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diff --git a/old/67869-h/67869-h.htm b/old/67869-h/67869-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 6626af7..0000000 --- a/old/67869-h/67869-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9305 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - Love Conquers Pride, by Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller—A Project Gutenberg eBook - </title> - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -.pminus1 {margin-top: -0.25em;} -.p1 {margin-top: 1em;} -.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} -.s1 {margin-bottom:-0.25em;} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } - -div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} -.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid; - padding-top: 0;} - -.boxcontents{ - max-width: 18em; - padding: 1em; - border: 0em solid black; - margin: 0 auto; } - -.pcontents{ - text-align:left; - text-indent:-2em; - padding-left:2em; - margin-top: 0.1em; - margin-bottom: 0.1em; -} - -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} - -/*Table of Contents format*/ -table.toc { max-width: 30em;} - -.tbla {text-align: left;padding-left:1em} -.tblb {text-align: left;padding-left: 0.5em;} -.tblc {text-align: left; text-indent: -2.5em; padding-left: 2.5em;} -.tbld {text-align: left;padding-left:4em} - -.tbra{text-align: right;padding-left:1em} - -.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - /* visibility: hidden; */ - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; - font-style: normal; - font-weight: normal; - font-variant: normal; -} /* page numbers */ - -.blockquot { - margin-left: 5%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - -.boxit{ - max-width: 14em; - padding: 1em; - border: 0.5em double black; - margin: 0 auto; } - -/*Indent-padding*/ -.ir1{text-align:right; padding-right:1em} -.ir2{text-align:right; padding-right:2em} - -.displayinline{display:inline-block; line-height:1} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - -/* Images */ - -img { - max-width: 100%; - height: auto; -} - -img.w100 {width: 100%;} - -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; - page-break-inside: avoid; - max-width: 100%; -} - -/* Transcriber's notes */ -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:smaller; - padding:0.5em; - margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; } - -/*CSS to set font sizes*/ -/*font sizes for non-header font changes*/ -.xxlargefont{font-size: xx-large} -.xlargefont{font-size: x-large} -.largefont{font-size: large} -.smallfont{font-size: small} -.cheaderfont{font-size:medium} -.boldfont{font-weight:bold} - -/* Illustration classes */ -.illowp46 {width: 46%;} -.x-ebookmaker .illowp46 {width: 100%;} -.illowp100 {width: 100%;} -.illowp25 {width: 25%;} -.illowp62 {width: 62%;} -.x-ebookmaker .illowp62 {width: 100%;} - - </style> - </head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Love Conquers Pride, by Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Love Conquers Pride</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>or, Where Peace Dwelt</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: April 18, 2022 [eBook #67869]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Demian Katz, Craig Kirkwood, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (Images courtesy of the Digital Library@Villanova University.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOVE CONQUERS PRIDE ***</div> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 43.25em;"> - <img id="coverpage" class="w100" src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Cover." /> -</div> - -<div style="padding-top:2em"> -<div class="transnote"> -<h2 style="margin-top: 0em">Transcriber’s Notes:</h2> - -<p>The Table of Contents was created by the transcriber and placed -in the public domain.</p> - -<p><a href="#TN_end">Additional Transcriber’s Notes</a> are at the -end.</p> -</div></div> - -<hr class="tb x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="boxcontents"> -<p class="xlargefont center boldfont">CONTENTS</p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">Chapter I. A Pretty Factory Girl.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">Chapter II. Love All His Own.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">Chapter III. A Jealous Rage.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">Chapter IV. The Bird Flies.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">Chapter V. The Lover Reappears.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">Chapter VI. A Happy Excursion.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">Chapter VII. Acquiring a Stepfather.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">Chapter VIII. Secret Visits.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">Chapter IX. The Secret Divulged.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">Chapter X. A Heartsick Fugitive.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">Chapter XI. Sheltering Arms.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">Chapter XII. Beginning Over Again.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">Chapter XIII. In a Boarding House.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">Chapter XIV. A Second Marriage.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">Chapter XV. Startling News.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">Chapter XVI. The Sad Return.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">Chapter XVII. A Dramatic Meeting.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">Chapter XVIII. A False Smile.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">Chapter XIX. A Poisoned Life.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">Chapter XX. An Evening of Suspense.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">Chapter XXI. A Return Call.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">Chapter XXII. A Beautiful Child.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">Chapter XXIII. A Daring Move.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">Chapter XXIV. Old Lovers Face to Face.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">Chapter XXV. An Old Story.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">Chapter XXVI. The Enemy at Work.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">Chapter XXVII. “A Married Flirt.”</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">Chapter XXVIII. The Blackmailer Baffled.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">Chapter XXIX. Caught in a Trap.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">Chapter XXX. A Supposed Suicide.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">Chapter XXXI. An Amazed Husband.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">Chapter XXXII. The Revelation.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">Chapter XXXIII. Noble Forgiveness.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">Chapter XXXIV. Imaginary Deceit.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV">Chapter XXXV. Generous Deeds.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI">Chapter XXXVI. Plans For the Future.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVII">Chapter XXXVII. The Storm Breaks.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVIII">Chapter XXXVIII. Visions of Happiness.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIX">Chapter XXXIX. Reaching a Decision.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XL">Chapter XL. A Great Sacrifice.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLI">Chapter XLI. A False Witness.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLII">Chapter XLII. Remarried.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIII">Chapter XLIII. A Lovely Widow.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIV">Chapter XLIV. A Mother’s Yearning.</a></p> -<p class="pcontents"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLV">Chapter XLV. Supreme Joy.</a></p> -</div></div> - -<hr class="tb x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center largefont">NEW EAGLE SERIES No. 1164</p> - -<p class="center xxlargefont pminus1 s1"><span class="smcap">Love Conquers Pride</span></p> - -<div class="center pminus1"> -<p class="displayinline"><em>BY <span class="smcap xlargefont">Mrs. Alex.<br /> -McVeigh<br /> -Miller</span></em></p></div> - -<div class="figcenter illowp62" style="max-width: 40.625em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/cover_illo.jpg" alt="Cover illustration." /> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="tb x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center largefont boldfont">POPULAR COPYRIGHTS</p> - -<p class="center xxlargefont boldfont">New Eagle Series</p> - -<p class="center largefont boldfont">PRICE, FIFTEEN CENTS</p> - -<p class="center boldfont">Carefully Selected Love Stories</p> - -<p class="center boldfont largefont"><em>Note the Authors!</em></p> - -<p>There is such a profusion of good books in this list, that it -is an impossibility to urge you to select any particular title or -author’s work. All that we can say is that any line that contains -the complete works of Mrs. Georgie Sheldon, Charles Garvice, -Mrs. Harriet Lewis, May Agnes Fleming, Wenona Gilman, Mrs. -Alex. McVeigh Miller, and other writers of the same type, is -worthy of your attention, especially when the price has been -set at 15 cents the volume.</p> - -<p>These books range from 256 to 320 pages. They are printed -from good type, and are readable from start to finish.</p> - -<p>If you are looking for clean-cut, honest value, then we state -most emphatically that you will find it in this line.</p> - -<p class="center boldfont"><em>ALL TITLES ALWAYS IN PRINT</em></p> - -<div class="center"> -<table class="toc" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Book list"> -<tr><td class="tbla">1—Queen Bess</td><td class="tbra" style="width:50%">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tbla">2—Ruby’s Reward</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tbla">7—Two Keys</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tbla">9—The Virginia Heiress</td><td class="tbra">By May Agnes Fleming</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblb">12—Edrie’s Legacy</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblb">17—Leslie’s Loyalty</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tbld" colspan="2">(His Love So True)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblb">22—Elaine</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblb">24—A Wasted Love</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tbld" colspan="2">(On Love’s Altar)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblb">41—Her Heart’s Desire</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tbld" colspan="2">(An Innocent Girl)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblb">44—That Dowdy</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblb">50—Her Ransom</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tbld" colspan="2">(Paid For)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblb">55—Thrice Wedded</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblb">66—Witch Hazel</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblb">70—Sydney</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tbld" colspan="2">(A Wilful Young Woman)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblb">73—The Marquis</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblb">77—Tina</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblb">79—Out of the Past</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tbld" colspan="2">(Marjorie)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblb">84—Imogene</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tbld" colspan="2">(Dumaresq’s Temptation)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblb">85—Lorrie; or, Hollow Gold</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblb">88—Virgie’s Inheritance</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblb">95—A Wilful Maid</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tbld" colspan="2">(Philippa)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblb">98—Claire</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tbld" colspan="2">(The Mistress of Court Regna)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblb">99—Audrey’s Recompense</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">102—Sweet Cymbeline</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tbld" colspan="2">(Bellmaire)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">109—Signa’s Sweetheart</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tbld" colspan="2">(Lord Delamere’s Bride)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">111—Faithful Shirley</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">117—She Loved Him</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">119—’Twixt Smile and Tear</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tbld" colspan="2">(Dulcie)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">122—Grazia’s Mistake</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">130—A Passion Flower</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tbld" colspan="2">(Madge)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">133—Max</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">136—The Unseen Bridegroom</td><td class="tbra">By May Agnes Fleming</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">138—A Fatal Wooing</td><td class="tbra">By Laura Jean Libbey</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">141—Lady Evelyn</td><td class="tbra">By May Agnes Fleming</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">144—Dorothy’s Jewels</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">146—Magdalen’s Vow</td><td class="tbra">By May Agnes Fleming</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">151—The Heiress of Glen Gower</td><td class="tbra">By May Agnes Fleming</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">155—Nameless Dell</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">157—Who Wins</td><td class="tbra">By May Agnes Fleming</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">166—The Masked Bridal</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">168—Thrice Lost, Thrice Won</td><td class="tbra">By May Agnes Fleming</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">174—His Guardian Angel</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">177—A True Aristocrat</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">181—The Baronet’s Bride</td><td class="tbra">By May Agnes Fleming</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">188—Dorothy Arnold’s Escape</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">199—Geoffrey’s Victory</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">203—Only One Love</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">210—Wild Oats</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">213—The Heiress of Egremont</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Harriet Lewis</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">215—Only a Girl’s Love</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">219—Lost: A Pearle</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">222—The Lily of Mordaunt</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">223—Leola Dale’s Fortune</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">231—The Earl’s Heir</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tbld" colspan="2">(Lady Norah)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">233—Nora</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">236—Her Humble Lover</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tbld" colspan="2">(The Usurper; or, The Gipsy Peer)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">242—A Wounded Heart</td><td class="tbra">By Charles Garvice</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tbld" colspan="2">(Sweet as a Rose)</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tblc">244—A Hoiden’s Conquest</td><td class="tbra">By Mrs. Georgie Sheldon</td></tr> -</table> -</div></div> - -<hr class="tb x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="figcenter illowp46" style="max-width: 40.625em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i005.jpg" alt="Title page." /> -</div></div> - - -<hr class="tb x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h1 class="nobreak">Love Conquers Pride</h1> - - - -<p class="center" style="line-height:3.5em">OR,<br /> -<span class="xlargefont">WHERE PEACE DWELT</span></p> - -<p class="center p2" style="line-height:1.5em">BY<br /> -<span class="xlargefont">MRS. ALEX. McVEIGH MILLER</span></p> - -<p class="center" style="margin-bottom:2em">Author of “The Man She Hated,” “A Married Flirt,” “Loyal<br /> -Unto Death,” “Only a Kiss”—published in the <span class="smcap">New Eagle<br /> -Series</span>. -</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp25" style="max-width: 7.8125em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/publishers_icon.jpg" alt="Publisher logo." /> -</div> - -<p class="center p2"><span class="xlargefont" style="line-height:1.75">STREET & SMITH CORPORATION</span><br /> -<span style="position:relative; top:-0.2em;">PUBLISHERS</span><br /> -<span class="xlargefont">79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York</span> -</p> -</div> - -<hr class="tb x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<div class="boxit"> -<p class="center">Copyright, 1888</p> - -<p class="center">NORMAN L. MUNRO<br /> -Renewal for 28 years, from<br /> -November 8, 1916, granted<br /> -to Mrs. Alex. McVeigh<br /> -Miller</p> - -<p class="center">Love Conquers Pride</p> -</div> - -<p class="center p1">(Printed in the United States of America)</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center xxlargefont nobreak" style="margin-bottom:1em" id="CHAPTER_I">LOVE CONQUERS PRIDE.</p> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER I. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">A PRETTY FACTORY GIRL.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Pretty Pansy lay lazily in the hammock at the -foot of the lawn, and listened to the south wind -rushing through the tree tops overhead, thinking -to herself, with a blush, that it seemed to be whispering -a name—whispering it over and over:</p> - -<p>“Norman Wylde!”</p> - -<p>At the top of the green, sloping lawn stood a -big white farmhouse, with long porches shaded -by rose vines and honeysuckles. Pansy’s uncle -and aunt lived there, and she had come on a -month’s visit to them. The month was slipping -away very fast now, and she must soon return -to her work in Richmond, for Pansy Laurens was -no pampered favorite of fortune, but an employee -of one of the great tobacco factories.</p> - -<p>Pansy was only fifteen when her father, a machinist -at the Tredegar Works, had died and left -his wife and five children penniless, save for what<span class="pagenum">[6]</span> -they could earn by the labor of their own hands. -Pansy was the eldest, and her mother had to take -her from school that the labor of her little white -hands might help to earn the family support.</p> - -<p>Nothing offered but the tobacco factories, and -Pansy went there, while her brother Willie found -work as a cash boy in a dry-goods store on Broad -Street. The three younger ones, being too small -to work, were continued at school, while the -mother took in sewing to help eke out the family -income.</p> - -<p>It was hard on them all, most especially on -Pansy, who was so intelligent and refined, and -who hated to leave school and toil at repulsive -tasks among companions who were mostly uncongenial, -for, although some of the girls were -sweet and pretty as herself, others were coarse -and rude, and sneered at her, calling her proud -and ambitious, although they knew at heart that -they were only jealous of the lovely face, so round -and dimpled, with its big purplish-blue eyes, -shaded by such a beautiful fringe of long black -curling lashes.</p> - -<p>They all envied her that fair face and those -silky masses of wavy dark hair that made such<span class="pagenum">[7]</span> -a becoming frame for the transparent white skin, -with its wild-rose tints and delicate tracery of -blue veins.</p> - -<p>But, pretty or ugly, it did not matter, the girl -said to herself sometimes, with bitter discontent, -as she looked at her fair reflection in the mirror. -She was nothing but a factory girl, after all, and -there were people who looked down on her for -that act as if the very sound were the essence of -vulgarity. To have been a shopgirl even, or a -dressmaker, or milliner, would have been far -more genteel, she said to herself.</p> - -<p>This was the first time in three years that she -had got away from the factory, and she would -not have done so then if she had not been given -a furlough from work because there was a temporary -dullness in trade.</p> - -<p>Then Uncle Robbins had come to Richmond -from his country home on a little business, and, -struck by her pale cheeks and air of languor, invited -her to go home with him. Mother urged -her to accept the invitation, declaring that she -could get along without her, and Pansy went -gladly away on her little summer holiday, which -was now drawing to an end.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[8]</span></p> - -<p>Her heart was full of this as she swung to -and fro in the hammock beneath the trees, and -listened to the wind rustling the leaves so musically, -seeming to murmur over and over that -name so dear to her heart:</p> - -<p>“Norman Wylde!”</p> - -<p>He was a summer boarder at her aunt’s, and -he had been kind to her, not cool and supercilious -like the others, who looked down upon her because -she was a working girl.</p> - -<p>Pansy thought him the handsomest man she -had ever seen, and she was grateful to him for -the courteous way in which he treated her, never -seeming to realize any difference in the social position -of herself and Miss Ives, the Richmond -belle, who was here with her mother because the -doctors had tabooed any gayety for the elderly -lady this summer on account of a serious heart -trouble.</p> - -<p>Juliette Ives was as much in love with the handsome -young gentleman as Pansy herself, and she -sneered at the factory girl in her cheap lawns and -ginghams.</p> - -<p>“Actually setting herself up as an equal among -her aunt’s boarders,” she said disdainfully. “I<span class="pagenum">[9]</span> -mean to put her down at once, and let her know -that we do not desire her company.”</p> - -<p>So she boldly asked Pansy if she could hire -her to do the washing for her mother and herself.</p> - -<p>“I am not a servant,” Pansy answered, flushing -angrily.</p> - -<p>“You are a factory girl, aren’t you?” disdainfully.</p> - -<p>“Yes, but not a servant.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t see much difference,” said the rich -girl insolently; and from that moment the two -were open enemies.</p> - -<p>Juliette Ives knew in her own heart that her -spiteful actions had been the outcome of jealousy -because Norman Wylde had looked so admiringly -at Pansy when he first met her, and Pansy was -quick enough to understand the truth.</p> - -<p>“She is in love with him, and is jealous of -me, in spite of my poverty and my lonely position. -Very well, I’ll pay her back for her scorn, -if I can,” she resolved, with girlish pique.</p> - -<p>And as she possessed beauty equal to, if not -greater than, Juliette’s blond charms, and was -fairly well educated and intelligent, she had some<span class="pagenum">[10]</span> -advantages, at least, with which to enter the lists -with the aristocratic belle who scorned her so -openly.</p> - -<p>And Norman Wylde, who had a noble, chivalrous -nature, could not help taking Pansy’s part -when he saw how the boarders tried to put her -down.</p> - -<p>“Poor little thing! It’s a shame, for she is as -sweet and pretty as a wild rose, and they ought -to be friendly with her and help to brighten her -hard lot,” he thought, with indignation.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[11]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">LOVE ALL HIS OWN.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>The boarders had organized a fishing party, -and everybody had gone, even Mr. Wylde, so it -was very quiet at the farmhouse. Aunt Robbins -and her servants were busy making preserves, -and Uncle Robbins was in the meadow, hauling -and stacking the wheat he had cut a few days before. -Pansy had helped to peel apples for the -preserves until her back ached and her hands -smarted, so at last Aunt Robbins sent her out to -rest.</p> - -<p>“I shan’t need you any more to-day, so you -had better go and take a nap in the hammock -before that stuck-up Jule Ives comes to turn you -out of it,” said the good woman.</p> - -<p>Pansy went out, but she took off her calico dress -and gingham apron first, and donned her prettiest -dress, an organdie lawn with a white -ground sprigged with blue flowers. A pretty bow -of blue ribbon fastened the white lace at her -throat, and another one tied back the mass of -rippling dark hair from the white temples, leaving<span class="pagenum">[12]</span> -just a few bewitching love locks to curl over -the white brow. Thus attired, she looked exquisitely -fair, cool, and charming, and she knew well -that when the boarders returned, tired and hot -from the day’s amusements, they would envy her -sweet, comfortable appearance.</p> - -<p>She was not disappointed, for by and by, when -they came trooping through the big white gate -close by her, every one stopped and stared, and -Miss Ives exclaimed, in a loud, sarcastic voice:</p> - -<p>“Good gracious, is it Sunday?”</p> - -<p>“Why, no, of course not, Juliette,” said Chattie -Norwood. “Why, what made you think of -such a funny thing?”</p> - -<p>“Why, Pansy Laurens has on her Sunday -dress, that’s all,” with a loud laugh.</p> - -<p>“Oh, pshaw! Her other one is in the washtub,” -tittered Miss Norwood, and every word came distinctly -to Pansy’s ears. An angry impulse -prompted her to make some scathing reply, but -an innate delicacy restrained her, and she would -not lift her beautiful, drooping lashes from the -book she pretended to be reading, although the -angry color deepened to crimson on her cheeks.</p> - -<p>The tittering party passed on toward the house,<span class="pagenum">[13]</span> -but, although Pansy did not look up, she was conscious -that one had lingered and stopped. It was -Norman Wylde, and he came up to the hammock, -and said gently:</p> - -<p>“Poor little Pansy!”</p> - -<p>Her sweet lips quivered, and she looked up, -meeting the tender, sympathetic gaze of his splendid -dark eyes.</p> - -<p>“You are a brave little girl,” he continued -warmly. “I was glad that you proved yourself -too much of a lady to reply to their coarse sneers. -Your sweet dignity makes me love you all the -more.”</p> - -<p>Pansy gave a little start of surprise and rapture. -Did he indeed love her? The color flamed -up brightly on her delicate cheeks, and the lashes -drooped bashfully over her eyes.</p> - -<p>“Look at me, Pansy,” said the young man, in -a tone made up of tender command and fond entreaty. -“You are not surprised. You guessed -that I loved you, didn’t you?”</p> - -<p>“No. I was afraid that—that you loved Miss -Ives,” she faltered, and a frown darkened his -handsome face.</p> - -<p>“Do not speak to me of her,” he said impatiently.<span class="pagenum">[14]</span> -“Who could love her after the meanness -and injustice of her conduct to you?” He imprisoned -both her little hands in his, as he continued -ardently: “Pansy, do you love me, my little -darling?”</p> - -<p>A bashful glance from the sweet blue eyes answered -his question, and, stooping down, he was -about to press a kiss on her beautiful lips when a -stealthy footstep came up behind them, and an -angry voice exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“Really, Mr. Wylde, when you want to flirt -with factory girls you should not choose such a -public place, especially when the girl you are engaged -to is close at hand.”</p> - -<p>He started backward as if shot, and Pansy -sprang from the hammock with a shriek:</p> - -<p>“It is false!”</p> - -<p>Juliette Ives laughed scornfully, and replied:</p> - -<p>“Ask him. He will not deny it.”</p> - -<p>Pretty Pansy, with a face that had grown white -as a lily, turned to Norman Wylde.</p> - -<p>“Is it true? Are you engaged to her?” she demanded -sharply.</p> - -<p>“Yes, but——”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[15]</span></p> - -<p>“That is enough!” interrupted Pansy, with -flashing eyes. She would not let him finish his -sentence, so keen was her resentment at his -trifling, as she deemed it; and, looking scornfully -at him, she said:</p> - -<p>“Never presume to speak to me again, sir!”</p> - -<p>Then she walked rapidly from the spot, and -Norman Wylde and Juliette Ives stood looking -at each other with angry eyes.</p> - -<p>“Are you not ashamed of yourself?” she cried -indignantly.</p> - -<p>“Eavesdropper!” he retorted passionately, forgetting -his gentlemanliness in his resentment at -her conduct.</p> - -<p>“Traitor!” she retorted defiantly, then burst -out fiercely: “Call me what names you will, I -have borne your trifling until I could bear no -more. If you wanted to flirt, why couldn’t you -have chosen some one in your own station in life, -instead of that miserable tobacco-factory girl?”</p> - -<p>He had folded his arms across his chest, and -was listening with a sneer to her angry speech. -When she paused he answered, in a low yet distinct -voice:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[16]</span></p> - -<p>“I beg your pardon. It was not flirting, but -earnest.”</p> - -<p>A sharp remonstrance sprang to her lips, but, -without taking any note of it, he continued -coldly:</p> - -<p>“I had a fancy for you once, Juliette, but it -perished when I saw how mean and base you -could be to a less fortunate sister woman. I -have watched you and your clique, Juliette, and -I have been ashamed of you all—ashamed and -indignant, and my heart turned away from you -to that sweet persecuted girl with a deeper tenderness -than it ever felt before. I made up my -mind to snap the bonds that held me as your slave, -and to win her for my own. But I acted prematurely -in declaring my love for her first. You -drove me to it with your unwomanly conduct of -a little while ago, else I had not been so hasty.”</p> - -<p>She stood staring at him with angry incredulity, -wondering if he spoke the truth, if he really -meant to throw her over for the sake of a girl he -had barely known a month.</p> - -<p>“What if I refuse to give you your freedom?” -she asked harshly.’</p> - -<p>“You would not wish to hold an unwilling captive,”<span class="pagenum">[17]</span> -he replied, with a touch of scorn, and she -saw that it would be impossible to hold him without -a sacrifice of her pride. Curbing herself a -little, she asked humbly:</p> - -<p>“Hadn’t we better take time to think it over, -Norman? I admit I was jealous and a little -hasty.”</p> - -<p>He looked disappointed and uneasy. Was she -really going to hold him to that bond of which -he was so weary, against which he chafed so -fiercely?</p> - -<p>She caught that look, and comprehended it with -bitter mortification. Anger came to her aid. “Go—you -are free as air, and I am well rid of a fickle -flirt,” she exclaimed hotly.</p> - -<p>“I thank you, Miss Ives,” he replied, in a tone -of relief, and, bowing coldly, he walked away toward -the house, leaving Juliette stamping on the -soft grass in a tempest of fury and disappointment.</p> - -<p>He was anxious to find little Pansy and explain -his conduct to her. Surely she would forgive -him when she knew that it was for her sake -he had broken faith with Juliette Ives. Of course -she would be ready to make up with him.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[18]</span></p> - -<p>And his heart throbbed madly at the thought -that sweet Pansy’s love was all his own. He knew -that there would be a bitter battle with his relatives, -but he was determined to make her his -wife.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[19]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">A JEALOUS RAGE.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Juliette Ives rushed up to the house presently -and poured the story of her lover’s treachery into -the ears of her mother, who became quite indignant -at the turn affairs were taking.</p> - -<p>“I will go at once to the farmer’s wife, and give -her a piece of my mind about her impudent niece,” -she said, and she went immediately to Mrs. Robbins, -who was in the pantry, labeling the nice jars -of preserves she had made that day.</p> - -<p>“I have come to complain of your niece, that -bold factory girl, who has been making trouble -between my daughter and the gentleman she’s -engaged to,” she began.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Robbins looked around in amazement.</p> - -<p>“What has Pansy done, ma’am, to be called -sech names?” she exclaimed, rather resentfully; -and then Mrs. Ives poured out a garbled version -of poor Pansy’s flirtation with Norman Wylde, -making it appear that she was a bold, forward -creature, who had actually forced the gentleman -to pay her attention.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[20]</span></p> - -<p>“Maybe she thinks he will marry her and make -her a fine lady, but she’s mistaken,” she sneered. -“It’s only a way he has of flirting, but it means -nothing, as many a poor girl in Richmond and -elsewhere knows to her cost. He’s very wild, but -he promised my daughter, when she accepted him, -that he would reform. I believe he was trying to -do so, but when Pansy Laurens kept throwing -herself in his way he couldn’t resist the temptation -to make a fool of her. So when my daughter -caught him kissing the girl, just now, in the hammock, -she discarded him at once, and he’s so angry -he’ll maybe fall into some mischief that will make -Pansy Laurens rue the day she ever saw him. If -I were you, Mrs. Robbins, I’d send the girl home -to her mother at once,” she advised eagerly.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Robbins sat silent, gravely cogitating. -She was a large, fleshy woman, good-natured, -and slow to anger. It did not occur to her to fly -into a passion and resent Mrs. Ives’ harsh opinion -of Pansy.</p> - -<p>On the contrary, to her calm, equable nature, -it seemed best to weigh the pros and cons in -the case. Besides, Pansy was her husband’s -niece, not hers, and she had no special fondness<span class="pagenum">[21]</span> -for the girl, whom she had never seen till this -summer.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Ives watched her closely, and, seeing how -quietly she had taken everything, took heart to -continue pouring out her venom.</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid that girl is going to make you lots -of trouble,” she ventured. “She will want to -hang on to Mr. Wylde, of course.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Robbins turned her large, ruminating eyes -on the lady’s face, and remarked:</p> - -<p>“Perhaps he means fair. Rich men have married -poor geerls before now. And Pansy Laurens -is a good-looking geerl—as pritty as your -Jule, I think, ma’am.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Ives grew quite red in the face with anger, -but she restrained herself, hoping to mold -the simple-minded woman to her will. Shaking -her head vehemently, she replied:</p> - -<p>“Ah, you don’t know the Wyldes! They are -the proudest people in Richmond, rich and fashionable, -and belong to one of the oldest families -in Virginia. All of them have been professional -men, and they consider working people as no better -than their servants. If Norman Wylde was -fool enough to want to marry a mechanic’s daughter<span class="pagenum">[22]</span> -and a working girl, which you may be sure -he isn’t, his folks would disinherit him, and never -speak to him again.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Robbins shook her head and sighed.</p> - -<p>“I hate to think of my husband’s niece a-being -in sech a scrape. Ef she’s been bold and forrard, -ma’am, I never noticed it.”</p> - -<p>“Of course not. She was too sly,” sneered -Mrs. Ives. “But I see you’re bound to take her -part, Mrs. Robbins, and I’ll say no more, only -this: If disgrace comes on your family through -that audacious piece, remember I warned you.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll talk to Mr. Robbins,” was the only answer -from the woman of few words.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[23]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">THE BIRD FLIES.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Meanwhile poor Pansy, half crazed with shame -and grief, was sobbing forlornly up in her little -chamber under the eaves.</p> - -<p>She believed that Norman Wylde had been -amusing himself with her, and the thought was -agony to her fond, loving heart.</p> - -<p>“I loved him so! Oh, I loved him so! And it -was cruel, cruel for him to deceive me,” she -moaned bitterly, while the shame of it all weighed -heavily on her sensitive spirit.</p> - -<p>Suddenly the hired girl, a bright mulatto, put -her head into the room, and started at seeing -Pansy lying on the floor in tears.</p> - -<p>“Lor’, Miss Pansy, what’s de matter? You -sick?” she exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“No—yes. What do you want, Sue?” fretfully.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Wylde tole me to tole you to come downsta’rs. -He wants to tell you sumfin.”</p> - -<p>Pansy’s blue eyes flashed through their tears.