"HAND AND RING,"

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 4413, 5 July 1884, Page 3

"HAND AND RING,"

By AJWA Katitkrine Ghki:\", Author ol "Tho Lcavenworth Jim-dor," "Tho Sword of IJamodcs," "Tho Defence. of tlio Prudo," etc,

CHAPTER XXIV. A TRUE Bir.L, Como to mo friend, or foe, And tell mo who ij victor, York or Warwick. —IIEN'HY VI. Tm town of Siblcy was in ft stato of excitoiiient. About the court-houso especially tho crowd wan jrre;U and tlio interest manifested intense The Grand Jury was in session, and tho c.i*e of the Widow Clcmmons was boforo it. As all the proceedings of this body are private, the suspenso of those interested in tho issuo was naturally very great. The naino cf tho man lastly suspected of tho crimo had transpired, and both Hlldroth and Mansell had their partisans, though the mystery surrounding tho latter mado his friends loss forward in asserting his innocence than those of the more thoroughly understood Hildreth. Indeed, the ignorance felt on all sides as to the express reasons for associating tho name of Mrs Clemmcns's nephew with his aunt's murder added much to the significance of the hour. Conjectures wove plenty and the wonder groat, but the causes why this man, or any other, should lie under a. suspicion equal to that raised against Hildreth at tho inquest, was a mystery that none could solve. But what is tlio curiosity of tho rabble to us? Our inte:vst is in a little room far removed from this scone of oxcitoment, whero tho young daughter of Professor Darling knools by thesidoof Imogcno Dare, striving by caress and entreaty to win a word from her lips or a glance from her hoavy eyes. "Imogeno," she pleaded,—"lmogono, what is this torriblo grief ? Why did you have to go to tho court-houso this morning with papa, and why havo you been almost dead with terror and misery evor since you got back ! Tell mo, or I shull porish of moro fright. For weoks now, cvor since you woro bo good as to help mo with my wedding elothos, I have scon that something dreadful was weighing upon your mind, but this which you aro suffering now ia awful; this I cannot bear. Cannot you speak, dear ? Words will do you good." "Words!"

Oh, the despair, the bitterness of that single exolamation! Miss Darling drew back in dismay. As if released, Imogene rose to her feot and surveyed tho sweet and ingenuous countenance uplifted to hor own, with a look of faint recognition pf tho womanly sympathy it conveyed. "Helen," she resumed, " you aro happy. Don't stay hero with me, but go whore tnero aro cheorfulness and hope." > "But I cannot whilo you suffer so. I' love you, Imogono. Would you drive me] away from your side when you are so un-l bappy ? You don't caro for me as I do for you or you could not do it."

" Helen !" Tho deep tone made tho sympathetic little bride-elect quiver. "Helen, some griefs aro best borne alone. Only a few hours now and I shall know tho worst. Lioave me."

But tho gentle little croature was not to be driven away. She only clung tho closer and pleaded the more earnestly : " Tell me, tell mo !"

Tha reiteration of this request was too much fo.- the pallid woman before. Laying her two hands on the shoulders of this child, she drew back and looked her earnestly in the face.

" Helen," she cried, " what do you know of earthly anguish ? A petted child, the favourite of happy fortune, you have been kept from evil as from a blight. Nono of the annoyances of lifo have been allowed to enter your path, much less its griefs and ems. Terror with you is but a name, remorse an unknown sensation. Even your l«vo has no depths in it such fia suffering gives. Yet, since you do love, and love well, perhaps you can understsnd something of what a human soul can endure who Bees its only hope and only love tottering above a gulf too horrible for words to describe—a gulf, too, which her own hand But no, I cannot toll you. I ovorrated my strength. I " She sank back, but the next moment started again to her feet: a sorvant had opened the door. "What is it!" she exclaimed ; "speak, tell me." " Only a gentleman to see you, miss." "Only a " But she stopped in that vain repetition of the girl's simplo words, and lookedjat her aa if she would forco from her lips tho name sho had not tho courage to demand ; but failing to obtain it turned away to the glass, where she quietly smoothed her hair and adjusted the lace at her throat, and then catching sight of the tear-stained face of Helen, stooped and gave her a kiss, after which she moved mechanically to the door and went down those broad flights, one after one, till she came to the parlour, when she went in and encountered —Mr Orcutt. A glance at his face told her all ehe wanted to know. "Ah !" she gasped, "it ia then " " Manse!! .'" It wa? five minutes later. Imogene loaned against the window where she had withdrawn herself at the utterance of that one word. Mr Oreutt stood a couple of paces behind her. " Imogene," said he, " thore is a question I would like to have you answer." The feverish agitation expressed in his tone made her look around. "Put it," she mechanically replied. But he did not find it easy to do this, while her eyes rested upon him in such despair. He folt, however, that the doubt £n his mind must be satisfied at all hazards ; So choking down an emotion that was almost as boundless aa her own, he Tentured to ask :

