LASSIE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14148, 25 August 1909, Page 10

LASSIE.

■fSMtrSHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.

: BY HELEN MATHERS, ' ikutTiOf o? " Oomin' Thro' the- Bye.'.' (< ">** J/adyMalincourt," "Cherry Rjpe." My Lady Cfreeasleetes.*" " Gay Lawless* ;;"'- . Etc., Etc. [COPYRIGHT.] CHAPTER XVI. LESBIA IS OVKRiJOTT2rf. A weak* heart that the heat had told on —there would be trouble there, thought James, who was no mean physician, but Eugenia's unconsciousness was brief; and as she opened her eyes the same* loud voice' from the inner room exclaimed : • " How does Alick St. Leven do it? 0! l he saves has luxuries out of the* alimony ; ihe owes his wife—he says himself 1 he is the biggest rotter alive, and it's about'true. ; It was his doing that ! 'his : son* had to> go' ; to West Africa the' other day—" I Alick St. Leven . . . obsessed as : f Eugenia had been- with thoughts of Roddy : during the past Weeks, and for the last. , ; few days by the mad idea, that be- wasp j ill, and had ; been" ordered" back to England, she felt that she could have killed' herself for so giving the show away; to her mother,, to Gifford, and, yes,: surely , ; to that clever James Coulter, who up to ! . bow could have had no inkling, of her interested motives as regarded l Lassie-. The delicate colour rushed back to her cheeks—she was acting: once more, as she turned to Gifford in eager thank*— had ■ been his hand that had" snatched a glassof water from a table near, and ; held it to : her lips, but Lady Blanche, who' knew of ' the girl's infatuation for Roddy; a«d guessed that she had supposed the eon to be spoken of, not the father, thought it all extremely disagreeable, and felt furious with Lesbia, who had insisted on-dragging her up here this roasting hot afternoon, when she would so much rather have eat', in Salvia ti's coolroom, listening to the septette and talk- : ing to a nice-man" - • This maladroit tea. spoiling other people s ' sport, up here" in the clouds, with its* ini visible bats, and faints, and iiowider'iJtttfS(for die* reseated 1 Lesbia-V illimiMiners in* 1 openly powdering her noses at? t-fe table,, i ' and* with such bad powder, too, leaving-a. bard, white smear across her chin which : , Lady Blanche felt much- too crosif- to tell her of), was not good enough,.and with the , rudeness of her order she promptly told. ' } Lesbia she «*s more than ready to go home, and* James Coulter went to order round the* carriage. t , "Why: don't 1 you come with i»s?" said. '; Lady* Blanche, eyeing James over as a' pro- - spective 1 buyer may a> hem, a»he arranged : the light" rugs over the women's* delicate . gowns? then with* a malicious- glance ati L Uxsbia, "you know the old adage and they |. may just as well; acknowledge the engage- I ment, and have done with it, sine'- all Aix knows 1 !" "I'm afraid! can't," said James gravely. "I'm gooseberry, you know;" But as they drove away he* thought that if backs ever , expressed * fighting, Lesbia's and- Lady" ; Blanche's did then. Yet the latter was saving nothing worse than: " Well, Alvanley is a capital match for* Eugenia—but with that weak heart she might go off suddenly— how awful for , you. poor dear, as the whole of that fortune goes to charities at her death!" " Only, as you know, she is in love with another man* who is not in love with'her, dear Blanche," said Lesbia sweetly, and Ja:>'t ,,r , *» ho had eat down on a convenient boulder outride the inn, smiled' a* the carriage wended its way down the hill. After c.U. fish-ladies and great ladies were vroiderfuHv alike in their methods 1 put out. he thought, as he" admired the ■v prosppct. leaving Eugenia awl Gifford the 1 • empty room ami balcony, art* unusual-occur-rence- at that time of year. As they leaned their arms over the rails of the balcony, outwardly calm, their hearts •were in a wild turmoil, his of pain and jealousy, Iters of wounded pride, fear,, and anger, for she knew that she bad completely given herself away on hearing the St. Lowii name, and Gifford's stem face, which bore the ugly pallor of very dark men, and ■betokened intense emotion. Warned her that th? time for trifling with him was past. The moment- had come r and Alvanley would be kept at bay no longer^she must either take him or leave him—and the something in Eugenia- that-. was net-"quite good, quite true; hut possibly some inherited strain from her mother, leaped to the thought that she might Keep'- him- by making some promise that she would be able subsequently to evade. Eugenia wanted intensely to get even with her mother who had with such ingenuity kept her and Roddy apart during those precious days before* he- sailed. Mot easily roused, the girl had become vindictive and • even dangerous, as a starving man may, ■when you snatch bread from his hand* and trample it in the mire, and she resented. Lesbia's taking the extreme step of following them up there that afternoon. It was so idiotic— motiveless, thought the . girl, forgetting that her mother never did anything without a motive,, usually to- her own advancement. Now, as Gifford turned suddenly Eugenia took her arms from the railings and faced .'