"HIS DIFFICULT DAUGHTER"

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 78, 2 April 1928, Page 16

"HIS DIFFICULT DAUGHTER"

-By WINIFRED CARTER

CHAPTER VIII. The moment the two who had created such interest that night moved out of the restaurant,, a babble of conversation broke out. # Archibald Pryor hed noted with keen interest that the divine dancer had stopped to speak to Mrs. Westgate. He knew her quite well, so he moved across to her. "Do tell me, Mrs. Westgate," he said excitedly, v who she is? Do you know her personally? I saw her stop at this table. Do you think there is any chance that she'd take'up dancing ~ss a profession; I'va not seen her before, but I saw her join Bir James Buckton."

"My deer air, Pryor," brolce in Mrs. Westgate, waving him to a chair, "wasn't it terrible T Poor Sir Jemes! He's covered with confusion. I'm not surprised."

"Sir James always was a bit of an iceberg," broke in Archie Pry or thoughtfully. "But a man would forgive so charming a creature anything." "But imagine it," went on Mrs. Westgate. "A man as fastidious as Sir James,, snd a daughter as wayward as Carmen I Yes, she's his daughter! Haven't you heard? His wife, Italian, such a. mistake, ran away back home, leaving him in England." "Don't blame her," said Archie Pryor, under his breath. Betty heard him and hid a smile. If Mrs. Westgate beard it she ignored it. "She hid the fact that there was a child! When she was dead, Carmen descended on him, a girl more then half a savage. Such a shock!" "Lucky dog," chuckled the old man. "I wouldn't uind being in his shoes. Well, when he gets tired of his recalcitrant daughter, the stage will open its arms to her. Had she been available I could ha ye made a star out of that girl. She's got that something ft I girl simply must have to get over. W'th it, she can be as ugly as sin, but that girl's got the looks, too." V,.' ■ Listening to the theatrical mft'gnite, Ora Westgate had almost choked. She Mt hated Carmen. How the girl wwld *row oyer then) all! To hear iWiKj# Pryor blathering on about h" rJuio&t drove Ora wild. ' "Jiwjdly are exaggerating," said Q»'u. v, a bit, IV# got an instinct for su<:<;e»g w theatrical business. That's (\i/ when I started. 'foK'W *B4 they go under— pryor—he knows. Give me "tufS m Wfcb dignity. burmssitjg, Wd ;iyju wiH Jli aid-her fattier iJ| myself in our tatl! of turning Carmen into a young l*dv you especially;' * ¥* ** *** On way back the .Wcstgates ftX, . e cud of their wrath silently. 1 I /» o *h«r<? said Ora suddenly, "you I on fat to make Carmen see that she's I OTSI J*}***' .reputation" if I at Make. • a perfect fccund^ljf

"And Michael and Betty encourage her," snapped Mrs. Westgate. "I don't belive that girl will ever toe the line until you've got real authority, and there's only one way to get that," burst out Ora. She looked at her mother for a moment criticisingly. Her mother was well-preserved, a handsome creature. Yes, it might be done. ' "I think it high time Sir James married again," said Ora, yawning. "Sir James' | wife would toon put the fear of God into Carmen's heart."

Mrs. Westgate gave her daughter a startled glance, then lapsed into a thoughtful silence. As a matter of fact, Ora had only suggested an idea that had for some time been taking up a good deal of Mrs. Westgate's thoughts.

When Mrs. Westgate presented herself at R. James' house the next morning ■he put the maid to one tide and went up tne stairs. She did not even knock at Carmen's door, she opened it. A pillow, deftly flung, knocked her smart Bond Street hat flying.

"Really, Carmen J" said Mrs. Westgate, retaining what slight remnant of her temCr she had left with difficulty. "You have like a child of five! Indeed, a child of five might well be ashamed of carrying on like this." "Oh, Mrs. Westgate!" said Carmen Innocently, "If 1 had dreamed it was you 1 it would not have been a pillow I had flung/' Then sh« added, a dangerous sweetness in her voice, "To what do I owe ihe honour of this call 1 Something must ho very wrong for yon to have come into my private suite uninvited." She was perfectly aware that she was goading the mentor her father had placed over her beyond endurance, and she did not care a bit. "I came because I wanted to have a talk with you about last night," said Mrs. Westgate. There was a shrewish note in her voice which made Carmen sit up and view her with interest. "I knew you Wouldn't see me, so I made sure you should."

