The Heir Uering: or The Queen Lily.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 37, 12 February 1904, Page 6

The Heir Uering: or The Queen Lily.

by CHARLES GAKYJCE, orEoH/tv-Gidd," "A Wbsaaatx-Smct? , etc.

CTTAPTET! XTTTT. THE NEW PUPIL. The Misses Penley kept a >elect school fo: young lariat*, or. in the words of their circular, j.iintej in gold, cm the best and cr-amierT oi paper. "An educational e-:.ib!ish:iient ior thp daughters o: ;},<■ nobility arid gi-utry." It Wai. as Mi~= Maria Penlpy often reminded '!:'-■• young pup Us. a select seminary, aristocratic and :.igh cla«s. particular and reiined. No tradesman'!! daughter had pver learned her A. B. C, or acquired the raa-tery of "The Battle of Prague' , under iLi blisses Penley, who would liiive regarded the presence of a trade-man's daughter in their classic and aristucratic mansion at Kritii with the same horror that would have produced by a black beetle, a cricket or a iuou;e. In a wuid, the "M" ; : ,:! Penleys' est-ib-li~!iD!eiit for youna ladies vu» seleci or no; king. 'Dip mti ' i.v-; of your having been brougiit up under the shadow of the Minerva Hall roo;:ree was a pa~<jfoit for you in after life Lo the inner circle of tune. Misses Penleys' fees ■were regarded as dross, indeed, and a j gjeat handful of the golden dust was j demanded in return ior the privilege of becoming ;■ pupil 01 Minerva Huu-e And a pupil of Minerva Hail Kyra, the hall-wild Indian girl, become. Left To himself and his own resources. The new Lord Vering wo aid pivb-bly liuve never heard of Minerva Hou>o. and t'.ie Miisps Penit v. but be was not lei't To Luuiself, for. before a- week had passed. :i score of nu.troii- and l:'die=; of the count- families had called, or left their caids. ar \"ehug Wold, and from one and uiiutiier —from ail. indeed—lie, by <i.-.r-et que-tiriiiing. lieard ilinerva Huu-e extolied. Ii V"L; had a daughter wlioin. for reasons be-t k:iov.!i to your-f-rlf. you \vi~h<-il lo plat-e from home. I Minerva House was the ih-i. school at which to place her. By oiip and :-!! of the ladies of his ac-i]iiaiutance the new Iv J Vering beard Minerva, House laudocl. and he. ai la-t. I c.iine to the fonclu.-iou that he could ! nut do better tiian put Kyra. his \\ard. i a? be called her, under the i-are of the Mines Penley. Until he haJ so <!er ided, Kyra had remained at the inn, under the l-jvp of j Tapling. und no one in this world j couid have lakfii letter care of her. Even" day. at a certain hour. Percy j called and ipent some time wirii her, lowk her out ; u r a. walk, explained to | her the peculiarities of the i-ustoms and | maiineis of the country into which she! had c-ome, am I taught her >ome thing , of j the dutie~ which were expected of her. | And now the day had arrived on which she was to enter her academical career. In his grave, gentle uiannei. he told hr-r how nece--a!\ it would bt- that sue] should yield obedience and affection to the people among wiioui she was goin.ii, | and that she could not do better iban ioliow their example. "We are not in tlit 1 backWoods Dow, little ;>iip." he >aid, loking down at her. he had not to look far—"and tne colour of our lite has alteied. We have changed the feathers and the moccasins for tweed »hootia™. jackets and a Parisian co=tume." ani'i he glanced at her straiph'. iitiif- tijrure. in its tight-h'tting costume oi black cash-j UK-re and silk. ""J: i< all changed!" said poor Kyra. ■with an unconscious patho*, a.s -he looked up at him from under her straw hat; "it is all changed, my lord"—they had taught her to call him by title, iu.-tead of "my chief, my brave"'—"and I will be what you call "good"—and— and —shall we never go into the bush aL'iiin. my bra—my lord'" "'So, , ' said he, with a little wi.-tful smiie, -I don't .