YOUNG HEARTS

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 167, 16 July 1924, Page 14

YOUNG HEARTS

By EFFIK ADELAIDE ROWLANDS. CHAPTER XXL—(Continued.) Diana's gentle ways, and consideration for all those who served her, made Georgette's manners worse by contrast. Though she still went out to dinners, dances and theatres, and was trying to follow the social trend in every possible way, she had to confess that she did not get one step farther either on the road where Peter Shirley was concerned or towards that social success which she had told herself in the beginning money would surely bring her. Her anger against her mother was getting really deep now. She had counted on Loretta Orland as a valuable asset. Of course, she knew perfectly well that the world had probably gossiped and talked about the woman General Orland had married, and that there must be stories floating about; but Mrs. Orland's personal attractions were so great that Georgette had convinced herself that her mother, little by little, could have won her way into a groove something higher and better than the set in which she herself was now moving. But Mrs. Orland seemed to be more and more determined to be a failure ! It was just possible, so the girl told herself with a touch of alarm, that this constant intercourse with Diana, this unbroken task of training the girl's mind to continue in the pathway which had been so profitable to them, was telling on her mother's nerves and mind very considerably. There was undoubtedly great strain. It aggravated her beyond measure to have to hear her mother speak as she had just spoken. Georgette set her lips in a grim line. "Well," she said to herself, "I guess it's up to mc to work the Lyndhurst trick, if momma won't. I'll take it on myself. I'm not afraid of going crazy! And then, perhaps, when he hears that Diana is going to marry Lyndhurst, or has already married him, Peter will wake up to the fact that he has been a fool."' A. further source of aggravation to Georgette was the fact that she had to go to Marcus Davis to discuss ways and means, and to get his advice about ' their plans for the summer. After that last conversation of theirs, she would have been very pleased if she need not have approached Davis for some considerable time, but this, of course, was out of the question, for he was her mother's lawyer and adviser, and Mrs. Orland had the greatest confidence and belief in him. She prepared herself for a disagreeable quarter of an hour when she reached his office, but Mr. Davis was pleased to see her, and proved businesslike and helpful. He told her that he had already advised her mother to make an offer for a charming house on the south coast. '•It has all the attractions you require. There is very good golf, tennis, fishing, boating, and you're just a mile from the sea. so there will be bathing, too. It's a delightful house, with very beautiful grounds. You will find it charmingly furnished and appointed, and you can have the use of the staff if you prefer not to take your own servants. The rent is fifty guineas a week, which, however, your mother seemed to think was rather too high." "I guess mother's getting a bit mean in her old age," said Georgette shortly. "Not mean," Mr. Davis corrected her, "but certainly a little cautious. But then you must remember, my dear Georthat your mother's wealth is not inexhaustible" —he paused here;—"and you make the pennies fly pretty freely," lie finished neatly. Georgette answered him recklessly. "Well, and why shouldn't I, I've always been told that my mother married the General simply because she wanted to give mc a good time. Well, now I've got the chance, and I guess ■ I'd be a fool guy if I didn't make the most of it. And then GeorgStte sat. and looked at the lawyer very steadily. "I'm never quite sure of you or my mother," she said very directly, very bluntly. "It always seems to mc as if she was hiding something, and as if you'd got a trick card hidden up your sleeve." Mr. Davis smiled blandly. "I have no card trick up my sleeve, Georgette, but I told you once before, although I have had dealings with your mother for some time, I'm not absolutely in her confidence." • There was a little awkward silence, in which Georgette changed colour. Somehow or other she sensed a note in Davis' voice which carried a curious suggestion of warning. Their, eyes met during that silence, and then Georgette frowned, and then she laughed. "Oh, have a heart, Marcus!" she cried lightly. "If there is anything to tell, spit it out!" The lawyer moved some papers on his desk. He felt a little thrill of satisfac-' tion, inasmuch as he had been undoubtedly able to shake the rather insolent assurance Georgette had shown him of late. "I have nothing to tell you," he said, "except what I have just said, and that is that I have never had your mother's full confidence." Georgette got up suddenly. "Fix up this house," she said tersaly. "Make all the arrangements you think proper. We'll get down there as soon as we have to leave town." Then she held out her hand. She was looking very handsome. She had on a most expensive white gown, and wore a very charming hat. Quick to imitate, she had caught the,trick of putting on her clothes to the best advantage, and, having toned down the very high colouring which she had once adopted,, she was very much better looking. In fact, she appeared, to the man in front of her, a3 a most desirable and even beautiful woman. "Well, so long!" she said. "Having churned mc up, I'll go right away and try to forget that you exist." She laughed—this time pleasantly. "Say," she said, "you'll stand by mc, Marcus, won't you, if something we don't expect should come along." Marcus Davis pressed her hand, and held it quite a long while. "Sure!" he said. "You needn't have asked mc that, Georgette." Just as she was going he spoke again. "I have been seeing a good bit of that friend of yours, Mr. Lyndhurst," he said. "Were you in earnest when you said what you did say to mc the ! other day, about his probable marriage j with Miss Orland?" Georgette nodded her head. "Yes,' that's the bee in his bonnet." i "Well, then, take my advice," said Mr. Davis quietly, "use your influence to drive that bee out of his bonnet. Somehow I've got the idea that you not only want this to come off, Georgette, but j are helping it along. Well, my dear, j as a man of the world and a lawyer, I j advise you not to have any hand in it.!

