NABOTH'S VINEYARD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20807, 25 February 1931, Page 4

NABOTH'S VINEYARD.

By M.D

" It is a very nice little property," said Mr. Foster slowly. " But it wants a lot of money spending on it to get the best out of it. Your late uncle had very strong views on the subject of mortgages, and he was determined to keep tho place absolutely unencumbered. I often tried to make him change his mind, but he was a —well, a very determined man." "My mother used to say ho was as f pig-headed as a mulo '," replied Eric, .with a fleeting smile. The lawyer smiled back. He rose from his chair, and crossed the room to the large map of/ the country that hung upon the wall.-

"This is your property. You will see that it is almost an exact triangle. I suppose," ho said hesitatingly, yon would not consider selling ?

" I do not think so. Property of all kinds is a drug in the market at present. It would cost more to sell and buy another place than to try and work this one, as far as I can see. I have no ties of any kind, one part of the country is as good as another to me." The lawyer thoughtfully traced out the boundary of the small station with the pencil in his hand. Ho cleared his throat, and spoke, with sudden decision. " Your neighbour is a Mr. Shannon. He owns not only this large block upon the left, but'this not inconsiderable block upon the right, and the small section behind. Your property practically runs a wedge into his land, and leaves him only this narrow neck, which is very high country, connecting the two blocks, lie made many advantageous offers to your late uncle for his property, but ho would not consider them. There was a certain amount of ill-feeling between the two men. It is not my business to decide who was to blame in" tho first place. Eventually, the late Mr. Macdonald called Mr. Shannon ' a modern Ahab ' one day in a crowded bar at the hotel, and that put the finishing touch to things. Mr. Shannon is a very w.ealthy man, certainly, but otherwise I think the epithet was undeserved. Eric grinned. "If Mr. Shannon is as Irish as his name, it looks as if I shall have a pretty feud upon my hands for a hope there will be no trouble of that sort," replied Foster drily. " I am afraid, unless you have private means ot your own, you will find that a ,°* capital will, be your greatest difficulty. When everything is cleared up, there will be barely two hundred pounds in cash to come to you." " And I can only find another two hun-

dred." -4 #f , " You have, however, went on tne lawyer, '-'a very valuable asset that your uncle had not. You have youth and strength." He strolled back to his desk, and seated himself. \ " I expect you will be moving in as soon' as possible ? If you think it' advisable, I do not doubt you could easily raise a mortgage to help you get the-place into shape. " Eric Preston shook Ins head. I-think I will give it a go first. I should like to keep the place free if possible. As vou sav, I have assets he had not, but like my uncle, I too can be as ' pig-headed as a There was certainly a good deal to be done on the place, as the young man founA The pastures required top-dress-lii*, the fences were in need of repair, and tha baildings were oiit of date and neglected. However, he lacked neither energy ni>r experience, and with the help of the few hands he could afford to employ, he soon made an improvement in the station. : Ho had been on the place over six months, when he was returning from a sole with a newly purchased bull. His day had been hot, and they had not passed any water upon the way. Iho great beast was irritable, and hard to drive. Eric was thankful that they were getting near to his home paddocks, when he noticed a girl crossing the road a short distance ahead of his charge, accompanied by a large dog. The bull saw them, too, and paused abruptly, his tail lashing angrily. He lowered his head and started to paw dust upon his back, while his deep rumbling growl advertised his disgruntlethe sound, the girl paused and turned her head towards them. The dog officiously left her side, flying at the bull, barking loudly- The animal answered the challenge immediately by a loud " Whoosh !"-and charged down upon him. The • dog nipped in behind, snapping at the beast',B hocks. To Eric's amazement the girl never moved. He dug his heels into his horse s flanks and passed the duellists without a look. He rode straight to her, and pulled up in a smother of dust at her side. " Get off. the road! The bull's not safe. Why don!t you get off the road!" he shouted down at her.. She-raised two deep hazel eyes to his. a, !' T was not sure," she said in a particularly sweet low voice. " I cannot see. I am blind, you know." With an exclamation, Eric swung out ol the saddle. Taking her arm gently, he led her to the side of the road, and through a gate. _ " Stay there a minute until I put the bull into my paddock. Call off your dog, I cannot'do anything with him there. It was some minutes before he could get sufficient control over the animal to drive it oh to his property. Leaving it tn recover from its temper, he returned to the girl, who was still where he had left L The man found it hard to believe her words with regard to her blindness, as she turned her head towards him when the thudding of his horse's hooves on the roadside grass came to her ears. " I must apologise for my roughness, he said as he dismounted. " I did not understand." , . , The girl gave him a smile of wonderful tenderness. " People never know unless thev are told," she said. Then they seem so sorry. Really, they do not realise that although we miss the beautiful colours and shapes and views, which they are too busy to realise, and have not time to appreciate, .We hear the beauty hi sounds which they never think about." "You have no idea," she added eagerly, " how lovely some things are to touch! It is only the totally blind who really develop that sense in its perfection. Unless, perhaps, musicians or and people like that." Eric wondered whether the girl was conscious of his intent gaze. He felt he could not tear his eyes away from the exquisite colouring of the oval face, the velvety bloom of the lips, the eyes like sun-flecked forest pools carpeted with the emerald and russet of drowned leaves. " You are the new owner of Ilangimoa, are you not?" she went on. "I hope you are not prejudiced against us. I do not think your uncle and my father were very good friends." Eric could not suppress a grin as lie remembered his short-tempered relative and the " Ahab " incident.

