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The Herald, 1910-07-15, Page 7Sea ,v d From the CHAI'TEIt \.XIII. "I'oalinutee," said St. Maur, one night —theIxidian, as usual, camped down in his master's room—"you must give Mrs, Errington a letter • for me to -morrow before dinner -time." r "The sahib shall be obeyed." No need to tell the acute Eastern that the letter must not be seen; the bright black eyes would have looked mute re - roach at such au insult. The next day, In the afternoon, after playing lawn- teniais; the party, pending the arrival of the five-o'clock, •were grouped about, sit- ting, reclining, or sauntering to and. fro. St. Maur had thrown himself at Blanche Leroy's feet, his curly head lift- ed on his hand so that his eyes ,some- times upraised to Blanche, could easily, unobserved, follow the graceful figure of his wife, who was strolling up and down with Dr. Clifford, a little way off, his hand linked within her arm as he talked in subdued tones and with bent head, and the lover's heart was racked with jealousy and gnawing pain as he watched the assured familiarity of mien and manner which he, her husband her lover --dared .not assume. What was he speaking of to so subdue his clear, res- onant voice? Was he talking of the pro- bably not distant time when 'his girls would leave the paternal nest, and hint- ing that his lonely widowhood might then be replaced by new sweet ties, des- pite the disparity of years? What the doctor was really saying just then was this: "You think, then, with me, my dear, that Northcote is in earnest in his at- tentions to Mimie?" "So entirely in earnest, doctor, that almost every day I have been expecting to hear that he has asked your con- sent." "A.13.! so have I, Mrs. Errington; and if the child loves him, I see uo objection, only there must be an alteration on one or two points." "Yes?" she queried; but her heart sunk, for she knew what was coming next. "Well, the companions he is most with and most affects are harum-scarum fellows, as you know," said the doctor, in his downright way, "and he has, I am certain, even from things he — Archer himself—and others have let fall, been drawn this season into more turf - betting and play than I care for un- checked in the man who is to marry my daughter. I draw no hard and fast line, but I do at such clubs as, for instance, the Fawley, where downright gambling. • goes. onw , and :a man. may easily foliate the lead of others *elm or in the betting ring, especially the lead of a reckless fellow like St. Maur, whose great person- - al attractiveness naturally makes ' his careless example all the more danger- ous." But, doctor, surely you don't think that St. Maur has deliberately in- fluenced or led young Northcote into —shall I' say—gambling?" "No, no, child; the pian is not capable of suet wickedness; but he is a good deal addicted to le jeu himself (that is plain, I fear), is a high and reckless player, and thoughtless. I }rave not changed my opinion of him, but it is more than tune he pulled up, and sharp ly, too," added Clifford, a trifle se3erely.. "I wish I could quite make out whether it is he who flirts with Blanche, or Blanche who flirts with hint' "The latter, Doctor Clifford," said Fal- coner's wife, quietly; "and when the wo- man so throws the gauntlet, what man is there who will not take it up and toss it up in. sport? Left to himself, the poor fellow does not pay her mere attention than he does Lacy Channing or Mrs. Ad- dison' . "Or yourself," added Cliffosa; "he is not the man to miss the flour des flews." "You flattering—oh, doctor! --well, add that, then, if you like; he is cer- tainly not in love with her; and if she fancies she is with hits, it will not be a bad lesson to her vanity to find that she has not, and could not, bring hand- some Fele St. Maur to per Meet." "Is that his. sobriquet?" "Yes; so the major says he got nick- named. Altl there is Snowball coaxing across the lawn—this way, too—with eomething white in his hand." Rahmnee came up saluting, and offer• ing a fine white cambric handkerchief to Christine. "Mem-sahib, just now I find it by door of the dining -room, and I see 'C. E.' in corner; the mem==- hhlb must have dropped it." "Yes, I did," said Christine, readily, as she instantly felt that paper was in the folds of