A Tardy Wooing.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIX, Issue 8123, 21 April 1906, Page 2

A Tardy Wooing.

CHAPTER Vlll.—Continued. Though ashamefi of her cowardice ■she continued to crouch in her biding place, evoo when she heard her name shouted repeatedly. Footsteps oamo close to where she lay, scarcely daring to breathe lest she should be pounced upon, and once she distinguished the voice Of the driver. "1 tell you she could not have gone in any direction but along the high road without my seeing her. She's half-way baok to Dover by this time. If you'd have been advised by me, wo should have overtaken her long ago." Presently she bear} the wneels rattle down the road, and ventured to peep forth. The witness, his hands in his pookets, was plodding toward the village, sore with the drubbing be had received, while Chris Kennett, seated on the box of the carriage, went away in another direction. He had oeasod to search for the missing Wynnie. For a while she was free; she was her own mistress; and so delightful was fhe thought that she crept out of her biding pa«oe and danced on the green sward in her glee. But Mr Outram—had they really left him behind? Very cautiously she made her way to the porch, and found him .fltiil seated there. Heaven be pitiful, how ill he looked I She remembered to have heard the bubbling of water while she hid under the bushes, and searched till she found in the hillside a spring that rippled into a rooky basin. To this spot she induced Harold to accompany her, and let her try the old remedy of bathing his headkneeling beside birri, intent on her ministrations till they were crowned with success, and she lay on the grass sleeping the most placid slumbers she had yet enjoyed. And now, though pale and hag gard his pulse was so even, his hands so cool, that there were hopes that he would not awaken as excited and wandering as on former occasions: yet Wynnie felt very anxious about him as she saw the sun get nearer and nearer to the horizoa, and knew that it would not be prudent to let him be there after the dews began to fall. To her a night passed in the open air would have been no hardship; she could even think of it as positive pleasure. To be here among the green fields, listening to the birds—out of reach of Mrs Marby's •scolding, and tho sights and odors of the alley what could be more delightful? But then Kennett might return, and how escape him a second time? Moreover she oould not hope that no one would approaoh the isolated •church. As eveniug came, on, laborers quitting their work might come that way, and be curious to know why she was there. If they questioned her, how was she to reply? Nor was this all; she had not tasted food since the previous day, and was becoming faint from inanition. Her helpless companion, too, must be fed when he awoke, or how W3uld he have strength to quit the spot. Then Wynnie cogitated long and profoundly. In spite of her inexperience, she thought she could be brave enough to take care of Mr Outram, and guide him to his friends if she could but learu 'where to find them. Or, failing that, would it not be possible to put him under the care of a doctor? There were hospitals in Dover, but thither she dare not return; she would have to find *ome good and clever practitioner clswehere, who would consent to cure, him, and to whom, as a pledge that he would bo paid for his trouble, she oould give the diamond ring, which, for present security, she bad placed in the pocket of Harold's vest, and fastened there with a pin. To ease her aching limbs she stood up and looked about her, and suddenly became aware that she was an objeot of interest to a comely elderly woman. There was a low gate, half hidden in ivy, in low wall that ran down one side of the hill. This gate was open, and the woman in question standing at it, shading her eyes from the sun, and staring intently at the figures beside the spring. At, fhafc Wynnie's heart stood still { but. finding that the woman contented herselff with nodding and smilingj she pluoked up courage to approach her. As she did so she caught sight, through the open gate, of an orchard, at the end of which here were farm buildings and hia discovery emboldened her still further. "Oould we buy some bread and milk of you? I have money!" and Kho produced the eovoreign Kennett hud tossed to her. "We don't sell to strangers as a rule," was the dubious reply; "but I dou't suppose my master will mind It for oaee. Lordl what a while you've been bore! I came out two hours ago and looked at you, but you didn't see me. Artist often comes to draw our church, pud the views from it, but your brother hasn't done; much, has he? His hat was over his.eyes, and he was lying down when I looked afore, just as it is now." "He is ill," said Wynnie, brieHy. "Then be ought not to be resting on the damp grass. I'll fetch the milk, and you make him drink it, and then harry home!" Perhaps the echo of their voioes had reached the ears of Harold, for he was sitting un when Wynnie returned to him. He drank thirstily from the can she held to bis lips, but put aside the sweet farm bread aa if he loathed it. His eyes were fixed on a spot in the valley about a mile from where he sat; and, pointing to it, he remarked that the line had been cleared, for the trains were running

By Charles W. Hatkaway. thovof " Marjorie's Sweetheart," "A Long Martyrdom," "A Mash Vow,\ "Joseph Dane's Diplomacy," etc., etc.

again and there was nothing uow to prevent bis going on to London. "It must have been a terrible collision," he added, dreamily, "for no one seems to care to eivo me the particulars. I don't think my own bead is quite clear yet. As soon as I got to town, I'll go and see Oollison. He's the cleverest Burgeon 1 know, and he shall put me to rights." Wynnio caught eagerly at the ideas his feebly murmured remarks conveyed. To London—yes, it was theio he would be safest. Jt was madness to remain here, exposed to the risk of being found by the dreadful man who was Mr Outram's enemy for some reason of whioh she was still ignorant. But was there really a railroad station so near? She hastened back to the gate with the milk can, and put the inquiry (o the woman, who answered in the affirmative, and good-naturedly offered to let them avail themselves of a path across her master's fields to the station; and also warned her that if they lost ttie next trt»in they could not proceeed till the morrow. With her hand on Harold Outram's arm, ostensibly for support, but really to give him the guidance he needed, Wynnie started for the railway. She did her best to appear cool and colleoted, but trembled inwardly, for she began to quail from the difficulties of the enterprise in which she was embarking. Never had a more inexperienced young creature been placed in a position so strange or so trying. Not only was she, who had rarely been allowed to have a will of her own, called upon to act for herself, but to take into consideration that the comfort, perhaps the fpte, of another was depending upon her. It was this thought that nerved her fo prooeed. Left to herself, she would have walked on and on, careless whither, as long as she knew she was turning her face from Dover; and she would have trusted to chance for eventually finding an asylum somewhere. She could device no settled plan of action. Since the Marbys had taken her into their bouse at the death of the kind, old woman who drew her from the sea, her life had known no change beyond that of the seasons, and the additional misery winter entailed upon the ill-ted, wretched-clad girl. The little she bad learned in her childhood lay dormant in her mind, and was of no use to her now. Though year after year she sold her flowerq outside the harbour station, she was not allowed on the platform, and had never travelled on either of the lines; yet here she was on the eve of departing for the j metropolis, burdened with the charge of a person who could not advise her where to turn when she ; reached her destination. She was going to London to find Mr Outram's friends; this was the thought she kept steadily before her; and, failing that, she must find her way to the house of a doctor whose name was Oollison. It would not be very difficult to do this, she told herself, for everyone ghe met would know where tho doctor lived, of oourso. (To be Continued.