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"gVi'vxenne ' had
"194
’.I‘Z'E-IIE1 I1<l‘TIE1%Zb.T.A.TiC5I3‘.A.‘1'.a.
from) whose white lips he had caught the
worss:‘ 1:. r
F‘. " Do not leavemcpwith him I”; , . . A
-. , He felt her tremble for an instant; then-her
henrl;drooped against him‘, and he snw‘that
she had fainted." '. fzvw ,.‘. r ‘(us I - .
-1 Ruthveuj grew lividfwith‘ i-a e, a.‘ bitter
jealousy ranklinn within him, as enoted how
' leaned to ,her preserver for
pstrength. , - . H .
vi ‘,VVith an evil ;look on his face,’ he sprang
“from his snddle,'and' fastening the reins to an
old fence, he took a few auick steps forward,
;and putting his arms roun Vivienne, tried to
draw her down to his side. I‘ ‘ " ,
y. Cyrus held hcrfirmly.‘ L ,7 ;“ V
.5‘ "For the present I am answerable for her
sa.fety,’3 he muttered,"scarcel . able" to conceal
his loathing for this man.‘ .“ et her rest for a.
few‘ moments ; at least, until she recovers con-
sciousncss."- , A . . . ,
Ruthven did not relax his hold on the passive
form of the girl, whose death, even at this
moment, might have lain at his door.
' "Cur I ” he hissed, "let her go, or, as there
is a heaven above, I will make you pay dearly
for this insoletfce I"
Cyrus gave him a swift, downward look-9.
look of chill contempt and defiance.-a look
that roused to a fiend the man at whom it was
levelled. ‘ .
x With sudden, brut.-11 force, he snatched uphis
riding-stick, and raised his arm measuring aim
at the resolute face that looke <lo,lvn at him
over the golden wealth of Viviennefs hair.
“ ake care," Cyril said, his ey?-1 gleaming.
" It’will be more than blow for b ow between
us!’ ' '. 3 . .
l Ruthven gave one of his evil laughsu -
“You are not worth it I" he muttered
letting his arm dro ; then with a return of
passion, he again raised the stick and brought
down a succession of‘ sharp blows on the
startled horse. “Now," he exclaimed, dash-
ing down the whip, and flinging both I113 arms
round Vivienne, “letgo, or between us she
will be killed l" -
The horse reared back on its haunches, then,
before Cyrus could snatch up the bridle, the
terrified animal, goadecl by pain, gave a
forward plunge, throwing his rider with such
force that he lay like one deadya stream of
4, blood oozing-slowl over a. sunken mile-stone,
' against which his cad had struck.
And Guy lluthven, stnndin over the fallen
man, clasped Vivienne to is breast, and
tbronght the life-warmth back to her lips with
his hated kisses, caring nothing for the hot
bitterness that assailed her when she became
conscious of his encircling arms-of the close
pressure of his dark face against her own.
' “ I have given him a lesson he will remem-
ber," he muttered with a. sinister laugh. as
Vivienne wrenched herself from his embrace,
and gazed with pitying tenor on the face
upturned in such pale llfelessuess at her feet.
Slowly, like one in 9. dream, she sank on
her knees beside the rostrate form, and draw-
ing a handkerchief rom her bosom, tried to
staunch the crimson tide that soaked through
the short wa hair of the man to whom for a
second time s e owed her safety. . -
“Fetch help I” she said, in a voice so cold
and stranoe that it seemed not to come from
‘ her; yet ‘her eyes flashed us her gaze was
turned for a moment to Guy Buthveu, and be
half shrank beneath the calm force of her next
words :
a " Go! Do what you can to undo cur guilty
work-to save yourself from the rand of n
mgrderer; if he should die, you must answer
for his death l”
= A puller-so slight as to be almost imper-
cepti lee-stole across Rutl1vcn’s face, and his
ierclng gaze swept over the motionless figure,
the deatblike appearance of which, on] a few
seconds since, had filled him with me bitter
triumph. .
