THE BLACK BETRAYAL

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 161, 9 July 1926, Page 14

THE BLACK BETRAYAL

By MADGE BARLOW.

SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS* Miss Sophie Brant, daughter of Mattbew Brant, an American oil magnate*', rt-nts a cottase on the Besemer Court Estate, noar I->ublin. The cottage was formerly occupied by Dennis McCarthy, who emigrated aud became a rich man in New York. Sophie is a friend of his daughter, Muynu McCarthy. The Bessemer estate is heavily mortgaged and Its owner, young 'Luku Bessemer, is a recluse. Luke has been advised of the coming of the rich Miss Brant by I'sher, his lawyer in Dublin, but avoids Sophie. He does not approve of her ntidarlous ways. Sophie is prejudiced against Luke by a meddlesome posip. but she has an object in making his acquaintance and contrives to do so. . The two. seem lo have nothing in common, and their first meeting ends almost in a quarrel. Sophie is dismayed to find that Otto Hirst and Harper Sharman. . wbo crossed the Atlantic on the same steamer with her, have arrived in the village. She fears they will interfere with the successful accomnlishment of her quest. Hirst and Sharman are the representatives of an American syndicate whose object is to purchase Bessemer Court with its surrounding demesne and establish a casino on Monte Carlo lines. They suspect that Sophie Brant is the agent of a rival syndicate. I.ike Bessemer is on the eve of completing an invention which he hopes will restore the family fortunes, when he learns that a rival inventor is likely to forestall , him. i Sophie hears rumours of a mysterious , locked up room at the court. CHAPTER Til.

The finished letter-satisfied her. Con- J ning it, the while she nibbled "the pen- '■ handle in her flurry of mind, Sophie salved conscience with tho excuse that she had written no flagrant untruths. | She had dealt, rather, in cautious phrases, suggestive of a young person bent on the consciemious performance of duty, but hampered at the outset by Mr. Bessemer's reserve, and a pride which forbade , precipitate action <aivd compelled her to make haste slowly. So far, she and he were acquainted, lie had taken tea in her cabin, and she had promised to go to see the court. For a beginning that was good enough. When they were better acquainted she could state her case with a chance of success. Her opponents were on the spo-t, but had no suspicion of her, and were unlikely to-win when she -was there holding a'trump card up her sleeve <ft) spoil their ; gcime. "You are anxious to know j the kind of man Mr. Bessemer is,' , she added. "Well, he is very distinguisiied "looking, doesn't talk much, seldom sniilee, and isn't used to girls. Owing to the last drawback .he seems-shy, and | I can't size him up quickly, but it is j evident that he has brains and great depth of character."' ("Bad depth," she grimaced, reading to this point.)

The rest of the letter referred to matters personal to herself,- Wally, and the Tannings.- Sophie put it into an envelope bearing a New York address, etfclostd it in' a larger envelope addressed to Mrs. Fanning, and scribbled an., accompanying note asking Lesbia to post the. Ne"w York letter in Dublin according to arrangement. That done, she went out and dropped the envelope into a green-painted rf pillar ■ box, listening to its soft-flop -with an awed'sense of finality. She had burnt her boats and must see the adventure through to its sweet or bitter ending. It was now four o'clock, and she had nob been to Violet Lodge, all day. She said she-would have tea the minute Widow Magee returned from a shopping expedition, >and then run over to Kathleen, i. : .Hurrying, back .to the cabin, she renewed the fire in the room she called her boudoir, and opened the window to let.out. a mouldy odour noticeable since the break of the weather. Her excitement ■ had simmered down. Her face was expressive of the reaction which comes after we have rashly burnt our boats. behind us, and calmer reflection brings doubt of tho wisdom of the deed. Standing with one foot on the fender, the mouldy smell giving her a headache, Sophie wondered why she had chosen to remain in these mean surroundings for the sake of people she had known a few weeka. It was really a dull hole of a place. Not a sinner had passed on the r<\ad for hours, except a. creeKladen donkey driven by a boy with an empty floursack on his head to keep the rain off. She r would ' buy a gramaphone and a heap.of jazz records for use on wet days. Any old noise would be preferable to t'le ghastly quietude. Clearly Sophie was peeved, ready, to ; pick a quarrel with the widow-the moment the latter came in.

