A WOMAN OF THE PEOPLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15003, 27 May 1912, Page 4

A WOMAN OF THE PEOPLE.

PUBLISHED BT SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.

BY ARTHUR W. MARCHMONT, Author of " By Kight of Sword." " The Man who was Dead." "A Dash for a ThrorV "In the Name of a Woman," "The Case of Lady Broadstone," "The Queen's AdTocate." etc., etc

WHAT WAS HER SECRET?

COPYEIGIIT. CHAPTER XXlll.—(Continued.) "It is the chief desire of my life," replied Howell with a great appearance of earnestness. " I know perhaps more than yon, Mr. Carrington," ho added with a significant glance at Elinor. " I have only stayed here in Fraglington in the hope that Elinor will consent to marry me. I can deal with the scoundrel who is threatening her happiness in this abominable way ; and I can answer for it, better perhaps than any other man, that if she will consent not a syllable of all this trouble shall ever be known."

Elinor understood tho double significance of the words, -saw through the crafty pretence of his acceptance of Carringtons story, and read the implied threat whieh underlay tho seeming fairness of this offer. After a. moment's pause Carrington rose. " I think then tho best thing will be for Agatha and mo to leave you together in the hope that you may como to a perfect understanding." " I have every hope that we shall," said Howell, and ho walked with Carrington to the door. , ' .. "Elinor, dearest!" whispered Agatha imploringly in the moment they were alone. , , . ~ A "Do yon realise what this is that you are doing?" . ... " For God's sake remember it is my life that is at stake if you refuse j" and with this last frenzied appeal Agatha hurried after her husband. , Howell came back into the little room with a broad smile of satisfaction, feeling that the situation was far more favourable than he could have hoped to find it. " I suppose you know that I know the truth, he said slowly. " Yes. Mr. Shuttleworth told me you had been to him." ' "And what are you going to do? Your sister seems to be in about as tight a corner as could be imagined." " Yes," she said again. " And you know what a prig of prigs j her husband is. He has prated so inces- | santly about his honour and all the rest I of it until it has become a sort of fetish with him. If he had an inkling of the truth he'd turn her out of the house as something too unclean to breathe the samo air as his saintly self. She knows it too, judging bv the fairy tale she has told him. Well?" ho asked as Elinor made no response. " I cannot say anything ■to-night. I must think what is best to bo done." '* There's only one thing to do, Elinor. That fellow Paxton must be silenced. I meant what I said jnst now. lam the only man who can make sure of his keeping his mouth shut. No money would do it. He'd take all that was given to him, spend it in ten minutes and then be back for more. And she'd have to give it to him. You can see that yourself." "How can you silence him?" "Never mind how. I can do It. A word from me and he'll be ready to fly to the other end of the world and stop them The question is whether you mean me to say it." "What inducement do you want?" He laughed and shrugged his shoulders. " You know well enough. This and he attempted to take her hand. "Don't touch me," she cried, shrinking from him. " I mean what inducement except that?" " None," he replied bluntly. " If I make over to you all my money?

He shook his head. " Why V she asked. " Because I want you—you yourself. I would have agreed years ago; until I came to this infernal hole in fact; but not now. It's become a tussle between me and that fellow Shuttleworth, and 1 don't mean to let him have you." "You know my feeling toward you." " I don't care how you feel." "And if I refuse?" "You won't," he replied confidently. " You can't. The tide's running too hard against you." " But if I do?" she persisted.; " Then it'll be no use trying to stop Paxton's mouth." "You mean that you would bo coward enough to ruin my sister's life in order to be revenged on me?" " You can put it how you like. I hold the winning cards, and I'm not such a fool as to throw them away and lose the game. You'd better think well before you decide. You remember how she tried to poison herself in the old trouble. I didn't know the reason then; but I see it now. Her life hangs on this, probably." " It may be my life, not hers," answered Elinor deliberately. " No," he said shaking his head. " That wouldn't help things. If you attempted anything of the sort, my lips would be unsealed." " Oh, what a vile coward you are," exclaimed Elinor, bitterly. " You mean to hold this over me all my life!" " I don't mean to win you only to lose you after all; and if you marry me, I will do everything in my power to make you happy; everything that you will let me do, that is. I am not quite the brute you seem to think me."

