THE PRIDE OF THE MORAYS

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 18, Issue 43, 28 May 1907, Page 7

THE PRIDE OF THE MORAYS

iJtLL BIGHTS RESERVED,

By MAURICE SCOTT, Author of "The Mark of thu Broa< Arrow, etc. etc.

I PART 7 CHAPTER XVII. SIR TALBOT HESTER TAKES AN UNEXPE( TED ATTITUDE. "A lady, asking to see you, Sir Talbot."' Sir Talbot Hester, then engaged in writing to his bride-elect, looked up quickly with a frown. "To see me'? Who is the lady? She must have given her name." "No, Sir Talbot. She requested to be shown in to you 'unannounced' —a request to which, with all respect 1 declined to accede." The eyes of master and man met. Hurler had served Sir Talbot Hester for yeiirs, and was devoted to his interests. He was a tall, thin man, with a colourless face, light unpleasant, eyes, ami a deferential manner, which, however, scarcely suggested the trained domestic, though to his employer his services were invaluable. Some of Sir Talbot's Intimates suggested that Marker had formerly been a solicitor struck oil' ihj rolls, or an army man cashiered out of the service. But nothing was definitely known, concerning him, even by his master, though Sir Talbot always felt, that, should he at any time require the services of a thor-ough-paced scoundrel, who would stick at very little that might be safely attempted with but slight risk of discovery, in his man Harker, he possessed such u tool ready to his hand. And now a singular expression on Marker's face struck-him as demanding attention. "Do you know the lady who asks to see me?" he demanded. "I am not prepared to assert as much as that, Sir Talbot, but"— "You have seen her before. Why are you beating about the bush ?" "There are some cases in which it is unwise to mention names, Sir Talbot. Th; old adage that 'walls have ears ' is not without due signir llcance. I would respectfully recommend your bearing it in mind during the interview which I venture to suggest you would find it advisable to grant, Sir Talbot." The baronet wheeled round in his chair. The man's words were full of portent, and conveyed but one meaning to his master's mind. His wife, Barbara, had tricked him in some way, and wan now intending to step in and prevent his; possession of the Vansittart millions. By Heaven, she should not!

"Where is the woman?" ho asked, abruptly. "In the lounge, Sir Talbot." "I had bettor see her, you Wiinfc, 1 larger?" "I have ventured to form the theory that the lady's statements if carried elsewhere, may cause you considerable annoyance if not serious disappointment, Sir Talbot," was the reply.

"And how the deuce am I to help their toeing carried elsewhere? Will you tell me?" *'

Harker uttered one word almost inaudibly. "By —, I'll try it! Show her hero at once."

The room was his study and library combinod, and now iie crossed to a sideboard and helped himself to a liberal supply of brandy, with a view to steadying his nerves.

What) if he «w frightenod at a shadow? What if the woman should be a stranger, coming to beg his interest in procuring an appointment, either for herself or for someone whom sho was— Pshaw! Harker was no fool, and Harker had been with him at the time of his marriage. Dared he act on Barker's advice? Why not? It was a bold game truly; but, even if defeated, would it not be admitted ho had acted in all good faith.

He returnod to his desk, and appeared absorbed in some voluminous Government papers as Harker turned the handle of the door, "The lady, sir."

Ho roso and bowed as the slight, graceful figure entered the room. His heart beat quickly, but he was bytrade a diplomatist, and able to control his facial muscles.

Barbara! Changed somewhat truly older by more than the months that had elapsed since she stood beside him at the altnr, but Barbara, all the same! And not. only Barbara; but also the woman who had faced the flashing, flying Knives on the stage of the Parthenon Theatre of Varieties. What, in the name of all the Morays, so proud of their descent and lineage, had brought ona of their number to such a pass ?

