Lady Marjorie's Love

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 1 April 1913, Page 2

Lady Marjorie's Love

(OUR SERtAL

By Carl Swerdna Author of "To tie Uttermost Farming," "A Mere Ceremony," "A Fight for Honour," Etc.

CHAPTER XX.—Continued,

the fiery old dowager had been utterly discomfited and put to flight hy her coolly intrepid adversary. It had rot been a circumstance to be forgotten, and, doughty and resolute old fighter a s she was, she did not choose j to hazard a second encounter. She rose from her chair, trembling with rage, the cap upon her head, the stick in her hand, shaking, glaring through her glittering glasses. "The, less I say, my Lady Marldnogford, about the disgraceful sentiment that ye have seen. fit to insult my son's mother with —my son, rest his soul, that would have done a deal better for himself by leaving ye, Fejiella Braye, as he found ye, and small chance of ever being anything else," cried the dowager cuttingly, as,, she tossed up her great cap, trembling as ominously as the wrinkled old hand that grasped and tapped her stick on the carpet—"the less I say the better, Lady/Marlingford! It's to us that ye belong byname —to my sorrow I say it! —but not by blood, praise be to Heaven! It's insult me ye may, as often as ye did in the timeof the blessed saint that's gone, but not my granddaughter. It's a Marlingford that I am now and it's an O'Hara that I wafl .bom, and it's not I that'll stand ,by ahd see the last of the Wynnes niarriedjnothe gutter! I'll thank ye to understand) that'X take her away Mth me to Ireland as soon a« me boxespacked, Lady Mai-lingford|^j The dowager tossed her head again', choking with- rage, and trembling resentfully more than ever, (To be Continuedi)

Barrington, encountering the little woman halfway across the iron, ami bowing politely to hex ladyship, received-in return for the cour te-,v a, *dare so sustained that he re- i treated "towards the oak parlour m involuntary confusion, wondering intensely what .he could possibly have done to bnng it upon himself. *or ho had had no ™' c suspicion oi *\ e curtain or of the wrathful old twinkling eyes behind it than Marjorie had had. , Although she thus began the- day primed for battle and eager, for conflict, the dowager was obliged, Kxely against her will, to wait a while before she could open fire. To do. so i*fore the servants .who waited at breakfast was impossible, and she c(-uld only relievo her feelings by an exhibition of resolute ill humour so beyond precedent bitter .and-cantanker-ous that Marjorie—half soared and half amused found herself glancing at Fenella almost' with empathy. But the countess, not at all affected bv these ominous demonstrations; ate her breakfast with an -untroubled air, a. picture of handsome and icy serenityi That a battle with her fierv old motheVin-law was unrni- | nent she kne\v, although she did not ' suvpect its cause, but it was. not her , were empty. She ate her breakfast,,. 'therefore, quite coolly, and with excellent appetite, making a little ! careless, desultory talk now and then, and seeming quite unconscious of the irrascibility of the older lady. And it was not until Marjone had left the room—very glad to be free of it—that the hostilities began. It must be allowed that TJhe dowager somewhat exaggerated the aff- ; air of the curtain, but die d'd not succeed in at all disturbing the com- ; posure of her daughter-in-law. The countess reclined .gracefully in her ■ chair. handsomely impassive, smiling a little with an expression somewhat-amused-aaid b' ; " varsary was breathless attempted to say nothing whatever. Then she proceeded to fire back again. The dow- ' ager was -a fierce and doughty old " champion, but she was no match for Fenella. Whit possible headway can he made against an opponent who declines to be a.ngry, who refuses to 1)0 surprised, and who amusedly knows about it beforehand? The dowager's most bitter and savage strokes fell 'back blunted 'and harmless frora that amiably indifferent front of hers. The- irate old woman fbuld but snort with amaaemen \ indignation as she glared fiercely through her spectacles and thumped her ivory stick on the floor. . "I really meant toAa^tbld you,,"' the countess ->aid. %aihhg, "hut I suppose.- through Mr Barrirjgton -being away it slipped my memory.» Yes, he is very roucih in love with t Marjorie—quite desperately, judging from the indications. I have seen it from the" first! Do I say that she i s in love-with him Weil, no. I should scarcely care to go so far as that. There is this ridiculoujubjl«Eess"v?rSr on, for one thing, and'then her head is filled with the usual 'foolis&"nonsen^:. l .abput her birth, and so oh, the silly little' creature! Tom Jbcelyn. would be a far better match for her,, but she won't hear of s«m. The Bligh" affair is imposisible, as. I said, and this young man is very fond of her, and is able to give her a comfortable kind 'of a home, and " j The dowager stamped: . her ivory stick on the floor. /.* ''l will let Mr Cfliadhisf!n know of this man's -goings on," i!he-interrup-ted..'"l will- " 'Oh my dear countess, -let me -beg you to consider—let m© beg you to do nothing of the kind!" Fenella ex-. olaimed.. 'tßemember, pray, that Mr Ohadburn is a man of the people; he would be suire^t©; take "►'precisely the same common-«ense view of -the matter that I am proud to «ay I take myself. I don't wish to be rude—l'm sure you know that—-but I really fear you know, that a letter of that kind would only amuse him. As he would very justly say—why should not a penniless girl marry a man who is able to support her respectably and comfortably? I dare say that Mr Barrington receives a fairly, good salary—l fancy there are some small private means also he is very well bi-etl, and all that, : and'he eertumiy is very fond of Marjorie.' I assure you, I have been thinking what a fortunate thing it is for her. I sincerely that she may have enough sense to accept him. lam sorry that you should not agree with me," concluded, the countess blandly, smiling upon the furious old face before her, "but. you are surprised—l quite understand that. Realty, I blame myself that I did not enlighten you. It was extremely thoughtless—pray excuse me!" The defence had entirely overmatched the onslaught and the countess had decidedly got the best of the battle. It wa s not the first contest in which the elder had been utterly nouted and beaten by the younger lady, whose passive composure and icy serenity ..rendered her well-nigh impregnable... In the very first war which had ever raged between them