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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Jolly Sally Pendleton, by Laura Jean Libbey
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Jolly Sally Pendleton
+       The Wife Who Was Not a Wife
+
+
+Author: Laura Jean Libbey
+
+
+
+Release Date: July 29, 2009  [eBook #29544]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOLLY SALLY PENDLETON***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Steven desJardins and the Project Gutenberg Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+JOLLY SALLY PENDLETON
+
+Or
+
+The Wife who was Not a Wife
+
+by
+
+LAURA JEAN LIBBEY
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Jolly Sally Pendleton by Laura Jean Libbey]
+
+
+
+Hart Series No. 43
+
+Copyright 1897 by George Munro's Sons.
+
+Published by
+The Arthur Westbrook Company
+Cleveland, O., U.䒷.鼦.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+CHAPTER                                                       PAGE
+
+I.        BOTH GIRLS WERE SO STUNNINGLY PRETTY, AND WORE         5
+          SUCH ODD, BEWITCHING COSTUMES ON THEIR TANDEM,
+          THAT THE PEOPLE WHO STOPPED TO WATCH THE BEAUTIES
+          AS THEY WHIRLED BY NICKNAMED THEM "THE HEAVENLY
+          TWINS."
+
+II.       IT IS ONE THING TO ADMIRE A PRETTY GIRL, QUITE        10
+          ANOTHER THING TO FALL IN LOVE WITH HER.
+
+III.      THE TERRIBLE WAGER AT THE GREAT RACE.                 13
+
+IV.       WHICH WON?                                            19
+
+V.        "SHALL WE BREAK THIS BETROTHAL, THAT WAS MADE ONLY    23
+          IN FUN?"
+
+VI.       THE WAY OF WOMEN THE WHOLE WORLD OVER.                26
+
+VII.      BERNARDINE.                                           31
+
+VIII.     "OH, I AM SO GLAD THAT YOU HAVE COME, DOCTOR!"        36
+
+IX.       "WHAT A LONELY LIFE FOR THIS BEAUTIFUL YOUNG          38
+          GIRL!"
+
+X.        WHAT IS LIFE WITHOUT LOVE?                            40
+
+XI.       A SHADOW DARKENS THE PEACEFUL HOME OF THE             45
+          BASKET-MAKER.
+
+XII.      "YOU ARE FALSE AS YOU ARE FAIR, BERNARDINE!"          48
+
+XIII.     HE WISHED HE COULD TELL SOME ONE HIS UNFORTUNATE      52
+          LOVE STORY.
+
+XIV.      "HAVE I BROKEN YOUR HEART, MY DARLING?"               58
+
+XV.       "I LOVE YOU! I CAN NOT KEEP THE SECRET ANY            61
+          LONGER!"
+
+XVI.      "WHERE THERE IS NO JEALOUSY THERE IS LITTLE LOVE!"    64
+
+XVII.                                                           70
+
+XVIII.    FATE WEAVES A STRANGE WEB.                            74
+
+XIX.      "TRUE LOVE NEVER DOES RUN SMOOTH."                    80
+
+XX.       "IT WOULD BE WISER TO MAKE A FRIEND THAN AN ENEMY     84
+          OF ME."
+
+XXI.      JASPER WILDE MEETS WITH AN ADVENTURE.                 87
+
+XXII.                                                           92
+
+XXIII.                                                          95
+
+XXIV.                                                           98
+
+XXV.                                                           102
+
+XXVI.                                                          105
+
+XXVII.                                                         109
+
+XXVIII.                                                        114
+
+XXIX.                                                          117
+
+XXX.                                                           125
+
+XXXI.                                                          130
+
+XXXII.                                                         135
+
+XXXIII.                                                        141
+
+XXXIV.                                                         145
+
+XXXV.                                                          148
+
+XXXVI.                                                         151
+
+XXXVII.                                                        156
+
+XXXVIII.                                                       161
+
+XXXIX.                                                         165
+
+XL.                                                            170
+
+XLI.                                                           176
+
+XLII.                                                          177
+
+XLIII.                                                         182
+
+XLIV.                                                          187
+
+XLV.                                                           191
+
+XLVI.                                                          196
+
+XLVII.                                                         200
+
+XLVIII.                                                        205
+
+XLIX.                                                          210
+
+L.                                                             215
+
+LI.                                                            219
+
+LII.                                                           224
+
+LIII.                                                          229
+
+LIV.                                                           232
+
+LV.                                                            235
+
+LVI.                                                           240
+
+LVII.                                                          244
+
+LVIII.                                                         249
+
+
+
+
+JOLLY SALLY PENDLETON
+
+OR
+
+THE WIFE WHO WAS NOT A WIFE
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+BOTH GIRLS WERE SO STUNNINGLY PRETTY, AND WORE SUCH
+ODD, BEWITCHING COSTUMES ON THEIR TANDEM, THAT THE
+PEOPLE WHO STOPPED TO WATCH THE BEAUTIES AS THEY
+WHIRLED BY NICKNAMED THEM "THE HEAVENLY TWINS."
+
+
+As Jay Gardiner drove down the village street behind his handsome pair
+of prancing bays, holding the ribbons skillfully over them, all the
+village maidens promenading up the village street or sitting in groups
+on the porches turned to look at him.
+
+He was certainly a handsome fellow; there was no denying that. He was
+tall, broad-shouldered, with a fair, handsome face, laughing blue eyes,
+a crisp, brown, curling mustache, and, what was better still, he was
+heir to two millions of money.
+
+He was passing the summer at the fashionable little village of Lee,
+among the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts.
+
+That did more to advertise the place than all the glowing newspaper
+items the proprietor of the Summerset House could have paid for.
+
+Every mother of a marriageable daughter who had heard of the millionaire
+managed to rake and scrape together enough money to pass the season at
+Lee.
+
+It was laughable to see how adroitly these mothers managed to secure an
+introduction, upon one pretext or another, to the handsome millionaire.
+Then the daughters were duly brought forward and presented.
+
+Every one knew the story of Jay Gardiner. His lady-mother and elder
+sister lived in what was called the Castle, the grandest and most famous
+homestead by far in Great Barrington.
+
+With all the millions at her command, haughty Mrs. Gardiner had but one
+great sorrow, and that was that her handsome son could not be induced to
+remain at home and lead the life of a fashionable young gentleman of
+leisure.
+
+At college he had declared his intention of studying medicine. He had
+graduated with high honors, and, much to his mother's annoyance, had
+established himself as a full-fledged M.痃.
+
+If he had been poor, perhaps patients might not have come to him so
+readily; but as it was, he found himself launched at once into a
+lucrative practice.
+
+This particular summer upon which our story opens, his grand lady-mother
+was unusually incensed against handsome Jay. He had refused to spend his
+vacation at the Castle, because, as he explained, there was a bevy of
+fashionable girls invited there for him to fall in love with, and whom
+he was expected to entertain.
+
+"The long and the short of it is, mother, I shall not do it," he
+decisively declared. "I shall simply run over to Lee and take up my
+quarters in some unpretentious boarding-house, where I can come down to
+my meals and lounge about in a _n嶲lig嶱 shirt, and read my papers and
+smoke my cigars swinging in a hammock, without being disturbed by
+girls."
+
+In high dudgeon his lady-mother and sister had sailed off to Europe, and
+they lived all their after-lives to rue it, and to bemoan the fact that
+they had not stayed at home to watch over the young man, and to guard
+the golden prize from the band of women who were on the lookout for just
+such an opportunity.
+
+Jay Gardiner found just such an ideal boarding-house as he was looking
+for. Every woman who came to the village with a marriageable daughter
+tried to secure board at that boarding-house, but signally failed.
+
+They never dreamed that the handsome, debonair young millionaire paid
+the good landlady an exorbitant price to keep women out.
+
+Good Widow Smith did her duty faithfully.
+
+When Mrs. Pendleton, of New York, heard of the great attraction at Lee,
+Massachusetts, she decided that that was the place where she and her two
+daughters, Lou and Sally, should spend the summer.
+
+"If either of you girls come home engaged to this millionaire," Mrs.
+Pendleton had declared, "I shall consider it the greatest achievement of
+my life. True, we live in a fine mansion on Fifth Avenue, and we are
+supposed to be very wealthy; but not one of our dear five hundred
+friends has discovered that the house we live in is merely rented, nor
+that your father's business is mortgaged to the full extent. We will
+have a hard time to pull through, and keep up appearances, until you two
+are married off."
+
+Mrs. Pendleton established herself at the Summerset House, with her two
+daughters. Every Saturday afternoon the pompous old broker went out to
+Lee, to make a show for the girls.
+
+"The next question is," said Mrs. Pendleton, after the trunks were
+unpacked, and the pretty clothes hung up in the various closets, "which
+one of you two will Mr. Gardiner prefer?"
+
+"Me!" said jolly Sally, with a mischievous laugh, complacently gazing at
+the lovely face reflected in the mirror.
+
+"It might be as well to wait until after he is introduced to us before
+you answer that question," said Lou. "But how are we to meet him?"
+
+"Your father will attend to that part of the business," said Mrs.
+Pendleton. "He understands what he has to do, and will find a way to
+accomplish it. Having marriageable daughters always sharpens a man's
+wits. Your father will find some way to get in with young Mr. Gardiner,
+depend upon that."
+
+It required three weeks for Mr. Pendleton to secure an introduction to
+the young man. On the following day the two sisters, dressed in their
+best, and hanging on their father's arms, paraded up and down the
+village streets until they espied the object of their search.
+Introductions naturally followed; but, much to the chagrin of the girls,
+their father, after chatting for a moment with handsome Mr. Gardiner,
+dragged them along.
+
+"I did not have a chance to say one word to him," said Lou,
+disappointedly.
+
+"Nor I," said Sally, poutingly.
+
+"Don't make a dead set for a man the first time you see him,"
+recommended Mr. Pendleton, grimly. "Take matters easy."
+
+The proudest moment of their lives was when Jay Gardiner called upon
+them at their hotel one afternoon. The girls were squabbling up in their
+room when his card was handed them.
+
+"Did he say which one of us he wishes to see?" cried Lou, breathlessly.
+
+"The Misses Pendleton," replied the bell-boy.
+
+There was a rush for their best clothes, and an exciting time for the
+mother in getting the girls into them.
+
+A moment later, two girls, both pretty as pictures, with their arms
+lovingly twined about each other, glided into the parlor. Handsome Jay
+turned from the window, thinking to himself that he had never beheld a
+fairer picture.
+
+There was half an hour's chat, and then he took his departure. He never
+knew why he did it, but he invited them both to drive with him the next
+day. Sally was about to answer "yes," delightedly, on the spot; but her
+sister, remembering her father's warning, was more diplomatic.
+
+"We will have to ask mamma if we can go," she said.
+
+Mrs. Pendleton, who was passing through the corridor at that moment, was
+called in. She and her elder daughter exchanged glances.
+
+"I am sorry," she said, apologetically, "but Sally and I have an
+engagement for that afternoon."
+
+The young millionaire fell into the trap at once.
+
+"Then could not Miss Louise accompany me?" he inquired.
+
+"If she cares to go, I really have no objection," said Mrs. Pendleton,
+hiding her delight with an arch smile.
+
+When he left, and the two girls had returned to their room, the
+stormiest kind of a scene followed.
+
+"Take care! take care!" cautioned Mrs. Pendleton, to Sally. "Your sister
+Lou is twenty; you are but eighteen. You should not stand in her way."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+IT IS ONE THING TO ADMIRE A PRETTY GIRL, QUITE ANOTHER THING TO FALL IN
+LOVE WITH HER.
+
+
+The next afternoon Sally Pendleton watched behind closed blinds as her
+sister drove off, proud and happy as a queen, in Jay Gardiner's handsome
+carriage. Louise Pendleton kissed her finger-tips gracefully to the
+blinds, behind which she knew her rebellious sister was watching.
+
+The drive through the country roads was delightful, it was such a fine
+day, so bright, so sunshiny. Jay Gardiner seemed to feel the influence
+of it, and almost unconsciously cast aside the mantle of haughtiness and
+pride, in which he usually wrapped himself, in order to make it pleasant
+for the beautiful, graceful girl whom fortune and fate had flung in his
+way.
+
+Louise realized what a golden chance she was having, and made the best
+of it.
+
+That was the beginning of the strangest romance that ever was written.
+
+When Jay Gardiner helped his fair companion from the buggy, Louise
+Pendleton looked shyly into her companion's face, murmuring that she
+had had the most delightful drive of her life.
+
+"I am glad you are so well pleased," answered Jay, raising his straw hat
+with a low bow; adding, gallantly: "I must take your sister out and show
+her what beautiful roads we have here."
+
+Louise was thoroughly diplomatic. A hot flush rose to her face, but she
+crushed back the words that sprung to her lips, saying sweetly:
+
+"You are indeed thoughtful, Mr. Gardiner. I am sure Sally will
+appreciate it."
+
+"We will arrange it for to-morrow," he said. "I would be delighted to
+have you accompany us. I will drop in at the hop this evening, and you
+can let me know."
+
+Louise and her mother had a long talk that afternoon.
+
+"I think she may as well go with you," said the mother. "I am positive
+that he will prefer you to your sister. Fair men usually like their
+opposites in complexion."
+
+The following afternoon the two sisters went driving with handsome Jay
+in his splendid T-cart, and were the envy of every girl in the village.
+
+He did his best to entertain them. He drove them over to Great
+Barrington, and through the spacious grounds that surrounded the Castle.
+
+The eyes of both sisters glowed as they caught sight of the magnificent,
+palatial house, and each resolved, in the depths of her heart, that this
+should be her home, and that she should reign mistress there.
+
+Jay Gardiner divided his attentions so equally between the two sisters
+that neither could feel the least bit slighted.
+
+The fortnight that followed flew by on golden wings.
+
+There was not a day that Jay Gardiner did not take the two sisters on
+some sight-seeing expedition.
+
+Every one began to wonder which of the sisters was the favorite.
+
+Mrs. Pendleton watched affairs with the keenest interest.
+
+"If he has a preference for either, it is certainly Louise," she told
+herself. "Sally seems content that it should be so."
+
+All night long, after these afternoon excursions, both girls would seek
+their pillows, and dream the whole night through of handsome Jay
+Gardiner.
+
+Louise would talk of him all the following morning, but Sally uttered no
+word; her secret was buried down in the depths of her heart.
+
+Other young men of the village sought a pleasant word or a smile from
+gay, capricious Sally Pendleton. But she would have none of them.
+
+"I will have a millionaire or nothing," she said, with a little laugh.
+
+On two or three occasions, much to Sally's chagrin, Mr. Gardiner invited
+Louise to drive without her.
+
+"That shows which way the wind is beginning to blow," she thought; and
+she looked at her sister critically.
+
+Louise and her mother often had long conferences when she came in from
+her rambles with him.
+
+"Has he spoken?" Mrs. Pendleton would ask; and she always received the
+same answer in a disappointed tone--"No!"
+
+"Any other girl would have had a declaration from the young man before
+this time."
+
+"If I could make the man propose, I would be his betrothed without a
+day's delay," Louise would reply, quite discontentedly.
+
+Sally would turn away quickly before they had time to notice the
+expression on her face.
+
+One day, in discussing the matter, Mr. Pendleton observed his younger
+daughter gazing fixedly at her mother and Louise.
+
+"Love affairs do not interest you, Sally," he said, with a laugh. "My
+dear," he said, suddenly, "you are not at all like your mother in
+disposition. Could you ever love any one very much?"
+
+"I do not know, papa," she answered. "I do not love many people. I only
+care for a few. In the way you mean, love would be a fire with me, not a
+sentiment."
+
+How vividly the words came back to him afterward when her love proved a
+devastating fire!
+
+She had turned suddenly to the window, and seemed to forget his
+question.
+
+No one knew what a depth of passion there was in the heart of this girl.
+If any one should have asked her what she craved most on earth, she
+would have replied, on the spur of the moment--"Love!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE TERRIBLE WAGER AT THE GREAT RACE.
+
+
+A month had gone by since the two sisters had met the one man who was to
+change the whole course of their lives.
+
+Louise Pendleton made no secret of her interest in handsome Jay
+Gardiner. She built no end of air-castles, all dating from the time when
+the young man should propose to her.
+
+She set out deliberately to win him. Sally watched with bated breath.
+
+There could be no love where there was such laughing, genial friendship
+as existed between Louise and handsome Jay. No, no! If she set about it
+in the right way, _she_ could win him.
+
+As for Jay himself, he preferred dark-eyed Louise to her dashing,
+golden-haired sister Sally.
+
+The climax came when he asked the girls, and also their father and
+mother, to join a party on his tally-ho and go to the races.
+
+Both dressed in their prettiest, and both looked like pictures.
+
+The races at Lee were always delightful affairs. Some of the finest
+horses in the country were brought there to participate in these
+affairs.
+
+As a usual thing, Jay Gardiner entered a number of his best horses; but
+on this occasion he had not done so. Louise declared that it would have
+made the races all the more worth seeing had some of his horses been
+entered.
+
+"Don't you think so, Sally?" she said, turning to her sister, with a gay
+little laugh; but Sally had not even heard, she was thinking so deeply.
+
+"She is anticipating the excitement," said Mrs. Pendleton, nodding
+toward Sally; and they all looked in wonder at the unnatural flush on
+the girl's cheeks and the strange, dazzling brightness in her blue
+eyes.
+
+They would have been startled if they could have read the thoughts that
+had brought them there.
+
+There was the usual crush of vehicles, for the races at Lee always drew
+out a large crowd.
+
+Jay Gardiner's box was directly opposite the judge's stand, and the
+group of ladies and gentlemen assembled in it was a very merry one,
+indeed.
+
+Every seat in the grand stand was occupied. Both Louise and Sally were
+in exuberant spirits.
+
+It was the first race which they had ever attended, and, girl-like, they
+were dying with curiosity to see what it would be like.
+
+"Which horse have _you_ picked for the winner?" asked Mr. Pendleton,
+leaning over and addressing Jay.
+
+"Either General or Robin Adair. Both seem to stand an equal chance.
+Well, I declare!" exclaimed Gardiner, in the same breath, "if there
+isn't Queen Bess! It's laughable to see _her_ entered for the race.
+She's very speedy, but she isn't game. I have seen her swerve when
+almost crowned with victory."
+
+Sally Pendleton listened to the conversation with unusual interest.
+
+In a few moments all the riders, booted and spurred, came hurrying out
+from their quarters in response to the sharp clang of a bell, and in a
+trice had mounted their horses, and were waiting the signal to start.
+
+The interest of the great crowd was at its height. They were discussing
+their favorites freely.
+
+The buzz of voices was deafening for a moment.
+
+No one noticed Sally, not even Louise or her mother, as she leaned over
+breathlessly, and said:
+
+"Which horse do _you_ think is going to win, Mr. Gardiner?"
+
+"I have no hesitancy in saying Robin Adair," he declared. "He has
+everything in his favor."
+
+"I have an idea that the little brown horse with the white stockings
+will win."
+
+He laughed, and a look indicative of superior judgment broke over his
+face.
+
+"I feel very sure that your favorite, Queen Bess, will lose, Miss
+Sally," he said.
+
+"I feel very confident that she will win," she said.
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"I should like to make a wager with you on that," she cried.
+
+"A box of candy--anything you like," he replied, airily; "but I must
+warn you that it is not quite the correct thing to wager with a lady,
+especially when you are sure that she will lose."
+
+"I'll take my chances," she replied, a strange look flashing into her
+excited blue eyes.
+
+"You have not told me what the wager is to be."
+
+For a moment the girl caught her breath and gave a lightning-like glance
+about her. No one was listening, no one would hear.
+
+"You have not told me," said Jay Gardiner, gallantly, as he bent
+forward.
+
+She turned and faced him, and her answer came in an almost inaudible
+whisper. But he heard it, though he believed he had not heard aright.
+
+"Do I understand you to say that your hand is the wager?" he asked,
+surprisedly.
+
+"Yes!" she answered.
+
+For a moment he looked at her in the utmost astonishment. Then a laugh
+suffused his fair face. Surely this was the strangest wager that he had
+ever heard of. He was used to the jolly larks of girls; but surely this
+was the strangest of them all. He knew that there was little hope of
+Queen Bess winning the race. But he answered, with the utmost gravity:
+
+"Very well; I accept your wager. Your hand shall be the prize, if the
+little mare wins."
+
+"She is so very young--only eighteen," he said to himself, "that she
+never realized what she was saying. It was only a jolly, girlish prank."
+
+If there had been in his mind the very slightest notion that Queen Bess
+would win, he should have refused to accept the wager. But she surely
+would not win; he was certain of that.
+
+So, with an amused smile, he acquiesced in the strange compact. In the
+midst of the talking and laughing, the horses came cantering on to the
+course.
+
+It was a beautiful sight, the thorough-bred horses with their coats
+shining like satin, except where the white foam had specked them, as
+they tossed their proud heads with eager impatience, the gay colors of
+their riders all flashing in the sunlight.
+
+A cheer goes up from the grand stand, then the starter takes his place,
+and the half-dozen horses, after some little trouble, fall into
+something like a line. There is an instant of expectancy, then the flag
+drops, and away the horses fly around the circular race-track.
+
+For a moment it is one great pell-mell rush. On, on, they fly, like
+giant grey-hounds from the leash, down the stretch of track, until they
+are but specks in the distance; then on they come, thundering past the
+grand stand at a maddening pace, with Robin Adair in the lead, General,
+Yellow Pete, and Black Daffy going like the wind at his heels, and
+Queen Bess--poor Queen Bess!--fully a score of yards behind.
+
+A mad shout goes up for Robin Adair. He looks every inch the winner,
+with his eyes flashing, his nostrils dilated. Every man leans forward in
+breathless excitement. Even the ladies seem scarcely to breathe.
+Suddenly a horse stumbles, and the rider is thrown headlong. There is a
+moment's hush; but the horse is only an outsider, and the crowd cheer
+the rest encouragingly.
+
+For a time they seem to run almost level, then most of the horses seem
+to show signs of the terrible strain. Robin Adair keeps steadily to the
+fore, with General closely at his heels. The rest begin to fall off.
+
+Again a mad shout goes up for Robin Adair.
+
+"No, no--General!" comes the hoarse cry from a hundred throats.
+
+But through it all, the wiser ones notice the gallant little mare, Queen
+Bess, coming slowly to the front.
+
+Some daring voice shouts:
+
+"Queen Bess! Queen Bess!"
+
+"She is fresh as a daisy!" mutters some one in the box adjoining Jay
+Gardiner's.
+
+White to the lips, Sally Pendleton sits and watches, her hands clasped
+tightly in her lap.
+
+The babble of voices is so deafening that she can not hear.
+
+Again the gallant steeds are specks in the distance. Now they pass the
+curve, and are on the home-stretch, dashing swiftly to the finish.
+
+Nearer and nearer sounds the thunder of their oncoming hoofs. Ten
+thousand people grow mad with excitement as they dash on.
+
+To the great surprise of the spectators, Queen Bess is gaining steadily
+inch by inch, until she passes those before her, even the General, and
+there is but a ribbon of daylight between herself and the great Robin
+Adair.
+
+The crowd goes wild with intense excitement. Nerves are thrilling as
+down the stretch dashes the racers almost with the rapidity of
+lightning.
+
+The grand stand seems to rock with the excited shouts. One great cry
+rises from ten thousand throats. Queen Bess has reached the great Robin
+Adair's flanks, and inch by inch she is gaining on him. And the excited
+spectators fairly hold their breath to see which horse wins.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+WHICH WON?
+
+
+Never in the history of the Lee races had there been such an exciting
+scene as this. Jay Gardiner's face is as white as death, as, with bated
+breath, he watches the two thorough-breds. Every one rises to his feet
+in the hope of catching a full view of the flyers.
+
+Which will win the race--the great Robin Adair or the gallant little
+Queen Bess?
+
+The mad shouts are deafening.
+
+Suddenly they notice that Robin Adair, who has been victor in a dozen
+such races, begins to show signs of distress. The foam covers his dark
+chest, and his eyes flash uneasily. It is all that his rider can do to
+urge him on with whip and spur.
+
+There is only one more furlong to cover. Robin Adair and little Queen
+Bess are side by side, neck to neck, both increasing their speed with
+every stride.
+
+Suddenly Robin, the great Robin Adair, falters ever so slightly. The
+seething mass of men and women hold their breath. Then, quick as a
+flash, as if shot from a bow, gallant little Queen Bess passes him. A
+great cry breaks from the vast multitude of spectators. One instant
+later, and the cry has deepened into a mighty yell. Little Queen Bess,
+with every muscle strained, passes under the wire--a winner!
+
+The next instant she is hidden from sight by the eager thousands who are
+crowding and pushing one another to catch a glimpse of the winner. Jay
+Gardiner stands for a moment as if dumbfounded. He is hardly able to
+credit the evidence of his own senses.
+
+"Queen Bess had won!" cried the golden-haired girl by his side, and he
+answers a hoarse--"Yes."
+
+The girl laughs, and the sound of that laugh lingers in his memory all
+the long years of his after-life.
+
+"And I have won!" she adds, shrilly.
+
+Again he answers, in that same hoarse monotone--"Yes!"
+
+Before he has time even to think, Sally Pendleton turns around to her
+father and mother, crying triumphantly:
+
+"Mamma--papa, Mr. Gardiner wants me to marry him. My hand is pledged to
+him; that is, if you are willing!"
+
+The young man's face turned as white as it would ever be in death.
+
+The effect of her words can better be imagined than described. Mr.
+Pendleton stared at his daughter as though he had not heard aright.
+
+Mrs. Pendleton was dumbfounded. And Louise--poor Louise!--to her it
+seemed as if life had ended for her.
+
+Mr. Pendleton recovered himself in an instant. He had been quite sure
+that Mr. Gardiner preferred his elder daughter Louise to his younger
+daughter, merry, rollicking Sally.
+
+"I am sure, I am very well pleased," he said, heartily extending his
+hand to Mr. Gardiner. "Certainly I give my consent, in which my wife
+joins me."
+
+Jay Gardiner's face flushed. He could not make a scene by refusing to
+accept the situation. He took the proffered hand. Mrs. Pendleton rose to
+the occasion.
+
+"If he prefers Sally, that is the end of it as far as Louise is
+concerned. Sally had better have him than for the family to lose him and
+all his millions," she thought, philosophically.
+
+Jay Gardiner's friends congratulated the supposedly happy lovers. Louise
+spoke no word; it seemed to her as though the whole world had suddenly
+changed; her golden day-dreams had suddenly and without warning been
+dispelled.
+
+During that homeward ride, Jay Gardiner was unusually quiet. His brain
+seemed in a whirl--the strange event of the afternoon seemed like a
+troubled dream whose spell he could not shake off, do what he would.
+
+He looked keenly at the girl by his side. Surely she did not realize the
+extent of the mischief she had done by announcing their betrothal.
+
+It was not until he had seen his party home and found himself alone at
+last in his boarding-house that he gave full rein to his agitated
+thoughts.
+
+It was the first time in the life of this debonair young millionaire
+that he had come face to face with a disagreeable problem.
+
+Gay, jolly Sally Pendleton, with her flashing get-up--a combination of
+strangely unnatural canary-yellow hair, pink cheeks and lips, and
+floating, rainbow-hued ribbons--jarred upon his artistic tastes.
+
+He did not admire a girl who went into convulsions of laughter, as Sally
+did, at everything that was said and done. In fact, he liked her less
+each time he saw her. But she was young--only eighteen--and she might,
+in time, have a little more sense, he reflected.
+
+What should he do? He looked at the matter in every light; but,
+whichever way he turned, he found no comfort, no way out of the dilemma.
+
+If he were to explain to the world that the engagement was only the
+outcome of a thoughtless wager, his friends would surely censure him for
+trying to back out; they would accuse him of acting the part of a
+coward. He could not endure the thought of their taking that view of it.
+All his friends knew his ideas concerning honor, particularly where a
+lady was concerned.
+
+And now he was in honor bound to fulfill his part of the wager--marry
+Sally Pendleton, whom he was beginning to hate with a hatred that
+startled even himself.
+
+Such a marriage would spoil his future, shipwreck his whole life, blast
+his every hope. But he himself was to blame. When that hoidenish,
+hair-brained girl had made such a daring wager, he should have declined
+to accept it; then this harvest of woe would not have to be reaped.
+
+Suddenly a thought, an inspiration, came to him. He would go to Sally,
+point out to her the terrible mistake of this hasty betrothal, and she
+might release him from it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+"SHALL WE BREAK THIS BETROTHAL, THAT WAS MADE ONLY IN FUN?"
+
+
+The thought was like an inspiration to Jay Gardiner. He would go to
+Sally and ask her to break this hateful engagement; and surely she would
+be too proud to hold him to a betrothal from which he so ardently
+desired to be set free.
+
+The following day he put his plan into execution. It was early in the
+afternoon when he entered the hotel, and going at once to the
+reception-room, he sent up his card. He had not long to wait for Miss
+Sally. He had scarcely taken two or three turns across the floor ere she
+floated into the room with both hands outstretched, an eager smile on
+her red lips.
+
+He took one of the outstretched hands, bowed ever it coldly, and hastily
+dropped it.
+
+"I was expecting you this afternoon," said Sally, archly, pretending not
+to notice his constraint, "and here you are at last."
+
+"Miss Pendleton," he began, stiffly, "would you mind getting your hat
+and taking a little stroll with me? I have something to talk over with
+you, and I do not wish all those people on the porch, who are listening
+to us even now, to hear."
+
+"I would be delighted," answered Sally. "Come on. My hat is right out
+there on a chair on the veranda."
+
+He followed her in silence. It was not until they were some little
+distance from the hotel that he found voice to speak.
+
+"You say you want to talk to your betrothed," laughed the girl, with a
+toss of her yellow curls; "but you have maintained an unbroken silence
+for quite a time."
+
+"I have been wondering how to begin speaking of the subject which weighs
+so heavily on my mind, and I think the best way is to break right into
+it."
+
+"Yes," assented Sally; "so do I."
+
+"It is about our betrothal," he began, brusquely. "I want to ask you a
+plain, frank question, Miss Pendleton, and I hope you will be equally as
+frank with me; and that is, do you consider what you are pleased to call
+your betrothal to me, and which I considered at the time only a girlish
+prank, actually binding?"
+
+He stopped short in the wooded path they were treading, and looked her
+gravely in the face--a look that forced an answer. She was equal to the
+occasion.
+
+"Of course I do, Mr. Gardiner," she cried, with a jolly little laugh
+that sounded horrible in his ears. "And wasn't it romantic? Just like
+one of those stories one reads in those splendid French novels, I
+laughed----"
+
+"Pray be serious, Miss Pendleton," cut in Gardiner, biting his lip
+fiercely to keep back an angry retort. "This is not a subject for
+merriment, I assure you, and I had hoped to have a sensible conversation
+with you concerning it--to show each of us a way out of it, if that is
+possible."
+
+"I do not wish to be set free, as you phrase it, Mr. Gardiner," she
+answered, defiantly. "I am perfectly well pleased to have matters just
+as they are, I assure you."
+
+His face paled; the one hope which had buoyed him up died suddenly in
+his heart.
+
+Sally Pendleton's face flushed hotly; her eyes fell.
+
+"I will try to win your liking," she replied.
+
+"It is a man's place to win," he said, proudly; "women should be won,"
+he added, with much emphasis. "When two people marry without love, they
+must run all the risk such a union usually incurs."
+
+"Pardon me, but I may as well speak the truth; you are the last girl on
+earth whom I could love. It grieves me to wound you, but it is only just
+that you should know the truth. _Now_ will you insist upon carrying out
+the contract?"
+
+"As I have told you from the start, my answer will always be the same."
+
+"We will walk back to the hotel," he said, stiffly.
+
+She rose from the mossy log and accompanied him without another word. At
+last he broke the silence.
+
+"I am a gentleman," he said, "and am in honor bound to carry out this
+contract, if you can not be induced to release me."
+
+"That is the only sensible view for you to take," she said.
+
+He crushed back the angry words that rose to his lips. He had never
+disliked a woman before, but he could not help but own to himself that
+he hated the girl by his side--the girl whom fate had destined that he
+should marry.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE WAY OF WOMEN THE WHOLE WORLD OVER.
+
+
+As Jay Gardiner and Sally walked to the hotel the young man had made up
+his mind that the wedding should be put off as much as possible.
+
+Suddenly Sally touched him on the arm just as they reached the flight of
+steps leading to the veranda.
+
+"I have one request to make of you," she said. "Please do not tell any
+of my folks that you do not care for me, and that it is not a
+_bon�-fide_ love-match."
+
+He bowed coldly.
+
+She went on: "Mamma has a relative--an old maiden cousin, ever so
+old--who liked my picture so well that she declared she would make me
+her heiress. She's worth almost as much as you are. They named me after
+her--Sally Rogers Pendleton. That's how I happen to have such a
+heathenish name. But I'll change it quick enough after the old lady dies
+and leaves me her money.
+
+"And you will call to see me often?" asked Sally.
+
+"Before I promise that, I must ask what you call 'often.'"
+
+"You should take me out riding every afternoon, and call at least every
+other evening."
+
+Again that angry look crossed Jay's handsome face.
+
+"In this case the usual customs must be waived," he answered, haughtily.
+"I will call for you when I drive. That must suffice."
+
+Jay Gardiner's thoughts were not any too pleasant as he wended his way
+to his boarding-house. He had always prided himself on his skill in
+evading women, lest a drag-net in the hands of some designing woman
+might insnare him. Now he had been cleverly outwitted by an
+eighteen-year-old girl.
+
+He suddenly lost all pleasure in driving. He was thankful for the rainy
+week that followed, as he was not obliged to take Sally out driving.
+
+One day a telegram came from New York, requesting his immediate presence
+in that city to attend a critical case. With no little satisfaction he
+bid the Pendletons good-bye.
+
+"We intend to cut short our summer outing. We will return to New York in
+a fortnight, and then I hope to have the pleasure of seeing you as often
+as possible," Sally remarked.
+
+"I lead a very busy life in the city," he said. "A doctor's time is not
+his own."
+
+"I shall not enjoy staying here after you have gone," she said, a trifle
+wistfully.
+
+But he paid little heed to the remark.
+
+The happiest moment of his life was when the train steamed out of Lee.
+
+"Why don't you stay over and see the next race?" said one of his
+friends, wringing his hand on the platform of the car.
+
+"I shall never go to another race," he remarked, savagely.
+
+"What! were you a plunger at the last race?" asked his friend.
+
+But Jay Gardiner made no answer.
+
+"I am sorry if I have called up bitter recollections," laughed his
+friend.
+
+Then the bell sounded, and the train moved on.
+
+Jay Gardiner turned resolutely away from the window, that he might not
+catch a look of the hotel.
+
+"I wonder if my patient, Miss Rogers, and the relative this girl speaks
+of are one and the same person?" he asked himself.
+
+He had once saved the life of this Miss Rogers, and since that time she
+had been a devoted friend of his.
+
+She was a most kind, estimable woman, and he admired her for her noble
+character. Surely she could not be the lady of whom Sally Pendleton
+spoke so derisively?
+
+He reached the city at last, and, without taking time to refresh
+himself, hurried to see who it was that needed his help.
+
+It was eleven o'clock, and the crowds on the streets of the great
+metropolis had begun to thin out.
+
+His office clerk, who was expecting him, said, in answer to his inquiry:
+
+"It is Miss Rogers, sir. She is dangerously ill, and will have no other
+doctor."
+
+"I will go to her at once," said Jay Gardiner.
+
+But at that moment a man who had been hurt in a railway accident was
+brought in, and he was obliged to devote half an hour of his valuable
+time in dressing his wounds. Then with all possible haste he set out on
+his journey.
+
+He gave orders to his driver to go to Miss Rogers' residence by the
+shortest route possible.
+
+At that very moment, in another part of the city, a woman who had once
+been young and beautiful lay dying. The room in which she lay was
+magnificent in its costly hangings; the lace draperies that hung from
+the windows represented a fortune, the carpets and rugs which covered
+the floor were of the costliest description. Rare paintings and the
+richest of bric-a-brac occupied the walls and other available places.
+Even the lace counterpane on the bed represented the expenditure of a
+vast sum of money. But the woman who lay moaning there in mortal pain
+would have given all to have purchased one hour of ease.
+
+"Has the doctor come yet, Mary?" she asked.
+
+"No," replied her faithful attendant, who bent over her. "But he can not
+be long now, my lady. It is several hours since we telegraphed for him,
+and I have telephoned for him every hour since. At the office they say
+that he has already started for here."
+
+"Are those carriage wheels? Go to the window, Mary, and see."
+
+The attendant glided noiselessly to the heavily draped window and drew
+aside the hangings.
+
+"No," she answered, gently; "he has not yet come."
+
+"Something must have happened, Mary," half-sobbed the sufferer; "I am
+sure of it."
+
+Ay, something out of the usual had happened to Doctor Gardiner.
+
+As his handsome brougham turned into Canal Street, the doctor, in
+looking from the window, noticed a young girl hurrying along the street.
+
+There was something about the symmetrical figure that caused the doctor
+to look a second time.
+
+He said to himself that she must be young; and a feeling of pity
+thrilled his heart to see one so young threading the streets at that
+hour of the night.
+
+So many people were making their way through the streets that the driver
+was only able to proceed slowly. And thus the young girl, who had quite
+unconsciously attracted the doctor's attention, kept pace with the
+vehicle.
+
+Once, as Jay Gardiner caught sight of her face, he felt as though an
+electric shock had suddenly passed through him. For a moment he was
+almost spell-bound. Where had he seen that face? Then suddenly it
+occurred to him that it was the _fac-simile_ of the picture he had
+bought abroad.
+
+And as he gazed with spell-bound attention, much to his disgust he saw
+the young woman stop in front of a wine-room and peer in at one of the
+windows. This action disgusted the young doctor immeasurably.
+
+"How sad that one so fair as she should have gone wrong in the morning
+of life," he thought.
+
+Suddenly she turned and attempted to dart across the street. But in that
+moment her foot slipped, and she was precipitated directly under the
+horses' hoofs.
+
+A cry broke from the lips of the doctor, and was echoed by the man on
+the box.
+
+"Are you hurt?" cried Doctor Gardiner, springing from his seat and
+bending over the prostrate figure of the girl.
+
+"No, no!" cried the girl, in the saddest, sweetest voice he had ever
+heard. "They must not find me here when they come to the door; they will
+be so angry!" she said, springing to her feet.
+
+At that moment there was a commotion in the wine-room, the door of which
+had just been opened.
+
+As the girl turned to look in that direction, she saw a man pushed
+violently into the street.
+
+"Oh, it is father--it is father!" cried the young girl, wildly, shaking
+herself free from the doctor's detaining hand. "Oh, they have killed my
+father! See! he is lying on the pavement dead, motionless! Oh, God, pity
+me! I am left alone in the wide, wide world!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+BERNARDINE.
+
+
+Doctor Gardiner sprung forward quickly.
+
+"You are unnecessarily alarmed, my dear young lady," he said. "The
+gentleman is only stunned."
+
+So it proved to be; for he had scarcely ceased speaking when the man
+struggled to his feet and looked about him in dazed bewilderment.
+
+"Oh, papa, darling, have they killed you!" sobbed the young girl,
+springing wildly forward and throwing her arms about the dust-begrimed
+man.
+
+"I don't know, Bernardine," he answered in a shrill voice. "I am sure
+every bone in my body is broken--quite sure."
+
+"No," interrupted Doctor Gardiner, pitying the young girl in her
+distress; "you are only bruised. I am a doctor; if you will give me your
+address, I will look in and give you something when I return this way. I
+may return in an hour's time, I may be as late as to-morrow morning."
+
+"We--we--could not pay for the services of a doctor, sir," sobbed the
+young girl. "If there is anything the matter, I will have to take poor
+papa to the hospital."
+
+"I would never go to the hospital, Bernardine," whined the man in a low
+tone. "That will be the last of me if I ever have to go there."
+
+"I would make no charge whatever," said Doctor Gardiner. "My services
+would be rendered gratis," he added, earnestly.
+
+The young girl looked at him with tears shining in her great dark eyes.
+
+"We live in the tenement just around the corner, sir," she said, "on the
+sixth floor. My father is David Moore, the basket-maker."
+
+Doctor Gardiner dared not remain another moment talking with them, and
+with a hasty bow he re-entered his carriage. But during the remainder of
+his journey he could think of nothing but the sad, beautiful face of
+Bernardine Moore, the basket-maker's daughter.
+
+"What in the name of Heaven has come over me!" he muttered. "I have seen
+a face, and it seems as though I have stepped through the gates of the
+old world and entered a new one."
+
+He collected his thoughts with a start, as the carriage reached its
+destination.
+
+He had not realized how quickly the time had passed. He resolutely put
+all thoughts from him as he walked up the steps of the mansion before
+which he found himself.
+
+The door opened before he could touch the bell.
+
+"We have been waiting for you, doctor," said the low-voiced attendant
+who had come to the door.
+
+He followed her through the magnificent hall-way, and up the polished
+stairs to the apartment above, where he knew his patient was awaiting
+him.
+
+The wan face lying against the pillow lighted up as the doctor entered.
+His bright, breezy presence was as good as medicine.
+
+"You!" he cried, advancing to the couch. "Why, this will never do, Miss
+Rogers! Tut, tut! you are not sick, you do not look it! This is only an
+excuse to send for me, and you know it. I can see at a glance that you
+are a long way from being ill, and you know it!" he repeated.
+
+He said it in so hearty a manner and in such apparent good faith, that
+his words could not help but carry conviction with them.
+
+Already the poor lady began to feel that she was not nearly so ill as
+she had believed herself to be.
+
+But the doctor, bending over her, despite his reassuring smile and light
+badinage, realized with alarm that his patient was in great danger, that
+there was but a fighting chance for her life.
+
+An hour or more he worked over her unceasingly, doing everything that
+skill and science could suggest.
+
+With the dawning of the morning he would know whether she would live or
+die.
+
+"Doctor," she said, looking up into his face, "do you think my illness
+is fatal? Is this my last call?"
+
+He scarcely knew how to answer her. He felt that the truth should not be
+kept from her. But how was he to tell her?
+
+"Because," she went on, before he could answer, "if it is, I had better
+know it in time, in order to settle up my affairs. I--I have always
+dreaded making a will; but--but there will come a time, sooner or later,
+when it will be necessary for me to do so."
+
+Again Doctor Gardiner laughed out that hearty, reassuring laugh.
+
+"That is the natural feeling of a woman," he said. "Men never have that
+feeling. With them it is but an ordinary matter, as it should be."
+
+"Would you advise me to make a will, doctor?" and the white face was
+turned wistfully to him.
+
+"Certainly," he replied, with an attempt at light-heartedness. "It will
+occupy your mind, give you something to think about, and take your
+thoughts from your fancied aches and pains."
+
+"Fancied?" replied the poor lady. "Ah, doctor, they are real enough,
+although you do not seem to think so. I--I want to leave all my money to
+_you_, doctor," she whispered. "You are the only person in the whole
+wide world who, without an object, has been kind to me," she added, with
+sudden energy. The fair, handsome face of the young doctor grew grave.
+
+"Nay, nay," he said, gently. "While I thank you with all my heart for
+the favor you would bestow on me, still I must tell you that I could not
+take the money. No, no, my dear Miss Rogers; it must go to the next of
+kin, if you have any."