. him. . < It's Roddy St. Leven' you love, By jove," he said, "and I love "you. That's about all there i«- to it, and the sooner I clear out the better." Alvanley always gave one the impression of unu&oaf proportions, though in reality he was a little under, six feet— was perhaps the great breadth of his chest, the almost brutal strength of his jaw and chin, that gave him that appearance of virility and strength which appeals so strongly to some women (but not to Eugenia), and if with (her he' had hitherto seemed to be trying to soften himself down,, at that moment he forced her to feel his strength, and she . loathed him for it. " You have no right to say it," she cried, with a sudden angry passion of which be did not know the origin, "Roddy and I have been friends all our lives— since • I was a child, and you say yourself he is in love with Lassie Latreille." Not in love, but intensely interested in ];.■ her," said Gifford quietly. "If you are bo p 'indifferent, why did you faint just now at the mere thought that 'he was coming to Aix?" L" "The heat has been frightful all day," : cried Eugenia indignantly; "yon said yes- .: terday that Aix is the hottest place you i were ever in." "Not on the Chambotte," he said. .Eugenia made no answer— the - grandly . cut white lids her blue eye/n were v looking across at the distant mountains— |; delicate, aloof, the eometlring shadowy, and m not quite of this world, that made the distinctive charm of Eugenia, gripped Gifford's heart, as it had often done before, yet when (die spoke it was to say something delight|i fully human. "Wouldn't it make mother wild?" Her 1 • lips curled tip, and showed the little pearly teeth in a malicious grimace. " It is more important that it would make me happy," said Gifford. "Look here, Eugenia —let's tell her we'fe engaged— be engaged presently—on approbation, you know,•; If you think you can stick to me after we have ' walked out' together"—they C ; troth ■ burst out laughing—"l believe that is the correct expression- say, six months?" \ "And supposing I «ay, No?" said Eugenia. "Then it's good-bye, my dear, here, this minute, though you may have to put up " with my company back into the town." "Gilford!" Eugenia shrank into herself as she looked I at the resolute mouth, the determined eyes of the lover whom as she shrewdly suspected James Coulter had turned from a ] puppet into a man, and a thrill: of half- | V fear, half-detestation ran through her. He j would be bad to reckon with if she de- : ■ ceived him as she had every intention of i doing—for that was the fate of the women | •—and they were many, who loved Roddy , EL Leven, that there was never any shadow : .. of taming in their love, nor could any ' tiinr mm ever exist for them, :

But Gifford had made himself, in a way, indispensable to her. She had 1 , long had an axe-to grind- with her mother, and, watching her, he thought he had won, but found ' himself mistaken, when she began to haggle delicately with him much as Lassie had done with her lovers. " Gifford; We'll persuade mother we are —she'll' try her hardest to set us by- the \ ; ears"—she frowned- a • little, looking cheer- : down to the blue-waters below—and if . «at the end' of six months I—love—you— , .we'll tell everybody—not before." ' Gifford tugged- at his- moustache with 'a ; 'characteristic' masculine gesture. This was not what he wanted, what his manliness told him Wits due to him, but" it was better; than' nothing, arid? the alternative - was to drive back with. her into Aix, and<then. go practically out of her life for ever. \ : " Anyway," Eugenia," lie said stubborn- . Jy, " I shall kiss you." Eugenia shook her head. "It will be very stupid'for you, because* ) I shall not—not—" i He coloured angrily, seemed about- to , break out into hot speech, but when she "laughed and smiled up. in liis face, her beauty rose to his head; like strong wine. "Don't you see," she said, "that under cover of this supposed.engagement L shall be able to insist on coming to stay at the Towers? Now go and pay for our tea, and call the - carriage*—we shall be- late as it is ; i —I'm longing to sect' mother's face!" «ho 5 added in a whisper. '; He laughed as they re-entered. the room. On her way out to join James Coulter j 'Eugenia passed the" proprietor, who looked 5 ' worried, and; she caught the* words "la pauvre belle- chat," two or three times re- : peated. - ; As they drove back in the coolness and , peace of the* evening hour James. Coulter * appeared' quite unaware of* tire new under ; ' ft arid itig' between Gifford* and" Eugenia, ; though more between: th» man and the girl,, ?he strongly suspected, than the girl and ; the man. As they descended; he murmured, against the absence of sunset as the i vanished sun throw his* disc-rays unbroken down 1 the vast mountain side; Rarely indeed has he so full a- cup into which to pour his light, and not one ray to bo lost ;or broken, making the old Bible pictures and stories- seem very real: "Let's go and find mother," said . Eugenia to Gifford when; they arrived' at the Hotel Splendid, and were "told Lady Stratton was somewhere in the grounds. There was something malicious, alive, about the girl, intensifying her beauty at all* points-, that enlightened James as she disappeared; with Gifford, and yet it was -a rueful; chagrined Eugenia, shorn of all triumph, who went to bed that night. For Lesbia had 1 .taken the news in most'unexpected! fashion. * Shejfad rejoiced' she had wept, she had even' kissed her' possible son-in-law—a process that he found 'singularly disagreeable even from co handsome a woman—and- the -visit to Switzerland Had' been promptly , abandoned and one to Alvanley Towers : instead cordially agreed on. This war on Monday night. On the Saturday morning; the* day that should have witnessed) tie departure- oft all theparly from Ai'x, the town buzzed with the intelligence that