CHAPTER IX. "WALY, WALY ! "

Otago Witness, Issue 2493, 25 December 1901, Page 18 (Supplement)

CHAPTER IX. " WALY, WALY ! "

One end of the Granton verandah was closed by a tiny cubicle yclept The Office. The importance of this small apartment was not in the least proportional to its size ; as it was the place of signing and receiving cheques, and also the chief centre from which official reprimand proceeded, it was in the eyes of the well-doing and the capable a» visible type of El Dorado, with a strong suggestion of the occult and omnescient, born of the strange matters hung about the walls ; while to the dilatory contractor and the unfaithful bullock-driver, the place was a veritable Star Chamber. It was the

" You wert so good at guessing this morning, can't you guess a.'_rnu. 0. Witch of Eudoi ? " came tremulou«l\ fiom undei tlie tippling veil. " that \ oil .ne cni; i_reil to Ml Stoimont." was the calm, co.i an^wei "Yes." -aid Ails i. tin owing back the cloud of hair, and twining her arms louinl her sistei. "<'. aien't >on glad, Mai ion? tf<u you <ue <,'!<«]. if onl\ Ircause I shall ncxei leave yi'i now." "I am veiy glad of tint. A'lie. " said Marion, giavely and tenderU "I mean I am glad altogether ot course, it you stay as haippy as you aie now "Of couise. who wouldn't? 'Iheie is only one Oliver Stmmciit in the world," said Af«a. simply "And. O. Marion, say that we shall all be happy, we four, and live and die at Granton. and be buiied high up and glorious where the kea ciies — you know the place.'" "Child, child, what a death's head you are. talking of burial on your betrothing day," said Marion, gaily, saving herself by canving war into the opposite cam}). " The baby shall have the sweetest trousseau the wilds ever saw, and the Paradise ducks will admiie it much. AYe shall continue to eat legs of mutton and chink strong tea blissfully at Granton all our days. And after — well, dots it matter whether corbie or kea watches cur graves?" "0, Marion, you're just laughing ; and it's all so new and wonderful." expostulated Ailsa. " Why, baby, you didn't expect me to look astonished? — you pair of ostriches

' last and sacred ietio.it of m.mly eonieience on the station : two mci, muld smoke there comfortably; a. thiul man made a unwd. s(1s (1 h was seldom admitted The zoom boie cv. deuce nt a io\m_r. yei cult i\ it.-d. m.istei mind. — the Office was especially tin- pu\at c haunt m \li Stormont. who was. the bookkeeper ot (he him ( hw wall » i- i little aimouiy. mainh of name weapons. — , t smooth hone h, n loom horn Auckland, whose suiface ot stunum w Into hiimkiikc had shone in many a deadly fitrht, — a broken stone axe horn a M.ullioiough Inttleh'eld, — a daik gi'enstone mcie tio.n Aiahui.i the inu of Kj. nd. — .1 ioimles^ Hint knife, iiom tin aboi initial midd'-ii- it the mouth of the Kak.ua.— and many another deadU to\ . Arnold these, hoimuiable place w,is g.-\en to a giateful stockman- — a stockwhip handle caived to the shape of a child's hand in the hiL'h^t st_\le i>: ea.ily station ait — an art. one fcais. .is dead .is the dodo now Ihe other wall* bore a ioughly-tia.med pnture of an i.uly Mami h_'ht. etched afteiwaids by a young English ofh'cei pieseut.— Mindiy nfw-|ui|iir cuttings on the war and on eaily exp'oiatmn of the countiy — i tew diitd Alpine grasse«, and a wily "walking stick." whose earthK peieirnnatjoiis were ended, and many othei mi ios that would attiact a scientific eye. Xor were there wanting sundry sampks of Granton wool, of marvellously rich yolk and peneli.itivv odoui It was in thi<- characteristic haunt that Olivei Stormnrt sat. busied with papeis. one cloudy June morning. As he woiked. he smiled like a man well pleased with himself and the woihl A little tap was. heard at the door, and Ailsa looked in with a great feint of trepidation. "Is Bluebeard at home? Get Fatima.'s head out ot -ight. and let me come in." iShe deposited a small tray on the table. , "Marion and I were having s om e afternoon tea in the mmiung. and I brought you some " ""My cup of happiness" s sweetenti ' ' as the immoital Mantalmi says. It w a.s a good thought; this sorting of papcis iv div woik." said Mr Stoimont. sipping his tea with leli-h. "I see now that Nature meant me for a Chinaman, by the way I've tieasuied up every wntten seia,p I spem to have owned since I was bom. And I'm hanged it I like binning them eithti. but wii.it can I do?' 1 "And the condemned man pi'oceeded to set his woildly affaiis m oidei b°foie meeting his doom," lecited Ail* in a tiagic voice, as -he- ]).' (on the elbow of the official aimtli'i; and pinched her lovei's ear

