CHAPTER III.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XX, Issue 1375, 6 August 1887, Page 1 (Supplement)

CHAPTER 111.

Early the next morning, Lionel was off •n his quest. He found Gillian already at the appointed spot, and although at a distance she did not know him in his civilian garb, when she recognised him, he felt a thrill to see what he naturally fancied to be a flush of pleasure cross her faoe. Still, she was Miss Ramsden of the Hall ; and he, whatever he might have been before, was but a corporal in a line regiment, so that, although he was already ■mitten by her grace and beauty, he maintained the demeanour of a privileged inferior.

" You must have thought it very presumptive of me, Miss Ramsden," he said " to ask you to give me another interview; but I know no one else here on whom I can depend to give me the information I want. I met Trent after I left you yesterday. All he could tell me was my father died in great anger with me, and disinerited me in favour of your father." "And I fear I can add very little to what Mr. Trent has told you," said Gillian, " Simply, Mr. Gaskell, I would warn you against him, if any old grudge still exists between you ; and although I avoid speaking ill of anyone as a rule, I do not think I should believe all he said."

A feeling of joy thrilled through Lionel. If this bright-eyed and honest-speaking girl was really engaged to Edward Trent, most assuredly she would not speak of him in this manner. ,

" I know, or, rather, I remember enough about him," said Lionel, "to be able to place a correct value on what he says, Miss Ramsden ; for instance, he told me one thing which I did not believe, about you." -^

" About me ? What did he say ?" "He said you were engaged to be married.,'

"lam glad you did not believe it, Mr. Gaskell," said Gillian. " But you will hear it often. Indeed, I believe it is regarded as a fact by many .people who ought to know me better than, to think I should swear to lovt,, honour, :jkl obey a man for whom 1 have the greatest contempt." "I am so glad to hear you say so !" exclaimed Lionel, unable to repress his feelings. •' I mean I should be sorry to think you had thrown yourself away on him."

"But," said Gillian, " where there is smoke there is fire. I don't know why it is, Mr. Gaskell, but I feel I may confide in you."

" Oh, that you may Miss Ramsden ! " enthusiastically exclaimed the young soldier.

" He is ceaseless in his efforts to get me to accept him," continued the girl. "I have no peace from him, although I have firmly refused him, and the worst of the matter is that papa himself wishes me to marry him.

*' Squire Ramsden wishes his daughter to marry a pettifogging country attorney, who ten years back was sweeping out an office in Lincoln's Inn !" exclaimed Lionel. ''How can he possibly think that such a marriage would be happy and in keeping with your position here ? You amaze me, Miss Ramsden !"

"You will be amazed still more, Mr. Gaskell," when I tell you that, to strengthen himself and to weaken my resistance Mr. Trent told me that unless I accepted him, he would ruin and disgrace us."

" How could he do that !" asked Lionel. Then, after a pause, "Miss Ramsden, if he aays he can ruin and disgrace you, and your father urges you to accept him, depend upon it'that there is some secret between them — please, do not interpret my words- into derogation of your father — which is at the root of the whole affair. But I feel certain that in course of time something will be found out that will astonish us and every one but the principal agent. I cannot believe that as a punishment for what was mere boyish excesses at the worst, my father wh* loved me as being the nearest human tie which bound him to earth, should have disinherited me; and I cannot believe that his last feelings towards me were of anger. I should not have suspected anything at all, I think, if you had not told me that your father wished you to marry Edward Trent. Why should you be doomed to a man who, unless he has improved -out of recognition of late years, has not a single attractive feature in his character ?"

They were sitting side by side on the fallen trunk of a huge tree, and as the cheery sun slanted through the trelliswork of young leaves upon the graceful figure of the girl, Lionel felt that what seemed to be merely an accident was in reality a merciful intervention, of Providence, which had sent him here to shelter from coming evil so fair a creature. "Did you never hear of me, Miss Ramsden, before you came to Hingleton?" he asked.

"Never. I was at school when this great change in our station occurred ; and although I heard, my father speak of ' old Tom Gaskell,' I hardly knew who he was or where he lived."

