THE MAN IN BLUE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 2415, 31 May 1876, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE MAN IN BLUE.

CHAPTER LVItl.-f CoiiUmdd): Irene was married happily to a man* of birth and fortune, who was deeply in lpvejwith hia diildbride, for a child Irene would be till her hair silvered.

1 Among her deafest friends Lady Eva ranked Lady Isabella Knowles. J " I think if pWr Dudley had married yoa at the first," the . former said to the latter one day presiding over a delicate lunch that had been brought into her. own boudoir, " that he .would have- been a betten man." " But I never loved him, my dear,"' said matter-of-fact Lady Isabella. ■ ' '" Why did you marry Lord Knowles? It has been said that you did not love •him,** said Lady Eva gently: ' \ 1 " I cannot say that I did," was tne reply : " But I was very poor, my a*ear and brought up to believe that marriage was- Woman's only destiny. I felt that I conjd earn in'y : living, perhaps make a fortune, on the! stege, but I* I mentioned it the proposal was met with horror. So of the two noblemen who were anxious-tomarry me I chose — you. pardon me, dear — the ons whose moral character stood the highest." " And do , yoa never intend to marry again ?" 11 My darling, I am married*" "To Tom?"

Lady Eva's own marriage, nnder tha ban at plebenianism, had sealed her lips, bat 'iieyerthejeas she looked her surprise. There was a beautiful light in Lady Isabella's brown eyes, afloffc, criinauH flush on her cheek. . " My dear, why don't you sky it?." ' ""Say what?* ' "... ; " How surprised and' pained you tire, and all that. Yon don't even ask me why I married him."

"Why then?" "Because I loved him ; and ah ! an honest, trusting, confiding love is so good." ;, , •. .."True. Bat to marry one's BerTant." " . •* In one sense he Was my servant, I admit • id the other, my lord. Darling, I want to tell you a secret that the world will be ringing with soon." " Well?" - Lady 'Era, smiled. • "I have not married Touo fl my $ear, only Tom's double, The dear» man whom I have atfd hold l , ife-^guess." " How can I guess- ? I cam do* nothing but look at yon, you are so radiant.'* •••' r

, .Well, then, Tom is only qnotlier name " Isabella, **re you mad ?" <, VNbt a bit of it, my 4ear. Do yon suppose you were the only one in all London to Whom romatttie things have happened? ;i Tdta id Lord Xnowles, and he. has if on my entire heart." 11 1 cannot understand.'^ "But you will, dear. , Toil hare heard of the gambling fcottfe Where men play in masks ?' It is an infainona i place. My poor husband • had si pasBidn" for/ gambling. ( That was well known, and it was his only fault. " One night Be played masked with ,a false friend. He had been drinking to excess, for the first time, in his life. He staked everything." (Lady Isabella was atill in blessed ignorance of what that everthing included.) "He went ■i tome as nearly desperate as he could be, and ruined. " You must understand that tfom had been in trouble some time. I nover knew it. till now. He loved little Annette,,.my pretty, French maid, loved her to distraoMon, bufc< rihe slighted him. * ; • , ', *' TJie fJay after the masked affuir my Husband came seriously intending to kill himself. The house was nearly empty — yob know ivba't a great ramb- ' ing 1 old castle it was— -and going to his room, half mad, there he saw poor Tom in a fearfully {mutilated state; Ho had held the pistol to his forehead. AH at once tb.6 determination came into my husband's head in spite of the horror he felt that he would personate Tom . H e had a false moustache which he had bought for a masquerade. The only scar by which he was recognizable csonld always be easily covered' by his .*JiairJ , In a.iory.ahort time the thing was done, and poor Tom was buried with honors. 11 Well, at his death, as I thought, toll his kindness and my coldness vamo

