Rocky Ford enterprise., 1897-10-21
[APTER xXu.-tCoNrISuEp.>

= CHAPTER XXII.-(CoNTISUEp.l
"Folk think ye o'er-gentle," she con-
tinued. but I've aye liked you because
was sure ye had stubborn will when
your conscience told you that the right
was on your side. II that man has
wronged Marjorie Amman, would you be
feared to face him and avenge her?"
III he has played the william" an
swered Sutherland. deadly pale. but de-
termined. II would hunt him down and
punish him. though had to follow him
round and round the world"
AS the young man spoke, his face
wore an expression which few had ev-
er noticed there before; all the softness
and sweetness disappeared. the lines
deepened. the eyes hardened, and the
entire aspect grew hard as granite. and
as unrelenting
II was right" said the old lady. no.
ticing the change. "Ye have the Heth-
erington temper, Johnnie Sutherland.
Oh. that were man to gang in your
place! But you shall follow them with
the swiftness O. youth and the keenness
o injured love-"
A few minutes later. Sutherland left
the Castle. fully authorized to bring
Marjorie back II possible, and armed
with ample means. In the shape OF q
large sum OF money. which Miss Heth-
erington thrust upon him.
Left to herself in the lonely Castle.
the lady retired to her private suite OF
apartments. and there gave way to the
wild tempest Of her sorrow and de-
spair. Pride and self-reproach con-
tended together for the mastery Of her
heart; but love was there. too-the In
tense love Of maternity. which for near
ly eighteen years had been fickering
secretly like feeble fire.
Sitting in her armchair. her head ly-
Ing back and her eyes fixed wildly on
the windows glimmcring square and
the dreary prospect beyond. she fell In
to troubled dream Of the past.
Again she was proud, passionate
girl. reckless In her co:nirgs and go
ings. caring for nothing In t.:e world
but the smiles Of one man. and fearing
nothing but the anger of her savage
brother, In whom the tigcrish blood OF
the male Hetheringtons ran twice fiery
through lust and wine.
So naughty and unlovable had she
seemed, SO stubborn and capricious.
that only one man had dared to WOO
her-that man her fathers and her
brothers enemy. the enemy Of all her
house. They had met In secret. and
she, with characteristic stubbornness.
had loved him better for the fcud that
might have kept them asunder. And
nt last. in n wild moment OF impulse.
she had placed herself at his mercy.
and had loved him without Gods bless
ing or the sanction Of clergyman or
priest.
Then. to the terror and amaze OF
both. came the knowledge that she was
about to become a mother.
Not till she confessed her situation
to him did she discover that the hate
Of her family was justified. and that
she had loved n villain: for almost
simultaneously came the news that he
was about to marry the daughter OF an
English earl. She taxed him with 1t,
and he scarcely took the trouble to de-
ny It. He could never. he said. unite
himself with one OF her house.
How 1t came about she scarcely
knew; but one night. when she met her
lover and faced him with wild up
brnidines hand like iron was laid
upon her arm. and turning. she saw
her brother Hugh. The two men faced
each other: there were n few words.
then blow. and she saw her lovers
face livid and bleeding as she swooned
away.
Later that night. when Hugh Heth-
crington sought her in that very cham
ber where abe was now sitting. he had
wrung the whole truth from her. and.
hearing II. had struck her. too. with
his clinched fist in the face.
As she thought Of that time. she rose
feebly and looked into the glass. \ cs.
the mark was there yet: she would
carry II to her grave. Her worn face
went ghastlicr yet Us she remembered
what had followed. How her wild
brother left the place and was absent
for many days: and how. just after he
returned and drove her forth. she read
In n newspaper that Lord Lochmaben,
Of the great Lochmnbens Of the Border.
had lust died suddenly in his 35th year.
somewhere abroad There was no
scandal: the world did not even know
how Lochmaben perished. but she
knew that he had fallen by the hand OF
Hugh Hctherington. in duel fought
with swords on foreign soil.
All, the darkness. the horror. the dcs-
olation of the next few months! No
one but her brother knew her secret.
and he kept 1t well. so that all the
world heard was that the brother and
sister had quarreled, and that she had
left the Castle to dwell. temporarily at
least, apart. No one wondered. The
Hetherington temper was well known.
a by-word. 1t was rs natural that such
n brother and sister should hate each
other as that swords should clash, or
fire and torrent disagree.
Creeping in secret to town upon the
English border. she had hidden her
shame among the poorest of the poor.
No one knew her: no one suspected but
that she was some lowly woman who
had gone astray In the manner only
too common among her class. Then at
last her little one was born.
sitting and reviewing It all darkly,
,oiny memory's phantOm images