THE NOVELIST. A STORY OF LAKE WAKATIPU.

Otago Witness, Issue 1728, 3 January 1885, Page 9

THE NOVELIS T. A STORY OF LAKE WAKATIPU.

Written for the Otago Witness, BY

"SAGITTA," Author of "The Fate of a Pionoeu," &c.

Chapter XXXII. (Continued.) IZZY assumed her role as mistresß of Cliff haugh Castle with as much ease as if she were at her home at Lake Wakatipu, She ingratiated herself at once with all the Bervante, who wore quite fascinated by her plain and unassuming ways, by which many were encouraged to ask a number of questions beaving upon the social and domestic life of New Zealand, all of which she answered in that full and engaging manner which was characteristic of her. Thus the morning passed pleasantly for her, and after lunch Bhe went out for a stroll through the foreßfc with her sketch-book, while Mrs TregenniDg busied herself with a quantity of quaint family documents which Lord Stam borough had placed at her disposal. Lizzy had strayed where a number of aucient yew trees spread their low and far-reaching branches in one thick tangle. She waß busy sketching the effect of perspective, for which the ground, the trees, and the dimmed light afforded peculiar facilities. A Bhort distance to the left from where she nat grew some low but denso brushwood. While she was busy with the pencil she noticed a movement in the brushwood. At first she paid no attention to it, but upon looking more closely she saw a human form, which appeared to rise cautiously out of the earth. Could it be the fairies she had heard of? It was a human form, but | whether male or female she could not tell. The distance was too great and the darkness too intense to see clearly, yet, strange to toll, the apparition did not cause har any fear or misgiving. Lizzy slowly moved from under the trees to where there was more light and some scrub, in which she hid. From where she now was she could see lesa perfectly, but she clearly saw a stately and ladylike woman rising out of the ground, looking suspiciously about her, and then, arrauging the btushwood again, came to where Lizzy was hiding. When the strange lady came into the brighter light Lizzy caught a glimpse of her face. The lady turned her head and met Lizzy's glance with her own. In her ponsternation she let fall her sketch-book. The noise attracted the lady's attention. Rushing towards it and parting the scrub, she said, when she saw Lizzy : ' Hide and seek 1 Ha, ha, ha, ha ! Another bird for hio cage ! Ha, ha, ha, ha ! I am not mad ! I know a3 quick and as well what's o'clock as others ! Ha, ha, ha, ha 1' Lizzy, during this strange address, had risen to her feet and stood confronting the strange apparition. The face was the original of the miniature she had seen in Lord Stamborough's possession. There could be no doubt about that; but the eyes and their look had sadly changed. The fierceness of madness which streamed forth from them was tempered by a natural sweetness of temper, most melancholy to behold.

Lizzy's feeling as she stood before Disbet's mother deprived her of her self-possession, and brought tears to her eyea. c You weep !' said the mad lady. ' I never weap ; I always laugh. Ha, ha, ha, ha !' The hollow, empty, and almost demoniacal laugh of madness is one of the moa'c terrible things that strike the feeling hunSaa* ear, and Lizzy shuddered witii terror' at the Bound. Lizzy, overcome by too meeting, the strange way in which the mad lady rose out of the earth, did not know what to say ov do. At last she eaid, in her deeply sympathetic ton*"" ' Daar Lady Sfcam ' : At these words the mad wher, grasped her arm wi<^ -uian rushed at and between her ' . v ieverish vehemence, spoke : - laughs rather shrieked than xia. ha, ha, ha ! You know me ! Ha, ha, ha ! You know who lam ! Who told you ? I know you. Ha, ha ! It is all a lie ! Yes • I know you. You belong to me. You are kind; you are pure; you are brave,' she shrieked with increasing emphasis, and looking her full in the face said in a calmer tone, ' You will be my friend ; you will bo my mother. I never knew one who was my mo l *> • That is

bscause lam mad. No; it's a lie. lam mad because of him — and him — and him !'

Thia, like all her conversation, was ftpokoa in the thick utterance of madnsao, and was 00l addressed to Lizzy, but seemed to be a roverie uttered aloud. When sho caasod speaking L'zzy asked :

' Whom are you speaking of ?' ' Who speaks? ' went on Lady Stamborough, for i'c was no other, and she otili kept, her hold of Lizzy's arm. ' I spoak, — 1 think of him, my husband ;— of him, my son ; — of him, their murderer ! ' she exclaimed with a wild vocit'oration, at the same time pining Lizzy from her so violently that aha would have tallon to the ground had she not supported herself by some scrub.

