A STRANGE DRAMA.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 308, 30 December 1891, Page 11

A STRANGE DRAMA.

By AUGUSTA'J. : EVANS WILSON, . o! "Macaria," " Boulah," "St, ■■■-• Eljbo," Etc ■.-■"■■ •■': '■'-■■

CHAPTER XXXV.

SFrom the window of one of those beautiful villas that encrust the , shdi-ea of Como, nestling like white birds at the base of the laurel and vine-clad hills that lave thei r 7erdant fsefc in the blue waters, Regina matched tho sunshine falling across the placid bosom oi the lake. ITar away, on the sky-line opposite, and towering above the intervening mountains, glittered the whito tiro- oi' the snowy Alps, as if they longed to quench their dazzling lustre in fche peaceful blue sleeping beneath.

Luxuvianb vinee clambered along the hillsides* and where the latter had been cub in terraces, and seemed Bwinging 'like the gardens of Semiramis orange, lemon, myrtle, and olivo trees showed all their tender green and soft grey tints, and long-haired acacias waved in the evening air, that was redolent of the faint, delicious vesper incense swung from the pink chalices of climbing rosea.

No treq cumbered with creepers let the sunshine through, But it was caugiu in scarlet cups, and poured From these on amber tufts oil bloom, and dropped Lower on azure stars.'

Never weary of studying the wonderfu* beauty of the surrounding scenery, Retina surrendered herself to an enjoyment thab would have been unalloyed had nob a lurking shadow cast its unwelcome chill on all. Mr and' Mrs sVaul had returned to America, and for a month Mrs Laurance, accompanied by Mr Chesley and Regina, had been quietly ensconced !n this lovely villa, whose terraces and balconica projected almost into tho water, and commanded some of the finest views of tho Jake.

But anxiety had followed, talcing up Its dreary watch in tho midst of that witchery which raiehfc have exorcised the haunting groy ghosb of Care; and though shrouded by every imaginable veil and garland of beauty, its grim presence ww a≤ fully felt aa that of the bysussclad mummy that played its allotted part atanciant Coptic feast?.

The steamer in which Mr Laurance embarked with his family for America had been Jost in mid-iU;lantic ; and only one boat filled with a portion of tho passengers and crew had been rescued by a West Indian ship bound for Liverpool. Among the published names of the few survivors thp.b of Laiminee did not appear. Had old Ocean mercifully opened its crystal bosom 'and , gathered to coral' cavea and shrouding purple algfo the unfortunate man, who had quaffed all the rosy foam beading the gobleb of life, and for whom it only remained to drain the bitter lees of public humiliation and disgrace ? When Mrs Laurance received the first intimation that Cutbbort had probably perished, with his wife and child, she vehemently and stubbornly refused her credence. Ifc seemed impossible that envious Death could have co utterly snatched from her grasp the triumph upon which her eagev finders were already closing.

Causing advertisements to be inserted in variuus journals, and offering therein p. reward for information of the 'missing pr.3sengors, shs forbade the topic broached in her presence, and quitting Paris retired for a season to Lake Como, vainly seeking that coveted tranquillity which everywhere her own harrowing thoughts and ceaseless forebodings effectually murdered.