Mrs. Magee's ragged feather drooped forlornly under its burden of moisture, and her basket was heavy, and the tail of lter skirt looked as if it had been dipped in a bucket of mud, but she blithely said it was grand weather for the ducks. Sniffing the air, Sophie sprung the accusation, "You've been in Lanigan's."' "I won't deny a good thing. Miss Ann beckoned mc in and gey mc the full of yer.eye of the best. Whist now till ye hear the news she tould mc.. -Mrs. Tali bQt. , - kern home last night, as cross as L two sticks. " "That's nonsense. Mrs. Talbot wasn't expected.". ■ •• "v [ "Home she. kern, I repate, and will swear by. Ann. And» cross she was. for isho couldn't be nothin , else, the same 1 madam." *.."". ; . "She would have wired .had she been ; coming." ' ■ "The ould harripin wouldn't. For 'why? »She'd think to-ketch Miss Kathleen . doin' somethin' • <Hvilish, meb-be aifcin' the dhrippin'; on both sides of her : bread r .or-jnakin' too free -wid the skim 'milk.- - fTisn't often the. craythur gets ;the run :of-the cupboard." . - ■ . :■. Jto.' Magee . stripped her sha-wl from her shoulders, and on her way to shake it; at-, the open, door paused," her jaw fallen slack. . . : Somebody; was ,at the door, Sophie knew by Mrs. Magee's horrified countenance, and Avith-flaming, face and leaping heart s-he drew- back, .fearful, hoping, iqucerly thrilled. But the. thrill fell flat, and. the roses died.on her cheeks as she saw the widow dipping curtsies,- heard : her say in- tremulous reverential accents, : I 'Will ye plaze to shtep in,, yer ladyma'am?" . . • ■■ • A tall handsome woman, dressed in blacky glided into the cabin. '"Mrs. Talbot, Miss ; " "the- widow gurgled, subsiding oh a. etool, moaning feebly, "Gog, she must have bin at mc I very heels." .Sophie'advanced to meet the dragon. The contrast between the ugly duckling and the handsome stately mother was startling.

i you ; do, Miss Brint?"- eaid ,^€^oaed^evel'..s^iip9.', 'din^ter

Author of "Married in May," "Flower of the Bog," *' A Fool For Love's Sake," Etc.

has told mc of your goodness, and i have come to thank, you, and to request that you let mc share the friendship..' , A mild dragon this, or had the power of the almighty dollar subdued even tire and brimstone? Her recent spurt of agitation deprived Sophie of her usual deadiness of speech, but she managed to convey to the lady that her visit was most welcome; and with languid gTace Mrs. Talbot sank into a .basket-chair and tucked her orange-coloured cushion behind her head, accepting Miss Brant's obvious nervousness as a tribute to her imposing personality. "I arrived home last night, and was kept out of my bed to listen to Kathleen singing your praises," smiled Mrs. Talbot, her tirdd eyes riveted on the girl's face. "1 pictured a Miss Brant years older when 1 heard j'ou lived alone in McCarthy's shanty. What independent characters you Americans are! You won't have the Magee woman in the house at night, and I shouldn't fancy having her either, but a chaperon is a necessity, you are such a child.' , "I have never had a chaperon," said Sophie. "On acount of your youth you ought to have one." "I've been alone three weeks and nothing alarming has happened to mc." "It isn't a guarantee that nothing will." "And my father is fully informed of all I am doing, and where I am living, and he isn't uneasy. He trusts mc." Otto would have enjoyed listening to her, seeing her dignified deportment, the transparent truthfulness of her eyes. Mrs. Talbot arched her brows, said with lowered crest. "Oh! So your father approves. He, of course, is the best judge of the propriety of your actions. But the cabin is only a herd's dwelling, damp, and small."

"The dampness will go when the rain goes. And I have three rooms to myself. Does a solitary girl need more"?" "You appear not to. Still, it's extraordinary how people reared in luxury's lap will elect to holiday in caravans and tents and spidery hovels. I'll spare Kathleen if you'd care to have her at nights. Or I could take you into my house." '"Thanks. I prefer my cabin, and T sleep so soundly every- night that I can't believe it's morning when a blackbird wakens mc, singing in the thorn hedge across the road. He never misses a mornimz." Mrs. Talbot's features slipped into lines of heaviness as her anticipations of a profitable paying guest receded into the limbo of hopes extinguished. She propped her chin on her palm, said dully, "Do you intend to remain the whole summer here?"

