The Wingham Times, 1888-12-14, Page 6a•Se
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1.3'41 11'4". n ti 't the linen ! I pey or it now 1 hale 1 St•quir, 4 might. - i.• . klorn
:120 oiairli.e theit hereditury
ring er d the other beton; ; the leer 1 kilted her I
work of el, thine itio tit4.11:0. uith e,
'I aieten !'
l'i'initred had rbon to ter full antnroportit a of harcu put.
beight thaw auto() once , moms, and ritlge.•,
watt etanding•, gaunt and liaggerd ana ten n rear weeek, Hatherley
deadly wan like a shrunken little annwered .toe've hit it if
tragedy queen above him, jeer pejo eeftwey inu tt) tint level of the
white feee showed paler and whiter lauded eeisteeresy. ilt, eelielee flit
and more detith like still by the feeble aroma of vested en ereets. Real es.
light of the struggling oil-lroup ; and tate'e hie Mantel nt preemet, ana hit
and her bloc -dim treneble1 and 'Iowa the knee to Atelfdititel eettettutt hi
quivered visibly with inner passion as the temple of P,Loanon. 11,0 'poi no
she tried to repress her overpowering view on aelything in particular, I
believe, but ripaeittn proprietorehip ;
ba' ljtt, the fall nano tile creeper;
mei' hie enlacement horror of tole.
ion; he stewed her no *Anima.
• stance, no pretty detail : bie by bit he
retold the wine etory in all its iniems
inhuman. ghabtaxami—the va1b tt,
Oxforaness, the finding o tho watch
the furtive visit to 4eie's maw, hie
OB horror of Winifred's proposed pienie
to that very spot a year later. He
SUNSEIII9 and SHADE,. ren, unabashea, in an eetitacy
CHAPTER XXXI% —11nemnueloa,
But, Winifred, Hugh oried, clasp-
ing his h ands together in impotent
despair, t .is is the trath, the very,
very truth, the Whole truth, that I'm
now telling you, I've hidden it from
you so lone by deceit and treachery.
1 acknowledge all that 1 admit 1
.deceived you. But 1 want to tell you
-the whole truth now; and you won't
listen to me t 0 heaven, Winifred, you
motel listen to mel
.On any one else, his agonised voice
and pleading face would have produced
their just and due effect ; but on
Winifred—impossible.
Go on, she raurinured, relapsing into
iter corner. Oontimie your monologne.
It's supreme in its way—no actor
could beat it. But be so good as to
consider my part in the piece left out
altogether. I shall answer you no
more. I should be sorry to interrupt
so finished an artist 1
Her scathing contempt wrought up
in Hugh a perfect fury of helpless
indignation. That he should wish to
,confess, to humble himself before her
to'make reparation! and that Winifred
should spurn his best attempt, should
refuse so much as to listen to his
avowal 1 It was too inguominious.
For heaven's sake, he cried, with his
hands clasped hard, at least let me
.speak. Let me have my say out.
You're all wrong. 'You're wronging
me utterly. rve behaved, most
wickedly, most eruelly, 1 know : I
confess it all. 1 abase myself at your
feet. If you want me to be abject,
1'11 grovel before you, I admit my
„crime, my sin, my transgression.—
won't pretend to justify inyself at
a11.—rve lied to you, forged to you,
misled you 1 (At each clause and
iohritse of pi -Animate self condemnation
Winifred nodded a separate sardonic
acquiescence.) But yore're wrong
about this. You mistake me Wholly
—I swear to you my old, Elsie's not
alive. You're jealous of a woman
who's been dead for yew. For my
Ain and shame 1 say it, she's dead long
afro!
°He might as well have tried to
convince the door -handle. Winifred
loathing found no overt eventin angry
mords ; she repressed her speech, her
very breath almost, with a spasmodic
effort. But she stretched out both
her hands, the palms turned out.
ware, with a gesture of borror, con-
tempt„ and repulsion ; and she averted
her race with a little cry of supreme
disgust, checked deep clown in her
rising throat, as one averts one's face
instinctively from a loathsome sore
or a venomous reptile. Such hideous
duplicity to a dying woman was more
;than she could brook without some
outer eXpression of her outraged sense
,of social decency.
