CUPID’S DICE BOX

Otago Witness, Issue 3864, 3 April 1928, Page 5

CUPID’S DICE BOX

IV.—THE DARK LADY AND THE YOUTH.//. LADY STAIR’S SECRET LOVER. By J. Babb-Linney. —For the Otago Witness. ) When Cupid casts his dices; He aims at twenty-one; He's twenty—comes a crisis, When Cupid casts his dices; A Queen or peasant’s son, His one ” he then entices ; When Cupid casts his dices. He aims__at twenty-one. One day in. late October, when the leaves were beginning to fall, almost a century ago, there fell to the throw of Cupid’s dice box one James Angus M‘Nab. His story is interesting if only for the epitaph on his own made tombstone: “I cared only for her.” He was a stonemason in his early years, youthful, very Scottishly canny, and ardent in his love affairs, of which he had many. But he was ambitious, for he wanted to “ get on.” • By dint of learning he became a schoolmaster in his native village in Forfarshire. He learned there from a solicitor that he was entitled, at the age of 21, to the magnificent sum of £lOO. Thenceforward he resolved to breast the sea of the world and find his fortune. So he dressed himself up, perfumed his hair, considered himself a conqueror, and ; fell, like other conquerors have, at the tiny foot of a woman. But that foot was a beautiful one—-the most admired ''in all. Scotland. The lady in question was Lady Lillian Stair. She was destined from the first to play a pleasant, yet tragic part, in the young man’s life. She was dark, slim, passionate, and she had been disappointed in love. - MYSTERIOUS STRANGER. Someone had spoken to young Angus in a coffee house in London, but he took no notice of this intruder, into his conversation, and less of the man to whom ha was then introduced—a weedy individual, who persisted in showing him photographs of himself as a long-mous-tached cowboy of the wildest West; or as a piece of Prince Albert respectability. The weedy individual was the father of Lady Lillian Stair. Lady Lillian had been married to a Sir William Stair and divorced, but she was’then known as “Miss Lyon.” Few people in the world knew her story. — Shortly afterwards, young M £ Nab received a mysterious message. Would he, with all his learning, condescend to make a criticism of a few prints which Mr Lyon had to show him? He for the moment had forgotten all about the cowboy person. But he thought he would like an adventure. The young schoolmaster casually sent back word that he would see the prints, little -knowing his fate. He kept the appointment, but found, instead of a casual number in the road, a handsome house standing in its own grounds. THE TRAP. Inside the house he had greater surprises. Goldfish swam in bowls, wonderful tapestries and pictures adorned walls : ; Dresden, Royal Worcester, and Crown Derby china abounded. Some of the treasures were so delicate that young M‘Nab trembled to examine them. A wafer pack of cards, which had been snatched up hurriedly from the Court of Versailles when the crowd swarmed in on the surprised royal Louis, M’Nab refused to handle, lest he might' break their biscuit-like texture. " Nor would he dare to touch old Japanese tea cups. - The place seemed as if Napoleon had ransacked the palaces of Europe; yet if the handsome youth trembled it was more because the sinister soul of the dark lady, the daughter. of his host, hovered over him. He thought he loved; he did not know. “Miss Lyon” had caught her lamb. Once lie sought her eyes,; and, though he did not know it, from ’that moment sbul was enslaved. Those dark, beautiful eyes, pursued Him .relentlessly; devoured his very

being, until at last he became sub-con-aware of the fact. Then he knew.'that his overwhelming, resistless conqueror, his Majesty Love, was upon him! ■ . , “ COME AGAIN/’ Nothing was said at that first meetXjpg by’ the doddering, lisping Mr Lyon ® looking at prints or of their value. He treated his young guest to spirits and cigrtrs, and the bright eyes of “ Miss Lyon ” did the rest. -’ Young M'Nab’s fate was sealed. “ Come up again and see us on Sunday evening,” Mr Lyon said affably. Mrs Lyon, formerly a mill worker in Bradford, but now clad i plum silk and diamonds, beamed in a bemused way. She was plump, oily, and pleasant. This lady was to be aider and abettor in Lady Lillian’s plotting; and there W’ere to be wheels within wheels in which the paltry Mr Lyon was to play a part. " Young M'Nab went away from the palatial home of the Lyons feeling very pleased with himself. And that night he dreamed of two dark, passionate, wicked eyes and a smiling mouth. , A mouth kind, though devilish, kissable if ■ impossible; but ever solicitous for him —nay, determined to get him!

