LOVE'S VICTORY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19148, 14 October 1925, Page 7

LOVE'S VICTORY.

BY; EFFIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS. (Copyright.) SYNOPSIS. "Lorna Mallingate, her mother and her f *>ep-tather, Henry Emerson, are staying at *; watering place ia the South of England, borna la thinking of the hard times she and 1 r mother had been through before the jatter's marriage to Mr. Emerson, who had been staying with them a3 a paying guest. TSow everything is chftnged and they have plenty of money for all their rif?eds. She is writing to tell the good news to her sister, from whom she has not heard for 18 months, when she is interrupted by Gerald Craven, who is deeply in love with her. , -But, though, fond of him, Lorna does not wish to marry and leave her mother. When Genua has left her. a stranger, giving his nam© as Julian Emerson, is announced, and states that b© is looking for Lorna's step-father. She directs him to the golf links and goes "to look for her mother with a strong forboding of evil in her heart. On tier way she encounters Lady Biyth. Lorna escapes from Lady Biyth as soon as possible and joins her mother. Mrs. Emerson has ordered huieh to be served in their so the two return to the hotel. While they are waiting for Mr. Emerson to appear, Lorna receives a message from Julian Emerson, asking her to see him alone. Majking an excuse to her mother, she supe downstairs, where Julian Emerson tells ner that her stepfather already has a v.*ife hying, and also that he is a cruel and wicked man, for *wbom he—Julian—has been for months. He also informs her that Mr. l,tneys«an has left for London by Car, arid has deputed his relative to interview .Lorna a/ni her mother on his behalf.

Fearing tAafc the knowledge of the truth v. tut ? r - n ' :!C h for her mother, lorna tells ner that ,sJr. Emerson has been taken suddenly ill ;vnd sent to London to a mirsins i n * on h ear ' n 8> the news. Mrs. Emeraoii fai/a. fainting in her daughter's arms. Julian, telling Lorna that he is a medical aian, carries the unconscious woman to her herliTxyai, and when she shows sietis of recoregr; administers a sedative. Tho doctor takes charge of affairs, tellinsr Lorna tb>t they must get out of the hotel as o/tjckly as possible. He undertakes to pay /■heir bill and inform the hotel people that Mr. "Emerson has been taken ill and his family e.re_ following him to London. While he is settling matters Gerald Craven enters and Lorna confides some of her troubles in him, discovering at the same time that she is genuinely in love with him. He promises to follow them to London immediately. and as Lorna is uncertain of her future address ho will wait at hi» rooms until she phones him. Dr. Emerson, returns and looks displeased at finding the young coEMtio together.

CHAPTER IV. Julian Emerson was as good as his word. He carried through the whole of the proceedings quickly and quietly. He had a way of enforcing his will. Tho chambermaid war, summoned; he gave her directions to collect Mrs. Emerson's and Miss Mallingate's clothes; to pack the same and to deliver the keys of the boxes to the manageress. As luck would have it, Mrs. Emerson's maid (a Frenchwoman who had been engaged in Paris) was ill, and had gone up to stay with some friends in London, but the hotel maid who had attended Lorna and her mother was a very willing and pleasant woman, and expressed the greatest sympathy and regret for the reason of their hasty departure; Lorna felt quite convinced that she could trust this woman. She packed all the jewellery and the money, and everything that would go into their two dressing cases, and, like a creature in a dream, she followed her mother's recumbent figure as; it was car- ! ried to a motor-car and placed on the j cushions which had been arrranged in the form of a bed.

The departure was at the time of the ' afternoon when the hotel guests were scattered in many directions; a good many of them shtro up in their rooms resting, and, except for the hotel staff, there was no one to witness their departure. Lorna sat beside; Mrs. Emerson keeping her hand on one of her mother's. As they were driving swiftly through the country, she suddenly recollected she had not given any direction to the chauffeur, aud that in fact it would not have been possible., for she had not actually decided | where she should take her mother. As if imagining what was passing in her mind, the man who sat opposite her looked up from a narrow book in which he was writing some notes apparently and pnt some questions to her. "I suppose you have made no plans?" Lorna said "No! It is impossible for us to go to our old house, because it is let. It will have to be a hotel, I am afraid." " Why are you afraid V he asked. She answered him promptly. " Because I don't think it is the most desirable place for my mother." "You can leave your mother in my hands. I am going to take care of her. She is evidently a very highly strung, hypersensitive creature, and she will require medical care.** " There is onr own doctor," said Loraa. " He will attend to my mother." Emerson did not answer this; he merely smiled at her in a queer way. " Of course you still mistrust me ? Well, that's natural, of course." The girl was not disarmed by his frankness. She looked at him steadily, and then replied: " I shall know better how I feel toward you when you have explained everything fully to me, as you promised. I Want to know if you have the right to come in and do what y have done ? I want to know why you have been in the back-ground all this time? And I want to know why you managed to get Mr. Emerson away from the hotel without at least letting him see me V " I can answer that last question right away," said the man coolly. "I did not get Mr. Emerson away as you put it. He got, himself away. My dear young lady, he was in a damned hurry to leave iho hotel, if you must have the truth." Lorna's heart beat wildly. She leaned forward and said:

"By that I may suppose that you have been telling me a lot of lies? That Mr. Emerson is not ill ? That he has not been taken to a nursing home ? You wish to infer that he has behaved like a coward, and that he has run away that wo shall not get in touch with him ?" " You have put it exactly,' said Julian Emerson, with that curious smile of his. " I won't go so far as to assert that Emerson is in very good health. On the contrary, he is very far from being that, but he certainly ran away from you, and even I don't know where he has gone: Lorna's face was drained of colour, but her eves were bright, and she had never looked prettier; as a matter o t fact at that moment she was beautiful—a fact which did not escape the man immediately iu front of her. . " Your other questions, he said halt lightly, " can be answered right awav. I have already informed you that we have been searching for Henry Emerson for some time past. It was chance which brought ns the knowledge of whore to iind him." "IT'S! Whom do you mean by us: The man shrugged his shoulders. " The rest of his family of course." " Ilis wife, do you mean ?" queried the cirl steadily. "Of course, his wife. She comes first, but there are others." There was a pause; a very significant pause. Then Lorna said quite calmly. " You know, I don t believe you are telling me the truth! There is some purpose behind all this. You are working lor some reason of your own." They sat looking at each other for another 'spell, and then he laughed. "1 see," he said. "You are full of prejudice,'ami von do mistrust me; quite naturallv. as I have already said.' However we will leave it. at that for the time' being. At least you will grant me one thing—if 1 am working for some purpose of my own, I have at, least done some girl turned from him and looked at her mother. Lying that heavy artificial sleep, the face of that mother seemed to have taken on a very grey look. Lorna's heart contracted, and her eyes filled with tears. " Alas!" she said. It, was her only answer to his speech, and the rest of the journey was passed in silence. Gerald Craven was considered a very fine tennis player; in fact, he had been working up to take part in a big tournament, but this particular afternoon he played extremely badly, a fact which was noted with some surprise by his partner, a younger sister of Charles Blyth. The truth being that the young man's nerves

were all uaslsrng, and that his thoughts were entirely centred on Lorna and c* what was going to happen in the immediate future. * So knew her story so well. His friend, Mrs. Northwood, who had stayed with Lorna to chaperon her and to keep her company alter iwsr mother s second marriage, had spoken so often of " IVS girl to Gerald Craven, and he would have met Lorna much sooner had he not been out of England. Of coarse he went through the war, one of the lucky ones, for although he had been wounded, it had not been a serious matter, and after the war he had taken up his old profession and had been sent abroad by the firm for. which he was working. ■ln fact, he had just returned to England when Mrs. M a >- iingate married Henry Emerson. Young Craven had lost heart almost at once to Lorna. It was not her prettiness alone which had attracted him: it was her spirit, her happy sunshiny nature, and above all that tender and protective love for her mother, which had endowed her for him with so much charm. Mrs. Northwood, the widow of a fairly rich man, who lived in the country, was perhaps one of the last of Mrs. Mallitigate's old friends to keep up an intimacy with her. Lorna was Mrs. Nortlrwood s godchild, and no one had rejoiced more than this kind devoted friend when she had heard of the good fortune that had come in Mrs. Mallingate's way. She had met Mr. Emerson, and had been one of the few persons at the marriage, and site had been honestly delighted to think that Lorna's mother should have met a man who could give her comfort and luxury, and above all sympathetic companionship at a time when she needed all these things so much.

