CHAPTER II.—Continued.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 12868, 29 May 1905, Page 6

CHAPTER ll.— Continued.

Patricia was on her knees in the straw, examining the leg of a pretty little calf, and was talking busily to the cowherd, when Hugo Bulstrode reached the doorway.

"I told you to fetch your mistress, Mhe said, angrily. "I suppose she does not live in the cowshed or the pigsty ?" Patricia stood up and pushed back the hoqd. She rulflled her brown hair as she did so, but she had a wonderful touch ofj dignity in her look in this moment. "If you will be so good as to go round" to the front," she said, "one of the maids will admit you, and I will join you as soon as possible." Bulstrode still frowned ;in the dickering light his dark face looked rather grim. If he was anroyed at having made a mistake, it was not evident in his manner.

(t I can speak to you here, 1 ' he replied, ' "if you will be so good as to »"i\ y e me two or three minutes oF your time." Patricia moved out of the stall, t reading on the ( straw with as much ease and grace as though .-he walked on velvet. \ "I will send Barlow with the lotion," she said to the cowherd. Bulstrode stood on one side to lot her pass. He was vaguely conscious of . a feeling of admiration for her as she passed him so closely, but it was the kind of admiration that he would bestow on a clean-limbed animal. When she was outside, Patricia waited for him to spealq and he did so at once. 'Oly man, tells me you mean to engage young } Jasper Syms as shepherd." He is not free to go to anyone. He belongs to me, up to Christmas, and he ought to stay longer if he had a grain of right feeling in him, considering all I have clone for him and his." Patricia resented j this t rough speech, but luckily the darkness bid the colour that rushed hotly to her cheeks. "The man applied here for work, she said, coldly ; "otherwise, believe me, I should have had no dealings with him." She moved on a pace or two, and Bulstrode followed hor.) He had not realized till now how tall she was, and how superbly her head was set on her shoulders. "He had no right to come ,to you," 'he went on, in the same rough way ; "I guessed as much, and* this is why I came to speak to you mysel 1 . Of course, you will understand now that it is imrossible for you to employ the man." "Quite impossible," Patricia answered, coldly. She bowed her head and would have moved on into > the house; but Mr Bulstrode spoke aerain. "As I am Here," he said, "I may as well tell you that I am ready to buy any of your stock. I hea r that "you" intend )to clear out a good deal of it in the course of the r.oxt montk." Patricia bit her lap. The knowledge that her affairs were discussed so lightlyh-that all the world about her was cognizant of her struggle to keep things going, of the Veal poverty hidden beneath her proud apfpearanee, gave her heart a pang. And more particularly did it hurt her thatj such a matter should be brought to her attention by this man— one who for so many years had figured in her small life as an enemy to her.Jamily. Wliat had been the original cause of the dissension between the Bu*strodes anld the Chestertons no o"e rightly knew, but the antagonism had been clearly defined between her father and Hugo Bulstrode, and Patricia had been taught to know that the very name of this man ; was hateful to her father's ears. As sho trod step by step in her father's path, Patricia had allowed this feeling to have sway with herself ; it became an inherited feud. And yet, to harbor any enmity toward "any human being was difficult for Patricia. She was so sympathetic, and yet so just in her sympathies, that she never formed a definite opinion , without , good reason for so doing. It was only where her father , was concerned that her judgment was somewhat clonilded . There were many in the village ready enough to chat about the squiro's numerous mistakes, many about the farm; ready to join in this gossip. Even Barlow,' at times, in her freedom of speech, would say something which sounded like a reproach to the dead man ; but she never said this to her young mistress. The love which" Patricia lavished /on her father had grown deeper, more tender, since she had lost him. All this came to her now with a rush as she stood in the gloaming, with Hugo Bulstrode so close tocher, and she felt how this intrusion on the part of the man she hoted, would have infun'nted het father. She turned from BuMro'le. "These matters a'e not for yoi !o disf-u.'s with. i"o." «h«; snid "Vmi fin appron'h mv bailiff or "11 iriMiics^ io 1 lie ted with the fir iii." There was a dismissal in her Uut ■> o-'is, nivl ho took it. Fe s,"id rolbiii"-, but s:">nir!v raised Vis hat, « V '-ri'<- f"'" 1 , "ivi '-•Ir'dh'd nw;>v. Hi.L lie Irfl Vain *n '» -'i msluvli- - ri. -Hi tv happy ' ' udif i< n of mind. Of late, especially since I>ila had

been with her, ihe girl's spirit had lisen considerably. She had ccasid to fret to a great extent, ami the mere fact that she had some one

to love and care lor lightened the liriliculties of her life a ""eeat deal. But those few words' spoken by Hugo Bulstrode brought back to her the realization that the ta*k that her lather had left her | was beyond hen — that she , would fait, just as he had failed. And Patricia hated the word "failure."

