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Otago Witness, Issue 2545, 24 December 1902, Page 32 (Supplement)

THE OLD AND THE NEW. H R * 4 fl hi o

" Yes," she said, wearily. "lama great heiress. More's the pity ; I wish I had not a penny. There, I was told not to tell you, but it slipped out, and can't be helped now. But it won't make any difference to you, will it? You won't like me less or more because I have, or shall have, more than my share ' of the root of all evil.' "

of telepathy of which she had boasted was most certainly j hers to an extraordinary extent. " I have told you more than I intended, and now I had better tell you a little more. I know you are a woman to be trusted. Moana and two or three stations in Victoria belonged to my grandfather, my mother's father. When he

distant relatives of the family. Mr Gresham is out of it altogether. But you must not mention this to anyone. It is naturally an unpleasant thing for a man to be dependent on his wife and daughter, and he does not like it to be even hinted at. Of course, he draws a handsome salary as manager of the estate, but even that ceases when. I am

21, and I may give the billet to another. It is a horrid position for a girl to be placed in. I think it a most unfair will. If grandfather had left mother and me a few hundreds a year we should have been much happier. She has never been the same to me since he died." Anna sighed and leaned back wearily in her chair. She made me no further confidences at that time, but* she had given me abundant subject for meditation. It was not until later that I learned that Mr Gresham was not Anna's father — that her mother had married for the second time — her deceased husband's brother, while Anna was only a baby, and that it was this second marriage which had so incensed her father, who held it as forbidden by the laws of God and man. This crime, folly, or mistake — which you like — had been committed 20 years before, and Mrs Gresham had never ceased to suffer the penalty. It had cut her off from society, and rendered her the tool of an unscrupulous man, and to some extent, after her father's death, the enemy of her own child, whom she yet loved as much as it was in her nature to love anyone. Finding that I could not see Dr Lomax before we left Dunedin to make my report to him, I wrote him a few lines, telling him that so far as I could judge there was nothing the matter with the so-called patient except general weakness and anaemia which could best be met by a tonic treat♦ment, and asking him how long I should remain in attendance. He received that letter by the early post, and was at the station when we left by the 11 a.m. express. Mrs Gresham appeared surprised and confused at the sight of him. Her husband pushed her on one side and said, roughly : — " Well, doctor, we're off, you see ! positively turned out. I never saw such a thing in my life. Took the house for the season. Some d d misunderstanding. Not another place to be got. Forced to return home just as Anna was getting all right. But I'll bring an action against that fellow, see if I don't." " There must be plenty of other houses," said the doctor. " Nothing good enough for Anna. Wretched, small, uncomfortable places. No ! No ! Home is the best place after all. And thanks to your treatment and the excellent substitute with whom you have provided us I have no doubt that she will do very well. At anyrate it is too late now. We are off." "Are you sure that you are better 1 ?" said the doctor,

taking Anna's hand, and looking into her wonderful golden eyes. "I am always well in Dunedin ; it agrees with me perfectly." " You should have stayed longer — at least till after Christmas." ' She made an expressive gesture.

" But we are turned out, you see. I must say I should have liked to stay longer. I hate Moana." " Anna, what nonsense," cried Mrs Gresham, sharply. '' I'm sure it is a lovely place, and to hear the birds singing on a summer morning is heavenly." Dr Lomax smiled. I noticed that he was still holding Anna's hand.

" You make one feel quite envious. lam half inclined to pay a visit to this terrestrial paradise myself. I hope to get a holiday about Christmas." " Would you come? " cried Anna, quickly. " I might, if you asked me." " Then Ido ask you. On Christmas Eve," she said. She did not call on either Mr or Mrs Gresham to second

her invitation, and they did not appear to hear what she said, being for the moment occupied with luggage and tickets . I could not understand what it all meant. Was the doctor in love with Anna? Scarcely. He was a man of more than middle age and entirely devoted to his profession. It was far more likely that the case, as a case, interested him ; that there was some problem below the sur-

face into which I had not yet penetrated, which appealed strongly to him, and even presented a difficulty which he was anxious to solve. So far as I could see our so-called patient had no ailment, but no doubt he knew much which he had purposely withheld from me, perhaps because he desired an independent opinion. " Come, take your seats," said Mr Gresham's gruff voice. " The train will be off in a moment. This way, Anna." He seized her arm and hurried her along the platform. Dr Lomax and I fell behind. He detained me a moment out of earshot. " They will try to drive you from her," he said impressively, " but do not let them do it. Do not be touchy. Do not take offence. Watch and wait. She will need you. Write and tell me how she gets on." " How long must I stay? " " Until Christmas ; until Christmas." " Stand aside," shouted the porter. The train was already on the move. Dr Lomax catching me bodily in his strong arms jumped me on to the ' platform of the carriage. Mr Gresham was standing there but did not offer to help me. " I thought you were going to remain behind," he said, with a sneer, which showed how easily he would have resigned himself to such a contingency. Anna caught me by both hands and drew me into the double seat beside her. She was trembling in every limb, and if I ever saw fear in any eyes they were in hers as she turned them upon me. " I thought you would be killed," she gasped ; " I seemed to see you fall." " O ! Dr Lomax took care of me," I said, lightly, but it did seem strange that Mr Gresham had not stretched out a hand to help. If the medico had been less strong and agile we must both have fallen under the carriages. I realised the danger after it was over, and I too, trembled. Not for that reason alone; in itself it was but a trifle, but because it seemed to me that I had already made an enemy.

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