The Voiceless Avenger

Otago Witness, Issue 3829, 2 August 1927, Page 9

The Voiceless Avenger

NEW ZEALAND STORY

BY

DULCE CARMAN.

(COPYRIGHT.—FOR THE OTAGO WITNESS.)

SYNOPSIS. i FOREWORD: —Beatrice Lloyd, who is beloved by and loves Maurice Saxon, a holiday acquaintance suffering from temporary blindness, is suddenly called home, her mother having been killed in a motor accident. She eends a message of “ farewell ’’ to Maurice by a small boy Jimmy, who, however, fails to deliver it; and then accompanies her father ? n . a Y oya " e abroad. After two years her father having died in Italy, Beatrice returns to New Zealand heartbroken at Maurice’s silence.

CHAPTER I. —Guelda Northe, riding her horse Maru through country in the South Island, finds a man caught in a tree 100 ft down a precipice called “ The Kelpie Track.” vdre rescues him, and discovers that he is Dick Treherne, the new manager for Mr Graeme, one of her father’s neighbours. CHA t TER ll.—Guelda takes him to her home where ho meets her father, Mrs Chester ner aunt, and Ngaire, Lyn, Terry, and Benzil Chester, her cousins. He tells them that when he went to Australia from his native Cornwall he had an accident, and suddenly lost his memory. He is now haunted by a ghost-dog. “ The Voiceless Avenger,” which ?k 11 T U^ 3 him from place to P ,ace - He feels that he may have committed some crime which he cannot remember. When he is Baying “ good-bye ” to his friends preparatory *_o tiding back*.to Mr Graeme’s, the °hostdog, perceived by the animals and by °Dick, but not by the others, makes its appearance. Guelda and her father decide to help Dick get rid of it.

CHAPTER lll.—The evening’s mail brings a letter from Beatrice Lloyd, who, when David Northe’s wife died in child-birth, adopted Rosamond, Guelda’s twin sister, and reared her in luxury, in total ignorance of her real history She now writes to ask if Rosamond may come and stay with the Northe’s, and encloses a letter to Guelda from her sister. Guelda writes a delighted reply before she and Ngaire rush in to tell Mrs Chester.

CHAPTER IV.—Rosamond. purchasing presents for her new relations, meets Roy, a friend of hers, still to be introduced to the Lavender Lady,” as Beatrice Lloyd is affectionately calle''. Roy, who inherits a tempestuous temper from his mother, has something on his conscience caused through an erstwhile lack of self-control, tells Rosamond he is going to Australia for a while • he will never rest till a wrong he has done has been righted. They discuss the difference in the upbringing of Guelda and Rosamond. Roy says that Guelda sounds like the sort of a girl he has always imagined he could fall in love with.

CHAPTER V. —On the same day Guelda ana all the Northlands household are preparing elaborately for Rosamond’s coming. Dick comes in, and confesses after a discussion that Rosamond sounds like the sort of girt he has always imagined he could fall in love with.

CHAPTER Vl.—Rosamond’s baggage arrives, but the girl herself does not come. disappointment Guelda goes for a ride on Maru, and nearly runs into a car in which are Roy and Rosamond on their way to Northlands. When Guelda rides back to tell the family, Roy leaves Rosamond at and she walks alone to the house. CHAPTER Vll.—Rosamond, after unpacking, shingles Guelda’s hair, thus making her her counterpart in looks. She then goes away to distribute her gifts, leaving Guelda alone with a suitcase full of something, which is Rosamond’s present to her twin.

CHAPTER A lll.—The suit-case contains an outfit of modern clothing from Rosamond, and a gold wristlet watch from the Lavender Lady. Guelda jumps out of the window to make an entry, in her new finery, at the front door, but runs across the lawn at tile sound of an approaching horse and a man singing. Rosamond, who comes in to find her twin, also hears.

CHAPTER IX.—THE BIRTH OF A BUTTERFLY.

