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LOVED BY A LORD, BY J. SKIPP BORLASE, AUTHOR OF "The Polioe Minister," "For True Love's Ske," The King of the Conjurors, Who 1 led John Cameron ?" "Nina the Nihilist," &c. CHAPTER XIX. WHAT GEORGE IIID IN THE SMITY. Ueorge felt so much better that to dress iniself was no difficult matter, and he was sisted by the newly-risen moon, whose light poured right into hisohamber. i-» so°n had his things on, therefore, and, sask ^'s w'n<^ow carefully, and ithoufc the least noise, he clambered out of Hi to the garden. smell of the summer flowers was deli- Coosly refreshing, and the air of the summer nIght balmy and beautiful. beorge drew a long and thankful inspira- >on, and then made h;s way directly towards e old well, whose wooden penthouse-shed was overed with bright lichens and mosses. He had almost reached it when, glancing o^ards his father's shop, now plainly in he beheld a man pushing back one of e heavy wooden shutters, and the next fistant crawl in through the casementless Window. A thief who thinks he's going to steal the p0'8 whilst all the village is asleep," thought George to himself. "But I'll spoil his little Satne or I'm very much mistaken." He had no thought of throwing the for- n^dable weapon that he grasped down the ^1, now that it, perhaps, would serve him better. It would do to frighten the burglar with, he Iliery naturally thought. So he glided down the yellow gravel path- Way, and out through the rustic garden gate, then running down the lane to the shop, clapped the great horse-pistol between his .eeth, and clambered in through the window In turn. The shop was full of moonlight, and what George saw was the supposed burglar, with a JPade in one hand, stooping down with his jjick turned towards him, and in the act of j^ing something out of a little hole whioh 116 had evidently just dug in the ground. n What on earth can he be up to ?" thought George; but at that moment, stumbling fftWUBt a pile of horseshoes, he made a noise that caused the midnight visitor to glance neasil,. round and, the.moonlight streaming on his face, George at once recognised '<jQocb Meek. Neither could speak for an instant, so great Waa their agitation at sight of each other, but 4t last George managed to gasp out- IC Villain, where is my sister ?'' At the bottom of the river, poor, dear girl," was the reply. Come, come, I'm not going to credit that," *Md George, "kfor you tried hard to make us believe that you had followed her, and yet you are here. Where is she, I say ?" ce My dear boy, i would not deceive you for Worlds. Poor darling Nellie did destroy her- lelf, and, heartbroken at her loss, I tried to end my life in like manner, but the waves refused to swallow me up, the Almighty pre- ferred me for His own wise purposes, and—" Cut short your oant, and show yourself in your true colours," cried George. You have Imposed on honest folks too long by blaspheming the Almighty already. 1 know You to be wolf instead of sheep, so it's no use trying to impose on me—in fact, yon never did. Where is my sister, I ask of you P "Where I said she was, fool ? retorted Enoch Meek, springing to his feet, and suddenly facing bis youthful questioner, resolved that he would spring upon and strangle him rather than submit to this kind of thing any longer. You called me a wolf," "e added, with a grim chuckle. J.earn, then, that I can rend and tear like one, and I "ill begin on you." Stand back, or you may learn to your cost that a wolf may be shot down like any other "fast of prey," retorted George, reading •Enoch's deadly purpose in his eyes, and so at once presenting at his head the pistol that he bad hitherto held concealed. One step further, or refuse to answer my questions, 4rld I fire." ^Vhite—or, rather, as yellow-as old parch- ment grew Enoch Meek'a face on hearing that and seeing that George bad the power of enforcing it. A single-barrelled horse-pistol is not a garter so deadly a weapon as a six-shooter j"6volver, but it is a muoh more formidable- poking one, and few unarmed men can peer ^°*»n its muzzle with equanimity. "Put it down, hoy-pot it down and call 30ur father. He is the proper person to hear Iny explanation, but I'll give it him in your Presence, if you wish it," whined Enoch Meek, n humility, save in his eyes. Thanky, my friend," retorted George "but I don'fc turn my back on you for an instant. I see murder in* your eyes plainly enough, the last time, where is Nellie? Answer loe, you wolf." Where I before said she was. I can make 140 other answer." • 'It will be an unlucky