FLOWER OF THE BOG.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19510, 14 December 1926, Page 20

FLOWER OF THE BOG.

CHAPTER XX—(Continued). Jamsio smote fist on hand, grimly impressive, " Now where's Miss Marquis' sthring of lies ? She slipped into the house t'idout bein' noticed, watched all, heard all, and tould ye 'twas Mr. Pettigrew spun her the ya.rn. Him to lower ye to her! A man that thinks the sun rises and sets on one little red-haired colleen. D' ye know why she did it? "To part Alan and 'me, Jamsie." " Nothin' else, and nothin" she'll gain for lier trouble. He hasn't the laste notion of her, t'he doll-face, wid a fringe to her eye like a dhrummer's cuff." The reference was to Stella's luxuriant eyelashes. " A fool could see she was tryin' to nub him, gettin' him and herself talked of, hopin' he'd come to heel in a funk. •But he isn't a soft mark, thanks be! Alanna, didn't yoj trust in his love till she put ye asuridher! Ye knew he was £rue as steel ? "

Patsy nodded ; , her teeth clenched on ter lip. "If ye had let me spake the mornin' Vn sent him away, ye'd have no sorra, and could snap yer fingers undher her very nose. Iwint across from the dahlias to tell ye of Miss Marquis' tricks, for though I'd no idaya of what you and Mr. iAlan quarrelled about, I doubted she had » hand in it. 'Twas ill done of ye, girleen." " I—l 'don't know why I stormed at Jarnsie." She began to cry vehemently, and he petted her, murmuring "Whisht, whisht!" " I can't whisht. I'll cry in my coffin. (Was ever girl wretched as I?" wringing her hands. " I've learnt the truth too late —wronged Alan and myself, because of that woman';; lies."

" You aren't late to explain to Mr. Petti grew." "It wouldn't help ns, now I've promised to marry Nick." . "Ye mustn't marry Boyle, lovin' Pettigrow, and only lies keepin' ye separate." "More than lies," she said despairingly, if We D'Arcy's are loyal to our word, and inine is pledged. To break with Nick Boyle after publishing the engagement and wearing his ring would be a wickedness I'm not capable of. You needn't say plenty of people 'dissolve engagements. I suppose I'm different. I'd feel perjured—l, who have boasted that the D'Arcy word stood fast, like the hills."

" Have ye made no promises to Mr. Pettigrew 1 " sternly. " They weren't the same. And I—l was justified in retracting them, thinking hs longed for me to do it." She gazed wildly around her, her lips Strained and bloodless.

" How could Miss Marquis ?" she panted. "It was a fiendish deed ; and while I live I'll never forgive her." She crushed her hands fiercely against her heaving breast. '* And Alan—there's Alan "

" Believing ye a flirt, and worse. How ■will ye bear that, when ye're buried in the Curlews, known' him innocent, pinin' to untie the knot that defies untying!' .Will Boyle be happy then, his eyes opened to see that his wife's heart was gone from her before she wed him ? Three of ye will live in misery. Be.tther one to have the pain, than three to share it." He ended ou a tremolo note, convinced iEbat she was bent upon sacrificing herself and Alan, and perhaps Nick, to a mis-, guided principle. Past experience of the jJ'Arcys. and their immovable loyalty to a fetish which harmed oftener than it benefited them, set him inwardly ashake. To him it seemed that the keeping of a foolish promise, made in error, under pressure of circumstances, was a sin." pftieir ideas .of honour sometimes bejwildered him. In honour's name, Patsy meant to commit a threefold act of infnsiica. " I'm just common dirt, or mebbe I'd ttndherstand," Be said dejectedly. " For the love of God, lave this to me, Miss Patsy j and I'll tell Pettigrew. He'll find a way out for ye." He flung his coat on, and she gripped Its ragged lapels; and looked down at bim, deep into Mjs eyes, a ghost-girl, frail in appearance, but with a dreadful determination on her wisp of a face that appalled Jamsie. "You shall not," she said. " Let him think me as bad as I thought him. He'll get over it the quicker. I'll abide by my word. Not an inch 111 stir until you swear on your knees, by everything you hold sacred, .that you will not repeat to Alan Pettigrew what you and I have told each other." ' Miss Patsv! ' he shrilled, aghast. Miss Patsy, darlin'! " " Unless you swear, Jamsie, I*ll ask Nick Boyle to procure a special licence, and marry me at once.'-i CHAPTER XXI. Hiving wrested a solemn oath of silence from Jamsie by sheer forco of will, and dared him to forswear himself at the risk of consigning his soul to the nether flame, Patsy embraced him tearfully and thrust the packet of rock into his hand, too tragically moved to notice that the rock as an apparent bribe turned pathos to bathos.