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[24]</span></p> - -<p>“Tell him I won’t come, that I don’t want to -see him!” she replied spiritedly.</p> - -<p>Norman Wylde sighed when he received the -message, and turned away without a word. Going -to his room, he dashed off a hasty letter to -Pansy, explaining everything, and begged her -consent to become his wife. Then he went down, -and, finding Sue alone in the kitchen, gave her the -letter to take to Pansy, liberally rewarding her -for the service.</p> - -<p>Just outside Pansy’s door she came upon Juliette -Ives, who said carelessly:</p> - -<p>“Give me that letter. I’ll hand it to Pansy.”</p> - -<p>She held up her hand, with a silver piece shining -in its palm. Sue snapped at the bait, and -immediately delivered up the precious letter, -which Miss Ives hid in her pocket, then ran away -to her own room.</p> - -<p>Her pale-blue eyes sparkled with fury as she -read the tender love letter Norman Wylde had -written to Pansy.</p> - -<p>“She shall never be his wife if I can prevent -it!” she vowed bitterly.</p> - -<p>The impatient lover waited in vain for a reply -to his letter, for Pansy did not come down that<span class="pagenum">[25]</span> -evening, and when he arose, very early the next -morning, he learned, to his dismay, that Farmer -Robbins had taken his niece away on the midnight -train.</p> - -<p>He went impatiently to Mrs. Robbins, and she -told him, in her cool, straightforward way, that -Mr. Robbins had taken Pansy away because he -did not approve of her flirting with young men.</p> - -<p>“But, my dear madam, my intentions were -strictly honorable. I wished to marry Pansy,” -he expostulated.</p> - -<p>“You are engaged to Miss Ives, ain’t you?” she -returned curtly.</p> - -<p>“I was, but I am no longer. I broke off with -her that I might ask Pansy Laurens to marry -me.”</p> - -<p>He seemed so manly and straightforward that -Mrs. Robbins must have been forced to believe -in his sincerity had not her mind been poisoned -beforehand by the slanders of Mrs. Ives. But -the poison had done its work, and she looked on -him as a liar and a libertine. So she answered -curtly again:</p> - -<p>“Rich young men like you, Mr. Wylde, don’t -marry poor working geerls like little Pansy Laurens.<span class="pagenum">[26]</span> -I’ve heerd all about your character from -Mrs. Ives, sir, and I know you didn’t mean any -good to Pansy, so her uncle up and took her away -out o’ harm’s reach.”</p> - -<p>His black eyes flashed with anger.</p> - -<p>“I shall follow her!” he exclaimed hotly, and -rushed out on the lawn, where Mrs. Ives was -leisurely promenading under the trees.</p> - -<p>She cowered a little when she saw his handsome -face so pale with anger, and his burning -dark eyes fixed on her with such resentful passion.</p> - -<p>Controlling his fierce anger by a strong effort -of will, he advanced toward her, and said, with -forced calmness:</p> - -<p>“I am curious to know, Mrs. Ives, what kind of -character you have given me to Mrs. Robbins, -since it had the effect of incensing her so bitterly -against me?”</p> - -<p>She tossed up her head defiantly, and replied:</p> - -<p>“It was your flirting with her niece that angered -Mrs. Robbins.”</p> - -<p>His brow darkened, and he waved his hand, -as if thrusting aside her petty subterfuge.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[27]</span></p> - -<p>“Mrs. Robbins told me that she had had my -character from you.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, pshaw! What was the foolish creature -thinking of?” cried the lady airily. “She asked -me about you, and I merely said that you were -fickle-minded—that was all. You will grant that -I had room to say that much, after your treatment -of my daughter?”</p> - -<p>He recoiled from the envenomed thrust, and -turned away, with a cold bow. He felt sure that -she had said much more, but she was not a man—he -could not force her to answer for the slanders -she had uttered against him.</p> - -<p>As he left her side, Juliette approached eagerly, -and inquired what Norman had said. Mrs. Ives -repeated it, and added, with a chuckle of triumph:</p> - -<p>“He did not believe me, but he dared not say -so.”</p> - -<p>“Have you written to the Wyldes, mamma?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; and colored the whole affair as highly -as possible.”</p> - -<p>“You do not believe they will allow him to -marry that upstart girl?”</p> - -<p>“No, indeed; for I have given her a fine character,<span class="pagenum">[28]</span> -you may be sure,” replied the heartless -woman complacently.</p> - -<p>“I should die of spite if he married her,” cried -Juliette jealously.</p> - -<p>“He will not marry her, my dear, for I am -determined to thwart her, if possible. I have poisoned -the minds of all her relations against him, -and they will be sure to keep him at a distance. -Besides, you said yourself that she was angry -with him, and declared she would never speak to -him again.”</p> - -<p>“Yes; but if he had a chance to explain——”</p> - -<p>“They will have no chance to explain. Their -relations will keep them apart,” interrupted her -mother firmly.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[29]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">THE LOVER REAPPEARS.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Arnell & Grey, the firm at whose immense tobacco -factory Pansy Laurens worked, were noted -for their kindness and liberality to their employees. -Every year they planned and carried -out, at their own expense, some pleasant entertainment, -to which every one in the factory was -cordially invited; and this summer it took the -form of a delightful excursion.</p> - -<p>A crowded steamer carried the large number -of employees down the James River, and a fine -band furnished music for the gay young people, -who danced all day upon the deck, under the blue -sky and bright sunlight of August. Downstairs -a dinner was waiting, and nothing that could conduce -to the pleasure of the occasion had been forgotten -by Arnell & Grey, who delighted in the -success of their generous undertakings.</p> - -<p>Pansy Laurens went, of course—naughty -Pansy, who had been in disgrace for a month -with her relations, on account of her crime of -stealing a rich girl’s lover away. Yes, it was<span class="pagenum">[30]</span> -almost five weeks now since Uncle Robbins had -taken Pansy back to Richmond and told her -mother sternly that he was sorry he had ever -taken her away, since she had made serious trouble -among his boarders, and flirted boldly with -a young man who was engaged to another girl.</p> - -<p>He had brought her home to get her out of -harm’s way, he said, and he advised his sister -to keep a sharp lookout upon the willful girl, as -Norman Wylde had vowed he would follow her -to Richmond.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Laurens expressed herself to her brother -as being ashamed of her daughter’s bad conduct, -and determined to keep her in strict bounds hereafter.</p> - -<p>She scolded Pansy, and threatened to lock her -in her room on bread and water if she ever spoke -to that dangerous young man again.</p> - -<p>Poor Pansy could do nothing but tell her own -side of the story.</p> - -<p>She had not been bold and forward. She had -not known Norman Wylde was engaged to anybody, -and she did not know that he was amusing -himself only, when he made love to her in those<span class="pagenum">[31]</span> -bright summer days. When she found out that -he was only flirting she had told him never to -speak to her again.</p> - -<p>“Stick to that, little gal, and there won’t be -no more trouble,” said Uncle Robbins approvingly.</p> - -<p>“Yes; don’t let him come near you again as -long as you live,” added Mrs. Robbins sharply, -and Pansy thought to herself that she never -would.</p> - -<p>She was overwhelmed with shame and grief at -this pitiless exposé of her futile love dream, and -down in her little heart was a secret resentment, -too, at the hardness of everybody. Why should -they declare that she had been bold and forward? -She knew that it was untrue, and their blame cut -deep into the sensitive heart. Norman Wylde, -too—how could he have been so cruel, so unkind? -Her pillow was wet with tears every night -as she strove through long, sleepless hours to -banish from memory the false, sweet smiles and -loving dark eyes that haunted her and made so -hard the bitter task she was essaying.</p> - -<p>She was not among the dancers to-day, although -she was the prettiest girl on board, and<span class="pagenum">[32]</span> -had many invitations from gallant young men. -But she chose rather to sit leaning pensively over -the handrail and gaze with grave blue eyes into -the foamy depths of the water. Many eyes wandered -to the pretty figure in the snowy-white dress -and wide, daisy-trimmed straw hat; many wondered -why she seemed so sad, but none guessed -that she was thinking that she would like to be -at rest under those softly lapping waves, with -the story of her young life ended here and now.</p> - -<p>Ah, how suddenly her despondent mood was -changed! A shadow came between her and the -light—some one sat down beside her and facing -her. She looked up, startled, and saw—Norman -Wylde.</p> - -<p>Norman Wylde, pale and impassioned-looking, -with a determined light in his splendid dark eyes.</p> - -<p>As she made a movement to rise, his strong -hand closed over her weak little white ones, and -forced her back into her seat.</p> - -<p>“Sit still,” he whispered hoarsely, desperately. -“I must speak to you, and you shall listen.”</p> - -<p>She glanced about her with frightened eyes. -No one was looking. The music was pulsing -sweetly on the air, and the dancers were keeping<span class="pagenum">[33]</span> -time with flying feet. She looked up at him, pale -with emotion.</p> - -<p>“You can have nothing to say to me that I -wish to hear, Mr. Wylde, for I despise you,” she -answered bitterly.</p> - -<p>“That is not true, Pansy, for a month ago you -owned that you loved me, and you have not unlearned -your love so soon. Falsehoods have been -told you, and you knew no better than to believe -them without giving me a chance to defend myself. -I have written to you, but my letters came -back to me unopened. I have dogged your footsteps -on the streets, but you fled from me, and, -as a last resort, I came upon this excursion, determined -to force a hearing from you. Will you -listen to me? Will you let me explain the -meaning of that scene with Juliette Ives that -day?”</p> - -<p>She struggled under his detaining hand, anxious -to escape, yet not wishing to make a scene.</p> - -<p>“You were engaged to her, yet you made love -to me; that is enough for me to know,” she answered, -turning crimson in her humiliation; but -her indifference and eagerness to get away only -made him more determined to conquer her pride.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[34]</span></p> - -<p>“Pansy, you are driving me mad,” he cried -imploringly; then, with sudden passion, he added: -“Unless you will sit still and listen to what I have -to say to you, I swear I will drown myself before -your eyes!”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[35]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">A HAPPY EXCURSION.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Pansy was so startled by the threat of her desperate -lover that she sank back into her seat without -a word, her slight form trembling with terror. -She certainly did not want him to drown himself, -although he had treated her so cruelly.</p> - -<p>So she consented to listen to him. There could -be no great harm in that, for it would not alter -her opinion of him at all. He had been false -to Juliette Ives and false to her. She was quite -sure that she despised him, although her heart -was beating furiously as she looked up into the -pale, impassioned face, with its eager, burning -dark eyes, that seemed fairly to devour her white, -startled young face.</p> - -<p>Now that he had his chance, he improved it -in eloquent fashion. He explained everything -clearly, making her understand that he was not -the villain they made him out, and that if he were -to blame in any way it was for breaking loose -from the bonds that held him to a girl whose<span class="pagenum">[36]</span> -selfishness and cruelty had changed his love to -hate.</p> - -<p>“If I ever really loved her, which seems doubtful -to me now,” he said. “It was last winter -that we became engaged, and, although I admired -her fair face and enjoyed her society, I swear to -you, Pansy, that the thought of marrying her -never crossed my mind until one night in the conservatory, -when I was, somehow, drawn into asking -her to marry me. I hardly know how it was, -unless it was the romance of the moment. You -remember the lines:</p> - -<p class="center">“Azure eyes, golden hair, scented robes— -</p> - -<p>“They had crazed my hot, foolish brain then.</p> - -<div class="center"> -<p class="displayinline">“Ah, the silliest woman can make<br /> -A fool of the wisest of men!”</p> -</div> - -<p>“But they say that you are fickle,” murmured -Pansy, speaking for the first time.</p> - -<p>“It is not true, my little darling. I never really -fell in love until your sweet face dawned on my -vision. Then I began to realize that my engagement -to Juliette was a terrible mistake, and that -I would be wrong to continue it. But I kept waiting -from day to day, hoping she would see how<span class="pagenum">[37]</span> -things were and throw me over herself, as she -did at last, but only after I had bungled matters -by telling you too soon of my love.”</p> - -<p>Where was Pansy’s bitter resentment now? It -was melting like snow in the sunshine under his -eager words. Everything looked so different now -in the light of his manly, straightforward explanations.</p> - -<p>Her sad heart bounded with renewed hope, and -a leaden weight seemed to be lifted from her -spirits.</p> - -<p>“Now, Pansy, you see that I was not to blame,” -said her lover eagerly. “You will forgive me, -will you not, and promise what I was going to -ask you that day—that you will be my own little -wife?”</p> - -<p>She blushed brightly, and could not utter a -word. He took her little hand tenderly in his, and -whispered:</p> - -<p>“‘Silence gives consent.’”</p> - -<p>Presently she lifted her little head from his -breast, where he had drawn it in reckless defiance -of the whole world, if it had been looking on. -But, fortunately, no one saw or heeded the pair -of happy lovers.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[38]</span></p> - -<p>“But how can I be your wife?” she whispered, -in a troubled tone. “Mrs. Ives told Aunt Robbins -that your family was very rich and grand—that -they would never permit you to marry -me.”</p> - -<p>“Never mind, I will bring them around,” he -replied, with pretended carelessness.</p> - -<p>He would not tell her that he had spoken to -his parents about her, and that both had sternly -forbidden him to think of marrying one so far -beneath him in position, birth, and fortune.</p> - -<p>“Remember that you are descended from one -of the first families of Virginia,” exclaimed his -haughty mother.</p> - -<p>“I shall only regret that fact if it is to separate -me from the girl I love,” he replied angrily, -and then his father threatened him with disinheritance -if he did not give up Pansy Laurens. -He told Pansy nothing of all this, although it lay -deep in his own heart, like a leaden weight, for -he knew that he could not support a wife if his -father threw him over. He had no fortune of -his own, and, although he had been educated for -the law, he had only just hung out his “shingle,” -as he humorously called it. It was folly, madness,<span class="pagenum">[39]</span> -to woo Pansy Laurens in the face of such -prospects, and yet he went straight on, hoping -against hope that something would turn up in -his favor.</p> - -<p>“I will bring them around in time,” he repeated, -and she, looking up at her splendid lover in worshipful -adoration, believed him, and bright visions -of happiness flitted before her mind’s eye. She -could not help triumphing in her thoughts over -her insolent rival, Juliette Ives.</p> - -<p>Oh, how suddenly the face of all the world was -changed to the girl who such a little while ago -was so unhappy that she wished herself dead! -The beautiful face grew so animated that he was -charmed and delighted. He told her that she -had the fairest face he had ever seen, and that -he would like to be a king, that he might make -her a queen.</p> - -<p>All too soon that happy excursion came to an -end, but it stood out brightly forever in Pansy’s -memory. She had been so happy, so blessed; and -when she parted with her lover it was to look -forward to secret meetings—pleasant walks with -him that would take away the dreariness and loneliness -of her life. He told her that it would not<span class="pagenum">[40]</span> -be wrong, and she loved him too well to doubt his -word.</p> - -<p>Several weeks afterward Pansy’s mother was -quite sick one day with a headache, and the girl -had to stay home from work. Toward afternoon -she grew much better, and then Pansy, who was -sitting near the bed with her sewing, said timidly:</p> - -<p>“Mamma, I am afraid that we have all been -too hard on Norman Wylde. Perhaps he did -love me and mean to marry me.”</p> - -<p>“Nonsense!” the mother exclaimed curtly, and -then she saw tears in Pansy’s blue eyes, much to -her dismay, for she thought Pansy had got over -her fancy for Norman Wylde.</p> - -<p>“But, mamma——”</p> - -<p>“I do not wish to hear anything about that villain,” -answered the mother sharply, and, although -the girl had made up her mind to confess everything -to her mother, she was frightened out of -it by her harshness; and the next time she saw -Norman she told him that she had made the effort -to tell her mother all, but had failed through -dread of her anger.</p> - -<p>They were in the Capitol Square, for it was<span class="pagenum">[41]</span> -Sunday afternoon, and Pansy had told her -mother that she was going for a little walk.</p> - -<p>Norman Wylde was waiting for her under the -tree in a secluded part of the grounds, and they -sat down together on a rustic bench while Pansy, -half in tears, related her failure with her mother.</p> - -<p>“I am sorry, for I have wished so much that I -might be able to visit you at your own home,” -said her lover. Then his face brightened, and -he added:</p> - -<p>“But never mind, darling, it does not matter -so much now, for I am going away from Richmond -very soon. Do not look so woebegone, -my little Pansy, for I have good news for you.”</p> - -<p>She started and looked up eagerly, wondering -if his parents had relented.</p> - -<p>But it was nothing like that.</p> - -<p>In a moment he continued:</p> - -<p>“Congratulate me, my dearest. I have at last -found a client!”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” cried Pansy gladly.</p> - -<p>“Yes, and a wealthy one, too,” said the young -man exultantly. “He wishes me to go to London -upon some law business for him, and if my -mission proves successful my reputation will be<span class="pagenum">[42]</span> -made at once, and I shall earn a princely fee, -also.”</p> - -<p>“But to go away so far—oh!” cried Pansy, in -unutterable distress.</p> - -<p>But her lover laughed.</p> - -<p>“Pshaw! Not so very far,” he said lightly, -then, pressing her little hand warmly, he whispered: -“We can bear the separation, my darling, -since, in reality, it only brings us nearer together, -as, of course I shall be in a position to -marry then.”</p> - -<p>But Pansy had burst into tears. A dark cloud -had settled over her spirits.</p> - -<p>No one was near them, and he bent tenderly -over her, trying to soothe her girlish distress.</p> - -<p>“It is only for a few months, dearest, and we -will write to each other every week. Then, when -I come back, we will be happy.”</p> - -<p>“I feel as if we were parting forever,” she -sighed, but he smiled tenderly, and answered:</p> - -<p>“No, no, Pansy—only for a little while.”</p> - -<p>But his own heart was heavy, too. He adored -his lovely little sweetheart, and vague fears assailed -him lest some one should win her away -from him during his enforced absence. She was<span class="pagenum">[43]</span> -so young, so untaught, what if she learned to -doubt him? What if the enemies that encompassed -both should turn her heart against him?</p> - -<p>A sudden mad resolve came over him. With -quickened breath, he whispered:</p> - -<p>“Pansy, in a week I must go and leave you. -What if I married you before I went, and left -my own sweet wife waiting for my return?”</p> - -<p>She started and gazed wildly at him.</p> - -<p>“They—they—would not permit it,” she returned -breathlessly.</p> - -<p>He smiled triumphantly.</p> - -<p>“We could run away, my pet,” he said. “For -instance, suppose when you started to work to-morrow -morning I should meet you? We could -take the early morning train for Washington, -be married, and return by the time the factory -closes for the day. You could go quietly home -again, and no one need know our sweet secret -until I came back to claim you.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[44]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">ACQUIRING A STEPFATHER.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Mrs. Laurens would have been only too glad -to listen to her daughter, if she had had any idea -that Norman Wylde’s intentions toward Pansy -were strictly honorable. But her brother’s representations -had so thoroughly alarmed her that -she deemed it proper to repress the girl with the -utmost sternness, while at the same time her -motherly heart yearned tenderly over her and she -longed for the means of lightening the girl’s hard -lot in life. And it was for her children’s sake -more than aught else that the yet young widow -began to contemplate the idea of a second marriage.</p> - -<p>She was still a pretty and attractive woman, -and for a year past she had had an admirer who -had pressed his suit more than once, and would -have been accepted only for the fact that her five -children were, with one accord, vehemently opposed -to having a stepfather.</p> - -<p>The widow could not help feeling vexed with -her dictatorial brood.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[45]</span></p> - -<p>Her suitor was a groceryman with a fair business, -and owned a neat brick house, well furnished, -from which a wife had been carried out -more than two years ago to her grave.</p> - -<p>The widower sadly wanted a housekeeper, and -it seemed to him that pretty little Mrs. Laurens -was the proper one to fill the position.</p> - -<p>The children were rather a drawback, it was -true, but he had decided that Pansy could go on -earning her living at the factory and Willie at -the store.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Laurens, all unconscious of her suitor’s -sordid intentions, wished very much to marry -Mr. Finley, and at last permitted him to overrule -her objections and persuade her that her children -had no right to dictate to her in regard to a second -marriage. It seemed quite a coincidence that, -on the very Sunday when Norman Wylde was -persuading pretty Pansy to a secret marriage, her -mother was listening to counsel somewhat similar -from her elderly lover.</p> - -<p>And on Monday evening, when Pansy got in, -rather late, flustered and frightened lest her -mother should chide her for her tardiness, she -found the children sitting around, supperless<span class="pagenum">[46]</span> -and forlorn, and manifestly relieved at her entrance.</p> - -<p>“Where is mamma?” she asked, glancing -around, rather guiltily; and Alice, the eldest of -the three younger children, replied:</p> - -<p>“Mamma had on her gray cashmere dress when -we got home from school, and she put on her -bonnet and said she was going out a while, and -that we must be good children till she got back.”</p> - -<p>“Very well; I will get you some supper,” their -sister answered, relieved to think that her own -escapade would pass undetected. She bustled -around with glowing cheeks and curiously bright -eyes, until, in a few moments, carriage wheels -were heard pausing in the street before their door, -and the eager children hastened to open it, tumbling -over each other in their gleeful excitement.</p> - -<p>What was their surprise to find that it was -their own mother who had come in the carriage. -She was accompanied by Mr. Finley, who came -with her into the house and stood by her side with -a consequential air, while she said, in a half-frightened -voice:</p> - -<p>“Now, don’t get mad, children, for it won’t do<span class="pagenum">[47]</span> -any good. I was married half an hour ago to -Mr. Finley.”</p> - -<p>Sheer surprise sealed every mouth, and, taking -advantage of the momentary pause, she continued:</p> - -<p>“I did it this way to escape the fuss I knew -you would all make. I am going with Mr. Finley -on a wedding tour of a week, to visit his relations -in North Carolina. I packed my trunk to-day, -and I depend on you, Pansy, dear, to keep house -for me while I’m gone. You needn’t go to work -any more till I come back. Now, come and kiss -me good-by, my precious children, for the carriage -is waiting to take me to the train.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[48]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">SECRET VISITS.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Poor Mrs. Laurens! Her anticipation of a -brighter future for her children very speedily -dissolved into thin air.</p> - -<p>She came back in a week from her wedding -tour, and moved into her new home, Mr. Finley’s -nice brick residence on Church Hill; and then -she hinted broadly to her new-made husband that -she would like to take Pansy from the factory -and Willie from the store, and send both to school -again.</p> - -<p>To her grief and dismay, Mr. Finley promptly -refused her requests.</p> - -<p>“I married you, not your family, Mrs. Finley,” -he said coarsely.</p> - -<p>“But I surely expected—and you certainly let -me think, sir—that you would support my children,” -faltered the bride.</p> - -<p>“The three younger children, who are yet too -young to work for themselves, I expect to board -and clothe, certainly, but not the two others. -They must remain at work, clothe themselves,<span class="pagenum">[49]</span> -and pay a small sum monthly for board,” was -the stern reply, which so angered the astonished -woman that she cried out resentfully:</p> - -<p>“If I had known this I would not have married -you!”</p> - -<p>“If you married me with mercenary motives -you deserve to be disappointed,” was the cold reply -of her liege lord, and, as may be supposed, -the honeymoon did not proceed very smoothly -after that.</p> - -<p>Willie kept on at the store, the children at -school, and Pansy at the factory. She had not -expected anything else, she told her mother, with -some slight bitterness, when she half apologized -to her for the necessity of her keeping on at -work.</p> - -<p>She resented with silent jealousy her mother’s -marriage to this stern, hard man, so unlike her -own father, who had been so gentle and loving, -and the breach between her heart and her mother’s -grew wider still as days passed on and -brought the cold, dark days of winter.</p> - -<p>For one day one of the little children had unwittingly -let out a secret that Pansy had adjured -her to keep. It was the fact that Norman Wylde<span class="pagenum">[50]</span> -had several times visited the house during Mrs. -Finley’s absence on her wedding tour.</p> - -<p>There had been a scene between mother and -daughter, harsh reproaches and upbraidings, answered -first by tears, then by girlish resentment.</p> - -<p>“I had as much right to deceive you as you had -to run away and marry that horrid man!” the girl -cried, with flashing eyes.</p> - -<p>Then Mrs. Finley had so far forgotten love -and dignity as to strike her rebellious daughter—slapping -both cheeks soundly, and threatening -something of the same kind unless Pansy broke -off with Norman Wylde.</p> - -<p>“He is gone to England,” the girl answered -sullenly, and the mother prayed in secret that -he might never return, unwitting of the terrible -interest Pansy had in the absentee.</p> - -<p>So the long winter days wore away, and -Pansy’s companions at the factory began to remark -a great change in the young girl. Her -cheeks had grown pale and wan, and her eyes -dim, as if from constant tears. Her light, dancing -step had become heavy and dragging, and she -no longer seemed to care about her personal appearance, -for her dresses were cheap and ill-fitting,<span class="pagenum">[51]</span> -and she was always shivering with cold, -although constantly wrapped in a thick shawl. -The gay girls at the factory often teased her -about her chilliness, and told her she must be -going into a consumption.</p> - -<p>Poor child! If they had guessed what was -aching at her heart they must have pitied her. -Not a word or line had she received from Norman -Wylde since the day he had sailed away from -Richmond, after the one week of delirious happiness -in which she had been his adored wife.</p> - -<p>Faithfully had she kept the secret of her marriage, -but the time was coming when it must be -declared, or she would have to bear the burden -of a bitter shame. Unless Norman Wylde returned -soon, she would be the mother of a child -on whom the world would frown in scorn, while -she, poor girl, would never be able to lift up her -head again.</p> - -<p>Oh, how she repented her disobedience to her -mother! If she had listened to her she would -not have come to this terrible pass. Perhaps Norman -was false to her, perhaps that marriage in -Washington had been a fraudulent one. She had -read of such things.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[52]</span></p> - -<p>“Heaven pity me, how shall I ever confess the -truth to my mother?” she sobbed nightly, as she -lay wide awake in her little room, too wretched -and frightened to sleep, wondering why her husband -did not write to her, and praying always -that Heaven would remove her very soon from -a world that she had found so dark and cruel.</p> - -<p>A dark, terrible day came to her at last—dark, -although the sun was shining in the sky, the -green grass springing, and the gay birds chirping -in the budding trees, for it was May now, and -the world was made new again—she was discharged -from the factory.</p> - -<p>No reason was given, none asked. She understood.</p> - -<p>For many days she had seen that her companions -at work shunned and sneered at her. She -had had many friends among them once, but now -not one. She did not blame them. In their place -she would perhaps have acted the same. There -is a wide, wide gulf between womanly purity and -fallen virtue, and they believed that she was a lost -and ruined creature.</p> - -<p>As she went slowly, wearily homeward she -felt that she could not bear to tell her mother of<span class="pagenum">[53]</span> -her discharge, for then she would have to confess -all the rest.</p> - -<p>“I could more easily die than confess to her, -for, oh, she will be so angry, so angry!” she shuddered -weakly, and a desperate resolve came to -her.</p> - -<p>She would run away and hide herself from all -who had ever known her.</p> - -<p>Perhaps she would die when her trouble came. -She hoped so, for she was weary of her life.</p> - -<p>Out of the money that remained from her -wages after paying her board, she had saved a -few dollars. She would take it and go away. -Mamma would not miss her much. She had -never seemed the same to her children since she -married the hard, stern man who kept her at -work even more slavishly than when she was a -widow, for he would not hire a servant, and she -was compelled to do the drudgery of the house -herself.</p> - -<p>Pansy went into the house very quietly, then -helped her mother with the supper, as was her -usual custom. She pretended to eat something -herself, then went up to her own little room,<span class="pagenum">[54]</span> -eager to make her arrangements for getting -away.</p> - -<p>There was not much to do, only to make up a -bundle of such clothing as she would need the -most and could conveniently carry. There were -some tiny garments, too, clumsily fashioned by -the poor girl’s unskillful hands; they must not be -left behind. She tied them all up securely, put -on her hat, and sat down to wait until the house -should be still, when she would slip quietly out -and make her way to the station, where she could -take the first train to Petersburg.</p> - -<p>She felt ill and wretched. Her heart was throbbing -to suffocation. How dreadful the suspense -was, how slowly the time crept by!</p> - -<p>Thank Heaven, they were all abed at last, and -she could go now.</p> - -<p>She rose up with her bundle, shrinking a little -at the thought of being alone in the streets by -night.</p> - -<p>At that inauspicious moment Mrs. Finley suddenly -entered the room.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[55]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">THE SECRET DIVULGED.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>At the opening of the door, mother and daughter -recoiled from each other with smothered cries -of amazement.</p> - -<p>Pansy, who had counted herself so sure of -escaping, saw herself detected in the act of flight, -forced to confession, shamed, disgraced; but after -that one exclamation of alarm she hurriedly determined -to brave it out, if possible; so, clutching -her bundle tightly, she assumed an expression of -calmness that she was very far from feeling.</p> - -<p>“Why, Pansy, what does this mean? I expected -to find you abed,” exclaimed her mother, -staring in astonishment at the shrinking girl.</p> - -<p>“I—I—wanted to go out a few minutes, -mamma, dear. My new calico, you know, I must -take it to that sewing girl on the next square, for -I shall need it next week,” stammered Pansy, -trying to push by her mother; but Mrs. Finley -suddenly put her back against the door, exclaiming -suspiciously:</p> - -<p>“Going to the dressmaker’s at this time of<span class="pagenum">[56]</span> -night? I don’t believe it! You are up to some -mischief, Pansy Laurens! Running away, perhaps, -and it’s a good thing I caught you in the -nick of time. Give me that bundle and let me -look into it.”</p> - -<p>There was a brief, short struggle, then Mrs. -Finley triumphed, and Pansy flung herself, bitterly -weeping, upon the floor, while her mother -rummaged through the telltale bundle.</p> - -<p>“Aha, just as I thought! Change of clothes—oh, -you wicked girl! What is this? Oh-h-h, -heavens! Pa-a-n-sy Lau-rens, what does this -mean?”</p> - -<p>She was holding up sundry tiny bits of soft -flannel and linen trimmed with homemade -crochet edging. Pansy did not lift her head. She -knew without looking, and she moaned despairingly:</p> - -<p>“Oh, mamma, mamma, if only you had let me -go away in peace you need never have known!”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>“You say that she will live, doctor? Oh, I -am so glad! And yet it would be better, perhaps, -for my poor girl if she had died.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[57]</span></p> - -<p>Pansy’s eyelids felt too tired and heavy to lift -from her eyes, but she seemed to struggle back to -consciousness and hear those words spoken above -her head. In that moment, too, came a confused -memory of the stormy scene with her mother -when she had been forced to tell all her story -and to bear such bitter reproach and shame as -almost maddened her, so that she was glad of -the unconsciousness that stole upon her, blotting -out for a few weeks all the bitter past and shameful -present.</p> - -<p>Yes, it had been three weeks since that terrible -night, and when Pansy heard those words -spoken over her head in her mother’s voice she -guessed aright that she had had a dangerous illness.</p> - -<p>She opened her blue eyes with an effort, and -saw the doctor standing with her mother by the -bed.</p> - -<p>“See—she is conscious at last. She will begin -to get well very fast now,” he said, and gave her -an encouraging smile; but Pansy had none to give -in return.</p> - -<p>It seemed to her that she should never smile -again.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[58]</span></p> - -<p>When he had gone, she looked wistfully at -her mother, without daring to speak, fearing to -hear again the scathing reproaches with which -she had been assailed that night; but Mrs. Finley -had been softened by her daughter’s illness, and -she spoke to her very kindly:</p> - -<p>“My dear, you have been ill three weeks of -fever, but the doctor thinks you are going to get -well now.”</p> - -<p>Pansy thought of the words she had overheard:</p> - -<p>“It would be better, perhaps, for my poor girl -if she had died.”</p> - -<p>She could not speak just yet, but her big, -mournful blue eyes asked a question that Mrs. -Finley quickly understood.</p> - -<p>“Yes, it is all over long ago. It happened that -night when I kept you from running away. You -were so ill you never knew.”</p> - -<p>She paused, but the big, beseeching blue eyes -were still asking silent questions, and, putting her -hand up to her face, Mrs. Finley said, in a broken -voice:</p> - -<p>“Your child only lived one day, Pansy. It -was better so.”</p> - -<p>“Dead!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[59]</span></p> - -<p>That one wailing cry broke the stillness, then -low and bitter sobs heaved Pansy’s breast. The -mother who had never seen the face of her child -was weeping over its death.</p> - -<p>“It was better so, my dear, better so. Had it -lived it could but have added to your disgrace,” -Mrs. Finley kept repeating, and at last the poor -girl, stung by the words, answered petulantly:</p> - -<p>“How can you talk of disgrace? I told you -that I was the wife of Norman Wylde.”