’Tis all a chequer board of Nights and Davs Where Destiny with Men for ’ Pieces Plays, Hither and thither moves, and mates and slays, And one by one back in the Closet lays. —Omar Khayyam. “The bird lias flown!’’ Rosamond declared dramatically. “But why—and where in' the world . . . ” “Gone!” echoed Ngaire incredulously —“but where in the world could she gen to? And—why, 1 thoughts she would be simply dying to show us all the lovely things you brought her.” “ I’m simply longing to see her in them!” Rosamond confessed. “She couldn’t help liking them—she is too much like me not to. And I know she will look adorable in them. Come here '■ and listen, Xgaire!” t The child crossed over to the open window, and the two girls stood silently a moment, listening. For a second or two there was nothing to be heard but the sound of a galloping horse’s hoofs at some little distance, drawing nearer every moment, and then once more a man’s <*av tenor broke the silence:

Carissima! The hour is late; Amidst the haunted gloom I wait. The snatch of an old song broke off abruptly, and the voice stopped short as the horse was pulled in on its haunches, somewhere close to the big white gates that shut in the arching roses of the Northlands avenue from the long dusty stretches of road that wound out of sight into the night shadows. ‘•ls that someone just passing along?” suggested Rose hesitatingly. “ I don’t know. He might be coming in. He often does. That is Mr Treherne. Hasn’t he got a lovely voice, Rose? You ought to hear him when he has got his music and the piano and everything.”

Yes, I am sure he must sing very nicely. Is he a friend of yours?” “We haven’t known him very long, really, but he often conies over in the evenings. He is managing for a neighbour of ours. There was an accident on the Kelpie track—it is an awful place, Rose. Guelda will have to show you some time, if dad will let her.”

IVhat sort of accident, Ngaire?” “Well, there’s a tremendous cliff there, and a rock came down and hit Mr Treherne on the head, and knocked him off his horse when he was riding along the crack. He was hurt, and rolled right oxer the cliff on the other side, and got hung up in some trees. He would have been killed in the ‘ white water ’ of the if the trees hadn’t been just there Guelda and Lyn say that Tane Alahuta, the forest god, grew them there and made them strong on purpose to hold him* • was hanging in the trees, and that is where Guelda came in. She was riding home from the township that way (though she isn t s posed to, ’cause Uncle Dave says it s far too dangerous, and Maru s so nervy). She found Mr Treherne over the cliff, and she managed to get him back on to the road again. He came home here to Northlands to tea, and that is how we got to know him.” “ How exciting, and are he and Guelda very great friends now?”

“Oh no! Not specially, lie is very nice to all of us. P’raps—” Ngaire’s x ix-id little face lighted xvith interest as she xvas struck by a sudden brilliant idea ; an idea which, to tell the truth, had already occurred to the elder girl standing so quietly by the open window. “ I’ll tell you what I think has happened. Guelda put on all the lovely things you sent her, you can see she has, because they re not lying round anywhere, and the suitcase is empty. Besides her red dress is lying there ’on the bed. Then she heard him coming, and went down to the road to show them to him.” “Very likely that is just what she did do! ” Rose assented slowly. “Lets go down the avenue and meet her! ’ the child suggested eagerly. Oh, don’t you think xve had better xvait here until she comes back? She is sure not to be very long,” hesitated the elder girl. “Oh, no! Guelda won’t mind. If he doesn’t come in. He xvon’t stop more than a minute —he never does. And either xvav. it doesn’t matter.”

t Then they are not special chums’ ” Oh’ no ■ Re doesn’t think any more of~ Guelda than he does of any of us. M e are all his friends, only she happened to be the one on the Kelpie track at the right moment. Won’t you come, Rose? You xvould like him, I know. I’m going, anyway.”

“ Oh, well! If you go. girlie, I suppose I may a.s xvell come, too.” acquiesced Rose _ cheerfully. “We don’t knoxv for certain that she has gone down the drive in anx- case.”

f Y,c—o- —o! But his horse stopped, and he didn’t come up the ax’enue, so I think she must have done. Can vou vet out through the window. Rose? It isn’t very high, and it doesn't' seem worth while going all the way round.” “ Of course I can.”

Rose scrambled over the low sill as cheerfully, if not so deftly, as Ngaire herself, and hand in hand the two girls set off across the lawn towards the long avenue stretching blackly down to the road.

Ngaire s guess had not been xvrong. When Guelda heard the manly voice, and recognised it, she xvas seized xvith a sudden desire to run down to the road ana show Dick just what a difference the wonder-box from Mathilde’s had made to her appearance. So far. she thought a trifle resentfully, he had seen her at a disadvantage on every occasion. Hot and dishevelled on the Kelpie track, flushed and smeared with flour in the Northlands kitchen, grimy with rich leaf-mould as she planted out seedlings in the garden. Never, she xvas sure, had he imagined that she could look like the picture that had confronted her in the mirror. Guelda owned honestly to herself that she had nex-er dreamed that she could possibly look so nice.

