THE SHADOW of a DREAM

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 260, 24 January 1928, Page 5

THE SHADOW of a DREAM

By

Charles Procter

author ot ' A Splendid Butterfly.** “The Women Pay».* “The SocHwei> Combine* 'An Innocent Adventuress** Be. dc

SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS Chapters 1., 11. and 111. —Monica Moncrief is in the s.s. Glenogle, returning from South America to England. Jervis O’Neill, the third officer, converses with her. He tells her that he once worked for six weeks on her father’s ranch, and saved her from a nasty experience. He gives her details of his life. Monica tells him that her aunt, Lady Valentine, to whom she is going, is a stranger, and she is full of doubt concerning her new life. Jervis* declares his love for her, and Monica responds. She recollects that she is engaged to her cousin, Geoffrey Valentine. That young man appears, enraged. He takes Monica to her cabin, and then returns to Jervis, who makes him understand that he, Jervis, is going to marry Monica. He threatens Geoffrey with the knowledge he possesses of the young man's past. Geoffrey tries to make up to Monica, who is indifferent. She falls asleep, and is awakened by a deafening crash. The Glenogle has been torpedoed by a submarine. Jervis comes to the rescue of Monica. Valentine shrieks to be allowed to get in one of the boats. The one in which Monica finds herself collides with the sinking liner, and its occupants are thrown into the sea. Monica fights for her life. Everything goes dark. Chapters IV. and V.—Monica to find herself in Leith Infirmary. She has lost her memory. The nurse tells her that she was picked up by a Norwegian boat. Geoffrey Valentine pays her a visit, but she does not recollect him. The nurse dismisses him for exciting Miss Moncrief. Lady Valentine insists upon enlightenment -with regard to the Moncrief fortune. After hearing details Lady Valentine insists on five thousand pounds as her share of the plunder. Jervis O'Neill calls, and the mother and son agree in stating that Monica does not wish to see him. He will only take Monica’s word for this, and promises to call at five o’clock in order to see her. Monica is coached by her aunt, and knows what to say to Jervis. . Chanters VI., VII., VIII. —Jervis O Neill is astonished by Monica’s reception of him. and her apparent lack of memory concerning him. He thinks there is a riot against him. The next day they shop in Edinburgh, and then go to London. ..ass is her duty to marry him. TV hile the trio are strolling down to the Central Cardens Jervis O’Neill appears, and defying Lady Valentine and her son, marches off with Monica. CHAPTER IX. —AN AWKWARD QUESTION. It was a glorious May morning, calm “ the sea gleamed blue and the almost white as Jervds and Monica walked slowly along together Monica was in a curiously d.s- ---~ -- Without p~, s?jr now anS J waiting expectantly for him to speak. . ho liatl been walkFresently Jervis, wn htfu l and £fm al °thfew°Ek n ck Ms head and drew a '°Are quite sure you^. remember wnh i a S s a iow Ut smfl’e dea ‘‘Quite sure that

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somewhere at the back of your mind there isn’t some lingering memory of me, and of the talk we had on the ‘Glenogle’ the night before she was torpedoed by that German submarine?” His eyes were on Monica’s sweet face as he asked the question, and once again he was admiring the silky smoothness of her olive-tinted skin, the perfection of her features, and watching, half fascinated, the strange little flecks in her brown eyes.

“No* I can remember nothing, although I have tried and tried,” answered Monica: “yet somehow I know there is something I should remember. It is very strange—and very distressing!” “I know what it is you want to remember, what it is you should rem'ember,” said Jervis in a low voice, which seemed suddenly rather breathless. “You should remember that you love me Monica and that you are going to marry me.” Monica flashed a startled glance at him and shrank away, her winsome face flushing, then paling. “I won’t listen! You have no right to talk like that!” she stammered, facing him desperately. “I don’t know you, and —and what have you told me——?” She broke off at a losa suddenly for words, unable to say that she did not believe what he had said, and regretting now that she had come with this big, rugged, dominating young man who might, after all, be the dangerous adventurer Lady Valentine and Geoffrey had made him out to be. “I am going back now,” she added hurriedly, recovering herself. “My aunt and my cousin will be anxious about me.” "Sure!” agreed Jeryis. They will be very anxious, and it won’t relieve their anxiety when they find I've given their game away, and told you about your father’s money. But you can’t go back, Monica, until you tell me whether your love has died like your memory, or if I ” “I am engaged to be married to my cousin, and you have no right to speak to me in this fashion!” interposed Monica.