+
+Her face darkened as an almost forgotten memory rose up before her.
+
+"No!" she said, sharply; "anything but that! They never cared for me!
+They shall not fight over what I have when I am dead!"
+
+"But you have relatives?" he questioned, anxiously.
+
+"Yes," she said; "one or two distant cousins, who married and who have
+families of their own. One of them wrote me often while I lived at San
+Francisco; but in her letters she always wanted something, and such
+hints were very distasteful to me. She said that she had named one of
+her children after me, saying in the next sentence that I ought to make
+the girl my heiress. I wrote to her to come on to San Francisco, when I
+fell so ill, a few weeks ago. She answered me that she could not come,
+that she was very sick herself, and that the doctors had ordered her out
+to Lee, Massachusetts, to live on a farm, until she should become
+stronger. When I grew stronger, I left San Francisco with my faithful
+attendant, Mary. I did not let them know that I was in New York, and had
+taken possession of this fine house, which I own. Suddenly I fell ill
+again. I intended to wait until I grew stronger to hunt her up, and see
+how I should like her before making overtures of friendship to her. I
+should not like to make a will and leave all to these people whom I do
+not know. There are hundreds of homes for old and aged women that need
+the money more."
+
+"Still, a will should always be made," said the doctor, earnestly. "I
+will send for some one at once, if you will entertain the idea of
+attending to it."
+
+"No!" she replied, firmly. "If anything happens to me, I will let them
+take their chances. Don't say anything more about it, doctor; my mind is
+fully made up."
+
+He dared not argue with a woman who was so near her end as he believed
+her to be.
+
+This case proved to be one of the greatest achievements of his life.
+From the very Valley of the Shadow of Death he drew back the struggling,
+fluttering spirit of the helpless lady. And when the first gray streaks
+of dawn flushed the eastern sky, the doctor drew a great sigh of relief.
+
+"Thank God, she will live!" he said.
+
+When the sun rose later the danger was past--the battle of life had been
+won, and death vanquished.
+
+Although Doctor Gardiner was very weary after his night's vigil, still
+he left the house with a happy heart beating in his bosom.
+
+He scarcely felt the fatigue of his arduous labors as he stepped into
+his carriage again. His heart gave a strange throb as he ordered the
+driver to go to the tenement house, the home of the old basket-maker and
+his beautiful daughter.
+
+How strange it was that the very thought of this fair girl seemed to
+give his tired brain rest for a moment!
+
+He soon found himself at the street and number he wanted.
+
+"Does Mr. Moore, the basket-maker, live here?" he asked, pausing for a
+moment to inquire of a woman who sat on the doorstep with a little child
+in her arms.
+
+"Yes," she answered, in a surly voice; "and more's the pity for the rest
+of us tenants, for he is a regular fiend incarnate, sir, and has a fit
+of the delirium tremens as regularly as the month comes round. He's got
+'em now. A fine dance he leads that poor daughter of his. Any other girl
+would get out and leave him. Are you the doctor Miss Bernardine was
+expecting? If so, walk right up. She is waiting for you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+"OH, I AM SO GLAD THAT YOU HAVE COME, DOCTOR!"
+
+
+Doctor Jay Gardiner, with as much speed as possible, made his way up the
+long, steep flights of dark, narrow stairs, and through the still darker
+passages, which were only lighted by the open doors here and there,
+revealing rooms inhabited by half a dozen persons. They were all
+talking, fighting or scrambling at the same time; and the odor of that
+never-to-be-forgotten smell of frying onions and sausages greeted his
+nostrils at every turn until it seemed to him that he must faint.
+
+"Great heavens! how can so fair a young girl live in an atmosphere like
+this?" he asked himself.
+
+At length, almost exhausted, for he was unused to climbing, this
+haughty, aristocratic young doctor found himself on the sixth floor of
+the tenement house, and he knocked at the first door he came to.
+
+It was opened by the young girl Bernardine. He could see at a glance
+that her face bore the traces of trouble, and the dark eyes, still heavy
+with unshed tears, showed signs of recent weeping.
+
+"Oh, I am so glad that you have come, doctor!" she said, clasping her
+little hands. "My poor father is so much worse. Please step in this
+way!"
+
+He was ushered into a little sitting-room, and as he entered it he saw
+that everything was scrupulously neat and clean.
+
+"Poor papa is out of his mind, doctor. Please come quickly, and see
+him!"
+
+It did not require a second glance for the doctor to understand all; and
+straightway he proceeded to give the man a draught, which had the effect
+of quieting him. The young girl stood by the man with clasped hands and
+dilated eyes, scarcely breathing as she watched him.
+
+The young doctor turned impulsively to the girl by his side.
+
+"Pardon me for the question, but do you live alone with your father?" he
+asked.
+
+"Yes," she replied in a voice that thrilled him as the grandest,
+sweetest music he had heard had never had power to do. "We have only
+each other," she added, watching the distorted face on the pillow with
+a fond wistfulness that made the young doctor, who was watching her,
+almost envy the father.
+
+"I will come again to-morrow," he said, "and prescribe for him. I have
+done all the good that is possible for the present."
+
+"Good-morning, Miss Moore," he said, standing with his hat in his hand,
+and bowing before her as if she were a princess. "If you should have
+occasion to need me in a hurry, send for me at once. This is my
+address." And he handed her his card.
+
+Again she thanked him in a voice so sweet and low that it sounded to him
+like softest music.
+
+He closed the door gently after him; and it seemed to him, as he walked
+slowly down the narrow dark stairs, that he had left Paradise and one of
+God's angels in it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+"WHAT A LONELY LIFE FOR THIS BEAUTIFUL YOUNG GIRL!"
+
+
+All that day the sweet face of Bernardine Moore was before Doctor
+Gardiner. He found himself actually looking forward to the morrow, when
+he should see her again. He deceived himself completely as to the cause,
+telling himself that it was because of his pity for her, and the
+desolate life she was leading.
+
+The next day when he called, Bernardine again met him at the door.
+
+"Papa has been calling for you," she said. Then she stopped short, in
+dire confusion, as she remembered the reason why he was so anxious to
+see him. "He has just fallen into a light sleep. I will go and awaken
+him at once and tell him you are here."
+
+"By no means," he said. "Pray do not awaken him; the sleep he is having
+is better than medicine. Will you permit me to sit down and talk with
+you for a few moments, until he awakens?"
+
+She looked anxiously at him for a moment, then said, with charming
+frankness:
+
+"Would you mind very much if I went on with my work. I have several
+baskets to be finished by night, when they will be called for."
+
+"By no means. Pray proceed with your work. Do not let me disturb you,"
+he answered, hastily. "I shall consider it a great favor if you will
+allow me to watch you as you work."
+
+"Certainly," said Bernardine, "if you will not mind coming into our
+little work-shop," and she led the way with a grace that completely
+charmed him.
+
+The place was devoid of any furniture save two or three wooden chairs,
+which the girl and her father occupied at their work, the long wooden
+bench, the great coils of willow--the usual paraphernalia of the
+basket-makers' trade.
+
+She sat down on her little wooden seat, indicating a seat opposite for
+him. He watched her eagerly as her slim white fingers flew in and out
+among the strands of trailing willow quickly taking shape beneath her
+magic touch.
+
+"It must be a very lonely life for you," said Jay Gardiner, after a
+moment's pause.
+
+"I do not mind; I am never lonely when father is well," she answered,
+with a sweet, bright smile. "We are great companions, father and I. He
+regales me by the hour with wonderful stories of things he used to see
+when he was a steamboat captain. But he met with an accident one time,
+and then he had to turn to basket-making."
+
+As he conversed with the young girl, Jay Gardiner was indeed surprised
+to see what a fund of knowledge that youthful mind contained. She was
+the first young girl whom he had met who could sit down and talk
+sensibly to a man. Her ideas were so sweet, so natural, that it charmed
+him in spite of himself. She was like a heroine out of a
+story-book--just such a one, he thought, as Martha Washington must have
+been in her girlhood days. His admiration and respect for her grew with
+each moment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+WHAT IS LIFE WITHOUT LOVE?
+
+
+Every evening, on some pretext or other, Jay Gardiner managed to pay
+David Moore, the basket-maker, a visit, and the cynical old man began to
+look forward to these visits.
+
+He never dreamed that his daughter was the magnet which drew the young
+man to his poor home. They were evenings that Jay Gardiner never forgot.
+
+Bernardine was slightly confused at first by his presence; then she
+began to view the matter in another light--that the young doctor had
+taken quite an interest in her father. He had certainly cured him of a
+terrible habit, and she was only too pleased that her father should have
+visits from so pleasant a man.
+
+She always had some work in her slender white hands when the doctor
+called. Sometimes, glancing up unexpectedly, she would find the doctor's
+keen blue eyes regarding her intently, and she would bend lower over her
+sewing. Jay Gardiner, however, saw the flush that rose to her cheek and
+brow.
+
+As he sat in that little tenement sitting-room--he who had been
+flattered and courted by the most beautiful heiresses--he experienced a
+feeling of rest come over him.
+
+He would rather pass one hour in that plain, unpretentious sitting-room
+than visit the grandest Fifth Avenue mansion.
+
+And thus a fortnight passed. At the end of that time, Jay Gardiner stood
+face to face with the knowledge of his own secret--that he had at last
+met in Bernardine Moore the idol of his life. He stood face to face with
+this one fact--that wealth, grandeur, anything that earth could give
+him, was of little value unless he had the love of sweet Bernardine.
+
+It came upon him suddenly that the sweet witchery, the glamor falling
+over him was--love.
+
+He realized that he lived only in Bernardine's presence, and that
+without her life would be but a blank to him. His love for Bernardine
+became the one great passion of his life. Compared with her, all other
+women paled into insignificance.
+
+He fell, without knowing it, from a state of intense admiration into one
+of blind adoration for her. He had never before trembled at a woman's
+touch. Now, if his hand touched hers, he trembled as a strong tree
+trembles in a storm.
+
+Looking forward to the years to come, he saw no gleam of brightness in
+them unless they were spent with the girl he loved.
+
+Then came the awakening. He received a letter from Sally Pendleton, in
+which she upbraided him for not writing. That letter reminded him that
+he was not free; that before he had met Bernardine, he had bound himself
+in honor to another.
+
+He was perplexed, agitated. He loved Bernardine with his whole heart,
+and yet, upon another girl's hand shone his betrothal-ring.
+
+When the knowledge of his love for sweet Bernardine came to him, he told
+himself that he ought to fly from her; go where the witchery of her
+face, the charm of her presence, would never set his heart on fire; go
+where he could never hear her sweet voice again.
+
+"Only a few days more," he said, sadly. "I will come here for another
+week, and then the darkness of death will begin for me, for the girl who
+holds me in such galling chains will return to the city."
+
+Why should he not see Bernardine for another week? It would not harm
+her, and it would be his last gleam of happiness.
+
+At this time another suitor for Bernardine's hand appeared upon the
+scene. On one of his visits to the Moores' home he met a young man
+there. The old basket-maker introduced him, with quite a flourish, as
+Mr. Jasper Wilde, a wine merchant, and his landlord. The two men bowed
+stiffly and looked at each other as they acknowledged the presentation.
+
+Doctor Gardiner saw before him a heavy-set, dark-eyed young man with a
+low, sinister brow. An unpleasant leer curled his thin lips, which a
+black mustache partially shaded, and he wore a profusion of jewels which
+was disgusting to one of his refined temperament.
+
+He could well understand that he was a wine merchant's son. He certainly
+gave evidence of his business, and that he had more money than good
+breeding. The word _rou嶱 was stamped on his every feature.
+
+Jay Gardiner was troubled at the very thought of such a man being
+brought in contact with sweet Bernardine. Then the thought flashed
+through his mind that this was certainly the man whom the woman on the
+doorstep had told him about.
+
+Jasper Wilde, looking at the young doctor, summed him up as a proud,
+white-handed, would-be doctor who hadn't a cent in his pocket.
+
+"I can see what the attraction is here--it's Bernardine; but I'll block
+his little game," he muttered. "The few weeks that I've been out of the
+city he has been making great headway; but I'll stop that."
+
+The young doctor noticed that what the woman had told him was quite
+true. He could readily see that Bernardine showed a feeling of
+repugnance toward her visitor.
+
+But another thing he noticed with much anxiety was, that the old
+basket-maker was quite hilarious, as though he had been dosed with wine
+or something stronger.
+
+Jay Gardiner knew at once that this man must have known the
+basket-maker's failing and slipped him a bottle, and that that was his
+passport to favor.
+
+Doctor Gardiner talked with David Moore and his daughter, addressing no
+remarks whatever to the obnoxious visitor.
+
+"The impudent popinjay is trying to phase me," thought Wilde; "but he
+will see that it won't work."
+
+Accordingly he broke into every topic that was introduced; and thus the
+evening wore on, until it became quite evident to Doctor Gardiner that
+Mr. Jasper Wilde intended to sit him out.
+
+Bernardine looked just a trifle weary when the clock on the mantel
+struck ten, and Doctor Gardiner rose to depart.
+
+"Shall I hold the light for you?" she asked. "The stair-way is always
+very dark."
+
+"If you will be so kind," murmured the doctor.
+
+Jasper Wilde's face darkened as he listened to this conversation. His
+eyes flashed fire as they both disappeared through the door-way.
+
+On the landing outside Doctor Gardiner paused a few moments.
+
+How he longed to give her a few words of advice, to tell her to beware
+of the man whom he had just left talking to her father! But he
+remembered that he had not that right. She might think him presumptuous.
+
+If he had only been free, he would have pleaded his own suit then and
+there. That she was poor and unknown, and the daughter of such a father,
+he cared nothing.
+
+Ah! cruel fate, which forbid him taking her in his arms and never
+letting her go until she had promised to be his wife!
+
+As it was, knowing that he loved her with such a mighty love, he told
+himself that he must look upon her face but once again, and then it
+must be only to say farewell.
+
+"The night is damp and the air is chill, and these narrow halls are
+draughty. Do not stand out here," he said, with eager solicitude; "you
+might catch cold."
+
+She laughed a sweet, amused laugh.
+
+"I am used to all kinds of weather, Doctor Gardiner," she said. "I am
+always out in it. I make the first track in winter through the deep
+snows. I go for the work in the morning, and return with it at night.
+You know, when one is poor, one can not be particular about such little
+things as the weather; it would never do."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A SHADOW DARKENS THE PEACEFUL HOME OF THE BASKET-MAKER.
+
+
+Sweet Bernardine Moore laughed to see the look of amazement upon the
+young doctor's face.
+
+He who had been reared in luxury, pampered and indulged--ay, spoiled by
+an over-indulgent mother, what had he ever known of the bitter realities
+of life, the struggles many have to undergo for their very existence?
+
+He looked at this delicate, graceful girl, and his lips trembled, his
+eyes grew moist with tears.
+
+Oh, if he but dared remove her from all this sorrow! The thought of her
+toiling and suffering there was more than he could calmly endure.
+
+He turned away quickly. In another moment he would have committed
+himself. He had almost forgotten that he was bound to another, and would
+have been kneeling at her feet in another minute but for the sound of
+her father's voice, which brought him to himself.
+
+"Bernardine!" cried her father, fretfully, "what are you doing out there
+so long in the hall? Don't you know that Mr. Wilde is waiting here to
+talk with you?"
+
+A pitiful shadow crossed the girl's face. Evidently she knew what the
+man had to say to her.
+
+Tears which she could not resist came to her eyes, and her lovely lips
+trembled.
+
+Doctor Gardiner could not help but observe this.
+
+"Bernardine," he cried, hoarsely, forgetting himself for the moment, "I
+should like to ask something of you. Will you promise to grant my
+request?"
+
+"Yes," she murmured, faintly and unhesitatingly.
+
+"Do not trust the man to whom your father is talking."
+
+"There is little need to caution me in regard to him, Doctor Gardiner,"
+she murmured. "My own heart has told me that already----"
+
+She stopped short in great embarrassment, and Doctor Gardiner thought it
+best not to pursue the subject further, for his own peace of mind as
+well as hers.
+
+He turned abruptly away, and was quickly lost to sight in the labyrinth
+of stair-ways.
+
+With slow steps Bernardine had re-entered her apartments again. As she
+approached the door, she heard Jasper Wilde say to her father in an
+angry, excited voice:
+
+"There is no use in talking to you any longer; it must be settled
+to-night. I do not intend to wait any longer."
+
+"But it is so late!" whined the basket-maker in his high, sharp treble.
+
+"You knew I was coming, and just what I was coming here for. Why didn't
+you get rid of the poor, penny doctor, instead of encouraging him?"
+
+"I could not say much to the doctor, for he had my life in his hands,
+and saved it."
+
+"There might be worse things for you to face," replied the man,
+menacingly. And the poor old basket-maker understood but too well what
+he meant.
+
+"Yes, yes," he said, huskily, "you must certainly speak to Bernardine
+this very night, if I can get her to give you a hearing. I will do my
+best to influence her to have you."
+
+"Influence!" exclaimed the man, savagely. "You must command her!"
+
+"Bernardine is not a girl one can command," sighed the old man. "She
+likes her own way, you know."
+
+"It isn't for her to say what she wants or doesn't want!" exclaimed the
+man savagely. "I shall look to you to bring the girl round to your way
+of thinking, without any nonsense. Do you hear and comprehend?"
+
+"Yes," said the old man, wearily. "But that isn't making Bernardine
+understand. Some young girls are very willful!"
+
+Trembling with apprehension, the old basket-maker dropped into the
+nearest chair.
+
+His haggard face had grown terribly pale, and his emaciated hands shook,
+while his eyes fairly bulged from their sockets. The agony of mind he
+was undergoing was intense.
+
+"Will Bernardine refuse this man?" he muttered to himself, "Oh, if I
+but dared tell her all, would she pity, or would she blame me?"
+
+He loved the girl after his own fashion; but to save himself he was
+willing to sacrifice her. Poor Bernadine! Had she but known all!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+"YOU ARE FALSE AS YOU ARE FAIR, BERNARDINE!"
+
+
+"I should think your own common sense would tell you. Surely you must
+have guessed what I am so eager to say, Miss Bernardine?" Jasper Wilde
+began, taking little heed of her father.
+
+The girl's white lips opened, but no sound came from them. He was right;
+she quite expected it; but she did not tell him so.
+
+"I might as well break right into the subject at once," he said. "My
+errand can be told in a few words. I have fallen deeply in love with
+your pretty face, and I am here to ask you to marry me. Mind, I say to
+marry me! What do you think of it?"
+
+The girl drew back hurriedly.
+
+"I think you might have guessed what my answer would have been, and thus
+saved yourself."
+
+Again his face darkened, and an angry fire leaped into his eyes; but he
+controlled himself by a great effort.
+
+"Why do you refuse me?" he asked. "I am a big catch, especially for a
+girl like you. Come, I have taken a notion to you, Bernardine, and
+that's saying a good deal."
+
+"Spare yourself the trouble of uttering another word, Mr. Wilde," she
+said, with dignity. "I would not, I could not marry you under any
+circumstances. It is as well for you to know that."
+
+"So you think now; but I fancy we can change all that; can't we, Moore?"
+
+The old basket-maker's lips moved, but no sound came from them; the
+terror in his eyes became more apparent with each moment.
+
+"I will never change my decision," said Bernardine.
+
+Jasper Wilde drew his chair up nearer to the girl.
+
+"Listen to me, Bernardine," he said. "You shall marry me, by all the
+gods above and all the demons below! I have never been thwarted in any
+wish or desire of my life. I shall not be thwarted in this!"
+
+"You would not wish me to marry you against my will?" said the girl.
+
+"That would make little difference to me," he rejoined. "You will like
+me well enough after you marry me; so never fear about that."
+
+"I do not propose to marry you," replied Bernardine, rising haughtily
+from her seat. "While I thank you for the honor you have paid me, I
+repeat that I could never marry you."
+
+"And I say that you shall, girl, and that, too, within a month from
+to-day," cried the other, in a rage.
+
+"Oh, Bernardine, say 'Yes!'" cried the old man, trembling like an aspen
+leaf.
+
+"I have never gone contrary to your wishes, father, in all my life," she
+said; "but in this instance, where my interests are so deeply
+concerned, I do feel that I must decide for myself."
+
+With a horrible laugh, Jasper Wilde quitted the room, banging the door
+after him.
+
+With a lingering look at the beautiful young face, her father bid her
+good-night, and with faltering steps quitted the little sitting-room and
+sought his own apartment. A little later, Bernardine was startled to
+hear him moaning and sobbing as though he were in great pain.
+
+"Are you ill, father?--can I do anything for you?" she called, going
+quickly to his door and knocking gently.
+
+"No," he answered in a smothered voice. "Go to your bed, Bernardine, and
+sleep. It is a great thing to be able to sleep--and forget."
+
+"Poor papa!" sighed the girl, "how I pity him! Life has been very hard
+to him. Why are some men born to be gentlemen, with untold wealth at
+their command, while others are born to toil all their weary lives
+through for the meager pittance that suffices to keep body and soul
+together?"
+
+She went slowly to her little room, but not to sleep. She crossed over
+to the window, sat down on a chair beside it, and looked up at the bit
+of starry sky that was visible between the tall house-tops and still
+taller chimneys, then down at the narrow deserted street so far below,
+and gave herself up to meditation.
+
+"No, no; I could never marry Jasper Wilde!" she mused. "The very thought
+of it makes me grow faint and sick at heart; his very presence fills me
+with an indescribable loathing which I can not shake off. How
+differently the presence of Doctor Gardiner affects me! I--I find myself
+watching for his coming, and dreading the time when he will cease to
+visit papa."
+
+Doctor Gardiner's coming had been to Bernardine as the sun to the
+violet. The old life had fallen from her, and she was beginning to live
+a new one in his presence.
+
+As she sat by the window, she thought of the look the young doctor had
+given her at parting. The remembrance of it quickened the beating of her
+heart, and brought the color to her usually pale cheeks.
+
+How different the young doctor was from Jasper Wilde! If the young
+doctor had asked her the same question Jasper Wilde had, would her
+answer have been the same?
+
+The clock in an adjacent belfry slowly tolled the midnight hour.
+Bernardine started.
+
+"How quickly the time has flown since I have been sitting here," she
+thought.
+
+She did not know that it had been because her thoughts had been so
+pleasant. She heard a long-drawn sigh come from the direction of her
+father's room.
+
+"Poor papa!" she mused; "I think I can guess what is troubling him so.
+He has spent the money we have saved for the rent, and fears to tell me
+of it. If it be so, Jasper Wilde, at the worst can but dispossess us,
+and we can find rooms elsewhere, and pay him as soon as we earn it. How
+I feel like making a confidant of Doctor Gardiner!"
+
+Poor girl! If she had only done so, how much sorrow might have been
+spared her!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+HE WISHED HE COULD TELL SOME ONE HIS UNFORTUNATE LOVE STORY.
+
+
+During the weeks Doctor Gardiner had been visiting the old basket-maker
+and thinking so much of his daughter, he had by no means neglected his
+patient, Miss Rogers, in whom he took an especial, almost brotherly,
+interest, and who rapidly recovered under his constant care, until at
+length he laughingly pronounced her "quite as good as new."
+
+One day, in mounting the handsome brown-stone steps to make more of a
+social than a business call, he was surprised to see the mansion closed.
+
+He felt quite grieved that his friend should have packed up and departed
+so hastily--that she had not even remembered to say good-bye to him. He
+felt all the more sorry for her absence just at this time, for, after
+much deliberation, he had decided to make a confidante of Miss Rogers,
+and pour into her kindly, sympathetic ear the whole of his unfortunate
+love story from beginning to end, and ask her advice as to what course
+he should pursue. He had also resolved to show her the last letter he
+had received from Miss Pendleton, in which she hinted rather strongly
+that the marriage ought to take place as soon as she returned to the
+city.
+
+And now Miss Rogers was gone, he felt a strange chill, a disappointment
+he could hardly control, as he turned away and walked slowly down the
+steps and re-entered his carriage.
+
+The next mail, however, brought him a short note from Miss Rogers. He
+smiled as he read it, and laid it aside, little dreaming of what vital
+importance those few carelessly-written lines would be in the dark days
+ahead of him. It read as follows:
+
+     "MY DEAR DOCTOR GARDINER--You will probably be
+     surprised to learn that by the time this reaches you I
+     shall be far away from New York, on a little secret
+     mission which has been a pet notion of mine ever since
+     I began to recover from my last illness. Do not be much
+     surprised at any very eccentric scheme you may hear of
+     me undertaking.
+
+     "Yours hastily and faithfully,
+
+     "MISS ROGERS."
+
+The terse letter was characteristic of the writer. Doctor Gardiner
+replaced it in its envelope, put it away in his desk, with the wish that
+she had mentioned her destination, then dismissed it from his mind.
+
+At the identical moment Doctor Gardiner was reading Miss Rogers' letter,
+quite a pitiful scene was being enacted in the home of the old
+basket-maker.
+
+It was with a shudder that he awoke and found the sunshine which
+heralded another day stealing into his narrow little room.
+
+Bernardine had been stirring about for some time, and at length the
+savory odor of the frugal breakfast she was preparing reached him, and
+at that moment she called him.
+
+When he made his appearance she saw at a glance that he must have passed
+a sleepless night. He had no appetite, and pushed away the plate with
+his food untouched, despite Bernardine's earnest efforts to induce him
+to eat something.
+
+He watched her deft fingers in silence as she cleared the table at
+length, washed and dried the dishes and put them away, and tidied the
+little room.
+
+"Now, father," she said, at length, "the sun is shining now, and I will
+give you half an hour of my time to listen to the story you have to tell
+me. Don't look so distressed about it, dear; no matter what it is, I
+will utter no word of complaint, you shall hear no bitter words from my
+lips, only words of love, trust and comfort."
+
+"Tell me that again, Bernardine," he cried; "say it over again. Those
+words are like the dew of Heaven to my feverish soul."
+
+She uttered the words again, with her soft white arms twined lovingly
+around his neck, and she held them there until he came to the end of his
+wretched story.
+
+"Bernardine," he began, softly, with a pitiful huskiness in his voice,
+"I rely on your promise. You have given me your word, and I know you
+will never break it. Don't look at me. Let me turn my face away from the
+sight of the horror in your eyes as you listen. There, that is right;
+let my poor whirling head rest on your strong young shoulder.
+
+"It happened only a few weeks ago, Bernardine," he continued, brokenly,
+"this tragedy which has wrecked my life. One night--ah! how well I
+remember it--even while I lie dying, it will stand out dark and horrible
+from the rest of my life--I--I could not withstand the craving for drink
+which took possession of me, and after you slept, I stole softly from my
+couch and out of the house.
+
+"The few dimes I had in my pocket soon went where so many dollars of
+my--yes, even your humble earnings have gone before--in the coffers of
+the rum-shop.
+
+"The liquor I drank seemed to fire my brain as it had never been fired
+before. I remember that I went to that place around the corner--the
+place that you and Doctor Gardiner saw them throw me out of that night
+you thought they had crippled me for life.
+
+"The man who keeps the place saw me coming in, and made a dash at me.
+Then a terrible fight took place between us, and a crowd gathered,
+foremost among whom I dimly saw the face of Jasper Wilde outlined amidst
+the jeering throng.
+
+"To hasten the telling of an unpleasant tale, I will say he ejected me,
+the while hurling the most insulting epithets at me. Then he spoke of
+_you_, Bernardine, and--and turning upon him with the ferocity of an
+enraged lion, I swore that I would kill him on sight.
+
+"'Beware! take care,' laughed Jasper Wilde, turning to my enemy; 'the
+old basket-maker always keeps his word. You are in danger, my boy.'
+
+"At this the crowd jeered. I hurried away. I never remembered how far I
+walked to still the throbbing of my heart and cool the fever in my
+veins.
+
+"At length I turned my steps toward home. How far I had traversed in the
+darkness I did not take note of; but as I was hurrying along, I heard a
+loud cry for help. I ran around the corner from which it seemed to
+proceed, and then I fell headlong across the body of a man lying prone
+upon the pavement.
+
+"I drew a box of matches from my pocket, and hastily struck one. Yes, it
+was a man dying with a wound in his breast, made from a clasp-knife,
+which still stuck in it.
+
+"In horror I snatched the knife away; and as I did so, the blood from
+the wound spurted up into my face and covered my clothes. In that
+instant I made the awful discovery that the knife was my own. I must
+have lost it from my pocket during my encounter with my enemy, who kept
+the wine-room.
+
+"By the flickering light of the half-burned match, which I held down to
+the man's face, I saw--oh, God! how shall I tell it?--I saw that the man
+who had been murdered with my knife was the man whom I had sworn before
+the crowd I would kill on sight.
+
+"As I made this startling discovery, a man laid a heavy hand on my
+shoulder, and Jasper Wilde's voice, with a demoniac ring, cried in my
+horrified ears:
+
+"'I see you have kept your word, David Moore! You have murdered your
+enemy!'
+
+"All in vain I protested my innocence. He only laughed at me, jeered at
+my agony with diabolical glee.
+
+"'You will be hanged,' he said. 'Of course, you realize that, David
+Moore.'
+
+"'I would not care for my life--what became of me--if it were not for
+Bernardine!' I moaned, wildly.
+
+"'Yes, it _is_ a pity for Bernardine,' he made answer. 'I am sorry for
+you on her account. How sad it will be to see you torn away from her,
+and she all alone in the world! Moore,' he hissed, close to my ear, 'for
+her sake, and upon one condition, I will save you from the gallows. No
+one but me has seen you bending over the murdered man with that knife in
+your hand. If I keep silent, no one can _prove_ the crime was done by
+you. Do you comprehend--do you realize of what vital interest that which
+I am saying is to you?'
+
+"'Yes,' I answered in a choked, awful voice. 'But the condition! What
+have I, a poor, penniless basket-maker, even at this moment owing you
+money--what have I which you, the son of a rich father, would stoop to
+accept?' I cried in the utmost despair. He stooped nearer, and whispered
+in my ear:
+
+"'You have a treasure which I long to possess. Give me Bernardine. I--I
+will marry the girl, and will forever hold my peace. It will save you
+from prison. Think and act quickly, man. You can _make_ the girl accept
+me if she should desire to refuse.'
+
+"I heard the whistle of an advancing policeman coming leisurely along
+his beat. Another moment and he would turn the corner where I stood
+almost paralyzed.
+
+"'Speak, man!' cried Jasper Wilde. 'Am I to save you, or call the
+officer to arrest you? Am I to get Bernardine, or not?'
+
+"Oh, child! forgive me--pity me! Life to an old man even like me is
+sweet. I could almost feel the rope of the gallows tightening about my
+poor old throat, and I--oh, God, pity me--I promised him, Bernardine.
+
+"'Save me, and Bernardine shall marry you!' I cried; 'only save me!
+Don't call the police, for the love of Heaven!'
+
+"'Then fly!' he cried, shrilly. 'Take the knife with you; go as quickly
+as you can to my rooms, back of my place, and there I will give you
+something to wear until you can get home!'
+
+"I made my way to his place, as he directed. He was there before me. He
+took the blood-stained clothes and knife from me, remarking, grimly:
+
+"'I shall keep these, the evidences of your guilt, until you succeed in
+making Bernardine my wife. If she refuses, I shall need them.'
+
+"Oh, Bernardine, from that hour to this I have lived a perfect hell on
+earth. I am as innocent of that crime as a babe; but everything is
+against me. Jasper Wilde has proof enough to send your poor, wretched
+old father to the gallows, if you refuse to marry him. Oh, Bernardine! I
+dare not lift my head and look up into your dear young face. Speak to
+me, child, and let me know the worst. This gnawing at my soul is
+intolerable--I can not bear it and live!"
+
+But the lips of the hapless girl whose arms were twined about his neck
+were mute and cold as marble.
+
+"Won't you speak to me, Bernardine?" he wailed out, sharply. "Your
+silence is more than I can bear. For God's sake, speak!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+"HAVE I BROKEN YOUR HEART, MY DARLING?"
+
+
+Bernardine Moore slowly untwined her white arms from about her father's
+neck, and turned her white, anguished face toward him, and the awful
+despair that lay in the dark eyes that met his was more piteous than any
+words could have been.
+
+"Have I broken your heart, Bernardine?" he cried out. "Oh, my child, my
+beautiful Bernardine, have I ruined your life by that fatal promise?"
+
+She tried to speak, but no words fell from her white lips; it seemed to
+her that she would never speak again; that the power of speech had
+suddenly left her.
+
+"My poor old life is not worth such a sacrifice, Bernardine!" he cried
+out, sharply; "and you shall not make it. I will put a drop of something
+I know of in a cup of coffee, and then it will be all over with me. He
+can not pursue me through the dark gates of death."
+
+"No, no," said the girl, great, heavy tears--a blessed relief--falling
+from her eyes like rain. "Your life is more precious to me than all the
+world beside. I would take your place on the gallows and die for you,
+father. Oh, believe me!--believe me!"
+
+"And you feel in your heart the truth of what I say--that I am innocent,
+Bernardine?" he cried. "Say you believe me."
+
+"I would stake my life on your innocence, father," she replied, through
+her tears. "I believe in you as I do in Heaven. You shall not die! I
+will save you, father. I--I--will--marry Jasper Wilde, if that will save
+you!"
+
+She spoke the words clearly, bravely. Her father did not realize that
+they nearly cost her her life--that they dug a grave long and deep, in
+which her hopes and rosy day-dreams were to be buried.
+
+"You have saved me, Bernardine!" he cried, joyously. "Oh, how you must
+love me--poor, old, and helpless as I am!"
+
+She answered him with kisses and tears; she could not trust herself to
+speak.
+
+She rose abruptly from her knees, and quitted the room with unsteady
+steps.
+
+"Thank Heaven it is over!" muttered David Moore, with a sigh.
+"Bernardine has consented, and I am saved!"
+
+The day that followed was surely the darkest sweet Bernardine Moore had
+ever known. But it came to an end at last, and with the evening came Jay
+Gardiner.
+
+He knew as soon as he greeted Bernardine and her father that something
+out of the usual order had transpired, the old basket-maker greeted him
+so stiffly, Bernardine so constrainedly.
+
+Bernardine's manner was quite as sweet and kind, but she did not hold
+out to him the little hand which it was heaven on earth to him to clasp
+even for one brief instant.
+
+Looking at her closely, he saw that her beautiful dark eyes were heavy
+and swollen with weeping.
+
+"Poor child! She is continually grieving over the drinking habit of her
+father," he thought; and the bitterest anger rose up in his heart
+against the old basket-maker for bringing a tear to those beautiful dark
+eyes.
+
+Again the longing came to him to beat down all barriers that parted her
+from him, take Bernardine in his arms, and crying out how madly he loved
+her, bear his beautiful love away as his idolized bride to his own
+palatial home. But the thought of that other one, to whom he was in
+honor and in duty bound, kept him silent.
+
+He realized that for his own peace of mind and hers he must never see
+Bernardine again; that this must be the last time.
+
+"I am sorry your father has fallen asleep, yet I do not wish to waken
+him, for I have come to say farewell to him and to you, Miss Moore," he
+said, huskily.
+
+He saw the lovely face grow as white as a snow-drop; he saw all the glad
+light leave the great dark eyes; he saw the beautiful lips pale and the
+little hands tremble, and the sight was almost more than he could
+endure, for he read by these signs that which he had guessed
+before--that the sweet, fond, tender heart of Bernardine had gone out
+to him as his had gone out to her.
+
+"Are you sorry, my poor girl?" he asked, brokenly.
+
+"Yes," she answered, not attempting to stay her bitter tears, "I shall
+miss you. Life will never be the same to me again."
+
+He stopped before her, and caught her passionately to him.
+
+"Dear Heaven, help me to say good-bye to you!" he cried; "for you must
+realize the truth, Bernardine. I love you--oh, I love you with all the
+strength of my heart and soul! Yet we must part!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+"I LOVE YOU! I CAN NOT KEEP THE SECRET ANY LONGER!"
+
+
+For a moment Bernardine rested in his arms while Jay Gardiner cried over
+and over again, reckless as to how it would end:
+
+"Yes, I love you, Bernardine, with all my heart, with all my soul!"
+
+But it was for a moment only; then the girl struggled out of the strong
+arms that infolded her, with the expression of a startled fawn in her
+dark, humid eyes.
+
+"Oh, Doctor Gardiner, don't; please don't!" she gasped, shrinking from
+him with quivering lips, and holding up her white hands as though to
+ward him off. "You must not speak to me; indeed, you must not!"
+
+"Why should I not tell you the secret that is eating my heart away!" he
+cried, hoarsely.
+
+Before he could add another word, she answered, quickly:
+
+"Let me tell you why it is not right to listen to you, Doctor Gardiner.
+I--I am the promised wife of Jasper Wilde!"
+
+If she had struck him a blow with her little white hand he could not
+have been more astounded.
+
+His arms fell to his sides, and his face grew ashen pale.
+
+"You are to marry Jasper Wilde?" he cried, hoarsely. "I can not believe
+the evidence of my own senses, Bernardine!"
+
+She did not answer, but stood before him with her beautiful head drooped
+on her breast.
+
+"You do not love him, Bernardine!" cried Jay Gardiner, bitterly. "Tell
+me--answer me this--why are you to marry him?"
+
+Her lips moved, but no sound came from them.
+
+"If I should sue to you upon my bended knees to be mine, Bernardine,
+would you not turn from him for me?"
+
+He knew by the piteous sob that welled from the very depths of her heart
+how deeply this question must have struck her.
+
+"Bernardine," he cried, hoarsely, "if ever I read love in a girl's heart
+when her eyes have met mine, I have read it in yours! You love me,
+Bernardine. You can not, you dare not deny it. I repeat, if I were to
+sue you on my bended knees, could you, would you refuse to be my wife?"
+
+"I--must--marry--Jasper Wilde," she whispered, wretchedly.
+
+Without another word, stung by pride and pain, Jay Gardiner turned from
+the girl he had learned to love so madly, and hurried down the dark,
+winding stairs, and out into the street.
+
+For one moment poor Bernardine gazed at the open door-way through which
+his retreating form had passed; then she flung herself down on her
+knees, and wept as women weep but once in a life-time.
+
+Wounded love, outraged pride, the sense of keen and bitter humiliation,
+and yet of dread necessity, was strong upon her. And there was no help
+for her, no comfort in those tears.
+
+"Was ever a girl so wronged?" she moaned.
+
+She wept until there seemed to be no tears left in those dark, mournful
+eyes. As she lay there, like a pale, broken lily, with her head and
+heart aching, she wondered, in her gentle way, why this sorrow should
+have fallen upon her.
+
+While she lay there, weeping her very heart out, Jay Gardiner was
+walking down the street, his brain in a whirl, his emotions wrenching
+his very soul.
+
+Miss Pendleton had written him that she would expect him to call that
+evening. He had been about to write her that it would be an
+impossibility; but now he changed his mind. Going there would be of some
+benefit to him, after all, for it would bring him surcease of sorrow for
+one brief hour, forgetfulness of Bernardine during that time.
+
+It touched him a little to see how delightedly the girl welcomed him.
+She, too, was a money-seeker like the rest of her sex; but he could
+also see that she was in love with him.
+
+"I have been home for three days, and you have not even remembered that
+fact," she said, brightly, yet with a very reproachful look.
+
+"If you will pardon the offense, I will promise not to be so remiss in
+the future."
+
+"I shall hold you to your word," she declared. "But dear me, how pale
+and haggard you look! That will never do for a soon-to-be bridegroom!"
+
+His brow darkened. The very allusion to his coming marriage was most
+hateful to him. Sally could see that, though she pretended not to notice
+it.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Pendleton came in to welcome him, being so profuse in their
+greeting that they annoyed him.
+
+Louisa was more sensible. Her welcome was quiet, not to say constrained.
+
+"If it had been Louisa instead of Sally," he mused, bitterly, "the fate
+that I have brought upon myself would be more bearable."
+
+He was so miserable as he listened to Sally's ceaseless chatter that he
+felt that if he had a revolver, he would shoot himself then and there,
+and thus end it all.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+"WHERE THERE IS NO JEALOUSY THERE IS LITTLE LOVE!"
+
+
+It was a relief to Jay Gardiner when he found himself out of the house
+and on the street. The short two hours he had passed in Sally's society
+were more trying on his nerves than the hardest day's work could have
+been.
+
+He groaned aloud at the thought of the long years he was destined to
+live though, with this girl as his companion.
+
+He had come at seven, and made his adieu at nine. Sally then went
+upstairs to her mother's room with a very discontented face, and entered
+the _boudoir_ in anything but the best of humors.
+
+Mrs. Pendleton looked up from the book she was reading, with an
+expression of astonishment and wonder.
+
+"Surely Doctor Gardiner has not gone so soon!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Yes, he has," replied Sally, laconically.
+
+"I suppose some important duty called him away so early?"
+
+"He did not say so," returned her daughter, crossly.
+
+"Is he coming soon again?" questioned Mrs. Pendleton, anxiously.
+
+"I don't know," replied Sally; adding, slowly: "When I tried to find out
+when he would call again, he seemed annoyed, and replied, curtly: 'That
+will be hard for me to determine, Miss Pendleton. You must remember that
+those in my profession have few leisure hours.' He would not set a time.
+I had to let the matter rest at that."
+
+"He is not very much in love, then, I fear, my dear Sally," said her
+mother, reflectively. "Still, bad beginnings often make good endings.
+But I had almost forgotten to tell you the startling news, my dear,"
+added Mrs. Pendleton, hastily. "Your aunt, Sally Rogers, is here. Louisa
+is entertaining her up in her _boudoir_. You must not be surprised, or
+show too much amusement when you see her. She is a sight. We would be
+eternally disgraced if the neighbors were to see her. She is fairly
+covered with rags--yes, rags! There are holes in her shoes; there never
+was such a bonnet worn since the time of the ark; and as for gloves, she
+disdains such an article of feminine attire altogether. I do not think
+one will have to wait long to come into possession of her fortune. But
+run up to your sister's room and greet old Miss Sally as affectionately
+as possible."
+
+Sally was rather glad of this intelligence, for it prevented her from
+having a very bad case of the blues in thinking over her lover's
+coldness, and how irksome this betrothal was to him.
+
+She found her sister doing her utmost to entertain the most grotesque
+little old woman she had ever beheld. Her mother's description had
+certainly not been overdrawn.
+
+Sally felt like bursting into uproarious laughter the moment her eyes
+fell upon Miss Rogers, and it was only by a most superhuman effort she
+controlled herself from letting her rising mirth get the better of her.
+
+"Dear me, _is_ this, _can_ this be jolly little Sally Pendleton, as you
+used to sign the merry letters you wrote to me?" asked Miss Rogers,
+stopping short in some remark she was making to Louisa, and gazing hard
+at the slender, girlish figure that had just appeared on the threshold.
+
+"Yes, it is I, Sally Pendleton," responded the girl, coming quickly
+forward. "I just heard you were here, aunt, and I want to tell you how
+delighted, enraptured, overjoyed I am to see you," she added, throwing
+her arms around the bundle of rags which inclosed the thin little old
+maid, with a bear-like hug and any amount of extravagant kisses, not
+daring to look at Louisa the while.
+
+"This is indeed a hearty welcome, my dear!" exclaimed Miss Rogers.
+"Stand off, child," she added, holding Sally at arm's-length, "until I
+get a good look at you."
+
+And she gazed long and steadily.
