THE NOVELIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 1906, 21 August 1890, Page 33

THE NOVELIST.

[now first published."! A BITTER BIRTHRIGHT; OR, LADY GILMORE'S TEMPTATION. By DORA RUSSELL, Author of " Footprints In the Snow," " The Broken Seal," " The Track of the Storm." &o. [ALL BIGHTS BESEBVED.] Chapter XXIX. Ehe Widening of the Breaoh. AJNOY expected to find Gilmore in a towering passion when she reached his suite of rooms, and she certainly did so. His face was pale, his brows knitted, and his eyes full % of indignation, and he received her with very scant courtesy. 11 Well, I must say," he began, " you all seem to be on very friendly terms here. May I ask, Nancy, how long it is since you commenced to walk hand-in-hand with the hunchback ? " \'l was not walking hand-in-hand, with him, Hugh. Dossy had hold of his hand, that was all." " Quite a pattern family group, it seemed to me," scoffed Gilmore, bitterly ; " and he makes himself perfectly at home here, I suppose ? " " Your mother wishes him to be recognised, and of course " «• Do they call him Lord Gilmore, then f " interrupted Gilmore loudly and passionately, as Nancy hesitated a moment. " They have no right to do so ; he has no right to take up the title until I lay it down, and his claims have been proved and recognised before a committee of the House of Lords, and I'll soon let him know this, I can tell you." "But, Hugh — your mother ordered the servants to call him Lord Gilmore," said Nancy, half frightened by his violence. " Then she had no right to do anything of the sort. She ought to have been the last one, I think," he added darkly, " to be so eager to cast this insult upon me." " She does not mean it in that way, Hugh ; indeed she does not," said Nancy very earnestly. "She think 3it just and right, I you know, and she does so wish that you and your brother should be on friendly terms." " Friendly terms ! " repeated Gilmore derisively ; " do you think a man is likely to ; feelon friendly terms with another man who has stepped into his place, taken his name, and made a fool of him in every 3ense ! I hate him, that is the truth j hate him with my whole heart." [ " Oh, Hugh ! " 11 And to come back and find my place filled up, my wife siding with this stranger, and on the most familiar terms with him, is a little too much for the patience of anyone." " You are speaking unjustly," said Nancy with some anger ; " you told me in your letter to be civil to him, and when you dine ' with people every day you cannot help talking to them." 11 Then as he is now addressed as Lord Gilmore, may I ask what name you bear in the household ? " inquired Gilmore with a sneer. " They call me Mrs Gifford— Lady Gilmore wished this to be so." ! " You had no right to give up the name you have borne as my wife until I gave you leave I " said Gilmore more angrily still. In fact everything Nancy said seemed only to irritate him, and she finally left him alone to recover his temoer. His arrival placed her also in a most uncomfortable position to Gerard. She had dined with Gerard since she had received Gilmore's letter requesting her to be civil to him, and naturally had been on good terms with the brother of her husband, who on his part" did everything he could to please her. But now she felt almost afraid to speak to Gerard, lest she should increase Gilmore's anger against him. Gilmore either was, or pretended he was, too unwell to dine anywhere out of his own sitting room on the fir6t evening, and Nancy naturally dined with him. But the next day even Gilmore saw that it was impossible for this state of things to continue, and that he must force himself to go through the humiliating ordeal of making the acquaintance of hia brother. He did this with the utmost repugnance, but at last consented to go down at luncheon time with Nancy, and when they entered the small dining room together they found Gerard already there.