Squire Chesterton had been very ill for a long time before his death, and things had fallen into a bad groove during his last illness. Always impetuous, lavish and proud to a fault, Patricia's father had made no determined effort to stand between his home and approaching ill foriune. Little by ittle his land had gone from him, mortgaged in the first place, and sold in the second, till nothing remained of what had once been his family estates except this :olitary farm . j When Patricia was born her father and mother kept a kind ol state at Heron Couit ; but) the squire had inherited a heavily in cumbered property, and he was not of the stuff to clear such obstructions by a life of restriction

and rigid economy. Perhaps, if Patricia's mother had lived, things might have been different, but after his wife's death the squire had behave recklessly ; and when Patricia was about ten years ,of age Heron Court, the estate, had passed out of her father's possession altogether.

There had l>^en less bitterness attached to the sale of this property than might have been the case had •strangers bought it. As it . was, Sir Matthew Da'^orouoh had been Ralph Chesterton's oldest friend. To one of Sir Matthew's wealth a property more* or less did not oarnt ; and as soon as he heard hat Heron Court would be in the market, he had taken prompt measures to secure it for himself.

From the very bediming he had oked about the future of his boy and the squire's daughter. "Hubert must marry Patsy,' 1 he had said, and the squire had laughed md agreed. And what had beeii said at first almost in jest was af'erward contemplated in light -ariiest.

Patricia always thought that her lather's health "re a ly i egan to fail when his old fii-'-cl lvet with the icciflcnt fal • .v.;scd ; hifi death. Certainly the squire took Sir Matthew's death very nnn.h to heart,

md li r e was robbed oi a great measure of (.harm when Heron ,vas closed, and t'e happy i\tima y ol a lifetime ended.

Hubert Dalbo: oui-h had gone airoad immediate"}' alter lis father's leath ; but before he went he had sought an interview with Patricia, md in a simple, but straightforward way, had asked her to be his wile.

"It was dear old dad's keenest vish, and I am sure the squire will rive us his blessing," Sir Hubert said. "I know I am not half good enouchi for you, Patsy ; but I ■enow, too, I care for you better than for all the rest of the world put together." And she, .scarcely comprehending the weighty meaning of the promise given, had pledged herself to Hiubcft. She had her reward when >he carried the news to her father, and saw his eves brighten and a touch of his old buoyancy come back to him.

In those early days Patricia's feeling, for ' her} 'betrothed husband had been but a girlish •oniradeship, but with the gradual levelopment of her character, with the increase of her dutEes and the girl slowly awakened to he 'bond which held her to Huoert Dalborough, and little by ittle she learned to care for him.

It was not a passion that came to her, but a tender and a very iuccrc ailcction. Patricia was •irond of Sir Hul-ert ; she believed him capable <f '!•' i«ic biff things.— f he kind of woik H':e longed to do herseliV— and her heart always Uiri'k'd when sh- heard him well -•poken of, for shi> wanted him to je popular. A train and ajrain she had sent im from her, to take his place in the world ; there was nothing 1 ;mall or selfish in Patricia's nature. For herself •-•lie h-ul resolved mm devoting herself entirely to the 'ask of cleavin-.r Glehe Faim of all -lebt, and placing the property in safety ; and this, of course, denaiulcd h»r whole attention. And just because Hubert never thwarted her, or argued with her, as ome men would have done, the ■rirl felt truly grateful. She stood now and watched Hniffo Bulstndr's lull fii<-ure vanish n the dusk, nnd qtiite nnconciouslv tears came to her eyes. It hurt her so sharply to feel that 'hough she wp i ; fijrhting with all her "/it and e^ir--r ( V th'n-rs were >lippiii!>- sh-wb- V,( sinly out of er "tiis" 1 . "T «.'iin"o- c he r' r \i.) y e here m Dur'osr i" let me Mi. \v thai all I do s a. fniliTf," -li ■ -•' 1 4 n h-rself. "Tie vn"ld ""-'-lv h-r-f ta 1 en the 'rouble to ••' ' c n ■?- here sinv Iv 'o speak a'o'-t a shepherd. What i haul man — vhit a detestable ■iipra' trr ' ' Prn«-hincr Irr eves with her ■-aii'l-. wi-nl h - 1 in tlv^ cow-he-d and trie'l to 1- «•• h r troul'h-d thoughts in discussing the condi-

don of the little calf, and other matters, with the old farm laborer ' who had served, her father) for so

many years. But the effect i produced by Hugo Bulstrode's words and visit did not lade away quickly. (To be continued.)