''The length of my stay is uncertain." rpplied Sophie. "I shall, however, spend the final weeks with the Farmings." '"Kathleen said the Fanningrs were friends of yours. I knew Lesbia Fanning in her school days. The fortunes of her branch of the La Touche family declined, and she married a barrister of no consequence, and was a .social uplift to him. * He owes a lot to her. I should like you to bring Mrs. Fanning to the Lodge first time she pays you a call." "Lesbia will be highly pleased. Am I to gather that my impudent goings-on at the Lodge in your absence are condoned?" "Condoned! They earn my gratitude. Already you have taught a sloven neatness. I can't imagine why you take the trouble, but do as you choose. I shan't hinder you and your pupil. Kathleen has been a sore trial to mc, Miss Brant." "Has she? To mc she seems lovable." "To you, perhaps. I didn't expect a daughter of mine to be a plain Jane. Had she been a beauty I might have married her well, got some of my old associates to help mc settle her ill. life; but who will help a dowdy unattractive girl without a word to say for herself? She is. in fact, a throw back. Her greatgrandfather Talbot marr>l his dairymaid, and I trace the dairymaid in Kathleen. Were Ito allow her, she would associate with the class she partly sprang from. We can't afl'ord the society of the county, for one must entertain if one be entertained, but poor though we are we needn't fall back on peasants and undesirables." "Shouldn't I be included in the taboo ?" demurely. "My dear Miss Brant. don : t be absurd, your father is an aristocrat in a country Where achievement ranks as birth does with us. Everybody is familiar with the name of Matthew Brant, a man of wide culture, a philanthropist, an intellectual. Our county people would deem it a privilege to know you." Sophie stared at the trumpeter of the oil king's fame.

"I could manage introductions for you through the dowager. Lady Carey of Glenties. I wonder Mrs. Fanninsr hasn't done it. The dowager is related to the La Touches. Distance is the one obstacle to your having a pray summer, but you might hire a motor and chau*. feus," and garage your car at the court."

"I don't wish to be gay," Sophie said, firmty. "Not to relieve the monotony?" in surprise. "The monotony isn't noticeable." forgetting how she had railed at it not many; minutes previously. "And besides, 'father would object to frivols, and I'd just pack and go if you foisted mc on the county." '"Foisted isn't the word. But of course I- won't approach Lady Carey without, your permission." ; "Then, you shall not have my permission. You and Kathleen and Lesbia are all the company I want." •"That is sweet of you," murmured flattered Mrs. Talbot. "At the same time I must say you are different from other girls in your dislike of balls and parties, unless you have had a surfeit of •them. , ' "I , hadn't. Mine were few and farbetween. You see, father is very seriesminded, doesn't veto a quiet dance or an occasional theatre, but strictly bans the ..giddy whirl. He's a bit of a Puritan, really." "Ah!" gushed the lady. "A descendant of the Pilgrim Fathers who sajjed from Plymouth in the Mayflower, I'presume?" ■'■-.' A flicker of fun darted like a sunbeam over Sophie's face. "Er—not exactly. The first 'of my kind to cross the Atlantic sailed in 3. leaky old cargo tub called the Mary Anne." While Mrs. Talbot was digesting , this, the widow meekly carried in tea, and Sophie'clattered the cups, and began to talk rapidly and vivaciously of London's, ettractioosi aad-ttaf digression they jjad.

doubtless made on Mrs. Talbot, giving the latter reason to think that Miss Brant had a too volatile habit of flying from topic to topic. "I wasn't in a mood to admire London," she frowned. "The violet farm isn't prospering. I've had complaints of slug-eaten blooms and threats'of the loss of my market, so I went to beg a chance to exterminate the pests and improve the plants. My patrons were civil and obliging, but the slugs will drive mc to the workhouse. The more I try to banish them the more they thrive and multiply. It's a dog's life wrestling with unprofitable land." "I'm sorry you've had bother. Kathleen and 1 thought you were treating yourself to a joy-time." "Kathleen should know her mother better. I delayed in order to meet Marmaduke, my husband's cousin, who wrote mc he was coming to London on the City of Benares." Sophi? was about to inquire how Marmadukc's liver fared, but checked herself, recollecting that the tale had been told in confidence. She said she supposed Mr. Talbot would pay his relatives a visit at the Lodge, and a decided reply in the negative wrung an astonished "Oh!" from her. She waited for Mrs. Talbot to speak again, and Mrs. Talbot seemed to regret the little she had said if one might judge by her annoyed expression. "J "11 ask you not to mention my meeting with Marmaduke or refer to it in Kathleen's hearing," she went on. "Kathleen has a provoking trick of harping on painful subjects and worrying mc to death with questions, and I am utterly weary. I've had a double se£ back. At my age, after my bitter struggles, I find it difficult to 'smile in the face of fresh misfortune." "I certainly will not talk," Sophij| answered, concluding that Mrs. Talbot in her extremity had appealed to the tea planter for a loan and. been refused, and the refusal had preyed on her. Against the vivid orange cushion her classic profile showed suddenly ghastly, pinched and livid around the mouth and nostrils. "You are ill," cried the girl, jumping up. • (To be continued daily.)