A LOVE. DREAM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 13048, 13 December 1905, Page 2 (Supplement)

A LOVE. DREAM.

BY OWEN MASTERS, Author of '' For Love of Marjorie," " Her Soldier ■ Lover," - " Nina's .' Repentance. " .;"."■■•' " The Mystery of ; "VVoodcroft," '. . ; etc., etc., etc. ■ .

SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS. The scene of the story-is. in 'Sussex, and the principal characters introduced in the opening chapters ore Atliol Glenwpod.-. Hon of Earl Glenwood; Clyda'-. Clovelley, and .Rachel . Clovelley. Athol Glenwood is in love with* Clyda. He is ordered to India with his regiment,' and proposes a secret marriage,, as 1 his father lias formed other.: pinna'for his future. Clyda desires the marriage to 'be: secret, and . keeps the secret from her sister, : her reason' being that she had /been ■ previously ■ married While quite a girl, and she has made up her mind not to inform Athol Glenwood of this, important fact. Her sister, she knows well, would have insisted on informing Athol Glenwood. Clyda believes that her first husband is dead, but she has no direct proof. All arrangements are made for the marriage by Athol Glenwood, who sent, a letter to Clyda fixing the time and place. This' letter GlycJi) lost and was unable to trace. Arthur Coventry comes to live in the neighbourhood as • a tenant of Rachel t'lovelley's, and she and Coventry from his first appearance feel more than an ordinary interest in each other. The marriage ceremony is completed, and Athol Glenwood leaves for v India. After the parting Clyda is confronted by her first husband, Richard Walton, who had witnessed the marriage. ■ " '■'-■'■ '. CHAPTER V. "YOU must LEAVE this MAN* TO me," Somehow, she knew not how, Clydia reached her home, and some ' hours after was found by Rachel lying face downwards in bed. " - - "Clyda!" Rachel stooped .over the girl; " what a fright you have given me! I thought that you were still out with Lord Glenwood,. Why didn't -you bring him home to dinner? Has the- parting been so hard, little sister?" Clyda raised herself on .one elbow, and stared into Rachel's pitying, half-frighTened eyes. Her face looked Oilmdst spectral in the white moonlight that filtered through the window* draperies. "/•'■■ . "The end is very hear, Rachel," she said, laughing'hysterically. "I can imagine how the story will read "in the newspapers, but, oh, I am so very sorry for you whom I have disgraced, and Athol, my lover! Great Heaven, be merciful, aiud let me die!" " Clyda, what folly is this? Are you mad?" Rachel was angry for a. moment: then she put her arms about her sister, and said, softly, "Tell your trouble to me, darling, and I will help you if I can." To herself, she thought, "It is only a lover's quarrel, and she is ai child still." For several minutes neither spoke; then Clyda made a petulant .movement. " Go to the chair over there, Rachel, and you shall hear something that will shock you. Draw the curtains together to shut out the horrid moonlight, and don't stare at me: and, when von have heard how expert I have always been at lying and deception, you will say that my* punishment is well merited." She wrung her hands and moaned piteousiy- '" ' - , - -" I. shaill love you and protect you, dear, no -'.matter how' foolish you have been," Rachel said. "Now, tell me everything, and when the trouble is faced it.will become light as air. A-whole confession is a whole paldou!" ' But- Clyda shook her head despairingly. "Wait) wait! I ask for no pardon. T only runt your help to escapeto send me where no one can ever find me again. If you won't help me I shall kill myself! I am quite resolved ; my heart is dead already! Don't interrupt me. Rachel, don't move until I have done, or I shall not be able to go on." ' She drew a long breath, and continued "I was always dreamer.and a weakminded egotist.; The mistakes I have made have not been made by accident. I have always known that- I was doing wrong.' Even when I married Dick Walton in secret I knew that he believed me to be a rich heiress. He had.henird of Miss Clovelley, of Clovelley Park, and was so anxious to be sure of his conquest that he forgot to make full inquiries. The romantic side of the thine appealed to me, and I cared for nothing else. At the very door of the church I told him of you, and I shall never forget the man's fury. His handsome face was so distorted thai I fled.' Then I realised what I had done,but relief came a year later with the report of his death." ~ _, . "Must you go over that sad time again, Clyda?" Rachel gently asked. "Although Richard Walton belonged to a good family he was a wicked man, and no pity can be felt at. his fate. He was shot in a low gambling den in" Chicago." ' „ " Shot, but not killed. Rachel, he is here in Lalclaud. He is the man who has been spying about' the pine wood ;' I have seen him. spoken to him, and life is ended for ■ me!" • ' ■ '■", :. . ■-~;,' ' -'~. .