Barbara looked at the man whom she believed possessed the right to claim her as "hie goods and his chattels," and comparing him with Keith, or oven with poor Sir John Templeeom-bo, a world of rebellion awoke in her heart, and supplied the courage which a moment before had been lacking. Sir Talbot placed a chair for her, and then returning to.his desk asked, very politely:

"What can I have the pleasure of doing for you. madam?" Barbara was unprepared for this

greeting. Even lliough he might not have recognized her on the stage, he could scarcely fail to do so when they, came face to face within the limits of a small room. She had expected a n exclamation of anraaoment, a torrent of reproaches at her duplicity; but how she might be the moat utter stranger to the man who looked steadfastly into her eyes—hia own betraying not the slightest sign of recognition. "I must ask you to bo as expaditious- as possible," he wont on, suavely. "1 am summoned to the Foreign Oflice this morning, so the time at ray disposal is somewhat limited."

Barbara looked at him in bewilderment. Yet surely he must know to wham he was speaking. She was placed at a disadvantage by his manner—as he intended—but gathering all her courage, plunged into the lists.

"I should imagine the mere fact of my presence hero is sufficient to proclaim my motive in seeking you," she said.

Yet it conveys nothing to me considering I have not even the pleasure of knowing your namo?" he returned. "Do you expeeb me to believe that'?" she asked.

I He shrugged his shoulders. "My dear young lady, it is absolutely immaterial to me whether you credit my assertions or otherwise. Such is the fact, nevertheless: though now it is beginning to dawn on me that I have seen you somewhere before, and if I mistake not it was on the stage of a theatre of varieties, ia connection with a rather remarkable juggling performance. And to judge by tha answering sxpression on your face, my memory, serves me rightly. 'But even thwi I am unacquainted with your name, and am at a loss to imagine in what way I could possibly be of service to ayoung person pursuing such an avocation as your own?" Barbara's cheeks blazod with.mortified indignation. There was' c6ld and studied insult in every word; evidently he meant to punish her for her desertion of him on their w»d-ding-day.

"That you see mo under such circumstances is my misfortune, not my fault," she replied, with as much dignity as she felt capable of expressing. "But you cannot seriously expect me to believe you have no other remembrance of me than (noone to which you allude."

"You infer a forrnor acquaintance. May I ask you to be more explanatory?" and Sir Talbot preserved an even greater calmness of demeanour.

He saw the hot blood coursing over the girl's face and brow, watched' the graceful movement of her hands, and knew how the Moray pride within her was battling against the indignities heaped upon it But his callous heart hardened, and whatever of love—or its sem-blance—-he had felt towards her was long since dead. Now she but stood between him and immense wealth that would bring power in its train, and looking at her thus, he hated her while he smiled.

"Does it amuse you to ignore that I am, unfortunately for myself, your wife?" &ho flashed, m rising anger. "My— There you must pardon me if I say this is no fitting subject for jest, madam," he replied, gravely. The lady who bore my ncune lies buried amid her ancestors " "She does not," cried Barbara, hotly. "Your wife who was Barbara Moray lives, and I am she !" Sir TaVbot smiled pityingly.; "And may I inquire by what eventful happening the lady who claims to be not only Lady Hosier, but one of the Morays, a member of a family secoivd only to lUyalty, is found consorting with a juggler on the stage of a music-hall." The retort stung. Barbara winced as though lash?d by a whip.

"Through an accident," she cried, fighting to keep back the tears that scorched her eyeballs. "I was knocked down in a fog, my head injured, so that for a time all recollection of the past left me. For months my memory remained a blank; I could not oven renunn-ber my own narno. And during that lime the juggler, Hermann Stanniforth, came to the hospital to which I. had been taken, and believed me to bu his cousin. Alison Stanniforth."

"Believed you to be? Knew you to be, you mean. Your case, Miss Stanniforth is very sad, but " regretfully—"not unusual. These severe injuries to the head invariably result in brain derangement."

Barbara's brain whirled. What did he mean? Suroly he would not keep up this farce?" "It is not so!" she said, rising and standing dilianlly before him. "I am Barbara, yowr wife. Would to Heaven . I were not! And Alison Stanniforth whom you so scandalously wronged came all the way across the Atlantic to warn the woman who was about to marry you, that her prospective husband was a villain. She arrived too late; the ceremony was over, and words were spoken binding us togelhvr. But I saw the poor creature; I listened to her story " Sir Talbot was breathing hard, though his face still wore its expressionless, immovable mask. So this was the explanation? But there was more to come?

