MY LADY'S SIN,

Cromwell Argus, Volume XXXV, Issue 1929, 20 March 1905, Page 2

MY LADY'S SIN,

(All Rights Reserved.)

THE WICKED PLOT THAT FAILED.

The Aulhor of "The Exchanged Will. Hie Secret of the Grace Cup," "Counterfeit Claimants," Etc., Etc.

PART 4. "Never," echoed the young wife. "Why Robert"—and the tears welled up in her luminous eyes—"she has just ordered me from her apartments and forbidden me entering them again." The baronet's pale face flushed angrily, and he half-started from his chair. Lady Beauchainp gently pressed him back, dashed away the seductive drops glistening on her long, dark lashes, and proceeded to allay the storm she had invoked, "My dearest," she cried sadly, "you forget " She paused, hastily bent her head and finished her sentence close i o his ear. The angry light faded out of the baronet's eyes instantly. Lady Beauchamp resumed : "1 drew the insult on myself," she pathetically continued. "Very unwisely, but with the truest tenderness of purpose, I went as usual to her boudoir, thinking we would descend together. My idea was to ignore the dressing room scene. But it was a mistake ; I could not have done a worse thing." "You are an angel !" cried Sir Robert, with emotion. Inez accepted the compliment with a flickering smile and a tender piessure of her soft, pink palms, and once more continued. "Perhaps, however," she said reflectively, "I ought to rejoice that I went. While there my notice was caught by a book lying on the sofa. Imagine my horror at the title staring me in the face !" She paused, and Sir Robert imagined it with eyes of questioning anxiety. " 'Poisons and Their Antidotes '— that was the title !" Lady Beauchamp spoke these impressive words, paused for the briefest second and then hurried on with choking vehemence. "Oh Robert, the poor girl is killing herself with supposed antidotes Think of it ! Oh, my dear husband, for her sake as well as for ours she must, as speedily as possible, be placed where the opportunity to do herself such mischief will no longer be within her reach ! Robert, she is so thin ! she looks so ill ! She will " Sir Robert broke in with a despairing groan. "Do not give way, dearest," cried Lady Beauchamp. "Do not be cast down ! There need be no exposure, nothing to wound your noble pride, and sensitive nature." "Nothing ?" "Nothing—emphatically nothing ! Listen ! See how admirable the plan which has been sorrowfully matured in my mind, and how providential the idea which has taken possession of Nina's imagination !" * CHAPTER VII. AN OMINOUS VISIT. For more than half an hour no sound broke tin; silence of the library but the soft, continuous murmur of Lady Beauchamp's eager, rapid voice, and the faint, rustling' sound of the hastily-opened letters. To the eiu\ of that time Sir Robert listened with a hushed, breathless attention. At the end of it he caught my lady's little fingers still twined about his own. in a transport of relief, iov, and gratitude, to his lips. "My darling wife !" he cried. "May Heaven for ever bless you for your tender devotion to me and mine. And now, dearest, let us lose no time. I will order the carriage at once." Sir Robert hurried to the bell and Lady Beauchamp to her dressing room. With her eyes wide and blazing with excitement my lady burst in upon Dolores. "Quick, Dolores, quick !" she panted. "My carriage dress —the bronze ! Not a word now, Dolly, except that, it's sailing upon rivers of oil !" "All's well, then ?" "All's well !" The woman's swarthy face flushed darkly ami her bead-like eyes sparkled with sinister delight ; but she said no more. She knew as well as Lady Beauchamp the monstrous errand upon which her ladyship was about to start, and further confidences would have retarded the course of the toilet without materially enlightening her. But, despite Dolores's gratification there was anxiety in her mind?" "What will be the result ?" she asked herself. "What if, after all" She suddenly broke away from the silent, oft-repeated question, and fan after Lady Beauchamp as the letter was leaving the room. "One moment, Inez," she said, catching her arm, and pushing tq the door again. "Are you euro you have not overrated your powers—your influence ? Are you sure of success ?" Lady Beauchamp turned, looked at her. and then pointed to the flood of sunlight pouring in at one of the windows. She answered, her eyes flashing, her head proudly erect. "Am I sure the sun is shining ?" she asked, rapidly. "Am I sure it is day and not night ? Am I sure I live, I breathe, 1 think, 1 feel ?" She paused then went on : "So sure am I of my success ? So sure am I that Nina Beauchamp will iu a few days—a few hours, perhaps—be on her way to " , Again she smiled. Then an evil smile curving her lips she nodded significantly to Dolores and hastened from the room. The woman returned to her duties with a smile of proud satisfaction. "Who could doubt in the presence of such confidence ? I doubt no longer. She takes a dangerous risk but —she will succeed. My little Isa you will one day be the richest lady in all Great Britain !" Lady Beauchamp found Sir Robert waiting for her at the foot of the Btairs.. They proceeded at once to the carriage, and were rapidly*

