YOUNG HEARTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 171, 21 July 1924, Page 13

YOUNG HEARTS.

t> EFFIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS. CHAPTER XXV. Sγ Peter had insisted on Lady Margiret being his guest when she was well tnougb. to leave the nursing home, and die w»b waiting in the Shirley old town louse for the young people when they travelled back from Devonshire. Sir Peter had waited for Morgan to travel with them in the car. The maid lid very quickly packed, for Diana'B wdrobe had been very modest, and most of her clothes had never been sent on from Winfrey. Sir Peter, having communicated to ■Ann Iforgan the fact that he was in the neighbourhood, the maid had been quite prepared for his appearance at Point Place. She felt convinced that he _ would never have the patience to wait for the chance of seeing Diana, and as she had kept him fully informed of all that was passing in the house, the young man had quickly resolved that nothing was to be gained by waiting tny longer. It tras a -wonderful moment when Dims.-felt herself clasped in Lady Margaret's arms, and this was the first time the' girl had broken down since Mc hid left the Orlands. To both Lady /Margaret and Shirley it was a great J"? to realise that Diana was wholly JMoVered ' from her strange illness. JiHjeed, she looked well and healthy, though perhaps not so strong and robust as she had been, but she was "ry beautiful, and no three people «mld have been happier than they were « they sat together and talked the *ftole Btrange story over. It was when uiey discußsed that last interview be™W Diana and her stepmother, in *Wb Loretta Orland had exacted such f *{"*& promise from the girl, that fe,L ?w d Lady Mar S are t «°»- ---»«««» that they were unable to give ■«»y explanation for what was passing m Mc womap's mind, but they thought it possible that she might not be quite ° 0 ™»l mentally, and this theory was "lengthened when they heard from 1,71!° ow ver y strange Mrs. Orland "w hecome.diJw. 8 ?* thin S that La <iy Margaret if ™>\ to Plan a life with Diana with «*, but here B he found herself faced Z*h?l n arnest entrea ty that he SI aII ° W - Cd t0 marr - v Diana as VMkly as possible. «tinf ?.?! COnVinced " he said to Diana's in il t t!lia waa what w *3 working L P 001 " GenL ' r » l '* mind the last .tone we spoke together, and what have got to wait for? You shall see "4na as often as you like, hut I want i*Li T nt t0 feel that she re »"y Wlongg to mc, and that I can protect tutri; «; ttust be P re P ar ed," he said jrf !'?■ for some set-back. Georeette i&W" 1 from Wana in * friendly STUv 7 e, tut l don ' t trust h«. ff»! *"'.™ ]eas is my wife Sfld^-S 11 ,n > legal m < and then ° ur fj ?°" r consent, dear Lady Margaret, SV£2bto v " t0 = et man-ied * 8 a^y lite. •.

; When he xrae done with Lady Margaret, Peter let his feelings have full vent. He was furious when he knew that L.j-ndhuret had persistently and offensively tried to force Diana to be his wife, and he was just as angry With himself for having been deceived by Georgette. "She is as cunning as she is common," he said. He by no means shared Diana's faith in Mrs. Orland's daughter; nor did he believe in her desire for friendship. "I can't think what the woman had in her mind when she pretended bo much sympathy and anxiety, and declared she wanted nothing so much as to help Diana and mc!" Lady Margaret glanced at him, and then she smiled. "Can't you?" she had asked, and then she had said no more, for one of the great charms about Peter Shirley was that, despite his good looks he -was free from vanity, and was simpleminded. He was so strong and sure, such a fine creature, a man to be trusted, and a man to be loved, and Lady Margaret's heart had gone out to him completely. And so a few days later, quite quietly, with only a few of the family to support them, Diana Orland became Peter Shirley's wife. There was a delightful wedding breakfast in the old town house, and various presents. Perhaps the gift moat valued by Peter and Diana was a cablegram from California sending loving good wishes from Peter's mother and her husband. Marcus Davis had intended to take his holiday and join the house party at Point Place towards the end of August, but his plans suddenly changed, and his visit did not take place at all. Suddenly, one morning,' juet a few days before he intended to go away, when in his office, a clerk brought him the information that Miss Dclvjne wished to see him. Mr. Davis was greatly surprised, but his surprise became a shock as he looked up and saw Georgette come into his office. The last time she had paid hint a visit there she had. been radiantly handsome, garbed in white, full of life, and the joy of life. Sow she looked ill and worn, a -woman who was much older than her age, and there was qothing smart or radiant about her. As the door closed behind her she walked straight up to the desk, and stood looking at Marcus. "I suppose you knew all the time," she naid harshly. The lawyer returned her look steadily. He resented her tone: it seemixl to carry nn accusation. '•Perhaps you will explain yourself," he said. " I haven't the least idea. Georgette, what you are talking about!" Just for a second or two, Georgette Delvine did not move, but her face worked convulsively, and suddenly she sat down and broke into tears. Marcus Davis was a kind-hearted man, and apart from the fact that he was in love with Georgette, it hurt him to see this arrogant, reckless, young woman co evidently crushed by some unexpected trouble. He' poured her out some wattr, and he made her sip it, and then he sat be-

