A CHRISTMAS MASQUE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 6089, 22 December 1906, Page 6

A CHRISTMAS MASQUE

(Dy Jjuiioa Blyth.)

I. I/iliau woke with the glare of an electric lantern tiwi-ing its dazzling -throat straight in her XTlji/J alio *aw —and the glint of a pistol barred beneath it. That wens all. Iho butt of thn pistol and the' hand wliioli hold it were in the black shadow at tho hook; .I**l it was the wcscon, tho dread haranl of what wits behind tho tight in the murk of tho mlont sleeping i-.i-oi 1 rather than the material nnd risible menace of the pkdtol which Kirnfn-1 lief. For an instant she Jay siinul. mutiimlcnn, breathless, the back in hei- . lend nestling in tho liollow of tier pillow; and, despite the fear which Jinked her, and which seemed to pnisakc . in tho atnwf>phoro of thn room 1 i;f i nomtibfn, almost audible, vibration, the ipiaint thought caine to her vlmt this waa what rami) of Bleeping in a room with a verandah and with thn window open. Often had her father, Mark Xit’Jo, expostulated with her loi continuing the-(practice (tor .Mark lovoil not fresh air, cither in his lungs or inn businoosj, and now ho would triumph and (mult with the coarse, fcaotlcsrt banter of a man who had rifion from penury to wealth by methods as pri.niii.ivo and relentless sn any mediaeval system of rapine. An age of emotion passed in a sccrmd’s ti in o by ilolar reckoning, and it teemed hours to the girl ere tho (loop, tonne voice 1 of a cultured man .spoko out of tho •darkucso in low, uubduod accents. “Do not be frightened,” said tho voioo, "X mean you no harm. I entered this room solely because it wart the most convenient, and I beg of you to boliovo that I regret it if 1 have alarmed you.” "No I” —and horo, as alio opened her lips, the voioo grew stern, hue still very soft and low- I—”pierce 1 —”pierce do not Apeak or scream. I mudt auk you to promise to remain quiet here till morning. X pledge you my word that X rihull do no wrong, shall raise my hand against no one save in selfdefence;' but I must remain undisturbed till 1 have done that which X came to do. Yes, even at the cost sA lifo. If yon will give me tho promieb X imk I bog you to bow.” Audacious na was tho proposal, valneItta an tho pledge ot a midnight xnatroudor’a woid might appear to tho prudent, it never occurred to Xiilian to doubt his promiee or to wibbliold her own. Fasoinatod by tho voice, hypnotised it may be by tho glare of the lontom and the 'terror of the auddon awakoning, she bowed her head and breathed no worth “I thank you,” said the voice from the dark.

