THE BLACK BETRAYAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 165, 14 July 1926, Page 18

THE BLACK BETRAYAL.

By MAX>3E BARLOW. Author of "Marrtea in May," "Flower o« the Bog," "A Fool For Love's Sake," Etc. SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS. Miss Sophie Brant, daughter O I Matthew Brant, an American oil magnate, rents a cottage on the Bessemer Court estate, near Dublin. The cottage was formerly occupied by Denis McCarthy, who emigrated and became a rich man in New York. Sophie is a friend of his daughter, Moyna McCarthy. The Bessemer estate is heavily mortgaged, and its owner, young Luke Bessemer, is a recluse. Luke has been advised of the coming of the rich Miss Brant by Usher, his lawyer in Dublin, but , avoids Sophie. tie does not approve of her audacious ways. Sophie is prejudiced asahist I.uke by a meddlesome gossip, but sliu has an object in making his acquaintance, and contrives to do so. The two sppni to have nothing in commou, and their lirst meeting ends almost in a quarrel. Sophie is dismayed to find that Otto Hirst and Harper Sharman, who crossed the Atlantic on the same steamer with her, have arrived in the village. She fears they will interfere with the successful accomplishment of her quest. Hirst and Sharman are the representatives of an American syndicate whose object is to purchase Besemer 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. Luke Bessemer is on the eve of completing an invention which he hopes will restore the family fortunes, ivhen he learns that a rival inventor is likely to forestall him. Sophie hears rumours of a mysterious locked up room at the Court. Hirst and Sharman scent a mystery in the locked room at Bessemer Court, and resolve to investigate, hoping to discover something which will give them a hold on Luke Bessemer. Sophie visits Bessemer Court, and in i passing the door of the locked room is ! alarmed by a weird cry, apparently from some person imprisoned In the room. CHAPTER XI. The cry was repeated, and Sophie forgot anger and foolishness, and flew to Luke, clutching him, white-faced. "What ie it?' , she gasped. "Oh, what is it? I am frightened. Don't let it come near mc; don't let it," her voice rising to a scream. "It's nothing, can be nothing harmful," he said, pale as she, but for a different reason, the sudden heartshaking wonder of finding her in his arms, clinging to him, hiding her face on his breast. He crushed her closer, fiercely, his cheek to hers, her hair brushing his lips and making him want to say mad things, sweet things undreamt of until this moment of destiny awakened to conscious life feelings which had lain dormant, troublous feelings to which he could give no name, antl for which he could not account except by saying that the girl troubled him. He could name them now. Their name was Love. " Sophie," he whispered. " Will you be good and obey mc 1 " " I —l will," , she sobbed.

" That noise is only an owl, perhaps a couple. I left the room window wide open and they have flown in. I "want you to go down and wait for mc in the dining-room." "If there's danger to you I can't leave you." " But I'm telling you the truth, dear child, and owls are not fighters. They won't peck my eyes out, though I may have a little bother evicting them. I'll fetch you to the top of the stairs and you'll run down alone. Keep my jacket on to please mc, and don't think of my crossness. I'm sorry if I hurt you." " You didn't. It was I who hurt you." In the strange tenderness of his gaze she read the love no woman can mistake when she sees it for the first time in a man's eyes, and, as torch kindles torch, the flame of her own unacknowledged love leapt to answer his. She had not wanted to love him. Love had come unbidden, a conquering king disdainful of barred gates. • The woman's deeper intuition recognised that their so-called mutual aversion and avoidance of each other were love's beginnings, their angry outburst of a while ago its fretful chafing in bonds. She had never been angry like that with Wally, nor Luke with Kathleen. In spite of her fears, more for him than herself, she went obediently downstairs and knelt on the rug in front of the split ash log Roberts had lit in the dining-room grate, brooding happily upon the day when Luke would tell her he loved her. It would not be to-night, she felt ; perhaps he wouldn't tell her for a long time, but she could wait, being sure. The thought of certain deceits of hers worried her. She wished she had the courage to unburden her mind of them to-night, and cowardly apprehension of the effect on him urged her to postpone confessions until he had spoken, and she could feel that his love was great enough to enable him to laugh at her and say her sins were not heinous. Deceit had been forced upon her. It was not her choice. If dread of estranging him, losing him, didn't hold her tack, how easy it would be to slip the mask off and bid him look upon the real girl whose personality it had stifled. To be herself, and have Luke know and love her for herself, seemed to Sophie the acme of bliss. He joined her in a few minutes, traces of his recent agitation visible on his face. "It was an owl," he said. " A huge brown and drab fellow that breenged in through the window. Once in, Mr. Owl lost his bearings and raised a racket. He's an old native and Should have %een wiser. They are panicky birds." A tightness contracted Sophie's heart. Even now Luke had no intention of gratifying her curiosity ; he meant to keep her in the dark. "An owl ? " she said, dully. "Crying like that P' " When scared they can make the weirdest noises," said he, ringing the bell for Roberts and ordering the hot claret. Watching Sophie intently, he went on to say, " You are voting mc a pretty thin fibber, aren't you ? You don't believe mc. You have' been told a bushel of yarns about that room and mc, and the yarns have taken root ; but in the teeth of them I ask you to believe that I wouldn't lie to you."