+
+Sally could not tell whether Miss Rogers was pleased or disappointed
+with her, as her face never expressed her emotions.
+
+"I will call you and your sister my nieces; but you are not so nearly
+related to me as that---the line of relationship is a long way off.
+There are many others as near to me as your family."
+
+"But none who love you anywhere near as well," put in Sally, quickly.
+
+"I hope you mean what you say," replied Miss Rogers, quietly; adding,
+after a moment's pause, during which she wiped a suspicious moisture
+from her eyes: "I am a very lonely woman, and life offers few charms for
+me, because I am quite alone in the world, with no one to care for me. I
+have often thought that I would give the whole world, if it were mine to
+give, for just one human being to whom I was dear. I am desolate; my
+heart hungers for sympathy and kindness, and--and a little affection. I
+have neither father nor mother, sister nor brother, husband nor
+children. I hope neither of you girls will ever experience the
+hopelessness, the heartache conveyed in those words. It is hard,
+bitterly cruel, to be left alone in the world. But I suppose Heaven
+intended it to be so, and--and knows best."
+
+"You shall never know loneliness again, dear aunt," murmured Louisa. "To
+make every moment of your life happy will be our only aim."
+
+"Thank you, my dear," replied Miss Rogers, tremulously.
+
+"You shall live with us always, if you will, aunt," said Sally, "and be
+one of the family. You may have my _boudoir_ all to yourself, and I will
+take the small spare room next to it."
+
+"You are very good to me," said Miss Rogers, huskily.
+
+Mrs. Pendleton had been busy getting the handsome guest-chamber ready
+for their wealthy kinswoman. She entered just in time to overhear
+Sally's last remark.
+
+"Miss Rogers shall have a larger, handsomer _boudoir_ than yours,
+Sally," remarked her mother. "The entire suite of rooms on this floor is
+at her disposal, if she will only allow us to persuade her to remain
+with us. My dear daughters, you must add your entreaties on this point
+to your father's and mine."
+
+"How can I ever repay you for your deep interest in a lone body like
+me?" murmured Miss Rogers.
+
+The eyes of the girls and those of their mother met; but they did not
+dare express in words the thought that had leaped simultaneously into
+their minds at her words.
+
+"You have had no one to look after your wardrobe, dear Aunt Rogers,"
+said Mrs. Pendleton; "so do, I beseech you, accept some of my gowns
+until you desire to lay them aside for fresher ones."
+
+"I am bewildered by so much kindness," faltered Miss Rogers. And she was
+more bewildered still at the array of silks and satins and costly laces
+with which the three ladies deluged her.
+
+The very finest rooms in the house were given her. Miss Sally made her a
+strong punch with her own hands, "just the way she said she liked it,"
+and Louisa bathed her face in fragrant cologne, and tried on a lace
+night-cap with a great deal of fuss.
+
+Some one came in to turn down the night-lamp a little later on--a
+quiet, slender figure in a dark-brown gown. It was not Mrs. Pendleton,
+nor was it either of her daughters.
+
+"Who are you?" asked Miss Rogers, perceiving at a glance that she was
+evidently no servant of the household. A sweet, pale, wan face was
+turned toward her.
+
+"I an Patience Pendleton," replied a still sweeter voice.
+
+"Dear me!" exclaimed Miss Rogers, "I never heard that there were three
+daughters in this family." She could see, even in that dim light, the
+pink flush steal quickly over the wan, white face.
+
+"I am a daughter by my father's first marriage," she answered, quietly.
+"My step-mother and her daughters seldom mention me to any one."
+
+There was no suspicion of malice in her tone, only sadness; and without
+another word, save a gentle good-night, she glided from the room.
+
+It was Sally, bright, jolly Sally, who awakened Miss Rogers the next
+morning. Louisa insisted upon helping her to dress, while Mr. and Mrs.
+Pendleton tapped at the door, and eagerly inquired if she had rested
+well.
+
+She was given the seat of honor at the breakfast-table, and a huge
+bouquet of hot-house roses lay at her plate.
+
+Sally had inquired the night before as to her favorite viands, and they
+were soon placed before her deliciously prepared.
+
+Louisa brought a dainty hassock for her feet, and Mrs. Pendleton a
+silken scarf, to protect her from the slightest draught from the open
+windows.
+
+"You treat me as though I were a queen," said Miss Rogers, smiling
+through her tears.
+
+She could scarcely eat her breakfast, Sally and Louisa hung about her
+chair so attentively, ready to anticipate her slightest wish. But
+looking around, she missed the sweet, wistful face that she had seen in
+her room the night before.
+
+"Are all the family assembled here?" she inquired, wondering if it had
+not been a dream she had had of a sweet white face and a pair of sad
+gray eyes.
+
+"All except Patience," replied Mrs. Pendleton, with a frown. "She's
+rather queer, and prefers not to join us at table or in the
+drawing-room. She spends all her time up in the attic bedroom reading
+the Bible and writing Christmas stories for children for the religious
+papers. We don't see her for weeks at a time, and actually forget she
+lives in this house. She's quite a religious crank, and you won't see
+much of her."
+
+Miss Rogers saw the girls laugh and titter at their mother's remarks;
+and from that moment they lowered in her estimation, while sweet
+Patience was exalted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+The next few days that passed were like a dream to Miss Rogers. Every
+one was so kind and considerate it seemed that she was living in another
+world.
+
+Mrs. Pendleton had cautioned the girls against mentioning the fact of
+Sally's coming marriage, explaining that she might change her mind about
+leaving her fortune to the family if she knew there was a prospect of
+wealth for them from any other source.
+
+"But it would not be fair to let her make sister Sally her heiress,"
+said Louisa, bitterly. "She ought not to get both fortunes. She will
+come into a magnificent fortune through marrying Jay Gardiner. Why
+should you want her to have Miss Rogers' money, too? You ought to
+influence that eccentric old lady to leave her fortune to _me_."
+
+"Hush, my dear. Miss Rogers might hear you," warned her mother.
+
+But the warning had come too late. In coming down the corridor to join
+the family in the general sitting-room, as they had always insisted on
+her doing, she had overheard Miss Louisa's last remark.
+
+She stopped short, the happy light dying from her eyes, and the color
+leaving her cheeks.
+
+"Great Heaven! have I been deceived, after all? Was the kindness of the
+Pendleton girls and their parents only assumed? Was there a monetary
+reason back of it all?" she mused.
+
+A great pain shot through her heart; a wave of intense bitterness filled
+her soul.
+
+"I will test these girls," muttered Miss Rogers, setting her lips
+together; "and that, too, before another hour passes over my head."
+
+After a few moments more of deliberation, she arose, and with firm step
+passed slowly down the broad hall to the sitting-room.
+
+Mrs. Pendleton and her eldest daughter Louisa had left the apartment.
+Sally alone was there, lounging on a divan, her hair in curl-papers,
+reading the latest French novel.
+
+On her entering, down went the book, and Sally sprung up, her face
+wreathed in smiles.
+
+"I was just wondering if you were lonely or taking a nap," she
+murmured, sweetly. "Do come right in, Miss Rogers, and let me draw the
+nicest easy-chair in the room up to the cool window for you and make you
+comfortable."
+
+"How considerate you are, my dear child," replied Miss Rogers, fairly
+hating herself for believing this sweet young girl could dissemble. "I
+am glad to find you alone, Sally," she continued, dropping into the
+chair with a weary sigh. "I have been wanting to have a confidential
+little chat with you, my dear, ever since I have been here. Have you the
+time to spare?"
+
+Sally Pendleton's blue eyes glittered. Of course Miss Rogers wanted to
+talk to her about leaving her money to her.
+
+Sally brought a hassock, and placing it at her feet, sat down upon it,
+and rested her elbows on Miss Rogers' chair.
+
+"Now," she said, with a tinkling little laugh that most every one liked
+to hear--the laugh that had given her the _sobriquet_, jolly Sally
+Pendleton, among her companions--an appellation which had ever since
+clung to her--"now I am ready to listen to whatever you have to tell
+me."
+
+After a long pause, which seemed terribly irksome to Sally, Miss Rogers
+slowly said:
+
+"I think I may as well break right into the subject that is on my mind,
+and troubling me greatly, without beating around the bush."
+
+"That will certainly be the best way," murmured Sally.
+
+"Well, then, my dear," said Miss Rogers, with harsh abruptness, "I am
+afraid I am living in this house under false colors."
+
+Sally's blue eyes opened wide. She did not know what to say.
+
+"The truth is, child, I am not the rich woman people credit me with
+being. I did not tell you that I had lost my entire fortune, and that I
+was reduced to penury and want--ay, I would have been reduced to
+starvation if you had not so kindly taken me in and done for me."
+
+"What! You have lost your great fortune? _You are penniless?_" fairly
+shrieked Sally, springing to her feet and looking with amazement into
+the wrinkled face above her.
+
+Miss Rogers nodded assent, inwardly asking Heaven to pardon her for
+this, her first deliberate falsehood.
+
+"And you came here to us, got the best room in our house, and all of
+mamma's best clothes, and you a beggar!"
+
+Miss Rogers fairly trembled under the storm of wrath she had evoked.
+
+"I--I did not mention it when I first came, because I had somehow hoped
+you would care for me for myself, even though my money was gone, dear
+child."
+
+A sneering, scornful laugh broke from Sally's lips, a glare hateful to
+behold flashed from her eyes.
+
+"You have deceived us shamefully!" she cried. "How angry papa and mamma
+and Louisa will be to learn that we have been entertaining a pauper!"
+
+"Perhaps you have been entertaining an angel unawares," murmured Miss
+Rogers.
+
+"God forgive you, girl, for showing so little heart!" exclaimed Miss
+Rogers, rising slowly to her feet.
+
+"I shall take no saucy remarks from you!" cried Sally, harshly. "Come,
+make haste! Take off those fine clothes, and be gone as fast as you
+can!"
+
+"But I have nothing to put on," said Miss Rogers.
+
+Sally instantly touched the bell, and when the maid came in response to
+her summons, she said, quickly:
+
+"Bring me that bundle of clothes mamma laid out for you to give to the
+charity collector to-day."
+
+Wonderingly the maid brought the bundle, and she wondered still more
+when Miss Sally ordered her to go down to the servants' hall, and not to
+come up until she was called for.
+
+"Now, then," she cried, harshly, after the door had closed upon the
+maid, "get into these duds at once!"
+
+Miss Rogers obeyed; and when at length the change was made, Sally
+pointed to the door and cried, shrilly:
+
+"Now go!"
+
+"But the storm!" persisted Miss Rogers, piteously. "Oh, Sally, at least
+let me stay until the storm has spent its fury!"
+
+"Not an instant!" cried Sally Pendleton, fairly dragging her from the
+room and down the corridor to the main door, which she flung open,
+thrust her victim through it, and out into the storm.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+FATE WEAVES A STRANGE WEB.
+
+
+If Sally Pendleton had taken the trouble to look out after the trembling
+old woman she had thrust so unceremoniously into the raging storm, she
+would not have gone up to her own room with such a self-satisfied smile
+on her face.
+
+Just as that little scene was taking place, a brougham, drawn by a pair
+of spirited horses, was being driven rapidly down the street, and was
+almost abreast of the house as this extraordinary little drama was being
+enacted.
+
+Its occupant had ordered the driver to halt at the Pendleton mansion,
+and looking out of the window, he had seen with amazement the whole
+occurrence--had seen Sally Pendleton, who had always posed before him as
+a sweet-tempered angel--actually thrust a feeble-looking, poorly-dressed
+woman out of the house and into the street to face a storm so wild and
+pitiless that most people would have hesitated before even turning a
+homeless, wandering cur out into it.
+
+Doctor Gardiner's carriage drew up quickly before the curbstone, and as
+he sprung from the vehicle, his astonishment can better be imagined than
+described at finding himself face to face with his friend, Miss Rogers,
+and that it was she who had been ejected so summarily. The poor soul
+almost fainted for joy when she beheld the young physician.
+
+"My dear Miss Rogers!" he cried in amazement, "what in the name of
+Heaven does the scene I have just witnessed mean?"
+
+"Take me into your carriage, and drive down the street; that is, if you
+are not in a hurry to make a professional call."
+
+Jay Gardiner lifted the drenched, trembling woman in his strong arms,
+placed her in the vehicle, took his seat beside her, and the brougham
+rolled down the avenue.
+
+Clinging to his strong young arm, Miss Rogers told, between her smiles
+and tears, all that had taken place--of the test which she had put the
+Pendletons to before leaving her money to the girl Sally, who had been
+named after her; of its disastrous ending when she told Sally she was
+poor instead of rich; of the abuse the girl had heaped upon her, which
+ended by throwing her into the street.
+
+She told all, keeping back nothing, little dreaming that Jay Gardiner
+knew the Pendletons, and, least of all, that Sally was his betrothed.
+
+He listened with darkening brow, his stern lips set, his handsome,
+jovial, laughing face strangely white.
+
+What could he say to her? He dared not give vent to his bitter thoughts,
+and denounce the girl he was in honor bound to give his name and shield
+from all the world's remarks.
+
+"You have learned your lesson, Miss Rogers," he said, slowly. "Now be
+content to return to your own luxurious home and its comforts, a sadder
+and wiser woman."
+
+"I have not tested _all_ yet," she returned. "There is yet another
+family, whose address I have recently discovered after the most patient
+search. I had a cousin by marriage who ran off with a sea-captain. She
+died, leaving one child, a little daughter. The father no longer follows
+the sea, but lives at home with the girl, following the trade of
+basket-making, at which he is quite an expert, I am told, if he would
+only let drink alone."
+
+Jay Gardiner started violently. The color came and went in his face, his
+strong hands trembled. He was thankful she did not notice his emotion.
+
+"The man's name is David Moore," she went on, reflectively, "and the
+girl's is Bernardine. A strange name for a girl, don't you think so?"
+
+"A beautiful name," he replied, with much feeling; "and I should think
+the girl who bears it might have all the sweet, womanly graces you long
+to find in a human being."
+
+Miss Rogers gave him the street and number, which he knew but too well,
+and asked him to drive her within a few doors of the place, where she
+would alight.
+
+When she was so near her destination that she did not have time to ask
+questions, he said, abruptly:
+
+"I know this family--the old basket-maker and his daughter. I attended
+him in a recent illness. They seem very worthy, to me, of all
+confidence. There is a world of difference between this young girl
+Bernardine and the one you describe as Miss Sally Pendleton. Please
+don't mention that you know me, Miss Rogers, if you would do me a
+favor," he added, as she alighted.
+
+The landing was so dark she could hardly discern where the door was on
+which to knock.
+
+She heard the sound of voices a moment later. This sound guided her, and
+she was soon tapping at a door which was slightly ajar. She heard some
+one say from within:
+
+"Some one is rapping at the door, Bernardine. Send whoever it is away.
+The sight of a neighbor's face, or her senseless gossip, would drive me
+crazy, Bernardine."
+
+"I shall not invite any one in if it annoys you, father," answered a
+sweet, musical voice.
+
+Miss Rogers leaned against the door-frame, wondering what the girl was
+like who had so kindly a voice.
+
+There was the soft _frou-frou_ of a woman's skirts, the door was opened,
+and a tall, slender young girl stood on the threshold, looking
+inquiringly into the stranger's face.
+
+"I am looking for the home of David Moore and of his daughter
+Bernardine," said Miss Rogers.
+
+"This is David Moore's home, and I am his daughter Bernardine," said the
+young girl, courteously, even though the stranger before her was illy
+clad.
+
+"Won't you invite me in for a few moments?" asked Miss Rogers,
+wistfully. "I heard what some one, your father probably, said about not
+wanting to see any one just now. But I can not well come again, and it
+is raining torrents outside."
+
+"Yes, you may enter, and remain until the storm abates," said
+Bernardine, cheerfully. "My father would not let any one leave his door
+in such a storm as this. Pray come in, madame."
+
+"It is kind of you to say 'madame' to a creature like me," sighed the
+stranger, following the girl into the poorly furnished but scrupulously
+neat apartment.
+
+Bernardine smiled.
+
+"When I was very young, one of the first lessons my dear mother taught
+me was to be polite to every one," she returned, quietly.
+
+"You look like your mother, my dear," said Miss Rogers, huskily. "I--I
+was afraid you would not."
+
+"Did you know my mother?" exclaimed Bernardine, clasping her hands
+together, and looking eagerly at the stranger in the coarse, ill-fitting
+gown.
+
+"Yes, my dear; I knew her years ago, when we were both young girls. She
+looked then as you do now. I was distantly related to her, in fact. I--I
+was wealthy in those days, but I have since lost all my money, and am
+now reduced to penury--ay, to want," murmured the shabbily dressed
+woman.
+
+Bernardine sprung forward excitedly.
+
+"Surely you can not be the great Miss Rogers of California, of whom I
+have heard her speak thousands of times?"
+
+"Yes, I am Miss Rogers, my dear; great once, in the eyes of the world,
+when I had money, but despised now, that I am reduced and in want."
+
+In a moment Bernardine's arms were around her, and tears were falling
+from the girl's beautiful dark eyes.
+
+"Oh, do not say that, dear Miss Rogers!" she cried. "_I_ love you
+because my mother loved you in the days that are past. Money does not
+always bring love, and the loss of it can not lessen the love of those
+who owe us allegiance, and who have a true affection for us. Welcome, a
+thousand times welcome to our home, dear aunt, if you will let me call
+you that; and--and I shall use my influence to have father invite you to
+share our humble home forever, if you only will."
+
+"No, no, Bernardine," replied Miss Rogers. "You have mouths enough to
+earn bread for."
+
+"One more would not signify," declared Bernardine; "and your presence
+beneath this roof would amply compensate me. I would take a world of
+pleasure in working a little harder than I do now to keep you here."
+
+"Before you give me too much hope on that point you had better talk it
+over with your father. He may think differently from what you do. He may
+not want to keep a tramp's boarding-house," she added, quietly.
+
+"Father will be sure to think as I do," reiterated Bernardine. "He has a
+rough exterior, but the kindest of hearts beats in his rugged bosom."
+
+"You are right there, Bernardine," said David Moore, pushing open an
+inner door and coming forward. "I could not help overhearing all that
+passed between you two. I am sorry you have lost all your money, Miss
+Rogers; but that will not make any difference in the heartiness of the
+welcome we give you; and if Bernardine wants you to stay here with us,
+stay you shall. So take off your bonnet, and make yourself at home."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+"TRUE LOVE NEVER DOES RUN SMOOTH."
+
+
+Miss Rogers was quite overcome by the hearty welcome she received from
+David Moore, the old basket-maker, and Bernardine, his lovely daughter.
+It went straight to her lonely heart, because she knew it was genuine
+friendship untainted by mercenary motives.
+
+She shared Bernardine's humble yet dainty apartment, and fell quite
+naturally into being a member of the household.
+
+There was one thing which puzzled her greatly, and that was, the sighs
+that would rend sweet Bernardine's breast while she was sleeping.
+
+"The girl has some secret sorrow which she is hiding from the world,"
+she thought, anxiously. "I must find out what it is."
+
+She had been an inmate of Bernardine's home for a week before she
+learned that the girl was soon to be wedded. Bernardine's father told
+her, hinting triumphantly that that event would mean the dawn of a more
+prosperous future for the family, as her intended husband was very
+rich--had money to burn.
+
+"Don't say much about him to Bernardine," he added, quickly; "for she's
+not in love with him by any means."
+
+"Then why is she going to marry him?" asked Miss Rogers, amazedly.
+
+"He has money," replied David Moore, nodding his head wisely; "and
+that's what sharp girls are looking for nowadays."
+
+"I thought love was the ruling power which moved young girls' hearts,"
+responded Miss Rogers, slowly. "At least, it used to be when I was a
+young girl like Bernardine."
+
+He laughed uneasily, but made no reply, as Bernardine entered the room
+at that instant with an open letter in her hand.
+
+"Jasper Wilde has returned to the city, father," she said, tremulously,
+"and--and he is coming here this evening to see us."
+
+As the girl uttered the words, Miss Rogers was quite sure she could
+detect the sound of tears in her quivering voice.
+
+"I am very glad," replied David Moore, endeavoring to speak lightly. "I
+shall be mighty pleased to see my prospective son-in-law."
+
+Bernardine drew back quickly, her lovely face pitifully pale, then
+turned abruptly and hurried from the room.
+
+Miss Rogers followed her. The girl went to her own apartment, threw
+herself on her knees, and burying her face in the counterpane, wept such
+bitter, passionate tears that Miss Rogers was alarmed for her.
+
+"You poor child!" exclaimed Miss Rogers. "Sit down here beside me, and
+tell me the whole story--let me understand it."
+
+"I can not tell you any more. I met one whom I _could_ love,
+and--we--parted. I sent him away because my father had declared that I
+should marry this other one."
+
+"Because of his wealth?" said Miss Rogers, in a strangely hard voice.
+
+"No, no! Do not do my father that injustice. It was not because of his
+wealth. I--I should have had to marry him had he been the poorest man in
+the city."
+
+"It is cruel, it is outrageous, to ask a young girl to marry a man whom
+she detests. It is barbarous. In my opinion, that is carrying parental
+authority too far. This marriage must not take place, Bernardine. It
+would be wicked--a sin against God."
+
+Although Miss Rogers did her best to probe into the mystery--for
+Bernardine's sake--the girl was strangely obdurate. So she said no more
+to her on the subject just then; but when she approached David Moore on
+this topic, his incoherent replies puzzled her still more.
+
+"I am much obliged to you for taking such an interest in Bernardine's
+affairs; but let me warn you of one thing, Miss Rogers, while you are
+under my roof, don't attempt to meddle with what does not concern you in
+any way. By heeding my remark, we shall keep good friends. This marriage
+must take place. The young fellow is good enough, and she'll get to like
+him after awhile. See if she doesn't."
+
+The harsh, abrupt manner in which he uttered these words told Miss
+Rogers that little hope could be entertained from that source.
+
+Bernardine had almost cried herself ill by the time Jasper Wilde's knock
+was heard on the door.
+
+Mr. Moore answered the summons.
+
+"Is there any use in my coming in?" asked Wilde, grimly, coming to a
+halt on the threshold. "Does your daughter consent to marry me? I could
+not make head or tail out of your letter."
+
+"Bernardine's answer is--yes," murmured the old man, almost
+incoherently. "She consents for _my_ sake; though Heaven knows I'm not
+worth the sacrifice."
+
+"_Sacrifice!_" repeated Jasper Wilde in a high, harsh voice. "Come, now,
+that's too good. It's me that's making the sacrifice, by cheating the
+hangman and justice of their just due, Moore; and don't you forget it."
+
+Sooner than he expected, Bernardine made her appearance.
+
+Jasper Wilde sprung up to welcome her, both hands outstretched, his eyes
+fairly gloating over the vision of pure girlish loveliness which she
+presented.
+
+She drew back, waving him from her with such apparent loathing that he
+was furious.
+
+"I do not pretend to welcome you, Jasper Wilde," she said, "for that
+would be acting a lie from which my soul revolts. I will say at once
+what you have come here to-night to hear from my lips. I will marry
+you--to--save--my--poor--father," she stammered. "I used to think the
+days of buying and selling human beings were over; but it seems not. The
+white slave you buy will make no murmur in the after years; only I shall
+pray that my life will not be a long one."
+
+Jasper Wilde frowned darkly.
+
+"You are determined to play the high and mighty tragedy queen with me,
+Bernardine," he cried. "Take care that your ways do not turn my love for
+you into hate! Beware, I tell you! A smile would bring me to your feet,
+a scornful curl of those red lips would raise a demon in me that you
+would regret if you aroused it."
+
+"Your hate or your love is a matter of equal indifference to me,"
+returned the young girl, proudly.
+
+This remark made him furious with wrath.
+
+"You love that white-handed fellow whom I met the last time I was here.
+That's what makes you so indifferent to me!" he cried, hoarsely. "Speak!
+Is it not so?"
+
+"Yes," replied Bernardine, cresting her beautiful head, proudly. "Yes, I
+love him, and I do not fear to tell you so!"
+
+"Then, by Heaven! I will kill him on sight!" cried Jasper Wilde. "I will
+not brook a rival for your affections! The man you love is doomed!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+"IT WOULD BE WISER TO MAKE A FRIEND THAN AN ENEMY OF ME."
+
+
+Bernardine Moore drew herself up to her full height, and looked the
+scorn she felt for the man standing before her, as he gave utterance to
+his hatred of Doctor Gardiner.
+
+"It is a coward only who threatens one who is not present to defend
+himself!" she answered; adding, icily: "I imagine when you meet Doctor
+Gardiner you will find a foeman worthy of your steel."
+
+"You are not in the most amiable mood this evening. I hope you will
+receive me more pleasantly the next time. Good-night, my beautiful
+sweetheart. _Au revoir_ for the present, obstinate though fairest of all
+sweethearts."
+
+Ere Bernardine had time to divine his intention, he had caught her in
+his arms, pressed her close to his throbbing heart, and although she
+struggled all she knew how, he succeeded in covering her face, her neck,
+her brow with his hot, wine-tainted kisses, the while laughing
+hilariously as he noted how loathsome they were to the lovely young
+girl.
+
+Bernardine, with a wild shriek, broke at last from his grasp, and dashed
+madly from the sitting-room to her own apartment, which she reached in
+time to fall fainting in Miss Rogers' arms, the sting of those bitter
+kisses burning her lips like flame.
+
+As Jasper Wilde leisurely put on his hat and walked out of the
+sitting-room, Miss Rogers suddenly confronted him.
+
+"I would like a word with you, Jasper Wilde," she said, brusquely,
+barring his way.
+
+"Who are you, and what do you want with me?" he demanded, with a harsh
+imprecation on his lips, thinking her one of his father's tenants.
+
+"I want to intercede with you for poor Bernardine Moore," she said,
+simply. "Let me plead with you to forego this marriage, which I
+earnestly assure you is most hateful to her, for she loves another."
+
+The flashing fire in his hard black eyes might have warned her that he
+was an edged tool, and that it was dangerous to encounter him.
+
+"Out of my way, you cursed old fool!" he cried, savagely; "or I'll take
+you by the neck and fling you to the bottom of the stairs!"
+
+Miss Rogers was sorely frightened, but she nobly held her ground.
+
+"Your bullying does not terrify me in the least, Jasper Wilde," she
+said, calmly. "I have seen such men as you before. I would have talked
+with you quietly; but since you render that an impossibility, I will end
+my interview with one remark, one word of warning. Attempt to force
+Bernardine Moore into this hateful marriage, and it will be at your
+peril. Hear me, and understand what I say: She shall never wed you!"
+
+"I should be as big a fool as you are, woman, if I lost time bandying
+words with you!" he cried, sneeringly. "If Bernardine has deputized you
+to waylay me and utter that nonsensical threat, you may go back and tell
+her that her clever little plan has failed ignominiously. I am proof
+against threats of women."
+
+Miss Rogers looked after him with wrathful eyes.
+
+"If there was ever a fiend incarnate, that man is one," she muttered.
+"Heaven help poor Bernardine if she carries out her intention of
+marrying him! He will surely kill her before the honeymoon is over! Poor
+girl! what direful power has he over her? Alas! I tremble for her
+future. It would be the marriage of an angel and a devil. Poor
+Bernardine! why does she not elope with the young lover whom she loves,
+if there is no other way out of the difficulty, and live for love,
+instead of filial duty and obedience?"
+
+Bernardine worked harder than ever over her basket-making during the
+next few days--worked to fill every moment of her time, so as to forget,
+if she could, the tragedy--for it was nothing less--of her approaching
+marriage to Jasper Wilde.
+
+She grew thinner and paler with each hour that dragged by, and the tears
+were in her eyes all the while, ready to roll down her cheeks when she
+fancied she was not observed.
+
+Once or twice she spoke to Miss Rogers about the man she loved, telling
+her how grand, noble, and good he was, and how they had fallen in love
+with each other at first sight; but she never mentioned his name.
+
+"God help poor Bernardine!" she sobbed. "I do not know how to save the
+darling girl. I think I will lay the matter before my dear young friend,
+Doctor Gardiner. He is bright and clever. Surely he can find some way
+out of the difficulty. Yes, I will go and see Jay Gardiner without
+delay; or, better still, I will write a note to have him come here to
+see me."
+
+She said nothing to Bernardine, but quietly wrote a long and very
+earnest letter to her young friend, asking him to come without delay to
+the street and number where he had left her a week previous, as she had
+something of great importance to consult him about.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+JASPER WILDE MEETS WITH AN ADVENTURE.
+
+
+Miss Rogers had taken the greatest pains to direct her all-important
+letter to Doctor Jay Gardiner, and had gone to the nearest box to mail
+it herself. But, alas! for the well-laid plans of mice and men which
+gang aft aglee.
+
+Fate, strange, inexorable Fate, which meddles in all of our earthly
+affairs, whether we will or not, ordained that this letter should not
+reach its destination for many a day, and it happened in this way:
+
+Quite by accident, when it left Miss Rogers' hand, the letter dropped in
+the depths of the huge mail-box and became wedged securely in a crevice
+or crack in the bottom.
+
+The mail-gatherer was always in a hurry, and when he took up the mail on
+his rounds, he never noticed the letter pressed securely against the
+side down in the furthermost corner.
+
+Sitting anxiously awaiting a response to her missive, or her young
+friend to come in person, Miss Rogers watched and waited for Jay
+Gardiner, or any tidings of him, in vain.
+
+Meanwhile, the preparations for the obnoxious marriage which she seemed
+unable to prevent went steadily on.
+
+All the long nights through Bernardine would weep and moan and wring her
+little white hands. When Miss Rogers attempted to expostulate with her,
+declaring no one could compel her to marry Jasper Wilde against her
+will, she would only shake her head and cry the more bitterly, moaning
+out that she did not understand.
+
+"I confess, Bernardine, I do not understand you," she declared,
+anxiously. "You will not try to help yourself, but are going willingly,
+like a lamb to the slaughter, as it were."
+
+David Moore seemed to be as unnerved as Bernardine over the coming
+marriage. If he heard a sound in Bernardine's room at night, he would
+come quickly to her door and ask if anything was the matter. He seemed
+to be always awake, watching, listening for something. The next day he
+would say to Miss Rogers:
+
+"I was sorely afraid something was happening to Bernardine last
+night--that she was attempting to commit suicide, or something of that
+kind. A girl in her highly nervous state of mind will bear watching."
+
+"Your fears on that score are needless," replied Miss Rogers. "No matter
+whatever else Bernardine might do, she would never think of taking her
+life into her own hands, I assure you."
+
+But the old basket-maker was not so sure of that. He had a strange
+presentiment of coming evil which he could not shake off.
+
+Each evening, according to his declared intention, Jasper Wilde
+presented himself at David Moore's door.
+
+"There's nothing like getting my bride-to-be a little used to me," he
+declared to her father, with a grim laugh.
+
+Once after Jasper Wilde had bid Bernardine and her father good-night, he
+walked along the street, little caring in which direction he went, his
+mind was so preoccupied with trying to solve the problem of how to make
+this haughty girl care for him.
+
+His mental query was answered in the strangest manner possible.
+
+Almost from out the very bowels of the earth, it seemed--for certainly
+an instant before no human being was about--a woman suddenly appeared
+and confronted him--a woman so strange, uncanny, and weird-looking, that
+she seemed like some supernatural creature.
+
+"Would you like to have your fortune told, my bonny sir?" she queried in
+a shrill voice. "I bring absent ones together, tell you how to gain the
+love of the one you want----"
+
+"You do, eh?" cut in Jasper Wilde, sharply. "Well, now, if you can do
+anything like that, you ought to have been able to have retired, worth
+your millions, long ago, with people coming from all over the world to
+get a word of advice from you."
+
+"I care nothing for paltry money," replied the old woman, scornfully. "I
+like to do all the good I can."
+
+"Oh, you work for nothing, then? Good enough. You shall tell me my
+fortune, and how to win the love of the girl I care for. It will be
+cheap advice enough, since it comes free."
+
+"I have to ask a little money," responded the old dame in a wheedling
+tone. "I can't live on air, you know. But let me tell you, sir, there's
+something I could tell you that you ought to know--you have a rival for
+the love of the girl you want. Look sharp, or you'll lose her."
+
+"By the Lord Harry! how did you find out all that?" gasped Jasper Wilde,
+in great amazement, his eyes staring hard, and his hands held out, as
+though to ward her off.
+
+She laughed a harsh little laugh.
+
+"That is not all I could tell if I wanted to, my bonny gentleman. You
+ought to know what is going on around you. I only charge a dollar to
+ladies and two dollars to gents. My place is close by. Will you come and
+let me read your future, sir?"
+
+"Yes," returned Jasper Wilde. "But, hark you, if it is some thieves' den
+you want to entice me to, in order to rob me, I'll tell you here and now
+you will have a mighty hard customer to tackle, as I always travel armed
+to the teeth."
+
+"The bonny gentleman need not fear the old gypsy," returned the woman,
+with convincing dignity.
+
+Turning, he walked beside her to the end of the block.
+
+She paused before a tall, dark tenement house, up whose narrow stair-way
+she proceeded to climb after stopping a moment to gather sufficient
+breath.
+
+Jasper Wilde soon found himself ushered into a rather large room, which
+was draped entirely in black cloth hangings and decorated with mystic
+symbols of the sorceress's art.
+
+An oil lamp, suspended by a wire from the ceiling, furnished all the
+light the apartment could boast of.
+
+"Sit down," said the woman, pointing to an arm-chair on the opposite
+side of a black-draped table.
+
+Jasper Wilde took the seat indicated, and awaited developments.
+
+"I tell by cards," the woman said, producing a box of black pasteboards,
+upon which were printed strange hieroglyphics.
+
+It was almost an hour before Jasper Wilde took his departure from the
+wizard's abode, and when he did so, it was with a strangely darkened
+brow.
+
+He looked fixedly at a small vial he held in his hand as he reached the
+nearest street lamp, and eyed with much curiosity the dark liquid it
+contained.
+
+"I would do anything on earth to gain Bernardine's love," he muttered;
+"and for that reason I am willing to try anything that promises success
+in my wooing. I have never believed in fortune-tellers, and if this one
+proves false, I'll be down on the lot of 'em for all time to come. Five
+drops in a glass of water or a cup of tea."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+
+While the preparations for the marriage which poor, hapless Bernardine
+looked forward to with so much fear went steadily on, preparations for
+another wedding, in which Jay Gardiner was to be the unwilling
+bridegroom, progressed quite as rapidly.
+
+On the day following the scene in which Sally Pendleton had turned Miss
+Rogers from the house--which had been witnessed by the indignant young
+doctor--he called upon his betrothed, hoping against hope that she might
+be induced to relent, even at the eleventh hour, and let him off from
+this, to him, abhorrent engagement.
+
+He found Sally arrayed in her prettiest dress--all fluffy lace and
+fluttering baby-blue ribbons--but he had no eyes for her made-up,
+doll-like sort of beauty.
+
+She never knew just when to expect him, for he would never give her the
+satisfaction of making an appointment to call, giving professional
+duties as an excuse for not doing so.
+
+Sally arrayed herself in her best every evening, and looked out from
+behind the lace-draped windows until the great clock in the hall chimed
+the hour of nine; then, in an almost ungovernable rage, she would go up
+to her room, and her mother and Louisa would be made to suffer for her
+disappointment.
+
+On the day in question she had seen Jay Gardiner coming up the stone
+steps, and was ready to meet him with her gayest smile, her jolliest
+laugh.
+
+"It is always the unexpected which happens, Jay," she said, holding out
+both her lily-white hands. "Welcome, a hundred times welcome!"
+
+He greeted her gravely. He could not have stooped and kissed the red
+lips that were held up to him if the action would have saved his life.
+
+He was so silent and _distrait_ during the time, that Sally said:
+
+"Aren't you well this morning, Jay, or has something gone wrong with
+you?" she asked, at length.
+
+"I do feel a trifle out of sorts," he replied. "But pardon me for
+displaying my feelings before--a lady."
+
+"Don't speak in that cold, strange fashion, Jay," replied the girl,
+laying a trembling hand on his arm. "You forget that I have a right to
+know what is troubling you, and to sympathize with and comfort you."
+
+He looked wistfully at her.
+
+Would it do to tell her the story of his love for Bernardine? Would she
+be moved to pity by the drifting apart of two lives because of a
+betrothal made in a spirit of fun at a race? He hardly dared hope so.
+
+"I was thinking of a strange case that came under my observation
+lately," he said, "and somehow the subject has haunted me--even in my
+dreams--probably from the fact that it concerns a friend of mine in whom
+I take a great interest."
+
+"Do tell me the story!" cried Sally, eagerly--"please do."
+
+"It would sound rather commonplace in the telling," he responded, "as I
+am not good at story-telling. Well, to begin with, this friend of mine
+loves a fair and beautiful young girl who is very poor. A wealthy
+suitor, a dissipated _rou嶱, had gained the consent of her father to
+marry her, before my friend met and knew her and learned to love her.
+Now, he can not, dare not speak, for, although he believes in his heart
+that she loves him best, he knows she is bound in honor to another; and
+to make the matter still more pitiful, he is betrothed to a girl he is
+soon to marry, though his _fianc嶪_ has no portion of his great heart.
+Thus, by the strange decrees of fate, which man can not always
+comprehend the wisdom of, four people will be wedded unhappily."
+
+As Sally listened with the utmost intentness, she jumped to the
+conclusion that the "friend" whose picture Jay Gardiner had drawn so
+pathetically was himself, and she heard with the greatest alarm of the
+love he bore another. But she kept down her emotions with a will of
+iron. It would never do to let him know she thought him unfaithful, and
+it was a startling revelation to her to learn that she had a rival. She
+soon came to a conclusion.
+
+"It is indeed a strangely mixed up affair," she answered. "It seems to
+me everything rests in the hands of this young girl, as she could have
+either lover. Couldn't I go to her in the interest of your friend, and
+do my best to urge her to marry him instead of the other one."
+
+"But supposing the young girl that he--my friend--is betrothed to
+refuses to give him up, what then?"
+
+"I might see her," replied Sally, "and talk with her."
+
+"It is hard for him to marry her, when every throb of his heart is for
+another," answered Jay Gardiner, despondently.
+
+"Who is this young girl who is so beautiful that she has won the love of
+both these lovers?" she asked in a low, hard voice.
+
+"Bernardine---- Ah! I should not tell you that," he responded,
+recollecting himself. But he had uttered, alas! the one fatal
+word--Bernardine.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+
+"I can never rest night or day until I have seen this Bernardine and
+swept her from my path!" she cried.
+
+She made up her mind that she would not tell her mother or Louisa just
+yet. It would worry her mother to discover that she had a rival, while
+Louisa--well, she was so envious of her, as it was, she might exult in
+the knowledge.
+
+But how should she discover who this beautiful Bernardine was of whom he
+spoke with so much feeling?
+
+Suddenly she stopped short and brought her two hands together, crying,
+excitedly:
+
+"Eureka! I have found a way. I will follow up this scheme, and see what
+I can find out. Jay Gardiner will be out of the city for a few days. I
+will see his office attendant--he does not know me--and will never be
+able to recognize me again the way I shall disguise myself, and I will
+learn from him what young lady the doctor knows whose name begins with
+Bernardine. It is not an ordinary name, and he will be sure to remember
+it, I am confident, if he ever heard it mentioned."
+
+It was an easy matter for Sally to slip out of the house early the next
+day without attracting attention, although she was dressed in her
+gayest, most stunning gown.
+
+Calling a passing cab, she entered it, and soon found herself standing
+before Jay Gardiner's office, which she lost no time in entering.
+
+A young and handsome man, who sat at a desk, deeply engrossed in a
+medical work, looked up with an expression of annoyance on his face at
+being interrupted; but when he beheld a most beautiful young lady
+standing on the threshold, his annoyance quickly vanished, and a bland
+smile lighted up his countenance. He bowed profoundly, and hastened to
+say:
+
+"Is there anything I can do for you, miss?"
+
+"I want to see Doctor Gardiner," said Sally, in her sweetest, most
+silvery voice. "Are you the doctor?"
+
+"No," he answered, with a shadow of regret in his tone. "I am studying
+with Doctor Gardiner. He has been suddenly called out of the city. He
+may be gone a day, possibly a week. Is there anything I can do for you?"
+
+"I fear not, sir. Still, I will tell you my errand, if I may be seated
+for a few moments."
+
+"Certainly," he responded, placing a chair for his lovely young visitor;
+adding: "Pray pardon my seeming negligence in not asking you to be
+seated."
+
+Sally sunk gracefully into the chair the young physician watching her
+the while with admiring eyes.
+
+"My call on Doctor Gardiner is not to secure his services in a
+professional capacity," she began, hesitatingly; "but to learn from him
+the address of a young lady I am trying to find."
+
+"If it is any one who is his patient, or has been at any time, I think I
+can help you. He has the addresses down in a book."
+
+"But supposing he knew her socially, not professionally, her name would
+not be apt to be down on his list, would it?" she queried, anxiously.
+
+"No," he admitted. "But I think I know every one whom the doctor knows
+socially--every one, in fact, save the young lady--a Miss Pendleton,
+whom he is soon to marry. You see, we were college chums, and I have
+been his partner in office work over five years. So I will be most
+likely to know if you will state the name."
+
+"That is just the difficulty," said Sally, with her most bewildering
+smile, which quite captivated the young doctor. "I met the young lady
+only once, and I have forgotten her address as well as her last name,
+remembering only her Christian name--Bernardine. I met her in Doctor
+Gardiner's company only a few weeks ago. He would certainly recollect
+her name."
+
+"Undoubtedly," declared the young physician. "I regret deeply that he is
+not here to give you the desired information."
+
+"Would you do me a favor if you could, sir?" asked Sally, with a glance
+from her eyes that brought every man she looked at in that way--save Jay
+Gardiner--to her dainty feet.
+
+The young physician blushed to the very roots of his fair hair.
+
+"You have only to name it, and if it is anything in my power, believe
+that I will do my utmost to accomplish it. I--I would do anything to--to
+please you."
+
+"I would like you to find out from Doctor Gardiner the address of
+Bernardine," said Sally, in a low, tremulous voice; "only do not let him
+know that any one is interested in finding it out save yourself. Do you
+think you can help me?"
+
+He pondered deeply for a moment, then his face brightened, as he said:
+
+"I think I have hit upon a plan. I will write him, and say I have found
+the name Bernardine on a slip of paper which he has marked, 'Patients
+for prompt attention,' the balance of the name being torn from the slip,
+and ask the address and full information as to who she is."
+
+"A capital idea!" exclaimed Sally, excitedly. "I--I congratulate you
+upon your shrewdness. If you find out this girl's address, you will
+place me under everlasting obligations to you."
+
+"If you will call at this hour two days from now, I shall have the
+address," he said, slowly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+
+Much to the delight of Doctor Covert, the little beauty did call again,
+at the very hour he had set. But his pleasure had one drawback to it,
+she was heavily veiled. But, for all that, he knew how lovely was the
+face that veil concealed, how bright the eyes, how charming the dimples,
+how white the pearly teeth, how sweet the ripe red cheeks, so like
+Cupid's bow.
+
+He could not conceal his great joy at beholding her again. She noticed
+his emotion at once. He would not have been so well pleased if he could
+have seen how her red lip curled in scorn as she said to herself:
+
+"Fools fall in love with a pretty face on sight; but it is another thing
+to get a desirable man to fall in love. They are hard to win. I have
+heard of this Doctor Covert before. True, he did go to college with Jay
+Gardiner, and is his chum; but one is rich and the other poor."
