THE BRANDED FOOT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIII, Issue 82, 8 April 1902, Page 6

THE BRANDED FOOT.

A JROMANCS-OF A RK>NSTIIOOS \PERSONATIQN FRAUD,

(Br A Famous Authoku)

f "| CHAPTEE XXXIV. MAKING HESTER HARMLESS. The fateful morrow had come, and Jane was standing at the window of her daughter's boudoir. "Look!" she whispered, suddenly. There was no need to lower her voice, but she did so instinctively .when she saw that the anticipated danger was at hand. Fannie ran from the other end ox ■the room and looked out. A black-clad form was approaching the house. "Hester Millburn!" exclaimed the girl. "Hester Millburn!" echoed Jane. "Thank goodness we have one emergency to meet for which we are fully prepared. There can hardly be any disconcerting surprises this .time." "She couldn't have come at a better hour," said Fannie, bubbling with excitement that was quite pleasurable, for she had the most implicit confidence that this interview would prove the end of all their dangers. "Mrs Schuyler is busy with her maid —Donald has gone off, nobody knows where, perhaps to get me a horse —and Hilda Kxafft, dismissed [for the day because I wanted to pass the time with my dear mother" (Fannie spoke these words with hateful sarcasm), "has gone for a long walk." "Yes, all that is very well," responded Jane, soberly, for she felt the weight of the approaching interview more seriously than the girl did, "but it is time to act, not exult. Go straight to Mrs Schuyler you wont need to apologise for intruding upon her. She will welcome you, and you must be there when Hester's name is brought in. Probably, after tomorrow's experience, she won't be insane enough to send in her name, but, at all events, you must use all your sweetest arts to persuade Mrs Schuyler to receive the woman. Understand?" "Wouldn't it be better," asked Fannie, "if Mrs Schuyler should refuse to see her?" "Not a bit of it! Hester will dog her steps until she has forced an interview. lam sure of that. I'd do it if I were in her place. No, child, this time we must help Hester; for once we have put her through this ordeal, we shall never have to bother our heads about her again. Don't forget my instructions. When I am needed, send for me." So saying, she pushed the girl from the room, and the moment the door was closed, all her apparent confidence disappeared. She sank weak and trembling into a chair. "I couldn't have concealed my apprehension from Fannie a minute longer," she sighed. "I have such dismal premonitions, and why should I? Why must I forever see the hand of Providence... .raised before me? Do I not know that in this world g-oodness does not triumph? and is Hester Millburn such a pattern of goodness? Bah! she is guilty of a worse crime than mine! But—perhaps Fannie is right. I can see now that it wouud have been better to put Hester Millburn out of the way when she was weak and helpless in my hands, at the time I became possessed of her secret. I felt it then, but I disliked to shed blood—l dislike to now—but it was a mistake, a weak mistake, and now it is too late. The consequences of that mistake must now. be faced ancl overcome —and overcome them I will!" Fannie found Mrs Schuyler's boudoir empty, but she heard voices in the dressing-room, showing that Mrs Schuyler and Sarah were busy there. Evidently Hester had not been announced, so Fannie walked uneasily about the room and waited. It was but a moment, -"'hen there came a knock at the door, followed by its opening, and the entrance of a footman. He looked around for Mrs Schuyler. "What is it, Henry?" asked. Fannie, in her sweetest tone. "My mother is busy just now. I haven't spoken ,to her myself." "There is a poor woman who says she wants to see Mrs Schuyler on business," answered the footman. "She is very insistent " He checked himself here, for Fannies face took on suddenly an expression of surprise and annoyance. Following her eyes, the footman turned around and saw that the woman he referred to was close behind him. "Now! now!" he exclaimed, in a low but angry tone "you had no business to follow me! I told you I'd take your message, and here you are without invitation. You must go back and wait. Go on, now!" "Stop, Henry!" said Fannie, quietly, advancing toward the door as she spoi'ce. "She may come in. •It is, the woman I saw yesterday. I am quite sure .my mother will see her. Come in, won't you?" and she-finished with a wonderfully sweet invitation to the strange visitor. The footman withdrew, and Hester, pale and stern, walked in, her eyes scrutinizing Fannies features eagerly. "Sit down, please," continued the girl. "I fear I was unkindly brusque yesterday, and I hope you will pardon me. I did not mean to hurt your feelings." Hester heeded neither invitation nor apology. Her mind at that moment could fost-er but one thought. It impelled a question which rushed impetuously from her white lips:

"Are you May Schuyler?" "I am," replied Fannie, smiling her sweetest.