" It's such a funny exlanation," she answered under her breath, and in her eyes lie saw the glitter of tears. " Nevertheless it is true." " And you are so —so secretive -with mc." li Because I wish you to have faith in mc though appearances may be all against mc ; wish to test the strength or weakness of your faith. I ask a big thing, but not too big if you are the girl I take you to be." " Only a tyrant would demand blind faith." ' " Well, label mc a tyrant if I seem one." He was high-handed to a degree no girl of spirit would tolerate. She turned proudly, met his eyes fixed on her with the lnnk liacL.£hiiUed her upstairs,

and given her glimpses of paradise; and resentment ebbed, pride ebbed, left her without a prop of support as she was caught and swept away on the wave of impulsive love. "I will trust you blindly," she said, in a low shaken voice, "The stories are lies, and," smiling trpmulously, "it was an owl." "A brown and drab owl?" "A pink and green, if you say it was." "Sophie Brant, you are adorable. Some day I'll tell you all the other thinge you are, when I have the right to speak plainly, and can do it unashamed. Are you still cold, Sophie? I'm not going to call you Miss Brant again unless before Bobs or people we don't care to admit to our confidence." "I wasn't really cold. I just pretended." "And you worked mc into a rage for nothing. I longed to punish you. I will,' by making you call mc Luke here on the spot. Shut your eyes and get it over." j With a ravishing blu\h. Sophie got it over, and Roberts, carrying in the claret and a platter of biscuits, wae agreeably surprised to see them on terms of intimacy. " 'Tie Chateau Latour, miss," he beamed, setting his tray on the table. "Xone of Lanigan's wash, but the tailend of a stock Mr. Luke's grandfather bought, and I've mulled it from the recipe of a French monk. 'Twill raise the cockles of your heart. You'd find the empty rooms chilly." ''Not 60 very," she 'said, demurely. "Miss Brant will require a wrap for the homeward walk," said Luke, smiling i at her. "You might bring us the largest ; of my woolly scarves, Bobs, and air it / first at the kitchen fire." j "I will, air. The evenings have a bite." ] Sophie sipped her claret, and pro-' nounced it top-hole. She nibbled a biscuit and refrained from talk, beatifically satisfied to sit side by eide with Luke, fears and worries thrust into the background, the present absorbing her, steeping her senses in a languorous.ecstasy. If ■she had stayed away, ac she almost had, what joy c' c would have missed. She stole a glance at Luke, and he, leaning forward, elbows on knees, was glancing at her. His hand reached out and took hers, in silence he pressed it between his palms, resisting* a temptation to speak while the glamour was upon them both. She must have time to reflect; he time to finish his labours. Then he would offer her | the fruits of them and say, "See, I am j not altogether unworthy of you." In a dim fashion Sophie understood his restraint, and why he did not try to detain her when Eoberts brought the woolly scarf. Luke folded it about her lingeringly, and she put on her hat. Roberts trotted for his master's dust-coat and cap, and from beneat- the coat produced a bouquet of roees and heliotrope. "The pick of the gardens, miss," he said, presenting the flowers. Sophie exclaimed, "Oh, thank you, Mr. Bobs I You're a dear!" and kissed his withered jaw.

