FETTERS OF GOLD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19859, 1 February 1928, Page 18

FETTERS OF GOLD.

BY DOROTHEA CORBOULD.

CHAPTER XIII. (Continued.) ' Mr. Toller ceased-his tramping up and 'down, and sealed himself, wiping the perspiration from his forehead. " It wasn't exactly what you might call a bargain," he replied hesitatingly, "i only said this much to Dudley, as if you an* 'e cared for each other, it. should make a difference about the mortgage —" " I see, then you did make him marry me. Mr. Aldwyn was right, and from what ha told nie, you promised to give me to him as his wife, out of gratitude lor—•" Too liate, Mollie remembered that she had said she would not tell her father about Aldwyn's betrayal of his secret. "What!"- Toller jumped up from his seat again. " Did that mean 'ound date to tell you about what 'e did for me lie gasped, choking with rage. Oh, just let me get at 'im, that's all—l'll —" " He is leaving England," Mollio put in quietly, " and lie gave mo a message for you, that ho forgave you and your treatment of him,and spared you the punishment you deserve for my sake, therefore there is nothing more to be said where he is concerned. !Jut «:s to Dudley, oh, how could you let yourseii bargain wivh him for me, when he never C3ied for me and I love him, help me, with my whole heart. ( You have ruined my life between you!" and she burst into tears. For a few minutes her sobs were tho only sound in the room. " I'm sorry, lovey! " came at last from Albert Toller. *' 1 never meant no 'arm. least of all to you. But,' he added under his breath, "that 'ushand o' yours, shall suffer for 'is treachery, an' Jim Aldwyn, too! " Then aloud, " Como, choer up. dearie, do! an' tell your^ poor, miserable old dad you forgive 'im!" Mollie looked up and tried smile, but words would not come. Nervous dread of what her father would say and do when she told him her story, had caused her a sleepless night, arid taken away her appetite for her breakfast. Moreover, regret at having left her beloved home had begun to suggest that perhaps she had acted too precipitately. Slie kissed her father, however, and tried to compose herself. Then she told him the story of all she had had to endure at the hands of Norah Lyndhurst and her own husband. " We'll 'ave a nice cosy little chat later on," Toller said presently, " an' see if nie an' you can't straighten things out a bit. I've got to go out this morning on a little matter o' business, but 1 won't be lorg, an' then .we'll 'ave a bit o' lunch, an' feel all the better for it." Left to herself, Mollie tried to tiling calmly and judiciously over recent events, and the course she intended to pursue in the future. She wondered what Dudley had thought of her letter, and what Aunt Phoebe would say. Would everyone blame her? And would Norah Lyndhurst take advanage of her having left the Chase to tackle Dudley again on the subject of a divorce ? The morning wore away, lunch time was near, and yet Mr. Toller had not returned. Mollie was beginning to feel faint after her long fast, when at length the door opened, and with a sigh of relief she forced a smile and turnd to greet her father, when, to her amazement and dismay, she. saw that the newcomer was her husband! " The waiter told me you were here," Sir Dudley said as he laid aside his hat on a chair, and drawing off his gloves threw them it. then crossed over to where his wife stood by the window. •" I came to ask your father if he knew where you had gone." " And where should 1 go but to my father ?" Molly asked coldly. " Well, yen weren't here yesterday when I called to see Mr. Toller, who had gone out for the day, they told me. and as I gathered from your letter, and the fact that Aldwyn had left by the same train, I thought you had gone off together. What else could 1 think ? " Certainly not that," was the reply. ** My not being here yesterday can be explained