Rachel had risen to her feet and was,' pacing the room. ..,.-':, '-?•:'. "The wretch!" 'exclaimed,: "and to come back.from ;.the dead now! It would not have ■mattered' so much a yeair since. No doubt lie has his price." she added, with bitter contempt, "but money, will not free you, my poor sister." .- She laid one hand caressingly upon Clyda's bowed head. Her eyes were flaming, her heart ivns surging upward until she nearly choked. " I feel that I could almost kill the coward—the monster! ' He must be got rid of in some way. The marriage shall lie annulled, no matter what the cost". You were a child at the time, and this adventurer took . advantage of you. If the laws of England are just he shall be held up,to the hatred and contempt of : bis kind!" ■. Clvrla. shivered. : "I have not quite finished," she whispered. "There is worse to come, Rachel." : "Not worse, doirling—nothing could be worse. The exposure may cause trouble between you and 'Athol Glenwood. but if he loves you, as I believe he does,-he will forgive." '-..'' ' "There is worse to come," Clyda repelled, "and I can hardly shield myself behind the plea of youthful folly now. I was married by special license to Athol Glenwood to-day! He wished to tell you, but T would not let him. You see, I preferred to go on lying and deceiving!" She burst into a torrent of tears. " Oh, Rachel, what am I to do now? Dick Walton .has been watching us for weeks; he has seen all that has been going on—he was in the church during the ceremony. Now I am utterly in his power. No judge would release 'me from him: Don't you sec that I have clone the same thing again? I can be arrested for bigamy at amy hour. No, I must run way o*r die! I have no wish to live now; T have lost Athol—l have lost everything!" i Rachel had resumed her seat, but every word smote her like a blow, -There was a short silence; then she said: "Ob. Clyda!" She was almost- crying-. "I ami'prepared for anything now!" She rose and felt her way, to the door. Her brain was reeling, her heart was sick with sorrow and dread. "Don't go like that, Rachel." Clyda said, piteously, " I know that I have always been a 'burden to you, and, well, it will pe-rhnips be a relief for you to be rid of mo at last!" , Rachel half turned, and spoke. Her voice was strained and hoarse. " You must leave this man to me." she said. "I will find a way to deal with him." Then the door closed after her. CHAPTER VI. ■ •... ,' ■ -TUK DOVK BECOMES A TIGRESS. There.war no rest for Rachel Clovelley that night. Her sister's, conduct was appalling. Of what criminal madness would she be guilty next? N "I had begun to trust her." she reflected, "but she is' unsafe. She is weak, utterly weak. Almost from babyhood she has been a v burden to me—untruthful, a maker of mischief—then tears and penitence. But, with all her faults I have loved and protected her', and believed that she was loyal to me. Now I am sure that she is not, and it is this discovery that hurts so much." Rachel was astir with the first ray of. dawn. She was resolved to £ see Richard Walton and make terms with him. Then the future must shape itself. At any rate, Clyda's love dream, was ended. She went down to the library, and, after making a score of plans and rejecting them, penned the following note to Richard Wal,ton:— • , ':..;'...•''■ '■ ■..'.■•.■ " Sir, With the view or coming to some arrangement, I shall: be glad: if you will call at the Park at your earliest convenience. Reply per bearer, and oblige, Rachel Clovklley." This summons was simple and to the point, and she was satisfied that he would

obey it. She directed it to ' the King's Arms'- Hotel, 'and • instructed; a; servant to deliver it there, and to wait for an answer. Rachel was rather surprised to find Clyda in the breakfast-room. In times of unpleasantness she usually .hid : herself . away somewhere for days together. Now she was standing at one of the windows, heavyeyed, and pale, a pathetic figure. She was reading a. letter, her. left hand pressed over her heart, her ,bosom heaving tumultuously. - "It is from Athol Glenwood," she said, hysterically. "And he calls me wife! He promises' to write often, and wants a letter from me to-dav. '■": Oh, Rachel, how:can I bear-it!: I feel that I must go mad!" "He must know the'truth," Rachel answered, gently, but firmly. ;• " At least that is due to him."' Clyda dropped into a seat and covered her 'face with her hands. " How cold you are, Rachel! How horribly good and just! ; There is no 'sympathy between us, and yet we are sisters by blood. But for your icy righteousness I should never have stooped to deception. I was always afraid of your homilies." Rachel 'listened, apparently unmoved. "You must write to Lord Glenwood, Clyda. But the letter can waif, until after my interview with Richard Walton. He will be here some time to-day, ! and you can be present if you wish it." ■ '"' I do wish it. I want the man to know how much I loathe him!" Her blue eyes snapped angrily. "I intend to assert myself I have played the tame kitten so long, from no choice of my own. I don't want you to interfere with my affairs any more, Rachel; I am a woman,- and will be responsible for my own-actions. If you object, I can leave you as soon as you like. Don't fancy that this is any sudden impulse,; I have been thinking it over during \ the night, and insist upon taking my fate into my own hands. Now I will go until Richard Walton is here. I don't want any breakfast; it would choke me." % . > As she quitted the room Rachel watched her with a look of incredulity .and amaze. Was this the gentle, clinging Clyda? For a full hour she sat half stupefied. Then she was aroused by the entrance of a servant carrying a message. It was addressed to herself, and marked Confidential." She opened it and read:

"My Dear Sister-in-Law,— Many, many thanks for your invitation. I will be with you at eleven o'clock this morning. I am most anxious for a clear understandings so that we may settle down'to a life of amity. - "With kind regards,' "Richard Walton."