" I think you are worse than the worst I ever imagined any man could be. But let it be. I know your terms now; you have put them plainly enough. You shall have my answer to-morrow, or as soon as I can force myself to endure the degradation of your presence," "It must be to-morrow at the latest. If Paxton learns that Carrington is in the town it will be too late to stop the mischief.''

She closed and bolted the door behind him, and then went back into the little room to wrestle with the problem which threatened the ruin of her life and to seek in vain some way of escape from the cruel net in which Howell had enveloped her. The struggle lasted all through the night, and when the dawn broke she was still undecided, but her thoughts had changed. She had all but abandoned hope, and all her energies and strength were set upon reconciling herself to the sacrifice which she recognised as inevitable. Her life had been one Jong loveless round of self-sacrifice; but this was the hardest of all. She had won the love for which her heart had always craved, and just when the cup was at her lips, the iron hand of Fate dashed it away. She recalled her promise to her lover— not to decide anything until they met. But ahe could not trust herself to meet him. She must not see him again; and she wrote urging him not to come to her. And it was not until she closed the letter that she knew her decision had been finally and irrevocably taken. The full significance of this act of renunciation rushed suddenly upon her, overwhelming her with grief. The light had in a moment gone out of her life, leaving it dark, drear, and unspeakably desolate.

CHAPTER XXIV. "GOOD-BYE." After Elinor had written the letter to Jack, she had fallen asleep for two or three hours. The ordeal of the struggle had so exhausted her that at the moment any decision seemed like a relief, after the stress and strain of the conflict. The sleep refreshed her body, but brought no ease to her mind; and when she awoke, she was dismayed to find herself still wavering. The letter had not been despatched, and she could not summon sufficient strength to decide whether to send it or tear it up. A dozeu times she snatched it up to destroy it, only to desist at the remembrance "of Agatha's agony on the previous night. She was still in this distracted mood when Mr. Carrington arrived, looking pale, ST™*?'. i^ d desperately troubled. Agatha is like a woman beside hersolf," he cried, excitedly. "What does it all mean? There must be mote in all this Uhan J JUiow. Yqo^-gpjtf*. ,&m*