the cambric she took. "riuknk.s, I.ahntnee; I could not think where I lied dropped it. • One swift. covert glance. between the two, and the Indain salaamed and glid- ed away; .but his Master had seen him, and laughed to himself. His order bad been cleverly and blade ct1t e:l ot', • Mrs. Errington n:: t1:y pt,t ih r lt.I n,i• kerC1iof into her packet, and turner; tack with the doctor .as Helen beckoned ;.hen to tea; but later, when they all went to • dress for dinner. and She was alone in her room, she took the fabric out, and fia.n !t a nate in th Writing '%he knew so well, and kissed now before she read it. It was short: -I must see you to-night—that is, as soon as the whole house is safely asleep, At one o'clock., theft; i shall. be in the little wood near the shooting -range to meet you. You can easily pass out and in by the library window, and for me the stone facing outside my window will quite serve such a catamount as myself for a ladder both ways. Give.me-some sign this evening, in pity, for I must leave to -morrow" ' She burned the setter carefully; and when, much Ialer, site was asked to sing. she asked St. Maur to turn for her, and in the applause that followed the soxig she said, under her breath, as lie stooped to remove the music: "I will come." He bowed slightly, and, turning atvay,, sunk on to a lounge beside Mrs. Addi- son. "I am so sorry, Helen; but I fear I must terminate my pleasant visit to -mor- row, instead of a week hence." "Leave us! Nonsense, St. ,Baur!' exclaimed Helen, in dismay. -What for? Surely" -she dropped into an alarmed and indignant whisper—surely 3 ou haven't let that horrid little flirt entangle you!" ` Falconer rippled into a short laugh, that relieved her quite as much as his words: "My dear Helen, cion't alarm yourself on that score at all. I'm past .praying for. It is simply that my l'uele win wrote to me last evening to ask me to run over to him, if possiltle, at once for a week, if you would kindly excuse mc'. It is something about this strike, and 1 should hardly • like to put him off, you see." "N—o; but still it is very vexing," concluded Mrs. Addison (nuxeh as (-11aIi- elo uttered the famous "And vet it moves!„) "You shall not go, though, till to -morrow, sir; that's flat!" "You are.: very kind," he said; and,. rising, strolled over to another group. How long that evening seethed to two 1n that room! how all too short to two others, for whom there was the "Affluence of love and time." CHAPTER XXIV. One o'clock in the morning; but the cold effulgence of the half moon, now mounted high in the heavens, only deep- ened the shadows of the trees under which that tall figure was pacing to and fro, with restless impatience in every movement and in every line of the trou- bled, pessoinate face. He knew that, like himself, she must change her evening attii a fur morning dress, but that would not take her long; and the house had been still and the windows dark when he left it, twenty minutes ago. Five minutes past one The breeze rustled the leaves, and a sleepy twitter of some birds, disturbed in their nests above, broke the intense silence around. But as St. Maur turned again, he saw the slight, dark -robed form within the shadow of •the trees, her head bare, a scarf thrown over her shoulders. The man sprung; forward. "My darling! toy darling! mine alone! Yet every word and look must be guard- ed. It maddens me beyond endurance this separation you have decreed! 1 can not, will not bear it! It is breaking both our hearts and tearing our lives asunder for indefinite years of misery! You must come back to me!" he said. "You shall not leave mel" "Falconer, you frighten me! Don't tempt me!" It was half a cry, half a gasping sob, smothered in his breast. She was un- nerved, trembling. "It is not temptation! You are my wedded wife, and I want you back! Oh, Christine, I only fall back—back with- • out you! It's no use trying alone.. I told you it would be so. I have gam- bled as madly as ever many times since May; and whether I lost or won, it was all the sante. There was no borne to come to, only a blank, desolate room!" She tried to loosen his hold. He tight- ened it with that ruthless settling of the month. "No, by Heaven! not till you lay your lips to mine wee tell me you will come back to Mel" • She knew he had "fallen back" lone before to -night, which was but a cul- mination. 