She was quite fiincere in her fealty to the D'Arcy word, quite insensible to the fact that, ljke ■ most young impulsive creatures, slip was pushing a principle to extremes. Had she been less muddle-headed, she ■ might have reasoned that Alan had the prior claim to her loyalty, but she was unused to upheavals, and the first great crisis of her life swept hef off her feet and out of her sober wits. She seemed to be rushed along on a whirlwind of emotions. After the dreadful decision she tried do her duty to Nick as she must henceforth do it, a self-imposed penance for her inner revolt against duty's harsh demands. She was only a girl, very much in love, very miserable, and she felt she owed her rigid ancestors a grudge, those bygone originators of the shibboleth concerning the worcil of a D'Arcy. From their graves they imposed their haughty •will upon her, and she had no option but to obey. The bitterest drop in her cup was the thought that Alan, in his ignorance, must continue to regard her as a thing beneath contempt, a heartless coquette ."without a single redeeming grace. She longed as feverishly as he for the Wedding day, which would set them far apart where neither could be tormented by the sight of the other, ticking each date off on the calendar, and counting the days to come with a frantic eagerness which showed that she was afraid of her strength giving way. Stella she avoiided as much as possible, coldly shunning the author of her misery lest she should say what now had best be left unsaid.

A portion of her trousseau arrived and bad to be displayed to admiring friends, before whom she was compelled to smile and act the gay bride-elect looking forward to her crowning hour. She asked Jane and Dora Hartigan to be her bridesmaids, and Jane hoped Nick would ask Parratt to he groomsman, while Dora openly prayed he would choose Jack Cochrane to support him. Th© wedding presents already received Were numerous, and Jane was in her element examining everything, pretty and nseful, costly and trifling, and advising Patsy how to phrase her notes of thanks,, " You are so excited you've addled your brain," said Jane when Patsy sat staring at blank sheets of paper on which she could write nothing. " I don't wonder. It's a thrilling experience.. I shall be perfectly idiotic if any man ever otters me a chance to sport white satin and orange blossom—bul then, I'm not an d none will. Big gawky girls with paeony-red cheeks aren't sighed for, my pet." ° ■ glun7patsy C ™ rth , a d ° ZCn ° f me >'" Sai<l , r^ an i < ?f,^ c i (:,B T '' acc he were to. hear J? . "Do you know that besides making him n. h.ippv man pat ' y twv Zl hh V- doe^'fc ri(l ° to recklessly no* and ln hßaps of , te's chanced. As. he said to mamma,

(AIT IRISH LOVE STORY). (COPYRIGHT.)

BY, MADGE BARLOW.

pursuits a bachelor may safely indulge in aren't becoming to a husband. There! You've squirted ink all over your paper, and you'll have to get another sheet." " I wish I didn't have «to write notes," Patsy scowled, flinging down her pen. "You ungrateful monkey! Take that pen at once, and we'll send the ClunyMahons a glowing eulogy of their silver salver, though it is a bit battered and dingy," Jane replied cheerfully. Thus the days slipped by. A keen nip of frost crept into the air on chilly mornings ere the sun climbed high, and in the hedgerows the leaves yellowed, and the milky smear-dubbed cuckoo-spit began to spread an early trail over the ripened blackberries —signs that autumn had stolen a march on the fag-end of summer.

