VIRGIE'S INHERITANCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9022, 7 April 1888, Page 3 (Supplement)

VIRGIE'S INHERITANCE.

BY MRS. GEORGIE SHELDON. Author of " That Dowdy," " Brownie's Triumph," &c, Ac.

CHAPTER XLlV.— (Continued.) A SUDDEN FLITTING.

Lady Lintojj, hearing all this, and knowing so much more than either Rupert or her brother, grew deadly faint as she listened and realised how near she stood to the verge of a terrible exposure.

Just then there came a brisk tap upon the ibrary door, and the next moment Lilian put her bright face into the room, and looking as lovely as the morning itself in her white flannel wrapper, fastened at the waist with cherry ribbons and with hands full of jacqueminot roses. Her face assumed a look of surprise as she saw Rupert there, and she regarded him with searching curiosity. " Pardon me, Uncle Will," she said, flushing; "I did not know that you were engaged with anyone ; I have, just received a box of flowers, and came to arrange some for your table. May I come in ? I won't be long." " Yes indeed, come in ; you are doubly welcome coming with so much beauty and fragrance," said her uncle, smiling. Rupert arose as she entered, and asked with an arch smile:

" What enamoured swain has been guilty fo the extravagance of lavishing such costly flowers upon you, Lilian ?" "Lord Ernest Rathburnis the donor ; he has exquisite taste. I wish you could have seen the box when it came," the girl replied, with a conscious drooping of her brilliant eyes. " Lord Ernest Rathburn !" repeated Rupert in a peculiar tone, which brought the angry colour to Lilian's cheek. Lord Ernest was a yoiing nobleman with a large revenue, but possessing far less brains than moustache, and who was regarded with contempt by all matily young men, on account of his effeminacy and excesses.

" I wish," he added," that you could meet a friend of mine, Lilian ; you will, I hope, before very long. Lord Ernest would sink into insignificance by comparison." "And who may this paragon of manly excellence be, Mr. Hamilton, if I may inquire?" Lilian asked, with a toss of her head. " Harry Webster, the young man with whom I travelled, last winter, in America." "I despise Americans," retorted Miss Linton, with considerable asperity. "That is rather a sweeping assertion; isn't it, my dear ?" asked Sir William, looking a trifle amused. " It is the truth, Uncle Will, whatever elee ib may be," ehe retorted, as she began to arrange her flowers in a vase on the table. "I am English to the backbone. I am thoroughly imbued with a love for my own people, and I shall never permit myself to draw disloyal comparisons."

Rupert laughed outright, ae, in his mind, he placed the stooping figure and imbecile face of the half-witted young lord beside the grandly developed form and frank, handsome countenance of hie American friend.

"If you could place the two men side by side, I warrant you would be compelled to draw disloyal comparisons, in spite of your very praiseworthy patriotism, my fair cousin, he said, a roguish twinkle in hie eyes. Lilian shot an angry glance at those last words ; nothing annoyed her more than to be called " sister" or " cousin" by Rupert. " I thank you for acknowledging that I am imbued with patriotism. I wonder what has become or yours," she said, sarcastically. " I have plenty of it, only I do not allow it to warp my judgment; I can appreciate both beauty and goodness wherever 1 find it, at home or abroad." "Thatis a self-evident fact," remarked the young girl, dryly, and Rupert coloured consciously. " I give you credit for just as nice discrimination," he retorted. "Wait till you see my friend, Webster, and if he doesn't take the palm I shall lose my guess," as the Yankees say. " That is American slang; they are all insufferably coarse," Lilian returned, contemptuously. " Did you meet the pretty little American, Miss Alexander, at Lady Dunforth'e the other evening, Lilian ?" inquired Sir William.

" Yes, I met her," the girl admitted, rather ungraciously. "Well, you would hardiy class her among those whom you term coarse, would you ? I thought her an unusually attractive girl." " No, I admit she appeared very pretty and ladylike ; and yet I have no doubt that she would soon betray her nationality if one was to see much of her." "Neither have I; and she would be proud to own it also, I'll wager," Rupert observed, with some spirit. He was out of patience with Lilian's unreasonable prejudices, and her slighting tone of speaking of Virgie made him indignant.

