CHAPTER XXX. THE WAITING VISITOR.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 129, 21 November 1885, Page 6

CHAPTER XXX. THE WAITING VISITOR.

Lady Mvlross flushed with an uneasy eenee of shame at the unseemly haste. " Too soon, Robert," Bhe answered "Despite your limit of three day?, T " "N-iV, pardon the interruption, and hear me out, "cried Hood. "I must goto Pa«i-», and atonce, Linter'* vmt has made the journey a clear duty. Lilfi-tniistgo with me. Afterthis morning's futile attempt J cannot leave her to the contingencies of my absence. Beside?, the duty th <t calls me away may nrove an exC 3 ding'ly dangerous one. Li 11 is should be insur.ed, against the chance of my death H>r future, and ynurg, are of vital moment U me. As Lady Langdon she will be rich and distinguished, whether I live or die, while her acceptance of that title will secure you, as y,©ur ladyship knows, a proud independence at' once. Have f, then, your consent ? Shall I post this letter ?"

Rapidly, excitedly as he had poured out the woidx, Lady Melroes had kept pace with iid crafty arguments. For the second time that morning she had justified his faith in her ambition. " But," she cried, breaking upon his tempest of gratitude, ' you will be good to her, Robert ? I give her to you, confident tha' I *m making the bei-t provision for her future that id possible. Don't make me ouree the day that I yielded to your persuasions." Her mother's heart was touched, and she spoke with a mother's anxious emotion. 11 Be good to her I" echoed Hood, in radiant vehemence. "She shall never know a grief that my hand can avert. 1 will guard her us the supreme joy and treasure of my life. But that is Touy*s step. Say no more. It is needless now to take him into our confidence." Lillis did not make her appearance below stairs till summoned to dinner, which, in accordance with the old earl's custom, was served at the early huur of two. She found Lady Melross in the diningroom and a small table drawn cosily near the tire, with covers for themselves only. Lady Melros* noticed her look of surprise, and having determined to ignore all cause*of difference, smiled pleasantly as they took their seats. '• We shall have to dine alone, Lillis. The earl has taken Mr Folger over to Groveton, and will not be back until dusk And, by the way, Mr Folger left his goodbye and kindest regards for you." " Good-bye !" echoed Lillis, suddenly roused to interest. "Has he gone back to London ?" " Yea ; something official, I believe — something about an opening for him ac 8t Pe'er»burg He was iv a great hurry, and talked even faster than usual, so I did i.ot understand him very clearly. Had he been less hurried I would have sent for you " Lillis cUsped her hand* on the edge of the table and looked at her ladyship in regretful silence "Oh," she thought, "if I had only known ! Though trifling, he is good-natured, and my letter—" " Lillis, child, Black is waiting ; let him give you your t soup," said Lady Melross. The girl roused herself, removed her hands, and expressed the astonishment she really felt. The ceremony of dinner then proceeded. At its close they went to the library. There Libia, moved by a sudden impulse, checked her ladyship midway acro-s the room. She ciught the wrinkled old hands be tween her own, crying, tremulously : "Mimmi. will it be worth while to tell you that X >bert is a bad and thoroughly unscrupulous — " *• It will not be worth while, my dear. Let us drop the subject I want jou to answer a few of the many letters that have been accumulating during the last fortnight. Com* " She released herself, and walked with unruffled patience to one of the small writing de.-k- 1 , where a number of open letters lay rendy for the girl's examination. *' M-ike them short, my d< ar," continued her ladyship. " VVe c^n be excuj-ed foi saying much after pa-sing through the scenes wo h^ve lately. I have pencilled the portions I desire noticed." But Lillis would not be silenced. She flung her arms about her mother's neck. She pressed her soft lips to the wiinkled cheek. "Oh, mamma! mammal" she faltered, tearfully. " do not give yourself to the wicked projects of that bold, bad man Do not, rai-e a wall between us by trying te force me into a union with him. Give uj thi«, mamma, and I will give up Cyiil— al thought, all hope, of ever becoming hie wife I promise, mamma, I will give my life te you." Lady Melross's patience was unassailable She felt herself too near the completion oi her ambitious schemes to be easily moved to anger She kissed the girl as she might have kissed a foolish child. " It is not the sacrifice of your young life to my old age that I want," she said "Ii is to s^e you rich and distinguished as tht Countess of Langdon. There is not sucl: another parti as Kobert in all Great Britain, Consequently I sustain him in his suit Now sit down, my dear ; and after the letters are written, go and res-t Thinervous excitement h telling upon you, " But," speaking in a lower tone to herself, " the strain will soon be over " The girl caught the words, and answered them *• Do not think it, mamma !" she ex claimed. "1 wi 1 die of starvation eoonei than become that bad man's wife !" Lady Melross smiled indulgently, pointed out the letter she wanted answered fir«fc, and silenced the girl by retiring to a distant seat. The day wa=i closing 1 when Lillis left the library for her boudoir. Up to this hour she hid seen nothing of Kebecca Hough since their parting at the box buph bower. But that the woman had attended to her usual duties was manifest in the freshly-swept hearth and replenished fire. Lillis sat down on a footstool drawn te one end of the rug, and asked herself, at she had countless times that afternoon, whether phe should intrust her mother with a 1 she knew and suspected. But two considerations weighed against it the sickening fear of becoming accessory to Hood's death on the gallows, and a polemn sense of responsibility as regarded the dead earle known wishes That Lady Melross would unwisely im peril the litter she was certain. She had just reached this sorrowful con-clu-ion for the last time when a knock at the door announced Kebecea Hough's appearance with the lights. Lillia answered the knock, rose from h^r low seat, and stood watching the woman's approach with rebuking eye. The craze wa* 10-»t upon its object. Rebecca never took her own from the candles \ respectful courtesy wa* the only act that indicatod a consciousness of the gin's presence. The candles properly disposed on the high mantel, f-he drew the window curtains, and then recalled to the fireplace by a falling brand, seized the tongs and proceeded to re- : build the blazing structure. At that moment Lillis spoke. Her sweet voice, cold and stern, she asked, abruptly : "Did you know you were stealthily followed to Langdon village this morning - that a man was close upon ynur steps soon after you left the Abbey gates'?" Tongs and brand crashed to the fender, and Rebecna straightened herself and faced the girl with an aspect of such uncon trollable terror that LiJlw'a tender heart was touched For one brief instant she looked at; the girl in a wi'd, white questioning. The next she stammered, failingly • " A man, Mise ! For Heaven's Bake what kind of a man?— Who? Can he-" her grating voice dropping to an inaudible whisper, "suspect ?" Lillis spoke more gently. "That," she said, "I cannot teU you ; I only know the fact. Desirous to learn whether you had deceived me in regard to the declared errand to Langdon village, I went to one of the upper windows that commands a partial view of the road.

