SIR HILTON'S SIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13455, 6 April 1907, Page 3 (Supplement)

SIR HILTON'S SIN.

[PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.]

« BY GKOHOE M.VNVILLK KENN, I Author of "Black Blood." "A Woman i Worth Winning," " Master of the Ceremonies." "The New Mistress," "lhe Meeting of Greeks, ' " Drawn | Swords," etc.

|| [ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.] ' CHAPTER IX. STD PLAYS TRUMPS —AND WINS. '! As Sir Hilton entered Syd started from the ,j window, whistling loudly to drown the click, click, click, clack of the swing gate, 1i shuttled his creel round to his back, and ■I seized the tiy rod, wincing though, and 11 bracing himself up as he saw his uncle .1 staring alter the living figure. J •• Here, you, sir," he cried ; " what chap's / that'.'" "Schoolfellow of mine, uncle.'' '! " You fibbing young dog, how dure you i tell me that lie!* Why, it's a girl, and lvtj 'seen her before somewhere. _ J j "A girl, uncle, in knickerbockers;' ! ! " Yes, sir, a girl in knickerbockers. None] j of your sham innocency with me. Here,' j 1 know ; it's La Sylphide. " La what, uncle'.'' j "Mary Ann—old Jiimpkins' daughter.! i That iiiborougli barmaid girl. Here, speak; I iu>. What does tins mean? Never mind; I 1 can't stop to talk to you now, but—go j and slip thai bag into the dogcart, Mark, j arid sec that it's ready." | " All ready, .Sir Hilton. 1 told Jim to j be sharp, md I heard the wheels. ! " Thai/ s light. But you saw, Mark. j Wasn't that Miss Simpkins'r" •' Didn't see her face, Sir Hilton, only! j her back." ! "Well, never mind now. I've no time. | ( | But look here, sir, I'll have this over when!- ! 1 come back, and if 1 find that you—you | shrimp of a boy—have been carrying on aj, I flirtation with that saucy music hall hussy, | I'll wale your jacket with one of the joints h , of that fishing-rod. A boy like you! What's , I that you say':" ; ! "No, you won't, uncle." j "What!" roared Sir Hilton. , ! "If you touch me 1 11 tell aunt of the , ! game you're carrying on with Lady Til-j . ; borough." j: Mark said afterwards to Jane that the . ! guv'nor looked as if you could have knock- ] j i'd him down with'a feather. ! But the baronet recovered himself. ] 1 "What! he cried. ''Lady liiborough?! ; j Because that lady happens to call hereh ! when your aunt is out, you dare —to < j insinuateyou vile young vip.rthat—jt | that ' | "Hero, tit for tat, uncle. I'm not a;t baby, said the boy. "1 know. Gammon :j| • Lady T. don't visit with aunt, and i can ! see your little game.'' j: j "My little game, sir!" stutter'd Sir Hit-■ t ! ton. i | "Yes; you're carrying on some gamer i with her ladyship about the races. You : ' | told aunt you'd given up all racing." ' "Of course, sir!" cried Sir Hilton. " Yes, and Dr. Jack Granton's been here! to take your instructions this morning;! 6 Lady liiborough rides over to see you out 1 the sly as soon as auntie's out, and Marky'sl' had orders to get the dogcart ready and' 1 pack your traps. Why, uncle." shouted: the boy, as a sudden idea glanced throughh his sharp young mind, "you're going to 1 ride !" ' ' ' |" "Hush!" shouted the guilty man, seiz-j ing the boy and clapping a hand over his)* mouth. "Silence, you wicked young scoun- , drel!" _ i, Mark rushed out with the bag, to hide) r the guffaw ready to burst forth. j s Then there was a short struggle, and thou boy got his mouth free and began to roar: with laughter, as he gazed merrily in hisL uncle's face. !; "Here's a game!" he tried. "Bowled|j out, nunky. Look here, I won't split. 1L want to go to the races too." | x "How dare you say anything about L races, sir!" i t There, chuck it up, uncle. I'm a man I i of the world too. Give me a lift to the j

