"STAR" TALES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9933, 23 August 1910, Page 4

"STAR" TALES.

* TWO FOGS. T r • (By M. n. SHIKL) ("lutlior of "The 31 a n Stealers," " The llajah's Sapphire," Etc. ;r [All Rights Rksejivkb.] > As the KoV Henley Jones was walk- /' '■ tag,down Piccadilly one • ijgggy afterV noon ho found himself face to face with an old Oxford chum, Harry Harcourt. "Harry, by all that \out Jones; and after some talk ■■-.jr . " Harry" atopped a cab and they -flrovo to a eiinb, where they.,sat sipping fermouth and talking of the old days 4 ' .1 long wMte. it was not " until two hours had passed. that Jones suddenly uttered these momentous words: " Harry. I h ave to give you some news ■ —your unclo is going to he married." Harry laughed. ' "Which uncle? ■..v' 'Attonborongh?" t "I am quite serious," Harry," said ' and now Harry's rosy freshness ■ of ii hoy faded utterly ont of his .cheeks. "He wants to hide it from lyou, Harry," said Jones, with his eyes aii'the carpet—"at least, I suppose so, .when lio chooses St Matthew's in Lam3>eth to get married at." " Oh, I see! You arc going to marry them ? And the date of this i ' precious wedding?" , . "To-morrow morning. Look here/ ">ld cliap, don't suppose I didn't thir.k of limiting you up before this to tell You. But L wasn't sure that it -was iiuitc the right thing, don't you—■—" ■ i ''Either his motive is simple spite v against mo, or else he lias been "tricked •into this!" cried Harry, with sudden \ Vehemence,, for the marriage of his old uncle meant the ruin bf his hopes. x " Quitei probably tricked," assented 'Jones. "The girl is a miracle of love- - liness, I hear—Spanish in origin, tall, Trth two black flames for eves, and the : port of a sultana." : ' At this moment a waiter came in to dinner; after which Harry'- [ ... < (it one of a bundle of opiated cigars [*—, Vhiclx a friend of his, lately from AnPgua, had given-him, offered. Jones Sue,'then arranged through the Bu- j - jean telephone for two seats at a -,;j jomedy,' and they left the club in a V jsab. But they were not half-way to the theatre when Harry met ono Hur\rell, a chum, and the three went to 1 > some chambers in St James's, where a *. .- ' "boisterous party of men were assem- - 'tiled. At about half-past ten the ' 1 Virty out to pay a short visit to '' ; one , of the music-halls, where Jones ' smoked a fourth of the Antigua cigars, .''-•- 'knowing that they were opiated, but >V, foot knowing how much, and no longer v l iy taring; and he loft that place, leaning -oeavily JTh. Harry's arm, with a sigh: , I'Oh, ■ take' me home, Harry!"' It was midnight; and at 11 a.m. the ,lext day he had to marry Harry's uncle, Sir Wilfred Harcourt, to one Nina do Miraflores. 'iS■ y •

, 'That, same night a girl of eighteen . >at on a -footstool with her head on' ■ tlie knee of an old man, -who, with his 1 soft palms, kept patting her head, the hair of which flowed down to lie like a black mat over the floor.

, ".It. is only lately," the old man laid, "that I have realised thp sacrifice that you are making for me, yt ' /fina." K- * -""But Lam poor, too. dear papa," _ ' )he said,_ hurriedly, lifting her great ' £yes to. his face, "I am marrying to 1 r paake myself rich!" - • "Now, that is a story," lie said, Shaking his finger at her—" that is a -'Story! No such thought is in your mind. You feel that you are young, - ' that' you have brains, energy and a -'great dower of beauty. Let us be frank with' each other. You are doing it all v -For mo."' ?' ' "Como," sho "it is time for bed. It may not be so bad as we think, and God is always good. Now I will run and prepare your tocldy." 1 When she had bidden the old man , good-night she ran up to her own room on the noxt higher floor. A mean lamp showed on the pillows the head gf a girl sleeping. This was Ethel Bede, till* lately a salaried " companion " to .Nina; but when Nina, became poor, ; {Ethel had refused to be turned awayj f / and had stuck to her friend, and now, ■ |on the very, next day, was going to ' taste the excitement of travelling and 1 of all those Continental delights for which her life had been cue long sigh. From the lips qf the sleeping girl ' there came the -muttered word: " To- , morrow." . Two tears stole down Nina's cheeks.' ".Yes," she repeated, "to-morrow."