by the fact that tearing you might take it into your head to follow me, I did not come to my father till this morning. I went to the Hotel Cecil instead. With regard to your unworthy suspicions you have no doubt judged rne by yourself, but I did not. marry you caring for someone else, and I certainly did not care for Mr. Aldwyn well enough to take him as your substitute. Ho did offer to take me away when he saw, as everyone else did. how I was treated, and before our guests, by you and—but I will not soil my lips my naming her —that woman who has helped to ruin my lii'e. Sir Dudley gazed at his wife in silent amajiement. Could this cold, haughty woman be the simple little girl, scarcely out of the schoolroom, whom ho had married? There was a hardness in Lady Alderstone's voice and manner, and a sort of shrinking from him, as from something repugnant to her, which gave him a rude shock, so suggestive was it of contempt, not to say aversion. And Peggy had told him she overheard her say she cared for him so much that while she lived she would never love any other man ! " I have told my father everything," Mollie went, " even the part you and your former fiancee played in humiliating me. I also made him confess that you and he had made a bargain of which I was the victim, and between you set out to ruin my happiness. Yes. 1 was happy till I began to suspect what had happened, for I believed you married me because you cared for me personally. I care nothing for money or a title. Perhaps you thought I was in the plot, but I only wanted your love. That I never had it I found out when you met that other woman again, and showed so plainly that you loved her still, and would all your life regret that you had not married her instead of me. I wish you had ! I wish to heaven you had ! " A little sob came with the last words, but Mollie choked it back. Her husband should not see her cry because he did not care for her, and believed she was jealous of Norah Lyndhurst. "I do not think we need discuss the matter," she added, "except that I may tell you Mr. Aldwyn only travelled a little way with me yesterday, and that he had not the slightest idea I was coming to London by that train. He is leaving England—has probably done so by now—and asked my forgiveness, which he has, for having thought that I could be disloyal to my husband, even if 1 was nothing to him, even if I had been single, jwhen he returned to England. But I cannot help making excuses for his imagining I should leave you for him, since your indifference to roe and your preference for another woman's society was apparent to everyone. That is all I have ' and she turned to leave the room. "Yes, but I also have something to Bay, _&ir Dudley went to the door and set his back against it, thus effectively barring her exit. ou have said many bitter things to me, Gwyneth, and perhaps I deserve them. In fact, 1 am sure I do, and I'm sorry, more sorry than I can say, that I ever harboured the suspicion that you married me for my title and the position you would gain in the county. I think Dame Foit.une must have a spite against me, since things have gone bo untowardly toward me of late. It was an awful temptation to save AiderKtoue Chase from going away from me by any means possible, but God knows I meant to be a good husband to you in return for yen giving me back mv home. You cannot say that I have not done my best to make you happy, and I always believed that you cared nothing for mo personally, therefore were indifferent to my friendship with Norah. When Peggy pndeeeived me, I knew it was too late." "Peggy? What has Peggy to do with St?" Mollie gazed at him with startled eyes. _ "Well, you see, she was not tho only listener in the lounge on the evening of (our dance—and she took upon herself to come up' to tho Chase this morning and rate me Boundly for having been, as she laid, fche cause of your hasty departure.