Lord Alvanley Had' been h poisoned the preceding evening., and though " still alive was not expected' to recover, p'. ' ; [. . ■ '-' GHAPTEK''X"vTL' '' -"' ' ■'.'; MAKBONB'- GLACES. ' Looking- back, afterwards on', those last ! few days at Aix, it did', not seem; stiange toJames Coulter that he had* completely- forgotten Lassie's ambitions ins his character ■of absorbed spectator: at a dram* that shaped gradually to the tragedy that, to ourselves, fell; like a thunderbolt from- a . clear sky.. To James;, at least, who knew the book of woman- ram cover to cover; th© storm had threatened: before it- Broker,, for from the moment -that Lesbia delightedly accepted Gifford as- her future sonriw-law, and gave the pair unlimited opportunities of { being together, Eugenia's mood had chang,td, and with it the easy friendliness witn ; which she had; of. late treated Alvanley. ' Call it purity, or a- rare physical/, fastii diousness, combined* with a delicacy and re- * serve peculiar to her, what you will, but it ; fought furiously in Biigenia against the in- ''. tense vitality, the almost aggressive virility 'of the* man" which' offended" and revolted , her, and she felt like a leaf caught in a rusili- < ing torrent, and resented the surrender of . her identity, of an individuality that, though slight, was* very persistent. >■ In a word, Gifford was the militant, the * wrong* type of lover for Eugenia, and what 'would' be 1 eminently right and heavenly in. ; Roddy was 1 hateful! in him - f the very contrast in their looks only brought the difference the more* vividly home to her. In; lier own mrnd ; she cfiaracterieed. the one as a greyhound, the other a- bulldog, just astheir' characters were in complete opposition; Roddy all tenderness and comprehension, the other all possessivenese and passion, and watching- Iter closely, James saw gradually grow in her the murderous hate \of all helpless things in the-grip- of a superior . force, and the secret determination at any j cost, by any subterfuge to escape from it. He thought Alvanley a fool not to see the ■ truth;' but, deaf and blind with passion, 1 James' counsels went by him like the wind, and soon it came to this, that the semi- ) engagement Eugenia hadf entered into, mamly to spite her mother, she was now actually , driven into invoking tliat mother's aid to break off, But Lesbia flatly refused. : " You must marry someone," she said, _ " and Alvanley is a far more suitable match than a penniless ( soldier like Roderick St. ■ Leven, who, if Be marries anyone, will ; marry Lassie Latreille. I have made public ' your engagement in the English newspapers f—as of course your hole and corner idea of * a six. months' pour parler is quite ridicu- ! lous— cannot possibly back out of it J now, nor would Gifford allow it." Trapped, ' confounded, Eugenia turned beautiful, sullen eyes to every corner of her cage, but saw no way of escape, telegrams and letters of congratulation, were pouring ; inAlvanley was openly, aggressively ; happy, arranging for her proper reception at Alvanley Towers. She "was desperate, i driven to the wall, her only weapon the finesse against the forces opposed to her. .To appeal to Gifford to release her would be about as effectual as the cry of the lamb in the mouth of the wolf, for Eugenia's love for Roddy was as water to the wine of Gifford V love for her, and after one or two futile efforts to regain her freedom, she- gave it up, and revolved other means of evading , her bond. May not a woman's heart mistakenly ; cherish a fierce loyalty to a man who has made no claim on —never loved her? At every encroachment of Gifford, at every kiss he gave Eugenia, there was the feeling that '• she wronged, did violence to Roddy, and as if to more intensify her thoughts of him, the lost letter from Lyndsay reached her through the medium of a woman staying in the hotel, who found it in the folds of a fashion paper sent from England, which had remained till then unopened. The familiar writing (for Lyndsay enclosed Roddy's missive, which contained a message to Eugenia) sent the girl's blood leaping in her veins. She carried it in her bosom, she kissed it passionately when alone, and delayed returning it or writing to Lyndsay. The part of the paper that his hand had touched was dearer to her by its : suggestion than Alvanley'e whole body. Leebia saw everything and said nothing, seemingly more intent on gambling than anything else, and matters were at this stage when the last night of then- visit at Aix arrived, and, as often happened, they had all adjourned to Lesbia's private rooms, where she made coffee for them before .going down to the villa. r Reconstructing the scene afterwards, James remembered the spasmodic talk as they sat at the table where Lesbia manipulated the Eastern pot of hammered silver that made such delicious Mocha, and as often before, he thought how gloriously beautiful she was, and not such a 'bad sort after all, as witness her late cheer/ acceptance of a situation that cut to the root of her luxuries, and notably her gaming propensities, at one fell swoop. Eugenia would be just to her mother, but no more— Was beginning to find out that there was a great deal more in that young woman than anyone supposed, some new lines had come into her face lately that only pretty hard suffering and thought could have graven there. (To be continued next Saturday.) Baxter's Lung Preserver will cure an ordinary cold, before it reaches the chest. j Colds that commence in the chest ax» auiekly cured by this famous remedy.