HAPTER XVIII.

Otago Witness, Issue 1502, 28 August 1880, Page 25

HAPTER XVIII.

' Tupgiml&'s Friends. Elphinstone congratulated himself on , the rapid success which had attended his suit. He had hardly expected that things would go as smoothly between himself and Edith as they had done right up to the time he had made her promise to be his ; wife. Now that he had her promise, he felt quite as anxious that it should be fulfilled as quickly as possible before any news of it could travel to Hearn ; for Elphinstone, though not even acknowledging to himself that he half suspected Hearn had a partiality for Edith, was very anxious to have Edith's promise made irrevocable before .he wrote to Hearn. He had promised Reginald that he would soon write, and give him any news of the place and of his friends that there was, and Elphinstone now had in his pocket-book the address to which letters were to be sent. Amongst the names of friends whom Reginald had mentioned as wishing to hear of were the Halfords and Olives.

He was quite willing that Brenda should know of Reginald's request. She would feel flattered and pleased that he wished to hear about her parents and herself, but she might be very jealous, too, that he also wished to hear of the Halfords. With this purpose in his mind h« one morning walked over to Olive House.

Brenda was in the garden. She was seated under a large tree, a piece of embroidery in silks in her hand, and a book on her knee. She was evidently not doing much work, for her eyes were very intent on the book, and she slowly pushed her needle backwards and forwards in the work, hardly ever looking at it even for a moment. She did not at first hear the approaching footsteps, but so soon as she did Brenda allowed the book to slip off her lap, and lie closed at her feet. Then she began working slowly and carefully, and, after putting a few stitches in, looked up to see who it was.

' How warm it is out in the sunshine to what it. is here,' was Elphinstone's first remark, as he seated himself on the low garden seat beside Brenda. 'Indeed!' Brenda slightly elevated her eyebrows, and looked straight at her companion. ' You think I must be very penetrating to have discovered so much,' said Elphinstone, answering Brenda's look of mild contempt for the topic of the weather. 'I didn't take the trouble to think/ said Brenda, laughing. Elphinstone leant forward, and, picking up the book from the grass at her feet, said :

'Expended all your thinking powers on this, Miss Olive. Is not that so ? ' 'Perhaps. Why do you want to know?'

' Because I have something to tell you. But perhaps you can't take the trouble to listen. It is of no importance.' ' Then don't on any account trouble yourself to tell me — not to-day, at least. I see you are utterly exhausted with walking over here.' 'I am going to walk into town to*

night, anyhow.' ' Then you must rest well to recover yourself.' It was almost a hopeless task, that or trying to make Brenda Olive exhibit any curiosity or interest as to what he had come over to tell her. He was well aware that she really wished to know ; but unfortunately Brenda had found out that Elphinstone also wished her to know. So it would only be a question of patience, and whoever was least desirous that the news should be told would win the day. Brenda went on with her sewing, ana Elphinstone began skimming the book he had picked up. Neither spoke for about five minutes. At the end of that time Elphinstone closed the book, and took up his hat to go. ' I have had a note from Hearn. Brenda was expecting to hear something before her companion left, but she hardly expected it to be anything about Hearn. Somehow, between the proud, reserved girl, and the cold, sarcastic man, had sprung up a kind of tacit confidence. They had never spoken a word to each other respecting Reginald Hearn which that young gentleman himself could not have heard without in the least upsetting his equanimity; still Elphinstone knew well enough that Brenda was in love with him, and Brenda was equally well aware that her secret was known to the man now beside her. 'Well?' . The one word was spoken in a wouldbe tone of careless indifferenoe, but still half- defiantly. •He wishes me when I write to give him all the news.' ' And I suppose you will ? ' 'If I feel disposed to. Not other-

wise.' , ' There never is much news in this out-of-the-way place.' ' No. lam afraid if that were all that Hearn depended upon for his letters to be interesting, he might feel disappointed. But I do not imagine he cares much about the general gossip of the place. There are some people he wishes to hear 'Brenda forgot herself, and quickly asked ; ' Who ? ' ' Do you want to know ? ' ' 1 don't care much. It is nothing to me.' * I'll show you what he says.' Elphinstone drew Hearn's letter from his pocket, and pointed out the sentence to which he had been referring, and which ran thus : ' Let me know, when you write, how my friends the Halfords are getting on ; also all other friends, especially the Olives.' Brenda ran her eyes over the words, and then handed the letter back to its owner. ' Like his impertinence ! How does he know we are his friends ] ' 'Perhaps the wish was father to the thought.' Brenda's face lost its cold, haughty expression, and a softer one took its place. Still she was bitterly jealous that he should have mentioned the name of Halford first. * I never knew the Halfords were his friends. He used not to talk of them when he was here. Were they very great friends of his ? ' ' No ; I think not. They do not speak much of him.' ' Do you know them, too ? ' 'Yes. Hearn introduced me to Miss Halford.' ' You admire her ? ' ' You do, too, don't you, Miss Olive ? ' ' Ve-ry much, indeed ! ' Brenda did not forget what she had heard that evening not so very long ago at the Greys' house, when she had been an unsuspected listener, whilst herself and Edith Halford were under discussion. ' I am going to marry her. Brenda could not have been much more astonished had Elphinstone said he was going to marry herself than she now was. She actually said, and meaning it, too : 'lam so very, very glad. She will be such a delightful neighbour, and I hope we shall be friends.' As long as there was no fear that Hearn or she cared for each other, Brenda was quite willing to forgive Edith anything else. 'Are you surprised?' Elphinstone asked. 'Yes. I never thought you would marry.' 'Am I too old to marry, that you should be so very surprised 1 ' he asked, with a slight sneer in his voice. 'Oh no ! not that, But you always seemed so comfortable, and so thoroughly contented with being a bachelor, that I thought you would never wish to change your lot.' ' A man is sure to make a fool of himself, sooner or later.' ' Why, is it foolish to be in love 1 ' ' Of course it is.' ' I am very, very glad you are, and I hope your future wife will do her best to cure you of those misanthropic ideas which you have picked up somewhere or other.' ' I have lost a good half hour or more in talking to you, and then you call me misanthropic. I only came because I knew you were so dull, and because I knew you always liked to hear everything first.' 'It is very good of you ; and lam muoh obliged to you for your kindness — I really am. Is it to be a secret for the present ? '

