WHEN – LOVE RULES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3382, 8 January 1919, Page 48

WHEN - LOVE RULES.

THE NOVELIST.

[Published bt Special Aebangemext.]

WILLIAM GUIDOTT. Author of "Through the Silent Night," "The Shuttered House," "What Delia Dared," etc., etc. [Copyright.] CHAPTER Vll.—(Continued.) '.'Yes," Tennant answered. "It seems rather obvious to me —not that one knows much or anything about her, but it does look rather curious, doesn't it, as if she had offended Sir Anthony or something, and he " . » " I quite agree with you," Mrs Fairfax put in quickly—"in fact, I am sure of it. And what's more, there are queer things going on up at the Court, 1 am sure of that, too." She went on to tell him of the words she had overheard only that morning and the unquestionable evidence of familiarity or something between the Servants and their mistress. Tennant's face grew more serious as he listened. "That decidedly puts a different complexion on things," he said slowly. "There might even have been a sort of organised plot between them all."

" But not about the will/' Mrs Fairfax returned quickly. "Somehow I feel convinced that that was a mistake on Sir Anthoriy's part, though in what way exactly it is very difficult to guess." " Oh, I wasn't thinking of that quite. At the moment I was wondering about this marriage—from the very beginning, so to speak." He turned and looked at her with genuine sympathy in his eyes. " I want to tell you how fully I realise, the position you are both placed in. It's hard for y_ou." Mrs Fairfax looked up into his clever handsome face with a distinct feeling of comfort that her trust had not been misplaced. "Thank you so much,"„she answered gently. "You see, we were quite dependent on Uncle Greatorex, and when I tell you that, it explains everything almost." Brian nodded, then relapsed into silence again, thinking deeply. Presently he went on : "What is Lady Greatorex dike? I suppose she is. rather ?" he stopped inquiringly. . " Oh, yes, absolutely impossible. Only a very superficial veneer, you know. Uncle must have been very failing in all .his usual faculties—mentally, I mean—to be so taken in." This was the first touch of womanly spite that Mrs Fairfax had allowed to have outward "expression, and it had the unusual merit of being true. She was feeling very vexed and depressed, for the future loomed dark. No criticism seemed too severe in such a situation. " You don't like her at all, then?" " Like her! One couldn't!" " I suppose you have no idea who she was? How did they meet and where? Do you know?" Mrs Fairfax folded her hands together on her knees and looked out of the window with a troubled expression in her eyes. "No. I wish I did," she said slowly. " I'm puzzled. It seems almost impossible to express myself in view of Uncle's at him almost apologetically, as though she might be accused of throwing aspersions on Sir Anthony's memory, then went on hurriedly: "But she looks theatrical —and acts—worse." Brian smiled involuntarily, as, with his hands behind his back, he still paced slowly up and down the room. Her denunciation sounded supremely comprehensive, although the . words were few and simple. "Even her photographs were fast," Mrs Fairfax went on, with distaste in the little quiver of her sensitive nostrils. " I borrowed one. I'm afraid I didn't ask permission, but I felt I wanted to study it. I don't sunnose it has been missed, as there was a pile of them on the table." Tennant turned to her. " I should like to see it," he said with interest. Mrs Fairfax thought for a moment. " Let me see, I'm trying to think what [ did With it. Oh, yes; I slipped it into my bag. So many things happened," she added with a little shudder, "that I haven't thought of it until now. I'll get

