CHAPTER I.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7802, 5 September 1903, Page 1

CHAPTER I.

The child stabbed and strangled by Dudley St John recovered, thanks to extraordinary vitality and the skilfuT treatment of Dr Sturgess. Overwhelmed with grief in the loss of his young wife, Rowton regarded ihis child with cold indifference, if not with absolute aversion, as the indirect cause of his loss, and, leaving the disposition of his affairs in England with Dr. Sturgess, he hurried back to St Petersburg immediately after the funeral of Lady Rowton, to seek forgetfulness in the occupation of official duties. Mrs St John, in calling Dr Sturgess to save the life of the child, had thrown herself upon his mercy and confessed her husband's guilt. Pity responded to her appeal. He kept her secret, seeing no moral necessity to acquaint Rowton with the facts and add to his trouble. And here it may be Baid, to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding, Lord Rowton never heard of the murderous attack made upon his little Vivienne. In due course the doctor sent the child and her nurse to St Petersburg, and there, shortly afterwards, poor Mrs St John died of pneumonia, aged twenty-one, and there was an end of her brief joys and sorrows. The attempted murder of Vivienne was then only known to the villain in prison and to Dr Sturgess. , The child not only lived, but grew to womainhxjod with a development of exceptional vigour end intelligence. With an early perception of advantages to be won the Honourable Vivienne completely subjugated her father by the profession of unbounded love and devotion and the practice of wiles that -were irresistible on his part. He adored her with no misgiving save that she was too good for this earth, and might Be taken from him by the jealous angels. In her twentieth year she suddenly showed symptoms cf declining heaith which filled him with consternation. Ho was now seventy, and had all the illusions of that ege. At a hint from Vmenne that she needed complete change—that the everlasting tameness of St Petersburg wearied her—Rowton decided to throw up his official post and search health elsewhere for ihis darling. He sent in Sus resignation

— *ot before it was wanted, for his intellectual faculties were growing too feeble oven for her Majesty's service — and together they made the round of the gayest j German baths and the most fashionable i French waters. Then the Honourable Vivienne, fancying she would like to see Rowton Hall, suggested trying the curative powers of air as an alternative to water. She thought the brisk East Anglian air might bring the roses back to her cheeks. Rowton jumped at this proposal with more than usual avidity — health for Vivienne and just a little rest for himself was all he craved. An agent was employed to prepare the house, and when ihe had done ell that was necessary Lord Rowton and the Honourable Vivienne returned to the ancestral Hall, after an absence of twenty years, and some months. Rowton's first care after the immediate wants of (his darling had 'been looked to, was to procure a medical attendant for 'her. Ha learned thait Dr Sturgess was the only one to be ihad! within a radius of seven miles. Dr Sturgess — Rowton remembered him quite well with % pleasing astonishment at his faculty for recalling past names and circumstances — a young man very refined in manner and appearance and decidedly clever, who had done all that was possible ifor Lady Rowton, and been very good in looking after his affairs and taking car-* of Vivienne dn that dreadful time — twenty-one years ago — dear, dear! twentyone years ago! He wrote a line to the young fellow desiring him to come up to the Hall not later than eleven o'clock the next morning. And the " young fellow " • now sixty years of age, though recalcitrant under peremptory treatment, came sharp to the time appointed, having a strong and perfectly natural desire to see Vivienne, and know the result of a curious experiment to which she owed her present existence. The doctor was a remarkable man 2 who fell short -of greatness by sheer perversity, of disposition. In him genius was allied Jo madness in the form of incomprehensible eccentricity. A man of few faults and detesting adulation, he had) no ambition, and' preferred living as a country prac'titdoner on a breezy hill in Norfolk to the position c-f a London physician — which, he might easily have won in Harley Street." Ho was content with three hundred a year in Fowton; in Harley Street ihe would have been discontented with three thousand. 