THE MAZEMORE DIAMONDS; OR, WHAT THE MAZE KEPT.

Otago Witness, Issue 3003, 4 October 1911, Page 89

THE MAZEMORE DIAMONDS; OR, WHAT THE MAZE KEPT.

By Beatrice Heron Maxwell.

(Copyright.) (This romance of the Mazemore family, by -which the Morelands passed over recently to the Oarruthers branch, was related to me by Arbell Repton, foster-, sister to Eveleine Mazemore, and I give it in her own. wording as faithfully as memory serves me.) She was .standing in the west gallery, just under her great-great-grandmother’s portrait, I remember, was Miss Eveleine, on the day that Mr Yaaiscombe first came to Mazer no re. '

I can see him now with his bold light eyes fixed on her, as they came along together, old Sir Richard and he; I beard him say under his breath as he passed me, where I stood in the oriel window, "What a lovely , face !"'."'And well he might, -for it is not often you see anyone like Miss Eveleine. . ■ '. He noticed the. likeness for after Sir Richard had introduced him' and they had shaken hands, he looked up'to it and read the name aloud, "The Lady Sirena Mazeahore as the Poetic Muse," and then he said "slowly to Sir Richard while still he kept.his eyes on my little lady, "One would have'known that she was an ancestress even without the" inscription. "A singularly beautiful woman. Your daughter is her .living counterpart." Sir Richard seemed so pleased at this open, compliment, that I guessed then, and there he had some scheme on hand with this man, and I hated them both, for I knew it must concern her.

My little lady tturned' pale; it was a way she had. when anything vexed her, and gave him a quick glance of scorn for making ao, free; though he was right enough in what he said. Miss Eveleine was in a white dress With blue ribbons round her throat and waist; her hair, 'just the same auburn colour as the portrait's, was ruff ling, round her forehead in the same wide .waves with a curling tendril. here . and there, and massed all in to her neck, which looked as white as snow against it. The two faces were lily fair, with dark eyes.shining in them like stars for brightness, and like wet blue flowers for sweetness. Lady Sirena might have stepped straight out of the picture and looked no different. Mr Vahscom.be saw she was not pleased, I think, .and he turned to the bracket just under the picture and said, "A handsome old pyx; may I look at it?' ! I heard Miss Eveleine telling-hiriiv it. belonged to the . Lady - Sirena", and had always stood ; in her / little private orisonchapel; and they talked together for some hiinutes on the beaoiity of the chased gold and silver work, and the meaning of the gems set in it. The pyx was in the form of a cross, with a large square crystal in the centre in a rim of silver opening with a hinge, so that the holy waf «r could be set in the gold niche between it. Close to it stood a small iron coffevr, with curious devices beaten'into it, and a solid lid, inside which —in the centre—a Maltese cross was pierced deep into the metal. This had belonged to the Lady Sirena also, and people said that she had kept it always on her altar, where the pyx stood, and that she had.wished it to contain her heart, emhalmed, after death.

But it was as empty now as it was whan they forced it-open, as I have heard, thinking to find all her jewels there, and found nothing., ...... ... My great-grandmother could remember her well, and she told my mother, who often told me about Lady Sirena's life and tragic death, which Mass Eveleine was never tired of hearing again from me.

"Are you there, Arbell?" she called out presently, when Sir Richard was hobbling off down the gallery, leaving the two alone together. I came forward'and-dropped a curtsey, for I prize my-little lady's Westness far too much to take advantage of it with her, and she stretched out her hand and nulled me to her side.

"This''is Miss Adfrell Repton," she said, "«r» foster-sister and constant companion. She can tell yon all about any great-great-grandmother, for ehe knows the whole by heart. Arbell, Mr Le&ter Vanscoiri.be is interested in our family history. Will you tell him of Lady Sirena's fate?" AH this time he had been scrutinising me and I, though more secretly, him... He was handsome in his way, but it was a way that was unpleasant; tall and fair, with a thin bad mouth which passed for a better one under his moustache, and with a thifty look in his eyes, one of which had a brown fleck right in the centre —a sign, lam .told,"of craft and insincerity.