"Is it among the possibilities that you Conld ever again contemplate giving yourself in marriage to Craik Mansell, no matter what the issuo of the coming trial may be?" A shudder quick and powerful as that whioh follows the withdrawal of a dart from on agonizing wound shook her whole frame for a moment, but she answered steadily : "No ; how can you ask, Mr Orcutt?" A gleam of relief shot across his somewhat haggard features. "Then," said he, "it will be no treason in me to assure you that never, has my love been greater for you than to-day. That to save you from the pain which you are now suffering, I would sacrifice everything, even my pride. If, therefore, there is any kindness I can show you, any deed I can perform for your sake, I am ready to attempt it, Imogene." , "Would you—" she hesitated, but gathered courago as she met his eye— •' would you bo willing to go to him with a messago from me ?" His glance fell and his lips took a line that startled Imogene, but his answer, though given with bitterness, was encouraging. " Yes," he returned ; " even that. "Then," she cried, " tell him that to save the innocent, I had to betray the guilty, but in doing this I did not spare myself.; that whatever his doom may be, I shall share it, even though it be that of death. "Imogene I" " Will you tell him ?" she asked. But ho would not have been a man, much less a lover, if he could answer that question now. Seizing her by the arm, he looked her wildly in the face. "Do you mean to kill yourself?" he demanded. , "I feel I shall no* live," she gasped, while her Sand went involuntarily to her heart. He gazed at her in horror. "And if he i 3 cleared?" he hoarsely ejaculated. " I—l shall try to endure my fate. He cravo her another long, long look. "So this is the alternative you give me? he bitterly exclaimed. "In™* either save this man or see you perish. Well, he declared, after a few minutes further contemplation of her face, "I will save this man—that is, If he will allow me to do so. A flash of joy such as he had not perceived on her countenance for weeks transformed its marble-like severity into somethins of its pristine beauty. ■•And you will take him my message also ?" she cried". But to this he shook his head. " If I am to approach him as a lawyer willing to undertake his cause, don't you see I can give him no such message as that ? ■ "Ah, yes, yes. But you can tell him Imogene Dare has risked her own life and happiness to save the innocent." " I will tell him whatever I can to show your pity and your misery." • And she had to content herself with this. In the light of the new hope that was thus unexpectedly held out to her, it did not Beem so difficult. Giving Mr Orcutt her. hand, she endeavoured to thank him, but the reaction from her long suspense was toe

much, and for the first timo in her bravo young life, Imogono lost consciousness and fainted quite away.

CHAPTER XXV. AMONO TELESCOPES AND GHAUTS. Tarry a little-thero Is something else. —Merchant ov Venice. GoovBRNKUIt Hildmtk was discharged and Craik Mansoll committed to prison to await his trial. Horace Byrd, who no longer had any motivo for remaining in Sibloy, had completed all his preparations to return to New York. Ilis valise was packed, his adieus i made, and nothing was left for him to do but to step around to tho station, when ho bethought him of a certain question ho had not put to Hickory. Seeking him out. ho propounded it. " Hickory," said ho, " have you ever discovered in the course of your inquiries whero Miss Dare was on tho morning of tho murder ?" Tho stalwart detective, who was in a very contented frame of mind, answered up with great eheoriness: "Haven't I, though ! It was one of tho very first things I made sure of. Sho wos at Professor Darling's lioiiso on Summer Avenue." "At Professor Darling's house?" Mr Byrd felt a sensation of dismay. Professor Darling's house was, as you remember, in almost direct communication with Mrs L'lommens's cottage by means of a path through tho woods. As M> Byrd recalled his first experience in threading those woods, and romombored with what suddenness he hud emerged from them only to tind limself in'full view of the West Sido and Professor Darling's spacious villa, he stared uneasily at hit) colleague and said : "It is train time, Hickory, but I cannot lelp that. Before I leave this town I must <now just what sho wns doing on that morning, and whom sho was with. Can you find out ?" " Cart I find out f" The haidy detective was out of the door beforo the last word of this scornful ropetition had loft his lips. Ho was gone an hour. When ho roturned ho looked vory much oxeitcd. " Woll I" ho ejaculated, breathlessly, " I havo had an oxperionee."