</p> - -<p>“You were deceived, my poor child,” answered -her mother sadly.</p> - -<p>“Deceived!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Pansy. I told Mr. Finley everything. -He went to Washington to find out the truth. -My poor girl, that villain deceived you. There -was no license taken out; there was no minister -of the name you told me, and you had no marriage -certificate. By your confidence in a villain against -whom we all warned you, you have ruined yourself -and brought disgrace upon your relations.”</p> - -<p>There was a long, long pause of utter consternation, -then the stricken girl moaned pitifully:</p> - -<p>“Oh, mamma, why did you nurse me back to -life? You should have let me die.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[60]</span></p> - -<p>One week later Pansy was sitting up, a pale -little ghost of the bright, pretty girl who, just a -year ago, had gone home with Uncle Robbins to -find so cruel a fate. She had been watching the -sun set, and turned with heavy, listless eyes when -her mother entered with a slice of toast and some -tea for her supper.</p> - -<p>“Mamma, will you tell me why you always lock -my door on the outside? Are you afraid that I -will run away?” she asked sadly.</p> - -<p>“Oh, my dear, do not be frightened, but—I am -afraid of your brother.”</p> - -<p>“Mamma—of Willie?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, he is sixteen now, you know—old enough -to feel keenly the disgrace that has fallen on the -family. He is so angry, and he has been egged -on, I know, by Mr. Finley. I—I—hope he will -come to his senses some time,” sighing.</p> - -<p>“Mamma, you said you were afraid. You -locked the door whenever you went out. Why?” -panted Pansy, with dilated eyes; and the wretched -mother, leaning over her wretched child, whispered -plaintively:</p> - -<p>“Try to forgive him, my poor child, for he is -half crazed now, and his passionate boyish temper<span class="pagenum">[61]</span> -all ablaze with anger. Poor lad! The disgrace -has blighted all his future, he says, and he -has sworn revenge.”</p> - -<p>“Revenge—on me?” questioned Pansy faintly.</p> - -<p>“Yes, on you. He has got hold of a pistol -somehow, and he is no longer very steady at his -work. I fear he drinks some. He vows he will -shoot you on sight.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, my Heaven!”</p> - -<p>“But do not be frightened, dear. It is nothing -but boyish bluster, I am sure. Only I am -afraid of him just yet, while the drink fires his -blood. So it is better to keep your room a while.”</p> - -<p>“Every one knows, then, mamma?” with a -burning blush.</p> - -<p>“We could not keep it a secret. Every one -suspected you,” sighed the unhappy woman, -bursting into a flood of tears.</p> - -<p>But she wept more bitterly still next morning, -for, in spite of the locked door, Pansy was missing, -and a tiny note on her pillow told the story:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>Bless you, my faithful mamma, and help you to forgive -me for my willful ways that caused you so much sorrow. -Tell Willie not to drink any more. I will never come back, -never disgrace him again.</p> - -<p class="ir1"><span class="smcap">Unhappy Pansy.</span></p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[62]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">A HEARTSICK FUGITIVE.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Pansy Laurens meant to keep her word when -she wrote to her mother that she would never -come back. She felt that this would be best.</p> - -<p>If she remained at home the shadow of her -deep disgrace would be reflected on her family. -If she went away people would forget it in time.</p> - -<p>“I should like for them to think that I am dead. -Then mamma would not feel any further anxiety -over my fate. Her mind would be easy. She -would feel that I was at rest,” she thought, and -it was this that led her to take away with her a -small bundle of clothing marked with her name, -and throw it into the river. “It will be found by -some one, and then they will say that I drowned -myself. It will be a great relief to Willie,” she -said to herself, with sorrowful satisfaction, and -with a bravery born of despair, she escaped from -her room by means of a rope plaited of torn -sheets.</p> - -<p>Her hands were torn and bleeding when she<span class="pagenum">[63]</span> -reached the bottom, but, without a murmur, she -took up the bundle she had thrown down, and -made her way to Libby Hill, that beautiful eminence -overlooking the historic James River. She -sat down there a while to rest in the soft gleam -of the summer moonlight, and to think of the -times when she had met Norman Wylde there -and wandered with him through the beautiful -park, while her young heart thrilled with love, -and hope.</p> - -<p>“Alas, alas! he was but amusing himself with -the humble working girl; he but plucked the -flower of my love to trample it under his feet,” -she murmured, in bitterest despair; and presently -she went through the park and past the line of -stately houses that guarded it on the left side, -and dragged herself down the steep declivity to -the river.</p> - -<p>How beautiful, how silvery white it gleamed -in the clear moonlight as it pursued its winding -course toward Chesapeake Bay. The factory -girl, whose soul was deeply imbued with a love -of the beautiful, gazed with a sort of solemn rapture -on the magnificent scene outspread before -her, and as she flung her little bundle into the<span class="pagenum">[64]</span> -glittering waves, lifted her sad eyes to heaven, -murmuring, in a tone of awe:</p> - -<p>“I am tempted to spring into those bright -waves and end all my sorrow.”</p> - -<p>Then she saw a dark form moving toward her -at some little distance, and fled away, fearing lest -she should be arrested by a policeman, for it was -nearing midnight, and she knew that it would -seem strange to see a woman alone in the streets, -deserted as they were by almost every one.</p> - -<p>She went along slyly and quietly, like a fugitive -fleeing from justice, over the long distance—two -miles and more—that intervened between her and -the railway station, at which she meant to take a -train for the West.</p> - -<p>How strange it seemed to be stealing along -Main Street like a shadow, frightened at the glare -of the street lamps, lest they should reveal her -hurrying form to some alert policeman. She was -glad when she reached Seventeenth Street -Market, and darted inside of it, gliding nervously -along between the brick stalls as far as they went, -and coming out at last almost at the end of her -journey, for soon Broad Street was gained, and -then, a little later, the depot.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[65]</span></p> - -<p>There was a midnight train making up for the -West. She hurried to the ticket office and bought -a ticket for Cincinnati.</p> - -<p>“I shall be sure to find work in a great big -city like that,” she thought, as she took her place -in a car and sank wearily into a seat, bursting -into tears as the whistle blew and the train rushed -out of the station, at the thought that she was -leaving behind her forever mother, home, and -native city—dear old Richmond, on its green, -smiling hills—the place where she was born, and -where she had spent her eighteen years of life.</p> - -<p>She had never known how well she loved Richmond -until she felt herself leaving it forever behind -her, with all the associations so dear to her -heart. Tears blinded her beautiful eyes, and a -sort of passionate hatred for the lover who had -wrought her so much woe swelled her young -heart.</p> - -<p>“Oh, did he think of all this when he betrayed -me?” she wondered bitterly, and a yearning for -revenge came to her, a bitter longing to pay him -back in his own coin for all that she was suffering -now.</p> - -<p>“Heaven will send me the chance, and I will<span class="pagenum">[66]</span> -wring his heart as he has tortured mine,” she -vowed to herself, with eyes that flashed through -her tears, and just then the conductor came along -to take up the tickets.</p> - -<p>The car was not crowded, and he had time to -observe how Pansy’s face was all wet with tears, -and how nervously her little hand shook when -she presented her ticket.</p> - -<p>“Are you ill, miss?” he asked politely. “Can -I do anything for you?”</p> - -<p>“No, I am not ill; there is nothing I wish, thank -you,” she answered; but, as she saw how surprised -he looked, she added: “I was only crying -because I am leaving my native city forever, to -go among strangers. I am an orphan, and must -seek work in the West.”</p> - -<p>“I should think you could certainly find work -in Richmond,” he said; but she shook her head -and put her hand to her white throat in such a -pathetic way that he knew she was choked with -tears.</p> - -<p>He turned away with a heart full of pity, thinking -of his own pretty daughter at home, and hoping -that she might never come to this. The next<span class="pagenum">[67]</span> -day he heard that a beautiful young working girl -of Richmond had drowned herself in the James -River, and his thoughts involuntarily flew to the -one who had left Richmond last night, although -he did not think of connecting the two together, -save as sisters in sorrow.</p> - -<p>“There was a tragedy of woe in the beautiful -face of that orphan girl,” he thought often, for -the memory of her grief did not fade from his -mind for some time.</p> - -<p>Pansy was touched by his manly sympathy, -but she pretended not to notice it. She did not -want him to find out who she was, or anything -about her, lest it should interfere with the success -of her plan for making everybody believe she was -dead.</p> - -<p>But, oh, that long, weary night in which she -was whirled away so rapidly from all that she -had ever known—it would stay in her memory -forever, with all its pain and sadness.</p> - -<p>When they reached Staunton, quite a large -crowd came in, and there was another conductor, -who had so many tickets to take up that he did -not pay much attention to the sad young traveler -who seemed so lonely and friendless, and who at<span class="pagenum">[68]</span> -last fell into a deep sleep of exhaustion, and did -not awaken for many hours afterward—not, in -fact, until a terrible railroad collision near Louisville, -Kentucky, derailed the train and sent many -of the passengers into their last long sleep.</p> - -<p>Pansy was rudely awakened by the shock and -jar, and found herself fastened down beneath -some timbers which had, fortunately, formed a -sort of arch over her form, holding her down, -yet still protecting her, so that she was quite unhurt, -although so frightened that she fainted dead -away at hearing the shrieks of the wounded and -dying all around her.</p> - -<p>Busy, helpful hands were soon at work, and -within an hour she was released from her uncomfortable -position. They carried her out into -a grassy field, where the survivors of the accident -were sitting around in the burning sunshine. -Pansy was struck by one lady, who looked as if -she were far gone in consumption, and who was -sobbing bitterly over the death of her maid.</p> - -<p>“I was quite alone but for her, and we were -traveling to California for my health,” she said. -“Oh, I know not what to do! I am too weak and -ill to travel alone.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[69]</span></p> - -<p>Pansy went up to the poor invalid, and said -timidly:</p> - -<p>“Lady, I am an orphan, and I was going to -Cincinnati to seek for work. Perhaps you would -be willing to take me in the place of your maid -that was killed. I would try very hard to please -you.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, thank you, thank you, my child! I am -only too glad to get some one to go on with me,” -cried the invalid, eagerly accepting the offer.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[70]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">SHELTERING ARMS.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Pansy Laurens had found that “friend in need” -who is “a friend, indeed,” when she became acquainted -with Mrs. Beach, the invalid lady. She -took a deep, kindly interest in the lonely, friendless -girl, and during the few days when they -stayed over at Louisville to recover from the -shock of the accident mastered much of her story.</p> - -<p>She was surprised when she learned that the -lovely girl was of the working classes, for she -had fancied that Pansy’s wonderful beauty had -descended from aristocratic, high-bred parentage, -but Pansy proudly undeceived her.</p> - -<p>“My father was a mechanic, and my grandfather -was a farmer. My mother was a farmer’s -daughter, too, so we were only plain, hard-working -people. I left the public school where I was -educated as soon as my father died, and worked -in a tobacco factory three years.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Beach, who was a Southerner, and “a born -aristocrat,” looked honestly surprised, and spoke -out frankly her astonishment.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[71]</span></p> - -<p>“I thought,” she said, “that the girls employed -in the tobacco factories of the South were of a -very low and ignorant class, indeed. I have received -that impression somehow.”</p> - -<p>Pansy thought of Juliette Ives and the scorn -she had displayed toward her, and answered bitterly:</p> - -<p>“Many have thought the same, Mrs. Beach; -but in the three years I spent in a tobacco factory -I met many girls as beautiful, as refined, and as -good as are met with in the highest circles of -what is called good society. I cannot believe that -nobility is only to be met with in the ranks of -the rich and well-born. The good and bad are -met with in all classes.”</p> - -<p>“That is quite true, my child,” said the lady, to -whom Pansy had not confided the story of her -cruel experience among the aristocrats of her native -city. She gazed admiringly at the flushed -face of the excited girl, and added: “I do not -wish to flatter you, my dear girl, but I will say -frankly that both your mind and person fit you -to adorn the highest society. It would be an injustice -to you to lower you to the position of my -personal attendant; therefore you shall remain<span class="pagenum">[72]</span> -with me as my companion, and as soon as we -reach San Diego, my destination, I will try to -secure some elderly woman as my maid.”</p> - -<p>Pansy’s tears of gratitude amply thanked the -noble woman for her generous words, and she -sighed to think that she dared not confide to her -the whole story of her life.</p> - -<p>But she could not bring herself to repeat to a -stranger, however kindly, the sorrows of her unfortunate -love affair.</p> - -<p>“And, then, I dare not, for she would perhaps -spurn me from her presence, deeming me wicked -where I was only unfortunate,” she thought -shrinkingly.</p> - -<p>She had told Mrs. Beach that her name was -Pansy Wilcox, and that she had left home because -her mother had married a man who was -unkind to his stepchildren. Mrs. Beach thought -the reason was a fair one, and did not blame the -young girl much. She had some reason for knowing -how unpleasant a girl’s home could be made -under such circumstances.</p> - -<p>They safely reached San Diego, one of the -most beautiful and romantic places in California,<span class="pagenum">[73]</span> -and for a while Pansy was so enchanted with her -new home and its Italian-like surroundings that -she ceased to grieve for her native Richmond -and the dear ones left behind. A new life opened -before her: one of comparative ease and luxury, -compared to what she had known, for with the -gentle invalid lady her duties as companion were -usually light and pleasant. Mrs. Beach had soon -found a clever maid, and, as she rented a small -furnished cottage near the beautiful bay of San -Diego, and hired two Chinese servants, life began -to flow on very smoothly and fairly to those -who made up her household.</p> - -<p>She had told Pansy very little about herself, -save that she was a widow with a fair income -that would cease at her death.</p> - -<p>“I have no relatives save a distant one of my -husband, who will, perhaps, be glad when I die, -as he will then inherit the property,” she said, -adding: “But I mean to live as long as I can, -and this charming climate makes me feel almost -as if I am going to get well again.”</p> - -<p>“Heaven grant you may,” exclaimed Pansy, -but when she looked at the wan cheeks and sunken -eyes of the hapless lady it seemed to her that Mrs.<span class="pagenum">[74]</span> -Beach could not live much longer, even in this -charming climate.</p> - -<p>“And when she dies I shall be thrown homeless -upon the world again,” she thought, with a shudder -of fear and terror.</p> - -<p>Perhaps Mrs. Beach thought of this, too, for -she took a deep interest in her fair young companion. -One day she said gravely to Pansy:</p> - -<p>“Do you ever expect to marry, Pansy?”</p> - -<p>Pansy grew crimson first, then deadly pale.</p> - -<p>“No, never. I hate men!” she exclaimed, with -such energy that Mrs. Beach, a keen student of -human nature, exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“Ah, then, you have had a lover?”</p> - -<p>Pansy saw that she had betrayed herself by -her vehemence, and, hanging her head bashful -she sighed:</p> - -<p>“Yes, I had a lover once, and he proved false -to me. No one else shall ever make love to me -again.”</p> - -<p>“Poor child!” said the lady compassionately. -She remained silent a few moments, then said: -“I hope you will not think me a meddlesome old -lady, Pansy, but I have been thinking of your<span class="pagenum">[75]</span> -future. If I should die, what would become of -you?”</p> - -<p>Pansy burst into passionate tears. “I should -never find such a noble friend again,” she sobbed.</p> - -<p>“I have been thinking of that,” said Mrs. -Beach, laying her thin hand gently on the bowed -head. “Your future has been on my mind for -some time. You ought to be learning something -by which you could support yourself. There are -many avenues of support open to women now.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I know it, but I have had no chance to -learn anything. Dear, noble friend, if only you -could suggest something!” cried Pansy gratefully.</p> - -<p>“I will think over it a few days, and then advise -you,” answered Mrs. Beach gravely.</p> - -<p>And at the end of a week she told Pansy that -she believed that typewriting would prove a remunerative -business for a young girl.</p> - -<p>“I will purchase a good machine, and you shall -learn,” she said kindly.</p> - -<p>“Oh, how kind you are to me! I wish I knew -how to thank you for all your goodness,” cried -the poor girl, with tears of gratitude.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Beach smiled and answered:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[76]</span></p> - -<p>“Only stay with me while I live, Pansy, and I -shall be well rewarded. After all, my kindness -to you is only a species of selfishness, for I wish -to have you with me. It brightens my lonely life -to have the beautiful face of a young girl about -me all the time.”</p> - -<p>They stayed in San Diego a year, and every -month made the exquisite place more dear to -them. Pansy worked industriously at her typewriting -machine, and became quite proficient; but -she did not neglect her kind benefactress.</p> - -<p>It was both her duty and her pleasure to add -as much of happiness as possible to the life of the -suffering invalid. In doing so she reaped the rich -reward of those who try to lighten the sorrows -of others, for she had less time to think of her -own, and in consequence was far less unhappy.</p> - -<p>There was not a day in which she did not thank -Heaven for providing such a safe haven for her -when she had fled, frightened and despairing, -from her old home; not a day in which she did -not pray for the dear ones she had left behind. -Most bitterly she repented the willfulness that had -led to all her sorrow.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[77]</span></p> - -<p>“Had I only minded my mother, no harm would -have come to me,” she sighed over and over.</p> - -<p>Suddenly over the calm, peaceful life they were -leading in the little cottage home fell a dark -shadow.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Beach had been failing for some time, -and at last it became only too evident to Pansy -and the few friends they had made in San Diego -that her days were numbered. The invalid herself -was not ignorant of the fact, for after an -interview with her physician one day she sent -for Pansy and gently broke the sad tidings that -she had, in all probability, but a few weeks to -live.</p> - -<p>“Do not grieve, my dear. You know I have -been prepared for this some time,” she said, with -sweet resignation. “It only remains now for me -to make my arrangements for the end.”</p> - -<p>Pansy’s irrepressible sobs drowned her voice -for a while, but when the agitated girl had grown -calmer she continued:</p> - -<p>“I have telegraphed for my husband’s cousin, -who will inherit the fortune whose income I am -using, to come at once to San Diego; and he will -attend to all the final arrangements. I will be<span class="pagenum">[78]</span> -buried here, as my husband was lost at sea many -years ago, and it matters not to me where my -ashes repose, as they can never rest beside his. I -wish, my dear girl, that I had a fortune to leave -you, more especially as the man who will inherit -mine does not need it, being already very wealthy. -But my husband’s wealth, as I never bore him -any children, reverts by his will to his own -family.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[79]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">BEGINNING OVER AGAIN.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Colonel Falconer, the man whose coming was -so anxiously expected by Mrs. Beach, arrived in -ten days at San Diego; but the invalid had died -just a few hours before his arrival.</p> - -<p>Poor Pansy was once more alone in the world, -for Colonel Falconer, though full of pity and -sympathy for the friendless girl, could not be to -her such a friend as he wished. He was fifty -years old, and a bachelor, therefore if he had -offered to divide with her the fortune that had -come to him by Mrs. Beach’s death the world -would have caviled.</p> - -<p>He was a typical Virginian, generous and true-hearted, -and he grieved that such should be the -case, for he would willingly have made ample -provision for the support of the lovely, penniless -girl who had been so dear to his deceased relative.</p> - -<p>“It is a deuced shame that my hands are tied -in this way. I feel mean, taking all that money -and seeing that beautiful little creature go out to<span class="pagenum">[80]</span> -earn her own living,” he said to himself the day -after the funeral, when Pansy had come to him -to tell him, with a pale, sad little face, that she -had been so fortunate as to be offered a place in -a real-estate office as a typewriter.</p> - -<p>“I have accepted the place, and will enter on -my duties to-morrow,” she said simply; and then -he drew forward a chair, and begged her to be -seated.</p> - -<p>“It seems very sad that you should be left alone -like this. Have you no relations, no friends, Miss -Wilcox?”</p> - -<p>Pansy flushed warmly, then grew pale again, -and, after a moment’s hesitancy, said:</p> - -<p>“I came from Louisville to this place with Mrs. -Beach because I wished to work for myself. My -father was dead, my mother had married again, -and my stepfather was not kind to me. I prefer -to remain in California alone, rather than to return -to my own home.”</p> - -<p>“She is a plucky little thing,” thought the colonel -admiringly, and he answered, aloud:</p> - -<p>“I don’t know but what you’re right, Miss Wilcox, -and I admire your independence. I want -you to promise one thing: You will let me be your<span class="pagenum">[81]</span> -friend? I shall remain in San Diego some time -yet, and if you will permit me to call on you sometimes -I shall be very glad.”</p> - -<p>He did not mean to lose sight of her if he could -help it, for he had a fancy that if Mrs. Beach -had lived to see him again she would have commended -her protégée to his care.</p> - -<p>“Hang it all, if I were twenty years younger -I’d marry her if she would have me,” he said to -himself, when she had gone out, after giving her -consent to his request and telling him where she -should go to board. It was at a very simple, unpretentious -place, for in San Diego, as in all of -the rapidly growing towns of southern California, -board and lodging were very high. It would take -all of her salary to support her even in a simple -fashion.</p> - -<p>Colonel Falconer knew this well, and his heart -ached for the brave, beautiful girl who had made -a stronger impression on him than any woman he -had ever met. When she bade him good-by that -afternoon and went away with Mrs. Beach’s -maid, who was also rendered homeless by the -death of her mistress, he felt a strangely tender -yearning to take the beautiful girl in his arms and<span class="pagenum">[82]</span> -kiss away the tears that he saw trembling on her -long, curling lashes.</p> - -<p>He retained the Chinese servants, and stayed -on at the cottage during the summer, and in that -time he managed to see a great deal of beautiful -little Pansy, although he knew that it was unwise, -for he soon found that his ardent admiration -for the lovely girl was deepening into love.</p> - -<p>If he had been younger he would have proposed -to marry her; but it seemed to him that -Pansy would only laugh at the idea of having such -an old fellow for a husband.</p> - -<p>He did not know how Pansy was touched by -his kindness and friendship. She was very lonely, -for the few acquaintances she had made during -Mrs. Beach’s life did not trouble themselves about -her now that she was poor and friendless. They -were rich, fashionable people, too, who had no -time, if they had had the inclination, to look after -any one not in society. They were very gracious -to Colonel Falconer, but that little typewriter -girl to whom he was so attentive—that was altogether -different. Some there were who hinted to -him that it was a mistake on his part to show her -so much kindness. It would spoil her for her<span class="pagenum">[83]</span> -humbler lot, awaken in her aspirations for higher -things than she could reasonably expect.</p> - -<p>They set Colonel Falconer thinking, and the -upshot of it was that he went away to San Francisco -for several months. He did not go to bid -Pansy good-by, but simply sent her a note of farewell, -saying that he would write her sometimes -and requesting the favor of a reply.</p> - -<p>“Oh, how I miss him! It was like having a -kind elder brother,” Pansy sighed to herself, and -now the evenings and Sundays grew very lonely, -indeed.</p> - -<p>There were no more pleasant drives Sunday -afternoons, spinning over the sands past the glittering -bay; no more books, nor fruits and flowers. -There was a young clerk in the office where -she worked who would have made love to her if -she would have noticed him, but she never did, -and in her loneliness her thoughts went back -more and more to her lost love and her dead past.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[84]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">IN A BOARDING HOUSE.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Perhaps it was the brooding over the past and -the pain and remorse that wore upon Pansy until -she fell ill and had that long fever, although some -of the little household declared that it was something -she had read in a Southern paper.</p> - -<p>When Colonel Falconer, who had grown uneasy -because his last letter to Pansy was not answered, -came suddenly back to San Diego, he -found that the girl had been ill of a brain fever -for several weeks.</p> - -<p>The mistress of the boarding house, who had -been very kind to the sick girl, explained everything -as well as she could:</p> - -<p>“She had been looking droopy an’ peaked some -time, an’ her appetite no better than a baby’s, -when she kem inter the parlor one Sunday after -church, an’ set down to read. All at once she -screamed out, an’ fell in a faint. She had this -paper in her hand, an’ I’ll allus believe she read -something in it that was bad news to her. But<span class="pagenum">[85]</span> -I’ve read it through an’ through, and I can’t guess -what ’tis. Maybe you kin.”</p> - -<p>She put the newspaper in his hand—one almost -two months old. It was a daily paper, published -at Richmond, Virginia.</p> - -<p>“I do not think anything in this could have -affected her. She was from Kentucky. Where -did she get this?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Some transient boarder must have left it, I -think. It had been laying around on the parlor -table several days when she picked it up.”</p> - -<p>He went over the paper carefully—the deaths, -the marriages—but he saw nothing about any one -by the name of Wilcox. There was a society -column, and he went over that, too, although he -did not expect to find anything relating to her, -for she had been very careful to impress upon -his mind, with a sort of proud humility, that she -belonged to the humble walks of life.</p> - -<p>“Ah!” he exclaimed suddenly.</p> - -<p>“You’ve found it?” exclaimed Mrs. Scruggs.</p> - -<p>“Oh, no, nothing relating to her,” he answered -quickly.</p> - -<p>The paragraph that had surprised him was -this:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[86]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>Norman Wylde has returned from his long sojourn -abroad, and his much-talked-of marriage to the beautiful -Miss Ives will take place very soon.</p> -</div> - -<p>Major Falconer knew both parties very well, -but he had never spoken of them to Pansy. He -forgot both almost immediately in his anxiety -over the sick girl.</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Scruggs, I wonder if I might see her? -I am a very old friend,” he said.</p> - -<p>“She is sitting up a little while to-day. I know -she would be glad to see you,” was the answer, -and she immediately conducted him to Pansy’s -room.</p> - -<p>The sick girl was so surprised that she uttered -a cry of joy. Her blue eyes lighted with pleasure.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I am so glad!” she exclaimed impulsively.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Scruggs went quietly out. He knelt down -by her side and kissed her little hands with the -ardor of a younger lover.</p> - -<p>Yes, all his prudent resolves had melted before -his joy at seeing her again, and his pity for her -suffering. Gently, so as not to startle her from -him, he told her of his love, and begged her to -be his wife.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[87]</span></p> - -<p>“I am old enough to be your father, I know; -but my heart is young, and, then, I could take -such good care of you, my darling,” he said.</p> - -<p>“Oh, you are too good to me, and I—I could -not love you enough,” she faltered.</p> - -<p>“I would teach you to love me,” he answered. -And she had such a deep regard for him that it -seemed to her that it would be very easy to learn -that lesson.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[88]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">A SECOND MARRIAGE.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>San Diego had a sensation when Colonel Falconer, -the rich Southerner, married the beautiful -young typewriter within a few days after his -return from San Francisco.</p> - -<p>He had pleaded for an early marriage, and she, -after some hesitancy, had consented.</p> - -<p>“There is no one whose consent I have to ask, -I suppose?” he said; and, after a moment’s silence, -she answered:</p> - -<p>“No, there is no one. I have reason to think -that my mother believes me dead. I have no -wish to undeceive her.”</p> - -<p>“But does not that seem cruel?” he asked, and -tears started to her eyes as she answered bitterly:</p> - -<p>“She has her new husband and other children -to comfort her for my loss.”</p> - -<p>He said no more on the subject, and preparations -were made for a speedy marriage. He declared -that that would be best, and Pansy could -not gainsay the assertion. Her small stock of<span class="pagenum">[89]</span> -money had been exhausted during her illness, and -she was still too weak to go back to work.</p> - -<p>So when her lover declared that they would -be married quietly this week, and go at once upon -a wedding tour abroad, she did not make any objection -to the plan. She was glad to have her -way smoothed out before her by his kindly, generous -hand.</p> - -<p>“Oh, how good he is to me—how noble! I wish -that I could love him more in return for all his -goodness,” she thought, sadly contrasting her -gentle, quiet affection for this good man with -the passionate love she had felt for one less -worthy.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps even now he is the husband of -haughty Juliette Ives,” she thought, and grew -cold and pale at the fancy.</p> - -<p>She believed that she hated Norman Wylde, -and she trusted that she might never meet him -on earth again. To Colonel Falconer she gave -the utmost respect, and a placid, gentle affection -utterly unlike that ardent passion which she had -outlived and outworn, as she believed, in her -heart.</p> - -<p>She thought it a little strange that he never<span class="pagenum">[90]</span> -mentioned any of his relatives, and, the day before -they were married, she said:</p> - -<p>“Are you sure that none of your grand relatives -will object to your marrying a poor little -typewriter girl?”</p> - -<p>To her surprise, he started and looked visibly -embarrassed.</p> - -<p>“Ah, I made a clever guess!” she exclaimed, -with faint sarcasm, and then he recovered himself.</p> - -<p>“No—yes,” he stammered, and then added: “I -have no near relatives, Pansy, except a widowed -sister. She has one child—a beautiful daughter, -who has counted confidently on being my heiress. -I think they both will feel disappointed at hearing -of my marriage, but they have no right to -do so. My sister has a neat little fortune of her -own, and her daughter is soon to marry a rich -man.”</p> - -<p>“Then you have not written to ask their consent?” -Pansy asked, with unconscious bitterness, -feeling an unaccountable antagonism to those two -unknown ones.</p> - -<p>“Certainly not,” Colonel Falconer answered, -with some surprise, and continued: “I’m ashamed<span class="pagenum">[91]</span> -to confess that I don’t pretend to keep up any -correspondence with my sister. I have written -her once since I came to San Diego. She has not -answered yet, so I shall not take the trouble to -announce my marriage to her until we are safe -on the other side of the Atlantic. She will be -glad for such bad news to be delayed,” laughing -grimly.</p> - -<p>Afterward it seemed strange to her that she -had never thought of asking the names of these -people, who would soon be related to her so closely -by her marriage with Colonel Falconer. And it -seemed equally strange that he did not tell her -without the asking. There was a fate in it, she -told herself, when she came to know, for if she -had heard those two names she would never have -married Colonel Falconer, and run the risk of -again meeting Norman Wylde.</p> - -<p>The next day they were married quietly at -church, but there were quite a number of people -present, for the affair had become known through -the gossip of the delighted Mrs. Scruggs. Pansy -remembered with a bitter thrill that ceremony -in Washington, which had made her so blindly -happy.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[92]</span></p> - -<p>“Poor, deluded fool that I was!” she sighed, -thinking how much sadder and wiser she had -grown since then, for now she was past twenty, -although she looked so fair and girlish no one -would have thought she was more than sixteen.</p> - -<p>They left San Diego directly, and went abroad. -They spent a year in travel, and in that time -Pansy learned much and improved much. The -clouds passed from her beautiful face, and she -was tranquilly happy with her husband, save -when one blighting memory intervened. It was -the thought of Norman Wylde and the dark episode -in her life that she had concealed from Colonel -Falconer.</p> - -<p>“He believes me pure and good; he has the -greatest confidence in my goodness; yet all the -while I am hiding from him a dark secret which -I dare not disclose. Heaven grant he may never -find out the truth, for it would be so hard for -me to convince him that I was innocent, although -so foully wronged,” she thought often, when the -unfailing kindness of her husband touched her -with ardent admiration for his noble nature and -awakened self-reproach within her sensitive -mind.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[93]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">STARTLING NEWS.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Colonel Falconer had written, quite six months -before, to his relatives, apprising them of his marriage -to a beautiful young girl in California, but -apparently they did not have any congratulations -to offer him, or they were deeply offended, for no -reply came to his letter.</p> - -<p>“I am glad that they can afford to be so independent,” -he thought, with pique and contempt -commingled.</p> - -<p>He felt quite sure that they were indignant at -the marriage that deprived his niece of her anticipations -of being his heiress, and he resented the -way in which they had treated him.