“You said that before,” Jervis responded patiently. "I know you are engaged to Geoff Valentine, but that counts for nothing. You were engaged to him before, when you came aboard the ‘Glenogle’ three months or more ago, but that didn't, prevent you from falling in love with me, and didn't stop me from falling in love with you. It isn't any use pretending that you care for him. You didn’t really care for him when you were on board, and you can’t have grown to care for him since you saw him in hospital a week or two ago. Be honest with yourself. Monica, and with me!” “Shall we go back?” asked Monica, assuming a composure she was far from feeling, for she found herself rather afraid of Jervis at that moment —and perhaps a little afraid of herself too. “I suppose, Mr. O’Neill, you do not intend to attempt to keep me here against my will, or to force me to listen to things I have no wish to hear?” “No, but I’ve been living for weeks in the hope of having a talk with you, and it is hardly fair that you should refuse to listen and treat me as if I were some kind of footpad or an objectionable stranger,” protested Jervis good-naturedly. “I was ’Jerry’ to you when the ’Glenogle’ was sunk, and SEA AND SALT “There’s a little tang “o* the sea” in every pot of Gillard’s Fish Paste. Perhaps that’s why sandwiches made with Gillard’s are so appetising and so delicious —so much in demand for picnics and light lunches. Try Gillard’s Lobster. At all Grocers. 4

I dived into the water after you and got you on to a floating deck seat while Valentine stood shivering with fear. “I’m not boasting, Monica, but I can’t be Mr. O’Neill again to you after having been Jerry. I told you once before that you couldn’t give a man a taste of Paradise then cast him back into Hades again—and it’s true. Your arms have been round my neck. * I’ve held you close, and your kisses have made my heart lea.p. I love you, and even if you have forgotten that you loved me, you can learn again.”

A note of passion had crept into his voice, his blue eyes kindled, and his big chin jutted out aggressively as it had done an hour or so previously, when he had taken Monica away frorti his rival. Monica’s face had flushed rosily as she listened, and now she gazed at him with something akin to fear in her fine eyes. “I love you, and I’m going to marry you, Monica,” Jervis continued, taking one of Monica’s hands and holding it fast. “When your heart wakes up again you’ll love me as you did before —and I can wait. You’ve got to make up your mind that you’re going to me wife, and you’re not going to marry Geoffrey Valentine!” His tone was so masterful that suddenly—why she could not have ex-

plained—Monica was stung to rebellion and resentment. “I shall marry whom I like!” she cried defiantly, her eyes flashing and the colour flaming in her cheeks. I won’t be dictated to by you, and you take me back to the motor this instant.” “Sure!” drawled Jervis philosophically. “I’ll take you back right now, Monica. You will marry whom you like, but I mean to see that the man you like is Jerry O’Neill.” “I won’t marry you!” exclaimed Monica; still burning with indignation, and looking very beautiful in her anger. “I think you will, little girl,” retorted Jervis, with exasperating calmness, and still looking grim. “But in any case I’ll see to it that you don’t marry Geoff Valentine. I’ll prevent that if I have to kill him—and he isn’t worth hanging for.” “They told me you were a dangerous adventurer, and it seems they were right, to judge from your threats,” commented Monica. “If an adventurer is a man who has adventures, I’m an adventurer all right, Monica,” Jervis responded with a grim smile; “and Valentine will find me dangerous enough if he tries any tricks. I’m not going to let the girl I love marry a crook, if I can help it. Now, if you wish it, we’ll go back to Bournemouth." It would not be any use suggesting that we have lunch here, I suppose, and talk things over again?” “It would not,” responded Monica decisively’, and then—quite unreasonably—felt disappointed when Jervis simply nodded and escorted her back to the motor which was waiting outside the hotel. Monica directed the chauffeur ir her haughtiest manner to drive to her hotel, and the man, who had jumped to the conclusion that the young couple had had a tiff, shot a sympathetic glance at Jervis as the American took his sea.t in the car. Both Monica and Jervis sat silent, gazing straight ahead, as the motor whirled past Capford, through the avenues of pine trees, and turned at the County Gates. Not until they were nearing the centre of the town did Jervis speak, turning with rather a quizzical expression to the girl by his side. “Say, this is rather different from what I had expected,” he remarked. “I had thought of a hundred different things you might say and do when I told you what I have told you, but I never anticipated you would be cross with me.” Monica did not answer, for the simple reason she was at a loss to know what to say, and Jervis, after waiting patiently for a few moments, sighed and resumed. (To be Continued.)