THE HALF OF HIS KINGDOM

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 765, 24 July 1916, Page 3

THE HALF OF HIS KINGDOM

CHAPTER XXVlll.—(Continued.) A SUPPER PARTY. Daphne assented, and nothing more was necessary. "There is nothing the management really hate like one's having a really settled success," Adele went on, powdering her nose and face as she spoke, and looking at herself in a small pocketglass. "That may seem strange to you, Daphne, but it's the truth all the same, because, although it fills their pockets, yet they know it's Ailing yours as well, and they can't tie you down with rotten contracts. T'ley would run you against me to-nioriuw, if they could, and I know it." "You're not afraid of me," said Daphne. "No, dear, frankly I'm not; although I'm sure you will have quite a vogue of your own, but your methods will never be broad enough to appeal to the pit and gallery. And anyhow, what I say is, there's plenty of room at the top." On this they drew up at the door of the Savoy and passed through the swinging circular doorway to the warmth of the inner hall, and on to the cloak room. "I don't see them anywhere," remarked Adele, peering about. "I only hope they haven't gone away. Throw your cloak down anywhere, and conic on." Daphne obeyed, dropping it on to the centre table and following Adele. "I wonder who he's got! I wish I'd chosen the extra man myself; it's always such a mistake to depend on anyone else, especially an old fool like Steery, and if four people don't all get on together, well, it is a frost, and no ! mistake. There he is!" she added I quickly. And then all at once she stopped, her delicate face, on which the first signs of age were showing themselves in almost invisible, token, the! slightest possible thickening of the petty white neck, and tell-tale lines at the corners of her mouth, transfixed j now with an expression of almost comical horror. "Good Lord!" she said. "We have made a hash of it. Daphne, dear, IMi better have left you alone, after all, for he's got St. Osryth, as I live." "Lord St. Osryth," muttered Daphne, i "Adele, let me go," she implored. "l| simply can't meet him."

"Too late," said Miss Lester; "they're coming towards us. ami it would upset Steerforth tremendously if j lie knew. He's the kindest creature in the world." In another moment they had met, and Adele, as usual, was doing all the talk- I ing, stopping only for a moment to perform the introduction carelessly: and then giving an embarrassed laugh, as she turned to St. Osryth. "You don't mind meeting Miss Fftr- ; sons, I suppose," she said, "Lord Sfeerforth is such a dear muddle-headed old thing, he would never have connected your two names together; hut, after all, I always think nothing matters as long as one doesn't make an awkwardness of it, don't you?" She got no reply whatever, although St. Osryth seemed to make an effort to speak, and it dimly dawned upon her that perhaps the situation was v lore complicated than she had had any idea ■of. It was too late now to do anything; she could not even avoid leading the way with Lord Steerforth, as his principal guest, anil allowing the other two to drop behind. But Daphne seized the opportunity. "It was not my fault," she managed to say, with white lips; but she spoke so low that he had to ask her to repeat her words.

"It was a mistake," he answered coldlv, "anil we must make the best of it." As he spoke he averted his eye- "As if I was something too horrible to look at!" thought Daphne, whose selfpossession was deserting her, as they took their places at the small round table reserved for them, and she saw a great bunch of lilies of the valley in her plate. Lord Steerforth seemed pleased with her thanks; he was a round-faced, rubicund person, prematurely bald, yet not otherwise bad-looking, and his essential characteristic was the kindness with which he viewed his fellow-creatures —a kindness that beamed from his pale eyes and lurked in the boyish curves of his mouth, and which, in fact, enveloped him like a veritable atmosphere. No one had ever heard him say a word against anyone, and scandal rolled off him like water off a duck's back; yet, in spite of this all-pervading friendliness, people rather dreaded the tactlessness of his good-humoured remarks, since he was nothing if not personal, and revelled in complimenting other people and running himself down. "Glad you like them," he said, alluding to the (lowers she was pressing against her face for a moment. "They're just the sort of things for little girls—eh, what? I didn't choose them myself, for I never succeed in jjetting what I want, and my valet, always docs. He's a great real cleverer than I am. T said to him, 'I want, something bright, and pink and blooming for a blooming lady; and something white and soft and pale for a very young lady,' and you see he did the trick—eh? what, St.. Osrvth. A treasure, isn't he" "A most remarkable one," returned St.. Osryth. "Did he choose these violets for me?" he asked, pinning them into the lapel of his coat, "because they're just what I like." "You Lot your life he did," said Steerforth. "I said to him, 'Get me a, button hole for a peer of the realm—a very modest and retiring fellow.' And you see what he got you." "Does he choose your clothes?" asked Adele, looking at the grape fruit in front of her, as the champagne frothed into her glass. "Of course he does—chooses them (o suit himself, for he knows he'll get them later on. That's the way to get on, to look ahead, as that fellow does; and he sends my valentines for me. Yes, I assure you he does. I give him a list of lovely ladies, and he knows how to suit them all. Nothing about Cjioks and policemen, or anything vulgar of', that kind, but hearts and darts and Cupids, and all that sort of thing." "Valentines are out of fashion," said Adele, "and a good thing, too, for I'm sure-one's Christinas presents simply ruin one."