'Dear Lady Stamborough,' afjain began Lizzy; but the mad woman interrupted her again, by continuing ac if she had not heard her :

'There is Stamborough the murdered and Stamborough the murderer, who has robbed me of my husband and my son, aud of my liberty and of the light, of day, and of my rest at night, and of my reason — who follows me with his hateful suit to be his wife. Ha, ha, ha, ha ! His wife ! I will be his torment ! ! Ha, ha, ha, ha ! There w,i3 a Stamborough who shielded me in his arms, and there is a Stamborough who imprisoned me in a dungeon and shuts me out from my husband and my son !'

' When you are at liberty like now, why do you not escape and go to you frieudd 1 ' asked Lizzy.

For the first time she saw the frantic fierceness of the mad lady's look aubsido. Lady S'camborough approached her and took her habd, and in a voice more human than that in which she had hitherto spoken, said :

' Hush, they'll hear us ! Escape? I dare not ! Friends ? I have none !'

'Yes, you have, dear Lady Stamborough; I am your friend,' said Lizzy, putting her arm round her.

' When one feels good, doesn't one say, " God bleßß you !— God ble3s you, my girl," for you make me feel good and well.' Here, while tha old lady and the young girl stood clasped in each other's arm 3, ensued a long silence, which Lizzy understood too well to interrupt. At last Lady Stamborough relaxed her embrace, and looking at Lizzy, said in a calm voice,

• When I think of escape, I can see light before me. For more than twenty summers and twenty winters bavo I boen immured in Clitfhaugh Tower, no human being savo my keeper, and ' Here a convulsive shiver ran through her frame, and she paused for a while. Then she continued : ' And — he — came near me ! More than twenty years — and I live — live without my husband— or my boy — or my reason ! Will you bo a friend to such as I?'

' Yes, I will 1 ' said Lizzy firmly, and seeing that a lucid moment was intervening, she weut on : 'I and my mother are staying for a tow days at Oliffhaugh Castle. We came to England last year on a visit from Naw Zealand '

' New Zealand ! New Zealand ? ' asked Lady Stamborough. 'I should like to go to New Zealand. There are no dungeons, no towers, and no castles there ? '

• No, there is nothing of the kind,' answered Lizzy ; ' but there are difficulties why we might not take you with us.' ' No, there are no difficulties. I have plenty of money, heaps of it. If you vill only let me go with you, it is all I abk. Come, I'll show you. You are brave.' Saying which she dragged Lizzy to the brushwood where ehe had made her mybterious appearance. When they arrived at tha spot Lady Stamborough said : ' Tread gently ; do not break a single twig. It will betray me, and I shall never sea the light of day again.' She opened what appeared to be a trapdoor, and descended some step 3. When Lizzy saw the black gulf at her feet she hesitated a moment, but, plucking up oouroge, followed Lady Stamborough down the slippery and slimy Bfcepß, which descended to a great depth. Arrived at the bottom all was the deepest darkness. A horrible rumbling noiee was the only thing perceptible besides the darkness.

'Fear nothing,' said Lady Stamborough as she placed her arm round Lizzy's waist, to guide her safely along the subterranean passage ; ' the noise is the water rushing through the pipes. Oh, I found out everything, aud I will tell you all by-and-bye.' The voice of the insane lady sounded strangely in Lizzy's ear, and the passage along which they went seemed to her interminably long. At last they halted, the air felt different, it was drier and less close, but very cool. Lady Stamborough led Lizzy to what felt like a stone, and told her to sit down. She then went to some distance, and for the first time Lizzy got frightened that she would be left alone and never be able to find her way out again. She was jusfc on the point of calling to Lady Stamborouqh when she discovered that she was buay with a flint and steel endeavouring to strike a light. The sparks glistened in tho darkness like diamonds in the sunlight. Presently the tinder caught fire, and it was not long till Lady Stamborough lighted two splints of pine, which burned brightly, but with a deep red light, giving a dense smoke.

