"THE MOTH AND THE STAR,"

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LXX, Issue 146016, 20 July 1916, Page 7

"THE MOTH AND THE STAR,"

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I CHAFTER VIII. I The next day Mary avoided Ashl'ovd 'as though he Avere labelled ".Danger- | ous." Being a wise man, he took tins for the compliment it-Mas. ! .Ln the morning they all went for a rich, and Ashford was not sorry for the oppoitmiity of showing her what a splendid horseman ho was. : "Yon ride well, Mr Ashford," -she said. - ".] shook!—l have, had plenty ot practice," ho replied modestly. In the afternoon he asked her to go on the water with him. The invitation was ,;o outright that it was dsfiu-ult to refuse. • <lj—isn't it rather hot for the river she demurred. j "1-il keep iv the shade." '•That will bo a change for you, • won't it?" said Yalletort with a sneering smile. Ashford looked at the young man with an ominous levelling of his Ihoays and his lino figure seemed to tower over Yalletort, Avho Avas no stripling. Mary paled, ami laid her hand on \shford's sleeve with a swift, impulsive gesture. It was curious that in this eritcal moment, Avhen the men s 1 subdued hostility was likely to burst forth, it was not her fiance to Avhom sho thus mutely appealed, but to Ash- ' ford. Instinctively she recognised i which was at once the more dangerous i and the stronger of the two. ( "Of course, I shall be pleased to come," she said sweetly, aud cast a withering glance at Yalletort as she turned away. "Shall we have a punt. I feel lazy this afternoon." Again Yalletort's evil angel, or had temper, had played into the hands of \shford, ayLoiii he had recognised as his rival long ago. 11' Mary had not been offended with Yallciort, as well as anxious to aAert a quarrel, she would have resisted the charm this man's presence exercised over her against her Avill, and the influence which was growing stronger every day. _ A.s it was, she accompanied Ash Lord to the boathouso with her heart beating fast, and her tongue going as rapidly to hide her nervousness, which Avas milled fear of the past and apprehension of the fature. "When Ashford had made her cmn- | fortable in the puut, however, and tiiey had pushed out into the river, her ilow of s.nall. talk subsided. lie had been waiting qui-. 1 ly for this moment: he knew as well what she ay.-is thinking (d* hir.i as though she had told him; she was afraid of him. because sho was afraid of herself. "Lord Yalletort does not seem to like me," he said. "I think he'll be glad Avliea my visit is over." "Oh, you mustu't take any notice of him, * r said Mary quickly. " His mother would be very angry. He is almost a boy still. He has been spoilt. He is used" to so much of his own Avay that he is angry if " She checked herself and blushed. "I was going to say that he is angry if I pay the least attention to anybody else," "In fact,"' said Ashford, "the- young gentleman is jealous. .1. Avish that 1 could believe that he had something to be .-jealous about." Alary flinched. "Don't say that," sho said in a low tone. "Why do you want me to be miserable 1 I am going to marry Yali letort. A Avoman who cannot, be true jto the man she is going to marry has an unpleasant character, which I should be sorry to possess." " Au'engagement is not marriage. It is a period of probation intended to permit of Avithdruwal on either side.*' "Don't talk about it!" she urged. "I —of course, I am very fond of Yalletort. Keally, Mr Ashford, I can't discuss him or my engagement with yon. I—don't malce hie sorry that I did not stay at home." He looked at her, and read the same expression in her eyes as when she had asked him silently not to quarrel with Yalletort; only it Avas now for herself that she appealed, Avith a far stronger appeal than that of Avords —an appeal pathetic iv its helplesness, of Avoakucss to strength. Something in that moment seemed to touth the heart hardened by a long shoot through the man's breast and fight against the Avorld. The Juggernaut, of a strong, reckless Avill, pursuing its oavu selfish ends, stopped short Avith a jerk that set his pulses leaping and his hands trembling and drove the blood from his cheeks. Tho girl among tho cushions had suddenly changed her identity for him with an inflexion of tho voice, a glance. She had been a quarry to be pursued, she had become a woman to be loved. '.tne feeling, once aroused, could ne\"or sink into oblivion again. It-had come to revolutionise the man's life and character. Love had been so far .from his thoughts that it had sprung upon him unaAvares. Ho bit his lip and bent over the puut polo, and she could not see his face. "I beg your pardon," ho said softly. "I have presumed too much. Of course, I will never say anything more to displease you. What shall Aye talk about?" The girl laughed forcedly. "I think Kitty Wildairs would be a safe topic. Isn't she a dear little ; thing?" "I fancy Mr Hugh is beginning to think so!' Ashford was not at all interested in : either Hugh or Hugh's playfellow. He . wanted to throw the polo doAvn and ' take tho girl iv his arms and kiss her as he had never kissed a woman before. , Tho desiro was-so strong that it requir- ' ed all his will to resist it, and perhaps ■ he realised then that his soul was going , to bo racked by the strongest battle be- • twecu his good and evil instincts that ' he had ever fought. Ho no longer wanted to remain with her. He wanted to shut himself up aolue, to faco this unexpected situation, to ask himself what he meant to do, to decide for ever whether ho was t a scoundrel or a man. Till then ho dare - scarcely speak to her. His brain Avas on fire, and there was blod in his eyes which blotted out the sun.

