ALL OR NOTHING.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 580, 28 June 1913, Page 6

ALL OR NOTHING.

J (Copyright.)

A THRILLING ROMANCE, —By the Author of "A Bitter Bondag*." "Two Keys," "Stella," '"The Unknown Bridegroom," &c., PART 11. ' On this bright June morning she ..stands watching the terrible grandeur of the mountains and the tranquil loveliness of the fragrant valleys, and her heart goes back to the brilliant time before she married Olive Noel, when she was queen, of the stage, and had half the world at her feet. She had been the worshipped idol of the hour. Did slit regret the brilliant triumphs that were hers no longer ? Ah, no ! The passionate, spiritual nature had made love its centre, all the tenderness, the genius, that had thrilled her ro'jl, and made each character she played so wonderful, was now lavished' on her love for her liustjan.'i. Some one came t<* her as she stood there, and said t.hwt she was wanted —an English gentleman was at the chateau, waiting to see her. For one moment her heart stood almost still. Then the servant gave her the gentleman's card ; the name upon it was strange to her : "Mr. Geoffrey Manly." Perhaps he had come on money business—perhaps he had brought a message from Clive. Then, again, it occurred to her that Mr. Manly might be an emissary from Olive's trie/ids, come to find out their secret.. She "walked slowly down the vinecoloured terrace of the chateau. Yes, there, in the pretty rose salon, where she had spent such happy hours with Olive, the stranger sat, waiting for her. 11G4. The fresh morning air had brought th.-i loveliest bloc.n to her beautiful face ; licr eyes wer* bright as stars ; her dr.r":, waving -sir, slightly disarranged by the wind, hung in luxuriant profusion. , She looked so queenly, so royally beautiful, so perfectly well-bred, so full of genius, and fire, and spirit, that Geoffrey Manly instinctively rose to greet her with a most profound bow. "'1 have the honour of speaking to the lady whose name was once so famous as ' Miss Romaine,' " lie said, : politely. ■, J She made a dignified acknowledg- | uieht, but remained standing. She :iid not know yet whether he was friend or foe." "I"am here, madam," he said, "by the request of Lord Noel." Her whole-face lighted at the words —a coulour, clear and brilliant &■ rlaroe, rushed over her brow —a light, most beautiful t'o see, came into her eyes. Ah, even from these strange lips, the name was full of music, and stirred every pulse xn her heart. Yet for his sake she, must be cautious. "Perhaps," continued Mr. Manly, ' M I had better present my credentials." While he opened his pocket-book Lady Noel looked in his face. Slit did not like him ! Her keen, pure, womanly instinct shrank from him, He was handsome enough —a smooth, dark face, keen dark eyes. Yet both in the eyes and on the lips there was something from which she shrank in unutterable dread. "Lord Noel gave me this for you, madam," he said, in his smooth, polished tones, holding a letter for her acceptance. She opened it Snd read : "My dear Evelyn, —I write in great haste. Attend to what Mr. Manly says, and you will oblige—Yours truly, Clive Noel." "Of course, it. is about money," sho thought to herself. She raised her dark eyes, so clear, so full of truth and tenderness, to the lawyer.'s face ; but for his presence she would have kissed the paper Olive's hand had touched. CHAPTER XVIII. "I am ready to hear all you have to say, sir," she said, gravely ; and fnr the first time in his life, Geoffrey Manly was at a loss for words. The beautiful, noble face, the shining eyes, looking into his, dismayed hiin. How could he tell such a woman his message ? He had only | thought of lier as an actress who j had contrived to marry a peer. He had made sure she would be coquettish, fond of admiration, roer- ! ccnary. He found her noble and pure ! Her grand presence abashed him ; her pure cyS- seemed to read him. He owned Co himself, with something like dismay, that she did not look like a woman who would barter fair name and honour for gold. How was he to begin ? Those dark eyes made him nervous. He could have talked better if she would have looked away from him. Yet he was there to say it all, and it miist be said. "In order that you may speak freely to me, madam,"' he said, "let me teil you that I know every particular of your marriage ; there will l.e no need for any concealment or disguise. I ' have seen the certificates and understand it all." "I am. at a loss to know what you mean," said Lady Noel, with queenly dignity. "My marriage was no secret —that is, it was only secret for I a short time, until my husband's affairs were settled. "And those affairs are further than ever from being w-ctled," said Mr. Manly, mournfully "It is Lord Noel's place to tell me that," she replied. " I decline tc discuss my secreta and his with a stranger." "Unhappily, madam, there is nc choice," continued Mr. Manly. " 1 | am here to discuss these affairs with I you ; I am here for no other purpose." She looked haughtily;