"I mast introduce you to each other," said Nanoy, trying to act as peace-maker, as gracefully as she could, and making an effort to smile, though really her heart was sinking. , " Gerard, this is my husband." Then Gilmore (for we must yet call him so, though from this day he refused to recognise the title) bowed his haughty head, and | looked steadily at the brother who had supplanted him. " I hope you are better. lam glad you have come down," said Gerard, hastily, and rather nervously, and held out his hand, which Gilmore just touched. " I am very well," he said, coldly, and then he spoke a few words about the weather as indifferently as he could. The position was in truth even more trying than he expected, and when luncheon was served he sat sullenly down at one side of the table, and motioned Nancy to sit by his side. " Oh, no," said Gerard, meaning it all in kindness, "Nancy must not sit there, she must sit at the head of the table, she always does." "I prefer her to sit here," said Gilmore, coldly and repressively ; and during the meal the conversation was most forced and strained. But towards its close, however, Gerard's spirits rose a little, for he always drank a great deal of wine. "May I drive you out this afternoon, Nancy ?" he said, presently. " I oan drive a bit, you know, however much my education has been neglected." And he gave a little uneasy laugh. "I don't know," said Nancy, rather nervously ; " I think I shall not be able to go," and she glanced at Gilmore, " for I am going to read to Lady Gilmore." ' " Oh, I daresay my mother would spare you for an hour or two, and perhaps Hugh here will go with us too 1 " said Gerard. An absolute scowl passed over Gilmore's brow, but only for an instant. " You are very good," he said, " but I shall be engaged all this afternoon, and I want my wife to write some letters for me." Thus poor Gerard's well-meant efforts at conciliation were in vain, and when Gilmore rose and left the room immediately afterwards, Gerard could not restrain his vexation to Nancy. "I say, Nanoy," he said, "this kind of thing will never do, you knowj I am not going to be spoken to and treated in that manner at my own table, I can tell you." " It's all so strange to Hugh, but it will soon wear off," answered Nancy, apologetically ; " you see he's been master here for so many years." " That's all very fine, but when I'm ready to do so much, and give up so much — more than the lawyer fellow wanted me, I assure yon — I think Master Hugh might keep a civil tongue in his head." " It will all come right, by and bye," said Nancy, soothingly ; " the change is so great, we must bear with Hugh's bad tempers a little bit." And she held out her hand to Gerard, who stooped down and kissed it. " I would bear with a great deal to please you," be anßwered, and than he helped himself to another glass of wine, and Nancy left him still sitting at the table. She found Gilmore, however, unreasonably angry, for after all poor Gerard had done nothing really to offend him. " I cannot bear it, that's the truth," oried Gilmore when Nancy entered his room; " vulgar, low-bred, cad for him to dare to ask me to go out with him." "But, Hugh, consider." "I have' considered, but it's too intolerable to me; and then the fellow's assurance is so great," II It is not his blame ; you know how he was brought up," said Nancy, gently. " There 1 taking his part as usual — how my mother could be so mad, bo utterly mad 1 " He was still going on in this strain, upbraiding Nancy one minute and abusing Gerard the next, when a card was brought to Nancy on which the name of her old friend, Lady Blenkensop, was engraved. "It is Lady Blenkensop, Hugh, Will you come and see her 1 " said Nancy. " Certainly not," he answered, " I do not want to be condoled with more than I can help." " Well, I must go to her then," and for a moment Nancy hesitated ; the next she went up and laid her hand on her husband's shoulder. "Oh, dear Hugh," she said, "I do wish you would try to feel all this less. I know how trying, how painful it is, but still " 11 1 would not care if the fellow wasn't bo intolerable," answered Gilmore, half ashamed of himself. " I know it's hard to abuse you, poor little woman," he added, " but it puts me in a rage your seeming to like him." "I think he is good natured and kind hearted, that is all, and he, too, feels that it is so hard on you ; but you won't meet him half-way, you knowl" " I don't want any of his pity. However, never mind, Nancy," went on Gilmore, more in his old manner, " I'll endeavour to meet him half-way, as you call it, at dinner-time ; and now you had better go to the military dame who awaits yon." " That's a good boy," said Nanoy, smiling, and with a little nod she left the room and went to see Lady B-enkensop, whom she had not seen since she had stayed with her a few days whenshe was a girl, and when her ladyship had lectured her on the attentions of Sir John Oakes. She was standing erect and imposing as ever as Nancy entered Lady Gilmore's boudoir, and looking out