As time wore on she grew gloomy, taciturn, almost morose, and a restlessness beyond tho remedy of modiemo robbf:d her of the power of sleep. To-day she clur.2 convulsively to her daughter, unwilling that she should leave hor even for an instant ; to-morrow she would lock herself in, and for hours refuse admittance to any human being. The rich bloom forsook her cheek, deep shadows underlined her larpe melancholy eyes, and her dimpled hands became so diaphanous, so thin, that the black agate ring with difficulty held its place upon the wasted fingers. With pationt, loving care, Regina anticipated till her wishes, indulged ail hsr varying , caprices, devoted herself assiduously to the ta?k of diverting her mind, and comforting her heart by the tender ministrations of her own intense filial affection. By day she- read, talked, sanp to her. Whsn in the tormenting still hours of ni&;ht her mother rcmseii the thorne of a sleepless pillow, the daughter drew her out upon the terrace against which the wavelets broka in a ailvery roonoiorrue. and directed her thought? to the glowing sirars that e'afstered in the blue dome above, and shimmered in the azure beneath ; or with an arm around tlie mother's waist, led her into the iiower garden, and up the winding walks that climbed the eminence behind the villa, where oleanders whitened the gloom, and passionate jasmines broke their rich hearts upon there dewy air ; so pacing to and fro until the mcon went down behind myrtle proven, and tho bakl brow of distant Alps Hushed under the iiret kiss of day. For Mrs Lauranco, nepsnt.-he was indeed a table, and while.she abstained irora oven mi indirect; alhu-iou to the subject that abBorbcd her, the nameless anxiety that seemed consuming her, Kegina and her uiu'lo v/atc!:ed her with increasing approlien.sio!!. This afternoon she had complained of headache, and, throwing herself on a couch in tie recess nf the window that overlooked the 1,-iUo, desired to be left aione, in the hepo of falling asleep. fc'tonpinrr to kiss iier, Regitia said : ' Moihcr, lob me bit by you, nncl while I fan y iv gently, read tho " Lotos Eaters." Thf: drowsy rhythm will lull you into that realm of rest,— ' In which it scorned always aftornoon.' May 1 ?' ' >;o. To-day your blue eyes would stab toy slcip. I will rfrif; when I want you. , i'ro;.:p:ng the filmy lace curtains, in oi'ilqr to le?3on the reflection from the water, Heirina softly stole away, and sat down at the window of the salon, whore satinleaved arums and dainty poariy orchids embellished the consoles, and fragrant heliotrope and geraniums were blaming in po t,s clustered upon the stone j ba cii-iy outside. day the favourite view of the lake and oumling aliorc lino, upon which she pzouirom. this spot;, developed some new beauty, niddei; hitherto under leafy laurel Bhn.-lows, or behind the snowy soil of some fash ing- boat, rocking idiy upon the azure waves. Now the burden of her reflections was : 'lf/.vo could only spend our lives in tlm Cia ■ vii: haven, away from the turmoil and few:i s>h confusion of tho outside world— for : '..,:!i:i!'.g the pas fc j contented with the socKt.y or each other— and aliuf- •••• wiMi boi iiud nature, how peaceful tne future won hi bo! nay, how hapov all might yet become! .Sympathy with her mother had forced »»cr to put, temporarily asi'Jo t,ho contemplation of iier own sorrow, bub in secret it { preyed upon her heart ; and whenever a letter arrived, she dreaded the announcement of ivlr Palma'e marries in.s parting allusicn to a brief European visit she bad by the aid of her fears interpret..! to mean a bridal tour, curtailed by m? 0.1M.J088 oogacrements ; and though bU •never ceiifiionod his name when it cou-. be avowed, she ooulti nob hear it ca ■ u.ly pronounced by her uncle or mother leelius hor heart bound suddenly. U ""' BOOa aUir "«■ arrival in Paris, her