'The better nature she had roused to strive for his had striven; failed, and despaired before that first inevitable fall. The struggling soul was maddened with its own bitter self-seorn, self-reproaeh, and remorse, its haughty pride and hopes wounded to the core. The whole man— mentally, physically, morally—was passing through an almost inevitable stage of such a battle—the hard depression of despair, the fierce hardening of hopelcssuess, in which rea- son, nobler feeling, were in abeyance— passion, impulse, uppermost. A.11 that was evil, his wildest, darkest temper, held sway; and the woman whe loved hi,m knew, by the very instinct of her love, that if she yielded now, her power was gone, and he—lost, She must strike the exact medium between .too soft a tenderness and too sterni a severity, For one. moment she hid her face in Falconer's bosom, then lifted it. He bent his, with a flash of triumph, for the kiss. Testeade a white Band lightly sumac that haughty, triumphant mouth —as lightly, phy-,ically, as a child et Islay; as heavily mcrelly, as a blow from a rat ntleted bead. •",,, 1"" cies.. ..1 1..,, 1,. 1n-.cn,,:,, r.' 1, LI clasp, ea&'nn of her like one stricken. dumb. "Sharpe . an you,!" she said, "to use your man's strength against my weak• nese, and hold mo by force!" - . a I ! ,- LOChristinc ,, ..., tut ! I suede that fatal uust0lce tl#:n, in 3117 youth and dread of estranging you. I g;ot you and one or two of your companions to teach me, too, the gamut of play, thinking that, ns you would have it, I could thereby keep you more at home, by making home more attrac'tiVe to you and your asso- ciates, There was my bitter error! I should have sternly east nut the hideous rival, instead of bringing it to the very hearth. I stepped Clown to be in some measure an attraction to gamblers, hop - lug to control the deuton (vain hope of ignorance!) and keep you from the yet wilder play outside. It was all a miser- able failure, and one I will never repeat, for your sake." He had heard her, "nut standing still, but walking to and fro before her; but as she emceed he stopped abruptly and put his two hands on her shoulders. "I have deserved every stab you have given me to -night," he said, hoarsely; "but-but—but the hound bleeds so cruelly1 'Must we part like this?" "Part ?,, Christine started in a kind of terror that she had stabbed too deeply, per- haps, and made him yet more desperate. "$.y. My uncle has sent for rue about the strike, and Ieleave to -morrow, From there I shall go abroad. I had hoped to take you ---e Ile pawed, the tem- pest oittiin unabated. the hope not quite relinquished. "Well, it cannot be, I suppose—yet. But must we part as wore than strangers, without one em- brace, one last kiss, wife?" She flung her arms about his neck, clinging almost convulsively as her hus- band strained her closely to his heart, long and silently, before he released her with one more lingering kiss. "My darling one, I will try still; but, oh, it is so hard ---without you! and there seems no end to the darkness!" "But the darkest hour is the hour before day," the wife said, smiling up, as together they moved. onward toward the gardens, which they reached by the thicket of trees at thr+ bottom of the lawn. St. Maur was passing out of the sha- dow into the moonlight, when Christine stopped him. "No further, dearest, lest by chance some one might be at a front window. You can skirt round by the shrubbery to your window, but 1 must cross some 'open, moonlit space to epin:11 the library. Let me go." He had her ha ,Ar as they stood for that minutemai—fetal minute— in the moonlight;lie drew her back under the trees to io1d�,1er once more in his arms before he let ;her leave hint, Then he stood and hatched the light figure flitting away swiftly till it dis- appeared through the library window. .Isis darling was safe then, and Fal- coner made ' his own way back into his apartment. CITAP'TE:lt Ll t~. Was beautiful L•hristine St. Maur safe, or did a woman's mean jealousy hold the match ready to spring a mine under her feet? blanche Leroy had as usual fallen asleep, and into dreams that were a good deal but the continuation of her silty waking visions. She was a bride, and handsome St. Maur, of course, the