" Delicious weather for the fete," Mrs. Bellamy enthused to her Henry and Stella at breakfast on the auspicious morning. " Ideal for games and sports, don't you think ? " Henry's masculine growl behind his Daily News was unintelligible. Miss Marquis' acquiescent reply lacked enthusiasm. Sinco Parratt reduced her . castle of cards to a trumpery scrap-heap she had been morose and unpleasant to [ live with. " You are gloomy, dear," murmured Mrs. Bellamy. " Because in a couple of days I shall have to bid you ' good-bye.' " Behind his newspaper Henry offered mute thanksgivings, and observed with a grin- that his wife's polite expression of regret was rather laboured. Stella crumbled a piece of bread, eyes veiled. " My business affairs are causing me anxiety," she said. " That's the penalty of riches. We haven't any money, therefore we haven't anxieties. Henry, did you hear Miss Marquis say she has to leave us because her financial affairs are worrying lier? " " Small marvel, when so many financial concerns are hovering on the verge of bankruptcy." said Henry, emerging from cover. " Despite the loss to us of her society, I advise her to look to Tier material interests. The times are panicky." _ " They certainly are," said Stella. I have enjoyed my visit immensely, and should love to stay on, but I feel I ought to see my solicitors." "We are glad you have enjoyed yourself, dear," Mrs." Bellamy purred in the kindliest accents. " Yes, I'm sure,'* was the absent reply. Stella's pall of gloom descended again upon her; and after an exchange of glances with Henry, his wife suggested that if Miss Marquis had finished breakfast she might put on her coat and hat and join her in a tour of the grounds to satisfy themselves that everything was in apple-pie order for the advent of the two o'clock crowd. " She didn't invite you to pay her a return visit, Emely," remarked Bellamy, when Stella had left the room. " I wasn't fishing for an invitation. Henry." " But common decency should have prompted her to extend one." " Maybe" she will before she goes. She's in a blue funk over her investments, and has been for weeks. How does she know they aren't steady ? She never gets letters." " The newspaper columns devoted to money market quotations would enlighten her. Wonder whether this will fob off Dick." " Do you think she has an enormous lot of money, Henry?" " We'll say half she is reputed to possess." " Still, that'd he a windfall for the Cluny-Mahons. Mrs. Hartigan told me yesterday Dick's mother had consented to the marriage, and it only remains for him to pop the question. She said Dick raised such a row that his mother had to yield." " I heard the same at Cochrane's. Evidently Dick behaved like a demented hooligan. He's clean gone on Miss Marquis, and I'm sure I can't figure out what she sees in him." " I expect she'll tell us of the engagement to-night, Henry, if there's to be anything of the sort. On the whole, I'm positive Stella exaggerated her intimacy with Pettigrew to bring Dick to the scratch. All Killyduff shares my bpinion." A beautiful and wealthy damsel with noble connections shouldn't have to angle for a tow-headed young pauper, Emely. I don't fathom Miss Marquis, and suspect she isn't the catch she seems." " Neither can I fathom her, though she has spent months with us." " That's all she has spent, my dear." " Henry, how can you! She was our guest." " Such expensive guests are beyond our means." For several minutes Mrs. Bellamy was preoccupied. She had strained their credit to give Stella entertainment befitting her station, and bills loomed menacingly ahead; but she was imbued with the spirit of her adopted cpuntry, and smiled as she banished the bogey. " We'll survive the expense, Henry, and next time I meet fascinating strangers I'll be careful not to ask them to visit us. Perhaps Stella won't be close-fisted when she's chatelaine of The Chase, and we'll have jollities galore to compensate us. I forgot to mention that Mr. Parratt has offered to do pen-portraits for us at a shilling a-piece to help the hospital. Isn't it good of him ? And what do you think ? Yesterday when I called on tho Hartigans I it was Jane's baking day, and he was in the kitchen assisting her to wash up." "Was he?" A grin chased Henry's frown. " Yes, and it wasn't his first kitchen exploit. Mrs. Hartigan is uneasy. Bearing Eily's case in mind, she cautioned Jano, and Jano just giggled and said she had an advantage over her pretty sisters —she was under no illusions regarding her power to attract men. Jane is a pillar of sense. She realises she's handicapped in the race for husbands." \ " Why handicapped ?" " Who is there here to marry her ?" " Parratt for one, if she doesn't object to his lack of inches." "Oh, he's merely beguiling the tedium of the country." " When a man follows a petticoat to the kitchen he'a deliberately courting his fate, Emely." " Ycu imply that he's in danger?" " The term ' danger* isn't complimentary to Jane. I imply that among the pots and pans Mr. Parratt's natural discretion may take wings and fly, and he may find that 'pillars of sense' can give hard knocks." Mrs. Bellamy called hirn a humbug, and whirled away, responsive to a tart, "I'm waiting" from Stella in the hall; and Henry buried his nose in his paper once more, and murmured that things were in a deuce of a fix. At two o'clock the place was beseiged. As we have previously stated, Killyduff made a habit of being in every amusement from the moment of starting, thereby displaying its sad ignorance of the rules of smart society. The sun beamed, a band discoursed music, and the fete went with a swing and verve peculiar to Irish functions, and which Alan once attributed to " something in the air." Almost as soon as he arrived he encountered Patsy and Nick, she hanging on Nick's arm, girlishly sweet and lovely in a white frock and shady white hat wreathed with big daisies. Compelled to stop and speak, Alan managed to conquer his agitation, but his grave, strong face looked careworn, and Patsy's suddenly grew pale and pinched, though she held her head high. " This'll be a regular beano," Nick said breezily. " Patsy has' had a shy at the Aunt Sally and won a coconut. Now she's going to try the Wheel of Fortune, and trot the entire round of the shows. Say, Pettigrew, you're off colour. Has Bellamy been croaking to you about" capering on the volcano's edge. He's done it to us, and we've told him in effect to stick his dismal phiz in a bag." " I haven't seen Bellamy yet," replied Alan.