mother, in reading a letter from Mr Palma, glanced at her and said : 'Your guardian desires me to say that in your undisguised.dovotiorr bo Uncle Ornie he presumes he is completely forgotten ; but consoles himslf with the reflection, that from time immemorial wards have been like tho Catbaginians—proverbially ungrateful. , " ....-.-.-... . ...... ~ ,_... Regina made.no response,, and since then sho had received "no message. While she sat gazing over Como, ainiraee rose glistening between her eyes, and the emerald shore beyond ; the dear familiar outlines of the Fifth Avenue library, the frescoed walla, polished floor, mellow gas lamps ; and above all the stately form, massive head, high brow so like a slab of marble, and bright black eyes of the dear master. ■ She was glad when Mr Ghesley came in, with an open book in his hand, and stood near her. ' Is your mother asleep V ' I hope so. She sent me away that she might get a nap. , 'Just now I stumbled upon a passage which reminded me so vividly of the imaginary home you last week painted for us. somewhere along tho Pacific shore, that I thought I would show ib to you. That home, where you hope to indulge your bucolic tastes, your childish fondness for pets—doves, rabbits, pheasants—and similar rustic appendages to our cottage—in— the—air. Here, read it, aloud if you will.' She glanced over the lines, smiled, and read : "Monfif the green lanes of Kent stood an antique home Within its orchard, rich with ruddy fruits ; For the full year was laughing in his prime. Wealth of all flowers grew in that garden green. And the old porch with its great oaken door Was smothered in rose-blooms, while o'er the walls The honeysuckle c'ung delioiously. Before the door there lfty a plot of grass Snowed o'er with daisies- llower by all heloved, And fnmoueest in song—:»nd in the midst A carved fountain i>tood, . . . On which a peacock perohed and sunned itself; Beneath, two petted rabbits, snowy white, Squatted upon the sward. A row of poplars darkly rose behind. Around whose tops, and tho old - fashioned vanes. White pigeons fluttered; and over ail was bent The mighty sky, with sailing, sunny clouds. , 'Thank you, Uncle Orme. The picture is as eweeb as its honeysuckle blooms, and some day we will frame it with Californian mountains, and call it Home. I shall only want to ;uld a gently sloping field, wherein pearly short-horns stand ankle deep in clover, while my dear old dog Revo busks upon the doorstep; and upon the lawn, — "An almond tree Pink with her "blossoms and alive with bees, Standing against the azure."' ' Yonder come the letters.' As he spoke, Mr Ctiesloy left the room, and soon after a servant entered with a letter addressed to Regina, Id was from Olga, dated Baden-badeti; and the vein of subdued yet hopeless melanchoiy that wandered through its contents, now and then intertwined strangely with a thread of her old grim humour. • Do you ever hear from that legal sphinx —Erletalma? Mamma only now and then receives epistles fashioned.after those once in vogue in Laconia. (I wonder i* even the old toothless gossips in Sparta were evor laconic ?) I am 'ruly sorry for Ero Talma. That beautifully crystallised quartz hoart of his is no doubt being , ground between the upper and nother millstones of his love and his pride ; and Kyrnen ought to charge him heavy mill-toll. Jly dear, have you seen EHiobb Roscoe'a little tinted paper poem ? Of course his apostrophe to " violet eyed, overlaced with job 1" will sound quite Tonnysonitin bo a certain little shy girl now hiding at Como and who " inspired the strain.' Bub aside from the pleasant association thau links you with the verses, they are—pardon