CHAPTER XXVIII.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 12758, 11 January 1905, Page 6

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE PIQME OF HER FATHER. "Aren't you coming in to see Bob again before you go, Miss Cartaret ?" asked Ruslhmore, as Enid prepared to mount her bicycle to ride home. "I*-I think not, Mr Ruslimore," said Emid, in a low voice, her face turned away. "Miss Cartaret," said Ruslijnore earnestly, "may 1 say something? I'm old enough to be your father, you know, and I'm one of Bob's oldest friends. I haven't been blind to-day ; I've seen that something was wrong. I shouldn't have sjpolcen' — at least, I don't tiling I shofiildi — if this hadn't happened to Bob." He saw the prolu'd mouth tremble. "Only, as Bob can't speak, 1 am going to, at the risk of being thought a busybody. If yo»i and he halve had some foolish quarrel' — and lovers are privileged to quarrel, I know — Sjurely this is not the time for continuing it ? You won't resent my speaking like this ?" For a moment Enid did not speaik ; then she cried : "I don't resent your saying it ; only— 1 — Oil, I can't tell you, but something has happened which maikes it impossible for me to be the same toward Bob as I was !" she said, speaking with nervous rapidity. "!■ — — Please don't keep me any longer." He saw that she was very near breaking down. He took his hand from the bicycle. "I am sorry," he said. "Bob's sucdi a really good fellow." Her lips quivered, but she did not s|peak. He watched her ride away liather sa'dlv. "I wo'n|der what it is ?" lie said to himself. "But that fellow Garfield's at tlie bottom of it in some way. Curionis how I never can .speak for five minutes with Garfield without wishing I could kick him. Poor old Bob !" And Rushjnore walked back to his ■ friends bed'sidc. Gairfiel'd drove Madge bacllc to Edgemere Towers ; Enid, on her bicycle, readied home a few min- ' utes before them. As Madge entered, an;d was crossing the hall to go upstairs to her room, Enid came forward. "My mother is in the drawingroom. vShe wishes to slpeak j to you," she said, coldly. The old' 1 stubborn look was in Madge Cartaret's face. It was on her lips to refuse. She was tired and she wanted to be alone ; but the thought came to her— -jpenhaps if she refused, Enid might think that she was afraid to face her mother. That thought decided her. Without a word she walked into the drawing-room. Enid's mother was sitting there with Mrs Webb. "You wish to see me ?"' she said calmly to 'Mrs Cartaret. "I have to I'd my mother," interposed Enid, very "distinctly, "that you have an explanation to make —the explanation that I preferred j you, should make to her, not to me." Mrs Cartaret looked pur.zled. Mrs Webb rose. J "Perhaps my presence is in the wav " s "ii C "began, instinctively leeling that there was storm in the atmosphere. "So for as I am concerned, Mrs Webb, pray do 1101 go!" said (Madge carelessly." "I have changed my mind about the explanation that I, was re tidy 1o give to you," she j added to 'Enid, with an odd look. "I gave \ou your chance, you J

know, and yoYi refused it.'' If her worlds haxl any hidden lneaniii"- it escaped Knid. But the thought was in Miuk>v Caiitaret's mind that in throwing away that chance this »irl who had repelled her advances had altered ail her future. "I have not told my mother the j fact concerning yo^i that came to 'my knowledge to-day. I thought iyo'ii might prefer that klic slioaild j learn it from yon," said Eni(i— "as of oo'urse, you cannot stay after J coming as you did"' — witli a little 'note of scorn. This girl might be iier dousin, but she had come imdcr false. prcten,ces — an iin'p:ostoxi — and she coiild expect no consideration beeaiise of that fact, i "Before I leave Kd.gemere Tow crs ! PerHta'ps, as Goi'dou Carjtaret's daughter, I halve a right to .^tay !" Madge answered , swiftly, looting across at Mrs Cartarct. i A loolk of strange, startled fear flashed suddenly into Mrs Cartaret's impassive face. She half rose from hex chair. y Mrs Webb, who had crossed the room, paused at the' door. Was it a look of fear in her face, too ? i "AWiat do you mean ?*' Mrs Cartaret cried. ! "I am Gordon Cartaret's daughter !" was the q.uiet reply. "You are Gordon Cartaret's daughter ?" This girl, her paid companion, the daughter of the man who Irad never been for one day out of her thoughts for more than twenty years ! This the daughter of tihe man die had once loved, before her love cnanged into a relentless, bitter hatred ! It was odd that a look of fear mingled with Mrs Cartaret's startled expression. "And yet yon came here an " i "As Miss Allan- — under another name V Yes. Rdgemere Towers was my father's home. I had a 'right to know it. But you could hardly expect that I should wish jto be under any obligations to you after yo'icr treatment of my father !" Madge cried, with scorn and bitterness in her voice. "And so I came under a name by whidi ydu would not know me. 1 ' i Mrs Cartaret was herself again. ) "Why do you speak of my treatment of your father ? she demanded cfcuic'kly, looking closely into the 'girl's face. "Answer me ! What do you mean ?" j Ml mean this'] — and the girl's voice rose passionsCttely< — "that but for you lie would not have lived and died under the shadow of disgrace !" "You do not know what you are jypca'king of !" cried the mistress of Edgemere Towers, impatiently. "Did I drive Gordon Cartaret to forgery ? Blame, rather, his own lollies aii'd .vices, his own weakness of character !" • "At least lie had no intention to defraaid anyone !" cried the girl, in quick cham-piojisihip of her father. "What he did was done in a moment of weakness, of desperation ; i at least he meant to injure no one. He fully expected to be able to meet the note ; and 'his brother, your h'us'baU'd, would have given him the money, only you, because ymi hated him, threw the weight of your influence in the acale against him ! If he sinned, what oi your sin in pusiiing him back | into the pit ?" Madge cried pas^ .sionatcly. 'Mrs Cartarct winced at the tli mist, but she answered harshly : "My Husband squandered enough upon one so incmrably worthless. And Gordon Cartaret escaped the consequences of his crime. There was no proseciiition ; he owed that to my husband and myself. But you* — why did yon come here, deceiving us by a name not your own ? y<>n acted like your father's daughter ! " At this taunt ;ill Madge Cartaret's .smoldering passion caught lire. "You, at least' — you, who have wronged him I—.slhonkl1 — .slhonkl be the last trj speak ill of my father. What I have said is not all." Mrs Webb was still staiuling by iilic 'door ; the hand that rested on the knob trcmlblcd. She looked atrtoss at Enid's mother, as if wanningly. But Mrs Cartaret's eyes were 113)011 the girl. "YOll are melodramatic !" she suijd qoljdly. "Youi-r father was his o-.vtl worst enemy." "But were you not his enemy ? Halve you not been his enemy all yuwr< married life ? H'avc you planned no revenge that should reach ant beyond his life to that oi his diaug'hter ?" cried Madge Cartaret in a low, tense voice. En id was listening, startled. "Your secjet is known to me. T have seen your fateful finger trace 'Upon a map the journey you took — yo,ai and Mrs Webbr— when yo.u lakl the train of your scheme. The journey that ended at Prcsoott, wheui — 1—"1 — " 'Mrs Wtebb, by the doar, darted one swift, agonized look at Enid as she started quickly forward with a ourio,us look, as of some strange emotion, in her peile, careworn face. "Hush !" she cried to Madge, in ! a tone of 'pitiful appeal. j Mrs Cartaret stood looiking at the daughter of the man she had hated s v o bitterly, her face gray as death, trembling in every limb. Thin, wir-h a sudden wiM cry breaking from the white Hp^, she fell — 'fainting ! (To be Continued.) j