LITERATUEE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5132, 14 October 1884, Page 3

LITERATUEE.

THE COUNTER-STROKE. (Continued.) "Mr Tyrrel," he contiun-id, as soon as the servant was out of hearing, "there is, I think, a liqueur-stand on the sideboard in the large dining-room ; would you have the kindness to bring it to me, unobserved — mmd that — unobserved by any one ?" I did as he requested ; and the instant I placed the liquor-frame before him, Be seized the brandy and drank with fierce eagerness. " For goodness sake," I exclaimed, "consider what you are about, Mr Arbuthnot; you will make yourself ill/* " No, no," he answered, after finishing his draught ; "it scarcely seems stronger than water ; but I— l am better now ; it was a sudden spasm of the heart; that's all; the letter," he added, after a long and painful pause, during which he eyed me, I thought, with a kind of suspicion — "the letter you saw me open just now comes from a relative, an aunt, who is ill, very ill, and wishes to see me instantly; you understand ? " I did understand, or at least I feared that I did too well. I, however, bowed acquiescence ; and he presently rose from his chair, aud strode about the apartment in great agitation, until his wife's bed-room bell rang. He then stopped suddenly short, shook himself, and looked anxiously at the reflection of his flushed and varying countenance in the magnificent chimney-glass. "I do not look, I think — or, at least shall not, in a darkened room — odder, more out of the way — that is, more agitated— than one might, than one must appear, after hearing of the dangerous illness of — of — an aunt?" "You look j better, sir, than you did awhile since." i " Yes, yes ; much better, much better ; I | am glad to hear you say so ; that was my wife's bell ; she is anxious, no doubt, to see me." He left the apartment ; was gone perhaps ten minutes ; and when he returned, was a thought less nervous than before. I rose to go. " Give my respects," he said, "to the good rector ; and as an especial ! favour," ho added, with strong emphasis, I " let me ask of you not to mention to a living soul that you saw me so unmanned i as I was just now ; that I swallowed • brandy ; it would appear so strange, so j weak, so ridiculous." I promised not to I do so, and almost immediately left the ! house, very painfully affected. His son i was, I concluded, either dead or dying, and lie was thus bewilderedly casting about for ! means of keeping the terrible, perhaps fatal tidings from his wife. I afterwards heard that he left Elm Park in a postj chaise, about two hours after I came away, i unattended by a single servant ! He was gone three clear days only, at the end of which he returned with Mrs Danby and — his son — in florid health, too, and one of ! the finest babies of its age — about nine i weeks only — I had ever seen. Thus 1 vanished the air-drawn Doubting Castle ■ and Giant Despair which I had so hastily \ conjured up ! The cause assigned by Sir 1 Arbuthnot for the agitation 1 had witnessed was doubtless the true one ; and yet, nnd the thought haunted me for months, years afterwards, lie opened only one letter that morning, and had sent a message to his '. wife that the child was well. I Mrs Danby remained at the park till thf little Robert was weaned, and was then dismissed very munificently rewarded. : Year after year rolled away without bringing- Mr and Mrs Arbuthnot any additional little ones, and no one, therefore, could feel surprised at the enthusiastic love ot the delighted mother for her handsome, nubly-proml.-hi.'x b"Y- l*»t that which did asloiiit-h mo, though uo ono else, for it seemed that I alone noticed it. was a strange defect of character which began to develop itself i:i Mr Arbuthnot. lie was positively jonloua of his wife's affection for: their owu child ! Many and many a time have I remarked, when he thought himself unobserved, an expression of intense pain flash from his fine, expressive eyes, at any more than usually fervent manifestation - I the young nioihe.'s gushing love for hi r firsthand only born \ It was altogether .\