" Hush ! Miss Ramsden. I hear voices dose by. I would not have you discovered here with me for worlds. You must return home, and may I see you again to-morrow ? I feel, somehow or other, as if I had been sent to ward off a terrible evil from you ; and I don't know how to thank you for. your kindness in making a confident of me."

"Mr. Gaskell, I am only a simple country girl," said Gillian, "yet I intuitively know whom I can trust and whom I cannot.— Good-bye, until tomorrow.".

This time, Lionel Gaskell raised the gill's hand to his lips. He watched her active form disappear in the plantation, then listened. The voices seemed to be in the lane immediately underneath him, and one of them- he recognised to be that of Edward Trent. Creeping noiselessly along, he arrived at the paling which aejmrated the meadow-land from the lane, flaEjrhich stood at the top of a high, jfilpiy grown bank, and peering through ilissure, he saw Edward Trent talking to * rough-looking man clad in a velveteen coat, and corduroy trousers tucked into leggings. Trent was saying : ' ' Very well, Jfcnemiah. Mind, the risk is all mine, fliyrt the gain yours. The squire and the ctAooel are determined to stop poaching ; And tlpj both, finding that keepers and watchers are of no good, have given me full powers to act. Of course, I know yom and all your lot well enough ; I know all yom* haunts, where you sell the game, #T«n your gibberish and watchwords*"

" Blest if I doan't think you know 'most everything, Master Trent," said the man. "No ; I'm not so perfect as that ; but I know that a poacher fears a lawyer more than he does all the keepers in the county."

•'That's true for you," mumbled the man.

"Well," continued Trent, "if you manage what I say, it will be worth your while, and not a bit of harm shall come to you. Don't be up to any jobs until you hear from me. Til write to you at the old place."

Then they separated ; the rough-looking man taking the field-path in the direction of Hingleton, Edward Trent going towards the^rk gate. He went straight to the squire's study, and found the colonel with a London paper in his hand, holding forth to his friend the squire about the situation in Europe. " Well, Mr. Trent," said Colonel Adamthwaite, "so those blackguards the poachers are still at it, in spite of all your sharpness and activity. However, I'm determined to put a stop to it, and I will, even if I keep a company of my regiment on the watch all night with loaded muskets."

" I admit that my efforts haven't as yet met with success, colonel," said Trent; " but if in a short time I don't bring the ringleader before you at petty sessions, I'll throw up the job and admit myself beaten. I've had my eye on him for some time, although he doesn't belong to these parts, and I've got the trap nicely adjusted for him to walk into."

"Well, I wish you success," said the colonel; "and you may depend upon it that if I'm on the bench, he'll get a sentence that will frighten his mates for some time to come. — Hfllo ! It's eleven o'clock, and the Comet calls at the Arms at halfpast. I must be off. " So, after shaking hands cordially with the squire and nodding slightly to Trent, the old soldier left the room. Outside, he met Gillian, freshcheeked from her run across the park. " Well, Sweet," he said, " how go things ? Your precious adorer is inside. Nice man he is ! Trying to worm himself round the poor old squire by turning poachertrapper. Almost hope he'll fail in some new dodge he's up to, although I am hot against the vagabonds. Has he been bothering you lately ?"

" Yes, colonel ; he doesn't give me much peace."

" Impudent scoundrel !" exclaimed the colonel. " I've half a mind to haul him out and give him a thrashing. Some day I will, and risk the consequences of hammering a lawyer. — Well, I'm off to London ; Bonaparte's at his old tricks again." "Oh, and then there will be more battles and killing 1" sighed Gillian. " How horrible 1 But, colonel, you won't go?"

" I must go if I'm under orders," said the old soldier. 'J But good-bye ; I've got to catch the coach ; and when I return, I'll bring you all the news and something pretty from London town." As Gillian watched him striding down the avenue, she thought not only of the blank which -would be caused in her life if misfortune should overtake him in case of war, but of another who would be obliged to go across the sea to fight his country's battles — of the poor corporal, who already occupied so large a place in her heart.

Edward Trent and the squire meanwhile were talking earnestly. "You say she is still firm in her refusal, Trent ?" asked the latter.

