A SECRETREVEALED

Lake County Press, Issue 2737, 6 June 1918, Page 2

A SECRETREVEALED

t'.Y ESTHER MILLF.K

(OOPv RIGHT.)

CHAPTER XXV-Continued. Frank no longer answered. His eyes burned. He was not angry with her impudence; he was only angry with his own blindness. A dozen little incidents, to which he had attached no importance at the time, now confirmed her suggestion concerning Dolly and Hugh. Probably there was no real harm in their "friendship" ; he would not allow himself to believe that there was ; passion, legitimate or otherwise, was never likely to turn Dolly's cool head. An idle young man was passing the time by scattering incense at the feet of a vain and beautiful woman; that was all these rumours meant, no doubt. But they must stop. His pride was stung as deeply as though he had been forty times a peer. "Aren't you going to give me a cup of tea?" she asked, taking no notice of him at all. He rang for it, and they conversed upon various subjects for half anhour, after which the old lady rose. "Well, I must be off. I have other visits to pay, and I know that you are dying to get rid of me! You are not grateful, of course! No man ever is !" "I think I am obliged to you," he said. "I am not sure!" "Think it out, and let me know," she said, with one of her cynical smiles. "At any rate, you have not been rude, which is something more than I expected !" "I did not call you a meddlesome woman, because I believe you are really my friend," he said. "Goodbye, Miss Inglefield." He escorted her down to the door, before which a cab was awaiting her. "What a pity," she said, "that you wasted yourself on my niece! If you had consulted me, you would never have done it. Although, with patience, \ou may make a decent woman of her yet. It is all her mother's fault!" Frank did not respond to this farewell speech; he bowed gravely. "Let me know at once when Lady Trevarrack returns," he said to the butler. He went back to his letters, and finished them, with an iron rein over himself, before he lighted a cigarette and permitted himself to think. 1 While he had been falling in love, ' with Hilda, Dolly, it seems, had been i carrying on a flirtation with Hugh. : There was a certain amount of jus- i tic e in this, only what man would 1 have been cold-blooded enough to ad- t init it:- 1 The state of her affections did i not concern him, but she should respect the name he had stolen for her I sake and not make him a laughing- c stock. As for Hugh—His hand den- v ched on the back of the chair beside him till it cracked. If the withdrawal r of his love for her gave Dolly some hj excuse for her frivolity, it gave none t to Hugh, who was accepting the hus- a band's favours, and carrying on a P flirtation with the wife. o "The treacherous young scoundrel" f< thought Frank! "I'll wring his neck! How dare he take my money, and tl make a fool of me!" a Then he wriggled, as though his it seat were full of thorns. What treachery could he greater than his own. a after all? But two wrongs did not w make a right, and his .conduct of a which Hugh was unaware, did not excuse Hugh. (1, He had been generous to Dolly, y< too. when what was asked of him was I as painful to give as the heart out of tc his breast. And while she pleaded W and whined to him, last night, she d ; had been insincere; that was the most p biting reflection of all. Even at that al supreme moment of her life, when y< her name, her whole position in so- ei ciety was at stake, she had been twofaced with him! The gratitude she ei had professed had been so evanes- d< cent, so unreal, that it had not kept cc her straight for a single twenty-four to hours. a ; He remembered another business letter, .ind wrote it. His hand did not F shake; the pen flew over the paper

[PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.]