"And learning your treachery to a young nnd trusting girl, I vowed you would never call me wife," pursued Barbara. "I made, poor Alison change, clothes with mo, and sent her to join you in the carriage, first writing a note to you, dema-nding you should do her justice, and release me from a bond which I had determined never to fulfil. The unfortunate girl drove away with you to the station—to her death as it happened—and I, wearing h>r clothes was taken for her and "brought into contact with her relatives in her name."

Sir Talbot silently drew a deep breath. Truly the Fates had been good to him. Ho might yet brave matters out if only—"I have listened very attentively, and, I think you will admit, patiently," he said, with studied courtesy; "but, as I reminded you just how, I have an important engagement this morning, and again I am compelled to ask you to state as tersely as possible what you * expect or desire me to do for you?"

"Do —for me—notbiag. But you are spoken of as being about to marry again."

"I hop» to onjoy that happiness. For once report says truly. I am engaged to marry Mies Cora Vans ittart.,'' ho answered, with a noto of defiance.

"lint you cannot while I live. The marriage will be illegal, unless the flr-st contraot has been annulled."

"It has, by the lamentable death of my first wife." "But your first wife is alive. I tell you I am she!"- declared Barbara.

"Have you any proofs in support of a statement that I can scarcely believe you wish me to regard seriously?" asked Sir Talbot. "Proofs ? .You see me before you !'-' gasped Barbara.

"Pardon me. I soe a v ery charming young lady, before me, wbom I recognize as a public entertainer of no mean capacity. If you ask me if I recognize you as the lady to whom I was formerly married, I answer you without hesitation. I do not."

Barbara uttered a faint cry, and ho drove his sentence hdnie.

"An affirmation I am quite prepared to substantiate ia any court of justice should you be so ill-advised as to persist in a statement that can only be productive of trouble to yourself and to your friends. Lot me advise you to consult those who have your interest at heart. These hallucinations aro very often found following on brain trouble as the result of injury to the hoa-d. I must really conclude what is a painful interview to myself as well as to you. And I ( am pure, on reflection, you would not wish to drag an honoured name int» a cause celebre in connection with jugglers and tunablingfolk? Harker, the door for MissMiss vStann/iforth, I think. Good morning." The man read his master's face, and as Barbara st-aggcred, rather than walked, into the streV, Harker followed her at a safe distance.

CHAPTER XVIII

BRAVE RESOLUTIONS. Barbara hardly knew whither she went or in what direction she beat her steps. Of all the tricks played on her by a relentless fate, surely this was the worst. Her blood ran fiercely within her veins that »he had literally been turned from her husband's door—the husband she loathed and despised—as an impostor.

She, the last descewdent of the Morays to meet with such an indignity Oh, it was shameful—shameful! How could she bear it? How could she live under such a stigma ? Her pride and self-respect enabled her to pull herself together on realizing that her agitated demeanour rendered her an object, of observation in the public streets, and then to escaiK! it sh:j went down St. .lames'sstreet, and crossing Pall Mall found a secluded bemh in the park on which she seated herself. She must think things out. This was even a more serious predicament than that under which she had previously laboured. That Sir Talbot Hester would deny her identity had never occurred to her in her wildest dreams So far from it, had she not been fearsome that he might claim her as his wife, forco her to live with hira, after once being t madc aware, of her existence? She laughed bitterly. Evidently she need not, have alarmed herself, he appeared well pleased she should be dead ; the vision of his wealthy bride in prospective, evidetly banished all other considerations. Ho . would marry Miss Vansittart, would perpetrate a marriage that would bu a mockery and a shame, utterly callous to the fact that his first wife lived and therefore the ceremony would be null and void.

Wait! What if he conscientiously believed her dead, if he felt sarfasfitxl in his own mind, she was indeed the cousin of the juggler whose performance he had witnessed? His face betrayed no duplicity; he had apparently felt convinced of the truth of what he said. Was she, then, so changed that he did not recognize the girl whom he had asked to bo his "wife? And what of Alison Stanniforth—she whom he ftad so cruelly wrongod? He cofcld not possibly cowfound her personality with that of Barbara Moray.

