LORD REGINALD AGAIN.
The following telegram reached Hilda next morning: "I heartily
congratulate you, dear Hilda, on the success of your grandfather's great
undertaking. The Emperor summoned me and desired me to send you his
congratulations. I am also to say that he wishes as a remarkable event
of his reign to show his approval of the patience, skill, and enterprise
combined in the enormous works successfully concluded yesterday. The
honour is to come to you as your grandfather's representative. Besides
that, on account of your noble deed last week he wished to raise you to
the peerage. He will now raise you to the rank of duchess, and suggests
the title of Duchess of New Zealand; but that of course is as you wish.
You must, my dear, accept it. A duchess cannot be an under-secretary,
and I am not willing to lose you. Mr. Hazelmere has repeated his wish to
resign; and I now beg you to enter the Cabinet as Lord President of the
Board of Education, a position for which your acquirements peculiarly
fit you. Your re-election to Parliament will be a mere ceremony. Make a
speech to your constituents in Dunedin. Then take the waters at
Rotomahana and Waiwera. In two months you can join us in London, where
the next session of Parliament will be held. You will be quite recovered
from all your fatigue by then."
In less than two weeks Hilda, Duchess of New Zealand, was re-elected to
Parliament by her Dunedin constituents. Next day she left for Rotomahana
with a numerous party of friends who were to be her guests. She had
engaged the entire accommodation of one of the hotels.
Maud and Hilda before they left Dunedin placed at the disposal of the
Mayor half a million sterling to be handed to a properly constituted
trust for the purpose of encouraging mining pursuits, and developing
mining undertakings.
New Zealand was celebrated for the wonderfully curative power of its
waters. At Rotomahana, Te Aroha, and Waiwera in the North Island, and at
Hammer Plains and several other localities in the Middle Island
innumerable springs, hot and cold, existed, possessing a great variety
of medicinal properties. There was scarcely a disease for which the
waters of New Zealand did not possess either cure or alleviation. At one
part of the colony or another these springs were in use the whole year
round. People flocked to them from all quarters of the world. It was
estimated that the year previous to the commencement of this history,
more than a million people visited the various springs. Rotomahana, Te
Aroha, and Waiwera were particularly pleasant during the months of
October, November, and December. Hilda proposed passing nearly three
weeks at each. Rotomahana was a city of hotels of all sizes and
descriptions. Some were constructed to hold only a comparatively few
guests and to entertain them on a scale of great magnificence. Every
season these houses were occupied by distinguished visitors. Not
infrequently crowned heads resorted to them for relief from the maladies
from which even royalty is not exempt. Others of the hotels were of
great size, capable indeed of accommodating several thousands of
visitors. The Grandissimo Hotel comfortably entertained five thousand
people. Most of the houses were built of ground volcanic scoria, pressed
into bricks. Some of them were constructed of Oamaru stone, dressed with
a peculiar compound that at the same time hardened and gave it the
appearance of marble. The house that Hilda took appeared like a solid
block of Carrara marble, relieved with huge glass windows and with
balconies constructed of gilt aluminium. Balconies of plain or gilt
aluminium adorned most of the hotels, and gave them a very pretty
appearance. Te Aroha was a yet larger city than Rotomahana, as, besides
its use as a health resort, it was the central town of an extensive and
rich mining district. Waiwera was on a smaller scale, but in point of
appearance the most attractive. Who indeed could do justice to thy
charms, sweet Waiwera? A splendid beach of sand, upon which at short
intervals two picturesque rivers debouched to the sea, surrounded with
wooded heights of all degrees of altitude, and with many variations in
the colour of the foliage, it is not to be wondered at that persons
managed in this charming scene to forget the world and to reveal
whatever of poetry lay dormant in their composition. Few who visited
Waiwera did not sometimes realise the sentiment--
"I love not man the less, but nature more."
Hilda had duly passed through the Rotomahana and Te Aroha cures, and she
had been a week at Waiwera, when one morning two hours after sunrise, as
she returned from her bath, she was delighted at the receipt of the
following letter, signed by Mrs. Hardinge: "I have prepared a surprise
for you, dearest Hilda. Mr. Decimus has lent me his yacht, and I am
ready to receive you on board. Come off at once by yourself. We can talk
over many things better here than on shore."
A beautifully appointed yacht lay in the offing six hundred yards from
the shore, and a well-manned boat was waiting to take Hilda on board.