+
+"I hope you have been successful," murmured Sally, giving him her little
+white hand to hold for an instant--an instant during which he was
+intensely happy.
+
+"Yes, my dear miss," he answered, quickly. "I am overjoyed to think I
+can be of service to you--in a way, at least. I did not communicate with
+Doctor Gardiner, for it occurred to me just after you left that I _had_
+heard him mention the name; but I am sure there is a mistake somewhere.
+This girl--Bernardine--whom I refer to, and whom Doctor Gardiner knows,
+can not possibly be a friend of yours, miss, for she is only the
+daughter of an humble basket-maker, and lives on the top floor of a
+tenement house in one of the poorest parts of the city."
+
+Sally Pendleton's amazement was so great she could hardly repress the
+cry of amazement that arose to her lips.
+
+She had never for an instant doubted that this beautiful Bernardine, who
+had won the proud, unbending heart of haughty Jay Gardiner, was some
+great heiress, royal in her pomp and pride, and worth millions of money.
+No wonder Doctor Covert's words almost took her breath away.
+
+"Are you quite sure?" she responded, after a moment's pause. "Surely, as
+you remarked, then there must be _some_ mistake."
+
+"I am positive Doctor Gardiner knows but this one Bernardine. In fact, I
+heard him say that he never remembered hearing that beautiful name until
+he heard it for the first time in the humble home of the old
+basket-maker. And he went on to tell me how lovely the girl was, despite
+her surroundings."
+
+The veiled lady arose hastily, her hands clinched.
+
+"I thank you for your information," she said, huskily, as she moved
+rapidly toward the door.
+
+"She is going without my even knowing who she is," thought Doctor
+Covert, and he sprung from his chair, saying, eagerly:
+
+"I beg a thousand pardons if the remark I am about to make seems
+presumptuous; but believe that it comes from a heart not prompted by
+idle curiosity--far, far from that."
+
+"What is it that you wish to know?" asked Sally, curtly.
+
+"Who you are," he replied, with blunt eagerness. "I may as well tell you
+the truth. I am deeply interested in you, even though you are a
+stranger, and the bare possibility that we may never meet again fills me
+with the keenest sorrow I have ever experienced."
+
+Sally Pendleton was equal to the occasion.
+
+"I must throw him off the track at once by giving him a false name and
+address," she thought.
+
+She hesitated only a moment.
+
+"My name is Rose Thorne," she replied, uttering the falsehood without
+the slightest quiver in her voice. "I attend a private school for young
+ladies in Gramercy Park. We are soon to have a public reception, to
+which we are entitled to invite our friends, and I should be pleased to
+send you a card if you think you would care to attend."
+
+"I should be delighted," declared Doctor Covert, eagerly. "If you honor
+me with an invitation, I shall be sure to be present. I would not miss
+seeing you again."
+
+Was it only his fancy, or did he hear a smothered laugh from beneath the
+thick dark veil which hid the girl's face from his view?
+
+The next moment Sally was gone, and the young doctor gazed after her, as
+he did on the former occasion with a sigh, and already began looking
+forward to the time when he should see her again. Meanwhile, Sally lost
+no time in finding the street and house indicated.
+
+A look of intense amazement overspread her face as she stood in front of
+the tall, forbidding tenement and looked up at the narrow, grimy
+windows. It seemed almost incredible that handsome, fastidious Jay
+Gardiner would even come to such a place, let alone fall in love with an
+inmate of it.
+
+"The girl must be a coarse, ill-bred working-girl," she told herself,
+"no matter how pretty her face may be."
+
+A number of fleshy, ill-clad women, holding still more poorly clad,
+fretful children, sat on the door-step, hung out of the open windows and
+over the balusters, gossiping and slandering their neighbors quite as
+energetically as the petted wives of the Four Hundred on the fashionable
+avenues do.
+
+Sally took all this in with a disgusted glance; but lifting her dainty,
+lace-trimmed linen skirts, she advanced boldly.
+
+"I am in search of a basket-maker who lives somewhere in this vicinity,"
+said Sally. "Could you tell me if he lives here?"
+
+"He lives right here," spoke up one of the women. "David Moore is out,
+so is the elderly woman who is staying with him; but Miss Bernardine is
+in, I am certain, working busily over her baskets. If you want to see
+about baskets, she's the one to go to--top floor, right."
+
+Sally made her way up the narrow, dingy stairs until she reached the top
+floor. The door to the right stood open, and as Sally advanced she saw a
+young girl turn quickly from a long pine table covered with branches of
+willow, and look quickly up.
+
+Sally Pendleton stood still, fairly rooted to the spot with astonishment
+not unmingled with rage, for the girl upon whom she gazed was the most
+gloriously beautiful creature she had ever beheld. She did not wonder
+now that Jay Gardiner had given his heart to her.
+
+In that one moment a wave of such furious hate possessed the soul of
+Sally Pendleton that it was with the greatest difficulty she could
+restrain herself from springing upon the unconscious young girl and
+wrecking forever the fatal beauty which had captivated the heart of the
+man who was her lover and was so soon to wed.
+
+Sally had thrown back her veil, and was gazing at her rival with her
+angry soul in her eyes.
+
+Seeing the handsomely dressed young lady, Bernardine came quickly
+forward with the sweet smile and graceful step habitual to her.
+
+"You wish to see some one--my father, perhaps?" murmured Bernardine,
+gently.
+
+"_You_ are the person I wish to see," returned Sally, harshly--"you, and
+no one else."
+
+Bernardine looked at her wonderingly. The cold, hard voice struck her
+ear unpleasantly, and the strange look in the stranger's hard,
+steel-blue eyes made her feel strangely uncomfortable.
+
+Was it a premonition of coming evil?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+
+She was not to remain long in suspense.
+
+"In the first place," began Sally, slowly, "I wish to know what your
+relations are, Bernardine Moore, with Doctor Jay Gardiner. I must and
+will know the truth."
+
+She saw that the question struck the girl as lightning strikes a fair
+white rose and withers and blights it with its awful fiery breath.
+
+Bernardine was fairly stricken dumb. She opened her lips to speak, but
+no sound issued from them. She could not have uttered one syllable if
+her life had depended on it.
+
+"Let me tell you how the case stands. I will utter the shameful truth
+for you if you dare not admit it. He is _your lover_ in secret, though
+he would deny you in public!"
+
+Hapless Bernardine had borne all she could; and without a word, a cry,
+or even a moan she threw up her little hands, and fell in a lifeless
+heap at her cruel enemy's feet.
+
+For a moment Sally Pendleton gazed at her victim, and thoughts worthy of
+the brain of a fiend incarnate swept through her.
+
+"If she were only dead!" she muttered, excitedly. "Dare I----"
+
+The sentence was never finished. There was a step on the creaking stairs
+outside, and with a guilty cry of alarm, Miss Pendleton rushed from the
+room and out into the darkened hall-way.
+
+She brushed past a woman on the narrow stairs, but the darkness was so
+dense neither recognized the other; and Sally Pendleton had gained the
+street and turned the nearest corner, ere Miss Rogers--for it was
+she--reached the top landing.
+
+As she pushed open the door, the first object that met her startled eyes
+was Bernardine lying like one dead on the floor.
+
+Despite the fact that she was an invalid, Miss Rogers' nerves were
+exceedingly cool. She did not shriek out, or call excitedly to the other
+inmates of the house, but went about reviving the girl by wetting her
+handkerchief with water as cold as it would run from the faucet, and
+laving her marble-cold face with it, and afterward rubbing her hands
+briskly.
+
+She was rewarded at length by seeing the great dark eyes slowly open,
+and the crimson tide of life drift back to the pale, cold cheeks and
+quivering lips.
+
+A look of wonder filled Bernardine's eyes as she beheld Miss Rogers
+bending over her.
+
+"Was it a dream, some awful dream?" she said, excitedly, catching at her
+friend's hands and clinging piteously to them.
+
+"What caused your sudden illness, Bernardine?" questioned Miss Rogers,
+earnestly. "You were apparently well when I left you an hour since."
+
+Still Bernardine clung to her with that awful look of agony in her
+beautiful eyes, but uttering no word.
+
+"Has she gone?" she murmured, at length.
+
+"Has _who_ gone?" questioned Miss Rogers, wondering what she meant.
+
+"The beautiful, pitiless stranger," sobbed Bernardine, catching her
+breath.
+
+Miss Rogers believed that the girl's mind was wandering, and refrained
+from further questioning her.
+
+"The poor child is grieving so over this coming marriage of hers to
+Jasper Wilde that I almost fear her mind is giving way," she thought, in
+intense alarm, glancing at Bernardine.
+
+As she did so, Bernardine began to sob again, breaking into such a
+passionate fit of weeping, and suffering such apparently intense grief,
+that Miss Rogers was at a loss what to do or say.
+
+She would not tell why she was weeping so bitterly; no amount of
+questioning could elicit from her what had happened.
+
+Not for worlds would Bernardine have told to any human being her sad
+story--of the stranger's visit and the startling disclosures she had
+made to her.
+
+It was not until Bernardine found herself locked securely in the
+seclusion of her own room that she dared look the matter fully in the
+face, and then the grief to which she abandoned herself was more
+poignant than before.
+
+In her great grief, a terrible thought came to her. Why not end it all?
+Surely God would forgive her for laying down life's cross when it was
+too heavy to be borne.
+
+Yes, that is what she would do. She would end it all.
+
+Her father did not care for her; it caused him no grief to barter her,
+as the price of his secret, to Jasper Wilde, whom she loathed.
+
+It lacked but one day to that marriage she so detested.
+
+Yes, she would end it all before the morrow's sun rose.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+
+Miss Rogers noticed that Bernardine was strangely silent and preoccupied
+during the remainder of that day; but she attached no particular
+importance to it.
+
+She knew that the girl was wearing her heart out in brooding over the
+coming marriage. Jasper Wilde refused to be bought off, and Bernardine
+herself declared that it must take place. _She, alas! knew why!_
+
+Miss Rogers had done her best to persuade David Moore to take Bernardine
+away--to Europe--ay, to the furthest end of the world, where Jasper
+Wilde could not find them, declaring that she would raise the money to
+defray their traveling expenses.
+
+David Moore shook his head.
+
+"There is no part of the world to which we could go that he would not
+find us," he muttered, burying his face in his shaking hands. "But we
+will speak no more about it. It unmans me to think what would happen
+were----" and he stopped short.
+
+He had often heard Miss Rogers make allusion to money she could lay her
+hand on at any moment; but the old basket-maker never believed her. He
+fancied that the poor woman had a sort of mania that she was possessed
+of means which she could lay her hand on at any moment, and all she said
+on the subject he considered as but visionary, and paid no attention to
+it whatever.
+
+Poor Miss Rogers was in despair. What could she do to save Bernardine?
+She worried so over the matter that by evening she had so severe a
+headache that she was obliged to retire to her room and lie down.
+
+David Moore had drunk himself into insensibility early in the evening,
+and Bernardine, sick at heart, alone, wretched, and desolate, was left
+by herself to look the dread future in the face.
+
+The girl had reached a point where longer endurance was impossible. The
+man whom she loved had been only deceiving her with his protestations of
+affection; he had laughed with his companions at the kisses he had
+bestowed on her sweet lips; and she abhorred the man who was to claim
+her on the morrow as the price of her father's liberty.
+
+No wonder the world looked dark to the poor girl, and there seemed
+nothing in the future worth living for.
+
+As the hours dragged by, Bernardine had made up her mind what to do.
+
+The little clock on the mantel chimed the midnight hour as she arose
+from her low seat by the window, and putting on her hat, she glided from
+the wretched rooms that had been home to her all her dreary life.
+
+Owing to the lateness of the hour, she encountered few people on the
+streets. There was no one to notice who she was or whither she went,
+save the old night-watchman who patroled the block.
+
+"Poor child!" he muttered, thoughtfully, looking after the retreating
+figure; "she's going out to hunt for that drunken old scapegrace of a
+father, I'll warrant. It's dangerous for a fine young girl with a face
+like hers to be on the streets alone at this hour of the night. I've
+told the old basket-maker so scores of times, but somehow he does not
+seem to realize her great danger."
+
+Bernardine drew down her dark veil, and waited until the people should
+go away. She was dressed in dark clothes, and sat so silently she
+attracted no particular attention; not even when she leaned over and
+looked longingly into the eddying waves.
+
+Two or three ships bound for foreign ports were anchored scarcely fifty
+rods away. She could hear the songs and the laughter of the sailors. She
+waited until these sounds had subsided.
+
+The girl sitting close in the shadow of one of the huge posts was not
+observed by the few stragglers strolling past.
+
+One o'clock sounded from some far-off tower-clock; then the half hour
+struck.
+
+Bernardine rose slowly to her feet, and looked back at the lights of the
+great city that she was leaving.
+
+There would be no one to miss her; no one to weep over her untimely
+fate; no one to grieve that she had taken the fatal step to eternity.
+
+Her father would be glad that there was no one to follow his step by
+night and by day, and plead with the wine-sellers to give him no more
+drink. He would rejoice that he could follow his own will, and drink as
+much as he pleased.
+
+There was no dear old mother whose heart would break; no gentle sister
+or brother who would never forget her; no husband to mourn for her; no
+little child to hold out its hands to the blue sky, and cry to her to
+come back. No one would miss her on the face of God's earth.
+
+Alas! for poor Bernardine, how little she knew that at that very hour
+the man whose love she craved most was wearing his very heart out for
+love of her.
+
+Bernardine took but one hurried glance backward; then, with a sobbing
+cry, sprung over the pier, and into the dark, seething waters.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+
+When Jay Gardiner left the city, he had expected to be gone a week,
+possibly a fortnight; but, owing to an unexpected turn in the business
+he was transacting, he was enabled to settle it in a day or so, and
+return to the city.
+
+It was by the merest chance that he took passage by boat instead of
+going by rail; or, more truly speaking, there was a fate in it. The boat
+was due at the wharf by midnight; but, owing to an unaccountable delay,
+caused by the breaking of some machinery in the engine-room, it was
+after one o'clock when the steamer touched the wharf.
+
+Doctor Gardiner was not in such a hurry as the rest of the passengers
+were, and he walked leisurely across the gang-plank, pausing, as he
+reached the pier, to look back at the lights on the water.
+
+He felt just in the mood to pause there and enjoy what comfort he could
+find in a good cigar. He was just about to light a cigar, when his gaze
+was suddenly attracted toward a slender object--the figure of a woman
+sitting on the very edge of the pier.
+
+She was in the shadow cast by a large post; but he knew from the
+position in which she sat, that she must be looking intently into the
+water.
+
+He did not like the steady gaze with which she seemed to be looking
+downward, and the young doctor determined to watch her. He drew back
+into the shadow of one of the huge stanchions, and refrained from
+lighting his cigar.
+
+If she would but change her dangerous position, he would call out to
+her; and he wondered where was the watchman who was supposed to guard
+those piers and prevent accidents of this kind.
+
+While he was pondering over this matter, the figure rose suddenly to its
+feet, and he readily surmised from its slender, graceful build, which
+was but dimly outlined against the dark pier, that she must be a young
+girl.
+
+What was she doing there at that unseemly hour? Watching for some sailor
+lover whose ship was bearing him to her from over the great dark sea, or
+was she watching for a brother or father?
+
+He had little time to speculate on this theme, however, for the next
+instant a piteous cry broke from the girl's lips--a cry in a voice
+strangely familiar; a cry that sent the blood bounding through his heart
+like an electric shock--and before he could take a step forward to
+prevent it, the slender figure had sprung over the pier.
+
+By the time Jay Gardiner reached the edge of the dock, the dark waters
+had closed over her head, a few eddying ripples only marking the spot
+where she had gone down.
+
+In an instant Doctor Gardiner tore off his coat and sprung into the
+water to the rescue. When he rose to the surface, looking eagerly about
+for the young girl whom he was risking his life to save, he saw a white
+face appear on the surface. He struck out toward it, but ere he reached
+the spot, it sunk. Again he dived, and yet again, a great fear
+oppressing him that his efforts would be in vain, when he saw the white
+face go down for the third and last time.
+
+With a mighty effort Doctor Gardiner dove again. This time his hands
+struck something. He grasped it firmly. It was a tightly-clinched little
+hand.
+
+Up through the water he bore the slender form, and struck out for the
+pier with his burden.
+
+Doctor Gardiner was an expert swimmer, but it was with the utmost
+difficulty that he succeeded in reaching the pier, owing to the swell
+caused by the many steamboats passing. But it was accomplished at last,
+and almost on the verge of exhaustion himself, he succeeded in effecting
+a landing and laying his burden upon the pier.
+
+"She is half drowned as it is," he muttered, bending closer to look at
+the pallid face under the flickering light of the gas-lamp.
+
+As his eyes rested upon the girl's face, a mighty cry broke from his
+lips, and he staggered back as though a terrible blow had been dealt
+him.
+
+"Great God! it is Bernardine!" he gasped.
+
+The discovery fairly stunned him--took his breath away. Then he
+remembered that the girl was dying; that every instant of time was
+precious if he would save her.
+
+He worked over her as though his life were at stake, and his efforts
+were rewarded at last when the dark eyes opened languidly.
+
+"Bernardine," he cried, kneeling beside her on the pier, his voice husky
+with emotion, "why did you do this terrible deed? Speak, my love, my
+darling!"
+
+And almost before he was aware of it, he had clasped her to his heart,
+and was raining passionate kisses on the cheek, neck, and pale cold lips
+of the girl he loved better than life.
+
+She did not seem to realize what had transpired; she did not recognize
+him.
+
+"Do not take me home!" she sobbed, incoherently, over and over again.
+"Anywhere but there. He--he--will kill me!"
+
+These words alarmed Doctor Gardiner greatly. What could they mean? He
+knew full well that this must have been the last thought that crossed
+her brain ere she took the fatal leap, or it would not have been the
+first one to flash across her mind with returning consciousness.
+
+He saw, too, that she was getting into a delirium, and that she must be
+removed with all possible haste.
+
+He did not know of Miss Rogers being in her home, and he reasoned with
+himself that there was no one to take care of her there, save the old
+basket-maker, and she could not have a worse companion in her present
+condition; therefore he must take her elsewhere.
+
+Then it occurred to him that a very excellent nurse--a widow whom he had
+often recommended to his patients--must live very near that vicinity,
+and he determined to take her there, and then go after her father and
+bring him to her.
+
+There was an old hack jostling by. Jay Gardiner hailed it, and placing
+Bernardine within, took a place by her side. In a few moments they were
+at their destination.
+
+The old nurse was always expecting a summons to go to some patient; but
+she was quite dumbfounded to see who her caller was at that strange
+hour, and to see that he held an unconscious young girl in his arms.
+
+Jay Gardiner explained the situation to the old nurse.
+
+"I will not come again for a fortnight, nurse," he said, unsteadily, on
+leaving. "That will be best under the circumstances. She may be ill, but
+not in danger. I will send her father to her in the meantime."
+
+"What an honorable man Jay Gardiner is!" thought the nurse, admiringly.
+"Not every man could have the strength of mind to keep away from the
+girl he loved, even if he was bound to another."
+
+Doctor Gardiner dared not take even another glance at Bernardine, his
+heart was throbbing so madly, but turned and hurried from the house, and
+re-entering the cab, drove rapidly away.
+
+He had planned to go directly to David Moore; but on second thought he
+concluded to wait until morning.
+
+It would be a salutary lesson to the old basket-maker to miss
+Bernardine, and realize how much he depended upon the young girl for his
+happiness.
+
+This was a fatal resolve for him to reach, as will be plainly seen.
+
+As soon as he had finished his breakfast, he hurried to the Canal Street
+tenement house.
+
+There was no commotion outside; evidently the neighbors had not heard of
+Bernardine's disappearance, and he doubted whether or not her father
+knew of it yet.
+
+Jay Gardiner had barely stepped from the pavement into the dark and
+narrow hall-way ere he found himself face to face with Jasper Wilde.
+
+The doctor would have passed him by with a haughty nod, but with one
+leap Wilde was at his side, his strong hands closing around his throat,
+while he cried out, in a voice fairly convulsed with passion:
+
+"Aha! You have walked right into my net, and at the right moment. Where
+is Bernardine? She fled from me last night, and went directly to your
+arms, of course. Tell me where she is, that I may go to her and wreak my
+vengeance upon her! Answer me quickly, or I will kill you!"
+
+Jay Gardiner was surprised for an instant; but it was only for an
+instant. In the next, he had recovered himself.
+
+"You cur, to take a man at a disadvantage like that!" he cried; adding,
+as he swung out his muscular right arm: "But as you have brought this
+upon yourself, I will give you enough of it!"
+
+Two or three ringing blows showed Jasper Wilde, that, bully though he
+was, he had met his match in this white-handed aristocrat.
+
+He drew back, uttering a peculiar sharp whistle, and two men, who were
+evidently in his employ, advanced quickly to Wilde's aid.
+
+"Bind and gag this fellow!" he commanded, "and throw him down into the
+wine-cellar to await my coming! He's a thief. He has just stolen my
+pocket-book. Quick, my lads; don't listen to what he says!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+
+Quick as a flash, Jasper Wilde's two men seized Jay Gardiner from behind
+and pinioned his arms, Wilde the while excitedly explaining something in
+German to them.
+
+Doctor Gardiner, as we have explained, was an athletic young man. He
+could easily have disposed of Wilde, and probably a companion; but it is
+little wonder that the three men soon succeeded in overpowering him,
+while Wilde, with one awful blow, knocked him into insensibility ere he
+had time to refute the charge his antagonist had made against him.
+
+"Take him to my private wine-cellar!" commanded Wilde, excitedly. "He's
+a fellow we've been trying to catch around here for some time. He's a
+thief, I tell you!"
+
+The men obeyed their employer's command, little dreaming it was an
+innocent man they were consigning to a living tomb.
+
+It was an hour afterward ere consciousness returned to Jay Gardiner. For
+a moment he was dazed, bewildered; then the recollection of the
+encounter, and the terrible blow he had received over the temple,
+recurred to him.
+
+Where was he? The darkness and silence of death reigned. The air was
+musty. He lay upon a stone flagging through which the slime oozed.
+
+Like a flash he remembered the words of Jasper Wilde.
+
+"Take him to my private wine-cellar until I have time to attend to him."
+
+Yes, that was where he must be--in Wilde's wine-cellar.
+
+While he was cogitating over this scene, an iron door at the further end
+of the apartment opened, and a man, carrying a lantern, hastily entered
+the place, and stood on the threshold for a moment.
+
+Doctor Gardiner saw at once that it was Jasper Wilde.
+
+"Come to, have you?" cried Wilde, swinging the light in his face. "Well,
+how do you like your quarters, my handsome, aristocratic doctor, eh?"
+
+"How dare you hold me a prisoner here?" demanded Jay Gardiner, striking
+the floor with his manacled hands. "Release me at once, I say!"
+
+A sneering laugh broke from Wilde's thin lips.
+
+"_Dare!_" he repeated, laying particular stress upon the word. "We
+Wildes dare anything when there is a pretty girl like beautiful
+Bernardine concerned in it."
+
+"You scoundrel!" cried Jay Gardiner, "if I were but free from these
+shackles, I would teach you the lesson of your life!"
+
+"A pinioned man is a fool to make threats," sneered Wilde. "But come,
+now. Out with it, curse you! Where is Bernardine?--where have you hidden
+her?"
+
+"I refuse to answer your question," replied Jay Gardiner, coolly. "I
+know where she is, but that knowledge shall never be imparted to you
+without her consent."
+
+"I will wring it from your lips, curse you!" cried Wilde, furiously. "I
+will torture you here, starve you here, until you go mad and are glad to
+speak."
+
+"Even though you _kill_ me, you shall not learn from my lips the
+whereabouts of Bernardine Moore!" exclaimed Jay Gardiner, hoarsely.
+
+As the hours dragged their slow lengths by, exhausted nature asserted
+itself, and despite the hunger and burning thirst he endured, and the
+pain in his head, sleep--
+
+    "Tired Nature's sweet restorer--balmy sleep"--
+
+came to him.
+
+Suddenly the door opened, and Jasper Wilde, still carrying a lantern,
+looked in.
+
+"It is morning again," he said. "How have you passed the night, my
+handsome doctor? I see the rodents have not eaten you. I shouldn't have
+been the least surprised if they had. I assure you, I wonder they could
+have abstained from such a feast."
+
+"You fiend incarnate!" cried Jay Gardiner, hoarsely. "Remove these
+shackles, and meet me as man to man. Only a dastardly coward bullies a
+man who can not help himself."
+
+"Still defiant, my charming doctor!" laughed Wilde. "I marvel at that. I
+supposed by this time you would be quite willing to give me the
+information I desired."
+
+Jay Gardiner could not trust himself to speak, his indignation was so
+great.
+
+"_Au revoir_ again," sneered Wilde. "The day will pass and the night
+will follow, in the natural course of events. To-morrow, at this hour, I
+shall look in on you again, my handsome doctor. Look out for the
+rodents. Bless me! they are dashing over the floor. I must fly!"
+
+Again the door closed, and with a groan Jay Gardiner could not repress,
+he sunk to the floor, smiting it with his manacled hands, and wondering
+how soon this awful torture would end.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+
+During the long hours of the night which followed, Jay Gardiner dared
+not trust himself to sleep for a single instant, so great was his horror
+of the rodents that scampered in droves across the damp floor of the
+cellar in which he was a prisoner.
+
+He felt that his brain must soon give way, and that Jasper Wilde would
+have his desire--he would soon be driven to insanity.
+
+He thought of Bernardine, who was waiting for him to return to her, and
+he groaned aloud in the bitterness of his anguish, in the agony of his
+awful despair.
+
+The manacles cut into his flesh, for his wrists had swollen as he lay
+there, and the burning thirst was becoming maddening.
+
+"Great God in Heaven! how long--ah, how long, will this torture last?"
+he cried.
+
+In the midst of his anguish, he heard footsteps; but not those for which
+he longed so ardently. A moment later, and Jasper Wilde stood before
+him.
+
+"Now let me tell you what my revenge upon the beautiful Bernardine will
+be for preferring _you_ to myself. I shall marry her--she dare not
+refuse when I have her here--that I warrant you. As I said before, I
+shall marry the dainty Bernardine, the cold, beautiful, haughty
+Bernardine, and then I shall force her to go behind the bar, and the
+beauty of her face will draw custom from far and near.
+
+"Nothing could be so revolting to her as this. It will crush her, it
+will kill her, and I, whose love for her has turned into hate--yes,
+deepest, deadly hate--will stand by and watch her, and laugh at her. Ha!
+ha! ha!"
+
+With a fury born of madness, Doctor Gardiner wrenched himself free from
+the chains that bound him, and with one flying leap was upon his enemy
+and had hurled him to the floor, his hand clutching Wilde's throat.
+
+"It shall be death to one or other of us!" he panted, hoarsely.
+
+But he had not reckoned that in his weak condition he was no match for
+Jasper Wilde, who for the moment was taken aback by the suddenness of
+the attack.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+That the encounter would have ended in certain death to Jay Gardiner, in
+his exhausted state, was quite apparent to Jasper Wilde; but in that
+moment fate intervened to save him. Hardly had the two men come together
+in that desperate death-struggle, ere the startling cry of "Fire!" rang
+through the building.
+
+Jasper Wilde realized what that meant. There was but one exit from the
+cellar, and if he did not get out of it in a moment's time, he would be
+caught like a rat in a trap. Gathering himself together, he wrenched
+himself free from the doctor's grasp, and hurling him to the floor with
+a fearful blow planted directly between the eyes, sprung over the
+threshold.
+
+Wilde paused a single instant to shout back:
+
+"I leave you to your fate, my handsome doctor! Ha! ha! ha!"
+
+But fate did not intend Jay Gardiner to die just then, even though he
+sunk back upon the flags with an awful groan and fully realized the
+horror of the situation.
+
+That groan saved him. A fireman heard it, and in less time than it takes
+to tell it, a brawny, heroic fellow sprung through the iron door-way,
+which Wilde in his mad haste had not taken time to close.
+
+A moment more, and the fireman had carried his burden up through the
+flames, and out into the pure air.
+
+The fresh air revived the young doctor, as nothing else could have done.
+
+"Give me your name and address," he said, faintly, to the fireman. "You
+shall hear from me again;" and the man good-naturedly complied, and then
+turned back the next instant to his duty.
+
+In the excitement, he forgot to ask whose life it was he had saved.
+
+The fire proved to be a fearful holocaust. Canal Street had never known
+a conflagration that equaled it.
+
+Doctor Gardiner made superhuman efforts to enter the tenement-house, to
+save the life of the old basket-maker--Bernardine's hapless father--who
+stood paralyzed, incapable of action, at an upper window. But no human
+being could breast that sea of flame; and with a cry of horror, the
+young doctor saw the tenement collapse, and David Moore was buried in
+the ruins.
+
+He had forfeited his life for the brandy he had taken just a little
+while before, which utterly unfitted him to make an effort to get out of
+the building.
+
+Jay Gardiner, sick at heart, turned away with a groan. He must go to
+Bernardine at once; but, Heaven help her! how could he break the news of
+her great loss to her?
+
+As he was deliberating on what course to pursue, a hand was suddenly
+laid on his shoulder, and a voice said, lustily:
+
+"By all that is wonderful, I can scarcely believe my eyes, Jay Gardiner,
+that this is you! I expected you were at this moment hundred of miles
+away from New York. But, heavens! how ill you look! Your clothes are
+covered with dust. What can be the matter with you, Jay?"
+
+Turning suddenly at the sound of the familiar voice, Doctor Gardiner
+found himself face to face with the young physician who took charge of
+his office while he was away.
+
+"Come with me; you shall not tell me now, nor talk. Come to the office,
+and let me fix up something for you, or you will have a spell of
+sickness."
+
+And without waiting to heed Jay Gardiner's expostulations--that he must
+go somewhere else first--he called a passing cab, and hustled him into
+it.
+
+Owing to his splendid physique, he felt quite as good as new the next
+morning, save for the pain in his head, where he had fallen upon the
+stone flagging of the wine cellar.
+
+Without any more loss of time than was absolutely necessary, he set out
+for the old nurse's house, at which he had left Bernardine two days
+before. He had half expected to find her ill, and he was not a little
+surprised when she came to the door in answer to his summons.
+
+"Mrs. Gray is out," she said, "and I saw you coming, Doctor Gardiner,
+and oh, I could not get here quick enough to see you and thank you for
+what you have done for me--risked your own life to save a worthless one
+like mine."
+
+"Hush, hush, Bernardine! You must not say that!" he cried, seizing her
+little hands.
+
+He drew her into the plain little sitting-room, seated her, then turned
+from her abruptly and commenced pacing up and down the room, his
+features working convulsively.
+
+It was by the greatest effort he had restrained himself from clasping
+her in his arms. Only Heaven knew how great was the effort.
+
+"Why did you attempt to drown yourself, Bernardine?" he asked, at
+length. "Tell me the truth."
+
+"Yes, I will tell you," sobbed Bernardine, piteously. "I did it because
+I did not wish to become Jasper Wilde's bride."
+
+"But why were you driven to such a step?" he persisted. "Surely you
+could have said 'No,' and that would have been sufficient."
+
+For a moment she hesitated, then she flung herself, sobbing piteously,
+on her knees at his feet.
+
+"If I tell you _all_, will you pledge yourself to keep my secret, and
+my father's secret, come what may?" she cried, wringing her hands.
+
+"Yes," he replied, solemnly. "I shall never divulge what you tell me.
+You can speak freely, Bernardine."
+
+And Bernardine _did_ speak freely. She told him all without reserve--of
+the sword Jasper Wilde held over her head because of her poor father,
+whom he could send to the gallows, although he was an innocent man, if
+she refused to marry him.
+
+Jay Gardiner listened to every word with intense interest.
+
+"While I have been here I have been thinking--thinking," she sobbed.
+"Oh, it was cruel of me to try to avoid my duty to poor father. I must
+go back and--and marry Jasper Wilde, to save poor papa, who must now be
+half-crazed by my disappearance."
+
+Doctor Gardiner clasped her little hands still closer. The time had come
+when he must break the awful news to her that her father was no longer
+in Jasper Wilde's power; that he had passed beyond all fear of him, all
+fear of punishment at the hand of man.
+
+"Are you strong enough to bear a great shock, Bernardine?" he whispered,
+involuntarily gathering the slender figure to him.
+
+The girl grew pale as death.
+
+"Is it something about father? Has anything happened to him?" she
+faltered, catching her breath.
+
+He nodded his head; then slowly, very gently, he told her of the fire,
+and that he had seen her father perish--that he was now forever beyond
+Jasper Wilde's power.
+
+Poor Bernardine listened like one turned to stone: then, without a word
+or a cry, fell at his feet in a faint.
+
+At that opportune moment the old nurse returned.
+
+Doctor Gardiner soon restored her to consciousness; but it made his
+heart bleed to witness her intense grief. She begged him to take her to
+the ruins, and with great reluctance he consented.
+
+Ordering a cab at the nearest stand, he placed her in it, and took a
+seat by her side, feeling a vague uneasiness, a consciousness that this
+ride should never have been taken.
+
+She was trembling like a leaf. What could he do but place his strong arm
+about her? In that moment, in the happiness of being near her, he forgot
+that he was in honor bound to another, and that other Sally Pendleton,
+whom he was so soon to lead to the altar to make his wife.
+
+The girl he loved with all the strength of his heart was so near to
+him--ah, Heaven! so dangerously near--the breath from her lips was
+wafted to him with each passing breeze, and seemed to steal his very
+senses from him.
+
+Oh, if he could but indulge in one moment of happiness--could clasp her
+in his arms but a single moment, and kiss those trembling lips just
+once, he would be willing to pay for it by a whole life-time of sorrow,
+he told himself.
+
+Ah! why must he refuse himself so resolutely this one draught of
+pleasure that fate had cast in his way?
+
+He hesitated, and we all know what happens to the man who hesitates--he
+is lost.
+
+At this moment Bernardine turned to him, sobbing piteously:
+
+"Oh, what shall I do, Doctor Gardiner? Father's death leaves me all
+alone in the world--all alone, with no one to love me!"
+
+In an instant he forgot prudence, restraint; he only knew that his
+heart, ay, his very soul, flowed out to her in a torrent so intense no
+human will could have restrained it.
+
+Almost before he was aware of it, his arms were about her, straining her
+to his madly beating heart, his passionate kisses falling thrillingly
+upon her beautiful hair and the sweet, tender lips, while he cried,
+hoarsely:
+
+"You shall never say that again, beautiful Bernardine! _I_ love
+you--yes, I love you with all my heart and soul! Oh, darling! answer
+me--do you care for me?"
+
+The girl recoiled from him with a low, wailing sob. The words of the
+fashionably attired young girl who had called upon her so mysteriously
+on that never-to-be-forgotten day, and taunted her with--"He is
+deceiving you, girl! Doctor Gardiner may talk to you of love, but he
+will never--never speak to you of marriage. Mark my words!"--were
+ringing like a death-knell in her ears.
+
+"Oh, Bernardine!" he cried, throwing prudence to the winds, forgetting
+in that moment everything save his mad love for her--"oh, my darling!
+you are _not_ alone in the world! _I_ love you! Marry me, Bernardine,
+and save me from the future spreading out darkly before me--marry me
+within the hour--_now_! Don't refuse me. We are near a church now. The
+rector lives next door. We will alight here, and in five minutes you
+will be all my own to comfort, to care for, to protect and idolize, to
+worship as I would an angel from Heaven!"
+
+He scarcely waited for her to consent. He stopped the coach, and fairly
+lifted her from the vehicle in his strong arms.
+
+"Oh, Doctor Gardiner, is it for the best?" she cried, clinging to him
+with death-cold hands. "Are you _sure_ you want me?"
+
+The answer that he gave her, as he bent his fair, handsome head, must
+have satisfied her. Loving him as she did, how could she say him nay?
+
+They entered the parsonage, and when they emerged from it, ten minutes
+later, Bernardine was Jay Gardiner's wedded wife.
+
+And that was the beginning of the tragedy.
+
+"I shall not take you to the scene of the fire just now, my darling," he
+decided. "The sight would be too much for you. In a day or two, when you
+have become more reconciled to your great loss, I will take you there."
+
+"You know best, Doctor Gardiner," she sobbed, as they re-entered the
+vehicle. "I will do whatever you think is best."
+
+"Where to, sir?" asked the driver, touching his cap.
+
+"We will go to Central Park," he answered; then turning to Bernardine,
+he added: "When we reach there, we will alight and dismiss this man. We
+will sit down on one of the benches, talk matters over, and decide what
+is best to be done--where you would like to go for your wedding-trip;
+but, my love, my sweetheart, my life, you must not call me 'Doctor
+Gardiner.' To you, from this time on, I am Jay, your own fond husband!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+
+Jay Gardiner had taken fate in his own hands. He had married the girl he
+loved, casting aside every barrier that lay between them, even to facing
+the wrath, and, perhaps, the world's censure in deserting the girl to
+whom he was betrothed, but whom he did not love.
+
+He was deeply absorbed in thinking about this as the cab stopped at the
+park entrance.
+
+"Come, my darling!" exclaimed Jay, kissing fondly the beautiful face
+upturned to him, "we will alight and talk over our plans for the
+future."
+
+She clung to him, as he with tender care, lifted her from the vehicle.
+
+He was her husband, this grand, kingly, fair-haired man, at whom the
+women passing looked so admiringly. She could hardly realize it, hardly
+dare believe it, but for the fact that he was calling her his darling
+bride with every other breath.
+
+He found her a seat beneath a wide-spreading tree, where the greensward
+was like velvet beneath their feet, and the air was redolent with the
+scent of flowers that rioted in the sunshine hard by.
+
+"Now, first of all, my precious Bernardine, we must turn our thoughts in
+a practical direction long enough to select which hotel we are to go to;
+and another quite as important matter, your wardrobe, you know."
+
+Bernardine looked up at him gravely.
+
+"This dress will do for the present," she declared. "The good, kind old
+nurse dried and pressed it out so nicely for me that it looks almost as
+good as new. And as for going to a hotel, I am sure it is too expensive.
+We could go to a boarding-house where the charges would be moderate."
+
+Jay Gardiner threw back his handsome head, and laughed so loud and so
+heartily that Bernardine looked at him anxiously.
+
+"Now that I come to think the matter over, I don't think I ever told
+you much concerning my financial affairs," he said, smiling.
+
+"No; but papa guessed about them," replied Bernardine.
+
+"Tell me what he guessed?" queried Jay. "He thought I was poor?"
+
+"Yes," replied Bernardine, frankly. "He said that all doctors had a very
+hard time of it when they started in to build up a practice, and that
+you must be having a very trying experience to make both ends meet."
+
+"Was that why he did not want me for a son-in-law?"
+
+"Yes, I think so," admitted Bernardine, blushing.
+
+"Tell me this, my darling," he said, eagerly catching at the pretty
+little hands lying folded in her lap; "why is it that _you_ have waived
+all that, that you have married me, not knowing whether I had enough to
+pay for a day's lodging?"
+
+The most beautiful light that ever was seen flashed into the tender dark
+eyes, a smile curved the red lips that set all the pretty dimples
+dancing in the round, flushed cheeks.
+
+"I married you because----" and then she hesitated shyly.
+
+"Go on, Bernardine," he persisted; "you married me because----"
+
+"Because I--I loved you," she whispered, her lovely face fairly covered
+with blushes.
+
+"Now, the first thing to do, sweetheart, is to call a cab, that you may
+go to the nearest large dry-goods store and make such purchases as you
+may need for immediate use. I can occupy the time better than standing
+about looking at you. I will leave you at the store, and have the cabby
+drive me around to the old nurse and explain what has occurred, and
+tell her that you won't come back. Then I can attend to another little
+matter or two, and return for you in an hour's time. And last, but not
+least, take this pocket-book--I always carry two about me--and use
+freely its contents. The purse, and what is in it, are yours, sweet!"
+
+"Oh, I couldn't think of taking so much money!" declared Bernardine,
+amazed at the bulky appearance of the pocket-book at the first glance.
+
+Jay Gardiner laughed good-naturedly.
+
+"You shall have everything your heart desires, my precious one," he
+declared. "Don't worry about the price of anything you want; buy it, and
+I shall be only too pleased, believe me."
+
+There was no time to say anything further, for the store was reached,
+and Jay had barely time to snatch a kiss from the beautiful lips ere he
+handed her out.
+
+"I will return in just an hour from now, Bernardine, with this cab," he
+said. "If you are not then at the door, looking for me, I shall wait
+here patiently until you do come out."
+
+"How good you are to me!" murmured the girl, her dark eyes brimming over
+with tears. "If papa could only know!"
+
+"There, there now, my darling, it hurts me to see those eyes shed tears!
+The past is past. Your father would be glad to know you have a protector
+to love and care for you. Try to forget, as much as you can, the sad
+calamity, for _my_ sake."
+
+And with another pressure of the hands, he turned away and sprung into
+the cab, watching the slender form from the window until it disappeared
+in the door-way and was lost to sight.
+
+"Love thrust honor and duty aside," he murmured. "I married sweet
+Bernardine on the impulse of the moment, and I shall never regret it. I
+will have a time with Sally Pendleton and her relatives; but the
+interview will be a short one. She has other admirers, and she will soon
+console herself. It was my money, instead of myself, that she wanted,
+anyhow, so there is no damage done to her heart, thank goodness. I
+will----"
+
+The rest of the sentence was never finished. There was a frightful
+crash, mingled with the terrific ringing of car-bells, a violent plunge
+forward, and Jay Gardiner knew no more.
+
+With a thoughtful face, Bernardine walked quickly into the great
+dry-goods store.
+
+She tried to do her husband's bidding---put all thoughts of it from her
+for the time being--until she could weep over it calmly, instead of
+giving way to the violent, pent-up anguish throbbing in her heart at
+that moment.
+
+She had not been accustomed to spending much money during her young
+life. The very few dresses she had had done duty for several years, by
+being newly made over, sponged, and pressed, and freshened by a ribbon
+here, or a bit of lace there. So it did not take long to make the few
+purchases she deemed necessary, and even then she felt alarmed in
+finding that they footed up to nearly seven dollars, which appeared a
+great sum to her.
+
+Six o'clock now struck, and the clerks hustled away the goods en the
+counters, and covered those on the shelves with surprising agility, much
+to the annoyance of many belated customers who had come in too late "to
+just look around and get samples."
+
+To the surprise of the clerks, as they reached the sidewalk from a side
+entrance of the building, they saw the beautiful young girl still
+standing in front of the store with the parcel in her hand and a look of
+bewilderment on her face.
+
+"It is a little after six," murmured Bernardine, glancing up at a clock
+in an adjacent store. "He has not yet returned, but he will be here
+soon. I do not wonder that the driver of the cab he is in can make but
+little headway, the crowds on the street and crossings are so great."
+
+One cab after another whirled by, their occupants in many instances
+looking back to catch another glimpse of that perfect face with its
+wistful expression which had turned toward them so eagerly and then
+turned away so disappointedly.
+
+"A shop girl waiting for some fellow who is to come in a cab and take
+her out to supper," remarked two dudes who were sauntering up Broadway.
