The Saint Paul globe., April 23, 1899, Novels for Leisure Hours, Page 6, Image 34

About The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905

Image provided by: Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN

                
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I
to whom you are engaged," retaliated Clor
inda, her eyes flashing.
She was looking most brilliant in a law- ;
cut dress of coral pink, her raven-black hair j
smoothly coiled about her queenly head, her j
white throat gleaming in the rosy glow of i
the lamplight, and with a smile, Sir Oscar i
said:
"My wife will be a dazzling creature, and !
she must know how to be gracious— kind, ]
and not make people wince as you have
tvice this evening caused your little cousin
to shrink as though you had stung her."
Selfish vanity and jealousy ruled Miss !
Vansdlyfs heart.
She glanced fiercely towards the other side j
of the room, where, clad in lily-white, Elva !
sat, her golden head bent over Bruno, who,
coiled in a silky bundle on her lap, watched !
her adoringly.
The girl was pretty as a fragile flower, and j
still retained the sweet innocence of a child '
in her delicately-tinted face.
Jealousy and su.sDicion are kindred traits I
and, quivering with scorn, Clorinda told her- I
■fu *£?* she %voulu n °t share admiration
with Elva— that she would arrange to keep
bir Oscar entirely to herself in future
"My little cousin is simple as a lamb, is
she not? was her sarcastic comment "Even j
for sixteen she is rather too babyish, I think "
Are you not fond of her?" Sir Oscar asked
in surprise.
"No; and I shall like her less if I am to be
lectured on her behalf"
"My dearest!" he rebuked.
But, with regal hateur, Clorinda rose
crossed to the open window-doors and step- ;
ped out into the moonlit grounds
He followed her, grave and dignified.
At the same instant Bernard entered the '
room, and swiftly joined Elva
"Why are you alone?" he questioned as he I
Wtak onto the divan by her side; and, before
she could respond, he went on: "I am glad
nobody is with you. P Ut th at pampered 15- ;
rial down and listen .o me."
Something in hi*, tone startled her
She kept her arm round Bruno, saying—
I can listen as it is. So you mean to
&%£££ the vl0 " n * M *»-<»* ■£»„:?;
Elva are you fretting about Jim? You never
teUffh now, and have lost your merry dimp
"There is no om to laugh with me," she i
ropued. and her voice was sad. "I am afraid l
bo'l^so" wel?" ° r ° lOri ' n ° W that * know yoU
It was not a flattering statement, given as
KeTSriSSiL naiv& randor> and Bernard ' 3
tn' l* , C ?" r L S0 alarnin *- and I such a terror
to jou? he said; and suddenly his manner
changed he looked at her with his dusky
K«SS?Sw?S!P '" Can you not see that :
c,S,S; *S***«fc back,, tightly;
h !2ft K ha i d ° S dGWn and & lv<? m? your ':
hand he demanded. "I have a ring in my
pocket, which I mean you to wear ou do
not imagine that I am jesting, do you? This
will gleam on your finger in token 'of our be- |
iro 1 113 J.
"Oh. no, Bernard!" Riga- gasped. I could 1
never wear it! I do not love you "
'ou shall!" he said, furiously. "Come irive I
m<> your hand." ' s
"I will not. Oh, you have hurt poor
Biuno! as, with a cry of pain, the spaniel l
crept under a chair, having been seized and'
hurled to the floor "You are cruel-brutal '
and it would paralyze my hand to wear your ?
ring for a single instant'" j
vio. 1 !! WaS * tan ? in S now. a sparkle in her
violet eyes that fear could not quench
'You shall!" he reiterated, hissingly and
he made a savage clutch at her arm I
But, with a wild bound. Elva evaded him '<
rushing out into the night.
••••••
By the time she had reached the path
leading down the cliff, Elva was breathless
and forced to end her flight.
She stood facing the sea, a small, ghostly
figure, with a wild tangle of curls shining on
Der brow.
How softly the waves murmured in the
■ummer fragrance of the western breeze
She looked down at the silvery tide and
thought of her missing comrade, Jim
Was it as people surmised, and had he I
fallen that day. during the storm, from the !
precipi-e into the raging billows?
If so, why had no trace of him been found?
Unable to glean any solution to this oft
repeated query, she let her mind drift in
another direction.