She looked up at him with a mocking smile on her red lips. " When shall we have the pleasure of congratulating you upon your American conquest ?" she asked, saucily. " I shall take great pleasure in informing you when the proper time arrives," he replied, with studied politeness, and with a seriousness that drove all colour from the girl's face and made her heart sink like lead in her bosom.

At that moment the butler entered the room with a telegram, which he presented to Sir William, and then withdrew. The Baronet tore it open and read :— " Come to Middlewich ab once. William has had a dangerous fall.—Margaket Heath. "

Middlewich was the country seat of the nobleman to whom the Baronet's cousin, William Heath, was private secretary, and it wag to this place that he was now so peremptorily summoned. Lady Linton in her hiding-place heard her brother read this telegram with a thrill of joy. She was glad of anything that would take him out of London and away from the danger of meeting " that woman," and she resolved that it should go hard with her if she could not find some way of opposing other barriers before his return. It was a desperate case, and she was prepared for desperate measures. She crept out of her brother's chamber with a pale, drawn face, saying to herself that Rupert Hamilton should never fulfil his engagement with Virgie Alexander, if there was any power on earth to prevent it; she could never bear the humiliation of it.

She packed her brother's portmanteau with alacrity, and promised to attend faithfully to his various commissions during his absence, and uttered a sigh of relief when the carriage drove from the door, and she knew that he was well on his way to Midlewich.

CHAPTER XLV. AN CN'EXPECTEP MEETING. Three days later Lady Linton received a letter from her brother, giving the particulars of his cousin's accident. Ho nad been riding from Chester to Middlewich, when his horse became frightened at some object by the roadside, and Mr. Heath, not being sufiiciently on his guard, had been thrown, suffering the fracture of two ribs, a broken arm, and, it was feared, some internal injury besides. He was in a very critical state at the time of Sir William s writing, and the latter said he should not think of returning to London until assured that his kinsman was out of danger. " Thank fortune !" Lady Linton breathed, most fervently. "Of course," she added, a guilty flush rising to her forehead as she suddenly realised how heartless her expression sounded, '' of course, I do not mean that I am thankful to have Cousin William suffer such injuries, but I am immeasurably relieved to have my brother called away just at this time, and the longer he stays the better I shall be pleased." She heard nothing more for a week, when there camo another letter stating that Mr. Heath was slightly improved, but still unable to be moved, and quite a sufferer. There were some more particulars, too, regarding the accident in it. Lord Norton, an aged friend of the Duke V)f Fahnouth—the nobleman to whom Mr. Heath was private secretary—was very ill, and he had sent for his grace to confide to him a historical work upon which ho had been engaged for more than two years. It was nearly completed, only a few more chapters to be copied, and Lord Norton, feeling that he should not live to see it published, desired his friend to take charge of it, finish it, and secure its publication. The Duke readily consented to put tho work through ; but, as his eyesight would not permit him to do very much in the way of either reading or writing, he suggested that his secretary, Mr. Heath, who was eminently qualified, should get it ready for press, and he himself would attend to its publication. Lord Norton was pleased with this proposition, and Mr. Heath consented to take hold of the book at once, honing to complete the copying while his lordship's strength endured to oversee the work and make important suggestions for his benefit. Of course, this necessitated numerous visits to the invalid, and it was while returning from one of these that Mr. Heath's horse took fright, causing the accident and putting a stop to the project so near the old lord's heart. Sir William wrote that the disappointment of both the Duke of Falmouth and Lord Norton was so great that he had himself offered to take his cousin's place and finish the copying of the book, while he remained at Middlewich in attendance upon his injured relative and his family. Lady Linton was jubilant after receiving this letter, for it was evident that Sir William would be detained at Middlewich for quite a while; meantime she would exert all the cunning of which she was mistress to ruin the woman whom she both feared and hated, and thus plant an insurmountable barrier between Rupert and his beautiful fiancee. With this mad scheme in mind, she ascertained Mrs. Alexander's address, and boldly went one morning to face her enemy in her own domain.