+
+Bernardine heard the remark, and flushed indignantly.
+
+How she wished she dared tell them that she was waiting for her husband!
+Yes, she was waiting--waiting, but he came not.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+
+The sun dipped low in the West; the great crowds hurrying hither and
+thither were beginning to thin out. New York's busy throngs were seeking
+their homes to enjoy the meal which they had worked for in factory and
+shop, for they were mostly working people who composed this seething
+mass of humanity.
+
+Slowly time dragged on. Seven o'clock tolled from a far-off belfry.
+Bernardine was getting frightfully nervous.
+
+What could have happened to her handsome young husband, who had left her
+with the promise that he would return within the hour?
+
+The policeman pacing to and fro on that beat watched her curiously each
+time he passed.
+
+Eight o'clock struck slowly and sharply. The wind had risen, and was now
+howling like a demon around the corners of the great buildings.
+
+"What shall I do? Oh, Heaven, help me! what shall I do?" sobbed
+Bernardine, in nervous affright. "He--he must have forgotten me."
+
+At that moment a hand fell heavily on her shoulder.
+
+Looking up hastily through her tears, Bernardine saw a policeman
+standing before her and eyeing her sharply.
+
+"What are you doing here, my good girl?" he asked. "Waiting for
+somebody? I would advise you to move on. We're going to have a storm,
+and pretty quick, too, and I judge that it will be a right heavy one."
+
+"I--I am waiting for my husband," faltered Bernardine. "He drove me here
+in a cab. I was to do a little shopping while he went to find a
+boarding-house. He was to return in an hour---by six o'clock. I--I have
+been waiting here since that time, and--and he has not come."
+
+"Hum! Where did you and your husband live last?" inquired the man of the
+brass buttons.
+
+"We--we didn't live anywhere before. We--we were just married to-day,"
+admitted the girl, her lovely face suffused with blushes.
+
+"The old story," muttered the officer under his breath. "Some rascal has
+deluded this simple, unsophisticated girl into the belief that he has
+married her, then cast her adrift."
+
+"I am going to tell you what I think, little girl," he said, speaking
+kindly in his bluff way. "But don't cry out, make a scene, or get
+hysterical. It's my opinion that the man you are waiting for don't
+intend to come back."
+
+He saw the words strike her as lightning strikes and blasts a fair
+flower. A terrible shiver ran through the young girl, then she stood
+still, as though turned to stone, her face overspread with the pallor of
+death.
+
+The policeman was used to all phases of human nature. He saw that this
+girl's grief was genuine, and felt sorry for her.
+
+"Surely you have a home, friends, here somewhere?" he asked.
+
+Bernardine shook her head, sobbing piteously.
+
+"I lived in the tenement house on Canal Street that has just been burned
+down. My father perished in it, leaving me alone in the world--homeless,
+shelterless--and--and this man asked me to marry him, and--and I--did."
+
+The policeman was convinced more than ever by her story that some _rou嶱
+had taken advantage of the girl's pitiful situation to lead her astray.
+
+"That's bad. But surely you have friends _somewhere_?"
+
+Again Bernardine shook her head, replying, forlornly:
+
+"Not one on earth. Papa and I lived only for each other."
+
+The policeman looked down thoughtfully for a moment. He said to himself
+that he ought to try to save her from the fate which he was certain lay
+before her.
+
+"I suppose he left you without a cent, the scoundrel?" he queried,
+brusquely.
+
+"Oh, don't speak of him harshly!" cried Bernardine, distressedly. "I am
+sure something has happened to prevent his coming. He left his
+pocket-book with me, and there is considerable money in it."
+
+"Ah! the scoundrel had a little more heart than I gave him credit for,"
+thought the policeman.
+
+He did not take the trouble to ask the name of the man whom she believed
+had wedded her, being certain that he had given a fictitious one to her.
+
+"There is a boarding-house just two blocks from here, that I would
+advise you to go to for the night, at least, young lady," he said, "and
+if he comes I will send him around there. I can not miss him if he
+comes, for I will be on this beat, pacing up and down, until seven
+o'clock to-morrow morning. See, the rain has commenced to come down
+pretty hard. Come!"
+
+There was nothing else to do but accept the kind policeman's suggestion.
+As it was, by the time she reached the house to which he good-naturedly
+piloted her, the fierce storm was raging in earnest.
+
+He spoke a few words, which Bernardine could not catch, to the
+white-haired, benevolent-looking lady who opened the door.
+
+She turned to the girl with outstretched hands.
+
+"Come right in, my dear," she said, gently; "come right in."
+
+"I was waiting for my husband, but somehow I missed him," explained
+Bernardine. "The policeman will be sure to run across him and send him
+around here."
+
+The lady looked pityingly at the beautiful young face--a look that made
+Bernardine a little nervous, though there was nothing but gentleness and
+kindness in it.
+
+"We will talk about that in the morning," she said. "I will show you to
+a room. The house is quite full just now, and I shall have to put you in
+a room with another young girl. Pardon the question, but have you had
+your supper?"
+
+"No," replied Bernardine, frankly, "and I am hungry and fatigued."
+
+"I will send you up a bowl of bread and milk, and a cup of nice hot
+tea," said the lady.
+
+"How good you are to me, a perfect stranger!" murmured Bernardine. "I
+will be glad to pay you for the tea and----"
+
+The lady held up her white hand with a slow gesture.
+
+"We do not take pay for any services we render here, my dear," she said.
+"This is a young girls' temporary shelter, kept up by a few of the very
+wealthy women in this great city."
+
+Bernardine was very much surprised to hear this; but before she could
+reply, the lady threw open a door to the right, and Bernardine was
+ushered into a plain but scrupulously neat apartment in which sat a
+young girl of apparently her own age.
+
+"Sleep here in peace, comfort and security," said the lady. "I will have
+a talk with you on the morrow," and she closed the door softly, leaving
+Bernardine alone with the young girl at the window, who had faced about
+and was regarding her eagerly.
+
+"I am awfully glad you are come," she broke in quickly; "it was terribly
+slow occupying this room all alone, as I told the matron awhile ago. It
+seems she took pity on me and sent you here. But why don't you sit down,
+girl? You look at me as though you were not particularly struck with my
+face, and took a dislike to me at first sight, as most people do."
+
+She was correct in her surmise. Bernardine _had_ taken a dislike to her,
+she scarcely knew why.
+
+Bernardine forgot her own trials and anxiety in listening to the
+sorrowful story of this hapless creature.
+
+"Why don't you try to find work in some other factory or some shop?"
+asked Bernardine, earnestly.
+
+"My clothes are so shabby, my appearance is against me. No one wants to
+employ a girl whose dress is all tatters."
+
+A sudden thought came to Bernardine, and she acted on the impulse.
+
+"Here," she said, pulling out her pocket-book--"here is ten dollars. Get
+a dress, and try to find work. The money is not a loan; it is a gift."
+
+The girl had hardly heard the words, ere a cry of amazement fell from
+her lips. She was eyeing the well-filled pocket-book with a burning
+gaze.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+
+The girl took the money which Bernardine handed to her, her eyes
+following every movement of the white hand that placed the wallet back
+in her pocket.
+
+"You must be rich to have so much money about you," she said, slowly,
+with a laugh that grated harshly on Bernardine's sensitive ears.
+
+"It is not mine," said Bernardine, simply; "it is my husband's, and
+represents all the years of toil he has worked, and all the rigid
+economy he has practiced."
+
+The girl looked at her keenly. Could it be that she was simple enough to
+believe that the man who had deserted her so cruelly had _married_ her?
+Well, let her believe what she chose, it was no business of hers.
+
+The bowl of bread and milk and the cup of tea were sent up to
+Bernardine, and she disposed of them with a heartiness that amused her
+companion.
+
+"I am afraid you will not sleep well after eating so late," she said,
+with a great deal of anxiety in her voice.
+
+"I shall rest all the better for taking the hot milk. I fall asleep
+generally as soon as my head touches the pillow, and I do not wake until
+the next morning. Why, if the house tumbled down around me, I believe
+that I would not know it. I will remove my jacket, to keep it from
+wrinkling."
+
+This information seemed to please her companion. She breathed a sigh of
+relief, and an ominous glitter crept into her small black eyes.
+
+"But I do not want to go to sleep to-night," added Bernardine in the
+next breath. "I shall sit by the window, with my face pressed against
+the pane, watching for my--my husband."
+
+Her companion, who had introduced herself as Margery Brown, cried out
+hastily:
+
+"Don't do that. You will look like a washed-out, wilted flower by
+to-morrow, if you do, and your--your husband won't like that. Men only
+care for women when they are fresh and fair. Go to bed, and I will sit
+up and watch for you, and wake you when he comes; though it's my
+opinion he won't come until to-morrow, for fear of disturbing you."
+
+But Bernardine was firm in her resolve.
+
+"He may come any minute," she persisted, drawing her chair close to the
+window, and peering wistfully out into the storm.
+
+But a tired feeling, caused by the great excitement She had undergone
+that day, at length began to tell upon her, and her eyes drooped wearily
+in spite of her every effort to keep them open, and at last, little by
+little, they closed, and the long, dark, curling lashes, heavy with
+unshed tears, lay still upon the delicately rounded cheeks.
+
+Margery Brown bent forward, watching her eagerly.
+
+"Asleep at last," she muttered, rising from her seat and crossing the
+room with a stealthy, cat-like movement, until she reached Bernardine's
+side.
+
+Bending over her, she laid her hand lightly on her shoulder.
+
+Bernardine stirred uneasily, muttering something in her, sleep about
+"loving him so fondly," the last of the sentence ending in a troubled
+sigh.
+
+"They used to tell me that I had the strange gift of being able to
+mesmerize people," she muttered. "We will see if I can do it _now_. I'll
+try it."
+
+Standing before Bernardine, she made several passes with her hands
+before the closed eyelids. They trembled slightly, but did not open.
+Again and again those hands waved to and fro before Bernardine with the
+slowness and regularity of a pendulum.
+
+"Ah, ha!" she muttered at length under her breath, "she sleeps sound
+enough now."
+
+She laid her hand heavily on Bernardine's breast. The gentle breathing
+did not abate, and with a slow movement the hand slid down to the pocket
+of her dress, fumbled about the folds for a moment, then reappeared,
+tightly clutching the well-filled wallet.
+
+"You can sleep on as comfortably as you like now, my innocent little
+fool!" she muttered. "Good-night, and good-bye to you."
+
+Hastily donning Bernardine's jacket and hat, the girl stole noiselessly
+from the room, closing the door softly after her.
+
+So exhausted was Bernardine, she did not awaken until the sunshine,
+drifting into her face in a flood of golden light, forced the long black
+lashes to open.
+
+For an instant she was bewildered as she sat up in her chair, looking
+about the small white room; but in a moment she remembered all that had
+transpired.
+
+She saw that she was the sole occupant of the apartment, and concluded
+her room-mate must have gone to breakfast; but simultaneously with this
+discovery, she saw that her jacket and hat were missing.
+
+She was mystified at first, loath to believe that her companion could
+have appropriated them, and left the torn and ragged articles she saw
+hanging in their place.
+
+As she arose from her chair, she discovered that her pocket was hanging
+inside out, and that the pocket-book was gone!
+
+For an instant she was fairly paralyzed. Then the white lips broke into
+a scream that brought the matron, who was just passing the door, quickly
+to her side.
+
+In a hysterical voice, quite as soon as she could command herself to
+articulate the words, she told the good woman what had happened.
+
+The matron listened attentively.
+
+"I never dreamed that you had money about you my poor child," she said,
+"or I would have suggested your leaving it with me. I worried afterward
+about putting you in this room with Margaret Brown; but we were full,
+and there was no help for it. That is her great fault. She is not
+honest. We knew that, but when she appealed to me for a night's lodging,
+I could not turn her away. The front door is never locked, and those who
+come here can leave when they like. We found it standing open this
+morning, and we felt something was wrong."
+
+But Bernardine did not hear the last of the sentence. With a cry she
+fell to the floor at the matron's feet in a death-like swoon.
+
+Kind hands raised her, placed her on the couch, and administered to her;
+but when at length the dark eyes opened, there was no glance of
+recognition in them, and the matron knew, even before she called the
+doctor, that she had a case of brain fever before her.
+
+This indeed proved to be a fact, and it was many a long week ere a
+knowledge of events transpiring around her came to Bernardine.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+During the interim, dear reader, we will follow the fortunes of Jay
+Gardiner, the young husband for whom Bernardine had watched and waited
+in vain.
+
+When he was picked up unconscious after the collision, he was recognized
+by some of the passengers and conveyed to his own office.
+
+It seemed that he had sustained a serious scalp-wound and the doctors
+who had been called in consultation looked anxiously into each other's
+faces.
+
+"A delicate operation will be necessary," said the most experienced
+physician, "and whether it will result in life or death, I can not say."
+
+They recommended that his relatives, if he had any, be sent for. It was
+soon ascertained that his mother and sister were in Europe, traveling
+about the Continent. The next person equally, if indeed not more
+interested, was the young lady he was betrothed to marry--Miss
+Pendleton. Accordingly, she was sent for with all possible haste.
+
+A servant bearing a message for Sally entered the room.
+
+The girl's hands trembled. She tore the envelope open quickly, and as
+her eyes traveled over the contents of the note, she gave a loud scream.
+
+"Jay Gardiner has met with an accident, and I am sent for. Ah! that is
+why I have not heard from him for a week, mamma!" she exclaimed,
+excitedly.
+
+"I will go with you, my dear," declared her mother. "It wouldn't be
+proper for you to go alone. Make your toilet at once."
+
+To the messenger's annoyance, the young lady he was sent for kept him
+waiting nearly an hour, and he was startled, a little later, to see the
+vision of blonde loveliness that came hurrying down the broad stone
+steps in the wake of her mother.
+
+"Beautiful, but she has no heart," was his mental opinion. "Very few
+girls would have waited an hour, knowing their lover lay at the point of
+death. But it's none of my business, though I _do_ wish noble young
+Doctor Gardiner had made a better selection for a wife."
+
+The cab whirled rapidly on, and soon reached Doctor Gardiner's office.
+
+Sally looked a little frightened, and turned pale under her rouge when
+she saw the group of grave-faced physicians evidently awaiting her
+arrival.
+
+"Our patient has recovered consciousness," said one of them, taking her
+by the hand and leading her forward. "He is begging pitifully to see
+some one--of course, it must be yourself--some one who is waiting for
+him."
+
+"Of course," repeated Sally. "There is no one he would be so interested
+in seeing as myself."
+
+And quite alone, she entered the inner apartment where Jay Gardiner lay
+hovering between life and death.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+
+The room into which Sally Pendleton was ushered was so dimly lighted
+that she was obliged to take the second glance about ere she could
+distinguish where the couch was on which Jay Gardiner lay. The next
+moment she was bending over him, crying and lamenting so loudly that the
+doctors waiting outside were obliged to go to her and tell her that this
+outburst might prove fatal to their patient in that critical hour.
+
+Jay Gardiner was looking up at her with dazed eyes. He recognized her,
+uttered her name.
+
+"Was it to-night that I left your house, after settling when the
+marriage was to take place?" he asked.
+
+Miss Pendleton humored the idea by answering "Yes," instead of telling
+him that the visit he referred to had taken place several weeks before.
+
+"To-day was to have been our wedding-day," she sobbed, "and now you are
+ill--very ill. But, Jay," she whispered, bending down and uttering the
+words rapidly in his ear, "it could take place just the same, here and
+now, if you are willing. I sent a note to a minister to come here, and
+he may arrive at any moment. When he comes, shall I speak to him about
+it?"
+
+He did not answer; he was trying to remember something, trying, oh, so
+hard, to remember something that lay like a weight on his mind.
+
+Heaven help him! the past was entirely blotted out of his memory!
+
+He recollected leaving Miss Pendleton's house after setting the date for
+his marriage with her, but beyond that evening the world was a blank to
+him.
+
+He never remembered that there were such people as David Moore, the
+basket-maker, and a beautiful girl, his daughter Bernardine, to whom he
+had lost his heart, and whom he had wedded, and that she was now waiting
+for him. His mind was to be a blank upon all that for many a day to
+come.
+
+"What do you say, Jay?" repeated Miss Pendleton; "will not the ceremony
+take place to-day, as we had intended?"
+
+"They tell me I am very ill, Sally," he whispered. "I--I may be dying.
+Do you wish the ceremony to take place in the face of that fact?"
+
+"Yes," she persisted. "I want you to keep your solemn vow that you would
+make me your wife; and--and delays are dangerous."
+
+"Then it shall be as you wish," he murmured, faintly, in an almost
+inaudible voice, the effort to speak being so great as to cause him to
+almost lose consciousness.
+
+Sally stepped quickly from Jay's beside out into the adjoining room.
+
+"Mr. Gardiner wishes our marriage to take place here and now," she
+announced. "A minister will be here directly. When he arrives, please
+show him to Doctor Gardiner's bedside."
+
+Mamma Pendleton smiled and nodded her approval in a magnificent way as
+she caught her daughter's eye for a second. The doctors looked at one
+another in alarm.
+
+"I do not see how it can take place just now, Miss Pendleton," said one,
+quietly. "We have a very dangerous and difficult operation to perform
+upon your betrothed, and each moment it is delayed reduces his chance of
+recovery. We must put him under chloroform without an instant's delay."
+
+"And I say that it shall not be done until after the marriage ceremony
+has been performed," declared Sally, furiously; adding, spitefully: "You
+want to cheat me out of becoming Jay Gardiner's wife. But I defy you!
+you can not do it! He _shall_ marry me, in spite of you all!"
+
+At that moment there was a commotion outside. The minister had arrived.
+
+Sally herself rushed forward to meet him ere the doctors could have an
+opportunity to exchange a word with him, and conducted him at once to
+the sick man's bedside, explaining that her lover had met with an
+accident, and that he wished to be married to her without a moment's
+delay.
+
+"I shall be only too pleased to serve you both," replied the good man.
+
+"You must make haste, sir," urged Miss Pendleton sharply. "See, he is
+beginning to sink."
+
+The minister did make haste. Never before were those solemn words so
+rapidly uttered.
+
+How strange it was that fate should have let that ceremony go on to the
+end which would spread ruin and desolation before it!
+
+The last words were uttered. The minister of God slowly but solemnly
+pronounced Sally Pendleton Jay Gardiner's lawfully wedded wife.
+
+The doctors did not congratulate the bride, but sprung to the assistance
+of the young physician, who had fallen back upon his pillow gasping for
+breath.
+
+One held a sponge saturated with a strong liquid to his nostrils, while
+another escorted the minister, the bride, and her mother from the
+apartment.
+
+"Remain in this room as quietly as possible," urged the doctor, in a
+whisper, "and I will let you know at the earliest possible moment
+whether it will be life or death with your husband, Mrs. Gardiner."
+
+At last the door quickly opened, and two of the doctors stood on the
+threshold.
+
+"Well, doctor," she cried, looking from one to the other, "what tidings
+do you bring me? Am I a wife or a widow?"
+
+"Five minutes' time will decide that question, madame," said one,
+impressively. "We have performed the operation. It rests with a Higher
+Power whether it will be life or death."
+
+And the doctor who had spoken took out his watch, and stood motionless
+as a statue while it ticked off the fatal minutes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+
+Sally Pendleton and her mother watched their faces keenly.
+
+The time is up. They open the inner door reluctantly. The two doctors,
+bending over their patient, look up with a smile.
+
+"The heart still beats," they whisper. "He will live."
+
+And this is the intelligence that is carried out to the young bride, the
+words breaking in upon her in the midst of her selfish calculations.
+
+She did not love Jay Gardiner. Any genuine passion in her breast had
+been coolly nipped in the bud by his indifference, which had stung her
+to the quick.
+
+She could not make him jealous. She knew that he would have been only
+too relieved if she had fallen in love with some one else, and had been
+taken off his hands.
+
+He always treated her in a cool, lordly manner--a manner that always
+impressed her with his superiority. She was obliged to acknowledge him
+her master; she could never make him her slave.
+
+And now he was to live, and she was his wife. She would share his
+magnificent home, all the grandeur that his position would bring to her.
+She had been brought up to regard money as the one aim of existence.
+Money she must have. She coveted power, and she was girl of the world
+enough to know that money meant power.
+
+"Yes, he will live; but whether he will gain his full reasoning powers
+is a matter the future alone can decide," the doctors declare.
+
+Two long months, and Doctor Gardiner is slowly convalescing. His young
+wife flits about the room, a veritable dream in her dainty lace-trimmed
+house-gowns, baby pink ribbons tying back her yellow curls. But he looks
+away from her toward the window with a weary sigh.
+
+He has married her, and he tells himself over and over again, that he
+must make the best of it. But "making the best of it" is indeed a bitter
+pill, for she is not his style of woman.
+
+During the time he has been convalescing, he has been studying her, and
+as one trait after another unfolds itself, he wonders how it will all
+end.
+
+He sees she has a passionate craving for the admiration of men. She
+makes careful toilets in which to receive his friends when they call to
+inquire after his health; and last, but not least, she has taken to the
+wheel, and actually appears before him in bloomers.
+
+What would his haughty old mother and his austere sister say when they
+learned this?
+
+There had been quite an argument between the young husband and Sally on
+the day he received his mother's letter informing him of her return from
+abroad, and her intense amazement at his hasty marriage.
+
+"I had always hoped to persuade you to let _me_ pick out a wife for you,
+Jay, my darling son," she wrote. "I can only hope you have chosen wisely
+when you took the reins into your own hands. Come and make us a visit,
+and bring your wife with you. We are very anxious to meet her."
+
+Sally frowned as he read the letter aloud.
+
+Never in the world were two united who were so unsuited to each other.
+Why did the fates that are supposed to have the love affairs of mortals
+in charge, allow the wrong man to marry the wrong woman?
+
+There was one thing over which Sally was exceedingly jubilant, and that
+was his loss of memory. That he had known such a person as Bernardine
+Moore, the old basket-maker's beautiful daughter, was entirely
+obliterated from his mind.
+
+Some one had mentioned the great tenement-house fire in Jay Gardiner's
+presence, and the fact that quite a quaint character, a tipsy
+basket-maker, had lost his life therein, but the young doctor looked up
+without the slightest gleam of memory drifting through his brain. Not
+even when the person who was telling him the story went on to say that
+the great fire accomplished one good result, however, and that was the
+wiping out of the wine-house of Jasper Wilde & Son.
+
+"Wilde--Jasper Wilde! It seems to me that I have heard that name before
+in connection with some unpleasant transaction," said Doctor Gardiner,
+slowly.
+
+"Oh, no doubt. You've probably read the name in the papers connected
+with some street brawl. Jasper Wilde, the son, is a well-dressed tough."
+
+"Before going to see your mother, why not spend a few weeks at Newport
+with Sally," suggested Mrs. Pendleton to the doctor. "You know she has
+not been away on her wedding-trip yet."
+
+He laughed a dry, mirthless laugh.
+
+"She can go if she likes," he replied. "I can endure it."
+
+Mrs. Pendleton bit her lip to keep back the angry retort, but wisely
+made no reply.
+
+"It will never do to have the least disagreement with my wealthy,
+haughty son-in-law, if I can help it," she said to herself. "Especially
+as my husband is in such sore straits, and may have to come to him for a
+loan any day."
+
+The following week Jay Gardiner and his bride reached Newport. The
+season was at its height. Yachts crowded the harbor; the hotels were
+filled to overflowing; every one who intended going to Newport was there
+now, and all seemed carried away on the eddying current of pleasure.
+
+Young Mrs. Gardiner--_n嶪_ the pretty Sally Pendleton--plunged into the
+vortex of pleasure, and if her greed for admiration was not satisfied
+with the attention she received, it never would be.
+
+Young Mrs. Gardiner knew no restraint. Her society was everywhere sought
+after. She was courted in every direction, and she took it all as her
+just due, by virtue of her marriage with the handsome millionaire, whom
+all the married belles were envying her, sighing to one another:
+
+"Oh! how handsome he is--how elegant! and what a lordly manner he has!
+But, best of all, he lets his wife do just as she pleases."
+
+But the older and wiser ones shook their heads sagaciously, declaring
+they scented danger afar off.
+
+Little did they dream that the terrible calamity was nearer than they
+had anticipated.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+
+Although, outwardly, young Mrs. Gardiner and her handsome husband lived
+ideal lives, yet could one have taken a peep behind the scenes, they
+would have seen that all was not gold that glittered.
+
+In their own apartments, out of sight of the world's sharp eyes, Jay
+Gardiner and his wife used each other with the scantest possible
+courtesy. He never descended to the vulgarity of having words with her,
+though she did her utmost to provoke him to quarrel, saying to herself
+that anything was better than that dead calm, that haughty way he had of
+completely ignoring her in his elegant apartments.
+
+During what every one believed to be the most blissful of honey-moons,
+Sally learned to hate her proud husband with a deadly hatred.
+
+On the evening Mr. Victor Lamont made his appearance at the Ocean House,
+there was to be a grand ball given in honor of the guests, and, as every
+one had hoped, Mr. Lamont strolled in during the course of the evening,
+accompanied by mine host, who was over head and ears with delight in
+having such an honored guest stopping at his hotel.
+
+Scores of girlish eyes brightened as they entered the arched door-way,
+and scores of hearts beat expectantly under pretty lace bodices. But
+their disappointment was great when this handsome Apollo glanced them
+all over critically, but did not ask any of them out to dance, and all
+the best waltzes were being then played.
+
+Victor Lamont seemed quite indifferent to their shy glances.
+
+During this time he was keeping up quite an animated conversation with
+his host, who was telling him, with pride, that _this_ pretty girl was
+Miss This, and that pretty girl Miss So-and-So. But Victor Lamont would
+sooner have known who their fathers were.
+
+At length, as his eyes traveled about the great ball-room with
+business-like carefulness, his gaze fell upon a slender figure in rose
+pink and fairly covered with diamonds. They blazed like ropes of fire
+about the white throat and on the slender arms; they twinkled like
+immense stars from the shell-like ears and coyly draped bosom, and rose
+in a great tiara over the highly piled blonde hair.
+
+She was standing under a great palm-tree, its green branches forming
+just the background that was needed to perfect the dainty picture in
+pink.
+
+She was surrounded as usual by a group of admirers. Victor Lamont's
+indifference vanished. He was interested at last.
+
+"Who is the young lady under the palm directly opposite?" he asked,
+quickly.
+
+"The belle of Newport," was the reply. "Shall I present you?"
+
+"I should be delighted," was the quick response. Instantly rebellion
+rose in the heart of every girl in the room, and resentment showed in
+scores of flushed cheeks and angry eyes as the hero of the evening was
+led over to pretty Sally Gardiner.
+
+No wonder they watched him with dismay. From the moment graceful Mr.
+Lamont was presented to her, he made no attempt to disguise how
+completely he was smitten by her.
+
+"That is a delightful waltz," he said, bending over the little hand as
+the dance music struck up.
+
+Sally bowed, and placed a dainty little hand lightly on his shoulder,
+his arm encircled the slender waist, and away they went whirling through
+the bewildering stretch of ball-room, a cloud of pink and flashing
+diamonds, the curly blonde head and the blonde, mustached face
+dangerously near each other.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+
+If young Mrs. Gardiner heard the ominous whispers on all sides of her,
+regarding her open flirtation with handsome Victor Lamont, she did not
+heed them. She meant to show the haughty husband whom she had learned to
+hate with such a deadly hatred, that other men would show her attention.
+
+The world owed her pleasure, a good time, and love by right of her youth
+and beauty, and she meant to have them at whatever cost.
+
+Victor Lamont struck her fancy. He was gay, debonair, and was certainly
+in love with her; and, in open defiance of the consequences, she rushed
+madly on, in her quest of pleasure, toward the precipice covered with
+flowers that was yawning to receive her.
+
+The beginning of the end came in a very strange way. One evening there
+was a grand hop at the Ocean House. It was one of the most brilliant
+affairs of the season. The magnificent ball-room was crowded to
+overflowing with beauty and fashion. Every one who was any one in all
+gay Newport was present. Jay Gardiner had been suddenly called away to
+attend to some very important business in Boston, and consequently would
+not be able to attend. But that made no difference about Sally's going;
+indeed, it was a relief to her to know that he would not be there.
+
+It occasioned no surprise, even though comments of disapproval waged
+louder than ever, when the beautiful young Mrs. Gardiner, the married
+belle of the ball, entered, leaning upon Victor Lamont's arm.
+
+Those who saw her whispered one to another that the reigning beauty of
+Newport quite surpassed herself to-night--that even the buds had better
+look to their laurels. The maids and the matrons, even the gentlemen,
+looked askance when they saw Victor Lamont and young Mrs. Gardiner dance
+every dance together, and the murmur of stern disapproval grew louder.
+
+At last, the couple was missed from the ball-room altogether. Some one
+reported having seen them strolling up and down the beach in the
+moonlight. There was no mistaking the tall, broad-shouldered, handsome
+Englishman, and the trim, dainty little figure in fleecy white, with the
+ermine wrap thrown over the pretty plump shoulders and round neck, on
+which rare diamonds, that would have paid a king's ransom, gleamed
+fitfully whenever the sportive breeze tossed back the ermine wrap.
+
+Victor Lamont's fickle fancy for his companion had been a short-lived
+one. Like all male flirts, he soon tired of his conquests, and longed
+for new fields and new faces. He was considering this matter, when he
+received a letter that set him thinking. It was from his boon companion,
+Egremont, who was doing Long Branch.
+
+There were four pages, written in cipher, which only Lamont could
+understand. The last one read as follows:
+
+     "Report has it that you are head and ears in love with
+     a married beauty, and are carrying on a very open
+     flirtation. Egad! my boy, that will never do. You have
+     no time to waste in sentiment over other men's wives.
+     You went to Newport with the avowed intention of
+     capturing an heiress--some widow's daughter.
+
+     "You know how we stand as regards money. Money we must
+     get somehow, some way--_any way_. We must realize five
+     thousand dollars to save Hal, between now and this day
+     week. It remains for you to think of some way to obtain
+     it. If Hal peached on us, we would go up along with
+     him, so, you see, the money _must_ be raised somehow.
+
+     "My fall on the day I landed here, laying me up with a
+     sprained ankle, was an unfortunate affair, for it
+     prevented me from making the harvest we counted on. So
+     everything falls on your shoulders.
+
+     "You must have learned by this time who is who, and
+     where they keep their jewels and pocket-books. If I am
+     able to get about, I will run over to see you on
+     Saturday next. Two or three of our friends will
+     accompany me.
+
+     "Yours in haste,
+
+     "EGREMONT."
+
+The day appointed saw three men alight from the early morning train.
+They had occupied different cars, and swung off onto the platform from
+different places. But the old policeman, who had done duty at the
+station of the famous watering-place for nearly two decades, noted them
+at once with his keen, experienced eye.
+
+"A trio of crooks," he muttered, looking after them. "I can tell it from
+their shifting glances and hitching gait, as though they never could
+break from the habit of the lock-step; I will keep my eye on them."
+
+Although the three men went to different hotels, they had been scarcely
+an hour in Newport before they all assembled in the room of the man who
+had written to Lamont, signing himself Egremont.
+
+"It is deuced strange Victor doesn't come," he said, impatiently. "He
+must have received both my letter and telegram."
+
+At that moment there was a step outside, the door opened, and Victor
+Lamont, the subject of their conversation, strode into the apartment.
+
+"It was a mighty risky step, pals, for you to come to Newport, and,
+above all, to expect me to keep this appointment with you to-day!" he
+exclaimed, excitedly. "Didn't you know that?"
+
+And with that he pulled the door to after him with a bang.
+
+It was nearly two hours ere Victor Lamont, with his hat pulled down over
+his eyes, quitted the hostelry and his companions, and then he went by a
+side entrance, first glancing quickly up and down the street to note if
+there was any one about who would be apt to recognize him.
+
+The coast being apparently clear, he stepped out into the street, walked
+rapidly away, and turned the nearest corner.
+
+"If it could be done!" he muttered, under his breath. "The chance is a
+desperate one, but, as Egremont says, we must raise money _somehow_.
+Well, it's a pretty daring scheme; but I am in for it, if the pretty
+little beauty can be induced to stroll on the beach to-night."
+
+Night had come, and to Victor Lamont's great delight, he received a
+pretty, cream-tinted, sweet-scented, monogrammed note from Sally
+Gardiner, saying that she would be pleased to accept his escort that
+evening, and would meet him in the reception-room an hour later.
+
+Lamont's eyes sparkled with joy as he saw her, for she was resplendent
+in a dream of white lace, and wore all her magnificent diamonds.
+
+He was obliged to promenade and dance with her for an hour or so,
+although he knew his companions would be waiting with the utmost
+impatience on the shore.
+
+When he proposed the stroll, he looked at her keenly, his lips apart,
+intense eagerness in his voice.
+
+To his great relief, she acquiesced at once.
+
+"Though," she added, laughingly, "I do not suppose it would be as safe
+to wear all my diamonds on the beach as it would be if we just
+promenaded the piazza."
+
+"It would be a thousand times more romantic," he whispered, his glance
+thrilling her through and through, his hand tightening over the little
+one resting on his arm.
+
+And so, as the moth follows the flickering, dancing flame, foolish Sally
+Gardiner, without a thought of danger, took the arm of the handsome
+stranger whom she had known but a few short weeks, and sauntered out
+upon the beach with him.
+
+There were hundreds of promenaders, and no one noticed them
+particularly.
+
+On and on they walked, Lamont whispering soft, sweet nothings into her
+foolish ears, until they had left most of the throng far behind them.
+
+"Hack, sir!--hack to ride up and down the beach!" exclaimed a man,
+stopping a pair of mettlesome horses almost directly in front of them.
+
+Victor Lamont appeared to hesitate an instant; but in that instant he
+and the driver had exchanged meaning glances.
+
+"Shall we not ride up and down, instead of walking?" suggested Lamont,
+eagerly. "I--I have something to tell you, and I may never have such an
+opportunity again. We can ride down as far as the light-house on the
+point, and back. Do not refuse me so slight a favor, I beg of you."
+
+If she had stopped to consider, even for one instant, she would have
+declined the invitation; but, almost before she had decided whether she
+should say yes or no, Victor Lamont had lifted her in his strong arms,
+placed her in the cab, and sprung in after her.
+
+Pretty, jolly Sally Gardiner looked a trifle embarrassed.
+
+"Oh, how imprudent, Mr. Lamont!" she cried, clinging to his arm, as the
+full consciousness of the situation seemed to occur to her. "We had
+better get out, and walk back to the Ocean House."
+
+But it was too late for objections. The driver had already whipped up
+his horses, and instead of creeping wearily along, after the fashion of
+tired hack horses, they flew down the beach like the wind.
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Gardiner--Sally!" cried Victor Lamont, in a voice apparently
+husky with emotion, "the memory of this ride will be with me while life
+lasts!"
+
+Victor Lamont's voice died away in a hoarse whisper; the hand which
+caught and held her own closed tighter over it, and the hoarse murmur of
+the sea seemed further and further away.
+
+Sally Gardiner seemed only conscious of one thing--that Victor Lamont
+loved her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+
+For a moment the words falling so passionately from the lips of the
+handsome man sitting beside her, the spell of the moonlight, and the
+murmur of the waves, seemed to lock her senses in a delicious dream. But
+the dream lasted only a moment. In the next, she had recovered herself.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Lamont, we must--we must get right out and walk back to the
+hotel! What if any one should see us riding together? Jay would be sure
+to hear of it, and there would be trouble in store for both of us."
+
+"It is all in a life-time," he murmured. "Can you not be happy here with
+me----"
+
+But she broke away from his detaining hand in alarm. She had been guilty
+of an imprudent flirtation; but she had meant nothing more. She had
+drifted into this delusive friendship and companionship without so much
+as bothering her pretty golden head about how it would end. Now she was
+just beginning to see how foolish she had been--when this handsome
+stranger could be nothing to her--nothing.
+
+"We must not ride any further," she declared. "Give orders for the coach
+to stop right here, Mr. Lamont."
+
+"It is too late, dear lady," he gasped. "The horses are running away!
+For God's sake, don't attempt to scream or to jump, or you will be
+killed!"
+
+With a wild sob of terror, Sally flung herself down on her knees, and
+the lips that had never yet said, "God be praised," cried "God be
+merciful!"
+
+"Don't make such a confounded noise!" exclaimed Lamont, attempting to
+lift her again to the seat beside him. "We won't get hurt if you only
+keep quiet. The driver is doing his best to get control of the horses.
+They can't keep up this mad pace much longer, and will be obliged to
+stop from sheer exhaustion."
+
+After what appeared to be an age to the terrified young woman crouching
+there in such utter fright, the vehicle stopped short with a sharp thud
+and a lurch forward that would have thrown Sally upon her face, had not
+her companion reached forward and caught her.
+
+"Well, driver," called out Lamont, as he thrust open the door and looked
+out, "here's a pretty go, isn't it? Turn right around, and go back as
+quickly as your horses can take us!"
+
+"I am awfully sorry to say that I won't be able to obey your order,
+sir," replied the man on the box, with a slight cough. "We've had an
+accident. The horses are dead lame, and we've had a serious break-down,
+and that, too, when we are over thirty miles from Newport. Confound the
+luck!"
+
+Sally had been listening to this conversation, and as the driver's words
+fell on her ears, she was filled with consternation and alarm. Her
+tongue cleaved to the roof of her mouth, and her eyes nearly jumped from
+their sockets.
+
+Miles away from the Ocean House, and she in those white kid slippers!
+How in the name of Heaven was she to get back? Jay Gardiner would return
+on the midnight train, and when he found she was not there, he would
+institute a search for her, and some one of the scouting party would
+find her in that broken-down coach by the road-side, with Victor Lamont
+as her companion.
+
+She dared not think what would happen then. Perhaps there would be a
+duel; perhaps, in his anger, Jay Gardiner might turn his weapon upon
+herself. And she sobbed out in still wilder affright as she pictured the
+scene in her mind.
+
+"There is but one thing to be done. You will have to ride one of your
+horses back to Newport, and bring out a team to fetch us back," declared
+Victor Lamont, with well-simulated impatience and anger.
+
+"That I could do, sir," replied the man, "and you and the lady could
+make yourselves as comfortable as possible in the coach."
+
+"Bring back some vehicle to get us into Newport before midnight, and
+I'll give you the price of your horse," cried Victor Lamont in an
+apparently eager voice.
+
+"All right, sir," replied the driver. "I'll do my best."
+
+And in a trice he was off, as Sally supposed, on his mission. She had
+listened, with chattering teeth, to all that had been said.
+
+"Oh, goodness gracious! Mr. Lamont," she asked, "why are you peering out
+of the coach window? Do you see--or hear--anybody?"
+
+He did not attempt to take her hand or talk sentimental nonsense to her
+now. That was not part of the business he had before him.
+
+"Do not be unnecessarily frightened," he murmured; "but I fancied--mind,
+I only say fancied--that I heard cautious footsteps creeping over the
+fallen leaves. Perhaps it was a rabbit, you know--a stray dog, or
+mischievous squirrel."
+
+Sally was clutching at his arm in wild affright.
+
+"I--I heard the same noise, too!" she cried, with bated breath, "and,
+oh! Mr. Lamont, it _did_ sound like a footstep creeping cautiously
+toward us! I was just about to speak to you of it."
+
+Five, ten minutes passed in utter silence. Victor Lamont made no effort
+to talk to her. This was one of the times when talking sentiment would
+not have been diplomatic.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Lamont!" cried Sally, clinging to him in the greatest terror, "I
+am sure we both could not have been mistaken. There _is_ some one skulking
+about under the shadow of those trees--one--two--three--persons; I see
+them distinctly."
+
+"You are right," he whispered, catching her trembling, death-cold hands
+in his, and adding, with a groan of despair: "Heaven help us! what can
+we do? Without a weapon of any kind, I am no match for a trio of
+desperadoes!"
+
+Young Mrs. Gardiner was too terrified to reply. She could not have
+uttered a word if her life had depended upon it.
+
+At that instant the vehicle was surrounded by three masked figures. The
+light from a bull's-eye lantern was flashed in Sally's face as the door
+was thrown violently back, and a harsh voice cried out, as a rough hand
+grasped her:
+
+"Just hand over those jewels, lady, and be nimble, too, or we'll tear
+'em off you! Egg, you relieve the gent of his money and valuables."
+
+"Help! help! help!" cried Sally, struggling frantically; but the man who
+had hold of her arm only laughed, declaring she had a good pair of
+lungs.
+
+Victor Lamont made a pretense of making a valiant struggle to come to
+her rescue. But what could he do, with two revolvers held close to his
+head, but stand and deliver.
+
+Then the magnificent Gardiner diamonds, with their slender golden
+fastenings, were torn from her, and were soon pocketed by the desperado,
+who had turned a revolver upon her.
+
+"Thanks, and good-bye, fair lady," laughed the trio, retreating.
+
+But Sally had not heard. She had fallen back on the seat of the coach in
+a dead faint.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+
+Seeing that his victim had lost consciousness, the man paused in his
+work, and turned around to Lamont with a loud laugh.
+
+"A capital night's work," he declared. "You ought to have made good your
+time by having three or four simpletons like this one, who wears
+expensive jewels, fall in love with you."
+
+It was fully an hour after Victor Lamont's accomplices--for such they
+were--had retreated, that Sally opened her eyes to consciousness.
+
+For a moment she was dazed. Where was she? This was certainly not her
+room at the Ocean House.
+
+In an instant all the terrible scenes she had passed through recurred to
+her. She was in the cab--_alone_! With a spasmodic gesture, she caught
+at her neck. Ah, Heaven! the diamond necklace, all her jewels, were
+indeed gone!
+
+With a cry that was like nothing human, she sprung to her feet, and at
+that moment she heard a deep groan outside, and she realized that it
+must be Victor Lamont. Perhaps they had hurt him; perhaps he was dying.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Lamont," she cried out in agony, "where are you?" and waited
+breathlessly for his response.
+
+"Here," he groaned; "bound fast hand and foot to the wheel of the cab.
+Can you come to my aid?"
+
+With feet that trembled under her, and hands shaking like aspen leaves,
+she made her way to him, crying out that her diamonds were gone.
+
+"How shall I ever forgive myself for this night's work!" he cried. "Oh,
+Mrs. Gardiner--Sally--why don't you abuse me? Why don't you fling it
+into my face that it was all my fault, persuading you to take this ride
+that has ended so fatally? For myself I care not, though I am ruined.
+They have taken every penny I had with me. But it is for you I grieve."
+
+Sally listened, but made no reply. What could she say?
+
+She tried her utmost to undo the great cords which apparently bound her
+companion; but it was quite useless. They were too much for her slender
+fingers.
+
+"Never mind," he said, speaking faintly. "I have borne the torture of
+these ropes cutting into my flesh so many hours now, that I can stand it
+until that cabman returns. I bribed him to return within an hour; but
+his horse is so lame, that will be almost impossible."
+
+"How dark it is!" moaned Sally. "Oh, I am fairly quaking with terror!"
+
+"It is the darkness which precedes the dawn," he remarked; and as he
+uttered the words, he coughed twice.
+
+A moment later, Sally cried out, joyfully:
+
+"Oh, I hear the sound of carriage wheels! That cabman is returning at
+last, thank the fates."
+
+Yes, it was the cabman, who seemed almost overwhelmed with terror when
+he saw the condition of the two passengers, and heard of the robbery
+which had taken place.