-uppo>e we shall. People can be happy in England. Kyra." "Can they?'" she asked, innocently. *'~\ e% that s". perhaps, when they are "uh ii you." What could lie say to such outspoken a'-crtions oi love and devotion? Nothing' And now lie stood, hat in hand, in the well-furnished drawing-room of Minerva Huusc. all arrangements made, the last word spoken, alone with Kyru. her hand in his, the Misses Penley having considerately left them alone for a moment. "And you are going, my lord?" said the Iktle. full, quivering lips, as the lovely eyes were turned appealingly to his face. "You are going to your grent wigwam all alone, you say? You will fee) to want the lit lie redskin—is it not so? And you will fetch her and keep her with you? is it not so, mv lor<' :"' "1 will come for you before long, be sure.. Kyra." he answered. "You will be happy, for my .sake—to please me — and. if you vrunt or wish for anything. anything you see other girls have here, ask for it. and you shall have it. You shall have all the world, my poor fhild!" he added, almost passionately, her large, dark eyes filled over with te-.rs. '"For God's sake, do not look miserable! There; I will come for you soon, in an hour, if you write—i mean. when you learn to read the paleface signs. Kyra, and there "' He broke on" suddenly, for. as he put on h"-: hat and turned to leave her. shr fell at his feet. and. clinging to his hands, drew them down to her" lips and fci--ei' them passiona-tely. Percy turned pale, then crimson, an.].! as he stopped to lift her up. hi< lips had ' almost touched her forehead, with a yearning companion, when ;he door opened, and the dLn-reei and -the highlvbrf -'' , Penley entered-1 . en-ter«l to fin-l in place of the abashed! II * Indian, a tall, slim young I ' '? p - : " a Parisian co=tump. with a ;

[dark face and proud lips, and black eyes riu-uinj/ defiance. j The Misses Penley—two model gov- ' ! who had trained baronets' j (laughters aud peers' sisters by the I score—tooil for a moment aghast at the awful change from the pliant, pitiable girl who !iad dung so tenaciously to her guardian, and this subtly graceful and se!i-possessed young savaee. ■">lv dear." said Miss Clementa,*" the elder sister, ""let mc introduce you to your fellow-pupils." Kyra shook her head. I "Kyra not go 'to-day. She -will see i no more palefaces to-day. Kyra hates [all palefaces but my lord! Kyra will ijia all alone, and be alone for to-day." The two sisters exchanged glances of con.-ternution. "•Bat. my dear." remonstrated Miss I Karrie-.t. nhe younger, attempting to tukr the girl's hand, but she was rej.:st\l ,; with a quiet scorn and the cold. : imis.ovabie: "Kyra has spoken—she will be alone!" "Better humour lier to-day,* , murmurrd Miss Clementa, utterly discomforted. J •• Very well, my dear, it shall be as yon wish. You shall go to your own apartment, and will take your meals with us to-day. To-morrow you can join your schoolfellows." Without a word further, Kyra allowed them to lead her from -tlie room, aud so the first little skirmish ended in her favour. A bad sigu for the Misses Penley. Be sure, many words were spoken by the two shrewd dames that night, anil Kyra was pretty well discussed. ,"W« shall have a fearful amount of ■trouble and anxiety with her."' sighed Mis? Harrier, who look tlw? ne-w scholars under her charge for the first month, and was half inclined to politely but firmly decline my Lord Vering'e ward as a pupil. ■*" i "So doubt." assented the more practical Miss (Jlementa, "but, alißiu: someI thing i< due to the Earl of Vering"s poI : iiion. the richest peer of the day. my I ..Vur Harriet, and his delicate consideration fu' our comfort, displayed in the vii. r .