</p> - -<p>“Not even to wish me joy, after all the kindness -they have received from me,” he said bitterly; -and, dismissing them from his thoughts, -he gave all his attention to his lovely young bride, -who was so grateful for his love, and who seemed -to return it in a shy, gentle fashion that was very -pleasing.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[94]</span></p> - -<p>They had not given a thought to returning -home yet, when one morning he found in his -morning’s mail an American letter, broadly edged -with black. He turned pale as he caught it up, -exclaiming:</p> - -<p>“Juliette’s handwriting! My sister must be -dead!”</p> - -<p>And, tearing it open, he ran his eyes hastily -over the black-edged sheet.</p> - -<p>Pansy watched him with startled eyes. That -name Juliette had touched an unpleasant chord -in her memory.</p> - -<p>Colonel Falconer heaved a long sigh, and placed -the letter in her hands.</p> - -<p>Pansy, womanlike, read the name at the end -first. It was traced in ornate characters, but it -stung her like a serpent’s fang:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="center">Your unhappy niece,<br /> -<span class="smcap" style="padding-left:10em">Juliette Ives</span>.</p> -</div> - -<p>She glanced at the top of the sheet, and read:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap" style="padding-left:15em">Richmond</span>, Virginia.</p> -</div> - -<p>Colonel Falconer had walked to the window of -their pretty breakfast room, and was looking out—perhaps -to hide a moisture in his eyes.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[95]</span></p> - -<p>He did not see how pale grew the beautiful face -of his young wife, nor how her jeweled hands -trembled as they held the letter before her eyes. -She read on, with a sinking heart:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p><span class="smcap">Dear Uncle</span>: This is to tell you that mamma died -yesterday, although I do not suppose you will care much, -as you are so happy with the wife who crowded poor -mamma and me out of your heart. She died suddenly, -of heart disease, from which she suffered so long, and I -am left penniless and friendless, for she spent everything -she had before she died. We would have been more saving, -but you always let us think I would have your money, -and I think the news of your marriage hastened her -death, she was so disappointed.</p> - -<p>Now what am I to do? I have no money, as you know, -and I am not fitted to work for my living. Has your wife -turned your heart against me, or are you willing to take -mamma’s place and support me in the style I’ve been -used to? I suppose I’ll be married, some time, although -poor girls don’t stand much chance. I don’t think Norman -would care for poverty, though, if only he would -come to his senses in other things. I am here in your -house still. We were glad you left us that when you -married so suddenly and strangely. I’ve promised the -servants you will pay their wages. I hope you will come -home and settle with the people mamma owed. I charged -the funeral expenses to you. I knew you wouldn’t mind. -Please answer at once, and let me know what to expect -from you.</p> - -<p class="ir2"><span style="padding-right:4em">Your unhappy niece,</span><br /> -<span class="smcap">Juliette Ives</span>.</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[96]</span></p> - -<p>“So she is my husband’s niece? What a fatality!” -Pansy murmured to herself, fighting hard -against the weakness and faintness stealing over -her. “And Norman Wylde has not married her -yet,” her thoughts ran on, with a sort of bitter -triumph.</p> - -<p>She sat silent, crushing the black-bordered -sheet in her hands, her heart beating slowly and -heavily in her breast, a chill presentiment of evil -stealing over her mind.</p> - -<p>“Is it possible that I shall have to come in contact -again with that proud, cruel girl? Oh, if I -had only known this I should never have married -Colonel Falconer,” she thought bitterly.</p> - -<p>Colonel Falconer turned around suddenly from -the window.</p> - -<p>“Well, my dear, what do you think of my -niece’s letter?” he asked.</p> - -<p>Pansy’s face flamed and her eyes flashed.</p> - -<p>“I think it is impertinent, selfish, and heartless,” -she answered spiritedly.</p> - -<p>He sighed, for that was his own impression of -the letter, although he hated to acknowledge it, -even to himself. What hurt him most was her -half-contemptuous allusions to his wife, and the<span class="pagenum">[97]</span> -fact that she had disdained to send a single kindly -message to the woman who was, by marriage, at -least, her near relative.</p> - -<p>“Juliette is a spoiled child. She has been pampered -and indulged until she considers no one -but herself,” he said uneasily.</p> - -<p>“That is easy to be seen,” she answered, with -a touch of scorn.</p> - -<p>“But there is some excuse for her just now,” -continued the colonel, who could not overcome -at once the habit of long years of affection. “We -must consider the petulance of affliction, so natural -in one reared selfishly and luxuriously, as -Juliette has been. Then, too, the poor girl has -had a love trouble that has helped to sour her -temper.”</p> - -<p>“A love trouble?” Pansy questioned, in a thick -voice, without looking up.</p> - -<p>“Yes; she was engaged several years ago to -a Mr. Wylde, of Richmond—a fine young man -in every respect, handsome, rich, and of fine family. -Juliette adored him, and was very jealous, -so that when he engaged in a flirtation with a designing -little beauty of the lower classes Juliette -would take no excuses, but dismissed him in bitter<span class="pagenum">[98]</span> -anger. He went abroad, leaving her to repent -her harshness, and to try to mourn her haste; -for love soon conquered pride, and she would give -the world now to win him back. I had reason, a -year ago, to believe that they had made up their -quarrel and would soon be married, but I was -mistaken, and Juliette no doubt is still pining for -her lost lover.”</p> - -<p>Pansy made no comment, for her husband’s -words still rang in her ears:</p> - -<p>“‘A designing little beauty of the lower -classes.’ Oh, what if he knew! what if he knew!” -she thought, in terror that held her lips dumb.</p> - -<p>Colonel Falconer took up a package of newspapers, -and drew out one—the Richmond <cite>Dispatch</cite>.</p> - -<p>“Ah, this, too, is from Juliette. No doubt it -contains the notice of her mother’s death,” he -said.</p> - -<p>His surmise was correct. It recorded the death -of Mrs. Ives, at the age of fifty-four, for she -had been his elder by several years.</p> - -<p>He placed the paper, as he had done the letter, -before Pansy’s eyes; and she read and reread the -words announcing her enemy’s death, but in a<span class="pagenum">[99]</span> -dull, mechanical way, without any triumph in the -fact that those cruel lips would never utter any -falsehoods against her again. She felt half dazed -by the suddenness with which the past had risen -before her just as she began to hope and believe -that it was buried forever.</p> - -<p>Her dull eyes traveled soberly up and down the -short list of married and dead, and suddenly a -wild gleam came into them. A familiar name -had caught her attention. She read:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>On the 6th instant, at the residence of her mother, on -Church Hill, Rosa Laurens, aged nine years and seven -days, of diphtheria. Funeral private.</p> -</div> - -<p>It was Pansy’s youngest sister—the baby, as -she was always called in the family. A wave of -passionate grief overflowed Pansy’s heart and -forced a cry of despair from her white lips. Then -she slipped from her chair and lay in a long swoon -upon the floor.</p> - -<p>When reason returned she was lying upon her -bed, with her maid chafing her cold hands anxiously, -and her husband bending over her with -frightened eyes.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Pansy, what a shock you have given me!” -he exclaimed; and as everything rushed quickly<span class="pagenum">[100]</span> -over her she realized that she must hide her -troubles under a mask of smiles.</p> - -<p>With a pitiful attempt at gayety, she faltered:</p> - -<p>“You must learn not to be frightened at a -woman’s fainting. It means nothing but temporary -weakness.”</p> - -<p>“Are you sure of that?” he asked. “Because——” -Then he paused.</p> - -<p>“What?” she questioned.</p> - -<p>“I feared you had read something in that paper -that grieved or frightened you,” he answered, -remembering at the same time that when she had -that illness in California Mrs. Scruggs had asserted -that something she had read in a paper was -the primary cause.</p> - -<p>But Pansy denied that anything in the paper -had affected her in the least.</p> - -<p>“How could it be so, when I had never been -in Richmond, and knew no one there?” she said. -“Besides, I had but just taken the paper and had -read nothing but your sister’s death, when suddenly -I felt my strength leaving me, and I fell. -Tell him, Phebe,” she said, looking at her maid, -“that it is a very common occurrence for ladies -to faint.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[101]</span></p> - -<p>Phebe asserted that all fashionable ladies were -given to fainting, and his own experience bore -him out in the fact. The only difference was -that he had never regarded Pansy in the light -of a society lady. She was a beautiful, natural -child of nature, he had been proud to think.</p> - -<p>She insisted on getting up to dress and to drive -in the park.</p> - -<p>“I want fresh air,” she said; and, looking at -her pale cheeks and heavy eyes, he thought so, -too.</p> - -<p>“Mind you don’t give me another such scare -shortly,” he said, as he went out to order the -carriage, for they had taken a pretty house in -Park Lane for the season, and surrounded themselves -with luxuries. They had been going into -society some little, but neither cared much for -it. He had seen enough of it to be blasé, and -she was timid.</p> - -<p>When they were driving along he said abruptly:</p> - -<p>“I suppose we must make some plans for my -poor niece. What do you say, darling? Shall -we go home and take care of Juliette?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[102]</span></p> - -<p>“Oh, must we go home? I am so happy here!” -she cried.</p> - -<p>“But I shall be obliged to go back and settle -up my sister’s affairs, Pansy.”</p> - -<p>“Couldn’t you leave me, and come back when -you had fixed everything?” she inquired vaguely.</p> - -<p>“But—Juliette?” he objected.</p> - -<p>“Couldn’t you give her some money, and leave -her there with—with some of her friends?”</p> - -<p>He looked in surprise at the girl who was usually -so sweet and gentle. Her words sounded -heartless.</p> - -<p>“How strangely you talk—as if you had taken -a dislike to that poor orphan girl whom you have -never even seen,” he said severely.</p> - -<p>“Oh, forgive me!” she cried, frightened at his -displeasure. Nestling closer to his side, she murmured: -“It is naughty of me, I know, but I can’t -help feeling jealous of that girl you like so much. -She will come between us. We will never be as -happy again as we were in this past year.”</p> - -<p>“Nonsense!” he answered; but he was secretly -pleased at her jealousy, although there was really -no cause for it, as he hastened to assure her. “I -am only thinking of what people will say,” he<span class="pagenum">[103]</span> -explained. “I am sure we should be happier without -her, spoiled little beauty that she is. But she -has no relative but me, and if I desert her people -will say that it is all your fault. Do you realize -this, my pet?”</p> - -<p>Yes, she began to realize it with a sort of wonder. -The fate of Juliette Ives, her bitter enemy, -lay in her hands to make or mar. She knew that -she could mold her noble husband to her will if -she chose; could make Juliette Ives’ life infinitely -bitter and hard. For a moment she was pleased -with the thought, half tempted to use her power.</p> - -<p>Then her better nature triumphed. She flung -revenge to the winds.</p> - -<p>“I cannot do it. I cannot be so mean,” she -thought, with keen self-scorn. “Poor soul! Why -should I blame her? We both suffered through -his falsity, and now I will be her friend if she -will let me.”</p> - -<p>With all that she knew of Juliette, she did not -fully comprehend the girl’s ignoble soul. She -pitied her, and, out of a generous impulse, resolved -to stand her friend.</p> - -<p>“I will go back with you, Colonel Falconer, -and I will try to be a true friend to your orphan<span class="pagenum">[104]</span> -niece,” she said, believing that as his wife she -could fairly run the risk of a return to her old -home.</p> - -<p>“I look older now. No one will recognize me,” -she decided confidently.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[105]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">THE SAD RETURN.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>In due course of time Juliette Ives received a -kind letter from her absent uncle, stating that he -would return with his wife to Richmond within -the month.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“You may rest assured, my dear girl, that I intend to -act fairly by you,” he wrote. “Of course I cannot leave -you my fortune, as I expected to do if I died single; but -you shall receive a fair portion of it, so you need not consider -yourself penniless. I will also pay your mother’s -debts. For the rest, your home will be with us. My -charming wife, who is even younger than yourself, will -be your warmest friend if you show any disposition toward -friendship. I inferred from your letter—in which -you neglected to send Mrs. Falconer a single kind message—that -you seriously resented my marriage. Of course -you understand that my young wife is to be treated with -all respect and consideration. While you have a strong -claim on my love and kindness, she has a stronger one, -which you must never for an instant forget. But I need -hardly caution you on these points, as your own good -sense will sufficiently instruct you. Besides, I expect that -you will at once fall in love with Pansy’s sweet disposition -and lovely face.”</p> -</div> - -<p>“Pansy—Pansy!” Miss Ives muttered sharply, -as she flung the obnoxious letter on the floor. “So<span class="pagenum">[106]</span> -that is her name! Strange that, as that name -once came between me and love, it should now -come between me and fortune. Why, if I had -not hated her already, I should loathe her for -that name!”</p> - -<p>She was alone in the spacious and elegant parlor -of Colonel Falconer’s elegant residence on -Franklin Street. She wore deep, lusterless black -that set off her delicate blond beauty to great -advantage, and she moved with the air of some -princess, so proud was her step, so haughty the -curve of her white throat.</p> - -<p>“It is going to be war to the knife between us—I -foresee that,” she muttered hoarsely. “I -mean to make her life as disagreeable as I can, -out of revenge for the evil she has wrought for -me. Yes, she shall not sleep upon a bed of roses -in this house! I shall be as disrespectful as I -please. They dare not turn me out of the house -for fear of people talking, as I am his own -niece.”</p> - -<p>A few days later she received a telegram from -New York, stating that Colonel Falconer and -wife had arrived in that city, would remain there -a week, and then come on to Richmond.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[107]</span></p> - -<p>Pansy had persuaded her husband to remain -in New York and show her the sights of the great -city. At heart she cared little for it, but it served -as a pretext to delay for a little her return to her -old home, and to the memories that would crowd -upon her there.</p> - -<p>But at last the time was over, and no further -pretext could delay her going. Pale and heartsick, -she was standing on the steamer’s deck beside -her husband while they rounded the last -curve of James River, that brought picturesque -Libby Hill into full view, with all its bittersweet -memories.</p> - -<p>It was three years and a half since she had -crouched on yonder hill, a forlorn little figure -with wet eyes and a pale, pale face, watching the -steamer bearing away her young husband on that -mission which he said was to make him rich -enough to claim the bride he had wedded in secret. -How it all rushed over her again as she -stood there by the side of her proud, rich husband, -and listened mechanically as he pointed -out with pride and enthusiasm the beauties of -the river and the land.</p> - -<p>“How glad I am to be in Virginia again!” he<span class="pagenum">[108]</span> -exclaimed; but Pansy’s smile was sadder than -tears.</p> - -<p>Juliette had sent the family carriage, with its -high-stepping bay horses, to meet them, and soon -they were borne swiftly toward their home; but -while Colonel Falconer’s thoughts went toward -Franklin Street and its aristocratic environments, -his fair young bride was thinking of the humble -house on Church Hill, where her mother was -mourning the loss of her youngest born—the -household pet.</p> - -<p>“Oh, mother, mother, mother, if only I dared -go to you in your sorrow!” was the cry of her -heart.</p> - -<p>But she knew that she must remain dead to -that beloved mother. There was her husband and -her position to be considered, and there was Willie, -who had sworn in his wrath to kill the sister -who had brought disgrace on a respectable family. -Her own safety, if nothing else, demanded -silence.</p> - -<p>“Here we are, my darling, at home!” exclaimed -Colonel Falconer’s voice, seeming to come from -far away, so intently had she been brooding over -her sorrows.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[109]</span></p> - -<p>She glanced out, and saw the sunset gleams -lighting up, like jewels, the windows of an old-fashioned -red brick mansion, set in a pretty green -lawn studded with shrubbery and flowers. He -looked up at the broad porch, guarded by two -lions, and said, in a tone of disappointment:</p> - -<p>“Juliette is too dignified to come out on the -porch to welcome us home. She will be waiting -in the hall.”</p> - -<p>He led his lovely bride up the steps, and, with -a strong effort of will, Pansy threw off her agitation -and braced herself to meet Juliette Ives -with pride and dignity equal to her own.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[110]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">A DRAMATIC MEETING.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Yes, Juliette was waiting in the hall.</p> - -<p>The day was warm, and she wore a black dress, -rich in quality, but of a soft, diaphanous material, -through which her neck and arms gleamed -snowy white. Her golden hair was arranged so -as to make the very most of its beauty. She -wished to overawe her uncle’s wife, if possible, -with her dignity and beauty.</p> - -<p>The door opened, and as soon as Colonel Falconer -appeared she rushed to his arms with theatrical -effect. He returned her kiss, and disengaged -himself as soon as possible from her embrace, -that he might present her to the beautiful -creature waiting in the background:</p> - -<p>“My wife, Juliette.”</p> - -<p>Juliette looked, and saw a figure of medium -height, but so exquisitely slender, though rounded, -that it looked taller. It was clothed in a Parisian -suit of dove gray, and from under the demure -little bonnet looked the loveliest face in the world—sweet -yet spirited, with exquisite features, dazzling<span class="pagenum">[111]</span> -complexion, and eyes of purplish blue under -lovely curling lashes, dark as night.</p> - -<p>But what was it that made Juliette stare in -wonder and gasp in fear? She caught her uncle’s -arm, and he felt her trembling from head to foot.</p> - -<p>“Juliette, my poor girl, this meeting has unnerved -you,” he exclaimed pityingly, and Pansy -advanced, as if to offer assistance, but was instantly -repulsed, Juliette flinging out a frantic -arm to keep her off.</p> - -<p>“Keep back, keep back! Do not come near me -with that face!” she hissed angrily; and Pansy -looked at her husband in cold amazement.</p> - -<p>“Has Miss Ives gone suddenly mad?” she demanded -haughtily, and at the sound of her voice, -so cold yet silvery sweet, Juliette shrank closer to -her uncle, crying out:</p> - -<p>“I am not mad, uncle, but I shall be soon if -you do not take away that ghost! Oh, that face, -that voice! They have been drowned almost -three years, and now they rise to haunt me from -their watery grave!”</p> - -<p>She began to scream with actual terror, bringing -the housekeeper and several servants to the -scene. Her uncle caught her in his arms and<span class="pagenum">[112]</span> -carried her into the parlor, saying to Pansy over -his shoulder:</p> - -<p>“Keep out of sight a few moments, dear, and -I will bring her to her senses. She has evidently -been startled by your likeness to some one she -has known.”</p> - -<p>Pansy sat down just inside the parlor door, -which she carefully closed, thus shutting out the -gaping servants. Colonel Falconer set himself -to the task of quieting his hysterical niece.</p> - -<p>Believing herself alone with him, she soon grew -calmer, and asked:</p> - -<p>“Oh, uncle, where did you find that girl? I -thought she was dead!”</p> - -<p>“Of whom does she remind you, dear?” he -asked soothingly.</p> - -<p>Shivering with terror, she replied:</p> - -<p>“Of Pansy Laurens, the girl who made all the -trouble between Norman and myself. You know, -it was thought she drowned herself, but now I -can no longer believe it, for surely this is no other -than Pansy Laurens!”</p> - -<p>Pansy sat motionless, and heard her husband -saying sternly:</p> - -<p>“You will oblige me, Juliette, by never making<span class="pagenum">[113]</span> -such foolish remarks again. I never saw -Pansy Laurens; but if my wife resembles her, -that is nothing but a chance likeness. Mrs. Falconer -was a Miss Wilcox, of Louisville, and has -never been in Richmond until to-day.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, uncle, are you sure? For indeed she -frightened me with her awful likeness, although -I believe she is prettier than that Laurens creature,” -gasped Juliette.</p> - -<p>“Prettier—well, I should say so! My wife -is the loveliest creature on earth!” exclaimed the -jovial colonel.</p> - -<p>But Juliette, still shivering, sighed:</p> - -<p>“How can I live in the same house with that -face and voice?”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[114]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">A FALSE SMILE.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Colonel Falconer began to grow angry at Juliette’s -foolishness, as he called it to himself. -Drawing back from her, he said stiffly:</p> - -<p>“If you cannot live in the same house with my -wife, Juliette, you are quite at liberty to seek a -boarding house anywhere you choose, and I will -pay your board and furnish you pin money.”</p> - -<p>Juliette sprang upright in a perfect fury, -shrieking out:</p> - -<p>“You are planning to get rid of me already!”</p> - -<p>Before the poor, badgered man could reply, -Pansy came gliding forward, and said sweetly:</p> - -<p>“Perhaps Miss Ives would prefer for us to go -away, and leave her in possession of the house. -If so, I am perfectly willing to do so, as I fear -we shall not get on together, judging from what -I have already seen of her disposition toward -me.”</p> - -<p>She hoped that Juliette would take her at her -word, and that by this means she would be enabled -to leave this once dear, now dreaded, city.<span class="pagenum">[115]</span> -She was frightened, too, at Juliette’s recognition -of her, and foresaw trouble if she remained.</p> - -<p>But Juliette was startled at her uncle’s proposition, -and she began to come to her senses. She -remembered that but for his liberality she must be -a beggar, and she dared not try him too far. -Summoning a false, sweet smile to her lips, she -turned to him, and exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“Dear uncle, forgive me. I fear I have been -acting very foolishly. Of course, I do not want -to go away from the only relative I have in the -world, now that poor mamma is dead. I love you -too well to leave you, or to drive you from me. -And, indeed, I was preparing to welcome my new -aunt with affection, when her striking likeness so -startled me that I behaved ridiculously, I fear, -on the impulse of the moment. You will excuse -me, Mrs. Falconer, will you not?” turning to -Pansy and holding out a hand sparkling with -costly gems.</p> - -<p>Pansy clasped the offered hand with one as -cold as ice, even through its tiny gray kid glove, as -she replied:</p> - -<p>“Certainly, Miss Ives, for I am anxious to be -your friend, if you will let me.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[116]</span></p> - -<p>“Oh, thank you! I shall only be too glad, -for I had feared that a beautiful young wife -would prejudice my uncle against me, and I am -glad to find that it is not so,” exclaimed Juliette, -with pretended cordiality. Rising to her feet, -she continued: “Excuse me one moment, while I -see if your rooms are in readiness.”</p> - -<p>She ran hastily to her own apartment, where -she secured a framed photograph of Norman -Wylde, which she placed conspicuously on the -mantel of Pansy’s room.</p> - -<p>“I believe she is Pansy Laurens, and I shall -prepare many a severe test for her,” she muttered -angrily, as she returned to the parlor and -told Pansy, with a show of friendliness, that her -rooms were in readiness, and she was ready to -show them to her.</p> - -<p>They walked side by side through the broad -hall, with its Turkish carpet, statuary in niches, -and stands of blooming flowers, up the broad -stairway to a suite of beautiful rooms in cream -and scarlet.</p> - -<p>“I hope you will like these rooms. Mamma -had them furnished over but a few months ago. -Mine are like these, only in blue,” said Juliette,<span class="pagenum">[117]</span> -with a patronizing air that at once aroused a -teasing mood in Pansy, and she exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“Then I ought to have had your rooms instead -of these, for blue is my color, too!”</p> - -<p>She saw a frown contract Juliette’s eyebrows, -but she took no notice, and walked over to the -mantel, where the first thing she saw was the -handsome face of Norman Wylde smiling on her -from an easel frame. It gave her a start, but -she had nerved herself to meet even the original -in this house, and now she merely lifted her arm -to take up a piece of bric-a-brac and examine it -more closely, when the hanging sleeve of her light -gray wrap caught the top of the small easel, and -it was instantly hurled to the floor.</p> - -<p>“Oh, what have I broken?” she cried, in pretended -dismay. And Juliette came forward to -gather up the fragments.</p> - -<p>“The easel is broken, but the photograph is -unhurt. See,” she said, holding it up before -Pansy’s eyes and watching her closely; but Pansy -glanced at it with the careless interest of a -stranger.</p> - -<p>“What a handsome young man!” she said. “Is -he one of your admirers, Miss Ives?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[118]</span></p> - -<p>“I was once engaged to him,” Juliette answered. -“I will take it away,” she added, hurrying -out of the room to conceal her chagrin at -the failure of her first test.</p> - -<p>She could not decide whether the accident had -been a real one or not. Pansy had carried it out -with such perfect ease that she began to falter in -her belief that this was Pansy Laurens.</p> - -<p>“I may possibly be mistaken, but the likeness -is so startling that I shall test her in every way,” -she decided.</p> - -<p>The next morning Pansy appeared at their late -breakfast in such an exquisite and becoming -morning gown that Juliette could not repress her -admiration, in spite of the anger with which she -saw her uncle’s wife take her place in front of -the coffee urn.</p> - -<p>“I thought you would be too tired to pour coffee -this first morning,” she said, almost angrily.</p> - -<p>“Oh, no, indeed. I feel quite well, thank you,” -was the bright reply, and, as her white hands -fluttered like birds over the china and silver, she -continued: “Colonel Falconer, I hope you are -going to take me for a long drive to-day <a id="Ref_118" href="#BRef_118">so that I</a><span class="pagenum">[119]</span> -may see some of the beauties of your historic -Richmond.”</p> - -<p>“Just what I was thinking of, my love,” said -her husband. “You will join us, will you not, -Juliette?”</p> - -<p>“Gladly,” she replied, thinking that she would -thereby have another opportunity of testing -Pansy’s identity.</p> - -<p>After breakfast Pansy invited her to come upstairs, -where her maid was unpacking her trunks, -saying that she had brought her some presents -from London.</p> - -<p>“Of course, as I had never seen you, I could -not have decided what would be most becoming -to you had not my husband assisted me with a -description of your style and tastes,” she said. -And when Juliette saw the beautiful gifts that -had been chosen for her she could not help being -pleased, both with the taste and generosity displayed -by Pansy, whom she thanked quite prettily, -saying:</p> - -<p>“I did you an injustice, feeling jealous of -uncle’s love for you, when all the time you were -planning these pleasant surprises for me.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[120]</span></p> - -<p>Pansy hardly knew whether to trust these -sweet protestations or not. She would have liked -to be at peace with Juliette Ives, but she could -not help distrusting her, and she resolved to -watch her closely before she quite discarded her -distrust.</p> - -<p>Juliette lay lazily back in a great crimson chair -and watched Phebe, the maid, unpacking Pansy’s -beautiful clothes. She was obliged to own that -she had never seen such a magnificent trousseau -as that with which Colonel Falconer had provided -his lovely bride.</p> - -<p>“You are a woman to be envied, Mrs. Falconer,” -she said; and Pansy sighed faintly, although -Juliette could not have told whether the -sigh meant supreme content or some hidden -sorrow.</p> - -<p>“She does not look as if she had always been -really happy. There are pensive curves about -her lips when she is not smiling, and now and -then her eyes look anxious,” the girl decided.</p> - -<p>In the afternoon an elegant open barouche took -the three out riding, and Colonel Falconer felt -very proud of his beautiful wife and almost<span class="pagenum">[121]</span> -equally beautiful niece, in their carriage costumes.</p> - -<p>It was a lovely May day, and the city presented -its best appearance under a blue, smiling sky, -which every Virginian believed as fair as that of -Italy. They rode out upon the popular Grove -Road, then the most fashionable drive in the city, -and to that beautiful place, the New Reservoir, -with its bright waters glittering in the sun. -Pansy exclaimed with delight at the miniature -lake, with the water lilies fringing the green -banks, and the little boats rocking on its breast.</p> - -<p>Then the beautiful cemetery of Hollywood, -with its magnificent monument to the Confederate -dead, was the next point of interest. Colonel -Falconer then gave the command to drive through -the principal parks and streets.</p> - -<p>“Do not forget Seventh Street,” Juliette whispered -to the driver, and when they were rolling -along before an immense structure on that street -she said: “That building, Mrs. Falconer, is the -great tobacco factory of Arnell & Grey. They -employ an immense number of girls and women -to work for them—twelve hundred at least, I -am told. Would you not like to go through the<span class="pagenum">[122]</span> -factory? I presume it would furnish some interesting -sights to one unfamiliar with our Southern -institutions.”</p> - -<p>“I dare say it would, but unfortunately the -smell of tobacco always makes me very ill. Colonel -Falconer, cannot we drive faster, so as to escape -this unpleasant odor?” exclaimed Pansy. He -saw that her face had certainly grown very pale, -while her eyes were half closed. He directed the -driver to hasten out of the neighborhood.</p> - -<p>“I am sorry it sickened you, but the odor was -strong,” said Juliette. “I do not know how those -poor girls endure it. Their very clothing must -be impregnated with the disagreeable odor. But -perhaps they do not mind it like you and I, Mrs. -Falconer—useless, fine ladies that we are.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Falconer’s blue eyes flashed, and the color -rushed back into her pale cheeks. She answered, -with a flash of girlish spirit:</p> - -<p>“You and I, Miss Ives, are made of the same -clay as those factory girls. We are more fortunate, -that is all.”</p> - -<p>“Goodness, Uncle Falconer, I hope your wife -isn’t a socialist!” exclaimed Juliette, shrugging -her shoulders.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[123]</span></p> - -<p>He frowned, and answered:</p> - -<p>“My wife is an angel, Juliette, and has the -kindest, tenderest heart in the world. I’m glad -to hear her speak up for our Richmond working -girls. I have the greatest respect for them all, -as well as sympathy for the poverty that makes -their lot in life so hard. I know also that many -of them are from good families that were reduced -to poverty by the late war.”</p> - -<p>Juliette turned her back on him impatiently, -and addressed herself to Pansy:</p> - -<p>“You remember how foolishly I behaved last -night, taking you for a girl that disgraced her -family and drowned herself three years ago?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” Pansy answered coldly.</p> - -<p>“Well, she was a tobacco-factory girl, and -worked at Arnell & Grey’s. Her name was Pansy -Laurens—similarity in names, as well as faces, -you see. Your name is Pansy, too, isn’t it? She -was a low, designing creature, and, by her boldness, -caused a rupture between my betrothed and -myself, over which he grieves to this day.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[124]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">A POISONED LIFE.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Bravely as Pansy carried off everything, she -began to fear that her life with Juliette Ives would -never be one of friendship or peace, for the girl -seemed to bristle at all points with poisoned arrows -for her uncle’s wife.</p> - -<p>Not that Juliette was outwardly repellent. She -had false, sweet smiles in plenty for Pansy; but -she had also the sharpest claws beneath her silky -fur. She lost no opportunity of wounding, when -she could do so with impunity.</p> - -<p>A week passed away, and several of the best -families in the city had called upon Colonel Falconer -and his wife. None saw her but to praise -her wonderful beauty and her graceful ease of -manner; although they had gathered from Juliette -that her origin was obscure, they decided -that she must certainly have been used to good -society, and they made due allowance when Juliette -sneered for her disappointment in losing her -uncle’s money.</p> - -<p>But the supreme trial of all had not fallen on<span class="pagenum">[125]</span> -her yet. Norman Wylde had not called, although -Juliette had given several intimations -that he would do so soon. Sometimes Pansy -resolved that she would not see him, but -then that course would be sure to excite remark. -The meeting must take place some time, and she -made up her mind at last that she would face it -without a falter.</p> - -<p>“I despise him, but I will treat him with the -same courtesy that I do others, that none may -suspect what lies hidden beneath the surface,” -she thought.</p> - -<p>She had been home something more than a -week when Colonel Falconer told her one morning, -with a tender caress, that he should have -to leave her to her own devices, or to Juliette’s -society, all day, as he would have to spend some -hours with his lawyers, settling up his sister’s -affairs.</p> - -<p>“I have a new book. I will interest myself -in that,” she replied, returning his kiss in her -gentle, affectionate way.</p> - -<p>He went away, and, lest Juliette should think -her unsociable, she took her book into the parlor. -It was a warm day, and she wore a lovely morning<span class="pagenum">[126]</span> -dress, all white embroidery and lace, with -fluttering loops of blue ribbons. Her lovely dark -hair was drawn into a loose coil on top of her -head, and some curling locks strayed prettily over -her white forehead.</p> - -<p>“How pretty you are in that white wrapper, -Mrs. Falconer. I do not see how such a plain -old fellow as my uncle ever induced a beautiful -young girl like you to marry him. But, then, -these rich old fellows can marry any one they -choose!” exclaimed Juliette.</p> - -<p>“I do not consider Colonel Falconer old,” -Pansy answered resentfully, but further words -were prevented by the loud ringing of the doorbell.</p> - -<p>Juliette sat upright, with a gleam of expectancy -in her pale-blue eyes, and the next moment a -servant appeared at the door, saying that a man -wished to see Mrs. Falconer a few moments.</p> - -<p>“Show him in here. It is no doubt some message -from uncle,” quickly exclaimed Juliette.</p> - -<p>Instantly there darted into Pansy’s mind a -quick suspicion:</p> - -<p>“She has laid another trap for me.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[127]</span></p> - -<p>And she braced herself to bear anything unflinchingly.</p> - -<p>The door opened again, and Mr. Finley, the -grocer, her hated stepfather, entered the room.</p> - -<p>Pansy grew pale, but, still holding her book, -she arose in a stately way, fixing on the intruder -a cold glance of inquiry.