• When Harry Harcourt opened "his Byes on that morrow ho was about to go to sleep again, believing it to be still midnight, but just then, near to his head,!a clock's gong struck ten. V -I;Te called " Magennis I" ' Instantly the door opened, and " his jnan" looked softly in. " Ts it morning " said Harry. " Yes, -sir," said Magennis; " a Lon- • lon fog, sir." f -' "Oh, that explains it. By the way, what about Mr Jones?" j " He's asleep, sir." :j ;• Two minutes of silence passed in that room. Then Harry said. "Better go •and*tell 1 him it'is .ten o'clock—that is, , if he is awake." ■■ ■ Magennis went round a corner of Jhe corridor and looked in upon Jones, iut Jones was asleep, and made no secret of it. Magennis came back and Baid to Harry,'"" He is asleep, sir." Harry rose and dressed, dressed with * constant frown. 011 his forehead, still )truggling with tho temptation which be found himself unable to resist. What his own motive was in virtually Jieeping Jones from going to perform the marriage ceremony of his uncle, Bir Wilfred Harcourt, he did not himself analyse. But there was this thought 'Jin him—that the old man was playing him " a nasty trick," and he might be 'excused for playing the eld man anpther.

By a quarter to eleven he was dressed. By a quarter past he had breakfasted and was driving to St - Matthew's, in Lambeth. He found tho church full of mist, through which glimmered a few lights; but though he took his seat far behind lie could discern near the altar live persons, one if them, a sacristan ih bl-aek, moving Restlessly about. • The bride's face was very white, but £till smiling. Her father,, Don Carlos fle Miraflores, was shaking all over, and anon would pat -the hand of Nina as |f to say, " He will come." But no one Epfcke to another. It was as if some presentiment of evil was upon them all. A fear grew up in Ethel Bede's heart that she was destined to see no France that night. Again and again Sir Wilfred's cough echoed through the church. His eyes were goggly and watery, and anon, with a pale yellow silk handkerchief, lie would carefully wipe them. No parson appeared to marry him. The sacristan, despatched to the Rev Mr Jones's lodging, brought back word that Jones had disappeared. At last tho Baronet took his affianced 011 his 'arm with, a stately distinction. And (she, as she came near the door, caught Bight of Harry sitting there. . His eyes rested upon her, too, but, awing to the fog and her veil, he could

not have told whether she was a hag or a beauty. Of the two she saw him much the more clearly. 'Pliey goft fuio t\yo carriages, Nina with the Baronet, Ethel with Don Carlos. , And the Baronet said: "My good, patient Nina! "What, not a word of complaint? Never mind, it shall yet bo well. 1 am not sure that there is not some evil design and trickery in this." "But trickery by whom?" asked Nina. Sir Wilfred had a fit of coughing. "Who would have any motive for trickery? There is only my nephew, Harry Harcourt." "Why should Ije desire you marry?" she a-sk^d. Sir Wilfred coughed. " This fog, Nina, "will be. the death of scores of people this day," he «a.id. " His motive? I thought you knew, dear child. You see, the settlement ivlncli I signed last week, leaving you my wealth,, would be quite null and void if I died to-day, unmarried, and there c o' j ——'" He suddenly stopped, .nid was silent for a strangely long *.imo. .IVsentiy Nina, hearing a sigh by her side, glanced at him. His face was asher;, and when she seized and slunk J>is ar.:i his head fell sideward, his lower jaw slowly dropped. Terror, horror, possessed her, as she realised herself in the very presence of death. Nina was the possessor of many jewels given her by the Baronet, and on the interest of t'lie money that was realised by "their sale, some fifty pounds a year, she went to live with her father on a top floor in Bamsbury, where she remained seven months. But at the end of that time her father fell ill. . She went straight to the greatest specialist . in London : this meant money, and she consulted a broker, who offered to invest her funds in more lucrative concerns. The greater, however, the profit the greater the risk, and' within <a fortnight most of her money had been lost, v' Not, a word did she say to Don Cai'los about the disaster. But the mere fact that they had to move to a cheaper house opened the old man's 1 eyes. , He knew despair now, and dur-, ing the second week- in the new lodgings lie died. . 1 . . . On the evening before his .burial Nina, received this letter from some solicitors: '