Bide her, and when her tears were etied, he put question* to her. "Some tiling has happened; of course, I ccc that, but what?" he queried. "Come on, speak out, Georgette. If I am to help you—and I will help you, of course—l must know everything." Georgette dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief and shrugged her shoulders. "I guess it's all over," she said with a dull tired note in her voice. "If it's true, as you have said to mc co many times, that you weren't in my mother's confidence, I suppose I've got to believe you, but it's- mighty hard to know who to believe or who to trust." She caught her breath, and then elie said hoarsely: "We're down and out, Marcus." He frowned sharply, and she went on speaking quickly; in .her own slangy way she gave him her story. Three days before, about a week after Diana Orland had left Point Plate with Sir Peter, the old French maid, Justine, had appeared suddenly on the scene. There had been something in the expression of her eyes and in the woman's face which had

Warped Georgette that ljer coming meant trouble, but as she told Marcus 1 Davis, she had been wholly unprepared for the serious overwhelming trouble that it did mean. For Justice had come not to see lx>retta Orland, but to have an interview wth Georgette herself, and her purpose in taking this journey was to tell Georgette that her father, Max Delvine, dying. She <l!d not Wrap, up her words in mystery. She came to ask Georgette to go beck with her to London, to gratify the wish of a (lying man. Marcus Davis ' sat with contracted brows listening. At once he had real- ' ised the position. , Max Del vine alive! Then the Orland marriage was null, and Loretta, not ( being the legal widow of Charles Orland, , lost everything. : "Yes, you've got it," said Georgette, looking at him wjtji a bitter SniHc a* ehe watcheil his expression. "As I said just now, we're down and out, and we shan't get much mercy from the Orland people, you can bet your life on that!". t

, I Darie got up and walked about the ! room, and then suddenly he put a ques- , -tion to her: I "Did you go with Justine? Did you jeee your father?" he asked. She gave him a nod. "Yee, I suppose I was a fool." At this the' Jew shook his head. "No! It was the best thing you ever did, Georgette!" , "Then you , knew he was alive?" she .' queried in her turn, and he saw the . 'anger rising in her face. ) "No! But lately, ever since you were , here the last time, I have been thinking : about your mother at odd times, and I once I got a letter, signed 'Justine Delvine,' and the wording of that letter set my mind working in a new direction. There were threats in that letter, Georgette, and vague insinuations, and ' somehow it came to mc little by little that Justine knew some secret, some- ! tiling important, and that since she had ' been driven out of the house by you, she whs not going to hold her secret any ' longer. That's all I knew, Georgette! jllow does your mother take this?" '- Again Georgette shrugged her shoulders. "I don't think she's in her right mind. She's So strange. She site huddled up in a chair talking to herself, and she'e turned completely against mc. She's still at Point Place, or she was when I left. 1 don't know what she's going to do, and I don't think I care much!" And ► then Georgette broke into tears again. "1 [wish she had left mc with my father, (when I was a little kid," she said when I she could speak; "he's dead now, but 1 I could have loved him, and when you listen to Justine, who loved him too, \ you know he must have been really a . good man, and a great artist. And my mother ruined him, Marcus! I guess it •w»8 her cruelty that drove him to drink. He lost his career as a violinist, he lost everything. Only Justine kept in touch with him, and he told mc himself before he died that she had been an angel to ' him. Now, what are we going to do, Marcus?" I ' His answer cartne promptly. j "I shall get in touch with Blake and ' Broderick, the Orland solicitors, this ; very flay. They roust be informed. And i I will take steps to have your mother [ looked after, aiid then I will take care ! of yoil. You will marry mc, Georgette!" : Georgette sat and looked at him. Be- '■ fore her evee there flashed a vision of 1 Juan Valdez. She did not need anyone • to tell her that the man from the Argen- : ; tine had been drawn by the money she '. was supposed to have, and that though • ehe might have given him her heart and 1 life itself, he would have trampled Hpon : them both. She did not love Marcus Davis, but he offered her protection, he . offered her marriage. So, across the ■ i table at which she had sat so many times and stung him by her arrogant ' and her insolent ambitions, she stretched '■ out her hand and without saying a ; word put it into the man's. (To be concluded.)