No, no; he was dissimulating. He must have known her to be his wifo; but according to Sir John Templecombe he was no longer rich. Her reappearance how when he was engaged to a wealthy heiress threatened to mar his prospects, step between himself and his ambition. And in order to retain that for which he was willing to sacrifice honour and' imperil his liberty, he repudiated her, disputed her identity and threatened to justify himself in the law courts, should she persist in her claim.

That was bravado, of course; but could he expect to f right-on her into subsiding into the background, could he imagine a Moray could rest contented with such an ignoble position as that into which she had been unhappily forced? However, she had now no alternative but to tight for (hat which was lawfully her own. She had better, perhaps, consult Lady. Blair, and— And then a chill like ice ran through h?r vein*. Lady Blair had never seen Barbara Moray. Barbara had lived in such seclusion with her father in Edinburgh, nnd the guests who were bidden to the wedding were mostly friends of Mrs. (-Jon--Bitchie. They had seen the bride covered with her veil and orange blossom, but would they sweur to her identity now in the face of ht»r husband's brazen declaration that she was not his wife coupled with the burial of th- supposed Lady Hester in the Moray vault? The suggestion was horrible. Her father dead, lv.-r aunt abroad—who was to prove she was Barbara Moray ?

What if even Keith believed her—as Sir Talbot declared—to be sulWing from hallucination, the result of the injury to her head wh-n knocked down in the fog '.> Could she b.'ur another humiliation, even though' couched in gentler terms, after that she had received that day ? Long and earnestly .she thought, weighing every remembered word uttered hy the man "hose name was justly her own. shedding many silent tears of agony and wounded pride. She could do nothing, she concluded, uutil Mrs. Gore-Richie's r.'turn to England. Her aunt would recognize her. without doubt, ar.il for the honr our of the family would see her niece

righted. And surely after his callous behaviour no one would condemn her to live witli him; even Mrs. GoreRifbio would not be «o hoartlesK as that.

Her torn emotions, somewhat soothed by tho reflection that by, his attitude that morning Sir Talbot had placed a barrier between them, Barbara left the bench—little dreaming that the astute Harker was following her every movement with the intent to discover where she lived—and walked through the park in order to take an omnibus back to gent's Park. One stern duty lay before her, and that she must fulfil at any cost to her pride or to herself. Alison Stanniforth had crossed the Atlantic to warn her against a villain, arriving only after the ceremony. She, Barbara, must warn Miss Vansittart of the character of Sir Talbot. Hester, but bofore the c«remo»y this time. She must do that even though, as in the case of poor Alison, the 'warning cost her her lifo. Would Miss Vansittart listen to her? She could only try. But, if ail elso failed, she must go to the church ar.d proclaim her own identity at the altar rails. At least, the clergyman would hesitate to perform the ceremony until the matter had been investigated. And then Sir Talbot's mocking query rang in her ears. "Have you any proofs of a statement that I can scarcely believe you intend me to take seriously." "Proofs! "- What proofs? She could only say, "I. am Lady Hester, who was Barbara Moray;" and the reply would be that Barbara, Lady Hester's remains had boon identified by her relatives, and buried with much pomp and ceremony in the Moray vault. The prospect dismayed her; yet a stern dut*/, devolved upon her to prevent this marriage that would only bo a desecration. Lady Blair noticed an increased pallor on the sad facu of the kittle companion, who daily grew more dear to her, and secretly grieved over the lines gathering around the patient eyes ami often-quivering lips. That the girl suffered from some hidden sorrow she felt assured, but tlie kind woman felt, reluctant to increase its anguish by an attempt to tear down the veil and expose that which its frail possessor guarded so securely.

"You are not looking at all well, my dear," she said the day after Barbara's interview with Sir Talbot Hester. "I wonder if you ought to see Dr. Harden? Keith left me the strictest injunctions.''

"Oh. no, thank you. It is only my head aches, dear Lady Blair, and"— "Ah. yes, it. was against those headaches that- Keith warned me so particularly. He feared their recurrence as Likely to affect your memory even after it had once returned to you. niv deaf."

"Did he? OouJd you tell me what he said?"