it if you like. It must be upstairs. *I haven't used the bag since." "* " If it isn't troubling you " " Oh, no, I should like you to see it. I only wish it could be made to speak and tell us a few things we want to know." She smiled as she passed him. " I won't be a minute." While .he waited Brian walked slowly to the window and stood with unseeing eyes fixed on the belt of trees beyond. The whole problem was perplexing in the extreme; his heart cried out for these two dear women to be spared the threatened breaking up of their home, even, perhaps, of their lives. All the tenderness of his nature surged up in his heart, for Alys in her few short confidences had given him an insight into her love for the old Court, and shown how big a wrench it would be for her to. lose it, and, too, he dreaded the privations in store for her and her mother which seemed almost certain to be approaching. If only he had the right to protect them both from the blows that fate or Providence seemed determined to deal them. His musings were interrupted by the return of Mrs Fairfax. " The photograph looks worse than I thought," she remarked, Avith a little gesture. As she held out her hand some faint perfume wafted a puzzled reminiscence to his mind which eluded his usually retentive brain. That the odour emanated from the photograph was evident, partly from Mrs Fairfax s wrinkled nose, and partly from his own quick deduction. Then suddenly his subconscious mind told him that he would recognise the portrait. He took it in his hand. Mrs Fairfax watched his face, at first with curiosity, then with excitement. /

"Oh!" her words came breathlessly. "Do you know anything about her? Is it possible?" She clasped and unclasped her hands in a growing frenzy of anticipation. "Yes," he answered very slowly. "I do know her." "You do? Oh, then you can help us?" Tennant paused a moment before answering. " Yes, I think, perhaps, I can. I know a good deal, but whether it will be of any use " he broke off, and then added as if to himself: " To think that this woman %vho was the cause of the. death of my dearest friend should be living almost next door." "Oh, I'm so glad—so ""glad 1" answered Mrs Fairfax eagerly. The absolute absurdity of her remark struck their sense of humour, and they looked at one another and laughed. It broke the tenseness of the situation, but the man's face became serious once more, for his thoughts flashed back to one of the in his life. He saw once again crowded court of law, and the sobbing 'figure of a woman in the dock. He remembered that her pose even.then had been theatrical. Her quick glances were always to note effects, her evidence insincere and false, yet she had not been convicted. The evidence against her was incomplete and weak. A handsome woman, she played on their sympathy and slipped through the clutches of the foreign Court by her tears and the forlorn fact that she anoeared but a tool in the hands of clever rogues, who could be traced. But Brian knew them, and would know them if ever he saw them again. He ground his teeth as he looked at the pictured face, and remembered his dead friend, dead by his own hand, because he had trusted too much ,in a woman, who had deceived and robbed him. CHAPTEE VIII. . When Alys and Mickey had left Mrs Fairfax and her companion to their business taJk, the two had strolled side by side down the garden path, both glad in ' different ways to be out in the soft spring air. Alys, because of her still restless thoughts, dimly reminiscent of a wondering pain, was glad to be out of reach of Brian Tennant's quiet, searching eyes, and Mickey was glad because he always enjoyed having Alys to himself. For once the usual banter between them was absent, though somehow the shadow over the Court included even their peaceful, sunny garden. Mickey, with hands in pockets and slightly-hunched shoulders, occasionally broke into a musical whistle, but quickly suppressed it every time, glancing anxiously at his companion for fear she resented his lapse. The two stood in momentary indecision at a corner where two paths diverged. Alys looked up at him. . . Which way shall we go?" she asked, smiling. "I'll toss for it," he answered irrepressibly. " Heads we go to the right." Deftly a coin was spun in the air, and Alys leaned down with interest to see what fate decided. ' Heads!" shouted Mickey. "That means the jungle and, perhaps, wet feet for you," he added with slight concern. Alys held out a small foot clad in a sensible and neat brogue. " Indeed, it will be no such thing!" she said, with a slight touch of indignation. " We'll go 'right to the end, and I'll show you one of our best views." "I've actually never been down this part before," said Mickey, kicking his way through the rough grass. " But why should this particular corner have the joys of running wild?" " Oh, it always has," answered the girl without interest. She breathed the air appreciatively, her spirits rising; no one could be gloomy long in Mickey's company. " That's ho answer, anyway, is it? I think it's rather a waste of good ground." "I suppose it is," said Alys, looking about doubtfully, "and we've been threatening to send the gardener _ down here lots of time, but whether he is lazy or not—l can't tell, —he always told us such a lugubrious tale of the expense, etc., that mother usually allowed herself to be put off. You see, the trees enclose it so that it's net seen from the house, and we don't bother much. I think

I rather like it as it is, and, anyway, there's not much of it."

