THE RIVAL CLAIMANTS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5488, 29 March 1889, Page 4

THE RIVAL CLAIMANTS.

[BY MRS. HARRIET LEWIS.]

CHAPTER 111. (Continued)

•'My little ruso was fair enongh," said Bassantyne, watching her ladyship furtively. " ' All ia fair in love and wart, says tho old proverb. There is no use in fretting, Kathleen. If you haven" changed greatly in the last five years, you will soon compel your proud spirit to submit to circumstances. It is true that by my inopportune return I hare cheated you of a brilliant title, but I am rich and honorable, and I love you. Lot these facts reconcile you to your fate." Hβ moved nearer to her, his eyes fixed gloatingly on her drooping head and despairing face. " Stand back !" cried Lord Tresham, interposing. "Do not insult tho Lady Kathleen by your professions of lovo. Whoever you are, Mr. Nicol Bassantyne, do not think that your vile fraud of this night has given yon any authority over her. Sho has too many friends to be given up to a cheating adventurer who foully personates another man at the altar. She shall be freed, if we have to go through the Divorce Court to effect her freedom. Any publicity must be preferable to the chains you have placed upan her. The Lady Kathleen is still under my protection, sir, and you must ' answer to me for your cowardly crime." "Very well," said Baesantyne, coolly, " I am willing to fight you now, if that's •what you want. But before we proceed to blows, let us understand what we are to fight for. You conceive the Lady Kathleen to be grossly injured by my taking your place at the marriage altar. Now, if she Iβ satisfied, you can have no reason to find fault. Is not that so ?" " But I am not satisfied!" cried the Lady Kathleen, passionately. " Not satisfied", Kathleen?" and Bassantyne arching his black brows, in seemingly astonished enquiry. " You wish, then, that I had permitted you to marry Lord Treeham—"

"No—no !" moaned the Lady Kathleen, Shuddering. " I thought you could not be so infatuated as that! You hope for a divorce, perhaps F" , "I hope for nothing," returned tho Lady Kathleen, wringing herhunds despairingly. " I must do as I havo done for years—submit to my fate. Barry," she added, turning to Lord Tresham, who still stood a little apart, dark, gloomy, and stern, yet with a great agony expressed in his dark eyes, " there must be no fighting for me! If you ever loved me, spare me that great grief." "I! I erer loved you! O, Kathleen !"

His anguished voice aroused the Lady Kathleen from the depths of her despair. The sight of his suffering lent her a factitious strength, and sho moved toward Lord Treeham, saying : "I must have a few words with you alone, my lord—for the last time ! Come •with me to tho beach." He gave hey his arm, and they walked down toward tho Mind*, on which the boats lay rocking in the moonlight. The Lady Kathleen was the first to speak. " Barry," she said, " if I hud adhered to my fin»t resolve, this would never havo happened. Would to Heaven that I hud refused to come here to-night ! Would that I had retired you, as I have done w> often before ! But tlo not let the event of to-night have any blighting iiiflueure on your life. You must go away and forgot me—''

"And leave you to thn persecutions of that scoundrel ? Never! Never. , ' , "It will be best, Barry. For ?ny sake you must go. It cannot bo wrong for me to tell you, now that this great gulf has opened between us, that I lovo you mure than I lovo my life. I hive lovrd you for years "—and her paHsonato voice trembled — " but fur years 1 ilured not acknowledge to you that love, because I havo always had that fearful cxpofitam-y of something terrible in the future. For years I havo lived in a very terror of dread. Only a f«w months since that horror wns dissipated by a report that he—this man- whs dead. Yet, even then, when I read tho notice of his death in a foreign pnper, I dared nut dream of marriage. I should never have dared marry you openl)', with the pomp of a fashionable wedding , , as he said, i should have been afraid that something might have come between us to prevent the marriage, evon at the last, minuto. I Imvn pripmio.* who trade upon my secret, and who miirht lutve chosen to reveal it to yon at any moment." 'My poor Kathleen!" said Lord Tresham, iv a yearning tenderness.. " And this man—this Bassantyno—knows your secret?" "Yes—yes !" "Tell ir to me, Kathleen. You need a true friend. Let me hoar the whole ntory, and judge how much of terror there is in it. Perhaps these enemies of yours mugnifv the importance of tho secret. I can bul'p you—" "It is too late—too late ! No one can help mo now. I cannot tell you the story, my lord, but I can say " —ami she Hftod her head proudly while a scarlet flush chimed cheeks — " that my worst crimes consisted in girlish folly and imprudence ! The name of Kathleen Connor is as unsullied as on the day I received it at my baptism !" " Is it riecesßary to say thut to mo, Kathleen r , " demanded Lord Tresham. "Do I not your pure soul, your glorious, untainted nature ? It is because I know them 80 well that I entreat to be taken into vonr confidence Your enemies may bo magnifying tho importunes of the secret—" " No—no ! I comp'-eheiut its importincu only too well !" " You will have to toll the whole .story, will you not, when you sue for a iliv.jrco !" " 1 shall never suo for a divorce S , " " Kuthleen !" "We are parted forever. Barry. It was fortuuato—even providential—that our marriage was interrupted to-night. So long- as Nical Bawuiitvne live?, I must not nee you again. O, Burry! thin night hoWs our parting !" "You mean to nclimiwled:. r e tlii* ma" rintru, Hi! ii '( To l.vn with this -i- j hi* wife—"' Tho Lidy Kiiilil-vi, flushed .igiiiii. I "NO, i .!<, Ulll !"' .-.111.1' " I *(mU din tir-t ! Mem t> j'mciaim our niiirriiu >•, if he chouses. I siiiill ni.t dfii > it. But 1 wi'l never livo with him--never ! 1 c.niiot tell you how much 1 10-ithe this mini, my 1 mi, and yi-t, NtiMiige as it, may .-eeiu. thin ctruiige murriiigy of to-night i.i * relief to me !"'