A POWERFUL STORY OF LOVE r AND INTRIGUE.

(COPT RIGHT.t

I don't suppose she will ever forgive me." A littio amused smile chased the sternness for a moment from Sir Dudley's countenance at the memory of that interview. There was silence. Mollie stood twisting her handkerchief about in her fingers trying to think what part of her conversation with James Aldwyn Peggy could have repeated. That the child should have overheard her declaration of undying love for her husband made things decidedly awkward, "I only said what 1 did to convince Mr. Aldwyn that I scorned Iris proposal," she said at last. "I had to convince him somehow." "I see. You didn't mean what you said, of course. Well, lam relieved to hear that. Are you coining home with me to-day ?" "I have no home," was the reply, ] "except" here with my father." CHAPTER XIV. Sir Dudley started. An angry look came into his eyes. " But Gwyneth!" he exclaimed, "think of the scandal and my position in the county—" " I care nothing for either, and I feel that after to-day 1 never want to see you or Alderstone Chase again." " You really meai that ? Have you no longer any feeling, even of liking, toward me V A murmured " No." . " Then of course, there is nothing more to be said, except that when you did me tho honoui to become my wife you promised to otey me. I do not, however, command you to return to the Chase, I merely ask as a favour that you will de so, at' any rate for a time, so that we can invent some plausible excuse for your leaving home, such as going for a sea voyage with your father when he starts for Australia. There would be nothing out of the way in your doing that. Do you consent ?" " Certainly not, came the firm rejoinder. "When, if ever, I return to Alderstone Chase, it will be because you want me." " But Ido want you ! It's awfully lonely there now. Even Tatters —" Sir Dudley got no further. There came a sudden turning of the door handle, the door itself was opened so sharply that it nearly upset him as lie leaned against it, and Albert Toller almost fiung himself into the room. The little man was purple with rage, and regarded his son-in-law with an ugly face. '' So you've 'ad the cheek to come 'ere after the way you've treated my daughter, 'ave yer ?" he blustered. " But if you think, Sir Dudley Alderstone, Bart., as you can play fast an' looso with my girl's 'appiness. makin' love to another woman under 'er very nose an' behavin' like the blackguard you are, you're very much mistaken. I'm not goin'_ to see 'er set aside for nobody. I'd like to hear what you've got to say for pourself. An' if you don't say it satisfactory, why, there's this to make you," and drawing a revolver from his pocket Albert Toller pointed it straight at Sir Dudley. In a moment Mollie had thrust herself' before her husband, her face white as death. "Father! Are you mad?" she cried. " Pul that down at once, do you hear me ? If you kill Dudley you shall kill me, too! and don't dare'to speak to him again as you have just dorte. He and I have made up out iittle difference for I—l was mistaken in thinking he doesn't love me, for he does, he does, do you hear? And he only flirted with —with someone else, i because he thought I was getting to care i for Mr. Aldwyn. Do put that awful thing I away! You—you terrify me—!" Mollie haa put her arm on her husband's I as she spoke, her words coming so rapidly I that she had to give a little gasp between | each sentence, and then suddenly Sir Dudley felt hei lean heavily against him I and caught her in his arms, just as she was slipping to the floor in a dead faint. He carried her to an easy chair by tho window and placed her in it. "Go and get :>ome brandy!" he said sharply to 'loller, who stood dazed and frightened the revolver still in his hand. "Eh ?—-Oh my lovey !my darlin' ! I've killed 'er an' she's died 'ating me—l know she has! I'll —" Sir Dudley sprang forward only just in time to strike the weapon which he had turned upon himself, out of his father-in-law's hand. ' You blithering idiot!" he exclaimed. " What are you thinking of ? She's not dead, only fainted, you frightened her with your tomfoolery. You must have been crazy! Come, pull yourself together, and go and get some brandy or something. She'll be better presently." Thoroughly ashamed of himself, Albert Toller obeyed. He returned in a few minutes to find his daughter still white as a ghost, sitting up in her chair while Sir Dudley fanned her with a newspaper. " No wonder she fainted," the latter said, for the benefit of the waiter who brought the brandy, " she didn't eat any breakfast this morning, and wants her lunch. She'll be better after that, won't you, Mollie?" Never had her husband addressed her except by her first name, and as once before when Sir Dudley's expressions of gratitude for her having probably saved his life called it there, a little tinge of colour came into Mollie's pale cheeks. " We'll go an' have it at. once, an' a glass o' champagne with it—that'll do the trick !" in a tone of relief. Then as the waiter left the room, closing the door behind him Mr. Toller added, " I must ask you both to forgive me for havin' made such a fool o' myself just now. I've a devil of a hasty temper, you see, an'—" " In that case, if I were you, I wouldn't carry revolvers about with me,' Sir Dudlev interrupted, " you might get into trouble if you go shooting everyone you've a grudge against." " You're right, my boy. I'll put the thing away," picking up the revolver from the floor and locking it away in the drawer of a cabinet. " Shake hands, will you, an' forget what's 'appened. I've been out o' sorts lately, worryin' about Mollie, an 5 whether I done right in letting her marry you. Then when she came this morning an' told me about everything, I seemed to see red. I meant to go for Jim Aldwyn, went alf over London to try an' find 'im —that's what kep' me—luckily for him he'd got safe away—so that's finished ! But as I missed 'im, I says to myself as perhaps I'd 'ave better luck with you. But thank God I've been prevented doin' as I intended It was all for my girl's sake, she's all I've got left in the world an to think of 'er bein' un'appv through me drove me mad, I think. But I m all right now. Come and give your old dad a kiss, Mollie darlin', and tell 'im you forgive 'im and love 'im still." " Of course I do forgive you, nnd l love you ever so much, v°u know, you silly old claddv!" Mollie threw her arms round her father's neck and kissed him many times. , " That's all right. Now let me see you kiss your husband like that, an' then we II go down to lunch." . (To be concluded to-morrow.)