bridegroom, whispering his adoration in her ears. Then it grew •confused, and darkened into a kind of nightmare, in .which St. Maur had turned into dissi- pated Captain Darnley, end Mrs. Erring- ton, ton, with a hideous -ku11 in her hand, was dragging a ring off Blanche's finger —one she always wore, that had been her mother's keeper. In her horror and rage the dreamer wrenched herself away, half waking herself, and, startiatg up, fiat for the ring. It was not on her finger, and now thoroughly awakened and alarmed by its loss, the girl jumped up, lighted the lamp, asci went to the toilet table to look for it there in vain. She searched about the floor with like result, and stood thinking. "Where can I have dropped it?" she said, in distress. "I wouldn't lost it for any money. Oh, dear! oh, dear! I must have dropped it in the drawing -room. 1 must try to find it before any servants go into the room; but it's near one," glancing at her watch, "and I'm afraid to go down alone." She meditated in dismay; then throw- ing on her dressing gown. "That's it—Mimie is sure• to be fast as a top; but Mrs. Errington is as like- ly as not to be up still -- certainly awake; anyway, she sleeps like acat, and will, come with nae, I know, and not laugh at me, VII go," Blanche, you see, eould make use of the woman she hated ---horrid thingl— and she stole'noiselesly out into the cor- ridor. It evas a long one. Mist Leroy's own room faced east, terminating the gallery which ran east 'and west. Mrs, Erring - AN ORGAN FOR 25 RENTS A WEEK We have on hand thirty-five organs, taken in exchange on Heintznaan it Co, pianos, which we must sell regardless of loss, to make room in our store, Every Instrument has seen thoroughly over. hauled, and.is guaranteed kr five years, ;and full amount will be allowed on ex. change, The prices ran from $10 to $35, foe such well-known makes as Thomas, Dominion, Karn, Uxbridge, Goc:erieh en,. Hell. 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Vancouver, Victoria. 13 ALWAYS LOOK FOR THIS TRADE MARK to 1's apartment was nearly at the other end by the staircase, and was almost above the library, the windows, there- fore, like those below, having a south- ern aspect, and overlooking the lawn likewise. Blanche gently tapped at the door. No answer; she tapped again as loud. as she dared, and listened for the soft "Come in." It did not come, and Blanche just opened the door and peeped. in. "Mrs. Errington," she whispered, "are you—" Then she saw that the bed was empty —had never been disturbed, that Chris- tine was not in the spacious room at all. "I'll wait for her," muttered Blanche. "How vexing! 1 dare say she is till in when the library; site often goes we leave the salon, to read or write un- cle's letters, I know. She won't be long, though, I hope. 'What a lovely night! I'll sit by the open window and put out my lamp. What fun to startle meditate When she comes in and sees me like a ghost in the moonlight." She had closed the door, and now, put- ting out the light, walked to tite win- dow and sat down behind tite lace cur- tain to wait. As she did so and looked out, she caught full eight of a woman's figure crossing the lawn, diegonaily, swiftly. "Oh, ha -o!" went Miss Leroy, in a long breath of utter surprise, triumph, spiteful joy; "what duet that mean, 1 wonder, most imtmteulate ea -steward- ess?" There was no mistaking the tall, slen- der figure, with iia singularly graceful, easy undulation of movement. 11 was Mrs. Errington. la Yo wil find relief in Zam-Buk It eases the burning, stinging pain, stops bleeding and brings ease. Perseverance, with Zam Buk, means cure. Why not prove this ? Ali DreeCd? sfs and Stores.