CHAPTER LIX.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 104, 30 May 1885, Page 4

CHAPTER LIX.

NJiXT DAY. • Dead ? he? of heart-disease? What heart had he To die of ? dead ?" Term \ SON. Such a day as it was ! Such a sullen, lowskied, gloomy, unnatural, hysterical day. How the advent of the Uninvited Guest alters the tenor of all households whether highly or lowly. With almost incredible swiftness was the ! grand house on Prairie Avenue, for all its stateliness and luxury, transformed into a place of woe and mourning. Every blind was drawn. From the bell-knob floated heavy folds of crape tied with black eatin ribbon. Within, dark rooms, scared faces, hushed voices, noiseless footfalls. The physician summoned, a man standing high in his profession and of irreproachable reputation, had questioned'closely the widow and sister of the deceased, made a biief examination of the body, and then had gravely written a certificate of death from heart disease. And now no inquest would be necessary ! "Though dormant the tendency to heart affection, it must have been for some time in his system," he had explained to the bereaved wife. " Hi 3 life on 'Change transacting the onerous business and running the tremendous risks he did daily, doubtless in the first instance disposed him to do it. The strain on his nervous power must have been terrible ! The fact that insulted nature would revenge herself some day for the indignities to which she was being continually subjected never seemed to occur to 'the lucky colonel.' The anxiety under which, as you and Miss Vernell assure me, he has been labouring, the apparently sudden fall of this long-threatening stroke. Accept, my dear madam, my most sincere sympathy, and good-day !" Toward noon the newspapers got hold of the affair. Their reporters raided the house for particulars. This was no notion-dealer or mere corner-butcher who was dead. It was one of their most widely-known citizens, most successful speculators, most Eolid " hard money " men. An evening paper came out in an elaborate editorial which dwelt on the brilliant ability and unimpeachable probity of the deceased, touched delicately, too, upon the so rudely extinguished torch of Hymen, alluded to the wit and beauty of the bride whose joy had been turned into sorrow, and drifted off into a rythmic little ripple of condolences. In the afternoon quite a number of " intimate friends " called. Just as the day was darkening and the lamps beginning to flare without, Hilaria Jackson— for upon Roberts had devolved some other duty, opened the door in response to a ring. She was glad the gas in the hall was still unlighted when into the vestibule, out of the raw November twilight, came Mr Dennis Grimes. He favored her with a glance,half -curious, half indifferent. The old idiot who had startled him so by a trick of voicelike Guila's a couple of nights ago ! Then he thought no more concerning her than did he ot the brass umbrella-holder beside him. He produced a card and gave it to her. "Ask your mistress if I may see her for a few minutes." She bowed, showed him into the drawing- 1 room, and went swiftly away. On Miss Dorothy's own little white bed in Miss Dorothy's own little snug room lay the widow. Around her swept Bombrely her hastily secured mourning. t Her face I wore a deliberate and most effective pallor. To-day her bloom-box had not been called [ into requisition. j She started slightly, as by the waning light she read the card and heard the maid's meseage. If was neceßßary she Bhould look like this— like herself— aftersuoh a stunning