j Nobody had ever called Bobs a dear, or kissed ".lim, that he could remember. Thenceforth he was to be numbered a angst her slaves, loy .1 to her through evil report and good report. Luke'e palpable envy wrung a_ chuckle from him. The covetou pang served Mr. Luke right for having once likened this winsome Miss Brant to a pimp'.e. Sir," he said proudly, "after that I wouldn't condescend to call the Queen my aunt, I'm so uplifted." I "You've made him conceited," said Luke to Sophie, walking behind, strutting Bobs to the hall door. And in her ear, "It was sheer sinful waste." Sophie buried her noee in the roses and heliotrope to conceal the play of her dimples. "Will you be at Violet Lodge to-morrow evening?" she asked, going down the slopes of the valley. i '•If you'll be there. What hour?" ' "Six o'clock. I've promised to helpMrs. Talbot salt the slugs, and I'll be over as usual in the forenoon for Kathleen's athletics, hut spectators are banned, j You aren't to come in the forenoon." i "I'll arrive in time for the slug raid. And may I look in upon you the day after to-morrow? Mrs. Talbot says it smelt damp in the rainy weather, and I doubt the thatch is rotting. I should examine it, being your landlord." | "It is your duty. I do think you ought to look in and examine the thatch." They laughed, were ready to laugh on the flimsiest pretext, to find in the veriest commonplaces of speech an excuse ] for mirth. The magical transformation in themselves was so new, so marvellous that they trod air. It was a saint's day, and the entire village had flocked to the annual field sports, leaving the streets deserted, except for shut-out cats, and a tribe of hens scraping in the Voad grit. Hirst and Sharman were lending their aid a3 judges of the various contests. Sophie was glad they could not spy upon her j and Luke. Of the pair, she feared Otto • more than the other, knowing him yin- ! dictivc. To her relief, they encountered nobody. She had given Widow Magee permission to attend the sports when her tasks were done, and anticipated a few minutes' delicious dalliance with j Luke before they said good-night. i But anticipations were doomed to dis- ' appointment. A lady eat on a stone outside the cabin, peering expectantly up the road. Sophie stopped in tho middle : of the road, looked hard at her, and ! shrilled, "Lesbia!" "Gadabout," said the patient watcher, "where have you been?" "At the Court, and Mr. Bessemer is seeing mc home." "Cheerful welcome I've got, Mr. Bessemer," Lcfibia grimaced, waiving formal introduction. "Door fastened, and no- | body in. What'e Sophie fumbling under the stone for? The key! Bless us, 'tis | the simple life she is living!" "The Widdy's favourite hiding place," said Sophie, ungratefully, wishing Mrs. Fanning at Jericho. "Come in, Lesbia, and persuade Mr. Bessemer to come in for a chat." "No apologies, you observe, for her dawdling." . ; "Attribute the omission to joyful surprise," said Luke, entering in Mrs. Tanning's wake. "Where has the Widdy put my paraffin lamp?" Sophie was Availing. He took it from a shelf and lit it, and by its yellow gleam Lesbia stood reTealed a vivid brunette, tall and graceful, exquisitely gowned and hatted, la mode to the minutest detail of her toilette. Her manner was vivacious. Her scrutiny of Luke peculiarly penetrat-

ing. •'You and I should bo acquainted," she said, unbuttoning her gloves. "I lived on the border of the next county in mv childhood, and my father and yours hunted together; but, of course, that's ancient history, and since I married and settled in Dublin I've rarely been in these parts. You don't remember having mc mc in your earlier days?"

(To be continued daily.)