" Bit liverish, then ?" " Not an atom"—his tone annoyed. He fastened searching eyes on Patsy, and the nervous twitching of her lips awoke no pity in him. Her glance fell from his, the blood rose to her temples under his cold and piercing gaze, and he was grimly, pleased that he had at last made her feel a passing shame. " Miss D'Arcy, you don't think I'm any the worse for wear, do you ?" he asked, a little cruelly. " Tell him he looks like a lover whose fair one lias dealt him a scurvy blow," jested Nick. The girl standing between them fumbled with the buttons of her gloves, and wished she could sink through the ground. There was a lump in her throat choking her. Her heart seemed a weak and trembling thread ready to snap. " Miss D'Arcy is more merciful," said Alan, his quiet irony lost on Nick. " She who is too gentle to wound a heart wouldn't add to its pain hy appearing to notice the surface ravages.' He turned smilingly to Nick. " Anyhow, you're on the wrong track, Boyle. If lam what Nally calls ' a shade yalla,' it's probably due to the sun spoiling my complexion. I won't detain you both. " May Miss D'Arcy's luck attend her at the Wheel of Fortune." He lifted his straw hat and moved on.

" He's taking a bee-line for Miss Marquis," chuckled Nick. Stella, in delicate pink, was the centre of a group of admirers beneath a huge beech tree. Dick stood nearest .her, glowering on the men who shared his divinity with him when he wanted her to himself, to ask a certain question.

Bellamy had broadcasted the news of her imminent departure and Dick was strung to a frenzied pitch, wild with impatience to seal her his before she went to London to attend to those important business matters. His skin had a livid tinge. His eyes rolled from one to another of the group as if he yearned to annihilate them.

"Hello, Pettigre.w! Isn't it a crime for Miss Marquis to leave us?" cried a weedy youth. " Is she leaving us?" queried Alan. "In a couple of days," said Stella, elaborately casual. " Seems only that since you came," lamented a young man in an amazing striped blazer. Alan scarcely knew whether he was glad or indifferent. Had Parratt not interrupted him he would have proposed to Stella that evening in the rhododendron walk, but calmer reflection had cooled his passions. What would he gain by flaunting a wife in Patsy's face to show her he wasn't heart-broken ? Patsy wouldn't care. "Go and devote yourselves to the girls, you slackers," commanded Stella, a wave of her hand dismissing her gallants. " Men are scarce, and Mrs. Bellamy expects you to rise to the occasion." From the ashes of her ruined aims had sprung a desperate, eleventh-hour hope that if she could pluck up courage to confess fully to Alan he might save her from Parratt's vengeance, and still be willing to marry her. In a liquidly soft voice she asked him to stroll with her round the grounds. Before he had time to reply Dick intervened. " I've waited an hour for that privilege. It's mine by right." " I resign in your favour, Dick," said Alan, and his chill accents told Stella that the psychological moment had fled—n£ver to return. " Yours by right," she panted, blackbrowed. " Nothing I choose to grant or refuse is yours" by right." Alan was receding in the distance, and her rage was boundless. " I—you know—l—l can't rest till we have settled our future," Dick stammered. "We could have settled it by-and-bye." " I'm keen to tell mother, and all our friends," he pleaded. " I thought we'd have a splendid afternoon walking about andi telling everybody we were definitely engaged." " Well, you aren't to have it."V Stella, you must listen!" he cried, dismayed. " When it suits me, I will." She hurried off to the glitteringcanopied hobby-horses, Dick keeping pace with her, snubbed and silent. A merry throng surrounded the hobbyhorses, chaffing the riders giddily whirling to the blaring strains of Alexander's . Ragtime Band. When the machinery slowed and stopped, Stella darted for a seat, and Dick mounted behind her, his bitterly aggrieved expression contrasting so ludicrously with his position astride a rainbow-coloured cock that she yelled with laughter, and the onlookers roared. Deficient in a sense of hjimour, Dick's livid skin turned ghastly. He was being butchered to make a Killyduff holiday. Stella declared she would have a second spin, calling to others to keep on with her as the revolving platform ceased to gyrate. To her surprise Dick spoke loudly and hysterically, causing general amazement.

" You've had enough of the cursed tomfoolery. You're getting off and coming with me."

A swift glance at his face, and she shrugged her shoulders. They walked across the grass, the cynosure of all eyes. " You are behaving in the silliest way," she said, flashing him a disdainful glance. " I wouldn't have come if I hadn't pitied your very childish inability to control yourself. Because you cannot have what you want at the moment you want it, you act like a peevish baby. I'll meet you by the shooting-gallery in the evening when it's deserted for the dance on the lawn, and we'll settle our accounts. Fetch me to the refreshment marquee. lam dying for a cup of tea!" (To he continued daily.)