But he was well-dressed and easy in manner;,l could tell the world went well with him, and I guessed, that what he wanted was a fine old place, if • money could buy it, and a well-born wife thrown in with it; if she had beauty as well, so much the better for him. He nodded to ine and said"somethiner about being pleased to meet 'anyone of interest 'to Mies Mazemore; but lie didn't offer to* shake hands like Mr Hew Oar-, ruthers djd the first time he saw me, airid, indeed often since. But then Mr- Hew-is Mies Eveleine's cousin, •' and ..knows "the ways of old families, and is as like her as' a man with a real.manly ; can,_be to a womanly womian; think it could, alter their position to make too much of me, as in their kindness they do, in mine; they are too eiure of it for that.. It's these newcomers to a county who mind their manners so carefully. But I told Mr Vanscombo all aV>ut Lady Sireaa. and how she nersuaded \^v

who was Sir Hew—the ninth baronet —to let her realise most of her dowry and spend it on jewels, and how 'twas said she never wore them, but meant to keep them for her second son, to go to him with Maaeinore.

For Maaemore was hers on her 'wedding day, sold to her father, the Earl of Walmsbury, for a large sum. She knew how to turn round tor little finger, Lady Siia-ena did, and when she made \m her mind to marry Sir Hew and her father said no, because he had no fortune, she said "You shall give him the fortune so that he can keep me as your daughte* should be kept, and I will have Mazemore In return, and take it to him as my dowry with so much more as you will give me Iliesides."

And she had her way. But she had no love for her first-born, and there were quarrels in which he and his father sided together, and she took the part of her other boy, whom she adored passionately. So at last she said to the eider, Crispian, "You shall have all your father can leave you, but Hew shall inherit Mazemore from me." That made bad blood between them, but she cared for nothing when her mind was made. Then came the great flood that swept all through the Mor.elands and carried away part of the house, and Lady Sirena, who was' at her prayers in the little garden chapel, was swept away too and drowned.

They hunted everywhere for her wall and for. the jewels, but ~fnever found, either; people said it was a judgment on her for having sowed dissension between brothers. And then they turned ion j Hew and. said he must have taken the, jewels, for that hre mother had boasted she meant them for him. He shook the dust of Maaemore off hie feet that very day, and swore he wouldn't stay to be „oalkd a thief: and he-went away abroad and married a Miss ;„@axruthers, and took her name. That is-how Mr Hew 'monies to be second cousin to Miss Eveleiine, though ho. is not a Maaemore. . •"'. ■■ '■ .4*l

"Very interesting," paid Mr Vanscombe when I had finished. " These are; of course handed down as family relics.?" His looked again at the pyx and coffer. "Lady Sirena was a Roman Catholic," he added. "I should think that account* for the disappearance of the jewels:'- v Sh< the Church -with them. ■ Miss Eveleine's eyes brightened. thee was 'a subject near her hearfet "1 sometimes fancy they will turn up; soma day." she said. "Perhaps my ancestries* used to keep-them in the garden chapel, and they were washed away. But. after these ~ great floods all kinds uf.'thi&gs come to the surface and are picked for years afterwards. I have often wandered over the fell looking far them." "You would like to possess them-r-you are fond of jewels?" he looking strangely at her. .-; -. . \, \*'l - would like to find - them," slw answeded, clasping her hands, and with the eager look still on her face, "aiW then I could "