Lizzy discovered that they were in a vaulted chamber, hewn out of the solid rock, the roof of which was groined, aud supported by massive pillars. Pondrous iron chains ware fastened to the walls, and blocks of atone placed at irregular intervals. She recognised the plftQ,e as a dungeon, and thought of the misery and, suffering thai must have been endured, hev^

Her companion allowed hey tlm.o *"O" O ma u Q a short inspection, then she said •. •We must make has^ for ' the gpUntewiU o°n 00 oo n ieft/ Urn ' m ■ X have only one l eft -°»ly

Leading the way, she touched a spring on ttie wall, and what but now seemed B olid masonry opened, and disclosed a very narrow passage, along which they went swiftly, and soon entered another chamber. lady Stamborough went to open a panel in' the 2o£. Eelced 1 - Xmmedli^>. In L\er mad voice, ' Net tj-st one . that is sacrod !' Then she went ta another, bufc exactly similar one, «$ opened rt, and motioning to Lizzy, sai^ • -- -Look ! ... i

She went and looked ;- number of linen br<~~ •«> } ifc contained a money. It w*>- -««» apparently filled with Lady Sfc"" " -■* only with all her strength tbat tW -.mborough lifted one of them oubon .. uoor, and opening it, displayed its goldan [ contents. It was filled with sovereigns. Lizzy took one and looked at it. Her companion watching her, said : 'Sensible girl, you are looking at tha coinage ! I know, lam no fool— nor mad, when I am working and thinking of my fliphfc ! They are all George lll'h, and none later than 1810, which shows that they must have boon deposited during the French ware. Oh, lam pharp and cute— l found that out long ago. They will cause no suspicion if I pass them off to pay my way in going with you. Take as many aa you like ! They are mine, and my boy's ! He would give them all to you for having made his mother happy and well, and

delivered bar from tho clutches of a demon. He would givo you every one of them,' Lizzy could not repres3 her tears at these words, ard soboed bitterly, but her companion con iuu^d :

' Don't weep, it wjjl drive mo mad again. Oh, !.bal I could weep ! But tears never come to my eyes now ! Doc't weep, pray don't weep ! ' The appsa! was an piteous that Lizzy by a violent effort ceanod weeping, and dried her oyt>B, wh-n LarJy Stamborough also grew calm and rational again and went on with her talk-

' Fill your pockets — take one of the bags — take as many as you can carry. Stamborough ÜBiirps too much already ; the money ia not his. He stole my husband and my boy, and my seunes ! Ffe bhall not have this money.' ' No, thank you,' raid Lizzie, when her companion ceased uuuaking ; 'I do not want any money. 1 ara rich enough. But let us go back ; it must bo getting late.' 1 Yes, it ia footling late, and I tire you. Yot you aro tho first peraou I have spoken to for more than twenty years, bsaides my gaolers.'

After putting away the bag and closing the p.ineJ, the two ladies left the chamber, and it was not long bet'oio they again emerged into the light of day. The sun wa3 still high, and looking at her watch L ; zzy saw that it was only 3 o'clock ; so fritting down upon tho ground with Lady Stamborough, she asked : ' I suppose no one out you knows of these subterranean paasages, tho chambers, and the money. How clever of yuu to find it all out !'

'Hush!' replied Lady Stamborou'gb, ; 'do you think tbat they would let me roam about this way, and' lo»,ve the money where it is, if they knew of these tbinefs ! Oh, I feel ao well ! It idoBS me good to talk to you T '"'I- believe that some time I shall get quite well if I am allowed to remain in your company ! I will tell you all. One day, it ia long, long ago, after I had taken my boy for safe-keeping to a friend and relative of mine, a Mr Howard— he is dead long ago, I know— two men in disguise seized me, — ono was he who now styles himself Lord Stamborough. I know it in spite of his mask and disguise, — and took me to a lunatic asylum. My husband's brother came and twitted me with being only his brothev's mistress — it was a lie ; I was his wife, his lawful wife— and offered me marriage. I could not have married him had I not been his brother's wife. He told me that if I did not many him he would have to keep me a prisoner all my life. I refused him. You sea when I got married it was a secret marriage, for my lather objected to my hus band, and we kept our marriage a secret. My husband went to the Indian wars in 1847, and he enjoined me not to say anything about our marriage. About three months after my uuHband left me I became the mother of a boy, and my father disowned me ; then my husband died— tell at liamnagar. I lived a retired life. Ono d'-iy a villain attempted to steal nry boy. I defeated him, fighting him with a garden boo. Then I placed him where he was safe — with Couain Howard.