with scarcely a halt. He was at such a white heat that he did not even know he was hot at all. As he finished his signature the butler came in. "Mr. Trevarrack, my lord." "Lady Trevarrack has not returned?" "No, my lord." Frank nodded mechanically. Ik boiled at the coolness of Hugh's .all but was too preoccupied with his o\vr view of the situation to see a menace in ft. Besides, it was always possible that Miss Ingleficld was a mischief making old person who had been ill informed; he was trying to remembe: that all the time. He did not doub his ability to find out the precise truth in five minutes or so. Neither moral nor physical coward ice had ever been his weak point He went straight to the smoking room, glad of the opportunity of hav ing it out with Hugh at once, with out stopping to think twice about it No need to rehearse his part; word: would come with perfect fluency a the right moment. Hugh was standing on the hearth rug with his back to the empty grate and his hands behind him when tin door opened. He had had a surprise to-day which had made is head swim There were more signs of it than his colourless face. He breathed quickly, and his hands fell to hi? sides and the fingers worked. He had meant to begin, but it was Frank, the quicker of the two, win: fired the first shot. "I hope," he remarked, sarcastically, "that vou have had a pleasant lay!" Finding the adversary well informed, as he supposed, Hugh was :aken aback. He felt more em barissed by Frank's presence than lie tad intended to be. "How—how did you know?" he stammered. "Then you have been out with my wife!" said Frank, who had bowled out his cousin very neatly. "Next time she gives you a rendezvous tell her to find a better excuse ! It is always a mistake when a fool turns liar." "The terms in which you speak of this lady," said Hugh, wild with rage, "are too insulting to be borne! She is sinned against, not sinning. If any deception has been practised, it 1 is you who arc to blame; you who have trampled on a voung girl's aft'ee- , :ions, and broken an innocent, trustng heart!" ' "An innocent, trusting heart!" re >eated Frank, his anger almost overcome by bitter mirth. "Good hea•ens, what an ass you are!" "You took a flower in your hand," persisted the infatuated Hugh, who tad been primed by a long con versaion with Dolly under the willows. iter two-thirds of a magnum of chain- ( "yes, .1 flower—and brushed iff its bloom, and crushed it undo ; oot!" "The fresh, dew-sprinkled daisy on ' he grass!" almost shouted Frank in 1 gust of still unholier mirth. "I said 1 : myself! I said it myse'lf!" "I don't know what the deuce you j re laughing at!" said Hugh. "I 1 ish you to understand that you are ] scoundrel —a blackguard—a " "And you?" interrupted Frank, J cadly quiet of a sudden. "What of ou? I respondeel tei your advances. 1 gave you money, I introduced you 0 ) my wife, I made a friend of you. a /hat return have you made' I have iscovercd to-day what I had not su- < ected—that everybody is talking a bout her and you. How dare you - n ou cub! Leave my house, and never hj. nter it again !" Hugh did not move. He had ne-rve b n r >ugh, despite his constitution.!, ehcacy, and passion heightened hi> s )urage at this moment. "It seem; > me," he said, "that T have at least p 3 much right here as you !" "What do you mean?" demanded " a i rank, quickly-. , "I know all!" said Hugh. r