Rachel sent this precious missive to Clyda, and waited with a sense of sickening fear at her heart. •'. „.,.'- ."I am not usually afraid of anything," she reflected. " I must be losing ■confidence in myself. This morning's revelation has completely unnerved. me. Oh, Clyda! Clyda!" - '^.X-. She went to the library, for the clocks were chiming the quarter to eleven, ! and in a few moments she was joined by her sister. No more passed between them, and Clyda gazed through the window until Richard Walton was announced;. then her lips tightened and a sudden,fire crept into her eves. At the sound of his footsteps she turned round, and he paused before the hatred and contempt that (lashed into her face. ' . He glanced from one to the other, and held out his hand to Rachel. "How d'ye do, Miss Clovelley? I don't think that"l am mistaken. The likeness between you and my wife ,is remarkable." Rachel ignored the proffered hand, and he flushed crimson. Then the colour left his face, and his black eyes glittered hard and cold. : "I am sorry that you are disposed to be.unfriendly— of you." He shrugged his '.''shoulders,'. and selected a chair which did not expose him too much to. the light. "I expected something different—very different." .' "I don't think that you can reasonably expect. me or my sister to welcome you with any degree of warmth," Rachel said, ■speaking almost at random. "And why not? Clyda is. my wife. It is true that we parted within a few minutes after our marriage, but we were both equally to blame. I loved her then—l love her still." '■•

Clyda laughed scornfully. ; "We practised a little deception, but I think that most lovers do that. All's fair in love. Clyda pretended to be an heiress ; and I was grieved to find that she' hail been. making fun of. me. We quarrelled, and I went away, but with the intention of coming back. I drifted abroad, and, after years of misery, am back in England to claim the woman I love." >'

"Love!" sneered Clyda. "You are here to blackmail me, or anyone else who happens to be in your power. You are" worse than the filthiest, reptile that crawls. I hate, I loathe you!" Richard Walton was startled. ■;•"' ,

"Hard words," he said, his brow darkening, and; yet those self-same lips have spoken words of burning love in my ears! I had hoped— But, pshaw! If we are to be enemies let it be so. lam armed at all points, though I have no wish to war with a woman, and-that woman my wife. Miss .Rachel Clovelley, won't you look at the facts from a rational point of view? I am not altogether a fortune-hunter—l have some money of my own—and I have dreamed of settling down, to respectable home life. I really care for Clyda, and I am disposed to forgive her for making a fool of Lord Glenwood. Now, don't you think it will be best to shake hands, and avoid the inevitable and useless scandal which will follow my appeal to a court of law?" "It was no marriage at all," Clyda interrupted, vehemently., "It was a. hollow mockery." "If you allude to the ceremony of yesterday I quite agree with you!" he answered, pleasantly. "Still, you committed bigamy, Clyda, and 1 am the injured husband. Most men would lie mad with rage and jealousy. I merely claim my rights, and shall not recede one iota from the stand I have taken. Money from you will not tempt me; I have- other sources. Besides, neither of you may have money to give." :V' He smiled enigmatically, his black eyes resting for an instant on Rachel's cold face. "I have discovered a gold mine, and you will yet be glad of my friendship, Miss Clovelley!" Silence fell upon them for a full minute. Without knowing why Rachel felt that her heart had turned cold within her. Richard Walton's smile was not, good to see, and his manner was that of a man fully conscious of his own power. "I will never live under the same roof with you," Clyda panted. "You have been scheming' for this for : weeks and weeks. You have been spying tipnn me, and —waiting— ' ' "Yes, I admit it, with bu£ one object in view. You have grown into a handsome woman, Clyda., and my old regard for you is reawakened. I have an old grudge, too, against. Lord Glenwood. We were attendants of a public school together, and mixed like oil and water. I. father fancy," ho adoed reflectively, "that I am even with him at last Ho turned toward Rachel again. * "No man is utterly bad, Miss Clovelley. and I am anxious to live a. new life. If you will throw the weight of your influence in my favour I may soon be able to. lie of some .service'to you. lam willing to wait any reasonable length of time, and the world need never know the truth." He glanced almost appealingly at both girls,- but Clyda turned upon him with flaming eyes. " I have told you that I loathe you, Dick Kalton ! My love is given to Athol Glenwood, and I-will move heaven and earth tc get that marriage' with you annulled. If I fail, beware pf me, for "you shall die the dog's death that; von- so richly deserve.! I am a child no longer; my meeting with you has transformed me into a desperate woman/' For an instant he recoiled in amazement; then he rose, his face as white?as paper, his eyes ablaze with anger. " I hardly know whether to be disappointed or not. The dove has become a tigress! But perhaps this scene has already been well rehearsed, and to you, ladies, favours of comedy—or, shall I say, melodrama? I will not be hasty: I know what women are—from one extreme to another.' I will waif a few days, so that you may consider the situation. I hold out the olive branch it shall not bo hastily withdrawn, but when it is you shall both, understand what manner of man. you choose to defy!" •'. -• _"' Casting a bitter glance at the sisters, he quitted the room, and the house. 1 ' ," Co be continued daily.) ";■; ,