She broke off. She had forgotten sh« was. talking to a stranger. But • I knew well';what she would do with them: sell them arid give the money to Sir Richard so that Mazemoire need not pass out of their hands. For Qrisplan Mazemore had dissipated all the.:fortune *that h-C/ father, left him; and the mortgagee;Jba had begun on M.azemore had been growing-! heavier ever .since. So that, as Miss Eyeleihe 'and I knew, Sir Richard was lookiifeJouit:for a rich buyer who would neither '--bargain' nor cheat, and who would restor^Vthe'old place to its former gimndeua\:r^';'', r Then Sir Richard would take 'Mine Eveleine up to, London, and as soon as her face was seen there wooild b t e no want of eruitors. But who could she marry here—buried alive as she was all the year round with only the villagers and the hill-folk to gape at her loveliness? Who else, indeed, until lately, and lately, it is true, there had been someone else. It was a hard day for Mr Hew Carruthea's when 'Sir Richard caught him kissing his cousin's hand in the ruined

chapel. I was nob far off, and I heard some of what ho said and how he told MiHew not to venture to darken his - door again. My little lady was staunch and true to hex kinsman—l had almost said her lover, but that she would not own to, yet. But no on© could oppose Sir Richard's iron will for long ; and it was a whole three weeks now since she had ventured even to meet her cousin On the fell at their old trysting-place, close to where the Maze tumbled down the steep hillside towards the gorge. "I'l have no beggars hanging round here to steal my daughter," shouted Sir Richard to her one day. "He is no beggar," she answered with her little mouth quivering and proud; "he is an honest soldier, and our nearest of kin."

Sir Richard muttered something about honesty and the old story of the Jj,i"els, and said if he was a soldier how was it he had no work to do.

"He has work and plenty," she said, "but he came to see the old place, expecting a welcome after all these j ■cars; and we ought to be ashamed not to give it to him."

Then Sir (Richard stormed - again until my little lady's face was pail© with anger and she left him.

Rut that evening after Mr Vanscombe's arrival she ran out across the More to the High Fell; and I knew she had gone to meet hiLm, and rejoiced. Though when ah© came back her eyes were heavy with tears and she told me he was going away for a fortnight, and after that they would only meet once again, for he bad to rajoin and perhaps go abroad. Welly the days went by like liadesa weights, for there was no doubt now *hg£Sir Richard meant, and what Miss E\<tleiae would have to do—or it would go hard with h©T. Mazemore was to be Mr Vanscombe's, but he was to choose a bride as weld as A home, and the only condition" attached was that he should take the old name - and took it on to his, so that there should still be Mazemores on the Morelands. True, the bride's consent had to be gairttd, and she was put to it to fight her battle out, for her father bent all his will to break hers, and when that failed, he \ pleaded with her and traded on his ago and penury. And it was" then Miss Eveleine began to yield a little. It was in' to tell her more than once what manner of man Mr Lester Vanscombe was"; for I knew from his man, who told fine tales in the housekeeper's room- after supoer, and besides I knew it too from himself. : ; __ He would stop and speak to me sometimes about Miss Eveleine, and tell me he didn't know which was the prettier, she or I, and when he knew no one was by he had few scruples as to-what he said and did; he was ready with bribes both in coin and kind, but I would have none of either, and told him so. - "They spoil you heTe, Arbell," he said to i me. "1 suppose it's because of your looks. You will miss it if you ever leave . Miss Mazemore." I knew what he meant,~but I laughed at his threat, for he had not won Miss Eveleine yet. I heard him curse me under his breath as I ran away from him. ~ That was the day before the great stojjm. There was a curious feeling iri the air all- that afternoon; a sort of thrill and thta a hush that you could almost hear, and then the thrill again. The clouds in the distance weirer- heavy and dense, with a copper glow through their darkness, and the hilltops stood out clear and sharp against them, only looked as though they were countless miles away instead of close at hand. The noise of 'the waterfall on the High Fell came quite distinctly through the stillness; I had never heard it so loudly before. It reminded me of the old verse Miss Eveleine used to say when she was a child t When the Maze roars', say a- prayer, "When- the Maze leaps, have a eare, "When ibe Maze breaks bank, beware, Pot the Maze will have, and the Maze will keep The best of the More; 'twist' wake and sleep. Miss Eveleine was very restless all day; I had never seen her look so pale, nor yet so pretty. She came out from her father's study after an interview with him and Mr Vanscombe, and I could see things had gone badly with her; her eyes were so feverishly bright and her lips so set. Sir Richard sent for me about a book hd wanted after that, and I heard Mr Vanscombe say as I reached the door: "If she still says no, I shall give up the thought of Mazemore. It must be both for me, or neither. n Ami I knew Sir Richard would never lose the chance of all Mr Vanscombe's > wealth for Mazemore. The next day there was the same stifling oppression in the air, and the village people who came up to Mazemore declared it would be the worst storm we had ever known. v "Hark to the Maze moaning," one said to me; "that means mischief. The river does not speak for nothing." I knew Miss Eveleine was going acrcas the fell to keep tryst with Mr Hew for the last time, and I made up my mind I would go to meet her on her way back in case the storni should break. There had been flashes of lightning playing about as the afternoon went on, and heavy thunder, and every now and then a whirling breeze would come and bend the'treijs and'dash the flowers to piecesl and then there would be a lull onco more and the same strange stillI think Mr Varcscombe had got to know eomothing about Mr Hew, for after hanging about the garden most of the afternoon, ho struck off towards the High Fell,'and I followed Mm. ' It was getting dusk by that time, and a sort of pall of blackness hung over th# '©ll 90 that on© could distinguish not^jr