thing for you un- you doi for as sure as there is a heaven above us I will shoot you dead I" Oh, no! Don't say that! Spare me, are me "I don't want to kill you, vilely as you have behaved—but where is my sister ?'' At the bottom of—oh, don't, don't Take y°Or finger from the trigger, or it may go off before you are aware." „ Out with your confession, then, and my °nger will be immediately withdrawn. The qnicker you speak the quicker you will be out of danger. Where is Bat ere he could again utter his sister's 11 Q&tae there was a deafening explosion, and "hen the cloud of white smoke bad cleared away he saw Enoch Meek lying on his baok On the floor of the smithy, bleeding from a lastly wound in his forehead. George shaddermgly approached the body. It was lying without breath or motion. Enoch "ai, to all appearance, dead! -How haj it occurred For George had neitber intended nor was conscious of having Jelled the trigger at that moment. But the catastrophe was easily explained, tti Gray had been greasing and working ,b lock 8f the old pistol for hours that morn- lng, 80 that the trigger would almost have y^lded to a baby's pressure. k had thought nothing of this, and 11 0n?*mg how stubborn it was to touch on t^'nary occasions, he had played with it as ^S»hly as had been bis wont. now ^a(I killed Enoch Meek tbout extraoting from him his secret; nay, »K-re' Perhaps he had committed a orime for toil ""tfht be hung. h.ho would take his word that the pistol gone off accidentally ? knelt down and examined the prostrate !'In, stream of the red ffuid of life was wel- |L0at from the gaping wound. tUfcJ! e^es were wide open and fixed and !>)._ » the under jaw had fallen; heart and kerned alike still. Jtb«aTj Wfal twror seized George on making <Wveries. ° *kat he must discover Nellie the t° *he uttermost ends of *or ^at nowhere else would he be justice. He never thought that by any possibility suspicion could attach to another in the matter; to him alone did danger threaten, and he suddenly recollected that somewhere about that time the Acton policeman in his nightly round passed by the shop and the garden wall. That was enough; not an instant was to be lost if he would esoape, and, clambering out of the window, George cast one frightened glance at the body of Enoch, and then started off London-wards as hard as he could tear, for in the great Metropolis he felt that even he should for a time be comparatively safe, CHAPTER XX. ARRESTED FOR MURDER. But the noise of the exploding pistol had been clearly heard by Robin Gray. It was a most unusual sound in the quiet village at such an hour, and the blacksmith sprang out of bed and looked out of the window. Aided by the clear moonlight his gaze at once wandered in the direction of his own smithy, and there, though he could only just see the angle of the building, he per- ceived a tiny wreath of pale blue smoke flitting past it. He felt intuitively then that something dreadful had happened, and he began to huddle on his clothes as rapidly as possible, his wife being still sound asleep. In a few seconds he was dressed somehow or other, and then he stumbled down the stairs. Arrived in the kitchen, he suddenly recol- lected what he had intended doing on next entering the room. Well, there he was, and what time more fitting than the present ? His wife was fast asleep, and there was the instrument of death ready to his hand. One moment, and all would be over! What signified it to him what had taken place in the neighbourhood of the smithy? Nothing, less than nothing. All the.time he was thinking thus his right hand was groping over the table in search of the loaded pistol. There were shutters up in that room, and so the moon's pale light could not penetrate it to show the blacksmith that the instrument of intended self-destruction was no longer there. Had he been able to convince himself of this fact sooner George might not have suc- ceeded in getting away before his father had espied him. But, as it was, when the blacksmith did at last open the front door and issue forth into his garden, his son was clear of the village. Robin peered through the window into George's room, and saw that his bed was empty. Coupling this fact with the disappearance of his pistol, he came to the conclusion that George had accidentally come across the weapon and resolved to commit suicide, as he (his father) bad resolved before him. The report that he heaidfrom the direction of the smithy harmonised with this theory, and so Robin Gray ran along the garden and out into the lane, nor paused until be reached the shop