A DREAM OF LOVE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 60, 11 March 1903, Page 11 (Supplement)

A DREAM OF LOVE.

(By BERTHA M. CLAY.) CHAPTER LIU. ON THE BRINK OF THE ABYSS. There was the sound of hurrying feet in the great vestibule without, excited voices, and the butler burst upon our friends with widely-distended eyes and ashy, pale face. "Something has happened," he gasped. "I could not make my lord duke hear, he would not reply to my knocking, and I sent one of the servants to look in at the window. Oh, something dreadful has happened! The duke and the foreigner are on the floor, and both appear to be dead." "Break in the door at once," commanded Sir George, "If the duke is not dead we have a physician here." In a few minutes the library door was wrenched from its hinges, and Dr. Allbright was kneeling at the side of the prostrate nobleman. "He is quite dead," he said. "He is < shot through the heart —there has been no struggle." He turned to the Italian, and was astonished to find a woman! "There is some scandal here," he said to the butler. "Send the servants away. This is a woman in disguise, and I fear that the duke has been murdered. She is not dead, only in a deep swoon. Let the housekeeper come to me at once." A man with his face in bandages looked upon the scene at that, moment —a man with frightened, burning, black eyes. He saw the dead body of his grace—he saw the Italian, and crept away, the glare of insanity in his evil orbs —he crept out in the confusion unobserved, unnoticed —he only wanted to escape the Italian's deadly knife. To his fevered mind there were a dozen murderous foreigners after him—after him and the duke. The duke was dead, now it was his turn! He stumbled into the park, his pain and fear completely depriving him of his senses. He crept through the. mists until he stood beside the still waters of the lake; he saw again a vision of his greatest crime. A poor Italian girl drugged and lured to her death, persuaded into eternity by him —drugged, mesmerized, and killed by him! A twig snapped under his foot, and he thought that it was a pistol shot; a bird, fluttered in the trees behind him, and he was certain that the avenger was at Lis heels_the avenger with the gleaming knife! He gurgled out a wild cry, took two steps forward, and disappeared, with a great plunge, into the murky, ice-cold water. He knew no further pain or fear this side of Tartarus; he had drunk of the waters of Lethe, and his dead face, now shorn of its bandages, horrible with its re-opened wounds, bobbed to the surface of the lake, the sightless but glaring eyes turned to the Heat sn that could alone grant him mercy. Meanwhile the unhappy Therese Cavaili had beea removed to a Wlroom, and

Dr. AUbright had succeeded in restoring her to her senses.

It was decided that the duke's body should not be touched until a detective arrived from London, as there appeared to be too many things that required unravelling, and Dr. AUbright preferred not taking too much responsibility. At first sight he thought that the duke had been murdered by the girl he had wronged—and this supposition was only natural after the story that Vincent had told of the brother seeking for vengeance; but the girl was only armed with a small silver stiletto, and this was incapable, even if used, of inflicting much harm. The duke had either met his death by misadventure or had shot himself, for there was a revolver in his breast pocket, and one barrel discharged, and the slight mark of burning on his vest and discoloration by smoke proved beyond question that the weapon had been discharged while tightly buttoned up. Therese was innocent, and only wailed for "Frederick! Frederick! my husband!" The dead body of Horace Tremayne was viewed, and it was some relief to find that he had died a natural death, for the house of Medford appeared to be one of horror and mystery. Mrs Hammond, the housekeeper, was crying w_akly when the enormity of her master's crimes oecame apparent to her; and it was not, until the nurse who had had charge of Mr Tremayne came forward that anything like lucidity could be arrived at concerning the dead nobleman's plans to entrap Miss Tremayne into marriage, against her will. "You are Dr AUbright, sir?" she asked, in some, agitation. "I am. Ther°! don't excite yourself." "Well. ?<fiss Tremayne wrote to you, when we found out just what they were up to—Dr Klein and my lord; and I tried to post the. letter, but the doctor followed me, and T couldn't do it. Then he drugged me; I know he did, and I don't, know how long it was since. They meant to keep me quiet until their evil plans were carried out. but a. judgment has fallen upon the villains." "Now, T want you and Mrs Hammond to see Miss Tremayne," the doctor proceeded. "And tell her that T am here— tell her that she need fear no more persecution—that some one else is with me, and that we have come to fetch her away. Let her know nothing of the horrors of this place, and T will break to her the news of her father's death." "I will do what is needful, sir, without the housekeeper's help," replied the nurse. "Miss Tremayne trusts me fully." She went away, and Athol was left in a terrible state of anxiety, while Sir George and the clergyman stood a little apart conversing in whispers. It was some, time before the nurse returned. She had with difficulty gained admittance to Miss Tremayne's room, and had found her in a very nervous condition. "She is a bit dazed, sir, and says that they drugged her yesterday. She awoke this morning, not more than an hour since, with a violent headache, and great red rings around her eyes. Then she made up her mind to barricade her door, but hadn't the strength or the will to do it. She keeps the key turned, though, and would not open the door to me until fully assured that you were indeed here. Now she is almost hysterical with joy." "My poor darling!" Athol murmured. "Oh. my great God, how I thank Thee for watching over her." "She will be ready to see you. sir, in her sitting-room, in a quarter of an hour, at the most. Mrs Hammond will show you Miss Tremayne's apartments. T am going to pack up. myself, now, and get out of this house." "You can lesve when we do." Dr All-bri_-ht said. Then he turned to Athol. a faint smile on his face, savin?: "Snatch - od from the very brink of the abyss; I should not wonder if the poor girl breaks

down at last. Her time of trial has been long and bitter—her share of human woe has filled the measure brim full. Athol, my dear young friend, you must be very kind and gentle with her." There were tears in the young man's eyes, and emotion in his voice when he replied: "Heaven has been merciful in bringing us together again, and Heaven shall witness my lifelong devotion." In a little while the nurse returned, saying: "I shall be ready when you are, sir. I think Miss Tremayne can see yon now." Dr AUbright went, with her. but was not away more than ten minutes. "You may go now, Athol." he said, softly. "I have prepared the way. I give you 20 minutes: then let us get out of this terrible house: let us po and shake away the gloom that is hanging about us. I will see, my Italian patient while you are with Miss Tremayne. and Sir George shall look after vehicles enough to carry about a dozen of us." And Athol went the way he was directed —went to meet the woman he loved. (To be continued daily.)