Ironed quietly "er, and in that glance they measvu-eu accurately each other's strength. He was scr.iewhat l-affled. "She was so different to what he rrpected to find her," he said to himself, " that had she been born s duchess in her own right, she could not have been more dignified or more royally beautiful." "These matters are always more or less unpleasant,'- «aid Mr. Manly, with a meaning smile. "Of course you must be aware, madam, that Lord Noel's marriage was not of the kind likely to please his friends?" ' She started as though his words had stung her. ' That is also Lord Noel's own affair," s*ie replied, promptly ; "you can have, no possible cause for discussing it." "Pardon again," continued the lawyer ; " that is the very groundwork of all I have to say. Lord Noel's marriage was one his friends could not possibly approve." He stopped, for the crimson flush, on her face told him he must choose his words more wisely. "While," he continued, "we acknowledge the beauty, the genius, and the virtue of the accomplished iady who honoured Lord Noel with her hand, still we must allow that, in point of station, looking at it from a worldly poizt of view, there was a great difference." "Lord Noel did not think so, sit," said Evelyn, sadly. This persistency annoyed her —she could not see to what the interview tended. •''Perhaps not at the time," was the pointed reply, "but now his lordship seems to have a true view of the matter. You are, aware that in consequence of Lord George's death, Lord Clive Noel is the heir of the earldom ?" "I have not thought much of my husband's position in the world," she replied ; "I have thought most of himself." And, strange to say, Mr. M£nly, believed it. She did #ot look like one whom money would influence, or whom any sordid motive would touch. "'As you doubtless know," continued the lawyer, " the Gothwic family has soiae peculiarities. Though the title is entailed, the estates are not. The present earl can dispose of them as he likes. Another peculiarity is that daughters can inherit as well as sons. The present Lord Gothwic cannot prevent hits son from succeeding to the title, but he can prevent him from succeeding to the estates." He paused then, and looked at her. The beautiful, noble face was sad, the eyes full of unuttered wonder, yet he perceived plainly she had not the faintest notion of what was coming. "I must ask you to try, madam, to follow me in my argument," said Mr. Manly. "Lord Noel is entirely, as far as money goes, dependent upon his father. he displease the earl, it is in his power to will every shilling away from him, in which case the title would indeed be an empty honoar.' 1 * There was no reply ; the beautiful lips were silent and mute as the lips of the dead. "It is therefore greatly—inde«d, I may say absolutely—necessary; to Lord Noel's future that he should be on good terms with his father." Again he paused ; there was no single word of reply. "Lord Gothwic has some very strong prejudices—natural enough, perhaps, in a man of his position. One of them is his intense dislike to all unequal marriages. He has, in fact, said as much several times to Lord Noel." He had touched her at last ; the vivid colour flushed her face, then left lier deadly pale. He saw that the sword he had come so far to plunge into her heart was beginning its deadly work. " Of course, Lord Gothwic knows nothing whatever ut his son's marriage—has not the faintest suspicion of -it. That much perhaps you knour ?" His words were beginning to grow dull and faint in her ear. What was coming ? Outside the sun was shining ; she could hear the southern wind as it swept through the mountain passes ; she could hear the song of the birds, the rustle of the trees, and, sweeter than all, the voice o! little Gertrude at her play. What was coming ? What did the horrible words, dropping so slowly from those smiling lips, mean ? "It is very unfortunate, bat it i« true, that Lord Gothwic's prejudice against what we may, without offence, call unequal marriage, ia so strong that Lord Noel fears for th« consequence of his." "Did he send yos liere to say so ?" she asked ; and until he died Geoffrey Manly never forgot the tone of her voice. "He did so. The plain truth is that, should it ever be discovered or made public, Lord Noel would not only he disinherited, but his father would nev«r speak to him again. It would be most serious." As he spoke, her thoughts flew back to that summer evening so long ago, in her own home, when she and Clivo Noel sat by the riverside, and she had preyed him to tell her if harm would come to him from his marriage, and he had over and over again said no. Could it be that he had spoken falsely—meanly lied to win a woman's hand ? Her hero, her king among men, had lied to her, and wantonly deceived her ? Ah, no ; she would never believe it ! "Lord Noel assuxefi me before we were married tlia* *o harm could ensue to him, or I should not have consented." Believe that he had told a lie ? Ah, . no ! Sooner would the sun fall from the heavens than that be true ! " 1 prefer Lord Noel's words tc yours," she said, proodly. "I believe what he said-" And again ?:ne lawyer thought how different she wjw " what hu l '-- 1