of one of the windows of the room was a gentleman, who [ turned round at Nancy's appearance, and 1 fixed his grey eyes with some emotion on her lovely face. "Well, my dear," said Lady Blenkensop, going forward and taking Nancy in her strong arms, and kissing hei on each cheek, " there have been great changes since we last met." " Yes, indeed 1 " said Nancy with a little blush and a smile. " And I have brought an old friend with me to see you to-day," went on Lady Gilmore in her energetic way ; " you remember my nephew, Godfrey Erne ? " " Oh yes, yes," cried Nancy, and her blush deepened ; "it seems so long since I saw you." The gentleman at the window had by this time advanced to Nancy, and had taken her hand in silence. He was a good-looking man, this, of some 33 years ; brown and

loidler-liketfand he had dear steely-grey syes and a heavy brown moustache and ijrown hair. •• Godfrey has got his step, you know," jontinned Lady Blenkensop, " and has come aome on sick leave, as he has had jungle 'ever, though I tell him he doesn't look much ike an invalid. It seems strange, Godfrey, loesn't it, to see her married 1 " she a added, surning to her nephew. 11 Strange indeed 1 " answered Major Erne, md there was some agitation in his roice. He had been in love with Nancy— in fact, in love with the pretty darked-eyed girl whom he had danced with so often, and oppressed so often, too, the tender words Shat would fain have trembled on his lips. But he was a poor man in those days, and iaevr he had no means to support a young wife, and be knew also that Nancy would have no fortune. Yet there had been times when Godfrey Erne had almost forgotten bhis ; when he had been nearly led away by Nancy's beauty and sweetness to tell her bow dear she was to him ; but he had not actually done this. Then Nancy went to England with her mother, and thus they were parted, but her memory had never quite drifted away from his mind. The news of her marriage had been a sharp pain to him, for Major Erne had sometimes indulged in a foolish dream that when he got bis promotion he would go to England, and ask Nancy to be his wife, forgetting that such a pretty girl was sure to find other admirers. It was, in fact, one of those unfinished love idylls which fell athwart the paths of men and women like the fleeting sunshine of an April day. Nancy had half-forgotten Godfrey Erne by this time, yet 'when she looked again on his handsome features, and met the grey eyes that always softened when they rested on her face, certain memories — whispered words that had once made her young heart beat fast — recurred to her mind, and with a charming blush and smile she alluded to their former friendship. " Seeing you brings all the old days back to me," she said. " Then you had forgotten them until you saw me again ? " answered Major Erne, also with a i: mile. " Oh, no— but so many things have happened since then." "Wonderful things, certainly," said Lady Blenkensop. "What of this extraordinary story I hear, Nancy,, that Lady Gilmore has brought forward another son ? " Then Nancy related the strange tale, and Lady Blenkensop listened with uplifted bands. 11 Well, of all the astonishing things I ever listened to I think this is the most wonder* ful. Then you are not absolutely Lady Gilmore after all, Nanoy ? " " No, only plain Mrs Hugh Gifford," answered Nanoy smiling. "The Honourable Mrs Hugh Gifford at all events," corrected Lady Blenkensop. " And how does your husband bear it ? " " Not very well, I'm afraid," said Nancy, casting down her eyes. " It's immensely hard on him, there is no doubt, and yet I can understand how Lady Gilmore's dangerous illness made her see this foolish action of her youth in its true light. And the other young man; what is he like, Nancy?" "He is very good natured and kind, but then, of course, he's not been accustomed to the position he now holds, and his manner worries Hugh, unfortunately." " He'll have to learn to get over that," said Lady Blenkensop in the philosophic manner we speak of the misfortunes of others. " And his fortune as a younger son of such a rich family is sure to be a large one. You have made a very good match after all, Nancy." Nancy laughed and blushed a little, and then after a few more words Lady Blenkensop rose and took her leave, bat not without pressing Nancy to visit her at Greyetone Lodge. "And bring this new brother-in-law of yours with you, Nanoy," she said ; " the General, I am sure, will like to see him after he hears all this romantic story you have told us, and, of course, I shall expeot to see your husband, too." Nancy thanked her, and then half-shyly took leave of Major Erne, who was very quiet during the drive back to Greystone. " Well, how do you think she is looking 7 " asked his aunt, after they had started on their way. "Do you think she is improved or gone off ? " " She used to be a pretty girl ; she is a lovely woman now," answered Nancy's old lover, and then he folded his arms and sat thinking moodily enough of the happiness he had perhaps thrown away.