But she was bitterly disappointed to learn that ehe was not in town. She was away on a little trip, the landlady told her; she might be gone a week longer; she might not return even at the end of that time. " The rooms were paid for in advance for three months, so the woman had nob asked when they would return, nor whither they were going, but she had heard .the yonng lady say something about a visit to Edinburgh ; possibly they had gone there."

So Lady Linton had to rest upon her belligerent oars for a season, though she resolved to be on the alert as soon as Mrs. Alexander and her daughter should return.

A couple of weeks later she went one morning to do eome shopping for Lilian on Oxford-street, and just as she was about to enter a fashionable furnishing store the door opened, a lady came out, and—she stood face to face once more with Mrs. Alexander.

An angry red suffused Lady Linton's face, an omnious flash lighted her cold grey eyes. " Ah! so you have returned," she said, sharply, and planting herself directly in the path of her foe. She was looking very lovely—so lovely, indeed, that her ladyship marvelled at her beauty. She wore a black silk dress, simply made, bub of richest texture, an elegant) mantle of black velvet heavilytrimmed with jet, a bonnet of the same material, relieved by three graceful ostritch

tips of cream-white; and the dainty affair was bewitchingly becoming; her hands were faultlessly gloved, and a single halfblown Lamargue rose had been drawn into one of the fastenings of her mantle, its pale yellow petals nestling lovingly among the rich folds of velvet. There was, the daintiest bloom on her cheeks, her eyes were bright, her whole face animated, and she was a woman to attract admiring attention wherever she went. Lady Linton congratulated herself that her brother was far from London, for she well knew that it would need but one glance at this beautiful picture to bring him a hopeless captive to her feet once more. Mrs. Alexander slightly raised her brows at her ladyship's abrupt manner of address, bowed politely, and would have passed on, but the other laid a detaining hand upon her arm, and drew her into a little vestibule just inside the door. "I want to speak to you," she said, authoritatively. " Certainly ; I am at your service, Lady Linton," was the quiet, ladylike reply, and Virgie's full, blue eyes looked calmly down upon the sallow countenance before her as she waited to learn why she had been so unceremoniously detained. " Why have you come to London ?" Lady Linton inquired, brusquely. Mrs. Alexander drew herself up a trifle, and hesitated a moment before replying; then she said, gravely : " Partly upon business; partly for health." " Health !" scornfully repeated Lady Linton, with a quick upward glance into that, beautiful, blooming , face. A musical laugh rippled over Mrs. Alexander's lips, and she flushed an exquisite colour; for both glance and emphasis, although not so intended, were a marked compliment to her appearance. "You think I do not need to go anywhere in search of health," she observed. " That is true, just now, although I was far from well when I left America." "What is your 'business' here?" demanded her companion, ignoring her reply. " Really, Lady Linton, Mrs. Alexander returned, coldly, " I do not know as I feel obliged to explain that to you just yet." "Just yet!" repeated the other, with a sudden heart-bound. "What am I to

understand by that ?" " Just what you choose, Lady Linton." "Is your ' business , connected in any way with that threat which you made in my presence more than eight years ago ?" . "Ah ! then you have not forgotten what happened more than eight years ago ?" Lady Linton coloured angrily. "I could almost wish that I had died then, rather than that you should have saved me !" she said, passionately. "Why" Gravely, almost solemly, the brief inquiry was made.

" Because I hate you ! You came between me and some of my brightest hopes. Because you—" "No, it is not wholly that," Virgie interposed, quietly, while her grave, beautiful eyes searched Lady Linton's face, with something of pifcy in them. "It is because you have injured me, and one is apt to dislike and shrink from another whom one has wronged." "Howhave I wronged you?" detnanded Lady Lin ton, in a startled tone, and rendering how much the woman knew. "I do not need to tell you. Your own conscience needs no other accuser than itself," was the calm reply. " But it would have been far better had your ladyship constituted yourself my friend instead of my enemy."