" Sir,—Wo are instructed by our client, Sir' Harry Harcourt, to inform you that, taking into consideration the evident intentions of his uncle, the late Sir Wilfred Harcourt, with respect to your daughter, he is prepared to make over to her, out of the estate, a life annuity of £500."

Nina read it twice over, and with lowered eyelids she murmured, "Thief!",

Her father had died—of want, and that, very night, with flaming eyes, she wrote the reply: " Sirs, —My father is dead, and your communication to him on behalf of Sir Harry . Harcourt I have opened. Be good enough to inform that man that I cannot accept of him any gratuity short of the entire estate left by the latn Sir Wilfred."

Soon after this she secured a position for herself in a nobleman's family in Gloucestershire; but after two years there found, herself in London -again v seeking a place. At the same time Ethel Beds, too, was doing the same thing. Thus the two friends met and slept in the same bed.

The,-agents sent- them lists of people seeking governesses, and after two weeks' they both obtained appointments —Ethel's in Devonshire, Nina's in Kent.

"But stay," said Nina to '.Ethel, " let mo look, again at the name of the lady you arc going to. Garry? Surely that, is the name of a niece of poor, Sir Wilfred Harcourt, and a sister of the present- baronet 1 and in Devonshire, too . ... it must be the same. Look here, Ethel, you write to Sirs Garry that you cannot go, after all; ( and I'll write to Mrs Yeates that I ; cannot go ,• then I'll write-to Mrs Garry, applying, and you to Mrs Yeates."

The device proved successful; so Ethel went to Kent and Nina to Devonshire.

Now, those three years that had passed since the Baronet's death found Sir Harry Harcourt a rather different person. He had " settled down"; had'his model village, hoped and feared at night in his bed for his model farm. Harry, moreover, had grown unromantically fond of "money for money's sake." One day, after all this time lie was seated on a bench which ran round a yew tree, pipe in mouth, watching something. The tree stood on the lawn of a domain called "The Glen," to which one carao through the Hall Park. It was tenanted at this time by Harry's sister, Mrs Garry, who paid him rent for it. And the something which Harry was watching was Mrs Garry's new governess-companion, who was playing tennis. He had never seen a human waist .sway with so much ease; but it was strange that her name should be Nina! When he took her hand in parting that evening he said: "You know, of course, that we are very near neighbours? We are bound to meet pretty often, you and I." She flashed a swift glance at him. Three days later, at a "five-o'clock" on the lawns of the Hall, Harry, seeing her stroll down an avenue withlittle Ada, her pupil, went after her, saying: "Now is your chance for the ruined tower, Miss Gomez," and they walked through the forest gloom to the tower, went all over it, and were coming down again when little Ada remarked: "Miss Gomez, I heard mainma say to Lord Phipps on Tuesday that she wonders why Uncle Harry is coming so strangely often to ' The Glen' of late!'' Harry blushed to the roots of his hair; and presently murmured near Nina's ear: "I wonder if it is true?"

" No, do not wonder," Nina chillingly answered. "It can't be true."

But it was; and after that afternoon Nina seemed to be continually on the watch never to the chance to speak to her alone. But at about tho time that tho leaves began to fall she was at a countryhouse. with Mrs Garry and the child, and on the last night of the visit, as she was about to open a gate in a lane, someone stepped from hedgerow shadow and opened it for her. The moon was in the sky, but she knew him before ever she saw his face, and her heart gave 0110 bound. "But—why are you here?" she asked.

"Well," he answered, lightly, "I thought that perhaps I might meet you." " Well, you have met me. lam now going back to the house, so you may come with me." " Not to tho house—no. I—l only came in the vague liopo of seeing you •" "'But you are perplexing! Iteally, you can't mean that." "Oh, for Heaven's sake, let us drop