"A GOLDEN HEART."

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 10622, 23 May 1896, Page 4

"A GOLDEN HEART."

By Charlotte M. Braetne, Author of "Dora Thome," "Her Mother's Sin," " Wife in Name Only," 11 A Bitter Atonement," " Lady Darner's Secret," &c, &c. CHAPTER XllV.— Continued. sfe^M^^ afraid, " he said gravely, « that this is a bad case. I hate to sit in judgment upon fiftg 1 11$) any man, much less a man r^^MW. w^ otn I loved so well as Sir JjL^fr^ll Karl. Dolore3, your best }M?f) plan will be to go to your hus- j fr band's room, and see if there is any trace of that letter. " " I have not the strength to \ratk up- , stairs, " she replied ; and her pallid face showed how true the words were. " Then I will go for you, said the Squira. He was not absent long ; and he returned with the letter in his hand. He had found it just as Sir Karl had thrust it into the pocket of his coat. He held it out to his daughter. " I have read it, Dolores, " he said ; " and my dear, I am afraid the simple but shameful truth is, that Lola do Perras has persuaded your husband to go away with her. Read the letter yourself. " The Squire, watching her aa she obeyed, thought that it would have been easier to see her die than to witness such unutterable anguish creep into her face. "I will not believe it," sb.B cued — "not from any evidence, not from any person but himself or her! Why should be run away with her? He never loved her , he ! loved me." And then she lecollected Lola's threat — " When he has grown tired of you and your washed-out, faded kind of beauty, his heart will turn to me, and then I shall take my revenge. " Great Heaven, waß this her revenge? With a terrible cry sbe fell upon her knees. Did Lola's revenge then consist in taking her husband from her? Yet Dolores felt convinced that Karl had not ceased to love her. If ever any man had seemed devoted to a woman, he had appeared so to her on the very night of his disappearance. Who could have been more kind or more teuder? It was improbable that he, so up.igh:, and honorable, should have gone away with Lola. She would never believe it. Lola had written to him, and he had not told her the contents of the letter. Lola had sent for him to meet her unknown to his wife, and he had gone* But, in spite of all that, she knew that he would never leave her for Lola ; why should he when he loved her with all his heart? " And the children! " she cried aloud. " Do you think that, even if Karl ooald leave roe, he would leave them. Ah, never, papa! Thore is some treaohery, some mistake! He has not left me, my darling, my husband, my lovet Oh, come back to me, Karl, or I shall die. " It was almost a relief to them when at length nsßnsibility deprived her for a time of all knowledge of the trouble which had fallen upon her. " I could almost pray that she might die in her unconsciousness, " said the Squire, with a heavey sigh. •• Great Huaven, ,how little did I ever think that such a fate would overtake my child? " "Do you really believe that Sir Earl has been foolish and wicked enough to elope with that wretched girl? " asked Lord Rhysworth. "Knowing what we do, I see little reason to doubt it," answered the Squire " I would give my life to find that he is innocent, to see him come back the upright, honourable man I have hitherto believed him to be. I cannot help think, ing him guilty. There is no doubt the girl loved him ; and no one knows what a women can persuade even the most j sensible men to do." But Dolores, who still lay seriously ill, still retained her faith in her hus- 1 band. " I Bhall never believo it, " she said, " until I hear it from his own lips or from hers. " In the meantime the news had spread that the baronet had disappeared. The whole neighbourhood was in a commotion about it. Mb one would credit the story. It seemed utterly impossible that Sir Karl, whose marriage had been a perfect love-match, who had been laughed at for his adoration of the two children, should have left them deliberately. The excitement reached its climax when it began to be rumored that Sir Karl had not gone alone, that Lola de Perras had been seen in the neighbour hood, and that it wag with her he was snppoood to have eloped. At first the accusation was met with scorn and incredulity, and i hon with bewildered surprise. The newspapers took up the tale; the Radical organs made the most of it "Disgrncoful Revelations in High Life," '• The Vice 3of the Aristocracy, " were the headings of the sensational articles. The religions papers pointed the moral, and che society journals regretted an event which had blighted thiee lives and scandalized all England. Every one who read the story was distressed by it; Miere seemed to ba no redeeming point about it, if such a thing could bo possible. Sir Karl had left a beautiful young wife who was devoted to him, and no one could understand the motive which had innuencedhim. Noone in tho neighbourhood could remember that there had ever been any flirtation between Lola and himself; their name 6 had never been mentioned together ; so the matter remained shrouded in mystery. They tried to keep the newspapers from Dolores, but Bhe insisted on seeing them ; and every line she read but added to the poignancy of her grief. " Lola told me to remember that her heart was always aching, " she said to herself. " Can it have ached worse than mine? " The Squire took up his abode at Scarsdale, it was quite impsosible to leave Dolores The house too was besieged by visitors, old friends and new friends, some to console, some to gratify their curiosity. The Squire received them with great dignity ; he would spare Dolores in every way that lay in his power. In ?pite of the details she had heard, of the gossip to which she had been an uuwi.'liog listener, of the cruel newspaper reports. Dolores still entertained a glimmering hope that there might bo some mistake. But, as day after day passed and no news came of Sir Karl.