How, she pondered, could she endure much
longer her disquieting life at the Priory?
It was like existing between two fire's, the
flames of which kept her in perpetual heat
and dread.
Either Clorinda or Bernard made each day
that passed a torment with the force of their
uncertain tempers, and, with the harsh voice
of the latter still ringing in her ears, it
seemed to her that she could not continue to
remain with her cousins.
A pattering and scraping at her feet drew
her attention to the fact that Bruno had •
shared her flight, and she knelt down to pat
faithful little creature, tears falling on
tn*» clog's curly fur.
"Why, is it really you, Miss Caryl? As I
came up the cliff I fancied that I beheld a
white wraith."
She turned with a glad exclamation.
To have met Osmonde Romer was balm to
her at that rncment.
He looked into her pallid face, lighted by
the moon's" rays, and instantly asked—
"Have you been eiying?"
To his amaze:.-iei.t she laid her hand plead
ingly on his sleeve, and, lifting her limpid
eyes with the utmost confidence to his, said
"You can help me, and you will, i know
you will!"
Tell me how?" he asked.
"I want to leave the Priory," she told him
simply: "I am so vtrv miserable there, i
cannot stay! Will you take me back to'the
convent?"
NAN WOODVILLE'S LOVERS;
<
He started at this request; his face turned
the color of ashes.
"I am not at libt'-ty to interfere between
you and your guardian," he said, with an ef
fort. "I have no authority "
"My g-uardian!" she repeated, a faint red
tinting her cheeks at the recollection of
Bernard's boorish wooing. "I am not a child,
Mr. Romer, and can choose my own' path in
life! When I first came to the Priory, I did
not foresee any difficulty. I thought myself
the happiest girl in the world; but there is a
change which I cannot help noticing. I know
that Clori does not care for me, and I seem
to be in the way. Can you blame me for
wishing to leave Bell Bay?"
"I am sorry for this," he said. "If I could
help you, I would, certainly. I have seen how
you have been stung and humbled, and my
heart has ached for you. Still, nothing can be
dene," he added, as though speaking to him
self.
He had averted his eyes from the pleading
face bathed in moonlight, that seemed to shed
a witching lustre on her golden curls and into
her violet eyes.
Below them the breakers tossed and
sparkled with the reflection of twinkling
stars, and Osmonda followed the motion of
the tide with despairing gaze.
What prevented hi n from folding the little
creature he loved so devotedly to his tor
mented heart, and asking ncr to let him plan
her future?
The memory of Jim Dage.
He again mentally pictured the scene of
that horrible hour, the advancing form of
the young squne buffeted by the wind and
rain, and the sudden falling of a tottering
body over the brink of the cliff.
He had not actually sought to injure his
rival; but he had hated him with a raging
anger, to which pome hideous fiend had ap
peared to respond.
He felt that he was morally guilty of the
awful accident that had happned so strange-
Iv.
The waves beating against the jagged,
re cky sides of St. Kevin's Cave could not have
revealed a more gruesome secret than that
which haunted the secretary.
"You must not l=ave ihe Priory." he said,
when he turned to her. "It is your home, and
you must try to bear with your cousin's
whims a little longer. Soon she will be Lady
Drake of Ashcroft. and "
"Nothing will induce me to be Mrs.
Vansdlyt of Cliff Priory," E*va interrupted,
her eyes shining defiance. "I do not like
Bernard in the least now."
And, without another word, she darted past
Osmonde, running up the steep path, her
white skirts fluttering, her elfish curls of
geld tossed back in the wind.
CHAPTER VI.
Clorinda's wedding was to take place in
the autumn, and she had almost ceased to
feel any qualms of remorse in connection with
Giles Wynter's wretched fate.
Not that she had forgotten him.
There were days when she brooded rest
lessly over the thought of that lonely grave
in the little cemetery near Hazel Wood.
Sir Oscar might worship her in his serene,
distinguished way, but she could not love
him as she had loved the man she had driven
to death.
Her fierce, capricious temper had to have
a limit in the presence of hef betrothed hus
band.
A slight rebuff from him roused her to a
heat of scornful ire that verged upon hatred.
She knew that, although she had despised
the position of the horse trainer, she would
have been more in her element with him than
she would ever be when bound to Sir Oscar.
The placid temperament of the latter irri
tated her.