She flew to her room, completed her toilet, and in ten minutes was on
the boat and rowing off to the yacht. She ascended the companion ladder,
and was received on deck by a young officer. "I am to ask your Grace to
wait a few minutes," he said. Hilda gazed round the entrancing view on
sea, land, and river, beaming beneath a bright and gorgeous sun,
forgetting everything but the sense of the loveliness around her. She
could never tell how long she was so absorbed. She aroused herself with
a start to feel the vessel moving and to see before her the dreaded
figure of Lord Reginald Paramatta.
Meanwhile the spectators on the shore were amazed to see Hilda go off to
the yacht alone, and the vessel weigh anchor and steam away swiftly.
Maud and Lady Taieri, returning from their baths along the beautiful
avenue of trees, were speedily told of the occurrence, and a council
rapidly held with Laurient and Montreal. Mrs. Hardinge's letter was
found in Hilda's room.
"Probably," said Lady Taieri, "the morning is so fine that Mrs. Hardinge
is taking the Duchess for a cruise while they talk together."
"I do not think so," said the Colonel. "Look at the speed the vessel is
making. They would not proceed at such a rate if a pleasant sail were
the only object. She is going at the rate of thirty miles an hour."
Maud started with surprise, and again glanced at the letter. "You are
right, Colonel Laurient," she said, with fearful agitation; "this
writing is like that of Mrs. Hardinge, but it is not hers. I know her
writing too well not to be sure it is an imitation. Oh, help Hilda; do
help her! Montreal, you must aid. She is the victim of a plot."
Meanwhile the vessel raced on; but with a powerful glass they could make
out that there was only one female figure on board, and that a male
figure stood beside her.
"Hilda," said Lord Reginald, bowing low, "forgive me. All is fair in
love and war. My life without you is a misery."
"Do you think, my lord," said the girl, very pale but still courageous,
"that this course you have adopted is one that will commend you to my
liking?"
"I will teach you to love me. You cannot remain unresponsive to the
intense affection I bear you."
"True love, Lord Reginald, is not steeped in selfishness; it has regard
for the happiness of its object. Do you think you can make me happy by
tearing me from my friends by an artifice like this?"
"I will make it up to you. I implore your forgiveness. Try to excuse
me."
Hilda during this rapid dialogue did not lose her self-possession. She
knew the fears of her friends on shore would soon be aroused. She
wondered at her own want of suspicion. Time, she felt, was everything.
When once doubt was aroused, pursuit in the powerful aerial cruiser
they had on shore would be rapid.
"I entreat you, Lord Reginald," she said, "to turn back. Have pity on
me. See how defenceless I am against such a conspiracy as this."
Lord Reginald was by nature brave, and the wretched cheat he was playing
affected him more because of its cowardly nature than by reason of its
outrageous turpitude. He was a slave to his passions and desires. He
would have led a decently good life if all his wishes were capable of
gratification, but there was no limit to the wickedness of which he
might be guilty in the pursuit of desires he could not satisfy. He
either was, or fancied himself to be, desperately in love with Hilda;
and he believed, though without reason, that she had to some extent
coquetted with him. Even in despite of reason and evidence to the
contrary, he imagined she felt a prepossession in his favour, that an
act of bravery like this might stir into love. He did not sufficiently
understand woman. To his mind courage was the highest human quality, and
he thought an exhibition of signal bravery even at the expense of the
woman entrapped by it would find favour in her eyes. Hilda's words
touched him keenly, though in some measure he thought they savoured of
submission. "She is imploring now," he thought, "instead of commanding."
"Ask me," he said, in a tone of exceeding gentleness, "anything but to
turn back. O Hilda, you can do with me what you like if you will only
consent to command!"
"Leave me then," she replied, "for a time. Let me think over my dreadful
position."
"I will leave you for a quarter of an hour, but do not say the position
is dreadful."
He walked away, and the girl was left the solitary occupant of the deck.
The beautiful landscape was still in sight. It seemed a mockery that all
should appear the same as yesterday, and she in such dreadful misery.
Smaller and smaller loomed the features on the shore as the wretched
girl mused on. Suddenly a small object appeared to mount in the air.
"It is the cruiser," she exclaimed aloud, with delight. "They are in
pursuit."
"No, Hilda," said Lord Reginald, who suddenly appeared at her side, "I
do not think it is the cruiser; and if it be, it can render you no aid.
Look round this vessel; you will observe guns at every degree of
elevation. No cruiser can approach us without instant destruction."