They stood looking round at the tangle of shrubs and the peeping faces of spring flowers dotting the grass with colour in a perfect riot of neglect. The boy drew a long breath. "Do you know, I like it, too. After all, it's natural to run wild, and I feel it myself so very often that I sympathise. * But I should like to know where your wonderful view is. It's a bit of a fraud if vou entertain me with nothing better than those high walk? after your prime." "If you want entertainment you must do as I did and climb up." She laughed as she spoke, and pointed to the rugged lichen-covered projections in the masonry. "Oh, indeed, is that it?" Mickey gave a running leap and swarmed up the wall like a monkey.

" By Jove! —it really is rather fine," he announced from his perch astride. "Aren't you coming up?" "No!" Alys laughed up at him, pushing out of her eyes the tendrils of hair that the wind had whipped into tiny curls. "I dov't climb in my afternoon gown, and I like my own company best when I go in for gymnastics." Then she added suddenly : " Oh, I forgot. They'll see you from the Court. Come down!" He turned and contemplated her with a wicked little grin. "Oh, that's all right; there's not a soul in sight. I say, what's that?" He pointed to a flat slab of grey stone in the arrass a few yards away. " What? Oh, that stone?" Alvs answered indifferently. "Why, it's no-, thing particular—a stone, 1 suppose." "You really aren't brilliant this afternoon," Mickey said as annoyingly ias he could, and sliding down to the ground. "Of course, it's a stone, but what do they want to leave a thing like that there for? It looks like a grave." He walked over it and kicked the weeds and turf away from its overgrown surface. Alys followed slowly, shrugging her shoulders, but her eyes grew more alert as she noted for the first time a rusty iron ring embedded in the stone, -which ,was so defaced with the inroads of the elements that it could hardly be distinguished from the discoloured surface. Mickey's grey eyes looked more and more interested while she pointed out her discovery. " Can't we turn the thing over, Alys? Who knows what may be underneath?" " What do you expect, you ridiculous boy,' she scoffed. " Hidden treasure?" " More likely hidden insects," laughed Mickey. Alys made a little face of disgust. "It sounds rather horrible, and I don't think I could help you to move that heavy lump." Amusement shone in her eyes, with a tinge of excitement as she spoke. Mickey was now examining the slab carefully, and stamping his feet to test its solidity. Then he stooped, and with a piece of stick dislodged a little of the earth at the sides where the stone had sunk level. When he rose from his crouching position his eyes were dancing. "Do help, Alys," he pleaded. "I believe we can move it. I'll get a couple of .crowbars from the tool-house—l know where they are, and all you'll have to do will be to hang on to one when I give the word. I'll scrape away the earth all round first. It'll be no end easy and " Alys nodded, and, laughing, he sped away, to return in a moment with his N weapons of ,attack. Industriously he prodded and dug out the earth until the slab of stone lay clearly outlined on the surrounding tangle of grass, then with great accuracy he inserted one crowbar. "You take that, and I'll get mine in here. When I say 'Heave ho,' you put all your weight on, and we'll see what happens." Laughing and flushed, the very embodiment of youthful health and spirits, Alys grasped her crowbar, and at the words of command exerted all her strength. The slab moved, and moved again. In grim earnest, with eager, wide eyes, the two stuck to their task. "Don't let go," gasped Mickey breathlessly. "Push, Alys! Push!" The girl bent her head, and flung the last remnant of her strength into her lithe young body. The result was startling. The slab shifted sideways with their united efforts, revealing an opening from which rushed a by no means pleasant odour of damp and foul air. The girl flung down her crowbar, which had twisted itself free, and drew several steps away, choking,. with -her hands pressed over Her mouth and nose. "Oh, Mickey; how disgusting!" she panted. "We shall be poisoned. Whatever made you suggest moving it; I supposeit is an old well or something." Mickey had lost his balance in the final effort, and half knelt, dissolved in helpless laughter at her expression. "Ha! ha!" his voice pealed out. "It's all right, Alys, that's nothing; it'll be all right in a moment." Then suddenly bending nearer his laughter was stilled. "My hat! this is exciting. Look! There are steps going down—if it were near the sea it might be a smugglers' cave." Alys came forward in a rather gingerly manner, and peered over his shoulder, her handkerchief pressed to her mouth. "I believe I remember something now," she said after a moment's inspection, "something about an underground passage that led to the Court grounds and was blocked up. I wonder if that's it." Mickey sprang to his feet. "Oh do %i> us shift the thing properly, and we'll investigate. What a lark to tell Mrs Fairfax."