That same night, “Miss Lyon”'(or Lady Stair) was thinking of her career —of the castle she had visited/'ofthe chateau she and Sir William had rented in France, of Lake Maggiori where he had flung at her feet his soul and his fortune, of the gallants who had. bent in adoration over her hand; of dances, banquets, and fortune. That same night, too, she had put her mother to bed—this fat person spent most of her nights and days there in romantic dreams, smiling in her sleep on somo beautiful idyll of the past. A DRAMATIC SURPRISE. Then M'Nab, the young, handsome, swollen-headed Scotsman, found the world open for him. The next time he went to “ Valenciennes ” he found the door ajar, pushed it open, walked in, thought for a moment, and pushed open the door of the drawing room. There, with her beautiful bare arm leaning on the mantelpiece, and as if securely conscious that he Would appear, was “ Miss Lyon.” She greeted him by flinging her arms wide open. “I am so glad you have come, dear friend,” she said, and sat down beside him. “ You have interested me in many ways—father and mother, too. Do tell me more about yourself! I want to- know you more. May I make you a little brandy cordial ? “My father? Oh, he is at the club, making money by cards. My mother? She is in bed. Didn’t you know? She is an invalid. Chronic. Yes, I wait upon her. “We keep no maids. A boy cleans the fireplaces and an old man potters about the garden.' ,So we are quite alone. I wish I could tell you all my story, but that we must keep for another day. Do you like my dress? I am afraid it is a little too low-cut and Parisian for English tastes. . . . You have nice eyes. Tell me something about yourself. Ah, you are poor, but what does that matter if one is young and handsome ? ” And so she pitter-pattered on, finding him tobacco to smoke and a cup of tea. Once her hands strayed on his, and before he left she pressed on him some hothouse flowers and an endearing smile. MOTHER AND MOZART.

The next scene in the drama came when the young man was walking down the street early one morning. He was suddenly overtaken by old Lyons, Lady Stair’s father, who invited him to his club for a cup of coffee. “ My- wife,” said the estimable parent, “ is given to dreams. She once considered herself an actress, but she cannot act now, and she wishes to become a teacher of elocution. How much wduld= you want for giving her two lessons a week? If your fee is too large or too small I will tell you.” The young man boldly said: “ Ten guineas,” and to his surprise the price was taken. ' Armed with big books and copious notes he performed his first lecture to the lady in bed, and at her request presently departed to play some tunes on an aged spinnet in the ne\t room. While he was playing one of Mozart’s pieces he felt an arm steal around his face. “ Keep on playing,” said a quiet, familiar voice, and then he felt his head tilted back and two warm, clinging lips pressed on his own. He kept on playing. He returned the kiss and many another afterwards. But he little knew that the mother of the girl knew everything—had indeed plotted and planned everything. So the piano-playing for the love-making was quite unnecessary. Mrs Lyon, deserted by her husband (who loved cards at the club more than he loved her) was dependent, in almost every detail in life, on her daughter. The husband, when he did work—he had a lucrative business—supported her .and the daughter in luxury. He was the- mainspring of their happiness. Therefore, in order for everybody to be happy, the daughter (hated by her father because she had not been born a boy and because of her divorce) must be considered. TRAGIC CLIMAX. That explains how young M‘Nab comes into .the story. There is no doubt that he loved the woman devotedly, and though he discovered afterwards that she was married and several years his senior he would have gone through fire and water for her. Their liaison had been too sacred, too crowded with beautiful memories. And then one night came the tragic climax. The old man, coming home more than usually drunk, turned on the youth who was a guest under his roof. With the words: “Who are you; what are you? ” a blow struck, and the daughter interjgred on behalf of her lover. “Bring me my will! ” screamed the demented father, while the crab-like mother sank in a swoon on the floor. The daughter’s name was struck out of the will, and, with the aid of hired bullies, M‘Nab was flung out into the road. / / Lady Lillian, whose arms > had .been about M‘Nab’s neck, was cast back into the aims of her panting, inarticulate father, and now discovered her silly mother across the prostrate forms of two of the bullies whom Jdincs Angus M'Nab had laid out. ALL MY SAVINGS. And when M‘Nab turned away, and wandered along the cold, silent, 'moonlit street he felt a curious weight in his pocket. He examined the pocket, and found that it contained £3O in notes, £5O in gold, and £3 in silver. . / . “ All my savings,” said the note in a feminine hand. < . . ' Indeed, women'are curious and inexplicable. Lady Stair returned to and

lived with her former husband—ostensibly." But M'Nab had loved her long before then.