L'rnl Tri-Himm utterwl an exclamation of antnnii-hiintiit. *■ !t puiM an end to alt my tf-n-or nn<l drpiui !" murmured thu Lmly Kathleen. '• It Li \V(>J f-.ii y>u U':<l iii-j that it has happened. You must, forget w>', mid find .some oik! more worthy of your pruud old name than Kathleen Connor. You are a proud man, my lord, an you lmve the right to bo, and it i.s better thut your m<d miirrmge with me wu.s iiit-jtrupted And now a lust word, my lord. I beg yon not to provokn v hostile meeting with Nieol Baiwantyno. For my bake, do nothing to [>eril your life—tliat life which is dearer than all the world to me ! And though wo arc Depurated forever, Barry, always remember that I loved 3'ou !" " And a ltist, word with you, Kathleen !" uriod Lord Tro.ihum, impatiently. " You have denied me a knowledge of your secret which it seems you share with two or three blackmailing wretches. Now hoar me! Thero is no obstacle between us which I cannot surmount! I swear to break the bonds youder wretch has fixed upon you i I swsar to dissipate all the shaddows that envelope you ! I swear to discover your secret, to scatter its terrors, to relieve you from your hideous thralldom —to make you my wife ! Unles3 theso things are accomplished, I will know no pence, no joy ! From thia moment I set mysolf to the task of freeing- you from tho coils of your enemies!"

He caught her to his bosom, kissing her with ri yearning, passionate fervor.

Thoy ware still lingering in that embrace, when steps were heard behind them, and Baseantyne's sneering voice broke in upon them.

" Homph !" he said. " This isapleasanfc eight fo the eyes of a newly-made husband. Come, my Lady Kathleeu Bassantyne. My boat is waiting, and yonder corner y ur maid. We must be off, if you don't wa .t Kildare Castle in a terrible commotio al '

The Jjady Kathleen gently loosened hereelf from Lord Trewham's freu/iod clasp. " You will go back with me P" his lordship asked. " I daro not," she whispered. " But I fear nothing. My maid will bo with me. And you will be near."

She turned from him with a breaking heart.

Mr. and Miss Gowan, with her ladyship's maid, were approaching the beach. The Lady Kathleen advanced to meet them, listening to their expressions of pity sympathy, and then bade them farewell.

Baesuntyue then conducted his bride to his boat, the Lady Kathleen's maid folio wring. The lady and her attendant took t'. le ir seats; Bassantyne pushed off f the 'little craft, and sprung in. Then he set his sail, and tho boat went skimming over the'inoonlit channel toward Point Kildare.

Lord Tresham followed closely In their woke, his anguished glances seldom wavering from the slender, girlish figure which drooped low in the stem of Bitssantyne's boat. , • .

The clergyman and his sister lingered long on the sands watching tb.e receding leoopa, and speculating upon the futura

of the three whose fortunes had so strangely become entangku. " Heaven guide them!" sighed Mr. Cowan. " There's a dark future before the bonuy Lady , Kathleen—a dark, dark future!"

I TO BE CONTINUED.^