Mr Stormont turned out the mail bag on the tab.c. glamc.ng absently through the window at hi 1 * partnei. \\h» excusing >i young hor-e m the paddock opposite. He stacked the newspapers by thtm>elve.«, .uirl then turned to the letters. The first and the second addressed to himself were flung aside after a moment's! attention. But when he looked at the third, it dropped from his hand as if it had been red-hot iron. It lay face upwards for some time befoie lie could summon courage to touch it, and even when he took it up again it was to stare at the post mark At last, with a desperate effort. he tore it open and read it once, twice, three times. He sat

"It's no good talking like that, old fellow, and it's no good speaking guilty. A feeble kind of innocence it must be that does not bear the out till we know the ground we stand on,"' Hany said light <>i day'" . . , , i !Sharplv she changed to the judicial tone she had used at first. • !Nh ground is sure enough — suter than I thought death was i . >■ •> ° , „ , i i t r i i Does mv sister know about this woman.' Well, of course, it can only be till we come back, and 1 teel a cad ( „ even tor that And now, for heaven's sake, advue * 1..U to do to-day. ''^^ a comforting ]e^ on f(|r aU Ifc as we can't stop here.' have been th ht that afc k , a , t Ml St( , rmont the man of the ••We were going to shift those sheep at the othei end of the n,n. wollltin . hdter> might have brougb . t and camp in Kennedy's hut to-night. . t]^ omdn . hater> this scorner ■ Yl.s." said Oliver, in an uncomprehending tone. , . . TT „ . „,„,.,.„„ ,of crooked wavs — even he has a locked room, a dark corner m his "If we still do that, we can cross at he Upper Feirv to-mon, • must .^ k t momnv. and catch the coach at Kocky ! ° _ c ° , i j * it » ' ««.ll the rest, simply proposes to give his bride a soiled hand and a Point. It means hard travelling. „ „ moth-eaten love. " The harder the better ; ,f one could Bharplv< |[Ue & knife only keep going forever' Agreed, thtn. j .. gtay _ jdo nofc offer thafc Yom . Mstpr hftg my true and un . >,c start mm foi Kennedys hut divided love tO the last day Of my lite,— tlllfcl love man never gave They parted at the gate, Harry A wor n. ul . But now I am not free 'to many her." going to order the horses, Oliver returning | Manon recoiied jn astomshment . to the office, remembering with a quick .. It ]g wel] ,, she said> recovering hel . eU h.iughtily. "It is well, twinge that he had left the door open Wjj Dlummonds rlo not care to takt tlu? cas . t -off lovers of such as in his flight. A fata negligence it had „ She Hung the portrait on the rt(ml <iikl put her foot upon it. piovtd. .Marion stood there in such a .. A^ d] ,, shfi Raid) glow , y picbini , llel „u rds. as if e ach were a still white heat of *rath as he had dagger> .. whafc a farce thig modern myth ()t gen ti ema nliness is. You never seen living woman in before. She mugt not swear bpfore ft W()m;m but vm , m , lv b la S} )heme heaven with hioked tall in ordinary; now. to his , m He before her &v yQUr hfe 1()llg . md be blameless You dismayed vision, she seemed to dilate till mugt not wa]k Qut q{ & ]()f)m beforp hel but ym may pky on her the roof put bounds to her appalling per- innermost affe ction S as yon might on „ harp, and then saunter away ; the sonality. He needed not to ask the hftrp ftre broken but what nee , a gentleman care for that? " reason. Tue secret drawer stood wide open as he left it ; the portrait it contained, He le ' int «P 011 the m " ntel she ' f ' llld ( ' overed hls face Pitllefisl y now in Marion's hand, told all. With a w ent on :—: — grand, accusing sweep of her arm. she "I, even I, was fool enough to believe m you a little ; to think held it up before him in silence. It was you hard, acquiescent in this hideous world-wide lie, the confidant of a face never to be forgotten A girl in other men (ah, that was the sting of it !) but not in yourself disher earliest youth, half impish, half honouiable. When I saw the growing affection between you and my childlike, and weirdly pretty, despite a sister — the only thing I have left on carth — I was pained, but took noticeable scar on the right temple, comfort that at least she would not suffer what I — what other women

