The Rhondda Leader

(Copyriyit.) A DARING SCHEME. By RALLI WEST, Author of "On the Wings of the Morning," "Lore's Last Gift," "Cara," "The Fates Were Kind," "Ere She Should Grieve," &c. t. "Off next week. By George! that's sooner than I thought!" Jack Langton, second mate of the Reliance, stared blankly at the letter the postman had just handed to him, in the garden of the cottage which was his home for such weeks as he was not tossing on mid-ocean. It was a pretty place, half-smothered with jasmine and creepers; but small enough almost to go inside the drawing-room of the stately house in which his early boyhood had been passed. Then the firm of which his father was senior partner had failed his father died, and with what had remained from the wreck of their fortune, his mother had bought this cottage in the West of England. Jack had always declared that a sailor's life was the only one possible for him. It was a terrible blow when he found that the expense forbade all thought of the navy; still he worked well on the training-ship to which his mother sent him, passed his mate's exam. as soon as it was possible to do so, and was expecting promotion by the time the next voyage was over. But he had not expected that next voyage to begin so soon and that Wa4 what made him tug so viciously at his fair moustache, and caused the look of unwonted gravity on his bright, open face. Poor Jack! there was a strong attraction on shore for him just now. Of course, he was in love; and equally of course—considering he had nothing but his pay to live upon—the prospect of winning the girl of his heart seemed very doubtful. She was the only child of Colonel Conyers, the owner of Glenlyn, the big place whose grounds adjoined the modest garden of Jasmine Cottage. The Colonel and Mr. Lang- ton had been old College chums, and on the death of the latter, the old soldier had proved a true friend to the widow and her son. Now, by way of return for all the kindness, Master Jack was doing his best to steal away Lucy Conyers's heart under her unsuspecting father's -rery nose. Poor old gentleman! he always would persist in looking upon his little Lucy as a child and had with difficulty been convinced on her last birthday that she had attained the important age of eighteen. He was the most ir dulgent of fathers to hit motherless girl but it would hardly be human nature—paternal— to look delighted if a young fellow with only is mate's pay wherewith to start housekeeping, roposed for this daughter's hand. So reluc- tantly Jack had decided that he must wait till there was a prospect of being Captain before ask ing Lucy to marry him. Meanwhile the nrrcions days on shore-spent mostly in her society—had sped all too quickly, and now the summons to join his ship had come before he expected it. "Confound it all! I never thought to be off next week," he said, still staring at the open letter as if his eyes must have deceived him. Someone walking on the other side of the hedge hfard the words, peered over to make sure of the speaker, then continued his walk with a jji:i!e of satisfaction at finding his surmise cor;5)t He was a tall, powerfully-built man, with a cruel mouth beneath the reddish moustache ,t concealed it; and st«^]-olue eyes fri-n-i whose restk?* glance iiutmng escaped. "f shall have a better chance, once that good- looking young rascal is clear off," he muttered. "Ah Colonel," as the old man suddenly emerged from the stables, which were built some little distance from the house itself, "I was just going up to your place to meet my sifter, who I believe came over to tennis with (lllr daughter this morning. I had to go into Btapleton to-day on business, so I thought I would call for her, and we could drive back together." "You will find them hard at it as usual," the Colonel replied with a laugh. "But won't you stop to dinner, Shaw ? "Not to-day, thanks. I have a couple of fellows coming down by the evening train to talk over our next yachting expedition. By the way, Colonel, I was going to ask if you and your daughter would honour us with your company this time. Phyllis of course goes with me, and she votes for the Norwegian coast; but if there is anywhere else that you would prefer, we would gladly change the programme." The Colonel shook his head. It is very good of you but our summer plans are all settled. We are to pay those long-promised Scotch visits don't know whea we shall escape from the chilly regions of the North once we enter them. There's no getting off it, though I should give mortal offence if I did. Besides, to tell you the truth, I am one of the most hopeless victims to sea-sickness; can't stand even an hour's tossing," and he shuddered at the remembrance of former woes. James Shaw was perfectly well aware of the fact; only it had suited his purpose to ignore it. Under those circumstances it would be cruel to press you," he said. "But perhaps later on you would let Miss Conyers join' my sister for a short cruise and I would ask my aunt, Mra. Elend, to be of the party." "You are very kind, I am sure. Lucy will be pleased to have