A FOOL OF FATE,

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 144, 18 June 1915, Page 11

A FOOL OF FATE,

The Story of a Great Conspiracy. By T. ARTHUR PLUMMER, AuUior of "God's Parasite," "A Woman of the Stage," "The Devil's Dupe," "A Girl in Tinsel," "Slate* of the Limelight," "The Siren of the Halls," etc. Part I: The Fool Leaves England CHAPTER XXV.—(Continued.) It wasn't so serious alter all. A brief examination told the doctor that all the patient required was a few days' rest and absolute quiet. Pleydall "laughed ironically when the doctor told him this. "Quiet—here! What else does one get?" "I mean no work—of any description. As a matter of fact, you* have had a slight sunstroke. Nothing in itself, 1 assure you"— to the Boer girl who stood by the side of the sofa with hands that gripped the skirt of her dress—'-but he must be still; you will see to that, I trust." "Yes," in a low voice, and with eyes fixed on the Englishman's pallid face, ''I'll see to that." Then Anna left the parlour to prepare Pleyda-11 same soup which the doctor said he must have, and the two men chatted together. "You arc not the kind of doctor that one is accustomed to meet in a South African veldt village," Bleydall opined. "What are you doing here, in a rotten little hole like Ouland?" "What are you doing in a more rotten little farm?"- quickly. Then they both laughed. "It's a useful country, doctor, eh?" "It is." Then, "Cambridge?" he queried, suddenly. "No; Oxford."" They both laughed again, but there was something awkward in it. es," the doctor said, "a deucedly useful country, anil a nice long way from England, but a—a hit lonely sometimes—eh. Mr. Tleydall?" Anna Shubert came in soon after; the doctor watched her deft, fingers arrange his patient's pillows. He looked at the strong, lithe form with admiring eyes; it was so rarely one saw a creature like this in the plains: he observed the poise of her small head, the firm, full column of her suntanned throat, the wonderful beauty of her face, the big. tragic eyes, and here he stopped, for at once he saw what his dense fellow-countryman was blind to.

"I-onely!" was his mental comment as he leisurely returned over the plain; "he shouldn't be with a woman like that about him all day long!" The hack took advantage of his mood: It dropped into a walk, and eventually stopped to investigate a little patch of green grass that lay temptingly just against the deep rutted roadway. Suddenly the doctor pulled ' himself together, "tome on. old hnss!" he said, abruptly: "there's a patient waiting for us in Ouland. a patient who'll be dead in a week, and he'll he right-down sorry when I tell him of it! Sorry' Hut we don't die. do we' We just live on. old hnss -you and I." Perhaps that man out at the farm would return to England one day. but he couldn't; he would never see England again; as far as England was concerned he was dead—dead and buried! Alan Pleydall wanted to go about his duties on the farm the next day, but Anna wouldn't hear of it. "I tell you I'm all right," he said, petulantly, "and there's so much to do." "And enough to do it without you!" This was linal. She would allow him to leave his bed and lie on the old sofa in the parlour if he liked. But he loathed the sofa and the parlour; if he couldn't go out, he would s»ay where he was. In a lazy sort of way he watched the Boer girl move about his room; watched her take away a vase of flowers. A little while after the returned; through his half-closed lids he saw that it was tilled with freshcut flowers. "You're a busy little hody. aren't you. Anna?" He held his hand out. "Let smell them!" he said, inelegantly. She gave the vase to him; he buried his nose in the Iragrant petals as she left the room. Later she went tn ask him if he were ready for dinner. He was sound asleep. Twice she spoke to him without reply. She bent down and looked into his face; one brown curl lay upon his forehead: the just touched it with the tip of her fingers. Suddenly her face went scarlet. She hesitated, swiftly bent her head lower still, an.l laid her lips to his. Only by an effort did she keep back the cry of pain that rnse in her throat; she had a mad desire to strain him to her heart, pillow his head upon her breast. White and trembling she ran from tho room. L'ntil tliis moment, with burning lips an.l braving bosom, she hadn't fully realised what she had done; now the shame nf it swept, her. Kissed him, kiftned this Englishman, whilst away across the peas, in that wonderful England he had spoken of. there might be a girl he loved-there might be —a wife! During that brief spell of delirium, before she had galloped into Ouland for the doctor, he had breathed a woman's Dame. The word had seemed to linger on his lips. "Celia!" It was the Kaffir maid who took dinner in to the baas. The Boer girl was pacing her bedroom floor, hands wildly beating—one upon the other, tears alowly trickling down her cheeks. It was lato that same night. The aged Boor wa-. sitting alone in the stuffy parlour poring over his beloved Bible. On the table by his side lay hia pipe, now cold. From his bedroom he had hauled the r/reit family book from its accustomed pic-re and broUght it here for a little ipeiice ami meditation. A deeip, -husky whi.-<per fll'cd the room. At the end of the open Bible there stood the oil-lamp —just sufficient light for him to read the printed -words. Lao-titly his gTimy fingers lay upon the holy nago*. "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all ber pathd are .peace." On and on he read, the whisper rising to a definite tone, then falling again. Suddenly behind him the door opened and a voice spoke. "I wan' to talk to yo'!" The Bible closed with a crash that almost smashed the lamip-glass. "It's time you -were in bed, Cranda— anil why didn't you knock?" The half-caste's face was a ghastly saJloiw hue that this light intensified; there -was something strange burning in his steeb/ «jyea.