motionless ; his shoulders were bent ; a grey despair was on his face. But after a fourth reading he sprang up with a fierce energy, crushed it in his hand, and hurried out to meet his partner. Though no one was within earshot he whispered what he had to say, grasping his friend's arm tightly as he did so. Two pale faces were bent over the fatal letter. Instinctively they kept to the open, away from the homestead, as they walked aimlessly in their deep conference. Sometimes they stood still, as if even the unconscious motion disturbed their counsels. At last, their quickening pace towards the house denoted some attained resolve. "To Christchurch, with all speed ! " said Oliver Stormont. " This cursed delayed letter! — we are three days late as it is," he added, savagely. " The coach leaves the Lower Ferry at mid-day to-morrow ; we can do no better than that if we start this instant," said Harry, in a dull, calm way. "But to stay here to-night in all this coil of mischief and mystery — I can't do it," groaned the other. "No, nor I. I feel I must take it standing, take it fighting 1 whl ch scar was partly hidden by the rings of dare not sit, I dare not face them." thick dark hair"Who is this woman?" asked Marion, in a "Harry," said Oliver, grasping his arm again, "if ever I called fierce undertone. Tongue-tied and crushed, the you a coward, don't cast it up at me now. I would cut my right man stood before her without a. word. suffered-took comfort, too, that she would always be near me. When hand off to be spared speaking to my poor little Aihe, but it must be « Is she a part of your pMt> too> M we]l Mof my husband > s? » without a word JQU left her fw your Maori& and yQur cave . hunting> done -" She asked ' in a voice that cut like J a Sg ed ice - I could have killed you for your light-mindedness. When jou returned " Remember what we agreed ; you have passed your word to *ny •• Your husband and I are innocent both— most unhappy, but inno- in a flash, and whistled her like a canary to your finger, I took comfort nothing till we come back from Christchurch," Harry reminded him. cent ; I swear it," he said, hoarsely. . again at kgt attachment seemed sincere But noW; what sharply. Marion laughed a terrible, little laugh. difference is there, on your own showing, between Oliver Stormont and "I don't like it, I don't like it. I'd sooner out with it at once. "These men, these men! The same old song — these hapless, ! any other murderer of women's souls? Nothing, save the greater sin of if I put a bullet in my brain the next minute." . innocents, who yet keep their counsel as carefully as if they were ■ a greater pretence of honesty."

He turned about with such a look of beseeching, that she stopped, involuntarily.

"I know what I must seem to you. Mrs Xetheiby. If I could confess for myself alone, I would do it gladly this moment. But I swear you shall know all in less than a week. And now. put your foot on my neck if you like, it wou'd do me good. I think ' '

He reached a Maori axe from the v all, w ith an impulsive gesture.

" Take this and strike me dea<d w ith it if you like ; i* would be the best thing that could happen to me Only spare me any more word*. Since you hate men so, be satisfied that one man is utterly, absolutely wretched " His voice broke in a sort of bob. The fatal chain of accident that had ruled this miserable morning was r.ow at the la>t link Ailsa, passing lightly, unheard, on the soft sward outside, poised her foot on the step, and was about to enter. When She \va« Startled to hear the unexpected voice of her sister.

"My own happiness wa-s wrecked — you know how." Marion said, her voice vibrating with deep leproaehful passion.

"Spare me," Oliver implored, in a nniffitd voice. "Be content for to-day. I tell you that I break with your sister at once. I can do no more."