-- ig , o0a Bo:c. t' rb,Fi iatsl 5iJM `., mr ar`ei '+.taansa ,•&'t'eeseasea emstiesegZ "I always thought," muttered Blanche, viciously, "that there was something ugly about that woman. She must have gone out of the library window, and must return by it. 1'11 watch for you, Madame Chaperon, and slip off before yell can catelt me here, Uncle Rolo shall know, and if I don't, get rid of you, my name isn't Blanche Leroy. An assigna- tion, of course- -but with whom?" She clenched iter hand in a fury of jealousy. "If it is—hint, or any fellow in this house, he must come in this way, too, and I shalt know; he is wild and daring enough for anything, and if she snakes him flirt and meet her, no man la too good to hang fire. Oh, it can't be him; 1 won't think it, 1 can't bear the thought; I'm sure he cares for tee, as I --as 1 do for him. She is a wicked wretch of an adventuress, svhose past won't bear light. Married at sixteen, indeed; riot she, or why.didn't she show her ear. tifieete? r- tifieete? She just went off with some scamp of an artist, if the truth were known. How can the men call her handsome? i"rh; but Uncle Roland shall hear of this pretty game, my lady." young Christine! a gambler's wife; had site not bitter trouble enough to bear without the loss of her fair name? Blanche had long to wait; and, truth to say, nodded a good many times; but at last her evil, jealous vigilance was partially rewarded, for she saw their two figures come out from under the belt of trees a step or two into the moonlight—a woman and a .man. At that distance she could make out noth- ing more than those,two facts—and that the man held 11Irae l;rrington's hand— for, of course, she was the woman, then in a moment he drew, her back under the trees, and Blanche's straining gaze fancied—it might be only fancy, so shadowy were the forms—that the man. stooped and put his arms round his com- panion, The next mimtte the woman alone grinding feed, cutting fodder, turning, came out, and skirting the lawn, carne the ,atsindstone, saws, drills, etc. swiftly toward the library window be- low. The' unseen spy only remained to make ocular certainty that the noctur- nal tourist was indeed Christine, and then stole back to her own room and . bed, flushed, triumphant, but half fright- ened, too, at her discovery. "I'll tell uncle," she thought, panting as she lay; "but the man went the other way, I am sure; so it can't bo St. Maur or Fitzroy, or any of the men hors. Anyhow, I won't hint such a. possibility to Uncle Rolo; he's so awfully blunt, he would go as straight to that dear, handsome Falconer as he will to Mrs. Errington, who'll deny it all, I dare say; and anyhow, if he even suspected. St. Maur of such. a game of flirtation, he would cut him, I'm sure. That wouldn't do at all." And having settled thus her plan of attack, Miss Leroy soon slept, admitting to herself that she much dreaded tolling her uncle, but should certainly not do so at all till Falconer St. Maur had lift. And the ring she found herself, after all, in her acid, having probably in her dream pulled it off. In the afternoon St. Maur took his leave: but he had no chance to see his wife alone again, even for a moment; perhaps she, too, partly avoided such a chance, afraid of his recklessness. He was terribly missed out of the cir- cle, for he left a gap no one else could fill. fTo be continued.) The flies that art now in your kitchen and dining room were probably feasting on some in- describable nastiness less than an hour ago, and as a single fly car- ries many thousands of disease germs attached to its hairy body, it is the ditty of every housekeeper to assist in exterminating this worst enemy of the human race. Wilson's Ply Pads are without a doubt the best fly killers made. Front the Live Wire, It will take five million dollars to re. pear the subways of Paris which were damaged by the recent flood, Sixteen of Edison's new storage bat- tery cars see to bo placed on the cross. town streets of New York. Sixty per cent. of the patents granted yearly in this country are worthless. Nearly ninety per cent. of the electrical patents are practical. Electric heat is now being used sue' eessfuliy in operating on cancers, The General Electric Company now employs 30,000 men, the largest number in its history. The ease with which an eleetric motor of large horse power can be handled and controlled makes the electrically operat- ed dredge most desirable for river and harbor work, as well as for placer mist- ing. Wood is seasoned in Franco by elec- tricity. A two per cent, grade is the limit of the steam engine. Between Cripple Creek and the town of Victor, Colorado, the trolley line 'makes grades of nearly seven per cent., raising a thousand feet in three milee, and this with the cars crowded to the roof. 3, F. Forrest, Po,ynette, Tittlehasa windmill and storage hatters/ planil whieh lights his premises. Motor; de the lesser work about the farm, such tee