OUR NEW SERIAL THE YOUNG ARCHDUCHESS

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XXIII, 24 May 1922, Page 3

OUR NEW SERIAL THE YOUNG ARCHDUCHESS

(By

WILLIAM LE QUEUX)

CHAPTER XVIII. (Continued). O/i the same night that the judge and his son. were dining together there was a quiet party of two at dinner in a London restaurant far removed from fashionable haunts, a man and a woman. The-man was Vincent, the woman, dressed in deep mourning, was Mabel Somers.

They had only met twice since that day when the telegram announcing the death of Guy Somers had. been handed to Mabel at Claridge’s. Vincent was to have called again in about ten or eleven days, but before that period elapsed he had received a letter from the young widow,.-explain-ing that she was not in v a condition to keep any appointments, that she would write him later. In due course he received that letter. By then Mabel had recovered from the shock. Her feelings for her husband had nevei' been aep, even in the very ' early days of + r marriage, and for a long time ?; had grown to dislike and fear hi. She wrote very calmly and coherently, with the clear vision of a woman for whom the old life was closed and who was young enough to anticipate a brighter one. The will that Guy Somers had made on his marriage, leaving everything to his wife, with proper provision for possible children, had not been superseded. Had he lived even a few days longer, it is certain that the situation would have been altered. His offending wife would have been provided for very handsomely, no doubt —for the man was singularly free from despicable qualities—but certain distant relations would have inherited the bulk of his money. This she knew for a fact, as the family solicitor had already had one or two interviews on the subject, in which Guy had discussed details. As things stood, the accidental overturning of a car had made Mabel Somers one of the richest women in England. She accepted her good fortune with the more gratitude because she could lay her, hand upon her heart and say that she had never wronged her husband in deed or in word. From Claridge’s she had moved to a flat in Buckingham Gate. The handsome mansion at Market Harborough she had put up for sale. She had no wish to put foot again in that house which had so long been a prison for her ardent and rebellious spirit. The dinner was over. Mabel began to draw on her gloves, the room was half empty. “It has been a delightful evening,” said. Vincent, and there was just a touch of gloom in his voice. “I shall always keep the memory of it, for I don’t suppose there will be many more to remember.”

“Why not? ” queried Mabel softly. “It is very kind of you to overlook the vast difference in our positions,” began Vincent, when she interrupted him with a pout.

“If you are going to be horrid I shall be sorry i accepted your invitation to-night.” “ I don’t want to be horrid, dear, but what is the use of dodging facts? I am a poor devil earning a few hundreds a year by literature and other things, you are a very rich woman.” Again she interrupted him. “ You are a gentleman, are you not? You told me all about yourself last time we met, your real name —everything. Be fore I married I was a poor girl myself, used to wash my own gloves and to do all sorts of disagreeable things ” Vincent shook his head. “Special pleading, my dear, special pleading. It doesn’t alter the facts.'’

“ If you were a rich man, and you had known me as a poor girl and then come into the fortune, would you say you didn’t want to meet me again? ” “ That is different,” replied the obstinate Vincent.

“ You’ll make me very angry in a moment. I don’t think, for all your cleverness, you quite understand the woman I am. At least, you know I asm not conventional ? ’’

‘‘ Yes, I think I know that,” Vincent admitted. A faint flush rose to her cheek. “I wasn’t a very conventional young woman on that particular morning when I dropped my bangle, was I? ” Vincent felt as grave as a judge at the moment, but he could not help smiling at- the recollection of that incident.

No, by Jove! there was not much of the grand dame about you then,

was there?” She laid her hand caressingly on his sleeve. “ I don’t want you ever to think of me as a grand dame, only just as Mabel Somers, the young woman with whom you scraped acquaintance on the roadside in a- most informal manner. And now I am going to be as unconventional as ever. It is quite early, l only half-paSt nine. Come round to my flat, have a final smoke and we will fix up a little compact to be good friends in spite of ” here she mimicked him—“ ‘the vast difference in our positions,’ to quote your own phrase.” “ Good friends!” repeated Vincent in a doubtful voice. Into Mabel’s tones there crept a note of impatience. “You silly, hairsplitting creature. Call a taxi and come along. We can talk things over there, we can’t here.”

Two minutes later, Vincent was bowling along in a taxi to Buckingham Gate and Mabel’s hand was clasped in his.

An lioui- later the two young people were sitting side by side on a chesterfield in tho dainty drawing-room of the flat in Buckingham Gate, and they were again clasping hands. It was evident th at they had arrived at a good understanding in the interval. “ When we are married, after, of course, a decent interval ” began Vincent in rather solemn tones. “ When we are married ” repeated Mabel softly. “Of course I shall assume my propar name of Trevor, introduce my highly respectable family and all that sort

of thing, but I shall carry on my journalism and the detective work just the same as ever.”

“Of course,” said Mabel submissively. She was too happy to impose conditions on this rather masterful lover.

“And then as to ways and means,” went on Vincent in the same solemn tones, but his lady-love put her fingers in her ears and interrupted him. I “ Oh, please, don’t remind me again of the vast difference in our positions, or I shall scream and that awfully decorous new butler will rush in, to say nothing of my dear old maid, Ellison. Well, go on, dear, you think I am awfully frivolous, I am sure” Vincent smiled indulgently. What a very light-hearted mercurial creature she was, to be sure. All the same she was very fascinating, very lovable. “ Look here, dearest, let us be seri-

ous for a moment or two.” Mabel was bubbling over with good spirits to-night, but she composed herself with becoming gravity to listen to her lover’s words of wisdom. “ Yes. certainly, let us be serious for a moment or two. Fire away Jack.” “You see, we must go into these things. My income is, roughly, about fifteen hundred a year - . I shall keep, say, two hundred for pocket money and hand you over the balance to go into the general fund.” Mabel burst into a peal of laughter. “ Dear thrifty Jack, how punctilious you are. I hope, when you find yourself a little bit short of pocket money, you will let me lend you half a crown. When I was a girl and very hard up I always used to tap my father for the same amount. Oh, why can’t you think you are the rich man. and I the poor woman? It would make things so much easier?’ “ We can’t alter facts, dearest,” said Vincent. ‘ls that always going to be a sha-

dow between us, Jack?’ she asked anxiously. “ Are you always going to brood day and night over the fact that I am better off than you? ” He clasped her in his arms and kissed her fervently. “ But I must preserve my independence, you know.”

Continued in to-morrow’s Advertiser.