"I didn't think. Yo' don' all'jß think to knoak when yo's 'bout dead -wi' worry an' no sleep!" The old Boer peered into his lace curkmely. "Wtuat'e the matter -with you, and ■why don't you sleep?" he queried, in his stolid manner. "Don' yo' use yo'r eyes" What did yoV Lord give 'cm to yo' for?"' Spite of the abruptness of the halfcaste's speech there -was nothing impudent in hifl manner. Ho conveyed the impression of a man labouring under the influence of some great trouble. Out of -his pocket Silas Shubert brought a box of matches; from another pocket he drew a pouch. Leisurely he filled hk pipe's amjple bowl, applied a -match, and wm soon puffing contentedly away. "Mow, Cranda," he said at length, "what is it?" Silas Sliubert's coolness of manner was a trifle elifa -on cert ing to the halfcaste lie looked about the little parlour nervously. "What is it?" the Boer asked again. "The Lord gave tne' ray eyes to use. and 1 was under the impression that I —used them!" "It's aliout Miss Anna," Orandr got out at. last. "What of her?" —sharply: "what can you have to say nf her?" Shubert was not smoking now-; he had dragged the pijie from his mouth and dropped it with a clatter on 'to the table beside the Bible. There was menace in his attitude. He was inches shorter than the halfcaste, but the latter quailed before him. His bearded face looked evil in its quiet fun-. Ordinarily the half-caste would have dropped his head and slunk off; but of late he had lieen entirely .litTer ent in his bearing; he held his head higher; there was a certain indefinite air of defiance about him; he seemed to forget that he had black blood in his veins. Then Cranda pulled li Li rounded shoulders up straight, looked his employer squarely in the eyes, and spoke. "Don' yo' know as Miss Anna in startin' to love this new overseer':" "Well?" Shubert queried. "Well?" The half-caste was taken completely aback. "Hon' it matter? Don' vo' mind?" 'Not a bit—'why should I?" 'But I thought that —that " Cranda flound.-red. helplessly. -You thought that 1 hated him. hated all Knglishmen! Out somewhere in the plains, the Lord knows where, two of my sons lie buried, shot down by thos.cursed Englishmen, their bones left to Meach !>eneath the African sun. Hut there in the little graveyard at Oulan.l lies their mother. She died because of her loss. Cranda.' I was born on a farm; my father before mc and his father — now what have I? Perhaps the time will come when we shall have an opportunity to sweep theso aliens into the Sea. 1 await that day! Ye.-, t'randa. yon are right. I hate all •Englishmen!"

"And yet yo'r dughtcr is goin' to love this " lie broke off; t!ie point was too complex for his lirain to graxp. "That's it! I want what this Englishman has—motley!'' "So yo'il sell Miss Anna to liim!'" "Sell!" For the first time the Boer Taised hi* voice. "Yo' would let her marry him?" "I would!" "But eupjvisin' he can't: supposin' > as a «-.(.. 'way it. England: »ti|ijiosin' —" "I don't suppose anything of the kind. Cranda. Whatever the rest, this one is honourable." "Hut euppoein' " llie Boer cut in on him curtly. "1 know what you're trying to say. Oraiida. I would take my gun and shoot him as 1 would a do?!" There was a g'.int in the half-caste's eyes, his thin lips compressed themselves. "If yo' did that," ho whispered, tensely. "I should a' most believe in the God o' yo' fathers!'' "Cranda. I sometimes wish you hadn't been " "Off coloured, eh?" The Boer nocldc.l. The half-caste was at the .parlour door. He halted; the farmer could see he hadn't quite finished. "Why did yo' bring him here?" he .le manded, fiercely. "Why did yo' put him over mc?" Cranda ..|.ene.l the door and disappeared. A fnw minutes later the door opened again, and 'Anna stood on the thresh..ld. She was in her nightdress: she held i lamp iv her hand. "I thought I heard voices." she said. jin answer to Silas Shubert's look of inquiry. "I've been talking tn Cranda." the farmer said. "At this time of night ?" "It's a pity he's not white. Anna. We've been discussing -you." The farmer saw the Boer girl's sudden start. He smiled dourly. "Discussing you- and the Englishman," he continue.!. "Perhaps on.- day you'll—you'll marry him -eh. Anna?" "Who are you talking about?" "The Englishman." He laughed softly It was not pleasant to hear. He saw the ..live skin flush, saw (he mad throbbing of her heart in her bare white throat. Then the humbug tever ently opened the pages nf his Bmle again. (To be continued daily!