After testing the air with a wry face Alys again took her crowbar -under his direction. Between them they managed to clear the opening, and the sun shone down on a flight of damp green steps. Mickey descended carefully for a little way. and, bending, peered round. "There's a gate here,' he called. "It's an iron grill." "Be careful," warned Alys from above. "Don't go on Mickey until you know it's all right."

Alys only hesitated a moment, then, wrapping her skirts closely round her, slowly picked her way down the slimy steps, and stood by his side. "Look!" went on Mickey, excitedly. "There's the gate," he moved forward, "and—by the powers there's a key, too, only it won't turn; it's too rusty, but—by Jove! " He broke off as the door swung open under his hand, with a grind of its rusty hinge. "It's unlocked!" His voice took an awed tone as he stepped into the small square space. Alys gripped his arm. "Wait; don't let us go on until -we get a light. One can't tell where it leads,, to." "Not far—look, I can see where it is bricked up. I expect you're right, Alys, and that is the passage. What a shame we can't get through. It would be such fun to start a ghost in the grounds. She'd think it was your Uncle Anthony," he added wickedly, "the new Lady Greatorex, I mean." "Be quiet, Mickey, it's not nice of you," but Alys's irrepressible laughter bubbled up, and she fled up the steps regardless of the patches of green slime which now adorned the front of her gown. Mickey followed more slowly. "I say, this is interesting; fancy, you've been here all these years, and only just found it out." _ "I wouldn't say anything about it outside, Mickey, if I were you," rejoinedv Alys quietly. "It wouldn't, matter if it were only Uncle Anthony to tell it to, but I don't think things will be so easy now he's done, poor dear!" Mickey looked at her with a sudden comprehending sympathy' in his eyes. "Of course, I won't blab," he answered. "You know you can trust me for that." "Yes, indeed," she said, with a grateful little smile, as she met his honest eyes. "We'll go and tell mother," she added. "Yes, and Brian as well; he's one of the best," said Mickey, enthusiastically. "Yes," repeated the girl softly, "he's one of the best."