I What if the truth of those dread, accusing
words should come home to him? I: hatif he,
'who wished to stand fair in the eyes of the
world, should be denounced as the destroyer of
this man's life I
"If Vivienne had not been here-if we
had been alone-he and I, it might have been
different," he thought, a savage, thirsty light
flickering through the coward’: en: t ,
i
blanched his cheeks; "but now, fo‘r'rny own
sake, I must do what 1 can to bring him back
to life.’f I
Be flung u look of deadly‘ hate towards the
ghastly form, over which Vivienne was bend-
ing, in her ‘endeavour to arrest the lifevstrearn
fast staining the earth beneath her feet ; then,
with a smothered curse, he sprang into his
saddle, and dashed from the spot. . ‘ ' " .
CHAPTER VI.‘ .
"Ils thlui to soothe, when hope itsilfhas fled,
And cheer with angel smile the sufPE:‘er‘s bed. ,
THE injury Cyrus had received from the fall.
proved to be of a. dangerous nature, and many
murs passed before he regained conscious-
mess.
‘V “A most unfortunate accident,” Sir Hector
complained,‘ giving less.tl1ou,-;ln‘.‘to the‘ man's
suffering than to the inconvenience he himself
might have to endure. “The fellow is not
worth much if he cannot keep even himself
out of danger.”
“ The only wonder is that Miss Merrisfield.
was not more, seriously hurt," Ruthven said,
after having done his ‘best to convince Sir
Hector of the groom’s blunderlng interference.
“Although she was hardly aware of it herself,
your daughter had Dead-Leap under thorough
control, and had she kept her seat until I cam
up to her, we might all have been spared this
anxiety." ‘ . - '
Vivienne, pale and self-possessed after the
terrible scene she had gone'throngh, entered
the roomViu time -to hear Guy 1tuthveu’s
speech, and the look she gave him reminded
him of those words she had uttered while the
prostrate form of the man he hated rested be-
tween them: . “ V ’ .
f‘If hershonld die. you must answer
his death.” - '
It was late in the evening, and she wore a V
dinner-dress of some opal-tinted silk-the
colourso slight as to scarcely ver e from white,
save in the deeper shades oft e soft, light
folds. . -
ltuthven gazed at her with jealous admira-
tion. She was a prize worth struggling for-
Vivieune, with her proud, blue eyes and her
regallhead, crowned with such a bright wealth
of o d. .
llet, even in this moment, the galling truth
thrust itself home to him, and he knew’ he had
for his rival-not Lord Cardale, whom Vivi-
enne’: refusal, followed up by his own presence
at Northcote, had driven from Cornwall-but.
this hircliu , whom he looked upon as some-
thing less t an a. dog; this serf, who bore so
calmly‘ the bondage of servitude, and whose
life he would have trodden, as worthless dust,
beneath his heel. . , . -
He hid his feelin , and with one of Ills slow,
even smiles, place a. chair for her.
“Thanks, I do not wish to be seated,'7
Vivienne said, standing coldly aloof.‘ Then,
turning to Sir Hector, she added :
. " Pa a, I hope you understand that it was
not to fir. Rnthven I owed my, escape to-day. -
Had Ibecn left only to his help I should, per-.
haps, have been lying as helpless as-as the
one to whom I am indebted for my safety.’.' ,
Sir Hector glanced at Ituthven, but a look
from the mocking e as of his favoured guest
made him dismiss ivienne’s words from his
mind without attaching any importance to
for‘
no
5''
cm.
"The man is hurt, therefor Miss Merrislield
is ready to overrate his service]? Rnthven said
with a. slivht elevation of his dark straight
brows. “ almost feel inclined to envy him
the suffering that brings him such gentle
sympathy." 0 , r
In s ite of his calm tones, Vivienne detected
the sinister meaning creeping through the
words, and she felt that in this man she was
making a bitter enemy for herself.-an enemy
likely to thwart and cloud hcr hfe at every
oint.
p This thought was in her mind when, half an
hour later, with a shawl thrown over her thin
dress, she made her way to the lodge where
the injured man lay. <
,Tlxo amekeeper’s wife, a kind, motherly
soul, ha been in attendance since the doctor
had left; and as Vivienne noiselessly entered,
M53 Jhe low-roofed, dimly-lighted room. her gaze,
.---1
‘ showing traces of a master-hand.
drawn from life, or from memory; that's how 7
tell also on'the form of a. girl seated at the foot
of the bed on which C rus Davenant reposed.