The rays of the lantern flickered,, a moment upon the lovely face on the pillow. than swerved and irradiated the handle* of tiro dcor. Then, with a faint “click,” the light was shut off, and, in the darkness, Lilian heard the muffled passage of soft footfalls moving towards the door. She hoard the touch upon the handle which bold her she was about to be freed of her uninvited visitor. And then she recollected that by the head of her bed was bho switch of tho electric lights which illumined her room. Just as the faint rustle of tho opening door bounded, she swiftly, unthinkingly, almost insensibly, turned flown tho catch of tho switch, and immeciioibely the' light flared out, flooding tbo room with tho rich brilliance of tho glowing wires. She saw a ball, elegantly-built man, in tho act of passing out. For an instant uho saw hia eyes' glitter through a mark that hid - tho upper part of his faco ocmplololy, and thoy seemed to her to oast a reproach at her. for, having broken her word in tho spirit, though sho had kept it in the letter. Then tho man’s hand shot up _ and Screened what little sho could distinguish of his features. Ho passed out. Tho dpor closed noiaolctuly. Liliiiii waa nlouo. Sho lay with wide eyes, •with parboil lips, breathing qufeldy for a little Space. Thou she switched .off tho light and closed her ores. > Tho masked man posed silently along the corridor till he came to tho private room of the mader of, the house. This ho entered. In lees than half an hour ho emerged again into the corridor, made his' -ray down tiro ball, and with the ntmeft coolness unlocked thefront dcor and let himself out in tho avenue which fed through the nohly-tipihered ' petrk. In a copoe by the ring fence to which he shaped hla course, a nightingale was singing In the hush of the spring qight. Tho masked man paused and listened with the rapturous delight ip his heart that tho song of the passionate bird can arouse only in those possessed of living and young souk). Then he leapt Jet tho top of the ring fence, hoisted himself over, and dropped .into tho country road. Ho made no pause, but »t 'once struck out towards London with a bold and vigorous stride. And as ho walked ho carried, tho song of the nightingale in hla cars, and in his isyea the won of a fair face, set in gloaming hair and Ift by twin sapphire Stars, and contrasted in their dramatie intensity with tho homely domesa of the pillow which formed tho .•round of the picture. Tho (Strange thing was that, Instead of sighing with remorse as such a man might have been expected'to do after such an outrage, he laifghed as be walked, and there was a tender exaltation in hia laughter which , was stronger Still. ' n. Lilian was tho only child of .Mark JBCalo, tho notorious building contractor, and was the only living thing to have any affection or rofpcct for the blatant millionaire. Her mother had never- pretended to have either (save «o far as the sufferance of, tho common and farcical Wotonco of the marriage •service con'd bo an exception), she having merely boon a chattel purchased From the good-blooded but Impoverished family of the Surrey Bianohards—a dcrttrtnto and distant cousin who had boon thrown in as a makeweight when tho contractor bought Oakholm, the ancestral home of the Blanchards. Sho had never misunderstood the nac turo of the bargain; and fulfilled her part of it with an adequate sliow • of toleration, recompensing her docility by spending I 'her husband’s'hoards in entertaining largely during tho London season, when tho society of town (always more servile to plutocracy than fe the best Wood of the counties) was willing enough'to attend the millionaire’s wife’s concerto and other professionally supported , entertainments 1 in tho groat house at Lancaster Gate, a clrrlions conscience with tho recollection that tho wife, at any rate, wao of gentle blood. Before tho night in wliioh Lilian snvoko with tho okwtrio lantern shut-

ing in her eyes, Mrs Halo had already , gone up to town to prepare for the corning campaign, and tho girl was alono in the house save for her father and the stall of servants. But oho was accustomed to ordering her actions to arriving at her oonclnrtions and forming her opinions—independently of any advice save such as her heart and her inexperience could afford. Even if her mother had been at Oakholm,, and even if there had been more sympathy between them, I.ilian would have been loth to betray tho secret of tho darkness.

"When she awoke in tho morning the. whole incident of the midnight intruder seemed unreal to her. “What?” she thought. “I come bo terms with a thief in tho night—l consent to raise no alarm?”

At fiTOt she tried to persuade herself that she had suffered from a nightmare, especially ■no when her maid brought up her morning cup of tea she made no mention of any burglary, or of abnormal conditions in tho house. But after tho ordinary del nils of the toilet, tho brightness, tho fresh breeze outside the verandah, and the sound of the breakfast gong (for Mark liked her to breakfast with him), dispelled the last of night's indefinitoness and brought back the exaggerated ostentation of materialism with which a fine April morning flouts the hesitancy of tho hours of transcendental speculation- She was confronted with tho fact in ail its startling nudity—the fact that rthe had been aroused by a man with an electric lantern, a mask, a pistol—indeed, a burglar's complete outfit, with a fascinating , voice added to it, and that the charm of sound had vanquished the repulsion of vision, 1 the fascination of romance had prevailed against the rude effrontery of the reality. Even now, in matter of fact daylight, she did not believe tho man had been a > more sordid criminal, proifling in search of plunder, ready for robbery, outrage, or murder as might prove most convenient for him. What, then, wart the meaning of the insolent housebreaking? . vVhat was its purport? And how came she so far to forgot the real courage sho possessed to lie passive, as though hypnotised, and to give the promirto demanded of her with scarce even an inward murmur of protest ? XTp to that time her life had been shaped on conventional lines and her individuality had had little chance to develop. Now the loadstone'of dramatic crisis had been pointed at her, and her whole nature responded to it. Her father gave her a brief "Goodmorning,” and applied himself to his breakfast. Ho seemed a little preoccupied, but that was not unusual, nor in any way surprising in a man with so many and. so great ventures bo occupy his mind. There was not a sign of any kind to indicate that one had burglariously, entered the house bur a few'hours 'previously, and the more Lilian appreciated the matter-of-faot commonplace passage of the morning hours , tho more difficult was it for her to realise the actuality of the past night, though she ho longer doubted the reality of the incident.

