The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-06-02 00:00:00

CHAPTER xx..xvm
311RANDOLA.

ArrEn a pleasant voyage, brightened by charming
weather, the ship at length entered the port of Havana.
Mr. Chard, accompanied by Trevor, landed at once to
see about getting their baggage through the custom-
house, leaving the two ladies still on board. Miran-
dola was thirty miles in the interior, and when they
at last went on shore, they found carriages awaiting
them. Supposing that they were going to an hotel,
as Rose had expected t,oremain in the city a few days,
she unsuspectingly took her place in the caleche by
the Bide of her uncle, while Trevor occupied another
with her uncle's new wife. 9

To her surprise and chagrin, they only passed
through the town, and soon reached the open country
beyond it. Rose expressed her disappointment, and
her uncle decisively said :
"It does not suit my views, Miss Chard, to take you
to a public hotel in the present rebellious state of your
mind. If I should do so, you would probably disgrace
yourself and me, by repudiating the authority I can
see you are ready to defy. It is not my intention to
allow you any opportunity of doing so; for I have
now the power to secure your future prosperity in
spite of any opposition you may be inclined to make."
"Uncle, what am Ito understand from this ?" asked
the trembling girl. "I think your present treatment
of me is more disgraceful to you, as a gentleman, than
anything I could possibly do.".

Mr: Chard looked unmovea ; In tne same peremptory
manner he replied:
"You are to understand that my mind is irrevo-
cably made up to bestow your hand on the only man
who can secure to you the enjoyment of the fortune
bequeathed to you. I have such information as con-
vinces me that Trevor must win the suit; and I am
resolute that you shall never throw yourself away on
a penniless pettifogger, while so splendid an offer as
this courts your acceptance. I have pledged my
word to Mr. Trevor, and you may consider yourself
as bound to redeem it. Understand me, Rose. I will
not be trifled with, and I am taking you where you
will have no appeal from my authority."
"And it was for this I was lured from my home !"
she indignantly replied. "Uncle George, have you,
who have just made a match for what you consider
love, no feeling for me? I cannot endure this man to
whom you would bind me through a miserable life."
"Child, you are too young, and too full of fancies
to know what is for your good. I only follow the
fashionable plan of making a good match for you,
without consulting what you call your affections. It
is much wiser than the silly liberty that has in years
gone by been allowed in a matter of such importance.
As to my own marriage, I have arrived at years of
discretion, and know what suits me."
"And I, too, am quite old enough to understand
what is best for myself," replied Rose, with spirit ;
" and I declare to you that no force shall make me so
untrue to myself as to become the wife of Mr.
Trevor."

"We shall see," was the only reply vouchsafed by
Mr. Chard, and they drove on in silence.
At any other time, or under different circumstances,
Rose would have been delighted with the rapid
transition from the bleakness of a northern winter to
the luxuriant verdure of the tropics; but now the
beautiful scenery, the vernal bloom, had no power to
charm her sad and foreboding mind.
A courier had been sent forward to procure relays
of horses, and at the first stopping-place her uncle, in
spite of her remonstrances, changed places with
Trevor, and from that time till they reached Miran-
dola, she was forced to sit beside him; to listen to
protestations of undying love, and his self-gratula-
tions on the happiness that awaited him in their
speedy union.
Rose deigned no reply. She had already expressed
her sentiments toward him, and she felt that with
such a man remonstrance would be useless. She
mentally prayed for help, and she had faith to believe
that she would not be left utterly in the power of
those who were ruthless in their determination to ac-
complish the destruction of her happiness. Earnest
petitions to the All-seeing One could yet deliver her
from the snare into which her confiding affection for
a false woman had lured her.