mystery to me. and I as much as possible forbodo to dwell upon the subject. Nine years passed away without bringing any material change to the parties involved in the narrative, except those which time brings ordinarily in his train. Young Robert Arbutlmot was a healthy, tall, finelooking lad of his age ; and his great grandx«ipa, the rector, though not suffering under any actual physical or mental infirmity, had reached a time of life when the announcement that the golden bowl is broken, or the silver cord is loosed, may indeed be quick and sudden, but scarcely unexpected. Things had gone well, too, with the nurse, Mrs Danby, and her husband; well, at least, after a fashion. The speculative miller must have* made good use of the gift to hi 3 wife for her care of little Arbuthnot, for ho had built a genteel house near the mill, ■•-•ays rode a valuable horse, kept, it was . : • id, a capital table; and all this, as it stoned, by his clever speculations in corn aud flour, for the ordinary business of the mill was almost entirely neglected. He had no children of his own, but he had apparently takfcii with much cordiality to his stepson, a fine Lad, now about eighteen years of age- This greatly grieved the boy's ■mother, who dreaded above all thing 3 that her son should contract the evil, dissolute habits of his father-in-law. Latterly she had become extremely solicitous to procure the lad a permanent situation abroad, and this Mr Arbuthnot had promised should be ejected at the earliest opportunity. Thus stood affairs on the 16th of October, 18±o. Mr Arbuthnot was temporarily absent in Ireland, where he possessed large property. The morning's po3t had brought a letter to his wife, with the intelligence that he should reach home that very evening ; and a3 the rectory was on the direct road to Elm Park, and her husband would be sure to pull up there, Mrs Arbuthnot came with her son to pas 3 the afternoon there, and in some slight degree anticipate her husband' 3 arrival. About three o'clock a chief clerk of one of the Taunton banks rode up in a gig to the rectory, and asked to see the Rev Mr Townley, on pressing and important business. He was ushered into the library, where the rector and I were at the moment rather busily engaged. The clerk said that he had been to Elm Park, but not finding either Mr Arbuthnot or hi 3 lady there, he had thought that perhaps the Rev Mr Townley might be able to pronounce upon the genuineness of a cheque for JJ3OO, purporting to be drawn on the Taunton Bank by Mr Arbuthnot, and which Danby, the miller, had obtained cash for at Bath. He further added that the bank had refused payment, and detained the cheque, believing it to be a forgery. " A forgery I" exclaimed the rector, after merely glancing at the document ; "no question that it is, and a very clumsily executed one, too. Besides, Mr Arbuthnot is not yet returned from Ireland." This was sufficient ; and the messenger withdrew, and hastened back to Taunton. We "were still talking over this sad affair, although some hours had elapsed since the clerk's departure, when the sound of a horse at a hasty gallop was heard approaching, and presently the pale and haggard face of Danby shot by the window at which the rector and myself were standing. The gate-bell was rung almost immediately afterwards, and but a brief interval passed before "Mr Danby " was announced to be in waiting. The servant had hardly gained the passage with leave to show hisi in, when the impatient visitor rushed rudely into the room in a state of great, and it seemed angry excitement. " What, sir, is the meaning of this ill-mannered intrusion?" demanded the rector sternly. " You have pronounced the cheque I paid away at Bath to bu a forgery; and the officers are, lam told, already at my heels. Mr Arbuthnot, unfortunately, is not at home, and I am come, therefore, to seek shelter with you. "Shelter, with me, sir!" exclaimed the indignant rector, moving, as he spoke, towards the bell ; " out of my house you shall go thi3 instant." The fellow placed his hand upon the reverend gentleman's arm, and looked with hi 3 bloodshot eyes keenly in his face. " Don't !" said Danby, " don't, for the sake of yourself and yours ! " Don't ! I warn you ; or, if you like the phrase better, don't for the sake of me and mine. " Yours, fellow ! Your wife, whom you have so long held in cruel bondage through her fear for her son, has at last shaken off that chain. James Harper sailed two days ago from Portsmouth to Bombay. I sent her the news two hours since." • " Ha ! Is that indeed soi"" cried Danby, with an irrepressible start of alarm ; " why, then But no matter ; here, luckily, comes Mrs Arbuthnot and her son. All's right! She will, I know, stand bail for me, and, if need be, acknowledge the genuineness of her husband's cheque." (To be continued.)