She was soon to be whirled into a vortox of intense emotion which roado the fantastic vision between two sleeps Seem more real than the present. A lark Halo rose from the table and rang. ■ “See that Brown has the forty Mercedes at the door by ten sharp,” said he. Then turning to his daughter, ho added, “I have one or two things to do in my room, my dear. If you wish to come to town with me, please be, ready punctually. I ahull bo late as it

He strode off to his room heavily, firmly, with tho aggrerivo insistence on hia surviving vigour which was characteristic of his middle age. Lilian heard him. open tho door of his study, and close it. She rose to see to tho household duties which devolved upon her in the absence Or indifference 'of her mother. As dhe crossed 1 the ’ hall on tie way to the housekeeper’s room, she ■heard a noise from the study which sounded like a Strangled yelp, and which wfts immediately followed by a heavy, dull thud. Terrified by an in-v stinotive dread rather than by tho mysterious sounds, she ran swiftly to her father's room and entered it. There, on tho thick pile carpet, between the swivel-seated chair and tho well of hia desk, lay Mark Hale. His mouth was drawn a little awry. His right arm and leg had the appearance of shrivelled impotence. Ho breathed heavily, with uneven gasps, and as sho drew near him he turned his head feebly towards her, and poured forth ■a flood of unintelligible gibberish,,; Tho room was' in'perfect order.' but tho centre flap of the desk was raised, exposing tho main cavity. In tips a drawer was open. It was empty. m. Mark Hale lived on. Ho even ‘ recovered sufficiently to have the use. of hia limbs. But his aphonia; remained, and ho, was- quite unable to communicate the cause of tho shock which' had prostrated him- Otherwise his health seemed little the worse, and Airs Hale daw no reason for cancelling her programme for tho season. In the bof inning of June Lilian went up to e present at a dance which her mother was giving, and to make oqe of the Henley party which always formed one of her mother’s fixtures.

“My dear,” said Atm Hale, as Lilian entered the drawing-room on her arrival At the house at Lancaster. Gate, “let me introduce you to your cousin, Raymond Blanchard.'’ A tall well-proportioned man, .jvith ■fcho rod brown of the Sooth on his face, Stopped forward and extended his hand. Lilian looked at him, at first with only inch interest aa hla fame as an explorer might excuse in any girl. But as hla eyes hoM hers, and bis lips parted a little in a smile, dho felt dazed, and then exultant. For she know that before her stood the one man of all tho world for her; sho knew that" the must love him, willy-nilly—-nay, that she did love him, despite all tho pretty rules for maiden modesty which Convention has formulated while Nature looked on with her tongue in her oheok; despite the nineteen or twenty years which might divide them, if she gucrtßod his age aright. In Lilian’s gaze there was the rapture of a new and strange joy. But in tho man’s there was rather a look of recognition than of sudden and newborn admiration; and Lilian, d<spite the singlenert of love’s' vision, saw it, and wondered at it.

But the wonder sboned passed in the charm of courtship. From- the first Raymond singled her out, and ,sho noticed that her mother afforded him every opportunity of pressing his slut. He made one of the Henley party, -end when the house at Lancaster Gate .wart closed at tho end of tho season, end Airs Hale and Lilian returned to. Oakholm, Raymond accepted tHc i.ivi'tation given him to run down u> the country scat which had once been the property of his family. Ho was fcho only guest, for Alark’s condition .prceluded the possibility of tho usual

house party. By the beginning of September he bad naked X.ihiin To bo his wife, and the engagement was published with such approbation as tho smitten father cf tho girl could intimate.