But Hugh could no longer restrain
himsel now ; ho had begun his tale
And he must run right through with
it. The fever of the confessional
had sezied upon his soul ; remorse
and deepeir were goading him on.
mnst have relief for lits pent up
feelings. Three years of silence were
more than enough. 'Winifred's very
incredulity compelled him to continue.
He tnust tell her all—all, ell utterly?.
Ho must make her understand to the
uttermost jot, wilier, hilly, duet he was
• not deceiving her
With eager lips, he began his titory
from, the -beginning), recapitulating
point by point Itis interview with
Elsie in the Hall grounds, her rush
ii away from hitn to the roots of the
poplar, her mad leap into the swirling
bleak water, his attempt to resetie her
hie rincoesciousness,andhisfaifare. Ile
told it all with dramatic eompleteneas.
Winifred saw end heard every scene
,ancl tone and emotion ttS he reproduced
is. Then he went on to tell her how
he came to himself again on the bank
of the dike, and how in cold and
darkness he formed his /flan, that
atal, horrible, successful plan, which
ho had ever siuoe been eftgaged in
in carrying out and in deteeting. lie
described how hereturned to the inn, his seat in hopeless misery. The
unobserved and untreeked ; how he worst had came. He bad billeted out whet too redolent of vulgar Cavendish
forged the first tompromising letter all. Ana 'Winifred, Winifred would for his refined taste. Ile Smokes
from Biel° and hnothing nowadays himself but rho once embarked not believe him.
upon that career of deceit, there was 1 wish •to was true 1 lie tried; It besetaroPlia„g
ito drawing beak for him in crime after wish it wee true, Winnie 1 wed% what, tiassinger ? Reif Cried in
erinie till the present 'moment. He she was there. But it iett't; it isn't some slight surprise. now was be,
pita himself for t; but gill he She's dead 1 1 killed her! and hor ' 1Iathr1y. mid whet was he doing in
phi, it. Next eatne the irpisole of blood ba e weighed upon my heed ever town at this time of year, All good
humiliation, through the entire tale of
his forgeries end his deceptions : the indignation with one masterful eaort,
sending of the ring ; the audacious Listen 1 she said, with fierce linen
-
fiction of Elsieti departure to a new
home in .Australia; the sequense of
(motional letters, the living lie he had
daily and hourly acted before her.
And all the 'while as bo truly said
rNith slow tears rolling one by one
down Ms dark cheeks, he knew him-
self a murderer: he felt himself a
murderer ; anti fai the while, poor
Elsie was lying, dishonoured and
unknown, a nameless corpse, in her
pauper grave upon that stormy sand
pit.
Oh the joy and relief of that
tardy confession! the gush and flow
of those pent-up feelings! For three
long years and more he had locked
it all up in his inmost soul, chaffing
and seething with the awful secret;
and now at1ast he had let it all out,
in one burst of confidence, to uttermost
item.
As for Winifred, she heard him out
in solemn silence to the bitter end,
with ever-growing eontempt end'
hatred. She oould not lift her eyes
to his face, so much his very earnest -
nos horrified and appalled her, The
man's aptitude for lying struck her
positively dumb. The hideous
ingenuity with which he accounted
for everything—the diabolically clever
way in which he had woven in, one
after the other, the ring, the watch,
the letters, the picnic, the lonely tramp
to Orfordness—smote her to the heart
with a horrible loathing for the vile
wretch she had consented to marry.
That she had endured so long suoh
a miserable creature's bought caresses
tilled her inmost soul with a sickening
sense of disgust and horror, She
cowered and crouched closer and ;
closer in her remote cornet she felt
that his presence thereactuallypollut
ed the carriage she occupied ; she
longed for Marseilles, for San Remo,
'for release, that she might, get at
least farther and farther away from
him. She could almost have opened
the door in her excess of horror and
jumped from the train while still in
motion, so intense was her burning
and goading desire to escape for ever
from his poisonous neighburhood.
At last, as :Hugh with flushed face
and eager eyes calmed down a little
from his paroxysm of self abasement
and self -revelation, Winifred raised
her eyes once more from the ground
and met her husband's—ah, heaveitl—
that she should have to call that thing
her husband 1 His acting chilled her;
his pretended tearstnrned ;ler cold with
worn. Is that all1 she asked in an
icy voice, Is your romance finished?
That's all ! Hugh cried, burying
his face in his hands and bending
down hie body to the level of his
knees to utter and abject self -humili-
ation. Winifred 1 Winifred 1 it is no
romance. Won't you even now believe
me,?
