CHAPTER XXVIII.-(Continued)

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 27, 30 October 1885, Page 5

CHAPTER XXVIII.-(Continued)

That is true," said Paul diyly. "It is a view of the matter which I did not take before ; but then— suppose 1 turn into a miser, and some bold kinsman comes forward and murders me? It mi^ht be wiser to take the thing into my own bands ?" ° "Nonsense!" said Ka'herine. ''Ifotbid you to ruin yourself by anything so silly. Have a little patience, and don't believe in bogies. The old man will die, and you will get possession of all the wealth. You will leave this mouldy place and become a great man m England, where taste and money are appreciated. You are cultived and accomplished. You can have your will of all the good things of the world. You may mairy the handsomest woman of your time-but oh, I forgot! I beg your pardon !" and Katherine glanced at May, and laughed in make-believe confusion. But May was bravely at her post, and out-laughed her. "G ° ° n P lease >" she sald blithely. "Go on, and finish the story We must let nothing interfere with the hero's grandeur. You must wed him to a princess— unless, indeed, you can find an unmarried queen. You are bound not to stop until you have placed him on a throne." "I am bound to no such thing!" said Katherine pettishly. And he Bhall not go on a throne, for kings are wretched creatures." " Well," said May, " that does not prove that your hero may not be a king. You have not done anything for him yet to pievent his being a very wretched creature : but all I say is Ibis, that I hope he will be allowed to look after his poor subjects" in these pait,. There is a long account due to them from the fore-fathers of his inajes'y. We will include the settling of this among the pleasures you have mentioned."

Katherine laughed a cynical laugh. " No, indeed ! ' she said, "no such thing! My hero .shall send Tober. evil to the hammer' He shall fly from this land of beggars and of bogs. He shall level" in his inheritance, not squander it fur nothing." "We talk about 'mv hero.' and 'my hero,'" said May, smilingly; "but the heir of Tobereevil must* declare for himself. Let him speak and siy if he will turn bis back upon his people.' Both bright pair of e^es were tinned on Paul. May's with more eagerness and anxiety lurking in them than their o.iner eaml that they s-hould betray. Paul grew troubled and embarrassed under their gaze. " I don't know." he said ; " I am not prepared to declare ; but I am not sure that the wisest plan for the future master of i'obereevil would not be to get iid of the whole thine, and leave the cuibc aud the woods to rot or flourish as they please. ' May grew pale ; but she answered readily, before Katheiine had time to speak. "Will, there will be time enough to decide when the n<*ht moment cooks. In the meantime, is it not time that this moeun» ehould brpak up ? ' ° And the meeting did break up. Katherine bad achieved tiiumph enough to last her for one night, and went sinking duwn the cloisteis to her chamber. She sang her h>,'ht song while she unbound her golden hair, and put off her je\ul- and her laces and her gown of glittering silk ; and she fell asleep mailing, and dnamtthat May was weeping at her door, but she would nut let her in. Yet May w.ts not wet-ping, only lying awake in pain, with wide-open ey-s and fiercely throbbing heart; for tears could not save Paul, howe\er strength and courage might. All the courage was needed, and needed yet more urgently as days and weeks went on. The change in Paul became moie muktd, and Katherine's subtle power gaih-ied closer loind him, while h. r cunning boldness kept him farther out of the ie«ch of Ma\ 's wholesome influence. Her convocation ran upon money and power, upon the folly of a man's not enjoying what.-vei he comd touch, upon the uselessnesg of >-o-cailed benevolent ende ivours to do good to one v fellow-creatures; and every hour Paul bhowt d a moie restless impatience top ssess the inhentaoce which the mis r had pioraise-1 should be his. His temper was altere 1 ; every iln k- rim,' shadow had become a sombre cloud, every gl, am of his good old liumoi appeared only under the guise of a feverish hilarity. X ithenne amused him with stories of the gay world, where people did what they p, eased without trouble about duty, and in periect freedom from the thialdom of what stupid people call conscience, bhe showed him that life in such a dreary corner of the work! as this, was no better thau that of the mole in the earth ; that gaiety and excitement and luxuiy were the only things that make existence worth having. And when Katheiine talked she banished the devil of gloom that "tormeute t his soul, but only that, when she had ceased, seven othcis might entei m fcand take possession of it ; while May became like some- pale spirit Fhovenng on the threshold of this dwelling which hid been her own, and kept aloof by the demons that had driven her out. It had taken three strange months to bring things to this point, and one bleak day in March Katherine took a Jancv to walk out by herself, away from Monasteries, and towards the Woods of l'obeieevil. It was a gray morning, wi'h a cold and sc i thing wind ; nut Kathenne was he dtby and strong, and clad so as to defy fie bitter w< atber. She Was all wiapped up iv furs, and cairied a giy hat and f. a hns upon her head. .As she walked along the road, p" o pi cuuriesi> dto her, and looked after her; fur tier beauty shone duzzlmgly m the ch.ll ot the coloili ss day. It seemed to amuse her to be out thus alone, a id on an ci r.T-d of her own ; for r^he laughed plea-autly to h. rsjlf as sue w nt alonj. She sometimes looked behind het. hut she did not stop at all till si c had come to the entrance of the Tooereevil Woods, then sue stool still and gazed at them. Katherine Arch bold, had m.t the least share of superstition or of poetry in her nature ; yet her mind, as she gazed at the trees, was filled with the recollection of the story of their

origin ; but §h« had no shudder for the cruelty of the wholesile murder that had driven their roots into the soil. She was not tioubW about freezing mothers and babes, aid famished men. bhe thought only of the success of these strong woods which had bo forced their roots into the sa i, reluctant land, covering many a mile wiih their mighty limbs She had a vast admiration for anything that had triumphed, and she gloried in the triumph of the trees. Having gnzed at them, the dived in among them, walking over the me k primroses, and never seeing the young violets. She plunged into the thickets, and amused herself by forcing her way through The underwood, righ ing with stubborn branches that barred her way delighted when she could break them and trample them under foot.' The trees thrust her back ; but she had her way in spite of them conveying herself into ceitain of their fastnesses, where human footstep seldom ma<ie its way. She found a pillared chamber of gloom, where the sun could never shine, and by the gradual spread of whose impenetrable ioof the faithful light of the stars had been one by one put out. Perpetual darkness reigned in this spot, and there was also a ceaseless sound of disturbance ; for the roar of swaying miles of wood surged above and below in continual thunder. Even the mildest airs of heaven seemed to have secret stings, which goaded the Tobereevil Woods unceasingly into motion and sound. The darkness and confusion weie very awful in this sjlitary dungeon, which the trees had made for themselves. It seemed like a meeting. p ace for evil spirits. Kathenne approved of it, and, in order to enjoy herself, took her seat on a fallen trunk over which she had stumbled.