such a pleasant change, for she is a capital sailor," the Colonel said, a trifle dubiously for he had an indistinct recollectioa of having heard his daughter speak of Mr. Shaw as "that horrid red-haired man. Still, she certainly liked Miss Shaw, so perhaps it would be all right. "Its a pity you cannot stap and have a game," he continued, as a tulj'n of the path brought them to the tennis-courts, where the two girls were resting after an exciting battle. They made a pretty picture, he thought, ia their white dresses, sitting on the bank against the dark background of firs and shrubs; and he gazed fondly at his daughter's fair face, soft tinted as the delicate petals of a newly-opened flower. Phyllis Shaw, five or six years her senior, was a tall, strikingly handsome girl, with black hair and brilliant, dark eyes. U It's a mercy that I am handsome," she told a friend one day-and the friend had been struck by the note of intense bitterness in her voice—"for my face and figure are my fortune. I have not a penny of my own and when Jem does take it into his head to marry, I must turn out in the world. At present it suits him for me to preside over his bachelor household; but he has told me plainly I must not expect to live with him once the bride appears on the scene." "You will marry long before that happens," had been the significant reply. But Phylliis did not feel so sure. She was an arrant coquette had played fast and loose with her admirers, until in the end they had tired; and at four. and-twenty the only immediate prospect of matrimony appeared to be for her to accept a widower, of sixty-five, with two plain, grown-up single daughters, who frankly owned that Papa was a regular Tartar." The post of wife in that establishment would be no sinecure. She shrank from it all the more, too, because, down at the bottom of her heart she knew she loved Jack Langton, and would gladly have shared even poverty with him, She guessed that he loved Lucv, though he did not dare speak out at present"; and suspected Lucy returned the feeling. But that was all romantic nonsense. Colonel Conyers would naturally prefer a rich man like her brother for a son-in-law to a penniless young sailor so she determined to do all in her power to further her brother's suit, nnd separate Lucy from Jack. If she played her cards well and made herself useful to Lucy, she might be induced to plead for her to remain on in Jem's house, at least for a time. Then when Jack returned, found his old love married, and Phyllis still free—who knows ? Many a heart ii caught op the r'90q NOW, while laughing and talking with the Colonel, who with old-fashioned courtesy was doing his best to entertain her, she was intently watching her brother and Miss Conyers noting with satis- faction that though the girl shrank from his attentions, he seemed to exercise a kind of fascination over her, and compel her against her will to remain at his side. "I kncv well enough what Jem is, if he is resolved to have his own way," she thought. "I believe I am the only one who could hold my own against him. Lucy may struggle against it; but she will have to give in at last; and then Jack—I will make you marry me." She felt quite elated at the thought, though she would hardly have parted so gaily from her unsuspecting rival could she have seen her an hour Inter, sitting in the porch of the Langtons' »;.<ttujje with .Tack standing by her side, watching he colour fade from her face, as he told her of the unexpected summons. "I can't believe it will be so soon," Lucy ii:unmired. "It seems impossible," and she turned away her head to hide the tears that had sprung to her eyes. But he had- seen them. "Lucy," he whispered, "do you care so much ? Oh, my darling, I know I ought not to speak, but I can't bear to go away and leave you without knowing whether one day I Mifv hope to win you for my wife." "I don't think I could live without you, Jack, she said, with still averted head. He drew her away, out. of sight of the house and under the old apple trees beneath which they hi d played from childhood they had a long, rarnest talk of what would be the wisest course to pursue. Both agreed that it would never do to speak to Colonel Conyers until Jack had his promotion. "After all, if we understand each other, it does not matter about being regularly engaged," she said, raising her eyes to him. "I shall never change. I think really it is better to keep it to ourselves for the present." Jack hesitated. "Of course, I do not doubt you in the least, sweetheart, he said at length. "But I would rather it could have been 11 openly announced if it had been possible. You see, dear, it seems hardly fair on your father to let him believe you are fr?e, while all the time- The Colonel's voice calling from the adjoining garden for his daughter prevented any further discussion. "I hats that fellow Shaw always dangling about!" the disconsolate lover said to himself, as he watched the girl's slight figure disappear up the avenue leading to Glenlyn. "I can see what he is after; and though Lucy is fond of me—the darling!