Late in the evening the party reached Mirandola.
A wide avenue of stately palms led towards the house,
which was completely embowered in shrubbery. The
carriages were driven around an extensive lawn orna-
mented with statues and fountains over which a bright
tropical moon shed its silvery radiance.
The house was brilliantly lighted, and preparations
for their reception had evidently been made. They
passed through a gallery and hall paved with marble
into a lofty saloon, the walls of which were nearly
lined with mirrors. The furniture was such as a
woman of elegant taste, who was regardless of ex-
pense would be likely to choose; and something
attractive courted the attention in whatever direction
the eyes turned.
With her most charming manner, Mrs. George
Chard welcomed her guests to her home, and poor
Rose wc niered how a creature could be so captivating
and yet so false. She would have caressed her, but
the young girl shrank back, and, for the first time,
refused to receive her tender blandishments; she now
understood too well what they meant.
Mrs. Chard looked hurt, and sweetly said—
" The time will come, Rose, when you will judge
me less harshly. It pains me deeply now to see that
you are estranged from me, much as I have laboured
for your ultimate benefit."
Rose disdained to make a reply, and her_uncle
said— _ _ _

"Never mind her caprices, Lonore. She is only
tired and sulky at being forced to ride all day with
Trevor. She will be in a better humour to-
morrow."

Supper was soon served in very elegant style.
Mr. Chard was perfectly charmed with his surround-
ings, and more determined than ever to bend his niece
to his own stubborn tvilL

That night Rose slept, in spite of her unhappiness,
for she was much fatigued, and the body demanded
repose in defiance of the unrest of the mind. On the
following morning her uncle delivered his ultimatum
to her. In a month from that day she was to bestow
her hand on Alfred Trevor, and they were to accom-
pany himself and his wife on a contemplated tour to
the continent of Europe, not touching first on the
British coast. .

The marriage was hastened at the instigation of
Trevor, who insisted that longer delay would afford
time for some of Rose's friends to reach Mirandola,
and snatch from him his hard-won bride. Mr. Chard
acknowledged the danger of this, and, regardless of
the unhappy girl's reluctance to the proposed sacri-
fice, he at once named the earliest day on which it
would be possible to have the previous arrangements
completed; for a contract must be written, and a
portion of the fortuue she so dearly paid for, secured
o his niece.

From day to day Rose saw the preparations for her
marriage going on. She endured the persecutions of
Trevor in passive silence; seeing no light, no hope of
release, yet trusting in her aching heart that she
would not be left to the wretched fate that menaced
her." _ _ .

Mrs. George Chard had ceased to make .any
advances to her; Rose saw from day to day that her
uncle fell more completely under her influence, until
he only seemed to live in her presence, and the lightest
word that fell from her lips was as a law to him. He
closed his ears—his heart to the poor girl's despairing
appeals for release, and inflexibly assured her that he
only consulted her own good in compelling her to be-
come the wife of an honourable and true man, wtio
was desperately attached to her.
Was there no help? Where was her mother, her
lover, her friends, while this iniquity was permitted to
be carried into effect against one so helpless as her-
self? Was there no one to rush to her rescue on the
wings of affection ? Her mother had promised to
come—why did she give no sign of so doing? was the
feverish inquiry that arose in her agitated and
wretched mind. Was the letter which gave so ready
a consent to this trip genuine? With the doubt came
the fear that it was not, and Rose hastened to examine
it again, each time with the deepening conviction that
it was a clever forgery, and, in her heart, she sus-
pected it to be the work of her new aunt. She began
to fear that her mother was left in doubt as to where
she was, or whither she had gone, and, amid her own
sorrow, the thought of the uncertainty and anguish of
her beloved mother at the fate of her heart's darling
was one of the keenest pangs she endured.
Rose's personal liberty was not restricted, but she
soon became aware that every step she made was
watched, and any attempt on her part to pass the
boundary of the grounds around the villa was rendered
of no avail, by finding Trevor or her uncle following
immediately in her steps.
To avoid the annoyance of Trevor's society, she
soon confined herself almost entirely to her own room,
only leaving it to sit in silence at table when meals
were served. Many efforts were made to draw her
off from this reverie. Her uncle flattered her, her
aunt regarded her with sweet and imploring glances,
often accompanied by caressing words, and Trevor
devoted himself to her in a manner a little less
offensive than his former blustering style of wooing.
But to all, Rose was listless and indifferent. Her ap-
proaching marriage and the European tour were dis-
cussed before her without reserve, but they drew
from her no comment; there was no indication that
any impression was made on her weary and pre-
occupied mind. Theothock of finding herself in so
unforseen a position seemed to have paralysed her
powers of thought and action, and the wretched girl
often sat for hours looking out on vacancy, and pray-
ing in a dreamy kind of way for
,deliverance from
the evils that threatened her.

(To be continued)