CHAPTER XXVL-'THAT JEZEBEL.'' Frank started as though he had been shot. He stared at the other man, speechless. Then a crimson stain ran like a wave over his face. •'She has betrayed me—that Jezebel!" "Yes," said Hugh. "Your treatment of her has brought its own reward. You perverted and intimidated a young girl who knew no better than to obey you, but she is a woman now, and she loves me, and refuses to keep your infamous secret any longer." "I perverted and intimidated her, did I? She told you that!" ! "Not is as many words," replied Hugh, "but it was not very difficult to see the truth for myself in her pitiful story. Not only are you a swindler, but you lured this girl into s ■marriage which was no marriage—-as you are well aware, no doubt—afterwards threatening to cast her off ii she dared to whisper the secret ol your birth!" i "She told you that!" repeated Frank. ! "Only for her reputation's saki • would she have remained silent s< , long; but to-day she found courage '. to confess at last —courage to trus' me with the protection of her gooc ! name, and to get this weight of si lence off her conscience." ; "She told you that!" said Franl 'once more. "She told you that!" j "For the wrong you did me, I migh (forgive you," said Hugh, speaking thickly; "for we are cousins after all and I recognise the strength of you: temptation. For the wrong you dit her, I will never forgive you as lonj as I live ! I shall take steps at ona 1 to obtain possession of my property ) and announce the illegality of you marriage. Meanwhile she has gon : to her mother, and as soon as it i recognised '' "You will marry her perhaps," sup -' plemented Frank. "Yes, I shall marry her—thankinj | God that the privilege has been min 2 to atone to this ill-used and unhapp ,' girl for the treatment she has re i ' ceived at your hands." e Frank broke into diabolical laugl" e ter. The colour had left his fac - again by now, and it was almost livic - while his eyes burned like red-he r coals. t "I admit that 1 have treated vo e abominably; my sole defence —a wea | one, I admit—is that the 'innocen j girl' I 'perverted and intimidated' re . I fused to marry me unless I kept th - j title and estates; and I loved her a -.blindly, as madly then as I presume - you love her now." "Do you imagine that you can le: s sen your guilt by defaming her?" el< t, manded Hugh. "I do not want t I hear your opinion of her. What yo - have to say can he said at anothe , time, in another place, when both e c us are cooler." c I "It would serve you right if I too .[you at your word," retorted Franl i [ "But because I have been a simila i f joI myself, I pity you; because s • have injured you in another way, a ■deeply as you have tried to injure me I will put you on your guard. "tell you that if you marry this wo 'man, you will regret it all your life!' j "I refuse to listen to anothe " word!" f j "But you shall listen," said Frank j "Before you leave this room you shal "hear the truth of this business for thi ; first and last time." He stood witl his back to the door. "Barring th< fact that I have no right to the title ' the whole of her story is a lie. I was on his death-bed that Lord Trc ,varrack told me that I was not hif , son, and I had made up my mind tc renounce everything, and speak when her tears and prayers stopped lm mouth. Afterwards, a prey to remorse, I begged her to let me tell you, and she accused me of seeking 'to rob her of her 'purchase-money' j - yes, that is the term we used. Silenced once more, I was miserable; 1 could not look you in the face. But p being without heart or conscience, ' she had no such scruples, and began to amuse herself, I suppose, with you. It was only yesterday that I learned that a marriage performed under such conditions as ours was illegal. She lied when she said that I knew at the time. I was as ignorant in that respect as she. It came upon me villi a shock like the breaking of bars that f was free. But in my eyes she was my wife and I could not be unjust to her. When I told her that our marriage was /illegal, 1 made an offer, which she accepted, to go through the ceremony with her again." "It is you who lie!" cried Hugh. "You held it over her, as a threat, that you could disown her at any time!" , "The thing is as I have said," replied Frank, his voice iron-hard. ''On my soul, it is as I have' said ! Do you believe me?" , "No," said Hugh. "I would take her word against the world's!" , Frank gazed at his cousin in si- ( ence for a moment. Then he flung >pen the door with ironical politeness, ind stood aside. j "That is the answer," he said, 'that I should have made a year ;ik'>md I elon't know that you deserve a ; >etter reward than 1 received. We lave both been scamp 1 -. Perhaps, as .fiss Inglefield says, we come of ,i lad stock!" "You will hear from my solicitors,' aid Hugh, as lie stalked out. "As soon as you like," replied 'rank. j J A curious silence fell ovet tin i. <.,■;■ Iter Hugh had gone. The licking of j lie .lock only accentuated i' ; th.' iittle of a hansom passing in the