me, dear—as thin and flavourless a? —well, as the soup dished out afc pauper restaurants. You are ab liberty to consider me consumed by envy, green with jealousy, when I here spitefully rocord that Elliott's ambitious poe-n reminds me of M. da Bonftld's biting criticism on Madame de Kriidener : "I make bold to declare, with the Bible in my hand, that the poor we shall always have with us, were it only the poor in intellect." Coke and Story will befriend poor Elliott much more effectually than the Muses, who have moat irigloriously snubbed him. Aro you really happy, little snowbird, nestling in the down of mothsr-Jove, which —liice the veritable baby you are—you so pined for? ' Ragina, 1 am going to toll you something. Bar the windows, lock the doors, j shut ib up for ever, close in your own heart. A few nights ago, I went with an English friend to the Comwsationshaus. When we had leaned awhile against; one of the columns, and watched the dancers in the magnificent saloon, he proposed bo show me the grand gambling-room. 'As we walked slowly along, listening to the click of the gold that pattered down from trembling hands, I saw sitting at a liouhUe table, deeply immersed in the game (never teli ie!) Balmonb Eggleeton. Not the same classic, god-like face thab I would once have followedslTaight toHadcs—nobtheman upon whom I wasted all tho love thab God gives a woman to glorify her life and home ; bub a Hushed, bloated creature, as unlike the Btimonfc of my hopes and dreams as "Hyperion to a Satyr!" I watched him bill my very soul turned sick, and all Pandemonium seemed to have joined in a jeer at my former infatuation. Next day, I saw him reel from a saloon to the steps of his wile's carriage. Years- ago, when iCrle Paima told me thab my darling drank and gambled, 1 denied ib; and in return for tho warning, emptied more wrath upon my informer than all the Apocalyptic vials held. Ah! for poor Beimonb I fought as fiercely as a tawny tigress when her youngest cub ~w captured by the hunters. Ashes ! Bitter ashes of love and ■ fcvu'nb! Truly, "thcro ia no pardon for desecrated ideate." 1 have lived to learn j that — " Man trusts in God : He -s eternal. Woman trusts in man, Ana ho ia shitting sand,"' ' Re-ma !' Tho girl looked up, and saw her uncle with an open letter in his hand. • What is-ib ? Same b.ad news !' • Dear littln girl, you are indeed fatherless now.' Sho bent her head upon the ledge of the window, arid after a moment JMr Chesley sighed, and smoothed her hair. ' With al! his faults, he was still your father; and having had several interviews with him in Paris, I was convinced he was more "sinned against than sinning," though of course he knew thab he could never have legally married again while iUnnio lived. God help us to forgive, even as v/e need and hope to be forgiven. 5 ' He knows I forgave him. I told him so the uighb he held mo to his heart and kissed me , and you never can knovv how that thought comforts me now. Bub mother ! Uncle ' She sprang up, pale and tearful, bub he detained her. 'Mr Falma writes me that fchero remains no longer a doubt that Lauranco perished in the wreol;. He encloses a detailed account of the disaster, from an American naval surgeon, who was returning home on furlough when tho storm overtook thorn, and .who was one of the few picked up by tho West Indian vessel. Air ralma- wrote to. him, relative to your father, and ib appears from his reply-in my hand—that he knew the Laurances quito well. He says that during the gale ho was called to prescribe for Maud, who was really ill, and rendered worse by tsrror. When ib was evident the steamer could nob outlive the storm, hs saw Cufchjperfc Laurance