+
+"I'll get you back to Newport by daylight, sir," he cried, turning to
+Victor Lamont, "and we can drive direct to the police-station, where you
+can report your great loss."
+
+"No, no, no!" cried Sally, clinging to Lamont's arm, as she imagined
+herself standing before a police magistrate, and trying to tell him the
+story.
+
+"I understand your feelings perfectly," whispered Lamont, pressing her
+arm reassuringly. "The story of our losses must not get out. No, we
+_dare not_ ask the police to help us recover your diamonds and my money,
+because of the consequences."
+
+Wretched Sally was obliged to agree with this line of thinking.
+
+Neither spoke much on that homeward ride. Sally was wondering if she
+would be able to evade suspicion, and gain her rooms unrecognized; and
+Lamont was wondering if the beautiful married flirt realized how
+completely she was in his power.
+
+He had concocted a brilliant scheme, and he meant to put it into
+execution with as little delay as possible.
+
+Jay Gardiner was lavish in giving money to his young wife, and
+he--Lamont--meant to have some of that cash--ay, the most of it. He had
+thought of a clever scheme to obtain it.
+
+The driver was as good as his word this time. He landed them as near to
+the hotel as possible, and that, too, when the early dawn was just
+breaking through the eastern horizon.
+
+With cloak pulled closely about her, and veil drawn close over her face,
+Sally accompanied the driver of the coach to the servants' entrance.
+
+It was not without some shame and confusion that she heard the ignorant
+coachman pass her off as his sweetheart, and ask his brother, the
+night-watchman, to admit her on the sly, as she was one of the girls
+employed in the house.
+
+She fairly flew past them and up the broad stairway, and never paused
+until she reached her own room, threw, open the door, and sprung into
+it, quaking with terror.
+
+Antoinette, her French maid, lay dozing en a velvet couch. She hoped
+that she would be able to slip past her without awakening her; but this
+was destined not to be.
+
+Antoinette heard the door creak, and she was on her feet like a flash.
+
+"Oh, my lady, it is you!" she whispered, marveling much where her
+mistress got such a queer bonnet and cloak. "Let me help you take off
+your wrap. You look pale as death. Are you ill?"
+
+"No, no, Antoinette," replied Mrs. Gardiner, flushing hotly, annoyed
+with herself, the inquisitive maid, and the world in general. But she
+felt that she must make some kind of an excuse, say something. "Yes, I'm
+tired out," she replied, quickly. "I was called away to see a sick
+friend, and had to go just as I was, as there was not a moment to lose."
+
+"You were very prudent, my lady, to remove your magnificent jewels.
+Shall I not take them from your pocket, and replace them in their
+caskets, and lock them safely away?"
+
+"I will attend to them myself, Antoinette," she panted, hoarsely. "Help
+me off with this--this ball-dress, and get me to bed. I am fagged out
+for want of sleep. I do not want any breakfast; do not awake me."
+
+Looking at her mistress keenly from beneath her long lashes, Antoinette
+saw that she was terribly agitated.
+
+Long after the inner door had closed on her, Antoinette sat thinking,
+and muttered, thoughtfully:
+
+"I shall find out where my lady was last night. Trust me to learn her
+secret, and then she will be in my power!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+
+Victor Lamont had been quite correct in his surmise. Jay Gardiner had
+reached Newport several hours later than he had calculated, and had gone
+directly to his own apartments.
+
+He was so tired with his long trip that he would have thrown himself on
+his couch just as he was, had not a letter, addressed to himself,
+staring at him from the mantel, caught his eye, and on the lower
+left-hand corner he observed the words: "Important. Deliver at once."
+
+Mechanically he took it down and tore the envelope. The superscription
+seemed familiar--he had seen that handwriting before.
+
+He looked down at the bottom of the last page, to learn who his
+correspondent was, and saw, with surprise, and not a little annoyance,
+that it was signed "Anonymous."
+
+He was about to crush it in his hand and toss it into the waste-paper
+basket, when it occurred to him that he might as well learn its
+contents.
+
+There were but two pages, and they read as follows:
+
+     "To DOCTOR JAY GARDINER, ESQ., Ocean House, Newport.
+
+     "_Dear Sir_--I know the utter contempt in which any
+     warning given by an anonymous writer is held, but,
+     notwithstanding this, I feel compelled to communicate
+     by this means, that which has become the gossip of
+     Newport--though you appear to be strangely deaf and
+     blind to it.
+
+     "To be as brief as possible, I refer to the conduct of
+     your wife's flirtations, flagrant and above board, with
+     Victor Lamont, the English lord, or duke, or count, or
+     whatever he is. I warn you to open your eyes and look
+     about, and listen a bit, too.
+
+     "When your wife, in defiance of all the proprieties, is
+     seen riding alone with this Lamont at midnight, when
+     you are known to be away, it is time for a stranger to
+     attempt to inform the husband.
+
+     "Yours with respect,
+
+     "AN ANONYMOUS FRIEND."
+
+For some moments after he had finished reading that letter, Jay Gardiner
+sat like one stunned; then slowly he read it again, as though to take in
+more clearly its awful meaning.
+
+"Great God!" he cried out; "can this indeed be true?"
+
+If it was, he wondered that he had not noticed it. Then he recollected,
+with a start of dismay, that since they had been domiciled at the Ocean
+House he had not spent one hour of his time with Sally that could be
+spent elsewhere. He had scarcely noticed her; he had not spoken to her
+more than half a dozen times. He had not only shut her out from his
+heart, but from himself.
+
+He had told himself over and over again that he would have to shun his
+wife or he would hate her.
+
+She had seemed satisfied with this so long as she was supplied with
+money, horses and carriages, laces and diamonds.
+
+Was there any truth in what this anonymous letter stated--that she had
+so far forgotten the proprieties as to ride with this stranger.
+
+He springs from his seat and paces furiously up and down the length of
+the room, the veins standing out on his forehead like whip-cords. He
+forgets that it is almost morning, forgets that he is tired.
+
+He goes straight to his wife's room. He turns the knob, but he can not
+enter for the door is locked. He knocks, but receives no answer, and
+turning away, he enters his own apartment again, to wait another hour.
+Up and down the floor he walks.
+
+Can what he has read be true? Has the girl whom he has married, against
+his will, as it were, made a laughing-stock of him in the eyes of every
+man and woman in Newport? _Dared_ she do it?
+
+He goes out into the hall once more, and is just in time to see his
+wife's French maid returning from breakfast. He pushes past the girl,
+and strides into the inner apartment.
+
+Sally is sitting by the window in a pale-blue silk wrapper wonderfully
+trimmed with billows of rare lace, baby blue ribbons and jeweled
+buckles, her yellow hair falling down over her shoulders in a rippling
+mass of tangled curls.
+
+Jay Gardiner does not stop to admire the pretty picture she makes, but
+steps across the floor to where she sits.
+
+"Mrs. Gardiner," he cries, hoarsely, "if you have the time to listen to
+me, I should like a few words with you here and now."
+
+Sally's guilty heart leaps up into her throat.
+
+How much has he discovered of what happened last night? Does he know
+all?
+
+He is standing before her with flushed face and flashing eyes. She
+cowers from him, and if guilt was ever stamped on a woman's face, it is
+stamped on hers at that instant. If her life had depended upon it, she
+could not have uttered a word.
+
+"Read that!" he cried, thrusting the open letter into her hand--"read
+that, and answer me, are those charges false or true?"
+
+For an instant her face had blanched white as death, but in the next she
+had recovered something of her usual bravado and daring. That heavy
+hand upon her shoulder seemed to give her new life.
+
+She took in the contents of the letter at a single glance, and then she
+sprung from her seat and faced him defiantly. Oh, how terribly white and
+stern his face had grown since he had entered that room.
+
+"Did you hear the question I put to you, Mrs. Gardiner?" he cried,
+hoarsely, his temper and his suspicions fairly aroused at Sally's
+expression.
+
+The truth of the words in the anonymous letter is slowly forcing itself
+upon him.
+
+If ever a woman looked guilty, _she_ did at that moment. She stands
+trembling before him, her eyes fixed upon the floor, her figure
+drooping, her hands tightly clasped.
+
+"Well?" he says, sharply; and she realizes that there is no mercy in
+that tone; he will be pitiless, hard as marble.
+
+"It ought never to have been," she said, as if speaking to herself. "I
+wish I could undo it."
+
+"You wish you could undo what?" asked her husband, sternly.
+
+"Our marriage. It was all a mistake--all a mistake," she faltered.
+
+She must say something, and those are the first words that come across
+her mind. While he is answering them, she will have an instant of time
+to think what she will say about the contents of the letter.
+
+Deny it she will with her latest breath. Let him _prove_ that she went
+riding with Victor Lamont--_if he can!_
+
+Jay Gardiner's face turns livid, and in a voice which he in vain tries
+to make steady, he says:
+
+"How long have you thought so?"
+
+"Since yesterday," she answered, her eyes still fixed on the floor.
+
+"Since yesterday"--Jay Gardiner is almost choking with anger as he
+repeats her words--"since you, another man's wife, took that midnight
+ride which this letter refers to?"
+
+The sarcasm which pervades the last words makes her flush to the roots
+of her yellow hair.
+
+"But that I am too much amused, I should be tempted to be angry with you
+for believing a story from such a ridiculous source," she declared,
+raising her face defiantly to his.
+
+"Then you deny it?" he cried, grasping her white arm. "You say there is
+no truth in the report?"
+
+"Not one word," she answered. "I left the ball-room early, because it
+was lonely for me there _without you_, and came directly to my room.
+Antoinette could have told you that had you taken the pains to inquire
+of her."
+
+"It would ill become me to make such an inquiry of a servant in my
+employ," he replied. "You are the one to answer me."
+
+"If the ridiculous story _had_ been true, you could not have wondered at
+it much," she declared, with a hard glitter in her eye, and a still
+harder laugh on her red lips. "When a man neglects his wife, is it any
+wonder that she turns to some one else for amusement and--and comfort?"
+
+"Call your maid at once to pack up your trunks. We leave the Ocean House
+within an hour."
+
+With these words, he strode out of the room, banging the door after him.
+
+"God! how I hate that man!" hissed Sally. "I think his death will lay at
+my door yet."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+
+Leave Newport when the season was at its height! The very thought of
+such a thing was bitterness itself to Sally Gardiner, this butterfly of
+fashion, who loved the whirl of society as dearly as the breath of life.
+
+Antoinette entered, bearing a bouquet of fragrant crimson roses in her
+hand.
+
+Sally sprung from the chair, into which she had sunk a moment before,
+with a frightened little cry.
+
+What if Jay Gardiner had by chance been in the room when those roses
+were brought in, with Victor Lamont's card attached? What if he had
+snatched them from Antoinette's hand, and discovered the note that was
+hidden in their fragrant depths?
+
+"The handsome English gentleman sends these, with his compliments, to
+madame," whispered the girl, after casting a furtive glance about the
+apartment, to make sure Doctor Gardiner had gone.
+
+"Yes, yes," murmured Sally, blushing furiously. "Hand them to me, and
+then go into the next room. I shall not want you for a few moments. When
+I do, I will ring."
+
+She could hardly restrain her impatience until the door had closed to
+learn what Victor Lamont had been so rash, after last night's escapade,
+as to write to her about.
+
+She had little difficulty in finding the note.
+
+There were but a few lines, and they read as follows:
+
+     "MY DEAR MRS. GARDINER--SALLY--I must see you _without
+     delay_. I am pacing up and down the beach, waiting for
+     you to come to me. You would not _dare_ fail me if you
+     knew all that depends upon my seeing you.
+
+     "Yours, in haste and in waiting,
+
+     "VICTOR."
+
+"Great Heaven!" muttered Sally, "how _can_ I go to him after the stormy
+interview I have just had with my husband? It is utterly impossible, as
+we go from here within the hour. I ought to say good-bye to the poor
+fellow. But what if Jay should be out on the beach, or on the piazza, or
+in the office, and see me slip out of the hotel? He would be sure to
+follow me, and then there would be a scene, perhaps a fight."
+
+Again and again she read the note, which she was twisting about her
+white fingers.
+
+We all know what happens to the woman who hesitates--she is lost.
+
+She touched the bell with nervous fingers.
+
+"Antoinette," she said, when her French maid appeared, "I should like to
+borrow your cloak, hat, and veil for a little while. One does not always
+like to be known when one goes out on a mission of charity."
+
+"Certainly, madame," replied Antoinette. "Take anything I have in
+welcome. But, oh, dear me, my smartest jacket will look wofully clumsy
+on madame's lovely form!"
+
+"Help me on with them quickly, my good girl," cut in Sally, nervously;
+"and if any one asks for me when I am out--no matter who it is--say that
+I have lain down with a severe headache, and can not on any account, be
+disturbed."
+
+In a few moments more, a trim, dainty figure was gliding swiftly along
+the beach, heavily veiled and all alone.
+
+Yes, he was there waiting for her. There was no mistaking that splendid
+figure, which was attracting the attention of so many young girls and
+their chaperons.
+
+With a sweep of her white hand, Sally put back her veil, and stood
+before him in the garb of her French maid.
+
+For an instant, this unexpected discovery and the remembrance of the
+remark he had but just uttered recurred to him, and a dull red swept
+over his face.
+
+"Mrs. Gardiner--Sally!" he cried, rapturously, "I--I was just about to
+give the woman to whom I intrusted that note to give to your Antoinette
+a fine setting out."
+
+"Let us walk leisurely along," he suggested. "We will then be less
+likely to attract attention. I was anxious to know if you reached your
+apartments in safety," he went on in his most winning tone; but before
+she had time to reply, he went on quickly: "I was not so fortunate in
+escaping recognition. I no sooner stepped into the office of the hotel,
+than a gentleman approached me.
+
+"'Ah, Lamont,' he exclaimed, 'I am very glad to see you, though you have
+given me a deuce of a long wait.'
+
+"Turning quickly, I beheld, to my utter dismay, the gentleman from New
+York to whom I owed that large sum of money I told you about.
+
+"'I was here in time to take in the ball last night,' he went on. 'I
+came on particularly to see you. You were having such a good time
+dancing, with that pretty little creature in white that I did not
+disturb you by letting you know of my presence; but after the ball you
+suddenly disappeared, and I have been waiting in this office for you,
+expecting you to appear every moment. I could not wait a moment longer
+than was absolutely necessary, my business with you is so imperative.'
+
+"To make a long story short, Mrs. Gardiner--Sally--he informed me that
+he should be obliged to draw upon me at once for money I owed him; in
+fact, that he _must_ have it to-day."
+
+"Oh, what will you do, Mr. Lamont?" cried Sally, sympathetically. "What
+in the world will you do--what will you say?"
+
+"That is just the trouble--what shall I do--what can I say to him? He is
+a man of iron will and terrible temper. He knows, he has learned through
+my bankers in New York, that I drew out every cent I had in their bank
+to pay him. How am I to face him, and tell him that it is gone? I know
+full well he will have me arrested, and the coachman will be brought
+forward who drove me up to the door, and then the whole story will leak
+out."
+
+"Oh! oh! oh!" cried Sally, standing quite still on the sands, wringing
+her hands and commencing to cry, "if that story comes out, I am ruined.
+Jay Gardiner will leave me, and I will be a beggar!"
+
+"Just so," returned Victor Lamont, softly. "We must make every effort to
+keep the matter quiet, and there is but one way out of the tangle--only
+one."
+
+"And what is that?" cried Sally.
+
+"You must save me, and in doing so, save yourself. Sally--Mrs.
+Gardiner," he whispered, rapidly, "you must help me raise money somehow
+to meet this man's demands."
+
+"But I haven't any money!" moaned Sally. "I have spent the money my
+husband gave me--spent it long ago!"
+
+"You must get it somehow," he declared, hoarsely. "Borrow it from some
+of the husbands of your lady friends, and tell them not to let Jay
+Gardiner know. You are a woman of wealth and influence; you can easily
+raise the money I want--and _you must do it_!"
+
+"I shall not have time to even try to get the money," she declared. "We
+leave Newport within the hour. Antoinette is packing the trunks now. It
+will be almost time to leave when I reach the hotel."
+
+"You must ask Jay Gardiner for the money, then," he replied, doggedly,
+"and instruct Antoinette to hand it to me in the reading-room, and that,
+too, ere you step into your carriage."
+
+"Is that a threat?"
+
+She had hardly time to ask the question, ere she saw Antoinette coming
+hurriedly toward her.
+
+With a hurried, "You heard what I said; do not fail me," Victor Lamont
+raised his hat, turned on his heel, and strode away.
+
+She was racking her brains as to how she should raise the money for
+Victor Lamont in a half hour's time, in order to save herself from the
+exposure that would be sure to follow if she failed to do so.
+
+She was driven to extremities. Yes, there was no other way but to borrow
+it from some of the guests she knew, and this could not be accomplished
+without Antoinette's assistance.
+
+By the time the girl returned, she had made up her mind as to what
+course she would pursue. To-day's work would put her forever in the
+French maid's power; but there was no help for it--none whatever.
+
+"Antoinette," she said in an unsteady voice, as soon as she had drained
+the wine the maid had brought, "I am in trouble, and I want you to help
+me."
+
+"You can rely upon me, my lady," replied the girl. "I will do anything
+in the world for you, and tell no one."
+
+"You are very good," murmured her young mistress incoherently. "I--I
+have lost something valuable belonging to my husband. It will take a
+great deal of money to replace it, and it must be replaced at once,
+before he misses it. To do this, I am obliged to borrow money until I
+get my next allowance from him. There are several persons in the hotel
+who would willingly loan me the money if they but knew of my
+predicament. I must see one after another in that little private parlor
+off the reception-room, until I have secured the amount I need. You will
+bring them to me."
+
+"I understand, my lady," nodded the maid.
+
+Flushed, and trembling with excitement, Sally stepped down to the
+private parlor, after giving Antoinette a score of names on a slip of
+paper.
+
+One by one, the clever French maid conducted the persons she had been
+sent in search of to her mistress.
+
+Each gentleman listened in surprise to the appeal young Mrs. Gardiner
+made to them--she the bride of a man worth millions.
+
+In most instances, the gentlemen carried large sums of money with them,
+and their hands flew to their well-filled pockets at once. They would be
+only too pleased, they declared. How much would she need?
+
+Sally named as large a sum as she thought each of them could stand, and
+in less than half an hour she had the full amount which Victor Lamont
+had said he must have.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+
+"Now send Mr. Lamont to me here without delay," she said to Antoinette.
+
+The girl did not have to do much searching. Mr. Lamont was in the
+corridor. He hastened to answer the summons with alacrity.
+
+"There is the money," cried Sally, almost swooning from excitement.
+"Thirty thousand dollars, and----"
+
+"By George! you are a trump, my dear!" exclaimed Victor Lamont,
+restraining himself by the greatest effort from uttering a wild whoop of
+delight. "That was splendidly done!"
+
+Sally looked the disgust that swept over her.
+
+"I have it all to pay back within three months," she said. "You have
+forgotten that, it seems, Mr. Lamont, and by that time I shall expect
+you to have procured the money to reimburse these gentlemen."
+
+Victor Lamont laughed a sarcastic laugh.
+
+"I shall not detain you longer, my dear Mrs. Gardiner," he said. "Your
+husband will be waiting to take you to the train. I shall not say
+good-bye, but _au revoir_. I will write you, sending my letters
+addressed to your maid, Antoinette. She will give them to you."
+
+"No, no!" answered Sally, nervously; "you must never write to me, only
+send me the money to repay today's indebtedness. Our friendship, which
+we drifted into unconsciously, was a terrible mistake. It has ended in
+disaster, and it must stop here and now."
+
+"As the queen wills," murmured Lamont, raising to his lips the little
+white hand that had given him so much money.
+
+But deep down in his heart he had no intention of letting slip through
+his fingers a woman who had turned into a veritable gold mine under his
+subtle tuition. Ah, no! that was only the beginning of the vast sums she
+must raise for him in the future.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+
+As the carriage containing Jay Gardiner and Sally came to a sudden stop,
+he put his head out of the window to learn the cause, and found they had
+already reached the station.
+
+"We shall reach home by nightfall," he said in a tone of relief.
+
+But to this remark Sally made no reply. She was wondering how she could
+ever endure life under the same roof with his prying mother and sister.
+
+While we leave them speeding onward, toward the place which was to be
+the scene of a pitiful tragedy, we must draw back the curtain which has
+veiled the past, and learn what has become of beautiful, hapless
+Bernardine.
+
+After her desertion by the young husband whom she had but just wedded,
+and the theft of the money which he had placed in her hands, she lay
+tossing in the ravages of brain fever for many weeks in the home to
+which the kind-hearted policeman had escorted her.
+
+But her youth, health, and strength at last gained the victory, and one
+day, in the late summer, the doctor in charge pronounced her well,
+entirely cured, but very weak.
+
+As soon as she was able to leave her bed, Bernardine sent for the
+matron.
+
+"You have all been very kind to me," she said, tears shining in her dark
+eyes. "You have saved my life; but perhaps it would have been better if
+you had let me die."
+
+"No, no, my dear; you must not say that," responded the good woman,
+quickly. "The Lord intends you to do much good on earth yet. When you
+are a little stronger, we will talk about your future."
+
+"I am strong enough to talk about it now," replied Bernardine. "You know
+I am poor, and the only way by which a poor girl can live is by
+working."
+
+"I anticipated what you would say, my dear, and I have been making
+inquiries. Of course, I did not know exactly what you were fitted for,
+but I supposed you would like to be a companion to some nice lady,
+governess to little children, or something like that."
+
+"I should be thankful to take anything that offers itself," said
+Bernardine.
+
+"It is our principal mission to find work for young girls who seek the
+shelter of this roof," went on the matron, kindly. "The wealthy ladies
+who keep this home up are very enthusiastic over that part of it. Every
+week they send us lists of ladies wanting some one in some capacity. I
+have now several letters from a wealthy woman residing at Lee,
+Massachusetts. She wants a companion; some one who will be willing to
+stay in a grand, gloomy old house, content with the duties allotted to
+her."
+
+Bernardine's face fell; there was a look of disappointment in her dark
+eyes.
+
+"I had hoped to get something to do in the city," she faltered.
+
+"Work is exceedingly hard to obtain in New York just now, my dear
+child," replied the good woman. "There are thousands of young girls
+looking for situations who are actually starving. A chance like this
+occurs only once in a life-time."
+
+Still, Bernardine looked troubled. How could she leave the city which
+held the one that was dearer than all in the world to her? Ah, how could
+she, and live?
+
+"Let me show you the paper containing her advertisement," added the
+matron. "I brought it with me."
+
+As she spoke, she produced a copy of a paper several weeks old, a
+paragraph of which was marked, and handed it to Bernadine.
+
+"You can read it over and decide. Let me know when I come to you an hour
+later. I should advise you to try the place."
+
+Left to herself, Bernardine turned to the column indicated, and slowly
+perused the advertisement. It read as follows:
+
+     "WANTED--A quiet, modest young lady as companion to an
+     elderly woman living in a grand, gloomy old house in
+     the suburbs of a New England village. Must come well
+     recommended. Address MRS. GARDINER, Lee, Mass."
+
+"Gardiner!"
+
+The name fairly took Bernardine's breath away, for it was the name
+bestowed upon her by the young man who had wedded and deserted her
+within an hour.
+
+The very sight of it made her heart grow sick and faint. Still, it held
+a strange fascination for her. She turned to look at it again--to study
+it closely, to see how it appeared in print, when, to her amazement, she
+caught the name "Jay Gardiner" in a column immediately adjoining it.
+
+She glanced up at the head-lines, and as she did so, the very breath
+seemed to leave her body.
+
+It was a sketch of life at Newport by a special correspondent, telling
+of the gayety that was going on among the people there, particularly at
+the Ocean House. Nearly, half a column was given to extolling the beauty
+of young Mrs. Gardiner, _n嶪_ Sally Pendleton, the bride of Doctor Jay
+Gardiner, her diamonds, her magnificent costumes, and smart turn-outs.
+
+The paper fell from Bernardine's hands. She did not faint, or cry out,
+or utter any moan; she sat there quite still, like an image carved in
+stone. Jay Gardiner was at Newport with his bride!
+
+The words seemed to have scorched their way down to the very depths of
+her soul and seared themselves there. Jay Gardiner was at Newport with
+his bride!
+
+What, then, in Heaven's name was _she_?
+
+Poor Bernardine! It seemed to her in that moment that she was dying.
+
+Had he played a practical joke upon her? Was the marriage which she had
+believed in so fully no marriage at all?
+
+She had no certificate.
+
+It was scarcely an hour from the time the matron had left her until she
+returned; but when she did so, she cried out in alarm, for Bernardine's
+face was of an ashen pallor, her dark eyes were like coals of fire, and
+her hands were cold as death. The matron went up to her in great alarm,
+and gently touched the bowed head.
+
+"Bernardine," she murmured, gently--"Bernardine, my poor child, are you
+ill? What has happened?"
+
+After some little correspondence back and forth, Bernardine was accepted
+by the lady, and in a fortnight more she was able to make the journey.
+
+The matron went down to the depot with her, to see her off, and prayed
+that the girl would not change her mind ere she reached her destination.
+
+The train moved off, and she waved her handkerchief to the sweet, sad,
+tear-stained face pressed close to the window-pane until a curve in the
+road hid it from her sight; then she turned away with a sigh.
+
+Bernardine fell back in her seat, not caring whether or not she lived to
+reach her destination.
+
+It was almost dusk when the train reached the lovely little village of
+Lee, nestling like a bird's nest amid the sloping green hills.
+
+Bernardine stepped from the car, then stood quite still on the platform,
+and looked in bewilderment around her.
+
+Mrs. Gardiner had written that she would send a conveyance to the
+station to meet her; but Bernardine saw none.
+
+While she was deliberating as to whether she should inquire the way to
+the Gardiner place of the station agent, that individual suddenly turned
+out the lights in the waiting-room, and in an instant had jumped on a
+bicycle and dashed away, leaving Bernardine alone in a strange place.
+
+At that moment, a man stepped briskly beneath the swinging light. One
+glance, and she almost swooned from horror.
+
+The man was Jasper Wilde!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+
+For a moment it seemed to Bernardine as though she must surely fall dead
+from fright as her startled gaze encountered her greatest enemy, Jasper
+Wilde.
+
+Had he followed her? Had he come all the way on the same train with her?
+
+She realized that she was alone with him on this isolated railway
+platform, miles perhaps from any habitation, any human being, far beyond
+the reach of help.
+
+The thick, heavy twilight had given place to a night of intense
+darkness. The flickering light of the solitary gas-lamp over the station
+door did not pierce the gloom more than three feet away. Bernardine did
+not know this, and she sunk back in deadly fear behind one of the large,
+old-fashioned, square posts. The long dark cloak and bonnet she wore
+would never betray her presence there.
+
+Bernardine soon became aware that he had not seen her, for he stopped
+short scarcely a rod from her, drew out his watch, and looked at the
+time; then, with a fierce imprecation on his lips, he cried aloud:
+
+"Missed the train by just one minute! Curse the luck! But then it's
+worth my trip here, and the trouble I've been put to, to know that the
+Mrs. Jay Gardiner in question is some New York society belle instead of
+Bernardine. Ah, if it were Bernardine, I would have followed him to the
+end of the earth and murdered him; taken her from him _by force_, if no
+other way presented itself. I love the girl to madness, and yet _I hate
+her_ with all the strength of my nature!"
+
+As he uttered the words, he wheeled about, hurried down the platform,
+and stepped into the darkness, the sound of his quick tread plainly
+dying away in the distance.
+
+It seemed to Bernardine that her escape from the clutches of Jasper
+Wilde was little short of miraculous. Trembling in every limb, she
+stepped out from behind the large pillar which shielded her.
+
+He had not come by the same train; he did not know she was here. But
+what caused him to come to this place to look for Jay Gardiner and his
+bride? Perhaps it was because he had learned in some way that a family
+named Gardiner resided here, and he had come out of his way only to
+discover that they were _not_ one and the same.
+
+While Bernardine was ruminating over this, she saw the short, thick-set
+figure of a man approaching.
+
+Should she advance or retreat? She felt sure he had seen her. He stopped
+quite short and looked at her.
+
+"Surely _you_ can't be Miss Moore?" he inquired, incredulously.
+
+"Yes," replied Bernardine in a voice in which he detected tears.
+
+The man muttered something under his breath which she did not quite
+catch.
+
+"If you please, Miss, where is your luggage?"
+
+"I--I have only this hand-bag," she faltered.
+
+"Come this way, miss," he said; and Bernardine followed him, not without
+some misgiving, to the end of the platform from which Jasper Wilde had
+so recently disappeared.
+
+Here she saw a coach in waiting, though she had not heard the sound of
+the horses' hoofs when they arrived there.
+
+Then came a long ride over a level stretch of country. It was a great
+relief to Bernardine to see the moon come forth at last from a great
+bank of black clouds; it was a relief to see the surrounding country,
+the meadows, and the farm-houses lying here and there on either side of
+the steep road up which they went.
+
+"Would the lady like her or be displeased with her?" she asked herself.
+
+She determined to throw herself heart and soul into her work and try to
+forget the past--what might have been had her lover proved true, instead
+of being so cruelly false. Her red lips quivered piteously at the
+thought.
+
+Her musings were brought to an end by the lumbering coach turning in at
+a large gate-way flanked by huge stone pillars, and proceeding leisurely
+up a wide road that led through a densely wooded park.
+
+Very soon Bernardine beheld the house--a granite structure with no end
+of gables and dormer-windows--half hidden by climbing vines, which gave
+to the granite pile a very picturesque appearance just now, for the
+vines were literally covered with sweet-scented honeysuckles in full
+bloom.
+
+Mrs. King, the housekeeper, received Bernardine.
+
+"I hope you will like it here," she said, earnestly; "but it is a dull
+place for one who is young, and longs, as girls do, for gayety and life.
+You are too tired to see Mrs. Gardiner to-night after your long journey.
+I will show you to your room after you have had some tea."
+
+The housekeeper was right in her surmise. It did look like an
+inexpressibly dreary place when Bernardine looked about at the great
+arched hall.
+
+Grand old paintings, a century old, judging by their antiquated look,
+hung upon the walls. A huge clock stood in one corner, and on either
+side of it there were huge elk heads, with spreading antlers tipped with
+solid gold.
+
+To add to the strangeness of the place, a bright log fire burned in a
+huge open fire-place, which furnished both light and heat to the main
+corridor.
+
+"This fire is never allowed to burn out, either in summer or winter,"
+the housekeeper explained, "because the great hall is so cold and gloomy
+without it."
+
+While Bernardine was drinking her tea, a message came to her that Mrs.
+Gardiner would see her in her _boudoir_.
+
+The housekeeper led the way through a long corridor, and when she
+reached the further end of it, she turned toward the right, and drawing
+aside the heavy crimson velvet _porti鋨es_, Bernardine was ushered into
+a magnificent apartment.
+
+The windows were of stained glass, ornamented with rare pictures,
+revealed by the light shining through them from an inner room; the
+chandeliers, with their crimson globes, gave a deep red glow to the
+handsome furnishings and costly bric-a-brac. There was something about
+the room that reminded Bernardine of the pictures her imagination had
+drawn of Oriental _boudoirs_.
+
+Her musings were interrupted by the sound of a haughty voice saying:
+
+"Are _you_ Miss Bernardine Moore?"
+
+By this time Bernardine's eyes had become accustomed to the dim,
+uncertain light. Turning her head in the direction whence the sound
+proceeded, she saw a very grand lady, dressed in stiff, shining brocade
+satin, with rare lace and sparkling diamonds on her breast and fair
+hands, sitting in a crimson velvet arm-chair--a grand old lady, cold,
+haughty, and unbending.
+
+"Yes, madame," replied Bernardine, in a sweet, low voice, "I am Miss
+Moore."
+
+"You are a very much younger person than I supposed you to be from your
+letter, Miss Moore. Scarcely more than a child, I should say," she
+added, as she motioned Bernardine to a seat with a wave of the hand. "I
+will speak plainly," she went on, slowly. "I am disappointed. I imagined
+you to be a young lady of uncertain age--say, thirty or thirty-five.
+When a woman reaches that age, and has found no one to marry her, there
+is a chance of her becoming reconciled to her fate. I want a companion
+with whom I can feel secure. I do not want any trouble with love or
+lovers, above all. I would not like to get used to a companion, and have
+her leave me for some man. In fine, you see, I want one who will put all
+thought of love or marriage from her."
+
+Bernardine held out her clasped hands.
+
+"You need have no fear on that score, dear madame," she replied in a
+trembling tone. "I shall never love--I shall never marry. I--I never
+want to behold the face of a man. Please believe me and trust me."
+
+"Since you are here, I may as well take you on trial," replied the grand
+old lady, resignedly. "Now you may go to your room, Miss Moore. You will
+come to me here at nine to-morrow morning," she said, dismissing
+Bernardine with a haughty nod.
+
+The housekeeper had said she would find the room that had been prepared
+for her at the extreme end of the same corridor, and in groping her way
+to it in the dim, rose-colored light which pervaded the outer hall, she
+unconsciously turned in the wrong direction, and went to the right
+instead of the left.
+
+The door stood ajar, and thinking the housekeeper had left it in this
+way for her, Bernardine pushed it open.
+
+To her great astonishment, she found herself in a beautifully furnished
+sleeping apartment, upholstered in white and gold of the costliest
+description, and flooded by a radiance of brilliant light from a grand
+chandelier overhead.
+
+But it was not the magnificent hangings, or the long mirrors, in their
+heavy gilt frames, that caught and held the girl's startled gaze.
+
+It was a full-length portrait hanging over the marble mantle, and it
+startled her so that she uttered a low cry, and clasped her little hands
+together as children do when uttering a prayer.
+
+Her reverie lasted only for a moment. Then she drifted back to the
+present. She was in this strange house as a companion, and the first
+thing she came across was the portrait, as natural as life itself,
+of--Jay Gardiner!
+
+A mad desire came over her to kneel before the picture and--die!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+
+Bernardine did not have much time to study the portrait, for all of a
+sudden she heard footsteps in the corridor without, and in another
+moment Mrs. King, the housekeeper, had crossed the threshold, and
+approached her excitedly.
+
+"I feared you would be apt to make this mistake," she said,
+breathlessly. "Your room is in the opposite direction, Miss Moore."
+
+Bernardine was about to turn away with a few words of apology, but the
+housekeeper laid a detaining hand on her arm.
+
+"Do not say that you found your way into this apartment, Miss Moore,"
+she said, "or it might cause me considerable trouble. This is the only
+room in the house that is opened but once a year, and only then to air
+it.
+
+"This is young master's room," went on the housekeeper, confidentially,
+"and when he left home, after quite a bitter scene with his mother, the
+key was turned in the lock, and we were all forbidden to open it. That
+is young master's portrait, and an excellent likeness it is of him, too.
+
+"The whole house was recently thrown into consternation by a letter
+being received from him, saying that he was about to bring home his
+bride. His mother and sister took his marriage very much to heart. The
+bride is beautiful, we hear; but, as is quite natural, I suppose his
+mother thinks a queen on her throne would have been none too good for
+her handsome son.
+
+"My lady has had very little to say since learning that he would be here
+on the 20th--that is to-morrow night; and his sister, Miss Margaret, is
+equally as silent.
+
+"I think it will be better to give you another room than the one I had
+at first intended," said Mrs. King. "Please follow me, and I will
+conduct you to it."
+
+Bernardine complied, though the desire was strong upon her to fly
+precipitately from the house, and out into the darkness of the
+night---anywhere--anywhere, so that she might escape meeting Jay
+Gardiner and his bride.
+
+Up several flights of carpeted polished stairs, through draughty
+passages, along a broad corridor, down another passage, then into a
+huge, gloomy room, Bernardine followed her, a war of conflicting
+emotions surging through her heart at every step.
+
+"You have plenty of room, you see," said the housekeeper, lighting the
+one gas-jet the apartment contained.
+
+"Plenty!" echoed Bernardine, aghast, glancing about her in dismay at the
+huge, dark, four-poster bed in a far-off corner, the dark dresser, which
+seemed to melt into the shadows, and the three darkly outlined windows,
+with their heavy draperies closely drawn, that frowned down upon her.
+
+"You must not be frightened if you hear odd noises in the night. It's
+only mice. This is the old part of the mansion," said the housekeeper,
+turning to go.
+
+"Am I near any one else?" asked Bernardine, her heart sinking with a
+strange foreboding which she could not shake off.
+
+"Not very near," answered the housekeeper.
+
+"Would no one hear me if I screamed?" whispered Bernardine, drawing
+closer to her companion, as though she would detain her, her frightened
+eyes burning like two great coals of fire.
+
+"I hope you will not make the experiment, Miss Moore," returned the
+housekeeper, impatiently. "Good-night," and with that she is gone, and
+Bernardine is left--alone.
+
+The girl stands quite still where the housekeeper has left her long
+after the echo of her footsteps has died away.
+
+She is in _his_ home, and he is coming here with his bride! Great God!
+what irony of fate led her here?
+
+Her bonnet and cloak are over her arm.
+
+"Shall I don them, and fly from this place?" she asks herself over and
+over again.
+
+But her tired limbs begin to ache, every nerve in her body begins to
+twitch, and she realizes that her tired nature has endured all it can.
+She must stay here, for the night at least.
+
+Despite the fatigue of the previous night, Bernardine awoke early the
+next morning, and when the housekeeper came to call her, she found her
+already dressed.
+
+"You are an early riser, Miss Moore," she said. "That is certainly a
+virtue which will commend itself to my mistress, who rises early
+herself. You will come at once to her _boudoir_. Follow me, Miss Moore."
+
+She reached Mrs. Gardiner's _boudoir_ before she was aware of it, so
+intent were her thoughts. That lady was sitting at a small marble table,
+sipping a cup of very fragrant coffee. A small, very odorous broiled
+bird lay on a square of browned toast on a silver plate before her. She
+pushed it aside as Bernardine entered.
+
+"Good-morning, Miss Moore," she said, showing a trifle more kindliness
+than she had exhibited on the previous evening; "I hope you rested well
+last night. Sit down."
+
+Bernardine complied; but before she could answer these commonplace,
+courteous remarks, an inner door opened, and a lady, neither very young
+nor very old, entered the room.
+
+"Good-morning, mamma," she said; and by that remark Bernardine knew that
+this was Jay's sister.
+
+She almost devoured her with eager eyes, trying to trace a resemblance
+in her features to her handsome brother.
+
+"Margaret, this is my new companion, Miss Moore," said Mrs. Gardiner,
+languidly.
+
+Bernardine blushed to the roots of her dark hair, as two dark-blue eyes,
+so like Jay's, looked into her own.
+
+"Welcome to Gardiner Castle, Miss Moore," replied Margaret Gardiner.
+
+She did not hold out her hand, but she looked into the startled young
+face with a kindly smile and a nod. Whatever her thoughts were in regard
+to her mother's companion, they were not expressed in her face.
+
+A score of times during the half hour that followed, Bernardine tried to
+find courage to tell Mrs. Gardiner that she must go away; that she could
+not live under that roof and meet the man she loved, and who was to
+bring home a bride.
+
+But each time the words died away on her lips. Then suddenly, she could
+not tell how or when the feeling entered her heart, the longing came to
+her to look upon the face of the young girl who had gained the love she
+would have given her very life--ay, her hope of heaven--to have
+retained.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+
+To sit quietly by and hear mother and daughter discuss the man she
+loved, was as hard for Bernardine to endure as the pangs of death.
+
+"He is sure to be a worshipful husband," said Miss Margaret. "I always
+said love would be a grand passion with Jay. He will love once, and that
+will be forever, and to his wife he will be always true."
+
+Poor, hapless Bernardine could have cried aloud as she listened. What
+would that proud lady-mother and that haughty sister say if they but
+knew how he had tricked her into a sham marriage, and abandoned her then
+and there? Oh, would they feel pity for her, or contempt?
+
+The servants, in livery, had taken their posts; everything was in
+readiness now to welcome the five hundred guests that were to arrive in
+advance of the bridal pair.
+
+In her _boudoir_, the grand old lady-mother, resplendent in ivory-satin,
+rare old point lace and diamonds, was viewing herself critically in the
+long pier-glass that reached from ceiling to floor. Her daughter
+Margaret stood near her, arrayed in satin and tulle, with pearls white
+as moonbeams lying on her breast, clasping her white throat and arms,
+and twined among the meshes of her dark hair.
+
+The contrast made poor Bernardine look strangely out of place in her
+plain gray cashmere dress, with its somber dark ribbons.
+
+"You look quite tired, Miss Moore. I would suggest that you go into the
+grounds for a breath of fresh air before the guests arrive. Then I shall
+want you here," said Miss Gardiner, noticing how very white and drawn
+the girl's face looked.
+
+Oh, how thankful she was to get away from them--away from the sight of
+the pomp and the splendor--to cry her heart out, all alone, for a few
+moments! With a grateful murmured "Thank you," she stepped from the long
+French window out on to the porch and down the private stair-way into
+the grounds.
+
+Margaret Gardiner stepped to the window, drew aside the heavy lace
+curtains, and watched the dark, slim figure until it was lost to sight
+among the grand old oak-trees.
+
+It seemed to Bernardine that she had escaped just in time, for in
+another instant she would have cried out with the pain at her heart,
+with the awful agony that had taken possession of her.
+
+One by one grand coaches began to roll up the long white road, turn in
+at the great stone gate-way, and rattle smartly up the serpentine drive
+to the broad porch.
+
+Then they commenced to arrive scores at a time, and the air was filled
+with the ringing hoofs of hundreds of horses, the voices of coachmen and
+grooms, and the gay sound of laughter.
+
+The din was so great no one heard the solitary little figure among the
+trees crying out to Heaven that she had counted beyond her strength in
+remaining there to witness the home-coming of the man she loved and his
+bride.
+
+Suddenly she heard the sound of her own name.
+
+"Miss Moore! Miss Moore! Where are you?" called one of the maids. "My
+lady is asking for you!"
+
+"Tell your mistress I shall be there directly."
+
+"Dear me! what an odd creature that Miss Moore is!" thought the maid, as
+she flew back to the house. "Instead of being in the house, enjoying the
+music and the grand toilets of the aristocracy that's here to-night,
+she's out in the loneliest part of the grounds. But, dear me! what an
+amazing goose I am to be sure. She must have a lover with her, and in
+that case the grove's a paradise. Too bad my lady was so imperative. I
+would have pretended that I couldn't find her--just yet."
+
+Bernardine stooped down, and wetting her handkerchief in the brook,
+laved her face with it.
+
+She dared not approach the grand old lady with her face swollen with
+tears, as she was sure it must be.
+
+Bernardine found her quite beside herself with excitement.
+
+"I heard the whistle of the incoming train some fifteen minutes ago,
+Miss Moore," she said. "My son has reached the station by this time. I
+have sent our fastest team down to meet him. He will be here at any
+moment. Ah! that is his step I hear now in the corridor! I am trembling
+so with excitement that I can hardly stand. Do not leave, Miss Moore. I
+may need you in case this meeting is too much for me and I should faint
+away in his strong arms."
+
+The footsteps that Bernardine remembered so well came nearer.
+
+She pressed her hand tightly over her heart to still its wild beating.
