A MAD BETROTHAL.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 7976, 30 January 1897, Page 4

A MAD BETROTHAL.

A:Love Story of Intensely Thrilling Interest. BY LAURA JEAN lIBBEY, Author of "lonie, the Pride of the Mill" etc. CHAPTER XXXVII. 'No,' replied the nurse, steadily, 'he did not a3k after you. We all thought that was very strange.' 'The beautiful color left Nadine's face. Hope died out of her large dark eyes. A strange presentiment of coming evil, which she could not define or shake off, swept over her heart. Perhaps he was too ill to ask. 'Is he better ?' she asked piteously. ' I beg of you to tell me just how he is. lam so anxious to hear.'

'He must have entirely recovered, or he would not have been allowed to leave the vessel,' the woman replied. Nadine struggled up, her face pale as death. Had she heard aright ? There was a confused ringing in her ear—a sound like the surging of faroff cataracts —the narrow confines of the apartment seemed to be closing in upon her and taking her breath from her. The world seemed in an instant of time to grow dark as Hades and stand suddenly still. • Left—the—vessel !' she repeated, vaguely,' in a voice that sounded like nothing human. 'Do you mean to tell me the gentleman has (/one —that he is not aboard this vessel ?' The woman nodded. «How could he go ?' cried Nadine, hoarsely. ' It is impossible !' ' You will not say that when I ex- j plain in a few words how it happened,' retorted the woman, continuing: 'When the gentleman first recovered from the effects of the wreck, finding himself on board our ship he was angry—yes, an grj—that fate had spared him. He sent for the captain at once, and, of course, I had to go and interpret to the captain what he said. He wanted to be informed when the next English vessel passed us, offering the captain a large sum of gold if he would manage so that he could be taken on board. And the captain did manage it for tbe American, but he would not take his gold. The captain said : ' What about the lady, sir, that you rescued ? Would you like to take her along with you? We are making a long trip, and it will not be pleasant for her. Being your own countryman you should take her in charge.' ' He turned to me so fiercely that I recoiled. I did not know that there was so much spirit about the American—and fairly trembled with rage." '' Tell the captain I say ' No!' he thundered. ' Take her to Liberia, China—anywhere ! She is nothing to me!"

Nadine had listened with wildly dilated eyes, and a face so pale that the woman feared in carrying out the captain's instructions that she would be the means of causing the girl to drop dead on her pillow. i» Do you care ?' she questioned. ' TeU me, poor gir)—did you love him?' No answer fell from Nadine's lips, and thinking it the greatest kindness b 'he could do her, she rose quietly and quitted the room. gj_. c found the captain pacing the deck. He frowned as he saw her coming toward him, and greeted her with a fierce imprecation for disturbing his meditations.

' I bring you news of the girl,' she said, chafing at his treatment of her. ' I have told her all that you desired.' ' Well,' he answered, fiercely, in his native Italian, ' how does she take it ? She believes, of course, that affairs are just as you hava told her ?' ' She believes I have spoken the truth,' the woman answered ; ' and, now that I have done your bidding, I ask for the reward you promised should be mine and Rienzi my husband's. Surely you will not go back on your word, Captain. You promised to make Rienzi the first mate of the vessel.' ' It shall be done all in good time,' returned the captain. ' You American women are too precipitate. There is time enough for that/ and the burly Italian captain turned on his heel and lelt her.

* He shall make Rienzi first mate, as he promised, or I will save the girl from him, even at the last moment,' she muttered, looking after the tall, disappearing figure with revengeful eyes. .fadine often wondered how it happened that she did not die then and there, when she looked back to that dark scene in after years.

Once again pride stepped in, swaying her soul, and ssVed her heart from breaking. 'He has deserted m. with .Bethought than he would have deserted a lame sparrow,' she told herself, ' and I will teach myself to hate him, even though he did save me, though it take me a lifetime. If he had known who it was, he would never have come back to save me. How surprised he must have been when he made the discovery at daylight that it was I. I wonder that he did not fling me back into the waves from which he had dragged me j then he would have been sure of nevesseeing me again,' she ruminated, bitterly. To her annoyance, every hour in the day she was the recipient of little messages brought by the nurse from the captain, the words either prefacing or following the message, ' how much the bold, handsome captain was in love with her.'

In vain she had begged the woman to tell her when an American vessel was sighted, for tho thought of a voyage to Liberia filled her now with the greatest horror. She had one thing to be thankEul for : She had seen tier Aunt Hester lowered into tho first lifeboat. She had been separated from her by the crowd that pushed past her and sprang in ahead of her. She felt sure she had been saved, but how terribly her aunt muet be worrying over her fate ! They passed many vessels, some, too, displaying that most welcome of all Bights on foreign waters and in foreign lands—the American stars and stripes.

Nadine prayed this woman to hail them.

1 You must speak to tho captain about that,' she would declare. ' Avoid him as much as you like ; sooner or later you will be obliged to meet him ;' and this, Nadine knew, was perfectly true. Hor great anxiety urged her to see hiiu at once. Every hour was bearing her farther and farther away from the path of the American steamers. Nadine had, as sho used to phrase it in those old, saucy college days, ' a fair smattering' of the Italian language. She could put it to good use now, for the first time in her life.

She found the captain pacing the deck, as was his usual custom. He came forward with alacrity, most agreeably surprised when she asked bur. in his native language if she could have just a few words with him. ' As many as you like, Signora,' he answered, gallantly, placing a seat for her, which Nadine declined. He listened to her quietly enough when she begged him kindly to return hor to her home and friends ; but the smile on his face, as ho listened, disconcerted her moro than the most

vehement refusal could have done. At last he spoke : ' When a fisherman find 3 a pearl, is he likely to cast it back iuto the waters again, do you think ?' he asked. 'Or when a weary traveller, in crossing a a tract of burning, sandy desert, comes across a tract of fertile, flowery land, is he apt to turn and leave it ? Why do men shoot down birds of beautiful plumage if they cannot capture them without ? I answer, to possess them. I am like the fisherman, the traveller, and the marksman. I cannot cast you away from me. I cannot leave you. In a word, you must be mine, fair girl. I come of a nation different from you Americans. My ancesters were warriors connected with the history of Italy since its early days. We are a race of men never conquered in war or love. We gain that which we desire, if we fight our way through seas of blood for it. From the first moment my eyes fell on you I said to myself. ' I love her. She must be mine.''

' In my country ladies decline a love which is not pleasing to them,' said Nadine, with spirit. ' I decline yours, most decidedly. I hope you will never refer to it again. I refuse to go with this ship to Liberia. I demand to be set ashore at the first stopping place.'

' That will be a lone island, which we will reach in a few days' time,' he said, tauntingly. 'We stop there foi products ; though the natives are hostile to our crews. A woman would fare ill in those savages' hands.' Although a sudden pang of fear shot through the girl's heart, she was no coward. ' Better that than go to Liberia,' she replied, haughtily. ' I am not the person to take my command from a woman, he said, with equal hauteur, 'Men command, women obey. I love you, my girl; but there is such a thing as love turning to hate through contradiction. Go to Liberia with me you shall. As to whether you shall ever return from there, depends upon yourself. You will learn—my word is law.' Too angry to find words in which to reply, Nadine turned abruptly away and hurried to her apartment. ' I shall never go to Liberia with this vessel—never !' she sobbed, throwing herself on her knees. ' I would rather cast myself back into the waves from which Gilbert rescued me. Oh, my love, my love !' she moaned, ' why did you desert me, and leave me to a fate like this ?'

[to be continued.]