"I could never be your friend. I shall be your foe to the bitter end, and it was to warn you of this that I detained you today. If you have come to London with the intention of thrusting yourself and your daughter upon my brother, let me tell you beware! You are a divorced woman; you have no claim whatever upon Sir William Heath, and your child shall never be acknowledged by his name. I have vowed this, and I mean it. You may think it all an idle threat, but if you are in London one month from to-day it will be at your peril. I will ruin you. I will so shame and humiliate you that you will be glad to tiide yourself from all who know you. I will do even worse if need be. Nothing shall hinder me from making sure work this time." She was actually hoarse with passion as she concluded.

" This time, Lady Lin ton ? Then it; was your work that other time. You acknowledge it?" said Mrs. Alexander in a calm toue and without a trace of excitement in either face or manner.

She was as unruffled as when Lady Linton first met her ; she had not even lost a vestige of colour. All the chang_6 that was visible in her was a half-sorrowiul light in her beautiful blue eyes, a grave, pitiful expression about her mouth. Lady Linton saw instantly that she had made a mistake; in her anger and hatred she had admitted more than was wise and

prudent, and she grew very pale. "I acknowledge nothing; I only warn you," she said, almost fiercely. " Lady Linton," her companion answered, composedly," your threats do not move me ; they cannot hurt me, and I fear they will but recoil upon your own head. Believe me, I would much rather be on friendly terms with you. I feel more like forgiving the injuries of the past than cherishing hostile feelings. I could even at this moment take your hand—the hand that wrote such cruel things of me so many years ago—and say ' Let us be at peace ;' but you will not, and I must go my way and leave you to go yours, hoping that, before it is too late for repentance to avail you anything, a better spirit may possess you." " You defy me then ?" said Lady Linton, through tightly closed teeth. "On, no; I do not defy you," was the n* isant rejoinder. " You are very angry, y Linton, because I will not allow myself to be frightened and brow-beaten by you, but you will feel differently by-and-bye when you come to consider matters in another light. I would rather do you a kindness than harm, and, by the way, I have a package belonging to you which I mean to return to you very soon." " A package belonging to me ! Where did you get it ?" "It is one that I have had many years, but I have only recently discovered that it is yours." " It is impossible that you can have anything of mine," returned Lady Linton, coldly. Her companion smiled slightly, then said : " An uncle of mine was returning from the far East some twelve or thirteen years ago, and, on his way from London to Edinburgh, rode in the same railway carriage with a lady who got out at one of the way stations. He never knew which station it was, for he had fallen asleep shortly after leaving London, and when he awoke she was gone. He found a package, however, which she had dropped and which he could not return, because there was no name upon it, therefore he was forced to take it home 'to America with him. He confided it to me on his death-bed with the injunction to return it to the owner if I should ever be so fortunate as to meet her. I discovered on the evening of our meeting at Lady Dunforfch's that you were the owner." " I assure you that you are mistaken. I never lost a package in a railway carriage," returned Lady Linton, haughtily. "No, but a fnend to whom you confided it, lost it." " What—who ?" demanded her ladyship, with a start. " The way I learned that it belonged to you," Mrs. Alexander resumed, "was by observing upon the panel of your carriage door, as I left Lady Dunforth's that evening, the Linton coat of arms. The seal upon the package of which I speak is stamped with a shield bearing a patriarchal cross and the motto, ' Droit et Loyal, , and there is also written upon the wrapper this sentence, ' To be destroyed unopened in the event of my death." . Lady Linton had shrunk back appalled during this description, and now stood leaning against the wall, white, trembling, while great beads of perepiration stood about her mouth and on her forehead. " Great heavens! have you got that ?" ab last burst from her quivering hps, in a tone of horror.

