CHAPTER VI.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 44, 22 February 1889, Page 5

CHAPTER VI.

UOW 1 CAMK 10 HE kNLISL'EIJ AS ONE OF THE GARRISON OF CLOOMBKR. " To your loom, girl ! " be cried in a horse, harsh voice, stepping ia between us and pointing authoritatively towards tbe house. He waited until (inbnelle, with a last frightened glance at me, bad passed thiough tbe gap, and tben he turned upon me with an expression so murderous that I stepped back a pace or two, aud tighteaed my grasp upon my oak stick. " You—you—" he sputtered, with bis baud up to his throat, as though his fury were checking him. " You have dared to intrude upon my privacy 1 Do you think I this fence that all the vermin in the country might congregate round it I Ob you have been very near your death, my iine fellow ! you * ill never be nearer until your time romts. Look at this'" He pulled a tquat, thick putol out of his bosom. If you bad passed through that gap, and set foot upon my land, I'd have let daylight into you. I'll have no vagabonds here 1 I know how to treat gentry of that sori, whether their faces are black or white ' " Sn," said I, " I meant no barm b\ coming here, and 1 do not know how 1 have deserved this extraordinary outburst. Allow me to observe, however, that you are still covering me with your pistol, *pd that, as your hand ia rather tremulous, it is more than possible

that it may go off. If you don't tarn the muzzle down I shall be compelled in self-defence to strike you over the wrist with my stick." " What the deviJ brought you here, then ? " he asked, in a more composed voice, putting his weapon back into his bosom. *' Can't a gentleman live quietly without your coming to peep and to pry ? Have you no business of your own to look after, eh 1 And, my daughter ? how came you to know anything of her 1 and what have you jeen trying to squeeze out of her. It wasn't ch<*nce that bronght you here." 11 No," said I, boldly, " it was not chance which bronght me here. I have had several opportunities of seeing your daughter and of appreciating her many noble qualities. We are engaged to ba married to each other, and I catre up wich the express iatention of seeing her." Instead of blazing into a fury, as I had expected, the General gave a long whistle of astonishment, and then leaned up against the railings, laughing softly to himself. " English terriers are fond of playing with worms," he remarked at last. " When we used to bring them out to India, they used to trot off into the jungle and begin sniffing at what they imagined to be worms there. But the worm turned out to be a venomous snake, and co poor doggy paid the penalty. I think you'll find yourself in a somewhat analagous position if you don't look out." " You surely don't mean to cast an aspersion upon your own daughter ? " I said, flushine with indignation. •' Oh, Gabrielle is all right," he answered, carelessly. " Our family is not one, however, which I should recommend a young man to marry into. And, pray, how is it that I was not informed of this snog little arrangement of yours ? " " We were afraid, sir, that you might separate us," I replied, feeling that perfect candour was the best policy und^r the circumstances. '• It is possible that we were mistaken. Before comiug to any final decision I implore you to remember that the happiness of both of us is at stake. It i 9 in your power to divide our bodies, but onr souls shall be for ever united." " My go<jd fellow," said the General, in a not unkindly tone, "you don't know what you are asking for. There is a gulf between you and anyone of the blood of H^a'herstone which can never be bridged over." All trace of anger had vanished now from lis manner, and had given place to an air of somewhat contemptuous amusement. My family pride took fire at his words. " The gulf may be less than you imagine," I said, coldly. *' We are not clodhoppers because we live in this out-of-the-way place. I am of noble descent on oue ■iJe, and my mother was a Buchan of Buchan. I assure you that there is no such disparity between us as you seem to imagine. " You misunderstand me," the General answered. "It is on our side that the disparity lies. There aro reasons why my daughter Gabiielle should live and die single. It would not b 3 to your advantage to marry her," " But surely, sir,"' I persisted, " I am the bast judge of my own interests) and advantiges. Sinca you take this ground all b-cntnes easy, for I do assure you that the one intere-'t which overrides all others is that I should have the woman I love for my wife. If this is your only objtction to our match, you may su'ely give uh your con■ent, for any danger or trial which I may incur in marrying Gabrielle will not weigh with me one featherweight." " Here's a young bantam !" exclaimed the old soldier, smiling at my warmth. " It's easy to defy danger when you don't know what the danger is." " What is it, thBD ?" I asked, hotly. " There is no earthly peri) which will drive me from (Jabrielle's side. Let me know what it is and test me." "No no. That would never do," he answered with a sigh, and then, thoughtfully, as if speaking his mind aloud : "He has plenty of pluck, and is a well-grown lad too. We miyht do worse than make use of him." He went on mumbling to himelf with a vacant stare in his eyes as if be had forgotten my presence. " Look here, West," he said presently. -' You'll excuse me if I epokc hastily a little time ago. It ia the second time that I have had occasion to apologise to you for the same offence. It shan't occur again. lam rather over pirticular, no doubt, in my desire for complete isolation ; but I have good reasons for insisting on the point. Rightly or wrongly, I have got it into my head that some day there . might be an organised raid upon my grounds. If anything of the sort should occur I suppose I might rck jn upon your assistance ?" "With all my heart." " So that if ever you got a message such as ' Come up,' or even simply ' Oloomber 1' you would know that it was an appeal for help, and would hurry up immediately, even if it were in the dead ot the night ?" " Most certainly 1 should," I answered. "But might I ask you what the nature of the danger is which you apprehend 1" " There would be nothing gained by your knowing. Indeed, you would hardly understand it ir I told you. I must bid you good day now, for I have stayed with you too lon*. Remember, I count upon you as one of the Gloomber garrison now." " One other thing, sir," I said, hurriedly, for he was turning away ; "I hope ttait you will not be ans*ry with your daughter for anything which I have told you. It was for my sake that she kept it all secret from you." " All right," he said, with his cjld, inscrutable smile. " I am not such an ogre in the bosom of my family as you seem to think. As to this marriage question, I should advise you as a friend to let it drop altogether, but if that is impossible I must insist thit it staad over completely for the present. I is impossible to say what uuexpectei turn cv. Nts m*y take. G jod-bye I" Hii plunged mio the wood and was quickly out of ei<ht among thu dense plaotati jn. Thus ended this extraordinaiy interview, in which this strange man had begun by pointiog a loaded pistol at my breast and had ended by partially acknowledging the possibility ot my becoming his future son-in-law. I hardly knew whether to be cast down or elated OTer it. On the one hand he was likely, by keeping a closer watch

over his daughter, to prevent us from communicating aa freely aa we had done hitherto. Against this there was the advantage of having obtained aa implied consent to the renewal of my suit at some future date. But this danger— this shadowy, unspeakable danger— which appeared to rise up at every turn, and to hang day and night over th« towers of Cbomber I Rack my brain as I would I could not conjure up any solution to the problem which was not puerile and inadequate. One fact struck me as being significant. Both tbe father and tha son had assured me, independently of each other, that if I were told what the peril was I would hardly realise its significance. How strange and bizarre mast the fear be which can scarce be expressed in intelligible language. I beld up my hand in tbe darkness before i turned to sleep that night, and I swore th.t no power of mm or devil should ever weaken ra/ love for the woman whose pure heart I had the goad fortune to win. (To be continued.)