CHAPTER XVIII.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 6632, 6 October 1888, Page 4

CHAPTER XVIII.

"What SoheHavk Found So Sweet."

Time went on. Mr Quest had been back at Boisingham for ten days or more, and was in better spirits than Belle (we can no longer call her his wife) had seen him in for years. Indeod he felt as though ten years had been lifted off his back. Ho hed taken a great and terrible decision and hod acted upon it, and it had been successful, for he knew that his evil genius was so thoroughly terrified, that for a long while at least he would be free from her persecutions. Butwith Belle his relations remained as strained as ever.

Now that the reader is in the secret of Mr Quest's life, it will perhaps help him to understand the apparent strangeness of his conduct with referenco to his wife and Edward Cossey. It is quite true that Belle did not know the full extent of her husband's guilt. She did not know that lie was not her husband, but sihe did know that_ nearly all ol her little fortune had been paid over to another woman, and that woman a common, vulgar woman, as one of Edith's letters which had fallen into her hands by chance very clearly showed her. Therefore, had he attempted to expose her proceedings or eten to control her actions, she had in her hand an effective weapon of defence wherewith she could and would have given blow for blow. TbU stato of affairs of necessity forced each party to preserve an armed neutrality towards the other, whilst they waited for a suitablo opportunity to assert themselves. Not that their objects were quite the same. Belle merely wished to bo free of her husband, whom she. had always disliked, and whom she now positively hated with that curious hatred which ■women occasionally conceive towards thoso to whom they are legally bound, when they have been bad enough or unfortunate enough to fall in love with somebody else. He, on the contrary had that desire for revenge upon her which even the gentler stomp of man is apt to conceive towards one, who herself the object of his strong affection, daily and hourly repels and repays it with scorn and infidelity. Ho did love her truly, she was the one living thing in all Ms bitter lonely life to whom his heart had gone out True, he put presßuie on her to marry him, or what comes to tho samo thing, allowed and encouraged her drunken old father to do so. But he had loved her and still loved her, and yet she mocked at him, and in tho face of that fact about the money— her money, which be hod paid away to the other womun a fact which ifc was impossible for him to explain except by the admission of guilt which would bo his ruin, what was he to urge to convince her of this, even had she been open to conviction ? But it was bitter to him, bitter beyond all conception, to have this, the one joy of Mb life, snatched from him. He threw himself with ardour into the pursuit after wealth and dignity of position, partly because ho had a legitimate desire for these things, and partly to assuage the constant irritation of his mind, but tono purpose. These two spectres of his eiisttence, his tiger wife and the fair woman who was his wife in name, constantly marched Bide by side before h : m, blotting out the beauty from every scene and souring the sweetness of every joy. But if in his pain he thirsted for revenge upon Belle, who would have none of him, how much more did ho desire to be avenged upon Edward Cossey, who, as it were, bad in sheer wantonness robbed him of the one pood thing ho had. It made him mad to think that this man, to whom he know himsolf to bo in every way superior, should havo had tho power thus to injure him, and ho longed to pay him back measure for measure, and through his hoart's affections to strike him as mortal a blow as he had himself received.

Mr Quest was no doubt a bad man, his whole life was a fraud, he was selfish and unscrupulous in his schomes and resentlcs3 in their execution, but whatcvor may have been tho measure of his iniquities, .he was not doomed to wait for another world to have them meted out to him again. His life, indeed, was full of miseries, the more keenly felt because of the high pitch and capacity of his nature, and perhaps tho sharpest of them all was the sickening knowledge that had it not been for that one fatal error of his boyhood, that one falso step down the steep of Avernus, he might have been a good and even a great man.

Just now, however, his load was a little lightened, and ho was able to devote himself to his money-making, and to the weaving of tho web that was to destroy 1113 rival, Edward Cossoy, with a mind a littlo loss preoccupied with other cares.

Meanwhile, things at tho Castle were going very pleasantly for everybody. Tho Square was as happy in attending to tho various details connected with tho transfer of the mortgages as though he had beon lending thirty thousand pounds instead of borrowing it. The great George was happy in the accustomed flow of borrowed cash, that enabled him to treat Jantcr with a lofty scorn not unmingled with pity, which was as balm to his harassed soul, and also to transact an enormous amount of business in his own peculiar way with men up trees and otherwise, for hod he not to stock the Moat Farm, and was not Michaelmas at hand ?