When he said. "My dearest!" in mild, dig
nified rebuke as some fresh trait in her of
which he disapproved, she could have laugh
ed in defiant mockery, had she dared.
But ambition held her in restraint to some
extent; she veiled her true feelings, de
termined to tprannize all the more once the
marriage bond had been securely riveted.
One afternoon, having completed her toilet
for tennis, Clorinda made her way to Elva's
room, demanding admittance with her usual
imperiousness.
There was no answer to her impatient rap,
and, flinging open the door, she saw that the
apartment was empty.
"Tiresome little wretch!" reflected Miss
Vansdlyt, angrily. "She is out still— with
Bruno, I suppose! She would have posted
that note to Madame de Lise so much sooner
than either of the servants. Now it will be
too lat* for the appointment."
She looked at her handsome reflection in
the glass, and hurried down to the drawing
room.
One of her friends had already arrived— a
large, pompous-looking girl, with a row of
pearly teeth, now amiably displayed in a
gushing smile of greeting.
"It was the "Perfect Mine" heiress, Lena
Bramble.
"You are early, are you not?" Miss Vansdlyt
asked, without ceremony, as she shook hands
with her guest. "I expected Sir Oscar at
four."
Miss Bramble laughed merrily jerking
round a tiny watch that sparkled with dia
monds from under her resolute chin.
"Your fiancee is late, my dear," she said
and her eyes twinkled so oddly that Clorinda
instantly questioned —
"Have you seen him?"
"Well— yes; to tell you the truth, I did se=>
him."
"You are mysterious." commented the bride
elect, her heart beating stormily. "T ag you
know, detest evasions, Lena."
"All very fine! I don't care to upset
people," declared Miss Bramble, with a con
tinuation of her povial laugh. "You are such
a firebrand, Clori, and— little Elva's out isn't
she?"
There was an expression of whimsical ex
pectation on the face of the heiress, goading
to Clorinda, whose brow blackened with mis
trust.
"Yes, Elva is out," she assented. "I may
as well tell you that she abhors tennis— too
much exertion for her."
"Such a pretty creature!" exclaimed Miss
i
Bramble, looking at her ringed fingers pen
sively, having drawn off her tan gloves. "I
have taken a great fancy to the little thing.
She really made a bewitching picture just
now, the sun on her g-olden curls."
A burning suspicior consumed Miss Vans
dlyt. Lena's teasing propensity was nothing
new to her, but it always worked her into a
fever, and now the wrathful heat in her ceins
was raging.
"Say it out, Lena; 1 want to know more
! about this bewitching picture. You saw Sir
Oscar?"
"Yes," nodded the heiress.
"And" — Clorinda was panting now, her
scarlet lips had lost much of their brilliancy
— "Elva was with him?"
"Yes, Elva was certainly with him," Miss
Bramble agreed.
Ciorinda looked dangerous evil for a
j moment, standing perfectly still, her head
: thrown beck, her dark eyes blazing.
Then, conscious that her freind was in a
| high state of enjoyment, she burst into a
' scornful laugh.
"To be jealous of Elva would be a poor
; compliment to myself," she scoffed.
'"So I should imagine," dryly observed Miss
Bramble, and she turned, with a rattle of her
: gemmed bangles and watch-chain charms, to
i bestow an arch welcome upon Bernard, who,
; at that instant, came striding into the room.
"Oh, Mr. Vansdlyt, I've a scolding ready
for you!" she said, with lifted brows. "You
promised to ride with me this morning, did
you not?"
"Did I?" he laughed, 7/hile his glance wan
dered round in search of Elva. "What a
misfortune to be afflicted with so bad a
memory! I am rightly punished in having
missed a delightful canter over the downs
with a still more delightful companion."
Miss Bramble beamed and tried to look coy.
"You naughty truant!" she ejaculated, with
a flippant wave of her jewelled hand.
She had an intense admiration for Bernard,
and hoped that her diamonds might fascinate
him.
But he was proof against their worth and
dazzle, and, as soon as he could politely es
cape from her allurements, he went out into
the grounds.
The secretary was there, calmly helping to
arrange the nets in the tennis court, and,
joining him, Bernard asked —
"Have you seen Miss Caryl?"