+
+Bernardine could have cried aloud in her agony; but her white lips
+uttered no moan, no sound, even when the door was flung open and a tall,
+handsome form sprung over the threshold.
+
+"Where are you, mother?" cried Jay Gardiner. "The room is so dark that I
+can not see where you are!"
+
+The next moment the proud, stately old lady was sobbing on the breast of
+the son she idolized.
+
+She forgot that in the shadow of the alcove stood her companion; she
+forgot the existence of every one save her darling boy, whom she clasped
+so joyfully.
+
+Bernardine watched him herself, unseen, her whole heart in her eyes,
+like one turned into stone.
+
+His handsome face was pale, even haggard; the dark hair, that waved back
+from the broad brow, was the same; but his eyes--those bonny, sunny,
+laughing blue eyes--were sadly changed. There was an unhappy look in
+them, a restless expression, deepening almost into despair. There was a
+story of some kind in his face, a repressed passion and fire, a
+something Bernardine could not understand.
+
+"I am not alone, you must remember, mother, dear," he said in his deep,
+musical voice. "I have brought some one else for you to welcome. Look up
+and greet my wife, mother."
+
+Slowly the grand old lady unwound her arms from about the neck of her
+handsome, stalwart son, and turned rather fearfully toward the slender
+figure by her side.
+
+At that moment young Mrs. Gardiner took a step forward, which brought
+her in the full glow of the lamp, and as Bernardine gazed, her heart
+sunk within her.
+
+She saw, as the lovely young stranger threw back her gray silk
+traveling-cloak, a slim, beautiful creature, with golden hair, round,
+dimpled face, flushed cheeks and lips, and the brightest of blue,
+sparkling eyes--a girl who looked like some dazzling picture painted by
+some old master, and who had just stepped out of a gilded frame. Her
+face was so lovely, that, as Bernardine gazed, her heart grew so heavy
+and strained with pain, that she thought it must surely break. _She was
+the same girl who had visited her at her humble home._
+
+The grand old lady took the haughty young beauty in her arms, calling
+her "daughter," and bidding her welcome to Gardiner Castle, her future
+home.
+
+"Ah! no wonder the man I loved deserted me for this beautiful being all
+life, all sparkle, all fire," was the thought that rushed through
+Bernardine's breaking heart.
+
+Then suddenly the old lady remembered her, and turned to her quickly,
+saying:
+
+"Come forward, my dear girl. I wish to present my new companion to my
+son and his bride."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+
+Bernardine stood still. She could not have moved one step forward if her
+life depended on it; and thinking she had not heard, the old lady turned
+to her, and repeated:
+
+"I want my son and his wife to know you, my dear. You have been but a
+short time beneath this roof, but in that time you have made yourself so
+indispensable to me that I could not do without you."
+
+Both Jay Gardiner and his wife glanced carelessly in the direction
+indicated by his mother.
+
+The room was in such dense shadow that they only saw a tall, slim form
+in a dark dress that seemed to melt into and become a part of the
+darkness beyond.
+
+They bowed slightly in the most thoughtless manner; then turned their
+attention to Mrs. Gardiner, who had commenced telling them how eagerly
+she had watched for their coming, and of the strange presentiment that
+something was going to happen.
+
+That moment stood out forever afterward in the life of hapless
+Bernardine.
+
+She thought that when her eyes rested on the face that had been all the
+world to her, she would fall dead at his feet. But she did not; nor did
+the slightest moan or cry escape her white lips.
+
+She had expected that Jay Gardiner would cry out in wonder or in anger
+when he saw her; that he would recognize her with some show of emotion.
+But he only looked at her, and then turned as carelessly away as any
+stranger might have done. And in that moment, as she stood there, the
+very bitterness of death passed over her.
+
+Mrs. Gardiner's next remark called their attention completely away from
+her, for which she was most thankful.
+
+"Dear me, how very selfish I am!" exclaimed the grand old lady, in
+dismay. "I had forgotten how time is flying. The guests will be
+wondering why you and your bride tarry so long, my dear boy. A servant
+will show you to your suite of rooms. Your luggage must have been
+already taken there. You will want to make your toilets. When you are
+ready to go down to the reception-room, let me know.
+
+"Do not forget to wear all the Gardiner diamonds to-night, my dear,"
+were the lady-mother's parting words. "Every one is expecting to see
+them on you. They are famous. You will create a sensation in them; you
+will bewilder, dazzle, and astonish these country folk."
+
+Bernardine did not hear the young wife's reply. She would have given all
+she possessed to throw herself on her knees on the spot his feet had
+pressed and wept her very life out.
+
+Ah! why had he wooed her in that never-to-be-forgotten past, made her
+love him, taken her heart from her, only to break it?
+
+A moment later, Miss Margaret glided into the room and went straight up
+to her mother's side.
+
+"I have just greeted and welcomed Jay and his bride, mamma," she said,
+speaking before her mother's companion quite as though she had not been
+present. But she paused abruptly as though she thought it best to cut
+the sentence short.
+
+"Well," replied her mother, eagerly, "do you like Jay's bride, Margaret?
+You always form an opinion when you first meet a person, which usually
+proves to be correct."
+
+"My brother does not look quite happy," replied Miss Margaret, slowly.
+"His bride is most beautiful--indeed, I have never met a young woman so
+strangely fascinating--but there is something about her that repels even
+while it draws me toward her."
+
+"I experienced the same feeling, Margaret," returned Mrs. Gardiner. "But
+it seems to me only natural that we should experience such a sensation
+when looking upon the face of the woman who has taken first place in the
+heart of my only boy and your only brother. As to Jay not being quite
+happy, I think that is purely your imagination, Margaret. Theirs was a
+love match, and they are in the height of their honey-moon. Why should
+he not be happy, I ask you!"
+
+"And I reply, mamma, that I do not know," replied Miss Margaret,
+thoughtfully. "It is simply the way the expression of his face and his
+manners struck me. But I must hurry down to our guests again. Will you
+accompany me, mamma, that we may both be together to receive them in the
+drawing-room and present them?"
+
+The young wife stood before the long French mirror, scarcely glancing at
+the superb picture she presented, as Antoinette, her maid, deftly put
+the finishing touches to her toilet.
+
+"There is only one thing needed to make my lady fairly radiant
+to-night," declared Antoinette, in her low, purring voice, "and that is
+the diamonds. You will let me get them all and deck you with them--twine
+them about that superb white neck, those perfect arms and----"
+
+"Hush!" exclaimed Sally, impatiently. "Didn't you hear me say I
+shouldn't wear the diamonds to-night."
+
+Jay Gardiner, entering his wife's _boudoir_ unexpectedly at that moment,
+could not help overhearing her remark.
+
+His brow darkened, and a gleam of anger shot into his blue eyes. He
+stepped quickly to his wife's side.
+
+"You _will_ wear the diamonds!" he said in the most authoritative tone
+he had yet used to her. "You heard my mother express the wish that you
+should do so. Moreover, it has been the custom in our family for
+generations for brides to wear them at a reception given in honor of
+their home-coming."
+
+With these words, he strode into his own room--an inner apartment--and
+closed the door after him with a bang.
+
+Looking up into her young mistress's face, the shrewd Antoinette saw
+that she was greatly agitated, and pale as death. But she pretended not
+to notice it.
+
+"Shall I not get the diamonds from your little hand-bag, my lady?" she
+asked, eagerly.
+
+"No; you can not get them," cried Sally, hoarsely, her teeth chattering,
+her eyes fairly dilating with fright; "_they are not there!_"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+
+Young Mrs. Gardiner stooped down until her lips were on a level with the
+maid's ear.
+
+"My diamonds are not in the little leather hand-bag, Antoinette,"
+she panted. "The hour has come when I must make a confidant of you,
+and ask you to help me, Antoinette. You are clever; your brain is
+full of resources; and you must help me out of this awful web that
+has tangled itself about me. I--I lost the diamonds on the night of
+the grand ball--the last night we were at Newport, and--and I dare
+not tell my husband. Now you see my position, Antoinette. I--I can
+not wear the diamonds, and I do not know how to turn my husband from
+his purpose of making me put them on. He may refuse to go down to
+the reception-room--or, still worse, he may ask for them. I can not
+see the end, Antoinette. I am between two fires. I do not know which
+way to leap to save myself. Do you understand?"
+
+"Perfectly, my lady," returned the wily maid. "Leave your trouble to me.
+I will find some way to get you out of it."
+
+"You must think quickly, Antoinette!" cried Sally, excitedly. "He said
+he would return for me within ten minutes. Half that time has already
+passed. Oh--oh! what shall I do?"
+
+"You must not excite yourself, my lady," replied Antoinette, quickly.
+"Worry brings wrinkles, and you can not afford to have any but pleasant
+thoughts. I have said you can rely upon me to think of some way out of
+the dilemma."
+
+"That is easier said than done, Antoinette," declared her mistress,
+beginning to pace excitedly up and down the room, the color burning in
+two bright red spots on her cheeks.
+
+Antoinette crossed over to the window, and stood looking out
+thoughtfully into the darkness. Her brain was busy with the numerous
+schemes that were flitting through it.
+
+At that, moment fate pointed out an unexpected way to her. She heard
+footsteps in the corridor, and just then it flashed upon Antoinette that
+she had heard her master giving orders to his valet to bring him a glass
+of brandy. The man was returning with it.
+
+Quick as a flash, Antoinette crossed the room and flung open the door.
+
+"Andrew," she whispered to the man who was passing, "I want you to do a
+favor for me."
+
+"A hundred if you like," replied the man, good-humoredly. "But I haven't
+time to listen to you now. I'll take master this brandy--which, by the
+way, is the best of its kind. I wish he'd take a notion to leave half of
+it in the glass, for it's fairly nectar--then I'll be back in a trice,
+and you can consider me at your service for the rest of the evening."
+
+"But it's _now_ I want you, Andrew--this very minute!" cried Antoinette.
+"Set your glass right down here; nobody will see it; I'll keep guard
+over it. My errand won't take you more than a minute. Master won't miss
+his brandy for that short time. He'll enjoy it all the more when he gets
+it."
+
+Andrew hesitated an instant, and we all know what happens to the man who
+hesitates--he is lost.
+
+"Well, what is it you want, Antoinette?" he replied, good-humoredly.
+"If it only takes me a minute, as you say, I don't mind accommodating
+you."
+
+"I lost my little gold cross in the lower hall a few moments ago. I
+heard something drop as I was hurrying along, but did not miss it until
+just now, and I can't leave my lady to go and get it. Some one may come
+along and find it, and I'd never get it again. For goodness' sake, go
+quick, Andrew, and look for it. Not an instant's to be lost."
+
+Suspecting nothing, the good fellow hurriedly set down the glass, and
+hastened away to do her bidding.
+
+His back was scarcely turned ere Antoinette flew to her own apartments,
+which adjoined her mistress's, and took from a trunk, which she unlocked
+with a very strange-looking key, a small vial. A few grains of the
+contents she emptied into the palm of her hand, and in less time than it
+takes to write it, they were transferred to the glass of brandy and
+dissolved at once with its amber contents.
+
+She had scarcely accomplished this ere Andrew returned, quite flushed
+from hurrying.
+
+"I am sorry to bring you bad news, Antoinette," he said; "but some one
+has been there before me and picked up your cross. I met the butler, and
+we both searched for it. He has promised to make strict inquiries
+concerning it, and get it back for you if it be possible."
+
+"You are very good to take so much trouble upon yourself," declared
+Antoinette, with a well-enacted sigh. "I suppose I shall survive the
+loss of it. It is a trinket that isn't of much value only as a
+keep-sake. But I won't keep you standing there talking any longer,
+Andrew; your master will be waiting for the brandy."
+
+"I'll see you later, Antoinette," he said, nodding as he picked up his
+glass.
+
+The next moment he had disappeared within his master's apartments.
+
+When she returned to her mistress she found Mrs. Gardiner in a state of
+nervousness.
+
+"The time is almost up, and you have devised no plan as yet,
+Antoinette," she cried, wringing her hands. "See! the ten minutes have
+almost elapsed. Oh--oh! what shall I do?"
+
+"Monsieur will not come in ten minutes' time, my lady," replied the
+maid, with a knowing nod; "nor will he go to the reception. There was
+but one way out of it," declared Antoinette. "If he came after you to go
+down to the reception, the diamonds would have to be produced, so I said
+to myself he must not come, he must be prevented at all hazards. I knew
+of but one way, and acted upon the thought that came to me. Monsieur had
+ordered some brandy; I intercepted the valet, sent him off on a fool's
+errand, holding the glass until he returned, and while he was gone I put
+a heavy sleeping potion, which I often take for the toothache, in
+monsieur's glass of brandy. After taking it, he will fall into a deep
+sleep, from which no one will be able to awake him. The consequence is,
+he will not come for my lady to take her down to the reception to-night,
+and she is free to suit herself as to whether she will wear diamonds or
+not. No other occasion for wearing them may take place for some time. I
+will think of something else by that time."
+
+"You have saved me, Antoinette!" cried the guilty woman, sinking down
+upon the nearest chair and trembling with excitement. "Oh, how can I
+ever thank you!"
+
+"If my lady would do something in the way of raising my pay, I would be
+much obliged," replied the girl, her black eyes glittering.
+
+She knew the trembling woman before her was in her power. The game had
+been commenced, the first trump had been played, and Antoinette meant to
+win all in the end.
+
+"I shall be only too glad to do so," returned Sally, realizing for the
+first time the unpleasantness of being dictated to by her maid.
+
+"And if madame would make me a present of some money to-night, I could
+make excellent use of it."
+
+"I haven't any ready money just now," returned Sally, a dull red flush
+creeping over the whiteness of her face. "I have spent all last month's
+allowance, and it's only the middle of the month now."
+
+"I would take the gold chain in the jewel-case which madame never
+wears," replied the girl, boldly.
+
+"Antoinette, you are a fiend!" cried Sally Gardiner, starting to her
+feet in a rage. "How dare you expect that I would give you my gold
+chain, girl?"
+
+"Madame could not afford to refuse my request," answered the girl. "If
+she wants me to keep her secret, she must pay well. The service I have
+rendered to-night is worth what I ask."
+
+"Take the chain," said young Mrs. Gardiner, with a short gasp. "I--I
+shall not need your services after to-night. Take the chain, and--go!"
+
+"So, so, madame!" cried the girl. "That is the way you would repay me
+for what I have done, for you? Discharge Antoinette, eh? Oh, no, my
+lady; you will think better of those hasty words, especially as I have a
+suspicion of where madame's diamonds have gone."
+
+"I lost them at the ball that night in Newport," cried Sally, springing
+hastily to her feet, and facing the girl, her temper at a white heat.
+
+"Monsieur Victor Lamont was with my lady when she lost them," returned
+Antoinette, softly. "She wore them when she entered the carriage on the
+beach that night, and she returned at day-break without them. You would
+not like monsieur to know of that romantic little episode, eh?"
+
+"I repeat, you are a fiend incarnate!" gasped Sally, trembling like an
+aspen leaf.
+
+"My lady sees it would be better to temporize with Antoinette than to
+make an enemy of her. She will think better of discharging one whose
+assistance may prove valuable to her. I will say no more. They are
+coming to see what detains madame and her husband, little dreaming what
+is in store for them."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+
+At that moment Andrew, the valet, came flying out of his master's room.
+
+"Oh, Miss Margaret! Miss Margaret!" he cried, hoarsely, "how can I ever
+tell you what had happened? But it was a mistake--indeed it was all a
+mistake! I do not see how I ever came to do it!"
+
+Margaret Gardiner hurriedly caught the man's arm in a firm grasp,
+looking sternly in his face.
+
+"Andrew," she said, with great calmness, "stop that shouting, and tell
+me instantly what the matter is. Has--has--anything happened my brother
+or--or his wife?"
+
+Her quiet tone brought the valet to his senses more quickly than
+anything else could have done.
+
+"Yes, I'll tell you, Miss Margaret," he answered, hoarsely; "and though
+master turns me off to-morrow for it, I swear to you earnestly that it
+was all a terrible mistake."
+
+"What has happened?" repeated Miss Margaret, sternly. "Get to the point
+at once, Andrew."
+
+"It was this way, Miss Margaret," he cried. "Master sent me for a glass
+of brandy. I brought it to him. He always likes a few drops of cordial
+put in it, and I went to his dresser, where I had placed the cordial a
+few minutes before, took up the bottle hurriedly, and shook in a
+generous quantity. Now it happened that I had also taken out a bottle of
+drops--quieting drops which master had been taking for the last two
+nights for a violent toothache--it is a powerful narcotic--to make him
+sleep and forget his pain, he told me. I--I--don't know how I could have
+done it; I--I was not conscious of doing it; but somehow I must have put
+the drops instead of the cordial into his brandy, for he has fallen into
+a deep sleep, from which I am unable to awaken him."
+
+"Thank Heaven, it is no worse!" sobbed Miss Margaret. "I--I was afraid
+some terrible accident had happened."
+
+While he was speaking, Sally had run into the corridor and made the
+pretense of listening to the valet's dilemma, while Antoinette stood
+back in the shadow laughing to herself at the strange way fate or
+fortune or luck, or whatever it was, had played into her clever hands.
+
+This was, indeed, an unexpected dilemma. Following the valet into her
+brother's apartments, she found Andrew's statement indeed true--her
+brother was in a sound sleep, from which all their efforts were futile
+to awake him.
+
+"There is nothing else to be done but to go down without him," she said
+at length in despair, turning to Sally. "The effect of the potion ought
+to wear off in an hour or so, then he can join the guests."
+
+The entrance of Miss Margaret and the bride created quite a sensation;
+but when the former explained the ludicrous mistake which caused the
+doctor's temporary absence from them, their mirth burst all bounds, and
+the very roof of the grand old mansion shook with peal after peal of
+hearty laughter.
+
+So the fun and merriment went on until he should join them, and the
+happy, dazzling, beautiful young bride was the petted queen of the hour.
+
+Old Mrs. Gardiner was greatly disappointed because her beautiful
+daughter-in-law did not wear the famous family diamonds, but when Sally
+slipped up to her and whispered that she had forgotten, in her
+excitement over Jay's mishap, to don them, the old lady was mollified.
+
+The evening ran its length, and ended at last. Midnight had come, giving
+place to a new moon, and in the wee sma' hours the festive guests had
+taken their departure, each wishing with a jolly little laugh, to be
+remembered to their host when he should awake. The lights were out in
+the magnificent drawing-room and in the corridor.
+
+Young Mrs. Gardiner was at last in her own _boudoir_, in the hands of
+Antoinette.
+
+It was generally late in the morning when those pretty blue eyes opened.
+But it was little more than daylight when Antoinette came to her couch,
+grasped hurriedly the pink-and-white arm that lay on the lace coverlet,
+saying, hoarsely:
+
+"You are wanted, my lady. You must come at once. Master is worse; that
+is, he is sleeping more heavily than ever. Miss Margaret did not leave
+his side all night, Andrew tells me, and she says the nearest doctor
+must be sent for. I thought it would look better if you were at his
+bedside, too, when the doctor came."
+
+"You did quite right to awaken me, Antoinette," replied young Mrs.
+Gardiner. "Get me my morning robe, and slippers to match, at once, and
+take my hair out of these curl-papers. One can not appear before one's
+husband's relatives without making a careful toilet and looking one's
+best, for their Argus eyes are sure to take in any defects. I hope my
+husband will not have a long sickness or anything like that. I can not
+endure a sick-room. I think I should go mad. Hurry, Antoinette! Arrange
+my toilet as quickly as possible. I shall go into the grounds for a
+breath of fresh air before I venture into the heated atmosphere of that
+room, in which no doubt the lamps are still burning."
+
+"I would advise you _not_ to go into the grounds, my lady," replied
+Antoinette, quietly.
+
+"Why, I should like to know?" asked young Mrs. Gardiner, very sharply.
+
+"I have a reason for what I say," returned Antoinette; "but it is best
+not to tell you--just now."
+
+"I demand to know!" declared her mistress.
+
+"If you _must_ know, I suppose I may as well tell you now as at any
+other time, my lady," replied Antoinette; "though the news I have to
+tell may make you a trifle nervous, I fear. I was just out in the
+grounds gathering roses for your vase, when, to my astonishment, I heard
+my name called softly, but very distinctly, from the direction of a
+little brook which runs through the grounds scarcely more than a hundred
+feet from the hedge where the roses grew that I was gathering. I turned
+quickly in that direction. At first I saw no one, and I was about to
+turn away, believing my ears must have deceived me, when suddenly the
+tall alder-bushes parted, and a man stepped forth, beckoning to me, and
+that man, my lady, was--Mr. Victor Lamont!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX.
+
+
+Sally Gardiner grew deathly pale as Antoinette's words fell upon her
+ear. Had she heard aright, or were her ears playing her a horrible
+trick?
+
+"Mr. Victor Lamont is in the grounds, my lady, hiding among the thick
+alder-bushes down by the brook, and he vows he will stay there, be it
+day, week, month, or year, until he gets an opportunity to see and speak
+with you."
+
+"You must manage to see him at once, Antoinette, and give him a message
+from me. Tell him I will see him to-morrow night--at--at midnight, down
+by the brook-side. I can not, I dare not, come before that, lest I might
+attract the attention of the inmates of the house. If--if he should
+question you about my affairs, or, in fact, about anything, make answer
+that you do not know to all inquiries--all questions. Be off at once,
+Antoinette. Delays are dangerous, you know."
+
+As soon as she found herself alone, young Mrs. Gardiner turned the key
+in the lock, and flew at once to her writing-desk. Antoinette had laid
+several letters upon it. The letters--the writing upon two of which
+seemed rather familiar to her--were from the gentlemen who had loaned
+her the money a short time before at Newport. One stated that he should
+be in that vicinity at the end of the week, asking if she could find it
+convenient to pay part of the loan he had made to her when he called
+upon her. The other letter stated that the writer would be obliged if
+she could pay the money to his daughter when it became due. "She is a
+great friend of Miss Margaret Gardiner's," he went on to state, "and has
+decided to accept an invitation to spend a fortnight at the mansion, and
+would arrive there the following week."
+
+Sally Gardiner tore both letters into shreds, and cast them from her
+with a laugh that was terrible to hear.
+
+"I shall trust my wit to see me safely through this affair," she
+muttered. "I do not know just how it is to be done, but I shall
+accomplish it somehow."
+
+There was a tap at the door. Thrusting the letters quickly in her desk,
+she closed the lid, securely locked it, and put the key in the pocket of
+her dress.
+
+She was about to say "Come in," when she suddenly remembered that she
+had fastened the door. When she opened it, she found Andrew, her
+husband's valet, standing there with a very white, troubled face.
+
+"I am sorry to hurry you, my lady," he said in a tremulous voice; "but
+master seems so much worse we are sore afraid for him. Miss Margaret
+bids me summon you without a moment's delay."
+
+"I shall be there directly," replied the young wife; and the valet
+wondered greatly at the cool way in which she took the news of her
+husband's serious condition.
+
+"Those pretty society young women have no hearts," he thought,
+indignantly. "She married my poor young master for his money, not for
+love; that is quite evident to me."
+
+Young Mrs. Gardiner was just about to leave her _boudoir_, when
+Antoinette returned.
+
+"You saw him and delivered my message?" said Sally, anxiously.
+
+"Oh, yes, my lady," returned the girl.
+
+"Well," said Sally, expectantly, "what did he say?"
+
+"He was raving angry, my lady," laughed Antoinette. "He swore as I told
+him all; but at length he cooled down, seeing that his rage did not mend
+matters. 'Take this to your mistress, my good girl,' he said, tearing a
+leaf from his memorandum-book, and scribbling hastily, upon it. Here it
+is, my lady."
+
+As she spoke, she thrust a crumpled bit of paper into young Mrs.
+Gardiner's trembling hand.
+
+There was no date; the note contained but a few lines, and read as
+follows:
+
+     "I shall be by the alder-bushes at midnight to-morrow
+     night, and shall expect you to be equally punctual. No
+     subterfuge, please. If for any reason you should fail
+     to keep your appointment, I shall call upon you
+     directly after breakfast the following morning, and
+     shall see you--_at any cost_!
+
+     "LAMONT."
+
+She would not give herself any worry until she stood face to face with
+Victor Lamont; then some sort of an excuse to put him off would be sure
+to come to her.
+
+There was another tap at the door. It was Andrew again, standing on the
+threshold, shaking like an aspen leaf.
+
+"Pardon me, my lady; Miss Margaret begs me to urge you to make all
+possible haste."
+
+"I am coming now," she answered; and, looking into her face, Andrew
+marveled at the indifferent expression on it, and at the harshness of
+her voice.
+
+She followed him without another word. A frightened cry broke from her
+lips as she hastily crossed the room, and bent over the couch on which
+her husband lay.
+
+He was marble white, and looked so strange, she thought he was certainly
+dying.
+
+"We have sent for all the doctors about here. They are expected every
+moment," said Miss Margaret, touching her sister-in-law on the arm. "I
+thought that in a consultation they would find some way to save him if
+it lay in human power."
+
+Sally looked up in affright into the calm white face beside her. She
+tried to speak, but no sound fell from her cold, parched lips.
+
+When the great doctors came, they would find that Jay Gardiner had not
+taken the mild sleeping draught which poor Andrew believed he had
+administered to him by mistake; but, instead, a most powerful drug, an
+overdose of which meant death. Yes, they would find it out, and then----
+She dared not think what would happen then.
+
+"I have been looking carefully into this affair," continued Miss
+Margaret, in that same calm, clear voice, "and I have reason to believe
+there is something terribly wrong here. I have often taken the same
+drops for sleeplessness that Andrew says has been administered to my
+brother, and it never produced that effect upon me, and on several cases
+I have taken an overdose."
+
+"I--I--suppose--the--the--drug--acts differently upon different
+constitutions," answered young Mrs. Gardiner.
+
+Her eyes seemed fairly glued upon the still, white face lying back on
+the not whiter pillow. She could not have removed her gaze if her very
+life had been at stake.
+
+"I have a strange theory," continued Miss Margaret, slowly, and in that
+terribly calm voice that put Sally's nerves on edge. "A very strange
+theory."
+
+Margaret Gardiner saw her sister-in-law start suddenly and gasp for
+breath, and her face grew alarmingly white as she answered, hoarsely:
+
+"A theory of--of--how your brother's condition came about!" she
+gasped, rather than spoke the words. "Then you--you--do
+not--believe--Andrew's--statement?"
+
+"No!" replied Margaret Gardiner, in that same high, clear, solemn voice
+that seemed to vibrate through every pore of Sally's body. "I think
+Andrew fully believes what he states to be the truth; but he has not
+deceived. He has been most cleverly fooled by some one else."
+
+"What--what--makes you--think that?" cried Sally, sharply. "Those are
+strong words and a strange accusation to make, Miss Margaret."
+
+"I am quite well aware of that," was the slow reply.
+
+And as Jay's sister uttered the words, Sally could feel the strong gaze
+which accompanied them burn like fire to the very depths of her beating
+heart.
+
+What did Margaret Gardiner suspect? Surely, she would never think of
+suspecting that she--his bride--had any hand in Jay's illness? There
+would be no apparent reason.
+
+"Shall I tell you whom I suspect knows more of this than----"
+
+"Doctor Baker, miss," announced one of the servants; and the coming of
+the famous old doctor put a stop to all further conversation for the
+present, much to Sally's intense relief.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER L.
+
+
+Young Mrs. Gardiner looked fearfully and eagerly into the face of the
+stern-countenanced old doctor who had just entered and had stepped up
+hurriedly to his patient's bedside.
+
+He had heard from the messenger who had come for him just what had
+occurred to Jay Gardiner, and he was greatly puzzled.
+
+"The toothache drops you speak of were compounded by me," he declared,
+"and they certainly do not act as you describe. Ten drops would produce
+balmy sleep. An overdose acts as an emetic, and would not remain a
+moment's time on the stomach. That is their chief virtue--in rendering
+an overdose harmless. I am confident the mischief can not lie with the
+toothache drops."
+
+Doctor Baker had entered and gone directly to the bedside of his
+patient, as we have said, simply nodding to Miss Margaret, and not
+waiting for an introduction to the bride. The moment his eyes fell upon
+his patient, he gave a start of surprise.
+
+"Ah," he muttered, "my case of instruments! Hand them to me quickly.
+This is a case of life or death! Not an instant's time is to be lost. I
+dare not wait for the coming of the consulting physicians who have been
+sent for."
+
+"What are you about to do?" cried Sally, springing forward, her eyes
+gleaming.
+
+"I am about to perform a critical operation to save my patient's life,
+if it be possible. Every instant of time is valuable."
+
+"I say it shall not be done!" cried young Mrs. Gardiner. "I, his wife,
+command that you do not proceed until the rest of the doctors sent for
+arrive and sanction such an action!"
+
+The old doctor flushed hotly. Never, in all the long years of his
+practice, had his medical judgment ever been brought into question
+before, and at first, anger and resentment rose in quick rebellion in
+his heart; the next instant he had reasoned with himself that this young
+wife should be pardoned for her words, which had been uttered in the
+greatest stress of excitement.
+
+"My dear Mrs. Gardiner--for such I presume you to be--your interference
+at this critical moment, attempting to thwart my judgment, would--ay, I
+say _would_--prove fatal to your husband. This is a moment when a
+physician must act upon his own responsibility, knowing that a human
+life depends upon his swiftness and his skill, I beg of you to leave all
+to me."
+
+"I say it shall not be!" cried Sally, flinging herself across her
+husband's prostrate body. "Touch him at your peril, Doctor Baker!"
+
+For an instant all in the apartment were almost dumbfounded. Miss
+Margaret was the first to recover herself.
+
+"Sally," she said, approaching her sister-in-law slowly, her blue eyes
+looking stealthily down into the glittering, frenzied green ones, "come
+with me. You want to save Jay's life, don't you? Put down that knife,
+and come with me. You are wasting precious moments that may mean life or
+death to the one we both love. Let me plead with you, on my knees, if
+need be, to come with me, dear."
+
+Sally Gardiner stood at bay like a lioness. Quick as a flash, she had
+thought out the situation.
+
+If Jay Gardiner died, she would be free to fly with Victor Lament. If
+she refused to allow the doctor to touch him, he would die, and never
+discover the loss of the diamonds, or that she had borrowed money from
+his friends on leaving Newport.
+
+If he died, she would be a wealthy woman for life, and she would never
+be obliged to look again into the face of the handsome husband whom she
+hated--the husband who hated her, and who did not take the pains to
+conceal it in his every act each day since he had married her.
+
+Ah! if he only died here and now it would save her from all the ills
+that menaced her and were closing in around her. This was her
+opportunity. Fate--fortune had put the means of saving herself in her
+hands.
+
+Even the good doctor was sorely perplexed. He saw that young Mrs.
+Gardiner was a desperate woman, and that she meant what she said.
+
+"Will nothing under Heaven cause you to relent?" cried Margaret,
+wringing her hands, her splendid courage breaking down completely under
+the great strain of her agony. "My poor mother lies in the next room in
+a death-like swoon, caused by the knowledge of her idolized son's fatal
+illness. If he should die, she would never see another morning's sun
+after she learned of it. One grave would cover both."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LI.
+
+
+We must now return to Bernardine, dear reader.
+
+"Oh, I was mad--mad to remain a single instant beneath this roof when I
+discovered whose home it was!" she moaned, sinking down on the nearest
+hassock and rocking herself to and fro in an agony of despair. "I--I
+could have lived my life better if I had not looked upon his face again,
+or seen the bride who had won his love from me. I will go, I will leave
+this grand house at once. Let them feast and make merry. None of them
+knows that a human heart so near them is breaking slowly under its load
+of woe."
+
+She tried to rise and cross the floor, but her limbs refused to act. A
+terrible numbness had come over them, every muscle of her body seemed to
+pain her.
+
+"Am I going to be ill?" she cried out to herself in the wildest alarm.
+"No, no--that _must not_ be; they would be sure to call upon _him_
+to--to aid me, and that would kill me--yes, kill me!"
+
+Her body seemed to burn like fire, while her head, her feet, and her
+hands were ice cold. Her lips were parched with a terrible thirst.
+
+"I must go away from here," she muttered. "If I am going to die, let it
+be out in the grounds, with my face pressed close to the cold earth,
+that is not more cold to me than the false heart of the man to whom I
+have given my love beyond recall."
+
+Like one whose sight had suddenly grown dim, Bernardine groped her way
+from the magnificent _boudoir_ out into the corridor, her one thought
+being to reach her own apartment, secure her bonnet and cloak, and get
+out of the house. She had scarcely reached the first turn in the
+corridor, ere she came face to face with a woman robed in costly satin,
+and all ablaze with diamonds, who was standing quite still and looking
+about her in puzzled wonder.
+
+"I--I beg your pardon, miss," said the stranger, addressing Bernardine.
+"I am a bit turned around in this labyrinth of corridors."
+
+What was there in that voice that caused Bernardine to forget her own
+sorrows for an instant, and with a gasp peer into the face looking up
+into her own?
+
+The effect of Bernardine's presence, as the girl turned her head and the
+light of the hanging-lamp fell full upon it, was quite as electrifying
+to the strange lady.
+
+"Bernardine Moore!" she gasped in a high, shrill voice that was almost
+hysterical. "Do my eyes deceive me, or is this some strange coincidence,
+some chance resemblance, or are you Bernardine Moore, whom I have
+searched the whole earth over to find?"
+
+At the first word that fell from her excited lips, Bernardine recognized
+Miss Rogers.
+
+"Yes," she answered, mechanically, "I am Bernardine Moore, and you are
+Miss Rogers. But--but how came you here, and in such fine dress and
+magnificent jewels? You, whom I knew to be as poor as ourselves, when
+you shared the humble tenement home with my father and me!"
+
+Miss Rogers laughed very softly.
+
+"I can well understand your bewilderment over such a Cinderella-like
+mystery. The solution of it is very plain, however. But before I answer
+your question, my dear Bernardine, I must ask what _you_ are doing
+beneath this roof?"
+
+"I am Mrs. Gardiner's paid companion," responded Bernardine, huskily.
+
+"And I am Mrs. Gardiner's guest, surprising as that may seem. But let us
+step into some quiet nook where we can seat ourselves and talk without
+interruption," said Miss Rogers. "I have much to ask you about, and much
+to tell you."
+
+"Will you come to my apartment?" asked Bernardine.
+
+The little old lady nodded, the action of her head setting all her
+jewels to dancing like points of flame.
+
+Bernardine led the way to the modestly furnished room almost opposite
+Mrs. Gardiner's, and drawing forward a chair for her companion, placed
+her in it with the same gentle kindness she had exhibited toward poor,
+old, friendless Miss Rogers in those other days.
+
+"Before I say anything, my dear," began Miss Rogers, "I want to know
+just what took place from the moment you fled from your father's humble
+home up to the present time. Did you--elope with any one?"
+
+She saw the girl's fair face flush, then grow pale; but the dark, true,
+earnest eyes of Bernardine did not fall beneath her searching gaze.
+
+"I am grieved that you wrong me to that extent, Miss Rogers," she
+answered, slowly. "No, I did not elope. I simply left the old tenement
+house because I could not bear my father's entreaties to hurry up the
+approaching marriage between the man I hated--Jasper Wilde--and myself.
+The more I thought of it, the more repugnant it became to me.
+
+"I made my way down to the river. I did not heed how cold and dark it
+was. I--I took one leap, crying out to God to be merciful to me, and
+then the dark waters, with the awful chill of death upon them, closed
+over me, and I went down--down--and I knew no more.
+
+"But Heaven did not intend that I should die then. I still had more
+misery to go through; for that was I saved. I was rescued half
+drowned--almost lifeless--and taken to an old nurse's home, where I lay
+two weeks hovering between life and death.
+
+"On the very day I regained consciousness, I learned about the terrible
+fire that had wiped out the tenement home which I had known since my
+earliest childhood, and that my poor, hapless father had perished in the
+flames.
+
+"I did my best to discover your whereabouts, Miss Rogers, at first
+fearing you had shared my poor father's fate; but this fear proved to be
+without foundation, for the neighbors remembered seeing you go out to
+mail a letter a short time before the fire broke out.
+
+"I felt that some day we should meet again, but I never dreamed that it
+would be like this."
+
+"Have you told me _all_, Bernardine?" asked Miss Rogers, slowly. "You
+are greatly changed, child. When you fled from your home, you were but a
+school-girl, _now_ you are a woman. What has wrought so great a change
+in so short a time?"
+
+"I can not tell you that, Miss Rogers," answered Bernardine,
+falteringly. "That is a secret I must keep carefully locked up in my
+breast until the day I die!" she said, piteously.
+
+"I am sorry you will not intrust your secret to me," replied Miss
+Rogers. "You shall never have reason to repent of any faith you place in
+me."
+
+"There are some things that are better left untold," sobbed Bernardine.
+"Some wounds where the cruel weapons that made them have not yet been
+removed. This is one of them."
+
+"Is love, the sweetest boon e'er given to women, and yet the bitterest
+woe to many, the rock on which you wrecked your life, child? Tell me
+that much."
+
+"Yes," sobbed Bernardine. "I loved, and was--cruelly--deceived!"
+
+"Oh, do not tell me that!" cried Miss Rogers. "I can not bear it. Oh,
+Heaven! that you, so sweet, and pure, and innocent, should fall a victim
+to a man's wiles! Oh, tell me, Bernardine, that I have not heard
+aright!"
+
+Miss Rogers was so overcome by Bernardine's story, that she could not
+refrain from burying her face in her hands and bursting into tears as
+the girl's last words fell on her startled ear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LII.
+
+
+Tears were falling from Bernardine's eyes and sobs were trembling on the
+tender lips, she could restrain her feelings no longer, and, catching up
+the thin, shriveled-up figure of the dear little old spinster in her
+arms, she strained her to her heart and wept.
+
+"Ah, my dear girl. _You_ are the good angel who took me in and cared for
+me, believing me to be a pauper.
+
+"And now know the truth, my darling Bernardine. I, your distant
+kinswoman, am very rich, far above your imagination. I have searched for
+you since that fire, to make you my _heiress_--heiress to three millions
+of money. Can you realize it?"
+
+Bernardine was looking at her with startled eyes, her white lips parted
+in dismay.
+
+"Now you can understand better why I am here as the guest of Margaret
+Gardiner and her proud mother? The wealthy Miss Rogers, of New York, is
+believed to be a valuable acquisition to any social gathering. I loved
+your mother, my fair, sweet, gentle cousin. I should love you for her
+sake, did I not love you for your own."
+
+"You will make the necessary arrangements to leave Mrs. Gardiner's
+employ at the earliest moment, my dear, for I wish you to take your
+place in society at once as my heiress."
+
+But much to Miss Rogers' surprise, Bernardine shook her head sadly.
+
+"Oh, do not be angry with me, dear Miss Rogers," she sobbed, "but it can
+never be. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kind
+intentions, but it can never be. Heaven did not wish me to be a favorite
+of fortune. There are those who are born to work for a living. I am one
+of them. I have no place in the homes of aristocrats. One fell in love
+with me, but he soon tired of me and deserted me."
+
+"He will be glad enough to seek you again when you are known as my
+heiress," declared Miss Rogers, patting softly the bowed, dark curly
+head.
+
+"No, no!" cried Bernardine; "if a man can not love you when you are
+poor, friendless and homeless, he can not love you with all the
+trappings of wealth about you. I say again, I thank you with all my
+heart and soul for what you are disposed to do for me; but I can not
+accept it at your hands, dear friend. Build churches, schools for little
+ones, homes for the aged and helpless, institutions for the blind,
+hospitals for those stricken low by the dread rod of disease. I am young
+and strong. I can earn my bread for many a long year yet. Work is the
+only panacea to keep me from thinking, thinking, thinking."
+
+"Nay, nay," replied Miss Rogers; "let me be a judge of that. I know
+best, my dear. It will be a happiness to me in my declining years to
+have you do as I desire. The money will all go to you, and at the last
+you may divide it as you see fit. Do not refuse me, my child. I have set
+my heart upon seeing you the center of an admiring throng, to see you
+robed in shining satin and magnificent diamonds. I will not say more
+upon the subject just now; we will discuss it--to-morrow. I shall go
+down and join the feasters and revelers; my heart is happy now that I
+have found you, Bernardine. Early to-morrow morning we will let Mrs.
+Gardiner and her daughter Margaret into our secret, and they will make
+no objection to my taking you quietly away with me--at once. Do not let
+what I have told you keep you awake to-night, child. I should feel sorry
+to see you look pale and haggard to-morrow, instead of bright and
+cheerful."
+
+With a kiss, she left Bernardine, and the girl stood looking after her
+long afterward, wondering if what she had just passed through was not a
+dream from which she would awaken presently.
+
+The air of the room seemed to stifle Bernardine. Rising slowly, she made
+her way through one of the long French windows out into the grounds, and
+took a path which led in the direction of the brook around which the
+alders grew so thickly.
+
+She was so preoccupied with her own thoughts, she hardly noticed which
+way her footsteps tended. All she realized was, that she was walking in
+the sweet, rose-laden grounds, away--far away--from the revelers, with
+the free, cool, pure air of Heaven blowing across her heated, feverish
+brow.
+
+"An heiress!" She said the words over and over again to herself, trying
+to picture to herself what the life of an heiress would be.
+
+If she had been an heiress, living in a luxurious, beautiful home, would
+Jay Gardiner have deserted her in that cruel, bitterly cruel, heartless
+fashion?
+
+She never remembered to have heard or read of the lover of a wealthy
+heiress deserting her. It was always the lovers of poor girls who dared
+play such tricks.
+
+How shocked Jay Gardiner would be when he heard that she was--an
+heiress!
+
+Would he regret the step he had taken? The very thought sent a strange
+chill through her heart.
+
+The next instant she had recovered herself.
+
+"No, no! There will be no regrets between us now," she sobbed, hiding
+her white face in her trembling hands. "For he is another's and can
+never be anything more to me save a bitter-sweet memory. To-night I will
+give my pent-up grief full vent. Then I will bury it deep--deep out of
+the world's sight, and no one shall ever know that my life has been
+wrecked over--what might have been."
+
+Slowly her trembling hands dropped from her face, and, with bowed head,
+Bernardine went slowly down the path, out of the sound of the
+dance-music and the laughing voices, down to where the crickets were
+chirping amid the long grasses, and the wind was moaning among the tall
+pines and the thick alders.
+
+When she reached the brook she paused. It was very deep at this
+point--nearly ten feet, she had heard Miss Margaret say--and the bottom
+was covered with sharp, jagged rocks. That was what caused the hoarse,
+deep murmur as the swift-flowing water struck them in its hurried flight
+toward the sea.
+
+Bernardine leaned heavily against one of the tall pines, and gave vent
+to her grief.
+
+Why had God destined one young girl to have youth, beauty, wealth, and
+love, while the other had known only life's hardships? Miss Rogers'
+offer of wealth had come to her too late. It could not buy that which
+was more to her than everything else in the world put together--Jay
+Gardiner's love.
+
+The companionship of beautiful women, the homage of noble men, were as
+nothing to her. She would go through life with a dull, aching void in
+her breast. There would always be a longing cry in her heart that would
+refuse to be stilled. No matter where she went, whom she met, the face
+of Jay Gardiner, as she had seen it first--the laughing, dark-blue eyes
+and the bonny brown curls--would haunt her memory while her life lasted.
+
+"Good-bye, my lost love! It is best that you and I should never meet
+again!" she sobbed.