Ida, too, was happy, happier than she had been since her brother's death, for reasons that have already been hinted at. Besides, Mr Edward Cosaey was out of the way, and that to Ida wbb a very great thing, for his presence to her was what a policeman is to a ticket-of-lcave man — a most unpleasant . and BUggestive eight. She fully realised the meaning and extent of tho bargain into which she had entered to »aye her father and her houso, and there lay upon her tho deep ehadow of evil that wa9 to come. Every time sho saw her father bustling about with his business letters and his parchments, every time tho universal George arrived with an air of melancholy satisfaction and a long list of the forming stock and implements ho had bought at some neighbouring Michaelmas sale, the shadow deepened, and she heard the clanking of her chains. Therefore she was tho more thankful for her respite. Harold Quaritch was happy too, though in a somewhat restless und peculiar way. Mrs Johson (the old lady who attended to his wants at Molehill, with the help of a gardener and a simple village maid, her neice, who smashed all tho crockery and nearly drove the Colonel mad by banging the doors, shiftinghis papers and even dusting his trays of Roman coins) actually confided to eomo friends in the village that she thought tho poor dear old gentleman uns going mnd. When questioned on what she based this reliof, alto replied that ho would walk up and down tho oak-pannollcd dining room by tho hour togethor, that then, wlion he got tired of that exereiso, whereby, said Mrs Jobson, he had already worn a groove in tho now Turkey carpet, ho would take outa"rokoy" (foggy) lookingbitof apicturo, and set it upon a. chair and stare%t it through his fingers, shaking his head and muttering all the while. Then— further and conclusivo proof of a yielding intellect, ho would get a half-sheet of paper with some writing on it and put it on the mantelpiece and stare at that. Next he would turn it upside down indstaro at it so, then Bideways, then all ways, then he would hold it before a lookingglass and stare at the looking-glass, and so on. When asked how ehe knew all this, sho confessed that Janohad seen it through tho keyhole, not onco but often. Of course, as tho practised and discerning reador will clearly understand, this meant only that when walking and wearing out the carpet the Colonel was thinking of Ida, when contemplating Iho painting that she had given him, he was admiring her work and trying to reconcile his admiration with his own consciouco and his somewhat peculiar views of art, and that when glariDg at tho paper, he was vainly endeavouring to make head or tale of tho message written to his son on the night before his execution by Sir James do laMollo in tho reign of Chnrlca 1., and confidently helioved by Ida to contain a key to tho wheroabouta of the treasure ho was supposed to have secreted. (To be Continued.)

The following appealed in our Second £diiion of yesterday.

(Per United Presß Association.)

London, Oct. 3— Cruisers for tho Australian Naval Squadron will be launched in April, and fitted out by September. Tho Admiralty have expressed, their willingness to keep the whole of them if the colonies are not satisfied with the ships.

The meeting of the shareholders of the Bank of Australasia was of an excited and prolonged character, lasting four hours. The report was adopted after a very bitter and acrimonious discussion, and a motion was adopted rescinding the grant of £1500 per annum for five years to the family of Mr Parkes, late manager. Tho motion was carried by a larpe majority, but if tho decision of tho malcontents is upheld, the directors threaten to resign. At tho wool sales to-day, 9000 bales were sold. Leather, best Bide 3, 9Jd to lOd.

October 4. — Bank rate of discount, 6 per cent. New Zealand 4 per cent inscribed stock has fallen from par to 96J. Bank of Now Zealand shares are quoted at £10. The decline in New Zealand Btock is due to the Bank of New Zealand disclosures, which have depressed the market. October 4 — McKill, who was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the death of the man King, who was killed on the Midland Railway line, has been committed for trial.

The Marquis of Hartington, speaking at Inverness, said that the conduct of the Parnellito party differed very little from actual rebellion, and that Mr Gladstone's whole aim was to discredit the administration of the law in Ireland.

Bishop Kennion, speaking at the Church Congress at Manchester on the subject of colonial missions, deplored the spiritual competition of the Church of England with disspnting denominations. The barque Trevelyan, bound for Dunedin, is posted as overdue. Tho Bank of New Zealand has issued a circular explaining the situation. The Standard tb : nks tfjie Bank has acted wisely in taking the bull by tho horns. The FinancialNewsurges that the inquiry shovld be extended to companies knovi.l to bo aisociated ■n.'th the Bauk.

Paeis, October 3— General Boulanger has returned from a tour in Spain,_and w 'II immediately recommence Fs political cam-

paign. * Vienna, October 3 — The Emperor William of Germany airivcd here to-day, and received a great ovation as ho was driven tl-ough the streets of tho city. He was received by Emperor Frances Joseph, and tho meeting between the tivo Emperors was of a mont cordial nature.

Calcutta, October 3— The Biitish expoditionaiy force is advancing upon the Agror Valley in four columns. The Chinese ministers at Lhnssa aro endeavouring to bring about peace between tho Chilians and the Indian Government.

Ottawa, October 3— Mr Blame, speaking at Ontario, said the United States would welcome Canada into the union, but would never attempt tD coerce her.

Scakim, October 3.— Thevigour and number of the attacks on the town are decreasing, and tbo rebels are reported to bo doscrting in largo numbers. Melbourne, Oetobor 6. — For tho Caulfield Cup 100 to 2 is wanted about Stanley. Dividend is being supported at 100 to 1, and backers exhibit a disposition to go on to any amount at that price Thero is little or no wagering on tho V.R.C. Derby. Enquiries are being mode for WJiakawai for tho Melbourno Cup, and ho has advanced to 100 to 5. Tho following scratehings havo been posted. Caulfield Cup— Simon, Pcarlshcll, First Flaneur, and Whakawai. Melbourne Cvp — Merrima. Arrived — Tarowora yesterday. Sydney, October s.— Pastev has successfully demonstrated that thero is n remedy for a cl;scasec I; scase of sheep known as anlhroa,