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diff --git a/59223-0.txt b/59223-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..816abc9 --- /dev/null +++ b/59223-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7609 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59223 *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + FLOWER AND JEWEL; + + OR, + + DAISY FORREST'S DAUGHTER. + + + BY + + MRS. ALEX. McVEIGH MILLER. + + + THE ARTHUR WESTBROOK COMPANY + CLEVELAND, OHIO, U. S. A. + + + + +(Printed in the United States of America) + + + + +FLOWER AND JEWEL. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER I. + CHAPTER II. + CHAPTER III. + CHAPTER IV. + CHAPTER V. + CHAPTER VI. + CHAPTER VII. + CHAPTER VIII. + CHAPTER IX. + CHAPTER X. + CHAPTER XI. + CHAPTER XII. + CHAPTER XIII. + CHAPTER XIV. + CHAPTER XV. + CHAPTER XVI. + CHAPTER XVII. + CHAPTER XVIII. + CHAPTER XIX. + CHAPTER XX. + CHAPTER XXI. + CHAPTER XXII. + CHAPTER XXIII. + CHAPTER XXIV. + CHAPTER XXV. + CHAPTER XXVI. + CHAPTER XXVII. + CHAPTER XXVIII. + CHAPTER XXIX. + CHAPTER XXX. + CHAPTER XXXI. + CHAPTER XXXII. + CHAPTER XXXIII. + CHAPTER XXXIV. + CHAPTER XXXV. + CHAPTER XXXVI. + CHAPTER XXXVII. + CHAPTER XXXVIII. + CHAPTER XXXIX. + CHAPTER XL. + CHAPTER XLI. + CHAPTER XLII. + CHAPTER XLIII. + CHAPTER XLIV. + CHAPTER XLV. + CHAPTER XLVI. + CHAPTER XLVII. + CHAPTER XLVIII. + CHAPTER XLIX. + CHAPTER L. + CHAPTER LI. + CHAPTER LII. + CHAPTER LIII. + CHAPTER LIV. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Young Mrs. Fielding opened her dark, heavy-lidded eyes and gazed +thoughtfully about the large, luxurious chamber, from which every ray +of sunshine had been carefully excluded. As her eyes became accustomed +to the subdued light she saw a fat old negro woman, in a white cap and +apron, dozing placidly in a large rocking-chair. + +"Nurse! nurse!" she cried. + +"Hi, honey!" and the sleeper wakened with a start, and waddled up to +the bed, with a broad smile on her dark visage. + +"Have I been asleep, nurse? I feel so strange! I seem to remember that +I was sick, and the doctor was here--" + +Her faltering words were interrupted by a low chuckle of satisfaction +from the old woman. + +"Guess de doctor _was_ here! Guess he put you to sleep, too; 'case how, +he said, no use you suff'rin' sech cruel pains. Hi, honey! what you +reckin? Your trouble all pas' now, and you de happy mudder o' two de +beautifules' twins dat I eber sot my ole eyes on!" + +As the excitable old woman blurted out her joyful news, Mrs. Fielding's +head sunk back heavily on the lace-trimmed pillow. + +"Oh!" she cried, with a deep sigh of relief and joy. + +"Oh, indeed!" echoed the proud old nurse; and she waddled across to the +large double crib and produced two tiny infants, which she carried to +the bedside on a pillow. Mrs. Fielding looked up eagerly, and a low cry +of delight broke from her lips. + +"What little beauties! Look--they are opening their eyes! Oh, one has +blue eyes like my husband's, and one has dark eyes like mine! Are they +girls or boys, nurse?" + +"Bofe gals!" replied the old woman, with a grunt of dissatisfaction. + +"And I wanted a boy so much!" the young mother exclaimed, with a sigh; +then, rallying from her disappointment: "But never mind, nurse; better +luck next time. And, after all, it is perfectly lovely to have twin +girls! They always create a sensation wherever they go. And I mean to +give them such fancy names! Guess, nurse." + +"Mary and Marthy, maybe, honey." + +"Pshaw!" disgustedly. "Nothing of the kind! Wait--don't take the +darlings away yet." + +"But you am talkin' too much, missie." + +"I'll be quiet in a minute. Look, nurse"--she put out a beautiful white +hand and touched each of the babes in turn--"this dark one I'll name +Jewel, this blue-eyed one Flower." + +"Redikilous! I don't belebe dat Massa Charlie will 'low it," muttered +the old woman; and Mrs. Fielding's eyes flashed angrily. + +"I shall do as I please with my own babies!" she cried, imperiously. + +"All right, honey. In course you'll do as you please--you al'ays does," +was the soothing response; and then the old woman carried the twins +back to their crib, adding, wisely: "'Tis a good sign to see sick +people cross--dey's 'most sure to git well. Guess I'll ring de bell and +hab some gruel fotched up fo' her." + +But, in the very act of ringing the bell, her hand dropped to her side, +her dark face turned ashen, and a groan forced its way through her +lips. + +A dreadful sound had broken the stillness of the sick-chamber--the +low, muffled toll of the Tillage church-bell, telling of an impending +funeral. + +The beautiful dark face on the pillow lost its proud smile in a minute, +and grew pale with awe. + +"Who is dead?" she asked, with a little shiver; but old Maria did not +answer for a moment, and again that low, muffled toll of the bell +struck heavily upon the silence of the room. + +Mrs. Fielding repeated her question a little impatiently, adding, +wonderingly: + +"I did not know that any one was sick in the village." + +"I--I--must fotch your gruel, ma'am," cried old Maria; and she waddled +precipitately out of the room, leaving Mrs. Fielding very much puzzled +over her old servant's deafness. + +She lay silent on her pillow, counting those dull, muffled strokes +curiously, and thinking to herself: + +"They might have been for me. Oh, how glad I am that my trouble is over +and I am still alive!" + +The bell had ceased to toll when Maria came back, with that ashen look +still on her face, carrying the bowl of gruel somewhat unsteadily. + +Mrs. Fielding waited until she finished her light repast, then said: + +"I counted the strokes, Maria, and there were just nineteen. So it is +a young person whom they are going to bury. Now, tell me at once who +it is; you need not be afraid of agitating me. Even if it is one of my +friends, I will bear it calmly." + +"Ay, Lord!" muttered the old nurse, with a grimace hidden behind her +hand. Then she gave Mrs. Fielding a strange look. "Ma'am, it's none o' +your friends at all, ma'am--only a poor young gal by the name o' Daisy +Forrest." + +A low cry shrilled through the room, and old Maria shuddered at the +strange sound, it was so distinctly malicious, so frankly glad. + +"Ma'am!" she uttered, indignantly; and Mrs. Fielding half raised +herself on her pillow, and exclaimed: + +"Daisy Forrest dead! My rival dead! Ah, that is glorious news!" + +Maria's old black face turned gray with indignant emotion. + +"Hush, missie! You ought to be afraid to talk so. De good Lord might +punish your hardness of heart." + +"Hold your tongue, Maria! You know I hated that woman. You know that +she was my rival--that she held my husband's heart--yet you ask me not +to be glad she is dead!" + +Her black eyes blazed luridly, and her pale, beautiful face writhed +with jealousy, as, almost breathless, she fell back upon her pillow, +and Maria hurriedly seized a bottle of camphor and began to bathe her +brow and hands. + +"Honey, you knowed all dis afore you married my young master; so, what +for you want to take on so now?" she whimpered, reproachfully. + +"Yes, I knew it all; but they told me that it was the way of young men +to be wild before marriage--that he would cast her off when he became +my husband, and hate her very memory. But it was false; he loved that +wicked, fallen creature best always. He would breathe her name in his +sleep as he lay by my side. He visited her still--" + +"No, no, missie; dat pore gal not so bad as dat! She nebber 'low him to +come no more arter he married you," interrupted Maria. + +"I tell you he did go, Maria! I followed him once, dressed in boy's +clothes. He went in, and I heard him swearing that he loved her more +than ever, and--and--" Her voice choked with fury a moment; then she +continued, wildly: "Dead, thank Heaven--dead, and out of my way +forever! Now he will be all my own! But it was very sudden, was it not, +Maria?" + +"Very suddint, missie," the old woman answered, sullenly. "Dere was a +leetle baby born night afore last, and de mudder died afore morning." + +"A baby born! My husband's, of course!" the sick woman cried, +furiously; and it seemed as if her jealous passion would kill her, so +terrible was the expression that distorted her beautiful face as Maria +replied, in her sullen way: + +"I ain't gwine to deny dat, missie, for dat 'ud make de dead gal seem +worser dan she wer', and I ain't gwine to frow no mo' sin an' shame dan +possible on dat pore thing layin' in her coffin wid her baby on her +breast." + +"So the miserable offspring of shame died, too. That is good! I hate +it with the same hate I had for its mother!" the infuriated, maddened +woman cried out, remorselessly; but before Maria could utter a single +remonstrance, another sound, and one more startling than the solemn +funeral-bell, broke upon their ears. + +It was the loud reverberation of a pistol-shot within the house. + +"Oh! what was that?" shrieked Mrs. Fielding, in terror. + +Old Maria did not reply. She was waddling out of the room as fast as +her age and obesity would permit. Obeying an unerring instinct, she +made her way to the library, and flinging wide the door, crossed the +threshold. + +Then-- + +"Oh, Massa Charlie! Oh, my pore boy!" she cried out, in an agony of +grief. + +He was lying on the floor--her nurse-child--her young master, on whom +she doted with true motherly love. His white, extended hand grasped +the small pistol that had sent that deadly bullet into the breast from +which that ghastly torrent was pouring. His magnificent form lay +rigid; his head, with its short, fair locks, was thrown backward, and +the blue eyes, with their luring, fatal beauty, were fixed in a dying +stare. + +She dropped down on her knees--his poor old black mammy--and tried to +stanch the torrent of blood with the ample folds of her skirt, while +heart-rending groans burst from her lips. + +"Mammy!" he uttered, faintly. + +"Massa Charlie--darlin'!" she groaned. + +"You heard her funeral-bell? How could I live with her death upon my +soul? Oh, my little Daisy, my love, I broke your heart, and this is my +atonement!" he moaned faintly, remorsefully. + +"Massa Charlie, you should have t'ought of her a-lyin' in yonder wid +her babies." + +"Ah, mammy, I did, I did! but I was false to her, too. I am not fit +to live. I--I ruined those two women's lives with my villainy! I +rushed headlong into sin, but I never dreamed of what was coming to me +to-day. I thought I could go on in my evil ways, but God has punished +me. Mammy, do you think I could live when _she_ is gone out of the +world--she whom I loved so fondly yet so selfishly?" + +"But, Massa Charlie--" + +"Yes, I know. I ought to have been true to her. I was weak, unworthy, +full of ambition. I let gold and high position lure me from her side. I +was false alike to her I loved and to her I could not love. Remorse has +fastened its fangs in my heart, and I must die. If I lived, she would +haunt me! How can she rest with _that_ upon her breast?" + +"Oh, my poor boy! my poor boy! Let me sen' for de preacher." + +"No, mammy; the preacher could not save me now, after what I have done. +Mammy, pray sometimes for my poor, lost soul--the coward soul, too weak +to do right, yet not brave enough to bear the ills it wrought. Will +prayers do any good then, I wonder? Ah--Daisy--love--wife!" + +A gasp, and the erring soul had fled. + +Maria's groan rose simultaneously with a terrible cry. + +Mrs. Fielding had dragged herself to the library and heard all. She +spurned the dead body with her foot. + +"He died with her name upon his lips," she hissed, "and I am his wedded +wife!" + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +All this was long ago, and for seventeen years the grass had been +growing over the neglected graves of Daisy Forrest and Charlie +Fielding. The woman who bore his name, the mother of his children, had +long ago fled from the little Southern village that had been the scene +of such blighting scandal and bitter tragedy, and made her home many +miles away from that hated spot, far enough, she hoped, to bring up her +children out of all knowledge or hearing of the bitter past. + +Into her new home and her new life none of her old household +accompanied her, save old Maria. Since her husband's death the cruel +Civil War had swept over the land and freed the slaves that belonged +to the heiress, whose gold had tempted Charlie Fielding to sin. Every +one deserted their mistress gladly, none remaining but Maria, who had +belonged to her husband. She remained, although not for love of her +mistress. She could not desert Massa Charlie's children, she said. + +These two, Jewel and Flower, as their mother persisted in calling them, +had grown up so beautiful and charming that no one could decide to +which belonged the palm of greater beauty. Paris himself would have +been in despair, and the golden apple must have been divided, or never +awarded to either. + +Fancy a brunette of the most decided type with a beautiful, passionate +face, a cloud of waving dark hair, and eyes of starry brightness. By +her tall, queenly figure place one equally lovely, yet as different in +her type as flowers from jewels, dawn from sunset, or day from night. + +An exquisite form, less tall and full than Jewel's, but perfectly +proportioned, and with a fairy-like grace impossible to describe. Blue +eyes of the brightest, rarest tint, and hair that fell to her waist +in loose bright curls of that rich golden hue so dear to the artist's +heart. Small, perfectly molded features and a dazzling complexion +received a touch of piquancy from the delicate yet decided arch of the +slender brows and the thick curling lashes both several degrees darker +than her hair. Both girls had small hands and feet, and possessed every +attribute of beauty. It was no wonder that strangers could not decide +which was the lovelier, when their own mother was puzzled over the +question. + +There were moments--few and far between--when Mrs. Fielding almost +said to herself that it was Flower to whom she would award the palm of +beauty. But these were the moments when she was softened by a memory of +the love she had borne Charlie Fielding before that last hour when her +hot jealousy and hate had made her curse him as he lay dead at her feet. + +But these softened moments were few and short. + +"I am mad, mad!" she would cry, coming out of these spells as though +from an abhorred trance. "I ought to hate Flower Fielding--ought to +hate my own child, because she has her father's face." + +There were times when she was half maddened by the memory of the past, +by the thought of the horrible humiliation and pain she had endured +long ago--alas! that she endured still. The old hot resentment and +jealousy burned still in her heart, turned her blood to fire, and +fevered her pulse. The fierce aspiration breathed over her husband's +dead body for vengeance on the two who had blasted her life was fresh +on her lips still. + + "It was with her the night long, in dreaming or waking, + It abided in loathing, when daylight was breaking, + The burden of bitterness in her! Behold, + All her days were become as a tale that is told, + And she said to her sight, 'No good thing shalt thou see, + For the noonday is turned to darkness in me.'" + +One very interesting event had occurred in the Fielding family since +their twins had entered upon their seventeenth birthday. + +Faithful old Maria, after bringing them through their childish ailments +up to the years of girlhood, had bought a cabin near by with her +savings of years, and "gone to herself," as she expressed it. Silly old +soul, she had been beguiled by the attractions of a young mulatto buck +who had his eye on her small savings, and she married him and settled +down to married life with all its joys and woes, which in her case +proved chiefly the latter. + +Jewel and Flower, who dearly loved their black mammy, sympathized +very much with her ludicrous love affair, and even with the access +of religion she acquired when she "jined de shoutin' Methody, for de +comfort o' my soul, chillen, for dat dissipated Sam 'most sen' my soul +to de debbil!" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +With the tragic story that surrounded their birth, and the tragic +elements that lay slumbering in their own natures, it was most +unfortunate that Jewel and Flower should have lost their heart to the +same man. + +Laurie Meredith was a handsome young man of about twenty-three years, +tall, and finely proportioned, with a very attractive face. He had +a broad, intellectual white brow, crowned by wavy, dark-brown hair, +glorious, brown eyes that could look dangerously tender, and his firm +yet sweet lips were half hidden beneath a silky-brown mustache, whose +long ends curled around a well-formed chin cleft by a charming dimple. + +He was spending his vacation from college at the sea-side resort where +the Fieldings lived, and he had made the acquaintance of Jewel and +Flower in a most romantic fashion, having saved the life of Jewel one +day when her pretty little boat had overturned in deep water. Swimming +boldly out to the sinking girl, he had succeeded in saving her just +as the pretty dark head was disappearing for the last time under the +treacherous waves. Then, righting the overturned boat, he succeeded in +getting into it with his exhausted companion, and rowed back to shore. + +This little incident had made Laurie Meredith a hero in the eyes of the +beautiful twin sisters. They vied with each other in gratitude, and +even the cold, indifferent Mrs. Fielding could not choose but regard +the brave young gentleman with favor. + +Jewel fell in love in the most approved novel fashion with her handsome +preserver, and for a short while it seemed as if he returned the +compliment. The most delicious flatteries fell from his lips, the most +daring glances shone from his glorious brown eyes. He was often by her +side and Flower's, and he said to himself that it would be quite in +keeping with this romance if he should make dark-eyed Jewel Fielding +his adored bride. + +Then a change came gradually over him. He began to grow impartial +in his attentions to the two girls; he began to think in secret of +Flower's beautiful blue eyes and golden hair. When he parted from her +he would press the white hand tightly in his own, and from thinking +that he could not decide which was more beautiful, he began to perceive +that if one must decide he should say it was Flower. Then the situation +began to grow embarrassing. He wanted to make love to Flower, but +he realized that he had been too imprudent with her sister. He had +responded too readily to her coquettish advances, and he was afraid of +the lightning that could flash upon occasion from those night-black +eyes. + +"Confound my luck! The girl thinks that I belong to her because I saved +her life. I wish it had been blue-eyed Flower who owed me that sweet +debt of gratitude," he thought, uneasily. + +He was frank and noble, and he despised anything underhand or mean, but +he could no more help making surreptitious love to Flower than he could +help breathing. When in the presence of both girls he tried to be quite +impartial in his words and looks, that Jewel might not have the pain +of seeing her sister preferred before her, but if the dark-eyed beauty +left the room for one moment, he would be sure to make some excuse to +get by Flower, that he might gaze into her eyes with that long, sweet +look before which her glance fell so shyly, while the lovely color +flushed up high in her cheeks. Sometimes he ventured to touch the soft, +white hand, and by its tremor he realized that the shy, gentle girl was +not wholly indifferent to his love. + +His passion began at length to find relief in that outlet for the +lover's heart--poetry. Passionate "sonnets to his lady's eyebrow" began +to overflow perfumed sheets of note-paper. These found their way to +Flower in all the romantic methods a lover's fertile brain could invent. + +Jewel was on the alert. A jealous pang had begun to tear her passionate +heart. She watched her sister and Laurie Meredith with silent distrust. +Little by little the bitter truth began to dawn on her mind. + +A very fury of wrath swept over her, and she found it impossible to +conceal her anger. So one day, when they were walking together by the +sea-shore, the gathering storm burst fiercely upon her sister's golden +head. + +"Cruel, deceitful girl, you are trying to take my lover from me! Are +you not ashamed of your treachery?" + +"Jewel! Sister!" + +"Do not call me your sister unless you are going to stop trying to win +Laurie from me, unless you are going to give him back to me!" Jewel +cried, angrily, flying into a passion, her dark eyes blazing with +jealousy. + +Her sister's answer only added fuel to the fire of her wrath, although +it was spoken gently, pleadingly: + +"Dear, I did not know he belonged to you. I thought you were only +friends." + +Jewel stamped her little foot furiously upon the sand. + +"Only friends! Why, he saved my life--and afterward he fell in love +with me! But you have tried to win him from me! Ah, I have watched you, +you artful girl, and I hate you--hate you for what you have done!" + +Flower stood still, her fair face paling in the afternoon sunshine, her +sweet, red lips beginning to quiver. + +"Sister, dear, you wrong me bitterly. Not for worlds would I have tried +to take him from you. But he told me there was nothing between you, +that he was free to love me--" + +"A lie! a lie!" Jewel cried out, furiously. "He won my heart by his +tender looks and words; he let me believe him all my own, and--oh!" +she cried, choking with rage and grief, and clapping her hands to her +convulsed throat. + +Flower sprung forward to throw caressing arms about her, but was so +rudely repulsed that she staggered, and would have fallen upon the +sands had not Laurie Meredith suddenly appeared upon the scene and +caught her in his arms, clung to him convulsively a moment, then +drew back and stood apart from him with a look of proud pain on her +beautiful face. + +"Ladies, I think I heard my name mentioned? May I ask--" he began, +courteously; but Jewel, who was gazing at him with burning eyes, +sprung between him and her sister, and cried out, in passionate, +defiant tones: + +"Yes, we were speaking of you, Laurie Meredith! We were saying that +you had tried to trifle with both our hearts. Call me unwomanly if you +will, but I must speak out now. This cruel farce can go on no longer. +You have made love to my sister and you have made love to me. You +have in this cruel fashion won both our hearts. Now choose between +us--between Jewel and Flower!" + +If she had cherished one lingering hope that he would turn to her, she +was cruelly disappointed. He went over to Flower and silently took her +hand. Jewel gave them one furious look, then walked silently from the +scene. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Laurie Meredith drew a long sigh of relief, and bent tenderly over +Flower. + +"My darling, shall it be as she says? Will you indeed be mine?" he +questioned, tenderly. + +She trembled and shrunk away. + +"I can not make my sister wretched. Ah, Laurie, if you have indeed made +love to her, as she declares, will you not go back to her and try to +love her again? She will forgive you this if you beg her very hard. And +she is so beautiful it will be easy to love her again." + +He tried to explain to her that he had never been in love with Jewel +at all, and that he had never made love to her--unless she counted a +few pretty compliments and tender glances as words of love. She found +it easy to believe him, since her own observations tended to prove the +truthfulness of his words. + +"I will own that I might have loved her if I had never met you, my +darling," he said. "She is very beautiful and charming, but, Flower, +you are my queen." + +The fair face flushed rosily at his words, but she held herself aloof +from his embrace. + +"Poor Jewel!" she murmured, in the tones of a pitying angel. "Ah, +Laurie, perhaps if I would go away somewhere you might learn to love +her after all!" + +"So you do not care for me, Flower? Then it is a pity I ever saw you. I +wish that I had given my heart to your sister; then my love might have +been appreciated," the young man sighed, dejectedly; and his sorrow +went to her tender heart. Very timidly she laid her hand on his arm. + +"I do care for you," she said, in flute-like tones, through which ran a +tremor of deep tenderness. "But, ah, my poor sister! I am so sorry for +her disappointment!" + +"She will soon get over it," he said, drawing her to his breast and +kissing the lovely, tremulous lips. + +"Do you think so?" she whispered, anxiously. + +"Certainly, my darling. I dare say she has got over it already, since +she forced me so coolly to make choice between you two. She will be +ready to laugh with you to-night at the thought of your being actually +engaged to be married." + +"If I thought so I would say 'yes' at once; but I am almost afraid. +Fancy one's sister being in love with one's husband!" Flower said, +doubtfully and distressedly. + +He laughed at her fears. + +"Nonsense! Jewel has too much good sense to go on caring for me now. +Her fancy will soon blow over," he said; and then he clasped and kissed +her again with a passionate fervor. + +"I shall call on your mother to-morrow," he said. + +"And in the meantime, darling, wear this ring to remind you that you +belong to Laurie." + +He slipped the diamond ring from his finger and placed it on hers, and +in a few moments they parted, and Flower sped swiftly homeward. + +The sun was setting, and Jewel was on the front porch alone, making a +lovely picture among the clematis vines in her white dress and scarlet +sash. Her face looked so calm and indifferent that lovely little Flower +took heart to ask, timidly: + +"Do you love him yet, Jewel, or can you forget him now since everything +has proved different from what you believed?" + +"I despise him!" Jewel answered, vindictively; and Flower faltered, +hopefully: + +"Then you will not care if I become engaged to him, dear sister?" + +"No. Why should I care? He is nothing to me! If you choose to take +a heartless flirt for your husband, and run the risk of having him +desert you for some other fair face, as he deserted me for you, why, +you have my consent!" Jewel answered, proudly, and with such well-acted +carelessness that Flower told herself that her lover was right. Jewel +would soon forget her disappointment. + +She hung around her sister several moments, but Jewel took no notice, +and at length Flower asked, timidly: + +"Where is mamma?" + +"She has gone over to Mammy Maria's house," Jewel replied, composedly. + +"Why did she go?" + +"Sam came to tell her that his wife had had some sort of a stroke and +was dying. She kept calling for mamma, saying that she had a secret +to tell her before she died, so she went at once," Jewel answered, +speaking as indifferently as if the dying woman had been a stranger, +instead of the devoted nurse whose ample breast had pillowed her +childish years with tenderer care than she had ever received from her +half-demented mother. + +But Flower began to sob piteously for her poor old mammy, begging Jewel +to go with her to her bedside. + +"I would not go for a kingdom! I'm afraid of a dying person. I never +saw any one die in my life. And you can not go, either, for mamma said +you must stay here with me!" Jewel answered, selfishly. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Flower stayed up until midnight waiting for her mother's return and for +news of old Maria, but at last she succumbed to anxiety and weariness, +and fell asleep on the sofa. The house-maid found her here presently +and carried her off to bed. + +The first thing she heard next morning was that old Maria had died at +the turn of the night, and that her mother had come home soon after and +retired to her room, giving orders that she was not to be disturbed in +the morning. + +Pretty Flower shed some bitter tears over the death of the dearly loved +old nurse, then she began to long to comfort her mother in her sorrow. + +"Poor dear, she must have loved Mammy Maria very much. I will just peep +in and see if she is sleeping soundly," she thought, and went on tiptoe +to her mother's door. + +Mrs. Fielding was not in bed at all. She was sitting bolt upright in a +chair, and when Flower came gliding in, her mother's aspect struck her +with such fear and horror that she could not repress a cry of distress. +For a moment it appeared to her that a stranger was sitting there in +her mother's chair. + +At a first glance Mrs. Fielding looked like an old woman. Her handsome +face was drawn, haggard, and gray, and the long tresses of hair that +fell round her shoulders had turned to snowy-white since yesterday. The +only attribute of youth remaining was in her large, brilliant dark +eyes that burned with an unnatural and feverish glitter, betokening a +terrible inward excitement. + +Her lips were working nervously, and low, incoherent words issued from +them like the ravings of a lunatic. + +At that awe-struck cry from Flower's lips the terribly changed woman +looked quickly up, and her face grew, if possible, more ghastly than +before. She threw out both hands, crying hoarsely: + +"Go out of my sight this moment!" + +"But, mamma--" began the startled girl. + +"Go, I say--and at once!" Mrs. Fielding cried out, in such harsh and +threatening accents that poor Flower fled affrighted from the room. + +In the hall she encountered Jewel, dressed for walking. She ran up to +her eagerly, crying out: + +"Oh, sister, our black mammy died last night, and poor mamma is almost +crazed with grief. Her beautiful black hair has turned white as snow, +and her face is like an old woman's. And," with a choking sob, "she +drove me out of her room." + +"I will go to her!" cried Jewel, turning toward her mother's room. + +The next moment she was gazing with horrified eyes at the terrible +physical wreck that had so startled poor Flower, who was now cowering +at the door, afraid to enter. + +"Go, leave me!" Mrs. Fielding cried, angrily, to Jewel. + +"Mamma!" + +"Go!" she reiterated, wildly; but Jewel stood her ground like a statue. + +"I am not going until I know the meaning of this," she replied, firmly. +"Why, mamma, your black hair has turned snowy-white in a few hours! You +have become an old woman since last night!" + +Mrs. Fielding caught up a loose tress of hair from her shoulder and +stared at it with dilated eyes. A bitter cry broke from her lips. + +"What does it matter if my hair has turned to snow? My heart changed to +fire long since. Go, girl, leave me to myself!" + +Jewel made no sign of obeying. She said, curiously: + +"So our old nurse is dead, mamma?" + +"Dead--yes! I wish she had died twenty years ago! I wish she had never +been born!" Mrs. Fielding burst out, furiously. + +"But I thought you were fond of her, mamma!" Jewel exclaimed, in +momentary wonder. Then a sudden light broke over her mind. "Ah, I +remember now! Sam said she had a secret to tell you. Was it that secret +which turned you against Maria?" + +Mrs. Fielding gave a startled look, and muttered: + +"Sam is a fool! There was no secret!" + +"And she had nothing to tell you, mamma?" + +"Nothing of any consequence. The old woman was in her dotage, and +since she joined the Methodist Church she had persuaded herself that +she was the vilest of sinners, and that she must confess all the petty +sins of her life to me, or she would go to perdition. But there was +nothing--nothing." + +"But you said just now that you wished she had never been born, and +your hair is white all in a few hours. There must be some awful reason +for that," persisted Jewel, her curiosity thoroughly aroused; but Mrs. +Fielding turned upon her defiantly. + +"There is nothing, I tell you, except that I have been maddened with +neuralgia all night, and that is reason enough for the change in my +hair. Now go, and remember, no more questions about Maria's foolish +secrets. Let them be buried in her grave!" + +Jewel saw that the excited woman could bear no more, and retreated, +muttering as she went: + +"Shall I send for the doctor?" + +"No; oh, no! I only want rest. I shall be all right presently. Flower, +why are you hanging about the door? Go at once, as I bid you just now!" + +The door closed between her and her startled, wounded daughters, and +she flung herself back in her chair, muttering, fiercely: + +"Oh, how horrible it is! He was a fiend, no less; and all that he did +before seems light in comparison to this! Ah, to think how I have been +fooled and wronged--it is enough to turn a saint into a devil! There +is only one comfort left. Let me find out the truth, and I will take +vengeance on them in their graves by torturing her--I will; I swear it!" + + * * * * * + +Jewel had been on her way to a clairvoyant's when Flower met her in the +hall. On leaving her mother's room she went on to seek the wonderful +woman who was reputed to be able to read the past and the future. +The beautiful girl had spent a sleepless night, brooding over what +she chose to consider her wrongs, and she was determined to thwart +Laurie Meredith's design of marrying her sister if she could possibly +accomplish it. Thinking that some knowledge of future events might be +of assistance in her aims, she decided to consult the clairvoyant. + +She remained almost two hours at the humble home of the fortune-teller, +and when she came out her face was flushed, and her eyes sparkled with +a hopeful light. + +The strange woman had said to her: + +"Your mother has a carefully hidden secret. Find it out, and you shall +triumph over your enemies." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +True to his word, Laurie Meredith called at the home of Flower next day +to ask her mother's consent to his betrothal to the lovely girl who had +won his heart. + +"My darling, what is it?" he cried, eagerly, as he drew her to his +breast. "You have not repented your promise to be mine?" + +"No, no," she whispered; and he soon learned the story of Maria's +death, Mrs. Fielding's terrible excitement, and her refusal to see any +one--even her daughters. + +"It is very strange. One would not have supposed she would be so fond +of her old servant as to turn gray with grief," he said, feeling that +there was something mysterious about Mrs. Fielding's case, yet not +dreaming of the terrible influence that mystery was fated to bear upon +his own future. + +Flower was so frightened at her mother's condition that she dared not +go to her and tell her that Laurie Meredith wished to see her. She +persuaded her lover to wait until her mother should be herself again. + +"Or until poor Maria's funeral is over, at least. Then she will be +calmer and more composed, Laurie, dear." + +He promised most unwillingly. He was eager to have it all settled +at once--to make sure that there would be no opposition offered by +Flower's mother. A dim fear that Jewel would influence Mrs. Fielding +to reject his suit had haunted him since last night, although not for +worlds would he have hinted it to Flower, who was so sensitive about +accepting his love, on account of her sister. + +"You know, sweet one, I must go away soon," he said. "I had a letter +from my father this morning, and he wishes me to go abroad to finish my +education in a German university." + +"Oh, Laurie--so far away!" she cried, and clung to him, pale and +trembling, a mist of tears rising to her lovely blue eyes. + +"Only for one little year, darling," he said, tenderly. "Then I shall +return to claim my little bride; for my father is rich, and we need not +wait as if I had to make my own way in the world." + +"A year of absence!" Flower went on, with wild dismay, tears +overflowing her beautiful cheeks. + +She laid her golden head upon her lover's breast and sobbed bitterly, +as if with a prescience of the cruel fate that overshadowed her fair +young life. + +He was quite as sorry to go as she was over his going, and when he saw +her grief a wild idea came to him. Why not marry Flower before he went +away, and take her with him to Germany? + +He whispered his thought to her, and at first she was quite startled. +Her beautiful face was crimson with blushes. + +"Oh, I could not do that! Besides, mamma would never consent!" she +exclaimed. + +But the idea had taken strong hold of Laurie Meredith's fancy. He loved +his blue-eyed little Flower so ardently that he could not bear the +thought of leaving her while he went abroad. Something might happen. +She might forget him, might be won from him by another. She was so +young and lovely, who could tell what would happen? + +He painted to her in low, sweet, eloquent murmurs, his love, his doubts +and fears, while she protested her fidelity with girlish vehemence. + +At last he dropped the subject, but only to renew it at their next +meeting, and in the end he won her consent that if her mother were +willing she would marry him before he went away. + +The day after the colored Methodist church had buried old Maria, after +a stirring funeral sermon, Laurie walked home with the two girls +from the little burying-ground, where they had witnessed the funeral +obsequies of the departed, and he was touched by the honest grief of +the twin sisters over the death of their good old nurse. + +Jewel seemed to have forgotten the episode of two days ago, she was so +pale and sad, and her manner toward Laurie Meredith was so calm and +unembarrassed. Both Flower and her lover were reassured by it, and +believed that she was sorry for her passionate outburst, and anxious to +have them forget it. + +Alas, neither one dreamed of the tornado of passion that was heaving +the breast of the beautiful brunette. + +When they reached the house, and Laurie Meredith asked eagerly to +see Mrs. Fielding alone, she guessed instantly at his desire, and +determined to hear all that passed between her mother and her sister's +lover. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Mrs. Fielding had not attended the funeral of her old servant. She had +kept her room several days, under the plea of illness, in order to lend +color to the assertion that her hair had changed color from neuralgia. + +But she had managed to moderate the angry impatience that had so +wounded and startled her beautiful daughters, and now permitted them +to spend a short while with her daily, placing a strong command over +herself that she might endure their presence without raving over the +storm of anger that filled her heart. + +So when Flower came to her that day to ask her to give Laurie Meredith +an interview she did not refuse, only sent the girl away, saying that +she would be down in a few minutes. + +When the door shut between her and Flower, she stood there startled and +wild-eyed. + +"What does it mean? Is he going to ask me for one of my daughters? My +daughters!