Hester's hwiming eyes seemed to devour her. The girl grew acutely nervous under their questioning gaze, and she hastily soug-ht for an excuse to leave the room. It came to hawd naturally. "I will ascertain, if my mother can see you," she saixd, controlling her voice" very well under the circumstances. Hester did not sit down. She. watched the retreating girl, and when the closing- door had shut her from view, she still stared stonily in that direction. "Baby faces change/ she muttered; "I seem to know the eyes, and she is as beautiful as she promised to be—but, thank Heaven, there is a way to make sure!" Fannie explained the situation to Mrs Schuyler at once, and in this 'way: "A poor woman is eager to see you, dearest mother. I believe it is the one Hester encountered yesterday. She probably knew no better, fc>r she followed the man upstairs. He was going to send her back, but I was so sure that you would see her that I asked her to come in. Poor thing! she does look so troubled! Did I do wrong, mother? If so, I will go back and tell her to wait." "No no!" exclaimed Mrs Schuyler, touchedilby the girl's sympathy for the caller. "You did quite right, my dear. I never send the poor away. I would rather be imposed on a dozen tames than dismiss one deserving ease." She put her arm about Fannies waist, and together they returned to the boudoir. Hester, bowed respectfully as they entered, and Mrs Schuyler felt a keen interest in her immediately. She did not seem at all like the ordinary persons who came asking for help. "I understand you wish to speak to me," said Mrs Schuyler, kindly. "I am very busy at the moment, but in a few minutes I shall be wholly disengaged, and can give you all the time you need. Can you wait??' Hester inclined her head, and a faint, hoarse "yes" issued from her lips. "Then please sit down till I finish a letter."She pointed to a chair very close to her writing desk, and Hester silently took it. "Cannot I finish the letter for you, mother?" asked Fannie. "I think not," replied Mrs Schuyler, as she sat at the desk, "for it would take as much time to. tell you as to vvrite it myself. But you can help. Last Saturday I made out a list of thing-s for the modiste. I forg-et exj actly where I put it. "•Will you^hnn| for it, please?" •* : . '"-.. •■ Eagerly Fannie complied, for this gave her an "opportunity to execute one of Jane's instructions. She took some papers from a pigeon-hole and examined them, and, as it happened, found the missing list at once, but she did not say so. Deftly concealing- it in her hand, she continued a make-believe search, rustling the papers noisily, while Mrs Schuyler went on with her writing. Presently, as if by accident, Fannie let fall a bundle of letters and other documents. They lay scattered at Hester's feet. Mrs Schuyler looked up, and Fannie exclaimed: "How stupid of me!" Hester bent over and hastily picked up) the papers, handing them to Fannie, who thanked her effusively. As Hester resumed her seat, Fannie, getting between her and the desk, touched Mrs Schuyler lightly on the hand, and silently pointed to one of the. papers Hester had picked up. It was a white envelope, on the back of which was written in Mrs Schuyler's hand: "Hester Millburn's Confession." Mrs Schuyler started a little, and laid a finger on a certain drawer in the desk, turning as she did so to look sharply at Hester. The visitor's dull eyes were fixed listlessly on the floor. There was no indication that she took the slightest interest iv the papers she had momentarily handled. She looked so utterly exhausted and hopeless, that Mrs Schuyler, fcigetting all about the confession, spoke to her. "Yon seem to be very tired," she said, gently. "May I not send for a glass of wine? I hope you won't object." "Thank you," returned Hester, a faint light of gratitude beaming in her eyes for an instant; "if it will not be too much trouble." "I'll attend to it," cried Fannie, hurrying to the bell. The girl was aglow with elation. Her task was proving easy indeed! .Mrs Schuyler had unwittingly opened the way for her. When the servant appeared Fannie gave the necessary order, and then returned to the writing desk. "Ah! here is the list," she, said, as if she had 'that, instant, found it, and she handed it to Mrs Schuyler. A moment later the servant returned with wine and biscuits. Fannie bad him set the tray on a stand, and told him sbe would pour the wine herself. Accordingly, .the man withdrew, and Fannie turned her back to Hester and Mrs Schuyler. The girl's face was twitching with exultation over anticipated triumpb. She poured some wine into a glass, and with the .silver tongs dropped in a lump -of ice. Then she also dropped a small quantity of a fine powder into the glass, and the wine immediately absorbed it, Hester was sitting with ber head bowed. She had not energy enough to watch the girl's movements; even if she had she would have observed nothing to arouse her suspicions. She looked up when Fannie spoke to her, and drank the wine hastily, so hastily that even' if the powder had modified the flavour of the wine, she would not have noticed it. (To be continued.)