that hope grew less, and eventually died out. One morning when the Squire opened the letter-bag, he found it contained just such another thin, square envelope as • the one which Sir Karl had received on | that fatal day when he had disappeared, y On this occasion the letter was addressed to Lady Allanmoro. If he had followed his first impulse, he wonld ba\ c burned it on the spot, but he reflected that it might have some reference to the matter which was engrossing all their thoughts ; so he took it up to Dolores, whose pale face grew paler as she recugnized the handwriting. " This is from Lola! " she crid. "Ob, papa, come to me while I read it!" He sat by her side while she opened it, and all ihe light faded from her eyes as they traced the cruel words. "I told you, " the letter began, "that I shou'd have my revenge — and I have had it. You won my lover from me. and I swore to you the time would come when you should suffer as you had made me suffer. I have kept my tow ; my revenge is complete, great as was the injury X received . I knew the time would come when Sii Karl would tire of you. Woman of your type, Dolores, but seldom retain love. The time for which 1 waited has arrived. You have looked your last on the man you stole from me. It is my revenge, Dolores, What do you think of it?" Lady Allanmore's face grew deathly pale, and her lips trembled as she gave the letter back to the Sqaire. " Let us keep that, prpa, " she said slowly, " with the other. They may be useful some day. " " He is with her then ; there is no mistake. " " There can be no mistake ; this is proof conclusive, " she replied. '" I wish she continued sadly, "that he had written, to me, even had it been only to say gooJ-by. " "It appears to me, " said the Squire gravely,, " that you are entitled to a divorce. " " No, " she replied, with a shudder, " there is no need of a divorce. He is dead to me, he whom I loved so well ; but I shall be true to him. My last faint hope is dead, papa, quite dead. ' She lay back on the pillow, and a deathly pallor stole over her face. D jlores, " cried the Squire, " my darling, you have . the children, you have me! " But she only wailed — " Oh, papa, if I might but die! Do you think that I can ever face life or the world again? Ob, dearest and bejt, lot me die! Papa, " she whispered, when she had grown calmer, " you may show Lord Rhysworth the letter, bat no one else. He ought to know the truth. " " I wish I were younger ; Lola's vengeance should be short-lived, '' said the Squire. " I wonder if it be retribution? 181 8 this the penalty? I wonder— Oh, Hea/en! Ob, Dolores, Dolores! " The name .came from his lips with a long-drawn sigh as his head fell upon his breasl — the bitter sigh with -which he had, during the long illness of many years before,* coastantly reiterated the name while bis unsuspecting wife knelt by his side and wondered who Dolores was. Whethsr he now referred to his daughter or not, who could say? When they went to his assistance they found that the Squire was dead — dead, with the letter open in his hands. Was it retribution? Had it brought back to his memory some long-past Borrow of bis own? Who should tell? Would time ever unfold the mystery? TO BE CONTINUED.