A HERITAGE OF HATE

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 45, 22 February 1910, Page 8

A HERITAGE OF HATE

BY CHARLES GARVICE.

CHAPTER XXT- . '-.To, no; say nothing! I -will -wait!" Ralph stammered as ie led Lady Mary back to the ball-room. Mary answered not- a. -word; indeed, she could not speak for the painful beating of her heart. She teas a girl -till, fresh from school, and a proposal from any man she did not love would nave agitated her; but that Ralph, the earl, should tell her that he loved her and ask her to be his wife, and at the very moment Edward's letter was hidden in her hand, was nothing less than terrible.-—.. The man to whom she was engaged for the next dance came up as she and Ralph entered the room, and Ralph, with a bow, resigned her to him. For a space, he. stood looking round the brilliant scene vacantly; then he turned and went to a small room at the back -A the hall, which he had furnished is a kind of "den." He locked the door, and going to a side-board, ho got some brandy, _ and drank a wine-glassful. t4 The spirit steadied him a little; and oe needed steadying, for his hand was shaking and his head was in a whirl, and be could scarcely realise what he had done. The old-fashioned villain of the novel and the melodrama, who calmly and coolly sits down and plans out a scheme ■of villainy is a. very ran bird indeed, and seldom found in real life; which is a pity—for .the novelist and dramatist. As a matter of fact, such men as Ralph Rait on are quite as much the creatures of impulse as good men; and Ralph had acted on impulse in telling Lady Mary that he loved her and askin°her to be his wife. It was .the ment of his success, the dancing— the champagne—that had impelled him to the rash act. . - . Surrounded by his titled and aristocratic guests—some of the least 'worthy had flattered and almost paid court to himwith the music singing in his cars the scent of the flowers stealing over his senses, he had forgotten that though he was the Earl of Ratton, he was the husband of Nita, the music-hall artiste; and the s. = __± of Lady Alary in all her fresh, girlish beauty, the mscination of her refinement and girlish charm had helped him' still further to forget that dismal fact. .. But he remembered it now, as he sat fingering the brandy glass and staring ' moodily at the carpet. He was already married, and he had- - asked Lady Mary to be his wife; had proposed to her! Had he been mad for ' the moment? Yes, that was it, he must : have lost his head for the time being. Bat the thing was done now. It was true : that she had refused him, and for an in- * stant or two he felt relieved. There was ' no great harm done. She had not only refused him, but promised not to say ' anything of his proposal; and he knew ■that she would keep her promise. ! But after awhile the feeling of relief 1 gave place to one of disappointment. '' The one thing a man finds it difficult to ge; is just the thing he wants; and Ralph wanted Lady Mary all the more 'badly : for her refusal .

It seemed to him as he sat there acd listened to the music floating faintly from the ball-room that nothing of ail he possessed would be of any value to him if he could not get her. "What's the use of being an earl afis owning all this property, if I'm doomed to be a bachelor, to live alone, aH my life!" he muttered. "I might just as well he a common, ordinary person; in fact, I should be a deuced sight happrzr. And everybody will expect mc to marry. I ought to marry, and in my own sphere. How beautiful she is! She's the loveliest" woman I ever saw." He refilled his glass and drank the contents slowly, and as the brandy sent its insidious glow through, his. frame and mounted to his brain, his evil courage mounted also. '-" ' _"TV_.o knows anything aboutabout 2\rfca?' he mused. "No one; and no one is likely to know. She hasn't found mc ail these months, and it's very improbable that she -will ever find mc. Perhaps— perhaps she's dead, or she may marry again; nothing more likely. "She's a good-looking girl, and— the sort of people she associates with aren't too particular in asking o_ues_tort3 where they take a fancy. It's likely enough she's given mc up for good, and taken up with somebody else, .Anyhow, Ell yes, I'll risk it," he wound up with an oath, as he filled the glass for the third time. "Lady Mary's -worth taking some risk for. With 'her for my wife—— He gazed before him with half-closed eyes, and sank into a delicious reverie. With such men as Ealph, passion takes the place of love, and there could be no question of his passionate desire for Lady Mary. Bui_lmu_tgoeai__K>usiy," he mutter "fane's refused mc; seemed as if she -• didn't - care for mc. But perhaps she -was only startled, or it's the proper way -for ladies of her hiigh class to receive a proposal. Her father -would be on my side. He thinks no end of mc, and wouldn't object to mc as a son-in-law. And, d n it!' I'm a good match, for any of them— best of them!" He rose and went to the fire-place, and gazed at himself in the Venetian mii ror. "Pm not so bad-looking, either; but the strongest thing in my favour is thai I'm the Earl of Ration and worth a million. By George! she ought to have jumped at mc. Why dichrt she? There can't be anything between her and that conceited, self-satisfied beast, Edward Byran?" He scowled at his reflected face, then seeing how hideous that scowl made form, he forced a smile, and went back to the baH-room with it still on bis face. The dance was drawing to a conclusion, and some of the guests were already preparing for leaving. They came up to him to say good-night, or, rather, goodmorning, and they one and all congratulated him on the success of his entertainment. "You have done the thing very well, Lord Eatton, and -we have had a delightful time," said the young duchess. "It has been quite _jonda__sh in its splendour and its completeness; and I am quite sure . "we "are " all very grateful to you." . Ealph bent over the small dneal hand , and niurnrtrred appropriate acknowledgments of her grace's giacioiisness; tart lie was watching, out oi the corners of his eves, for Lady Mary. •*'•-;■ * She came up presently on her fathers arm. "Sorry to go so early, Batton," said Lord Hatherley, genially; "though, hy Jove! it's late enough! But Mary's rather tired; been dancing too much, I expect, and she's not as used to it as _ome ;... of the London belles who are here to,"V aighW .you.lia7^_^__fcfe__i^'_w;9W - b .-- -' '. ... - ■•_.. - "J -' - t~r ■£"*> ; .?.. .-'-V "-:':"■ ..i* '*..- -. -j ■ * „£ r: -" ~"Z v"■ <>:' l: -- Ui ■'. :■.-■■■ - .--...■ - .... :._.- '. ---\. .~Z'.~ -7^ v ~; •" ■ ' '■ '- ' |_4te ._J______ ,- __," ■_-;,. ',■'._:■.:■■-.'. •,".•" .V,;-

