ADELA'S EXPLANATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 3205, 18 August 1915, Page 77

ADELA'S EXPLANATION.

By Thomas Cobb. (Copyright.) "Do you ever come across Archie Sunderland in these days?" asked Henrietta Beresford. "The last I heard of him two or three weeks ago," said Ashton, "was that ho was on the point of becoming engaged to LadyJJoynton's daughter—six thousand a year in her own right, you know!" ': Henrietta, hesitated a few moments, hut she could never resist the temptation to gossip. "Last time I was here," she exclaimed, "poor Archie came rather near to marrying someone else." ".Now who Avas that?" asked Ashton. "I really ought not to dream of telling you!" "Then," he replied with a laugh, "I am certain you will." "Oh, well, if you are so inquisitive, it was Adela!" The three were slaving, amongst others, at Mrs Denmore's country nhtce at Brandlingham. It was a hot autumn ai'lernoGtv and there seemed nothing to do but idle about the ground until tire sun sank lower in the heavens. Ashton Gwynne looked at his companion, then slowlv'took out his case and lighted a cigarette." "A near thing, you saw" he .suggested. "Anyhow," Henrietta explained, "we all saw what was going on and the men were making bets—with odds on Archie. I suppose," added Henrietta, "nobody else knows how very nearly his hackers came to winning." "You assume," said Ashton. trying to speak in his ordinary voice, "that Adela was—was fond of the fellow!"' "If she hadn't happened to shiver that night," cried Henrietta with a laugh, "she would have been Mrs Archie Sunderland by this time." Ashton felt almost as if he were playing the eavesdropper. . He knew Henrietta's foible well" enough to be pretty confident that he had .only to keep quiet, and she would tell "the whole story, whereas his interest in everything that concerned Adela was-. too strong to allow him to resist the temptation. "You must know," Henrietta continued, "that it was Dick Denmore's coming of age. You ought to have been here! Anyhow we had the time of our lives, and after the most energetic of davs. 'there were fireworks at night.. Naturally Archie took charge of Adela. and, as I said, she happened to shiver. Archie, quite anxious lest she should catch cold, insisted ou getting her something else to put on. and he brought his own motoring coat. Well," sa-'d Henrietta, "Adela turned up ' the collar and put her hands in the pockets and there she felt a ring. She knew at once it must be a woman's, because she slipped her finger into it, and it was far too small for a man. As well as the rin* she felt a piece of paper— a letter, in fact" —and when ■she' went indoors she ran tin to her own room with Archie's coat still on, and—oh, dear! I am rather giving poor Adela away, but she had the curiosity to look at the handwriting. She wouldn't tell me anything else, but she refused Arclr'e two days later, and it is ahsoh'teiv certain she would have accepted him if she hadn't borrowed his motoring ' coat, that night." Ashton Gwynne could not help wondering whether Henrietta found an unusual enjoyment in tellies her story—a maliHous enjoyment; whether p]Vp ensr-ocifid that' h?, was on the pnrn? of pronosing to Adela, as Archie Sunderland had been several months earlier. He felt extreme!? eager to know in what lisht Add-; at present regarded' Archie, and. moreover, he wished to plav the game. "I am hesitating.""he said, finding her alone the next morning, "whether to rush in where an antrel might be exceed from* fearing to tread." "Oh. it do?sn't alwnvs do to ho afraj-cT of making a fool of one's self," was the answer. " Of course, vou understand." be continued. " that Henrietta Beresford really doesn't mean to do am- harm by gossipinrr in her li'drt-hearten war." "Has she done am?" asked .Adela. I hope not—bsvord keening me awnkfi half the night—in fact." said' Ashton. "T hope she wav have done food by stealth, to .come to the point, she was talking abor* Dick Denmore's coming of ace." " Vr m "were not here," murmured Adela. ".No.' cried Ashton; "but Archie Sunderland was." He saw the colour steal ov>v her face, and thonn-hf she hid never looked more provocatively charming, " Tt was too bar! to toll vou that." she fnl+ered. "T can't' imagine wh v J was fofblish enou-srh to say n word to Henrietta about it. I sup-peso T was scarcolv conscious of what I had done —T felt too deenly oshamed. T had not dreamt T could ever sink nuite so low as to read another person's letter !" She covered her face "with her hafda for a moment';, which Ashton thought were sadlv wasted. " T don't know whether von ha.v-a heard," he said, "that Archie is said to be on the eve of a-ri engagement to Ladv "Rovn ton's daughter—one presume:"; : t. would be a minrriasre de conveyance: T w'-h to T didn't know you had refused him " Adela turned to fare him with her chepVg still aflame : "You think it would have been more in accordance with the general fitness of Ihi'T's if I had accepted him?" she demanded. "I wish I had the audacity to ask why von' didn't?" said Ashton. "T thought that Henrietta had been shabby enough to tell you," was fch<v answer. . , " Oh, well, to put it nlainly," cried Ashton, " she said that t:Ua "•»"" in the