place his wife in one of the boats, and return to the cabin for .his sick child. Hastening back with the little cripple in his arms, he found the boats were beyond reach and too crowded to admib another passenger. He shouted the nearest to take bis child, only his child ; bub the violence of the gale rendered it impossible to do more than keep the boat from swamping, and with many others, he was left upon the doomed vessel. There was no remaining boat; night came swiftly op, the Bfcorm increaeedj and the next day there was no vestige of boab or ship visible.. Mrs Le.urance was in the second boab, the largest and strongest), 1 bub it was overladen, and about twilight it capsized in the fury of the gale, and cell went down. The surgeon who heard the wild screams of the women knows that the wife perished, and says he cannot in.dulge the faintest hope that the father and child escaped. Cubhberb was a remarkably skilful swimmer ; he had once contended for a wasrer off Brighton with a party of naval officers, and Laurance won it; but none could live in the sea that boiled and bellowed around bh'afc'sinkirig ship, and encumbered as he was with the helpless child, it was impossible that he would have survived. I would rather not tell Minnie now, but Mr Paima writes that the sister and nephew of General Lauranco will force a suit to secure the remnants of the property, and he wishes to anticipate their action. Come with me, dear. Minnie is not asleep. As I passed her door, 1 heard her walk across the floor. , ' Uncle Ormo, can'fc you wait till tomorrow ? Ido not know how this news will affecfa her, and I dread it.' ' My dear child, her suspense is destroying her. After all, delay will do no good. Poor Minnie! There is her bell. She knows the hour our mail is due, and she will ask for letters. . Opening the door, both paused ab the threshold, and neither could ever forget the i picture she represented. In a snowy peignoir, sho sat on the side of the couch, with her long waving hair falling in disorder to the marble floor, and seemed indeed like Jnphet's l Amarant': ' She in her locks is liko the travelling sun, Setting, all clad in coifing clouds of gold.' The wan Phidian face was turnod toward them, and was breathless in ibs anxious eagerly questioning expression. Her brown eyes widened, searching theirs ; and reading all, in her daughter's tearful pitying gaze, what a wild look crossed her face.! " ■ Regina pushed her uncle back, closed the door and sprang to the couch, holding out the letters. Sitting a3 still as stone, Mrs Laurance did nob appear to notice them. 'Darling mother, God knows what is best ■for us all. , Slowly tho strained eyoa turned to the appealing face.of her kneeling child, and something there broke up the frozen doepa of her heart. ' Are you sura ? Is fchero no hope ?' cNo hope; except to meet him in heaven. , . Throwing her hands above her head, the wretched woman wrung them despairingly, and the pain of all the bitter past wailed in her passionate cry • ' Los<! for ever ! And I would nob forgive him ! My husband ! My own husband ! Wlien he begged for pardon I spurned, and derided, and taunted him! Oh! linoant come time to» forgive him ; after I bad accomplished all I planned. After he was beggared and humiliated in the eyes of the world, and that woman occupied tho position where they all sought to keep mo, a mother and yet no lawful wife, after I had enjoyed my iritimph a little while I fully intended'to listen to my heart long enough to tell him that I forgave him because ho was your father ! And now, where is my revenge '! Where is my triumph ? God lias turned His back upon me ; has .struck from my hands all that I have toiied for fifteen years to accomplish. They all triumph over me now, in their quiet graves, resting in peace ; and I live, only to regret! To regrefc !' Her eye 3 were dry, and shone like jewels, and when her arms fell, her clenched hands rested unintentionally on her daughter's head. ' Mother, he knowa now that you forgive him. Remember that for him all grief is ended ; and try to bo comforted.' ' And for me ? What remains for me V Her voice was so deep, so sepulchral, so despairing, that Regina clung closer to her. ' Your child wiio loves you so devotedly ; and the hope of that blessed rest in heaven, whore marriages are unknown, where at last wo shall all dwell togothor in peace.' For some time Mrs Laurance remained motionle33; then her lips moved inaudibly. At length she said : 'Yes, my child, our child is all that is left. When he asked to kiss me once more, I denied him so harshly, so bitterly ! When ho tried to draw me for the last timo to his bosom, I hurled away his arm, would nob Jot him touch me. Now I shall never see him again. My husband ! Tho one only love of my miserable and accused life ! Oh, my beloved! do you know ab la.*b, that the Minnie of your youth, the brido of your boyhood, has never, never ceased to love her faithless, erring husband ?' Her voico grew '•■remulous, husky, and suddenly bending back her daughter's head, she looked long ab the grieved countenance. ' His last words wore : "Minnie love, lob onr baby's ej es and lips plead pardon for her father's unintentional sins." They do ; they always shall. Cubhberfc's own wonderful eyes shining in his daughter's. My husband's own proud beautiful lips that kiss me so fondly every time I press his' child's mouth !At last I can thank God that our baby is indeed her father's imago :and because in death Cuthberb is my own again, I can cherish the memory, and pray for the soul of my husband ! Kias me, kiss me—oh, my darling!' She kiased blie pirl's eyes and iips, held hcrolT, gazing into her face through gaiiiorin<j mist, then drew her again to her bosom, and fclie long-hoarded bitterness and agony found vent in a storni of sobs and tears. 'I imisf, sit joyless in my plji.ee; bereft A-j true-) that suddenly have dropped their Ami dark as nights Hint have no moon.' To be continued next Wednesday.)