- f a.li'Jng an extra, honorarium lo our aiiCiJuy anytliing but moderate I tonus, si'j'.uld meet witli some litt'e re- ! apo -se from us. Let us wait until toI morrow." j On the morrow Kyra rose and. »>ade her dcbui in the school v.ovld. That is i to say. that she descended to- the great j *! brolroom. by the side of the mature ; Miss Clp.menta, and endured that pro i loiiuet'. stare with which schoolgirls greet I a iio-.v pupil. The room wu- large, and better f<;:iiished than ino-t of its kind; each pup}: was allowed n comfortable chair, iiisietul of tbe usiuil breakback i forms. There were engravings, as w«.-ll 'as reap?, on the walls, many other !such indications of ihe high class of the ; i'ouiig ladies who laboiuvJ wiiLin the j walls. A 'hair, not very far from the Mioses I Penley"s table, was before a desk I for Kyra. :»nd there she se-'te 1 berself. i th" observed of all observer. fir + / pairs I of f_v r; making a centre for their ?re of curiosity ir.: } criticism, and no iron target could have taken it witii more of I calm self-possession ajid contemplative indifference: Kyra wa< an Indian, and would have burned by inches at a stake [without a move or a twist of the face: the stare of fifty of her own sex did not move her an inch. Neither did she appear disoomposc-J by the -udden .-mile which illumined every face, as Miss Penley "Young ladies, permit mc i:o introduce ,i new pupil. Miss Kyra, the ward of the Karl of Yering.' , Then the fifty young ladies of high degree made a graceful curtsey, and sank into their seats again. -Acknowledge your schoolfellows' greeting, my dear," muimured Miss Clementa. Kyra looked at her. with calui coiuplaeency; she did not know iv the least know what she meant. Miss Clementa groaned inwardly, and. murmuring "A perfect savage!" Jeft her for a while to her own devices. These were singular enough to attract the attention and amusement of the] room. Left to herself Kyra folded her stately amis and leaned back—a model for a sculptor, but a most exasperating piece of torture for the prim twin sisters of Minerva House. At last, unable to endure thft calm self-possession of the young Indian. Miss Clementa placed her in one of the lowest classes, and began to examine her as to her capabilities. She discovered that the! new pupil knew just enough .English to: make herself understood, and—that was all! j ; "What shall we do? ,, exclaimed the sis-1 ter=, in audible chorus, "with a- tall. I self-possessed and indomitable girl, and ' ignorant of the alphabet? It is too much for us; we shall never be a&le. to teach: her—no. not even if she weiie the ward i of a d'.ike!"' But there the Misses Penley :nade a'; mistake. Kyra was not anxious to be[, sociable, but she was anxious to learn \\ —to compete with, and, if possible, to 1 ! outstrip, the paleface giris. and slit-!, learned with a rapidity and eagerness' that startled and almost bewildered her!, tutors. I j And so a week passed, and found her' , applying herself to the various school! ] tyfks with an earnestness and avidity); that would have insured success even in , t tie case of a slow girl, which Kyra cer- £ tainly was not. But. though she bid fair! 1 to conquer "Lindley Murray/ Mrs. Mag-! ] nail's "Questions, 7 ' and "Porter's Geo- ( graphy." to say nothing of the scales i and exercises, and the mysteries of the r French tongue, she made very little pro.cress in the social side of the school life. She was silent, proud, and passionate— not sullen, as some of the girls declared, but reserved as an Indian so r iresh from her native Dlaiiisj and woods must be. * j All offers of friendship she received 3 and declined with a cold politeness that 5 was discomforting in the extreme to the 1 few who ventured to make advaneeE. Xo wonder she made enemies! Vll the more easily, too, by reason of her supreme loveliness and grace. No backboard, or any of the ordinary contriv- ! ances for procuring a good figure, were! required in Kyra's case—she was cr race i itself, and even Lady Mary Darlington \ the belle of the school, admitted that' '■the savage" was good form. Lady!