"That under intense pain in the head—l mean were it allowed to continue—tlie brain would work with uncertainty, that your recollection of events would prove unreliable, fluctuating, as it were. My dear Alison, you must certainly see Dr. Harden; I insist on your doing so; you are quite hysterical;" for Barbara had burst into a flood of tears, laughing shrilly at the same moment. What use to tell her story to Lady Blair? Keith would condemn her. In the face of Sir Talbot's repudiation of her a s his wife, would not Dr. Heriot by virtue of his farmer statement, describe her as suffering from an hallucination—that her brain was working with uncertainty, and therofore its operations were not to be depended upon?

She had brought about her own undoing. Why had she not, instead of sending poor Alison Stanniforth to meet hsr doom, why had she not descended into her aunt's dra.wing-room exposed her husband's peflidy to the assembled guests, and flemar.d-xl her own release from an unhallowed bond Then Alison Stanniforth would have been alive that day, and perhaps, her dear father also. Why, why had she not done this? 'Why had she involved herself in a coil of trouble, out of which she could see no possible method of extrication?

Why? To avert a scandal—to avoid disgrace. To preserve the Moray pride—that fetish which had been for ever worshipped by the race—that insensible god to which had been offered Mo sacrifice after another, yet which nothing seemed to appease.

The pride of the Morays—and she last of them had brought it to a pretty pass! Was she doomed to lose her birthright, to sink her identity, to live out the rest of her life alone? Never! It should not be! And now all the old fighting Moray blood rioted in Barbara's reins. She would do battle in her name—not the name of Hester, which she had never borne, never wished to bear—but. Barbara Moray should be Barbara Moray once more, if her life paid the penalty of conquest. But at present she must be patient. She must do no more than try and stop the marriage, which could only be a mockery, and watch for the return of Mrs. Oore-Itifehie.

CHAPTER XIX

AN INPAMOPS PROPOSITION. "At Lady Itlnir’s! Phew!” And Sir Tullmt, looked at 1 liwker wi’lh an ex|nvstdoi: little short, of dismay. I>id you not, try to ascertain'’—

"1 did, Sir Tulbol. I chanced to lind, as J expected, one of her ladyship's grooms in the smoke-room of tlie Regent's Anus, and in tho courso of a little casual conversation gathered Mint tin: young lady who called upon you this morning is known as Hiss AlisMii, her ladyship's 'companion.' "

Sir Talbot muMereri something inaudible, but Marker continued imj>erturabl.v:

"And that hur introduction to Lady lilair was brought about by means of her ladyship's brother, Dr. Heriot, whose patient she was, and who, in the opinion of the servant's hall, is in love with the young lady" Sir Talbot uttered an "oath.

"That puts a different complexion on the matter," he ground out between his teeth, "t have heard of that young Keith Heriot, and have no wish to bring myself into personal collision with him."

"There is n 0 need," returned JTarkor. "He has been appointed conwilting surgeon to one of the big hospitals in the north. Sir Talbot, may I speak plainly? I think you know I aln devoted to your interests do you not?"

His master nodded abruptly; his face was white; his 'brow troubled. "I have foreseen this trouble for some time," 1 continued Barker. "I have seldom answered the door bell without expecting to see the visitor who came to-day." "How? You knew "

' I saw the juggling show at the Parthenon, Sir Talbot. At first I was attracted only by the lady's nerve, then on seeing her a second time she -impressed mo as being curiously lilce some one I had seen before. I went again and again until I was convinced that an extraordinary blunder had been committed, and that the unfortunate lady who met her death on Hungerford Bridge was buried with honours to which she possessed no right." "Is that aril?"

"Not quite. Sir Talbot, even a man-servant may be permitted the exercise of his imagination, and already I have formed the opinion that to marry Miss Vansittart would be both agreeable and advantageous to the master to whom I am devoted. And then I endeavoured to ascertain what circumstances had placed the young lady who faced the flying knives in a position opposed to her birth and connections."

"She told me," returned Sir Talb@t, "she changed clothes with the juggler's cousin—who got her deserts for meddling in my concerns, confound her!—and was identified by this man, Stanniforth, in consequence." "That is correct, Sir Talbot. I first tried the stage hands at the Parthenon— scene-shifting is notoriously thirsty work—but it seems Stanniforth was a reticent man, a wl zealously guarded his womenkind from the ordinary tittle-tattle 0 f the theatre. Rut after the discontinuance of the performance, and ascertaining they had gone into the provinces, I pursued my investigations into Lisle-stroct, the street, in which they lived." "With what result?"