+
+Suddenly she became aware that she was not standing there alone.
+Scarcely ten feet from her she beheld the figure of a man, and she
+realized that he was regarding her intently.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIII.
+
+
+For a single instant Bernardine felt her terror mastering her; it was
+certainly not an idle fear conjured up by her own excited brain.
+
+The clock from an adjacent tower struck the hour of midnight as she
+stood there by the brookside, peering, with beating heart, among the
+dense shadow of the trees.
+
+She gazed with dilated eyes. Surely it was her fancy. One of the
+shadows, which she had supposed to be a stunted tree, moved, crept
+nearer and nearer, until it took the form of a man moving stealthily
+toward her.
+
+Bernardine's first impulse was to turn and fly; but her limbs seemed
+powerless to move.
+
+Yes, it was a man. She saw that he was moving more quickly forward now,
+and in a moment of time he had reached her side, and halted directly
+before her.
+
+"Ah!" he cried in a voice that had a very Frenchy accent. "I am
+delighted to see you, my dear lady. Fate has certainly favored me, or,
+perhaps, my note reached you and you are come in search of me. Very
+kind--very considerate. They are having a fine time up at the mansion
+yonder in your honor, of course. Knowing your _penchant_ for lights,
+music, laughter, and admiration, I confess I am _very_ much surprised to
+see that you have stolen a few minutes to devote to--me."
+
+Bernardine realized at once that this stranger mistook her for some one
+else--some one who had expected to see him. She tried to wrench herself
+free from the steel-like grasp of his fingers, that had closed like a
+vise about her slender wrist; but not a muscle responded to her will,
+nor could she find voice to utter a single sound.
+
+"Let us come to an understanding, my dear Mrs. Gardiner. I do not like
+this new move on your part."
+
+It was then, and not till then, that Bernardine found her voice.
+
+"I am not Mrs. Gardiner!" she exclaimed, struggling to free herself from
+the man's detaining hold on her arm.
+
+The effect of her words was like an electric shock to the man. He reeled
+back as though he had been suddenly shot.
+
+"You--are--not--young Mrs. Gardiner?" he gasped, his teeth fairly
+chattering. "Then, by Heaven! you are a spy, sent here by her to
+incriminate me, to be a witness against me! It was a clever scheme, but
+she shall see that it will fail signally."
+
+"I am no spy!" replied Bernardine, indignantly, "No one sent me here,
+least of all, young Mrs. Gardiner!"
+
+"I do not believe you!" retorted the man, bluntly. "At any rate, you
+know too much of this affair to suit me. You must come along with me."
+
+"You are mad!" cried Bernardine, haughtily. "I have, as you say,
+unwittingly stumbled across some secret in the life of yourself and one
+who has won the love of a man any woman would have been proud to have
+called--husband!"
+
+"So you are in love with the handsome, lordly Jay, eh?" sneered her
+companion. "It's a pity you had not captured the washing millionaire,
+instead of pretty, bewitching, coquettish Sally," he went on, with a fit
+of harsh laughter.
+
+"Sir, unhand me and let me go!" cried Bernardine. "Your words are an
+insult! Leave me at once, or I shall cry out for help!"
+
+"I believe you would be fool-hardy enough to attempt it," responded her
+companion; "but I intend to nip any such design in the bud. You must
+come along with me, I say. If you are wise, you will come along
+peaceably. Attempt to make an outcry, and--well, I never yet felled a
+woman, but there's always the first time. You invite the blow by going
+contrary to my commands. My carriage is in waiting, fortunately, just
+outside the thicket yonder."
+
+Bernardine saw that the man she had to deal with was no ordinary person.
+He meant every word that he said. She tried to cry out to Heaven to help
+her in this, her hour of need, but her white lips could form no word.
+
+Suddenly she felt herself lifted in a pair of strong arms, a hand fell
+swiftly over her mouth, and she knew no more. Sky, trees, the dark,
+handsome, swarthy face above her and the earth beneath her seemed to
+rock and reel.
+
+Carrying his burden swiftly along a path almost covered by tangled
+underbrush, the man struck at length into a little clearing at one side
+of the main road. Here, as he had said, a horse and buggy were in
+waiting.
+
+A lighted lantern was in the bottom of the vehicle. He swung this into
+the unconscious girl's face as he thrust her upon the seat. He had
+expected to see one of the servants of the mansion--a seamstress, or one
+of the maids, perhaps--but he was totally unprepared for the vision of
+girlish loveliness that met his gaze.
+
+While he had gazed with fascinated eyes at the faultlessly beautiful
+face of Bernardine, his heart had gone from him in one great, mad throb
+of passionate love.
+
+"This lovely bird has walked directly into my drag-net," he muttered.
+"Why should she not be mine, whether she loves or _hates_ me?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIV.
+
+
+On and on the dark-browed stranger urges the almost thoroughly exhausted
+horse, until after an hour's hard driving he comes upon a small
+farm-house standing in the midst of a clearing in the dense wood.
+
+Here he drew rein, uttering a loud "Halloo!"
+
+In answer to his summons, two men and a woman came hurrying forward,
+one of the men going toward the horse.
+
+"Mercy on us!" exclaimed the woman, amazedly, "Victor Lament has brought
+the young woman with him."
+
+"No comments!" exclaimed Lamont, harshly, as he lifted his unconscious
+burden out of the buggy.
+
+"And why not, pray?" demanded the woman, impudently. "Why should I not
+make comments when my husband is your pal in all your schemes; that is,
+he does the work while you play the fine gentleman, and he doesn't get
+half of the money by a long shot?"
+
+"But I insist upon knowing now," declared the woman. "Who is the girl
+you are carrying in your arms, and why have you brought her here--of all
+places in the world?"
+
+By this time they had reached the house, and Lamont strode in and laid
+his unconscious burden upon a wooden settee, which was the only article
+of furniture the apartment possessed.
+
+"Why don't you answer, Victor Lamont?" cried the woman, shrilly. "Ten to
+one it's some girl whose puny, pretty face has fascinated you, and
+you're in love with her."
+
+"Well, supposing that is the case," he replied, coolly; "what then?"
+
+"I would say your fool-hardiness had got the better of your reason," she
+replied.
+
+"That is the case with most men who do so foolish a thing as to fall in
+love," he answered, carelessly.
+
+"Keep an eye on the girl, and do not let her leave this farm-house until
+after our work around here is done."
+
+"I will promise under one condition," replied his companion; "and that
+is that you will not attempt to see the girl, or speak to her."
+
+"Do you think I am a fool?" retorted Lamont.
+
+"I do not think; I am certain of it--where a pretty face is concerned,"
+responded the woman, quickly and blandly.
+
+"I shall make no promises," he said, rudely turning on his heel. "Attend
+to the girl; she is recovering consciousness. You _dare not_ permit her
+to escape, no matter what you say to the contrary. I must return to the
+Gardiner mansion to direct the movements of the boys. They will be
+waiting for me. Order a fresh horse saddled, and be quick about it. I've
+already wasted too much time listening to your recriminations."
+
+Very reluctantly the woman turned to do his bidding. She saw that she
+had gone far enough. His mood had changed from a reflective to an angry
+one, and Victor Lamont was a man to fear when he was in a rage.
+
+As soon as the woman had quitted the room, Lamont returned to his
+contemplation of the beautiful face of the girl lying so white and still
+on the wooden settee, as revealed to him by the light of the swinging
+oil lamp directly over her head.
+
+The longer Victor Lamont gazed, the more infatuated he became with that
+pure, sweet face.
+
+"You shall love me," he muttered; "I swear it! Victor Lamont has never
+yet wished for anything that he did not obtain, sooner or later, by fair
+means or foul; and I wish for your love, fair girl--wish, long, crave
+for it with all my heart, with all my soul, with all the depth and
+strength of my nature! I will win you, and we will go far away from the
+scenes that know me but too well, where a reward is offered for my
+capture, and where prison doors yawn to receive me. I will marry you,
+and then I will reform--I will do anything you ask of me; but I must, I
+_will_ have your love, or I--will--kill--you! I could never bear to see
+you the bride of another."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LV.
+
+
+"Yes, you shall marry me, though Heaven and earth combine to take you
+from me!" muttered Victor Lamont, gazing down upon the pure,
+marble-white face of Bernardine. "It is said that some day, sooner or
+later, every man meets his fate, and when he does meet that one of all
+others, his whole life changes. The past, with all those whom he has met
+and fancied before, is as nothing to him now, and his dreams are only of
+the future and that elysium where he is to wander hand in hand with the
+one he loves.
+
+"Hand in hand--will I ever _dare_ clasp in mine that little white hand
+that I know must be as pure and spotless as a lily leaf? Would not my
+own hand, dark and hardened in sin, ay, bathed in blood even, wither
+away at the contact?
+
+"If I had lived a good, honorable, upright life, I might have won the
+love and the respect of this young girl. If she knew me as I am, as the
+police know me, she would recoil from me in horror; but _she must never
+know_--never! I do not think she saw my face--ay, I could swear that she
+did not. I will tell her that I was a traveler happening to pass and saw
+her at the mercy of a ruffian, and rescued her.
+
+"I will have her thanks, her heartfelt gratitude. I will tell her that I
+will see her safely back to her friends, as soon as my horse--which
+became lame in the encounter--is able to make the journey, which will
+not be later than a day or two at the furthest. In the meantime, I will
+comfort her, pity her, sympathize with her.
+
+"I have always been successful in winning the hearts of women without
+scarcely any effort on my part whatever, and I vow that I will win this
+girl's.
+
+"The _La Gascoigne_ sails in three days from now. I will sail away in
+her, and this beautiful treasure shall sail with me as my bride, my
+beauteous bride.
+
+"I will turn everything into cash. I will see young Mrs. Gardiner, and
+at the point of a revolver, if need be, cause her to beg, borrow, or
+steal a few thousand more for me from that handsome, aristocratic
+husband of hers.
+
+"Then I will desert this gang that hang like barnacles about me, that
+know too much about me, and would squeal on me any moment to save
+themselves if they got into a tight place. I will go so far away that
+they will never get money enough together to attempt to follow me."
+
+The clock on the mantel of an inner room warned him that time was flying
+swift-winged past him.
+
+He stooped to kiss the beautiful, marble-like lips, that could not utter
+a demur, locked as they were in unconsciousness; then he drew back.
+
+Even in her utter helplessness there was something like an armor about
+her--even as the innocent bud is encompassed and protected by the
+sharpest thorns from the hand that would ruthlessly gather it.
+
+"The kiss from those pure lips must be freely offered, not stolen," he
+muttered; and turning on his heel, he hurried quickly from the apartment
+while that worthy resolution was strong upon him and his good impulses
+in the ascendency.
+
+Mrs. Dick was suspiciously near the door; in his own mind he felt sure
+that she had been spying upon him through the key-hole.
+
+"Your horse is ready, Victor Lamont," she said.
+
+"It took you a long time to go upon your errand," he replied,
+tauntingly. "No doubt you harnessed the horse yourself, to spare that
+lazy husband of yours the trouble of doing it," he added.
+
+The woman muttered something between her teeth which he did not quite
+catch; nor did he take the trouble to listen.
+
+Vaulting quickly into the saddle, his mettlesome horse was off quite as
+soon as he could grasp the reins, and in an instant he was lost to sight
+in the dense gloom which precedes the dawn.
+
+It was quite light when Victor Lamont reached the spot by the
+brook-side--the spot where he had met the lovely young stranger but a
+short time before.
+
+What a strange fate it was that caused him to discover a flask of brandy
+in the pocket of the saddle!
+
+That was his failing--drink! He had always guarded against taking even a
+single draught when he had an important duty to perform; but on this
+occasion he told himself he must make an exception.
+
+"I will drink to the health of my beautiful bride to be," he muttered,
+raising the flask to his lips; and he drank long and deep, the brandy
+leaping like fire through his veins.
+
+He had not long to wait in his place of concealment ere he heard the
+sound of footsteps.
+
+Looking through the heavy branches, he saw the figure of a woman--a
+familiar figure, it seemed to him--moving rapidly to and fro among the
+blooms.
+
+He called to her, believing this time he was face to face with young
+Mrs. Gardiner, when he found to his keen disappointment it was only
+Antoinette, the clever French maid.
+
+She should take a message to her mistress, he determined; and tearing a
+leaf from his memorandum-book, he hastily penciled a note to Sally
+Gardiner, which he felt sure would bring her with all possible haste to
+the place at which he awaited her.
+
+"Give this to your mistress with dispatch, Antoinette," he said.
+
+He knew the golden key that would be apt to unlock this French maid's
+interest to do his bidding. As he spoke, he took from his pocket-book a
+crisp bank-note, which he told the girl she was to spend for bon-bons or
+ribbons for herself.
+
+He had always made it a point to fee the French maid well, that he might
+have a powerful ally in the home of his intended victim.
+
+The money, together with a little judicious flattery now and then, had
+won Antoinette completely over.
+
+As Victor Lamont sat on the mossy bowlder by the brook-side, watching
+and waiting, he observed, early as the hour was, that the servants of
+the mansion had begun to bestir themselves. One hour passed after
+Antoinette had returned to the house; then another.
+
+Young Mrs. Gardiner did not come to the rendezvous.
+
+"Why is she not here?" he asked himself; and for the first time in his
+life he quite lost control of himself in a fit of terrible anger, and to
+calm himself he had recourse more than once to the silver flask which he
+carried in his breast-pocket.
+
+Five, ten, fifteen minutes passed; then slowly one, two, three,
+four--another five; then replacing his watch in his pocket, and
+quivering with rage, Victor Lamont started for the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVI.
+
+
+The sound of the galloping hoofs of Victor Lamont's steed had scarcely
+died away in the distance ere Bernardine opened her eyes and looked
+wonderingly about her. For an instant she believed that her strange
+surroundings--the bare room, with its curtainless windows, and the
+strange women bending over her--were but the vagaries of a too realistic
+dream from which she was awakening. But even while this impression was
+strong upon her, the woman said, sneeringly:
+
+"So you have regained consciousness--that's bad;" and she looked crossly
+at the girl.
+
+"Where am I--and who are you?" asked Bernardine, amazedly, sitting bolt
+upright on the wooden settee, and staring in wonder up at the hard face
+looking down into her own. But before she could answer, a wave of memory
+swept over Bernardine, and she cried out in terror: "Oh, I remember
+standing by the brook, and the dark-faced man that appeared--how he
+caught hold of my arms in a grasp of steel, and I fainted. Did he bring
+me away from Gardiner Castle?" she demanded, indignantly--"_dared_ he do
+such a thing?"
+
+"Do not get excited," replied the woman, coolly. "Always take everything
+cool--that's the best way."
+
+"But why did he bring me here?" insisted Bernardine.
+
+"You will have to ask him when he comes back. He is the only one who can
+answer that," returned the woman.
+
+Bernardine sprung quickly to her feet; but it was not until she
+attempted to take a step forward that she realized how weak she was.
+
+"What are you intending to do?" asked the woman, sneeringly.
+
+"Leave this place," replied Bernardine, sharply. "I have no idea as to
+why I was brought here; but I do not intend to stop for explanations.
+Step out of my way, please, and allow me to pass."
+
+The woman laughed, and that laugh was not pleasant to hear.
+
+"That is contrary to my orders. You are to remain here, in my charge,
+under my eye, until--well, until the person who brought you here says
+you may go."
+
+Bernardine's dark eyes flashed; she looked amazed.
+
+"Do you mean to infer that I am to be detained here--against my will?"
+demanded the girl.
+
+"That is as you choose to look at it, miss. I am to coax you to keep me
+company here, and, if you refuse, to insist upon your doing so; and
+finally, if it becomes necessary, to _make_ you accede to my wishes, or,
+rather, the wishes of the one who brought you here."
+
+Bernardine drew herself up to her full height, and looked at the woman
+with unflinching eyes, saying, slowly:
+
+"You have lent yourself to a most cruel scheme to entrap an innocent
+girl; but know this: I would die by my own hand sooner than marry the
+villain who had me conveyed in this most despicable way to this isolated
+place. I have no doubt you know the whole story; but I say this: When my
+poor father died, I was freed forever from the power of my mortal foe.
+His sword fell from over my head, where he had held it suspended. He can
+not pursue my hapless father beyond the gates of death."
+
+"What you are talking about is an enigma to me," returned the woman,
+grimly.
+
+"If he has not told you the truth about this matter, listen to me, and
+let me tell it," cried Bernardine, trembling with excitement. "I--I have
+known this man who had me brought here for long years, and I know him
+only to fear and distrust him--more than words can express.
+
+"One day, quite by accident, he met me on the street--right before my
+own door--and he stopped short, looking at me with evident admiration
+expressed in his coarse face and glittering black eyes."
+
+"'Ah, ha! you turn up your little nose at me, eh?' he cried. 'Well, you
+shall be sorry for that, and in a fortnight, too, I'll warrant.'
+
+"I would have passed him by without deigning him a reply; but he caught
+me by the shoulder, and held me fast.
+
+"'No, you don't move on like that!' he yelled in my ear, a great flush
+rising to his already florid, wine-stained features. 'You shall kiss me,
+my pretty, here and now!'
+
+"I endeavored to pass him, but he still clutched me tightly, fiercely in
+his strong grasp, and I--I dealt him a stinging blow across the face
+with the palm of my hand.
+
+"The action surprised him so that he released me from his grasp for a
+single instant, and in that instant I darted away from him like a
+startled hare.
+
+"'You shall pay for this!' he cried, looking after me. 'He laughs best
+who laughs last!'
+
+"It was within a fortnight after that most unfortunate event that the
+crisis came. My father sent for me, and told me he had had a proposal
+for my hand.
+
+"'The man who wants to marry you will make a great lady of you, my
+girl,' said my father, eagerly. 'You are lucky! I repeat you are _very_
+lucky! Why are you looking at me with troubled eyes,' he demanded, 'when
+you ought to be clapping your hands in delight and asking me who it is?'
+
+"'I am silent because I fear to inquire the name,' I replied, slowly,
+'lest you should utter a name which I loathe.'
+
+"'The man is rich,' he said, leaning forward eagerly.
+
+"'Riches do not bring happiness,' I replied. 'I know of a man whom the
+world calls rich, and yet I would not marry him if he had all the wealth
+of the world to pour at my feet. But who is this man who has come to you
+without even the formality of finding out if it was worth his
+while--without deigning to take the trouble to find out if I could care
+for him to the extent of becoming his wife?'
+
+"'The son of our landlord,' replied my father, his voice a little husky.
+
+"'Were I not so angry I should be amused,' I answered. 'If there was not
+another man on the face of the earth, I would not marry Jasper Wilde.
+I----'"
+
+The woman had been listening to Bernardine's story indifferently enough
+until she uttered that name. At the sound of it, she caught her breath
+sharply, and sprung suddenly forward.
+
+"What name did you say? What is the name of the man who wanted to marry
+you?" she gasped. "Did I understand you to say Jasper Wilde?"
+
+"Yes," replied Bernardine, wonderingly; and her wonder grew into the
+utmost consternation when the woman fell at her feet shrieking with
+rage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVII.
+
+
+Bernardine was tender of heart. She saw that the woman who was groveling
+at her feet was suffering mental pain, and she realized that in some
+vague way the name Jasper Wilde, which she had just uttered, had
+occasioned it.
+
+She forgot her surroundings, forgot the woman had declared it her
+intention to detain her there even against her will; she remembered only
+that a human being was suffering, and she must aid her if she could.
+
+Suddenly the woman struggled to her feet.
+
+"I did not know who you were talking about until you mentioned _that
+name_!" she cried, excitedly and almost incoherently; "for it was _not_
+Jasper Wilde who brought you here. It never occurred to me that Jasper
+Wilde had a hand in it--that he had anything to do with it. I am Jasper
+Wilde's wife, girl, and the story you have told is a revelation to me.
+He must have got the other man to bring you here, and he means to fly
+with you and desert me! Ha, ha, ha! I always find out everything he
+attempts to do in _some_ way!"
+
+"He went off on his horse just as you were brought in. Before he comes,
+I will set you free."
+
+"Oh, I thank you more than words can express!" said Bernardine,
+fervently.
+
+"You can take the horse and buggy that they always have hitched and
+ready for an emergency. If they took you from Gardiner mansion, you will
+find it a good hour's drive; but if you start at once you will get there
+by sunrise. You may meet some of them on the road; but you seem to be a
+brave girl. You have a horse that not one of them could overtake in a
+five-mile race, if you lay on the whip. Now go!"
+
+"But you?" cried Bernardine. "I can not go and leave you suffering here.
+You are very ill--I see it in your face. You are white as death. Let me
+take you to the nearest doctor--there are several hereabouts----"
+
+But the woman shook her head sadly.
+
+"I feel that it is of no use," she whispered, hoarsely. "I feel that I
+am doomed--that my hour has come. Your startling news has done it," she
+gasped. "Jasper once dealt me a terrible blow over the heart. I--I did
+not die then, but my heart has been weak ever since. Go--go, girl, while
+the opportunity is yours. You can not escape him, if he returns and
+finds you here! Leave me to my fate. It is better so."
+
+As she uttered the last word, she fell back with a dull thud, and
+Bernardine saw--ah, she knew--that the patient heart of this poor
+creature who had loved faithless, cruel Jasper Wilde to the bitter end
+had slowly broken at last.
+
+Reverently covering the white, staring face with her apron, and
+breathing a sobbing prayer for her, Bernardine fled from the room.
+
+A faint belt of light over the eastern hills told her that dawn was not
+far off.
+
+She found the horse and buggy where the woman had indicated, and with
+hands trembling with nervous excitement untied the bridle.
+
+The animal scarcely gave her time to climb into the vehicle, ere he was
+off with the speed of the wind through the stubble fields of the old
+deserted farm and on to the high-road.
+
+It was all that Bernardine could do to cling to the reins, let alone
+attempt to guide the animal, whose speed was increasing perceptibly at
+every step he took.
+
+The trees, the wild flowers by the road-side, the dark pines and
+mile-posts, seemed to whirl past her, and she realized, with a terrible
+quaking of the heart, that the horse was getting beyond her control and
+was running away.
+
+The light buggy seemed to fairly spin over the road without touching it.
+From a run, the horse had broken into a mad gallop, which the small
+white hands clinging to the reins was powerless to stop.
+
+Suddenly from a bend in the road, as she reached it, she saw a horseman
+riding leisurely toward her on a chestnut mare which she recognized at
+once as belonging to the Gardiner stables. He could not be one of the
+grooms, nor could he be one of the guests astir at that hour; still,
+there was something familiar in the form of the man advancing toward her
+at an easy canter.
+
+He seemed to take in the situation at a glance, and quickly drew back
+into the bushes to give the runaway horse full swing in the narrow road.
+
+But as Bernardine advanced at that mad, flying pace, she heard the man
+shout:
+
+"My horse, by all that is wonderful! But that isn't Mag in the buggy.
+Who in thunder can it be in that wagon, anyhow?"
+
+That loud, harsh voice! No wonder Bernardine's heart almost ceased
+beating as she heard it. It was the voice of Jasper Wilde.
+
+Only Heaven's mercy kept her from swooning outright, for she knew Jasper
+Wilde would recognize her as soon as he came abreast of her.
+
+This proved to be the case.
+
+"Bernardine Moore!" he shouted, hardly believing he had seen aright.
+
+For one moment of time he was taken so completely by surprise that he
+was quite incapable of action, and in that moment Bernardine's horse was
+many rods past him.
+
+"Yes, it is Bernardine Moore!" he cried out, excitedly.
+
+He did not ask himself how she happened to be there; he had no time for
+that.
+
+Cursing himself for the time he had lost through his astonishment at the
+discovery, he wheeled his horse about with so sharp a jerk that it
+almost brought the animal upon its haunches; then started in mad pursuit
+of the girl, shouting at the top of his voice to Bernardine to saw hard
+on both lines, and jerk quickly backward.
+
+To his intense rage, he saw Bernardine take out the whip and lay it on
+the back of the runaway horse, and it flashed across his mind what that
+meant.
+
+She had seen and recognized him as she flew past him. She knew he was
+hurrying after her, and she preferred death rather than that he should
+overtake her.
+
+Curses loud and deep broke from his lips. He yelled to her to draw rein;
+but she only urged the horse on the faster.
+
+He had searched the world over to find Bernardine Moore, and now that he
+had come across her by chance, she should not escape him like this.
+
+A mere chit of a girl should not outwit him in that fashion.
+
+A mad thought occurred to him.
+
+There was but one way of stopping that horse and overtaking Bernardine,
+and that was to draw his revolver and shoot the animal dead in its
+tracks.
+
+He liked the horse; but nothing on earth should prevent him from
+capturing the girl he still loved to desperation.
+
+To think, with him, was to act; and quick as a flash, he drew a weapon
+from his hip-pocket, and the loud report of a shot instantly followed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVIII.
+
+
+The shot which rang out so clearly on the early morning air missed its
+mark, and the noise only succeeded in sending Bernardine's horse along
+the faster. Taking one terrified glance backward, Bernardine saw Jasper
+Wilde's horse suddenly swerve, unseating her rider, and the next instant
+he was measuring his length in the dusty road-side.
+
+The girl did not pause to look again, nor did she draw rein upon the
+panting steed, until, covered with foam, and panting for breath, he drew
+up of his own accord at the gate of Gardiner mansion.
+
+One of the grooms came running forward, and Bernardine saw that he was
+greatly excited.
+
+"The maids missed you, and feared something had happened to you, Miss
+Moore," he said; "but we were all so alarmed about young master, it
+caused us to forget everything else, we all love Master Jay so well."
+
+A sharp pain, like that caused by a dagger's thrust, seemed to flash
+through Bernardine's heart as those words fell upon her startled ear.
+
+"What has happened to your master, John?" she asked, huskily; and her
+voice sounded terribly unnatural.
+
+In a voice husky with emotion the groom explained to her what was
+occurring--how young Mrs. Gardiner stood guard over her husband,
+refusing to allow the doctor to perform an operation which might save
+their young master, who was dying by inches with each passing moment of
+time--how she had caught up a thin, sharp-bladed knife which the doctor
+had just taken from his surgical case, and, brandishing it before her
+with the fury of a fiend incarnate, defied any one to dare approach.
+
+Both Mrs. Gardiner and Miss Margaret had gone into hysterics, and had
+to be removed from the apartment to an adjoining room.
+
+"Oh, Miss Moore, surely your services were never so much needed as now,
+you seem so clever! Oh, if you could, by any means in earthly power,
+coax young Mrs. Gardiner from her husband's bedside, the operation would
+be performed, whether she consented or not! In God's name, see what you
+can do!"
+
+Bernardine waited to hear no more, but, like a storm-driven swallow,
+fairly flew across the lawn to the house, without even stopping a moment
+to give the least explanation concerning the strange horse and buggy
+which she had left in the groom's hands.
+
+As the man had said, the greatest excitement pervaded the mansion.
+Servants were running about hither and thither, wringing their hands,
+expecting to hear each moment--they knew not what.
+
+Like one fairly dazed, Bernardine flew along the corridor toward the
+blue and gold room which she knew had been set apart for Jay Gardiner's
+use.
+
+She could hear the murmur of excited voices as she reached the door.
+
+She saw that it was ajar. A draught of wind blew it open as she
+approached.
+
+As she reached the threshold, Bernardine stood rooted to the spot at the
+spectacle that met her gaze.
+
+Young Mrs. Gardiner was bending over her hapless husband with a face so
+transformed by hate--yes, hate--there was no mistaking the
+expression--that it nearly took Bernardine's breath away. In her right
+hand she held the gleaming blade, the end of which rested against Jay's
+bared breast.
+
+The doctor had sunk into the nearest seat, and in that unfortunate
+moment had taken his eyes off the sufferer, whose life was ebbing so
+swiftly, and had dropped his face in his trembling hands to think out
+what he had best do in this dire moment of horror.
+
+All this Bernardine took in at a single glance.
+
+Jay Gardiner's life hung in the balance. She forgot her surroundings,
+forgot everything, but that she must save him even though at the risk of
+her own life. She would have gladly given a hundred lives, if she had
+them, to save him.
+
+She did not stop an instant to formulate any plan, but with a cry of the
+most intense horror, born of acute agony, she had cleared the space
+which divided her from young Mrs. Gardiner at a single bound, and in a
+twinkling had hurled the blade from her hands.
+
+Sally Gardiner was taken so entirely by surprise for an instant that she
+did not stoop to recover the gleaming knife which had fallen between her
+assailant and herself.
+
+In that instant, the doctor, who had witnessed the scene which had taken
+place with such lightning-like rapidity, sprung forward and grasped the
+furious woman, pinioning her hands behind her, and called loudly upon
+the servants to come to his aid and remove her from Jay Gardiner's
+bedside.
+
+But there was little need of their assistance. Sally Gardiner stood
+regarding Bernardine, her hands hanging by her sides, her eyes staring
+eagerly at the intruder.
+
+"_You_ here!" she muttered, in an almost inaudible voice. "What are
+_you_ doing in his sick-room, _you_ whom he always loved instead of me?
+He married _me_ from a sense of honor, but he loved you, and never
+ceased to let me understand that to be the case. What are you doing here
+now--_you_ of all other women?"
+
+"Come with me quietly into the other room and I will tell you how it
+happens that I am here--in _his_ home," whispered Bernardine, huskily.
+
+"No," she shrieked, laughing a hard, jeering, terrible laugh in
+Bernardine's white, pain-drawn face as she battled fiercely to shake off
+the doctor's hold of her pinioned arms. "I shall not go--I shall not
+leave my post until he is _dead_! Do you hear?--until he is dead! I
+shall not save him for you! I'd rather be his widow than his unloved
+wife!"
+
+"Come!" whispered Bernardine, sternly. "A human life is at stake--he is
+dying. You _must_ come with me and let the doctor be free to do his
+work. I command you to come!" she added, in a stern, ringing, sonorous
+voice that seemed to thrill the other to her very heart's core and
+fascinate her--ay, fairly paralyze her will-power. "Come!" repeated
+Bernardine, laying a hand on her shoulder--"come out into the grounds
+with me, Mrs. Gardiner--out into the fresh air. I have something to tell
+you. I had an encounter with Victor Lamont last night," she added in a
+whisper, her eyes fixed steadily on the young wife as she slowly uttered
+the words.
+
+Their effect was magical on Sally Gardiner. She reeled forward like one
+about to faint.
+
+"Let me go out into the grounds alone," she cried, hoarsely. "I must
+collect my scattered thoughts. Come to me there in half an hour, and
+tell me. I--I can listen to you then."
+
+And with these words, the fiery creature left the room, staggering
+rather than walking through the open French window.
+
+The doctor caught Bernardine's hand in his.
+
+"If he lives, it will be to your strategy that he owes his life," he
+said, hurriedly. "Now leave the room quickly. In ten minutes I will call
+you, and you shall tell his mother and sister whether it be life or
+death."
+
+True to his promise, within the prescribed time the doctor called
+Bernardine.
+
+"It will be life," he said, joyously; "and in performing the operation,
+I also found a small piece of bone resting against the brain, which was
+the cause of the strange lapse of memory he complained to me about
+several months ago. His brain is perfectly clear now. I heard from his
+lips a startling story," continued the doctor, taking Bernardine aside.
+"Come to him."
+
+She refused, saying she was just about to leave the house; but the
+doctor insisted, and at length, accompanied by Jay's mother and his
+sister, she went to his bedside.
+
+Jay's joy at beholding Bernardine was so great they almost feared for
+his life. And then the truth came out: his marriage to Bernardine was
+legal and binding before God and man, and that, directly after he had
+left her on the day of the ceremony, he had met with an accident which
+completely obliterated the event from his mind; even all remembrance of
+Bernardine's existence.
+
+"What, then, is poor Sally?" cried his mother, in horror. "She wedded
+you, knowing nothing of all this!"
+
+Before he could answer, they heard a great commotion in the corridor
+below; and, forgetful of the sick man, Antoinette rushed in weeping
+wildly, crying out that her young mistress had just been found dead in
+the brook.
+
+She died without knowing the truth, and they were all thankful for
+that--not even her family or Miss Rogers ever knew the sad truth.
+
+Two men fled from the vicinity that day--Victor Lamont and Jasper Wilde.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When Jay Gardiner was able to travel, he and his mother and sister and
+Bernardine went abroad; but, out of respect to poor Sally's memory, it
+was a year before they took their places in the great world as--what
+they had been from the first--husband and wife.
+
+In the sunshine of the happy years that followed, Bernardine never
+reproached her husband for that blotted page in their history which he
+would have given so much to efface.
+
+Sally's father and mother and sister grieved many a long year over her
+death.
+
+Antoinette stole quietly away, and was seen no more. Old Mrs. Gardiner
+and Miss Margaret are as happy as the day is long in the love of Jay's
+sweet, grave young wife, while her husband fairly adores her, though two
+others share his love as the sunny days flit by--a sturdy youngster whom
+they call Jay, and a dainty little maiden named Sally--named after Miss
+Rogers, and whom that lady declares is to be her heiress--a jolly little
+maiden, hoidenish and mischievous, strangely like that other one who
+came so near wrecking her father's and mother's life.
+
+The little girl has but one fear--she never goes near the brook; perhaps
+its babbling waters could reveal a strange story--who can tell?
+
+Over a grave on the sloping hill-side there is a marble shaft. The name
+engraved upon it is Sally Gardiner, that the world may not know the
+story of her who rests there.
+
+The sun does not fall upon it, the shadow of the trees is so dense; but
+soft and pityingly falls the dew on the hearts of the flowers that cover
+the grave where Sally sleeps.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+THE HART SERIES
+
+Laura Jean Libbey
+Miss Caroline Hart
+Mrs. E. Burke Collins
+Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller
+Charlotte M. Braeme
+Barbara Howard
+Lucy Randall Comfort
+Mary E. Bryan
+Marie Corelli
+
+
+Was there ever a galaxy of names representing such
+authors offered to the public before?
+
+Masters all of writing stories that arouse the
+emotions, in sentiment, passion and love, their books
+excel any that have ever been written.
+
+
+NOW READY
+
+1--Kidnapped at the Altar, Laura Jean Libbey.
+2--Gladiola's Two Lovers, Laura Jean Libbey.
+3--Lil, the Dancing Girl, Caroline Hart.
+5--The Woman Who Came Between, Caroline Hart.
+6--Aleta's Terrible Secret, Laura Jean Libbey.
+7--For Love or Honor, Caroline Hart.
+8--The Romance of Enola, Laura Jean Libbey.
+9--A Handsome Engineer's Flirtation, Laura J. Libbey
+10--A Little Princess, Caroline Hart.
+11--Was She Sweetheart or Wife, Laura Jean Libbey.
+12--Nameless Bess, Caroline Hart.
+13--Della's Handsome Lover, Laura Jean Libbey.
+14--That Awful Scar, Caroline Hart.
+15--Flora Garland's Courtship, Laura Jean Libbey.
+16--Love's Rugged Path, Caroline Hart.
+17--My Sweetheart Idabell, Laura Jean Libbey.
+18--Married at Sight, Caroline Hart.
+19--Pretty Madcap Dorothy, Laura Jean Libbey.
+20--Her Right to Love, Caroline Hart.
+21--The Loan of a Lover, Laura Jean Libbey.
+22--The Game of Love, Caroline Hart.
+23--A Fatal Elopement, Laura Jean Libbey.
+24--Vendetta, Marie Corelli.
+25--The Girl He Forsook, Laura Jean Libbey.
+26--Redeemed by Love, Caroline Hart.
+28--A Wasted Love, Caroline Hart.
+29--A Dangerous Flirtation, Laura Jean Libbey.
+30--A Haunted Life, Caroline Hart.
+31--Garnetta, the Silver King's Daughter, L. J. Libbey.
+32--A Romance of Two Worlds, Marie Corelli.
+34--Her Ransom, Charles Garvice.
+36--A Hidden Terror, Caroline Hart.
+37--Flora Temple, Laura Jean Libbey.
+38--Claribel's Love Story, Charlotte M. Braeme.
+39--Pretty Rose Hall, Laura Jean Libbey.
+40--The Mystery of Suicide Place, Mrs. Alex. Miller.
+41--Cora, the Pet of the Regiment, Laura Jean Libbey.
+42--The Vengeance of Love, Caroline Hart.
+43--Jolly Sally Pendleton, Laura Jean Libbey.
+44--A Bitter Reckoning, Mrs. E. Burke Collins.
+45--Kathleen's Diamonds, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller.
+46--Angela's Lover, Caroline Hart.
+47--Lancaster's Choice, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller.
+48--The Madness of Love, Caroline Hart.
+49--Little Sweetheart, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller.
+50--A Working Girl's Honor, Caroline Hart.
+51--The Mystery of Colde Fell, Charlotte M. Braeme.
+52--The Rival Heiresses, Caroline Hart.
+53--Little Nobody, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller.
+54--Her Husband's Ghost, Mary E. Bryan.
+55--Sold for Gold, Mrs. E. Burke Collins.
+56--Her Husband's Secret, Lucy Randall Comfort.
+57--A Passionate Love, Barbara Howard.
+58--From Want to Wealth, Caroline Hart.
+59--Loved You Better Than You Knew, Mrs. A. Miller.
+60--Irene's Vow, Charlotte M. Braeme.
+61--She Loved Not Wisely, Caroline Hart.
+62--Molly's Treachery, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller.
+63--Was It Wrong? Barbara Howard.
+64--The Midnight Marriage, Mrs. Sumner Hayden.
+65--Ailsa, Wenona Gilman.
+66--Her Dark Inheritance, Mrs. E. Burke Collins.
+67--Viola's Vanity, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller.
+68--The Ghost of the Hurricane Hills, Mary E. Bryan.
+69--A Woman Wronged, Caroline Hart.
+70--Was She His Lawful Wife? Barbara Howard.
+71--Val, the Tomboy, Wenona Gilman.
+72--The Richmond Secret, Mrs. E. Burke Collins.
+73--Edna's Vow, Charlotte M. Stanley.
+74--Heart's of Fire, Caroline Hart.
+75--St. Elmo, Augusta J. Evans.
+76--Nobody's Wife, Caroline Hart.
+77--Ishmael, Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth.
+78--Self-Raised, Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth.
+79--Pretty Little Rosebud, Barbara Howard.
+80--Inez, Augusta J. Evans.
+81--The Girl Wife, Mrs. Sumner Hayden.
+82--Dora Thorne, Charlotte M. Braeme.
+83--Followed by Fate, Lucy Randall Comfort.
+84--India, or the Pearl of Pearl River, Southworth
+85--Mad Kingsley's Heir, Mrs. E. Burke Collins.
+86--The Missing Bride, Mrs. E.D.E.N. Southworth.
+87--Wicked Sir Dare, Charles Garvice.
+88--Daintie's Cruel Rivals, Mrs. Alex. McV. Miller.
+89--Lillian's Vow, Caroline Hart.
+90--Miss Estcourt, Charles Garvice.
+91--Beulah, Augusta J. Evans.
+92--Daphane's Fate, Mrs. E. Burke Collins.
+93--Wormwood, Marie Corelli.
+94--Nellie, Charles Garvice.
+95--His Legal Wife, Mary E. Bryan.
+96--Macaria, Augusta J. Evans.
+97--Lost and Found, Charlotte M. Stanley.
+98--The Curse of Clifton, Mrs. Southworth.
+99--That Strange Girl, Charles Garvice.
+100--The Lovers at Storm Castle, Mrs. M. A. Collins
+101--Margerie's Mistake, Lucy Randall Comfort.
+102--The Curse of Pocahontas, Wenona Gilman.
+103--My Love Kitty, Charles Garvice.
+104--His Fairy Queen, Elizabeth Stiles.
+105--From Worse than Death, Caroline Hart.
+106--Audrey Fane's Love, Mrs. E. Burke Collins.
+107--Thorns and Orange Blossoms, Charlotte Braeme.
+108--Ethel Dreeme, Frank Corey.
+109--Three Girls, Mary E. Bryan.
+110--A Strange Marriage, Caroline Hart.
+111--Violet, Charles Garvice.
+112--The Ghost of the Power, Mrs. Sumner Hayden.
+113--Baptised with a Curse, Edith Stewart Drewry.
+114--A Tragic Blunder, Mrs. H. Lovett Cameron.
+115--The Secret of Her Life, Edward Jenkins.
+116--My Guardian, Ada Cambridge.
+117--A Last Love, Georges Ohnet.
+118--His Angel, Henry Herman.
+119--Pretty Miss Bellew, Theo. Gift.
+120--Blind Love, Wilkie Collins.
+121--A Life's Mistake, Mrs. H. Lovett Cameron.
+122--Won By Waiting, Edna Lyall.
+123--Passions Slave, King.
+124--Under Currents, Duchess.
+125--False Vow, Braeme.
+126--The Belle of Lynne, Braeme.
+127--Lord Lynne's Choice, Braeme.
+128--Blossom and Fruit, Braeme.
+129--Weaker Than a Woman, Braeme.
+130--Tempest and Sunshine, Mary J. Holmes.
+131--Lady Muriel's Secret, Braeme.
+132--A Mad Love, Braeme.
+
+
+The Hart Series books are for sale everywhere, or they
+will be sent by mail, postage paid, for 30 cents a
+copy, by the publisher; 4 copies for $1.00. Postage
+stamps taken the same as money.
+
+
+THE ARTHUR WESTBROOK COMPANY,     Cleveland, Ohio, U.䒷.鼦.
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+The original edition from which this electronic book was scanned
+contained the table of contents for a different novel. This
+erroneous page has been deleted and a new table of contents
+created.
+
+In addition, the following typographic errors in the original edition
+have been corrected.
+
+In Chapter I, "and. what was better still" was changed to "and, what was
+better still", and "had establish himself" was changed to "had
+established himself".
+
+In Chapter II, "If she has a preference for either" was changed to "If
+he has a preference for either".
+
+In Chapter III, "boated and spurred" was changed to "booted and
+spurred".
+
+In Chapter IX, a quotation mark at the beginning of the paragraph
+opening "As he conversed" was deleted.
+
+In Chapter XII, "a notion to your" was changed to "a notion to you".
+
+In Chapter XVI, "It was not Mrs. Pendlteon" was changed to "It was not
+Mrs. Pendleton".
+
+In Chapter XVIII, "her stern lips set" was changed to "his stern lips
+set".
+
+In Chapter XXII, "a hundreds times welcome" was changed to "a hundred
+times welcome".
+
+In Chapter XXVIII, "In an instant Doctor Gardner" was changed to "In an
+instant Doctor Gardiner".
+
+In Chapter XXIX, "hundred of miles away" was changed to "hundreds of
+miles away", and "You clothes are covered with dust" was changed to
+"Your clothes are covered with dust".
+
+In Chapter XXXVIII, "It an instant all the terrible scenes" was changed
+to "In an instant all the terrible scenes".
+
+In Chapter XL, "a sever headache" was changed to "a severe headache".
+
+In Chapter XLVII, "of much vaule" was changed to "of much value".
+
+In Chapter LVI, "who had be conveyed" was changed to "who had me
+conveyed".
+
+In the list of books advertised on the back cover, "A Passionate Love,
+Barabara Howard" has been changed to "A Passionate Love, Barbara
+Howard", and "Miss Estcourt, Charles Gorvice" has been changed to "Miss
+Estcourt, Charles Garvice".
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOLLY SALLY PENDLETON***
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