door, He could not open it because he had not brought the key with him; but whilst looking about he caught sight of the open shutters of the oasementless window. Ah George crept in through there to kill himself, and perhaps 'twas my harshness that caused him to do it," muttered the wretohed father to himself. And without more ado he crept in through the window and gazed anxiously about him. At first, coming out of the full glare of the moonlight into the comparative darkness of the smithy, he could make out nothing dis- tinctly, but ere a minute had elapsed he could clearly distinguish a form lying at his feet. He threw himself on his knees beside it, believing that it would turn out to be the body of his son. What was his amazement, therefore, when he recognised in the pallid upturned coun- tenance the face of Enoch Meek ? For a full instant he gazed on it like one in a dream. Then he recognised his long brass-mounted pistol lying on the floor, and picked it up. It's the bullet from this that has killed him," he muttered to himself. And my boy George is his assassin And what could he have been doing here at such an hour, when 1 thought that he was surely dead too ? con- tinued the blacksmith. Ah, what is this that he grasps in his hand?" Robin Gray soon possessed himself of the article. He could not make out what it was in the shadow, and so he stood up to get a better view. His common sense told him what it was then well enough, though be had never seen such an instrument before in his life. But there was the head of our then girl Queen plain enough, with the encircling inscription, the same as he bad seen hun- dreds of times on the sovereigns of the day, and he knew that the die could be used but for one thing, and that was unlawful coining. "He was a rogue and a villain, then, after all, despite my trust and faith in him," hissed the honest blacksmith, between his tightly- olenched teeth. A rogue and villain and hypocrite to boot. A nd the story George told about the traveller tinker must be true. He has betrayed and ruined my Nell. Woman's intuition was stronger than man's reason. Oh, would that the sooundrel bad possessed a thousand lives, and that I had deprived him of all You will find that the taking of the only one he possessed will be quite enough to hang you," replied a harsh, grating voice, at some little distance, and glancing in the direction of the sound, Robin Gray saw a policeman leaning on his folded arms on the window-sill, and gazing in at him sorutinisingly and sternly. What do you mean ?" exolaimed Robin, indignantly. Dare you to assert that I have killed this man ?" Ob, no, I don't assert anything of the kind, Mr. Gray. It isn't my place to do it but 1 shall arrest you on suspicion." And as he concluded the policeman leaped into the shop. Idiot!" exclaimed Robin Gray. ol To think that I would commit such a deed." Well, it seems to me that the evidence against you is pretty clear," answered the policeman. Here I find you at a quarter- past midnight standing over a dead man in jour own shop, the said dead man having a pistol-wound in his bead, and you holding a pistol in your right hand with the flint well down in the pan. What is this in your other hand, too Come, you'd best give it up." Robin Gray did so without hesitation, and the policeman, after regarding the little in- strument intently for a moment, said, with a disdainful chuckle:— "So you want to run your head into a double noose, do you ? Now, I suppose, we shall not have much difficulty in guessing where the spurious sovereigns and half-sove- reigns that have been circulating in the neighbourhood of late have come from. By Jove! this has been a fine game, but it is pretty well played out now, I calculate. I don't know, Mr. Gray, whether you've had much to do with the forging of iron bracelets, but. anyhow, you'll have now to try your hands in a pair." And before the horror-stricken blacksmith could comprehend what his grim visitant was about he had slipped a pair of handcuffs over bis wrists and had locked them. CHAPTER XXI. THE RUIN OF THE HOME CONSUMMATED. Who can picture the distress of Mrs. Gray I when her husband was brought into their once happy, but now ruined, home, manacled and charged with murder. She was looking out of her bedroom window when Robin and the policeman entered in at the garden gate, and came up the long, straight gravel walk side by side. She felt a presentiment of evil b-,fore she even noticed the strange way in which her husband carried his hands crossed before him, and the gleam of the bright steel rings around his wrists. His bent attitude, the expression of his face, told their own tale. She huddled on her olothes, and was down- stairs almost as soon as Robin and the police- man were indoors. 