'He was bearish in manner and 100k — uncouth and cumbrous. Everything about him was massive — feet, hands, nose and forehead. The gentle depth of his eyes and the tenderness of his lips redeemed his face ;from brutality, though lightning could flash from the one and thunder from the other at times. He made himself cordially detested' by people he disliked, and as sincerely loved by others. Perfect indifference to publio opinion led him into slovenly ways. He desired to please himself in everything .that was comfortable. But a cleanlier man In all things never lived. His great hands were pleasant to look at and pleasant to feel. Every thought and act of the man was wholesome. He had never shown any desire to marry, though many a pleasant woman had set her cap at him — rude as he was. In a flannel shirt, and no cravat, a tweed jacket and trousers immeasurably loose even for his big limbs, he presented himself at Howton Hall. -■"Is your master. at home?" he asked of the valet who came to the door. "What name, if. you please?" asked; the supercilious young man. . t- ■'-■*< is -your master at home, I asked,'*" thewords ringing- out like a hammer an an anvil. "Yes, sir," in a much humbler key, "heis in the lib'ary ; but " Dr Sturgess brushed past him, strode across the hall, and entered the well-known room. 1 Lord Rowton, with bent shoulders, his hands folded loosely at his back, was pacing f/he floor, agonised by the message from Vivienne saying that she was too ill to see him yet awhile ; his thoughts too engaged to notice the slight sound of the opening door. Dr Sturgess noted the twitching of the fingers in the old man's folded hands, the pinched look of his face, and its careworn expression ,as he turned by the fireplace, and the vacancy in his colourless eyes when he raised his head. " Lord Rowtom?" he said, with an interrogative inflection. ' "I am Lord Rowtoni and — you have the advantage of me." "I should think I had, you poor foundering old wreck," thought the doctor, silently taking stock of a hopeless case, as was his habit. Then he said : " You sent for mo. lam Dr Sturgess. ' " Pray be seated. I positively did not know you ; time works such changes. I recalled you as a delicate, somewhat spare young mam." He was too courteous to refer to that refinement which' also was clearly a thing of the past. "Well, my lord, what's the matter with you?" aaked the doctor, coming brusquely to the point. "Me! nothing in the world. Never stronger in my life," resting his trembling hand on the table for support as he crossed to am easy chair; "never stronger in my life," as he seated himself with elaborate precaution; and he continued, looking at Sturgess with lustreless eyes : " My sole trouble is anxiety for my dear daughter." " Is Bhe ill?" " So ill that she has sent down to say 6he cannot possibly see anyone for half an hour." '"What's the matter with her?" A slight flush, of resentment rose in> Rowton's cheek. Seldom had anyone dared to apeak with such brusequeness to his lordship. But consideration for his beloved^ child compelled resignation to the rudeness of a country practitioner. " These documents may instruct you," he said, offering a sheaf of prescriptions, allmethodically dated, docketed, and held togethei*by ai red tape, in conformity with the life-long habit of a chief secretary. " She eats nothing, poor child," continued Rowton, as the doctor drew out the prescriptions one after the other and read them through. "Her capricious appetite has constantly to ba tempted with delicacies. She has taken no exercise for nearly ai twelvemonth save in a carriage or invalid chair." He enumerated .the many places they had been to ; the various means they had employed to restore her to health. " Hum 1" grunted the doctor, finishing the last document and pitching the lot higgledy piggledy on the table. "Well, what conclusion do you draw?" asked Rowton anxiously. " I profess to know very little of modern maladies or their treatment; but I know sufficient to assure you that had your daughter been afflicted with half of these diseases she would have been de,id in one quarter of the time covered by thosa prescriptions." "Do you imply, sir, that these^ — these—" " Itinerant malady mongers," suggested Dr Sturgess mentally. "' These eminent medical men — the best to be found in the most frequented health resorts — axa actually mistaken in their diagnosis?" " I shall be glad if you can show me a ' more hopeful outlook, my lord." Vivienne'3 French inaicU Therese, entered with a note, which, she put in Rowton's eager hand. Whilst waiting his reply <sho surveyed Dr Sturgess with, unfl inching tifrontery; lie, in return, looked her up ■and j down eriticfsingly-, guessing who she was, j

and believing that some insight to the disposition of her mistress may be got from the character of her maid. Thercse liked being looked up and down, having a piquant ; face of the soubrette kind and an irreproachable figure. Taking her answer from Rowton, she passed the doctor with an impudent leer from the corner of her fine eye, and the faintest approach to a. smile. "My daughter ia ready to 6ee you, Dr Sturgess," said Rowton, glancing apprehensively at the uncouth figure. The doctor rose with a noil, -nd followed, -his hands thrust in the pockets of his voluminous trousers. ! The Honourable Vivienne lay on a couch \. in the drawing-room in a loose gown of pleated black rich: gatuze, which fell to the undulations of her lithe form, and swept the ground, leaving exposed to view a very pretty pair of feet in open-worked stockings and Pompadour shoes. Her jet black hair, parted and unwaving, was drawn close over her «airs and -plaited at the nape of her neck, giving length to a face naturally long, narrow and thin. Her long eyes, scarcely opened, with their inky lashes, looked at a distance like a elit in the white skin. One white hand, glittering with diamonds