' Then, as I told you, I was captured and brought to the lunatic asylum. When I refused to marry my husband's brother I was brought hare to Oliffhaugh Towev. At first I was treated well ; but by-and-byo they wanted me to die I was put into a dark room. •It was then that I gdt mad. One day I felt round the walls for an outlet, when, to my horror, the wall opened. I carefully marked the spot I had touched. I tried the experiment again and again— it always acted, but I did not like to venture into i.ho passage without a light. I never got any light. I never 3s»w the light of the sun nor that of a candle. A<; last I thought of my stockings. 1 unravelled them, and wound the yarn into a ball. When I had done this I fastened one end to the leg of my table, fend unwinding the ball went into the pasgape I wandered about a great deal, but found' no outlet— onls darkness, a^d darkness everywhere.

Ode day I he^rd the noise you heard on going into the passage with mo. I knew it was the water drained from tho passages, and must bo I9ii away somewhere. Oh, I was very clever then ! Following the noise, I found tho stairs, and then— the daylight, Oh, the daylight 1 how it dazzled my eyes l I had seen no light for many years. How bright it was !

After a while I could find my way about without the yarn. I could walk through all the passages in the dark, and always find my way. Oh ! mad people are very clever sometimes. By-and-bye my keeper took ill, and I was allowed to attend him. It was then I stole the tinder-box and the pino- splints. When my keeper got better I was put back again into my dark room. At nights, when I could not sleep, I wandered about with a lighted pine-splint, and tried all the panels and atranga places, and in thte manner, found the money and more than eight other secret recesses. In some were bones— human bones • i othera wore ompty ; and to-day I have found i you, and told you all ! Oh !I am not quite I out of my sensea, or I could not have done it But my hfiad begins to ache with talking.' • u T o 11 ll m,m ,~ fc , oU J m ? aboilt your son - WIMW is he ? Ia he dead ? ' asked Lizzy At the question. Lady StambarouKb ar , Ofl to her feet, aad said in a firm, voice - starfce a 'No; he ia not dead} Ho ># : , n UQfc where. If I did. IW? 1 k ?° w we shall find him oft* A t e ° *,° him - Bufc Lizzy tß*tte4 ai*-* £ nß . ver . fear ; . , a tP"i> bnV n- • -* c her head and wiped away «Yon herself, said: ftHti aye fcired and exhausted. 1 will go w consult with my mother. To-morrow afternoon, at 2 o'clock, I shall return and let you know what we have decidod upon.' 'If I sleop tonight, I shall be well tomorrow. Come yourself ; do not bring anybody. Without any further parting, Lady btamborough left her ; and Lizzy watched her descending tho oteps, disappearing into the earth.

(To be continued.)

HIDDEN WO^Vrt. Full many a from - ureß 't r rv serena The dark caves of ocean bear ; * v " "[Taiiy afl wer ti born to bUi=h unseen, And waste its sweetnew on the desert air. —Thomas Gray, 1746 1771.

GOD. Oh. Thou otornal Ono ! whose presence bright All npace doth occupy, all motion ffindoULOhanKed through time's all-uevastati njs flight ! Thou only Oo.l— thoro is no God beanie ! Being abovo all beings ! «W*' Ono, Whom iio^e can comprehend and none explore ! Who fill'st exigence with thysolf alT'o— Kmbrftcini? al],a I ], supporting-, ru'i g o or— Boimr whom «o call Ooil, and know no uicro. —Gabriel llomanowitch iSen/tauin, 17(13-1816. OVEd THE RlVh.ll. I nball know the loved wh bavo *ono bafoie, An.' jcvdi'ly sweet will Ilio niemp.i; bo, Wh n ''vi r Hits nvur— iho yparuful liver - 'iUu angel of death uha'l cxiry we. —Xancy Amelia Woalbury Priest, 1534. KATE. Thou must not resist fcJiv F.ito, Neither must thou glum it blindly : If thou'lt go and meet it straight, 'Twill invite thee on most kindly. —Goethe, 1749-1832.