What a fool he hud been, with all his cleverness! Ho had played with tho girl, pursuing his aim with so much self-assurance, and now sho was playing with him. An unforsoen complication had thrown all his mental machinery out of gear. It had never occurred to him that he could be weak in such a way; that tho slim hands of a girl like this could take tho strands of his life and tangle them into knots he could scarcely break

It was ho who suggested that they should go in by-and-bye, and she was grateful. Conversation had grown difficult in the last half-hour. They wore

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(By ESTHBJtt MILLER.)

both thinking. Then Mary went to her room and looked at her pale cheeks in the glass, and said to herself — "1 am glad that I had. some sort of an explanation with him. Now he Avill pursue me no more, lie is a gentleman." And, because she Avas glad, site sa i. down on the couch and began to cry. W Ashford had been a woman lie would have been crying, too. Being a man, -lie was pacing his room Avith clenched hands and furrowed brow. "jf .1. Avere Jit to black her shoes she shouldn't seal my mouth with Valietort.'s name. She loves me, and I think she knows it. Therefore she' belongs to me and not to him. Hut she thinks I am better than I am, and I daren't tell her the truth. Yesterday I would have, married her Avithout hesitation, glad of the chance; to-day, I love her.' What shall I do?" There Avere three possible couises open to him. Either he could tell her the truth in order to iiud out if her love Aveer strong enough to trust much, to forgive much, to sacrifice much, to stoop to the very earth for him; or he could throw up the sponge aud go aAvay silent —eifa.ee himself like a shadow which had for a moment fallen across her poth; or else he could give unlimited reins to this passion, as painful as it Avas sweet, as Avonderful as it Avas new, aio3 deceive her, and sacrifice her, and live for his oavu enjoyment like an animal, Avithout morality. Hut because love can turn a monster into a man; because love had come to ke his sleeping conscience; because the, best part of his nature, capable of ! great things, Avas spurred to action, a weapon Avhieh had come to fill his soul with strife, he hesitated to choose this [ CYU third course. "1 will go away—-I must," he told himself. " There is no alternative. Xo girl could forgive." Then the sanguineness which had led him into so many scrapes returned. "When a woman loves —loves deeply, what can she not forgive?" His hands clenched Avith a /passionate .gesture. "And if I went aAvay alone " He could not make up his mind. At one. moment he determined to keep his secret; at tho next he Avas willing to risk anything, to dare anything, in order to Avin her honourably JS'ow sho thought him a demi-god; ho could see that avcll enough. She was not used to meeting men who had fought their own battles and sharpened and hardened to steel over them; those Avith Avhom she came in contact had stepped into comfortable glass-cases at their birth. He had taken her by storm. If he. continued the pursuit she must give in. He laughed at Yalletort, whom ho regarded as a conceited, tactless hoy, for a rival, although she wore his ring. The man kueAV his oavu strength —believed in himself. But would the feeling he had aroused in her ho strong enough to withstand such a trial as it must if he were to Aviii her honestly? Was the character of the woman herself strong enough to resist tho shock of discoA--ery, and to produce such a splendid, dangerous loyalty to a man Avho Avas, after all, a stranger to her, iv opposition to the wishes and advice, of the people among whom her lifo had been passed? If he confessed and she forgave him, she would havo to outrage secretly all the social laws sho had been taught" to study. Could he expect her to do this? Dare ho ask her for such a trust? It. would be the instinct of sex against the training of a lifetime if she consented to marry him when she kncAV his past. Yet somehow he must Avin her.

(To ho Continued.)