is nothing in what I know to account for it Tell me. I have a right to know." " Shall I go to her?" asked Elionor, at a loss how to reply. . " Was what she said last night the whole truth, or is there , something more behind? There, must. be; and I have a right to be told everything." Elinor rose. " I will go with you now, she said. , " You don't answer my questions. Why not? Are von afraid? 1 will have an answer. i" cannot bear this suspense. She has even threatened to kill herself, and in the night I found that she had poison in her possession. lam not strong, and I cannot endure the strain of this. I am convinced there is more to know, and I implore you to tell me." " You are alarming yourself unnecessarily, Mr. Carrington," replied Elinor firmly, although she herself was infinitely alarmed by the mention of the poison; and without giving him time to reply she put on her hat and left the house. She took tho letter to Jack with her, and as they passed Shuttleworth'6 mill on the •way to tho hotel, she gave it to the gate man—the sign that her decision was now firmly taken. She was quite resigned now, and very calm, and did her utmost to reassure Garrington, who continued to ply her with searching questions. He had not exaggerated his wife's condition. She was bordering upon utter collapse. "If you will leave me alone with Agatha I can answer for it that all will be well with her," she said lo Carrington who did not agree without demur. As soon as tho two sisters were alone, Agatha burst out into a frenzied recital of the horrors of her night of suspense. " I cannot bear it any longer, Elinor. I have no right to demand this sacrifice of you; I see that now ; but 1 must know what you mean to do. I should have killed myself in the night if Edward had not found out. that I meant to and stopped me. I can't endure the torture an hour, longer. I would rather be dead." "I have written to Mr. Shuttleworth not to see me again, and I shall tell Mr. Howell to-day, that, if ho can do what he says he can with Paxton, I will marry him as soon as he wishes." "Oh, thank heaven!" cried Agatha, bursting into tears. She wept wildly and hysterically at first., but gradually grew calmer under the, relief afforded by her tears. " You must control yourself, Agatha, or vou will strengthen your husband's suspicions that he has not been told everything," said Elinor when the storm of her sisters sobbing had somewhat subsided. "He questioned me closely this morning. You will always have to bo on vonr guard." "I know, I know," she replied, throwing her arms round Elinor and kissing her. " I could see last night that ho suspected something." "Now listen to me. After you had gone, Mr. HowelJ told mo that he. had some means of silencing Paxton. I shall find out to-day what they are. I do not trust him. of course but I 'think lie was speaking the truth, because it served his purpose. I will let you know when I have seen him." " How good and brave and strong you are, Elinor- I widi I was like you. How shall I ever -be able to thank you," whimpered Agatha feebly. "Shall I tell Mr. Carrington that he can come to you now?" asked Elinor, shrinking instinctively from her thanks. "The sooner he comes the better! and I myself have much to do. And you had letter not let him see you have been crying;" and she handed her sister a glass. Agatha sat up and uttered a little cry of dismay at the sight of her dishevelled hair and distraught looks. But now that her fears were allayed, she recovered her spirits quickly and in a few minutes the change in her was so great that her husband was both astonished and delighted. "You have performed a miracle," said he to Elinor. "I have only proved what I told you —that there was no cause for your alarm. And now please I must go." She left the hotel in a whirl of conflicting emotions. She was now completed resigned to the inevitable; she had pledged herself to make the sacrifice for her sister's sake; although she was still "convinced that it was wrong to conceal the truth from Carrington. No good ever came from lies; and <she almost despised herself for her weakness in stooping to act them. She was strong enough to hold to her resolve now that it had been taken; but she could not think of Howell without a feeling of contempt and loathing for the dastardly wav in which he bad used his power over them to drive her to become his wife. To her life's end she would have no other feeling for him; and it was with a sense of bitter degradation that she thought of her future life with him. Straight from the hotel she went to tell him her decision. " You have beaten me," she said as they met. " I have no option but to consent to your terms. But I must know how you mean to deal with Paxton." " I will prove that within a few hours. He will have left the town on his way to Australia." , _ " You have some bold over him. What is it?" . , . " I won't tell you that. You might use it yourself. I know you are doing this for your sister's sake _; and I'm not taking the risk of your getting rid of him yourself. You'll have to take my word that I can do what I say." "We trust each other about equally, I see," she replied bitterly. "You needn't sneer in that way." "You would prefer me to say that I admire your chivalrous conduct." " You can say what you like so long as you do what I like," lie retorted. " It is of no use, I suppose, to ask you to choose some other means of revenge? You know how intensely I hate you." " You'll get over that," he answered with a smirk. " Never; never. While there is breath •left in my body," she cried vehemently. "We shall see. I'm content to take that risk." He tried to speak lightly, but Ids rage flashed out. " I'll find the means to break down your temper and make you sorry for this. I hold the whip hand; don't forget that." " You are not likely to let me forgot it," she retorted, her lip curling in contempt as she met his angry look; and then without more she turned and went out.

On her way liome she met Agatha, and her husband, and to her amazement her sister was laughing and chatting as if she had not a care in tho world. "We are exploring this town of yours." said Carrington lightly. " What a grimy place it is. You'll be glad to get out of it, surely. I'm delighted to hear from Agatha that you have decided to take my advice and marry Mr. Howell." " Yes. We shall probably be married at once."

" Will it be here or in London If in town, let it be from our house."

" Nothing is definitely settled about that," Elinor replied steadily.

" Well, wherever it is, I should like to be present. And so would Agatha, of course. lam no prude to regard the past as affecting us in stick a thing," he said, with a suggestion of tolerance which was like a whip-lash to Elinor.

He turned aside* and Elinor seized the moment to whisper to her sister. " Are you mad to stop here and run. the risk of Paxton seeing you in the street? Who can tell what he would do?" And with that she hurried on her way home. She was anxious to leave Fraglington a3 soon as possible, and there was much to do. To remain in the town involved the risk of meeting Jack; and to avoid him was now a paramount necessity. But Jack had no intention of allowing her to avoid him, and as she turned the corner of the street close to her cottage she found him waiting for her. " I came here the instant I had read your letter," he said as they met. "But I asked yon not to come. You might have spared me." "There was your promise. You have not forgotten it?" . Thev reached the door 01 her house as he spoke, and she paused. " I could not keep it. We can do no good—by this ; and she held out her hand with a wistful look as if to entreat him to leave her. " But I must speak to you. This means so much to us both." She opened the door and led the way m. " I have already told Mr. Howell that I will marry him," ehe said, striving hard to speak 'firmly so that he. should understand .her decision was taken irrevocably. <T«^»e3e^iißM«fedajJy.)