THE LADY IN BLACK.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8412, 29 April 1907, Page 2

THE LADY IN BLACK.

By FLORENCE V/A&D2SN. Author of "An Infamous Fro mi," '.3 T>:i vihle Ftimiti'.' "For Lore of Jack/' '*fiw Sinone on the '' •

CHAPTER v.—Continual. "I am afraid I have taken von by surprise." "I suppose," answered Mrj Oalo. in n low voice, "that vvA'J, whnt you intended to do." "I am sorry to soe you meet .tij in that spirit. 1 have corne wit!) "v-n-y wish for your gdbd. I think it is nni: right that yon should be left lie re l<y yourself,as you hold no intercourse, of course, with the people of the neighbourhood." There was a pause, which Mrs Dale would not break. "I propose, therefore," went on the elder lady, "to stay with you myself—at least, for a little while." Mrs Dale, who had remained standing, as her visitor did also, turned upon her quickly: "That I will not put up with." "That is scarcely courteous, surely?" "There is no question of lip-cour-tesy between you and me. You, and no one else, have been the cause of all that has happened, and I refuse, absolutely refuse, to stay under the same roof with you, even for a single day." In the meantime, poor Mabin, frightened and uncertain what to do had in the first place put her hands to her ears so that she might not play the part of an unwilling eavesdropper. But as the voices grew too loud for her to avoid hearing what the ladies said, she made a frantic xush for the door, and presented herself, breathless, blushing, in the doorway. "I—l can't help hearing what you say!" cried she, glancing from the forbidding face of the visitor to Mrs Dale, 'who looked prettier than ever in her anger. "My dear, it doesn't natter," sa d Dorothy gently. But the elder lady broke in: "It does matter very much. This is not a fit house for a young girl while you live in it." And, turning to Mabin, she said, with a sudden burst of vindictive feeling: "Go home at once to your proper guardians. The woman you are now with is a " Before she could utter the word which was ready to her lips, Mrs Dale interrupted her. Springing between the other two. women with a low cry, she addressed the elder lady with such a torrent, of passion that both Mabin and the visitor could only listen without an attempt to stop her. "You shall not say it! You shall not tell her! You know that she is as safe with me, as if she were in her own home. You have spoiled her happiness with rne because you knew it made me happy. But you shall not contaminate her with your wicked words. Go, child." She seized Mabin by the arm and ran with her to the outer door of the dining-room. "Run away, I will find you when this •woman is gone." And the next moment Mabin found herself in the hall, with the diningxoom door closed.

CHAPTER VI. MR BANKS.

There was silence in the room for a few minutes after the abrupt dismissal of Mabin. Mrs Dale made a perfunctory gesture of invitation to her unwelcome visitor to,be seated, and threw herself into a hard horse-hair-covered armchair by the window, which she carefully closed. The visitor, however, remained standing. She was evidently rather astonished at the high-handed behaviour of the culprit whom she had come to exarqine, and uncertain how to deal with her. At last she said in a very cutting tone: "I suppose I ought not by this time to be surprised at your behaving in an unbecoming manner to me, or to anybody. But as you pretended to profess some penitence for your awful sin on the last occasion of our meeting, I own I was carried away by my indignation when I found you receiving visitors, especially young girl visitors. Surely you must recognise how improper such conduct is?" "And which do you suppose is the more likely to do her harm? To stay with me knowing nothing, or to hear from your lips the awful thing you were going to tell her? Why, the poor child would never have got over the shock!" "It wo,uld have been less harmful to her soul than constant communication with you, impenitent as you are!" 2 "You have no right to say that to ■me. How can you see into my heart?" "I judge by yo'ur actions. I find you here, talking and laughing, and enjoying yourself. And J hear that you have already created a most unfavourable impression in the neighbourhood by your rudeness to people who have wished to b& civil to you." "Was it not your own wish that I should shut myself up?" "Yes, but in an humble, not in a defiant, manner. And then you drive about as if nothing had happened, and excite remarks by your appearance alone, which is not the appearance of a disconsolate widow." "By whose wish was it that I bought a carriage?" "By mine, I suppose," replied the other frigidly, "but I meant a brougham, so that you could go about quietly, not an open and fashionable carriage for you to show yourself off!" "Well, I refuse to drive about in a stuffy, shut-up carriage. I amfquite ready to walk, if you wish me to discard the carriage. And I can quite well do with less money than what you Allow me. But I maintain the right to spend my allowance, whatever it may be, exactly as I please.