To think, xvith Guelda, xvas to act, and so she sped across the lawn, and into the black shadows of the avenue iust as Rosamond tapped gently at the bedroom door. She reached the white gates a trifle breathless, and leaned against the top bar until Dick’s horse brought him close enough to see her standing there plainly outlined in the moonlight. Now that she had come, she felt more than a trifle shv. After all, she did not know Dick Treherne x - ery well, and ’’e might think it odd of her to have come down to the gates so obviously to waylav him.

The brown mare xvas very close now. and Dick once more sang a snatch of song : —

“The orange groves arc dark and dim. O’er Naples Bay the Vesper Hymn, Soar.? like a saint, and thrills? ”

He broke off abruptlx 7 as Guelda moved impulsivelx- forward, and the brown mare, suddenly sensing her Presence, swerved violently, propped wildly once or twice,

and stopped dead, digging her toes into the metal .and almost sending her rider over her head. What the deuce—” began Dick vigorously, as he climbed back into the saddle, and then he, too. caught sight of the girlish figure stading bv the gate, and dragged off his can hastily. “ see you! ” he confessed penitently, “ but you nearly had me at your feet for all that. I shall have to take to cobbler’s wax if I ride this brute much, I fancy. By the xvay, xvhat are you doing here at this time of night? Didn’t she come after all? I thought—” He xvas near enough now to see more clearly the dainty figure standing so still by the drive gates, and he caught himself up suddenly, and finished lamely, in a completely altered tone, “ I beg your pardon ! I thought 1 xvas speaking to Miss Northe. It is too dark here to see clearly.” >

“I am Guelda Northe!” the girl answered with a little excited shake in her clear voice. “Don’t vou see the unbelievable thing that has happened to me? All of this Is Rosamond's work. Isn’t she a darling? Came! Oh’, yes! You only need to look at me to see that she arrived all right. I don’t believe that vou, that anybody, will knoxx- us apart now that mv hair is shingled.” “ Your what? You don’t mean to say that you have cut off all that beautiful hair? Hoxv could vou? ” “ Oh, very easily. Scissors, and clippers, and a little patience on my part, and wonderful skill on my twin’s. I am only too glad to be rid of the hot, bothering stuff.” the girl answered with light indifference.

“ Well, you girls beat me —that is all I can say!” the man answered slowly. “If you had only had a little handful of thin, straight, scraggy stuff, I could have understood it —but hair like yours! Doesn’t the Bible say something about a xvoman's crowning glory?” “Very likely— ’’ with supreme indifference. “ But then, you see, times hax'e changed considerably since the Bible days—even you must admit that—and you have no idea how light and cool and comfy my head feels. And it is ever so much more fashionable, too. All the hats have been too small for me to wear so far, but now I can xvear any of them.” “What does your father think of the change? Does he like it?” “He hasn’t seen it yet. I dressed up and all to surprise him. but I came out here first just to —just to get used to myself before anyone saw me. Dad is quite sure to admire me, though. He thinks it is a very sensible and hygienic idea to have the hair shingled, and it is so tidy. Dad loves tidiness. ’ Most men do, though they are the untidiest creatures on earth themselves. Now, my hair never used to be tidy. It xvas the sort that absolutely refused to do anything that was expected of it. Do you think that cutting it has altered me very much ?”

“ Well, it is fairly dusky now, you know. But all the same, I never should have known you!” Dick said gloomily. “ I think you look splendid, of course; but still, I xvish you had not cut your hair off, nevertheless.” " V hyever not?” demanded Guelda in exasperation. “ Surely I can do as I like with my own hair! It is a free country.”

“Oh, of course!” agreed Dick hastily. “ And it is no business of mine, anyway, but I think all men really prefer girls to have long hair—when it is such hair a.s vours.”

“They probably would!” assented Guelda loftily, xvith a xvicked sparkle in her eye that the moonlight xvas not sufficiently bright to display. “ Anything that might hamper a girl and be uncomfortable and inconvenient would be sure to appeal to a man!” Dick laughed amusedly. “Well—you look simply great, anyhow!” he declared with emphasis. “So altered that I feel half afraid of you. Who would think that clothes could make such a difference to a girl ?” “Any xvoman xvould!” asserted Guelda coolly. “I don’t know anything in the wide world that makes such a difference to a xvoman as the knowledge that she is as xvell dressed as the people around her. You probably xvon’t understand it. I don’t think men ever do. But it is very real to a xvoman, all the same.” “Um!” murmured Dick non-com-mittally. “ Well—you have got your wish. then. You should be perfectly happy at this moment. Absolutely purring, in fact! For even by this imperfect light I can see that you are dressed in tire x-erv latest.”

Guelda smiled teasingly. “ How do you know what the ‘ very latest ’ is?” she demanded gaily. “You're only a man.”