| She paused. What a picture Carmen made! Her tumbled curls against the pillow. The glowing contour of her cheeks, which owed nothing to art! That alluring shoulder peeping like white alabaster from her nightgown. That beauty only exasperated Mrs. Westgate the more. "Of course you know that your behaviour last night was atrocious," die said eondemningly. "But certainly," said Carmen, "my father has told me all I want to know on that subject!" "Your father is kindness itself to you, Carmen," went on Mrs, Westgate. How you can behave as you are doing, after i his wonderful forbearance, I don't know. Don't you realise that your father's reputation will suffer if you ion «wng these mad, uncontrollable things?" • Boshi" «sid Carman. It w»e a word She had (earned since coming to England, elm liked it, "Utter bush! People always like when I danoe. Here in Eng'*»d they may be cold, but in their hearts f»ey are the same as in Italy. They kiss «£ so!" thi »L and blew kisses into wv * n inimitable gesture. Mrs' Ml' V .*' n fc' irl -" Wld her £**1? e , ,aSit of i ''fcjfvn„A r wy hands of you." : | 4>w« pofeV do Vt ***'

"Then indeed but the Bon Dieu has not forgotten me, as I thought," said Carmen, clapping her hands. "Does that mean that after now you will not come to see me or take me about!" she said eagerly. Perhaps Mrs. Westgate may be excused for her display of wrath. "What you want is someone who can make you obey," she said rising and actually Mrs. Westgate slammed the door as she went out. "Ladies never bang doors," came Carmen's clear, carrying voice after her, imitating her own too cleverly, for Mrs. Westgate's already red-hot temper. She went down into the dining room and waite'd for Sir James. He came in, polite, polished as ever. "I have just five minutes before going to the Courts, Mrs. Westgate," he said courteously. "Is it something about Carmen ?" "I am sorry to say it is something about Carmen," said Mrs. Westgate, and she gave a little sigh. "I was very sorry for you last ni^ht; such a shame for you to be io the limelight as you were, but of courae we all understand that the child does not realise what she is doing." Hit face clouded. She had certainly put r her finger on the painful spot. "Sir James," she went on swiftly, "I have been .talking to Carmen very earnestly, but she is so defiant. She knocked my hat off with a pillow aimed at me Forgive me, but I cannot go on." Sir James looked at her with dismay. How should he know that she had no real intention of giving up the post ? "Oh, Mrs. Westgate!" he cried, "I. should be most upset if you deserted me now. I know you are having to use a great deal of patience, but, believe me, I am not ungrateful." She sighed and moved a step nearer. "I know you are not ungrateful," she whispered; "and that is why I have striven to swallow all the insults and indignities Carmen has put on me." "She is so unaware that her behaviour is not correct,'' broke In Sir James. "She seems to be so ignorant of social conditions that one must forgive her." "I do forgive her—for your sake, Sir James, and yet, is it wise? The child will never learn how to behave. What she wants is real training, Sir James; the only way I can go on with the task is to have full control of her. I'd like to take her away into the country. I would work a change, I promise you." Sir James's solemn face brightened, then it fell again. "Virtually she would be a prisoner, and I don't for a moment believe she would consent," be gloomed. "Do it without her consent," suggested Mrs. VVestgate. He shook his bead doubtfully. Carmen would most certainly circumvent them if h? took any such high-handed step. "Then I can suggest nothing more— unless " She glanced at him. He was a fine specimen .of a man. She considered that touch of grey at the temple gave him a distinguished look. He was very rich, too. She would certainly show Miss Carmen that aha was to be obeyed when •he was his wife. "Sir James, 1 want to give you a little advice, find the woman you can trust— and then*—-! 8 she hesitated. "And then what?" he said in puzzled tones. ~ Mrs. Westgate looked at him, and into her metallic eyes there crept a melting look, a look that, had he known it could not have been, he would bave called coy. Before he had recovered from her coquettish glance, she gave him a staggering blow. •'My advice to you is that you should marry again," she said firmly. I "Marry again!" said Sir James in disjmay. "Good, heavens! What an idea.**

"A very sensible one," said Mrs. Westgate, with quiet emphasis. "Really and truly, I don't believe you'll do anything with Carmen until you do marry again. Your wife would have a position of authority. I think, nay, lam sure, that the new Lady Buckton would be able to manage Carmen." A ripple of mocking laughter trickled through tht open door, and she looked up anxiously. Carmen stood there, saying nothing, yet saying everything with her eyes. Then she dropped them. Those glorious black eyes were inscrutable when she raised them again. She advanced with studied insolence into the room. She was dressed. How had she managed it in the time? The uncomfortable woman guessed that Carmen had overheard. Now Carmen stood in front of her, looking her up and down mercilessly before turning to her father. "If Mrs. Westgate is a candidate for the post of my step-mother," she said coolly, "let me inform you, my father, that if she got the job I would not stay under your roof for one night." (To be continued daily.) Chess has crme to be too easy for good players, and unless it is made more difficult it will die x»ut, Jo6e Capablanca, former champion, said when he arrived at San Francisco from Buenos Ayres recently. "In chess to-day," he said, "everything is known to great players. There are no new moves, no new tactics to consider. If the game is to live and I grow popular it will have to be modilied."