" T think it is more likely that you would be prejudiced against me. From what Mr. Foster told me, my late uncie seems to have been mostly to blame."

" Dad's a dear, but he loves to get his own way. I believe ho never gave Mr. Macdonald any peace over his land. You see it is so hard to shift stock from one block to' the other. They cither have to go up over the-ridge, or conic right down here and along the road. It means a lot of work."

" I can seo that. Perhaps your father would let me come and talk the matter over with him some time. I could not sell my place," lie added hastily. "But we might, lie-able to make some sort of compromise about a,.stork track or something." " T wiah you would. I must go now, or they will be anxious. I shall look forward to ; your coming." " But can yon ge| home alright V' She seemed so sure of herself that Eric was afraid of blundering in tact. " Easily," she said with a smile. " I have Bounce, who is much more staid and respectable than his name, and I have my Btick. As long as 1 keep near the wires 'X cannot go wrong."

NEW ZEALAND STORY.

t COP rHI GUT.)

She called the dog to her, and turneu away. At the corner, where the downward fence joined the boundary, she waved her hand. He wondered how she knew he was still watching, until he remembered she would have heard his horse upon the road had he moved.

' A few days later, Mr. Shannon came over to see his new neighbour, and brought Noreen with him. Ho was a much older man than Eric had expected from the girl's glowing youth, but still strong and healthy. After a little preliminary conversation, Shannon made him an offer for Rangimoa. Preston declined it. " Well, you know your own business best. But the place needs a lot of money spending on it. I am afraid obstinacy runs in the family," he grunted. ( One bad season would about finish you. " Then we must pray for good ones, said Eric with a smile. I have an affection for the place. It is the fiist bit of land I have ever been able to call my own, and I want to niako a success of it. I suppose I am obstinate." " Dart, of course, is never obstinate,' said Noreen demurely. "He is only determined."

" You are a very disrespectful young woman," retorted her father. " However, if we cannot make a deal, do not think I bear any ill will. If you are willing to take an old man's advice occasionally, I shall be willing to give it. I have lived here all my life, and know local conditions as well as the next man." " I should be only too glad," said Eric heartilv. He took Shannon at his word, and rode over a few days later. The house was neither large nor pretentious. Just a comfortable farmhouse, set in a small but beautiful garden. Everywhere the neatness and modem appliances told of 110 lack of funds for its upkeep, and its owner was obviously proud of the place. His wife was a sweet-faced and gentle woman, from whom Noreen's beauty of body and spirit had obviously been inherited. He felt at home with her at once, and found himself a welcome guest whenever he could spare the time to go over. "It is nice to have a young man about the place," she told him one day when he apologised for what might seem toofrequent visits. "We lost our boys at the war, vou know, and Noreen misses her brothers, although they were much older than she is. It was a terrible blow to us all when she met with that accident when she was eight years old. She is wonderfully bright, but sometimes I wonder The old lady finished with a sigh. It was a good lambing that year. Everywhere one could hear their plaintive cries among the hills, and the deeper notes of the answering mothers. Eric was riding along his boundary fence when he saw Noreen's familiar figure seated on a log not many yards away. As he tied up his horse and climbed over, Bounce growled in his throat, then the pricked ears flattened, and he met the man with a grin and a thump of his tail. The girl smiled at him, but Preston was hurt to see her cheeks were wet with tear.s. He still retained the hand she gave him as he sank 011 the tree at her side.

