LADY DAMER'S SECRET

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 243, 11 October 1916, Page 10

LADY DAMER'S SECRET

By- BERTHA M. CLAY ■AutKcr of "Put Asunder;' "The Sins of the Father," "Redeemed by Love" "A Secret Sorrow," "The Shadow of a Sin," etc

CHAPTER XXVI.

ROBERT ELSTER FALLS IX LOVE. For a Snort time Hob lost sigiht of his eecret. Jane Elster hardly knew -what iad come ever him. She looked at him in wonder, as one who had strange extperiences; for the gentle, kindly, commonplace Toman had always had the same quiet, uneventful life.

The very spirit of unrest seemed to have taken possession of Rob. He <wae never at peace.

He almost, rained iis mother T>y the purchase of gaudy neckties and cheap' Tings. He was iuo=t scrupulous as to the due polisliing of his boots'p the amount of bergainot he used made his mother faint; and, as a last sign of his desperate condition, Rob took to •wearing , kid gloves at two shillings a pair.

Then his mother began to suspect Rob must be""in love; nothing but feminine influence could possibly have incased those Ted hands in gloves.

Jane Elster-'s troubles seemed just ibe ginning.

shall I do," she thought, "if Rob persists in bringing a wife home here? I shall have to keep .her, and then good-bye to all comfort."

But Mrs Elster little dreamed how far Rob's ambition' was leading him. He 'had 'positively fallen in love with the daughter of a farmer in the neighbourhood, -who Tvas reputed to be worth, "any amount of money." ;

If Rob had been wise, which he -waa not, he would have read signals of danger in Kate Eepten's face. It was handsome, in a certain bold, gipsy fashion. Her eyes were black as night, and flashed jfire: bat "tiiexe iwas no softness in them— no tenderness. Wdien- she was angry a certain red fire gleamed there, neither, safe nor pleasant to see.

She was tall and finely formed, with a statuesque kind of grace not usoial in her rank of life. She -had a wealth of (black- hair, coarse and shining. It was ■well known in Croston that Fanner Repton had made a great mistake in his youth—ihe ihad fallen most passionately in love and had manied a lovely gipsy girl —lovely in face and figure, but a perfect fiend in violence of disposition.

The old gipsy blood ran iwild in her veins. !Led a-way by the novelty- of living in a •warm, comfortable house, and by the respectable position offered to •her by the novelty of 'being an honest man's wife; .perhaps also touched by the deep, fierce, pa-asionate love of the farmer, she ihad consented to give up iher wandering life and become 3lrs Repton. - lib "was strange, yet nevertheless true, that wicked women arc often more deeply, loved than good -I, .for. one, cannot "but I know that Farmer Repton -would never have loved any good woman as he did this wild gipsy, 'Who liad no goodness in her.' ' . was emphatkally-a-wicked woman. •this handsome, bold~Madge Repton. She ■had all the sins of her race, all its vices. She never told the truth, save by accident; she stole, when stealing was in her power; she drank whenever e!he had the opportunity. Did"she do worse? , That remained a eecret between Heaven and herself. Hei neighbours all said "yes," that wthen the farmer was away she went through n. course of profligacy shameful even to mention. Yet, despite all, she never lcct her influence over the niaii wild, loved her so well, and whan, after ten years of half-civilised life, liladge Repton died, iher husband almost lost his reason. But she did not die until she had distilled the greater part of her own wickedness in±o her daughter. Kate Repton inherited the wild blood., the fierce Gypsy nature, the uncontrollable j temper of her mother. • People were afraid of offending her. When that red light came into her eyes Kate -was-dangerous, and everyone knew it. . A farm servant once ventured upon a rude remark to her••"You say that again," cried Kate, "and I will shoot you dead —dead, mind!" And, knowing she would keep her word, the offence was never re- • peated. - -The young.man -wiio admired her fltsh.ing eyes and ihandsome Gypsy face, never dared to say much to her; and it was with this bold, fierce girl that Rob Elston 'Bad fallen in love.