—she is very young; and it's « hard trial for a girl to be left all those months exposed to the attentions of fellows who sup- pose—naturally enough—that she is free to receive them. II. The Scotch visits, which the Colonel had mentioned, were extended so late into the autumn that the yachting expedition was put off until the following spring, to Pliillis's vexation, for she was anxious to bring her brother's wooing to a speedy climax. It had not prospered as she had hoped. Lucy seemed to shrink more and more into herself, and treated him with such marked coldness that he at last spoke to her father, hoping lie would use his influence, and point out the advantages of such a marriage to his wayward daughter. But the Colonel refused to interfere. "I am an old man," he said. "I was middle- aged when I married Lucy's mother. I promised her, when she was dying, that I would try and be father and mother both to our little seven- .y»y-c!d daughter. Mothers, worthy of the name, would never let their girls marry unless they truly loved the man who asked them so, much as I should like to see my darling happily settled in a home of her own before I die, nothing will induce me to influence her in any way against her inclinations. Trust a pure-minded woman to understand the driftings of her own heart. The young ones want guiding, being induced to halt now and again but, as a rule, they know when to advance or not. I will give you every chance. You have my full consent to win her if you can, but she is perfect mistress of her fate. Then it was that Jem Shaw, feeling sure that the girl he loved would never marry. him of her own free will, took counsel with his handsome sister, and together they planned a scheme by which Lucy should be forced to consent to the marriage. It was hard work persuading her to go for the projected cruise. Nothing but having promised Phyllis faithfully the previous year that she would be her companion, made her at last consent. "You can't surely mean to back out of it at the eleventh hour," cried Miss Shaw, in pretended despair. "Think of me, doomed to the society of tha wearisome old aunt day after day. She was only asked because of doing the strictly proper and correct, for you and now it's too late to alter plans, or I would have asked someone younger and more congenial to take her place. What has made you change your mind ? You were willing enough to go last autumn." "I do not like leaving my father for so long, Lucy said, not daring to mention the second reason—that she dreaded Mr. Shaw's pressing attentions. "Oh! your father will be all right. He told me himself he was glad for you to have the chance of some sea-breezes. He thought you had been looking pale lately. You need not worry on his account, I am sure. Come, you can't be so hard-hearted as to forsake me. I should be half-dead by the end of the first week, for Jem and his two men friends would just stick together and leave me to my own devices. I know those friends of old." Reluctantly Lucy yielded, inwardly hoping that they would be back by June, when she expected Jack to return. The first few weeks of the cruise passed off quietly enough. Lucy was forced to own to herself that her fears had been unfounded, for nothing could be more guardedly courteous than Jem Shaw's manner towards herself. Mrs. Elend proved to be a weak-minded, harmless sort of individual, who appeared to live in mortal terror of her nephew, and to be still more in dread of her beautiful niece, to whose wishes she always gave in with a meek, "Very well, my love, I will do just as you like." Lucy wondered whatever could have induced her to accept the invitation, until she discovered that the poor lady was thankful to be saved a few weeks' expense, and to escape from the cheap boarding-house where she had spent all the years that had elapsed since her husband's death. One day they dropped anchor at a little town on the French coast where they were to remain a short time to allow of necessary repairs being done to the yacht. The gentlemen said they should take the opportunity of ex- ploring the surrounding neighbourhood, but Phyllis declared she did not feel equal to hurrying about from place to place. She had been complaining of headache and lassitude lately, and could often hardly be persuaded to stir from the saloon. Mrs. Elend had, as usual, murmured "Very well, my love, I will do just as you please." So Lucy, perforce, was compelled to remain on board. "Why, where is your aunt going? she ex- claimed the same evening that the gentlemen had left. Phyllis looked up from her book—she and Lucy were alone in the saloon-and stretched herself lazily on the sofa. "I remember her saying she wanted to go on shore some time to-day but it is foolish of her to have left it so late, it is almost dark. I vote we have lights, Lucy, and then we will try over those duets." She kept her companion's attention fully engaged for a time, till presently the girl ex- claimed "I believe the yacht is moving." "Very likely. I expect they want to shift to another position. Ah here comes coffee. I am glad of