--ah, I forgot!" she cried, wildly; and a swift determination +came to her that neither of the girls should be permitted to marry +until she found out something which was now almost driving her mad with +doubt. + +Laurie Meredith could not repress a start of surprise when she appeared +before him, she was so ghastly pale, and her large, black eyes seemed +to fairly burn in her pale face. The contrast, too, of her white hair +with her black eyes, and her black silk dress was startling, since he +had seen her but a few days ago, when her abundant tresses had in them +but a few scattering threads of gray. + +He hastened to place a chair for her, and to express his regrets over +her illness. + +She accepted his courtesy with a slight melancholy bow, and as she sunk +into the chair, said huskily: + +"Be brief, if you please, as I am still suffering with my head." + +So instead of approaching the subject in a roundabout way, as he had +intended, he was compelled to blurt it out abruptly, while shrinking +under the cold stare of supercilious surprise she fixed on his flushed +face. + +She listened in unmoved silence to his statement that he loved Flower, +that his love was returned, and that he wished to marry her in a very +short time and take her abroad with him. + +When he ended she replied with a curt and decided refusal that stung +his pride most bitterly. + +But for the sake of his love he tried to be very patient, and +courteous. He told her that he was of good birth, that his father was +rich and indulgent. + +"I can give you letters. I do not even ask you to take my word," he +insisted. + +"If you were a prince and heir to a throne, my answer would be the +same," she said, coldly. + +He looked at her in wonder. + +"I can not understand you, Mrs. Fielding. Do you think that Flower is +too young to marry?" + +"No. At least, that has nothing to do with my refusal. I will tell +you frankly, Mr. Meredith, what I mean, and that will save further +discussion. I shall never permit either of my daughters to marry." + +He was so stunned by astonishment that he could not speak for a moment; +then he gasped out: + +"Your reasons?" + +"They are my own, and I do not choose to disclose them!" she haughtily +replied. + +"But you may change your mind some time, Mrs. Fielding. In the +meantime, will you permit Flower to correspond with me while I am +away?" he asked, feeling sure that she would not always cling to this +preposterous resolution. + +"I shall never change my mind, Mr. Meredith, and I can not consent to +your request. And I desire that you hold no further communication with +my--with Flower," rising as if to signify that the interview was closed. + +His eyes flashed proudly, and he asked, almost bitterly: + +"You will permit me to see Flower once more at least, and bid her +good-bye?" + +She hesitated a moment, and then said, condescendingly: + +"Yes, you may see her, but only this once. Do not call again, as you +will not be admitted. Remember also that you must not intrude on my +daughters in their walks, or I shall confine them to the house. I will +now send Flower to you, and you may tell her what I have said." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +"She does not mean it, she could not be so cruel. Never to see you +again, not even to hear from you while you are away! Oh, Laurie, I can +not bear it! I will go down upon my knees to mamma and beg her to have +mercy upon me, for I should die if I were parted from you!" Flower +wept, impetuously. + +"Darling!" he cried, passionately, and clasped her in his arms, raining +fondest kisses on the fair face and golden hair. + +Mrs. Fielding's strange looks and words had inspired him with the +belief that she was crazed by some mysterious trouble, and he trembled +at the thought of leaving his loving little Flower to her doubtful +care. He was angry, too, at the scorn with which she had treated him, +and a mad resolve was forming swiftly in his mind. + +"Darling, you say that you will speak to her. Perhaps she will listen +to you and consent to make us happy. But she has forbidden me to come +here again, or to join you in your daily walks. So how am I to find out +her decision?" he whispered, fearful lest his ordinary voice might be +overheard, and it was well that he took that precaution, for Jewel was +near at hand, listening with bated breath to catch every word. + +Flower whispered softly back. + +"Perhaps I could send you a note, Laurie, dear." + +"It might be intercepted," he replied, as cautiously. + +"Could you not manage to meet me for a few minutes, Flower, without any +one knowing?" + +She thought a moment, then agreed to his request, and an appointment +was made to meet for a few minutes that evening in the garden. Flower +was the most obedient of daughters, but feeling that her mother was +entirely too severe in this case, her impetuous young spirit prompted +her to rebellion. + +When her lover had gone Flower sought her mother's room, and with all +her powers of persuasion tried to move that hard heart. But she might +just as well have cried to a rock. Mrs. Fielding remained harsh and +unyielding, and at last ordered the unhappy girl from her presence. + +Longing for sympathy in her trouble, Flower sought her twin sister and +poured out the story with which Jewel was already acquainted through +her eavesdropping propensities. + +Jewel listened in cold silence, and her dark eyes beamed with triumph +as she said at last: + +"So you and Laurie Meredith did not gain anything by your treachery to +me!" + +Flower started and looked at Jewel. Her beautiful features were +transformed by a malicious sneer. + +"Oh, Jewel! did you do it? Did you prejudice mamma against Laurie, and +make her refuse his request?" she exclaimed, piteously. + +"No, I did not do that, Flower. So, you see, I am not so bad as you +think me; for I am as much puzzled as you can be over mamma's strange +declaration," Jewel said, truthfully, for she was indeed amazed, though +overjoyed, at the firm stand her mother had taken. + +She said to herself, with a sneer, that when she chose to marry she +would do so, in spite of all the mothers in the world; but she believed +that Flower was formed in a gentler mold than she was, and that she +would not dare transgress her parent's command. + +Perhaps she might not, if she had been left to herself; but she had a +fervent, impassioned lover, who could not endure the thought of leaving +his sweet little love behind him, in the care of a mother who had shown +herself so heartless and unnatural; and when Flower met him that night, +in the odorous stillness and darkness of the flower-garden, he proposed +that she should elope with him. + +"You could slip out some time and go to the next village with me, could +you not?" he entreated. "Then we could be privately married, and you +could go back to your mother's and stay with her until the time for us +to steal away, my darling." + +She was startled and frightened. + +"Oh, Laurie! I could not--I am afraid!" sighed the poor child. + +"Then we may as well say farewell forever," Laurie Meredith answered, +sorrowfully. + +"But you will come back in a year, Laurie; perhaps mamma will change +her mind in that time," she whispered. + +"Oh, yes, she may," he answered, bitterly. "But it is much more likely, +Flower, that she will spirit you away from here, and cover up her +tracks so cleverly that I shall never find you again. Do you realize +that, my darling?" + +A frightened sob told that she did, and in the fear of losing her lover +forever Flower was at length persuaded to do as he wished. + +They made all their plans for the marriage and elopement, and then +Flower stole back to the house to spend a sleepless night thinking of +the rebellious step she was about to take, and trembling at the thought +of her mother's and sister's anger when they should find that she had +fled with her handsome lover. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Absorbed in her efforts to find out her mother's secret, Jewel Fielding +did not watch her twin sister as closely as she might otherwise have +done, so Flower had many opportunities of meeting her lover in secret, +while Jewel, who knew that her sister was usually docile and obedient, +did not suspect that the lovely girl was secretly transgressing her +mother's commands and meeting Laurie Meredith every night in the pretty +grounds that surrounded the house. + +But a baleful chance brought her to a knowledge of the truth. + +She had tried by every hint and innuendo at her command to worry her +mother's secret out of her possession, but vainly. Mrs. Fielding could +not be surprised into a betrayal of herself, and betrayed the bitterest +anger and impatience whenever Jewel referred to the subject. Indeed, +she had changed greatly toward her daughters. From loving them in the +most devoted maternal fashion she seemed at times to dislike and almost +hate them. She spent the greater part of her time alone in her room, +refusing their company, and brooding bitterly over the revelation made +to her by old Maria when on her death-bed. + +So Jewel grew wrathful and impatient, and decided to resort to the +clairvoyant again for assistance in her design of turning Laurie +Meredith against her fair sister and winning him herself. + +Not wishing to be seen entering the house of the fortune-teller, +who bore a very questionable character, she waited until twilight, +and slipped out by the back way, plainly dressed, and with her head +shrouded in a thick veil. + +Her way lay past the cabin of the deceased Maria, the small property +having now fallen to the dissipated Sam, who was making "ducks and +drakes" of it as fast as possible, having been on a prolonged spree +ever since his old wife drew her last breath. + +A dozen or more of thick and well-grown oak-trees formed a dense grove +about the little place, and Jewel caught her breath with awe as she +hurried past, dreading to see the shade of her departed nurse emerge +from the gloom. + +Hark, what was that? + +Her mother's voice! + +It issued from among the trees near the front door. It was speaking +sharply, impatiently. + +"Maria told me, Sam, that there were papers in a box in her chest to +which I was entitled, and which referred solely to me and my daughters. +You drunken rascal, you have hidden them, and pretended that they were +gone in order to extort money from me!" + +Sam, who was now almost sober, was heard vehemently protesting his +innocence. + +He wished he might die if there were any papers or any box in Maria's +old chest. The old creature had been in her dotage and imagined it. +Mrs. Fielding ought not to pay any attention to what the crazy old +woman had said. + +"Come, Sam, name your price for the box of papers. I understand your +game, and I am ready to pay well for them. Let us close up the bargain +and be done with it. This makes three times I have come to you on the +same subject, and I am getting tired of your shilly-shallying," Mrs. +Fielding cried, sharply and angrily, while Jewel, crouching down close +to the fence, listened to every word, hoping to gain a clew to her +mother's mysterious secret. + +But she was disappointed, for Mrs. Fielding was forced to go away at +last unsatisfied. + +Neither bribes, persuasions nor threats could get anything out of the +stubborn widower. + +It was true that Sam had the box of papers, but being exceedingly +illiterate and suspicious regarding white folks, he imagined the papers +to be deeds or something relating to the property he had inherited from +Maria, and feared that if he gave them up he might lose all, for had +not Maria become bitterly incensed at him for his trifling ways, and +declared that she would not leave him a cent when she died? + +So, being unable to read the papers himself, and afraid to let any +one else see them, Sam took refuge in a lie, to which he clung with +dogged persistence, while chuckling to himself over his cleverness in +outwitting the white folk who wanted to cheat him out of his cabin and +five-acre lot. + +Mrs. Fielding's rapid footsteps died away in the dim distance, and +Jewel rose from her crouching position cautiously, and leaned her arms +on the low fence, debating with herself whether she should approach +Sam or not, and make an effort to learn the strange secret which had +changed her mother so terribly. + +A certain terror she had always had of the brutal, drunken scamp +restrained the ardor of her desire. She would not trust herself with +him near this lonely cabin, over which darkness was now settling, and +which was some distance from any other human habitation. She would +wait until to-morrow, and in the broad light of day try to cajole +the important papers out of his keeping, for she felt sure that they +related to her mother's secret. + +She waited for Sam to go in, dreading lest he should hear her footsteps +in the road and pursue her. Then, too, she had decided to return home +instead of seeking out the clairvoyant, and she did not wish to start +back yet lest she should overtake her mother. + +So she concluded to wait a few moments, and that slight delay was fatal +to the happiness of beautiful Flower. + +A man's footsteps came along the road, and she held her breath in fear; +but the darkness hid her like a thick veil, and he went on toward the +grove of trees, losing himself in the dense shadow. + +"Sam!" he called, cautiously, and she gave a violent start. + +Laurie Meredith! + +It was indeed Flower's lover, and as Sam replied to his call, he said: + +"You delivered those two letters so cleverly to Miss Flower that I wish +you to take her another in the same cautious manner--to wait for a +reply, and bring it to me at once. Can you do so?" + +The clink of gold in his hand made Sam reply eagerly in the +affirmative. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Several months went by, and the fate that hung so heavily over Flower +Fielding's beautiful head lowered more and more darkly, until life +became a burden almost too heavy to be borne. + +Laurie Meredith had gone away on the night before the one appointed for +their elopement, and nothing had ever been heard of him since. + +At first Flower had feared that something had happened to her lover, +and in her desperation she had personally made inquiry at the hotel +where he had boarded, and the clerk had told her that Mr. Meredith had +settled his bill that evening and had his trunk sent down to the boat, +saying that he was going home, as his father had written for him to +come. + +"I am very sorry," Flower said, falteringly. She saw the clerk's look +of astonishment, and added: "Mr. Meredith lent me some books to read, +and I would have liked to return them, but I did not know he was going +away so soon. Have you any idea where I could send them?" + +"No, I have not, miss; but I dare say Mr. Meredith desired you to keep +them," returned the resplendent young clerk, with an admiring glance at +the lovely young girl, which made her color hotly and immediately turn +away. + +"He will come back, or he will write soon and explain why he went away +so suddenly. He may have been called away by a telegram. Perhaps some +of his relatives are dead," she thought; and for several weeks she +waited, expecting his return, or a letter at least. + +Still she could not help feeling indignant at the way in which he had +gone. + +"He might have sent a note to let me know," she thought; but as time +passed on without any explanation, she resolved to write to him and ask +him why he had treated her so unkindly. + +He had given her a card one day with his Northern address upon it, and +she had put it away carefully in her little rosewood writing-desk. + +But when she went to look for it the card was gone. Something else was +gone, too--a paper that Laurie had given her to keep--an important +document. + +She nearly fainted at first; but, rousing herself, she went to her +trunk and looked carefully through that, then her bureau drawers, +thinking that perhaps she had removed it to another place. + +But neither the card nor the paper was to be found. + +A wild suspicion came to her, and she rushed to Jewel's room. + +"Have you taken anything out of my desk?" she asked, abruptly. + +Jewel looked around in surprise. + +"What a question! Of course I have not taken anything from your desk. +Have you lost anything, or only your senses, Flower Fielding?" + +Flower shrunk sensitively from her sister's sharp voice and angry +glance, and answered in a low voice: + +"I had a card with Laurie Meredith's name on it, and--a very important +paper. I thought perhaps you had taken them away to tease me." + +"No, I have not seen them. What was the paper about?" Jewel asked, +gazing sharply into her sister's downcast face. + +"I can not tell you, dear Jewel," was the sad reply. Then taking +courage in her misery, the poor girl continued. "Do you remember where +Laurie Meredith lived? And will you tell me, for I have forgotten?" + +"You wish to write to him?" sneered Jewel, and Flower sighed: + +"Yes." + +"Has he written to you?" + +"No; or at least I have never received a letter--but, Jewel, he must +have written--he must surely have written--only I have never received +the letter." + +The piteous voice, the tearful blue eyes were very touching, but Jewel +Fielding laughed harshly. + +"Do you want to know what I think?" she cried. "You are a fool, Flower +Fielding. The man never gave you another thought after he left here, +and I am surprised at you for thinking of writing to him. And what +would mamma say? You know she forbid you to have anything to say to +Laurie Meredith." + +"Yes, I know. Please do not tell her, Jewel, that I wished to write to +him," Flower faltered, anxiously. + +"If you will promise me not to write to him, Flower, I will not tell +mamma." + +"How can I write when I do not know where to address a letter? But +I will not promise, for if I find out I shall write!" Flower cried, +defiantly, and rushed away. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +Jewel's beautiful dark face dilated with anger as she muttered to +herself: + +"The obstinate little vixen, how I hate her! I do not know why I do not +tell mamma everything. It is only because I am afraid she would not be +severe enough upon her. I will wait, wait, until I get more to go upon. +That wretched Sam, where can he have gone, and why does he not return?" + +For Sam had locked up the cabin on the morning after Laurie Meredith +disappeared, and had gone away, no one knew where. + +Perhaps he had gone to get rid of the importunities of Mrs. Fielding, +fearing lest in some weak moment she might cajole him out of the papers +she desired so much. + +However that may be, he had disappeared as entirely as if mother earth +had opened and swallowed him, and both Mrs. Fielding and Jewel chafed +bitterly over this misfortune. + +Mrs. Fielding had gone to Sam's house several times in the dead of +night and made eager search for the papers, but without success. But +the known fact that Sam was gone away, connected with the fact that +lights had been seen flaring through the cabin windows at night, +speedily gave room to gossips about the neighborhood to declare that +old Maria's ghost haunted the place. + +When the report came to the ears of Mrs. Fielding she smiled bitterly, +and Jewel, who had been watching her mother's face, immediately leaped +to a conclusion. She thought: + +"She has been there searching for those papers at night." + +And she immediately determined that she would do the same thing, +for she felt convinced that her mother had failed. Else why did she +grow older and stranger with such awful rapidity that her daughters +shuddered sometimes, fearing from her fits of rage alternating with +fearful moodiness that she was going mad. + +Poor Flower, in spite of her own sorrows, felt an added pang when she +heard that the ghost of her old black nurse was walking about her old +home. She shed some bitter tears, and ventured to express a timid fear +lest Maria had had something on her mind before she died which made her +spirit restless now. + +Mrs. Fielding scowled furiously and snarled angrily. + +"Maria was a wicked old woman! She had done enough evil to send her +soul to torment, and I hope she is suffering there!" + +Her flashing eyes and vindictive words almost frightened her +daughters, and Flower hurriedly retired to her own room to weep +bitterly over those unkind words spoken of her dear old nurse. + +Poor Flower, she was almost always weeping now! A terrible trouble had +come to her which she feared the keen, cruel eyes of Jewel already +suspected, although Mrs. Fielding, absorbed in her bitter, secret +musings, and spending much of her time alone, noticed nothing. + +The summer days were long since gone, and nearly six months had passed +since Laurie Meredith had to all appearance deserted the trusting young +girl whom he had secretly made his wife. + +To her grief and terror she had found out months ago that a little +child was coming to her, and she knew not where to fly to hide the +shame and disgrace hanging over her golden head. + +Oh, how she repented her folly and disobedience now, for she believed +that Laurie was false to her, and that he had deliberately abandoned +her after amusing himself with her all the golden summer days! + +She would rather have died than confess the truth to her proud mother, +now that the marriage-certificate was lost, for she feared that her +story would not be believed, having an intuitive knowledge that Jewel +would, through the weight of her influence, be against her--Jewel, who +had taken no pains to conceal the fact that she had hated her blue-eyed +sister ever since that rivalry for Laurie Meredith's love, in which +Flower had been the winner. + +So, as the cold days of winter deepened and darkened, and the winds +blew chill and cold across the stormy sea, Flower began to stay in her +room more and more, with her pale face glued against the window-pane, +thinking, thinking, until she grew almost as wild-eyed as her mother, +and wondering how much longer it would be before she would be compelled +to fly to hide her disgrace. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +The time came when poor, unhappy Flower felt that she could hide her +condition no longer--not even from the absorbed woman who took so +little pride in her beautiful daughters now. + +For months she had been going about with a heavy shawl wrapped about +her; but the pretense of chilliness could no longer avail her, for +spring was in its second month now and early flowers were in bloom. + +She laid her plans tearfully to flee from home and leave some of her +things on the sea-shore, that her mother might think she had drowned +herself for love. Better that than the bitter truth. + +She had a little money--the savings of the little pin-money allowed her +monthly by her mother. She put this in a little purse in her bosom, +wrapped herself in a plain dark cloak and thick veil, and started out, +one dark twilight hour, with a small hand-satchel on her arm, feeling +quite sure of escaping unmolested, as her mother was in her own room, +and Jewel had gone to the town close by to do a little shopping, as she +said. + +Alas! Jewel was coming up the front steps, and a low, malicious cry +came from her lips as she sprung forward and caught Flower rudely by +the arm. + +"Where are you going?" she demanded, sharply. + +"To--to--walk," Flower faltered, trying to draw herself away; but Jewel +held her fast. + +"It is a falsehood--you are running away!" she exclaimed, harshly. + +"What does it matter if I _am_ running away?" Flower cried, growing +desperate in her despair. "No one cares for me now. Laurie has deserted +me, mamma is changed and cold, and you have grown to hate me so +bitterly that I feared to come and tell you of my trouble and beg you +to pity and help me. Let me go, Jewel, and throw myself into the sea +and end it all." + +Jewel's eyes took on a baleful look in the twilight; she muttered, +hoarsely: + +"If I were quite sure you would do that I'd let you go; but you +wouldn't. You were running away to seek Laurie Meredith, you know you +were!" + +"I have a right to seek him if I choose!" Flower cried, roused to +defiance by her sister's inhumanity. "He is my husband, and no one +knows it better than you, Jewel, for I am quite sure that it was you +who took the certificate from my desk. Oh, sister--dear sister!" she +cried, growing suddenly wild and pathetic as she fell on her knees +before the hard-hearted girl, "you have tortured me long enough, have +you not? Even such jealous hate as yours must be satisfied by the +torments I have endured in the past eight months. Oh, give me back my +marriage-certificate! Let me give it to my mother; perhaps then she +will forgive me, and I need not go away." + +It was a thrilling picture, the lovely, wretched, forsaken girl +kneeling in the gloom of the shadowy porch, her fair face upturned so +pleadingly, the tresses of shining gold falling in disorder over the +dark cloak as she looked up at that dark, proud face so transformed +by jealousy and anger that it appeared almost satanic, for no pity +lightened in the cruel, triumphant smile that parted the curved, red +lips. + +"Ha! ha! so you were married--a likely story!" she hissed, scornfully. +"And the poor little bride has lost her marriage-certificate. That is +unfortunate! But, come, let us tell mamma. Perhaps she will forgive +you, anyhow." + +With a wild, mocking laugh she dragged Flower to the parlor, which Mrs. +Fielding had just entered, and holding her hapless sister tightly by +the arm, exclaimed: + +"Mamma, I caught Flower running away from home, and I brought her back." + +Mrs. Fielding, startled out of her apathy at once, started to her feet, +crying wonderingly: + +"Running away! Flower running away! But why? What reason--" + +Spite of Flower's frantic struggles Jewel tore the shrouding cloak from +her sister's form. + +"Reason! ha, ha! Look at her one moment and you will see her reason!" +she laughed, in bitter triumph; and Mrs. Fielding, after one wild, +searching glance, threw up her thin white hands and uttered a shriek of +horror and anger combined. + +Jewel sprung quickly to her mother's side. + +"Do not take it so hard, mamma," she cried, eagerly, with blazing eyes. +"Her disgrace can not touch you nor me! Oh, mamma, I have fathomed the +secret that has tortured you so long! This is the girl that was foisted +on you by your faithless husband in place of my dead twin sister! This +Flower is Daisy Forrest's daughter!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +It was a tragic moment in the lives of the three who stood in that +closed room looking into one another's faces with dilated eyes. + +Flower had fallen on her knees and dropped her shamed face in her +hands when Jewel tore away her cloak. But at those startling words, +uttered so triumphantly by her twin sister, the little white hands fell +helplessly at her sides, and the blue eyes stared in bewilderment at +her mother. + +Did she hear aright? Was she dreaming, or was that Jewel, her twin +sister, plucking eagerly at her mother's sleeve and saying such strange +things in that hard, triumphant voice. + +"Don't take it so hard, mamma. Her disgrace can not touch you nor me. +Ah, mamma, I have fathomed the secret that has tortured you so long. +This is the girl that was foisted on you by your faithless husband in +place of my dead twin sister. This is Daisy Forrest's daughter." + +The room seemed to reel, the solid walls to go up and down in some +strange fashion before Flower's dim eyes, but she tried to keep her +senses and hear what her mother would say to this monstrous charge. + +She saw the dark-eyed, white-haired woman reel backward and throw up +her arms into the air, while a strange, unearthly cry burst from her +lips--a cry that was half-fierce joy and half a strangling horror. + +Jewel laughed triumphantly, and continued: + +"I was determined to find out Maria's secret--the terrible secret +that had changed you so, but you would not satisfy my curiosity. So +I watched and waited, and at last I heard you talking to Sam about +some papers that he had hidden from you. I have been seeking them ever +since, and to-day I found them, read them, and so became acquainted +with all my father's villainy, and the share taken in it by our old +nurse." + +Mrs. Fielding's eyes began to blaze with a wild, maniacal light. She +held out her hands with a commanding gesture. + +"The papers! Give them to me!" she cried, hoarsely. + +Jewel shook her head. + +"Wait," she said; "they are half burned anyhow. It seems as if my +father intended to burn them and never let you know the deceit he had +practiced on you. He had written the whole story out, from time to +time, in his diary, and on the day he committed suicide he must have +flung it into the fire, and old Maria pulled it out--" + +"Yes, that is what she said. Give me the book, Jewel!" Mrs. Fielding +cried, in wild impatience; but again the clever, wicked girl refused. + +"Not yet," she said; and suddenly turned on Flower, pointing a scornful +finger at her wan, white face. "Get up; you look like a fool kneeling +down there!" she exclaimed, roughly. "Sit down there in that chair; +mamma is going to tell you who and what you are." + +Flower dragged her trembling form up from the floor, and obeyed, +looking toward Mrs. Fielding with wistful, frightened eyes. + +"Now, mamma!" Jewel cried, eagerly; but the wretched woman uttered a +low moan of distress and sunk like a log to the floor. + +Instinctively Flower rose to go to her assistance, but Jewel pushed her +back roughly into her chair. + +"Do not you dare touch her!" she exclaimed, with such a lightning-like +glance that Flower fell abashed into the chair. + +Jewel knelt by her mother a minute; then rose, and said: + +"It is nothing but a faint; she will come to herself presently. In the +meantime, I will tell you the story of my mother's ruined life, for +which _your_ mother is to blame." + +"My mother?" Flower echoed, bewilderedly. + +"Yes," Jewel answered; and pointing at Mrs. Fielding, she said: "That +woman is no relation of yours; but you are my half-sister--made so by +the sin of our father." + +A low, startled cry shrilled from Flower's white lips; but Jewel did +not heed it--only went on, like a young fury: + +"He was a villain, that Charley Fielding! Your mother, who was +beautiful, but poor and of obscure birth, he betrayed; and my mother, +who was rich, and his social equal, he married for money, still keeping +up his intrigue with the girl Daisy Forrest. So that you and I were +born within twenty-four hours of each other." + +Flower sat bolt upright, listening with burning eyes and a deathly pale +face. + +"She--your mother--died soon after your birth," Jewel went on, in a +thick, excited voice. "My little twin sister died, too, in a few hours +after she came into the world. Then old Maria, who lived until then +with Daisy Forrest, allowed her master to persuade her into a cruel +wrong. In short, my dead twin sister was buried upon Daisy Forrest's +breast, and you, her loving child, were imposed upon my mother as her +own--my mother, who hated your mother with the bitterest hate, and who, +if she had dreamed of your identity, would have gone mad with rage." + +There was a slight movement of the still figure on the floor. Mrs. +Fielding was recovering. + +Jewel went on: + +"It was this secret that our old nurse revealed on her death-bed to my +mother. That one of the children she claimed as her own was not hers, +but she could not remember which child--you or I--was Daisy Forrest's. +She told mamma that there were papers in her old chest that she thought +would prove the truth. Those papers Sam hid, and to-day I searched the +cabin and found them." + +With a moan Mrs. Fielding lifted her head, but neither of the two girls +heeded her, so absorbed were they--Flower in this terrible story, Jewel +in gloating over her rival's dismay. + +"I read the papers--the torn leaves from his diary that he flung into +the fire and that Maria rescued," Jewel added, with blazing eyes. "It +set at rest the doubt that has tormented my mother so long. It said +that the child with his own blue eyes and golden hair was the child of +Daisy Forrest, whose death drove him to suicide." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +Mrs. Fielding staggered to her feet. She stood looking at Flower with a +tortured face. + +"Ah! even a mother's instinct has played me false in this. I thought, +I hoped--" she cried out, passionately, then checked herself, and the +agony of her face changed to wrath and fury. + +Advancing toward the shrinking, terrified girl, she exclaimed, +hoarsely, angrily: + +"So I have wasted my love on you--you, my rival's child! She had his +heart and you his face--my false husband's beautiful face! Are you not +afraid that I will strike you dead for having deceived me so bitterly!" + +"I, mamma, I deceive you? Ah, no, no, for I did not know!" Flower +moaned, faintly, and shrinking in terror from the wild-eyed woman +towering over her so fiercely, and who cried out, scornfully, now: + +"No, that is true, you did not know what a heritage of shame was yours, +what a cloud hung over your birth--and yet you proved yourself true to +your inherited nature, to your mother's false, light instincts. You +rushed into your sin, into shame--" + +"Hush!" Flower cried, indignantly, her face dyed red with shame. She +stood upright, and holding to the arms of the chair to steady her +trembling form, said, eagerly: "I am Laurie Meredith's wife!" + +"Ha! ha!" laughed Jewel, with scornful incredulity. + +"Ha! ha!" echoed Mrs. Fielding, and there was a sound in her voice that +was terrible to hear--the tones of incipient madness. + +There was madness in her eyes, too, so horribly they glittered as she +sprung toward Flower, and all in an instant buried her working white +fingers in the girl's long tresses. + +"Daisy Forrest, I shall kill you!" she screamed, with an awful, +blood-curdling laugh; and dragging her victim down upon her knees, she +tried to clasp her fingers around the fair white throat of her hated +rival's child, and strangle her life out. + +In another moment murder would have been done, but fortunately the +monomaniac was thwarted in her deadly purpose, for her maddened shriek +had brought the servants rushing to the scene, and Jewel, who had been +silently gloating over the terrible deed, realized that her plans would +be thwarted if this went further, and her crazed mother murdered poor +Flower for her unconscious transgression. + +So with her own white, jeweled hands she assisted the servants in their +efforts to drag Mrs. Fielding away from her victim, succeeding only +just in time, for Flower was discovered unconscious upon the floor, and +some time elapsed before she even breathed again, so terrible had been +the onslaught of her enemy. + +But Mrs. Fielding was for the time a raving mad woman. She had to be +bound and locked into a chamber alone while the man-servant ran all the +way to town to bring a physician. + +The remaining servants crowded around Jewel and begged to hear what had +been the cause of the strange scene they had witnessed. + +She explained satisfactorily to all, when she replied, angrily: + +"My sister had gone astray and disgraced us, and when mamma found it +out quite suddenly just now she went mad with horror, and would have +slain her if your timely entrance had not prevented her rash deed." + +Then she sent them all out, and sat down in the parlor to watch Flower, +who still lay on the floor breathing faintly, but in such a weak and +dazed condition that she realized nothing of what had happened or of +what was going on around her, still less of the baleful black eyes +that watched her so malevolently, as Jewel said to herself: + +"My mother is crazed, and the task of punishing this hated girl has +fallen from her hands to mine. Let me think over all the most horrible +things I have ever heard of, and decide what I can do to make her +suffer the longest and worst in return for the torments I have borne +since she took my lover from me. Oh, I hate her as bitterly as my +mother hated her mother, and I swear I will have vengeance for my +wrongs!" + +And those beautiful, evilly splendid black eyes, as they floated over +poor Flower's silent, unconscious form, looked baleful enough for their +very glances to kill. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +Presently the house-maid put her head in at the door, giving Jewel a +violent start. + +"Has the doctor come?" she asked. + +"No, miss; but me and the cook thinks we had better carry Miss Flower +upstairs and put her to bed," Tibbie replied, with a compassionate look +at the silent form upon the floor. + +Jewel frowned and considered a moment, then gave her assent to the plan. + +Then she added: + +"When you come down, you had better lock the door, as she might try +to run away. In fact, she was about to do so this evening, but mamma +prevented her. Although she has proved so bad, and disgraced the +family, we intend to keep her at home and take care of her." + +The kind-hearted Tibbie murmured an approval of this kindness, and +with the cook's assistance, soon had Flower undressed and placed in +bed. Then seeing that she was still in a dazed and half-unconscious +condition, and either unable or disinclined to speak, they shaded the +lamp and withdrew, locking the door as ordered, and giving the key to +the triumphant Jewel. + +In the meantime the physician arrived and pronounced Mrs. Fielding +temporarily insane. + +"I will leave soothing medicine for her, and I will send two nurses +from town, for she will have violent paroxysms, and it will take at +least two people to restrain her from doing harm to herself or others," +he said, and took leave, wondering at the coolness and self-command of +this beautiful young girl, whose bright eyes were not dimmed by a tear, +as he explained to her the terrible condition of her mother. + +He would have been more surprised if he could have read the thoughts of +that vindictive heart. + +"So she is really insane!" she said to herself. "I am glad of that. +There will be no one now to interfere with my plans for Flower. It is +true she would have killed her if she had been let alone, but I do not +want her to die yet. I want her to live and wither under the shame of +her birth, and under the agony of her desertion by Laurie Meredith. I +will torment her as much as I can until the child is born, then I hope +she will die, and the brat, too, so that when Laurie Meredith comes +back I can have the pleasure of telling him that they are dead, and +showing him their graves." + +Her passionate, jealous love for handsome Laurie Meredith was mixed +with hate now, and she delighted in stabbing his heart as he had +stabbed hers when he turned from her dark, dazzling charms to her +sister's fair, angelic beauty. + +Going to her room, she unlocked her trunk and took out some papers, +over which she gloated with fierce delight. + +"Although I long for power and gold, millions could not buy these +from me, for my sweet revenge is better than gold! Ah, how cleverly +I parted them! They outwitted me when they managed to steal away and +get married, but I've kept them apart ever since, I've made them pay +dearly for their temerity!" she cried, exultantly. + +The papers she held were the half-burned diary of Charley Fielding, +the marriage-certificate and card she had stolen from Flower's desk, +and the note she had intercepted on its way to Flower, together with +several letters that Laurie Meredith had written to his wife since his +departure, and which, through Jewel's clever plotting, she had failed +to receive. + +She pressed them in her hands, gloating over them with more delight +than a ball-room belle would have done over the most priceless +diamonds, for they represented the power she thirsted for so +ardently--the power to torment those whom she hated. + +She cared nothing for the fact, that in spite of all that had come and +gone, poor, unhappy Flower was her half-sister still. She only knew +that ever since the fatal hour when Laurie Meredith had made choice +between them she had hated the blue-eyed, golden-haired beauty with a +jealous fury that was as pitiless as death. + +She thought she was a very clever girl, she had managed everything so +adroitly. In the first place, she had bribed Sam to give her Flower's +letter that night, and to take back a reply from herself. She had found +out from that letter that Flower was Laurie Meredith's wife, that she +was going away with him, and that a telegram had called him away one +day sooner, causing him to write to Flower to come at once to him, as +he must be far on his way north before the next night, which was set as +the time for them to leave. + +In that sudden emergency Jewel's keen wits served her well. She +remembered that her handwriting was so similar to her sister's that few +could tell them apart, so she decided upon a bold step. She wrote to +Laurie Meredith in his wife's name, declaring that she had changed her +mind about going with him, that she could not bring herself to leave +her mother and sister, but that she would be his true and faithful +wife, and wait for him until he came back from Germany. + +The young husband was most bitterly disappointed, but the telegram +that summoned him to a parent's sick-bed admitted of no delay. He went +without Flower, but he wrote to her very soon from his Northern home, +entreating her to reconsider her determination and join him there. + +Jewel had a fervent admirer in the person of the post-office clerk. + +By cleverly playing on his vanity she induced him to let her have +Flower's letters, and each one she answered briefly, by denying Laurie +Meredith's wish and indulging in weak regrets over the haste with which +she had wedded him, lamenting lest her mother should find out her folly +and withhold forgiveness. + +So it was that not one of those loving letters, for which Flower would +have given her very life, ever reached her, and Jewel sat here gloating +over their possession, while in the very next room poor little Flower +lay upon her sleepless bed, an image of despair, wondering if it could +be true all that Jewel had told her--that she was a child of shame, +her mother a bad, wicked woman, and her father a sinful wretch who had +broken the hearts of both her mother and Jewel's. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +If any one had told Jewel Fielding that she had the heart of a +murderess, she would have indignantly denied the accusation--she would +have been frightened and angry at the very idea--yet it was nothing +less than a slow murder that she began the next day. + +In the first place, she gave out to the servants that Flower was so +ashamed and remorseful over her sin that she wished to keep her own +room all the time, and desired to see no human face save that of her +sister; so, lest any one should enter, she meant to keep her door +locked all the while. Jewel declared that she desired to humor her +sister's whim, and would carry her meals upstairs daily with her own +hands. + +Having thus paved the way to carrying the key of Flower's room in her +pocket, and to starving her without being found out, the vindictive +girl went into Flower's room, and surprised her at the task of plaiting +a rope out of her bed-clothes by which to escape through her window, +which was in the second story. + +Jewel produced from under her dainty apron a hammer and some nails, +with which she proceeded to nail down the window-sashes securely. + +At first Flower tried to prevent her by holding back her arm; but Jewel +shook her loose with a fierce strength, and, turning, menaced the white +temple with the lifted hammer. + +"Dare to hold back my arm again, and I will kill you!" she hissed, with +vindictive rage, while the murderous fire that flashed from her black +eyes appalled Flower's very soul. + +With a moan she fell upon the bed, and lay watching Jewel until she had +finished securing the windows. + +Then she rose up in bed, and brushing back the wealth of sunny curls +from her aching brow, began to plead pathetically for her freedom. + +"I wish to go away, and you have no right to forbid me," she said at +last, bitterly, resenting the scorn of the other. + +Jewel laughed mockingly. + +"No right!" she exclaimed. "Ha! ha! Then I will take the right! You +stole Laurie Meredith from me, and now you are going to be punished for +your treachery." + +"Punished! As if I had not already suffered enough!" the wretched girl +cried, in pathetic despair. + +"You are going to suffer more yet," hissed Jewel, with blazing eyes. +"I am going to keep you locked up here, and allow you nothing but +bread and water, and not enough of that. You shall wish yourself dead +every day, but there will be just enough bread to keep you alive in +misery--no more!" + +Flower's beautiful face turned ghastly, her blue eyes stared at the +cruel girl with a dazed, horrified look. + +"Oh, Jewel, I wish I were dead already! I have nothing left to live +for now!" she exclaimed. "But, still, would it not be too horrible to +starve me now? It--it would be a double murder, for--for--oh, Jewel, +did you not forget the child?" + +The piteous pleading for her unborn child only angered Jewel the more, +and with scornful, cutting phrases she taunted her with her disgrace +and misery, and reiterated her intention of torturing her in return for +what she called her treachery. + +When she left the room Flower believed that her fate was sealed. Jewel +had revealed her real self so plainly that she could hope for no mercy +and no pity. + +She wept bitterly for the little unborn child, that through Jewel's +cruelty would have to die. She had hoped somehow that she would find +Laurie before it was born, and that all would yet be well. For surely, +surely, he had not deserted her. It was only that some unfathomable +treachery on Jewel's part had kept them asunder. She did not want to +believe him false. + +"But I must die, all the same, and he will never know how I suffered +through my love for him," she sighed, day after day, as her strength +waned under the scanty diet of dry bread and stale water served to her +daily by Jewel, with cruel taunts and scornful looks for sauce. + +She grew weaker and weaker, great hollows came into her pale cheeks, +her blue eyes looked larger than ever with the purple shadows beneath +them, while the one longing cry of her heart was always for freedom, +freedom, from this dreadful house, through whose whole extent the +maniacal shrieks of the mad Mrs. Fielding echoed night and day. + +After weeks of this terrible life there came a day when the +horror-haunted house became unnaturally still and quiet. Mrs. Fielding +had been removed to an insane asylum, and her wild cries no longer +echoed on the shuddering air. + +Jewel knew that at the next meeting of the county court a guardian must +be appointed for herself and her sister until her mother's recovery, +and she resolved to finish her awful work before any prying, perhaps +suspicious stranger should come into the house. + +More than eight months had elapsed since Laurie Meredith had gone away, +and Jewel knew that the time of Flower's trouble was near at hand. + +She had been holding back one terrible thing for a _coup d'état_ at the +last, and she decided now that the fitting moment had arrived in which +to startle Flower into a slightly premature illness and thus make sure +of her death at once. + +It was a fiend's plan, a fiend's wish, but Jewel never faltered in her +deadly purpose. Her evil passions drove her on to the commission of a +deed that, call it by what specious name she chose in her own mind, +would be no less than murder. + +So she went into Flower's room one night carrying a lighted lamp in one +hand and a newspaper in the other. + +In this long, weary month she had never permitted Flower the use of a +lamp at night, thinking that the long, interminable hours of darkness +would add to her torture, as indeed they had done most effectually. + +So the poor girl started up from her bed in alarm, dazed by the +brilliant light of the lamp, and filled with a wild hope that Jewel +was about to relent toward her, she exclaimed, wildly: + +"Ah, sister, you bring me a light. You begin to relent. Blessings on +you, dear Jewel! Now, give me food, too, I am so hungry, so thirsty, +and the air of this closed room stifles me! Open the window and let +the sweet air of spring come in! Then bring me food, food, for I am +starving." + +Jewel set down the lamp and took from her pocket a beautiful, +red-cheeked apple. + +"I will give you just one bite of this if you will return it to me +when you have taken it," she said, with a mocking laugh. And Flower +promised; but when she had taken as large a bite as her pearly teeth +could compass, her horrible hunger and thirst overcame her, and she +clung wildly to the luscious fruit, begging, pleading for it, until +Jewel forced it from her after a short, sharp struggle, and restored it +to her pocket. + +"You are not half as hungry and thirsty for that delicious fruit as I +was hungry and thirsty for Laurie Meredith's love!" she said, bitterly. +"I loved him with my whole heart, yet you took him from me, and now +you shall suffer for it! Ah, no, Madame Flower, I have not relented! I +am not going to give you any food, nor water, nor fresh air; and if I +brought a light it was only that I might gloat over your agony when you +read something that I came upon accidentally this evening, and which +will add the last drop of bitterness to the overflowing cup of your +misery." + +She laughed exultantly, and Flower shrunk back, with her hand before +her eyes to shut out the blaze of those angry eyes that burned upon her +face. + +"I--I had better not read it, then. I have borne all that I can bear +already," she moaned, faintly. + +Jewel struck the wasted little white hand rudely away from before +Flower's eyes, and said, sharply: + +"I thought you would be glad to read this paragraph about Laurie +Meredith. It explains his seeming desertion and falsity to you." + +At these words a wild, strangling gasp came from Flower's lips, and she +caught eagerly at the paper, while Jewel, with a plump, jeweled finger, +pointed out a paragraph marked heavily with black ink. + +Laurie Meredith's own hand had marked it, and he had sent the paper to +Flower many months ago, little dreaming what a terrible purpose it was +destined to serve. + +It was a Boston newspaper, and the paragraph was simply this: + + "As we go to press we have just heard that our esteemed townsman, + Laurie Meredith, died very suddenly last night." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +Jewel watched her victim eagerly, breathlessly. + +She saw the hue of death overspread the lovely, wasted face, the blue +eyes, already dim through the tears that had washed their brightness +away, dilate in wonder and horror. Oh, how sweet it was to see that +look of mortal agony on the face that Laurie Meredith had loved to +kiss! Jewel said to herself that in the months since he went away, she +had made her successful rival shed a thousand tears for each and every +kiss he had pressed on those lovely, rosebud lips. + +But her thirst for revenge was not sated yet. There was yet another +sweet draught waiting for her lips in the near future. + +All this time she had been keeping up the correspondence with Laurie +Meredith, in order to prevent him from coming back South to see Flower. +But she said to herself that when the girl was dead she would cease +writing. He would become uneasy then, and the chances were that he +would soon come back. Then she, the girl he had slighted, she would +show him his wife's grave. + +What sweetness there was in this thought for Jewel! She gloated over +it often, and thought that surely no girl had ever had a more perfect +revenge for slighted love than she had taken. + +Her thoughts went further yet sometimes. + +She had taken the greatest pains to hide her enmity to her sister. +There was no one who could say she had been unkind to Flower; Laurie +Meredith should never know otherwise, and from her reputed tenderness +to his dead wife, and her sweet sympathy with himself, should spring up +another flower of love that should bloom for her alone. Some day she +would be his wife, and the secret of all she had done to part him from +Flower should be buried forever in the poor girl's grave. + +She could see nothing to mar the success of her far-reaching plans. +With Flower dead, and her mother the inmate of an insane asylum, +she would be her own mistress, with quite a handsome fortune at her +command, and she intended to make capital of her liberty and her +position. + +True, the physician had said that her mother's reason would most +probably return within a few months, but Jewel had made up her mind +that the foolish, half-mad creature should never leave the asylum +again. For so young a girl she was wonderfully clever and headstrong, +and she was fully determined to have her own way. + +With all these thoughts in her mind she stood watching Flower reading +those few brief lines, and she was not surprised when with one low +cry of anguish the unhappy girl let the paper slip from her nerveless +hands, and fell back in a heavy swoon upon the pillow. + +Jewel laughed as she looked at the still, white face, and moved toward +the door. + +"I will walk up and down the hall and get some fresh air while she +recovers at her leisure," she said, aloud; and she stepped outside and +went to the hall window, which was open, letting in a flood of balmy +air, sweet with the heavy scent of the early blooming lilacs. + +She leaned her elbows on the window-ledge and looked out at the +beautiful tides of the sea rolling into the shore with a hollow murmur, +while the moon's bright rays made silver paths across the restless +waves. But Jewel shivered, and exclaimed: + +"But for him I should be dead, drowned in that cruel sea! He saved my +life, and I dedicated it to him. I made him the king of my heart! Oh, +why did she come between us? If I am wicked it is all her fault. She +drove me mad." + +Absorbed in her angry self-excuses, it was almost half an hour before +she returned to the room she had left, and then she found Flower lying +just as she had left her, cold and apparently rigid, with no movement +at her heart. + +Jewel could not repress a low cry of horror. She was only a girl, and +wicked as she was, she was frightened when she saw that life had fled +from the body of her she had so cruelly tortured. + +She felt Flower's hands and they were deadly cold; she shouted in +her ear and she did not respond. Then running into her own room, she +brought out a pitcher of fresh water, which she poured over Flower's +head and face in a perfect deluge. + +But not a sigh, not the movement of an eyelash rewarded her efforts at +resuscitation. With something like awe she began to realize that her +work was completed sooner than she had expected. Flower was already +dead. + +She flung wide the door and began to scream loudly for the servants. + +Her voice rang wildly down the long halls and dim stairways, returning +to her in ghostly echoes; but no one answered to her wild calls. The +servants had stolen away to a merry-making in the town. + +Something of the truth began to dawn upon her mind when she had shouted +herself hoarse. + +"They are either stolen away or fast asleep," she muttered, and rushed +down-stairs to their quarters in the yard. + +The cottage door was locked, and Jewel pounded lustily without +receiving any reply. Looking at the windows, she saw that they were +closed and dark. + +"The wretches! how dared they go away and leave me with that dead +girl?" she muttered, ignoring the fact that Flower had been alive a +little while ago. The deep, hoarse baying of the watch-dog, aroused in +his distant kennel by the noise she had made, caused her to start and +crouch down shivering on the back door-step. + +"I shall stay here till they come. I--I--can not watch by that dead +girl alone!" she muttered, with a superstitious horror of death. + + * * * * * + +But in the meantime the copious shower of water she had poured over +Flower had taken effect. + +While Jewel was battering at the door of the servants' quarters Flower +had revived and found the door wide open, and such a draught of sweet, +pure air rushing into the room that it seemed to endow her with new +life. + +She dragged herself wearily into the hall and heard Jewel's angry voice +berating the servants down in the yard. She instantly suspected the +true state of the case. + +"She thinks I am dead, and wishes to arouse the servants. I must try +to escape before she returns," she moaned, faintly, and made her way +down-stairs like a spirit, slipped the bolt of the front door, and let +herself out, friendless and homeless, into the dark. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +Nothing but her terrible fear of being recaptured and imprisoned by her +relentless foe could have given poor Flower the strength to get away +from the house that, after being her home so long, had become a place +"by horror haunted." + +But with a brave heart, although her footsteps faltered often, she set +off from the spot, traveling as fast as her reduced strength would +permit, and taking the high-road that led away from the town and toward +the deserted cabin of the dead nurse. + +It was instinct rather than intention that led her to the place; for +she had no thought of stopping there, but only of putting miles of +space between herself and Jewel, of whom she had now become horribly +afraid. + +But, poor girl, starved as she had been, and in her delicate condition +of health, she had not strength enough to carry her far. Besides, she +had been tormented for several days by peculiar pains, which now became +so acute as to materially interfere with her progress. + +"I can not go any further. I must lie down here in the road and die," +she moaned, lifting her tear-wet eyes to the moonlit sky, as if +beseeching the pitying Lord to have mercy on His suffering child. + +In a minute more the white-paled fence and dark grove of trees +surrounding the cabin came into view. + +The sight recalled old Maria to Flower's mind, and she sighed +plaintively: + +"Ah, mammy, dear, I wish you were alive yet; then I should have at +least one friend in my misery." + +She stopped and leaned on the old gate. All was dark and silent, and +the long branches of the trees threw fantastic shadows on the ground +that at any other time would have awed the sensitive girl; but she was +oblivious now to everything but her pain, her weariness, and her cruel +hunger and thirst. + +"There is no one here. I will go into the house and lie down on the +pretty white company-bed that mammy always kept so nice, and I will die +there. Jewel will never think of looking for me here. She knew that +I was afraid of ghosts," she murmured, as she unlatched the gate and +dragged herself up the graveled walk to the door. + +She pulled the latch and found that it was not locked. There was +nothing to prevent her entering, so she groped her way in, and, +shivering and moaning, crossed the floor to the tiny room which Maria +had always kept sacred to hospitality. She fell heavily across the +little white bed, and lay there thinking desolately that death could +not be far away. + +Ah, how grateful the clean, soft feather bed felt to Flower's weary, +aching limbs! She thought that if only those keen, sickening pains +would cease she could fall asleep and die thus, perhaps, in a pleasant +stupor; but the agony only grew greater, and a sudden realization of +truth forced a groan of fear from her lips. + +Her travail was coming upon her, and the girl fainted outright, and lay +for some moments wrapped in a blissful unconsciousness. + + * * * * * + +The night grew older, the moon rode high in the heavens, and the +stillness of the midnight hour was broken by the shrill whistle of a +steamer that touched at the wharf a mile below, remained only long +enough to throw out a plank and permit the landing of two passengers +and their baggage, then went on its way majestically. + + * * * * * + +A newly married widower was bringing home a bride, no less a personage +than Sam, the good-looking mulatto ne'er-do-well. As he had married +from mercenary motives the first time, his second match was for love +alone, and Maria's successor was a colored lady of as bright a type as +himself, young and sprightly, and good-looking. + +She rejoiced in the patronymic of Pocahontas, which was shortened by +general consent of herself and friends to "Poky." + +Sam made arrangements for getting his bride's baggage brought up in the +morning, and tucking Poky's hand under his arm, set forth to tramp the +distance that lay between the steamboat wharf and the humble cabin. + + * * * * * + +The girl who had lain in the darkness all night, racked by cruel pains, +and praying for death, gave a quick start and held her breath in fear. + +She heard loud voices and footsteps in the outer room, and foreboded +that Jewel had tracked her here. + +"Oh, Heaven! and I had thought to die alone and in peace, undisturbed +by her jealous, mocking eyes!" she sighed to herself, despairingly. + +She flung herself desperately out of the bed down upon the floor, +crawled under the white valance that hung all around the old-fashioned +bed, and lay there holding her breath in terror, hoping that she would +not be discovered. One hope alone was left her--to die before those +angry eyes of her jealous half-sister shone upon her again. + +In the meantime Sam had lighted a candle, and his wife had helped +herself to a chair, while she gazed around with a critical eye at the +appointments of the room. + +It was well furnished indeed, for old Maria had been as thrifty as Sam +was shiftless, and Poky said presently that "arter she had tidied up +ter-morror it would be a very decent sort of a place." + +"So I told yer, my lub," replied Sam, affectionately, and he gave the +brown beauty an energetic kiss. Then he said, persuasively, "Poky, +'sposen yer light a fire and let us have a cup of coffee before we go +to bed." + +Poky assented good-naturedly, and very soon a fire was crackling in the +little kitchen stove, and the odor of coffee and broiling ham pervaded +the air. Then Poky took from the capacious basket she had brought on +her arm a loaf of bread and a roll of butter, and proceeded to set the +little table for her lord's repast. + +It was just as she had finished her thrifty preparations, and invited +Sam to "draw up his cheer," that he gave a startled little cry, and +looked over his shoulder apprehensively: + +"Sam!" + +"Poky!" + +"What's de matter, nigger, lookin' over yo' shoulder like you see +sumfin'? Don't yer go 'magining now dat ole 'oman is ha'ntin' de house!" + +He came closer to his wife and whispered, tremulously: + +"Hush, honey; Maria did say as how if de dead could come back she +would, and--and--I heard somefin' sartain--oh, Lord!" + +He gave a jump, and so did Poky. Both had heard something this +time--the low wails of a new-born infant proceeding from the next room. + +They held their breath for a minute, then Poky, who was rather +strong-minded, said, contemptuously: + +"Cats!" + +"Do--do--you think so, Poky?" her better half inquired, dropping his +trembling frame into a chair, and more than half convinced that Maria +was haunting him already. + +"Sartain!" said Poky, with a sniff. "Lors, Sam, what a coward you be! +It's only some cats as is got in thrue a open window." + +She seized a poker and the candle and disappeared into the "company +room," leaving Sam cowering in the dark, and trembling lest the shade +of his departed Maria should pounce upon him at any minute and shake +him for having presumed to give her a successor. + +Then a succession of low wails echoed on the air again, and Sam shook +himself together with returning courage. + +"'Twas cats after all! I thought so!" he ejaculated, with a feeble +chuckle. "And, Lordy, but Poky's a-makin' 'em git!" + +Apparently it took her some time to disperse the feline intruders, for +fifteen minutes elapsed, and she did not return. Then he attempted +to follow her and got the door slammed in his face with the curt yet +good-naturedly delivered sentence: + +"You stay whar you is, nigger!" + +He slunk back to his chair, and presently she came out with an +important face, and lighting another candle, placed it on the table, +and told him to eat his supper. + +"But, Poky--" + +"Yes, it's all right, Sam. 'Twasn't no cats, nor no ghosts, only a +beautiful young gal, Sam, runned away from her friends to-night and hid +herself here for her chile to be borned, which it was dat baby we heerd +a-caterwauling." + +"Who is she, Poky?" amazedly. + +"She said you'd know--some sort o' name like Flower o' de fiel', or +somethin'. But I mus' go back and tend to her and dat baby. Lucky for +her we cum here dis night. Eat your supper without me, Sam, 'cause I'se +needed bad in dere." + +She disappeared again, and Sam sat there conscience-stricken, wondering +if his sin that night months ago had brought this thing to pass. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +He had known that Laurie Meredith and Flower Fielding were lovers, and +he had guessed that Jewel was jealous, when she bribed him so heavily +to give her that important letter and to take back the answer she +sent. In his eagerness to possess himself of her costly bribe he had +not counted the cost of his treachery to the lovers. Now he began to +experience a sneaking consciousness that his guilt had somehow helped +to pave the way to that trouble in yonder. + +He wondered what had become of Laurie Meredith, that his pretty +sweetheart had been forced to seek refuge in a deserted negro cabin +in her sore distress and trouble, and so wondering, he fell asleep in +his chair, and remained there until morning, snoring profoundly, and +oblivious to everything. + + * * * * * + +When he opened his eyes again the broad sunlight of new day was shining +in through the open door, and the song of birds was in the air. + +Poky's trunk had come up, and she was down on her knees unpacking it, +and softly humming a revival song. + +Sam's neck, which had been hanging over on his breast, felt as if it +was half broken. He straightened up and gaped so loudly that his wife +turned around and began to rate him soundly for sleeping in his chair +all night, declaring that she had nearly shaken him to pieces without +being able to rouse him, so had retired, leaving him to the enjoyment +of his arm-chair. + +Sam did not doubt the assertion, knowing himself to be a very heavy +sleeper. He sat still a little while collecting his wits, and then said: + +"Yes, I remember it all now, Poky. I fell to sleep while you was in de +comp'ny with Miss Flower an' de baby." + +"Wha-at?" Poky exclaimed, and he repeated his words, only to be laughed +at by his wife, who declared that he must have been dreaming, as she +did not know what he meant in the least. + +In vain did Sam go over the startling events of last night to his +laughing wife. She admitted the cats in the company room, but the rest +of the story she laughed to scorn. + +"You fell asleep, you foolish nigger, while I was scatterin' dem +tom-cats off dat shed, and you dreamed all de rest," she said; and to +satisfy his doubts she made him go into the spare room, which he found +neat and tidy, as in Maria's time, the white bed smooth and unrumpled, +the two cane-seated chairs standing rigidly against the wall, the +small looking-glass on the white-draped toilet-table reflecting his +crest-fallen face only, as Poky, standing at the open door, said, +jibingly: + +"I hope you'se satisfied now! You don't see any babies nor flowers in +dere, does you?" + +The puzzled dreamer shuffled out with rather a sheepish air, and while +he did justice to his morning repast, had to endure a running fire +of commentaries on his dream that drove him at last quite out of the +house, to escape being the butt of Poky's merry malice. + +Presently, while he was sulkily smoking his pipe in the front yard, she +came out to him in her check apron, with her sleeves rolled up, and +carrying the broom in her brown, shapely hand. With rather a sober air, +she said: + +"I declare, Sam, I was so tickled at yer foolish dream that I forgot to +tell yer what the man said as brought my trunk this mornin'." + +"Well?" inquired her sulky spouse. + +"Why, it 'pears like a young lady 'bout dis neighborhood drowndid +herself las' night." + +"Sho!" exclaimed Sam, wonderingly. + +"Yes, siree--drowndid herself on account of trubble an' sickness. What +made it all de worse was dat she was de beautifulest gal in de country, +and had a twin sister ekally beautiful, and dat pore thing is 'most +crazy 'bout it all," explained Poky, while Sam eagerly demanded names. + +"Sho! I has such a pore mem'ry fer names," Poky began, reflectively; +then she stuttered: "Ju--Ju--Jule--" + +"Jewel and Flower!" shouted Sam, and her eyes beamed with delight. + +"Dat's dem! and 'twas de las' one--dat Flower--dat got up outen her +sick-bed and runned away las' night, and Jule she said shorely she done +drowndid herself, 'cause how she done said she would do it de first +chance, and she was so weak she couldn't a' walked no furder than down +to de sea-shore." + +"Golly! I mus' go up to de big house and hear 'bout it," Sam exclaimed, +darting toward the gate, while Poky called after him, jibingly: + +"Sam, don't go and tell anybody 'bout yer foolish dreams las' night." + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +In the golden days of June, more than three months after the +occurrences of our last chapter, Laurie Meredith returned to the scene +of his love affair, and made his way to the large stone house where the +Fieldings had lived last summer. + +He had not had a letter from Flower for the last two months, and this +had brought him to seek her earlier than he otherwise would have done, +for while he had received her letters he had known that she was well +and contented, but her silence filled him with such fear and discontent +that he left Germany, determined to have it out with the Fieldings and +take his bride away. + +No rumor of the changes that had taken place since his departure had +reached him. He knew not that Mrs. Fielding was the inmate of a lunatic +asylum, and Flower reported dead. His heart was full of eager joy as +he ran up the steps of the old stone house, expecting in a very short +time to clasp Flower to his yearning heart, and tell her that she must +leave her mother and sister and come with him now, for he could never +be parted from her again. + +The parlor window was open, and the notes of the piano, accompanied by +a sweet voice, became audible as he stepped upon the porch. He stopped +a minute to hear, thinking that the musical voice belonged to Flower. +Then he shivered. The voice and the words were so sad that they struck +a chill to his heart. + +It was only an old song, heard many a time before, but its plaintive +sadness had never struck him as forcibly as now, when it came sighing +through the lace curtains, and mingling with the summer breezes: + + "Weary of living, so weary, + Longing to lie down and die, + To find for the sad heart and dreary + The end of the pilgrimage nigh; + Weary, so weary of wishing + For a form that has gone from my sight, + For a voice that is hushed to me ever, + For eyes that to me were so bright! + + "Weary, so weary of waiting, + Waiting for sympathy sweet, + For something to love and to love me, + The pleasures that are not so fleet; + For a hand to be held on my forehead, + A glimpse of the golden-brown hair, + For a step that to me was sweet music, + And a brow that was noble and fair!'" + +Laurie Meredith's heart thrilled in sympathy with the singer. It was +Flower, of course. She was thinking of him, the sweet darling, he knew. +Oh, how glad she would be to see him again! + +He opened the front door without ceremony, and entered the hall, +reckless of the risk he ran of meeting Mrs. Fielding and encountering +her angry reproaches. He would stop for nothing now, so anxious was he +to clasp that sweet singer to his heart, and tell her she should never +be "weary of waiting" again, never be parted from him more. + +But the wide hall was silent and deserted. Very softly he opened the +parlor door and stepped across the threshold. Then he saw that the girl +at the piano was the only occupant of the room. + +She turned around quickly, and he saw dark eyes instead of blue ones, +dark locks instead of golden curls. Jewel sprung up with a thrilling +cry: + +"At last!" + +There was unmistakable love and joy in her face and voice. She made no +effort to conceal her glad surprise. Had she not been waiting for this +hour for months, had she not dressed for him daily, determined that +whenever he came he should find her at her best? And now, conscious of +her pretty, rose-tinted mull, that was so becoming to her dusky beauty, +she rejoiced that her efforts were crowned with success. Her beauty +could not fail to make a strong impression. + +But he started back in surprise and disappointment, and forgetting even +the conventional greeting he owed her, exclaimed, eagerly: + +"Where is Flower?" + +"Flower?" cried Jewel, sharply, with a clouded brow. "Oh, Mr. Meredith, +did you not know? Poor Flower is dead!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +Jewel had not meant to break the truth so suddenly to Laurie Meredith, +but his cruel indifference to herself, and his anxiety over Flower, +piqued her into retorting upon him so suddenly. She had her revenge, +for, after gazing at her blankly for one agonized moment, the young man +threw up his arms, staggered wildly, then fell like a log at her feet. + +The terrible revulsion of feeling from love, hope, and expectancy to +despair had almost slain him, and he lay for several minutes quite +unconscious, while Jewel knelt beside him in an agony of fear. + +"He is dead, and all my schemes have been in vain," she thought, +wildly; and in her despair she kissed the cold, white face, and laid +her dark head on the pulseless breast of the man she loved so wildly, +and wished that she too were dead and cold. + +Presently she lifted her head and laid her cheek against his, +whispering, reproachfully: + +"Oh, my love, if you had given your heart to me instead of her, all +this would not have happened. We should have been as happy as the day +is long." + +A step in the hall startled her, and she sprung up just as the door +opened, and her companion, an elderly widow lady, entered the parlor. + +"Oh, Mrs. Wellings!" exclaimed Jewel, wildly, and the lady screamed as +she saw the apparently dead man on the floor. + +As soon as she could speak she began to question Jewel volubly, and the +girl explained that he was a friend of hers, and had dropped like that +on entering the room. + +A physician was hastily summoned, and it was found that Laurie Meredith +was not dead. He soon revived, but he had received such a shock that +weeks of illness followed, and Jewel declared that he must not be moved +from the house. + +There was plenty of room. The doctor could send an experienced nurse, +she said, and she and Mrs. Wellings would do all they could. + +So it followed, that when Laurie Meredith first opened his eyes, after +weeks of delirium, with a conscious gaze they fell on Jewel sitting by +his bed, looking exquisitely charming in a long white tea-gown with +crimson silk facings, and some crimson rosebuds in her braided hair. + +He looked at her bewilderedly at first, then a memory of the past began +to dawn on him, and he asked her if he had been sick. + +"Yes, with brain-fever, for nearly three weeks, but you are better +now," Jewel replied, in a sweet, gentle voice that thrilled him in +spite of himself, for it sounded something like Flower's as it had +whispered to him of her love last summer. He closed his eyes a few +moments, and when he opened them again he remembered all. + +"Oh, Heaven! I remember all now," he moaned, "You told me that my +darling was dead." + +"Yes," she said, in a soft, sweet tone, "Flower is dead--poor, +unfortunate girl--but I would not have broken it to you so abruptly if +I had known that you would take it so hard." + +"You knew I loved her, Jewel," he said, looking keenly into the +beautiful, sparkling face. + +"Yes, once," she replied; "but I thought it had all blown over long +ago. Mamma refused her consent, and then you went away. I thought you +had forgotten it, as Flower did very soon." + +"No, no, she did not forget, Jewel!" he groaned; then paused, +remembering that Jewel could not be expected to know anything of that +secret marriage and their correspondence. Presently he said, mournfully: + +"She is dead--beautiful Flower is dead! How long ago was it, Jewel?" + +She named the day when Flower had run away, and added: + +"She committed suicide. She drowned herself in the sea." + +She feared he would faint again, so awful was the pallor that +overspread his face, so she cried out, hastily: + +"But it was not her love for you that drove her to despair, but her +shame and grief at finding out the secret of her parentage." + +And she went on to tell him of the secret old Maria had revealed on +her death-bed, and which had driven her mother mad at last, and caused +Flower to drown herself. + +"Mamma did not tell her for a long time, and when Flower heard it at +last she went almost as mad as poor mamma, and vowed she would drown +herself. Oh, Mr. Meredith, you can not think how dreadful it all was!" +sobbed Jewel, desolately. + +He made no comment. He could not speak after the dreadful story she had +been telling him. He only lay and listened in dumb horror. + +Jewel recovered herself, and continued: + +"There was mamma, raving mad, and at last they had to take her to the +asylum. As for Flower, she fell ill, and tried again and again to take +her own life. I had to watch her always to prevent her going to the sea +and throwing herself in. You see, Mr. Meredith, she was my half-sister, +and I could not help but love her in spite of her birth and of our +father's sin. So I did not tell any one our dreadful secret, I only +loved poor Flower the more, and in her sickness I tended her carefully +until that awful night when I thought her dead, and rushed down-stairs +to call for help. Then she revived, got out of the house, and drowned +herself." + +"Her body--was it ever recovered?" he asked, and Jewel replied: + +"No; but we are certain she drowned herself, because some of her +garments were found on the sea-shore." + +"It is terrible!" he groaned, and looking keenly at her pale face, he +asked: "Did Flower leave any papers, any letters, Jewel, that told you +anything strange?" + +"No," she answered, unblushingly; and he reflected that it would be +no use to tell her that Flower had been his wife. She was dead, poor +little darling; but he thanked Heaven that the misery that had driven +her to suicide was at least none of his making. + +"But, ah, if she had only come with me she would probably never have +heard the shameful secret of her birth," he thought; and it seemed to +him now that he understood Mrs. Fielding's object in refusing to let +her daughters marry any one. + +"She was very honorable. She was not willing that Flower's story should +be known, yet she could not give her to any one who was ignorant of +it," he thought, feeling an accession of pity and respect for the woman +who had been so deeply wronged, yet who had remained so honest and +conscientious. + +Presently Jewel murmured something about nourishment, and glided +lightly from the room. He closed his eyes and lay thinking of the +strange story she had told him, and of his poor, blighted little +Flower, who had gone to her death rather than endure the bitter shame +that had come to her with the knowledge of her birth. The deep regret +that she had not gone away with him last summer pierced his heart so +bitterly that fever set in again, and he had a relapse that came near +costing him his life. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +When Laurie Meredith was well enough to go away again, the summer was +more than half gone, and he felt that he owed a debt of gratitude to +Jewel Fielding for her hospitality and friendliness that he knew not +how to pay, since she refused money, and there was nothing else that he +could give. + +The situation was most embarrassing, for in spite of his sorrow, +sickness, and preoccupation, he could not help seeing that Jewel took +more than a friendly interest in himself. + +It was this that decided him to go away at once, that he might give no +encouragement to her fancy. He said to himself that his heart was dead, +that he could never reciprocate her love, so he would go away, and she +was so young and gay she would soon forget him. + +"If there is anything I can do for you at any time, Jewel, remember +that I desire you to command my services," he said to her, when he +broke to her, as gently as he could, the news that he was going away +the next day. + +She had borne it more calmly than he had expected. The bright cheeks +grew pale, and the lashes drooped to hide the sadness in the dark eyes, +but she said, eagerly: + +"There is something you can do for me--now. I have a favor to ask of +you." + +"You have only to name it," he replied, gallantly; and she began to +tell him that she was tired of her life in this quiet seaport town of +Virginia. + +She was rich, and she longed to live in the city and mix with its +gayeties, that she might forget the sorrows she had borne here. + +"You live in Boston; you have a mother and sister," she said. "Would it +be wrong for me to come to Boston to live? Would it be too much to ask +your family to present me in society?" + +He was surprised and secretly annoyed. He saw her drift in a moment. +She did not mean to lose sight of him. Her love was stronger than he +had thought. + +He did not answer her for a moment, from sheer surprise, and she +continued: + +"I have a most excellent lady for a companion, as you know. I should +like to buy a handsome house in your city, and set up housekeeping with +Mrs. Wellings as my chaperon and companion. There would be nothing +imprudent in that, I suppose?" + +He was obliged to own that, as far as he knew, such a proceeding would +be quite proper. + +"Then it is settled!" she cried, joyfully. "Now, will you be so kind, +when you get home, as to see a real estate man and buy a handsome house +for me? I shall like it all the better if it is near your home, for I +know I shall be fond of your mother and sisters--that is, if they are +all like you." + +He could not help coloring at the frankly spoken words, and he cried +out, hastily: + +"But, my dear Miss Fielding, I fear I should not be able to please you +in the selection of a house. It would be much better for your guardian +to attend to that matter." + +"He is an old stupid; I would not trust him in the selection of such +a house as I want," she replied, vivaciously; and, after thinking a +moment, he said: + +"Then you should select it yourself. What would you say to coming to +Boston this autumn as the guest of my mother?" + +"I should be charmed!" Jewel declared, graciously. + +"Then my mother shall send you an invitation, and then you can select a +house yourself," he said, adding, with a slight smile: "I predict that +you will be a belle when you enter society." + +"What! a little country girl like me?" cried Jewel, with sparkling +eyes; and he saw that she was delighted at the compliment, and told +himself that this was the very best thing he could have thought +of--inviting her to his home. In society she would see so many handsome +men she would get over her penchant for him. + +"And I am going abroad again, anyway. I could not bear a quiet life +now. I must seek oblivion in strange scenes and a new life," he +thought, sighing, as he left her and went out into the grounds, where +everything reminded him so vividly of his little, lost love. + +Alas! she was gone now from those scenes that her fairy form had +brightened, and the low murmur of the sea, as it rolled with a sullen +murmur in to the shore, tortured him with the thought that it held her +in its cruel embrace. + + "For the heart of the waters is cruel, + And the kisses are dire of their lips, + And their waves are as fire is to fuel + To the strength of the sea-faring ships, + Though the sea's eye gleam as a jewel + To the sun's eye back as he dips." + +"Who would have dreamed," he thought, "last summer, that such a tragedy +would have overtaken this little family? The mother insane, one +daughter dead, the other restless and unhappy because of an unhappy +love! Poor Jewel! she is indeed bereaved!" he thought, as he walked +down a graveled path toward the rear of the house, to get away from the +sorrowful sound of the ever-restless sea. + +And as his walk took him quite near the servants' quarters, he suddenly +came face to face with old Maria's relict, Sam, whom he had never seen +since that night last summer when he had sent him to carry that letter +to Flower. + +At first the mulatto looked sheepish and inclined to retreat; but, +seeing Laurie's hand go into his pocket, he turned back, and was +presented with a bright silver dollar, for which he returned profuse +thanks. + +"Ah, Sam, no more letters to carry now. She is dead, poor Flower!" +sighed the young man, sorrowfully, and the mulatto gave him a strange +glance, and replied, resentfully: + +"Yes, she's dead, and it's your fault, too, Mr. Meredith! What made +you sneak off and leave poor Maria's nuss child to bear her shame and +disgrace by herself?" + +"Shame and disgrace!" the young man repeated, bewilderedly, and Sam +looked around, and seeing no one near, whispered: + +"Guess no one hain't told you about my dream, has they, now?" + +"No," Laurie answered, wondering if Sam were drunk or crazy, yet +submitting to be drawn aside into a convenient arbor, where the story +of Sam's return with his bride that fateful night was quickly told. + +Laurie Meredith's pale face grew whiter and more haggard still, and +Sam, seeing it, added, quickly: "But 'twan't nuthin' but a dream, sir, +or a warnin' o' her death, for she were dead and drowndid then, pore +gal!" + +"But, Sam, there could have been nothing like that--a child, I +mean--Flower would have written to me!" he exclaimed, incoherently. + +"Lor' bless you, Mr. Meredith, there was a child comin'--hain't Miss +Jewel told you?" cried Sam, and a terrible groan answered him: + +"My wife, my little wife, oh, why did you not tell me!" and then he +rushed wildly to Jewel, demanding to know why she had kept this from +him. + +"My sister's disgrace--oh, how could I tell you, who loved her, of that +dark stain?" she began; but he interrupted, wildly: + +"There was no stain, no disgrace; she was my wife by a secret marriage, +and she promised to go away with me but she was afraid of her mother, +and stayed. Jewel, this story must be published to the world, that no +stain may rest on her memory," he declared, passionately to the cruel +girl who had brought about all this misery. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +Jewel bit her lips in anger and scorn when she learned that Laurie +Meredith had found out the secret she had guarded so carefully, fearing +lest he should love the memory of the dead girl better for that +knowledge. + +But she dared not give vent to her chagrin in his presence. She knew +that she must dissemble, must keep up her deceitful rôle, and agree to +his declaration that the fact of his marriage to Flower should be made +public. + +So she soothed him with gentle words of sympathy, and pretended to be +overjoyed at hearing that Flower had been a wife, and not the guilty +girl she had been believed to be. + +She declared herself eager to convince every one that Flower had been +his wife. + +"You will give me the marriage-certificate, of course, and I will show +it to the townspeople," she said. + +He explained to her that he had left the certificate with his young +wife. + +"You will probably find it among her papers," he said, confidently; but +search for it proved the contrary. + +"What shall we do now?" she asked him, with pretended anxiety. + +He looked puzzled for a moment, then his face cleared. + +"Although the certificate can not be found I can prove the marriage by +the minister who performed the ceremony." + +"Yes," said Jewel; but when he said that it was the Reverend Mr. +Archer, of little Episcopal Chapel, she shook her head. + +"I am very sorry to tell you, but he has gone abroad. His health was +failing, and his congregation sent him to Europe for a year," she +replied. + +He looked dismayed for a moment, then rallying, said, confidently: + +"They will certainly take my word, when I declare that I was Flower's +husband." + +Jewel looked very dubious. She would not answer. + +"What do you think?" he demanded, impatiently, and Jewel sighed, and +answered: + +"People are so hard and malicious--I--I--am afraid they would not +listen without proof." + +He knew that this was quite true. The world was so hard, especially +where a woman's honor was concerned, that it would not hear the +vindication of an angel without proof. + +Almost unconsciously he groaned aloud: + +"What am I to do? How vindicate the memory of my lost angel in the +minds of those who believed her false and light?" + +Much as she loved him, Jewel gloated over his suffering. She would not +have spared him one pang if by lifting her hand she could have thrown +off the whole burden of his misery. + +"He preferred her to me! Let him bear the punishment I have meted out +to him!" she thought, triumphantly; and presently she said: + +"There seems only one way out of our difficulty. We can not speak until +the Reverend Mr. Archer comes back to verify your story." + +"That is hard--to wait a year--a whole year--ere I vindicate my +darling's memory," he groaned. But Jewel remained silent, knowing that +in the end he would be obliged to agree with her declaration. + +He did so, and the next day he left Virginia and journeyed to the +watering-place where his mother and sisters were spending the summer +quietly on account of the recent death of the head of the house. + +He did not tell them the pathetic story of his secret marriage, and +his young wife's death. They would hear it all from Jewel soon enough, +he thought, shrinking from all the questions they asked him about his +altered looks, and finding it hard to ask for the invitation Miss +Fielding desired so much. + +But he did it at last, in spite of their haughty surprise; and, after +they had heard that he had been ill for weeks in the house of the +beautiful heiress, that she had tended him with all the affection of +a sister, and that she was lonely and orphaned, they began to feel +that they owed Jewel a debt that would be but poorly canceled by all +that they could do. So the invitation was written and sent, eagerly +accepted, and Jewel at once began to get ready for her winter campaign, +as she called it to herself, feeling that victory already perched upon +her banner. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +Two years went by on the swift wing of time, and Miss Fielding had +drained to its dregs the full cup of success, in which there was but +one drop of bitter, the torturing fact that Laurie Meredith still +remained abroad, oblivious to her charms. + +He had gone away before she went to Boston, and so he had not seen her +brilliant social triumph, for her dusky Southern beauty had carried +society by storm, and Mrs. Meredith had been quite proud of her +protégée. + +Now Jewel had an elegant home on the same street with the Meredith +mansion, and Mrs. Wellings, as her companion and chaperon, was mistress +of a home where the most elegant entertainments were given, and where +life was always at its gayest, for the beautiful heiress loved to +surround herself with light-hearted people, and to live always in the +midst of pleasure, perhaps that she might keep at bay the pangs of +remorse that must sometimes have pierced her heart if she had given +herself time to think of those whose lives she had ruined. + +Winter was coming on again, and at last Laurie Meredith was coming +home. He could not hold out longer against the prayers of his mother +and sisters, so he had promised to return from that long exile, in +which he had been a restless, unhappy wanderer, seeking: + + "Respite--respite and nepenthe from his memories of Lenore." + +Jewel contrived to make one of the home party when he arrived, and he +could not help but see into what a magnificent-looking woman she had +grown since he went away. + +The rich, trailing robe of ruby velvet, trimmed with gray fur, was very +becoming to her stately style, and her eyes were bright with welcome as +he clasped her beautiful hand. + +Lovers by the score she had had since she came to Boston, but none had +erased from her passionate heart the image of handsome Laurie Meredith, +for whose sake she had sinned so deeply and recklessly, and now she +felt that her long waiting was about to be rewarded. + +He had had time to forget Flower, and surely he could not longer remain +cold to her love and her charms. + +It gave him a pang to see her, for she always recalled Flower to his +mind, and the thought of his lost love was always painful. + +But he chided himself for his reluctance at meeting her, and perhaps +his welcome was doubly cordial on that account; and his family, seeing +it, made up their minds that the pair were fond of each other in a +tenderer fashion than they had suspected. + +Perhaps they hinted something of the sort to him, for the first time he +found himself alone with her, he said to her: + +"Miss Fielding, is it possible that you have never told my mother and +sisters of my marriage?" + +Jewel looked up at him with her radiant eyes, and answered: + +"You might have known that I would not betray your secret." + +He was nettled by her use of that word. It seemed like a tacit reproach +to him, and while he paused for words in which to reply, she added: + +"Of course I knew that if you had desired them to know you would have +confided in them before you went away. So I respected your desire, and +not a word of it has passed my lips." + +"You misunderstood me," he rejoined, eagerly. "I meant them to +know--only I was weak and sick still when I went away, and it was so +painful to reopen that cruel wound. I fully expected they would hear +all from you." She was silent, twisting her ringed fingers slowly in +and out, and Laurie Meredith continued: "I wish that you had spoken, +for now the duty falls on me. I feel like a wretch and a coward, +keeping this secret from my nearest and dearest." + +Jewel's dark eyes sought his face with such a strange look that he +said, involuntarily: + +"Well?" + +She answered, deliberately: + +"It seems to me that the silence you have kept so long ought to be +preserved still. What good would come of speaking now?" + +"They ought to know," he said, uneasily. + +"But why, Mr. Meredith? You would only distress them if you told your +story now. They have heard from me my mother's story and Flower's. They +know that she drowned herself because of the dishonor of her birth. Do +you think, proud as they are, that they would be pleased to know that +the daughter of poor, erring Daisy Forrest had been your wife?" + +His face flushed deeply, then his brown eyes flashed. + +"It was cruel of you to tell them that. Why need you have done it?" he +exclaimed; and Jewel burst into tears, sobbing out that she had been so +wretched, and wanted some one to sympathize with her so much, that she +could not help speaking. + +He waited till she had done sobbing, then asked: + +"And the people in Virginia--your old home. You let them know the truth +at least. You promised me you would as soon as the Reverend Mr. Archer +came home from Europe." + +"But he never came home," Jewel answered. + +And he told himself that he was mistaken in fancying that there was +a ring of malicious triumph in her voice. Surely she would be only +too glad to have the honor of her sister vindicated, and he echoed, +dismally: + +"Never came home!" + +"No; he died abroad," said Jewel, and, after waiting a few moments, she +added: "What was the use of speaking then? No one would have believed +me. Besides, very few knew anything about poor Flower's trouble at the +time, and to bring it up again would have made a fresh scandal, so I +thought it best not to speak." + +And against his better judgment she persuaded Laurie Meredith to keep +the secret of the past. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + +Several months after Laurie Meredith's return to Boston, the following +notice appeared in the society column of a daily paper: + + "It is rumored that the handsome and fascinating Laurie Meredith will + soon lead to the altar the beautiful belle, Miss Jewel Fielding, and + society is on the _qui vive_ for the magnificent festivities that + will attend this brilliant social event." + +Directly beneath this interesting announcement was this paragraph: + + "Lord and Lady Ivon, of Cornwall, England, with great-granddaughter, + Miss Azalia Brooke, are the guests of our esteemed townsman, Raynold + Clinton. The latter was handsomely entertained at Lord Ivon's + London residence when he went abroad last year, and he now has the + opportunity of reciprocating the hospitalities thus received. The + venerable noble and his gracious lady are making the tour of the + United States for the first time, and will spend several weeks here, + during which they will have an opportunity of meeting some of the + cultured society of Boston. Of the marvelous blonde beauty of their + great-granddaughter, Miss Brooke, wonderful stories are told, and our + belles will have to look to their laurels." + +In the elegant and luxurious library of the Clinton mansion the young +lady referred to as Lord Ivon's great-granddaughter was standing alone +at a window, looking out, with wistful, azure eyes, at the whirling +flakes of snow that filled the air, for it had been snowing since early +morn, and the earth was already covered in the short space of three +hours with a deep, glistening, white carpet. + +None of the reports regarding Azalia Brooke's beauty were in the least +exaggerated, for she was, indeed, + + "Perfectly beautiful, faultily faultless." + +A form of perfect mold and medium height, with a rarely lovely face, +lighted by large purple-blue eyes, and framed by burnished, golden +hair; hands and feet perfect enough for a sculptor's model, and a voice +that was sweet as the soul of music, no wonder people raved over Lord +Ivon's great-granddaughter; for as she stood there, with the rich, +plush folds of her pale-blue, ermine-trimmed tea-gown falling in long, +statuesque folds about her, she looked as if she had stepped down from +an artist's canvas, or from the pages of a poet's book. + +But as the lovely girl gazed at the snowy scene without, an expression +of wistful sadness crept around the corners of her curved red lips and +into her tender blue eyes, and she repeated some pathetic lines that +have touched many a heart with their sweet, simple pathos: + + "How strange it should be that the beautiful snow + Should fall on a sinner with nowhere to go! + How strange it should be if ere night comes again + The snow and the ice strike my desperate brain; + Fainting, + Freezing, + Dying alone, + Too wicked for prayer, too weak for my moan + To be heard in the crash of the crazy town, + Gone mad in the joy of the snow coming down, + I should be, and should lie in my terrible woe + With a bed and a shroud of the beautiful snow!" + +Great pearly tears rose to the pansy-blue eyes, brimmed over, and +rolled down the fair cheeks of the girl. She clasped her little hands, +all glittering with diamonds, and murmured, mournfully: + +"Ah, my mother, to think that you were a sinner like that!--'Too wicked +for prayer,' a willful sinner for love's sake, and I, your child, with +that dark brand upon my birth! Ah, what if he had lived to know? He was +proud and well-born. Would he have hated me for my mother's sin? Would +he have forsaken me, cast me off as one unworthy? Ah, my love, my love, +it was better that you died, for then you never knew the cruel truth!" + +The door opened softly, and a servant entered, placing the evening +papers on the table. To divert her thoughts, which had grown dark and +gloomy, Lord Ivon's great-granddaughter threw herself into a luxurious +chair, and began to peruse the first paper that came to her hand. +Thus she came upon the paragraph regarding Laurie Meredith and Jewel +Fielding. + +What ailed Azalia Brooke, the beautiful descendant of the proud house +of Ivon? + +When her glance fell carelessly on those two names she started, and a +low cry of wonder came from her lips. + +Twice over she read the paragraph, and her cheeks assumed the hue +of death, her eyes were dilated widely, her lips parted and gasped, +faintly: + +"Jewel here--and to be married to Laurie Meredith! Laurie Meredith! +Great Heaven, could there be two of that name?" + +She crushed the paper convulsively in her slender fingers, and +stared before her with wide, blue eyes that saw not the luxurious +appointments of the elegant room, but a picture evoked from the +recesses of her brain--a picture of the past. + +A rocky, sea-beat shore, with the soft breeze of summer lifting the +golden curls from a girl's white brow as it rested against a manly +breast. Blue eyes were meeting brown ones, hand was clasped in hand, +and love was lord of that tender scene. + +A moan of pain came from the lips of beautiful Azalia, and she sighed: + +"Ah, love, why did you leave me, without a word, to my cruel fate? Were +you false in heart? Were you only amusing yourself with the simple +child who loved you so well? Was that marriage true, or only a sham, or +was there treachery somewhere? Treachery! It looked at me from Jewel's +eyes--treachery and murderous hate! Ah, love, you died so soon after +you went away that I can not hate you in your grave, even though you +doomed me to a wretched life, cursed with memories that will not die! +And I--I--would give the world to know the truth--to solve the mystery +of your going that night!" + +The low voice broke again, and she leaned back pale and silent, and a +sadder picture rose in fancy before the fixed blue eyes. + +This time it was of a golden-haired, blue-eyed girl, with a wailing +infant on her breast--a girl who had sought refuge from danger in an +humble negro cabin. Over her was bending a plump, good-looking mulatto +woman, and the girl was praying, feebly: + +"Take me away from here! Hide me and my baby from our enemy!" + +The mulatto woman had acted the part of the good Samaritan to the +helpless, suffering girl. All night she had worked hard preparing a +place in an old, unused barn, where she could hide the sick mother +and the tiny babe, and care for them in secret. So it happened that, +through her care and prudence, the mother and child fared well, and +remained undiscovered in their miserable retreat, while weeks sped away +and the world accepted Jewel Fielding's assertion that her sister was +dead--drowned in the deep sea. + +At last four weary, interminable weeks passed away, and the beautiful +young mother was growing strong and well again. On the morrow she +had planned to take her baby in her arms and fly from the place so +fraught with perils. She said to the good friend who had cared for her +so nobly, that she must go into the world and work for a living for +herself and the child. + +But when that morrow dawned--and at the picture that rose in her mind +Azalia sobbed aloud--the girl awoke from slumber and found beneath her +breast a little, pulseless form, from which breath had so lately fled +that the body was still limp and warm. Poor, puny babe! its feeble +little life was ended, she thought, as she clasped and kissed it with +raining tears and breaking heart. + +A few minutes later her good friend came in and found what had +happened. She mingled her tears with those of the bereaved mother. + +But they had little time to weep together, for presently Poky said, +anxiously: + +"Oh, dear, this is dreadful! I don't know what to do! Sam and me had a +dreadful fuss this morning, and he said I gadded about too much, and +he's gwine ter watch and see whar I goes ter. He's been a-drinkin' +agin, the most owdacious raskil he is in his drams that I ever see in +all my born days! Cross as a boar with a sore head, dat he is!" + +The moaning girl, who was rocking the dead baby on breast, uttered a +cry of fear, and Poky continued: + +"De reason why he's got ter drinkin' and cuttin' up ag'in is case why +somebuddy has up an' robbed him whilst he war away courtin' me. You +don't happen ter know nothin' 'bout some papers dat was hid under de +flatstone ob de h'arth, does you, Miss Flower, honey?" Poky whispered, +anxiously. + +In her great grief over her dead child, Flower could not remember for a +moment, and she was about to reply in the negative, when suddenly there +flashed over her a memory of the night when Mrs. Fielding had gone mad +and attempted her life. + +She remembered what Jewel had uttered so triumphantly that night, +declaring that she had found the papers that her mother had sought in +vain in the cabin--the fatal diary of Charley Fielding. + +Flower hesitated a moment lest she should do wrong in betraying her +half-sister; then her gratitude to this good woman overpowered all +other considerations, and she told her briefly that Jewel had taken the +papers, but that they related to important family matters alone, and +could have been of no use to Sam. + +Poky was glad to find out so much, and then she took the little child +gently from the weeping mother, and, folding it reverently in her +shawl, said, gently, though anxiously: + +"Honey, I don't want ter skeer yer, but dis death will happen ter make +trouble lessen I could bury de baby private like without anybuddy +knowing. Is you willin' to trust me?" + +Flower only repeated, anxiously: + +"Trouble?" + +Then Poky went on to explain that if the secret they had been keeping +became known it might be suspected that they had murdered the baby to +get rid of it. + +"I--murder my little, brown-eyed boy--my precious Douglas!" the young +mother cried, indignantly; but Poky persisted, adding, gravely: + +"Miss Jewel Fielding would egg them on, you know, chile, and so I +think you'd better run away now and leabe me to bury de poor baby." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + +It seemed terrible to poor Flower to leave her little one to be +consigned to an unknown grave by this humble friend; but Poky's good +counsel prevailed at last, and with one last kiss on the lovely little +face, she stole away in the rough disguise Poky had provided for her, +and began her battle with the cold world. + +Poky had generously bestowed on her a little money, and with this she +made her way to the little Southern town where she had been born, +determined to learn something of her mother's history, and also +believing that she might make an humble living here better than among +the human wolves of a great city. + +First of all, she sought humble lodgings at a little third-class hotel, +and here she soon learned the location of the cemetery, and set out to +visit the graves of her father and mother. + +She had no difficulty in finding the handsome inclosure wherein all +of the dead and gone Fieldings were interred. It was the pride of the +cemetery, just as the Fieldings had been the pride of the town ere +their last descendant, handsome, erring, wretched Charley Fielding had +flung himself madly into a suicide's awful grave. + +Flower sat down among the cold marble monuments, trailing vines, and +sweet tea-roses, and fixed her eyes on the small, unpretentious stone +that recorded the death of her wretched young father. + +Out of her abundant wealth his widow had spared but little for his +grave-stone. Her resentment had been too strong and enduring, and +followed him beyond the grave. + +Crushed and despairing, the unhappy girl sat among the graves of her +ancestors, with her golden head bowed low as she reflected that the +bond that united them was one of bitter shame and woe. + +It was too hard to linger there long, bowed down with shame and sorrow. +She moved away presently to seek the place where her erring mother had +been laid to rest, and so came upon the old sexton busily digging a +grave. There were a few loiterers about, and a veiled lady sat in the +shadow of a weeping willow near by, but Flower noticed no one. She went +toward the old man, and asked, timidly: + +"Will you tell me where to find the grave of Daisy Forrest?" + +The old man looked up, their eyes met, he staggered back, and dropped +his spade, uttering a cry of terror: + +"Good Lord deliver me!" + +The veiled lady, under the drooping branches of the willow, did not +seem to notice, but some of the people who were walking about the paths +came closer, curious to know what had happened to the old sexton. + +He was staring at Flower with frightened eyes, as if she had been a +ghost. + +"My good man, I did not mean to startle you," Flower said, in her low +voice, that sounded like saddest music. "I am looking for my mother's +grave." + +"Oh, my good Lord! this is surely her ghost!" gasped the sexton, +retreating still further. "Oh, I told Mrs. Fielding it was a sin to do +this, but she would not listen, she would have her way! It was a shame +for me to obey her. And now I'm punished, for Daisy Forrest has come +from her grave to look at me and reproach me!" + +Some one touched his arm. + +"Old man, you're daft. It's a living woman speaking to you." + +"What, with that voice and that face?" muttered the old man, dubiously. +He peered fearfully at Flower, and muttered, "If 'tain't her ghost, +they're as like as two peas! Well, ma'am, and what is't you're wanting +to know?" + +"To find Daisy Forrest's grave," said the low, sad voice, with a +pitiful tremor in its sweetness; and with that the old man took up his +spade and struck it down into the open grave. + +"This is where we buried her nigh onto eighteen years ago," he said, +peering curiously into her startled face, as she cried out in horror: + +"Why do you thus desecrate her grave, man?" + +The sound of her indignant voice reached the veiled woman. She started +as from a deep trance, and came hastily forward toward the little group +that had collected about the grave. + +Throwing back her thick veil, she exclaimed, harshly: + +"What is all this excitement, old man? I commanded you to perform this +work quietly and in silence." + +Flower drew back with a startled cry. It was Mrs. Fielding. + +The old sexton had leaped into the grave. There was a sound as of the +tearing of rotten planks. A minute's silence, then he looked up at the +imperious woman, whose eyes burned like fire under her dark brows and +snowy-white hair. + +"The Lord has put your foolish vengeance out of your power, ma'am," he +said, with stern awe. "There ain't nothin' here but a little heap o' +ashes. I told you so; I told you that poor, wronged woman was dust and +ashes along o' your little babby. But you wouldn't listen. Look, now, +for yourself." + +She moved forward, as did all the group, except the frightened, +shrinking Flower, and when she saw, down there in the darkness of the +grave, the commingling ashes of her dead rival and her dead child she +uttered a tigerish cry of rage and hate, and fell in a swoon upon the +green turf. + +At that sight Flower forgot everything, except that the unconscious +woman had given her for seventeen years a mother's love and received +from her a child's affection. She ran to Mrs. Fielding's side, knelt by +her, loosened her dress at the throat, and tore off the heavy veil to +give her air. + +"Come, sexton, what is all this? Why did you open Daisy Forrest's +grave?" a stern voice demanded of the sexton, who was already hastening +to replace the earth upon the violated grave. + +The old man looked up, and saw a tall man of about fifty, stoutly +built, plainly dressed, and wearing gray whiskers of an English cut. +There was a gleam of stern displeasure in his eyes, and the sexton +answered, sulkily: + +"I don't know as it's any of your business, stranger; the lady had a +permit from the authorities to open this grave." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + +But other voices besides those of the English-looking stranger clamored +loudly for reasons, so the old sexton, with a sulky glance at his +interlocutor, proceeded to explain to his friends and neighbors, giving +in substance the story with which we are already familiar. + +When he had finished his voluble story he drew a long breath, and added: + +"Lord bless you, I knowed 'em all--poor Daisy, and Charley, and Maria, +and all, for I've been sexton at Springville nigh on to forty year. So, +as I was a-saying, after Maria confessed that cheat on her death-bed, +Mrs. Fielding felt like she couldn't see no rest till she took her +child outer the coffin with poor Daisy Forrest. So she get the permit, +and just teased and teased, and coaxed and begged, until I had to give +in and consent." + +"And you were finely imposed on by the story of a mad woman!" +exclaimed a sneering voice, and three strangers came quickly upon the +scene. The one who had spoken was a medical-looking man with a sinister +countenance, and he continued: "Why, my good friend, this is a mad +woman who recently escaped from my asylum. I have been seeking her +everywhere, and I count myself lucky in finding her at last, for she is +very violent at times, and quite capable of murder." + +Incredulous voices rose on the air, and Flower rose, pale and +trembling, saying, in her low, clear tones: + +"I do not know this gentleman, but it is quite true that the lady is +mad. I know her well. She was sent to an insane asylum weeks ago." + +"Then the story she has told is untrue, a figment of her disordered +imagination," said the English-looking stranger, who had offended the +sexton. + +"No, it is the truth," Flower answered, taming her earnest gaze on his +face, and adding: "It was the knowledge of that truth that turned her +dark hair white in one night, and afterward drove her to madness. And +I am the helpless girl she reared as her own--I am Daisy Forrest's +daughter!" + +No one thought of doubting her assertion. There she stood, looking at +them with the face of her whose ashes slept beneath their feet, and +awing all denial into silence. + +Just then Mrs. Fielding stirred, and opened her dark eyes with a dazed +look. Flower bent over her with infinite pity in her sad blue eyes. + +"Mamma!" she murmured, using the old, familiar name forgetfully. + +"Flower!" exclaimed Mrs. Fielding, wildly, and there was a note of +gladness in her voice that was plainly recognized by all. For the +moment the poor woman had forgotten all but the love she had borne the +girl who had been her daughter so long. Her wild expression softened +into sweetness, and murmuring, "My darling!" she held out her arms to +the girl, who gently assisted her to rise. + +Then Mrs. Fielding saw the half-filled grave yawning at her feet, saw +the curious faces around her, and fell memory returned. + +She glared wildly at Flower's gentle, pitying face, and struck out +fiercely with both hands to push her away. + +"Ah, I forgot!" she screamed, angrily. "You do not belong to me--you +are hers! Go--go, before I strike you! Go--" + +But further speech was arrested by the doctor, whom she had not before +observed, but who now came in front of her, and said, sharply: + +"Come, Mrs. Fielding, enough of this! You must come home now with me +and these keepers who came along with me to help carry you back." + +A scream of horror broke from the poor woman's lips; but they proceeded +to pinion her hands firmly, regardless of the wild entreaties for +freedom that she eagerly poured forth. + +"Oh, be gentle; do not hurt her, if you must take her away!" Flower +exclaimed, pleadingly; and at that Mrs. Fielding looked at her almost +tenderly and wailed out: + +"Oh, Flower, do not let them take me away! I am not mad--I am not mad! +Oh, save me--you are my only friend!" + +Smothering her wild cries with a handkerchief, the three men bore her +rapidly away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + +When Flower saw the miserable Mrs. Fielding borne away so rudely by her +captors her tender heart swelled with pity for the unhappy woman, and +she started to run after them to beg them to be gentler with the poor +creature. + +But she had not taken a dozen steps before her arm was caught in a +tight grasp by the old sexton, who whirled her about, and said, sharply: + +"What would you do? Run after that mad woman, who hates you?" + +Tears sprung to Flower's eyes, and she answered, sadly: + +"But she loved me once, before she found out how cruelly she had been +imposed on, and I pity her now, for her last words sounded quite +rational. Perhaps she has got over her madness." + +"Humph! It didn't sound like it just now when she was rating you so +soundly!" grunted the old man; and feeling her tremble as he held her +arm, he looked keenly into her face, and saw that she was deathly pale +and wan. + +"You're just ready to faint, missie," he exclaimed, leading her to the +rustic seat beneath the willow, where Mrs. Fielding had been sitting a +little while ago. He brought her a draught of fresh, sparkling water, +which she drank thirstily, then, with a deep sigh, leaned her aching +head on her hands. + +Divining that she wished to be alone, the kind-hearted old sexton +returned to his task of filling up the grave of Daisy Forrest, and +the loiterers about the spot slowly dispersed, with one notable +exception--that of the gray-haired English-looking stranger who had +offended the old sexton by his authoritative manner. + +This man now approached, and said, in a bluff, hearty manner: + +"Old man, I did not mean to offend by my speech just now; but I, too, +knew something of Daisy Forrest's history, and I was indignant at +the deed Mrs. Fielding would have done. I hope you will accept this +peace-offering from one who wishes you nothing but kindness." + +The kind, gray eyes looking at him enforced the speech so emphatically +that the sexton melted at once, and replied in kindly terms, while +gratefully accepting the offered gold-piece which, like the donor, had +an English appearance. + +Then the stranger moved away and sought Flower, who was sobbing +violently now in her seat under the willows. At the sound of his step +she raised to his face the beautiful eyes, all drowned in tears, like +purple-blue pansies wet with dew. + +He stopped beside her, and said, gently: + +"Miss Fielding, this is an opportune meeting for you and me." + +"I do not understand you, sir," said Flower, in a sweet, timid voice, +and he answered, quietly: + +"Perhaps not, but I will soon explain to you. Still, this may not be a +proper place to begin my story. There is my card. Will you permit me, +an old man, and the friend of yourself and your kindred, to call upon +you at your home?" + +She looked at the bit of pasteboard, and read the name, scrawled in a +bold hand: + + "WILLIAM R. KELSO, + "London, England." + +Lifting her sad eyes to his face, she said: + +"Mr. Kelso, I am staying at the Springville Hotel. I have no home. +I was driven from Mrs. Fielding's house, after she was sent to the +asylum, by the cruelty of my half-sister. I am indebted to the kindness +of a poor colored woman for the means that enabled me to reach this +place. I must now seek work that I may have the means of prolonging my +miserable existence." + +Something like a smile crossed the man's lips at her concluding words, +and a grieved look came into her eyes. + +Why should he smile at her sorrows, she wondered. + +"I beg your pardon for smiling. I know you think me unfeeling," he +said. "But you will understand me better when you have heard the good +news I have to tell you." + +She looked at him with a startled face, and murmured piteously, as she +clasped her little hands together: + +"Good news, you say! Ah, if you have anything like that to tell me, do +not wait! Let me hear it now! But, alas! what good fortune could come +to me?" despondently, for the quick thought of Laurie Meredith was +turned aside by the remembrance that he was dead. + +Mr. Kelso seated himself on the rustic bench beside her, and said, +earnestly: + +"What if I should tell you that I came recently from England to seek +Daisy Forrest and her descendants?" + +The quivering red lips parted in wonder, but Flower did not speak, and +he continued: + +"I suppose you have never heard that your maternal grandfather was +English?" + +Her lips quivered painfully as she answered: + +"No, I know nothing, except that my birth was my mother's shame, and +the cause of her death." + +"Poor soul!" sighed William Kelso, compassionately, then he added: +"Yes, he was the younger son of a noble English family. His eldest +brother was heir to the title and estates, the second brother was in +the army, and John Forrest, the third and last, was designed for the +church. He was young and wild, and revolted against the restraints of a +clerical life, and ran away to America." + +Flower sat up, listening eagerly. This began to sound like one of her +favorite novels. + +Smiling sympathetically at the lovely, startled face, Mr. Kelso +continued: + +"Lord Ivon was both stern and proud. He vowed he would never forgive +his disobedient, runaway son. When letters came from him they were laid +aside unread, and poor John's fate remained a mystery to his kindred. +His mother pined, but her stern husband forbid her ever to think of +the truant again." + +"He was cruel!" Flower murmured, indignantly. + +"Yes, he was very hard; but Heaven punished him!" said William Kelso. +"The heir died in a few years, and the second son came home from the +army to take his place. He married late in life, and his beautiful, +delicate wife bore him two sons, and then died. Her husband was drowned +a year later on Lake Como. His two boys inherited their mother's +consumptive tendency, and one died in early boyhood, and the other just +before he attained his majority. Lord Ivon's house was left unto him +desolate." + +Flower sighed, and he continued: + +"There was no one to inherit the title and estates unless John Forrest +had survived his brothers, or had married and left descendants. So +the letters that had been flung aside at last were opened eagerly to +discover John Forrest's whereabouts. There were scores of them, for he +had never ceased to implore his parents for their forgiveness. He wrote +that he was here in the South, that he had married a lovely girl, then +that he had a lovely child called Daisy." + +"My mother!" Flower exclaimed, sadly. + +"Yes, your mother!" said Mr. Kelso. + +He paused a moment, watching the long shadows of sunset as they began +to creep across the grave-stones in the old cemetery; then he resumed: + +"After the letter that told of Daisy Forrest's birth, no more came to +Lord Ivon, and he supposed that his son had grown tired of writing, and +had reconciled himself to the alienation. Alas! poor John was dead." + +"Dead!" exclaimed Flower. + +"Yes, although his father knows it not yet," said Mr. Kelso. "You +remember all this was thirty-seven years ago, Miss Fielding. Well, to +resume my story, Lord Ivon's heart turned to his younger son when all +his other descendants were gone, and he came to me, his lawyer, and +begged me to cross the ocean and seek an heir to Ivon." + +"Alas!" sighed Flower, thinking of the little dead baby she had kissed +and left in Poky's arms. Had it lived--her lovely little child--it +would have been heir to one of the finest titles and estates in old +England. + +"So I came to this place," continued Mr. Kelso. "I have been here +little more than a week, but I have had no trouble in tracing John +Forrest, for many of the old people in the country about here remember +him well. It seems he had poor luck, or perhaps his training as a rich +man's son had not fitted him to encounter the hardships of life. He +drifted down here from New York, and obtained employment as an overseer +on a farm. Soon after he married the farmer's only child, a sweet girl +named Mary. A year after Daisy was born, and her father died soon +afterward with malarial fever. His wife survived until her daughter +was ten years old, and, dying, left her to take care of her farmer +grandparents. They died when Daisy was seventeen, and the farm was sold +to satisfy a mortgage, and the beautiful granddaughter was thrown upon +the world, helpless and penniless. She went into a grand family as a +nursery governess, met Charley Fielding, and--the rest you know." + +Her low moan of pain attested that she did, and for a moment there was +a deep silence. + +Then Mr. Kelso resumed: + +"They told me that Daisy Forrest was dead, and her child, too, and I +came here this afternoon to look at her grave before I went back to +England to tell Lord Ivon with him the proud title and name must die. I +am happy that I am spared this sorrowful task, for I think that after +you have examined my credentials you will not hesitate to secure a maid +and return with me to England that I may place you in the care of your +great-grandparents." + +He saw the old sexton, who had now replaced the turf and flowers on +Daisy Forrest's grave, looking at them curiously as he leaned on his +spade, and he beckoned him to approach. + +Then he gave the old man a brief account of John Forrest's story, +telling him that his father had been a rich man, and that poor Daisy's +child was going home with him to live with her grandparents. He did +not tell him that this great-grandfather was a nobleman, thinking that +Flower would not wish to create too much sensation. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + +It was of all these stirring events that Azalia Brooks was thinking as +she sat in Raynold Clinton's library, crushing in her jeweled hands the +paper that held those two names with their magic power to evoke the +past, her sad eyes full of retrospection, her heart heavy with pain. + +Since that May day, more than two years ago, when William Kelso had so +opportunely found her beside her mother's grave, she had been a most +fortunate girl, for Lord Ivon and his wife, in their loneliness and +their desire for an heir to reign after them, welcomed her with open +arms, overlooked the dark stain upon her birth, and only stipulated +that it should be kept from the knowledge of the world. In order to +further this end, and to destroy her identity with Daisy Forrest's +illegitimate daughter, they changed her name to Azalia Brooke, and +as no one in England knew any better, except William Kelso, who kept +the secret inviolate, her right to the name remained undisputed. She +remained for a year secluded at Lord Ivon's magnificent country house +in Cornwall, under the care of accomplished governesses and masters, +and when she was presented in society created the greatest _furore_ by +her grace and beauty. The lovely American, as she was called, was all +the rage, and scores of suitors bowed before her, but all in vain, for +no one ever awakened her heart, they said, and Lord and Lady Ivon began +to feel sorely disappointed. They had hoped she would fall in love with +some of her noble suitors and marry. + +"Perhaps you have left a lover in America, dear?" Lady Ivon said, +anxiously, one day; and she never forgot the look of pain that shadowed +the beautiful face as Azalia replied: + +"No, grandmamma, I did not. I never had but one lover, and he died in a +few months after we became acquainted." + +"But you must have been so very young at the time that you could not +have cared for him so very much," said Lady Ivon, anxiously. + +"Yes, I was very young," Azalia answered, dreamily; but she added to +herself that she cared so much that she should never forget her dead +husband, and sighed: + + "Forget thee? Yes, when life shall cease + To thrill this heart of mine; + But not till then can I forget + One look or tone of thine!" + +There was a burden on her heart--the burden of the secret she had not +dared to confess either to Mr. Kelso or to her great-grandparents. + +She feared that they would not receive her if she confessed that she +had been married in secret to a man who had deserted her so strangely, +and that she had borne a little child that was dead and had been buried +in a secret grave. + +"If I told them they might say, like Jewel, that it was all a sham, +that the man had deceived me," she thought, with burning cheeks. "They +might drive me out into the cold, hard world, of which I am so terribly +afraid. No, no, I dare not speak!" + +So she kept her sorrowful secret hidden in her own heart; and when Lady +Ivon sometimes caught that look of sad retrospection on the fair face, +she thought that she was thinking of a dead lover--not a dead husband +and child. + +"I fear that she must have cared more than I suspected," the old lady +would say to herself, uneasily; and, could she have gazed upon Azalia +now, she would have felt more anxious than ever. + +She said to herself that she must find out the truth as to this Laurie +Meredith. But how to accomplish it was the question that occurred to +her, since she dare not ask any questions. + +No answer presented itself to her mind, and she could only hope that +she might meet this Laurie Meredith in society. + +"But what if I should meet Jewel, too? Would she recognize me? Would +she tax me with my identity? If she did, I should not acknowledge the +truth." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + +It was perhaps a week after that snowy day when Azalia Brooke sat, +looking back with dim, wet eyes into her shadowy past, that Jewel +Fielding reclined at ease in a beautiful boudoir hung in white and +gold, and listened to the roar of the winter wind as it whistled in the +eaves of the handsome but ancient old mansion that she called home. + +The house had been built by an Englishman almost a century ago, and +outside it looked like a small-sized castle, while within it was of +peculiar construction, having some very large and beautiful rooms, with +others so small and ill-ventilated that Jewel turned up her pretty +nose at them, declaring that they were stuffy holes, fit for nothing +that she could see but lumber-closets. There was a great, big, noisome +cellar under the house, too, that in winter often stood feet deep in +water, and was therefore never used for any purpose, but given over to +the use and occupancy of immense rats. + +But there were plenty of elegant, comfortable rooms in the grand house, +and the beautiful boudoir where Jewel lay was fine enough for a queen, +and Jewel herself was not unlike a queen in her purple velvet robe, +with its border of silvery fur that was so becoming to the dusky beauty +of her dark, sparkling face, with its crown of jetty braided hair. + +It was a gloomy, overcast afternoon, with a keen, north-east wind +blowing, and heavy patches of last week's deep snow still cumbering the +ground. But the curtains were drawn and the gas ablaze in Jewel's room, +while the leaping flames inside the grate added tropical warmth to the +large room with its beautiful furniture and tall stands of blooming +flowers. + +Jewel's eyes were shining with pleasure, for her maid had just brought +in for her inspection a new dress that she was to wear that night--a +marvel of richness, a stately purple brocade and plush, in which, with +her costly diamonds, Jewel knew that she would look imperially lovely. + +"Leave it there, Marie," she said to the pert French maid with her +dainty, beribboned cap; "I wish to study the fall of the drapery at my +leisure. I will ring when I desire you." + +Marie bowed and withdrew, and the vain beauty lay idly at full length, +her arms thrown over her head, her dainty slipper tapping the carpet, +and feasted her dark eyes on the shining robe. + +"I shall look like a queen--there will be no one to rival me!" +she declared, triumphantly. "Let me see, what flowers shall I +wear?--crimson roses, or creamy-white ones? Or the delicate gold of the +Maréchal Niel? I declare, I can not make up my mind. I shall have to +let Marie decide. She has exquisite taste." + +Suddenly a slight frown wrinkled the beautiful forehead, and the dark +eyes flashed. + +"Ah, I forgot," she muttered. "They say that that English beauty will +be there! Pshaw! What does it matter? I shall eclipse my Lord Ivon's +great-granddaughter, in spite of the prestige of her position, for +they say she is a blonde, and her pink-and-white charms will stand no +chance against my brunette beauty. All blondes look insipid. I never +saw but one that could hold her own against me, and that was my twin +sister--ah, I forgot--I mean Flower." + +She shivered a little, and the slow opening of the door gave her a +violent start. + +It was Marie, who had been flirting with the postman at the door. + +She carried a letter on a salver. + +Jewel snatched it up eagerly, and dismissed her maid. + +In a moment she had drawn the letter from the envelope and was quickly +perusing it. + +Her face darkened with anger, and she gnawed her crimson lower lip +sharply with her pearly teeth, muttering vindictively: + +"I will not do it--never, never! She shall stay there till she dies!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + +Again the door opened, and Jewel thrust the letter into the envelope +and slipped her hand down among the folds of her rich gown. + +"Marie, what do you mean by interrupting me like this?" she broke out, +petulantly. + +Marie courtesied, apologized, and explained that a lady, a woman, had +called to see Miss Fielding, and would not be denied. + +"What do you mean by a lady, a woman?" Jewel mimicked, impatiently; and +the maid explained, in broken French, that the caller had a high-bred +voice and air, but was dressed very shabbily, and had come on foot. + +"Her name?" Jewel demanded. + +But the shabby caller had given the maid no card. + +"Why did you not send her to Mrs. Wellings since she would not go away?" + +Mrs. Wellings had gone to her room with a headache, and desired no one +to disturb her in the little nap with which she proposed to while away +the dull afternoon. + +"Headache! too much wine at luncheon!" Jewel muttered, scornfully; and +then, having nothing else to do, and being of a curious disposition, +she said, lightly: "Go, and show your impertinent shabby lady up here, +Marie, and I will find out what she wishes. A beggar, perhaps--insolent +creature!" + +Marie withdrew, and Jewel threw herself into an attitude of studied +grace, the better to impress the caller, whom she opined was some poor +creature, a needle-woman desiring work, most probably. + +The door opened, and a slight, dark figure, very poorly dressed, +indeed, followed Marie over the threshold and stood there hesitating. +Jewel looked at her curiously, but a dark veil was drawn over the +features of the unknown. + +"Well?" she interrogated, curtly and haughtily. + +"Send your maid away, please, Miss Fielding," said a low, imploring +voice that made Jewel start in spite of her haughty self-command. She +immediately motioned Marie away, and, rising quickly, turned the key in +the lock after her exit. + +Then, with a swift tremor shaking her whole frame, she confronted the +veiled figure. + +"Now," she said, sharply, and the veil was flung aside by an agitated +hand, and Jewel and Flower, the long-parted half-sisters, the beautiful +rivals, stood face to face! + + * * * * * + +Something like a groan of despair came from Jewel's blanched lips, and +Flower said, bitterly: + +"You know me!" + +Jewel was not taken wholly by surprise. She had been looking for +something like this for two years, never having quite believed her own +story of Flower's suicide. She remained silent a moment, collecting her +thoughts, then said, coldly: + +"I have believed you dead for two years, but the moment you spoke I +knew your voice. I never heard a voice quite like yours. But where have +you been so long, and what has brought you here to-night?" + +Flower, whose beautiful face was wan and ghastly white, answered, with +sudden passion: + +"It matters not where I have been, since it is evident you were glad +to believe me dead. But I will tell you why I am here, Jewel!" and she +drew from beneath her long, black water-proof a worn newspaper, and +held it out to Jewel. "You have read this paragraph, of course?" she +said. "Tell me what it means, or I shall go mad!" + +The dark eyes glanced at the short paragraph, the red lips parted in a +malicious smile, and Jewel said, airily: + +"It means what it says, of course." + +She saw the slight, graceful form shiver with emotion, the blue eyes +dilate widely. + +"Oh, Jewel!" gasped the girl, pleadingly. "This Laurie Meredith--who is +he?" + +Jewel gave utterance to a low, mocking laugh, and answered: + +"Not the dead alive, certainly; for although you have come back from +your supposed grave, your old lover has not. I could keep you in +suspense awhile, but I see you are not able to bear it, so I will tell +you at once that this man whom I am so soon to marry is a cousin of +your Laurie Meredith." + +"A cousin!" Flower faltered, disappointedly, plainly betraying the wild +hope that had lurked in her heart, and causing Jewel to exclaim sharply: + +"Why, of course! You could not suppose it was the same man after you +read his death in the paper." + +"I--I--thought--hoped, it might be a mistake--that it was some one else +who was dead--not my husband! Oh, I can not tell what I hoped when I +saw that dear name in the paper again!" wailed Flower; and unable to +stand longer, she sunk upon the velvet couch, and sobbed heart-brokenly. + +Jewel watched the bowed, golden head with a terrible hatred, a +panther-like fury in her large, black eyes, and clinching her white +teeth fiercely, she said to herself: + +"Ah, I did not know what a hell of hate was in my heart until this +weak girl came between me and my heart's beloved! I can understand now +how my mother hated her mother! I can feel the same murderous jealousy +that made her life wretched! Ah, what am I to do? She is alive, she is +in the same city with Laurie Meredith, and they will surely find each +other out despite all my lies and all my schemes." + +Dark, terrible thoughts came into her mind. She wished that she could +see her sister fall down dead at her feet, so bitter was her hate. + +Suddenly Flower lifted her beautiful, pathetic face, and a gleam of her +old spirit shone in her eyes. She exclaimed, warningly: + +"Jewel, I warn you not to deceive me! If it be really Laurie Meredith, +if it was not he who died, tell me the truth! What could it profit you +to keep us apart now? I remember that you used to love him, that you +were angry because he preferred me, but even if he had learned to love +you, believing me dead, you could not be his wife now--now, while I am +alive!" + +A cruel, mocking laugh came from Jewel's writhing lips. She bent +forward, and hissed, vindictively: + +"You were always a fool, Flower! You never would listen to me when I +told you that Laurie Meredith fooled you into an illegal marriage. +Now, as you demand the truth, you shall have it. Laurie Meredith was a +married man when he first came to our sea-side home, had a young wife +in Boston when he betrayed you. She found out his treachery somehow, +and that was why he left Virginia so suddenly. She was so imbittered by +his wickedness that they say she did not shed a tear when he died, and +in a short time she sold all her property here and went abroad, never +to return." + +"No, no; I will not believe he could be so wicked," came in a whisper +of agony from Flower's white lips. "Oh, Jewel, how did you learn all +this?" + +"From my betrothed, the cousin of your heartless betrayer," Jewel +replied, coolly; and a short silence fell between the two. + +Then Flower exclaimed: + +"Jewel, I should like to see this man! I should like to hear from his +own lips--" + +Jewel recoiled in horror. + +"You are mad!" she cried. "Do you think I would permit it, that I would +own you, the half-sister whose kinship to me is her disgrace and a +brand on the memory of my dead father?" + +She turned her back on the poor girl with a disdainful gesture, and +swept toward the fire, and stood there with her pretty pointed slipper +on the fender, murderous thoughts rising in her heart. + +"I could kill her, I hate and fear her so much!" she thought, hotly. + +Flower's tear-wet eyes had fallen to the floor. They fastened on an +envelope lying close to her feet half under the folds of her dress. She +saw the name of her sister on the upper side. + +She did not feel much interest in the letter. She could not understand +afterward, when she came to think of it soberly, why she had picked it +up and hid it in her breast. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + +Jewel moved from her position in front of the fire, and trailed the +beautiful folds of her purple velvet dress across the floor to the +window. + +She drew back a fold of the lace curtain and peered through the +window-pane and the closed shutters into the street. + +The short, wintery afternoon was darkening into twilight, and the +sky was obscured by dark, heavy clouds. The proud, imperious beauty +leaned her brow against the cold pane, trying to solve the problem that +tormented her mind. + +"I must get rid of her somehow. She dimly suspects treachery on my +part. If she goes out of the house again she will prosecute her search +and learn all," she thought. "Ah, I have a plan! If I could only detain +her here long enough to have that doctor come and take her to the +_maison de santé_ where mamma is, she would never get out again!" + +She turned swiftly, crossed the room to Flower, and sat down by her +side on the sofa, placing her white arm around her sister's neck. + +"My poor little sister, forgive me my harshness," she whispered, +penitently. + +The drooping, despondent girl started and looked up. That Judas face +was wreathed in a loving smile that bewildered her. Never had she +caught such a look on her half-sister's face since their early happy +days ere Laurie Meredith's love had come between their hearts. + +"Jewel!" she exclaimed, incredulously. + +"Darling Flower!" answered the other, and clasped her victim in a +loving embrace, whispering, fondly: + +"You see how the old love comes back, dear, in spite of all my efforts +to be your enemy. After all, we are half-sisters. Nothing can alter +that, just as nothing can wholly change our love that was so sweet +and strong when we believed ourselves twins. I forgive you all, +for--listen"--and she pressed her lips to Flower's cold cheek--"I loved +him, too, you know, and if he had fancied me I might have been his +victim instead of you." + +Flower clung to her, weeping, all her resentment and suspicion melted +before this specious show of solicitude and affection. + +"And," continued Jewel, "I want you to stay with me always, Flower, and +share my home and my wealth. You must take off these shabby clothes +that," playfully, "looks as if they belonged to somebody's servant. +Marie shall bring you one of my prettiest tea-gowns, and when we have +had some tea you shall tell me where you have been all this while, the +reason you ran away that night, and what became of your little child." + +As if those words touched a subtle cord of memory, Flower flung off the +arm that clasped her with sinuous softness, like a serpent's fold, and +cried out, in a terrified voice: + +"Not now, Jewel, for I have stayed too long already. I shall be missed; +my--they will be alarmed at my long absence. I must go now, dear +sister, but I--I will come again, or--I will write." + +She rushed toward the door, but Jewel clung to her tightly, entreating +her to stay. + +"This is your home, your rightful home," she cried, desperately. "It +is too dark and cold for you to go out now! At least stay to-night, and +in the morning--" + +She never finished the sentence, for Flower interrupted her, protesting +that she could not, would not, must not stay. She would come again, but +her mistress expected her now. + +Jewel's arms began to tighten obstinately about Flower, and then, +frightened and panting, the girl began to struggle frantically to get +away. + +It all passed in a minute. Jewel saw that her victim would escape her, +for her frantic struggles began to tell, and she was dragging her foe +with her toward the door. There was a marble-topped stand in their way, +littered with costly trifles of bric-à-brac. Jewel flung out one hand, +caught up something, she knew not what, and brought it down heavily on +the golden head from which the close bonnet had fallen in the struggle. + +There was one low, stifled moan, one only, then the struggling form +relaxed its rigidity, the outstretched arms fell heavily, and in a +minute more Jewel was standing still, looking at something lying very +white and still upon the floor. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + + +Jewel stood like one rooted to the floor gazing at her terrible work, +for to all appearance life had fled from her hapless victim. + +Flower lay like one dead upon the velvet carpet, her eyes half closed, +her face ashen, and the missile with which Jewel had struck her, a +small bronze toy, had glanced aside after doing its deadly work and +fallen several feet away. + +Jewel's dark face grew pale, too, and she shuddered with horror of the +deed she had done. + +In a minute she flung herself down upon her knees and felt for her +sister's heart, but no pulse stirred the white breast of the prostrate +girl. + +"Before Heaven, I did not mean to do this!" Jewel muttered. "I only +meant to stun her that she might not get away. I did not mean to kill +her, but she is dead, and I am a terrible sinner in the sight of God!" + +For a minute she felt shocked and remorseful, and longed to bring +Flower back to life; but then that momentary mood was succeeded by the +bitter jealous one of a little while ago, and a half-ashamed exultation +crept into her heart. + +"After all," whispered her evil genius, "it is better that it happened +thus. She is out of your way now, and you can marry Laurie Meredith +without fearing that she may turn up at any minute to take him from +you. Rejoice, heart, that your rival is no more!" + +After that she thought of nothing but the relief she would feel +hereafter in knowing that Flower was really dead, and of hiding her +dead body where no one could ever find it. + +After a few minutes' reflection she thought of the old cellar under the +house. Doubtless it was several feet under water now, owing to the snow +of last week and the subsequent thaw. + +"If I could throw her in there I should be safe!" she muttered. + +She hardly knew how she accomplished it, but she dragged Flower's body +down to the cellar and pushed it inside the door. It fell with a loud +splash into the water, and Jewel banged the door to wildly, and rushed +from the scene of her awful crime. + +She did not know whether it was minutes or hours that she lay +shuddering upon the sofa before Marie entered and looked around with a +disappointed expression. + +"I beg your pardon; I did not like to disturb you and the la--woman, +mademoiselle, but it is quite time that you decided on what flowers you +will wear this evening." + +Jewel lifted her blanched face from the sofa, and said, carelessly: + +"The flowers? use your own taste, Marie. It is always perfect. As for +disturbing me--why, the woman went long ago, poor beggar. She had +seen better days, she said, but she was a widow now with two children +freezing in a garret. I gave her five dollars to buy food and coal, +then I rang the bell for you to show her out. But you did not answer, +so, as she was in a hurry to get back to her little ones, I showed her +out myself." + +Marie murmured some glib phrases of admiration for her young lady's +condescension, then begged pardon for being in the conservatory and out +of sound of the bell. + +"I just ran down to see about the flowers for your corsage, but +everything was so sweet and fragrant I couldn't tear myself away," she +explained, with many nods and shrugs of head and shoulders. + +"You are very excusable," Jewel replied, drawing a long breath of +relief at hearing that Marie had been in the conservatory, out of reach +of what had happened awhile ago. + +She had feared at first that she would have to take the clever maid +into her confidence and secure her aid in removing the body, but now +she was very glad she had not done so. + +"I accomplished it all by myself, although I ran a terrible risk in +doing so. Ugh! what if Mrs. Wellings, or any of the servants, had come +upon me when I was dragging her through the halls and down the stairs!" +she shuddered to herself, with a passing wonder at her own hardihood. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + + +No one who saw Jewel Fielding at Mrs. Devere's splendid reception that +night would have guessed the dark secret she had in her breast. + +The purple plush and brocade, with the diamond ornaments and +creamy-hued corsage flowers, made her beauty seem queenly. Her dark +eyes radiated light enough to atone for the slight pallor of her +cheeks, whereon the rose was wont to bloom, and her lips were wreathed +in deceptive smiles that hid the horror lurking in her heart. + +Laurie Meredith thought that he had never seen her more beautiful than +to-night, and he did not wonder that she had so many admirers. The +only thing that surprised him was that she could prefer himself above +all those others who worshiped her, while he had been one of the most +indifferent suitors that ever bowed at woman's shrine. + +But her beauty and her devotion had touched his heart at last. He must +have been a marble man if it had not, for her devotion was so plain, +and yet so pathetic, seeming to ask for nothing in return save the +privilege of loving. + + "Only to love him--nothing more, + Never a thought of his loving me! + Proud of him, glad of him, though he bore + My heart to shipwreck on this smooth sea. + Love's faith sees only grief, not wrong, + And life is daring when 'tis young." + +If anything could have excused her folly and sin it would have been the +madness of her passion for him. She worshiped him and made no secret +of it. She could not keep her dark eyes from turning to his face, even +in the greatest crowds; she could not keep from speaking to him if he +came near her. By degrees the little world of society realized this. +People would smile when they saw them together. They would take care +not to intrude on their _tête-à-têtes_, not knowing that the love was +all on one side. + +The Merediths could not help but see how things were going. Indeed, +they had seen long ago that she was in love with Laurie, and had been +ever since that summer when she had nursed him through the brain fever. +They talked to him delicately about it, wondering how he could remain +so indifferent to one so beautiful and loving. + +With so many influences brought to bear upon him, he began to wonder +at himself. Why could he not care for this beautiful girl who was +so unhappy about him? for he remembered that she had loved him long +ago--when, in her girlish anger and jealousy, she had said: + +"You have made love to my sister, and you have made love to me; you +have won both our hearts. Now choose between us!" + +She was older and more cultured now--perhaps ashamed of her early +madness--yet the love was there still. Had he indeed encouraged it only +to nip the fair flower in the bud? + +He remembered that he certainly had admired her very much--had even +cherished some romantic thoughts about making her his bride, until +sweet Flower put it all out of his head. The thought came to him for +the first time, that perhaps there had been some justice in her charge. +She had been so young, so unversed in the ways of the world, that a few +gallant words and admiring glances had wiled her heart from her forever. + +Flower was dead and gone--why could he not tear his heart from his +perished love and give it to her unhappy sister? It seemed to him that +Flower--dear, gentle girl--herself would have wished it. + +"Pity is akin to love," it is said. He began to feel very sorry for +Jewel, who, with all her gifts of youth, beauty, and wealth, was so +unutterably lonely, and so unhappy through her hopeless love. The +moment came when this sympathy, combined with admiration for her +beauty, led him into the belief that he loved her at last. + +He proposed for her hand, and was accepted with a rapture that almost +startled him with its intensity. To-night, as he lingered by her side, +he felt proud of his fiancée, so beautiful and so loving. He smiled +into her eyes, and thought within himself that the day would come when +he would be almost as fond of her as he had been of Flower. + +They were sitting _tête-à-tête_ on a velvet couch in the long +drawing-room, when their hostess approached, and asked, eagerly: + +"Have either of you seen Lord Ivon's heiress, the great English beauty? +She is here to-night, and people are raving over her loveliness. But +you need not be afraid of a rival, Miss Fielding, as her type is +the opposite of your own. I do not praise one of my own sex often," +laughingly; "but I will own that she is, as the poet laureate of her +own land aptly says, 'Perfectly beautiful, faultily faultless.'" + +"Indeed? I am very anxious to see her!" exclaimed Jewel, with a half +sneer; but Laurie Meredith only laughed. He thought he had seen so many +English beauties while abroad; and, after all, none could compare, +in his own mind, with the lovely women of his native land. "Where is +she, Mrs. Devere?" continued Jewel, angrily, eager to look upon one of +whom she was furiously jealous, only because report said that she was +wondrously lovely. + +"If you will come with me I will present you. I am curious to see the +meeting between the loveliest girl in America and the greatest beauty +in England!" exclaimed Mrs. Devere, who doted on beauty because she was +irredeemably homely herself. + +Jewel was mollified by the compliment, and smiled brightly on her +hostess and her lover as she rose from her seat. + +"Will you come, too, Laurie?" she asked; but he shook his handsome head. + +"Excuse me for the present," he replied; and Jewel went away with Mrs. +Devere, secretly glad that her lover showed so little interest in the +beauty over whom every one was raving. + +"And I have been so afraid of her--so foolishly jealous!" she thought, +gladly, all her fears set at rest. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + + +Laurie Meredith leaned his handsome head carelessly back, and the smile +that he had worn for Jewel's sake faded away and left his face grave +and sober, as it had grown to be since that summer when he had gone +away from the sea-shore, leaving his little love behind him because she +had changed her mind almost at the last moment and declined to go with +her lover-husband. + +His tender thoughts of the dead girl were always mixed with pain and +remorse, for he believed that Flower's love for him had been less +strong than he had believed it at first. Her refusal to go away with +him, and her subsequent short and strange letters, led him to this +belief. + +"She was little more than a child, and it was a girlish fancy that she +took for love," he thought now. "It was cruel in me to take advantage +of her, and bind her by a tie that afterward made her miserable. Jewel +may say what she pleases, but I am not sure that Flower drowned herself +wholly on account of the unhappy circumstances of her birth. I fear +that her sorrow over her hasty marriage, and despair at her situation, +helped to drive her to that mad deed." + +At times he could not help contrasting the fickleness of Flower's love +with the constancy and devotion of Jewel's. He had said to himself +more than once, with a pang of wounded pride: + +"Flower cared but little for my love, but Jewel valued it above all +else on earth. It is right that I should reward her devotion. I will +try to love the faithful, dark-eyed girl as she deserves." + +But such is the strangeness of the human heart that he prized the +memory of the lost girl far more than he did the living love of +beautiful, passionate Jewel. He could not have helped it if he would, +and he did not struggle much against the feeling, for it seemed to +him that he owed his greatest allegiance to the memory of her who had +loved him, for a time at least, tenderly and truly, and who had died so +young; and to his heart there came sometimes, with a shuddering pain, +the strangely fitting words of Poe, the passionate poet, who sounded +the heights and depths of love's emotion: + + "Would to God I could awaken! + For I dream I know not how, + And my soul is sorely shaken + Lest an evil step be taken-- + Lest the dead who is forsaken + May not be happy now!" + +Almost without his own volition, and perhaps partly inspired by the +strain of half-sad music that floated out from the ball-room, these +often-recurring thoughts came to him again, and, wrapped in their pain +and pathos, he forgot the flight of time until he saw Jewel coming back +to him alone, with such a pale, drawn face that he started in wonder. + +"My dear, what is it? You look as if you had seen a ghost!" he +exclaimed. + +She fell wearily into the seat by his side, and answered, in a low, +strained voice: + +"Oh, Laurie, I have had a great shock!" + +He could well believe her, for she was trembling violently; her face, +and even her lips were ghastly pale, and her eyes had a startled +expression in their dark, liquid depths. + +No one was near, and he took her hand and pressed it gently, murmuring +something suitable to the occasion in his tender solicitude. + +He was rewarded by a faint, sweet smile and look of adoration from her +dark eyes. + +"Perhaps you will think me foolish," she said--"perhaps you will not +see any resemblance at all. It was only that both had the same eyes and +hair; but I was so startled! I--I feared you would be shocked, too, so +I hurried back to tell you--to warn you!" + +"Jewel, whom are you talking about? I do not understand you," her lover +said, with a gleam of wonder in his grave, brown eyes. + +She answered with a palpable reluctance, yet as if compelled to the +confession: + +"Of Miss Brooke, the English beauty. She is very beautiful--a blonde, +with the brightest golden hair, and eyes with the purple-blue of wet +violets. And, oh, Laurie, she looked so much like--like Flower, that I +was frightened. But," growing braver, "of course, there was nothing in +it to frighten me, only I was taken by surprise. There are plenty of +striking resemblances in the world." + +Her jealous eyes saw his handsome face whiten with emotion. + +He said, in a strange, agitated voice: + +"Why do you say there could be nothing in it? No one could be quite +sure that Flower drowned herself. It was only suspicion. No one saw her +commit suicide. And her body was never recovered." + +"Oh, Laurie, what nonsense! I told you she had vowed to drown herself, +that I watched her all the time to prevent her from carrying out her +threat; but that night when she got away, I went immediately to the +shore, and there I found her shawl. What further proof could one need +after what she had threatened so often? Besides, she was never seen nor +heard of afterward. Some one must have heard of her if she had not been +dead!" + +"There was that strange dream of the mulatto, Sam, you know," he +answered. + +"Sam--a drunken fool!" said Jewel, with compressed lips and flashing +eyes. "His wife denied every word of it. She was a clever, truthful +woman." + +He sighed and relapsed into silence while she continued, with feverish +eagerness: + +"Of course, I know that Flower is dead! I have never doubted it with +the evidence that I had. But, in spite of all, it gave me a shock to +see Azalia Brooke. I feared you might be startled, too, and betray some +agitation on meeting her, so I hurried back to warn you." + +"You are very kind, dear Jewel," he said, affecting indifference. "I +dare say the resemblance is not very striking. I promise you to meet +the English beauty with due calmness." + +"Dear Laurie," she whispered, fondly, and twined her jeweled fingers +softly about his. "Do you know," she went on, smilingly, "I was +actually feeling jealous of Azalia Brooke? I thought--since she looked +so much like Flower--that she might win you from me!" + +"Nonsense!" he replied, with a smile, that lightened her heart of much +of its fear, and gave her courage to say, tenderly: + +"Promise me, dear Laurie, not to fall in love with Azalia Brooke, for +you know that would break my heart. Once before, when I fondly dreamed +that you were mine alone, I lost you to another, and I could not bear +that cruel pain again and live!" + +His heart was deeply touched by her devotion. + +"Jewel, I am not worthy of such passionate love," he said, feeling that +his lukewarm passion compared most unfavorably with her fond affection. +Then seeing how anxious she looked, he added, "I will promise you most +willingly not to fall in love with Miss Brooke." + +"Very well, then, I will not take you away at once, as I was on the +point of doing in my terror of a rival," she rejoined, laughingly, yet +hoping that he would offer to go. + +But he did not do so. A secret longing to see Azalia Brooke took +possession of him--a longing that he was wise enough not to confess to +jealous Jewel. + +"Let us go into the conservatory," she said, longing to rest awhile +in its leafy, odorous coolness, that she might settle her disordered +nerves, and he gave her his arm and led her toward that favorite resort +of lovers. + + "Young flowers were whispering in melody + To happy flowers that night--and tree to tree; + Fountains were gushing music as they fell." + +In that enchanted spot Jewel thought she should have him all to +herself, for she had left Azalia Brooke in the ball-room surrounded +by eager admirers, but what was her surprise to see, just ahead of +her, with a handsome young man, the beautiful English girl talking so +earnestly that she did not hear nor see the new-comers at all. + +If Azalia Brooke could have been permitted to decide under what +circumstances she should be seen first by Laurie Meredith, she could +not have chosen a more striking moment than the present. + +She had paused with her attendant cavalier beside a perfect thicket of +her namesake flowers--red and white azalias. A fountain and some lofty +palm-trees were in the background, and made a lovely setting for her +face and dress. + +The former we have described before in all its wondrous beauty; the +latter was an exquisite robe of silvery white moiré antique, draped +in billows of white tulle, looped crystallized sea-grasses and +water-lilies. The perfect throat and arms were clasped with large +pearls, and the golden waves of hair were banded back with a Grecian +fillet of the same pure jewels. It was a trying costume; but the blue +of her eyes was so deep, the sheen of her hair so goldenly bright, and +the rose-hue so warm on her delicate cheek, that the unbroken white and +green were perfectly relieved, and set off her charms to the greatest +advantage. + +Her companion was talking to her earnestly, and she was listening to +him with an absent smile, when Laurie Meredith first caught sight of +her face. + +He stopped short. Jewel felt him start and tremble. She glanced into +his face and saw it pale, startled, eager. A low whisper came from his +lips, and her keen ear caught the burden. It was the one word: + +"Flower!" + +They were only a few yards away from the couple. Jewel pinched his arm, +warningly. + +"Laurie!" + +He withdrew his eyes with difficulty from Azalia's face, and he looked +down at his betrothed. + +"Do not stare so," she whispered, uneasily. "I warned you of the +likeness, you know." + +With a heavy sigh he came back to himself. + +"Pardon me," he said, confusedly, and moved on. + +A meeting was inevitable now. Laurie Meredith and Azalia Brooke were +face to face. + +Jewel's voice was uttering, not overcordially, the words of +introduction. + +Both bowed and murmured something almost inaudible, then Jewel drew her +lover on with her to a quiet spot, leaving the couple alone. + +That was but the beginning. They met night after night in the saloons +of fashion, although Jewel contrived to keep them apart, they studied +each other closely, and both were startled by the other's likeness to a +dead love. + +Jewel was puzzled, too, by the terrible resemblance of Azalia Brooke to +her dead half-sister. + +"If I did not know that she was dead, if I did not know what was lying +in that old cellar under the noisome water, ay, if I did not know whose +ghost it was that haunted the corridors of that old house, I could +almost swear that this was Flower masquerading under a grand seeming," +she told herself over and over, with a shudder; for Jewel's life had +the stain of a dark sin on it now, and she had seen more than once or +twice the vision of a light, shadowy figure all in luminous white, with +floating golden hair, flitting at twilight through the corridors of her +stately home. + +"It is Flower's spirit!" she decided, fearfully, and wondered if the +murdered girl were going to haunt her all her life. + +"Oh, how much I have done for the sake of my love for Laurie Meredith!" +she thought. "And yet, I half believe that but for dread of me he +would woo this hateful English girl only for the sake of that fatal +resemblance. He is attracted toward her. I can see that in spite of the +indifference he pretends. Let him beware! Let both beware, for if they +played me false both should answer with their lives!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + + +Azalia Brooke went home that night from the grand ball, puzzled, +tormented, almost convinced that her lover-husband was not dead, but +that he lived in the person of Jewel Fielding's lover. + +His striking likeness to him she had so long believed dead was so +wonderful and startling that it had almost unnerved her that night, and +it was only by a strong exercise of will-power that she resisted the +impulse to cry out, to claim him, and charge him with his falsity, to +say, bitterly: + +"It was not you that died, Laurie Meredith. That was a clever sham, +like your marriage with me. You were false to the core of your heart, +and perhaps combined with my cruel sister to get rid of me." + +Wounded pride, bitter resentment, and a terror of being thrown helpless +on the world, held her back from betraying herself to him who would +have welcomed her so gladly. + +It was pitiful for those two who had loved so well, who had been all +the world to each other, whose hearts still held each other's image, +to meet as mere strangers, to speak coldly to each other, yet a cruel +fate, in the person of Jewel Fielding, had willed it so, and they moved +and acted like mere puppets under her merciless hands. + +"He did not even remember me. He betrayed not the slightest emotion on +meeting me, while I--I was trembling with excitement. If indeed it be +the Laurie of old he soon tired of me, and then forgot me utterly, so +that after a few years he can meet me with a glance of a stranger," she +thought, bitterly; and pride came to her aid to uphold her in the task +of meeting indifference with indifference. + +"Yet I would give the world to find out if it is really Laurie, or only +a relative with a startling resemblance," she thought many times. + +As they met so often in society, this longing grew upon her, but she +could find no means of gratifying it, for she could not ask any one +else about it, and Jewel was so jealous over her lover that she kept +him chained like a slave to her triumphal car. + +But one afternoon they met at a kettle-drum--a species of informal +entertainments then raging in society. The gentlemen came in their +ordinary dress, the ladies in calling or simple walking costume. Chance +threw Laurie Meredith and Azalia Brooke together in a cozy corner, +with their cups of tea. + +Jewel? She was _tête-à-tête_ with a distinguished gentleman, from whom +she could not escape just now with strict courtesy. She listened with a +forced smile to his fluent periods, and furtively watched the pair over +yonder, coquetting, as she said angrily to herself, over their fragrant +cups of tea and thin cakes. + +Miss Brooke's exquisite beauty appeared to advantage in a close-fitting +tailor suit of broadcloth. A plumed turban of the same becoming hue set +off her rippling golden hair. + +She said to her companion, with a fast-beating heart: + +"Miss Fielding has told me, Mr. Meredith, that you were abroad two +years. Of course you visited England. Did you see Cornwall? My home +is there. It is quite a show-place, being very ancient, and having a +magnificent picture-gallery." + +He said audaciously that he had been in England, and should have gone +down to Cornwall to see Lord Ivon's pictures if he could have believed +that there was anything on canvas there half as lovely as herself. + +Miss Brooke shook her spoon at him in playful reproof, and he continued: + +"I spent most of my time, however, at a German university." + +Azalia gave an uncontrollable start that jarred the cup in her hand and +made the tea splash over a little on her lap. + +"How awkward I am!" she said, laughing. "Ah! and so you were a German +student, Mr. Meredith?" + +"Yes, for a time," he replied. "Not that I cared much for it, but my +father was so anxious for it before his death that I went afterward, +just because he had wished it--not that I benefited much by it, I fear. +My thoughts were full of other things." + +Azalia swallowed her tea at a draught in order not to spill any more on +her dress. She looked at him then, and said: + +"So your father is dead? That is sad. Mine died when I was a very tiny +baby. I have often wished that he had lived that I might have known the +pleasure of a father's love and care." + +Her voice was low with regret and pain. His soul stirred with sympathy. + +"You have much to regret in losing your father so soon," he said. "I +can not tell you what mine was to me, what a mentor, what a friend, +until his death nearly three years ago." + +"Three years!" she echoed, faintly, and the pretty eggshell china +tea-cup fell from her hands to the carpet, crashing into a dozen +fragments. + +"Oh, dear, how very careless I am!" she exclaimed, dismayed at the +attention she attracted by her accident. She saw Jewel looking at her +with jealous suspicion, but took no notice, and as a servant appeared +to remove the _débris_, she turned smilingly back to her companion and +said, lightly: + +"Everything slips through my fingers," and added, miserably, to +herself, "Love and happiness with the rest!" + +He was about to reply with some admiring sentence, when he saw Jewel +coming over to them with a bright smile that was assumed to veil her +jealous spite. + +"Laurie, what did you say to Miss Brooke to shock her into breaking her +tea-cup?" playfully. + +He answered, as he rose to place a chair for her: + +"Nothing." + +Azalia Brooke looked up at her with artless cordiality. + +"Was it not dreadful, spoiling Mrs. Stanley's beautiful set that way? +Won't you go with me to-morrow, Miss Fielding, and try to match it?" +she asked. "Do you know, I was so interested in what Mr. Meredith was +telling, I forgot I had it in my hand, and it fell. It seems he has +been a student at one of those delightful German universities. He was +telling me how much his father wished it before his death, nearly three +years ago." + +Was there a strange, hidden meaning in the blue eyes that met Jewel's? +Was there a menace in the distinct voice? Jewel quailed for a moment, +fancying these things, and her rival saw her turn pale and tremble. + +But it was Jewel's turn now. + +"Laurie, will you take me home now? I have another engagement," she +said. + +They bowed and went away from the presence of the young beauty. + +On the way home Jewel betrayed her petulant jealousy plainly. + +"You promised me not to fall in love with that girl, Laurie." + +"Did your 'other engagement' mean that you wanted to bring me away to +scold me?" he asked, frowning. + +"You are in love with her, Laurie!" angrily. + +"You are jealous," he retorted; and Jewel took refuge in tears, while +her betrothed relapsed into offended silence. + +Seeing this, Jewel realized that she was going too far, begged his +pardon for her folly, and riveted her chains more firmly than ever. + +They parted affectionately, and when he had gone, she muttered: + +"Could she have escaped? I must satisfy myself, much as I dread it, +for to-night I could have sworn that Flower's voice spoke to me with a +hidden threat in its tone. Oh, I wish I were safely married and away on +my bridal-tour!" + +She crept to the door of the deserted cellar, unclosed it, peered into +the darkness with dilated eyes. She heard great rats plunging about, +saw the noisome water standing, green and stagnant, several feet deep, +and a large blank water-proof cloak floating on the top. + +"She is there still. It was my guilty fancy that made me clothe Azalia +Brooke with Flower's soul!" she shuddered, as she fled back to her room. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile, Azalia Brooke had pleaded another engagement, too, and +returned home. + +She flung herself upon the floor, sobbing miserably: + +"It is he, my own darling; but Jewel has taken him from me. It was his +father's death she showed me in the paper. Perhaps they planned it +together, thinking that the shock would kill me." + +Then she lay for some time, still and unconscious. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + + +Laurie Meredith found himself in a terrible dilemma. He had thought +that he was quite safe in pledging himself to Jewel Fielding, being +perfectly sure that he could never love again as he had loved his lost +Flower. + +But suddenly, and almost hopelessly, it seemed, he found himself most +passionately in love with Lord Ivon's great-granddaughter, the proud +English beauty. + +And it was her wonderful resemblance to Flower that had wiled his heart +from his breast. + +At times, when looking at her or listening to her musical voice, he +could scarcely persuade himself that she was a stranger; she seemed so +much like Flower, his lost bride, that he longed to clasp her in his +arms, and say: + +"You must be Flower, who loved me so dearly once, and who was my adored +little bride! Confess the truth, and own that you are only masquerading +as the heiress of this proud nobleman!" + +If he had followed this wild impulse of his heart all would have been +well. She would have been only too happy to find him again, and would +gladly have resigned the proudest destiny for his dear sake. + +But his reason fought sternly against such folly and madness. He would +say to himself, in bitter chiding: + +"I am a traitor to Jewel in thus cherishing a mad passion for one whom +she instinctively dreaded from the first as a rival. Flower is dead, +dead; and this girl, with her face and voice, is but a stranger. Oh, my +little love, my blue-eyed Flower, if only I could call you back to my +heart!" + +His passionate regret for her revived with tenfold force; she seemed +to be always in his mind, mixed up strangely with the idea of Azalia +Brooke, and people began to say that he had forgotten all the songs he +ever knew but one, for when pressed to sing of late he always gave the +same song--one that particularly irritated Jewel: + + "Thou art lost to me forever--I have lost thee, Isadore, + Thy head will never rest on my loyal bosom more, + Thy tender eyes will never more gaze fondly into mine, + Nor thy arm around me lovingly and trustingly intwine. + Thou art lost to me forever, Isadore! + + "My footsteps through the rooms resound all sadly and forlorn, + The garish sun shines flauntingly upon the unswept floor; + The mocking-bird still sits and sings a melancholy strain, + For my heart is like a heavy cloud that overflows with rain. + Thou art lost to me forever, Isadore!" + +Within a week after that scene in which Jewel had betrayed her angry +jealousy of Azalia Brooke, he wished devoutly that he had never +entangled himself in an engagement with the imperious brunette. + +Could he have followed the dictates of his heart he would not have lost +an hour in wooing Azalia Brooke. + +She had told him that she was going soon. They had been in Boston more +than a month, and Lord and Lady Ivon were getting anxious to resume +their travels. They would go to Washington next to see an American +Congress in session, and an American President. + +When he heard that she was going, he realized, by the terrible pain he +felt, that he loved her with his whole soul, that when she was gone, +the whole world would seem dark and cold and empty. + + "For, alas, alas! with me + The light of life is o'er! + 'No more--no more--no more--' + (Such language holds the solemn sea + To the sands upon the shore) + Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree, + Or the stricken eagle soar! + + "And all my days are trances, + And all my nightly dreams, + Are where thy blue eye glances, + And where thy footstep gleams-- + In what ethereal dances, + By what eternal streams!" + +He grew impatient with himself at what he called to himself his +inexcusable folly. What if he were free to woo, was it likely she would +listen?--she, the proud descendant of one of the proudest lords of +England. Doubtless she had been taught to have a secret contempt for +Americans, and he was a thorough American, proud of his country, proud +of its institutions, and though rich, cultured, and well-born, he had +no title to lay at the beauty's feet, while Mrs. Raynold Clinton had +told him that the young and handsome Earl of Clive was desperately in +love with Azalia Brooke. + +"He was like her shadow in London last winter," she said. "Azalia +refused him, but he would not take no for an answer, and Lord and Lady +Ivon are in hopes she will reconsider her decision, as the match is a +good one, even for their great-granddaughter." + +Every word was a thorn in his heart. He began to realize something of +what Jewel's jealousy was to her in the strange pain that racked his +heart. + +Then he tried to reason with himself. He never could be anything to +Azalia Brooke, even if she were not so cold and proud. He belonged to +Jewel Fielding, and she had made him understand very plainly that it +would not be a safe plan for him to break with her now. + +Suddenly the Earl of Clive made his appearance in Boston. He had +crossed the Atlantic in order to be near the lady of his heart. + +He was young, rich, and good-looking--a trifle arrogant, perhaps, but +one with so many gifts of this life has some cause for vanity. + +He devoted himself with ardor to Azalia Brooke, causing more than one +gallant admirer to think, indignantly: + + "Were there no beauteous maids at home, + And no true lovers here, + That he must cross the seas to win + The dearest of the dear?" + +Jewel Fielding was very glad that Azalia Brooke's titled lover had come +upon the scene. + +The beautiful brunette was by no means blind to the state of her +lover's feelings. She was half maddened with her bitter jealousy of her +betrothed and her hatred of Azalia Brooke. + +She hoped that Laurie would see the futility of his passion now that +Lord Clive had come. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + + +Jewel was very busy getting ready for her marriage now, which had been +set for the early spring. In her anxiety to be sure of her husband she +would have liked to forego the delights of a trousseau, and be married +at once, but she had no excuse for hurrying the time, and Laurie +Meredith never hinted at the intervening months as being at all too +long. + +So Jewel filled up her life as much as possible with ordering an +expensive trousseau and mixing in the gay world, not giving herself +time to think, for "that way madness lay." + +One evening her lover had called to accompany her to an entertainment +given in honor of Lord and Lady Ivon, who were to leave on the morrow. +Jewel was exquisitely dressed for the occasion in a dress of dark-red +satin, draped in rich black lace, one of her favorite and most becoming +costumes. Her ornaments were deep red rubies set in gold. + +A happy light was burning in the large dark eyes, for her rival was +going away to-morrow, never to cross her path in life again, she hoped. + +Mrs. Wellings, in rich black velvet and point lace, was in attendance +as chaperon. + +Jewel slipped her gloved hand through the arm of her betrothed. + +"Let us go to the conservatory, dear Laurie," she whispered, fondly. "I +have a fancy that you shall choose the flowers I wear to-night." + +He rose with her and selected deep-red jacqueminot roses. She made him +cut them off with long stems and an abundance of buds, and was about to +fasten them in her corsage, when, to his utter amazement, she uttered a +wild, startled shriek, dropped the flowers and fell against his breast, +clasping her white arms around his neck. + +"Jewel, what is it?" he exclaimed, putting his arm around her gently, +and looking down at her convulsed face. + +He saw that her eyes were fixed upon a door in the rear end of the +conservatory, and his glance hastily followed her strained and startled +one. + +As he did so, a blast of keen, cold, wintery air swept through the +warm, odorous conservatory. The rear door was open, and upon its +threshold, very clearly outlined against the blackness of the outer +night, there was standing a slight, girlish figure all in white. + +A swift shudder crept along the veins of Laurie Meredith. + +The figure he was gazing at was all in misty, yet luminous white, that +fell from neck to feet in a loose, graceful fashion. The face was not +quite clear in the dim light, but it seemed to be of mortal paleness, +while all around it fell long waves of golden hair. + +Laurie Meredith gazed in wonder and awe at that strange, unearthly +looking figure, while Jewel shuddered and moaned, faintly: + +"You see it, do you not, Laurie--the awful spirit form? Oh, this old +house is haunted! I have seen the ghosts more than once, but I would +not speak lest no one would believe me. But, oh, you can not guess what +I have suffered, and, dear, I shall be so glad when I am married and +gone from this dismal, haunted abode!" + +Jewel had seen the ghost so often that her nerves were steeled against +it, and she turned it to account by this clever hint to Laurie to +hasten their marriage. + +Both were looking intently at the luminous figure in the open door. It +moved slightly and threw up one arm in a theatrical gesture, and Laurie +Meredith uttered an exclamation: + +"A ghost, Jewel! But I do not believe in ghosts!" + +"Nor did I, till I came to this horrible house!" she whispered. "Oh, +Laurie, what are you going to do?" for he had drawn her arms from his +neck and was pushing her hurriedly into a chair. + +"I shall speak to the ghost," he whispered, and darted down the flowery +vista. + +There was a stifled shriek, a flutter of garments. The ghost fled into +the outer darkness, and Laurie Meredith after it. + +Jewel sat quaking in her chair, thinking in terror: + +"Ah, what if it should lead him into the old cellar, and he should +discover my awful secret?" + +At that moment a woman's shrill, frightened cry became audible, a +moment later the voice of a man: + +"Who are you, playing ghost like this, and frightening helpless women +out of their senses? You need not struggle, for I am going to unmask +you." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + + +The pretty ghost was quite strong. It struggled desperately out there +in the darkness, but it was no match for Laurie Meredith, and presently +he dragged it triumphantly into the conservatory, and tore from it a +wig of fair hair and a white complexion mask. This revealed the pretty, +flustered face of Jewel's maid, who, in a spangled tarletan dress and +wig and mask, had made an ethereal-looking ghost. + +"Marie!" exclaimed Jewel, in astonishment and relief. + +"_Oui, ma'amselle_," replied the pretty maid, with a titter. + +"So you recognize the ghost?" Laurie demanded. + +"Yes," said Jewel. "Oh, Marie, was it you all the time?" + +"Pardon, mademoiselle, but--yes. I--I--did not mean to frighten any +one, only to tease Jules, the gardener, who is my lover." + +"It was a very poor joke. If I were in your place, Jewel, I would +dismiss this girl from my employ at once," Laurie Meredith said, +sternly. + +Marie whimpered, and looked pleadingly at Jewel, who hardened her +heart, and said, severely: + +"Yes, you may go. You are a mischievous girl, and have given me several +frights that I shall never forget." + +A strange smile flickered over the girl's face, but she said, humbly: + +"I will never do it again--only let me stay, ma'amselle!" + +"No, you shall not stay. I discharge you, and without a character," +replied Jewel, angrily. + +"Oh, mademoiselle, you are cruel. Grant me but a private interview, and +I will convince you that I am not to blame," pleaded Marie, humbly; but +her eloquence would have had no effect on Jewel but for an expression +that appeared in the girl's eyes and startled her into yielding, it was +so full of bold meaning and deadly menace. + +The glance made Jewel quake, she could not tell why, only that her +consciousness of a dark and guilty secret made her nervous and fearful. +She hesitated a moment, and the girl, turning her back completely on +Laurie, made large eyes of such impudent menace at her that she was +compelled to acquiesce. + +She looked at her betrothed, and said, sweetly: + +"Perhaps I had better hear her defense, Laurie. I do not wish to be too +hard on a poor, friendless girl." + +"That is very magnanimous of you, Jewel," he replied, admiringly. +"Do as you please, only let our young friend here understand that at +another such offense she must go." + +"Monsieur, I will never do so again!" whimpered Marie again; and she +dropped into a mocking courtesy, and followed her mistress up the +stairs. + +Jewel was trembling with indefinable fear, but she turned boldly on the +delinquent maid. + +"Now, Marie, if there is anything you can plead in your own defense, do +so quickly," she said, sharply. + +Marie faced her with an impudent smile bold and taunting. + +"Mademoiselle, you dare not discharge me," she replied, coolly. + +"Dare not!" Jewel echoed. + +"That was what I said," replied the French maid, calmly. "I repeat it. +You dare not discharge me, for it would be dangerous to send away the +trusty maid who shares your fatal secret." + +She saw horror and consternation on the dark, beautiful face. It grew +pale as marble, and the eyes dilated in horror. + +"Ah, you understand me!" Marie said. "I confess it was naughty in me +to play ghost, but then I thought you ought to be punished a little +for that terrible deed. She was young and lovely, the girl you killed +and flung into the cellar. You see I know all, Miss Fielding, for I +watched, and I saw you dragging her down the steps." + +"I deny it all!" Jewel gasped, feebly; but Marie laughed her to scorn. + +"You deny it, with your victim lying down there under the water in the +cellar!" + +Jewel saw that denial would be useless. + +"Oh, Marie, I did not kill her," she gasped, feebly. "She was weak and +sick; she fell down dead in my room, most probably with heart disease. +I was frightened. I thought I might be accused of murder, so I hid the +body." + +"A very unwise thing to do, as you would not get any one to believe +that story, especially if I showed them this," replied Marie, drawing +from her pocket the piece of bronze bric-à-brac, and showing Jewel a +dull red stain on its brightness. + +She shuddered, and asked: + +"Why have you kept the secret so long?" + +"To forward my own interests," Marie answered, promptly. "You will +retain me in your service as long as I choose to remain, and you will +raise my wages to three hundred dollars per month. I think that is +very reasonable, considering everything; and, besides, you ought to be +very grateful to me for keeping your awful secret." + +Jewel knew that this was quite true. She would have sacrificed her +whole fortune rather than that her guilty secret should be betrayed. + +"Does any one else know?" she asked. + +"I have never opened my lips," Marie replied, truthfully; and Jewel +very gladly consented to the terms of her silence. + +She went to her lover, and the full glass of wine she had taken was not +sufficient to steady her nerves. She trembled like one with a chill, +and he begged her to remain at home, declaring that the shock she had +received made her look too ill to go to the entertainment. + +But not for any consideration would Jewel have remained at home and +left the field clear for Laurie to linger by the side of her rival. + +"I would not miss it for anything, and I know I shall be better +presently," she said; and went back to the parlor and aroused Mrs. +Wellings, who all this time had been dozing in her easy-chair, +oblivious to all that had happened. + +The chaperon was sadly addicted to champagne with her dinner, and was +prone to fall asleep afterward--a failing on which Jewel looked very +complacently, since she did not have to be bored with the old woman's +droning remarks. + +Having aroused her to a sense of the impending festivities, she hastily +donned her warm cloak, and all three went out to the elegant sleigh +which was in readiness to convey them over the glittering crust of snow +to the grand entertainment. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + + +It was in a shady, flowery alcove, that must have been designed +especially for lovers, that Lord Clive was sitting with Azalia Brooke, +and by one of the strangest of chances Laurie Meredith was close by, +unseen and unheard, yet within ear-shot of their talk. + +It could not have been very pleasant to him to listen to Azalia's lover +pleading his cause with the lovely girl, yet that was what Jewel's +betrothed was forced to hear as he lingered there unable to get away +without attracting their notice. + +"I feared you would be angry if I followed you to America, yet I could +not help it," Lord Clive said, plaintively, presently, and Azalia's +voice answered gravely: + +"It seemed very useless. We should have been back in England in a few +months." + +"A few months--an eternity!" exclaimed the earl. "Ah, how coldly you +can speak of being away from me, while I was devoured by the pangs of +jealousy lest some handsome American should win you from me." + +"That is all nonsense!" said Azalia Brooke, quite haughtily; and Laurie +Meredith sighed heavily, and thought that he had judged rightly. She +was proud of her ancient name, and scorned the Americans who could +point to no long line of ancestry. + +"I am glad you think it is all nonsense, but you can't think how I have +been hating these fellows over here, Miss Brooke. I had to come. And +now that I'm here you won't send me away again as you did in London, +will you? Oh, Azalia--" + +Passionate words followed, words of love and entreaty. Lord Clive could +be quite eloquent on the subject which occupied his heart, and there +was one but a few feet away who envied him the privilege of wooing +sweet Azalia Brooke, one who was almost maddened by jealous pain. + +He listened intently for the girl's answer. It came low and sadly: + +"I hoped you had given up all hope of me!" + +"Never!" declared Lord Clive. + +"I told you last winter that it was useless--I have no love to give +you," said the sweet, musical voice, very gently. + +"I will teach you to love me if you will only give me an opportunity!" +protested Lord Clive. + +The girl laughed, but the laugh had a mocking sound, so did her voice +as she exclaimed: + +"Suppose I tell you that I was once taught that lesson by another? Will +you give over talking to me then of what could never be?" + +"Azalia--Miss Brooke!" + +"It is true," she answered, in a bitter tone. + +"You love another!" he exclaimed, despairingly. + +"Nay, nay; I loved once! Put it in the past tense, please!" she +interrupted; and even where he sat, Laurie Meredith could hear the deep +sigh that heaved her breast as she added, in a voice of passionate +self-scorn: "I should hate myself could I love him still, false and +fickle as he proved to be!" + +Lord Clive stared at her in the most profound amazement, startled by +her unwonted emotion, but the agitated voice went on: + +"Yes, look at me in wonder. You have thought me cold and heartless +because I turned a deaf ear to lovers. It is due to you that I confess +the truth. I have no heart to give, because it was wiled from me +long ago by one who valued it but for a little while, then flung it +carelessly away!" + +"Impossible!" he exclaimed, in the greatest wonder. + +"It is true," she answered; and the pathos of her voice went to Laurie +Meredith's heart. + +"It was when you were an American girl?" asked Lord Clive. + +"Yes, before Lord Ivon sent Mr. Kelso to seek me," said Azalia Brooke. +"And now you know why I despise love and lovers, Lord Clive. I have no +faith in their protestations, because I know how to rate them." + +"You do injustice to honest lovers for the sake of one traitor," he +said, warmly. "Miss Brooke, he deserves death at the stake. Tell me his +name that I may call him out and shoot him!" + +A dreary, mocking laugh rippled over her lips as she answered, simply: + +"Perhaps he is past your vengeance, Lord Clive. I heard long ago that +he was dead." + +"It is some comfort to know that he has gone to his reward," murmured +Lord Clive, with grim satisfaction. + +He looked a moment curiously at her agitated face, then said: + +"I thank you for giving me your confidence, Miss Brooke. Rest assured I +shall respect it. And you will permit me to express the sentiment that +the fellow must have been ice itself to turn cold to you." + +She did not reply, and he continued: + +"But all that was in the past. You look back with scorn upon your +fickle lover. Let me teach you to forget him in a new love. Be my +bride, and no wife was ever worshiped as shall be Azalia, Countess of +Clive!" + +"I thought you would not tease me any more when you heard my story," +she said, pensively; but he vowed that this only made him more +determined to win her for his own. + +"You have loved before--what does it matter?" he said. "There are few +who do not fancy themselves in love at an early stage of existence. +This first love, what is it but the light froth on the wave, shining +brightly a moment, then dissolving forever. I would be contented to be +your last love, dear, to have you say to me: + + "'But thou--thou art my last love, + My dearest and my best! + My heart but shed its outer leaves + To give thee all the rest.'" + +What a persistent lover he was, thought the irritated listener. He +wished that Lord Clive would go away, but to his chagrin he only +renewed his suit, and presently Azalia said, wonderingly: + +"You would be willing to marry me after what I have told you?" + +"Willing and happy. I believe that I could teach you to forget the +bitter past, and to love me," he replied, earnestly; then, eagerly, +"Oh, Azalia--" + +She held out her beautiful hand to him. + +"Then I consent for you to make the effort," she said. + +It seemed to Laurie Meredith as if the point of a poisoned dagger had +gone through his breast. His head drooped and he seemed dazed for a +little. He came to himself with a start, and heard Azalia saying: + +"Now, leave me alone a little to think of my rash promise. You may tell +my great-grandpapa, if you wish. It will make him very happy." + +He left her reluctantly, and Laurie Meredith stumbled out of his seat +to go. She looked up at the sound, and their eyes met, hers full of +bitter triumph, his dim with a misery she could not fathom. + +"I beg your pardon, Miss Brooke. I was here when you and Lord Clive +came. I did not wish to interrupt you--it would have been embarrassing. +But had I known I was to hear--" he paused, and she said: + +"My bitter confession and Lord Clive's proposal, you would have gone; +but you stayed and heard--so now." + +"I should congratulate Lord Clive, and wish you a happy future, which +I do, fair Countess of Clive to be," he answered, in a strained voice, +and Azalia Brooke thanked him with superb self-possession. + +But could he have seen how the proud head drooped when he had gone, +could he have read the secret thoughts of that tortured heart? + +"Oh, what if he knew that I saw him there, that my confession, my +acceptance of Lord Clive were all to pique him to return to his old +allegiance? Alas, my test has failed! I thought he was beginning to +care for me again, that somehow he suspected that I was Flower. But no, +he cares not. It is Jewel he loves, and I can doubt no longer. That +marriage was a sham, as she said, and it was well that my baby died, +poor little one, with the same dark brand on his birth as that upon his +mother's! Alas, dare I keep my troth with Lord Clive without confessing +my shameful birth? But then, Lord Ivon has forbidden me ever to confess +the truth, so what can I do?" + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + + +Lord Ivon and his party left for Washington the next day, and Jewel +said to herself that they did not go one day too soon for their own +good, for there was murder in her heart toward the beautiful Azalia +Brooke. + +"If she had stayed any longer, and Laurie had continued to show his +preference for her so plainly, I believe I should have poisoned her," +she muttered, angrily, to herself. + +She had heard with great satisfaction of the beauty's betrothal to Lord +Clive, and fearful lest Laurie had missed hearing it, she repeated it +to him with malicious delight, eliciting the quiet answer that Lord +Clive was a very fortunate man. + +Jewel pouted charmingly, but he took no notice. Ever since last night +he had been thinking of the words Lord Clive had said to Azalia Brooke: + +"It was when you were an American girl." + +She had answered: + +"Yes, before Lord Ivon sent Mr. Kelso to seek me." + +Tossing on a sleepless pillow between the dawn and the daylight, he had +been ceaselessly asking himself: + +"What did they mean? I was under the impression that she had never been +in America before." + +It seemed to him that he could not know rest nor peace until he found +out what Azalia Brooke had referred to in her answer to Lord Clive. + +That afternoon found him in the office of the noted lawyer, Raynold +Clinton. + +"I wish to ask you some questions," he said. "You were in England last +winter, and you were intimate with Lord Ivon?" + +"Yes." + +"There is a mystery about Miss Azalia Brooke that I wish to penetrate. +It is generally believed that she has never been in America before this +time, but I think you could tell a different story if you would." + +The lawyer looked at him, surprised to see how white and eager his face +looked. + +"My dear fellow, I can not see what concern this is of yours," he said, +hesitatingly. "You are not in love with Miss Brooke, as she is engaged +to Lord Clive and you to Miss Fielding. As for what is hinted about a +mystery, Lord Ivon does not deny that his great-granddaughter is an +American girl, although I admit that he does not care to dwell on the +circumstance." + +"You will tell me all that you know, Mr. Clinton? Believe me, I have a +vital interest in this matter." + +The lawyer could see that Laurie Meredith was terribly in earnest. +His sparkling brown eyes were dark with feeling, his face pale with +excitement. + +"Really, there is not much to tell," said the lawyer. "Lord Ivon had a +younger son who ran away to America, and was disowned by his family. +But his elder and second son both died, as also his grandchildren. +Then he sent his lawyer to America to seek his disinherited son, or +his descendants. He brought this girl back, the last descendant of the +house of Ivon. 