only, rested on her lips. Black and white from head to foot, unbroken by a. single touch of colour save the scarlet of her lips — a very artistic production-— gaining in value ,by the background of cream silk cushion on which she rested. Therese was putting the finishing touch upon the picture. She withdrew hastily as Rowton approached — his expression all solicitude—and brushed so closely by Dr Sturgess, standing with wide-plamted feet near the door, that her skirt whipped his legs, diverting 'his sombre regard from the invalid on the couch. As she turned to close the door she treated him with another leer and a more developed smile. Dr Sturgess turned his eyes again upon Vivienne with a regard more sombre than before. Rowton bent down and kissed Vivienne's ixead. "Darling, darling, darling," she murmured, twining her arm round his neck and drawjng his flaccid cheek to her lips, where she held it for some moments. With, a grunt Dr Sturgess took a chair and carried it to the side of the couch. Vivienne released 'her father with a long, audible sigh, and 1 let her hand fall gracefully again upon iher lips. "Dr Sturgess, love," eaid Rowton, introducing 'him. He acknowledged: the introduction with a nod and»planted himself pn the chair, to command his patient. "You will want to 1 sound me and all that?' 5 * she asked. "No," he replied!, taking up her hands and getting her wrist between Iris finger and thumb. And! there 'he sat in silent cogitation I—trying1 — trying to read 1 her body and soul. Meanwhile, an undercurrent of observation flowed through the mind. Wihat was the smell that offended* his nostrils?—^some new fargled abomination to take the place pf out-of-date sweet scents? And what had she plastered! her hands and face with? (No wonder the old iaan kissed the top of her ■head.) Bismuth possibly, that would eat the fine surface away from any skin in a couple of years, as the mercury that coloured iher lips would surely canker them. More corrosive oxide to paint the corners .of her eyes* and darken the skin under the lashes and eyebrows — as if Nature" ihad not painted them black enough and long enough ia all conscience 1 Was it eau de cologne j that glistened in the tawny brown of her eyes. God knows what other drug the chemist: supplied to beautify !her. : ''For T^eauty she certainly 'had for those who do not care to look beneath the. surface to admire, and are not- over, punctilious. What would Lavater have found in those thin lips and nostrils? Greed and lust 4 envy, hatred, and all uncharitableness. If beauty be the symbol of perfection, then this lovely pre-Raphael monstrosity must be the perfection of evil, or 'he, Dr Sturgess, as big a fool as Lavater. But while he eat there silently reading her character she was reading his with equal perspicacity; and the provocatively amorous glance with which she first greeted him — there lay the likeness between maid and mistress — grew venomous and malignant. . At length Dr Sturgess relinquished her hand, gently. enough t and begged her to rise. She rose with a contemptuous expression and a shrug, at the same time giving a little backward thrust with her hand at the pillow behind her. The movement was not lost upon Dr Sturgess. "Drug or equally pernicious literature," said' he to 'himself, "something lies under that pillow which she would- mot have seen by Rowton or me." " "Now, will you walk to tihe other end of the room?" "Is it absolutely necessary?" she asked, in a tone of languid comment. "If my service is to be of any use to you, it is." " C'est un farceur, cc bonhoonme— la," she said, taking her father's arm. with an insolent assumption that the country doctor v not uaderstand the language she spoke. Stie wa? tall, she walked gracefully, the movement of her lithe form 'beautiful as that of a panther. When she turned at the end of the room Dr Sturgess stepped to the couch and laid his ihananipon tne cushion as if to lift, it. In a moment she was at his side, her hand also on the cushion to hold it in its place, her eyes ablaze, lips and aostril9 pinched with anger. "What is the meaning of this?" she asked between her scar-cely parted teeth. "A simple test to find how you might move without the support of your ifather's arm." , " And now that you are satisfied on that point you have no further need to concern yourself with my condition." " That remains to be seenj' he replied in a tone of intended menace. He turned to ltowton, who stood dumbfounded' with perplexity, and said quietly : ' Your daughter., my Lord, needs no medical advice ; she may cure herself as soon as she wishes. And if you would hasten the process, keep her here, open the windows that she may profit by the fresh, air, suffer her to eat and drink nothing that you cannot buy in the village, and — get rid of that Frenchwoman as soon as possible." He nodded a salutation and left father and daughter speechless with indignation. But he Tvas so clearly mad that it called for scarcely any cajoling on Vivienne's side to convince her father that the doctor's conduct was too ridiculous for indignation. In a few hours the current flowed on with its former placidity, and as if that absurd affair had not for. a moment ruffled its surface. Nevertheless, Vivienne