A horror of great darkness fell upon Ailsa She could not hear what followed, nor did she try to hear. The only feeling she seemed to hpjve was fear — intense fear that she would fall across the doorway and be seen, be touched, by those two plotting ones within — plotting, she knew not what, against her. The two dearest in the world, and they to be plotting dark things! Why was it? how was it? Sitting crouched in her own little room, her hands pressed hard on her throbbing temples, the words she had heard repeated themselves over and over mechanically. At first they had no more meaning than the clamour of a bell ; then a terrible significance gathered round them, deepening into a dark certainty. This awful thing she faced now, was it in very truth an absolute surprise? Had she not for half a year past, aye, as far back as the beginning of her love for this man, felt that he, too, bore his share in the nameless shadow of Granton? And if that share turned out to be a part of unutterable falsity to his friend and now to herself, did not that fully explain the inscrutable tie she had dimly known to exist between him and Marion? Young as she was, she understood how often in deep natures attraction wears the outer veil of repulsion, — nay, that the two are even transferable moods. The love-lorn soul of her asked drearily, " Was it so very wonderful? Could anyone inhabit the same house, and remain indifferent to that gigantic personality — gigantic in all ways? And Marion, too, the loveliest of women " Her bitter jealousy overflowed, and the Puritan rose up hot within her, crying. "There is no pardon for them, none ! " No longer did she doubt that whatever the original ground of Marion's quarrel with her husband, its long continuance was rooted in a sinful love for his friend. And that love had plainly been returned, else how had Marion power to compel the breaking of all vows to herself? The cruelty of it, the horror of it ! Her pure mind refused to imagine the last degree of guilt, but yet the horror grew as she gazed upon it — a black, nameless, shapeless thing. That they should have sait there facing each other year after year, effortless, letting the canker of a sinful love eat into their lives, when they should rather have fled to the ends of the earth to avoid each other ! That they should cherish this terrible mote in the eyes till the good in others was but evil in their sight! How they had crushed under their feet poor Harry's tenderness for the hard woman, his wife. And now they threw her own fate in the balance, lightly weighing it down with a passionate whim at the eleventh hour. 0, it was shameful, monstrous !

She still sat crouched in the same attitude when Marion came in, very shaken and gentle.

"Ailie, Mr Stormont wants to see you. He is going to Christchurch at once ; they are both going." Ailsa threw off her sister's caressing hand. " Don't touch me, you wicked, cruel woman ! I know why he wants to see me. Tell him that I will not see him, now or ever after. Tell him that it is all over ; he need not trouble to make up an excuse."

Marion put her hands up quickly as if to ward off a blow, then folded them over her heart — that poor frozen heart tingling so painfully in the throes of thawing back to life !

"You heard us in the office?" she said, in an awed

voice. " Yes, I heard you, you my sister — no, our fathers T^ould turn in their graves at such treachery — you are no sister of mine. I heard you and him settling my fate between you. Better to have settled it earlier ! "

Marion was utterly defenceless against this outburst, which she took for the morbid rebound of wounded love. It never occurred to her to resent it, since she really believed herself the cause of the rupture. In her own mind she was firmly convinced that the engagement would never have been broken had it not been for her discovery of the mysterious portrait.

"Ailie, dear lamb, I did it for the best. Would vou — would you rather have gone on living in a fool's paradise? " She asked it with a curious seeking humility, far removed from her ordinary self-centred manner of judgment.

"A thousand times no! Better break now than after," said the girl, sullenly.

" Then forgive me. I could not help it. I told you once that I was not lucky to live with — that I had the evil eye."

"Not the evil eye but the evil heart," said Ailsa, stonily. Marion ] put her hands to her face, and went out with a smothered sob. Was there such a thing as goodness in the world? Ailsa went on j

blindly wonrleriiiL' W;is she the nn'v tine pei^un in the uime?*e'' | Who could think Mich angel faces could u>\ er Midi mii v Was m.o j herself indeed good and true, oi, it ti ltd. no mote th.ni >i uhitfd i sepulchre like them? At that moment H,ni\ ciossi>d the Nei.iudah At i sight of him liei daik musings melted in a sudden \\<i\i'nt iiusclh-h mhioh

"0, God, forgive me! Such a fate as his mine would have been in a little while. And he believes in goodness yet, dear Hairy, dealer than all my own brothers ! "

As she stood in her own doorway, she seemed to Harry's overwrought fancy like a white spiiit taking leave of earth. Glanc.ng

nervously to right and left, she ran out and put her arms round his neck.