'Sole daughter of her father's house and heart.'" + +"Her name?" Laurie demanded, hoarsely. + +"Azalia Brooke," replied Mr. Clinton. + +"You are sure, quite sure, Mr. Clinton?" + +"That is what I was told," replied the lawyer, with so truthful an air +that the listener could not doubt him. + +"Perhaps you can tell me where she lived before Lord Ivon's lawyer +found her, Mr. Clinton?" + +"It was in the South. I do not remember the name of the place. Indeed, +I am not sure I ever heard. It was not talked about much, because Lord +Ivon seemed to have a marked distaste to the subject." + +"I thank you for your information, Mr. Clinton. I shall make no +improper use of it, yet there may be a startling _dénouement_ to the +story you have told me. If so, you will understand what brought me here +to-day," the young man said, with an earnestness that impressed the +lawyer very much and made him very curious. + +But Laurie Meredith went away without confiding anything, for he felt +that such a step would be premature. + +But his brain was reeling with the wild suspicions that chased each +other through it. + +"I am almost persuaded that the girl is Flower herself!" he thought. +"Yet, in that case, she knows me--knows me as the husband for whom she +ceased so soon to care, and secure in her fancied sure disguise, laughs +at me and my love--even pledges her faith to another before my eyes! +Who could have believed that lovely, gentle little Flower could be so +heartless and wicked? Will she dare to marry him, knowing herself +bound to me? Yet she told him her lover had proved false, and that she +had heard that he was dead. What if there has been treachery somewhere? +Jewel--she has loved me always, and there has been something of the +tiger-cat in her jealousy of Azalia Brooke. What if--" + +He could think collectedly no longer, but flung himself down on his +bed, while wild, blissful visions chased each other through his brain. + + * * * * * + +Jewel was expecting her lover that evening, and he came promptly. She +thought she had never seen him so handsome, his brown eyes were so +bright, his cheeks glowing with feverish color. + +Artfully he led her on to talk of her past life, and at last said, +curiously: + +"Do you know, dear Jewel, that you have never told me the name of your +birthplace?" + +"It was Springville, Georgia," she replied, without a suspicion of the +anxiety with which he awaited her reply. + +But when he talked on indifferent subjects awhile, he took leave, and +the next day she was astonished to receive a short note from him, +bidding her a hasty adieu, as he had been called away from the city for +a few days on a matter of business. + +"He has followed _her_--he has gone to Washington to be near Azalia +Brooke!" she exclaimed, angrily; and her eyes blazed with such intense +jealous fury that she seemed on the point of going mad. A terrible +purpose began to form in her mind. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + + +Jewel ordered her carriage, dressed hastily, and was driven to the +residence of Mrs. Meredith. + +That lady and her daughters were sitting cozily in their warm, +luxurious morning-room, each engaged in a fascinating piece of fancy +work, when Jewel was shown into the room. + +The handsome elderly lady and her two placid, brown-eyed daughters +presented quite a contrast to the visitor, who burst impetuously into +the room with crimson cheeks and blazing eyes, and, scarcely waiting +for the customary greeting, exclaimed in an excited voice: + +"Mrs. Meredith, where has Laurie gone?" + +"My dear Jewel, what is the matter? You look as if something dreadful +had happened," exclaimed the matron. + +"Yes, indeed you do," chimed in Edith and Io, as both came up to her in +consternation. + +"Something _has_ happened!" Jewel cried, angrily. She flung herself +into a cushioned chair, and continued: "Laurie has proved false to me! +He has followed that girl to Washington!" + +She flung his note into Mrs. Meredith's lap, and the stately matron +adjusted her glasses in great trepidation, and ran over it quickly. + +"But, my dear Jewel, he does not say anything here about going to +Washington. He says, called away on business," she remonstrated, gently. + +"Pshaw! a blind, a weak, transparent excuse!" Jewel answered, in a +sharp, high-pitched voice. "Pray tell me what excuse he made to you!" + +The warm color mounted to Mrs. Meredith's cheek at this haughty +arraignment; but making excuses to herself for the girl's excitement, +which evidently arose from jealousy, she answered: + +"He told me that he was called South by some very important business, +the nature of which he could not explain until his return." + +"Humph, I should think not! He was ashamed to confess to his mother +that he was running after another girl, leaving his betrothed at home +to fret her heart out!" sneered Jewel, so bitterly that Io Meredith +exclaimed, resentfully: + +"Jewel, I think you ought to be ashamed to accuse my brother of +such disgraceful conduct. I would have you understand that he is a +gentleman, not a dastard!" + +"Let me alone, Io Meredith! I shall say what I like about your brother! +He is behaving shamefully! Do you think I did not know that he was +madly in love with Azalia Brooke? He showed it so plainly that every +one noticed it. You can not deny that!" + +No one spoke, for Jewel's shot told. It was quite true that Laurie +Meredith had betrayed so much interest in the lovely English girl as +to excite comment. His mother had remonstrated with him gently but +decidedly. + +"I can not help myself. It is fate," he had answered, in such a +despairing voice, and with such a miserable look that she had not the +heart to pursue the subject further, although quite sure that his +interest in Azalia Brooke was so strong as to be a wrong to Jewel +Fielding. + +"It will wear off, this sudden fancy, when sweet Azalia is gone," she +thought to herself; and it was with a feeling of relief that she heard +of the betrothal of Azalia and Lord Clive. + +She asked herself anxiously now if it could be true, as Jewel +suspected, that her son had followed Azalia Brooke to Washington. Her +heart said no, for although he had been weak enough to lose his head +over her despite his engagement to another, she felt assured that his +passion had been hopeless from first to last, and that he had struggled +against it in vain. + +She could not help feeling sorry for her son and for the dark-eyed girl +who loved him with such jealous passion. + +With it all there was mixed a little self-reproach, for had she not +pitied Jewel so much that she had persuaded her son to make an effort +to return the girl's affection? + +Out of her anxiety had grown that engagement. He had yielded to her +wishes, engaged himself to Jewel, and here were the consequences. + +He had been too hasty, and when the girl, whom he could have loved with +his whole heart, crossed his path, it was too late. + +"And he might have won her, who knows?" she thought; for her keen eyes +had noted that Azalia Brooke took a secret and curious interest in +Laurie Meredith. + +But something must be done to soothe the excited Jewel, and after a +moment's silence, the matron said, gently: + +"My dear girl, I am sure that you wrong Laurie by your suspicions. +He is too honorable a man to deceive you and outrage your affections +in such a cruel manner. I am convinced that he has gone South, as he +stated to me, and that you will soon hear from him at a distance from +Washington." + +"And I am quite sure that he has gone to Washington, madame, to be +near the girl I hate so bitterly, and I came here to inform you that +I intend to follow him within twenty-four hours!" replied Jewel, with +startling emphasis, springing to her feet and beginning to walk rapidly +up and down the long room with swift, graceful movements that reminded +the Merediths of the sinuous grace of the beautiful, deadly tigress. + +These cultured, highly refined ladies gazed in amazement and +consternation at Laurie's betrothed, and Edith cried out, indignantly: + +"Really, Jewel, you must be out of your senses! What will people say?" + +The beautiful pantheress paused a moment in her wild walk, and gazing +at the speaker with lurid eyes, exclaimed: + +"That will depend upon your mother and you, Edith and Io. If she will +consent to go with me to Washington, taking you with her, no one can +say anything. If she will not go, people will say that I was wronged +and jealous and that I went after my recreant lover." + +"Jewel, you must not go!" Mrs. Meredith exclaimed, with mixed entreaty +and command, but the girl laughed wildly. + +"I will go, if I die for it," she said, fiercely. "He has driven me +mad by his love for another, and I am not answerable for what I do. +Yes, I shall follow him, and if I find him there by her side I shall +be tempted to kill them both!" and she sunk upon the floor in wild +hysterics. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + + +Her jealous wrath, her wild threats, ended as she meant they should. +The Merediths were forced into compliance with her wishes. They could +not persuade her to remain at home, and they dared not let her go alone. + +But this terrible revelation of her mind and temper thoroughly +disgusted the Merediths, and made them anxious over Laurie's future. + +"Who would have dreamed that she was such a shrew? Why, there was +murder in her eyes as they flashed and glowed. She will lead our +brother a miserable life, I am sure," Edith said to her sister, as they +hurriedly packed their trunks for the unexpected visit to the Capital +City. + +"Yes, and how sweet and gentle she seemed to be before she was sure of +Laurie. She was deceiving us all, then, in order to forward her cause, +and she succeeded so well, too, for we all praised her to Laurie, and +gave him no peace until he proposed to her. How she takes on the airs +of a queen. I should not be sorry if Laurie would jilt her outright!" +Io declared, spiritedly. + +But, reckless in her fierce wrath and jealousy of their good or bad +opinion, Jewel had gone home to prepare for her trip. She rang the +bell furiously for Marie to come and pack her things. + +No one responded at first; but when she went angrily down-stairs to +inquire for the delinquent, Mrs. Wellings started up from her doze in +the arm-chair to ask, stupidly: + +"Is that you, Miss Fielding? Do--do you want me?" + +"No," Jewel said, with a contemptuous glance at the dull face, "I want +Marie!" + +"Oh!" said Mrs. Wellings. + +"Do you know where she is?" continued Jewel, with wild impatience. + +"No, I do not, I'm sure," said the only half-awakened woman. Then she +started and muttered, "Oh, I forgot, she came in here soon after you +went away. She was dressed for going out, and she gave me this letter +to hand to you as soon as you returned," placing a sealed envelope in +Jewel's eagerly outstretched palm. + +Jewel was terribly afraid of the maid who held her awful secret in +possession. She ran upstairs with a wildly throbbing heart, wondering +what her absence and the letter combined could mean. + +But she would soon know; for her nervous fingers eagerly tore the +end of the envelope across, and her blazing eyes soon devoured the +contents, which stated, in an odd _mélange_ of French and English, +that the writer feared to remain any longer in her employ, as she did +not consider her life secure while in the power of a lady whose deadly +secret she held. She had been joking about the three hundred dollars +per month wages, as no sum could have been large enough to tempt her to +stay. She had made arrangements to enter the service of a young English +lady, and would be gone before Miss Fielding's return. Lastly, she +would ease Miss Fielding's conscience by telling her that the poor girl +she had flung into the cellar was not dead--only stunned--and that she, +Marie, had resuscitated her and helped her away. If Miss Fielding would +take the trouble to look in the cellar, she would see for herself. +Lastly, Miss Fielding need not be afraid that Marie would betray her +sin to the world, as she had faithfully promised the golden-haired lady +that she would keep the secret. + +Marie did not add that a bountiful golden bribe had bought her silence; +but Jewel readily guessed it, knowing the French girl's cupidity. She +tore the letter into a hundred fragments after she had impressed its +contents on her furious brain, and for a few moments her wrath was +something fearful--so near akin to madness that it recalled to her +mind the terrible spells of her mother in those first days after she +had discovered her rival's child to be blue-eyed Flower, whom she had +always loved best in her secret heart, because of the two girls, she +resembled her father most--the man whose memory Mrs. Fielding had +alternately loved and hated. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + + +Frightened at the thought of going mad, Jewel ceased her wild raving, +and tried to look her fate fairly in the face. + +One of the first conclusions to which her mind leaped was that Azalia +Brooke was no other than her half-sister, Flower. She had come to see +her in disguise that night, pleading poverty, when in reality she +had been the heiress of Lord Ivon and the toast of the city. Ah, and +Jewel's hand clutched at the empty air in impotent passion, how she +regretted that her work had failed her that afternoon, and that Marie +had rescued her victim from death! It was well indeed for cunning Marie +that she was out of reach of Miss Fielding's vengeance. + +But, Jewel asked herself, wonderingly, why had not Flower claimed her +husband? She had certainly recognized him, and she knew that it was his +father's death she had read in the paper that terrible night. Why then +had Flower kept the secret of her identity, and even betrothed herself +to another? + +Jewel's mind could furnish but one solution to that strange problem. + +Flower had been adopted in some mysterious manner by the old nobleman +and his wife, and was ambitious of shining in the world. She doubted +whether she had ever been really Laurie's wife, and did not wish +for him to recognize her, fearing that it would ruin her brilliant +prospects in life. She intended to let Laurie Meredith believe her +dead, while in reality she would be alive, the wife of an earl, one of +the most beautiful countesses in England. + +Jewel choked with anger at the thought of the despised Flower attaining +such lofty heights, but even that was better than to reveal herself to +Laurie Meredith. + +"Yes, far better, for I would rather have him than a king!" she +thought, that stormy love of hers always rising superior to every +other ambition. She decided that she would go to Washington, seek an +interview with Flower, and tell her that she recognized her, but would +keep her secret if she would return at once to England and marry Lord +Clive. If she refused, and the beautiful face grew dark with passion +at the thought, Jewel told herself, in a vindictive whisper, that her +rival must be removed at all hazards from her path. + +Her plans thus laid, she called in the house-maid to assist in packing +her trunks, picturing to herself the alarm of her lover when he should +find that she had followed him to Washington. + +"I will make him understand, once for all, that I am not to be trifled +with by any one," she told herself, angrily, and with a bitter wonder +at her failure to win Laurie Meredith's heart. + +"And I so beautiful, so wondrously beautiful," she thought, pausing +a moment to gaze at her reflection in the glass--at her flashing +dark eyes, her red lips and cheeks, her braided coronal of purplish +jet-black hair. + +"I am beautiful enough to be a queen, yet I can not win the heart of +the only man I ever cared for," she thought, with a sort of agony at +her failure. + +But every pang she suffered only made her more determined to triumph in +the end. + +"Only let me get Flower out of the way, and I may win him yet. I was +near to it when she came, and surely I can recover my lost ground some +day," she said. + +She was driven in her carriage to Mrs. Meredith's, and found them +waiting, although they hoped that she would change her mind even at the +last moment. + +But no, Jewel took her seat in the train as grim and implacable as fate +itself, and determined as ever to make all else on earth yield to her +imperious will and desire. + +The Merediths, thoroughly disgusted at her jealous freak, sat with her; +but there was very little said by any one. But Jewel scarcely noticed +the constraint and silence of Laurie's mother and sisters. She was +completely wrapped up in her own dark thoughts, and remained so until +they reached the end of their long journey. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + + +Lord Ivon and his party had been in Washington a week, when they became +aware that the Merediths, with Miss Fielding, had also arrived in the +city. + +It was on one of Patti's nights at the opera that the two parties +became aware of each other's presence in opposite stage-boxes. Their +first start of surprise was succeeded on either hand by amicable nods +of pleased recognition. + +This was Jewel Fielding's rôle, and she had insisted on its being +carried out to the letter by the Merediths. She did not desire that +any one should know yet of her fierce jealousy of Azalia Brooke. Time +enough yet, she said. + +They had been in the city one day and night, and careful inquiry +revealed the fact that the absent Laurie was not in this city. The +Merediths were jubilant, but Jewel would not allow them to boast over +their triumph. + +"He will come yet, if Lord Ivon's party stays here any time," she said. + +And it occurred to her that she must hasten to get rid of her lovely, +blue-eyed rival before the return of Laurie. + +The color leaped to her face, and her heart throbbed with fierce anger +when she first beheld Azalia Brooke sitting in the opera-box with Lord +Clive by her side, and Lord and Lady Ivon in the background. + +Azalia's loveliness shone with all the luster of a beautiful pearl from +her shining robe of silvery-blue satin and misty lace, and her perfect +identity with the Flower Fielding of old struck her half-sister more +strongly than ever. + +"How could I ever have been fooled for a minute into doubting her +identity? The resemblance is perfect, complete, and it is wonderful +that Laurie has not recognized her, and taxed her with it," she thought. + +She had taken pains to convince herself of the truth of Marie's story. +She had peered into the old cellar, which was clear of water now, +during a spell of continued clear weather, and she had seen no body of +a murdered girl lying there in ghastly decay, but only the old black +water-proof cloak, which, floating on the top of the water, had so +deceived her before. Of course, her wily foes had left it there for +that purpose, as she well knew now. + +After her one smile and nod at the party in the other box she sat +silent, glowering at Patti, who was enchanting the vast house with her +exquisite voice. Jewel scarcely heard it at all. She was listening to +other voices, impish, seducing ones, which said: + +"You ought to crush that girl from the face of the earth. You will +never have any peace until you do, for she is the evil genius of your +life. Why hesitate or falter? It was born in you both to hate each +other. Your mothers were rivals and foes. Her mother wrecked the peace +of yours. Will you let this girl, with her siren glance, cross your +path with the same fatal intent?" + +Lord Clive, when he could spare a glance from Azalia or the _diva_, +looked at the handsome trio in the opposite box, and presently he said: + +"Miss Fielding is not as handsome as she was in Boston. She seems +almost to have grown thinner, and her eyes, though bright, have a worn, +haggard look, and her expression is strange and hard. Do you observe +it, Azalia?" + +Azalia was obliged to answer in the affirmative. No one could deny the +change that terror and unrestrained jealousy and passion had worn in +distinctive lines on Jewel's beautiful lineaments. It was too plain to +deny. She looked years older and graver than a few weeks ago. + +Azalia had grown more grave and sad, too; but she tried to hide it from +her relatives and her lover. Not for worlds would she have had them +know that she was restless and unhappy, almost beyond all bearing, +since her constrained parting with Laurie Meredith. + +She could not help feeling gratified when she saw the lines of pain and +unrest on the features of her cruel half-sister. + +"She has won him from me; but she is not happy," was her conclusion. "I +wonder where he is to-night. I should like to see him again. False and +fickle as I know him to be, the old fascination steals over me when I +look at his beautiful, regular profile, his clear, brown eyes, and the +soft waves of hair that I used to thread with loving fingers. Of course +he came with them to Washington, and I suppose the reason of Jewel's +angry looks is because for some reason he could not, or would not, come +to the opera with her to-night. She is a tyrant, and will rule him +with a rod of iron, that half-sister of mine! Well, I do not pity him. +He may learn in time to regret _me_, and that will be my vengeance for +his cruelty!" + +She sighed bitterly; and Lord Clive, who had been looking into the +opposite box, started, and turned back to look at her. + +"I beg your pardon for my inattention, dearest," he murmured, tenderly. + +Azalia threw off her depression, and answered, gayly: + +"I shall be quite jealous of Miss Fielding if you continue to gaze at +her with such admiring eyes." + +His blue eyes gleamed with pleasure at the bare idea of jealousy on the +part of this cold, proud fiancée. + +"I was not even looking at Miss Fielding," he protested. "It was the +elder Miss Meredith that attracted my attention. My dear Azalia, the +girl, with her brown eyes and tawny hair, and that stately carriage, +is really a beauty. She reminds me of the Duchess De Vere, one of the +loveliest ladies in London." + +Azalia looked with pleasure at stately Edith Meredith, and also at the +pretty and _petite_ Io. Both had a look of Laurie that always made her +traitor heart beat quick and fast. + +All the evening her anxious eyes kept straying to the box. Would he not +come in during the whole time? + +No, he did not come, to her bitter disappointment; and the next day +she heard, with surprise, that he had not accompanied his party to +Washington at all, but had gone South on some important business. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + + +Face to face with her half-sister at last, with all pretenses laid +aside, Jewel had never spent a more uncomfortable hour in her life. + +She had sent a note requesting a private interview the day after the +meeting at the opera, and Azalia Brooke had granted it on the condition +that her maid should be present at the interview, stationed in an +anteroom with doors open between, so that she could see if not hear all +that passed. + +Jewel had to consent to the humiliating condition; and when she made +her appearance was not surprised to find her runaway Maria seated +complacently in the anteroom with a malicious grin upon her pretty face. + +"She knows so many of our secrets already that I thought it would not +matter having her here as a precautionary measure for my own safety," +Miss Brooke proclaimed, frankly; and as Jewel frowned darkly upon her, +she added, coolly: "Yes, I am Flower, as you charged in your note; but +I would not own it to you, only that I know you are as anxious to keep +my secret as I could be myself." + +"You do wish to keep it, then?" Jewel sneered, vindictively. + +"Yes, I wish to keep it," the other answered, and a passionate despair +thrilled in her low, sweet voice. "Lord Ivon is very proud, and it is +hard for him to bear the stain upon my birth. I think it would kill him +if he knew that other dark story of man's deceit and betrayed love." + +"Tell me how and where you met Lord Ivon, and why he adopted you," her +half-sister said, curiously; and in as few words as possible Azalia +Brooke related the story. + +"So you really are related to that distinguished family?" her +half-sister exclaimed, in palpable chagrin. + +"Yes; and I have a horror of their ever knowing the whole of my sad +story, so I have deceived them, but it is for their own good." + +Jewel could not repress a sneer, as she said: + +"I thought you too goody-goody to deceive them so, although I remember +now that you kept your intimacy with Laurie Meredith hid to the last +from your mother, as you then believed her to be. But do you really +intend to carry your brazenness so far as to marry Lord Clive without +confessing the truth?" + +"Oh, Jewel, I can never marry Lord Clive! I never meant to do it, but +I promised it to pique Laurie, to force him to a self-betrayal, if +possible. He was sitting near by. Lord Clive did not know it, but I +did. I thought if Laurie loved me still, that if I were really his +wife, he would claim me at once. And so--Heaven forgive me--I toyed +with a man's heart just as mine had been treated. I promised to marry +Lord Clive, and when I found that Laurie did not care, I almost died +of chagrin and repentance. Of course, I can never marry Lord Clive--I, +with my soiled fame and broken heart, but day by day I put off the +telling--because--because--he loves me so, and it is so hard to wound +him--him, and those good people who have taken me to their heart, +forgiving the dark stain upon my birth." + +"You are a fool, Flower Fielding, as I've often told you before. Why, +there's nothing to prevent your marrying the man. I will keep your +secret if you will go back to England and marry him." + +"I can not do it," Flower answered, sorrowfully. "Even if there was +nothing else, it would be a sin to marry him, with my heart full of +love for another." + +"Another man!" + +"Yes, Jewel," and the girl suddenly fell down upon her knees before the +frowning, dark-faced beauty. "Oh, my sister," she wailed, "have you not +guessed my bitter secret? I love Laurie still, in spite of my wrongs, +in spite of my pride! Oh, tell me, is it really true that I was never +his wife, or have you deceived me? Have you both deceived me, because +he grew weary of me so soon? How did you win him from me after all his +vows?" + +Jewel gazed into the tear-wet, suppliant face, with anger and +consternation. It was worse than she thought. Her sister actually +dared to love Laurie Meredith still! Why, she was courting her doom by +that candid avowal! + +And, as if to incense her still further, the unhappy girl continued, +wildly: + +"I know I ought to hate him, but I can not do it, no matter how hard I +try; and I think it is because I can never seem to comprehend him as he +really is. My love seems to glorify him and make him better than other +men, while in reality he is worse. But I have loved him so--and he +was the father of my child, you know, Jewel, and it was such a lovely +little baby! Oh, Jewel, could you but have seen my little Douglas, with +his own papa's lovely brown eyes, you must have loved him, and been +kinder to me. It was not my fault Laurie loved me first." + +"Hush! Get up!" Jewel hissed, with such murderous fury in her face +and glance that her half-sister started up in terror of her life, +and retreated toward the anteroom. "Come back, you coward!" Jewel +exclaimed, harshly, "I am not going to kill you, unless you talk to +me in such a strain again. But if you did, and there were a hundred +present, I believe I should fly at you." + +Flower shivered through all her slender frame at those cruel words, and +sunk down sobbing bitterly into a chair. + +Jewel glared at her in fierce displeasure, a few moments, then said, in +low, cutting accents: + +"You had as well go back to England and marry your grand lover, for +Laurie Meredith is as dead to you as if the grass was indeed growing on +his grave. Do you think he did not recognize you? He laughed with me +about it, and said that he had half a mind to give Lord Clive a hint of +your character. I persuaded him not to do so, telling him it was unfair +after the way he had treated you." + +"He could say that? Oh, my God! he could menace me like that?" Flower +whispered, with a strange gleam in her dilated eyes. + +"Yes, he could do so. That is nothing. It is the way of men," Jewel +replied, indifferently. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + + +She went away at last, having utterly failed in all her efforts to +cajole Flower into a solemn promise to marry Lord Clive. + +"I could not deceive him so, and I am too proud to confess my bitter +secret to him; so, in a short while I shall break my engagement," the +girl said, with sorrowful firmness. + +Jewel repressed all expression of her hate for her half-sister as +much as possible. She wanted to be on good terms with her in order to +further her own nefarious designs. + +But it was very hard to keep her temper when the poor girl, meekly +dismissing her own grievances, asked, eagerly: + +"Jewel, do you ever go to see mam--I mean your mother?" + +"No, never! I stood her ravings at home until I became almost as mad as +she was, and I have no fancy for a second experience! The doctor keeps +me posted as to her condition." + +"But, Jewel, will you not go and see her once? I do not believe she +is mad now, for even so long ago as that day in the grave-yard she +seemed to me almost sane. And, with kind treatment, she ought to have +been cured by this time. Poor soul! I feel so sorry for her. I can not +forget that she gave me a mother's love for seventeen years." + +"The doctor never told me of her escape that time," Jewel said, angrily. + +"He looked like a bad man," Flower said. "Perhaps she is in her right +mind now, and you ought to take her away into a pleasant home and make +her life endurable." + +An angry frown drew Jewel's brows together. + +"Oh, stop your preaching!" she exclaimed, impatiently. "Mamma is +incurably insane, and will never come out of that asylum alive!" and +with that she took her leave, smiling wickedly as she went along the +broad corridors of the large hotel. + +Flower began to pace quickly up and down the room, but was arrested by +Marie, who caught her arm and held her back. + +"Look there upon the floor, Miss Brooke," she said. "Ah, she was vair +cunning. She thought we did not see her place the little box under the +chair, when she stooped to arrange her skirts! Ugh, it is no doubt a +dynamite bomb!" + +"Ah, no, no, Marie, she could not do _that_, and she my half-sister!" +shuddered Flower. + +"And your rival," added the French maid, knowingly. "See, mademoiselle, +you will come into the anteroom. I will open the back window which +looks down on a brick-paved yard. There is no one near. Wait, I will +bring the little box very careful, afraid of my life. I toss it from +the window. See!" + +The box, only half as long as her hand, a simple, innocent-looking +thing, was hurled quickly from the window. There was the swift sound of +a crash on the pavement, followed by a loud explosion. Marie shut down +the window with a bang, and caught the trembling figure in her arms. + +"You understand, ma'amselle, that your rival is fully determined to +sweep you from her path," she said, warningly. "If you had struck your +little foot sharply against that box in walking, or drawn forward the +chair over it, there must have been an explosion that would have ended +both your life and mine!" + +Flower shuddered and hid her pallid face in her hands, wondering at the +wickedness of her half-sister. + +"But I was watching very close," Maria continued, complacently. "This +is twice I've foiled that wicked woman. You must look to yourself, my +gentle-hearted lady, for terrible danger lurks near you. She fears and +hates you, and she will keep on trying to kill you. If you take my +advice you will deliver her up to the authorities." + +"Oh, how can I do that? She is my sister! Besides, _he_ loves her, +Marie!" Flower sighed. + +"And shows vair bad taste, in my opinion, ma'amselle," the maid +replied, candidly, and added, "and you show vair poor judgment in +letting her go free." + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + + +Azalia Brooke was touched by the devotion of the pretty maid to whom +she was thus a second time indebted for the preservation of her life. +She believed that the girl was really fond of her and true to her, and +in spite of her lowly position she regarded her as a valued friend. + +She had rewarded her handsomely for rescuing her from the terrible +cellar to which Jewel had cruelly consigned her, and the grateful girl +had been eager to quit the service of the mistress she feared for that +of the beautiful, gentle English girl. + +Little by little she had become acquainted with much of the history of +the two girls, and now it crossed the mind of Azalia to confide all to +her, under a pledge of secrecy. + +"Marie is so bright and clever that perhaps she may suggest something +that will throw light on my dark fate," she thought. + +So the piteous story of her girlhood was told with bitter sobs and +raining tears to the good Marie, who listened with pity and sympathy +for the lovely young victim, and deep indignation against the foes who +had wronged her so heartlessly. + +"And you were his wife--Mr. Meredith's wife? How dare he then think +of making Miss Fielding his bride?" she demanded, in her excitable +_mélange_ of French and English so impossible to reproduce on paper, +pieced out as it was with expressive gestures. + +"I believed myself his wife," Azalia said, with burning cheeks; "but +Jewel declares that he deceived me, that the marriage ceremony was a +sham. Perhaps it was, else how dare he betroth himself to Jewel beneath +my very eyes?" + +Marie's twinkling dark eyes looked up with a strange gleam. + +"He may not recognize you under this new name--he may believe you +dead," she said. + +"But Jewel has told me that he did recognize me, Marie." + +"Pouf! Miss Fielding's statements are not to be taken for the truth," +Marie answered at once, contemptuously; then she added, thoughtfully: +"But the marriage paper he gave you--I should like to know who stole +that." + +Azalia could not help owning that she had always suspected Jewel, and +almost ere the words left her lips Marie sprung to her feet, excitedly. + +"Oh, why didn't I think of it before?" she exclaimed. + +"Of course she has them, for she has some papers that I have seen her +gloating over several times, with such a happy face, that I thought +they were love letters! But now I do not doubt that they were the +papers you speak of--your marriage-certificate, and perhaps the diary +of your dead father that she stole from the cabin of the mulatto Sam." + +Azalia's beautiful, despairing face flushed suddenly with hope. + +"Oh, Marie, if we could only get possession of those papers!" she +exclaimed, eagerly. + +"And why not?" answered Marie, radiant. + +Azalia flung her beautiful white arms about the maid's neck. + +"Oh, Marie, you are a darling! You will try to get them, I know it by +your face." + +"Of course I shall," said the maid. + +She laughed outright at the thought of outwitting wicked Jewel. The +maid really enjoyed putting her clever powers to use, and she at once +began to devise schemes for obtaining the papers she had seen Jewel +exult over on several occasions. + +"But I shall have to leave your service for awhile," she said. + +"I will manage without you, for I am sure that Lady Ivon will let her +maid help me sometimes," said Azalia. + +"Then I shall go back to Miss Fielding and pretend that I am heartily +disgusted with the English aristocracy, and ask to be taken into her +service again." + +Azalia looked very grave. + +"One hates to be underhand and deceitful," she said; but Marie laughed +her objections away. + +"One must fight the devil with fire," she said, coolly; and went on +disclosing her plans. "If I get taken into her service again it will +not be long before I shall go through her baggage," she said. "If I +find that she has not got the papers with her, I shall disappear and go +immediately to Boston. Mrs. Wellings is not with her this time, so I +know she has left her to keep the house and the servants in order. It +will be no trouble for me to get into the house to visit my friend the +chamber-maid, and no trouble for me to get something I forgot when I +left there. You understand?" + +"Yes. Oh, Marie, I will make you rich for this! I am heiress to a great +fortune, and you will see that I shall reward you generously," Azalia +exclaimed, gratefully. + +Marie's face beamed with delight. + +"Then I will send for the old _père_ and _mère_ from Paris. I will +set them up in a little shop on the boulevard--what you call it, the +avenue? _Bon!_" she cried, jubilantly. + +Early the next morning Marie made her appearance at the grand hotel +where the Merediths were staying, and by an artful story contrived to +ingratiate herself again into the favor of Jewel. + +"I will tell you a secret, but pray do not breathe it to any one. I am +but a poor maid, and no one might believe me," she said, "but, Miss +Fielding, I am afraid that Miss Brooke has designs on my life. Last +night I found a little box of dynamite upon the door, and when I flung +it out of the window there was a loud explosion. I do not know what I +have done to her to incur her anger, but it certainly looked as if she +had attempted my life." + +Jewel agreed with her, and took her into her employ again, while her +heart sunk with disappointment at Azalia Brooke's escape from her +clever snare. + +"She seems to bear a charmed life. Three times she has escaped my +vengeance!" she thought, uneasily. + +But she consoled herself with the thought that yesterday's work had at +least accomplished one good turn, as it had brought the clever Marie +back into her service. She would have to contrive still another plan to +get rid of her dangerous rival. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + + +Azalia spent a very restless day and night after Marie had left her to +go upon her secret quest. Her mind was busy, and her lover, Lord Clive, +was nearly all the time in her thoughts. + +She knew that she had done him a cruel injustice in promising to become +his wife. She would never have done so had not Laurie Meredith been so +close by that she was tempted to answer "yes" in order to provoke his +wrath and jealousy. + +She had failed most ignobly. Laurie had remained cold, unmoved, +indifferent, and there remained to her nothing but the consciousness of +having made a fatal mistake, of having wronged the heart of another man +by accepting him only for a purpose that now recoiled upon her own head. + +She could never marry Lord Clive, even if she loved him, for look which +way she would she saw only the impossibility of such a marriage. + +If Marie found the marriage-certificate, and it proved her legally +Laurie Meredith's wife, she, the unacknowledged wife of an indifferent +husband, could not wed Lord Clive. On the other hand, if the marriage +had been only a sham, how could she, with that cruel stain upon her, +dare to enter one of the proudest homes of old England? Even if she +could have been dishonest enough to keep the secret, it might be found +out some day--and then? + +Azalia sunk her head in her hands and sobbed aloud: + +"No, no, I could not bear that! I must break with him even though he +curse me!" + +She kept her room for several days, feigning illness, but in reality +too wretched to meet the lover whose anger she feared and dreaded so +much. Her timid heart ached with pain because of the pain she must +inflict on Lord Clive. + +But she could not feign illness always. Lady Ivon grew impatient of her +seclusion, declaring that she was only moping, that she would be better +if she would come into their private parlor and see Lord Clive, who was +always hanging about, sending messages and flowers to his invisible +lady-love. + +"I will come down presently. Tell him so for me, please," the girl +said, patiently; and when the door had closed upon Lady Ivon's silken +trailing skirts, she fell down upon her knees and begged God to forgive +her for the wrong she had done to Lord Clive, and to help her to bear +his anger when she told him the truth. + +He was waiting in the handsome private parlor belonging to Lord Ivon's +elegant suite of rooms at Willard's Hotel, and when she came gliding +in, softly as a spirit in her long gown of rich black velvet, he came +eagerly to meet her, exclaiming: + +"My darling, I am glad you are well enough to come out again, for I +have missed you very much." + +"Thank you, Lord Clive," she said, in a constrained voice; and evading +the arms outstretched to embrace her, she sunk wearily into a chair. + +He followed, and sat down by her side. + +"Oh, you have been ill--you are pale and wan indeed, Azalia. I see now +that I did you an injustice, for I half believed, like Lady Ivon, that +it was a fit of _ennui_ or the _dismals_." + +The blue eyes turned eagerly to his face, and he could see that she was +trembling very much. + +"Poor child!" he said, compassionately, attempting to press her hand; +but she drew it quickly away, and exclaimed: + +"You were right, Lord Clive. It was not that I was sick, only dismal +and wretched. Yes, I will tell you the truth now. I was not ill, only +frightened--of _you_!" + +The low voice faltered, and she stole a pleading glance at him that +mystified him even more than her words. + +"Frightened of me! I do not understand you, Azalia," he said, +inquiringly. + +"I had--something--to tell you," faltered the frightened voice. "Oh, +Lord Clive, do not look at me so kindly for presently you will hate me! +I--I--want to take back my promise! I can not learn to love you, so I +can never marry you!" + +When he recovered from the severe shock she had given him he attempted +to expostulate with her, to reason with her, but all to no purpose, for +she would only reiterate her declaration that she could never marry +him, and beg him to forgive her for what she had done. + +His handsome blonde face grew pale with emotion. + +"Your reasons for this strange step, Azalia?" he said at last, +haughtily, indignation beginning to work in his breast. + +"I do not love you," she faltered, faintly. + +"You told me that before, yet you did me the honor to accept my offer; +so there must be some newer reason," said Lord Clive. + +She began to sob bitterly, and he said, impatiently: + +"I am waiting for your answer, Miss Brooke." + +Driven to bay, she answered, sobbingly: + +"I can give you no reason; for, although one exists, I am too great a +coward to confess it. I can only throw myself on your pity and your +mercy, Lord Clive." + +"But you are not showing me any mercy or pity," he replied, in a deeply +offended tone. + +"Am I not, Lord Clive? Then I will show no mercy to myself. Listen, +then: I am an arrant coquette. When I accepted your offer I knew quite +well that I could never marry you. But it was to pique another, whom I +cared for, into a confession of his love that I played with your heart. +There; have I lowered myself sufficiently in your eyes?" + +The handsome nobleman arose, pale with passion. + +"You have made me quite willing to relinquish all claims upon you, Miss +Brooke," he said, with haughty sarcasm, adding, still more bitterly: "I +trust your clever ruse brought him to your feet." + +"Ah, no, no!" she cried, in a broken voice; but at that moment the door +opened, admitting Lord and Lady Ivon and some visitors--Mrs. Meredith, +her two daughters, and Jewel Fielding. + +Azalia rose quietly and greeted the visitors, trembling when the +hateful glance of Jewel met her own. + +"She is regretting that I was not killed by the dynamite bomb she left +in my room," she thought, nervously. "Ah, with what a deadly hatred she +regards me! She will never relax in her deadly purpose until I am dead +and out of her way." + +Mrs. Meredith came and sat down by her side, almost furtively, in her +fear of offending jealous Jewel. + +"You are not looking well, my dear," she said, almost tenderly, for she +had taken a serious fancy to the lovely girl. + +Azalia knew that Lord Clive was listening angrily for her reply, and +answered, truthfully: + +"I have been unhappy over something, Mrs. Meredith, and it has made me +feel almost ill!" + +"Unhappy! What, my dear girl, with all your blessings!" exclaimed the +astonished matron; and she could not help letting her glance fall on +Lord Clive, who frowned and moved restlessly in his seat. + +"Ah, it is only a lover's quarrel!" she thought, astutely; and hastily +led the conversation to something less personal than Miss Brooke's +looks. + +There was a slight break in the conversation, and to her horror Azalia +heard Jewel saying: + +"I know you have often wondered, Lady Ivon, why I fainted the night +when I first met your beautiful niece, Miss Brooke." + +Lady Ivon coughed slightly, and answered, with cool politeness: + +"I merely supposed the rooms were too warm for you, Miss Fielding." + +"Ah, no, it was not that!" said Jewel. Her handsome head, in its plumed +bonnet of ruby plush, was thrown backward, and her eyes had a malicious +light, her mouth a wicked, defiant smile, as if some secret, exultant +thought moved her to speech. + +"I am going to tell you the reason," continued Jewel, looking straight +into Lady Ivon's face. + + + + +CHAPTER L. + + +Lord and Lady Ivon knew from Azalia's own confession that Jewel +Fielding was the cruel half-sister whose machinations had driven her +from home, but they did not intend that Jewel should find out her +despised half-sister in this proud, lovely young great-granddaughter. + +So they united in bestowing upon her glances of freezing hauteur, which +did not in the least deter her from her purpose. + +"I am going to tell you why I fainted," said Jewel. "It was because +Miss Brooke was the living image of a sister I had lost, and it +startled me so that I lost my senses." + +No one answered, no one moved, and Jewel continued, smoothly: + +"It is so remarkable a likeness that it shocks me even yet whenever +I see Miss Brooke, and more than ever to-night, for she looks pale +and sad, and that was how poor Flower looked for many days before she +ran away and was lost in the wide world, or drowned in the great sea, +perhaps, for I have never been able to learn whether she's alive or +dead." + +Azalia made a slight movement as if to rise to her feet, then sunk +back, too weak to obey the longing that urged her to fly from +the disgraceful revelation trembling on the lips of her fiendish +half-sister. She leaned her golden head back against the velvet chair +and watched Jewel with pleading, piteous eyes. + +The pitiless voice went on, cruelly: + +"I am sure that Miss Brooke there would not be disobedient or deceitful +to her guardians; but, alas, my sister Flower was very different +in spite of her angelic expression. She had a lover of whom mamma +disapproved so strongly that she forbid Flower ever to speak to him. +But, willful child that she was, Flower would not listen. She met her +lover in secret until he wearied of his plaything and deserted her to +the fate she had brought upon herself. When mamma found out the truth, +and realized that disgrace had come to the proud name of Fielding, +she went mad and had to be removed to an insane asylum. Flower ran +away, and many believed that she drowned herself. I always hoped that +she had, for I preferred death for my beautiful, willful young sister +rather than that she should have followed her false-hearted lover into +the world." + +She paused, and every one in the room drew a long breath, then waited +for her further speech. + +She gave a little laugh that jarred painfully on every heart. + +"Is it any wonder that I fainted on beholding Miss Brooke?" she +continued, thrillingly. "I had hoped, even prayed, that my erring +sister was dead, and yet she seemed, all in a minute, to start up +before me, living and smiling as in the happy days ere she went astray. +Of course, I knew that it was nothing but a resemblance, yet it +startled, unnerved me--" + +The dark eyes were looking with strange intentness into the white face +over yonder. They saw Azalia's white lips part, then close without a +sound. + +Then-- + +"Miss Fielding, you have told your story with such realism that the +horror of it seems to weigh me down," said Lady Ivon. "I am sure we all +sympathize with you in your trouble over your erring sister. No wonder +the sight of Azalia moves you so much. I could wish she did not bear +any resemblance to your unfortunate relative." + +Jewel sneered contemptuously into her face. + +"You are proud. You would not fancy such a disgrace in the family," she +said. + +"No," said the old lady, spiritedly, "I should not like it, Miss +Fielding, and if I had to endure it, I should try to keep it hidden +like a skeleton in a closet; I should not babble of my disgrace as you +have had the bad taste to do!" + +Jewel laughed insolently, and answered: + +"Yes, I knew all your pride, and that made me all the more determined +to expose my deceitful sister." + + + + +CHAPTER LI. + + +Every one rose simultaneously, and Mrs. Meredith exclaimed, in a +shocked tone: + +"Jewel!" + +Mrs. Meredith knew nothing of Azalia Brooke's sad history. She believed +that Jewel's fierce jealousy had driven her mad, hence her startled cry. + +But the vindictive girl took no notice of the lady. She turned to Lord +Clive, and said, with a smile of cruel exultation: + +"Perhaps I might not have spoken, only for the sake of saving you from +a union with one so wicked and sin-stained. I recognized my sister that +night when I fainted; but I did not intend to betray her, and would not +have done so now only that she might not deceive an honest man into +making her his wife." + +Azalia Brooke, drooping in her chair like a broken lily, realized +then that she had made a fatal mistake in admitting her identity and +trusting faithless Jewel with her story. + +Her half-sister's cruel aim flashed over her mind like lightning. + +She hoped that her hapless victim's lover and relatives would turn +against her when they heard that disgraceful story, and that they would +cast her forth in disgrace, so that she would be thrown friendless and +helpless on the world. + +This, indeed, was Jewel's cruel intention, and she said to herself +that if her plan succeeded poor Flower should never live to see Laurie +Meredith again. + +Everyone looked at Flower, hoping that she would deny Jewel's dreadful +charge. + +Alas! that beautiful bowed head told its own story of bitter shame and +sorrow. There was nothing for her to say. The bitter secret, kept so +long, was dragged to the light of day at last. + +"Azalia!" Lady Ivon exclaimed, imploringly. + +But the golden head only sunk lower in its terrible despair. + +Lord Clive looked from the dark, vindictive face of Jewel Fielding to +that downcast, despairing one of her persecuted half-sister. All his +manhood rose to the surface, the nobility inherited from a long line of +stainless ancestry shone in his clear blue eyes. Looking into Jewel's +face, with scorn in his eyes, he said, distinctly: + +"Your solicitude for me was a wasted effort, Miss Fielding, as Miss +Brooke had already taken back her promise to me. I understand her +reasons now, but it only increases my respect for her, as I am sure she +was deceived, else such an angel had not fallen." + +At those kindly words Flower's pale face was raised, and she said, in a +faltering voice: + +"Lord Clive, I thank you for those kind words in my defense. You +only do me justice in your belief, for I was deceived by a mock +marriage--deceived by one who might have remained true to me only that +she--my sister there--lured him from me." + +An exultant laugh came from those beautiful red lips of Jewel. + +"I warned you that I would punish you for trying to take him from me," +she said, in a hissing voice, like a serpent's. "He belonged to me +first, and you came between us. He turned to you for a little while, +but it was a mere fancy, as I told you, and I had my revenge when he +deserted you to your fate." + +Every one remained silent, too shocked to speak, and the vindictive +Jewel stood in the center of the room, mistress of the situation, +evilly beautiful in her glowing crimson robe, and with that fire of +hate on her dusky face. + +Mrs. Meredith, with an impulse of strong womanly pity, let her gloved +hand fall softly on Flower's, and rest there, clasping it with tender +pity. Her two handsome daughters stood gazing with infinite pity on the +lovely girl thus crushed beneath the weight of a sister's vengeance. + +Lord Clive looked at old Lord Ivon who had sunk back into his chair +ghastly pale, and muttering incoherently to himself, dazed by the shock +he had received in learning of the brand of deep disgrace that lay on +his great-granddaughter. The hearers shuddered, for the sound of curses +on those aged lips was something unseemly and unfitting. + +Lord Clive saw that the old man, bowed so low beneath age and sorrow, +was in no fit state to defend the outraged honor of the house of Ivon. +His decision was at once taken, and crossing the room with a princely +mien, he took Azalia Brooke's hand in his, and said, bravely: + +"Azalia, I lay down the rôle of lover to take up that of a brother. The +honor of one of England's proudest names has been outraged by a dastard +too mean to live, and his life shall pay the forfeit." + +"Lord Clive!" she exclaimed, in a startled voice. + +"Yes, I take up your quarrel," he said, sternly, and with a deep glow +on his handsome cheek. "I, your brother, will avenge the wrong that has +been done you! I will not let an hour pass ere I seek him, the cowardly +betrayer of innocence! Quick, tell me his name, his home!" + +As he held her little hand he felt a quick shudder run through her +frame, and she gasped in horror: + +"Oh, my God! you would murder him!" + +"Yes, like a dog!" the young earl exclaimed, bitterly. "What, shall +the earth be cumbered longer with such a wretch? His name, my unhappy +sister!" + +"No, no!" she answered, with a shudder, and her blue eyes sought +Jewel's, that had suddenly grown wild and terrified. + +All at once the vindictive girl had realized that the vengeance she was +taking on unhappy Flower was beginning to recoil upon her own head. + + "Revenge is a naked sword-- + It hath neither hilt nor guard. + Wouldst thou wield this brand of the Lord? + Is thy grasp, then, firm and hard? + + "But the closer thy clutch of the blade. + The deadlier blow thou wouldst deal, + Deeper wound in thy hand is made, + It is _thy_ blood reddens the steel. + + "And when thou hast dealt the blow-- + When the blade from thy hand has flown-- + Instead of the heart of thy foe + Thou mayst find it sheathed in thine own!" + +Jewel met the glance of those despairing eyes, and her brain reeled +with horror; she said to herself: + +"She will speak presently, she will betray him that she may be revenged +for what she deems his treachery and mine! Oh, God, this is the end of +all my schemes! He will be murdered through my folly, and I shall have +lost him after all I have done for the sake of his love!" + +Suddenly Lord Clive flung the hand of Flower from him and strode up to +Jewel. + +"Your sister will not speak. She has a mawkish pity for that villain," +he said, sternly. "But you, Miss Fielding, have no tender scruples. +Pity was left out of your make-up, I think. So you will be glad for +poor Flower's betrayer to pay the penalty of his sin. Speak! Tell me +the dastard's name!" + +"Never!" she shrieked, wildly, throwing up her arms and gazing at him +with an appalled face. At the same time Flower plucked timidly at his +sleeve. + +"Oh, Lord Clive, let it go. Do not seek to avenge me!" she murmured, +excitedly. "She will not tell you his name! Alas! he is dear to her, +too! We will never speak!" + +In her eagerness she forgot that by her own words she was betraying the +secret she sought to guard so jealously. + +Who in that room but knew that Jewel's heart was set on handsome Laurie +Meredith? + +A dismayed exclamation went up from every throat, and Lord Clive's +voice rang loudest of all: + +"Laurie Meredith!" + +He sprung toward the door, opened it, and before any one could stay him +passed beyond arrest, though Jewel's voice called wildly, frantically +on his name. + +In the room which he had left there ensued a wild, excited scene. +Flower and the younger Meredith girl had fallen fainting on the floor, +Jewel Fielding was raving in the wildest hysterics, Lord and Lady Ivon +lay back in their chairs, incapable of anything but incoherent ravings, +Mrs. Meredith and stately Io had to restrain the agony that ached at +their hearts in order to care for the others. Lady Ivon's maid was +hastily summoned, and then a physician was called in to administer +a sedative to the raving Jewel, who in her while forebodings of her +lover's death was realizing so vividly that revenge is a two-edged +sword. + + "Instead of the heart of thy foe + Thou mayst find it sheathed in thine own!" + + + + +CHAPTER LII. + + +Laurie Meredith's trip South furnished him the desired clew. + +Springville was such a small place that he had no difficulty in +prosecuting his inquiries into the antecedents of Flower Fielding. +Every one almost in the village could tell him something of ill-fated +Daisy Forrest and the circumstances surrounding her sorrowful death. +From that it was an easy transition to her lovely daughter, who, having +come back for the purpose of visiting her mother's grave, had been so +strangely discovered by the lawyer who had come over from England to +seek an heir for the desolate house of Ivon. + +It was from the old sexton himself that Laurie heard the touching +story of all that had happened by Daisy Forrest's grave, and his heart +thrilled with grief over the hapless girl, his adored wife, thus thrown +upon the charity of the cold world. + +"I thank Heaven that she found an asylum in her friendliness," he said, +although it was painful to think that she had ceased to love him so +long ago that now she could meet him and conceal her identity in the +fear that he might claim her as his own. + +"But I shall never do that, for I am as proud as Lord Ivon's heiress, +and, though I love her to madness, I will never even see her again +unless she recalls me to her side," he mused; and then he realized, +with a start, that now he could not marry Jewel Fielding since he felt +so sure that Azalia Brooke was no other than his lost wife, lovely, +fickle, willful Flower. + +"Poor Jewel! she will take it hard, losing me like this," he thought, +remembering her mad love with manly pity. + +He asked himself if he should tell Jewel what he had discovered, and +decided that he would not do so. + +"Let Azalia Brooke keep her secret. I love her too well to betray her +even to the sister who mourns her as dead. She may even marry Lord +Clive, and believe herself safe under the mask of Lord Ivon's heiress. +If I was wrong in binding her to me ere she fully knew her own +heart, I will atone by 'silence to the death,'" he sighed, with loyal +self-sacrifice. + +He rewarded the old sexton most generously for his information; then, +after some grave and thoughtful minutes spent by the grave of Daisy +Forrest, he determined to return at once to Boston. + +But while walking back to the little hotel, a startling thought came to +him. + +That dream of the mulatto man, Sam--what if it were no dream, but a +reality? + +Flower had not drowned herself that night, although Jewel had been so +positive of the fact. + +She had borne a child, his unhappy young girl-wife. What had become of +the little one? + +If it had died--his dear little child that he had never seen--he should +like to stand beside its grave. If it had lived, and the young mother, +in her desperation, had cast it off, he should like to have it--should +like to carry it home to his mother, and, telling her some of the +circumstances of his secret marriage, ask her to cherish it for the +sake of its lovely young mother, who was dead. + +Yes, he would tell her that the child's mother was dead. That would be +best; no one should learn the secret of Lord Ivon's great-granddaughter. + +"The child will be all mine, but that fair, proud beauty is not for +me," he sighed, then pulled himself together with a start. "I am +dreaming! Of course the child is dead. But I will go to Virginia all +the same." + + + + +CHAPTER LIII. + + +Few of us find our cherished dreams come true, but Laurie Meredith +had that pleasure, for on Poky's cabin floor he found his own child +playing--a dimpled tot of three years, with Flower's arch and lovely +face lighted by his own brown eyes. + +Poky did not attempt to deny the truth. She was only too happy to see +Laurie Meredith and confide to him the whole story of her possession of +the child. + +"I lied about it before for Miss Flower's sake," she said. "She was so +terribly 'fraid of Miss Jule dat she wouldn't 'low me to tell de trufe +eben to Sam, and she stole away, leabing de baby for dead in my arms, +and Lor', what a shock it gin me to feel, it move presently and open +its big eyes at me! 'Twan't dead at all, only smothered like for a few +minutes. Well, Miss Flower were gone den, so I concluded to take keer +o' de little one till she come back. But, Lor', she never did come +back, and I began to think she must be dead, when one day dere came a +letter wid a money order for five hundred dollars from ober in Lon'on. +I ain't got no friends in Lon'on, and says I to myself, 'tis from Miss +Flower. She done got rich somehow, but dere warn't no 'dress in de +letter, so what could I do to let her know dat little Douglas was alive +arter all? Nuthin', Massa Meredith, and I wouldn't never send word to +you 'cause I'se feard you wouldn't keer 'bout my sweet little Douglas. +But bein' as you has found it out, I'se glad, 'cause how I've been +worried nights thinkin' as how 'twan't right to raise that little w'ite +chile along o' my black one!" for Poky had a two-year-old, a bright +image of Sam, playing about the cabin floor. + +Laurie Meredith took the bright, neatly dressed Douglas in his arms and +told him that he was his own papa, and that he was going to carry him a +long ways off to live with his dear grandmamma in Boston. + +Here Sam lounged in, and great was his delight at seeing Laurie +Meredith again, and hearing that little Douglas was his own child. + +"Dat's what I always thought, although Poky would insist dat she foun' +it down in de ole barn one day, and didn't know whose chile 'twas, +anyway," he said, with a grin of delight. + +Then, having found out long ago, through mysterious hints of his clever +wife, that it was Jewel who had abstracted his precious papers, he +proceeded to gratify his spite against her by informing Laurie of the +part he had played that night in taking that important letter to Flower +and returning the answer that had so fatally changed the current of +Flower Fielding's life. + +"Arter things turned out so strange I was allays afeered, Massa Laurie, +as how I done wrong a-giving her de letter, but co'se I didn't know den +what a snake in de grass she was, anyway." + +While Laurie gazed at him with dilated eyes, he continued: + +"What makes me all de more sure dat she played me false dat night is +dis: De young pos'-office clerk, he usen to be despret in love with +Miss Flower, and last year, w'en he died wid de fever, he 'fessed to +de preacher dat he usen to gib Miss Jewel all de letters you sent her +sister through de pos'-office, likewise hers to you, Massa Laurie. Miss +Jewel promised to marry him, but she went away to some big city, and he +nebber heerd of her no more. Lord-a-massy, Poky, look at de man--he's +a-dying!" + +"No, I am not dying, Sam, although this shock has driven the blood +from my face," faintly uttered Laurie Meredith. He struggled with +his weakness a few moments, then added, "My good woman, get my child +ready, for I must go at once to right the wrong that was begun by +Sam's treachery to me that night, and by Jewel Fielding's sin. Out of +my sight, man, for I feel tempted to rend you limb from limb! Nothing +saves you except that your wife's beautiful humanity in this whole +affair condones somewhat for your sin. For her noble sake I forego my +revenge, and spare you!" + + + + +CHAPTER LIV. + + +Laurie Meredith no longer thought of taking his child to his mother, +now that he knew that Flower had been the victim of a cruel plot; for +he began to believe that if all could be cleared up between them, she +would gladly come back to his loyal heart. + +He knew that Lord Ivon and his party were in Washington, and he +determined to go there with the child and try his fate. + +Curbing his impatience by awkward yet loving efforts to amuse the +bright, intelligent little Douglas, who grieved after Poky and Sam, the +only friends his young life had ever known, he journeyed to Washington, +and on arriving there went at once to Willard's Hotel, where he secured +a room for himself and his quaintly dressed little son. + +He had heard nothing of his mother's being in Washington, and it was +a startling event to him when he suddenly came face to face with her +as he was going along a corridor to his room--a more startling event +to her, for she flung her arms impetuously about his neck, exclaiming, +wildly: + +"Laurie! Oh, my son--alive, alive! Thank the good God for His mercies!" + +He returned her embrace with interest; then drew her into his room, and +seating her in an arm-chair, said tenderly: + +"Dear mother, this is a pleasant surprise; I did not know you were in +Washington." + +"I came here almost two weeks ago with Jewel Fielding. She made me +come. She thought you were here--that you had followed Miss Brooke. +Oh, Laurie, dear, how glad I am that you escaped that terrible man! +He would have killed you if he had found you. Oh, it has all been so +dreadful, and we have suffered torments about you! But, oh, dear! my +son, where did that strange-looking child come from? Is it a ghost? I +never saw it till this minute." + +Laurie turned to her with a serious, puzzled face, and answered: + +"Mother, I've been tempted to believe you were crazy, the way you've +been running on, and I fear you'll think the same of me when I tell you +this boy is my own child. Forgive me for keeping a secret from you so +long, but I've been married going upon four years, and this is Douglas +Meredith, your own little grandson." + +"Married?" she echoed, without half so much surprise as he had +expected, and again winding her arms about his neck she kissed his +brow, and said, solemnly: + +"I knew it could not be true what Jewel said, that you had wronged her +sister. I knew my boy was too noble to commit such a terrible sin!" + +"When you have welcomed your grandson, mother, you shall explain all +this mysterious talk," he said; for he comprehended that she had +learned something of his and Flower's sad story. + +"It is Flower's child?" she said; and when he answered yes she took +little Douglas into her arms and fondly caressed him while hurriedly +telling her son all that had happened since his hurried departure for +the South. + +He in his turn confided to her everything, and ended by asking +anxiously if she thought it likely that Flower would ever care for him +again when she learned the treachery by which they had been parted. + +"Miss Brooke is very ill, Laurie. It is a slow fever, the doctor says. +She has been in bed ever since that dreadful scene three days ago when +Lord Clive started out to kill you." + +"I am very glad I escaped his blood-thirsty lordship," he said, with a +faint smile. "But, mother, are they going to let me see her soon?" + +"I think they will, for that clever maid of Flower's got back from +Boston yesterday with some papers she had stolen from Jewel's trunk, +and among them was the long-missing marriage-certificate. Oh, my son, +you can not think how glad those dear old people were to find out that +Flower was really your wife--and, oh, by the way," with a start, "this +little boy, with his funny dress, and solemn eyes, your son, dear, will +inherit the title and estates after old Lord Ivon." + +"I can not think of that yet, dear mother, my heart is full of my wife." + +"Yes, dear boy, I know, and presently I will break it all to her, and +let you go into her room. But I have so much to tell you, and you had +better hear it first. Be patient a little while, please." + +"I will listen, mother, because you insist on it; but I can not promise +to be patient," he answered, gravely. + +"But, Laurie, it is better I should tell you, for if I do not, Flower +will insist on telling all herself, and she is too weak for that. It is +only this: Among the papers that Jewel Fielding had hidden away was the +diary of that poor, weak Charley Fielding--a book like himself, full of +good and evil. And what do you think? Why, it was Flower's mother after +all who was his legal wife." + +"Mother!" radiantly. + +"Yes," she said, hurrying on. "But he treated her badly, poor thing. +It was a secret marriage, and when she begged to have it made public, +to save her fair fame, he quarreled with her, and declared that the +marriage ceremony had been a sham. Then he married the heiress for her +money. But she was so jealous she made him repent of his sin. Oh, it +would make you weep to read the poor, erring soul's diary, it is so +full of grief and remorse, and--well he killed himself, you know." + +"Yes," he said, then his splendidly handsome face grew dark with anger. +"And to think," he said, bitterly, "that Jewel Fielding knew all this +yet could be capable of such infamous cruelty!" + +Mrs. Meredith's face grew solemn. + +"Poor Jewel, you must not think too hardly of her, Laurie," she said, +with womanly compassion. "Remember the jealous nature and the taint of +madness that she inherited from her mother. Remember her fatal love for +you that set into active motion the wickedest elements of her strange +nature." + +"I can remember all; but it will still be impossible for me to forgive +her all that she made my darling suffer," he replied. + +"But, Laurie, dear, she is raving mad, and has been so ever since Lord +Clive went away declaring that he would kill you for the wrong you had +done to Flower." + +"It was very noble in Lord Clive. I should have deserved death if I had +done as Jewel Fielding said I had," he replied. + +"So Jewel is incurably insane," went on Mrs. Meredith. "She believes +that Lord Clive killed you, and she hates Flower so terribly that she +is always crying out for her sister's life. Is it not horrible? But she +will be removed to an asylum to-morrow, and the physicians declare that +she will never regain her senses. But, oh, Laurie, what do you think +she did to cap the climax of her evil deeds?" + +"I can not imagine what more horrible thing she could have committed," +her son replied. + +"Could you not? Well, that wretched mother of hers, who was sent to +the lunatic asylum, you know, regained her senses more than two years +ago, but Jewel, by the connivance of a wicked physician, would not +permit her to return to the world again. Our sweet Flower found it out +through a letter that Jewel dropped accidentally, and--" + +"Hasten, mother," he interposes, imploringly. + +"Yes," said Mrs. Meredith--"so we have got her out of the asylum. +She is here with us, so changed, so penitent, and so fond of Flower, +and grateful for getting out of her prison. She has forgiven Charley +Fielding since she read his diary, and found out all that he suffered +in his terrible remorse for his sin. But, Laurie, the only amusing +thing of all that has happened was that Io fell in love with Lord Clive +because he took Flower's part so bravely and was going to kill you. She +declares he is the greatest hero in the world." + +"I hope she will console him for Flower's loss; but, mother, how you +gossip when you know--" + +She did not wait to hear the sentence finished, but went out, and +stayed fifteen minutes, that seemed like fifteen years to her son's +impatient heart. + +Then she came back and led him and little Douglas to a room a little +lower down the corridor. She opened the door, and Laurie saw a lovely, +pale face lying back upon a pillow, a smile of welcome on the tender +lips. With a wildly throbbing heart he went in and closed the door. + +Went in to find once more a love and happiness lost so long, but +regained now for all time and all eternity. + + +THE END. + + + + +The Housewife's Manual + +_or How to Keep House and Order at Home_ + + +[Illustration] + +Complete information on all matters pertaining to the operation of a +happy household. + +Containing directions on how to dye, cleanse and renovate--how to +cultivate Plants and Flowers--how to care for Household Pets--how to +cut, fit and make Garments, etc. + +Every Wife and Housekeeper should have this book. + + +Sent prepaid to any address upon receipt of 15 cents in stamps or money. + + THE ARTHUR WESTBROOK COMPANY + Publishers + Cleveland, Ohio, U. S. A. + + + + + The Old Three Witches + DREAM BOOK + Including Napoleon's Oraculum + +[Illustration] + +Amazing in its interpretation of Dreams. Intelligent people everywhere +held spellbound by its uncanny revelations. 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S. A. + + + + +HYPNOTISM + +WHAT IT IS AND HOW TO USE IT + +BY E. H. ELDRIDGE, A. M. + +Professor of Psychology, Temple College + + +[Illustration] + +Hypnotism and its relation to the mind. Instructions for testing +Subjects, Dangers, Treatment of Disease, Mind Reading, Personal +Magnetism, Different Stages of Hypnotism, the famous Nancy Method, etc. + +To anyone interested in the wonderful study of Hypnotism this book will +prove invaluable. It is complete and authoritative. + +Sent postpaid to any address upon receipt of 25 cents in money or +stamps. + + THE ARTHUR WESTBROOK COMPANY, + Publishers + Cleveland, Ohio, U. S. A. + + + + +THE ALL STAR SERIES + + Charles Garvice Bertha M. Clay + Charlotte M. Braeme + + + 1--Adrian Leroy, Charles Garvice. + + 2--Farmer Holt's Daughter, Charles Garvice. + + 3--Royal Signet, Charles Garvice. + + 4--The Sculptor's Wooing, Charles Garvice. + + 5--Woven on Fate's Loom--On Her Wedding Morn, C. Garvice. + + 6--The Mistress of Court of Regna, Charles Garvice. + + 7--Claire, Charles Garvice. + + 8--A Coronet of Shame, Charles Garvice. + + 9--Love of A Life Time, Charles Garvice. + + 10--His Perfect Trust, Charles Garvice. + + 11--Her Love So True, Charles Garvice. + + 12--A Bridge of Love, Between Two Lives, Bertha M. Clay. + + 13--A Golden Dawn, Bertha M. Clay. + + 14--Her Second Love, Bertha M. Clay. + + 15--A Squire's Darling, Bertha M. Clay. + + 16--The Shadow of A Sin, Bertha M. Clay. + + 17--The Shattered Idol, Bertha M. Clay. + + 18--Wedded and Parted, Bertha M. Clay. + + 19--A Queen Among Women, Bertha M. Clay. + + 20--Jennie, Bertha M. Clay. + + 21--Lady Diana's Pride, Charlotte M. Braeme. + + 22--Catherine's Flirtations, Charlotte M. Braeme. + + 23--A Broken Wedding Ring, Charlotte M. Braeme. + + 24--Sir Arthur's Heiress, Charlotte M. Braeme. + + 25--At War With Herself, Bertha M. Clay. + + 26--Wife In Name Only, Charlotte M. Braeme. + + 27--Her Faithful Heart, Charlotte M. Braeme. + + 28--Her Only Sin, Charlotte M. Braeme. + + 29--Shadow of the Past, Bertha M. Clay. + + 30--Heiress of Hilldrop, Bertha M. Clay. + + 31--She Trusted Him, Charles Garvice. + + 32--Leslie's Peril, Charles Garvice. + + 33--Love's Surrender, Charlotte M. Braeme. + + 34--Woman Against Woman, Mrs. M. E. Holmes. + + 35--Elaine, Charles Garvice. + + 36--Thrown On The World, Bertha M. Clay. + + 37--Look Before You Leap, Mrs. Alexander. + + 38--Hemlock's Swamp, Elsie Whittlesey. + + 39--The Price Of Honor, Charles Garvice. + + 40--Jesse, Charlotte M. Braeme. + + 41--A Crown of Shame, Florence Marryatt. + + 42--At The World's Mercy, Florence Warden. + + 43--A Thorn In Her Heart, Bertha M. Clay. + + 44--The House of The Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne. + + 45--Her Humble Lover, Charles Garvice. + + 46--A Maiden All Forlorn, The Duchess. + + 47--A Woman's Temptation, Bertha M. Clay. + + 48--By The Gates of the Sea, David C. Murray. + + 49--A Golden Heart, Charlotte M. Braeme. + + 50--The Lost Heiress, H. W. Taylor. + + 51--The Duchess, The Duchess. + + 52--The Haunted Chamber, The Duchess. + + 53--Her Last Throw, The Duchess. + + 54--Lady Valworth's Diamonds, The Duchess. + + 55--A Life's Remorse, The Duchess. + + 56--A Little Irish Girl, The Duchess. + + 57--A Little Rebel, The Duchess. + + 58--A Troublesome Girl, The Duchess. + + 59--Mildred Trevanian, The Duchess. + + 60--Mrs. Vereker's Courier Main, The Duchess. + + 61--A Born Coquette, The Duchess. + + 62--Her Hearts Desire, Charles Garvice. + + 63--By Woman's Wit, Mrs. Alexander. + + 64--Maid, Wife or Widow, Mrs. Alexander. + + 65--A False Scent, Mrs. Alexander. + + 66--Beaton's Bargain, Mrs. Alexander. + + 67--Blind Fate, Mrs. Alexander. + + 68--Forging the Fetters, Mrs. Alexander. + + 69--Doris' Fortune, F. Warden. + + 70--Fair Women, Mrs. Forrester. + + 71--The Wedding Ring, Robt. Buchanan. + + 72--Lord Lisle's Daughter, Charlotte Braeme. + + 73--Bonnie Doon, Charlotte Braeme. + + 74--A Passionate Love, Charlotte Braeme. + + 75--Guelda, Charlotte Braeme. + + 76--If Love Be Love, Charlotte Braeme. + + 77--Queen Tempest, Mrs. Jane G. Austin. + + 78--This Wicked World, H. Lovett Cameron. + + 79--Helen Ethinger, Elsie Leigh Whittlesey. + + 80--Not Exactly Right, Elsie Leigh Whittlesey. + + 81--The Child Wife, Adah M. Howard. + + 82--Jenny Harlowe, W. Clark Russell. + + 83--The Baffled Conspirators, W. E. Norris. + + 84--The Evil Genius, Wilkie Collins. + + 85--A Mere Child, L. B. Walford. + + 86--Love for A Day, Bertha M. Clay. + + 87--A Dead Heart, Bertha M. Clay. + + 88--His Wife's Judgement, Bertha M. Clay. + + 89--Like No Other Love, Bertha M. Clay. + + 90--Under A Shadow, Bertha M. Clay. + + 91--Dora Deane, Mary J. Holmes. + + 92--Homestead on The Hillside, Mary J. Holmes. + + 93--Meadowbrook, Mary J. Holmes. + + 94--Old Hagar's Secret, Mary J. Holmes. + + 95--Lord Vanecourt's Daughter, Mabel Collins. + + 96--Old Lady Mary, Mrs. Oliphant. + + 97--A Lucky Young Woman, Mrs. Phillips. + + 98--A Little Countess, O. Fenillet. + + 99--Averill, Rosa Nouchette Carey. + + 100--Flower & Jewel, Mrs. Alexander McVeigh Miller. + +The All Star Series books are for sale everywhere, or they will be sent +by mail, postage paid, for 15c a copy, by the publisher: 7 copies for +$1.00. + +Postage stamps taken the same as money. + +THE ARTHUR WESTBROOK CO. CLEVELAND, O., U. S. A. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + +This story was first serialized in the _Fireside Companion_ from +January 28, 1888 to April 7, 1888. This electronic edition is based on +a later book-form reprint. + +Table of contents added by transcriber. + +Italics are represented using _underscores_. + +Page 13, corrected "bitterenss" to "bitterness." + +Page 27, corrected "msyterious" to "mysterious." + +Page 66, added missing close quote to poem. + +Page 133, corrected "least" to "lest" in "would not speak lest no one." + +Page 138, added missing quote after "We should have been back in +England in a few months." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Flower and Jewel, by Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59223 *** |