Her -black eyes struck him first; they looked complacently on him; they gave him shy glances that enraptured Rob. He thought there was nothing like her, and he-Tesolved to win Kate Repton and make her his wife. ■He went through all the usual preliminaries of love. He wore tight boots, so tight could scarcely walk; he spent the greater'part of his time in walking up and down the road where the farmhouse stood: he took to violent blushing, and one day a sudden thought came into his mind. "I am just as good as any other man," Baid Rob to himself; '"and I will -go straight to her father, and ask him if he has any objection to mc." So Hob got himself up in his best style, paid a visit to Farmer Repton, and boldly asked 'him the questiou. The farmer looked at him long and steadily. "Kate is not-easily managed," he said; "but if you like to undertake the task, you may." '"Her bit of temper, .will not frighten mc," said Rob. "So much the better—it frightens mc," was the farmer's reply. "Now, look, Robert Elster, if you once say but one word of this to Kate, you mill have to keep to it, mind that- She is not one you can play fast and loose with. I give you fair warning before you speak. I have known your mother for years, and would not like anything to happen to you. I -tell you honestly, Kate's mother was a Gypsy, and the girl herself —well, gunpowder is nothing to her when she is roused. If you say one word of love to Kate Repton, you must keep, to it, and marry her." "I ask nothing better," said Rob. A wiser man might have thought that if the girl's father considered all these precautions needful, dt was indeed a bad case. ■ , '•'I must undeceive you about one thin" , ," continued the farmer; "the neighbour's all consider mc a -well-to-do man. lam not. I have not one shilling to give Kate when she is married, or to leave her when I die. What 3ier mother cost mc is only known to myself. -.Does that frighten you?" if No," he replied. "I want Kate, not your money." "Then in Heaven's name take 'her, and Heaven send you better luck, Robert

""" •; . j ■ Rob's only comment on this was that the farmer seemed fond of preaching, and that Jie hoped he would not try much of.ii'on him. ThenyEobert began his wooing, and a fine,..exciting affair it was. He was never sure of Kate for a moment; sometimes sne. was coy, shy. timid; then, lagain, curt, abrupt, and cool—very rarely kind: but when she was kind, she was irresistible. The fierce, half-tamed, handsome girl ■was more difficult to manage than a wild forest bird was to catch. She could not have taken any surer means oi enchaining Rob Elster"; all the coquetry in the world could never have controlled him us did this uncertainty. He never knew when he was going to the farm whether she would meet him with a softened Hush on her handsome face and let him kiss her cheek, that was like a damask rose, or whether she would frown and tell him that she had no time to waste that day. It was quite an uncertainty, and that gave a charm to the interview. At last Rob summoned courage, and boldly asked Kate if she would be his •wife. , "Your wife!" said the girl. "Well, I cannot think that I should be a pleasant wife for anyone. I should want everything my o\vn way." "So you should have it, ELate^—l only care to please you-" '"1 am very bad-tempered, too," she continued. '"When lam really in a passion I could kill anyone." "I will keep you out of passions," said her lover meekly. "Ah, that would not be possible. All you can do is to keep out of my way when 1 am angry." "That I can easily do," said Rob. "Are yon really fond of mc?" asked the girl; and then Rob broke out into passionate protestations, into lover's vows and wild oaths as to how deeply and truly he loved her. Kate listened to him. looking at' him steadily the while, a glance that he remembered in after days, and feared. "I am a good hater." she said, "no otic •better, and 1 think I could love just as well as I can hate. If I once say that I shall love you, remember that you had better rouse any angry lioness than enrage mc. You will have to be true to mc all my life." ""Why, Kate, who in the world could 1 ever love one-half so much? Why should 1 not be true to you? I have never liked anyone else, and never sjiall." Kate laid her strong hand on his"l liked you." she said composedly, "the, first day'l ever saw you. 1 say yes. I am quite willing to be your wife." . And Rob, kissing the blooming face, Relieved, himself to.be almost in fairyland. There was no one, he declared, in the whole wide world so happy as ■himself. ■ ■ (To be continued dally. - )