"I found a garrulous old actor, named Bertram, who ret'ailed all hi; knew over a 'special Scotch ' at the corner 'pub.' And I inferred that no one, least of all a juggler like himself', has the slightest suspicion that tho lady is not Alison, Stanniforth, who, it appears, had only landed from America or. the morning- of thatday on which the fog caused more accidents than one, bringing with her a letter from a sister in New York commending her her cousin's care"

"I know all that. Is there nothing else?'i

"Only that Dr. Heriot eviired great interest in the patient who was suffering from a complete lapse of memory and had no knowledge of the supposed sister in New York."

"And you have known all this all along. Why did you not warn me?"

"There was no need to worry you, Sir Talbot. Until the patient's memory returned, you were in no danger, and the chances were that the brain would never have recovered from the injury," "No danger! What the deuce do you mean? No danger! Suppose I had married?"

"Your first wife is dead, Sir Talbot," suggested Harker, meaningly—"dead and buried unmistakably. The law would hold you blameless, since the poor lady's father and aunt identified her reamins,"

"Yes; had I married Miss Vansittart in ignorance of— But now—now the patient's memory tad returned, now she is in full possession of her faculties"—

"You have only her own assertion to that effect," interposed the man, pithily.

''Explain yourself," commanded his master. "Harker, I have every reason to believe you are devoted to my interests, and if you can see a way out of this infernal tangle you will not be the loser."

"I "am aware of that, Sir Talbot. You were good enough to approve a plan I suggested prior to the lady's visit to-day "

"•That I should repudiate her assertion, deny her claims. I acted upon it at once, with, I may venture to assert, no little success. But if her case be taken up by the Heriots?"

"It need not be—cannot be, if you act with decision, Sir Talbot."

"What can I do? She went away nonplussed at my attitude, but she will return to the attack."

"Sir Talbot, paixlon me if I ask you a plain question," said Harker. "iTou wish—still—to marry Miss Vansittart?"

"Wish! My good Harker, unless I do so I am a ruined man, and when you hear the marriage is broken off, I advise you to look out for another situation."

"I hope to retain my present one for many a long year, Sir Talbot. I have given the matter no little reflection, and have come to the conclusion that the lady will find it no easy matter to establish her chains if only you stand firm." "But that is " "Wait, please, Sir Talbot. Sir Malcolm is dead, and Mrs. GoreKichie travelling abroad, no one knows where. Tlie Heriot family are evidently unacquainted with the facts and in the face of the juggler's belief and the doctor's pronouncement regarding the injury to the brain, it would be no difficult matter, should you find yourself subjected to annoyance—to establish the fact that, the young woman is labouring under an hallucination in supposing herself to be your wife. And in order to protect yourself and the lady whom you are about to marry, it would surely be judicious to have her placed under proper control." Sir Talbot uttered an exclamation, and then the two scoundrels engaged in plotting against the liberty of a defenceless girl, looked each other in the eves.

"Could it be done?" almost whispered Sir Talbot, after a pause. "With comparatively little difficulty," returned the less polished villain. "But need I appear—openly?" "Perhaps not, except by proxy. Will you authorize me to make the necessary arrangements?" Sir 'JfeJbot paced the room in indecision. He could willingly have

killed the woman who .stood in the way of his ambition, but the horrors of a madhouse! And then (he consequences to himself, should he ever be found out. Harker, too, would blackmail him for the rest of his life. But that mattered little. The Vansittart purse was wide. • "I have heard that, under special arrangements such'"places afford quite a degree of comfort, Sir Talbot," put in Harker, suavely.