-" Noreen ! What is troubling you ? Is anything wrong?" She smiled tremulously. "It is foolish of me, but I was sitting here thinking, listening to the lambs, and it suddenly came to me that I'd never—never—." She sobbed pitifully, and Eric's arm _ went round her. She buried her face in his shoulder. " I'd never," she went on desperately, " have any babies of my own!" f,

Eric sat for a minute in stunned silence. But Noreen, your eyes were just an accident, it would not affect any children you might have. You must not get those thoughts in your dear little head !" " I know," said the muffled voice. It isn't that. But no one would want a—blind —wife, would they?"

"Not want!" the amazement in Eric's voice was so genuine, that a little choked laugh came horn the girl. •" Not want you! Great Scott, Noreen, do you think that if I had been a rich man I would not havo tried to win you months ago! For Heaven's sake, get those ideas out of your mind at once." " Please," she said. " Can I have your hankie?" The man drew it out of his breast pocket. "It is a bit grubby, he said, without a smile. Noreen wiped her eyes with it, and then carefully returned it to his pocket. She did not move from the circle of his arm. " It is very nice to hear you say that, even when you don't mean it," she said, her head comfortably in the hollow of his shoulder.

" I'd like to shake you," said Preston between his teeth. " Here have I been trying to play the game all these months, and not tell you how much I cared for you, and when I do, you won't believe me."

" But, why didn't you try ?" asked Noreen, sweetly. " Great Scott! What would your father and mother say ? Mr. Shannon was quite right, a bad year would break me. T could not look after you properly myself, nor keep enough of a staff to do it for me. It's impossible, sweetheart." " So your obstinacy is going to condemn me to single unblessedness all my life," murmured the girl. " Noreen! There are heaps of chaps belter off than myself who would give anything to have your sweetness for a wife." The hand holding hers on his knee tightened conclusively. " Even if there were, does it follow that I should want thern ?"

"Noreen, do you mean—l" She turned in his arms. " You are a foolish boy." she said. Eric saw the girl safely on her way, promising that he would come over and see her father that night. He had realised that Rangimoa must go, if that was the only way A smaller place, or a little home for her, and work with someone else for him. There was a pang in his heart as he gazed over the beloved land, but 110 regrets. When a man has seen a pearl of great price, does he regret selling all that he hath ?

Mr Shannon greeted him in silence, but with out-stretched hand. Then

" So you have decided to sell out," ho said with a grim smile. "If you will let me have Noreen in exchange, sir," ho replied. _ " Carrying on by myself is all right, but it would be impossible lor her; it would not be fair to any woman."

"Til take over the Rangimoa on one condition," Shannon told hirn. " And that is that you take on a job as manager that I have in view for you." " If it would suit Noreen, I have 110 objection," Eric answered. " I have always coveted Rangimoa." the man went 011. " The wife and I are getting old, and this place is a little beyond the two of us. We have decided that we will rebuild the Rangimoa homestead, and live there. Noreen knows overy stick and stone here, it is her home. You would not have any objection to managing your wife's station, I suppose?" Eric's voice failed him. " You mean—!" " I shall have acquired ' Naboth's Vineyard '," said the old man with a smile. "And lost your kingdom!" replied Preston, as he clasped Shannon's outstretched hand.

" Oh, well, that is better than the end the other Ahab came to!" was the amused reply.