Mr Byrd gave him a look, saw somotiling ho did not liko in his face, and moved uneasily in his chair. " You havo Vho retorted. " What in it ? Spoak." "Do you know," tho othor resumed, "that the hardest thing lever had to do was to keep my hoad down in tho hut the othor day, and deny myself a look at the woman who could bear herself so bravely in the midst of a scene so torriblo. Well," ho went on, " I havo to-day boon rewarded for my self-control. I havo scon Miss Dare."

Horace Byrd could scarcely restrain his irapationco. " Whoro?" ho domanded. "How? Toll a fellow, can't you I"

"I am going to," protested Hickory. " Cannot you wait a minute ? / had to wait forty. Woll," ho continued inoro plcnaantly as ho saw tho other frown, " I went to Professor Darling's. There is a girl there I have talked to before, and I had no dilliciilty in seeing her or getting a five minutes chat with her at tho baok-gato. Odd how mich girls will talk ! Sho told mo in three minutes all I wanted tc know. Not that it was so much only— " "Do get on," interrupted Mr Byrd. " When did Miss Dare come to tho hou»o on the morning Mrs Clemmena was murtloreil, and what did she do while there?"

" Sho came early ; by ten o'clock or so, I believe, and sho sat, If sho did sit, in an obsorvatory they have at tho top of tho house ; a placo where she often used to go I am told to study astronomy with Professor Darling's oldest daughter." "And was Miss Darling with hor that morning ? Did thoy study together all the tiiuo she was in the house !"

"No; that is, the girl said no ono wont up to tho obsorvatory with Alias Daro ; that Miss Darling did not happen to be at homo that day, and Miss baro had to etudy alone. Hearing this," puriuod Hickory, answering tho look of impatience in the other's face, "I had a curiosity to interview tho observatory, and being—woll, not a clumsy fellow at softaoaping a girl—l at last succeeding in prevailing upon hor to tako mo up. Byrd,"will you believe mo when I tell you that wo did it without going into the house!" "What?" " I mean," corrected the othor, " without entering the main part of tho building. I Tho professor's house has a tower, you know, at the upper antjlo toward tho woads, and it is in the top of that tower ho keops his telescopes and all that kind of thing. The tower has a special staircase of its own. It is a spiral one, and opens on a door below that connects directly with the garden. Wo went up these stairs." "You dared to?" "Yes ; the girl assured ma evoryono was out of tho house but the servants, and I believed her. We went up the stairs, enterod the observatory " " It is not kept locked, then ?' "It was not locked to-day—saw the room, which is a curious one—glanced out over tho view, which is well worth seeing, and then " "Well, what?" "I believe I stood still and asked the . girl a question or two more. I inquired," ' he went on, deprecating tho other's impatience by a wave of his nervous hand, "when Miss Dare came down from this I place on the morning you remember. She answered that sho couldn't quite toll ; that sho wouldn't havo remembered anything about it at all, only that Miss Tremaine came to the house that morning, and wanting to see Miss Daro, ordered nor to go up to the observatory and tell that lady to ( come down, and that she went, but to her surprise did not find Miss Dare there, ; though she was sure she had not gone home, or, at least, hadn't taken any of the cars ; that start from the front of the house, for she had looked at them every ono as they went by the basement window whero she was at work."

" The girl said this'" "Yes, standing in the door of this Bmall room, and looking me straight in the eye." "And did you ask her nothing more? Say nothing about the time, Hickory, or— or inquire where she supposed Miss Dare to have gone ?" "Yes, I asked her all this. I am not without curiosity any more than you are, Mrßyrd." " And she replied I" "Oh, as to the time, that it was somewhere before noon. Her reason for,being sure of this was that Miss Tremaino declined to wait till another effort had been made to find Miss Dare, saying she had an engagement at twelve which she did not wish to break."