it, for I declare it's downright chilly." She busied herself over the tray, while Lucy cut away the music scattered on the niano, ".Foor old auntie," she continued, "she will repent gadding about at this hour of the night. What is the matter with your coffee, dear ? as Lucy pushed away her cup. Is it not sweet enough ? "Too sweet. I think I will go on deck and watch for Mrs. Elend, my head aches so. The air may do it good. She got up as she spoke, but seemed hardly able to stand. Phyllis watched her with a curious light in her eyes, as she tried to move a few steps, then sank down on the couch. "I am so faint, she gasped. Then her head fell back on the cushions, and she lay motion- less. Five minutes later Jem Shaw stole to the door. "Have you done it? he whispered. His sister pointed to the still form on the couch. "I have given her a strong dose. She will not rouse until to-morrow morning. Then I shall be on the watch, and send her off to sleep again before she is thoroughly awake and, by the time she is fully conscious, we shall be far enough away. It was hard work getting rid of aunt. But, you see, I managed that even, and, doubtless, she is now patiently waiting for the boat to fetch her. She will be all safe enough, for I took care she had money, more than sufficient, to stop at the hotel for a few days." "I wish it had not come to this," he said, bending down to look at the sleeping girl. "Rubbish, Jem. What harm can it do her ? As for the old Colonel, he will make a fuss at first, naturally, on finding his pet safely married, but he will soon come round. You made those two men clearly understand the repairs would take a good week, and that you found it neces- sary, at the last moment, to return and super- intend things yourself ? "Oh, yes. They are safe off for ten days." "That's all right. By that time the Hebe will be waiting their orders minus her owner, who will have started on his honeymoon, thanks to his sister. You mould never have carried the thing through but for we. Now confess, would you ? "No, confound it all; and I'm not sure but what even now- Coward! she interrupted scornfully. "What are you afraid of ? A great, big man like you to be afraid I I would be ashamed to own it." She looked wonderfully handsome, standing in the bright lamp-light, one hand resting on the amber cushions which supported the girl whose life's happiness she had set herself deliberately to destroy. Involuntarily Jem recoiled from the brilliant creature who had shewn herself so utterly without heart. Hitherto his will had dominated hers, but now he felt the positions were reversed. He guessed that she had appeared to bow before his strength only to assert her own the more surely when the hour came for which she had so patiently bided her time. With one more look at the sleeping girl he turned and left the saloon. "And he fancies I have done this only to secure a home beneath his roof," Phyllis cried under her breath. "How blind men are! It's a desperate game to play but if I can keep Lucy and Jack apart till he has heard my version of this story, I think there is little fear but what I shall win him in the end. He will be feeling so disgusted with her faithlessness; with the avowal she made me (I shall have to word that bit carefully) that she dared not be a poor man's wife—she had not realised what it meant when first he asked her-that he will be badly in need of consolation. Men can seldom bear their troubles alone, as women too often have to do. When, the following evening, poor Lucy at last aroused to consciousness, it was to find herself far out at sea; and save for the sailors, apparently alone on board. Of Phyllis she could find no trace below, and when, dazed and bewildered, she made her way on deck, and questioned Ce of the men, he replied that Miss Shaw had left the yacht the previous evening, but had given orders for a note to' be delivered to her the moment she came pn deck. Would she like to see Mr. Shaw ? He was in his cabin, and should be called directly if she wished. He shrank back abashed from the proud gesture of refusal as the girl moved away to the other end, and with trembling fingers tore open the letter. From a safe hiding-place Phyllis watched her victim read the few lines in which was briefly set forth the plan to compel her seeking refuge in a marriage with Jem Shaw. "I am sorry to have had to be partner in the scheme," concluded the letter; "hut all's fair in love and war, you know; and perhaps some day, when you find out that Jack Langton has only been playing with you, and has all along cared for—someone else, you will thank me for what I have done." Lucy gazed round her in vague terror. What did it me?»n ? Could it be true that Phyllis had sent her adrift with only these men on board ? That she was at their mercy, and when they did allow her to land the only alternative would be to marry her old aversion, "the red-haired man." A shudder of horror shook her from head to foot. Any- thing but that. If only she could thinl; clearly; but her head felt, strangely confused. She could not get a firm grip of