CHAPTER XIII.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 49, 29 March 1889, Page 7

CHAPTER XIII.

OF THE VISITOR WHO BAN DOWN THE ROAD IN THE NIGHT-TIME. It was a quarter-past ten o'clock by the [parlour timepiece when my father went off to his room, and left Esther and myself together. We heard his slow step dying away up the creaking staircase, until the distant slamming ©f a door announced that he had reached his sanctum. The simple oil lamp upon the table threw a weird, uncertain light over the old room, flickering upon the carved oak panelling, and casting strange, fantastic shadows from the high-elbowed, straight-backed furniture. My sister's white, anxiouß face stood out in the obscurity with a startling exactness of profile like one of Eembrandt's portraits. We sat opposite to each other on either side of the table with no sound breaking the silence save the measured ticking of the clock and the intermittent chirping of a cricket beneath the gate. There was some'hing awe-inspiring in the absolute stillness. The whistling of a belated peasant upon the high-road was a relief to us, and we strained our ears to catch the last of his notes as he plodded steadily homewards. At first we bad made some pretence—she of knitting and I of reading ; but we soon abandoned the useleps deception, and sat uneasily waiting, starting and glancing at each other with questioning eyes whenever the faggoc crackled in the fire or a lat scampered behind the wainscot, There wag a heavy electrical feeling in the air, which weighed us down with a f >reboding of dis\ster. I rosa and flun^ the hall door open to admit the fresh breeze of the night. Ragged clouds swept across the sky, and the mooo peeped out at times between their hurrying fringes bath'n* the whole couatry-side in its cold, white radiance. From where I stood in tbe dcoiway I could see the. edge of the Cloomber wood, though the bouse itself was only visible from the rising ground some little distance off. At my sister's suggestion we walked together, she with her shawl over her head, as far as the summit of the elevation, and looked out in the direction of the Hall. Tnere waa no illumination of the windows tonight, From roof to basement not a light twinkling in any part of the great building. Is huge mass loomed up dark and sullen amid the tiees which surrounded it, looking more like some giant sarcophagus than a human hahitatiou. Ti> our overwrought nerves there was something of tirror in its mere bulk and its silence. We stood forsome little time peeiing at it through the darknes9, and then we made our way back to the parlour again, where we sat waiting — waiting, we knew not for what, and yet with the absolute conviction that some terrible experience was in sore for us. It was twelve o'clock or close on it when my sister eudden'y spraag to her feet and held up her finger to bespeak attention. '■ Dj you rear nothing? "she a^ked. 1 strained my eara, but without success. '• Come to the door," she cried, with a trembling voice. '" Now can you hear anything ? " In tbe deep silence of the night I distinctly heard a dull, murmuring, clattering sound, continuous appaiculy, but very faint and low. •' What is it 1" I asked in a sub iued voice. ''It is the sound of a man running towards us she answered, and then, suddenly dropping the last semblance of self-command, she fell upon her knees beside the tablr. and bpgan praying aloud with that frenzied earnestness which intense overpowering fear can produce, breaking off now and again in half-hysterical whimpering. I could distinguish the sound clearly enough now to know that her quick feminine perception bad not deceived her, and that it whs iodeed caused hy a running map. On he came, and on, down the high road, his fooifalls ringing outcl?arer and sharper every moment. An urgent messenger he must be. tor he neither paused nor slackened his pace. The quick, crisp latt'c was changed suddenly to a dull, muffle I murmur. He had reached,the [point where sand had been ieceatly laid down for a hundred yards or so. In a few moments, however, he was back on hard ground agair, end tii flying feet were nearer and ever neaier. He must, Irt fleeted, be abieast of the head of the lane now. Would he hold on, or would he turn down to Branksome 1 Tbe thought had hardly crossed my mind when I heard by the difference of thf soiled that the runner liad turned the corner, and that his goal wae, beyond all doubt, the Laird's house. Hushing down to tbe gate of the lnwr, I rt ached it just as our visitor dashed it open and fell into mv arms. I could see in tbe moonlight that it waa none other than Mordaunl Heatherstoce. "My God !" 1 cried, "what has happened? What ia amiss, Mo: daunt ? "

"My father 1 " he gasped — '• my father ! " His hat was gone, his eyes dilated with terror, his face as bloodless as that of a corpse. I could feel that the hands which clasped my arms were quivering and shaking with emotion, "You are exhausted," I said, leading him into the parlour. " Give yourself a moment's rest before you speak to us. Be calm, man ; you are with your best friends." I laid him on the old horsehair sofa, while Esther, whose fears had all flown to the winds now that something practical was to be done, dashed some brandy into a tumbler and brought it to him. The stimulant bad a marvellous effect upon him, for the colour began to come back into his pale cheeks and the light or recognition into his eyes, He sat up and took Esther's handd in both of his, like a man who is w&king out of some bad dream and Wishes to assure himself that he is re illy in safety. '• Your father ? " I asked. " What of him ? " " He is gone." " Gone !" "Yes, he is gone ; and so is Corporal Rufus Smith. We shall never set eyes upon them again. " But where have they gone ?" I cried. " This is unworthy of you, Mordaunr, What right have we to sit here, allowing our private feelings to overcome us while there is a possibility of succouring yonr father. Up, man ! Let us follow him. Tell me only what direction he took." " It's no use," young Heatherstone answered, burying his face in his hands. " Don't reproach me, West ; for you don't know all the circumstances. What c*n we do to reverse the tremendous and unknown laws which are acting against us ? The blow has long been hanging over us, and now it has fallen. God help us." "In heaven's name, tell me what has happened ! " said I, excitedly. '• We must not yield to despair." "We can do nothing until day-break," he answered. "We shall then endeavour to obtain some trace of them. It is hopeless at present." (To be continued.)