But here I am," he said -with a laugh, "preaching and growing serious, and I guess, to borrow one of your phrases, my dear, that you doa't really need mc to advise you because you've got about as clear a brain as anybody need have!"

"Thanks!" said Georgette. She gave him a smile, and then made her way to the car that was waiting.

Though she was not by any means disposed to act on the advice he had given her, a little .touch of uneasiness come over her.

However, she shook this off, as she rolled away through the sunshine, comforting herself with the assurance that it was the task of every lawyer to point out difficulties and possible dangers.

Things had gone so far in the scheme she had suggested to her mother, regarding Lyndhurst-and Diana, that she had actually discussed the possibility of his marriage wth the young man himself. In fact, Lyndhurst had approached her on the subject.

He was evidently imbued with very determined ambitions. Though only a few months had elapsed since Sir Jasper Shirley had died, Lyndhurst had managed to increase his capital. He was one of those who used other people's brains, and never let a chance escape him. Through one of his new acquaintance he had obtained some valuable information, on which he had acted, with the result that he had made a few more thousand pounds.

As Georgette would have put it, "money talks/ and she was considerably impressed by the young man's busiue's, ways. She used this knowledge lor a form of excuse for what was really treachery on her part, not only to the girl living under the same roof with her, but to tho man whom she called. her friend.

"He means to get on, and he'll sure get on," she mused. "He can give Diana just as much as Shirley could give her, except for the title, and perhaps he'll be able to give her a title later on. Nothing that Lyndhurst would do would surprise mc! All the same .. ."

But here Georgette had broken off in her thoughts. If she had spoken them to another person, she might have said that, thougn she was convinced that Henry Lyndhurst was jzoing to be what tlie world called a successful business man, no amount of money would ever make him acceptable as a husband in her opinion.

However, she had gone so far, she •ould not afford to back out now.

Her morning's drive, after she had left Marcus Davis, took her to Bond Street. She was passing into a jeweller's shop, when she heard her name spoken, and turning, found herself face to face with Lady Margaret Uurrant. Georgette's first sensation was one of nervousness and then ot irritatiou. She was pre-eminently ill at ease with this well-bred woman, and the anxiety which was so evident in Lady Margaret's expression annoyed her sharply. "Please forgive mo, Miss Dclvinc," Lady Margaret said, "but I felt I must speak to you. My dear, do give mc news of the child! lam dreadfully distressed about her!"

"She seems just the same," said Georgette, "but I believe she will be a lot better when we get her out of town. Diana doesn't like London. Nor does my mother. It was a mistake to have taken the house, but I thought it would be cheerful for them both, and it's just been the other way about." Then she added: "Won't you come and see Diana?"

There were tears in Lady Margaret's eyes as she shook her head, i "I would rather not,' , she said. "It — '■ it hurts mc so much. I have always in front of mc the picture of what Diana was, and then I cannot understand this curious condition in which she is living. Of course, we know there was an extraordinary bond of love between the General and his girl, but there Ls something unwholesome, altogether wrong, about Diana's present mental condition. Perhaps she told you that I wrote to her the other day and asked her to come and spend a few hours with mc. Your mother very kindly suggested that I should do this; but Diana refused." Georgette's heart was beating a little unevenly. "Why, I know," she said; "she's real obstinate. She won't go anywhere. But 1 guess it's just a question of giving her time. We're going to take her to the country near the sea. I'm hoping a lot from that." Then Georgette made a bold stroke. "Why shouldn't you come down and stay with us, Lady Margaret? Then you can ccc as much of Diana as you want to, and perhaps .. ." She finished with a shrug of her shoulders. She noticed how quickly Lady Margaret seized at this suggestion. "May I?" she said. "That is very kind of .you, Miss Delvine. But you must consult your mother." "Why, you don't euppose, do you," said Georgette, "that mother would make any objection? How could she, Lady Margaret?" To herself she was saying exultantly, here indeed was a good step! If it could he known that Lady Mar-! garet Durrant was staying with Mrs.< Orland as a guest, would not the world be amazingly impressed? Of course, it would mean a great deal of careful manipulation on the part of her mother and herself, and she must have no more nonsense with her mother. Mrs. Orland must be made to see the vital necessity of continuing the work which they had started (no matter how much it cost her) for at least a little while longer.

(To be continued daily.)