LADY DAMER'S SECRET

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 237, 4 October 1916, Page 10

LADY DAMER'S SECRET

Bγ BERTHA M. CLAY r Aitth>or of "Put Asunder" "The £Ti*s of .the Father," "Redeemed by Love," "A Secrtf Sorrow," "The Shadow of a Sin," etc.

CHAPTER XIX _^ THE GREEN SILK PURSE. 1/ady Darner smiled. "You will like Mm just ac much as ■vre do -when you see him, Hope. His name is Verner Elster. The thing that struck mc as being so strange 13, I am sure I have heard that name Verner before." ""Very probably," said Miss Charterie; and no one but herself knew how great ■vras the effort to make thoee stiff white lips speak freely. "I have known two Verners myself, so that it must be a ivell-known name. I suppose he belonge . to some very noble family." "Oh, no!" replied lady Darner. "I •Best tell you -why Karl and I liked him 60 much. Most people, you know, make tlie best of themselves, try to make out that they are better born than they really are. Now, he is so different; he told us so frankly that his father, was a poor, hardworking man, a railway guard, who was killed in an accident; ■his mother, a good, 'plain, ■ homely woman; his home a very humble oneDo you not admire the courage of any young man who tells such a story to tfhat the world calls fine people?" Miss Charteris did not answer immediately. Her hands were tightly clenched, and from her heart to her lips there rose a desperate prayer for strength. Then, striving to epeak carelessly, she said: "'But how did your hero get to college, Iloy. Railway guards seldom send their sons to Oxford." "His father died when he was quite an \ infant. I understand, and hie mother lives on a small pension. He won a scholarship at Widcombe. You have heard of Widcombe grammar school, Hope ?" "Quite a romance." she eaid, but her limbs were trembling so violently that she could hardly refrain from crying out. "Yes," said Lady Darner, "pleased to lave excited her sister's interest; "I was very much amused. He told mc he had a fairy godmother." "A fairy godmother!" stammered Hope Charteris. "What did he mean?" "Some unknown friend sends him money and -presents every year. He has a also—a green silk puree." "A green silk -puree!-" again repeated Miss Charteris slowly; but it seemed to her that her heart must cease beatin* , . "Yes," laughed Lady Darner. "If you think mc superstitious, Hope, I wonder Trhat you will call him! He told mc that he had a certain conviction that he should come to recognise this unknown friend through the green silk purse." Miss Charteris grew paler; her lice quivered. "And you," she said; r"you saw him?" "Of course I did,- Hope.; What a question to ask. I talked to'himVthe greater part of the evening." - '-"Did h e know you—that is, -I mean, had he heard-of you!" -■:-—.■ ""•- . .."I do not know. He seemed to like mc very much: and, Hope, I should really be ashamed to say it to any one efee, but do you know, when I said 'goodtye' to him, J.Mt_the_.strongest. inclina: "iron to Lake ~liiiir 'in-my~-arins' and ~~ kiss MmV "Xo wonder.' , -thought Hope Charteris to herself. "Oh. great heaven! what shall I dor' "Did—did you say Lord Darner liked him?" she asked. \ "Yes, very much. You may imagine •how he pleased mc, Hope, when I tell you that the dearest wish of my heart is to see my Alwin resemble him. Ah, there 5e the dinner bell/ And Lady. Darner, all unconscious of her sister's emotion, stood for one moment before the mirror, while she took up her fan and drew on her gloves. "Floy," said her sfeter faintly, ,"I do not think I win go down to dinner today. I do not feel well, that pain always tires mc." She longed to De alone to realise the •ierrible trnth, the awful story; to place before her mind, in startling colours, the fact that her sister had met, at last, the son -whom she believed to be dead; that mother and chdld had looked at each other without recognition. But Lady Darner threw her arm Tound ler sister. ••"Why, Hope?" she said. "Karl would lie wretched. He hae been longing for you quite as much as I have. Fancy dinner, on the first day of your Teturn. without you. If it -be only for the pleaeare of looking at you, you must come." And Hope, who for the first time in ler life had lost her self-possession and self-command, felt it easier to go than to resist. But that dinner time passed like a dream to her. She saw flowers, lights, everything througi a mist. Lord Darner tried to talk to her. Florence was in tetter spirits, but Hope Charteris had lost her courage, her calmness, her security. \ Nor could she ever remember how that long evening passed. She heard Lady Darner sing, and she listened while Lord I Darner explained to her his views" on the coming election. But never a .word Jieaxd she; her mind was in a tumult, &cr thoughts a whirl of confusion, her Jjzam was dizzy—Hope Charteris had vest her courage. "When I am once more alone," ehe said, '"I shall understand it all better."' Yet it seemed ages until she was alone. "You do not look well, Hope," said T./ord Darner, "Jfou shall not sit up any leinger." She remembered kissing Florence, and feeling an irresistible inclination to fall upon her neck and cry out:— "He is your son, Floy—your son, whom I have kept from you all these long years, who I told you was dead—your own first-born son, Floy." But with an iron will she controlled the mad impulse, and went to her own room. Then all need for restraint was over! She placed the lamp upon the sable,: and stood wildly looking at it. "Oh, Heaven!" she moaned, "what ehr"! I do—what can I do? Who has brought them together? If I could but know that —is it fate, fortune or Provi- > dence?" - .., She clasped her hands, and raised her despairing face. ;< Was it you, my God?" she cried. For the first time in her life she felt uncc-tain as to the right of what she had done. Even to save her sister's fair jaine, bad she any right to separate . another and child, to let them grow up in the world strangers to each other— to take upon herself the parting ©t two ■who ought to rbsnhmi aQ ZM&Lta each, other? For the first tins* ah* faul MBtoa, doubts mc to vfcefter fh» aeGtm «h» h*d atesjs looked ea m isodaH* bad aot,

take that little infant from his mother's arms, and place him in another sphere of life?" "I did it for the best," she moaned. '"Oh, my God! I pray Thee remember I did it for the best. It was for her sake,, for her honour, for her happiness. 1 would have died for her!' . And then, as some degree of calmness returned to her, she began to think that all was not yet lost. True, they had met, this mother and child, so long parted, yet her secret was safe as though they had never met at all. The young man could never, by any possible means, discover that the brilliant and beautiful mistress of Avonwold was his mother, nor could Lady Darner ever know the hero she so greatly admired was her own son. Who was to tell them? Even should Jane Elster and Lady Darner ever meet, they could not recogniee each other. Jane had never seen her eister but once, and then her beautiful face was disfigured by the pallor of illness. Lady Darner had never seen the -widow at all, or had never heard her name. No need, then, to despair. It had been a terrible fright, but she began to see more clearly now—the secret was safe as ever. Xo fear of any untoward ■revelation, no . fear of discovers; and Hope Charteris gave a long, deep eisrh of relief. * Suddenly .there flashed across her mind what her sister had said of the green silk purse, and the thought made her heart almost stand still. It was Florence herself who had made that purse, and given it to her long years ago, and she had treasured it very much. How was it she had ever been so blind as to send it? What a fatal mistake—what a most unfortunate error! And, to terrify her still more, came the recollection of an old proverb: "Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.% Had she been mad when ehe sent that purse? If ever Florence saw it, she would know it at once. "I must get it," she said.to herself; "no matter how. I must have it, and then my darling will once more be safe." {To he continued daily.) MEDICAL. '

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