" Yes ; ib is a singular coincidence, is it not?" inquired her companion, serenely. "However, I will return it to you very soon. And now, good-morning, Lady Linton. This will be a very busy day for me, and I must not tarry longer." With these worls Virginia Alexander swept by the stricken woman with a courteous inclination of her head, and went on her way, apparently unruffled by anything that had occurred during the spirited interview with her eworo enemy, Sir William Heath's sister.

Lady Linton stood for a moment or two utterly motionless, almost paralysed by the startling revelations which her brothers former wife had just made to her, and then she, too, tottered from the place, murmur- " To think that she, of all persons, should have had that during these years ! What a fool I have been! But," she continued, with an ominous glitter in her steely eyes, " the die is cast—it will now take desperate measures indeed to secure my own safety and accomplish her defeat." She returned directly home, for she had neither the strength nor the heart to purchase fashionable gewgaws for Lilian at least until she had recovered somewhat from the shock she had just received. Upon her arrival she found still another letter from Sir William awaiting her, and one which filled her with astonishment and

pub an entirely different aspect upon the future, while a portion, at least, of its contents was calculated to electrify his whole household as well as society at large. CHAPTEB XLVI. A STARTLING ANNOUNCEMENT. Lady Linton's letter was handed to her by the butler just as she was sitting down to lunch. She had come in just as the bell rang, and leaving her bonnet and wraps in the hall, she went directly to the dining-room without going, as usual, to her room to make a change in her toilet; she was far too weary and shaken to mount the stairs. She broke the seal absently, and began to read in a listless, preoccupied way, when all at once she uttered a startled, exclamation, and the paper dropped from her nerveless fingers upon the table. " Why, mamma, what is it ? You are as pale as a ghost. Is Cousin William worse or dead ?" exclaimed Lilian, regarding her mother with mingled curiosity and astonishment. "No, but the strangest thing in the world has happened." "It must Dβ something strange to disturb your equanimity like this ; but what is it?" inquired the girl, eagerly. " Your Uncle William is going to be married 1" " You cannot mean it mamma ?—at last'." cried Lilian, amazed ; then she added, with a gay laugh, " The dear old bachelor ! Well, you will have your wish, after all. You have wanted him to marry for the last dozen years." " Yes ; and—l am glad—l am delighted !" replied Lady Linton, slowly, but with strange exultation in her voice, while her eyes gleamed with almost ferocious triumph. " Well, I am astonished. I had given Uncle Will up as a hardened case," Lilian said, growing more and more surprised as she considered the matter ; " but do tell me who is the happy woman ?" " A niece of Lord Norton who has just died; you know we read of his death last week, and I have been wondering why your uncle did not write. This accounts for it," replied Lady Linton. Then taking up his letter, she continued : " I will read you what he says. The epistl,e is very brief and does not sound like him at all, but I suppose we must excuse it under the circumstances."

" 'You will doubtless be surprised by the contents of this letter, , he writes, • and as I have much on my mind, I will simply state bare facts, leaving details until my return. You already know of my having- taken my cousin's place as temporary amanuensis to Lord Norton. I was enabled to complete the manuscript for him the week before his death, which occurred on the ninth. But, during my visits to him, I met a niece of his, who, I may say, is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. By his lordship's will she becomes the heiress to all his possessions, which consist of his fine estate called Englewood, here in Chester, besides a large amount of personal property. To make a long story short, however, I am going to make this lady my wife, and as I am too old to waste any time upon forms or so called etiquette, we intend to be married immediately—that is, within the month— about the twenty-first, I think, after which we shall repair to Heathdale, where we shall remain quietly remain for the present. The wedding will be strictly private on account of his lordship's recent death and in compliance with the request of his niece. I will, however, notify you further of my plans before the twenty-first. , " The epistle closed abruptly and rather formally, and Lady Linton's face was crimson as she concluded the reading of it. " It is the most unheard of thing in the world !" she said, excitedly. " A private wedding, indeed—not even his own sister invited, and it is all so sudden that it fairly takes my breath away." "They might at least have asked us to go to Englewood to witness the ceremony," Lilian observed, thoughtfully. " The letter doesn't sound a bit like Uncle Will." " I suppose he is so taken up with his bride-elect that he has not much time or thought for anyone else; but he might have told us something about her; he did not even mention her name; I suppose, however, we are to infer that she is a Miss Norton". I wonder whether she is young or old ?" Lady Linton said, in an injured tone, and looking both perplexed and annoyed. " He says she is beautiful, mamma." "Of course; one's betrothed is always beautiful to the man who is to be married. They are going directly to Heathdale," she added, musingly. " There ought to be some one thero to receive them, and the house needs preparation for the occasion. I think, Lilian, that, notwithstanding I have been rather shabbily treated in this affair, I shall go down to Heathdale and give them the best welcome possible at so short a notice. I can at least brighten things up and arrange for a small dinner party and reception in honour of the bride.'