to find her. Far from Inhis client into a secret marshe had refused to become his unless assured no harm conk' ppen to him. "At that time it nijght be so," he said, politely. "Lord Noel, of course Knew what he was saying. Then he was a younger son, and what he did mattered little, for his brother was engaged to he married. Now, as the future Earl of Gothwic, his marriage is a subject of vital importance." "Well ?" she said, looking into the handsome, crafty face. "You must sec that it becomes highly necessary that Lord Noel's marriage should never be known to his father." "He should have come to tell me so," she cried. "I cannot of matters like these to a stranger. "The proposition Lord Noel has to make is so painfal he could not trust himself here," was the wily repiy. A wild terror seized her ; a cola, iron hand grasped her heart and and stilled it. What was coming ? Would the cruel sun never cease shining ? Would the cruel birds never cease their loud, jubilant eong ? She raised her face to his. "Will you tell me briefly," she asked, "what that proposition is ?" '"She is going to take it quietly, after all," thought the lawyer ; and the idea was very welcome to him. He bowed. "It is simply this, madam : Lord Noel bids me offer to you every compensation that money can make, and he bids me ask you to set him free." She did not spring from her seat, as had half expected, with the fury of an outraged woman. She rose slowly, the colour dying out of her face, her eyes dilating, her beautiful figure drawn to its full height. " I have misunderstood you," she said, with quivering lips. "Tell mc your message again." "Lord Noel offers you any sum of money you may choose to name if you will give him his freedom —that is, if you will consent to go away from here, to keep the secret of your marriage unbroken until you die, and promise solemnly to give up all claim to him—all remembrance of him." "You say my husband told you to utter such words to me —my husband —Clive Noel ?" "He sent mc purposely." was the reply. x "I wokuld not believe you," she cried, scornfully, "if you swore it by the most solemn oath man could take. If he —my husband —knew how you had insulted me, he would avenge me." "Madam," said Geoffrey Manly, "it is indeed true. Let me convince you. Lord Noel offered me a thousand pounds to find the slightest Haw in your marriage which should render it null and void. I tried my best, but there was none. Your marriage is as legal and secure as it can be —he knows that. Had there been the least shadow of a flaw, he would have availed himself of it. : There was none. He acknowledges the marriage to be as valid as possible ; at the same time he trusts that, knowing under what circumstances it was contracted, you will give him his freedom —that from this hour you will cease to claim his name, his affection, or his care. He has, of course, no wish to be married, but he desires to be free. Any money that you name shall be yours." She raised her hands as though to ward off a blow that threatened her. A sudden conviction that lie was speaking the truth —that Clive Noel, the husband she loved so passionately, had ceased to care for her — came over her. A pallor like that of death came over her beautiful face ; yet she bore the blow in silence. There wm no hysterical crying, no reproaches, no tears. She stood in grand, queenly silence, trying to realise what had happened. Geoffrey Manly would rather - have seen her sorrow take any guise than this. Then she turned her dark eyes full on his face. "You say Clive Noel, my husband, bade you insult mc thus ?" " Nay," he said, remonstratingly, "we will not use such hard words. Lofd Noel is willing to act most handsomely. See ! I have with me here a cheque for a thousand pounds. Increase it to ten twenty, if you like—he will raise no objections." "Hush !" she said, with a gesture that was full of dignity and eloquent in its despair. "Hush ! \ou are of a sordid nature. You do not even understand va&." She stood silent, with a look on her face that l*r will never forget. The cruel birds sa»g on as though no human heart near them was slowly breaking. "He has repented of liis marriage, then ?" she asked. "He repents it exceedingly," said Mr. Manly, with charming caudour. "It may seem cruel to say so, but truth is the best." "He repents it, and wishes it undone ?" Geoffrey Manly bowed his acquiescence. They were getting on better now, lie thought. "And not being able to free himself from me by any legal quibble, he sends you to purchase his freedom and my silence?" "You state the matter most plainly, madam. I could not do it better myself." "In all this there is no lie, no deceit, no treachery? You are here simply as his agrnt ?" "That is all, madam. lam here simply in my elient'K best interests. I strongly wrg* you to accept his terms." "Yet as he looked at the beautiful, queenly woman before him, so grand in her sorrow, so royal in her despair, he thought the love of one so pure, so lovely, would have been more than a coronet to him. (To bo Continued.).