14 Why, what does all this mean F" cried she, in the highly-pitched and querulous tones which came to her naturally when labouring under any strong excitement. What have you been handcuffing my husband for ? He's done no harm to man, woman, nor child." II If it's good that he's done it's in t'he shape of sending someone to Heaven before his time," said the polioeman, coarsely. Only, you see, the law generally calls such a kindness murder, and hangs people for showing it." "What does the fool mean?" demanded Mrs. Gray of her husband. He means to say that I have killed Enoch Meek, who now lies dead down in the smithy," answered Robin. A nd here's the pistol that killed him," said the policeman, showing the formidable looking weapon. Directly she saw it Mrs. Gray uttered a shriek and fell to the floor in a swoon. Robin sprang forward to raise her up, but his manacles rendered the operation impos- sible, and he uttered a deep groan at the thought of how helpless he now was. iI Jjift her on the sofa and dash a glass of water over her," said he to the constable, but the policeman declared that he wasn't going to trouble himself about no murderer's wife." You are a hard-hearted man," retorted Robin with vehemence. Not so hard-hearted as to shoot a fellow- being, at all events," was the telling retort. "But I did not shoot him, as I have told you again and again," said Robin. Oh, you may go on saying that as long as you like, but it strikes me that you'll get no judge nor jury to believe you, because facts is generally accounted to be stubborn things and if you didn't shoot him, why, who did ?'' Robin Gray made no reply, but an expres- sion of great and overwhelming horror came into his face, for the policeman's words, If you didn't shoot him, who did ?" struck a responsive chord in his heart and brain, and for the first time since his apprehension his thoughts turned from his own disgrace and peril to ask himself the question-" Who did shoot Enoch Meek; who was guilty of the murder ?" And instantly came the answer, Who else could it have been but George, for who could have pofeessed himself of the pistol that he had left on the kitchen table, and who else in all Acton would have had any object in taking the life of the man who was regarded there with such universal respect?" Terrible conviction! which impressed upon him that the establishing of his own innocence would be the denouncing of his son I- that did the magistrates before whom he "-ould be presently arraigned declare him to le inno- cent of the crime wherewith he was charged, Argus-eyed Justice would demand and zltek out another victim, and assuredly would not have far to go in search of one Such thoughts as these destroyed the unhappy blacksmith's hitherto indignant bear- ing, and caused him to hang and drop his head like a very criminal indeed. Ha, ha, ha, ha laughed the policeman on beholding this, that beat you, did it ? I didn't suppose you could name anyone whom you lent the pistol to and, besides, if you could, it wouldn't come to much, since it was found just exploded in your hand, and the murdered man at your very feet. Come, come, master, just gather together the few things that you think you will want in the lock-up, and we'll toddle off to the station- house. I daresay you'll be glad to be under oover before :daylight." Robin made no reply, save a deep groan. He gathered together a little bundle of things mechanically, with the policeman close at his heels all the while, and when he had done so signified by a nod that he was ready to accompany him. Let me kiss the old wife," said he, how- ever, at last, and, still followed by the myrmi- don of the law, he entered the kitchen to do so. Mrs. Gray was still unconscious, and neither knew of the caress nor of the burning tear that fell on her oheek while it was being given. The next instant the husband, who had made a happy home for her for twenty years, bad gone forth therefrom, perhaps for ever. He cast a long lingering glanoe back at the pretty thatched cottage, all covered with convolvuli, passion flowers, and roses, and at the trim garden in which it had been his delight to potter about and keep in order whenever work was slack, or in the long, light summer evenings; and then he turned his back on the ruined home, and set his face steadily and fixedly for the four bare walls of a prison. CHAPTER XXii. GEORGE'S