Indeed, the millionaire showed a curious servility towards Bnymond, and -Mrs - Hale lavished upon him all the arts of hospitality and kindness of which she was mistress. The wedding was fixed for the first week in tho now year, and never did loro affair run more smoothly than thirt idyl of dis-pos-.f-—,V:I ' blue bicod and possessing plutocracy. Mark Kale managed to put his mark to a power of attorney to his solicitor enabling him to make arrangements for providing the necessary household expenses and for the marriage settlement. and as it wart witnessed by tho doctor who attended him {who was prepared, perhaps sciucwh.V rashly, to swear that his patient understood the purport of what he wno executing), there seemed no hitch likely to occur. Tho time drew on.. towards C hristmas, and Mrs Halo sent out invitations for a groat nr'sked ball to be held, a/t Onkhoim on Christmas Eve—the List' function of importance at which her daughter would bo present prior to tho vital one of her wedding. rv. Tho masked ball was held in the groat hall of the old Tudor seat of tho Blanchards, and many an archaic county gentlemen whispered in the ear of a crony that tho bones of the family, which were reputed to lie beneath the gleaming floor, must to rustling and turning uneasily at tho conglomeration of guests who made merry above them. Lilian was dressed ns Cordelia, and was early in the ballroom, both by reason of her duties ns daughter of tho hostess, and bccauGO of her curiosity to learn what disguise Ilaymond would adopt. As the marriage was so near, the quaint anti a convention prevented the lovers.from sleeping under the same roof, and Ilaymond was staying at an hotel in the nearest town, tho forty Mercedes being requisitioned daily to bring him over to Oakholra. He had chosen to keep his fancy dress a secret, and had laughingly defied Julian to detect him in it. Before she entered the ballroom sho had- ascertained that tho oar bad not yet returned with him. but she knew' he might be expected at any minute, and that in tho din and tumult of tho dance muaio and clattering tongues she would be unable to distinguish the hum of the Mercedes from that of other cars bringing other guests. Despite her watchfulness, the evening wore on without her being able to discover the object of her search, and she was beginning to feel both anxious and annoyed. Surely, sho thought, her lover would not fail to seek her out as soon as he arrived. He would not allow the jest of his concealment to keoir him from her side. Her lovely eyes were bright, and were shooting quick, eager glances all about the resplendent figures which -whirled, in a superb motley of.'colour, and when a partner claimed her for a 'promised valse ■ she took h:irt arm a little petulantly, and for a moment, was guilty of the discourtesy of looking bade towards the door as ho forward.

Suddenly she snatched her arm away and gave a cry, hut almost immediately recovered 1 her self-poesc/rioh. “I’m .so sorry; Mr Ingram,” said sho to the stalwart representative of Henry YIXL, “but I really donlt think I can dance this. Would ■ you mind taking me into, the fernery and fetching mo an ice?” Of course, poor Ingram had no alternative to.bowing to.her will. He led her to' tli'o -cool, moist glass House, where the hardier ferns gave their freshness to the air, and loft her seated. • But as soon as he had disappeared in . the direction of the refreshmentroom Lilian was on her feet, pursuing a figure-that she had seen enter the fernery a minute or so hefore-i—a figure which was by -itself,, and which was remarkable in the multitude 'of gorgeous masterpieces of - the costumier’s art/ in being clad simply in evening dress, while a dense black mask covered the whole of the upper part of tho face. . Before - sho had gone half a dozen paces she met the masked man .returning. and tow him full in the lights of the electric lamps. She hesitated, and Stood still till the approach of the only other occupant of the fernery gave her . the opportunity of seeing the masked face in the profile. Then she ran forward, and touched the sleeve of the incongruous black coat.

• “For God’s sake, hide; behind the ferns at. the, other end,” die said in a breathless whisper, “and -wait till I come to you.” t

. Tiie ifSsked man laughed .lightly and gently, and Lilian’s eyes .glared ’ wide and horror-stricken ns she,heard. 1

“No, no,” she cried. : “I must fco mistaken. Oh, hide, hide!” . ■ Still laughing very softly, but with obvious enjoyment and sincerity, tho man obeyed, and withdrew behind a screen of cactus and palm.

Lilian sank into tho. seat in which Ingram had left her, and pressed her hand over her heart She was still pale -with excitement when her partner returned with the ice she did not want, and she fanned herself , with long, sweeping' 'strokes to oonaealher agitation. ' ■ ■ ''

“Thank you,”, said she, “and now, if yon wish to ,he very .kind, you will leave me to mydeif to get over my momentary faintness. Please do not lot me think 1 1 have robbed you of a dance. No, no. Indeed, I mean it, and tie greatest courtesy you eon show mo now is to do as I ask.”