By LADY TROUBRIDGE, Author of "A Marriage of Blackmail," "A House of Cards," etc.

Li may be imagined that the forego iug conversation did nothiug to relieve the awkwardness for the other two, parjticularly as in the hurry of leaving I Daphne had not thought of taking off the bracelet he had given her, and j which glittered in the electric light as ;«he lifted the glass of. champagne to her lips. And St. Osryth, who had j seen it at once, was puzzled for a nio- ! meut as to why a girl who wrote him such a letter should wear the token he had given her. "Their value, I suppose," he thought bitterly, classing them with the fifty ! thousand pounds he had given h«sr; for i he had now chosen to forget any wrongs but his own. The talk was now of the play. "It'll run a year," said Steerforth. "What do you say, Aloysius?" It was the first time Daphne had I heard him called by his Christian name, •and she stole one swift look at him, i which he met and put aside, as it were, I throwing a complete blankness into his ': glance. So she was not even to look at him! jit was plain that even this slight conI tact irritated him, and Daphne felt absolutely helpless, powerless even to struggle against the growing faintness I that made a mist rise before her eyes, in which the faces of her companions looked strange and unreal. What an awful thing if she were to faint! Would it be better to get up and go now, pleading the excuse of a headache, and seeking the shelter of the cloak-room? For a moment she toyed with the idea, and then gave it up, mistrusting the power of her limbs, and hoping that supper would soon be over. But j they were only eating fish, and worse j was yet to come, for the discussion of the play had almost come to an end, in ' a chorus of praise for everyone, including herself. • "You looked the dear little baby girl to the life," said Steerforth. "Ton my word, it made me wish to be a father, and have the dear little things ! sporting about my knee. Well, well, I perhaps it's not too late, if I can get'i some nice woman to look at me." "You would make an excellent husband, Steery," said Adele. "Sometimes I'm inclined to marry you myself. '' "No, no," he returned. You'd be too much for me; I must find some nice) quiet middle-aged woman who'll wear j my old-fashioned diamonds and not . want them re-set." i"

Then at last, laughter and repartee being-exhausted, and the champagne flowing freely, he turned his eyes upon St. Osryth. "Here's your health, Aloysius," he said, "and good luck to the aneastral acres. No more claimants about, eh?" "Oh, do shut up!" cried Adele, but he was convivial with wine, and took no notice. "Gad, old boy!" he said. "We're jolly glad to have you back again, and you must have had a rough time of it with your Sherlock Holmes investigations. What was the family like when you lived amongst them? Did they have pork or tripe on Sundays, or .. nice piece of beef? I always longed to know how those kind of celebrities live at home." "If you only knew," put in Adele, "how you're putting your foot in it, you'd take my advice and stop it." He turned with a comical face of dismay to Daphne. "What have I done?" he said. "I only wished him joy of the old home that a set of sweeps tried to take from him, and Miss Lester says I've put my foot in it. Tell me why?"

CHAPTER XXIX. ADELE INTERVENES. She could not answer; her eyes looked wide au«l glazed with agony, like those of a stag with the hunters at his throat. She pushed back her chair and stood up. "I think I will go home," she gasped. "It is not your fault, but Adele will explain." St. Osryth also pushed back his chair. Lost, as she was to him, determined as he -was to teach himself to hate her, he could not let her suffer like this, and his keen eyes had noted her physical condition. "She'll never get to the door," he thought, and would have upheld her but for the fact of the crowded tables. As it was, he took her firmly by the arm and led her through the glass doors to the door of the cloakroom, where she leaned against the wall and passed her hand over her eyes. As she did so he saw again the gleam of the diamonds he had given her. "Why do you wear my bracelet?" he asked harshly. "Why do you trea- f sure the gift of a man who is not a gentleman? '' She began to pull it off, but he Stopped her. "Keep it, for heaven's sake, if it gives you a moment's pleasure. I only wondered how it could." He could not refrain from tormenting her, although every word he spoke recoiled upon himself. "T suppose I'm persecuting you," he went on, "and if you are better I will leave you." "Some day," she said slowly, "you will know how frightfully cruel you a re.'' "Am I cruel?" he asked. "Am If Only tell me why, only show me that you do not deserve it." But at this moment Adele came up, and the opportunity was gone. She led Daphne into the cloak-room, and then, coming out again, dispatched St. Osryth for brandy, forgetting to be angry with him when she saw him rush to get it. But he sent it by a waiter, who appeared with incredible quickness, and stated that the gentleman had paid him for it before leaving the building. " Do you know. Daphne," said Adele, : "I'm not going to take you home, | You'll sleep the night at my flat." The idea was a pleasant one, for though Daphne made a duty of devoting all her spare hours to her father, yet since the trial it had been a duty and nothing else; and now she could not bear to face him with the letter lying against her breast—the letter that she intended to take out and show him. She could not stand another scene, for, shattered' as she was already, she must keep her strength for the two performances to-morrow, ami she caught at the proposal, "Are you sure I shan't worry you?" "Certain," answered Adelesmiling. "I'll telephone to your father as soon as we get back, and we'll have a cosy time together.'' k (To be continued.)