CHAPTER I.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9303, 1 August 1908, Page 1

CHAPTER I.

GJ&K-TBOS 3083H rETHBMtf. mmsm SfSce t£e fearless self-dependence <rf\i£ tW emphasised by the proud Vis? of the tall, powerful H jX Pethexby** eyes were like flints Sfcmed into enormous prosperity. He •ou. Umphl And t that's your reason for turning thief 1 » H»dn*t yo/persuaded her to dope %hen I caught you? What *it but theft to try and steal her away from her homeland with her, tho money jrou calculate to get - "Not a penny. I don't want your ■ i „ paused. "I don't Relieve you. I believe your father s son is as capable of lying as-he is himself. ... "Don't insult my father, sir, cried Don, indignantly. - "I know your father better than you. For twenty years he tried to eteal my business from me, using every shift ■nd every lie, and every fraud that didn't bring him inside the criminal few. And now you try by the same taeans to steal my child." . '* I asked your consent openly at first"' " Not quite like your father that, perhaps; but I told you then that I would rather ccc her dead than disgraced and degraded as your wife. And then you schemed and lied until you ■won.her from her obedience to me to »un away with you. That was your father's son. - And now you chatter like a fool about your—love. If I were to have you horsewhipped by my stableanen, it would be no more than your deserts."

"They would a deal sooner horse--whip you," cried Don, red hot with anger. But the taunt made no impression. The cold, stony eye3< fixed on the boy's face never even flickered. "Now understand if your father is in this '*> i- "He is not," was the impulsive in- ■ terruption. ' !. i "If your father is in this, it will epeil ruin to uaa. He can tell you why. I shall write him that unless you get out of the country and leave .my child at peace to forget you-r—" } "Bbc will never do that. I wilt never give her up," broke in Don^ again. ! ' "'I shall crush your father as I crush this;" and lie crumpled a sheet of paper in his Btrong white hand. ■ "I am not one of your workgirls to be hectored and bullied by you, Mr Petherby. I shall not give /ud Eva." i Mr Petherby rang the bell. . { " Gregson tell Miss Eva to come to aae, and tell Roberto and Pilkington r shall want them in five minutes — when I ring."

i There was a wait of some few minutes; but not a word was said. ; Then the door was opened and a •light girl of about eighteen, fair as a pictuje and. sweet as May flowers, cam© in timidly. A flower born for the •unshine, but sadly shaken by a tempest she was now; her eyes terror-filled, the lids still dewed with recent tears, her cheeks flushed in agitation, and her heart beating wildly beneath her heaving bosom, under the stress of a trouble wfcich threatened wreck and ruin to her young happiness.

I Her lover caught his breath at the Bight of her and stepped forward iin-r polsively. - "Eva!" "Evangelinel" came the ironbound command at the sain© moment. • For an instant she hesitated, and .stood trembling and casting fleet frightened glances at each in turn. Then the habit of a lifetime conquered even tie impulse of her love. She shrank to her father's side.

i John Petherby's flinty eyes seemed *o light for an insfcant with a gleam of triumph as he looked at the discomfited Don; but his voice was the same hard, uncompromising, slow monotone. ['• Evangeline, you will tell this young 3nan that you will never see* him Again,"

i Eva's only answer was a smothered moan of pain. • " Eva J' r cried Don with eager pleading. ' I "Never again, Evangeline," declared the stern old man. 4 " Father 1" ehe wailed. "Do you dare to disobey me?" The .tone even colder in its implacable •ternnese. • She dropped into a chair and burst into wild sobbing. < The tears drove Bon mad. "Have you no mercy?" he cried; "can't you we what she suffers? Do you want to break her heart?" » "Evangelinel" "EyaP Again the appeal from both came almost simultaneously. . " It's no use, Don. It's no use. Go •way, please," she cried, her voice quiv«ring, and her words broken and scarcely audible for her sobs. "You will never see him again, Bhrangeline? Tell him so," said her father, holding to his purpose with the relentless tenacity which had given him his great wealth. "Eva!" The appeal eager and passionate now and eloquent of the pain of impending defeat. . ''Don't, Don, don't. I can never •cc you again." The instant the words were past her lips, Mr Petherby rang his bell. ' ' Eva, do you see what you are dofnzP Will you send me from you without a word of hoDe? I will not give you up. I swear it. I cannot. Come with me now, dearest," and he pushed forward to go to her. Mr Petherby- blocked his way, and the two stood glaring at each other — the one hot, emotional, resentful; the other cold, hard, resolute— -a. rock of steadiness against which the young Stan's passion beat itself in vain. The two servants entered. "Turn this man out of the house, you two; and if he ever presumes to A ecar from a burn or . scald is often dreaded more than the pain that is inflicted. Chamberlain's Fain Balm heals the injured part in less time than any other treatment, and unless the 'injury 19 a severe one, no scar will be left. One application gives relief* 1