"I suppose so. But the girl is young. Curse her! If she could only be bribed or persuaded to keep out of my way, and as she left me voluntarily at that moment she entertained small appreciation for the dignity she is now so anxious to claim"

"Yes, that's the way with th.' sex, Sir Talbot," returned Harker. "Even when memory came back to her, it's my belief she had no intention of seeking you out, if you'll pardon my saying so. But she's got wind of your engagement to Miss Vansittart, and that, you may depend upon it is where the trouble comes in. No matter how little a woman may appreciate a man, it's more than she car. stand to see another woman put in her place." "I—l can't decide now," replied his master after another pause, another impatient pacing up and down the room. "I'll think it over. There is nothing to prevent your making inquiries with respect to—to—a—suitable place and—the ways and the means in the meantime. In fact my decision will largely depend on what. facilities are available," "I quite see that, Sir Talbot," returned the man; "but time is of value, it is indeed. For the pride of a certain family which shall be nameless may prevent any information being given to Lady Blair or Dr. Heriot; but should Mrs, Gore-Ritchie return to London, you're done, Sir Talbot—if you'll pardon my freedom of expression,"

"Yes, confound her! She nailed me before," was the surly reply. "And she'll do it again, sir, mark my words. Had the other members of the family hatf that lady's en >rgy we should stand a poor chance. But, Sir Talbot, while I make inquiries you had better put Miss Vansittart on her guard." "On her guard? Against what?" "Against the possibility of a visit from a poor, menially-deranged creature claiming to be your wife.""Are you crazy? Do you think I am such a fo 0 l as to let Miss Vansittart gain an inkling " "You can't prevent it, Sir Talbot. And having failed with you, depend on it, she'll tell the story- to your bride-elect. And first impressions go a long way. Once the Vansittarts lend a sympathetic ear to her troubles an investigation will be set on foot and then "

Harker\stopped, and shrugged his shoulders significantly. "What do you suggest that I should do?"

"Tell the story of the juggler's cousin to Miss Vansittart yourself, in an interesting, pitying form. I can supply you with leading details, given me by the old actor, Bertram. You might even describe her appearance, and explain how the unfortunate girl, as the result of an injury to (he brain, sutlers under the delusion that she is your first wife, whose, death and burial you can describe with graphic fidelity." "But what should I gain?"

"You would take the wind out of her sails. Miss Vansittart would listen to her story in quite a different mood, if previously warned agam-;t its narration."

"By .love, Harker, that's a gooi]i idea!" exclaimed Sir Talbot. "You bear out the notion entertained by some of my friends that you were a lawyer before you 'became a valet." "I am your faithful, attached servant, sir," returned (he man bowing profoundly with inscrutable face, but vouchsafing no other information. And, left alone, Sir Talbot Hestqr drank more brandy than was his custom, and pulled fiercely at a cigar while he pondered over the infamous suggestion put before him by the man who had indeed proved himself to be the thorough-pa cod scoundrel Sir Talbot had always thought him. The plan was not without risk. To assume Barbara mad, confine her in an insane asylum was a project from which he shrank. Not out of love for her—she had tricked him too shamefully. Had he not believed her dead, regretted her a s much a s it was in his power to regret anyone? Had he net felt compelled to appear an inconsolable mourner in the public eye, until the restrictions thereby imposed became so irksome that he Obtained a foreign appointment in order to escape them? And now, after all this, she had turned up again, and threatened to work his ruin, utter and complete, by insisting on claims she had of her own free will abandoned.

He hated her—and yet could not make up his mind. Within twenty-four hours Barker presented himself again, his face bespeaking tidings. "Have you arrived at any decision Sir Talbot?" he asked deferentially.

"What have you ascertained?' 1 asked his master, by way of reply.

"The existence of a very excellent, in fact luxurious establishment, in a secluded part of Sussex. It is private and the charges are high, but the facilities arc exceptional. The proprietor is to be relied on to carry out any contract on which he may enter-, as Jong as his fees are paid. And he undertakes to name two medical men. whose signatures, affixed to the necessary document, would justify his detention of any patient whose actions might otherwise be disposed to give trouble. Will you see him, Sir Talbot? Your motor will spin us down to-morrow morn-

"I will not appear in the matter." "You must see Dr. Detmold; he will not negociate with me. Rut once given the necessary authority, he undertakes all further responsibility. It is in your own interests, Sir Talbot." "I—l have not yet decided." "See ])r. Dei.mold," urged Ilarkcr. "Suggest a hypothetical case. It commits you to nothing, but. his view of it may influence your decision." A long pause, and then: "JVire Dr. Detmold I. will call on him to-morrow," said Sir Talbot Hester. (To be Continued.)