Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

A JEALOUS HUSBAND'S REVENGE.

By F. DA. C. De L'lslb.

(For the Witness.)

It was glorious spring in Wellington. Nature was full of life, and the earth was radiant with the vernal bloom that spread all over it. Out on the Hutt racecourse the busy crowd surged 1 ,, heaved, ard flashed with colour, and were roused to the frenzy of excitement when the long bay or brown bodies shot struggling up the course in a swift rush of rainbow tints, striving desperately to dash past the white box, each •Defore the other. .Marion Alymer sat alone in the crowded stand. All others seemed interested, excfted, and joyous— : yet was she unsatisfied. , 'Her sixty-year-old) husband was away at some buifet discussing the price of wool with his fellow "wool growers, and she was left quite alone.

Alone at nineteen ! Though many a hand-

some man cast eager glances towards the old man's darling, yet that insufferable objection, an introduction, precluded all possibility of a tete-a-tete. She had 'married him for his money

and a home. For she was only a beautiful fetish lass, the daughter of a Government

land selector in Poverty Bay. So when •David) Aylmer, the wealthy squatter from ■Manawatu, offered her his "fortune and his •hand, how- could she refuse? She gave 'him her h?auty and grace in exchange for a home of wealth for herself, her broken-

down old mother, her weather-beaten

father, and half a score of growing, hungry brothers and hoydenish sisters. At length her Teverie on the racecourse was broken. David Aylmer had returned, bringing with him a tall, handsome Itranger. "'Let me introduce Mr John Cunningham, of Romata Station, Marion — a client of our agents here. He only reached Wellington to-day. You'll come and dine with us, of course, Cunningham — seven sharp !" he

went on quickly. '"That is, if you are disengaged. Mrs Aylmer will feel charmed; •I am sure. Now, excuse nie/ior a few minutes; I must see Donaldson about those Bonmey Marsh rams of his. Mrs Aylmer .will give you. all the news."

And he went hobbling down the steps of the stand on to the lawn.

Jack Cunningham bowed gracefully to the lonely beauty when introduced, and as «xm as her husband had departed, proceeded, to be agreeable. . Mrs Aylmer seemed roused to a new life at once. This big, dark-ey.ed stranger, though but a mere lad of two-and-twenty, seemed to arouse some of the hidden chords of^ her nature, and she crimsoned over brow and neck as she heard his low-toned musical voice and met his ardent gaze fastened, upon her. He spoke of his home at Romata, of his passion for music, 1 and of his rough life on the station. She listened enraptured. 'Nothing else there had any charm for her. JFhe resfc of the afternoon seemed to pass on lightning wings. Cunningham was equally struck by Mrs Aylmer, for when he raised his hat at parting, he bit his lip hard as he saw her snow-white neck burst into a glorious flams of rose colour, which spread from her forehead) down. He watched the- carriage out of sight, and breathed hard as he muttered to himself : "What might have been ! But, ah ! n.3ver to be mine!''

As he drove to his hotel that night from £>avid Aylmer's town house at Thorndon, Jack Cunningham thought >ver the ordeal he had' just passed through. Wiry was she- Dot his? ''It will nev.er be!" he saidr

"I will love her for evex*, but from afar. I must go back to the station to-morrow."

But. for weeks after he was always by her side. In silence they loved and worshipped each other, though never a word of love had they spoken. One morning Cunningham called, and 1 , as usual, Mrs Aylmer was alone. The hours slipped swiftly away. He lay upon a sofa reading Lindsay Gordon's poems, so dear to all colonial hearts. Something he felt seemed) to goad him to read with strange pathos the lines :

We never know the worth of a thing Until we Have thrown it away! 'And then he glanced at her. She was pale as a lily. Two large tears slowly gathered and~flowed down her .cheeks, and the n?xt moment Jack Cunningham had turned over on the sofa, and, burying his bead on his folded arms, was sobbing his heart out. It all happened so suddenly fchat they never remembered 1 exactly what they did. She was on her knees by his side at once, and lovingly caressing his thick, short curls, she whispered in his ear: "Never mind, darling, it can't be helped. t?heer up, and be brave !" "It is best !" he answered. "You are good and honourable, andl I love you the more for it. Good-bye, darling!"