"Just this moment," Osmonde replied. "She
came to tell me that O'Hara's wife is dan
gerously ill — a tever of some kind — and the
poor things need assistance. Miss Caryl has
already enlisted Sir Oscar's sympathy on
their behalf. He has sent a doctor to the
woman "
"Miss Caryl had better not run such risks
as to meddle with infectious cases," inter
rupted Bernard, scowling. "Why did she not
come to me with all this news?"
He looked piercingly at Osmonde, whose
grey eyes darkened with strong feeling, held
firmly in check.
"She happened to meet me first," he re
sponded, guardedly.
Bernard's eyes emitted a fierce gleam.
His jealousy of the secretary was quite as
fervid as that which had led to the cruel evil
permitted to occur in the waves of St.
Kevin's Cave.
If the tide had swept Jim Dage from his
path, he realized that he had let death claim
a harmless rival, whom Elva had merely re
garded as a merry companion and comrade,
while the man to be most feared stood living
before him.
There was a fierce suspicion in his mind,
as he turned and walked away from Os
monde.
Had the latter any designing intention of
striving for the prize denied to him?
When, later on, Elva, in her fresh dress of I
cream-tinted serge, appeared, crossing the
lawn with a racket in her hand, he went
rapidly to meet her.
"What is all this absurd nonsense about
Meg O'Hara?" he said, harshly. "You will be
bringing some loathsome fever to the Priory
if you are not more careful."
"She is so ill, Bernard, and Pat was in
despair. Fortunately, I met Sir Oscar, and I
told him that they were in great privation.
He was interested at once, and, instead of
coming on here, went back for Dr. Allen."
"Extremely obliging!" sneered her cousin;
and then, setting his teeth, he added: "Why
was I not consulted when you came in? You
appear to have a vast amount of confidence
in my steward — and I won't have it, Elva!"
he broke out, passionately. "Do you under
stand? I will not tolerate thi3 extraordinary
infatuation which you have, it seems, for my
servant."
Elva drew back, alarmed by his savage
tone and glittering eyes, cheeks and throat
crimsoning
It made her burn and smart to hear Os
monde Romei spoken of so insultingly.
A sudden light breaking upon her set her
heart in wild motion; she trembled from head
to foot.
When Bernard glared at her with that
jealous fury of suspicion, it made her long
to flee from his dread presence to that of the
man he insolently called "servant."
She felt a flood of loving indignation beat
ing within her.
Yet she refrained from uttering a word
likely to further enrage Bernard, merely re
treating across the grass with a slow move
ment, a strange tumult in her violet eyes.
As she passed Clorinda she encountered a
stormy look, so intensely malignant that she
could not help shuddering.
But she was permitted to go on unmo
lested.
She did not care to play tennis, especially
with this odd, bewildering thrill agitating her
soul, and she slipped down a quiet path, from
the leafy solitude of which she could get a
glimpse of the sparkling sea.
What, she asked herself, would be the en&
of the wrangling misery to which she was
daily subjected?
She had remained at Cliff Priory because
Osmonde Romer had explained that she must
It was for him that she had stayed.
She comprehended clearly now that her
own secret had revealed itself to her.
She moved to a little alcove formed by some
trailing creepers, and started back with a
faint ejaculation.
I-- - -
Osmonde was sitting on the rough seat, his
arms folded, his head bowed — something in
his attitude that smote her with surprise.
He had already seemed so strong and re
liable that this aspect of unusual dejection
| filled her with alarm.
She ran to him in pale dismay, and laid her
. hand timidly on his arm.
"What is the ma'-ter?" she exclaimed. "Lift
j your face, Mr. Romer— you look so strange
; that you frighten me!"
The expression of anguish in his eyes was
enough to make her shiver.
But, at the sound of her voice, he seemed
to waken from a trance — he stood up, a
forced smile on his lips.
"Why are you not playing tennis with the
others?" he questioned. "I came here to rest,
and you have been cruel enough to disturb
j me," he added, his tone somewhat unsteady.
"Cruel!" she repeated, reproachfully. "It
does not agree with you to be as dull as a
recluse, Mr. Romer. Will you play tennis?"
"I think not— unless with Miss Bramble,"
he added, deliberately.
He was not prepared for the look of hurt
surprise that clouded Elva's youthful face,
and it thrilled him with its appealing wonder
that he could have meant to slight her frank
proffer.