LIFE AND REASON BOTH IN DANGER. Meanwhile George had flown London-wards like one in a dream. He bad no thought for anything but his own danger, and in the almost opaque dark- ness he seemed to see dancing gibbets, and the pale, bleeding face of Enoch Meek gibing and mocking him. Never was nightmare more terrible, and exactly as t, one in a nightmare did he labour on, feeliug nothing of the hurt that he had received that very morning, for maddening thoughts drove all bodily feelings away, and above all other incidents there recurred again and again unto him that interview about a fortnight back with his sister, at the bottom of the garden, wherein he had told her twice that he would kill Enoch Meek if be injured her. 41 And now the threat uttered half in jest and haij in passion has been carried out," he wailed to himself, "and who will believe that I did not intend the pistol to go off when it did ? True, he deserved his fate; but yet hurrying such a wicked man into eternity, with all his crimes on bis head, is a terrible thing. The law will call it murder, too, and in a few hours the hue and cry will be raised after me throughout the c:)untry and poor George hurried on stilt faster than before. Never did he imagine that his father would be in any danger from his act, or he would, have turned back and given himself up at once. When the lad had quitted the dark country roads and lanes for the, at first, dimly lighted suburbs of the Metropolis, he watched for the black glazed hat covers of the police-for helmets were unknown in those days—with far more dread and apprehension than ever bad been felt by the most rascally little Lon- don pickpocket. He ran at the bare sight of one, even when ever so far away, so that he was continually losing himself in tortuous thoroughfares, and day was beginning to dawn by the time that he found himself in the neighbourhood of Covent Garden. Then terror, which had given him artificial strength for so long a time, suddenly left him. and the pain of the accident retarned with tenfold intensity to his side; his head felt as though it were about to split asunder, his legs trembled beneath him, a great heat appeared to scorch and burn him up, and whilst he was vaguely wondering what all this could mean he grew siok and giddy; houses seemed to reel around him; the pavement to become like the un- dulating waves of the ocean, and with a cry he reeled and fell, his head coming in contact with a kerbstone. <( Halloa, here's another drunk and inca- pable, Bill," said X55 to Z101, as they crossed the street to the spot where George lay. They were accustomed to drunk and inca- pable people in that locality, where the Coal Hole, the Cider Cellars, and Evans's dis- gorged their votaries in the small hours of the morning. They were about to lug George off to the station-house, therefore, when a kindly market gardener, who had been keeping one eye on the unloading of his wagon and the other on their proceedings, remarked, in tones of strong feeling, not unmixed with indignation— He's more dead than drunk, that poor lad is and if you take him to the station-house instead of to the hospital, as I know your numbers, perhaps I'll have a pretty good case against you for manslaughter, my lads." This caused the two policemen to look again at the object of their ministrations, and then they saw that the market gardener was right and that the lad was seriously ill. All right, don't growl, for we are going to take him to hospital," said one of them, there- for, and off to King's College they bore him forthwith. Happily, perhaps, for George, he did not begin to rave until he bad been left there and put to bed; but even whilst the house surgeon was doing his best to fathom the nature of his illness he burst forth with the most wild and incoherent exclamations, accusing himself of having perpetrated every murder that had found report in the newspapers during the preceding six months. In vain did the surgeon and the nurses seek to extract from him information that should afford them a clue as to who he was, and where he bad come from. Though mad, his madness had as usual a method in it, and he raved of everything but his parents, his home, and the one real crime that he believed he had committed, He has had some fearful nerve shock that I cannot at present account for," said the doc- tor at length to the nurse. "But what he is immediately in for is an attack of brain fever so severe that it will be the mercy of Provi- dence more than my skill if his life and his reason are both of them spared to him (To be continued.)