</p> - -<p>Mr. Finley, coming in from the outer daylight -into the semigloom of the parlor, did not at first -see very clearly. He bowed profoundly to both -ladies, in an awkward way, and began to speak -briskly:</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Falconer, I am a grocer, and enjoyed -the custom and confidence of the late Mrs. Ives. -I have called to solicit——” He stopped and -stared. The beautiful face looking at him struck -him with fear and terror.</p> - -<p>He made a retrograde movement toward the -door, keeping his bewildered eyes on her face, -and then he caught a glance from Juliette’s eyes -that suddenly loosened his tongue.</p> - -<p>He stopped short, exclaiming:</p> - -<p>“Heavens, I can’t be mistaken! It—is—she! -Mrs. Falconer, excuse me, please, but are you not -my missing stepdaughter, Pansy Laurens?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[128]</span></p> - -<p>A gay little laugh trilled over Pansy’s lips as -she blandly assured him that she had never seen -him before in her life, that her maiden name was -Miss Wilcox, and that she was a native of Louisville.</p> - -<p>“This is the second time I’ve been told of my -likeness to Pansy Laurens. It is a coincidence, -nothing more. Such things often happen,” she -observed carelessly. “By the way, you called to -solicit custom for your business, I believe. You -may leave your card, and I will refer it to my -husband.”</p> - -<p>Thus coolly dismissed, and quite ignoring the -request for his card, Mr. Finley stumbled out, -with a fixed conviction in his mind that Pansy -Laurens had never been drowned at all, but had -married this rich man and come back to triumph -over them all.</p> - -<p>He understood now why Juliette had sent him -that little note, saying that her uncle’s wife would -be glad to have him call, as she wished to make -arrangements with him about supplying the family -groceries.</p> - -<p>“She recognized her, and wished for me to do -so, unaided by any hint from her,” he thought<span class="pagenum">[129]</span> -and wondered: “What ought I to do about it? I -hope I shall see Miss Ives soon, for this discovery -places a mine of gold in my reach, and I must -speedily find out in what way I am to make the -most of it. Miss Ives is poor now, and Norman -Wylde is comparatively so, as he will have no -money until his father dies. I do not know which -I should blackmail—Falconer or his wife.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[130]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">AN EVENING OF SUSPENSE.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>When Pansy went to dress for dinner she was -so particular that the maid smiled, and thought:</p> - -<p>“Her husband has been gone all day, and she -wishes to look her best this evening.”</p> - -<p>But Pansy, looking for Norman Wylde’s appearance -every hour, was anxious to appear as -beautiful as possible in the eyes of the man who -had wronged her so deeply.</p> - -<p>A lovely dress of cream-colored mull and Valenciennes -lace was donned. The sleeves were -short, and the bodice was a low V neck. She -wore no ornaments, except a diamond locket on -the black velvet band at her throat and a bunch -of creamy-white roses at her slender waist. Thus -attired, she was so dazzlingly lovely when she descended -to the parlor that Juliette fairly hated -her, and could scarcely keep from saying so.</p> - -<p>Colonel Falconer came in presently, with his -kind, intelligent face and fine military bearing, -and was charmed with the beauty of the two girls,<span class="pagenum">[131]</span> -for Juliette looked her best in a dress of black -net with pearl jewelry.</p> - -<p>“It is a pity for so much loveliness to be wasted -on an old fellow like me. I hope we shall have -some callers after dinner,” he said gayly.</p> - -<p>After dinner he begged Juliette to give them -some music, but, with a malicious glance at Pansy, -she exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“I do not like to touch the piano, as I am sure -your wife plays ever so much better than I do.”</p> - -<p>Pansy smiled, and answered coolly:</p> - -<p>“Then your musical attainments must be very -superficial, indeed, Miss Ives, for I only know -enough of music to play my own accompaniments -to a few songs.”</p> - -<p>“Then you will give us a song, won’t you, and -I will play afterward?” cried artful Juliette, -thinking that here, at least, she could outshine -her uncle’s wife.</p> - -<p>“Certainly,” Pansy answered carelessly, and -moved toward the piano, secure in her consciousness -of an exquisitely sweet voice, which had had -careful culture when she was a simple schoolgirl, -before her father died.</p> - -<p>Colonel Falconer leaned against the piano, with<span class="pagenum">[132]</span> -his back to the door, and Juliette began to turn -over the piles of music.</p> - -<p>“Don’t trouble yourself. I will sing some little -thing from memory,” said Pansy.</p> - -<p>Juliette flung herself into an easy-chair and listened -with a sneer, saying to herself:</p> - -<p>“I would not try to play if I knew nothing but -a few accompaniments.”</p> - -<p>But when that low, sweet, thrilling voice broke -the silence, she started in wonder and delight, -for she was intensely fond of music, and Pansy’s -touch and voice were both exquisite.</p> - -<p>No one noticed that the door had opened to admit -visitors, who paused uncertainly on the -threshold, to listen, too, for all were absorbed in -the singer.</p> - -<p>At last the white hands dropped from the piano -keys, the thrilling voice became silent. Touched -in spite of herself, Juliette said softly:</p> - -<p>“Oh, how sweet and sad! You have brought -tears to my eyes, Mrs. Falconer.”</p> - -<p>Before Pansy could reply, all three became -aware that visitors were advancing into the room.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Mrs. Wylde, I am so glad to see you—and<span class="pagenum">[133]</span> -you, too, Rosalind. Oh, Judge Wylde, it was -so kind of you and Norman to come!” rattled -quickly from Juliette’s lips, as she hastened to -welcome the newcomers.</p> - -<p>Colonel Falconer also greeted the visitors as if -they were old friends, and hastened to present -his wife.</p> - -<p>She, the poor little factory girl whom they had -scorned, stood by her husband’s side like a queen, -and greeted his friends with a calm and stately -dignity that made a profound impression. She -glanced only slightly at Norman Wylde, or she -would have seen that he was terribly agitated. -When their hands touched each other both were -cold as ice.</p> - -<p>When all were seated, Pansy saw that he had -retreated to a distant corner, and, as the conversation -proceeded, he took little or no part in -it. He was almost stricken speechless by her -marvelous likeness to one he had loved and lost, -and, but for the interval for thought afforded -him while she was singing, he could not have preserved -his calmness; he must have spoken out on -the spur of the moment, and claimed her, as Mr. -Finley had done, as Pansy Laurens.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[134]</span></p> - -<p>When he had first beheld the beautiful face -in profile from the door his senses had almost -reeled; but before her song ceased he had persuaded -himself that he was mistaken in thinking -her the counterpart of Pansy. She was more -beautiful, more distinguished-looking. Pansy had -been very shy and bashful, but this girl held her -small head high. There was a likeness—a great -one—but nothing more. One was the wayside -rose, the other the cultivated flower.</p> - -<p>From his distant seat he watched the lovely -face and form with a throbbing heart. How the -rich, creamy-hued robe and diamond locket set -off the flowerlike face, with its background of -dark, rippling hair. The beautiful white hands -played with some rose petals she had plucked from -her belt, and he noticed how small they were, -with pink palms and finger tips, dimpled at the -joint, like a child’s. Pansy had had just such -dainty hands, although she was only a working -girl.</p> - -<p>“I wish I had not come,” he thought, with -bitter pain. “Mrs. Falconer’s face has brought -everything back. Oh, how am I to bear it? Does -Juliette see the likeness, I wonder? Surely not,<span class="pagenum">[135]</span> -or else she could scarcely endure to be haunted -so by the image of one she hated.”</p> - -<p>Pansy, on her part, felt a bitter triumph in seeing -that he took such slight notice of Juliette. -Surely he did not care for her, else his eyes would -have wandered to her face sometimes, for it was -plain to be seen that she worshiped him.</p> - -<p>“He does not care for her,” Pansy said to herself, -as she saw how carelessly he answered the -remarks Juliette addressed to him. “He has a -fickle heart.”</p> - -<p>And she gazed with silent admiration at her -noble husband, who loved her so devotedly, and -who had not been too proud to marry a simple -working girl and lift her to his own station in -life. Although she did not love him in a romantic -fashion, she admired his noble, manly -nature more and more daily.</p> - -<p>And she found a bitter satisfaction in seeing -that her betrayer did not look so gay and debonair -as in the past. He was certainly altered; his face -was pale and grave, his eyes were sad and serious.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[136]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">A RETURN CALL.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Something more than a week after the Wyldes -had called upon the Falconers, Juliette suggested, -one day, that it was time that they should return -the call.</p> - -<p>“You and Pansy can do so this afternoon,” -Colonel Falconer replied. “As for me, I cannot -spare a day from those lawyers until I get -through my business, for I am hurrying all I -can, that I may take my family away from the -city before the heated term sets in.”</p> - -<p>“Then we will call to-day, and we can then find -out where they intend to summer, for I should -like to go to the same place,” exclaimed Juliette.</p> - -<p>So at noon that day they found themselves -ringing the doorbell at a residence on Grace -Street, quite as elegant as the one they had left. -They were shown into an elegant and tasteful -drawing-room, and told that the ladies would be -down directly.</p> - -<p>Pansy sat silent, with her eyes fixed on the -door, when suddenly it was pushed ajar by a<span class="pagenum">[137]</span> -dimpled little hand, and the figure of a child became -partly visible—a beautiful child, of perhaps -three years old. The little fellow was simply -clothed, in a white Mother Hubbard slip, and -his big, dark eyes looked fearlessly at the two -ladies.</p> - -<p>Pansy’s heart thrilled strangely at sight of the -child, for there was something in his face that -suggested Norman Wylde. Holding out her -hands, she cried coaxingly:</p> - -<p>“Come here, you pretty little darling!”</p> - -<p>The child hesitated a moment, then pattered -lightly across the carpet with his little bare feet -to her side. She placed him on her knee, and, -clasping him in her arms, kissed the pretty, rosy -face repeatedly.</p> - -<p>“What is your name, dear?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“Pet!” he replied, while Juliette looked on -coldly.</p> - -<p>Apparently the child quite reciprocated the -fancy Mrs. Falconer had shown for him. While -she smoothed his sunny curls with loving hands, -he patted her cheek tenderly, and cooed:</p> - -<p>“Pretty yady, pretty yady!”</p> - -<p>Suddenly the door unclosed, admitting Mrs.<span class="pagenum">[138]</span> -Wylde, the stately matron, and her handsome -daughter, Rosalind. They frowned at sight of -the pretty child, and, after exchanging greetings -with their guests, Rosalind exclaimed sharply:</p> - -<p>“What are you doing here, Pet? Get down -this instant, and go away.”</p> - -<p>But, to her astonishment, the little one clung -to Pansy, and cried out rebelliously:</p> - -<p>“No, no, me stay ’ith pretty yady!”</p> - -<p>“The little monkey! He never offered to disobey -me before,” exclaimed Rosalind, frowning, -and she removed him by force from Pansy’s lap, -for he screamed and struggled to stay.</p> - -<p>“Oh, please let me keep him. I love children!” -exclaimed Pansy pleadingly; but just here Mrs. -Wylde chimed in:</p> - -<p>“You do not quite understand, Mrs. Falconer. -The child belongs to my housekeeper, who adopted -him in infancy. She has her orders to keep him -in her own part of the house, but occasionally -he slips away and intrudes upon us, although this -is the first time he has ever ventured into the -drawing-room.”</p> - -<p>“It was my fault. I called him in when I saw -him peeping in at the door. He was such a lovely<span class="pagenum">[139]</span> -little child, and I thought he belonged to you,” -said Pansy, as her yearning eyes followed Rosalind, -who was leading the sobbing child from the -room.</p> - -<p>“He is a very pretty child, and usually a very -good-tempered, affectionate one,” Mrs. Wylde -acknowledged. “This is the first time I ever saw -him display any temper. Indeed, I have felt myself -on the verge of falling in love with the little -creature often, only I would not allow myself to -do so, being convinced that he must be a child of -shame.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[140]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">A BEAUTIFUL CHILD.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>“A child of shame!” Pansy echoed, and a wave -of hot color rushed over her face as she remembered -the little child that had died before its -young mother ever saw its face.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” answered the stately lady, rather coldly. -“He is a foundling, and was left on our steps almost -three years ago. We would have sent it -to the almshouse, but our old housekeeper, who -has been with us so many years that we like to -indulge her some, took a fancy to the little one, -and begged to keep it.”</p> - -<p>“It is a beautiful little child. I could not help -falling in love with it,” said Pansy earnestly, -while Juliette sneered:</p> - -<p>“It is a pity you have not a child of your own -to love!”</p> - -<p>“I wish I had,” Pansy answered. “I am very -fond of children.” And she wished within herself -that she could have little Pet to carry home -with her, for a wild suspicion was growing up -in her heart: What if this were her own child?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[141]</span></p> - -<p>Her mother had told her that her child had -died, but perhaps she had deceived her. Perhaps -Mr. Finley, whom she had always disliked and -distrusted, had taken the child away and forced -her mother to utter that falsehood. What more -natural than that he should have placed it on -the threshold of the Wylde mansion?</p> - -<p>Wild suspicion grew almost into agonized certainty -as she recalled the startling likeness of the -child to Norman Wylde.</p> - -<p>“Is it possible that his family can fail to see -the likeness in his face?” she wondered, and, -while she held with difficulty her part in the conversation -going forward over the merits of different -summer resorts, she was thinking wildly:</p> - -<p>“I do not believe now that my baby died. This -child, with Norman’s eyes, belongs to me. My -heart claimed him the moment he appeared at -the door. And he was fond of me, too. He struggled -so hard to get back to me when Rosalind -forced him away. Oh, I must manage somehow -to see that old housekeeper soon, and find -out all that I can about little Pet.”</p> - -<p>“I think I shall go to White Sulphur Springs,”<span class="pagenum">[142]</span> -said Mrs. Wylde. “Have you decided where you -shall go, Mrs. Falconer?”</p> - -<p>“No, I cannot come to a decision, so I shall -leave it to my husband,” replied Pansy.</p> - -<p>“Oh, then you must go to White Sulphur! It -is charming there,” cried Juliette, who wanted -to go wherever the Wyldes went.</p> - -<p>“One place will please me quite as well as another,” -Pansy replied indifferently; and when -they took their leave it was quite understood that -the Wyldes and the Falconers were to form a -party for the springs as soon as possible.</p> - -<p>“But,” said dark-eyed Rosalind to her mother, -“Juliette is going to be disappointed, for, of -course, she thinks Norman is going with us.”</p> - -<p>“Norman must go. It is quite foolish, his -being so stiff with us, and resenting things that -were only done for his good,” Mrs. Wylde replied, -in a displeased tone.</p> - -<p>When Pansy and Juliette were riding home, -the latter observed:</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Falconer, did you notice what a strong -resemblance that foundling child had to Norman -Wylde?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[143]</span></p> - -<p>Pansy looked at her with a startled air, and -answered:</p> - -<p>“You know I’ve only seen Norman Wylde once, -and can’t really recall his features exactly. Does -the child really resemble him? And, if so, what -does it mean?”</p> - -<p>“Norman Wylde has lived a very fast life, -you know,” Juliette answered. “I have long suspected -that the child is his own, flung upon his -doorstep in desperation by some one of his victims. -Perhaps he suspects, perhaps he does not—but -I feel almost certain of its parentage.”</p> - -<p>“And the family?” Pansy asked faintly.</p> - -<p>“I do not believe they suspect anything. If -they did, they would not permit it to be kept beneath -their roof. They would be perfectly furious,” -replied Juliette, with an air of certainty, -and watching Pansy closely for some signs of -emotion.</p> - -<p>But the beautiful girl seemed to grow suddenly -weary of the subject, for she said:</p> - -<p>“I wonder if my trousseau will do for the -White Sulphur, or if I ought to order anything -new?”</p> - -<p>“You will not need a new thing, nor shall I,<span class="pagenum">[144]</span> -as I am in mourning, and cannot dance this season,” -replied Juliette.</p> - -<p>As their carriage rolled along Grace Street, -they saw Norman Wylde among the pedestrians -on the pavement. He lifted his hat, and passed -on without stopping, to the chagrin of Juliette, -who hoped he would stop and chat with her a -while.</p> - -<p>Her conscience did not reproach her for the -falsehoods she had uttered against his fair fame, -although she knew that there was not a purer, -more high-minded young man in the whole city. -But while she was still uncertain as to the identity -of her uncle’s wife, it suited her best to pretend -that Norman Wylde was dissolute and -guilty. Although she suspected that little Pet -was the child of Pansy Laurens, she was not -certain, and she did not wish Mrs. Falconer to -believe it.</p> - -<p>“She will, if she is really Pansy Laurens, hate -him more if she believes that the child is some -other woman’s,” she thought shrewdly, and smiled -when she saw the signs of trouble that Pansy -could not wholly disguise on her fair face.</p> - -<p>Poor Pansy! Her heart was well-nigh breaking,<span class="pagenum">[145]</span> -and when she reached home she feigned a -headache, that she might have an excuse for shutting -herself up in her own room to think over -the events of to-day, which had aroused suspicions -never to be laid again until they were either confirmed -or proved baseless. The dark eyes of the -little child had aroused the mother’s heart within -her breast, and it ached with a bitter yearning.</p> - -<p>“Oh, if my baby did not die, they were cruel -and wicked to deceive me, to cheat me out of -its love all these years! But only let me find out -if that child is mine, and I will have it—I will!” -she sobbed wildly, in a mood of passionate recklessness.</p> - -<p>But suddenly she heard her husband’s voice in -the hall, and shivered.</p> - -<p>“Oh, what am I talking of? How dare I claim -my child in the face of everything that is against -me?” she moaned bitterly; and just then Colonel -Falconer entered, with a face full of anxiety.</p> - -<p>“They told me you had a headache. Can I do -anything for you, my darling?” he asked tenderly.</p> - -<p>“Only love me and pity me,” the girl answered, -almost despairingly, out of her hidden sorrow.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[146]</span></p> - -<p>He was alarmed at her tone, and feared she -was suffering greatly.</p> - -<p>“Let me send for a physician,” he urged.</p> - -<p>“No, no, I do not need medicine—only rest -and quiet,” she pleaded, with a feeling of remorse -in her heart that she could not love him better—he -was so good and true.</p> - -<p>But since she had come back to Richmond, she -was conscious that there was less chance than -ever for her to love her husband in the ardent -fashion to which he had the best claim. Her affection -for him was so calm, so friendly, only, -while, to her dismay, all her old madness had returned -at the first sight of Norman Wylde’s handsome -face.</p> - -<p>“Oh what a tyrant love is!” she sighed bitterly. -“I thought I hated him—I know I ought to hate -him—yet his face haunts me as it did in those old -days when I loved him first. I dream of him by -night, and I think of him by day, in spite of every -endeavor to forget him. Heaven help me, for I -am wretched!”</p> - -<p>Days passed, and Pansy found some relief from -the haunting image of Norman Wylde in thinking -of the little child that she firmly believed to<span class="pagenum">[147]</span> -be her own. She struck up a great intimacy with -the Wyldes in hopes of seeing the little one more -frequently; but she was disappointed.</p> - -<p>Apparently the housekeeper had received strict -orders, for Pet’s black eyes were no longer to -be seen laughing around the drawing-room door, -nor his footsteps heard pattering through the -halls. There was a sunny plot of grass in the -back yard where he played all day now, except -when he was in that part of the house allotted -to the housekeeper.</p> - -<p>But he had never forgotten the “pretty yady,” -and he often asked Mrs. Meade, the housekeeper, -about her, prattling so sweetly that the good old -woman grew quite curious, and at last asked Mrs. -Wylde about Mrs. Falconer.</p> - -<p>“Yes, she is very beautiful—the most beautiful -woman I ever saw,” Mrs. Wylde admitted. -“She took quite a fancy to Pet, and admitted she -was fond of children.”</p> - -<p>“He is always talking about her. I never knew -him so fond of any one before,” said Mrs. Meade. -“Did you say she came from California, ma’am?”</p> - -<p>“Colonel Falconer married her in California, -but she is a native of Kentucky, and was never<span class="pagenum">[148]</span> -in Richmond until now,” was the reply, which, if -Mrs. Meade had harbored any suspicion, at once -dissipated.</p> - -<p>Still she cherished a desire to see the woman -who had been so kind to her little adopted child -as to win its warm little heart.</p> - -<p>“I’d like to thank her for noticing the poor, -forsaken little lamb,” she said to herself. “No -one ever shows it any kindness, except Mr. Norman, -and Heaven knows he ought to love it, for -I firmly believe he is the father, though whether -he suspects it or not, I can’t tell. Anyway, he’s -fond of it, and kind to it.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[149]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">A DARING MOVE.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Fate helped Mrs. Meade to the accomplishment -of her wish.</p> - -<p>One day all the negro servants had leave of -absence to attend a meeting of some society very -popular with all of their race, and there was no -one left to answer the doorbell but the housekeeper.</p> - -<p>In the afternoon Mrs. Wylde and Rosalind -went out to do some shopping, and Mrs. Meade -seated herself with Pet in the wide, cool hall, -that she might be within hearing of the bell.</p> - -<p>“Ain’t you doin’ to take me on the Capitol -Square dis even’?” queried Pet.</p> - -<p>“No, my precious, I can’t take you out to-day,” -answered the kind old woman, putting down her -knitting to caress the beautiful boy, whose sunny -curls and bright black eyes were so dear to her -heart.</p> - -<p>“Den I wish dat pretty yady would tum adin,” -exclaimed the child, looking longingly at the front -door.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[150]</span></p> - -<p>At that moment there came a hurried, nervous -peal at the doorbell.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Falconer had been driving out alone when -she saw Mrs. Wylde and her daughter entering -a store on Broad Street, and she almost instantly -left her carriage and directed the driver to wait -for her, as she desired to do some shopping.</p> - -<p>Entering the same store, she bought a box of -handkerchiefs, then, slipping out quietly, she -made her way on foot to Grace Street, scarcely -knowing what she meant to do, but thrilled by a -wild longing to see once more the lovely child that -she believed was her own.</p> - -<p>In the absence of the family, she believed that -little Pet might perhaps be permitted the freedom -of the house. She might make some pretext -for entering the house and awaiting Mrs. Wylde’s -return. Thus she might catch a glimpse of the -little one whose charms had won her heart.</p> - -<p>She rang the bell with a trembling hand, and, -to her joy and amazement, the first thing she saw -when the door opened was little Pet, clinging to -the dress of the white-haired, kindly looking old -woman who invited her in.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[151]</span></p> - -<p>“Pretty yady! pretty yady!” screamed the child, -and those words acquainted Mrs. Meade with -the fact that Mrs. Falconer stood before her.</p> - -<p>“Will you walk in, ma’am? The ladies are out -shopping, but they may come in at any minute,” -she exclaimed eagerly, anxious that little Pet -should have a few minutes at least with the -woman he loved so dearly.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Falconer trailed her soft summer silk -through the doorway, and held out her hands to -the eager child.</p> - -<p>“Well, I will rest a few minutes, anyhow, as I -walked from Broad Street and feel quite tired,” -she exclaimed, adding gayly: “Oh, how cool and -nice it is here in the hall. I will not go into the -parlor, please.”</p> - -<p>She sank down upon the broad antique sofa, -and little Pet, as clean and sweet as a rosebud, -in his little white dress and slippers, climbed into -her lap and clasped his chubby arms about her -neck. Mrs. Meade closed and locked the door, -and began to expostulate with him.</p> - -<p>“Oh, please don’t scold him! Let him stay with -me. I love children so dearly!” exclaimed Pansy,<span class="pagenum">[152]</span> -pressing the child to her heart and kissing him -many times.</p> - -<p>Then she looked up a little apprehensively at -the old woman, asking timidly:</p> - -<p>“Are you—his—mother?”</p> - -<p>“No, madam; he’s my adopted child. He was -left at this door almost three years ago, and I -begged the family to let me keep the poor little -forsaken baby for my own. I’m only the housekeeper, -ma’am, and the child’s company for me,” -explained Mrs. Meade, looking curiously into the -beautiful, agitated face before her and wondering -if Mrs. Falconer could possibly know anything -of the child’s parentage, for the tender interest -she took in him seemed very strange.</p> - -<p>“Can you remember what month it was when -the child was left here?” queried Pansy eagerly.</p> - -<p>“It was on the night of the twenty-eighth of -May, ma’am, and I feel sure it wasn’t more than -an hour old—a poor little deserted newborn -baby,” said Mrs. Meade, and Pansy sternly repressed -a cry of joy as she hid her startled face -in the boy’s plump neck, pretending to bite him, -that she might hear his vociferous baby laughter.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[153]</span></p> - -<p>“He is mine! It is just as I thought. I was -deceived by my mother, and my child stolen from -me. Oh, what am I to do, for I feel that I cannot -live without him?” she thought wildly.</p> - -<p>The little one clung to her, showering her face -with kisses, and filling Mrs. Meade with wonder, -for he was usually very shy of strangers.</p> - -<p>“Would you like to see the clothes he wore -when he came here?” she asked, and went away, -returning presently with a bundle, which she -unrolled before Pansy’s eyes.</p> - -<p>“See this little linen shirt and gown, so neatly -trimmed with crochet edging, and this fine soft -flannel petticoat,” she said; and Pansy almost -fainted when she saw the selfsame baby garments -on which she had worked, in silence and secrecy, -so many nights when she was at home, a -wretched creature, looking forward with dread -to her baby’s coming.</p> - -<p>She wound her arms about the child, and said -faintly:</p> - -<p>“You ought to take good care of these things, -for by their aid you might be enabled to trace -the child’s mother some time.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[154]</span></p> - -<p>But she flushed deeply when Mrs. Meade answered:</p> - -<p>“I mean to take care of them, but I don’t know -as I care to trace the mother. She must be a -hard-hearted creature, to abandon her baby like -she did.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, don’t judge her so hardly, please. Perhaps—perhaps—it -was not her fault. They -might have taken it from her,” exclaimed Pansy -pleadingly, then paused in dismay, for, by the -sudden lighting up of Mrs. Meade’s face, she saw -that she had made a mistake in speaking so impulsively. -Anxious to remove any suspicion from -the woman’s mind, she went on apologetically: -“Of course, the mother might have been hard-hearted. -There are plenty such women, but it -does seem strange that any one could desert such -a beautiful child as this one.”</p> - -<p>“He is beautiful, and as good and sweet as he -is pretty,” said Mrs. Meade warmly, and Pansy -exclaimed, almost passionately:</p> - -<p>“I wish he had been left at my door! I would -certainly have adopted him for my own. I love -him dearly.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[155]</span></p> - -<p>“I ’ove oo!” cried little Pet, gazing into her -beautiful face with shining eyes, and she strained -him close to her heart again, exclaiming:</p> - -<p>“Oh, you sweet little darling!”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Meade gazed on the pretty scene with -wonder and suspicion, asking herself why Mrs. -Falconer and the child were so strongly attached -to each other. She knew that Norman Wylde -had been in trouble several years before on account -of a pretty factory girl, who was reported -to have drowned herself, but she had never -heard that there was a child in the case. She -wondered now if that unfortunate girl had looked -like Mrs. Falconer.</p> - -<p>“I mean to find out,” she resolved, just as -Pansy looked up and asked pleadingly:</p> - -<p>“Won’t you give me this child if my husband -will allow me to adopt him? I will be like a -mother to him, educate him, bring him up to a -noble manhood, if he lives.”</p> - -<p>“Would you like to go with the lady, and leave -your poor old Meade, my pet?” exclaimed the -housekeeper, and the little one murmured a delighted -affirmative.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[156]</span></p> - -<p>“You see!” cried Pansy triumphantly. “Now, -may I have him?”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Meade shook her head.</p> - -<p>“Colonel Falconer would never permit you to -have him,” she said.</p> - -<p>“My husband has never refused a request of -mine in our whole acquaintance,” cried Pansy -impatiently.</p> - -<p>“But he would refuse this,” said Mrs. Meade. -“You will have some children of your own some -time, Mrs. Falconer, then this poor little one -would be thrust aside. No, no—I could not part -with him, even to one who likes him as much as -you do, dear lady.”</p> - -<p>Pansy gazed at her with a grieved and baffled -air. Her red under lip quivered and tears started -to her beautiful eyes. For a moment she could -not speak, so bitter was her disappointment; and -Mrs. Meade folded up the tiny garments in an -embarrassed fashion, ashamed of refusing the -lady’s request, but feeling that she was acting -for the best.</p> - -<p>Suddenly a bright thought came to Pansy.</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Meade, I see that you love Pet too well<span class="pagenum">[157]</span> -to give him up,” she said gently. “I don’t blame -you, for I love him dearly myself. But couldn’t -you come and be my housekeeper? Then I could -see him every day.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Meade threw up her hands in dismay.</p> - -<p>“Leave the Wyldes!” she cried. “Oh, my dear -young lady, I’ve kept house for them these -twenty-five years, and to leave them now would -be like pulling up an old tree by the roots. I’m -too old to be transplanted. I should die.”</p> - -<p>Pansy clasped the child close to her aching -heart with a cry of despair that she could not -repress.</p> - -<p>“Oh, my little darling, my little darling, I shall -see you no more, then! Fate is too strong for -us,” she cried.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Meade took off her spectacles and wiped -the moisture of tears from them. She was deeply -touched by Pansy’s affection for Pet, and, after -a moment, she said significantly:</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Falconer, I’m sorry to seem harsh and -unkind, refusing to give you the child, but I know -you will forget it directly. While, as for me, -my heart is bound up in him, and I’ve always -said that I’d never give up my claim, except to<span class="pagenum">[158]</span> -some one who had a better right to him than I -have.”</p> - -<p>Pansy glanced up, startled, and met the significant -gaze of the kind old eyes. She understood.</p> - -<p>With a burning blush, she put the little one -out of her arms and rose to go.</p> - -<p>“Then, of course, I can urge you no longer. -Your claim is too strong,” she said, trying to -speak coldly, as a mask for her bitter disappointment.</p> - -<p>“As for not seeing Pet any more, Mrs. Falconer, -if you care about it I can make it easy -enough for you to see him. I take him to the -Capitol Square every pleasant afternoon,” said -Mrs. Meade; and then she asked eagerly; “Won’t -you come in the parlor and play the piano for Pet? -He loves music so dearly.”</p> - -<p>“I ought to go this minute,” she said, but -yielded to the tiny, persuasive little fingers that -clasped hers, and stayed almost an hour longer, -playing and singing for the delighted little one.</p> - -<p>When she took leave she slipped a golden coin -in the baby fingers.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[159]</span></p> - -<p>“To buy candy,” she said, kissing him fondly, -and promising to come to the Capitol Square the -next afternoon to see him. Then she tore herself -away, and Mrs. Meade had hard work to -console Pet, who wept bitterly at the parting.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[160]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">OLD LOVERS FACE TO FACE.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>How strange it seemed to Pansy to be going -again, after the lapse of more than three years, -to the Capitol Square to meet one whom she loved, -but whom she must see in secret because a cruel -fate kept them sundered in life, but one in heart. -Then it was the father—now it was the child.</p> - -<p>While she was wondering how she was to get -away from the lynx eyes of her husband’s niece, -Juliette came in to say that she would like to have -the phaëton for her own use that afternoon, if -Mrs. Falconer was not going out.</p> - -<p>“One of my dearest friends, Miss Norwood, -is just home from a long visit in New York, and -I would like so much to take her for a drive,” she -said.</p> - -<p>“Pray do so. I shall not need the phaëton this -afternoon,” Pansy answered eagerly.</p> - -<p>“You are not going out yourself?” Juliette -asked.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know. Should I do so, it will only be -for a short walk.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[161]</span></p> - -<p>Juliette thanked her and hastened away.</p> - -<p>“Colonel Falconer is busy with his lawyer, -Juliette away, and the field clear. I will go and -see my child,” she thought gladly.</p> - -<p>It was July, and the day was warm and sultry. -Pansy dressed herself simply, in a plain white -dress and leghorn hat, and, taking a large sun-shade -in her hand, started for the Capitol Square.</p> - -<p>Her heart throbbed painfully as she walked -slowly along the old familiar streets, thinking of -those past days, so full of love and pain.</p> - -<p>It was only four o’clock when she reached the -square, and the nurses and children were just beginning -to come in. She looked everywhere, but -there was no sign of Mrs. Meade and little Pet.</p> - -<p>“I am too early. I must sit down in some -quiet, secluded spot and wait,” she thought, and -sought a shady seat on the slope of the hill back -of the Capitol building.</p> - -<p>“It was here we sat that day when Norman -told me he was going to London,” she murmured -sadly, and then she recoiled with a sudden -cry:</p> - -<p>“Oh!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[162]</span></p> - -<p>The quiet bench she sought was already occupied, -and by Norman Wylde himself.</p> - -<p>She could scarcely repress a wild and passionate -cry of pain and reproach. As it was, she -dared not trust herself, and turned to flee.</p> - -<p>But Norman Wylde had been aroused from a -deep abstraction by her low exclamation of dismay, -and, starting up, he confronted her, coming -out of such a mood that he for a moment fancied -his lost love had come back from the other world -to comfort his sad heart. A glad cry came from -his lips:</p> - -<p>“Pansy!”