"But you would not be guilty of such frightful wickedness. Lord
Reginald, let me think better of you. Relent. Admit that you did not
sufficiently reflect on what you were doing, and that you are ready to
make the only reparation in your power."
"No," said Lord Reginald, much moved, "I cannot give you up. Ask me for
anything but that. See! you are right; the cruiser is following us. It
is going four miles to our one. Save the tragedy that must ensue. I have
a clergyman in the cabin yonder. Marry me at once, and your friends
shall come on board and congratulate you as Lady Paramatta."
"That I will never be. I would prefer to face death."
"Is it so bitter a lot?" said Lord Reginald, stung into irritation. "If
persuasion is useless, I must insist. Come to the cabin with me at
once."
"Dare you affect to command me?" said Hilda, drawing herself up with a
dignity that was at once grave and pathetic.
"I will dare everything for you. It is useless," he said as she waved
her handkerchief to the fast-approaching cruiser. "If it come too close,
its doom is sealed. Be ready to fire," he roared out to the captain; and
brief, stern words were passed from end to end of the vessel. "Now,
Hilda, come. The scene is not one fit for you. Come you shall," he said,
approaching her and placing his arm round her waist.
"Never! I would rather render my soul to God," exclaimed the brave,
excited girl.
With one spring she stood on the rail of the bulwarks, and with another
leapt far out into the ocean. Lord Reginald gazed on her in speechless
horror, and was about to follow overboard.
"It is useless," the captain said, restraining him. "The boat will save
her."
In two minutes it was lowered, but such was the way on the yacht that
the girl floating on the water was already nearly a mile distant. The
cruiser and the boat raced to meet her. The yacht's head also was
turned; and she rapidly approached the scene, firing at the cruiser as
she did so. The latter reached Hilda first. Colonel Laurient jumped into
the water, and caught hold of the girl. The beat was near enough for one
of its occupants with a boathook to strike him a terrible blow on the
arm. The disabled limb fell to his side, but he held her with iron
strength with his other arm. The occupants of the cruiser dragged them
both on board; and Colonel Laurient before he fainted away had just time
to cry out, "Mount into the air, and fly as fast as you can." The scene
that followed was tragical. Two of the occupants of the boat had grasped
the sides of the cruiser, and were carried aloft with it. Before they
could be dragged on board a shot from the yacht struck them both, and
crushed in part of the side of the vessel, besides injuring many sets of
fans. Another shot did damage on the opposite side. But still she rose,
and to aid her buoyancy the casing was inflated. Soon she was out of
reach of the yacht; and, with less speed than she left it, she returned
to Waiwera. The yacht turned round, and steamed out to sea at full
speed.
Hilda's immersion did her no harm, but her nerves were much shaken, and
for many days she feared to be left alone. Colonel Laurient's arm was
dreadfully shattered. The doctor at first proposed amputation, but the
Colonel sternly rejected the suggestion. With considerable skill it was
set, and in a few days the doctors announced that the limb was saved.
Colonel Laurient, however, was very ill. For a time, indeed, even his
life was in danger. He suffered from more than the wounded arm. Perhaps
the anxiety during the dreadful pursuit as to what might be happening
on board the yacht had something to do with it.
Hilda was untiring in her attention to Laurient; no sister could have
nursed him more tenderly, and indeed it was as a sister she felt for
him.
One afternoon, as he lay pale and weak, but convalescent, on a sofa by
the window, gazing out at the sea, Hilda entered the room with a cup of
soup and a glass of bullerite. "You must take this," she said.
"I will do anything you tell me," he replied, "if only in acknowledgment
of your infinite kindness."
"Why should you talk of kindness?" said the girl, with tears in her
eyes. "Can I ever repay you for what you have done?"
"Yes, Hilda, you could repay me; but indeed there is nothing to repay,
for I suffered more than you did during that terrible time of
uncertainty."
The girl looked very sad. The Colonel marked her countenance, and over
his own there came a look of weariness and despair. But he was brave
still, as he always was. "Hilda, dearest Hilda," he said, "I will not
put a question to you that I know you cannot answer as I would wish; it
would only pain you and stand in the way perhaps of the sisterly
affection you bear for me. I am not one to say all or nothing. The sense
of your presence is a consolation to me. No, I will not ask you. You
know my heart, and I know yours. Your destiny will be a higher and
happier one than that of the wife of a simple soldier."
"Hush!" she said. "Ambition has no place in my heart. Be always a
brother to me. You can be to me no more." And she flew from the room.