set foot inside the Manor again, my orders are that he be thrown out. m A gasp of pain from the shrinking girl behind her father, a start of fiery anger and a clenching of fists from her lover; a smothered cry of rage; and then father and daughter wore alone. The instant the door was closed_ she jumped up and rushed toward.it. "Bon. Don,. come back." Mr Petherby put himself before her " Evangeline 1* How dare you ?" m Love and despair lent her fleeting courage, and she met her father's oyeß But in a moment it fled, and falling on her knees she clung to him. "Father, father, bring him back to me. I love him so. I love him so. Oh, my heart is breaking." The tempest of her agony, like the storm of her lover's anger, broke in vain against the rugged rock of his composure. He unclasped her hands, raised, and then' released her. ."The day will come when you will thank me for this more than for any act of my life to you. Dry your tears ; go . to your room, and remain there until .the day after to-morrow. By that time this presumptuous young scoundrel will have left the country." Her face was grey with suffering. She looked at him as' though scarcely understanding Ms words, an<s •.'««« fainting she swayed slightly and caugfit at the table for support. He made no attempt to help her. "Remember you are John Petherby 's daughter," he said;, sternly. With a great effort she rallied her strength and was' creeping to the door when it opened, and Jack Pethorby, a handsome lad of about sixteen, entered hurriedly and with signs of excitement. Brother and sister were much alike in colouring and features. "What's this about Don being sent off ?" he cried, angrily. "It's a shame." -Eva ran up to him and threw her arms round his neck. " You dare to use that word to me, said his father, very sternly. "Do you know anything of this?"* "I know Don Stuart is a good fellow," was the reply, less confidently given. ' "Cast-iron John" regarded his son steadily for some moments in silence. "If that fellow's name is ever mentioned again in t-^a bouse, you shall leave here. Go to your room, Eva. No, go alone," he cried quickly, as Jack was moving away with her. Stay here, John." Slowly she unwound her arms from her brother's neck, and with a catch of the breath crept away. * " Mark this, boyi If you dare to encourage Eva in this rebellion against me/ you are no son of mine. That's my last word. Sit over there. I have a letter to write." The lad's opposition was beaten down. He took the place pointed out to him, and sat watching his father write the letter which the old man knew would separate the lovers finally. One other step the old martinet took. He sent his eon away that evening from the Manor and only recalled him, some eight months later, a week before Eva's wedding to Lord Broadetone, which the rich man had arranged in the in r terval. . ■ On the evening of the wedding, John Petherbx told his prospective son-in-law of the "Don Stuart incident" as the two men sat smoking after dinner. "I have told you- the truth about Era and that (scoundrel Stuart's son feecrtuse^ in my vie^. icar-riage is, a business contract in which a matter of the kind should not be concealed; And no man ev.er.tmew John>Petherby make a contract without disclosing the facts." "I heard something of it, of course, sir. A mere boy and girl affair, I suppose," replied Lord Broadstone, with a shrug of the shoulders a© he flicked the ash off his cigar. "I know nothing about boy and £irl affairs ; but since that time the fellow's name has never been mentioned in this house. He passed out of our lives. His father sent him to America. He made an attempt to see Eva once, and was thrown out of the Manor gates. He tried to write to her ; but I opened the letter, and learning in that way his address, I wrote and told him any insolence of the kind would be visited on his father. That was the end of it He is dead to us all."

