Untitled

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 1027, 3 May 1916, Page 8

The last notes of a stately minuet died away, and the player gently fingered the keys of the harpsichord as her listener drew his chair nearer and began to urge his suit. He was young and good to look upon, with curling brown hair above his high black satin stock, and well-shaped limbs shown off by tight kneebreeches and stockings. The girl his eager words were addressed to had such a fragile beauty that ehs looked a mere child in her short-waisted muslin gown, made in the fashion that was known when Oeorge 111, was king. 'Yet ehe wore a wedding ring. They were alone in a large room, furnished stiffly with spindlelegged chairs, and fragrant with the scent of dried rose petals. ' You oannot deny that you love me. I defy you to deny it, so why keep up this shallow pretence f Leave the old dotard to his musty books and coma with me.' There was a triumphant ring in the man's low-toned pleadings ; k hs felt sure of success at lost. She hid her face in her hands and bent her head lower and lower until it touched the keyboard with a faint jangling discordance.' 1 Ralph Gaston stooped forward and kissed the white nape of her nec,k.'-;»The touch of his lips roused her, and a crimson flush spread over even nock and arms as she started hastily to her feet, holding both hands outstretched to push him away. .- ■ ??v-~ ** r -tf 1 ''*&;&!: 'How dare you, Ralph Caxtont How dare—oh, has the man no pity f ' You don't deny it. I knew you couldn't dony it I' he repeated, rising from hia chair and coming nearar, y> • ' Stand back, sir !' she panted,' or I call the eurvantsl How dare you tempt a woman to deadly sin f" ia the sin of taking the woman I love, and who loves me—loves me, do you hear P—from a life of neglect and misery P If the old man who married you meant to keep you, he should have looked after his own.' -j; '•'£. om . '•"* •••-' ' Heaven forgive you for the evil you have triad to bring on me and on this house I' she said with a voioe trembling with suppresssd emotion, ' Qo at once, sir, and never dare to show our faoe here again I' /,., ..' I will go when you tell me that you love your husband,' he replied with a mocking laugh. ' You can't say the lie, Rachel; your face te.le me so.'

She grew white as the muslin of her gown, and her eyes were turned away as she murmured,' I lore—ay husband.' -

'lt ia a lie I' he eaid, < and you know it. Your lips say the word?, but your face tells the truth. Yon dare not look me in the face and tell that lie 1' *.•..« ....».*<*

4 1 love my husband I' The words rang out clearly, and hie eyes fell before the scorn in hers. 'Oo now, before the servants put you out, eir !' Then, after a stately curtsey, she walked firmly out of the room and across the hall to a door at the opposite side. "y-.-.V" ■ .. ■ . ■ *-. <ls that you, Rachel P Wait a minute; the testis nearly completed,' exclaimed the voice of a tall, elderly man, who was fusing something with a blowpipe. *"*<«. **&s< The girl leaned heavily on the back of his chair, with one slender hand pressed tightly over the bosom of her gown. • - vtrsp ' I have found it, child t My task is over at last. See this tiny phial r* and he held it lovingly in hie hand and let the light fall full on the con* tents. <lt contains a wondrous fluid, Rachel—the long-sought elixir of youth. A few dropa of this precious liquid will restore the lost years and make me a fit mate for yon, sweetheart. ' Ah! the anxious hours I have spent in search of it. I never told you what I sought, for the task was long and weary, and I would not have my bird anxious for the result. Nor would I weary you with talk of my love until I had the secret in my grasp, for I feared you would think the greybeard hut a prosy old fellow.

Rachel slipped down to the floor at his etda, and held out her clasped hands towards him* with an appeal that checked the flow of tender words coming from his long-shut heart. 'Hugh! Bughl what hare you done P Why did you marry me only to leave me alone r What need had you for the elixir of youth when you first brought me here I I could have loved you then if you had tried to win me. But now'—she orouohed lower and buried her faoe in his knees ' husband, do you know that, while you pored over these old parch* meats, Ralph Gaxton, the son of your old friend, dared to speak to me of love f He urged me to go with him to Ireland, and I—unhappy creature that I am—nearly consented. I do not know how I resisted" him—per. haps my dead mother watched over me—for I—love—him V Her voice died away tea whisper. Hugh Bolton bent over the crouching woman and tried to raise her head, \So you have come to look at your handiwork, Ralph Oaxton f Are you satisfied with tit? We have killed hex between us, tou and I i 1