"And the girl's notions about where Miss Dare had gone ?" "Such as you expect, Byrd. She said she did not know anything about it, but that Miss Daro ofton went strolling in tho garden, or even in the woods, when she came to Professor Darling's house, and that she supposed she had gone off on gome such walk at this time, for, at one o'clock or thereabouts, she saw her pass in the horsecar on her way back to tho town." "Hickory, I wish you had not told me this just as I am going back to the city." " Wish I had not told it, or wish I had not gone to Professor Darling's house as you requested ?" " Wish you had not told it. I dare not wish the other. But you spoke of seeing Miss Dare; how was that ? where did you runacrosSjher?" " Do you want to hear ? "Of course, of course." " But I thought " "Oh, never mind, old boy; tell me tne whole now, as long as you have told me any. Was she in the house ?" " I will tell you. I had asked the" girl all the questions, as I have said, and was about to leave the observatory and go below when I thought I would' cast another glance around the curious old place, and in doing so caught a glimpse of a huge portfolio of charts, as I supposed, standing upright in a rack that stretched across the further portion of the room. Somehow my heart misgave me when I saw this rack, and, scarcely conscious that it was I feared, I crossed the floor and looked behind the portfolio. Byrd, there was a woman Crouched there—a woman whose pallid cheeks and burning eyes lifted to meet my own, .told me only too plainly that it was Miss Dare. I have had many experiences," Hickory allowed, after a moment, "and some of them anything but pleasant to myself, but 1 don't think I ever felt just as I did at that instant. I believe I attempted a bow I don't remember; or, at least, tried to murmur some exouse, but the look that came into her face paralysed me, and I stopped before I had gotten very far, and waited to hear what she would say. But she did not ?ay much; she merely rose, and, turning toward me, exclaimed: 'No apologia.-; you are a detective, I suppose ?' And when I nodded, or made some other token that she bad guessed correctly, she,

merely remarked, flashing upon me, however, in a way I do not yet understand: ' Well, you have got what you desired, and now can go.' And I wont, Byrd, went; and I felt puzzled, I don't know why, and a littlo bit sore abouttho heart, too, as if Well, I can't even tell what I moan by that if. Tho only thing I am suro of is, that Mansoll's cause hasn't been helped by this day's job, and that if this lady is askod on tho witness Btand whero sho was during tho hour evory ono believed her to bo safoly shut up with the tolescopos and charts, wo shall hear- " "What?" " Well, that she was shut up with them, most likoly. Women like her aro not to bo oasily disconcerted even on tho witness stand."

CHAPTER XXVI. "HE SHALL lIBAR MB !" Thoro's Bomo ill plnnot reigns; I must be putiont till tho heavens look With an aspect more favourablo. —Winteu's Tale. Thk timo is midnight, the day tho same as that which saw this irruption of Hickory into Professor Darling's obsorvatory ; the scene that of Miss Daro's own room in tho north-east tower. Sho is standing beforo a table with a letter in her hand and a look upon her face that, if seen, would havo added much to tho puzzlement of tho dotoctives. Tho letter was from Mr Orcutt, and ran thus: "I hare seenM'rMangell,andhaveongaged myself to undertake his defence. When I tell you that out of the hundreds of cases I have tried in my still short lifo I havo lost but a small percentage, you will understand what this means. "In pursuance to your wishes, I mentioned your name to the prisoner with an intimation that I had a message from you to dolirer. But ho stopped m« before I could uttor a word. ' I receive no communication from Miss Dwa !' ho declared, and, anxious us ] really was to do your bidding, 1 wt>s compelled to refrain ; for his tone was ono of hatred, and his look that of ineliable scorn," This was all, but it was onongh. Imogone had rend those words over three times, and now was ready to plunge tho letter into the flame of a candle to destroy it. As it burned, her griof and indignation took words:

" Ho is alionatod, complotoly alienated," sho gasped; "and I do not wonder. But," and hero tho full majesty of her nature broke forth in one grand gesture, "Ho shall hear me yet! As thore is a God above, he shall hoar me yet, ovon if it has to bo in the open court and in tho presonce of judgo and jury I"