I raw, and shut, your even, and I'll shut | mine." You treacherous young viper!" "Oh, no. I'm not. Don't you tell about I Molly Simpkins—coming here, and | I won't say a word to auntie about Lady T. and the races. ' " I'll make no such bond with you, vou I dog!" Ob, yes you will, uncle; and. look . here. i haven't done yet. You're going to ; give me a fiver ' "Money to bribe you? No!" cried Sir | Hilton, firmly. I " .so, to put on the winning horse. I [ want the right tip. What is it?" " I'll make no such infamous contracts with you. Mr." cried Sir Hilton, furiouaiy, I "a.iO I in going out on business—business of vital important." "Of coin uncle, 1 understand," said i the boy, mockingly. And I'm not going to leave you behind to make mischief between m» and your ; aunt. Come along; 1 shall take you with me in the dogcart 1 have waiting." " All right, uncle. 1 know." " And as a prisoner, sir." "That's your sort, uncle." "You wicked young wretch! Com# I along, quick!" I "Quitk as quicksilver, uncle," cried the boy. grinning, as. evading his uncle's clutch, he th list his hand through bis elders arm. " Here, ] may as well put the pot on as it seems to be something extra good, so you'll have to make it two fivers, uncle. and two make ten." Sir Hilton uttered a wicked word totally unlit tor the cars of youth standing in such close relationship to him, and a few minutes later the dogcartwith uncle and nephew in front, and Mark grinning u» himself as he sat behind pressing the" bag so that it could not drop offspun out of the yard gate, and off and away by tha back la ties tor the Tilborough Road, now pretty lively with vehicles of all sorts, all bound in the same direction. Fate plays strange pranks! CHAPTER X. HOW JANK I.ISTKNKD .VN'D TOLD. •lust at the same time Lady Lisle's barouche was getting very close to the swing gates and the carriage drive of th« Denes, with her ladyship leaning back. Was not that a vehicle of some kind leaving the stable yard, Thomas?" she said to the coachman. " Yes, my lady." "Could you see what it was?" Not quite, my lady, but 1 think it was jours, with Black Nelly in the shafts, for I r j 1)0,11 d one of the clicks she gives when she J oversteps with her nil' hind hoof. ' ! Lady i-i>l wondered, and started the next minute when she heard another click. ' Hut. this time ii was the latch of the ■[swing gate, half-drowned by the carriage •j wheels on the drive leading to the front i door. [j '1 lien she fell to wondering again, and s alighted to enter the house. I .Just as she stepped down a. telegraphsboysboy came up on his bicycle, smiling, and [ ready to touch his cap, as he held out to .her one of the l'nmiliar-t in ted envelopes, , with jirophotic. notions about Christmas- • boxes in the future. J "A message!" she said, changing colour for the moment, as thoughts of the possi- ' bilities so often bidden beneath one of tli<>s9 , official envelopes crossed her mind. " Yes, m'lady. Any answer?" As head of the establishment of the . Denes:, bought and paid for with the money which formed her dowry, she took the mes- , sage as a matter of course, and opened it [ without glancing at the direction, drooped . the envelope on to the stone steps, and tho pleasant breeze whisked it in among tho shrubs. She had turned pale on receiving the telegram. As she re-ad it she turned pink oil ■ finding it was a private communication not intended for her eyes, and then scarlet with indignation and wrath. l| Why, this is dated yesterday," she . cried, angrily. " Yes, m'ludy. We had such a lot r>' racing messages, my Gee couldn't get 'em all through. Hut we've got a special gal on, raid it'll be all right now." "No answer!" said Lady Lisle, sharply, and she hurried into the hall, and from thence into the breakfast-room, to stand with temples throbbing, rending the message again : — "All found out at last. Do pray tell her ladyship. She won't be verv hard upon uk if you confers everything. Not sorry, after all, for it must have been known soon. Do, do come over, and face it out with me. Pray, pray come.—La Stli-hidi;." "Oh-h-h-h!" moaned the poor woman, in a quivering sob; and she stood rigid for a few minutes, crushing the message in her hand, suffering agonies from the awakening for the first time in her life of the passion known as jealousy. It filled her, so to speak, and overmastered everything. There could be no other possibility—no doubt— the demon had her in its grasp, and everything now had some bearing upon the message. All passages in her life during the past few months tended towards proving that she had been basely, cruelly deceived. Hilton had gradually been growing colder and more indifferent; lie had grown moody and thoughtful. It had struck her that he i was careless about the Parliamentary bum- ; ness, and had not seemed to be grateful when, in a mingled spirit of generosity and vanity, she, the wife to whom lie had sworn 1 fidelity, had placed four thousand pounds to his credit in the bank. Here was the reason. "Stop!" she cried, mentally. "I will IRv»t be rash." | She looked at the telegram again, read it, land then noted that the postmark was Til- . borough : and she turned it over to examine I the envelope, which she had dropped—she did not recall in her half-crazy state when or where. | But it was enough—the boy had given it Ito her, and it could be for no one else. ! "Oh. Hilton, Hilton!" she groaned. "Has it come to this? A liaison with some I low-born, ba,"e creature. Kept with 'ray jmoney. This is why you have always been Iso short; this is why you have always been [degrading yourself by asking for more. 'All found out at last. Do pray tell her ladyshin. She won't be very hard upon us!' Indeed!" she said, half-aioud, and through her hard-set teeth. "Of course not. Oh-h-h! jl could have overlooked a relapse into his old gambling vice, but this—this baseness! I The villain—the villain!" I " Who is it?" she muttered, reading ] again. "La Sylphide. Some French creature, dwelling ir that nest of infamy, Tilborough.- Why! Oh, great heavens! That : wretched racing woman—that widow! She I must have been coming here to see him this morning when we passed. Oh, I fee it .all i now. The telegram—dated yesterday—he | did not join her according to her request, and she had the daring effrontery to come j after him here. That is it. 'All found out [at last!' What could be all found out at last? Oh——oh!" j Lady Lisle covered her face with her | hands, the coloured paper crackling softly las it touched her temples, making her start as if it h'id stung her burning skin, and | dash it down upon the carpet and stamp upon it in disgust. I But it was a proof of her husband's in- ! fidelity, she thought, and she stooped and I picked it up. wishing her fingers were tho '.toners, as she smoothed it out, doubled it, and held it ready for the interview about to take place. " And so lam not to be very hard. I am to condone everything. Well," she added. with a bitter laugh which seemed to tear itself from her throbbing breast, "we shall fee." She paused again, with her poor brain seeming to seethe with wildly jealous thoughts, every one garnished with cruel suspicions, and seeming to tell more and more against the culprit, till everything was in a whirl. But nil the time she was suffering from the belief that she was seeing more and more clearly as t he cruel moments glided on. " Yes, I see it all now." she cried, passionately" poor, weak, deluded, loving fool that ! have been ! Vile, treacherous wretch ! Horrible creature! Yes, of course. A woman who is said to have refused offer after offer since her poor husband's death. La Sylphideof course, as if 1 had not heard that she bought a portion of Hilton's stud when his horses were sold, and one was this Sylphide, whose name she dares to assume in her clandestine communications to him. Oh. how kind to me Fate has been! To think of it! I must have been a trusting victim for years—hoodwinked —blinded to their infamy Ah! be shall find out what the weak, loving, confiding woman whom he has deceived can be." (To be continued cn Wednesday next,)