but a blurred mass of trees and rocks. I lost sight of Mr Vanscomb© as soon as he had crossed the last open field, and knew he must be working his way up towards the gorge under cover of the pines.

A violent gust of wind and some drops of rain, heavy and cold, that flung themselves into my face as I hurried after him, stirtled -me; I wished I had my little lady safe at home. Then I suddenly realised that there was a new sound in the air that was neither wind nor rain, and I stopped, with my heart beating in telrror, to listen. And as I waited, breathless, someone came running towards me, and out of the misty sheet, for the rain was coming now in good earnest, rushed Mr Vanscombe like one distraught, and when he saw that he was passing someone he called out: "Run for your life; the river is coining!" I could have laughed even in my fear at the madness of running a race with the river. Instead I made for the steep zig-zag that led right up to the bead of the gorge, and as I climbed up it I could see and bear the sheets of water that was rushing down past me, making a new course for itself instead of winding down through the gorge. . As a reached the top I could, see the Maze leap in the air, where usually it flowed placidly to the head of the Fall, and make a new torrent straight down the fell side towards the Morelands. I called to my little lady again and again, but there was no answer, until at last a faint halloo reached" me, and I recognised Mr Hew's voice below. I hastened down to him as fast as I j:ould to, and found him wild with fear for er, as I was. - ■ "She left me half an hour ago, he said. "She was going towards the garden yvhen I saw the last glimpse of her. My l3od! if the river should have been too quick for her! It hadn't overflowed then. Come, Arbell! we must find her. We hurried down together, keeping at 4he side of the river's new course, and as we reached the lower ground we it was a broad, dark, angry stream that flowed across the fields through the home farm and on into the garden. The farm people were all out—some on the roofs of the outbuildings, some on the tops of the highest stacks, some safely on either side of the stream, which still kept to a steady even course, as though it were following some old bed between high banks. ' We dared not eay, for our. on© thought was of Miss Eveleine, and there at last ahead of us was the steep walk with high grass banks on either side—a river nowleading to the garden chapel, and the water eliding past and through it. Somehow we-both knew that she was there; indeed it seemed as if I had always known that this would happen. / Mr Hew never stayed for an instant; he flung off his coat and plunged into the stream, deeper now than his own height twice over, and swam straight to the ruins. The top of the old roofless walls was all that one could see, but we neither of us doubted. that, the river had Miss Eveleine in its grip. Me Hew dragged himself up to the edge, and after a momentdived again, this time inside th& wall; and I fan the blinding'-rain and whirling wind towards the house, calling for help, but my voice was drdwried in the noise of the storm.