• driven to Harley-strect. i As (hey alighted in front of Dr. Jeffries's residence the baronet suddenly expressed a fear» that the physician might be on his way to i the park. Lad l " Beauchamp looked at her watch. "No." she said, decisively, "we shall find him at home. In the coarse of my visits 1 have learned something of his methodical habits, and can positively assure you that at this hour he will be luxuriously ensconced in his library with a book. 1 Lady Beauchainp proved correct. ! They had scarcely s'eated themj selves in the drawing room when the doctor, accompanied by his wile, j bustled in to them. ; "I was quite sure it was a professional visit, Lady Beauchainp," exclaimed Mrs. Jeffries as she shook hands with Inez, "but I could not deny myself the pleasure, of running in to speak to you." Mrs. Jeffries was a meek little woman whose whole life was bounded by her husband, and who was scarcely known to have an idea separate from the emanations of her liege lord's brain. If, however, Mrs. Jeffries could have entertained an opinion strictly her own, it would certainly have been upon the subject of Lady Beauchamp. But, happily, thanks tq my lady's wiles, upon that, as upon all „ others, husband and wife were in perfect accord, both enthusiastically agreeing that for wit, grace, beauty, and heavenly loveliness of spirit Lady Beauchamp had never had her equal. Mrs Jeffries' welcoming address afforded my lady the finest opportunity to dash into the business that had brought her to Harley-strect. i "My dearest. .Mrs. Jeffries," she answered sadly, at the same time putting up her lips for a kiss from tiie gentle old lady, "it is a professional visit, but one during which both Sir Robert and myself trust you will favour us with your sustaining presence, and intelligent, sympathizing attention. .1 am," she hurried on, turning to the doctor, "not quite well, but a matter of far deeper importance than my slight ! ailments brings us to you to-day for counsel and assistance. H seems an act of great presumption in view of the fact that you long ago retired from practice. But we cannot forget that you are an old and valued friend of Sir Robert's ; and we are also encouraged by the thought of your unselfish kindness in consenting to receive me a-s your patient. When i I made the requust 1 could " Dr. Jeffries hastily broke in upon \ the effective speech. | "1 ask ten thousand pardons for interrupting you, Lady Beauchamp," Ihe cried, with fervour, "but really it, is quite impossible for me to hear another word upon that point. It has been, it is. and always will be ! my highest pleasure to render myself ; useful to you ; and if, in the present : emergency of which you speak, Mrs. j Jeffries and J can be-of-the slightest servico to you and Sir Robert, count upon us as you would upon yourselves." "Yes," warmly echoed Mrs. Jeffries, "as upon yourselves." The tears had gathered slowly in Lady Beauchamp's eyes, and were now streaming delusively down her j cheeks. It being clearly impossible j for her to