</p> - -<p>That name arrested her footsteps. She paused, -frightened, moveless. Had he recognized her? -Would he tax her with her identity?</p> - -<p>“Pansy!” he repeated tenderly, and, although -she trembled and grew faint at the passion in -his voice, it came to her suddenly that she must -make some defense for herself. She, the honored -wife of the proud Colonel Falconer, must -never own herself to be that Pansy Laurens -whom the man before her had deceived and betrayed. -She would be brave and proud for her -husband’s sake, as well as for her own.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[163]</span></p> - -<p>Steeling her heart and her nerves as well as -she could, she turned toward him, saying coldly:</p> - -<p>“It is quite true, Mr. Wylde, that my name is -Pansy, but as you and I have never met but once -before to-day, it seems to me that I should be -Mrs. Falconer to you.”</p> - -<p>Norman Wylde could only stare for a moment -with bewildered eyes at the lovely speaker, and -mutter helplessly:</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Falconer!”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” she replied coldly, and suddenly he -struck his hand against his forehead, exclaiming:</p> - -<p>“I am a fool, a madman! Madam, pardon -me. I—I—was mistaken.” Then, seeing that -she lingered, he added, with an imploring gesture: -“Will you not sit down here for one moment -and let me explain?”</p> - -<p>She knew quite well that she ought not to stay, -but she could not turn from him. She sank down -on the rustic bench and waited with throbbing -pulses for an explanation. What would he say—what -could he say?</p> - -<p>He sat down beside her, pale with emotion, but -so splendidly handsome in his cool summer suit<span class="pagenum">[164]</span> -and spotless linen that her heart throbbed madly, -and she thought:</p> - -<p>“Oh, my false love! How grandly handsome, -how winning you are! It is no wonder that I -lost my heart to you, innocent child that I was! -Oh, would that you had been true and good, as -well as fascinating.”</p> - -<p>But no one who saw how coldly and proudly -her blue eyes looked at him would have thought -that such passionate thoughts thrilled her heart. -He himself believed that she was bitterly angry, -and he hastened to say deprecatingly:</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Falconer, you are so startlingly like one -I used to know that when you appeared before -me I did not remember you as Mrs. Falconer, -and I called you by that name unwittingly. No -offense to you was intended. I did not know that -you were called Pansy.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, that is my name. I was Pansy Wilcox -when Colonel Falconer married me. And so you -say that I resemble some one you used to know, -Mr. Wylde? How strange!” Pansy said, trying -to draw him into some reminiscences of the past, -womanlike, wishing to know whether he remembered -her with love or remorse.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[165]</span></p> - -<p>He sighed heavily, and answered:</p> - -<p>“Yes, you are the image of one I loved and -lost. Do you remember the night I came to your -house, Mrs. Falconer? I came very near calling -you Pansy then—I was so startled at the first -sight of your face. But while you were singing -I recovered myself so that I could greet you -calmly. It was different just now, for I was -thinking of that other Pansy, and you came upon -me so suddenly that I had no time for thought, -and I called you by her name.”</p> - -<p>“It was some one you loved?” Pansy said, in -a low, soft voice.</p> - -<p>“Loved!” exclaimed Norman Wylde hoarsely, -and his dark eyes seemed to burn into her soul -as he added: “Love is hardly the word. I worshiped, -adored my little Pansy.”</p> - -<p>“Did she die?” asked Pansy gently.</p> - -<p>“Yes, she died,” he replied hoarsely; then, pausing -abruptly: “Has not Juliette Ives told you all -about it?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“It is a wonder,” he muttered.</p> - -<p>“You make me quite curious. I think unfortunate -love affairs are so sad and romantic. Was<span class="pagenum">[166]</span> -yours unfortunate, Mr. Wylde?” asked Pansy, -still leading him on.</p> - -<p>“It was tragic,” he answered gloomily; and she -was glad when she saw he was suffering some -remorse for the ill that he had wrought. Her -heart began to grow softer toward him.</p> - -<p>“He is sorry for his sin. Perhaps he would -undo it if he could,” whispered her heart.</p> - -<p>Norman Wylde lifted his sad, dark eyes and -looked at her gravely. Oh, how strong was the -resemblance to his lost love, and how strangely -his heart thrilled at the sound of her voice! No -one but Pansy Laurens had ever made his heart -beat faster by a voice of music.</p> - -<p>“I wish you would tell me all about it,” she -said persuasively.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[167]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">AN OLD STORY.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Pansy had quite forgotten why she came to -the Capitol Square. She could think of nothing -but Norman Wylde and the sorrow on his handsome -face. She lingered beside him until he consented -to tell her the story of his unhappy love -affair.</p> - -<p>“I was engaged to Juliette Ives, but I was not -very much in love with her. I met, in the country, -a beautiful young girl named Pansy Laurens,” -he said. “The young lady was not in our -set. She was poor, and worked at Arnell & Grey’s -tobacco factory; but she was the fairest, sweetest, -most charming little creature I ever met. We fell -in love at first sight, and I broke my engagement -with Juliette for her sake. But, of course, you -think, as every one else did, Mrs. Falconer, that I -acted badly.”</p> - -<p>He stopped and looked searchingly into her -pale face. Oh, how like it was to his lost love’s, -only with a proud smile on it that made it a<span class="pagenum">[168]</span> -little different from Pansy’s, that had been so -sweet and gentle.</p> - -<p>“I am very much interested; please go on,” she -murmured. And, sighing heavily, Norman -Wylde continued:</p> - -<p>“Of course, everybody set themselves against -us, Pansy’s relations as well as mine.”</p> - -<p>Pansy trembled, for the deep, sweet, thrilling -voice went to her heart, which began to beat -heavily and painfully. How her thoughts went -back to the past, when he had been her worshiped -lover, and she had thought him true!</p> - -<p>“We met in secret, my sweet little love and I,” -continued Norman, “but we could not see each -other very often, because she had to work in the -factory all the week. But on Sundays I saw her -at church, and in the afternoons she would come -here, or to Libby Hill Park, always to a different -place, that no one might suspect us. I would have -married her at once, but we should have had nothing -to live on, as I had no clients yet, and my father -had threatened to disinherit me if I did not -give her up. But I vowed in secret that I would -not do that, and, at last, fate—as I thought—opened -out a way for us to be happy. I found a<span class="pagenum">[169]</span> -client who wished me to go to Europe and manage -an important case.”</p> - -<p>“And you went?” she asked, for he paused so -long that she feared his confidences were at an -end.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I went,” he answered slowly; then he -looked at her gravely, and said: “You are a -stranger, Mrs. Falconer, and there is something -connected with my trip to London that I should -not betray, perhaps, for the sake of my family.”</p> - -<p>“Whatever you tell me will be held sacred,” -she said, almost inaudibly, and the dark eyes -looked at her in a sort of wonder.</p> - -<p>“I ought not to betray this to any one but a -dear friend,” he said hesitatingly. “Mrs. Falconer, -I wonder if you could like me well enough -to be my friend? It would be very pleasant to -me. You look so much like her that I should find -comfort in your friendship.”</p> - -<p>Many and many a time Pansy Laurens had said -to herself that Norman Wylde was the greatest -enemy she had on earth. But now she held out -her hand to him, in its soft silken glove, and he -took it and pressed it eagerly.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[170]</span></p> - -<p>“I will be your friend,” she said, wondering -if he was going to confess to her now about the -secret marriage that was no marriage, after all. -She was so curious to hear how he would justify -that that she did not hesitate to promise him her -friendship.</p> - -<p>But, to her wonder and indignation, he skipped -quite over that important era in his love affair, -and went on telling her about his trip to London:</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Falconer, that tour on which I prided -myself was a plot, a trap, laid by my parents to -get me away from Richmond and from Pansy. -My client was a paid tool of my father’s, and his -craft followed me to London, where, for almost -a year, I remained, vainly seeking links in a case -that never had existed, save in the fertile brain -of those who invented that pretext for the purpose -of luring me away from home and love. My -brain whirls yet when I recall how I was duped -and deceived, my life and hers made pitiable -wrecks for the sake of a despicable pride of birth -and position.”</p> - -<p>His agitation was terrible for the moment. His -dark eyes blazed, great drops of perspiration -started out on his pallid brow. As for her, she<span class="pagenum">[171]</span> -could not speak; she sat staring at him with -parted lips and blue eyes full of misery.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I ought not to have gone back to that -time, for it stirs the smoldering ashes into fire -again,” he cried bitterly. “Think, Mrs. Falconer, -how I suffered all that time, never hearing a -word from my darling, although I wrote to her -every week, and she had promised to write to me. -And, at last—oh, Heaven!—there came to me a -Richmond paper, saying that she had drowned -herself.”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” sighed Pansy sympathetically, but he -did not seem to hear her. His head drooped, and -his eyes sought the ground. He seemed to be -oblivious to all but his own pain.</p> - -<p>For her, she was thinking bitterly:</p> - -<p>“I am glad he is capable of some remorse for -his sin. It makes me think a little more kindly of -him.”</p> - -<p>Then she shuddered at herself, for she knew -that she was thinking of him more than kindly—fast -falling under the old glamour—and she knew -this must not be, that she ought to fly as from the -tempting of a serpent. She made a motion to -rise, but he looked up quickly.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[172]</span></p> - -<p>“Do not go—yet,” he said pleadingly. “Somehow, -it is a sad pleasure to me to see you sitting -there, with that face so like poor dead Pansy’s -that it brings back all the perished past.”</p> - -<p>At those words she could not rise. She seemed -to have no volition of her own. She sat still, comparing -herself to a bird charmed by a serpent.</p> - -<p>“Do you know,” he went on, “we sat here on -the very bench one Sunday, just a week before I -sailed for England. She wore a white dress and -wide straw hat, something like you wear now. I -told her of my good fortune, but, poor child, a -presentiment seemed to come over her gentle -spirit, and she wept most bitterly because I was -going away.”</p> - -<p>“He will tell me now of that most shameful -marriage,” Pansy thought; but again she was -mistaken.</p> - -<p>“Poor little darling! No wonder she felt so -gloomy, for our parting was the knell of her fate,” -said Norman Wylde. “I feel quite sure that by -some underhand means our letters to each other -were suppressed, for not a line ever came to me, -though I shall never doubt that she wrote often, -and I feel quite certain that it was the agony of<span class="pagenum">[173]</span> -suspense and hope deferred that drove her to -suicide.”</p> - -<p>“You came home, then, did you not?” she -asked.</p> - -<p>“No; for I could not have borne to return and -find her gone. What was there to come back to, -Mrs. Falconer? Not even a grave, for her body -was never recovered from the river.”</p> - -<p>He raised his downcast eyes and looked into -her face with such a searching expression that -she trembled lest he was going to tax her with -her identity.</p> - -<p>But he did not do so. He only said:</p> - -<p>“I was too miserable and distracted to come -home then. Besides, I had not yet discovered -the fraud that had been perpetrated on me. I -stayed in London almost a year longer, vainly -prosecuting my search for the missing links in -my client’s case, and then, by accident, I found -out how I had been deceived. I came home at -once then, and taxed my parents with the truth. -They acknowledged the deception, but claimed -that it had been done for my good, and begged -my pardon. I would not forgive them, yet, for -the sake of family pride, I kept secret their perfidy,<span class="pagenum">[174]</span> -and you are the first one to whom it has -been revealed.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, what a sad, what a miserable ending for -so sweet a love story! It seems a pity you did not -marry the girl and take her away with you!” -cried Pansy.</p> - -<p>“I wish that I had done so, for then I might -have been happy, instead of the most miserable -and remorseful man in the whole world,” -groaned Norman Wylde; and she wondered how -much of this was acting and how much reality.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps he loved me better than he knew, and -repented when too late the miserable betrayal that -wrecked my life,” she thought, softening more -and more toward him whom she knew she ought -to hate.</p> - -<p>But before either one could utter another word, -the prattling voice of a little child was heard, -and Pansy looked up and saw Mrs. Meade and -little Pet coming along the path toward where -she sat.</p> - -<p>Pet caught sight of the two sitting there together, -and ran forward with a cry of delight.</p> - -<p>“Pretty yady, pretty yady!” he cried joyously, -and climbed into Pansy’s lap and kissed her.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[175]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXVI">CHAPTER XXVI. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">THE ENEMY AT WORK.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Norman Wylde seemed almost petrified with -amazement at the scene before him. He gazed -in wonder at Pansy and the child, and from them -to Mrs. Meade.</p> - -<p>The old housekeeper, on her part, was surprised, -too. She scarcely knew what to make -of finding Norman Wylde here with Mrs. Falconer, -but she knew not what to say. She could -only stand and stare with a look of wonder on -her fat face, which was flushed crimson from -walking in the hot sun.</p> - -<p>Perhaps Pansy understood something of the -surprise she was exciting in Norman Wylde’s -mind, for the color rose warmly into her face as -she returned the child’s caress and arose in a -hasty way, gently putting him down upon the -seat, and turning toward Mrs. Meade.</p> - -<p>“Good afternoon, Mrs. Meade. I am glad you -have brought your sweet little boy out for a holiday,” -she exclaimed, adding sweetly: “I wish I -could stay for another romp with him, such as I<span class="pagenum">[176]</span> -had the other day. But I have an engagement in -a few minutes. Good afternoon, Mr. Wylde. I -have quite enjoyed my little chat with you while -I rested under these beautiful trees.”</p> - -<p>He rose and bowed courteously, giving her a -glance of grave friendliness that made her heart -beat faster as she walked away, leaving all her -heart behind her with her child and the father of -her child, for—guilty wretch though she believed -him—she could not strangle her yearning love.</p> - -<p>“I believe that he is sorry for his sin,” she -kept telling herself, as some palliative of her tenderness -for him, when suddenly she heard quick -footsteps behind her and a hand stealthily touched -her elbow.</p> - -<p>“He has followed me,” she thought, with some -alarm, and turned her head quickly.</p> - -<p>Then a low cry of dismay and anger came -from her lips.</p> - -<p>Mr. Finley, the grocer, her feared and hated -stepfather, was walking along by her side, leering -wickedly down into her face with an air of -recognition that almost made her heart stop its -beating.</p> - -<p>“Good afternoon, Pansy. I am glad to see that<span class="pagenum">[177]</span> -you are making it up with your old lover. I was -behind a tree, watching you two while you sat -on that bench talking. You find the old love as -sweet as ever, eh? Well, no one can blame you -for not loving that old man you married for his -money,” were the impertinent words that greeted -her astonished ears.</p> - -<p>She drew herself up haughtily, and tried to -freeze him with her indignant glance.</p> - -<p>“Get out of my path, you wretch! How dare -you persist in pretending to recognize me as some -one you have known?” she exclaimed angrily; -but he only laughed, and, staying close by her -side, retorted:</p> - -<p>“Somebody else recognized you as some one he -had known before, too, Mrs. Falconer. Didn’t I -hear Norman Wylde calling you Pansy an hour -or so ago, when you first came up to him?”</p> - -<p>She trembled with horror at the accusation, but, -remembering that she had not admitted the truth -to Norman Wylde, took courage.</p> - -<p>“Pshaw! Resemblances are common,” she -said carelessly. “I do not deny that Mr. Wylde -took me for some one else, but he immediately<span class="pagenum">[178]</span> -apologized for his mistake, and if you had the -instincts of a gentleman you would do the same.”</p> - -<p>“But I have not made a mistake,” leered Finley. -He kept along by her side, although she was -walking fast, and continued: “Pansy, you had -as well own up to me, for I have recognized you, -and I mean to make money out of my knowledge. -I am poor, and I have your mother and sisters -to support. You are rich, and you must give me -some money for them, or I will betray you to -your husband.”</p> - -<p>Although Pansy trembled inwardly at his bold -threat, she determined that she would not yield to -his demands.</p> - -<p>“Once own that I am Pansy Laurens, and all -is lost. I could never satisfy the man’s rapacity, -and he would only betray me at last. Besides, he -cannot prove my identity; he only suspects it,” -she thought wisely; and, to his angry astonishment, -she laughed scornfully.</p> - -<p>“Why are you laughing?” he demanded; and, -lifting her bright face defiantly, she answered:</p> - -<p>“I am pleased because I see a policeman up -there near the governor’s mansion, and I am going -to give you into custody for annoying me.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[179]</span></p> - -<p>He followed her glance and grew pale as he -saw the blue-coated custodian of the law pacing -along the walk she indicated. Stopping short, -he growled fiercely:</p> - -<p>“You wouldn’t dare!”</p> - -<p>“You will see, my clever friend,” she replied -airily, also stopping and looking up at him again -so coolly that he wondered at her unconcern.</p> - -<p>“You had better leave me,” she said calmly, -though white to the lips with anger. “I do not -desire to have you arrested, for I know my husband -would have you punished to the full extent -of the law. He knows all about my past, and -your talk of betrayal is the senseless chatter of -a madman. Will you go now, or shall I call -the policeman, or any of these gentlemen sitting -around?”</p> - -<p>He was baffled by her cool assumption of fearlessness, -for he did not dare to drive her to bay. -No one knew so well as himself what cause he -had to dread exposure.</p> - -<p>Glowering fiercely on her from his small, beady -black eyes, he hissed, low and threateningly:</p> - -<p>“I am going now, but not that I’m afraid of -you, nor that policeman, either, only for your<span class="pagenum">[180]</span> -mother’s sake, because it would break her heart -to know that her shameless child was still alive. -But you will hear from me again—remember -that, my saucy madam, and live in fear of my -vengeance.”</p> - -<p>“I am not in the least afraid of you, and I am -going to call that policeman this minute,” Pansy -answered, walking briskly away; and, to her joy, -Mr. Finley turned and walked quickly off, going -out of the square at a gate directly opposite.</p> - -<p>“He is a coward, despite his threats, and he will -not trouble me again, I hope,” she murmured, -leaving the square and going quickly toward home -with no other drawback, except meeting several -factory girls going home from work whose faces -were perfectly familiar to her, and who had not -forgotten hers, either, for one nudged the other -and exclaimed audibly:</p> - -<p>“Good gracious, the very image of poor Pansy -Laurens!”</p> - -<p>Pansy’s heart gave a wild throb, and she hurried -past the girls, thinking:</p> - -<p>“I ought never to have come back here. I am -not changed as I thought I was. Every one knows -my face, and I fear trouble will come of it yet.<span class="pagenum">[181]</span> -Suppose I were to meet my mother, or sisters, -for instance, and they were to claim me, I do -not believe I could be brave enough to deny my -identity.”</p> - -<p>That night she begged her husband to hurry -up his business, that he might take her away from -the city.</p> - -<p>“It is so warm and sultry here that I am almost -afraid I shall fall ill if I stay,” she said; -and he, remembering her headache of a few days -before, took alarm at once.</p> - -<p>“It is very vexatious, this law business. My -sister’s affairs were in a terribly tangled condition, -and I’m afraid it will be several days yet -before I can get away,” he said; then, smiling -and encircling the graceful figure with his arm, -he added; “But that is no reason, my darling, -that you and Juliette should remain here. Both -of you are quite ready to go, you say. Then why -not start to White Sulphur to-morrow, and let -me follow when I get through my task here?”</p> - -<p>Her heart leaped with joy, then she inwardly -chided herself for her eagerness to leave him.</p> - -<p>“It would not be kind to leave you—and—I -should miss you so,” she murmured, speaking<span class="pagenum">[182]</span> -quite truthfully, for she had a gentle affection -for him still, in spite of the truant heart that -fluttered so at the very thought of Norman -Wylde.</p> - -<p>“But if I can get away from Richmond I shall -not think so often of him, and I can be truer in -heart to my husband,” she thought, for she had -heard the Wyldes say that Norman would not -consent to accompany them.</p> - -<p>Colonel Falconer was pleased at the knowledge -that she would miss him, but he declared that he -was afraid she would be sick if she remained any -longer in the city.</p> - -<p>“And as I cannot get away yet, you must not -wait for me any longer. You can write to me -every day, and that will be some consolation for -your absence,” he said.</p> - -<p>Juliette was delighted when she heard that they -were not to wait for her uncle. She hurried -around to the Wyldes the next morning to persuade -them to go, too, and was successful in her -mission.</p> - -<p>“Only Norman says he can’t get away from -his business this summer,” said Rosalind.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[183]</span></p> - -<p>“And he won’t go?” Juliette asked, bitterly -disappointed.</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, very well. There will be plenty of other -beaus!” Juliette said, tossing her head and pretending -to be indifferent. “Well, it is settled -that we meet at the depot this evening, Mrs. -Wylde?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” replied the lady; and Juliette hurried -home to make her arrangements, and to vent -her spleen on Norman Wylde by saying to Pansy:</p> - -<p>“Norman Wylde won’t go because I have -treated him so coldly, Rosalind says; but he may -sulk all he chooses. I shall not make up with him -in a hurry.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[184]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">“A MARRIED FLIRT.”</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>When Pansy had left Norman Wylde, Mrs. -Meade sat down on the seat she had vacated, -and her face was very grave and thoughtful.</p> - -<p>It had appeared very strange to her to find -Norman Wylde and the beautiful Mrs. Falconer -alone in the park together, and seeming to be on -very amicable terms with each other, whereas -she had supposed them to be almost utter -strangers.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps she is a flirt,” she thought suspiciously; -and just then Norman Wylde turned his -head, after watching Pansy until she disappeared, -and said:</p> - -<p>“How does it happen that Mrs. Falconer and -Pet are so well acquainted with each other?”</p> - -<p>The old housekeeper, who had known him ever -since he was a little boy, answered dryly:</p> - -<p>“Mr. Norman, I was just going to ask the same -question about yourself and Mrs. Falconer.”</p> - -<p>He smiled at first, then flushed a dark red at -her searching glance, and answered:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[185]</span></p> - -<p>“But I do not know Mrs. Falconer very well. -I have never met her but once or twice until she -came down this path, quite by accident, a while -ago, and I invited her to rest a few minutes—she -looked so tired and warm.”</p> - -<p>“I was afraid she was one of them married -flirts that’s getting so fashionable nowadays,” -muttered Mrs. Meade.</p> - -<p>“A married flirt! No, indeed! I believe Mrs. -Falconer is as pure and sweet and shy as a child. -She is so much like one I knew years ago that -she could not be otherwise,” exclaimed Norman -Wylde earnestly, as he fondled Pet, who had -crept to his knee, thus consoling himself for the -departure of his “pretty yady.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Meade looked up, all eager interest.</p> - -<p>“Like some one you knew?” she exclaimed -eagerly.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he replied, with a heavy sigh, and the -housekeeper asked coaxingly:</p> - -<p>“Would you mind telling me whom she looked -like, Mr. Norman?”</p> - -<p>“Curiosity, thy name is woman!” he said, with -a low laugh, half dreary amusement, half bitterness; -then, with another sigh, he went on: “Mrs.<span class="pagenum">[186]</span> -Meade, I suppose you know all about my unfortunate -love affair of three years ago?”</p> - -<p>She nodded, and then he said:</p> - -<p>“This beautiful Mrs. Falconer is the image of -the girl I loved, and from whom my parents -parted me. She committed suicide by drowning -within a year after I went away, you remember?”</p> - -<p>“Ah!” exclaimed the old housekeeper, and her -face began to glow with excitement.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Norman, are you sure she drowned herself?” -she asked eagerly.</p> - -<p>“Sure!” he repeated, turning toward her, with -wondering eyes. “Why, what do you mean, Mrs. -Meade?”</p> - -<p>“Was her body ever recovered from the river?” -retorted the housekeeper significantly.</p> - -<p>He started violently, then answered:</p> - -<p>“No!”</p> - -<p>“So I thought,” said Mrs. Meade, and, following -up her train of thought, she added: “There -isn’t any possibility that Mrs. Falconer can be -the same girl, is there, Mr. Norman?”</p> - -<p>He sprang from his seat, pushing Pet unconsciously -from him, and confronted her, pale with -surprise and excitement.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[187]</span></p> - -<p>“You must be mad!” he exclaimed. “This lady -was one of the belles of Louisville—never was -in Richmond until this summer, I am told.”</p> - -<p>“Sit down, Mr. Norman, and forgive me for -talking like an old fool, although maybe I’m not -such a fool, after all,” answered Mrs. Meade. -But he would not sit down again; he remained -standing in front of her and looking down consciously -into her agitated face as she continued, -in a low, grave voice:</p> - -<p>“Being such an old woman, Mr. Norman, and -knowing you ever since you was no bigger than -Pet here, you needn’t mind my asking you questions -that might be impertinent from some people.”</p> - -<p>“Ask what you please, Mrs. Meade. I am -too much your friend to take offense at your plain -speaking,” he replied encouragingly; and, without -any further preamble, she queried:</p> - -<p>“In that unfortunate love affair of yours, Mr. -Norman, was there any prospect of—a—child?”</p> - -<p>“No!” he answered quickly, almost angrily, yet -she saw the hot color shoot up to his brow, and -his glance fell before hers.</p> - -<p>She sighed, and exclaimed:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[188]</span></p> - -<p>“Then I’m all at sea again, for, to tell you the -truth, Mr. Norman, I’ve been half believing all -this time that Pet here was your own child!”</p> - -<p>He started as if shot, and, dropping into a seat -again, caught Pet’s hand and drew him forward, -scrutinizing his beautiful features with eager -eyes:</p> - -<p>“Can’t you see that he has your eyes, your -features?” exclaimed Mrs. Meade triumphantly, -and, with something like a groan, he muttered:</p> - -<p>“And something of her, too!” he said. “That -smile, those dainty dimples, how like, how like! -Now I understand what drew my heart so -strongly to the child. Mrs. Meade,” looking up -at her with blazing eyes, “you must answer now -the question I asked you first: How is it that -Pet and Mrs. Falconer know each other so well?”</p> - -<p>And, for answer, she began at the first meeting -of Mrs. Falconer and the child, and related all -that had taken place since, dwelling strongly on -their mutual passionate attachment for each -other, and on the lady’s eager desire to adopt the -child.</p> - -<p>“I will tell you the truth, Mr. Norman: I -strongly suspect that this beautiful lady is the<span class="pagenum">[189]</span> -child’s own mother, and if there is no chance that -the little one can be yours, why, then I ought to -let her have him, maybe. I refused because I -thought he was yours,” she said.</p> - -<p>“You were right not to let her have him,” he -exclaimed hurriedly. Then his face dropped into -his hands a moment, and passers-by looked curiously -at the old woman, the pretty child, and -the handsome man bowed in an attitude of deep -dejection.</p> - -<p>Little Pet was so grieved at the man’s sorrowful -attitude that he went up to him and encircled -Norman’s neck with his chubby arms, and inquired -tenderly:</p> - -<p>“Oo kyin’ tause pretty yady gone?”</p> - -<p>The young man caught him in his arms, straining -him to his breast, and again gazed eagerly into -his lovely face.</p> - -<p>“My little darling, what if it were to prove -true?” he muttered hoarsely; then, looking around -at Mrs. Meade, he asked:</p> - -<p>“Do you know where Mrs. Laurens, the mother -of poor little Pansy, lives?”</p> - -<p>“No, I do not know,” she replied; and a look -of bitter disappointment came over his face.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[190]</span></p> - -<p>“I have been trying ever since I came home to -trace that woman,” he exclaimed. “I remember -that just before I went away she was married a -second time, and went on a bridal tour with her -husband. But I do not know the name of the -person she married, nor where she is living now, -for she has moved away from where she resided -when I went away.”</p> - -<p>Was it fate, or only a blind chance, for at that -moment there came along the walk a plainly -dressed, stooping figure, with a sad, worn face -that had once been very pretty, though now faded -and forlorn. Norman had seen Pansy’s mother -only once, but he recognized her again in this -passer-by, and, springing to his feet, exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Laurens!”</p> - -<p>The pale, sad-looking creature recoiled from -him with a frightened denial:</p> - -<p>“I—I—that is not my name!”</p> - -<p>Norman caught her wrist in a firm yet tender -clasp, for she was trying to get away.</p> - -<p>“Wait!” he said sternly. “Denials are useless, -for I know that you are Mrs. Laurens, and I think -you know that I am Norman Wylde. I was just -speaking about you and wishing I knew where<span class="pagenum">[191]</span> -to find you. I want you to tell me the truth about -this child here. Is it not your daughter Pansy’s?”</p> - -<p>“No—oh, no!” she exclaimed wildly; but just -then Mrs. Meade exclaimed surprisedly:</p> - -<p>“La, me, that’s the very woman I have seen -dozens of times, hanging about when I took Pet -out, but never mistrusted who she was!”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Laurens looked at her imploringly, and -faltered out:</p> - -<p>“You must be mistaken. I never saw you before, -ma’am.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I never!” ejaculated the housekeeper, -and little Pet himself gave the lie to Mrs. Laurens’ -denial, for he came to her with a smile, and -cooed sweetly:</p> - -<p>“Is oo dot any more tandy to-day?”</p> - -<p>“You see, the child knows you. Confess the -truth now! Are you not his own grandmother?” -exclaimed Norman, low but eagerly.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Laurens writhed under his grasp, and -looked from right to left with frightened eyes.</p> - -<p>“Answer me!” persisted Norman. But a -dogged look came over her face, and she replied:</p> - -<p>“No, my daughter Pansy never had a child. -Why do you want to throw disgrace on my poor<span class="pagenum">[192]</span> -dead girl?” And she suddenly burst into tears, -and, tugging at his hand, wailed out: “Oh, let me -go! I promised to meet my daughter Alice when -she was coming home from the factory, and—and—it’s -past the closing time now.”</p> - -<p>“Will you swear that this is not Pansy’s child?” -Norman insisted hoarsely; but at that moment -she succeeded in freeing her hand from his clasp -and darted away like a startled deer. Not wishing -to create a sensation, he had to refrain from -following her.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[193]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII">CHAPTER XXVIII. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">THE BLACKMAILER BAFFLED.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Mr. Finley had left Pansy and sought his home -again in a tempest of fury and baffled cupidity, -realizing fully that his scheme of blackmailing her -would not succeed, and that he must look elsewhere -for booty.</p> - -<p>Pansy’s dauntless bravery and defiance had -certainly staggered his bold courage, and he began -to fear that he was not going to receive such -a windfall as he had expected from Pansy’s secret. -Having a dangerous secret of his own, -which would be sure to come to light if he proceeded -openly against her, he found himself in -a quandary.</p> - -<p>“The plucky little wretch! Who would have -believed that she would openly defy me, and -deny her identity? Why, she would have handed -me over to that policeman in another moment if -I hadn’t cut and run,” he exclaimed angrily, feeling -that he would like to shake the little beauty -for her bold defiance.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[194]</span></p> - -<p>He slept but little that night for thinking about -her, and the next day he came to the conclusion -that, of all those concerned in the drama in which -he was so cleverly enacting the villain’s part, there -was no chance of blackmailing any but Colonel -Falconer.</p> - -<p>“He is rich and will pay liberally for the keeping -of the secret I hold against his wife,” he decided, -and then he set his cunning brain to work -to devise a plan by which to approach Colonel -Falconer on the delicate subject of his wife.</p> - -<p>Poor little Mrs. Finley, whom he had long ago -reduced to the status of a trembling, obedient -slave, looked at him in wonder as he lounged -about the house, paying no attention to the grocery, -for he had long ago placed Willie in his -store as a clerk, and the youth was very reliable. -She thought fearfully:</p> - -<p>“There is something brewing in his cunning -mind. Has he found out that I have been seeing -my poor little grandchild by stealth, and is he -planning some punishment for me?”</p> - -<p>She trembled at the thought, for she knew that -he was both cunning and vindictive. He ruled -her and her children with a rod of iron.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[195]</span></p> - -<p>He had never forgotten or forgiven the assertion -of his wife, that she would never have married -him if she had known that he would not care -for her children, and he made her and them suffer -for it in various ways. One of his favorite -methods was to taunt them with the disgrace that -Pansy had brought upon them, and another was -to keep alive in Willie’s breast the fierce resentment -and murderous wrath that had taken hold -of him when he first learned that his beautiful -sister had gone astray.</p> - -<p>Left to himself and to the remorseful pleadings -of his mother, the young man might have -got over some of his anger, more especially as -poor Pansy had atoned for her fault with her -life. There were times when the remembrance -of her message to him, her pitiful promise that -she would never disgrace him again, stung keenly, -and forced him to accuse himself of being accessory -to her death; but these moods never lasted -long, for whenever Mr. Finley found these kinder -impulses taking root in the youth’s mind he would -dispel them by maliciously hinting that, in all -probability, Pansy was yet alive, and might turn -up at any time to recall to the world the scandal<span class="pagenum">[196]</span> -that had trailed its slime over the name of Laurens.