the thoughts that were chasing each other through her bewildered brain. She put her hand up to her forehead; pushed back the thick, soft, clustering hair; strove her hardest to think; and all the time Phyllis from her hiding- place watched her intently. The sun was sink- ing, flooding the sky with a rich, softened glow; the sea was like a plain of gold. "Itcan't be cold. I shall just, sink down into it and die," came with a, flash to the girl's over- wrought mind. "But oh! I don't want, to die yet; I don't want to leave father, and Jack. Only I could not marry anyone but Jack. Ah! Jack, save me! The cry in its piteous intensity rang out on the still evening air, startling those on the deck of a big sailing vessel close at hand, and rousing the man to whom Lucy had spoken a short time previously from the half- doze into which he had fallen.- He rushed forward just in time to save her from throw- ing herself overboard, and was grasping her tightly despite her struggles, when Jem, hastily summoned by his sister, came on the scene. The sight of him seemed to drive the unhappy girl almost mad, and it was with the greatest difficulty that she was at last induced to go below. All night she tossed and moaned, delirious, calling on her lover to save her. He was nearer than either she or the woman who nursed her with skilled, if untender hands, imagined, being, by a strange freak of fortune, temporary commander of the sailing vessel that had passed them that evening, and which was bound for the place on the English coast which Phyllis had fixed upon for her brother's wedtling to be performed. He had been appointed first mate for the return voyage, and soon after they had started the captain died, the command of the Reliance thus unexpectedly devolving upon Jack. He was just leaving the bridge when they passed the yacht. Some- thing in the poise of the light clad figure standing in the clear golden glory of the setting sun had reminded him of Lucy; but he had laughed to himself at what he in- wardly designated his romantic folly. He had gone below before she had called on him for help but the remembrance of the slight girlish figure haunted him, and it was with a feeling of intense satisfaction that, having brought the Reliance safe into port, he recognised the yacht making for the harbour. He felt he must watch for a glimpse of that girl. There was not long to wait. The owner apparently had changed his mind about coming on shore, for the yacht was brought to some distance out. Directly he saw this, Jack hired a boat and rowed swiftly towards where he hoped to see- he hardly knew what to call it to himself—so strong was the conviction becoming that Lucy was near him. "It is perfectly idiotic!" he muttered, as he plied the oars with increased energy. "If I ¡ do see her, I expect she will be as unlike my darling as a girl can be; and yet—-I can't think wbr the idea haunts me like tail." As he neared the vessel there seemed suddenly to be a commotion on board. Two figures, a man and a woman, were struggling together on deck. Then the woman wrenched herself free, and with a wild cry sprang forward and threw herself overboard close to where Jack was pulling. He caught her dress as she was washed past, and dragged her in. One glance at the white face was enough; it was Lucy. The version of the tale that Phyllis eventually told Jack was different to what she had intended. Her scheme had failed. There was nothing left but to account as best she could for Lucy's attempted suicide. "The sad illness and terrible delirium, which had so alarmed her brother and herself, were the more easily believed from the fact of the girl being dangerously ill for several weeks after her rescue. The letter, giving the plan in detail, Phyllis had secured the moment Lucy was carried Iselow when first ill, so there was no evidence to prove the truth of the other side of the story. "You say yourself, my darling, that you cannot remember clearly what actually did happen," her father said soothingly; and though in her own mind she felt convinced it had not all been a delusion, as he insisted, she never again alluded to the subject. Phyllis eventually made a brilliant marriage —so society considered. But then society is apt to overlook the necessity for a man and woman to truly love each other if a marriage is not to be a failure. The old Colonel, when Ire gave his girl to the man who had loved her from a child, took a truer view of what makes life worth living. Society shook its head, and wondered how he could be so foolish as to let his daughter marry young Langton, when she might have made a really good match. One energetic matron, who had hoped to secure Lucy for her own son, even forsook town in the height of the season and went down to Glenlyn so as to personally remonstrate with him. But the Colonel stood his ground manfully. "My dear madam, there is something better, deeper, than worldly success," he said, whea she had exhausted all her arguments in vain. "And that is? asked the lady impatiently. "A pure, true love, that never dies," he a swered. LTiiii END.