| 1 i street below only drew attention to the rigid attitude of the man, who stood as still as a figure of bronze. thinking. The passion he had vented upon Hugh was but the froth on the ' ocean —but a candle compared with 1 the furnace which burned at white | heat within him. Once it had leaped out with a fierce spit of flame: '"That Jezebel!" But he had forced it back ; again. Her bedroom was overhead. He ' could hear someone moving to and ] P ! CHAPTER XXVII.—WHAT HAPPENED AT NOB FOLK STREET. d.- , ~ j t Hugh's conduct was trivial — blamoj. less, compared with hers. If Hugh had i_ turned in the elark to bite the hand a which fed him, what of the woman who ~ had led him on? r The man who had been her lover once jj saw the list of her sins against him r unroll: hypocrisy, treachery, lies; this betrayal, worst of all. i Ho perceived perfectly well what she was about. The cunning of the scheme .surprised him; he had not given her credit for so much intelligence, even in her own interests. He smiled, thinking it over, thinking it over still. Then he j' moved, at last, and went upstairs to • I Dolly's room. He found the maid there very busy. A littol of clothes was , everywhere; wardrobe cupboards and I drawers stood open, trunks gaped on ' the floor. She was evidently packing, .i and packing in a hurry. ?! "You have heard from your mis]r'l tress?" , "Yes, my lord." \ t 'Then she is not coming hack. Where - are you to join her?" i "At Norfolk-street, my lord." ■' I Having made sure that Hugh had JI j told him the truth, he turned on his le heel and went down again, and walked 1S round to Norfolk-street. It was so like her to take her "injured innocence" : P ~ to her mother's! Appearances, of course, must bo studied at this time; 18 her social position was at stake. And 1C Mrs. Abinger happened to be away for 5y a few days, so sho would not be worC ". ried immediately with questions and i tremors and reproaches. It was evident, by the manner of the servant who opened .the door, that he d ' had orders only to admit certain peoot pi©—perhaps Lard Trevarrack had even I been tabooed by name. Frank calmly 1U entered, however, without asking any i I- • ■ • ; questions. j m j "I know," he said, "that Mrs. Abiu- \ °~ j ger is away, and that Lady Trevarrack 1)0 is here. You need not announce me." j as wj jjgg voul . pardon, my lord," fal|C ' tered the footman. "That will do! Stand asiele!" said ' s ' Frank, sternly, and made his way upIC " stairs alone. t0 . Sho was in the drawing-room, lazily i 1U ' lolling in a eleep chair, and recognised cr | his step on the stairs. An expression °f; half-vixenish, half-nervous, came on j her face. Sho made a swift movement . >k! as though to rise, then insolently re- | k. ! sumed her languid pose, and merely j ar j looked over her shoulder as he opened *■ the door, as "Ah, it is you!" she said. "What, e, do you want? I told the servants not : I to admit anyone." o- j "Except your lover, I suppose!" "Hugh, do you mean? Poor dear j er Hugh—then he has had his talk with ' you ?" k. "Oh I have had mine with him," roll plied Frank. "We both had something ic to say. 1 have still more to say to ' :h you." ! te She was playing with a diamond j J, bangle on her wrist, and pretending to It observe it, not him. > "I cannot listen to you now," she , s said. "I am tired. 1 came here, to j 0 my mother's honuse, to be alone. Whatn ever is necessary can bo said through ( y the lawyers " "I think not," he said, grimly. , , I] "Meanwhile I must request that you < ? will leave the house. My nerves are on ; ' edge. I will not discuss anything to- j , - night. If you think you are going to j ' 1 bully me " j ' t The click of tint key in the lock an- } swered her. She dropped her affecta- i ! tion of indifference then, and sprang 1 up with a sharp indrawing of her t e J breath. I , "Why did you do that?" , : "To prevent interruption," said Frank, cooly dropping the key into his r pocket, ' 'and anw desire you might feel * 'to terminate our interview before) it "j. I suited me!" i v I "There is the door of the inner room, " ! if I choose Lo make use of it," sho 1 said, "and a bell, if I choose to ring jJ it." s "I locked the door of the emter room v before I came in here." he said, "and you will not ring the bell unless it pleases me." b Her nostrils worked. Sho laid her tl hand on her bosom whioh had begun to pant. iv "Do you dare to threaten me!" she hj cried. "I am not your wife. You have no right, to order me. Open that ..,,

door!" '•: "I told you that I wished to talk to you." "But 1 do not wish to talk to you!" "Then be silent and listen." 1 A trebling suddenly weakened her limbs. She sank down in tho chair again and wiped her face. She had not returned to Berkeley-squaro on purpose to avoid ii scene; but she was sorry now that she had not taken the further precaution of concealing her address. ~ The insolent, triumph which had elated n her on the river evaporated quickly V enough in the man's presence. was not lo be played with. Sho saw that s( there was going to he a row - a big row. hj It niaele her feel sick. Why had she not <'' hidden herself? She turned paler ami j'j paler, and her sullen mouth was trenin t ] lous too. - (To be continued.) ~(