" There, by, means of a spy-glass, 3 found not only that you had spoken truti in that particular, but, also, that you were followed. The man wag of middit height, dressed in a dark grey suit, huo vvore a black elouoh hat. Did you see suet a person ?" An expreBs|on of intense relief swep' the woman's rigid fare, and softened thi wild state of her unfathomable < yjs. She said quickly, and a little unevenly' too : " You frightened me, Misa. It's a lone•*ome road, with ita bit o1o 1 wood here ann there, and a cripple like me might b. murdered and nobody the wiser. Bui it was only a poor foo!i-»h fellow you saw. I know it by the suit and hat. flt i arne to me near the big grocer*, ann wanted to know if he'd be like to get a place with hie lordship, and asked a lot ot questions about the duties and so on, which 1 cut short with short answers." She took up the tongs and plunged the blazing pine knot to a secure position. i illia*s pity vanisned with Kebecca'e alarm "I have," she said, a more chilling stern ness gathering in her tones, "I have discovered another thing." Rebecca half paused in the act of replenishing the fire, and then went stolidly on. "I have read your black treachery in the gathered fragments of the note intrusted to your care, and basely delivered by you iuto your master's hand " An almost imperceptible start attested Rebecca's emotion at that charge. After an almost imperceptible pause she nnhwered. Not the test trace of feeling marking her harsh accents, she said, composedly : " You shouldn't a' trusted me, Miss You ought to see I ain't no friend to you " At that, lemarkable reply Lilha stood unable to utter a word. While she thus mutely regarded the woman, the latter muttered slowly, absently, as she began to sweep up the hearth : " The detective's back again in the lib'ry. It's -" "Who?— What was that you said?" ciied L'lli:>, smarting into sudden life, and, with one breathless movement, reaching the woman's aide. Rebecca repeated the words, turning her swarthy face full upon the girl as eho did so. For a moment Lillis remoined motionless, absolutely petrified by the gaza she met " Mockery, warning, entreaty, animosity — which i- it ?" she said to herself Rebecca dropped her eyes and went on with her tasK, adding indifferently : " Ye-, he's there, waiting for his lordship, who otighter be home now " The words broke the spell that had fallen upon the girl with the look 11 Waiting !"she breathed. And, unconscious of the strange, intent gaze that followed h6r, she ran headlong from the room. As she reached the landing of the last fljht of stairs, Hood burst open the outer dcor, and striding rapidly forward, stopped at the foot and looked up. Her haste and excitement were too apparent to pa*s unnoticed. Dark suspicion and passionate admiration blending in his face and voice, he npoke one word and then paused, checked by a ser vant'n hurrying foot and exclamation : " It's you, my lord !" said the man. "We " " All right," interposed Hood, impatiently waving him off. " I let myself in with this latch key, and started the horses round to the stables." L illia seized the opportunity and ran down a few steps. Hood turned to her with the suspended inquiry The servant nervously interposed again. " It.'s the gentleman, my lord," he said, rapidly, incoherently. "We thought as it was your lordship'a knock, and he got in a'mosfc unbeknowest, and then, sea ng your lorsdhip hadn t give no orders since he was here this morning, we thought as it mu^t be all right." "The gentleman?" echoed Hood, angrily. "What- Hah!" The last exclamation broke from his lips as L'llia suddenly fled past him, and the servant's meaning burst upon his mind. Ordering the man off with a word, he spring fiercely after the girl. As her hand seized the door knob, his grazed her nhoulder. He was too ]a*e The door fell open. "With white face and wild, burning eyes, Lillis rushed into the room.