"Yea," replied the lawyer, almost savagely. ' ' She avoids me when she can, and treats me like an utter stranger." "Very well, then," Baid the squire, rising and plunging his hands deeply into his breeches' pockets; "matters must take their course. I'm not going to force the girl against her will. Rather than do so, I would leave Hingleton to-morrow, and face the ruin and disgrace with which you threaten me."

The lawyer stared at the squire with mouth and eyes wide opened for a few seconds ; but he quickly recovered himself, and said :—": — " Think again, Bquire, before you decide upon such a course. Mind, I want to do things as pleasantly as possible ; but a bargain's a bargain. Remember, also, I have your letter dated during Mr. Gaskell's illness, in which you say : "I am the next of kin to Thomas Gaskell, now that his son is as good as dead. If you can get Hingleton for me — and as a lawyer, you will not find much difficulty in doing so by proving to the old gentleman that his son is dead — you may name your own terms." — Very well. You came here with Gillian, who was then sixteen. I fell in love with her at first sight, and I determined that the price of my efforts on your behalf should be her hand. I was successful, and I claim my reward. Mind, no one but you and 1 knows anything about the certificate of death. The colonel and Simson only witnessed the new will. I give you a week to decide, squire. — Good-morning." So saying, he left the room.

The squire stood against the mantelpiece the very picture of misery and despair. Either of the courses open to him was fraught with unhappiness. If he persuaded his daughter to marry Trent, he sacrificed her ' to his own mean and and selfiish motives. If he stuck to his last resolution of letting matters go, Trent would expose him as one who had in fact ousted the rightful heir from his property by working on the disturbed mind of a dying man. He would be disgraced and ruined. But if Gillian and Trent were married, the secret would remain buried for ever ; and in the now improbable event of the appearance of Lionel Gaskell upon the scene, he would simply be told what was the universal belief, that he had been disinherited for hia extravagances and escapadeß.

John Ramsden was a weak man, and although, in ordinary- mundane matters, a generous, honourable man, the conflict between duty and inclination was severe within him. As often as he decided on the side of duty, the hideous phantoms of disgrace and ruin rose before him. Finally, his weakness prevailed, and he resolved that Gillian should marry Trent. When Lionel met Gillian the next morning, he told her of what he had overheard in the larie. She could offer no explanation oi it, and did not appear to, attach particular importance to it, remarkingthat Trent was constantly engaged in mysterious operations about the place, and that in all probability he was laying a plot for another poacher, upon the princlgle,6r v setting a thief to catch a thief. *A week passed — the happiest week of Liogel^l life, for he saw Gillian every day. Eveiyday their intercourse became less strained and formal, every day ripened the mutual respect and admiration into a firm bond of intimacy. At the end of the week they were "Gillian" and "Lionel" to each other ; and yet, what was to be Hie issue of it all ? On the twentieth day f their acquaintance, on a bright sweet

morning, in mid-May, they were sitting together on the trunk of a fallen tree. For the first time during their acquaintance they seemed to have nothing to say to one another, the fact being that tho one knew well how much the other had to say. Then' Lionel broke the ice, and without any preliminary fanfaronade of rhetoric and eloquence, asked Gillian if she could give him her heart. The girl had no words to form into an answer, but simply threw her arms round his neck and nestled her face against his ; and in this appropriate position they remained for some exquisite moments, whilst a blackbird piped out a paean of joy from a bough hard by, and a straining, horrified human face peering over the fence drank in the scene greedily. The face, of course, bolonged to Mr. Edward Trent, who had for some days suspected the regular daily absences of Gillian from home, and who, after many fruitless attempts, had at length hunted down his prey. He watched the ha -py, blind couple for some moments, then slipping quietly down, hastened away towards Hingleton. And the happy, blind couple remained there long after he had gone, until the old clock chimed midday, and Gillian rose to return home. " And now, Sweet," quoth Lionel, " I am going to call you Sweet, as everyone else does — we are- bound together, and the one question remains, what is to be done ? Certainly, I shall proclaim myself to your father ; but before I do so, I must have an interview with your good, old friend the colonel, who, I am sure, from what you say, will help us through all difficulties."

A parting embrace, and they went unwillingly their separate ways, their hearts filled with the greatest happiness, in spite of the prospect of difficulty and delay which was open before them.