"I do not play so well as Miss Bramble,"
she said, struggling with her disappointment;
and then, suddenly, she colored hotly — a sen
sation of shame struck her dumb and pow
erless.
Perhaps he knew that she would rather stay
by his side than join the gay group on the
lawn, and he wished her to understand that
! he preferred the society of Lena Bramble.
The distress of mind was so acute that it
made her giddy.
He must dispise her to have given that cold
rebuff, when, knowing that she disliked ten
nis, she had been quite willing to enter into
the sport — with him.
She recovered her composure, after a dazed
moment, and, shaking back her curls, said,
with a fleeting sm.le —
"It is delightful to be an heiress! Even
you are dazzled by the golden glamor, Mr.
Romer! You are net a hermit, after all!"
She parted the thick boughs of the creeper
as she spoke, i.nd sprang into the path out
side the arbor, leaving him with flashing eyes
and a dusky flush on his face.
Pie had not dared to respond to the taunt,
becabse of the passionate yearning to fold
her to his heart and tell her of his love.
CHAPTER VII.
Clcrlnda had been a splendid hostess that
afternoon, rpigning with queen-like brillian
cy among her guests, and not one word had
been uttered in reproof at Sir Oscar's late
arrival.
She had accepted his excuse about the
O'Haras' trouble, and his desire ti help them,
with a smile, a flash of her dusky eyes, and
he had no conception of the fervid intensity
of the malignant rage consuming her.
Elva had gone to her room after the de
parture of the priory visitors, and was stand,
ing at her window gazing out into the moon
flooded grounds, when a slight sound startled
her, and, turning, she saw that Clorinda was
coming towards her.
The regal figure, in daffodil taffeta, drawn
up tensely, instinct with subdued passion
and hatred, was enough to inspire terror in
its menacing quietude, and when the young
girl recoiled, with wide-open eyes of alarm,
Miss Vansdlyt laughed.
It was a laugh of malevolent mockery, of
fury and spite.
"So you were walking' with Sir Oscar this
afternoon instead of coming home to help me
I with my guests," she began, with contracted
brows. "You dared to keep my fiancee danc
ing attendance upon a wretched fever-strick
en woman! A charming excuse by which to
attract the interest of my future husband!
The suffering O'Haras. indeed! As though
you care about their miseries and woes!"
Elva was close up to the window — a pale,
shrinking figure, with a stream of moonlight
on her amazed and fear-filled face, while her
relative was towering before her, a wicked
glitter in her furious eyes.
"I was sorry for them, Clori," the former
ventured to remonstrate. "Was there any
harm in my telling Sir Oscar of their trouble?
I had heard that he Is so very charitable,
and I thought he would send a doctor to the
poor thing."
"Oh, so very charitable!" jerred Clorinda,
contemptuously. "I will have nothing to do
with charity when I am Lady Drake! What
business had you to propose that Sir Oscar
should assist these people? Did you want so
much to make him notice you?"
"You talk wildly. Clordinda," Elva said,
stung to retort. "Please leave my room. You
cannot reason calmly, and I do not like to see*
you storm so strangely. I dread speaking for
fear of rousing you. You know that; please
go!"
"How dare you order me to leave you?"
Miss Vansdlyt hissed. "I will not stir till I
choose, you cowardly little hypocrite! How
do I know what you may betray in your puny
moments of confidence, to either that solemn
faced secretary or Sir Oscar? I have smaJl
faith in you."
Elva looked steadily at the flaming eyes
burning upon her.
"That secret I have not failed to keep," she
whispered. "All that happened in the wood is
like a dream now, and I wish you would not
recall it to me. It i 3 a terrible thing to
remember."
"You are not required to remember," was
the harsh, defiant response. "How you pro
voke me! I could kill you; and you are such
a stupid craven — it sickens me to look at your
mock-meek face."
"I beg you will go!" reiterated Elva
thoroughly shaken and scared by this un
restrained gust of violence. "I have said
little to provoke you: you are too ready to
suspect and mistrust me."
"I hate you!" interrupted Clorinda, with
panting fever. "I loathe you exceedingly I
should like to do you some harm!"
"Go!" repeated Elva, her heart, palpitating
affrightedly. "It is dangerous to hate so
cruelly, Clori; it might lead to crime."
She stopped, half-sobbingly, and. with a
frantic spring. Miss Vansdlyt rushed upon