A Daughter of Midian.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 22, 26 January 1901, Page 6

A Daughter of Midian.

By JOHN K. LEYS.

PART in.—MR MITCHELL'S

CHAPTER XXI.

THE TWO SISTERS

"Mr Black-wood," said Sybil, as they sat together in the railway carriage on their way back from I'erth, "1 am quite convinced now that my mother was innocent of the crime, and that that old woman knows who the guilty person is." "I must say, Miss Grant, that I am privately of the same opinion, but I don't see how we can prove it." He would have added that after such a lapse of time it could not be a matter of great importance to determine the guilt or innocence oil Mrs Grant, but fortunately he remembered in time that he was speaking- to her daughter. "I will prove it!" cried Sybil, clenching her hands in her excitement. "I will never rest till I have washed this stain away from my mother's memory." Blackwood said nothing. He sympathised with Sybil, but seeing that her mother had been in her grave for a quarter of a century, and that her very name was forgotten by those who knew w^hat she had been accused of, he thought that it would be a ; waste of time and money to set her- | se if to find evidence for her faith in her mother's innocence. She might rest content, he thought, with her own belief that her father had died by the hand of a stranger, and had not been shot down by'his wife. But it was easy to see that Sybil was brooding over the terrible story which she had learned from the Sydney newspapers; and as Blackwood stole one glance after another at the beautiftil face opposite to him, he told himself that if he wished to win hei ffih could not do better than E to (ferret out this mystery. Gratitude was not exactly what he wanted but he did desire to stand, well in Sybil's good oplnion I "I'll tell you what 111 do Miss Grant" he said suddenly. I will wr£to niv friend in Australia and Si him to let the Lone Gully Mining Company alone and set himself £ discover who killed your father. He tm be able to search the newspapers of the day, at all events and perhaps he may come acrosS f Berne official who remembers the case. "Mr Blapkwood, why are you bo kind to me?" said Sybil, turning her | splendid eyes full on her companlon.; "fused to think that I was frendU, but surely no one could have o I considerate and generous friend I have in you. What .you propo.--what I should like above all things. But do you think it is quite fair to take up so much of your friend s time? You know I have no prospect of being able to pay him anything for his trouble." "Don't you worry about that, Miss Grant," said the young lawyer, cheerfully. "My friend is pretty well off, and'has next to nothing to do, so that it is really doing him a favour to ask him to take up the case- It is indeed."

Sybil laughed and shook her head, in a way that meant that she did not believe a word of what had just been said.

"It is so, I assure you. Can you get me the newspapers you hay the dates would be enough, if you happen to remember them?" As it happened, Sybil did remember the date of the earliest of the three newspapers, and Blaekwood said that was quite enough. He would ask his friend to search the file after that

date. The junction at which Sybil had to leave the train for the local train that ran back towards the hills was reached; and Blaekwood, leaving the carriage, crossed the line and saw Sybil comfortably installed in her place. For a few moments he lingered about the door of the carriage till Sybil was forced to .say to him: "You really had better °-o now, Mr Blaekwood. You will miss your train." "It doesn't matter a straw if I do, said the youag man, impatiently. "I only wanted to say this to you—that if there is any way by which I can serve you, even if it were at the 'risk of. my life, I would gladly do it- It is absurd, i know, putting it in that way—but I can't think of any other way to put

A blush, that would have become a milkmaid suffused the sunburnt features of the young Glasgow lawyer as he said this, and Sybil assured him with a smile and a warm pressure of the hand that she was well assured of his willingness to help her—that she would not fail to have recourse to him in her hour of need—and that she felt infinitely grateful to him. j Which matters having been satisfac- , torily settled, Mr William Blaekwood j gracefully withdrew," and, racing along , the platform, up one stairway, and; down another, he succeeded m board-i ing his train just as it was gliding out of the station. "So he is another!" said Sybil to herself with a sigh, as she watched him disappear into the carriage. It seems as though it were my fate to have men fall in love with me when I would so very much rather they didn't! It does seem so horribly mercenary to accept the services of a man that you can see is half or wholly in love with you, when all the time you don't care a straw for him. And yet

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

it scarcely seems my fault. How can "And'the one man I could love will j never ask me to marry him. More fool I for allowing myself to care tor a man so far above me! To imagine that he would so far forget his position is absurd. And then there is that awful accusation they made against my mother. No! It is impossible! _ "And I think 1 could have liked tins Mr. Blaekwood. I do like him. He is so awfully kind! But liking is a longway off loving, at least with me, whatever people may say. He is nice, and honest, and has plenty of sense. If only he wouldn't fall ill love with me!" It was dark long before Sybil reached Inveroran, and she learned to her relief that Mr. Mitchell had not yet returned from Glasgow. Most probably, she knew, he would not now be back till the afternoon of the next She passed through the great chilly hall, and to her surprise saw the tall figure of a woman, not Miss Dalrymple, coming out of the dining-room to meet her. In the dim light Sybil could not tell whether she knew the lady or not, and she stood still in uncertainty. The stranger came nearer, walking more slowly as she advanced, and when she had come quite close she made a sudden movement and threw her arms round Sybil's neck. "Sidney!" To Sybil, who had never known a closer tie than that of a school acquaintance, the moment was one of those which leave an impression that the rolling years can do nothing to efface. The' supreme feeling in the heai-t of each was that now, at last, she had found herself. For Sybil had said no more than the truth when she told the Professor that to be without the tie of human kinship is to be outside the great human family. It seemed to them both that they could never bear to part again. When their emotion had a little subsided they sat down side by side and hand in hand at the great table in the dining-room, where supper had already been laid ready for Sybil. She refused to eat unless Sidney would join her, and then, after the meal was finished, they established themselves in a corner by the fire, under lee, as it were, of the lofty mantelpiece, and opened their hearts to one another. (To be continued.)