THE STORY-TELLEIR.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1055, 18 January 1879, Page 2

THE STORY-TELLEIR.

WIFE IN NAME ONLY. By the author of - <*■ J>«ra. Thorne," "On Her WEDD-a^q&oßN," "ReDEEMED BY LOVE," "A WOMAN'S WAR," &C. &fl. (Continued from Tuesday's issue). CHAKUER XXXIX. * Madaline,' he began, ' will you look at me, and see if my face brings back no dream, no memory to you? Yet how foolish I am to think of such a thing! How can you remember me when your baby-eyes rested on me only for a few minutes ?' * I do not remember you,' she replied, gently ; ' I have never seen you before.' ' My poor child,' he returned, in a tone so full of tenderness and pain that she was started by it, ' this is hard.' ' You cannot be the gentleman I used to see sometimes in the early home that I only just remember, who used to amuse me by showing me his watch and taking me out for drives ?' ' No, I never saw you, Madaline, as a child ; I left you when you were three or four days old. I have never seen you since, although I have spent a fortune almost in searching for you.' ' Yon have ?' she said, wonderingly. ' Who then are yuu ?' ' That iB what I want to tell you without startling you, Madaline — dear Heaven, how strange it seems to utter that name again ! You have always believed that good woman who has quitted the room to be your mother ?' 'Yes, always,' she repeated, wonderingly. 'And that wretched man the convict you have always believed to be your father ?' ' Always,' she repeated. ' Will it pain or startle you very much to hear that they are not even distantly related to you — that the woman was simply chosen as your foster-mother because she had just lost her own child ?' 'I cannot believe it,' she cried, , trembling violently. ' Who are you i to tell me this V 'I am Hubert, Earl of Mount, dean,' he replied, ' and, if you will '■ allow me, 1 will tell you what else l I am.' ! ' Tell mo,' she said, gently. ; 'I am your father, Madaline — [ iind the bes I*,1 *, part of my life has been spent in looking for you.' ! 'My father!' she said, faintly. : ' Then lam not the daughter of a convict — ray father is an earl V '■ 'I am your father,' he repeated, ; 'and you, child, have your mother's . face.' 'And she - she who has just left us — is nothing to me ?' 'Nothing. Do not tremble, my clear child. Listen — try to be brave. Let me hold your hands in mine while I tell you a true story.' He held her trembling hands while he told her the story ot his life, of his marriagp, of the sudden and fatal journey and her mother's death — told it in brief, clear words that left no shadow of doubt on her mind as to ito perfect truh. ' Of your nurse's conduct,' he said, ' I forbsar to speak— it was cruel, wickeel ; but, as love for you dictated it, I will say r;o more. My dearest child, yoa must try to forget this unhaipy past, aud let me atone to you for it. I cannot, e.-id are to think t iafc my daughter and heiress Lady Madaline Charlewood should have spent her youth uuder so terrible a cloud.' There came no answer, and, looking at her, he saw that the colour had Uft her face, that the white eyftlids had fallen over the blue eyes, that the white lips were parted and cold — she had faiited, fallen into a dead swoon. He_kne.lt by her side and called to her with passionate cries, he kissed the white face and tried to recall the wandering senses, and then he rang the bell with a heavy peal. Mrs Dornham came hurrying in. ' Look !' said Lord Mountdean. ' I have been as careful as I could, but that is your work.' Margaret Dornham knelt by the side of the senseless girl. ' I would^give my life to undo ray past folly ,'*ahe said. ' Oh, my lord, can you ever forgive me V He saw the passionate love that she had for her foster child : he saw that it was a mother's love, tender, true, devoted, and self-sacrificing' though mistaken. H e could not be angry, for he saw that her sorroweven exceeded his own. To his infinite joy, Madaline presently opened her dark blue eyes, and looked up at him, She stretched I out her hands to him. 'My father,' she said— * you are really my father V He kissed her face. ' Madaline,' he replied, ' mylieSt is too full for words. I have spent seventeen years in looking for you, and have found you at last. My dear child, we have seventeen years of love and happiness to make up.' ' It seems like an exquisite dream ' she said. ' Can it be true ?' ' He saw her lovely faoe grow crimson, and, bending her fair shapely head, she whispered — ' Papa, does Lord A rleigh know V ,*t L !T 1 i rlei g b! ' he repeated. 'My dear child, this is the second time you have mentioned him. What has he to do with you ?• §I*9 tooted up at him Ia wowfe^

4Do you not know V she asked. ' Have they not told you I am Lord Arleigh's wife?' #■##*# Lord Arleigh felt very disconsolate that June mornitg. The world was so beautiful, so bright, so fair, it seemed hard that he should have no pleasure in i>. If fate had but been kinder to him ! To increase his dulness, Lord Mountdean, who had been staying with him for some days had suddenly disappeared. He had gone out early in the morning, saying* that he would have a long ramble in the woods, and would probably not return \intil noon for luncheon. Noon had come and gone, luncheon was served, yet there was no sign of the E«l. Lord Arleigh was not; uneasy, but he longed for his friend's society. I At last, he decided upon going in seareh of him. He had perhaps lost his way in the woods, or he bad mistaken some road. It was high time that they looked after him — he had been so many hours absent without apparent cause. Lord Ar- :* lejgh whistled for his two favorite dogs, Nero and Yenus, and started out in search of his friend. ' He went through the woods and and down the high-road, but there was no sign of the Earl. 'He must have walked home by another route,' thought Lord Arleigh, and he went back to Beechgrove. He did not find the Earl there, but a groom, who had evidently been riding fast, was waiting for him in the hall. 'My lord,' he said, { I was directed to give you this at ouce, and beg of you not to lose a moment's time.' Wondering* what had happened, Lord Arleigh opened the note and read : — 'My dear Lord Arleigh, — Something too wonderful for me to set down in words has happened. lam at the Dower House, Wmiston. Come at once, and lose no time. — Mountdean.' 'At the Dower House!' mused Lord Arleigh. ' What cau it mean V {To be Continued.)