But the boy, who was already half way across the lawn to bear the exciting news of their discovery to the two in the drawing room, did not hear, and as she rushed after him, a rosy blush spreading over her face, the girl felt rather glad. CHAPTER IX. The cproner'6 inquest on the murdered body of old Sir Anthony Greatorex the day following the discovery of the criminal had been, so far as actual sensation went, almost uninteresting, especially when one took into consideration the heinousness of the crime. But beneath the quiet exterior of the various witnesses called to give evidence with a view to helping 'the coroner towards a definite conclusion as to the origin of the murderer, whence he came, or with whom he was connected, lay a seething tumult of fear. In the case of Lady Greatorex it had indeed been actual terror-—terror that, possibly someone or something might disclose her more than shady anecdotes and her position as something more than the decoy of the gang of rascals who had planned this coup, which had so signally failed—albeit with such dire consequences. Truly for her it had been a more than trying experience—a first appearance before the local bourgeoisie, terribly different from that which she had vaguely imagined would be hers. Swathed in deepest mourning, hastily arranged, but helped by the extreme natural elegance of cut and touch possessed by Elise, she had appeared a noticeable and almost aristocratic figure as she made her way with bowed head and lowered eyes through the serried ranks of the little crowded court room. To keep expressionless, so far as the terror within her went, in face of the coroner, was easy compared to the hiding of the joy which swept over her when she found that his-questions were of the simplest and most sympathetic, nature imaginable. So naive were they that afterwards in the privacy of her rooms she laughed aloud. All that could be done to make it easy for her and even for her maid, whose character, vouched for by the gentle; plaintive voice of the widow in the frankest way, had been done. Afterwards, descending the steps of the Town -Hall with slow deliberation, fully mindful of the theatrical effect she was making, she caught the sympathetic murmur of the crowd, and even allowed a cleverly-arranged little smile, infinitely pathetic, to play upon her lips as for a brief second she raised her eyes to an old country woman, who called her "the poor dear." In the shadow of the interior of the car, leaning back, but not too far, she touched her eyes with her handkerchief, and -did not allow even a sigh of relief to escape her until she was well away from the prying eyes of the townspeople. Then she turned to Elise, who, following her every movement, had been playing the dutiful and attentive maid, and laughed out loud. Elise, whose terror and fright of the unknown waiting for her at the inquest, had been if anything greater than that of her supposed mistress, laughed, toe, with infinite relief, but in her laughter also was the same note of hysteria and pentup emotion. "Well, Avhat do you think of it all?" Lady Greatorex asked. " I think that we, have had luck great luck." was her reply. She shuddered—" Ugh—whath—what might have happened. He might have had letters or anything on him, and we ehould have been lost I Did you see them?" she asked, after a pause. "Them? Oh, Mrs Fairfax and her charming daughter. Yes, I saw them. I'm not. blind. They looked very sad. Perhaps they were really fond of the old man apart from his money, but I doubt it," she added, judging them by the only standards she really knew anything about. "What will they do now?" said Elise. Lady Greatorex turned round in her seat and looked her full in the face.

*' What do you mean? What -will they do? " " «, 9 " They have no money, have they / Were they not dependent on the old man?" , , i. u Lady Greatorex shrugged her shoulders ae she turned a.way again. She had not yet decided, but it had occurred to her that the best thing she could possibly do would be to refuse to discuss the financial situation of the late Sir Anthony or the Fairfaxes, and consequently her own, in any way with Elise and her husband, confederates though they were. Of this plan she herself was a little sceptical, and the temerity of it rather frightened her, for she knew that she was dealing with two hard and unscrupulous people. Anyway, at least for the present, she meant to act up to her part of Lady Greatorex, widow of and heiress to the. wealth of the dead man, and not to be frightened by threats. Her position and standing would gain the aid and protection of the law if necessary to defend her, should she require it. Her thoughts along these lines were abruptly brought to a standstill by the pulling up of the car at the enrance door of the Court. She descended, veil now closely drawn again, and on her indoors asked Mrs Lewis in low, sad tones to send tea immediately into the hall. She had no intention whatever of staying in her rooms in privacy; besides, they were, with their shrouded windows, more than depressing. In the hall, ~at least, with the door open to the warm afternoon air and sunshine and the windows at the side uncurtained, it was considerably more cheerful. Upstairs she got out of one of her still unpacked trunks a French novel, the contents of which the late Sir Anthony would perhaps have hardly selected as literature for the day before hie funeral, and went down the wide stairs, the loose folds of a soft lace rest-gown trailing slowly after her.

She lav back with closed eyes as Mrs Lewis brought in the tea-things. The new servants who should have arrived that day were not coming. There had seemed to be no need to complicate things by a band of strangers who might look with spying eyes at her and Elise and flirt with the chauffeur. As things were at present they would all pull together. That is to say, she could lead and the other two follow, so she had decided very early that morning to stop any new arrivals by telegram. Out of the corners of her lowered eyes she watched the exit of the old housekeeper and then indulged in a luxurious yawn, her arms outstretched. Lazily she favoured the old hall with a comprehensive gaze. Everything there belonged to her; the thought was distinctly pleasant. Suddenly she dropped her arms and sat up alert and listening. In the corridor above she could hear the sound of someone moving about. Elise came slowly to the gallery rail and looked down. She gave a little laugh, which echoed with a sinister note across the hall. • The hand with which Lady Greatorex was pouring out the tea trembled. That laugh meant mischief. (To be Continued.)