“Really?” asked Ingram, bonding Over her, solicitously, ‘fßoally I” said fflio,, with a nod and a faint smile. 'Yotv. know there is no accounting for a woman’s cn-prieo. Please don’t think me rude, but leave me to myself.” “Of course;' if you wish it, Miss Hare,” said Ingiam, bowing and effecting his retreat with .as little display of • resentment as he could manage. Lilian watched him' re-enter the ballroom, and then she rose, and ran swiftly to the screen, behind which tho masked man was hidden.

“‘Who are you? Who are you?” she whispered. “Oh, for God’s Sake speak.” “Why, Lilian' dear,” said Raymond Blanchard’s voice. “Surely you knew mo before. I never thought—” ‘You!” she cried, with a gasp .of pain. 1 “Ah,-X know your laugh:- I knew you I But oh' I know now it, was you who broke into the .house like,.a common thief in the night. Go, oh go'-l ..Lot. me fve the jilted, .if yon like ; hut go; and'-never see' me -again-!” ■ “Dearest,”, j.cried Raymond, taking her in his , arms, -.“Sorely vyrgiir will. let me •’explain.’’-;' f .'.'rtrt, " “There can he' no espial]®twh,£ v ßhe cried. “Oh go: if over‘you toured for me, go! I cannot bear. it. oh I cannot hoar it I” , “Why, Lilian,” he..cried, .‘T can explain everything.”

But she would not listen, and hedged him again and again, wilh byster- • ical passion, to leave her for ever. At i Length, seeing that his presence only ■ excited her, he withdrew swiftly. She sank into the scat whioh for-

tunately stood near, and, hiding her face in her hands, she broke into a convulsion of tears. y. When her fit of sobbing was over, Lilian went to her room, avoiding tho ball by a side exit from the fornhon so, and dont a message to her mother to say that she was too unwell to make any further appearance in pillule that night. The sounds of the Thu.sic and laughter came faintly up to her as sho lay upon her bod with tho deadened feeling at her heart that oppresses those for whom tho world is temporarily over. And as she thought bitterly of tho issue of this love, sho was unable to repress a feeling of regret that dho had not allowed Raymond to offer her the explanation which lie claimed to have in his power to submit.

Though aJb times there had been something familiar in his voice, she had never associated him with the midnight intruder until she again saw him masked. Then, in a flash, the identity of the fiwo masked figures came upon hor, and though she hoped agadTst hope that her lover and he who had entered her room so unceremoniously were unconnected, she had never doubted of their identity when she heard the voice from beneath tho black screen. What, then, could this moan? Her heart told her that tho man sho had loved—nay, whom she still loved, could bo guilty of no mean sordid wrong. Ah! why did «he not listen to him?

She lay tosOingj in agony of spirit till slioor weariness and reaction i brought her sleep, and, even as she sank into rest, she wondered that her mother had not found occasion to visit her. In the meantime' while Lilian was Buttering in solitude, Raymond had sought out Mrs Hale, and. as soon as the last of the guests had left (speeded on his way by the suppressed curses of the lover, who thought the ball would never end), mother and lover met in the boudoir of the former, and there Raymond told his tale. “I told you that it would be better to let her know everything,” said Mrs Halo pettishly. “Now you have only got yourself to thank if there is any difficulty in readjusting matters between you.” “I still think I was right,” said Raymond. "1 wished to spare her all pain, and I knew that the truth would pain her.” “She’s a silly child,” said his cousin. “If I could boar the truth, why could not she?” “You are one of our family,” said Raymond, “and sympathise with my standpoint. Surely the way I. liave managed it id the best ?” "But what will you do now?” asked Mrs Hale. “I don’t see how you are going to get out of letting her know all if yon wish to win her back/’ Then Raymond bent forward, and with quick and eager whispers told his hostess what lie proposed to do. YI. Christmas morn broke in a smother of snow, and the hour was late ere Lilian, the first of the family, made her appearance below stairs. She waited, eagerly for her' mother’s descent, and, as she watched the aimless whirling of the snow-flakes outside the dining-room window, she could not help comparing their futility with the hopelessness ,of her life. While she was still waiting, she heard her father’s footsteps approach his room .and enter it. It seemed as if she had undergone the whole experience before. The snow outside, the silence of the soft fall, all seemed in keeping with those footsteps, though the last time she had greatly noticed them was on the morning of her father’s seizure, which had been in high spring. Ah, what, was that? , There was another cry from her father's room —a cry like _ that she heard on the last day of his articulate speech. Like, and yet how different. For if all the terror and pain of .a lifetime were in the former there was a world of joy and wonder in this new sound. And then, wonder upon wonders, she heard her father’s voice. . “Florence! Florence!” he called; it was his wife’s name. Lilian snrang to and ran upstairs at hor utmost'"speed., She found , her father slitting in ■ his swivel chair before his desk, the main oavitv again open, the inner drawer also open. But in the drawer lay a parchment document, folded in quarto, and on its hack Lilian read, “Covenant to re-oonvoy Oakholm to Raymond Blanchard, Esq., 'on payment of £70,000.”