was disappointed. Dr Sturg^ess was probably the only clever man in the village, and she had hoped to get some amusement out of ihim. She liked doctors, the susceptibility ol clever men to her influence flattered iher vanity ; and the desperate attempts and inevitable failure to maintain a prope» attitude of professional respect under the witchery of her eyes appealed to her sense of humour. What hours of piquant discussion and mirthful comparisons had these clever men provided fo& Vivienne and Thercse ! Besides, it might be weeks before the neighbouring families called, and months before an interesting coteiie could be formed in this slow-go:ng country with its old -fashioned prejudices and stilted formality ; meanwhile, with no man to fool, no sort of intrigue or admiration to keep tht> blood from stagnation, how was* she to support existtT.cc iv Rowton? For ln.t-k of better alternative mk> determined to tee what -her cousin, Valentine

Biron, was like,, and bade her father write the following letter, in time to catch i the late post: — « j "Dear Nephew Valentine, — You have probably seen the official notice of my resignation of the. secretaryship of H.M. Embassy at St Petersburg, after holding that onerous position for an uninterrupted period of over twenty years. The cause was my darling Vivienne's health.l The patient martyr to an incomprehensible malady which has baffled the comprehension of the medical faculty of Germany and " Prance, your cousin as a last resource has returned to her birthplace, where it is hoped the air may prove beneficial. We returned yesterday. This afternooa my aweet daughter casually that she had seen a highly eulogistic notice of a work written by you upon bacteria. It immediately struck me that the disease from which she is suffering might be duo to the presence in her system of some bacterium which it has not occurred to her doctors to "discover; and that here was an occasion for you to save the life of a young and most beautiful girl, your cousin, and obtain a triumph which no man of science can afford to neglect. Pray &et all other affairs aside and_come to us without delay. — Your affectionate uncle (whose title you must som* day take), Rowton." ; This fatuous effusion was addressed to Valentine, at ; Hampton, ia Yorkshire — where his father had died hs the seventies, fixing thetfkcality on Rowton's memory — and by one^f those miracles whi^L the Post Office delights in, was forwarded to his rooms in Blqomsbury. Val read' it with a smile — good humour prevailing over irritation — and having no other "affairs" to set aside, he yielded to the temptation which the prospect of ministering to a " most beautiful " cousin would naturally present to most healthy young men of eight and twenty. With a modest vulise containing a dress suit, toilet tackle and other necessaries, he presented himself one afternoon, at Rowton Hall, and, giving his name, was at once shown into the drawing-room. The unexpected' happened once more. Vivienne had' entertained littlei hope of finding her cousin anything but a horror. A young man, she conceived, must have some* physical defect to go i& for science at all ; ihe must be aperf ect> monster to write a big book about microbes and things at his age. She figured him at best a weaieved, prematurely old young man, with a bump forehead and lank, snare hair, with a mangy sort of beard probably, and a loose, shambling figure in ill-fitting clothes, just a bag of bones— a creature of the kind sent out by educational societies to grub for horrid bones in a dirty hole. ' What she saw was a well set-up, .well-groomed, welldressed young man, positively handsome, and with no/ sign of the savant upon him,. save a rather broader forehead than is common, and wonderful eyes that looked as if they could penetrate a brick wall. And he had a clear, cheery voice, was vivacious, and altogether seemed awfully nice. She was so little prepared for such a cousin that she had taken no pains to be especially captivating. The dress she had worn fos Dr Sturgess would be quite good enough, for him, she decided. And it seemed to be quite good enough. He couldn't keep his eyes off her. Even when talking to her father his bead would turn towards the couch" on which, she lay. Oh; there was fine fuu to come with cousin Val!- . . " May I make myself presentable," he said —four hou» on the- Great Eastern "^-and '<he^displayed- "hisf- wristbands. , " The bell was rung, and Therese answering, was instructed to show Mr Biron to his room. Her smart figure and neat anikleg as -she went before him up the stairs, excited bis admiration. ' She opened the door, and, drawing back against the wall, pressed' back her skirts with., dimpled hands. Her eyes were on the ground in maiden modesty for a moment, but as he passed Her she raised them ; and a smile curved her lips and she twitched up her pretty eyebrows. Heaven knows what provoking invitation there was in that twitch ; but putting his own construction on it, Val took the challenge, catching her arms in hia strong hands, and kissing her. "He kiss me once, twice, right on ze mouse!" she told her mistress soon after. Hlow this is a nice 6ort of young fellow tc make a hero out of, isn't it? (To be continued.)