It's clever — clever — extremely
clever! Winifred Answered in a tone
of unnatural caltnnese. I don't deny
it showe great talent. If you'd turn
your attention seriously to novel -writ-
ing, which is your proper nietie)', in-
stead of to the law, for which you've
too exuberant an imagination, you'd
have succeeded ten thousand times
better there than you could ever do
at what what you're pleased to eonsich
et. your divine poetry. Your story
I allow, Wings together inevery part
with remarkable skill. It's a pity
I should happen to know it all from
beginning to end for a tissue of false-
hoods —For all year acting, you know
that Bisiti Oltelloner, whom you pre-
tend to be deed, is awaiting your own
arrival to -night by arrangement at San
Benno.
Hugh flung himself back in, the
Anal extremity of utter deepair oft the
padded madden% He had played his
last cited erith Winifred, and lost.
His very remorse availed him nothing.
His very confession was held to in.
creme his sin. What could he del
Whither thrill He knew no aeswer.
He rocked himself up and down on
sity, Whet you say is false, 1 know
you're lying to me. Wiseren Belf told
me himself the other day in London
that Elsie Challoner wus still alive,
and living, where you know she. lives,
over there at San Remo,
Warren Bell 1 'lhat serpent That
reptile ! That eavesdropper I Then
this was the creature's mean revenge 1
He had lied that despicable tie to se in-
ifred 1 Hugh hated inm in his soul
more fiercely than ever. He was
baffled once more; and always by that
same maligant intriguer 1
Where did you see Ralf 1 he burst
out angrily. His indignation, flexing
up to white -heat afresh at this latest
maohination of his aliment enemy,
gave new strength to his words and
new point to his hatred. I thought 1
told you lontesince at Whitestrand to
hold no further communications with
that wretched being
But Winifred by this time, worn out
with excitement, had fatten back
speechless auci helpless me the
cushions, Har feeble eyeteeth was
fairly exhausted. The .fatigne of the
'prepteretions, the storniy, paseage, the
long spell of travelling, the night
journey,- and added toe it all, this
terrible interview with .the man she
had. clime loved, but now'despieed and
hatede had proved too much iu the end
for her weakened constitution, A. fit
of wild incoherence had 'overtaken her
she babbled idly on her eeat iu ()ken
sent encee. Her mattered se owls weee"
full of .eneother,"honte' and
Hugh felt her pulse. lie knew a, was
Lis one thought now was
to reach Ban Retno as quickly as
possible.. If may she could live to
knowWarren Relf had told her a lie,
and that Elsie was dead—deeel—dead
and buried 1
Perhaps even this story about
Warren Reif and What he told her
was itself but a product of the fever
and delirium 1 But more probably
not. The titan who eonld open other
people's letters, the man who could
plot and plan and intrigue in Secret to
set another man's wife against her
own husband, was capable ,of telling
any lie that came uppermostto hurt
his enemy and to serve his purpnse.
He knew that lie would distress and
torture Winifred. and he had stem* at
Hugli, like a award that Ale was,
through a weak, hrstericel dying
woman 1 He had played on themean
chord of feminine jealously. Hugh
hated hint as he had never hated bine
before. He should pay for this
soundly—the eur, the scoundrel ?
t an i tYt t,141 4. ek: at •-f Wiet ..all, liko;
Itto,
the uju'A 7n11:1,1 wee co 'ea te.
notines every' La - ' of lice . eoenerat
p lime Le te. •h*
t1i ‘IY:u11,11 hirew vii by MATTI"'
• ite all eee ,1 l
to '6i. A.;0410, find miotimi
i,
it lit iiiiii0v.i. tilt, ., rampilid; iii
singer, if 11 ez1 •,e1 Lleie were tte.
meet ultexpeeteite „.• Warren felt the
ahock might be poettively dangeroue.