' If it were, I should not have told you or anyone of it. if the one whom it most concerns cannot keep a secret, he must be demented to think anyone else can be entrusted with it.' 'How complimentary you are this morning, Mr Elphinstone.' ' It would be a great waste of time 1 if I were.' ' What numbers of people waste their time. Perhaps even you may have wasted only ever so little of that valuable article, within my own knowledge.' ' You say sharp things, Miss Olive.' ' You provoke me to doing so.' ' Very sorry for it. Good-bye.' Brenda watched Elphinstone as he walked away. She wondered if what he had last told her were true, and if so, when it was to be. 'I don't like him very much, and perhaps I shall like her less,' was her reflection. Soon afterwards Brenda took up her book and work, and walked towards the house. When she had reached the steps of the verandah, however, she turned round, as if undecided whether to enter or to return to her Beat under the shade of an immense willow tree. She looked longingly at the cool, shady spot for some moments; then quickly mounting the steps, she put down her book and work, and retraced her steps. But she passed by tfre tree, and along the hot, gravelled walk, until she came to the vines. Then under a broad, trellised walk, where the: thick leaves overhead shut out all sunshine. After walking some time, Brenda came to where her father was busy superj intending some work. Olive looked | rather surprised to see his daughter. ' What, Brenda, you here at this time of day ! Do you want anything from me?'

' Of course I do, papa, or else I should not have walked through all this heat. I certainly did not come to see those vats being repaired. I know it really is interesting, still hardly worth while coming all this way for.' ' What is it, then, Brenda V ' I want to go into town with mamma this afternoon, and I don't want you to raise , any objections. In fact, I want you to help me to persuade her to come : you know she won't come out in the heat if she can help it, and I am very anxious to go.' 'What for?'-

'I want to go and call on a young lady who is just engaged to a Mend of yours.' ' What do you mean ? ' ' Oome and walk under the trellis with me, and then I'll tell you all about it.' Brenda took her father's arm, and then, whilst they talked in the delioiously cool shade, she told him of Elphinstone's visit, and what he had said. Olive listened while his daughter talked, and did not once interrupt her. She finished by aaying— ' You see, papa, we shall have to know her sooner or later, as she is to be his wife ; and if we call on her now, we shall have all the credit of doing so when we are not at all obliged to. Besides, I think Mr Elphinstone would be pleased — not that it is very easy to please him.' At this Brenda slightly shrugged her shoulders. 'He is not the sort of man I should imagine would make a young, inexperienced girl happy. But chacun a son g6ut. If she likeß him, no one else has any right to find fault with him ; she will do it soon enough herself after she is married. I wonder Mortimer Grey never fell in love with her, because she is pretty enough— rather insignificant, perhaps, but juat the kind of girl who would suit him.' ' She ought to be rather an old girl, to suit Grey.' ' She does not look much more than a child. Unless Mr Elphinstone moulds her character to suit his own — ' Brenda stopped, did not finish her last sentence, but began another. Mrs Olive was, as Brenda had anticipated she would be, very disinclined to go out driving. But when Brenda told her the reason, and tried hard to coax her to go, her mother exclaimed : ' Why on earth, child, go out on such an afternoon, and, of all reasons in the world, to call on some people T have never even heard of before — or if I have heard of them, that is the extent of my knowledge. Why should we 1 ' Brenda had wished not to tell her mother of what Elphinstone had said to her ; but now she was obliged — if she wished to have her own way — to say the real reason. So she answered :

'Because Mr Elphinstone is going to marry the eldest daughter, and I would rather j make their acquaintance now than afterwards, if you don't mind, mamma.'

' Why didn't you tell me that at first 1 It makes all the difference in the world. Of course we will go, though it is very warm and dusty.' So Brenda had her way, and that afternoon she and her mother called on the Halfords. Edith was seated by the piano, giving her youngest sister a music lesson. Her long brown hair waa tied back with a pink ribbon, and hung in wavy masses down below her waist. Mrs Halford was busy sewing, and Lucy was reading. Brenda did her best to please Edith, but her conversation, instead of being reserved, was rather insipid. They did not stay long, and when they went away Brenda, in reply to her mother, who asked if she liked Edith, said rather contemptuously, ' Baby ! ' her idea being that Edith was babyish. She could not have chosen a more inappropriate word to apply to Edith, for whatever she might have been, she certainly was not babyish.

'Doll' waa the word Edith applied to Brenda, and she was as wrong as Brenda had been in her estimate of herself. Tobecontmued-GommenoedinM. 1491)