"Good-bye, good-bye," she ■whimpered, in a wild, wandeiing way. "Only we two left alive, and you aie going aw ,iy ' " 11 Only for five days, dear little gnl, then home again.' he w lmpered back, brokenly. " Home? Theie's t.o home but heaven for you and me, — and I vKh th.it w e were there ' No hope, no help on eaith, you know ; you said it yourself All dead but you and me — all dead with the poplar leaves ! " Her voice with a cioonin^ wail

"Forgive, forgive, forgive. Hairy mutteied. '"Forgive me, Ailie." " Foigive you? O. no; we have nothing to foi give each other: -\\e have to forgne all the world, but no+ each other. How shall we beoin? o when shall we begin? Ah, don't speak of it No hope, no help! What did \ou say ;ibout the ash-sap v The taste of it is bitter, bitter! I know it at last "' She put hei arms round hit neck again "Good-bye, my best brother Hush, it's all our seciet st:II," and like a spint she flitted back out of sight. "What did I say? Did I make it harder for him?" the poor, half-demented girl ivsktd herse'.f, as she sat watching behind her curtain. Yes, they came at last : they mounted and rode away, so sad and stately, both of them, in their manly grace. And to think that one was true as death, and the other false as hell ! All dead, she had said ; the very day was dead, and wrapped in a gray, cold winding-sheet. Now they were gone ; she had seen the last of that high head she had likened so often to Olympian Jove's And she was shut up in that wicked ghost-haunted house with Marion. 0, that was too terrible ; she must fly. To Come ; that was the only refuge possible now ; afterwards she would think, she would plan. She devised her going wilH almost the cunning of a mad woman. She slipped out and discovered Long Jimmy at cards with the cook, and ordered Black Bess to be saddled at once. All favoured her flight ; soon she was ready at the stable door. But there must be no hue-and-cry after her. She had thought of that. "I am going to Corrie," she said steadily to Long Jimmy, then cantered off. Marion was left alone to make a miserable pretence of taking lunch. Her last knock remaining unanswered, she had not dared to open Ailsa's door. For nearly an hour she sat by the fire, drearily thinking. Then a startled glance at the darkening window showed her ai dance of thick large snowflakes, and she rose. " The child will freeze," she said. But Ailsa's room was empty ; and bare headed she stepped over to the kitchen. " Has Miss Drummond gone out? " she asked. "She's gone to Corrie an hour ago, Long Jimmy says." Without a word Marion walked to the hut, and again Long Jimmy's game of cards was disturbed. " Saddle Sultan quickly ; I am going to Corrie," his mistress said, imperiously. " The child will die, the child will die ! " she said over and over in her hurried dressing. Long Jimmy shook the snow from his oilskins, and looked after Mrs Netherby from the kitchen door. " Sure the quality do be getting mighty unfriendly," he said to Mrs Huggins. " The bosses weren't shpakin' when they left, and had faces on them like fiddles. And the ladies don't be riding the same side o' the road itself." Mrs Huggins made no reply to speak of. She was no gossip ; moreover she was a woman who took short views, and merely congratulated herself on needing to cook neither dinner nor breakfast. Fast rode Marion on the road to Corrie, her heart warming in its wounded yearning as the outer cold increased. Faster fled Ailsa, with the desolate rhythm of " Waly, Waly " ringing in her ear : —

I leaned my back unto an aik, I thocht it was a trusty tree ; But first it bowed, an' syne it brake, Sac my true love did lichtlie me.

Faster and softer yet fell the great snow, foretold of the Maori.

" I don't caie to drag more rubbish to Little Granton than is strictly needful, even if it is only half a mile off," he said, retaliating by sweeping her off the wooden seat to a somewhat lower level. '" Especially as I fear the place will be so littered with Mrs Stormont's tmmpery that I shall be lucky if I can find a corner wherein to stow my pipe and boots." "Mrs Stoimont? who is she? Don't you know it's unlucky to call names before — befoie the time?' asked Ailsa. springing up with a lively pink in hei cheeks. "' Xo, I'm too busy to stay another minute. I'm ci eating a dieam of a sun-bonnet, and 'genius bums.' \"ou may get out Fatima's head again now." and. saying this, she vanished. "So I will, dear,"' said Olivei Stoimont. with an odd smile. "Fatima's head' — tht first time in yeais. the last time for evei ' " But a very grave look came over his tace as he fitted the key in a certain drawer, whose stubborn resistance showed how seldom it was opened. Scauelv had he turned over any ot the content*, when anothei knock was heard at the door, which this time admitted the unromantic figuie of Mr* Huggins. a« <<he carried in the station mail bag. "Roiy ha* just brought it, sh,"' -he said.