As he emerged from the etation, he
hired a eleee eairiage, and ordered the
rettnrino to dravo up on the far fade of
the reed and wait a few minutes till
ne wee prepeeed. for starting. Then lie
leaned heck in his eteet in the shade of
Ole 1.1,,Od, and hetd Win self in readiness
for the arrival of the Paris train from
Von timig I Ia. ,
Ile had waitel only a quarter of
an hour. when Hugh Messinger came
out hastily and called a cab. Two
porters helped leim to carry out Wini-
fred, now seriously ill, and muttering
inattierdately as they pieced her in
the carriage. Hugh gave me ioaudibla.
order to the driver, who drove off at
once with it nod and a smile and 0,
cheery Si, sianor.
complains still ef the Gemini °even
for ctieregerding the morsel rights of
property ; and holds that the sole
business of an enlightened British
legislature is to keep the sand from
blowing in at his own inviolable dining
room windows. Poor company, in
feet, since he descended to the Squire.
archy.
How long's lie going to stop in town
—do you know ? Relf asked euriously.
Thank gotedness, he's not going to
stop at all, my clear fellow. If he
were, I'd run down to Brighton for the
intervitl. A month of Messinger at Follow that carriage 1 Warren said.
the Mayne Row woulcl be a harvest
for, the seaside lodginge, But I'in
happy to tell you he's going to remove
his mortal remains—for the out of
hina's dead—dead and 'buried long ago
in the Whitestrand sandbills—to San
Remo to -morrow. Poor little Mrs.
alessinger's seriously ill, I'in sorry to
say. Too much Bard has told at last
upon her. Bard for breakfast, Bard
for luiteln and Bard for dinner would
undermine in time the soundest con-
stitution. Sir Anthony finds it's pro-
duced in her ease Suppressed Gout, or
Tubercular Diatheeis, or Softening of
the Btain, or something lingering and
humorous of that sort; end he's
ordered her off post haste, by the first
express, to the Mediterranean. &Las -
singer objected ?i,t first to San Ream,
he tells we, probalay beeause,
usual bad triste, didu't desire to
enjoy your agreeable society; but
thet skimpy little woman, gout or ttO
gout, leas a will of her un II, 1 can tell
you San Remo she insists upon, and,
to an Remo the Bard must go ace
corclingly. You ahould have seen him
chafing with au internal lire as he let
it all . out to us, hint by hint, in the
billiard', room this • eveuiug, Poor
skimpy little woman, though, I'rn
awfully sorry for her. .1.t'a hard lines
on her. She had the utakiags of a,
nice small hostas' in her once; but
the Bard's ruined her—aucked her dry
arid chucked her away—and she's
dying o•f him now, from whet he tells
in e.
Warren Ralf looked hack with a
start of astonishment. To San Remo?
he cried. Yoit're sure, Hatherley, he
said San Benio ?
Perfectly certain. San Remo it is.
Observe, 11i presto, there's no deceptiou.
He gaye .me this cud in case of error :
Hugh Messinger,- for the present,
Poste Restante, San Reino. No other
addressforthcoming as yet. Ile ex-
pects to settle down at a villa whet; he
get e there.
Reif made up his mind with a single
phinge as he lowelted his ash off. I
shall go with toaroorrow'e express to
the Riviera, he said shortly.
To pursue the 3ard'l I woulcha't
if I were you. To tell you the truth,
I know he doesn't "eve you.
He liar reason, I believe. The
feeling ie perhap,s to some extent
mutual.' No, not to poeaue him—to
prevent rnisehiefe—edend nte over the
Continental Bradshaw, will you?,
CHAPTER XXXVI. — Tun Ornem
Sinn or Tim SuIELD,
The self -same night, another English
passenger of our acquaintance was
speeding in hot baste due southward
to San Remo, not indeed by the Calais
and Marseilles express, but by the
rival route via Boulogne, the Mont
Cenis, Turin and Savona. Warden
Reif had chosen. the alternative road
by deliberate design, lest Hugh Mese-
inger and he should happen to elesh
by the way, and a needless and lea -
seemly quarrel should perhaps take
place before Winifred'a very eyes at
some intermediate station.
It was by the merest accident in the
world, indeed, that Warren had heard,
in the nick of opportunity, of the
Messinger& projected visit to San
&MO.
Iri the cosy smoking -room et the
Cheyne Row Club, he had found dear
Hatherly already .installed in a big
armchair, diseinismg -coffee and the
last number of the 'Nineteenth Con-
tury.'
Hullo, Itelf 1 'The remeing of the
Pad were in here just now, IIatberlyt
exclaimed as he entered. You've
barely missed him. If you'd dropped
in only ten minutes earlier, yon
might have inspected the intetesting
relies. But he's gone back to his
hotel by this time, 1 fan* The at.
mosphere Cheyne Row seems some.
in %dien t to his owcabman. The
driver nodded ana followed °treacly'.