answer, there was a mo- | meat's silence. The next Sir Robert seized the doctor's hand, and said : "Thank you vqvv much, .Jeffries F Briefly a great, a terrible calamity has fallen upon us—a calamity that has almost overwhelmed us in its i suddenness. No, no ; I am wrong I there. My wife has for some time j been cognizant of its approach, but, ,in her sorrow and doubt, kept the knowledge locked in her own breast till the last moment. Doctor" —he puused here, drawing a sharp breath Then in anguished tones he burst out : "How can I utter the dreadful, fatal truth? How can I tell you that —that " His voice failed him. dying away in a heavy groan. A stilled exclamation of alarm and sympathy escaped Dr. .Jeffries and his wife, and involuntarily they pres- ' sed a step nearer to the unhappy I man. But before they could do or say more Inez had dashed aside her tears and sprang to the baronet's side. "Robert, dear Robert, do not tax yourself. Leave it to me to divulge our heart-breaking secret. And forgive me, dear, that I have so poorly kept ray promise to spare you the painful task." Sir Robert raised his eyes and gazed at her in silent love and anguish. There was another momentary pause in which Dr. and Mrs. .Jeffries looked from Sir Robert to my lady and then turned and looked at each other. "Such matchless sweetness —such matchless consideration of love!" said the mute but eloquent glance. Lady Beauchamp caught the glance with a thrill of satisfaction, ami a new confidence in her power to bring her atrocious plot to a successful issue. She turned to the pair—turned with a sudden, anguished hurry. "Oh, doctor, doctor," she cried, "it is about poor, poor Nina !" "Nina? About Nina ?" involuntarily echoed the doctor and his wife "About Nina !" sadly repeated Lady Beauchamp. "About Nina!" hoarsely whisperI ed Sir Robert. For the last time rnoz deep down jin her guilty soul, asked and answered a question. "Js Fate with me or against me ? Can I do it ? (Jan I hoodwink him j as I have hoodwinked my husband ? Can I say to him white is black, and make him believe it black ? Can I ? Or will his professional acumen start into activity and annihilate me ?" i A sudden tremor shook her from head to foot. A cold perspiration broke out upon her brow. A sudden deadly whiteness gathered about her lips. The next moment she had answered herself. "1 can <tlo it," she thought fiercely "I will do it !" A moment more and she had hurled out the fatal, fateful words she had come there to speak—the words she had. only a icw minutes before, whispered in Sir Robert's ear. ! CHAPTER VJIL UNWELCOME COUNSEL. "Heaven help us, Nina is mad !" | In those words Lady Beauchamp made her terrible and startling announcement. Her lips white as ashes, her eyes wide, wild, and frightened, her tone shrill, sharp and breathless, she commifftcd herself irrevocably to the destruction of her beautiful young stepdaughter and the wicked elevation of hey own child. Dr.. .Jeffries was the first to break the dreiMltul that followed the . wjords.