“ But even a man has eyes, and he doesn’t always go through’ life blindfolded, strange as it may seem.” There xvas a little silence. Guelda and Dick eyed each other thoughtfully, and it xvas at this moment’ that Rosamond and Ngaire appeared at the bend of the avenue. The child xvould have bounded eagerly forward but for the restraining hand the elder girl placed upon her arm. “Doesn’t she look lovely?” Rosamond xx’hispered. “ But we won’t interrupt them. He xvill very likely be gone in a minute or txvo.”

“I can hear a car coming!” Ngaire whispered back. “I wonder if Mr Treherne’s mare xvill be scared of it? She is a dreadfully timid thing.”

“Oh! It’s a very quiet ear!” Rosamond answered reassuringly. “ Ami the road is really not narrow just here.” “ Maru would be scared, if it was a mile xvide. He is such a nervous horse—but not the silly kind of nerves that Mr Treherne’s mare has. To see Mr Treherne on that mare you would never believe he could ride a bit, and yet he can do just anything you can'think of with Maru. Guelda has let him ride Maru several times, and very few people can manage him!”

Never mind, dear! Maru is safe in the paddock just now, and xve shall soon see about the brown mare.”

CHAPTER X.—IN THE MOONLIGHT. The moon is bright, and the winds are laid and the river is roaring by; Orion swings, with his -belted lights, low r down in the western sky. North and south from the mountain gorge to the heart of the silver plain Th .V e s many an eye will see no sleep till the east grows bright again. —David M‘Kee Wright.

Nearer and nearer came the car, its powerful engine humming contentedly, its intense lights dimmed at sight of the brown mare on the road edge. I vonder who it is,” Ngaire xx'hispeied. Oh, Rose, it’s stopping! A motor here—hoxv. xvonderful! I’m sure we don't know anyone with a car like that.”

“ Somebody asking the wav somewhere, perhaps,” Rose whispered back with equal caution. “The mare is o-oina to play up, after all.” °

But the brown mare, after a few wild, excited jumps, stood still on the outer edge of the circle of light cast by the lamps, and Dick, on the watched, as Rosamond and Ngaire upon the bank were also xvatehing, the meeting between the man who drove the car, and the new Guelda whom Rose and Mathilde had created—the beautiful butterfly had emerged, full-grown, from the little brown grub. “By Jove! This is great luck!” said the man. “ I had no hope of seeing you out here in the moonlight”—his loxv°voice had a carrying quality that made it reach easily to the ears of the two girls standing breathlessly up on the bank at the bend of the drive. “I came back on purpose to find you. I’ll have to drive nearly all night to make up for it, too. And here you are, waiting at the <mtc,” a teasing inflection crept into his voice, almost as though you were waitiim for me!” °

“But I would never dream of doiim that! ’ said Guelda coolly. She had re°cognised the voice instantly, with a little excited leap at.her heart’, as Rose had also recognised it from where she stood m the shadowy background. “Squashed!” said the man resignedly. I don t think it is very nice of vou, though, considering all the miles I’ve come this evening just on purpose to restore your missing property. You might have pity when you think of all the miles I have still to go.” “! think you are making a mistake!” the girl said slowly. Oh, but Im not! I know it well; Ive never seen another iust like it ]’ could swear to it anywhere.” lheie "’as a little rustle amongst the fallen leaves on the bank, and Ncaire realised that Rose had left her side just as Guelda repeated quietly, “ I think you are mistaken ! ”

Then out of the darkness bevond the came another voice, almost identical. \v hat did I leave behind in the car tins afternoon, Roy? ” The man started violently, and turned •n ( the direction of the nexv voice.” Rose! ” he said, “then who the devil —by jovo ! How you girls have fooled me. All the time I've’thought I was speaking to you, and all the wja-ile you have been laughing at. me. \\ hat on earth have you done to one another? There xvas a decided likeness between you this evening, but now. by this light at all events, —u are identical.”

“ I cut Guelda’s hair off, and Mathilde did the rest. Mv instinct was right, Roy, there couldn’t be much difference between twins.”

“ Well, you hax’e euite successfully dis posed j>f what little there was. The result is amazing.” “ Won’t you come in for a little xvhile? ” Guelda spoke shyly, a trifle uncertainly. “ Dad xvould like to knoxxany friend of Rosamond’s.” Another time, thank vou. if I mav. I. shall b’e jn this district for a short time. To-night I have a considerable distance to go. I onlv came back to give Rose her bag xvhich she left in the car this afternoon. I thomrht she xvould probablx- only worn’ herself about it if she missed it, and did not remember where she had it last.”