np before me. I really mourned him. I felt I must be more tender with poor Tom, until I finished the plot by falling in love with my own husband, dear fellow." Lady Eva sat there, white with astonishment. "Your story is the most perfect romance I ever heard," she said. " And to crown our happiness, Lord Knowles has lost all his fondness for play, gained back some money be has lost by good investments, and his uncle in Devonshsre died lately, leaving him the the heir to an immense estate. Don* you congratulate me ?" "Indeed I do, my dear friend." " I suspect we shall have some trouble to convince the lawyers," laughed Lady Isabella ; " but, bless me, don't I know my own husband ?" "I am ourious to know how you found it out?" said Lady Eva. '• By finding ont that I was dead in love with Tom, and meditating how I .should dismiss him. Dear fellow !he had been so kind ! So I called him, and told him, as calmly as I could, that I was going abroad, and must do without him." l « " 'But you will need me,' he said. " 'Nevertheless,' said I, 'you must go.' Hedrewsnoh a sigh., " 'I cannot leave you,' , he' exclaimed. " I looked up, caught his eye, and lost my self-command. Then he said : " Lady Isabella I am bold but I dare "tell you I ]ove.y'd.u.' " Wasn't it queer ? — a roan courting his. own wife ; Of course I said I could listen to no such language and other common places, bats he wouldn't heac — only pleaded his cause, and I— 'somehow it was so sweet to know he loVed -me. " Presently he made a movement took of his monstacbe, brushed back his hair in the old way and cried out :" " 'Isabella don't you know me ?' "Like lightning I comprehend. Oh, thejoy, the heavenly ecstacy of that moment! Well are you satisfied ? " Perfectly," said Lady Eva, wiping a tear away. , Reginald transferred the studio to bis own house, and there studied and painted in an amateur way, but with great excellence. Sometimes he sold pictures, but only to give the proceeds to some charity/ One day gome, four years after his marriage a lovely little Eva, scarcely more than a baby, came floating into bis studio, bearing a small package. " Mamma 'says the postman sent it," she said. . r > , ■ < Reginald, or more rightly Lord Dudley Templeton, opened the paper, which contained a small flat box. In the box was an exquisite miniature, set in pearls, and underneath the following :— • , " I am going to Claudia. The most preoious of all my possessions I send to yon, knowing that for her sake, and my sake, that you will prize it. It is the face of the only ffbma'h I ever loved. " Thongh dying. , M Still your friend, • " The Man in Bids." . [the end].

Ilma Db Muhska'B Marriage.— Early on' Monday afternoon (says the Otago Daily Times) a most unexpected cwnt took place in Duncdin — no less than the marriage of Mdlle. IlmaDe Mnrskft(Mrs. Anderßon)to Mr. StraußS Ilia (Mr. John Thomas Hill). The ceremony came off in the office of the Registrar of Marriages, to which the bride and bridegroom quietly walked ia their ordinary attire, without anything special in the way of wedding costume ; but no sooner had the marriage taken, place. than the news was in everybody's mouth.' Numbers of persons visited the Ecgistrar's office during the Afternoon, and each disbursed hah>a-crown for th^lcasure of porusing the following entry in tfio official record — " Married, on Monday, loth May, at the Oltice of the Registrar of Marriages, by Archibald Reid Ure, Registrar of Marriages, John Thomas Hill, bachelor, aged 31 years, to lima Maria Thea Audereon, widow, nged 28 years." The ■witnesses to tho marriage ceremoney were Mr. William Pnrlcer Street ami Mr. J. 11. Sinclair, solicitor. We hear, though for the truth of the story we should not Hko to vouch, that when Mdlle De Murska xnnilehevdrbuton the operatic stnge in London in 18(55, MivITHI was a member of iho orchestra on that occasion. However, it is certain that Mr. Hill only joined the company just before coming over to New Zealand. Tho eventful story connected with the death, two months ago, of Mr. Anderson, and which caused so thrilling a sensation throughout tho Colonies, found yesterday' what m*i 1# everyone v, most unexpected sequel.