" Perhaps they would prefer not to meet anyone just yet, mamma, ' Lilian suggested. " I cannot help it. Such a home-coming as that would be too dismal, and not at all in keeping with the dignity of the family. I shall take matters into my own hands and conduct the affair as I think best. We will go to Heathdale the last of the week."

Her ladyship fell into a profound reverie alter announcing this decision, while Lilian took up the morning paper and began to read. Lady Linton was deeply hurt by the way that her brother had written of his approaching marriage, and more so at having been ignored in all the arrangements; yet in spite of all this she was secretly jubilant over the fact that Sir William was about to bring a mistress to Heathdale. It would relieve her of a great burden ; of all further plotting and intrigue regarding the enemy whom she had encountered only that day. Virginia Alexander might do her worst now —once let the twenty-first of December pass and she need fear her no more. She might succeed in securing an acknowledgment from Sir William that Virgie waa his lawful child and a settlement of a portion of his property upon her ; but there would be no longer any fear of the long-parted husband and wife coming to an understanding with each other—she, at least, would never come to Heathdale to queen it as mistress.

She had heard of Lord Norton. He was reputed to be very old, very eccentric, and very literary; but she had not known of what his family consisted. She did not know, even now, farther than that he had a neice, but in her present mood, with that bitter hatred against Virginia Alexander rankling in her heart and the fear that her past treachery was liable to be exposed if she was ever allowed to enter Heathdale, she was prepared to welcome Lord Norton's heiress in the most cordial manner, and her spiritr rose light as air at the prospect of a new sister-in-law.

" Mamma," said Lilian, suddenly looking up from her paper and breaking in upon these musings," Uncle Will's engagement) is announced here."

" What! in the paper? Well, I must say they are rushine things !" She held out her hand for the sheet, an evil smile on her thin lips, as she imagined something , of the chagrin and disapointment that Mrs. Alexander would experience upon reading an account of Sir William Heath's approaching marriage. There was quite an extended paragraph regarding it, considerable being said about the late Lord Norton and his recent death ; mention being made of his having left the whole of his large property to a niece; while the fact that Sir William Heath was contemplating matrimony with the " beautiful heiress" gave rise to some pleasantry, since the "distinguished Baronet having for so many years resisted Cupid's most artful emdeavours to lead him to Hymen's altar, his friends and well-wishers had begun to fear that he was hopelessly invulnerable." " Mamma, whab will become of us when Uncle Will brings his wife home!" Lilian

asked, somewhat anxiously, as Lady Lintoq laid down the paper. The same question had been agitating her ladyship's mind. They could not well go to LintonGrangei for Percy was making extensive improvements in view of his own approaching marriage ; they had no home of their own—in fact tHey were wholly dependent on Sir William, and Lady Linton felt that no place but Reathd*j# fraold ever be liko home to her. "We will not borrow trouble about that;, Lilian," she answered; " this Miss Norton may be very young and inexperienced ; in that case she would need some older person, like myself, to advise and assist her; sol. imagine that we shall still be welcome in your uncle's household." [To be continued.]