A Daughter of Midian.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 16, 19 January 1901, Page 6

A Daughter of Midian.

By JOHN K. LEYS.

CHAPTER XVI. IN SUSPENSE.

We walked home together, and I laughed and chatted like the rest. The very effort to appear as usual helped me to forget my anxiety. But when I went up to my own room to dress for dinner I almost broke down. Would Mr Durant betray my wretched secret, or was he sincere in his offers of help? In any case I felt that to live in the power of a man like Durant, cold, cunning, and I feared cruel, was absolutely intolerable. After dinner that evening my host and Durant walked up and down together on the terarce below the Castle, smoking, for the greater part of an hour.What would I not have given to be able to overhear their conversation? I felt certain that they were discussing me, for I had never seen them hold a private conversation together before. And somehow the idea had got into my head that these two were in league ■with each other, and that the offer of friendship and help which Mr Durant had made to me was nothing but a snare to enable him to learn my plans and baffle them.

When Mr Mitchell and his companion came indoors they did not separate, as I expected they would have done, but went together to Mr Mitchell's studyThis room was a small one. It lay at the back of the Castle, and it communicated with a room used as a sort of book lumber-room, where all the rubbish of old magazines, old music, and volumes that were not handsome enough to be allowed a place on the library shelves were kept. The longing- to know what these two men were saying to one another grew upon me till it became a positive pain, and I began to think whether it was quite impossible for me to gratify my desire. Suppose I went into the bookroom, and very gentlyl opened the floor between the two rooms, might they not be so engrossed in their conversation, that they would not notice the slight noise made in opening the door? Was it not worth trying? Of course detection would mean exposure—ruin. But was I not exposed, ruined, already? Was it any more than a question of time when my shame "would be made, public?

I rose from the corner in the drawingTOom where I had been sitting, and crossed the hall. As I did so the sound of merry voices and laughter came to me from the billiard-room. I was safe from the visitors at any rate, I said to myself.

The book room was quite empty. In the gathering dusk I could just see the piles of old newspapers and yellow backed novels that littered the floor. Avoiding them, I stole tap to the door that led to the study, and listened. Not even the sound of voices could be heard. I had my hand on the handle of the door, when a voice behind me said: "You musn't go in there, Miss Grant. Mr Mitchell and Mr Durant are engaged, and they don't want to be disturbed."

It was Miss Dalrymple. I could see her tall figure in black outlined against the window behind her. "Oh, I didn't know," I answered, stepping back immediately. Luckily, the twilight hid my confusion. Miss Dalrymple noticed nothing of it. "I don't know what made me behave BO foolishly the other day, Miss Grant," she'blurted out. "As if I had any right to interfere between you and Mr Durant!"

I was amazed, and at the same time touched by the humility of tier tone. "Bear Miss Dalrymple," I said, talcIng her unresisting1 hand, and leading her to the window *eat, "please don't think of making- any apologyto me. You said nothing that required an apology. And as for Mr Durant, I. assure you " "Oh, Miss Grant, don't deny it! Everyone sees how much he thinks of you. Miss Marjory was saying- only yesterday that she was so glad of it . " She stopped suddenly, and I knew very well the reason why Miss Keith was pleased that I should have some one besides her brother to talk to me. I saw that nothing I could^ say ■was likely to reassure the poor jealous creature at.my side, but I did say, as earnestly as I could, "I can only speak for myself, Miss Dalrymple, but I declare that I have not the smallest feeling for Mr Durant, of the kind you mean. lam not in love with him, nor at all likely to be, and I don't believe for a moment that he is in love jvith me." a "Oh, Miss Grant, didn't you and he

Author of " A Sore Temptation," " The Thumb Print," " The Broken Fetter," "In the Toils," "A Million of Money," etc., etc., etc.

spend the greater part of the after- j noon together?" "Not the greater part of the afternoon, and our conversation, if you could have overheard it, was something very different from love-making, I assure J'ou." # i The only answer to this was a sigh. Was there nothing- I could say that would drive this absurd notion out of the good woman's head? "For one thing," I said, "I have no money, and Mr Durant is not a wealthy man, I understand. Artists never are. He is,eertuin to wish to marry money " "Indeed you are quite mistaken, Miss Grant," cried my companion. "Mr Durant is very fond of art, and he likes to be taken for a professional artist, but he does not need to make money by his paintings or his music. He is' what they call a financier. I have heard my uncle say that he is the cleverest financier he knows. He could make piles of money if he liked. And he does not care to marry a rich woman—he told me so himself."

Miss Dalrymple's voice quavered a little as she spoke these last words, and impulsively I put out my hand to her in the darkness as we sat side by side, and took her hand in mine. For answer she threw her other arm round ,my neck, • fl-nd began crying-, not noisily, but" in a. quiet, resigned fashion that was to me far more touching. I could no longer affect not to know her' secret, but I could' say nothing to comfort her. What would have been the use of saying that I believed the man she loved to be false and. unscrupulous? I thought I could hear the scoundrel's soft voice as he assured the. middle-aged ugly niece of the rich nian that he could make as much money as he chose, and would not be influenced by any money considerations in his choice of a wife. He would have her believe that he sought her for herself alone. We left the room -together, and I saw no more of Mr Mitchell that night. (To be continued.)