'They drove up through the narrow
crowded little streets of the old quar-
ter, Etna stopped at last opposite a large,
and dingy yellow -washed mansion. in
the modern part of the town, about
the middle of the Avenue Vittorio-
Emmanuele, The house was new,but
congenitally shabby, Hugh's carriage
blocked the way already. Warren
waited outside for some ten minutes
without showing his face till he thought
the Massiugers would have engaged
room ; then he entered the hall boldly'
and enquired' if he eould have lodg-
ing!.
On what floor hall the gentleman.
who just arrived planed himself 1 "ha
asked of the landlord, a portly Pied-
moutesta of august dimensions.
Ott the seeoud story, signor.
Thou I will go, oil the third, Marcie
Rolf enswered with short decision,
And they found. him it room forthwith
without further parley.
The pension was 000 of those large
and massive solid buildings, so common
en. the Riviera, let out in fiats or irk
single apartmente, and with a deep
wall of a staircase occupying the entire
centre of the block like covered
courtyard. As Warren Half mounted
to his room on the third floorovieh thee
chatty Swiss waiter from the -canton
w
Ticino, ho carried his bag, be asked
quietly if the lady ou the soon& who
seemed so ill was in any immediate oz'
pressing danger.
Danger, signor? She eee=
tainly ; they (tarried her upstairs; she
couldn't have walked it, Ill—but ill.
He expanded bis bands and pursed hia
lips up.—Bul; what of that1 The
house expects it. They come here tee
dio, many of these English. The
signora no doubt will die soon. She's.
a very had case. She has. beadle, any
life in her..
Little reasseredby this cold comfort,
Warren sat down at the table et once,
ea soon as he had washed away the
dust of travel,andacribbled off a hasty
netie to Dile:
DDABEST B.—lust arrived; Hope
you received my telegram from Paris.,
For heaven's salte,,don't let Elbie stir,
out of the house till I have seen you.
This is most imperative. Massingee
and Mrs. Massinger are helm at this
pension. He has broeght her South
for her health's sake. She's dying
rapidlea 1 woeldn't tor worlds let
Thanks, • That'll do. Do yon know Elsie, sea either of ,thern in them pees -
which line'? Marseilles, a. tuppose 1 cert coodition ; above all, she musn't
Did he happen to mention it ?
He told me he was going ley Dijon
and Lyons.
All right. That's it. TO Mar
-
settles route. Arrive fit San Bente at
4.80. I'll go round the other way by
Turin and intercept hula Traine
Arrive within five minutes of one
another, 1 see.. That'll be just in
time to prevent any contretemps,.
Your people are at San Rerno al-
ready, 1 believe?
My people—yes. But how aid yon
know 1 They were at Mentoue for
a while, and they only went on home
to the Villa Rosa the day before
yesterdity,
So I heard from Miss Rolf, if:Alter-
ley answerea with a slight cough. She
happened to be writing to ree—about
it literary matter—a more question of
ourrent emeritieism—on Weclheeday
morning.
Warren hardly noticed the slight
hesitation ; and there was nothing cad
itt Edie's writing to Hatherley ; thet,
run against them nnexpectedly. X
may not be able :to, sneak rowid toe
night, lent 9,t all hazards keep Eisie itt
till 1 can get to ,elie Vila Roses to,
consult with you. Elsie must of ecteteeta
return to England, at, once, now Mas -
ringer's come here'. We have ,to face
a very serious crisis. I won't writ
furthes, preferring to come and arrange
in person. Meanwhile, eay nothing
to Elsie just yet; break it to her
myselt.—In breathless haste, yours,
ever, very affectiohately, WARM.
Ile sent the note rountl' with many
warnings by the Swiss ‘vaiter, to hia
mothers home. When tdie .got it,
she mild have cried with chagrin.
Could anything on earth be more
unfortunate I To thinte that Elsie
should just have gono out shopping
before the note arrived—and nhoula
be going to nail at the Grand Hotel
Royal in that very Avenue VittorioEmmennele
ere nt CONTI:AIM)
mid...••••• • iwoliahmor•
best of sisters was always jugging the t rex, Matra% Mar/mums emit an Vesestletit
memory of inattentive critice. Wliil Disorders or Children,
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