house were laying odds that you would accept him.” Adela’s silence seemed for a time to prevent him from speaking further. They were seated on a hillside looking down upon the private golf course, and she drew up her knees, clasping her hands round them, gazing at the players m the distance. She could distinguish Henrietta s short, podgy figure quite clearly. “Well,” said Adela at last, “Archie’s backers were wise in their generation. It is true,” slie adcle-d, ■with. <lll &ir <ilnioso defiant, “that I had made up my mind to say ‘Yes.’.” “ And you were prevented by what you found in the coat pocket? ’ “Perhaps I was,” she admitted. “ But do you think that was quite fair?” asked Ashton, pushing his moustache away from his lips. “ Unfortunately, I know old Archie so confoundedly well, and what a ripping chap he is! It doesn’t seem quite cricket, don’t you see?” . . ,1 “Of course, it wasn’t cricket,’ she exclaimed with a good dealing of feeling. “I can’t understand how I can have done it! To read deliberately a letter which was not meant for me! I have hated mycplf pypp qinpp 5 “I wasn’t thinking of that,” returned Ashton. “Of what, then?” demanded Adela, raising her dark eyebrows. “Of the fact that you condemned the fellow without hearing him in his defence. You see, Adela,” Ashton continued, “you may have got hold of a fake clue; you may have acted without the least justification, and there’s the consequence !” “What?” she murmured. “Well, Archie in a huff at your refusal doesn’t care what becomes of him —-—” “So, he seeks consolation by marrying a girl with goodness knows how many thousands a year! However,” Adela added reflectively, “it is nice of you to take such an interest in him.” “He’s not the only one I take an interest in!” said Ashton. “Oh, thank you,” she murmured coldly. “Anyhow,” "he urged, “I only want to do the square thing. It’s a bit too stupid in real life for two people to be separated and make a hash of their whole futures for a slight misunderstanding.” “Now, don’t you think,” said Adela, plucking up some grass rather fiercely, “you will find occupation enough in seeing that you don’t make a—a hash of your own?” “I am beginning to fear that may have been done for me,” cried Ashton gloomily. “In fact,” Adela continued, “you are coolly suggesting that I have been pining for Archie Sunderland ever since Dickie Denmore’s twenty-first birthday Yet you don’t even know the contents of tile letter I so inexcusably read.” “What I say is,” Ashton insisted, “that surely it would have been better to give the fellow a chance of defending himself!” “How do you know that I didn’t?” she demanded. “Did you?” exclamed Ashton eagerly. “No,” she answered. “As a matter of fact there could be no defence. I may as well satisfy your curiosity—idle as it is!” “It isn’t idle, anyway,” he whispered. His hand was close to Acjela’s as she plucked up the grass, and whether by accident or design their fingers touched. “The fact is,” said Adela, “that Archie had made up his mind to ask me to marry him, but he had some connection —it may have been entirely innocent for all I could tell—with a girl in Devonshire. As a sort of preparation for my reign he had written to break with her. The letter which he had left in his coat pocket was her answer. It was filled with reproaches, and she returned his ring. That is the whole story, excepting the fact that I disgraced myself by reading his correspondence.” “Once more question,” exclaimed Ashton in a voice which betrayed his extreme anxiety, “and I've done. Should you like me to tell Archie just why you refused him?” As Adela sat gazing clown at Henrietta’s figure on the golf course, Ashton’s future seemed to hang- on the balance. Suddenly she turned to face him: “Do you think you really could?” she murmured. “Why, yes,” he replied quietly. “Oh, then, please,” she said, and, rising without a word, he lifted his cloth cap and strode away towards the house. Miserable as he felt, he could scarcely regret his action in the matter. After all, he had no wish to marry Adela if she loved Archie Sunderland, as it seemed obvious she still did. On the whole, he felt almost grateful to Henrietta, because but for her tittle tattle Adela might have accepted him in a fit of pious, with miserable results to them both. However Archie might receive the news, Ashton Gwynne realised that his own fate was sealed, and the best plan would be to send himself a telegram and say “good-bye” to Mrs Denmore (and to Adela) the next morning. Before he reached the house jie determined not to stay so long, and after luncheon set forth to the village, with the result that an orange-coloured envelope was handed to him while the whole house party was assembled in the hall for tea. Opening the telegram, Ashton was on the point of going to tell Mrs Denmore that he had received an urgent summons to London, when lie heard Adela’s voice close behind him. “ I —l hope there is nothing very wrong,” she said. “Oh, well.” he returned gloomily, “T fancy everything is about as bad as it can be. I must tel] Mrs Denmore and make my apologies.” “There is surely no immediate hurry!” “I shall just have time to throw my things into the kitbags and catch the train,” said Ashton. “Come to the rose garden,” she cried a little imperiously. “If you will let me tell ” “ Como into the rose ga-iOu said Adela more imperiously still. “ What a really dense person you must he J” she sdcled as soon a.s they had rounded the

corner of the house. The rose garden was always deserted at this time of day, because it lay in the full glare of the sunshine, and they walked along the narrow path together until they were hidden from the chance of being overlooked from any of the windows. “ Don’t you see,” she cried, breathing rather rapidly, “ the ”eal inwardness of the situation —the situation between me and Archie, I mean. It wasn’t so much because of the letter I refused him.” “Then why was it?” demanded Ashton. “ I might have forgiven all that—l camt tell, but I might, only the question didn’t arise. Amidst my shame at having read his letter one fact stood out plainly. If I had really cared for Archie Sunderland, I should never have been so mean. I should simply have trusted him too completely.” “ Then why on earth,” demanded Ashton, bending over her shoulder, “did you. agree to let me tell the fellow ?’’ “Oh, well,” said Adela, “you hinted that you were acting foolishly, and I dealt with you according to your folly. You need not be afraid. I—l should never want to read a letter of yours.” The rose garden seemed a ..fragrant nlaoe that autumn afternoon, and Ashton’s train had gone long before he re-entered the house with Adela.