</p> - -<p>“Pretty Kate North would not smile so sweetly -then when she saw you waiting at the church -door on Sundays,” he suggested, with a leer that -brought the hot color to Willie’s cheeks, for this, -his first real love affair, was a very tender point -with him, and he had often wondered to himself -if pretty little Kate North, with her black eyes -and dimpled red cheeks, thought any the less of -him because of the family disgrace.</p> - -<p>His love for Kate made him all the more bitter -in his thoughts toward Pansy.</p> - -<p>“How dared she disgrace the family so? I -hate her memory, even though believing her dead -and if I knew she were alive I should be tempted -to carry out my threat, and shoot her on sight,” -he replied angrily to the taunt of his stepfather -that day on which Mr. Finley’s mind was so engaged -in plotting the best means by which to extort -money from Colonel Falconer for keeping -the dark secret of his wife’s past.</p> - -<p>He did not know that his malice had overreached -itself, and that the fury smoldering in -Willie’s impetuous mind, and fanned into flame<span class="pagenum">[197]</span> -by his sneers and gibes, would bear fruit to disappoint -him of all his avaricious hopes.</p> - -<p>Willie was almost twenty now, with an overstrained -sense of honor, sharpened in intensity -by his sister’s fault. He was sensitively alive to -the disgrace that rested on the family name, and -had brooded over it until he had grown morbid. -His handsome young face remained dark and -cloudy after Mr. Finley went out, and his -thoughts were so absorbed that he could scarcely -wait upon the customers who came in and out of -the neat store.</p> - -<p>“Strange that he is always suggesting the -thought that Pansy may be alive, after all. Perhaps -he knows more than he chooses to tell,” he -muttered. And the thought wore on him so that -he went to the corner of a shelf, where his stepfather -kept a private bottle, and took a drink of -brandy to steady his shaking nerves.</p> - -<p>Then, from a case in a hiding place of his own -he took a small pistol and examined it with -gloomy eyes.</p> - -<p>“It is all right,” he muttered hoarsely; then, -at the sound of a step entering the store, he replaced<span class="pagenum">[198]</span> -it hurriedly, and turned around, to face -Mr. North, the father of the girl he loved.</p> - -<p>“Good afternoon, Mr. North. What can I do -for you?” he inquired politely.</p> - -<p>Mr. North was only a clerk, but he was inordinately -proud and ambitious, and his face darkened -with anger as he returned brusquely:</p> - -<p>“I want a few words with you, young man. -My wife tells me that you have been paying some -attention to my daughter Kate?”</p> - -<p>“Ye-es, Mr. North,” Willie stammered, with -a boyish flush, adding anxiously: “I trust you -have no objection to my love for her?”</p> - -<p>“Nonsense! You are nothing but a boy,” replied -Mr. North curtly, and the handsome young -face before him deepened in color at the taunt; -but he answered, in a manly way:</p> - -<p>“I am almost twenty, and my stepfather has -promised to give me a partnership in the store -when I am twenty-one. My prospects are fair.”</p> - -<p>“I care nothing for your prospects! It is your -family I object to,” was the brusque, startling -reply. Then, as if ashamed of the taunt, Mr. -North went on, more gently: “I am sorry to -wound your feelings, Willie; I believe you are a<span class="pagenum">[199]</span> -good boy, in the main, although it was said at -one time that you were dissipated and wild. Still, -you had an excuse for that—the same excuse that -I have in forbidding your attentions to my -daughter.”</p> - -<p>“Mr. North!”</p> - -<p>“I said that I forbade any more attentions to -Kate. When she marries, it must be one with a -stainless family record. Your sister’s fault has -disgraced her family, and may do so even more -terribly, for there are many who doubt that she -was ever drowned, and she may reappear at any -time.”</p> - -<p>“Mr. North, are there any grounds for this -belief?” the poor fellow asked hoarsely.</p> - -<p>“A face like hers has been seen several times -in Richmond lately. Some of the factory girls -believe that they saw her yesterday as they came -from work. She is always richly dressed, and it -must be that she is leading a life of gilded shame -in this city.”</p> - -<p>A hoarse groan came from the stricken young -man’s lips; then, with flashing eyes, he exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“Then she is running a terrible risk, for only<span class="pagenum">[200]</span> -let me find her, and I will send a bullet crashing -through her shameless heart!”</p> - -<p>“No, no!” the gentleman exclaimed, recoiling -in dismay, but Willie Laurens angrily reiterated -his threat.</p> - -<p>“You will see,” he said. “She wrecked my life, -and I will wipe out the family disgrace in her -heart’s blood.”</p> - -<p>“You are mad, simply mad! Would you become -your sister’s murderer, and break your poor -mother’s heart?” cried Mr. North, shocked and -pained by his furious mood, and not dreaming of -the fiery fluid that had inflamed the young man’s -blood. He turned away from the reckless boy, -and was going abruptly out of the store when a -horseman drew rein on the pavement before him, -and asked excitedly:</p> - -<p>“Does the mother of Miss Alice Laurens live -here?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; is there anything wrong?” inquired Mr. -North curiously, and at the same moment the -pale, agitated face of Willie Laurens appeared in -the doorway, and he said:</p> - -<p>“I am the brother of Alice Laurens. What is -wrong?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[201]</span></p> - -<p>The man looked at him with pitying eyes, and -answered:</p> - -<p>“Heaven knows I hate to tell you, but I have -no choice. An accident has befallen your sister. -She fell through an open hatchway at Arnell & -Grey’s a few minutes ago, and—break it to her -mother as gently as you can, for they are bringing -her here now. She is very badly hurt. It is not -believed that she can live.”</p> - -<p>“Terrible!” cried Mr. North, as he flung out -his arms to support Willie Laurens, who had -reeled and staggered in agony at that heart-rending -announcement.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[202]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXIX">CHAPTER XXIX. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">CAUGHT IN A TRAP.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Pretty sixteen-year-old Alice Laurens looked -wonderfully like her elder sister as she lay, with -pale face and close-shut lids, upon her little bed, -with her mother and only remaining sister, Nora, -weeping over her, while Mr. Finley hovered, like -a bird of prey, in the background, heartlessly -calculating in his own mind how far this accident -might be turned to his advantage in forcing -Pansy Falconer to own her identity, and to pay -his price for keeping her secret from her proud -husband.</p> - -<p>Alice Laurens had a broken arm, and had remained -unconscious ever since her fall, so that -the physicians feared she had sustained internal -injuries that would speedily result in death. One -of them had accompanied her home, and sat in -grave silence, watching the scene, while Willie -Laurens, utterly crushed and disheartened, had -flung himself into a chair, and, with his convulsed -face hidden in his hands, seemed utterly -oblivious to everything but his sorrow.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[203]</span></p> - -<p>Altogether, it was a sad scene on which the -parting sun’s rays fell, as they slanted in at the -open door and penciled with golden beams the -prematurely silvered head of the unhappy mother -as she knelt by her unconscious child, uttering -piteous moans of grief and despair, for her afflictions -pressed heavily on her heart.</p> - -<p>Minutes passed, and there was apparently no -change in Alice. That she still lived was only -evident from a faint pulsation which the clever -physician could barely detect in her wrist, and -every moment he expected that even that faint, -fluttering spark would go out in death.</p> - -<p>The lingering sunset began to fade. Some of -the neighbors came in with hushed footsteps and -sympathetic faces. On the dark, frowning face -of Mr. Finley a light of satisfaction began to -dawn.</p> - -<p>When twilight began to darken the summer -sky, he slipped from that solemn chamber, where -they were watching for death to come in and -dispossess the mother’s heart of its treasure, and -disappeared from the scene.</p> - -<p>He made his way quickly to Franklin Street, -and rang the bell at Colonel Falconer’s door.<span class="pagenum">[204]</span> -When a servant appeared he pushed past him -and unceremoniously entered the wide hall.</p> - -<p>“Tell Mrs. Falconer that a man is waiting with -an important message from her husband,” he -said boldly.</p> - -<p>The servant showed him into a small reception -room, and disappeared, while Finley waited—rather -nervously, it must be confessed, for he -was by no means certain that Colonel Falconer -was out. What if he should appear, and kick -the lying intruder out of doors?</p> - -<p>But fortune favored him, for in a very few -moments the rustle of a woman’s garments was -audible, and then Pansy appeared before him, -simply clad in a pale-gray traveling dress, and -with a tear-stained face and swollen eyes. She -closed the door carefully behind her, then started -back as she beheld her visitor.</p> - -<p>“You!” she exclaimed, in horrified tones.</p> - -<p>He rose and bowed profoundly.</p> - -<p>“I came to bring you the sad news of poor -Alice, but I see from your face that you have already -heard,” he said pointedly.</p> - -<p>Pansy made a scornful gesture, and sank into -a seat.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[205]</span></p> - -<p>“What do you mean?” she demanded, trying -to keep up an assumption of indifference that -was only too plainly belied by her trembling voice -and swollen eyelids.</p> - -<p>“Your sister Alice, Mrs. Falconer, fell, by accident, -through an open hatchway at Arnell & -Grey’s this afternoon, and is now on her deathbed. -She raves for you—calls for you every moment. -Can you have the heart to refuse to go -to your dying sister?”</p> - -<p>She looked steadily at him, and answered defiantly:</p> - -<p>“I have heard of that accident at Arnell & -Grey’s, but what is that to me? I do not know -the poor girl.”</p> - -<p>“What is the use your trying to fence with me -like this, Pansy? I know you!” cried Finley -harshly, adding: “But I did not know your cursed -pride was so strong, else I had not come for you, -even to please that poor, dying girl, who begged -me so piteously to come.”</p> - -<p>“She did not send you. She believes that her -erring sister died,” Pansy answered irresolutely.</p> - -<p>“She believed that once, but not lately. There -have been rumors that she is still alive, that she<span class="pagenum">[206]</span> -had been seen of late on the streets of this city, -and that she is living a life of gilded shame. -The story has preyed on the poor girl’s mind, and -she sent me to seek you, that she might pray -you with her dying breath to forsake your sinful -life.”</p> - -<p>“You have told those base falsehoods to that -poor, credulous child!” Pansy flashed forth indignantly, -but he denied the accusation, and continued:</p> - -<p>“I cannot bear to return to her without you. -The disappointment in her dying eyes would -haunt me. I will make you a proposition, Pansy: -Come with me to her dying bed, and I will manage -things so that you shall see her alone. Not even -her mother shall enter the room, and you shall go -away again, and not a living soul be any the -wiser for your presence there.”</p> - -<p>She saw that he was very much in earnest, that -he would do as he said, and, twisting her little -hands together in an agony of indecision, she -exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“Do you know that in little more than an hour -I am to leave here for the White Sulphur Springs? -Miss Ives has already gone around to her friends<span class="pagenum">[207]</span> -who will accompany us. My husband will come -home presently to drive with me to the depot.”</p> - -<p>“And in the meantime your poor, dying sister -is calling for you in vain. Pansy Laurens, you -are utterly heartless!” exclaimed Mr. Finley, with -a fine show of indignation.</p> - -<p>She trembled perceptibly, and grew pale as a -snowdrop under the glare of the gaslight.</p> - -<p>“May her uneasy spirit haunt you, and drive -repose from your breast!” he cried tragically.</p> - -<p>Whirling toward him with a disdainful gesture -of her white hand, she exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“What if I went with you, simply to humor -the fancy of this poor, dying girl—mind, I own -to no relationship with her—what would be the -price of your silence?”</p> - -<p>Without moving a muscle, he answered coolly:</p> - -<p>“A thousand dollars!”</p> - -<p>“You are certainly rapacious! I could not give -you such a sum to-night.”</p> - -<p>“I should not expect it. I would give you a -week to raise it, if you would leave with me some -of your diamonds as a guarantee of good faith,” -he replied, with an air of business that amused -while it disgusted her.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[208]</span></p> - -<p>“Unfortunately, my jewels are packed and my -trunks are gone. You will have to depend upon -my simple word of honor, or go back as you -came,” she replied coldly.</p> - -<p>He studied her face a moment, then said sullenly:</p> - -<p>“I will take your word of honor, then. You -have too much at stake to risk disappointing me. -So that is settled. Of course, if you did not pay -me in a week I should follow you to the White -Sulphur Springs. Will you come with me now?”</p> - -<p>“Go out and hail some passing cab, and keep -it waiting at the corner around the next square. -I will join you there in a few minutes, for I have -no time to lose. I must return here in time to -join my husband,” Pansy answered, dismissing -him with a wave of her hand, and then hastening -upstairs to don a concealing bonnet and veil, -and to leave some plausible excuse with Phebe -for Colonel Falconer, who might return at any -moment.</p> - -<p>She left the house regretfully, with unsteady -steps and a foreboding heart, fearing that she -was doing wrong, but drawn by a passionate -yearning to the deathbed of her beloved sister.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[209]</span></p> - -<p>“How could I refuse her dying prayer, even -though its granting be attended with so much risk -and cost to myself?” she thought, with generous -pity and self-sacrificing love.</p> - -<p>“Remember,” she said to Finley, as they were -whirled swiftly up the steep grade of Broad -Street toward his home on Church Hill, “I must -see Alice Laurens alone. You will go in first, -and see that every one else leaves the room.”</p> - -<p>“I will do so,” he promised, and no more was -said between them. At the corner below his residence -the hack was stopped. He got out, and -directed her to wait until he returned for her.</p> - -<p>When he reëntered the house he found that a -great change had taken place in the invalid.</p> - -<p>She had recovered full consciousness, and appeared -so much better than had been expected by -her physician that he declared it quite likely she -would recover, if no untoward circumstances intervened. -Fortunately for Finley’s purpose, the -physician was watching by her bed alone, having -persuaded the family to go into the dining room -and partake of tea. A clever thought came to -Finley, and he exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“Doctor Hewitt, a man has fallen in a fit on<span class="pagenum">[210]</span> -the corner two squares below, and they are hunting -a physician everywhere. I will watch beside -Alice if you will go.”</p> - -<p>The physician seized his hat, and, promising -to return after a while, darted out, leaving the -grocer in possession.</p> - -<p>He stooped over Alice, who was regarding him -with wide-open, loathing eyes, for he was universally -hated by his stepchildren, and, bending -down, whispered hurriedly:</p> - -<p>“Your sister Pansy is coming to see you. Mind, -there must be no outcry, and you must never tell -any one she came, for she can stay but a few -minutes, and no one must ever know she has been -here.”</p> - -<p>In a few minutes more the two long-parted -sisters were weeping in each other’s arms.</p> - -<p>“Do not try to talk, my darling sister,” whispered -Pansy fondly, while Finley adroitly lowered -the gas and turned the key in the door. Tenderly -caressing Alice, Pansy continued: “I was not -drowned, Alice, but I made you all think so that -you might not worry over my fate. I am the -wife of a good man, but he does not know my<span class="pagenum">[211]</span> -sad story, and I can never own my relatives, for -then he would find out everything, and he is so -proud he would cast me off. But I could not stay -away, dear, when they told me you were dying, -so I came in secret.”</p> - -<p>“I am glad that you came, my precious sister; -but there is some mistake about my dying, for -the doctor says I have a fair chance of getting -well,” Alice answered feebly.</p> - -<p>“Thank Heaven!” murmured her beautiful sister, -and the silence of deep emotion fell over them -as they clung to each other.</p> - -<p>Finley looked on with exultation. These moments -of reunion between the long-parted sisters -were worth a thousand dollars to him now, and -much more in the future; for, having once established -a claim on Pansy, he would never rest -satisfied until he had wrung from her every dollar -she could command for years to come.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Alice, I long to see our mother, but I dare -not do so. She must never know that I am living. -You must keep the secret of this meeting, and, oh, -you must love her well, and be very good to her -for my sake, as well as your own,” murmured -Pansy, with tears in her beautiful eyes, as she<span class="pagenum">[212]</span> -drew herself reluctantly from Alice’s clasping -arms.</p> - -<p>“Must you go so soon?” sighed the suffering -girl.</p> - -<p>“I dare not stay longer,” sobbed Pansy. She -bent down and whispered hurriedly: “Alice, I -will send you some money anonymously, and you -must let no one know it came from me. Spend it -for yourself, mamma, and Nora. Good-by, darling!” -And, pressing her lips to her sister’s -cheek in despairing love, she rose upright, and -said anxiously:</p> - -<p>“Mr. Finley, I must go now, or they will come -in and find me here.”</p> - -<p>She had pushed her thick veil back to the top of -her bonnet, and her beautiful, pale face was -clearly defined, even in the dim light of the room. -Mr. Finley had forgotten that in this room, which -was upon the first floor, there was a window that -opened upon a narrow alley. The shutters were -drawn, but the sash was raised, and Willie Laurens, -anxious to see how Alice was, but fearful of -intruding on the strict quiet prescribed for her, -had tiptoed through the alley and slanted the -shutters that he might gaze into the room.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[213]</span></p> - -<p>He saw with amazement the beautiful form -kneeling by Alice and clasping her in its tender -arms, saw the fond parting kiss, heard the words -addressed to Mr. Finley, and beheld with mad, -murderous rage the beautiful, despairing face of -the sister whose sin had disgraced him and put -the girl he loved so far above his reach.</p> - -<p>The seed Mr. Finley had industriously planted -in his pliant mind had grown by now into a tree -that was ready to bear deadly fruit. With a -smothered imprecation, he rushed back into the -store, and presently, when Pansy came stealing -through the darkened hallway on her way to the -street, her brother was waiting for her with the -fires of hell in his young heart.</p> - -<p>He lifted the pistol in his hand, fired, and Pansy -fell, bathed in blood, just inside the doorway.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[214]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXX">CHAPTER XXX. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">A SUPPOSED SUICIDE.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>In the very moment that Willie Laurens beheld -his doomed sister fall by his hand, a torrent of -remorse and despair overwhelmed the anger that -had hurried him on to the awful deed, and, hurling -the pistol from his grasp, he rushed to her -side, and fell down on his knees, uttering bitter -cries of remorse and self-reproach.</p> - -<p>Mr. Finley, coming instantly upon the scene, -dragged him furiously to his feet.</p> - -<p>“You devil, you have killed your sister! Now -fly, fly, and save yourself from the law!”</p> - -<p>But even while he spoke, the dining-room door -was thrown violently open, and Mrs. Finley, followed -by Nora, rushed upon the scene.</p> - -<p>By the light thrown from the open doorway of -the room they had left, Pansy’s recumbent figure, -with the blood flowing from it, was plainly seen -on the floor.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Heaven, what is this?” cried the distracted -woman, and Willie wrenched himself<span class="pagenum">[215]</span> -loose from his stepfather’s hold, and answered -despairingly:</p> - -<p>“Mother, it is Pansy. She came back, as this -wretch here was always hinting she would, and -my fiendish temper got the better of me——”</p> - -<p>“And you killed her, you devil!” interrupted -Mrs. Finley. She lifted her arm, shrieking -hoarsely: “Go, go—with a mother’s curse on your -wicked head! You are no longer a child of -mine.”</p> - -<p>But Mr. Finley exclaimed sharply:</p> - -<p>“Hush your clatter, you parcel of fools! Perhaps -she is not dead, after all. Doctor Hewitt -will be back in a moment. Willie, go to your -room, and stay there until I come to you!”</p> - -<p>Trained to habits of the strictest obedience to -his harsh stepfather, Willie mechanically obeyed, -and then Mr. Finley turned to his wife and said -sharply:</p> - -<p>“I shall tell Hewitt that this is a case of suicide, -and don’t either of you dare contradict -me!”</p> - -<p>At that moment Doctor Hewitt appeared upon -the doorstep, returning from his fool’s errand, -and Mr. Finley hurriedly drew him in, and shut<span class="pagenum">[216]</span> -the door, turning the key in the lock. Strangely -enough, no one had been attracted to the scene -by the sound of the pistol shot, and he felt safe -to carry out the deception.</p> - -<p>“Doctor, here is a new case for you!” he exclaimed, -and, turning up the gas, the dreadful -scene was revealed in all its horror and pathos.</p> - -<p>Doctor Hewitt had been physician to Arnell & -Grey for many years, and, in the beautiful girl -lying unconscious in a pool of blood on the floor, -he instantly recognized the little factory girl who -had come to harm years ago and then disappeared -so mysteriously as to leave abroad the impression -that she had drowned herself.</p> - -<p>“Pansy Laurens!” he exclaimed, in a shocked -tone, and Mr. Finley replied:</p> - -<p>“Yes, it is poor Pansy. Is it not dreadful to -think that, after staying away all these years, she -should return to commit suicide in her mother’s -house?”</p> - -<p>“Suicide?” echoed Doctor Hewitt.</p> - -<p>“Yes; we all heard a shot, and, rushing into -the hall, found Pansy lying like this, and this -pistol on the floor, where it had dropped from<span class="pagenum">[217]</span> -her hand,” exhibiting the pistol Willie had thrown -down.</p> - -<p>Doctor Hewitt was on his knees by Pansy’s -side, examining her wound, and in a few minutes -he looked up, and said, in a tone of relief:</p> - -<p>“She has not succeeded in her awful design. -The bullet only went through her shoulder, and -she is not likely to die from that.”</p> - -<p>“Thank Heaven!” cried Mrs. Finley gladly, -and her wicked husband could not help slightly -echoing her words, for he was beginning to feel -like a murderer, remembering how he kept at -white heat, by his taunts and sneers, the fire of -murderous rage in Willie Laurens’ heart.</p> - -<p>“She must be put to bed at once, and her wound -dressed,” said the physician; and they carried her -upstairs to her own room, where she had spent -such unhappy hours four years ago. Then Mr. -Finley said:</p> - -<p>“Doctor Hewitt, I would be glad to keep this -whole miserable affair, even Pansy’s presence in -this house, a secret, for the sake of her innocent -young sisters. Will you help me to do it?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” Doctor Hewitt replied, and then he sent -Mr. Finley down to see after the patient who had<span class="pagenum">[218]</span> -been forgotten for the moment in the horror of -this new calamity.</p> - -<p>When Pansy’s wound had been dressed she -revived, and found her mother and sister by her -side. They greeted each other with solemn, tender -sadness, and then Pansy recognized the physician, -and asked him quietly if she were going -to die.</p> - -<p>“I hope not. Your wound is a painful one, but -not necessarily dangerous. With good nursing, -you will recover,” he replied pleasantly, and then -he went down to see about Alice.</p> - -<p>Pansy lay for a long time in silence, then asked -that Willie might come to her. When he came -into the room, it seemed as if years had gone over -his head, he was so changed by his grief and remorse.</p> - -<p>If she knew that his hand had fired that fatal -shot, she made no sign of her knowledge. Greeting -him with tender sisterly love, she drew him -down to her, and whispered softly:</p> - -<p>“Go to Franklin Street, and tell Colonel Falconer -to come with you to see his wife. Yes, I -am his wife, Willie,” as he started wildly. “Do<span class="pagenum">[219]</span> -not tell him I was wounded. It would startle him -too much. Only ask him to come to me.”</p> - -<p>She realized that further concealment of her -past, after all that had happened would be useless. -She must confess all, and throw herself on -Colonel Falconer’s mercy.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[220]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXXI">CHAPTER XXXI. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">AN AMAZED HUSBAND.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Willie Laurens found Colonel Falconer pacing -up and down the walk in front of his house, -watching impatiently for his wife’s return from -the errand of kindness on which she had vaguely -told the maid she was going.</p> - -<p>It was no wonder he was impatient, for it lacked -scarcely ten minutes to train time. The carriage -was waiting for Pansy, and Phebe, the maid, was -already seated within it.</p> - -<p>“You are Colonel Falconer, sir?” Willie Laurens -asked politely.</p> - -<p>“Yes. Have you any business with me?”</p> - -<p>“A message from your wife. She wishes that -I should conduct you to her side.”</p> - -<p>“Has anything happened to my wife?” exclaimed -Colonel Falconer excitedly.</p> - -<p>“You will soon know if you will accompany -me,” returned Willie evasively.</p> - -<p>“Where is she?”</p> - -<p>“At my mother’s house on Church Hill.”</p> - -<p>Colonel Falconer gave a keen, scrutinizing<span class="pagenum">[221]</span> -glance into the young man’s face by the light afforded -from a gas lamp near by.</p> - -<p>Then he started violently.</p> - -<p>In the boyish beauty of Willie’s face he detected -a strong likeness to his wife.</p> - -<p>“Your name?” he exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“Willie Laurens.”</p> - -<p>“Are you related to my wife?”</p> - -<p>“That is for her to say, Colonel Falconer,” -replied the young man modestly.</p> - -<p>“But I don’t understand this at all. My wife -should be here to accompany me at once. She -will miss her train,” exclaimed Colonel Falconer -testily.</p> - -<p>“I think she expected that, sir,” was the answer -he received from Willie, who began to grow nervous -as he scrutinized the big, good-looking colonel, -wondering what he would say if he knew that -the slight youth before him had attempted his -wife’s life.</p> - -<p>“He would strike me down at his feet in a -moment,” he decided nervously, and, in order to -ward off all further questions, he said:</p> - -<p>“I think, sir, that if you would come at once<span class="pagenum">[222]</span> -with me to Mrs. Falconer she would explain -everything to your satisfaction.”</p> - -<p>“Very well, then, I will do so, for I am very -much puzzled over all this. Will you come with -me in my carriage, Mr. Laurens?”</p> - -<p>“I shall be glad of a seat with you, sir, as it -will enable us to reach Mrs. Falconer sooner.”</p> - -<p>“Come, then!” And they entered the carriage, -where they found Phebe in a fever of curiosity.</p> - -<p>“Would it be advisable to take my wife’s -maid?” the colonel then asked; and Willie, remembering -that Pansy would need a nurse, and -that his mother would have her hands full in caring -for Alice, replied in the affirmative.</p> - -<p>He then gave the address to the driver, and in -a very short time they arrived at their destination.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps you had better leave the maid in the -carriage,” suggested Willie, and Colonel Falconer -readily acquiesced, thinking that Pansy would be -ready to accompany him home in a few minutes.</p> - -<p>During the drive to Mr. Finley’s house he had -come to the conclusion that Pansy’s warm sympathies -had been enlisted by some charitable object -for which she wished to secure his pity and<span class="pagenum">[223]</span> -aid. For this laudable purpose she had doubtless -delayed starting on her trip, thinking that -to-morrow would do as well.</p> - -<p>“But Juliette and the Wyldes will have already -gone,” he thought. “No matter; Mrs. Wylde can -chaperon Juliette until Pansy goes.”</p> - -<p>But his complacent feelings were soon dissipated, -for, as they went upstairs, Willie Laurens -said reluctantly:</p> - -<p>“Colonel Falconer, your wife was seized with -a sudden sickness an hour ago, and you must not -be surprised or frightened if you find her still -in bed.”</p> - -<p>Then he threw open Pansy’s door.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[224]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXXII">CHAPTER XXXII. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">THE REVELATION.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Colonel Falconer was so shocked and startled -by Willie Laurens’ words that he staggered rather -than walked across the threshold of the room -where Pansy was lying, with close-shut eyes, -among the white pillows of the bed, carefully -watched by Nora Laurens, who now, at a sign -from her brother, arose and left the room.</p> - -<p>Colonel Falconer found himself alone with -Pansy, and, at the closing of the door, she opened -wide those wondrous eyes of violet blue, and -looked mournfully up into his face.</p> - -<p>Oh, the pain, the grief, the despair of that -glance! It went straight to the man’s loving -heart, and he fell on his knees with a groan, and -pressed his lips to her white brow in passionate -love.</p> - -<p>She lay still and sorrowful, while fond words -of love poured from his lips, and kisses rained on -her fair face. She said to herself that if he repudiated -her and cast her off after he had heard -her sad confession, she would have the memory<span class="pagenum">[225]</span> -of these caresses to comfort her when her noble -husband was lost to her forever.</p> - -<p>By and by he lifted his head, and said reproachfully:</p> - -<p>“You should not have gone out, my darling, -if you were not feeling well. You know you -have not been strong for some time.”</p> - -<p>She knew that she must speak now, and so -she answered faintly:</p> - -<p>“I have had an accident, Colonel Falconer. I -have been shot in the shoulder.”</p> - -<p>He recoiled with a cry of dismay, and she continued, -in a low but distinct voice:</p> - -<p>“Stay here by me, and—I—will—tell you all—about -it. I am not going to die, they say, although -it—might—be—better if I were.”</p> - -<p>“Pansy, you must be raving! You do not mean -that,” he exclaimed, in alarm, and with such a -tender look that she exclaimed remorsefully:</p> - -<p>“Ah, how good you are to me! But I do not -deserve it, for I have deceived you shamefully, -and when I have confessed my sin you will—cast -me off—you will never—speak—to—poor—Pansy -again!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[226]</span></p> - -<p>“Now I am quite sure that you are raving. -You have done nothing, my precious wife, for -which I could visit you with such harsh punishment -as that,” exclaimed her husband fondly, as -he bent over her and smoothed back with loving -hands the curling locks that strayed over her -blue-veined brow.</p> - -<p>A heavy sigh drifted over the lips that were -pale with pain, and Pansy murmured sadly:</p> - -<p>“I am not raving. Although I am in great -pain from the wound in my shoulder, I know -quite well what I am saying. I have deceived -you, my kind, noble husband, and when you know -all you will hate me.”</p> - -<p>“Nonsense!” he replied cheerily, and, clasping -her cold little hand warmly and closely in his, he -murmured reassuringly:</p> - -<p>“Come, let us have that dreadful confession, -my pet, that your foolish alarms may be speedily -dissipated.”</p> - -<p>But no answering smile met his. Pansy was -as pale as death as she began:</p> - -<p>“Louisville was not my—native place—as I told -you. I—I—was born—in Richmond—and I am -at this moment—under my mother’s roof.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[227]</span></p> - -<p>Colonel Falconer started violently, but he still -kept fast hold of her little hand as she continued:</p> - -<p>“That is not all. I—I—had run away from my -home when I met Mrs. Beach. There—there—was -a stain—upon my name—although,” passionately, -“I swear to you it was not my fault! -I am—Heaven pity me!—that girl whom Juliette -Ives hates so relentlessly because she caused the -breaking of her engagement with Norman -Wylde.”</p> - -<p>“Pansy Laurens!” Colonel Falconer uttered, in -a voice of horror; and he dropped her hand and -started back.</p> - -<p>She made no reply. Her confession had exhausted -her strength, and she had fainted.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[228]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII">CHAPTER XXXIII. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">NOBLE FORGIVENESS.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Colonel Falconer stood gazing like one petrified -at his unconscious wife until suddenly his -own face whitened to a marble pallor, an expression -of keen agony convulsed his features, -and, clasping both hands upon his breast, he sank -backward into a chair, while a low moan of pain -escaped his lips.</p> - -<p>He had been seized with a spasm at the heart, -a misfortune that had befallen him at various -times in his life, but of which he had never spoken -to Pansy, being very sensitive on the score -of the heart disease, which was hereditary in the -Falconer family, and of which his sister, Mrs. -Ives, had died.</p> - -<p>For a few moments he lay back in the chair, -struggling with all his strength of mind against -his misery; then, putting his hand into his breast -pocket, he brought out a small vial, from whose -contents he swallowed a few drops. The effect -soon became apparent in a cessation of the terrible<span class="pagenum">[229]</span> -pain. Then a low, frightened cry from the bed -made him look toward Pansy, and he found that -she had revived and was staring at him with a -glance of wonder and fear.</p> - -<p>“Oh, what is it? Have I killed you?” she -gasped faintly.</p> - -<p>“It is nothing—a slight spasm of the heart, -brought on by excitement. I am better now,” -Colonel Falconer replied coldly, and just then the -door opened and Mrs. Finley came nervously into -the room.</p> - -<p>“Mamma, this is Colonel Falconer,” Pansy half -whispered, adding anxiously: “I have told you -how good he has been to me, and I have told him -who and what I am, but briefly. Now I want you -to tell him the story of my willful girlhood, and -the full extent of my sin.”</p> - -<p>“Will you listen, sir?” asked the pale, gray-haired -little woman timidly.</p> - -<p>A dark frown came between his eyebrows, but -he answered impatiently:</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>And so, in the little room where Pansy lay, pale -with pain and despair, the story of her girlhood<span class="pagenum">[230]</span> -was told to the husband she had deceived—told -kindly and gently by her mother’s lips, yet without -abating one jot of the truth.</p> - -<p>“If she had taken her mother’s advice, sir, she -would never have come to this pass. I told her -that a rich young man like Mr. Wylde wouldn’t -think of marrying a poor little factory girl, but -she didn’t believe my warning. She wouldn’t -heed me,” sighed poor Mrs. Finley, when she had -told, in her pitiful little way, the story of Pansy’s -willfulness and disobedience.</p> - -<p>But she, poor thing, looked pleadingly at her -pale, silent husband.</p> - -<p>“But you see how it was, don’t you?” she cried -imploringly. “I loved him so, and I fell under -his fascinations so that I couldn’t help myself; -and I thought mother would be so pleased when -she found out I was his wife she would forgive -all the rest. Ah, Heaven! I paid dearly, dearly -for that disobedience!”