He rose, and clasped her in his arms. She was quite unconscious, while he pressed her lips a thousand times in farewell. He 'heard a door shut in the vicinity, and' laying her tenderly upon the sofa, he rushed cut of the house. So great was his ihaste that he failed to see David! Aylmer standing at the door opposite to th.c one ihe was leaving by. That afternoon he r<eBeived a note from Mrs Aylmer : — "My husband saw us ! He will not believe my explanation. Call to-morrow at 11. — M. A. He answered immediately In the affirmative. Come what might he Was resolved to .save her honour. A lettter trom .David Ajrlmer by the following po*t

increased his perturbation. "There may be some manliness in you,'\ he sarcastically •nrote, "and therefore you will respsct my wish that you shall cease all acquaintance or communication with Mrs Aylmer. I forbid yen to enter my house. If you arc a jentleman you will obey. If not, I shall compel you to do as I desire. — David Att.mfb."

The letter dropped from Cunningham's neiveless hands. He had just pledged l'imself to visit Mrs Aylmer the following day. I was inevitable. Punctually at 11 o'clock on the following morning, Cunmnofbiam drove up to Davkl Aylmer's house. He met Marion Aylmer in silence ; with hungry eyes they looked on each other, and for nearly * a minute neither spoke. At length slie bioke the silence :

I must

"I cannot endure this life! leave my husband!"

His heart leaped within him, and the unholy thought that he could take her away rushed through his mind. But Jack Cunningham was made of sterling metal. He put the temptation from him.

"No, darling, you must r.ot. I will save you. I \ will see Aylmei at once, and to-night at the Miramar Ball I will tell 1 you the result of the interview. If he will not take my word of honour as a gentleman " Cunningham paused, and looked- a world of appeal at heiw "With you — anywhere — I should be happy !" she murmured.

But David Aylmer was implacable, and dismissed Jack Cunningham with a volley of curses, swearing to be revenged if he ever attempted to approach Mrs Aylmer again.

It was 4 o'clock the next morning as Jack Cunningham rode across the sandhills at Miramar, on his way home from the ball at Miramar. In the distance, where the level road stretched along by the flat paddocks of Miramar stat*on, a solitary horseman waited motionless in the centre of the road. As Cunningham rode up he raised his hand, the young man stopped, and David Aylmer came to the whip hand of the rider.-

"I wish to speak to you,"' he said, "Follow me."

Cunningham at nee turned his lyorse's head and rode after the jealous husband. After going half a mile off the road, David Aylmer dismounted and motioned Cunningham to do the same. The two horses were then hitched up to a wire fence. "I brought you here," said Aylmer savagely, "to tell you that I saw you again with Mrs Aylmer last night. You have- insisted in wronging me. I warned you. Your blood be ou your own head! I want revenge — instant and absolute. Here are two revolvers. Take one. We will stand back to back, walk six paces, turn, and fire!"

Th^boy ventured a remonstrance, but without avail. Six paces each they walked, and turned. The lad, with an pshy face, fired high in the air. The second shot rang out clear and distinct, and the bullet, as if impelled by the savage gleam in the fierce grey eyes of David Aylmer, buried itself in the' heart of the fed. With a wild scream Cunningham sprang into the air and fell dead. David Aylmer walked quickly up to him and turned his body over.

"Revenged!" he cried. "My dishonour is avenged !" He let Cunningham's horse loose, mounted his own, and galloped furiously away. The country was deserted for miles around, and no soul ever heard the shot fired that ended the life of Jack Cunningham.

Two days after Marion Aylmer, seated broken-hearted in, her boudoir, received a visit from her husband.

He handed her a copy of the New- Zealand Times, and pointed to a paragraph, marked with red pencil, which was headed, "Remarkable Suicide of a Well-known Squatter."

"A proof that romance still lives !" he said mockingly. "Broken-hearted lovers seek freedom from pain in the same idiotic fashion as ever.' Henceforth, I will not introduce you to any more susceptible young Romeos. It ' may be fata l to ethers !"

And Society never heard of t\ie scandal which was buried with a jealous busbandi's revenge !

This article text was automatically generated and may include errors. View the full page to see article in its original form.
Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW19050308.2.295.1

Bibliographic details

Otago Witness, Issue 2660, 8 March 1905, Page 90

Word Count
1,578

A JEALOUS HUSBAND'S REVENGE. Otago Witness, Issue 2660, 8 March 1905, Page 90

A JEALOUS HUSBAND'S REVENGE. Otago Witness, Issue 2660, 8 March 1905, Page 90