“You here, Nora?-’ Vivienne whispered,
halting on the threshold, as though the girl’s
prfsenceh had fill!e’d her with sudden alarm.‘
5‘ s-is e worse . . .
Nora raised herhead, and looked at Vivienne
with a pair of sleepy dark eyes. ,
“ No; I came to eep mother company. It's
lonely for her in this old lodge-so different
from ’ours-and withhim looking so death-
like.’ V
Vivienne glanced at the woman, who, seated
on a rough-backed chair, was dozing over some
sewm . ‘ . '
“ Y%u need not stay any longer," she said,
turning again to Nora. f I want to have a little
chat with Mrs. Kelly, and if she wishes you to ’
riaturn, I will call at the other lodge as 1 leave,
us." ..
Glad to be relieved of her duty, Nora
collected a. few things she had brought in with
her to help while away the hours, and with a
hurried curtsy to Vivienne, she gently opened: ‘
the rudely-constructed door, and made her
way along the moonlit pathway without.
Vivienne stood with bent head, listening
until the sound of the girl's footsteps was
lost in the distance ; then fastening the x.
bolt across the door, she went over to the open
lattice, and drew the curtains together.
The movement disturbed the keeper-‘s wife.
With a start she lifted her head, and glanced’
towards her charge.
"Hushd! do not
murmure , ste i
am come to seepho v your patient is progressin
-to know in what way I can help yqlu. '
have sent Nora home ;,so you must put'me in
her place for a little while," L ,, >x‘x
The woman gazed with honest tenderness
intplthe bflautifxrrl face. ! L 1k 1
‘ or’, . iss ivienne i ’s i e on come
in like this," she exclaimed in anlimde tone ;-
.f‘as if there was nothing better for you-3 lb do
-o
be alarmed,” Vivienne‘
no’ quickly to her side.‘ 5' I
t
4
up at the house! There’s no change fbr the
better yet," she added, indicatin the sick
man with a slight bend of hcrhen “ ’Tis xx
pity we don't ‘know where to send for his
rlends; there seems little hope of his recover a R
inglfrom this injur ." - u
.- ivienue glance towards the bed, ‘and tho
truth of the woman’: words smote home to
her. ‘ 3 M
So deathlike was the stillness in which the
pale lips were hushed that the life-breath might
already have gone for ever from them.-
She refrained from making any reply to the
woman's hopeless words; and presently Ruth
Kelly moved some papers that were on the
table, and took from among the loose leaves a .
few rough pencil-sketches, unfinished, yet
“ I found these when I was moving some of
his thinos,'.‘ she said, holding up several un-
mlstaka le likenesses of Vivienne. “ If he did
them he ought to have a different position to '
the one he occupies. Look! here's a icture of
on when you were no higher than t a table.
ow well recall the face! It must ha’ been
you were your hair. withy. bit o'.p'bbou twincd
throuvh the curls. If he didn't do these pictures
himse , I'd like to know how he came by fans
-‘if you hadn’t come, I had them here ready to
show to Sir Hector." ‘ ‘ , '
" I am glad you have not done so,”Vivienne
said. layinrv the sketches face downwards under
the ile o apcrs. “ We have no right to
tone what oes not belong to us. Bush I is
he not waking?"
She leaned forward eagerly as some slight
sound came from the bed-a sxglh-a murmured
name, then a sharp deep breat of Pain.
Ruth Kelly hurried to the side 0 the injured
man, and moistened the bandages on his head
with cold, fresh water. '
The doctor had left aidraught that was tqbo
administered as soonas his patient awoke from
the trancelike stupor into which he had sunk,I
after the first return to consciousness, and the
woman raised him gently on his pillows while
she held the glass to his palhd lips. -
But the drought, if it was intended to allay
the fierce pangs of fever, seemed of little effect,
and 5. few moments later Cyrus was rnfnnz
n
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