" I eeo," was Lord. Broadstones reply, as he helped himself to another glass of wine, und held it up meditatively, ,and the brilliant electric light on the' upturned face brought all the lines into strong relief. John Petherby. was a judge of men, and knew well enough that the lines on the weak, washy, prematurely old, but still handsome face, had been scored not by time or thought, but *by hard-living, self-indulgence, dissipation and. worry. Unstable as water, said the drooping mouth, whose irresolution was emphasised rather than concealed by iihe light ' moustache : unreliable as a ferret, declared the shifty pale-blue eyes; and the rich self-made man read the signs like the print of a book. As a man, "Cast-iron Jack" would not have given him twenty shiuings a week in the big factory. But the dispensation of Providence had made ,xc man a peer,, and the father believed he was doing well to buy him as a eon-in-law. And he was prepared to buy the honour, as he bought all thing 9, at a fair price. Fifty thousand pounds in cash to pay his lordship's present debts, and half a million sterling settled upon Eva. to revert to her husband if there were no children. That was the price. And both sides considered it a fair bargain. " And N now," said Mr Petherby, after a pause, "you will meet candour with candour?" " what do you mean?" asked Lord Broadstone, with a start of uneasiness. " You have no entanglements of any kind?"

"Of course not. What do you say that for?" The answer was irritably spoken. "You were away for some years in America before your father came into the title five years ago, and there were rumours "

"What rumoursP What do you mean?" broke in the peer. "That you were married out there." •" So I was — but she's dead. Died be fore I came home. Isn't that enough for you?" He spoke more angrily than before, and after glancing once at Mr Petherby, stared sullenly down at the table.

"I thought perhaps that, as divorce is so easy in the States, you might " " Look here, I don't see the good of this," broke in Lord Broadstone. "If you don't take my word, chuck the thing up. Chuck it. I wasn't a saint as a young fellow. I've never posed as one. ' But I cut all that sort of thing off like a knife when I came home. If you don't believe me, then chuck the thing up. You're looking at me as if I was a criminal in the dock, by gad;" and he helped himself to another glass of wine.

He stood in considerable fear of his host, and only with a great effort had he made this speech. An effort prompted by temper and not a little alarm — for he had many unsavoury secrets. "Cast-iron John" did his best to smile. "Don't be uneasy. I take your word. If I could not, I should not give you my daughter." "Shall we go to the ladies then?" "In a moment. I have only one thing more to say. About myself. I have, as you know, hurried the mar.riage. forward. I "will not deny that

Eva's health suffered from that scounirel'a infamous treatment, and I had ntended to take her for a voyage. £va is delicate. But my own health is :he cause of my alteration of plane." Lord Broadstone smiled. "Your \ealth? Why that must be perfect, judging by the way you stick to the iig varnish works. I should think /ou're as hard as nails." " 1 do not show the world all I feel, but you must know this. I am unier sentence of death. My heart is .vrong. I had a warning a month igo, and have consulted the specialists. They all agree that death may come at xny minute and cannot long be delayed."

" I hope it's not as bad as that, sir?" <rried Lord Broadstone with spontaneous sincerity. He was capable of surface feeling of the sort. "Wo may take it as proved," answered Mr Petherby, without a sign of feeling. "Therefore I wished Eva to 03 married as soon as possible — to bare some one to take -my place over her. All other arrangements I have completed. My business is now a limited company. Eva's fortune-^half a million — has been invested in good securities. Your lawyers know, of this. My son, Jack, will have a million sterling, and all my share in the business when he comes of age. If he dies before then, everything will go to Eva and her children." There was a pause. - The younger man did not know what reply to make. The spontaneous regret at the news of Mr Petherby's danger had passed, giving way to speculations of a very different kind. , " I've no doubt it will bo all right, sir," he murmured, scribbling hieroglyphics , on tho cloth with the handle of his dessert knife. "I have been a hard father to Eva in some things," said Mr Petherby slowly; "but I have sought to do always the thing which seemed right. I am a hard man, I know ; and perhaps she has no idea of the love I bear her. I pray God you will make her^ a good husband — when I am gone. 1 ' " I'll do my utmost , sir, on my honour," said Lord Broadstone, with another emotional flush. " I am sure of it. And now let us go to the ladies." As they rose a servant said that a person of" the name of Gardiner wished to see Lord Broadstone at once. He was waiting in the hall as they went out — a sleekj smooth-faced man, with the unmistakable air of a welltrained servant. "My cousin Dorrison's man," said Broadstone to his host. "What is it, Gardiner?" "My master sent me down from London with instructions to give you. this letter at once, my lord. Ho is detained in the House of Commons and cannot get . down until to-morrow." Lord Broadstone took the letter, opened it carelessly, and glanced at the first line. "I have reason to believe your first wife is still living. I have " With a violent start and turning as white as his shirt front, he crushed the letter in his hand and thrust it into his pocket, while he cast a frightened look over his' shoulder to make sure that Mr Petherby had not seen it.