“Lilian I Lilian!’’ cried the millionaire as plainly as ever ho bad spoken in his life- “Thank God, thaiik God! Now I will make amends.” And even as he spoke there entered Mrs Halo and the lover Lilian had dismissed but a few hours previously.

.Raymond advanced to her with outstretched arms, but she- shrank hack, and cried, “Oh, no, no! What does it all mean?” "Go , to him, clear/’ said her mother; 'Tho time has come for you to know all, and there can be no better , hour than this Christmas morning which has given back speech to your father, speech to enable him to regain the honour which he put in jeopardy.” , , (Poor woman. She only know of one stain upon the honour which a thousand blots had smirched.) ‘Then she turned to Raymond, and said, 'T thank yon. You were right. The new shock has counteracted the effects of the former. Ton have indeed Succeeded.” And Mark too rose, and held out his hand to Raymond. "I see,” said he, .‘“that you have given hack that which I wrongfully took. I have had my lesson. And I. too, thank yon. Lilian,” said he, talcing his daughter’s hand. “Como here, and .listen.” "No,, no,” said Raymond; “why need she know anything beyond the faeft that I took something I was entitled to?” _ “Sle must know all,” saia Mark; "and what I cannot tell her 1 doubt not yon can supply.” “My dear,” he continued, “when I bought this property from’ the' Blanchards your lover had the power to prevent the sale to me. He had what the lawyers call a. reversion, and he only consented to’join in,tile sale, so that T could become the legal owner of the estate, on condition that I 1 should covenant with him that if . at aiiy time within twenty years from the- date of tiie sale he should offer me £70,000 I should make it over again to him. As you know. we have not been here more than nineteen years, but from the first I intended to_ cheat him of his right of re-purchase if I .could, for. I had private knbwledso of certain things

which vastly increased the value of the estate. Soon after I took possession, ho sailed for South Africa, leaving the covenant I had given in his father’s possession. Now his father was a poor man, and I tempted him, and for £o.ooo he let me have the document which of right belonged to his son alone. Then your lover came home, with a fortune which his luck at the diamond fields had won for him, and b© wished to buy back the home of his fathers, but found that the covenant which alono enabled him to do so was missing. How he learnt its whereabouts I cannot tell you, but I am certain that it was ho who took it from tills desk last spring, when the loos of it, and the shame that the knowledge of my villainy was known to him, brought on an attack which I believe soJemly to have been .the direct punishment of God for my sin.” ‘T know,” said Lilian, breaking into her father's speech. “Hush!” said her mother, emiling. “Thete is no need to tell of that.” Lilian drew nearer "Raymond, and, almost imperceptily, their hands met, even as their hearts had met before.

“This morning,” continued Mark, ‘Svhen I camo into my room the desk was open, and I found that the document had been replaced. This I owe to hia love for you—l am sure of it. This is the Christmas present he has given the stricken father of his bride. And, more than this, his action, and tho goodness of God, have removed the curse which lay upon me. Oh, my children, may you be as happy as I am this morning {” And all the time the Christmas’ bells were pealing tfongs of joy and triumph on tiio keen, dear air, and the villagers wore gathering in their Sunday best to go to hoar the tale of Christ's birth read to them, by the old whitehaired country parson. “Come, my dears,” said Mrs Hale, laying her hand upon her husband’s arm with more tenderness and affec- . ion than had ever felt or shown before, “lot us all make hast© and go to church. There ? Raymond, I Wished you a merry Christmas. Is not my wish fulfilled r f

But Raymond was kissing Lilian, who was sobbing in his arms. And her weeping was the voice of joy.