W_..r of -T-ltt Marquis," ■Xorrie.'- "A Modern Juliet" '-By Devious Way__"

cess, tremendous! But I knew you. would!-" Ralph glanced at Lady Mary, under -closed lids. "I hope Lady Mary has enjoyed it, and that she is riot over-tiarsd," 'he said. Mary stood with downcast eyes; twit she raised them for a moment, and looted at him gravely as she thanked him I and wished him good-bright. hen she and her father got into i their carriage, she leant back and folded her hands over her bosom, upon which lay Edward Bryan's letter to his mother, and closed her eyes. Her head was still in a whirl, and Ralph's words were still ringing like a strain of discord in her ears.- His proposal had seemed to her like an inisult, like an outrage; but she told herself that she ' had no right to so consider it. Why should she be angry or resentful? He did not know that she had already given her heart to Edward Bryan, and not knowing it, he was 'within his. right in telling her that he loved her, and asking her to be his wife. But though she reproached herself for her angry and resentful feeling against Ralph, the ear]—had he not saved her —she shuddered as she thought of him. All unconscious of her feelings, her father commenced to sing Ralph's j praises. ! "What a delightful evening! What a , man!" he exclaimed, "By George! the I county won't forget this ball; they'll re- ! member it for years to come! And how well Ralph"—he called him "Ralph" j now"carried it off. He did the hon-

, ours splendidly. That's where birth ' and 'breeding come in, Molly. Here is this young feUow— come into his own a few months—coming out of a . somewhat squalid past, and at once he fits into bis proper niche and takes his proper place in society. I must say I admire the way in which Ralph carries his honours. One would not have been ' impressed if he had been—well, loud and effusive; but you see that he carried himself and behaved as one in his position should behave. Say what you will, j there is some mysterious power, some I —er —instinct in good birth which en-

ahles a man to face and overcome all difficulties." Mary did not respond. Edward's letter was lying like a sentient thing on her. bosom. . ''This, affair must have cost a very large sum," went on Lord Hatherley, in the way men of his age have a habit of doing, communing with themselves rather than addressing the listener. "A tremendous success; but it does not matter; he is very rich and will not feel it. He looked very well to-night, don't you think? I don't think there was a handsomer man in the room; do you, Molly?" - ' .1 — don't know. I didn't notice," said poor Mary, upon whom this laudation of Ralph, the earl, jarred unpleasantly. Lord Hatherley sighed. "Lucky young beggar!" he said, musingly. He was thinking that the girl whom Ralph should choose for his wife would also be lucky. She would be a countess, and richer, even richer than most noblewomen. It was only natural he should think of Mary. Ralph bad saved her life; he was always very attentive to her, was always running in to see them. The Hatherlev estates would go away from Mary to the young boy at Eton. It was only natural that the fond father' should be anxious for i Vis beloved daughter's future, and reflect how safe and even brilliant it I would be, if—if—she were to become Ralph's wife. But he said nothing. He | was the last man in the world to hint of his -half-formed wish to Mary; ht, said, nothing, but the wish grew and grew as the carriage travelled the short distance. If he had known that Ralph had proposed and Mary had refused him, Lord Hatherley would not have put any pressure on her; for he held that love was sacred, and marriage something more than a mercenary contract. He kissed her more tenderly than usual as she wished him good-night, and Mary clung to him for an instant with a mute, appealing embrace, her eyes filling with tears which site hid from him.

She went straight to her room, and when her maid had undressed and brushed her hair, Mary took out Edward's letter. -She pressed it to her lips before reading it, and she read it slowly, for it was too precious to hurry

It was a cheerful letter' Edward Bryan had been writing on the eve of execution he would not have made any moan; but it told no story of success, and was not by any means sanguine.

"There are no openings here," he said. "The towns are too crowded, and the opportunities of making a fortune are not -so numerous as they were. Every man one meets is on the same lay—excuse the slang, motherand there aren't fortunes enough in this part to go round. So I am going to make a move. I have bought a good horse, and am going into the wild- on a kind of solitary prospecting. Don't ■he alarmed if you don't hear from mc as regularly as you have done; there are no post-offices where I am going, and I may not be able to send you a letter for some time. When you see Mary next, give her this letter, and— no, I mustn't send her my love. But she knows—she knows! And when you write, tell mc everything you can about her. The smallest, most trifling detail how she looks, what she wears, where she is going, what she is doing— be precious to mc. I can see her now— when do I not see herl" Mary's face flushed, and her heart throbbed with love as she read these simple but eloquent words. Marry Ralph the earl! She almost laughed at the idea. There was only one man. in the world she would marry, and if she could not marry him, then she would die an old maid! If only Edward could have heard her, seen the divine light in her. eyes as she murmured this vow, how light his heart ! would have been as started' off for Ms solitary expedition— expedition on which he was fated to meet Rath ; the hermit of the island. (To be contained daily.) ' <■' ■.