He-held out a gold mesh bag that flittered in the lamplight. Guelda noticed that there was a beautiful rose of crimson enamel worked into one side of it. Both, girls uttered exclamations— Guelda s of sheer delight at the beauty of the costly bag. Rose of delight at the sight of a treasured Possession. ,“Oli,,Rov, hoxv dear of von. I hadn’t missed it, luckily, for I oertainlx- should have worried dreadfullx- about it if I had. T wouldn’t lose that ba<r f or world. Tlic Lax’cnder Ladx- had it specially piade for nm last birthdav.”

Well, bore it is! With your permission I xvill come and see x-ou one day onite soon, but I am afraid I must be off now.”

He raised his hat. and. with a last ke«n glance at the txvo girls noxv standing side bx- side, did what seemed to GnMda" marvellous things to the car. waking the silent engine to a smothered roar nt sound of which Dm hromn marc fn'-'-ed and plunged madly off down the road.

Roy looked after her My poor littk bus seems to' be doing ,4° Tn ° f .A*? 18 *'*’ to-day!” he .said heei fully. The equine nerves in this district must be ven delicately adjusted, inat 1S tne second Gorse I’ve' scared off the map.”

>.ne is a very timid wretch at any L'Tn’ Y! !e lda answered reassuriimly. She really'is hardly safe to ide any-, xx here except m the middle, of a desert -And as for Maru—well ! He hardly ever ‘graces himself as he did to-.iight.” i z a r grinds me.” The voung man shut off the engine suddenly, and his voice sounded unexpectedly loud, “ I want to see this Maru of yours one day xcry soon. If he is as good as he ought to he. as good as he seemed to be to-niMit, i believe. I can put vou in the wav” of earning some money xvith him.” “I would never sell Maru!” declared Guelda xvith emphasis.” Nobody on earth C ° l ll < I n- ma <e lne l>art xvith him.” “ Of course you xvouldn’t— I would never suggest such a thing. I’ll s ee what I can do, anvxvay—l ve had a brain-wave. Goodnight !’’

z\t touch of his hand the engine leaped to life once again, and the car swept off along the flat road, invisible now in the summer darkness.

The girls left at the gate looked at one another.

*'AVho is he?” Guelda asked slowly. “ He is—just a friend of mine—someone I knoxv rather well!” replied her twin hesitatingly. “His name is Roval—but hb is always called Rov.”

“That is his Christian name, of course ?”

“X C C - CS ’ ' mOre hesitatingly still. He is on a secret mission here, so he isn t calling himself by his surname for a few days. I expect that is really the reason, why he did not come in to-night.” “What a gorgeous bag!” said Ngaire suddenly.

T Isn t !t sweet? The Lavender Lady designed it herself and had it made for me. Red rosey are her faxourite flowers. She xvould just adore this loimavenue of vours.”

“Then she will certainly have to come and see it for herself!” Guelda declared sturdily. “It is pretty good to look at xv-hen the roses are out. and that is generally six and sometimes seven months in the year.”

“We’d better go back to the bouse!” suggested Ngaire. twining her little, thin arms confidingly round both her cousins, Mother and Uncle Dax-e xvill xvonder xvhat on earth can possibly have become of us !”

“So they xvill ” xvith swift compunction. “Come—Guelda! I xvant to see you in the light. You look perfectly lovely out here in the moonlight, and you heard what Roy thought of the change.” “ M hat did Mr Treherne say, Guelda?” queried Ngaire curiously.

“ He thought I shouldn’t have cut my hair!” answered her cousin flatly. “ How absurd!” Rosamond slipped a quick comforting arm round her twin’s waist. “It i s an immense improvement. I am sure everyone else xvill think so. He couldn’t see you properly out here in this dim light, and anvwav your hair is your own to do as you like with.” “Just what I told him!” laughed Guelda. “ Come ! Let’s go up and show Dad xvhat a wonderful swan his ugly duckling has turned into, and what a splendid fairy god-mother you have made of yourself. I’ve never even dreamed of owning such lovely things as all these' you have showered upon me, you darling.” You should always have had the same —the cards xveren’t dealt fairly,” Rosamond answered gravely.” and the threo girls xyalked up to the house in silence. Ngaire wondered just what the elder girls xvere thinking of. How could she guess that Guelda in spirit was following a high-powered car along a narrow, white, winding road, while Rosamond's questing thoughts had gone in search of a dimlyseen stranger riding a madly-excited brown mare ?

(To be continued.)