"Wad !" he gasped, his usually ruddy countenance only less pale than" Lady Beauchamp's. "Mad!" Lady Beauchamp spoke, standing before* them her own guileful, daring self once more. For one dread moment her unveiled sight had seemed to pierce the awful, black-palled future. For one dread moment she had shrunk and cowered as only the guilty can shrink and cower. For one dread moment a strange voice seemed to be thundering in her ears : j ■''Pause ! Pause ! Beware !" ! She shut her eyes to the vision. she closed her ears to the voice. She went her way—her wicked, desperate way. With a pathetic sorrow that struck to the soul of each of her deluded listeners, she spoke, addressing herself to Dr. Jeffries. j "Her hapless young mother," she I said, brokenly, "died, as you only i too well know, of softening of the brain—a disease, I understand, not necessarily hereditary." ; She paused as if in expectation of i a reply. i The doctor answered : j "Not necessarily," I Lady Beauchamp proceeded, i "Not necessarily hereditary, and, : yet by a strange coincidence, the mother's peculiar phase of the di- • sease . has been developed in the ; daughter." "The- mother," continued Lady | Beauchamp, "entertained the shocking, incredible delusion that the best and noblest of men "—turning her i great, dusky eyes in impassioned tenderness on Sir Robert—"that the best and noblest of men was slowly ■but surely destroying her life by , means of some subtle poison She suddenly paused, then resumed : in sharp, pained tones : i "Doctor, doctor, Nina accused me lof a similar crime ! Me. doctor. I, I who for my husband's dear sake, i would do anything for her." With this exclamation Lady Beauchamp burst into tears. Dr. Jeffries taking Sir Robert's hand, said : "Come to the library, Sir Robert. This is terrible ! Maddie will follow i with Lady Beauchamp when she is ! more composed." Perceiving that Mrs. Jeffries had | already gathered the weeping siren j to her motherly bosom,, Sir Robert instantly acquiesced. But Lady Beauchamp indulged in no lengthy exhibition of her grief. By the time the doctor had comfortably seated his old friend she made an effective entrance, leaning | on Mrs. Jeffries's arm. I ilex- sad, soft-toned apology for I her "weakness" only strengthened I the profound admiration she had already elecited, and she seated her- , self beside Sir Robert., glowing with | secret satisfaction and confidence. "The game is already won!" she said to herself. She permitted Sir Robert to describe the scene she had surprised in I the library, and then instantly fol- | lowed it with an exaggerated acj count of all that had transpired in j Nina's boudoir, mentioning as a fmi ale, the discovery of the book. It proved a startling one. Dr. | Jeffries uttered a shocked cxclamajtion. Till that moment neither he nor his wife had made a movement or uttered a sound. "Is she tampering with antidotes? - ' he exclaimed. "Alas ! We fear it !" Dr. Jeffries burst, out vehemently, I addressing the stricken, old baronet. | "Sir Robert, something must be done ! The poor, misguided child : must not be allowed to destroy her- ; self !" "We have come to you for assist- ! anee. Jeffries." j The piteous tone and look with \ which the old man spoke these words ! silenced the doctor for a moment. j lie hastilv cleared his throat while I Mrs. Jeffries turned her head to j brush away a tear. The doctor recovered himself in an I instant. I "The first thing in order," ho con- ■ tinned, "is to send for Rogers, who. as you know is a friend of nunc. If on examination, the case prove as bad as we imagine, she must, be | placed without delay in the Bethlehem 11os " He "ot that far and no.further. Up to that point Sir Robert had 1 sat glaring at him in a growing I horror. which Lady Beauchamp ! deemed it expedient to allow full exi pression from his own lips. She was curiously speculating upi on his reply and the probable length ! of time before he would speak when all at once he started violently from his chair. "See Dr. Rogers ?" he burst out, shrilly, burying both hands in his thick, white locks. "Place her in I Bethlehem Hospital ! Jeffries, do i you want to drive me mad, too ? jDo you want to have a family of jus there ? Ha, ha ! First the mother, then the daughter, then the father. Ha, ha ! A family of maniacs for the world to point a gibing finger at !" Even Lady Beauchamp was frightened. What if he should go mad under the strain ? What then ? How would her craftily-laid plot eventuI ate in such a case ? A critical in- | quiry into Nina's condition by earI nest, intelligent experts—what would |it bring to light ? She would have \no credulous, obtuse, unquestioning | easy-going Dr. Jeffries to deal with, ■ but men on the alert to discover the i truth for themselves—men who would 1 require stronger proofs than the unj supported asseverations of herself and Sir Robert, or even the fact I that the former Lady Beauchamp | was similarly afflicted. Her face ghastly with a genuine | fear, and her lips quivering with "a ! genuine distress, she started up and | gently forced Sir Robert into his | seat again. "Hush, hush, dearest," she falter- ! Ed, wiping the drops from her brow. ] "Dr. Jeffries doesn't understand. : Your desires and suggestions will, I know, be sacred desires and suggestions to him as soon as explained." (To be continued.) 1433.