CHAPTER I—Continued.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13431, 23 March 1907, Page 6

CHAPTER I— Continued.

A MYSTERY SOMEWHERE.

The young girl had been both sorry and ashamed, at her own loss of temper. Not that an outburst such as" that she had indulged in was any unusual thing. Like many young girls of spirit under injudicious, rule, Mabin was in a state of perpetual friction with those around her. Her stepmother was not intentionally unkind;, but poor Mabin had to suffer from the constant comparison of her unruly and independent self with her, quiet and insipid halfsisters.

And the worst of it was that her father was even less indulgent than his wife to her waywardness. _ A stiff, straight-laced, narrow-minded man, accustomed to be- looked up to. and deferred to by v the female members of his household, he in the strongest manner both of the erratic moods of his eldest daughter, and of her longing for independence. It was from him, indeed, that, Mabin chiefly suffered. She looked . upon the cool, handsome, aquiline face of her' father with something very much like horror, and the mere fact that he approved only of submissive womanly women seemed to goad her into the very rebelliousness and independence which shocked him so deeply.

At the same time that he disapproved of her, however, Mr. Rose did not hesitate to avail himself of his daughter's bright wits; and if any task requiring a little thought or a little judgment presented itself, it was always upon Mabin' s shoulders that he put the burden. He had even gone so far, protesting loudly the while against the " unfeminine" practice, as to allow Mabin to ride a bicycle; and it was on this machine that the girl was expected to go into Seagate two or, threG .times a week to fetch him his books and magazines from the local, library. •' . .- - _ As Mrs. Bonnington descended the steps of the big stone house,, and, emerging from the portico, made her way down the broad gravel, patH to the gate, she met Mabin coming out by the side gate, among the evergreens, .jsrith. her bicycle by her side. '" « Now, if there was one thing mpre dietestable in the eyes of the vicar's wife than another it was a bicycle ; but this detestation increased tenfold when the rider! of the obnoxious machine was a woman. It was her one grievance against upright Mr. Rose that he allowed his nineteen-year-old daughter to "career ahout the country" on the abominable thing.

She uttered an involuntary "Ugh!" of disgust as the thing almost touched her uplifted skirts.

" I beg your pardon. I hope I didn't run against you. lam so clumsy," said Mabin, .with studied politeness.

" You can't expect to be anything but clumsy while you- use such a thing aa that!" said Mrs. Bonnington severely. " I wish for your own sake it would get broken, that you might never be seen iv an attitude so unbecoming to a gentlewoman again." j

"Is it you who, -tell your sons to throw stones at it when I am riding past the vicarage?" said Mabin, trying bo speak civilly, while the, blood rose to her cheeks. " Walter struck the hind wheel two days ago, and now I have to walk so long as I am within stones-throw of your garden wall."

" I have heard nothing about it," said Mrs. Bonnington icily.

"Of course you wpuldn't," said Mabin, keeping her tone in check. ~'But I see Rudolph has taken to riding one, too, since he's been back. 80, if they throw stones at me I can, have, my revenge on him,", she concluded threateningly. "If girls unsex themselves, they can't expect to be treated with the chivalry they -used to receive," said Mrs. Bonnington, as, not caring to continue the encounter with the rebellious one, she turned her back, and went down the hill!