticing ; but even as it came up before her she knew that her thoughts there would drive her mad. She must have work. " I wish," she said with n low sigh, " that I could yield to you, but I cannot. I would be glad, though, if you would let me go to your mother until I can find something to do. London is so large ; there is so much doing there that I shall surely find something before long." There was nothing for Martin tc rlo but. acquiesce in this, and he did it ail the more readily that it seemed to bun that it was nearly the same thing as saying she would remain with his mother ; for ingorant as lie might be of the ways of the world, ho was well enough aware ol the difficulties that lay before Violet. What he did not know was the determination that lay in Violet's intention to seek forgetful-.icss in occupation. A calmness, not of despair, but o! resignation tinged with it, took possession of Violet after this conversation with Martin and by degrees she found herself able to go over the events of the past twenty-four hours without sinking into the stupor ol misery, which had seemed inevitable always before. It was all no less terrible, unreal and agonising, but it was endurable and she did not yet hope for anything better. She yielded herself to Martin's direction and guidance with a passive trustfulness that touched the noble fellow keenly. He had begun by asking her if this or that course would be satisfactory or pleasing finer, and she had answered with the nearest approach to a smile that Ik had yet seen on her face. " You know best. I will do whatever you say." So he took her to an hotel at first and left her there, while he went to where his mother was expertim: him. In the morning he went to tier and took her to his mother who had beer told all that Martin knew, and who. waited, as a woman will, in som< anxiety to see the other woman whe had been so often extolled, by a man Women do not often take a man'!: judgment of other women : and ever a sweet, humble-minded little body like Mrs. Jenkins could not accept her son's notion of another woman without some reservations. (To be continued.)