I bad almost reached the terrace, when the gardener heard me, and ran on for me to tell Sir Richard, while I turned back to the chapel. A great white flash of lightning came as I-.sped towards it, and illumined the whole garden', and I saw them —Miss Eveleine lying at the top of the bank all drenched and lifeless, and Mr Hew, spent and scarcely conscious beside her. We lifted her up and carried her to the house, the pitiless rain beating down on my little lady as though it would dash out any spark of the life left by the river, and she was laid om the big couch in the hall, while we all strove—without hope—to bring ner back to life. Mr Hew swooned away as he stumbled in with her, for he had had a hard battle with the water for Miss Eveleine, and was badly hurt, one wrist broken and his poor hand hanging useless. It seemed as though we must lose them both, and the words kept ringing in my head all through those hours that followed :

For the Maze will have, and the Maze will keep 33ie best of the More; 'twixt wake and sleep.

Mr Vanscombe was quite useless; he had reached the house in safety by sheer good hick, but he was all unstrung with the shock, and even Sir Richard looked askance contemptuously at him. I shall never forget the moment when mv little lady opened her sweet eyes and looked at me as though from another world. I could have sobbed with tears and laughter, and I dared say nothing for fear of sending her straight back there again, and letting the Maze get the better of us after all.

She looked at me intently, and then site sighed and stirred, and presently, after closing her eyes again, she said, "I have found it, Arbell." And she tried to lift her hand and show me what she still held clagpod there—a quaint old chatelaine, rusted, and bent, and broken, but with a curious key attached it it, wddening at the end into a square, which shaped a Maltese cross. "Bring me the coffer, Arbell," she said faintly, and I knew what she meant, and sent for it at once.

There in the lid of Lady Sirena'e casket was the Maltese cross, into which the key, after we had rubbed and oiled it, fitted; and when Miss Eveleine turned it, j<Jiere, in a little silver case, was a roll of paper with writing on "it. And as my little lady read the words, purpling over them, for they were in strange old English, her face flushed as

I have never seen it flush, and she cried out, "Arbell, Arbell, I can't, believe it I It's too strange to be true. Send for the pyx—qiudick, Arbell!" She was all life and eagerness now, and the shadow of death had lifted from her. When the pyx was brought, she looked for, and found, a little knob of gold below one of the gems, and this she pressed; and with that the back swung open, and there were the long-lost jewels of Lady Sirena, hidden safely all these years, and the secret of their hiding-place guarded by her will in the lid of the coffer. Then nothing would satisfy Miss Eveleine but that her father must come to her, and take her presently to the bedside of Mr Hew, who, by the doctor's orders, had been placed in the west wing and was net to be moved for days. . "You must come, too, Arbell," she said. And' I went. And she knelt down by Mr Hew's side, and took his right hand —.his left was all bandaged—and said : "We have wronged you, cousin. Hew, these many years, but all unknowingly. See, here is our great-great-grandmother's will, and Mazemore is yours, and all the jewels are yours; and lam so glad. It was well worth being drowned to find them." And he looked right into her before- Sir Richard, too, and said : "Sweetheart, they and I are yours, and yours alone." .

So Sir Richard, strangely subdued .and hmimibled now, and I, came away and left them together, for the doctor said: "There is nothing that heals so quickly as happiness."

But I could not resist, when I met Mr Vanscomibe in tihe hall and saw his discomfiture, dropping a ourtsey and saying I hoped he had got over the fright that the Maze had given him. He never answered a "word, for he knew he had shown himself a coward and a fool; and" he went away that afternoon as soon as Sir Richard iold him about Mr Hew and Miss Eveleine.

It was strange, the next day, when the storm had passed to see the way the Mase had swept down, cutting the Morelands in twain, 1 and working havoc wherever it went; the garden chapel'had disappeared altogether, and there' was only a hean of. stones and bricks remaining when the, water subsided.

The village folk say there will not he a flood again for two or three hundred years, and perhaps never, because the Maze was cheated this time. But I think the Maze got its own way, really; it did not mean the Moreiands to pass, into strangle hands, and so it gave them, with the best thing in them-—my little lady herself,—to their rightful owner.. You can still tee how the water flowed round in a complete circle, shutting in Mazemore , itself like a ring-fence, as though it took its rights first before it yielded them to Mr Hew. And that is how Mazemore passed over to the younger branch! I have had to tell the story many times, for people love romance, especially -when it's all true and really happened.