During tennis various propositions were made for the evening's amusement, bufe Mr. Craven had to excuse himself from them all. He let .it be understood that he had received an important message desiring him to return to London. Rachel Blvth had already conceived a great admiration for this young man, and heard of his departure with real regret. She was a kind-hearted girl, only just slightly tinged with the vulgarity which was so noticeable in her mother and elder sister, and she gave a little sigh when they parted that afternoon, because she had really told herself that she had very little chance with him, since it was evident that ho was in love with Lorna Mallingate. The young man made haste to get away from the hotel. He wanted to avoid all gossiping and questioning, and the comment which would be surely expressed when it became known that the Emerson a had left for London; indeed he was conscious when he had paid his bill that there was an element of unsatisfied curiosity pervading the clerks. In fact one of the girls in the office informed Mr. Craven that Mrs. Emerson had been carried up to London in a prostrate condition. " I didn't see her husband go, but I was told that he was taken suddenly ill, so I suppose it has knocked her over. Poor thing! And they are so devoted to one another. Ido hope it is nothing serious." " I hope so too," replied Mr. Craven. He heaved a great sigh of relief as lie found himself driving to the station. The journey to London, though he had taken a fast train, seemed interminable to him. and that peculiar s-ense of uneasiness still pervaded his thoughts. If only he could have a little longer conversation with lorna ! But everything had been so hurried; she had been in such a state of agitation, and the knowledge that she loved him had driven everything out of his thoughts at that moment. Now he began to ponder over the situation, and the more he thought about, it, the less he liked it. His thoughts turned naturally to Bertha North wood. He must send her a telegram ; he knew 'she would not hesitate to do all in her power where there was trouble, but he would wait until he had seen Lorna and learned exactly what had happened to Mr. Emerson and what lay in the immediate future. He convinced himself however that Mrs. Northwood would come at once if she were at home; there was just a possibility that she might have gone abroad, in which case, oil course, he could not turn to her.

When his rooms were reached, he could not settle to anything, bat walked to and fro restlessly waiting impatiently for the sound of the telephone bell. He reproached himself now that ho had not- gone more fully into the matter with Lorn a j or with the man who was apparently directing Mrs. Emerson's movements, and so have obtained some indication as to where the mother and daughter were to. be found, and as the minutes slipped by and it grew late, the young man's nervous anxiety and apprehension increased. The time slipped away till it was long past wheeti it had been arranged that Lorna should ring him up. He knew that she would not have lost the scrap of paper which he had given her; it wonld be too precious. He spent another hour walking about the room like a restless spirit—then ho remembered that Mrs. Norihwood was on the telephone, and sitting down eagerly he asked for the trunk tci put him through. It was about half an hour before he, got into communication with Mrs. Northwood's country house, and then it was only to be informed that she had gone abroad, and the her butler did not know where she was at the immediate moment; letters were to be forwarded to her bank in Paris. That was all the information that could be given to Mr. Craven.

As evening passed into night a:ad no news came through, Gerald Craven convinced himself that something very wrong was happening to the girl he loved. It was true that the night before he had Remarked to himself that Henry Emerson was looking very wan and pale, and he knew that Mrs. Emerson had been anxious about her husband, so that the story given to him that Henry Emerson had been taken suddenly id and had been sent- straight away to a nursing home in London had not seemed _ so strange; though when he came to think of it, it would have been jnst as possible to iiav<3 put the sick man into a nursing home at the seaside and to have called down his own doctor or a specialist if necessary. But the moro he turned matters over in his mind the more disturbed Craven became, and by degrees he found himself determining that the whole thing had been manoeuvred by soma outside influence. , There had been something m Lonaas manner, not what she had actually sa#d to him, but what he felt was working in her mind, which now encouraged uneasiness. For instance, why had she boen so very anxious to get her mother away from the hot-el without rousing any attention ? After all. if the storv was true and Mr. Emerson had been taken very ill, surely nothing would have been more natural that for his wife to folicw him to London as quickly as possible. But Craven could not dismiss from his mind the suggestion that Lorna had had some terrible shock and that her one great desire v.as to keep some heavy trouble awav from her mother. Her delight at seeing him; the way she had clung to him; the knowledge that she had need of him ; all these things were verv beautiful to the young man, but the significance of these were lost when he realised that they were unable to reach one another, and that ail he could do was to walk to and fro in his rooms waiting tor Lorna to ring him up as she had promised. But the night, wore aw:iy arid Lorna never rang up! No message reached him; not a note; not a telegram; nothing. (To be continued daily.)