Mary Darlington was the granddaughter of a duke, and regarded, on the score of her social position and beauty of the pale, and wax-doll kind, as the beauty and the leader of the school. All bowed down to her—even the Misses Penley. unconsciously—but the savage, as Lady Mary had" christened Kyra on her first day. She had come, as it were, as a rebel and a rival, more than the equal of Lady Mary in beauty and grace, more than a ma.teh for her in that calm self-possession and powers of endurance of insolence which are the signs of the truest breeding-, and yet far Lady Mary's inferior in intellectual attainments and accomplishmentsIt was maddening to the young autocrat to see this tall, proud 'daughter of the forest gliding gracefully past her, day after day, without a word of greeting, beyond a formal bow. and quite impassive to the sneers and delicately but distinctly marked scon; of her great and mighty ladyship. She called Kyra '"the savage,* hinted in no ambiguous terms th«t an individual of such doubtful antecedents, should not be forced upon the companionship of dukes' granddaughters and earl's sisters, and. at last, exasperated by Kyra's contemptuous indifference to it all, ventured into open warfare. "Either the savage must yield, or I must!" declared Lady Mary one evening in the music-room, " where she and a dozen or so of her most devoted adherents and admirers were practising their new pieces, and chattering like a grove of canaries. "It is impossible to endure her insolence any longer; you girls know what I have suffe red andwht I hav-ebor what I have suffered and what I have what J have suffered, what I have borne with from this Indian creature for the last week past, and. really, 1 appeal to you, dears, can I stand it any longer?" and she rose from the piajio, with the air of a mother and a schoolgirl ludicrously mir.gled. There was a murmur of approval. "It is really dreadful!' , plaintively murmured the Honorable Miss Stacey. "Tue school is not like the same. Her coi'd impertinence is unendurable! I hate her. iUid 1 think it is a great shame that the dragons should have forced her upon us. What do you say. girls?" There was a?) eager cry of acquiescence and applause, for. though Kyra had not spoken an unkind word to any of them, they were all ready to descry —all but one. a little morsel, half hidden by the voluminous skirts of her elder? —she was small, but possessed courage. "Kyra is very kind to mc," she said: "she always carries mc round the playground when 1 am tired. 1 don't hato her!"" '•You are a miserable little thing. Lady Amelia, and will never know good form from bad. Yi>u'd stand up for an ogre if he carried your lazy little body about for you! I'm ashamed of you!" exclaimed Lady Mary. '"And now," she added, in a whisper, turning to her courtiers, as the tall, lithe figure appeared in the doorway, '"here she comes for her hour of practice. Now, we'll see whether *he shall pass us as if we were no b?ttpr than the dust on her skirts. It is time she was taught that social distinctions exist in Minerva House!" and. so saying, she rose, waited until Kyra had passed them, and nearly gained the piano. tb*n slipped forward hurriedly, and. stepping before Kyra, seated herself on the music-stool. Kyra stopped, music in hand, and looked down at the pretty and now flushed face with a calm regard for a moment: then, as the insult broke upon her. her face grew red and her eyes flashed. She waited a moment, in grim silence, that, was shared by all; then she drew a dainty littlo watch from her belt, and consulted it: but not a word. Two minutes passed. Then a voice, thin and weak, and tearful, rose from tJie background, remonstrating: "Lady Mary, it is Kyra's turn! Yon shouldn't take the piano; it's a shame, it is:" Lady Mary turned her head angrily. "Hold your tongue, stupid little idiol!" she retorted. "1 shall remain here until your friend, the savage, requests mc- in a respectful and proper manner. to nfove." Scarcely were tho in3o!ent words past the thin, aristocratic lips, than Mie savage, extended her arms, leajied forward, and, i-lasping the .struggling lorm of the duke's granddaughter in her arms, strode with it to the open window. There was a fall of twenty fer>f. La-dy Mary, x> powerless as a lamb in the clutch of a tiger. s<Teeehcxl aloud, the joined chorus, but, calm and determined. Kyra held her tormentor, and now victim, to her by on/ , sum and forced the window higher with the other. In another moment the dukr- would have been minus a granddaughter Eor the struggling figure was held over the sill, when the little Lady Amelia ran forward and clung to Kyra's dress. '"Kyra! Kyra! Dear Kyra! Put her iown. dear, for my sake! Kyra, Kyra! Don't be. so wicked! Oh, oh. oh!" At the little, weak, imploring voice, the savage looked round, hesitated for a moment, then coolly and smilingly drew Lady Mary from outside, and di-opped iier on the floor, as the Misses Penley md a crowd of alarmed and horrified jupUs, who had witnessed her most eirifying performance from the garden, lashed pell-mell into the room. (To be continued daily.)'