shook, suoh anguiah. But let liim see her so ?— no, indeed I Later, in her, exquisitely fitting oashmere and orape, the fainb glow of an affliotion-orushed but reviving- spirit on her cheek, the light of a Borrowlul but bewitohed resignation in her eyes—then she would see him. So sho took up the tiny pearl pencil attached to her chatelaine and wrote on the back of his card, " I cannot see you -yet I" And this Hilaria delivered. Then she went to her own plain room and shut the door, and Bat down by the window and tried to think it all out— ail over. What had he said to her that afternoon in answer to her confession of love ?" " Then I can wait !" What did those words mean ? What could he wait for? What was he waitingfor? Haditbeen for this— this death? Oh, how little she knew after all, how little ! If she had only overheard the interview to which he had been summoned tho night of the day in which her mistress had fixed the date of her marriage i or if even last night she had secreted herself on the entrance of the colonel and his wife ! Heaven only knew what might not have then transpired ! (not that her wildest suspicions exceedod a mere quarrel). But then she might have known something moremight have discovered the reason for which Dennis Grimes was content to wait. Well, she could only do the same now. Wait ! that she would do ! And watch, too. Do you remember how the Kingin Hamlet speaks of "lawful espials," to— Polonius, isn't it? Sho doubtless had nover read the masterpiece of the poet, but none the loss assured was she of her right to stealthily scrutinise— not the actions of a mad prince, but the wiles of a recreant lover. And at that hour in a large down-town office, the glass door of Captain Costello's privato office swung back, and the captain himself came hurriedly into the outer room, where the clerks were closing their ledgers and donning their coats. He went straight over to whore Voylo stood. He held a paper, which he waved excitedly. • * Look hore, Vornell ! Heard the nows ?" "No sir. What news?" •' The colonel is doad !" "My uncle?" " Heart-disease— yes." The younger man fell back aghast;. Then he snatched the extended paper— read the announcement. He passed his hand dazedly across his eyes, " Good Heaven ! And only last night I swore to him - " He checked himself. From the beginning the captain had spoken in a low, if excited, voice. Ho knew young Vernell wished his identity unbetrayed. For the reason that his uncle being so well known his name would lead to conjecture, recognition. And for particular private reasons of his own this he desired jusbat present to avoid. Costello had repeated his earnest request on the subject, and had been cautious in all his conversations with him during business hours. But now, when the rew clerk raised his voice in that thoughtless outburst, his companions, hia fellowaccountants, turned upon Charles Hatley rather curious glances. What was up ? Noticing them, the captain drew Voyle with him into his own den, and closed the door. •'Great Jerusalem!" ho ejaculated, " doesn't it beat creation. So sudden ! It actually knocks a fellow cold." Voylo looked blankly at him. He could hardly comprehend it all yet— hardly collect his senses. " But how about what you were beginning to say— that you saw him last night !' " Ye?. I'll tell you about it in a few minutes." He leaned hia elbow on his knee, his head on his hand. Was this how the scheme had ended' He had determined on demanding rostitu tion, gaining the same privately if possible —if not, calling to his aid the public powei of the law. And lo ! around the man foi whose humiliation his angry young heart panted Death had drawn the charmed circle within whose ring no man may venture. There was silence in the gas-lit room. At last Voyle lifted his head. " I will tell you," he said, " but you must respect the confidence." " Of course, it you wish it." And then ho told him. The captain brushed up lite silvering fringe of hair into a bristling halo as the young fellow related whence sprang his uncle's prosperity, his and his sister's strong personal reasons for antagonism. "Will you go to the funeral?" Costello asked, as they left the office together. " No," the other answered, with sudden passion. " I despised him in life— l will not pay him mock revorence in death !" That ovenine, too, John Gage, letting himself into the house with his latchkey, called to Evelyn as ho caught eight of her adown the hall, 4 ' Evvie ! Just think— Colonel Vcrncll— " He stopped short, as from tho drawingroom came Vella. "My Uncle !" sho cried. " What about him ? what is it, Mr Gage?" Still he hesitated. So grave his face, the worst occurred to her. " He is not dead?" she cried sharply. In silence he bowod hia head. The sweet wild-rose face grew white as paper. Then she trembled, and slow, hot tears welled up in the starry brown eyes. Evelyn was beside her in an instant. " Why, Vella— why, darling, he did n ot treat you kindly ! You did not love him—" "No, no! it is so sudden, though. It was scarcely worth while— so much coldness, unlovingness, and dissension, with death so near." "There ! if you're not a thorough woman, Vella," avowed Mr Gage ; " remorseful and ready to blame yourself every time. Come, now, what will you give for a letter i by way of a reviver ?" I He took an envelope from his breastpocket and held it up as he spoke. From Marc ! — was it from Marc? Had he discovered the truth at last, then.and written? Her heart beat furiously. " Oh, give it to me !" she begged. The superscription caught her eye. A shock of downright disappointment thrilled her. Voyle's writing ! Then she told hers 6« sn c ought to be glad to hear from him. She was— of course she was. But not as if the letter had been from Marc— not with just that kind of gladness. Who could resist those pleading eyes and hands ? Mr Gage gave her the missive, and she ran away with it to her own room, and read it eagerly. It was quite a long epistle. In it were these lines : " Vella, how is it between you and Marc Tracy ? lam more anxious on the subject than I can say. You know —or rather, perhaps, you do not know— the morning after the wedding of dubiously pleasant memory, I passed him in the corridor of the Palmer. I wore the suit of the previous evening (which you probably recollect, as you had the selecting of it), and was, of course, with Claflin. Afterward it occurred to me that as everyone else had been so easily gulled, he, too, might have been deceived. I have tried frequently Bince to see. him or hear of his whereabouts, but without success. This is why lam so particular in questioning you now." And then he went on to tell her about the COStellOS, the manner in which he had made their acquaintance, of their kindness to him. I

Read at last, long she *Bat' pondering with the letter on her lap. This, then, was the reason Marc had passed .her ad though she were a stranger that night in the Union depot. , - J ' Oh, how tangled, Jiow tangled the threads of life had grown, and how feeble were her fingers to unravel them !