. • .>!i« M.is committed one iVjU ■ " iil !" •; len sat «hmked the visitor. ••Ow vt- and deadly sin!" "■.vsnse ! h.<ve done wrong, wrov/. - " replied Mrs Dale. Aii.'i ''vt,;r in t!:i.- !■:)«.agonistic woman ii• r voi'-i* i'l.oo; ;',s she uttered the wur Is. " Yo'.! tine no right to think ! 're Ui lead an independent li:v. V:>u hi'no right to the o<>r,l.n-l if i,;y :i: ,: i"!i.s. All that you r»:i dvirusr:-; is <,!;,•<•, I should live decently :md qui:::.!; ~ As long as Ido so i nug'-it to !k\ 1 will be, as free as ev!"\ " Bui, '* r'-i'si.sted the other, "you wi'ifi no: to del-stand what decency require;-'. In the first place, it is im[vvatiwly necessary," and as she said this thf. was a look of genuine anxiety in her eyes, "that you should hold no intercourse whatever with vf the opposite sex." Mrs Dnle said nothing to this; and the look of questioning solicitude in the face oi' ihe other grew deeper. "Surely," she said at last, "you must see this yourself!" "That," answered Mrs Dale deliberately, "is also a matter which rests entirely with rne. I won't be dictated to on that subject any more than-on any other." "Well, then, I warn you that I shall have to keep you in strict surveillance, and that if I hear of your encouraging, or even permitting, the attentions of any man, young or old,, I shall feel myself bound in honour to put hii.i in posfession of the facts of your hiiitory." ( "And if you do." retorted Mrs Dale, rising and speaking in a low tone full of fire and passionate resentment. "if you interfere with me in my quiet and harmless life by telling any person whom I choose ! to call my friend the horrible thing that you hold over my head, I will break away from you and your surveillance, once and for all. I will have the whole story published in the papers, with your share in it as well as mine, and let the world decide which of us is most to blame —the young woman who has wrecked and poisoned her whole life by one rash and wicked act, or the old one who drove her to it, and then used it for ever afterward to goad and madden her!" She paused, and leaned against the table, white to the lips with intense excitement, panting with her own emotion. The other lady had grown white, too, and she looked frightened as she answered: "You are allowing your passion to carry you away again. I should have thought you had been cured of that." The younger lady shuddered, but said nothing. "I was bound to put you on your guard, that was all." Mrs Dale moved restlessly. Her face was livid and moist, her hands were shaking. "Surely you have done that!" she said ironically. "Even the Inquisitors of Spain used to let their victims have a little rest from the torture sometimes; just to let the creatures recover their strength, to give more sport on a future occasion!" The visitor affected to be offended by this speech, and drew herself up in a dignified manner. But it was possible to imagine that she felt just a little shame, or a little twinge of remorse, for her persistent cruelty, for she \vent so far as to offer a cold hand to Mrs Dale as she prepared to go. Mrs Dale looked as if she would rather refuse the hand, but did not dare. She touched the black glove with white, reluctant fingers, and let it go at once. "Good-bye, Dorothy," said the elder lady. "I am sure you will believe, when you come to yourself and think it over, that I have only your interests at heart in ihe advice I have given you. No, you need not come to the door. I shall take just one walk round to look at your garden before I go. I have a cab waiting." , She sailed out of the room, the jet fringes on her gown and mantle making a noise which set Mrs Dale's teeth on edge. As soon as she was alone. Dorothy threw herself face downward, on the hard sofa and burst into a passion of tears and sobs, which rendered her deaf and blind and unconscious of everything but the awful weight at her heart, which she must carry with her to her grave, and of the cruelty which" had revived in its first intensity the old, weary pain. She was mad, desperate, with grief. She felt that it was more than she could bear; that the remorse gnawing at her heart, the more bitterly for the pleasure of the morning, had reached a point where it became intolerable, where the strength of a woman must give way. (To be Continued.) '