Year: 1869

ting instinct. I never meant it. wi


swear


''Swear at me, if you want 10 swear,


said the convict; but 'stop that particula
kind Of noise Just now. You have lost you


nerve, and it is necessary that you shoull
| keep it. You have done a thing Thousand
I times more awful than you thing it to be
Shake yourself together. You have shO
| Marks the bushtanger, haven't you, ant
( earned the thanks Of both houses of the le
/ gislalure?"


With white, dry lips, Lionel said, "Yos.' ,


is your nerve sufficiently good to go anC
look at himI"


81 sm not afraid of cOrpses, said Lionel
i only fear the ghosts which their memo,
/ ries raise around one"


81 ought to see plenty of ghosts, then.
I said the cOHvict, IF the memory of all thai
1 have seen and all that / have heard is tc
return in the form ofghosts. But it don't,


81 speak of what you have done" said
Lionel 'Have you ever kiild a man?"


why, no. Bt stop this talk. We are
in awful trouble Perhaps I am to blame.
COnfOund you, you know that you hsve
done right. What are you afraid of You
find it necessary TO keep this business dark,
Z for your own sake, Tor your own entirely
I wish to point out to you that you want at
this moment every bit Of intelligence and
nerve of which you are possessed. Leave
| the horses to Craze and follow me. 3"


They walked toward the body. When
I the convict had removed the artificial black
beard from the head of the corpse, the face
which LiOnelsaw staring with open eyes
out from among the long grass and flowers
was the face Of his cousin Edward My art
might do more for you, but my muse holds
up her fugers as though she were already
angry a. my license


There followed long watch in the silent
summer forest, by one who strobe up and
down among the flowers, maddened with
remOrse, interrupted Oaly by the tapping Of
fierce foul eagles, who perched on the trees
near by, disappointed of their feast by a wlld
man, who walked to and fro, making foolish
and vain impreeatious on his own head.
Then, when his faithful convict returned
from the station with spade, there followed
a burial: and the eagles, harshly screaming,
wheeled aloft, disappointed into the higher
regions Of summer twilight, to seek for
other prey, and Edward HOrnby was buried
and his memory smong human folks with
him.


Then followed an interview at dead of
night between Jordan the convict and
Lionel.


''There is no need for you to say nothing
at al, f." said Jordan. 1t is done and It
can't be undOne. If I'd known how you
we're going to take on about the doing of it,
I'd have done it by some one else
thought you had grudge against the man.
But tits better to keep quiet, aud is easy
enough kept quiet. Say nothing whatsoever
of any sort or kind to any human creature.
Lord bless You things are so easily hushed
up in this colonyl Your report is that you
and me saw man with big black beard
shoot down trooper without prOvocation,
and that you afterwards, believing him TO
be the bushranger Marks, with whom you
we're not personally acquainted, shot him
down. Don't say a word more than that
Remember the honor of your family, you
know"


"Then you knew il was my cousin dis
guised2" asked Lionel.


"Bless the man, Of course 1 didl"
answered Jordan. Your cousin was
always a bushranger at heart When be
was took by them he see for the first time
the fun of it, and he and Marks fell out, and
he shot Marks down. Then he got the gang
with him, and then he came sneaking into
town, promising to come back and lead
them. And they wasn't likely to refuse the
leadership of man who sst both sides of
the hedge. And l couldn't give you the
office; l only thought that you swells were
as free among one another as We were.
When l found you knew nothing, and
thought that you had grudge against the
man, why then, seeing things handy, I put
you on the job, and you've done it but you
needn't ride rusty with me, for all that"


81 wish was dead l wish I had never
been born" was Lionel's answer.


The whole things went past. Only leav-
ing fresh horror and fresh remorse in the
heart Of very noble and good man. Young
still but getting gray.


Meanwhile cousin Alice had perfectly
played her role as Lady Granton. O0e sup
poses that in a marriage of arrangement like
hers, the woman is not always over head
and ears in love with the man. In her case
it was certainly so. She had been very
lately fond of Lionel, and with all the as
sistance of a strong will and very careful
training, could not always forget him even
when she had changed her name. Not that
she loved him still, she only Kept memory
Of him which grew DINNER day by day, and
preserved a feeling of tender kindness for
him to the end.


Lord Grantou probably knew that their
marriage was one Of arrangement, aud that
it. was dimly possible that there might pos
sibly be some one else who under other cir
cumstances might have been pre- erred to
himself Il e determined that his imaginary
rival, if such person existed, should have
no chance against him. He was clever
handsome, and wealthy, aud he gave al
these things to her and to the task Of win
ming her wholly to himself There was not
resisting the frank, noble generosity of the
man. She got to love him better than all
the world besides.


She was one Of The first leaders OF society,
and had been so for some ten years-was, in
fact. twenty mine, in the full radiance of her
splendid beauty; caressed, courted and nat
tered by the highest in Europe as wife Ofthe
English ExtraneOus minister-when she
gave party more select and exclusive than
She had ever done before; gold plate din
ner party: and when everything was ready
she sat in the drawing room with her hus-
band looking little anxious"


at is a strange story" said he; you
should certainly let him know the truth.
But why did you ask him tonight, of all
nights2 He will be the only person not in
office in the room.


"Hs was in the Colonial Government.
He is an Australian statesman saw. The
Secretary for the Colonies will know
him. And another thing l wished to be
very OsteutatiOus and grand before him"


81 see."


On the evening of the party, Lady Gran
ton was little uneasy at every announce
ment.


At last ''Mr. HOrton!"


Tell, as handsome as ever, very brown in
complexion, and slightly gray in hair,
though in age only thirty three; a remark
able mau, even among the remarkable men
present. Such was Lionel as she saw him
again after so long.


OF course every one knew him, and knew
who he was. He was only, after all, in his
own order again. He was very charming.
Australians were more so in those days than
now, and he was little Of lion eFsn there.


1t was lale in the evening before Lady
Granton got him to herself She began
thus.


"Come and sit near me We are quite alone
here Lord Grantun and myself have been
talking over a very old mater today, and be
is of the opinion that should speak to you
frankly and honestly about it. We are
older than we were, and possibly wiser.
Do you remember a certain painful parting
which we had, cousin LiOnel2'


He bowed his handsome grizzled head in
reply.


Also letter, which 1 gave you as an
excuse for a very rude Dismissal"


Another bow.


"S1 far then. Do you remember the
writer Of that letter Clara Brabaz0n2'


81 remember her well"


"Forg,ve me for giving you pain, dear
cousin. Believe me that comfort got from
believing untruths is not worth having.
Do you know what became of Clara Brab-
azon?"


mo. Cousin"


aMust tell the whole sad story. then?