</p> - -<p>He sat silent, rigid, looking and listening without -a word, and Pansy sobbed bitterly:</p> - -<p>“Did I not say you would never forgive me? -But I deserve it. I have not one word to say for -myself, only this: You will keep my miserable<span class="pagenum">[231]</span> -secret, for when Norman Wylde charged me with -my identity I denied it bitterly. Oh, he must -never know the truth, and if I recover from my -wound I will go away from here, Colonel Falconer, -and never trouble your peace again.”</p> - -<p>He smiled a sad, derisive smile at those words, -as if in mockery of her promise, and then said:</p> - -<p>“But I have not yet heard how you came by -that wound.”</p> - -<p>“My brother Willie swore that he would kill -me for the disgrace that I had brought on the -honest name of Laurens. When I came back -home to see my sister he tried to carry out his -threat. I do not blame him, nor must you, for -my stepfather had goaded him to madness by -his taunts and slurs. Poor boy! He is sorry -now for his insane deed, and the world must -never know.”</p> - -<p>He smothered some angry words under his -dark mustache, for Pansy was beginning to speak -again in her soft, hopeless little voice:</p> - -<p>“While I lay here waiting for Willie to bring -you, I made some clever little plans. Juliette -went with the Wyldes, did she not?”</p> - -<p>“Of course.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[232]</span></p> - -<p>“Then you will telegraph her to-morrow that -I have changed my mind, and will go North to -some gay watering place, but that she will remain -under the chaperonage of Mrs. Wylde. My -presence in this house can be kept a dead secret -until I get well enough to go away—into a convent, -perhaps—into lasting exile, certainly. Do -not grieve, mamma,” as a whimper of protest -came from the little woman’s grieved heart. “You -will have your other children, you know.” Then, -looking back at her husband, went on plaintively: -“In the meantime, you will have gone away, and -by and by you will write back to your friends -that poor little Pansy is dead and buried. You -will come home to Juliette then, and—after a -while—you will forget.”</p> - -<p>The plaintive voice broke, and Colonel Falconer -sat still for a few moments, lost in deep thought. -Suddenly he spoke:</p> - -<p>“You are very clever,” he said.</p> - -<p>“I thought it all out for your sake. I was so -anxious that no disgrace should touch you,” she -answered humbly.</p> - -<p>“Poor little one!” he muttered; then rose and -laid his hand solemnly on her head. “Dear, you<span class="pagenum">[233]</span> -have been bitterly punished for your girlish -fault,” he said gravely; then, in tones vibrating -with tenderness, he added: “You are my beloved -wife still. I forgive your deception, and I will -never forsake you.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[234]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV">CHAPTER XXXIV. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">IMAGINARY DECEIT.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>“Rosalind, what do you think of this?” asked -Juliette, coming up to her friend with an open -letter in her hand.</p> - -<p>It was the second day after her arrival at the -White Sulphur Springs, and they were out on -the lawn before the grand hotel. All was brightness -and gayety. Throngs of beautiful women -and handsome men lent variety to the sylvan -scene, and the merry music played by the band -made one’s step light and one’s heart gay.</p> - -<p>“What is it, Juliette?” asked Miss Wylde curiously.</p> - -<p>“A letter from my uncle, in which he explains -the cause of his wife not joining us here.”</p> - -<p>“Is she not coming, then?” asked Mrs. Wylde, -in a tone of regret.</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“But why not?”</p> - -<p>“She was taken suddenly ill that afternoon, but -would not send us word, lest we should wait for -her and be disappointed in going. She is better<span class="pagenum">[235]</span> -now, and has taken up an idea that sea air would -be of more benefit to her than the springs,” replied -Juliette, reading from her uncle’s letter.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I am sorry she will not join us. I had -fallen in love with her,” exclaimed Mrs. Wylde, -and her daughter echoed:</p> - -<p>“I had, too, mamma.”</p> - -<p>A frown crossed Juliette’s pearl-fair face, and -she read on slowly:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“So I will take her away to the sea, and you can remain -with Mrs. Wylde if she will have the kindness to -chaperon you.”</p> -</div> - -<p>She looked at Mrs. Wylde, and that lady said -cordially:</p> - -<p>“Your uncle ought to know that I will take -great pleasure in doing that.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you,” cried Juliette; then, crushing the -letter in her hand, she said spitefully: “I believe -Pansy had all that planned before, and did not -mean from the first to accompany us here.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Wylde and Rosalind looked startled.</p> - -<p>“Why should she deceive us?” cried Rosalind.</p> - -<p>“Oh, she had some hidden design in it, of -course. She is naturally deceitful. I never liked -her from the first!” Juliette cried peevishly,<span class="pagenum">[236]</span> -goaded to jealous anger by their declaration that -they were fond of Pansy.</p> - -<p>“Well, you ought to know, of course, having -lived in the same house with her,” exclaimed -Rosalind, in astonishment, adding: “But I never -should have supposed that dear little thing could -be deceitful and designing.”</p> - -<p>“Nor I, for she always seemed so frank and -open,” said her mother. “Indeed, I had taken a -great fancy to her.”</p> - -<p>Every word stung Juliette more deeply, for she -hated Pansy with an intense hatred. She would -have hated her for marrying her uncle if for nothing -else, but added to this was always her suspicion -of Pansy’s identity, and this fanned the -fire of her rage into fury.</p> - -<p>She made an excuse for leaving the Wyldes, -that she might give full vent, in the privacy of her -own room, to the spite that possessed her, and -then Rosalind observed:</p> - -<p>“Mamma, I do not think Juliette quite does -justice to Mrs. Falconer. She hates her because -she married Colonel Falconer and disappointed -her expectations of getting all her uncle’s -money.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[237]</span></p> - -<p>“That is it,” replied Mrs. Wylde. “Mrs. Falconer -is without doubt a charming woman, and -Juliette’s suspicions of her deceitfulness have -their sole origin in nothing but envy and jealousy.”</p> - -<p>While Juliette, alone in her own room, was -saying bitterly:</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, they have fallen in love with her, -have they? That is because she is the rich Mrs. -Falconer. They have no admiration to spare for -Norman’s sweetheart, the poor little tobacco-factory -girl, who was quite as beautiful, innocent, -and charming as my uncle’s proud wife.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[238]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXXV">CHAPTER XXXV. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">GENEROUS DEEDS.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>When Colonel Falconer, out of the generosity -of his great heart, forgave his unhappy wife the -deception she had practiced upon him, he made -up his mind that he would take her away from -the fatal city of her birth, never to return.</p> - -<p>They would go abroad, and begin a new life, in -which they would be all in all to each other; and -he would try to forget the dark shadow that lay -on his wife’s past, and make her happy as she had -seemed before they came back to Richmond and -the tragedy of her buried sin rose to overwhelm -her again with its ignominy.</p> - -<p>He made arrangements for keeping Pansy’s -presence in her mother’s house a secret from the -world. Phebe was told only such facts as were -strictly necessary, and then installed as the faithful -nurse of her mistress.</p> - -<p>Colonel Falconer himself came in disguise to -visit her; and Doctor Hewitt, who was the only -one outside the house who was in the secret of -Pansy’s continued existence, never dreamed that<span class="pagenum">[239]</span> -the invalid was the wife of one of the grandest, -noblest men in the city, and mistress of a palatial -home on Franklin Street. He pitied her very -much, and advised her one day to remain with -her mother and begin a new life.</p> - -<p>Pansy wept bitterly, but made no reply, and -he went away feeling very sad over her probable -future, for both she and Alice were so much -better now that there was no occasion for his further -visits. He would see the beautiful erring -girl no more, and he feared that, with the return -of health and strength, she would drift back to -her old sinful life.</p> - -<p>In the meantime, Colonel Falconer busied himself -generously in trying to brighten the lives of -Pansy’s relatives.</p> - -<p>In the first place, he had to bribe that wretch, -Finley, to silence on the fact that Pansy Laurens -was still living. He accepted gladly enough a -much smaller sum than he had demanded from -Pansy, fearing that if he demurred he might not -get anything.</p> - -<p>Colonel Falconer, with his keen insight into -human nature, soon saw that Pansy’s mother was -unhappy and ill-treated—a mere slave to her sullen,<span class="pagenum">[240]</span> -brutal husband. He proposed to Pansy to -settle a sum of money on her mother that should -be strictly her own, and the income from which -would enable her to lead a life of ease, independent -of her miserly husband.</p> - -<p>“How shall I ever repay all your goodness?” -Pansy cried, when he told her that he had settled -twenty-five thousand dollars on her mother, and -that Alice and Nora were to be sent to Staunton -to boarding school. His kind intentions toward -Willie were all frustrated, for the young man, -ashamed and remorseful over what he had done, -and standing in great awe of his aristocratic -brother-in-law, had abruptly left home the same -night on which he had wounded Pansy, and as -yet no tidings had been received from him.</p> - -<p>The time came when Pansy was to leave home -and mother for the second time, and it was, indeed, -a sad parting; yet not as bitter as the first, -for then Pansy was going alone into exile, but -now there was a strong arm and a brave heart between -her and the world.</p> - -<p>“Only love me, my poor little darling,” he had -answered, gently and gravely, in reply to her expressions -of gratitude, and she had promised that<span class="pagenum">[241]</span> -she would, while, at the same time, she contrasted -his noble soul with that of Norman Wylde.</p> - -<p>“One so noble and high-minded, the other so -false and cruel! Oh, Heaven help me to tear his -image from my weak womanly heart, and enshrine -there this good and noble husband!” she -prayed passionately.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[242]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXXVI">CHAPTER XXXVI. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">PLANS FOR THE FUTURE.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Two months had passed since Colonel Falconer -had taken Pansy away from Richmond. They -were summering quietly at a little mountain retreat -in the Adirondacks, but his mail was sent -to Cape May, and, by an arrangement with the -postmaster there, was forwarded to him.</p> - -<p>He had done this to conceal the place of his -residence from Juliette and others, not wishing -that any prying eyes should intrude upon their -seclusion, for Pansy was still weak and delicate, -and her nerves had been sadly shattered by the -trying scenes she had gone through.</p> - -<p>They had taken a little cottage in the mountains, -and, with Phebe and a few servants, were -keeping house in a simple, quiet way, waiting for -the roses to come back to Pansy’s cheeks, that -the colonel might leave her long enough to return -to Virginia and settle up his business, preparatory -to taking up his future residence in Europe.</p> - -<p>“You will not take Juliette with us? She hates<span class="pagenum">[243]</span> -me, and every word and glance has a sting for -me. She suspects my identity, in spite of all my -denials,” pleaded Pansy.</p> - -<p>“She shall not go with us,” he said; then a -thoughtful frown came between his dark eyebrows. -“But what under heaven shall I do with -her?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Let her stay in the house on Franklin Street -with a chaperon,” answered Pansy readily.</p> - -<p>“That will do very well, I suppose; but I wish -she would get married. I should feel better satisfied -over her then,” said the colonel, and they both -thought at once of Norman Wylde.</p> - -<p>The color rose to her delicate pearl-fair face in -a warm tide of crimson, and Colonel Falconer -grew pale, and smothered an oath between his -lips.</p> - -<p>“Pansy, I feel like I ought to kill that fellow -for his villainy to you,” he said abruptly.</p> - -<p>“Let him alone. Heaven will punish him for -my wrongs,” she answered, and then, clasping her -beautiful hands imploringly, she wailed: “But, -oh, my poor, deserted little child, my heart aches -when I think of him! If I only had him with me -I could be content.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[244]</span></p> - -<p>“Do not grow impatient, darling. I have promised -to try to get the child for you, but it must -be done very quietly, for no one must suspect that -we had anything to do with abducting him. He -must be abducted, you understand that, do you -not, Pansy?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, for I know well that no amount of bribery -would induce Mrs. Meade to give him up, -and I dare not assert my legal claim to him,” -sighed poor, unhappy Pansy.</p> - -<p>He tried to comfort her, as if she had been a -little child, and at last she sobbed herself to sleep -in his arms, and he held her thus for more than -an hour, gazing on the sweet, sad little face with -eyes full of love and pity.</p> - -<p>“Poor little darling, how bitterly and undeservedly -you have suffered,” he thought, adding -bitterly: “Curses on the false-hearted villain that -betrayed her innocent youth! I hope I may never -meet him again, for if I did I fear I should take -vengeance into my own hands.”</p> - -<p>The next morning, when the colonel’s valet -brought in the mail, it consisted of nothing but -the New York papers. He had finished breakfast, -and took them out on the porch to read.<span class="pagenum">[245]</span> -Pansy followed him, and sat down in her little -rocking-chair to enjoy the beautiful mountain -scenery that lay outspread like a succession of -pictures before her eyes.</p> - -<p>Colonel Falconer selected his favorite paper, -lighted his morning cigar, and disposed himself -comfortably to read.</p> - -<p>And none seeing the quiet, homelike picture, -the handsome man, and the lovely woman, seeming -so calmly happy in their domestic life, would -have dreamed that a heavy storm cloud surcharged -with woe was about to burst in fury upon -their heads.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[246]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXXVII">CHAPTER XXXVII. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">THE STORM BREAKS.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Colonel Falconer opened his fresh paper, and -the first thing that caught his eyes were these -words, in staring headlines:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="center">A VIRGINIA TRAGEDY,</p> - -<p>INVOLVING SOME OF THE F. F. V.’S WITH THE WORKING -CLASSES, AND BEING THE CLIMAX TO A ROMANCE OF LOVE -AND SORROW EQUAL TO ANY EVER EVOLVED FROM THE -BRAIN OF A NOVELIST.</p> -</div> - -<p>He uttered an exclamation of interest, and -Pansy looked around.</p> - -<p>“What is it, dear?” she asked languidly.</p> - -<p>“Nothing—that is—— Well, you shall have -the paper presently,” he answered, and read on:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>Something more than three years ago there was a -ripple of excitement in the fashionable society of Richmond -over the fact that an engagement of marriage between -two prominent people had been dissolved, owing to -a sudden infatuation on the young man’s part for a beautiful, -charming young girl, an employee at Arnell & Grey’s -tobacco factory.</p> - -<p>The girl, though of poor parentage, and compelled to -labor for her own support, was said to be wonderfully -lovely, fairly well educated, and of so fair a character<span class="pagenum">[247]</span> -that it had never been sullied by a breath of scandal. But -parents on either side proved unkind. The young man -was forbidden to marry the little beauty, and she on her -part had stern orders from a widowed mother never -to hold any communication with her lover.</p> - -<p>In a few months afterward, the young man was sent -on a mission to Europe, and it was supposed that all was -at an end with the unfortunate love affair. But nine -months later there was a scandalous story circulated about -the young girl, to which a color of truth was lent by her -suicide by drowning in the James River. At last, some -of her clothing was found in the river, but her body was -never recovered. At the same time a beautiful, newborn -boy baby was left on the steps of the young man’s father, -and adopted by the old housekeeper.</p> - -<p>Two years later the hero of that long-past love affair -returned, and seeing the adopted child, conceived the idea -that it was his own. He sought the mother of his dead -love in order to ascertain the truth, but could not find -her, she having married a second time and removed to -another part of the city. Lately, in desperation, he placed -a detective on the woman’s track, with the result that she -was soon found, and a story of sorrow laid bare that -maddened the hero of the story.</p> - -<p>He told the mother that her daughter had been his wife -by a secret marriage in Washington, and by this declaration -was laid bare the perfidy of a wicked stepfather and -a slighted love, who for revenge had bribed the man to -lie about the marriage. This man, Finley by name, was -sent to Washington to verify Pansy Laurens’ declaration -that she was the wife of Norman Wylde. He was bribed -by a fair and slighted lady to declare that there had been -no marriage, thus breaking the heart of the poor girl, who<span class="pagenum">[248]</span> -had never received a line from her young husband during -his absence.</p> - -<p>When Norman Wylde learned of this horrible perfidy -that had made of his beloved young wife a suicide, and of -his legitimate child a foundling, he went wild with rage -against the villain who had made these things possible, and -struck him with all the fierce strength of an outraged -arm. He fell heavily, and striking his head against the -counter in his store was rendered unconscious by concussion -of the brain.</p> - -<p>He is lying now in a state of coma, never having returned -to consciousness since his fall. Norman Wylde -is under heavy bonds pending the result of Finley’s injuries, -but it is believed that a chivalrous Virginia jury -will acquit him of blame in the vengeance he took against -the destroyer of his domestic happiness.</p> -</div> - -<p>Pansy turned her head at hearing a strange, -choking sound, and saw her husband with his -head fallen backward, and his face convulsed with -pain, as it had been on the night when she made -her confession to him.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[249]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXXVIII">CHAPTER XXXVIII. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">VISIONS OF HAPPINESS.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>When Pansy saw the condition of her husband -she uttered a scream of terror that brought -Colonel Falconer’s valet and her maid rushing to -the scene from the back of the cottage, where -they had been flirting with each other in default -of something better to do.</p> - -<p>Charles, the valet, immediately ran into the -house for his master’s drops, while Pansy lifted -her husband’s head and pillowed it against her -breast. Phebe could do nothing but wring her -hands and utter excited ohs and ahs.</p> - -<p>“You had better leave him to me, ma’am,” -said Charles, with a composure that betrayed his -familiarity with these painful attacks. He took -her place with polite insistence, and then Pansy -remembered that her husband had seemed a little -excited over something in the paper he was -reading.</p> - -<p>She took the paper up from the floor, where it -had fallen, and, in a very few moments, had<span class="pagenum">[250]</span> -found out the cause of Colonel Falconer’s sudden -seizure.</p> - -<p>Forgetful of everything but herself in the wild -rush of joy that overwhelmed her soul, she rushed -upstairs to her room, and, throwing herself into -a chair, read and reread the precious paper, while -her love for Norman Wylde, so long repressed -and denied, thrilled her whole being again with -inexpressible rapture.</p> - -<p>“Oh, my love, my love! You were true to me—you -loved me, you mourned for me, for I was, -indeed, your wife! The dark stain of disgrace -is effaced from me, and the whole world may -know now that Pansy Laurens was an honored -wife, and that her child had a right to its father’s -name. Oh, my little Pet, my precious child, -would that I could fly this moment and take you -by the hand and lead you to your beloved father, -telling him how much I love you both!” she sobbed -passionately, forgetting for the moment the man -downstairs, whose heart was so bound up in her.</p> - -<p>It was not natural that she should remember -him at that moment, for the shock of joy had been -so great as to blot out everything else for the -time being. Joy in Norman’s constancy and love,<span class="pagenum">[251]</span> -and horror at the sin of Mr. Finley and Juliette -Ives, filled her whole mind.</p> - -<p>She forgot Colonel Falconer and his illness, -forgot that she was another man’s wife, forgot -everything but her love for Norman Wylde, the -young husband from whom she had been sundered -by such a cruel fate.</p> - -<p>“Oh, my love, my darling, would that you were -here now,” she kept murmuring over and over, -forgetful of the lapse of time, until she was -startled from her blissful reverie by a low tap -upon the door.</p> - -<p>“Come in!” she exclaimed, and the door unclosed, -admitting Colonel Falconer, who was -ghastly pale, and staggered unsteadily across the -threshold.</p> - -<p>“Oh!” cried Pansy, in a heart-piercing tone, -for everything rushed over her at once at the -sight of his haggard, pain-drawn face.</p> - -<p>“Poor child! You were so happy that you had -forgotten me,” he said gently.</p> - -<p>“Forgive me!” she sighed remorsefully, and -then suddenly the pretty dark head fell back -against her chair, and she became unconscious.</p> - -<p>Colonel Falconer made no effort to revive her.<span class="pagenum">[252]</span> -He stood by her side, gazing with gloomy eyes -at the white, unconscious face, and at length he -muttered:</p> - -<p>“Poor little one! I wish that you would die -now, just as you are; then I should never have -the pain of resigning you to one who has a better -right to you than I have, and in whose love you -will utterly forget him who has had no thought -but of you since first he saw your beautiful face.”</p> - -<p>But he did not have his wish granted, for presently -Pansy revived of herself, and looked up -dreamily into his face.</p> - -<p>“I—I—fainted, did I not?” she murmured -slowly. Then, remembering his illness, she asked: -“Are you better?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he answered, but his face was ghastly -as he said it. Making a brave effort for calmness, -he added: “You stayed away so long, Pansy, that -I grew uneasy, and came to seek you.”</p> - -<p>“While I selfishly forgot you in my absorption. -Oh, forgive me! forgive me!” she cried remorsefully.</p> - -<p>“There is nothing to forgive. Your news was -startling enough to excuse you for everything,” -he replied patiently. Drawing a chair near her,<span class="pagenum">[253]</span> -he continued wistfully: “It must have been a -great shock of joy to you, Pansy, to find that -Norman Wylde was your true husband, instead -of the false-hearted wretch we deemed him.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” she murmured faintly.</p> - -<p>“And you will wish to be restored to him at -once, dear?” he continued, masking with a brave -effort the pain he felt in speaking those words.</p> - -<p>She started wildly.</p> - -<p>“But—I—belong—to—you!” she faltered.</p> - -<p>“No, dear. The ceremony that bound you to -me is void in law, since you had a husband living -when I married you. You are free of any claim -of mine. Shall you go at once to him, or will -you write for him to come for you?”</p> - -<p>She read his keen anxiety in his ghastly face, -and it came to her suddenly that her happiness -would prove a deathblow to this good man, who -was so devoted to her that it seemed impossible -for his enfeebled heart to bear the shock of her -loss.</p> - -<p>Looking up at him with troubled eyes, she said:</p> - -<p>“Leave me here alone till morning, that I may -decide what is best for me to do.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[254]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXXIX">CHAPTER XXXIX. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">REACHING A DECISION.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Colonel Falconer would never forget as long as -he lived, nor would Pansy, the awful suspense of -that night. He spent it among the mountains, -walking hard all night, in order to overcome his -misery by sheer physical weakness. She spent it -on her knees by her bedside, praying.</p> - -<p>It seemed to her that it would be wrong to desert -Colonel Falconer and go back to her dear -love, her faithful husband, even though she really -belonged to him, for it would surely break Colonel -Falconer’s heart.</p> - -<p>“And how could I be happy even with my beloved -Norman and our darling child, if I knew -that I had caused the death of one who loved me -so well, and who had died for my sake?” the -generous young wife kept saying over and over -to herself, and resolutely shutting out of her heart -all thoughts of the happiness she could have if -she returned to Norman.</p> - -<p>Passionately as she loved Norman, her young -heart had become so inured to sorrow, that she<span class="pagenum">[255]</span> -was capable of making a great sacrifice for another’s -sake, and at last she decided that for -Colonel Falconer’s sake she would bear the burden -of a secret sorrow till the day of her death.</p> - -<p>“Norman believes me dead long ago, and he -need never be undeceived,” she thought. “Then, -too, he will have our sweet little boy to comfort -him, while I will pray for them both every night, -and feel that I have done right to sacrifice my -one chance of earthly happiness for another’s -sake.”</p> - -<p>Her resolve did not falter, although it had cost -her so much to make it, and in the morning, when -she went down to breakfast, she was pale as a -lily, and the blue circles under her downcast eyes -hinted at bitter tears shed in the lonely vigils of -the night.</p> - -<p>Colonel Falconer had come in an hour before -from his wild mountain tramp, and appeared at -breakfast freshly dressed, but wretchedly pale and -weary-looking, with a despairing look in his eyes -that it was impossible to hide.</p> - -<p>The unhappy pair made a slight pretense at -eating, then went out on the porch together, and -Pansy said quietly:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[256]</span></p> - -<p>“Let us walk up the mountain road a little way, -that no one may overhear what I wish to say to -you.”</p> - -<p>They walked away out of earshot of Charles -and Phebe, who had no idea that anything was -wrong between their master and mistress, and -then Colonel Falconer asked sadly:</p> - -<p>“Have you made up your mind, dear?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; I shall stay with you.”</p> - -<p>He stared at her, speechless with wonder, until -the warm color rose to her face; then he exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“My dear Pansy, how could you do that? I -explained to you, did I not, that our marriage was -not legal?”</p> - -<p>Placing her trembling little hand on his arm, -she whispered:</p> - -<p>“I understand all that. What I meant was that—you—should—help -me—to secure a divorce—from -Norman Wylde—that I might quietly remarry -you. It could be done, could it not?”</p> - -<p>His face shone with happiness and love as he -replied:</p> - -<p>“It would be easy enough, I think; but, Pansy,<span class="pagenum">[257]</span> -darling, it would not be right for me to permit -this sacrifice on your part.”</p> - -<p>“I will not permit you to call it a sacrifice. I -love you, and I prefer to cast my lot with yours,” -she answered truly.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[258]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XL">CHAPTER XL. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">A GREAT SACRIFICE.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>“Heaven help me, for I am scarcely brave -enough to refuse this noble sacrifice of yours, -Pansy,” groaned Colonel Falconer. “Oh, my little -love, are you quite sure you will never regret -this—never wish for Norman Wylde and your -lost happiness?”</p> - -<p>Clasping her slender white hands tenderly -around his arm, and lifting her sad white face, -with all a woman’s tenderness shining out of her -soulful eyes, she replied earnestly:</p> - -<p>“The happiness you speak of could not be mine, -for if I left you for Norman the thought of you -would always sadden me so that I should suffer -from remorse and anxiety. I love you, though -not with the wild passion I felt for my first love. -But this deep, steady affection, born of admiration -for your manliness and your many virtues, is -so strong that it would divide the allegiance I -should owe to Norman. You would be ever in -my thoughts, for you need me so much, and -would miss me so much, while he has long believed<span class="pagenum">[259]</span> -me dead and could bear the shock of losing me -better. Therefore, if you will help me about the -divorce, I will be your wife again as soon as -possible.”</p> - -<p>“I will send the most clever lawyer in New -York to you, Pansy, and you can commit your -case to him. Bless you for your noble decision! -I did not dare hope for such a sacrifice on your -part, but I love you so well that I have not courage -to refuse it.”</p> - -<p>She bowed her head in silence, and he continued:</p> - -<p>“Of course you understand, darling, that I -must leave you to-day and remain away from -you until the divorce is procured. Do you wish -to remain here quietly with Phebe, Charles, and -the other servants, or have you any other plans?”</p> - -<p>She was silent a few moments, then she answered:</p> - -<p>“I will remain here.”</p> - -<p>He left the mountains for New York City that -day, and on the next she was visited by an eminent -lawyer, who took her case in hand, and assured -her that he believed there would be no difficulty -in securing a divorce.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[260]</span></p> - -<p>When he had gone she fell sobbing on the floor -of her chamber, crying out:</p> - -<p>“Oh, my lost love, my lost love!”</p> - -<p>Colonel Falconer wrote her in a few days, saying -that he would go to White Sulphur Springs, -to try to make some arrangements for the future -of Juliette Ives.</p> - -<p>“I shall never care for her in the same fashion -as I did before I learned her treachery to you and -Norman Wylde,” he wrote. “But she has no -living relative but me, and she is dependent on me -for support, and, for her mother’s sake, I will not -shirk the responsibility.”</p> - -<p>He found his pretty niece cool, impudent, defiant. -She utterly denied her complicity in Mr. -Finley’s crime.</p> - -<p>“I did not even know the man. Never saw him -in my life!” she affirmed.</p> - -<p>He was staggered by her effrontery and -scarcely knew what to say, and she went on -eagerly:</p> - -<p>“Dear uncle, please tell me the truth: You have -found out at last that your wife is really Pansy -Laurens, have you not?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[261]</span></p> - -<p>“Nonsense!” he answered sharply; and she -opened wide her pale-blue eyes, exclaiming:</p> - -<p>“Is it possible she can still deny it, after finding -out that she was really Norman’s wife? Ah, I -see it all now! She will stay with you because -you are rich and her legal husband is poor.”</p> - -<p>Colonel Falconer’s eyes flashed wrathfully.</p> - -<p>“Beware, Juliette, how you try me too far! -Remember that you are helpless and penniless, -except for my bounty!”</p> - -<p>“And because I will not cringe and fawn upon -the lowbred creature you have made your wife, -although, unfortunately, the tie is not a legal one, -you threaten to deprive me of the pittance sufficient -for my support! Very well, I can go and -work in Arnell & Grey’s tobacco factory. You -will not consider it a disgrace for your niece to -work there, as the woman you call your wife -was an employee there for many years!” she -burst out spitefully, her virago temper all aflame, -and goading her to such rebellion that she actually -shook her little jeweled fist in his face.</p> - -<p>She knew his good heart and generous nature -so well that she believed she could defy him with -impunity. He would not dare cast her helpless<span class="pagenum">[262]</span> -on the world, no matter what she did to him or -the wife he idolized.</p> - -<p>But her insults to Pansy had struck a fire of -rage in his nature, and, while his face whitened -with pain and his eyes gleamed with anger, he -turned on her, and said sternly:</p> - -<p>“Since you are so willing to earn your own -support, I wash my hands of a most unwelcome -burden! Go into a tobacco factory as soon as you -please, and I hope you may be industrious enough -to retain a position there as long as Pansy Laurens -did!”</p> - -<p>With those words, the offended gentleman -stalked out of the presence of Juliette, who comprehended -instantly that she had gone too far -in her spiteful defiance, and that she must either -humiliate herself by apologizing or go to work, -as she had threatened, to earn her own living.</p> - -<p>It did not take her a minute to decide which -of these alternatives to choose, and as soon as -the door banged to behind the irate colonel she -jerked it open and flew swiftly down the corridor, -arresting his quick footsteps by clasping both -hands around his arm.</p> - -<p>“Oh, uncle, dear uncle, come back and forgive<span class="pagenum">[263]</span> -me! I am sorry I wounded your feelings. I did -not mean it; but every one had deserted me, and -I felt so miserable!” she panted eagerly, as she -clung to his arm.</p> - -<p>He stopped short and looked suspiciously into -her false face.</p> - -<p>“Where is Mrs. Wylde?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Come back, and I will tell you. We might be -overheard here,” she replied, looking uneasily -down the length of the broad hotel corridor, and -very unwillingly he accompanied her back to her -room. Then she said:</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Wylde and Rosalind have gone back to -Richmond, and I am here alone with my maid.”</p> - -<p>“She promised to chaperon you,” he said, -frowning.</p> - -<p>“I know,” whimpered Juliette; “but we quarreled -dreadfully. They—they actually believed -that man Finley’s falsehood about me, although -I denied it bitterly. The truth is that they are -the ones in fault, for they sent Norman off to -London on a false scent, just to break up his love -affair; but now they have the meanness to say -that they would never have sent him if they had -known he was actually married to the girl,”<span class="pagenum">[264]</span> -panted Juliette angrily, adding: “So we had a -bitter quarrel when they refused to believe my -story. And Mrs. Wylde said she hoped you -would take me from under her care soon, as she -was tired of chaperoning a girl who had brought -such trouble on her poor son. I told her I would -never speak to her again, so then she and Rosalind -packed up and went back, as Judge Wylde -had telegraphed for them. She sent me a note, -asking if I cared to go back with them, and I -declined. But they set every one against me. I -am so stared at and snubbed by people since Finley’s -lies against me were published that I cannot -bear to go outside my room,” concluded Juliette, -going into hysterical sobs.</p> - -<p>“This is very bad. I do not know what I shall -ever do with you, Juliette,” sighed the colonel, in -dismay.</p> - -<p>“I shall go back to you, of course,” she sobbed.</p> - -<p>“No; that plan will not answer any longer. I -can never have you again as a member of my -family,” he replied firmly.</p> - -<p>She could scarcely resist the impulse to cry out -against him with the sharpest reproaches, but -wisely restrained herself, and presently he said:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[265]</span></p> - -<p>“I will remain with you here for a week, Juliette, -and in that time I will decide regarding -your future.”</p> - -<p>That same day he wrote to Pansy and explained -the situation to her, asking for her advice -in the matter.</p> - -<p>When Pansy heard of the sad plight of the girl -whose wickedness had wrought her so much woe -she rejoiced at first, thinking that Juliette had -met her just reward for her sin.</p> - -<p>Then kinder, more pitiful thoughts intervened, -and at length she wrote to Colonel Falconer:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>Send Juliette here to me, and I will stand her friend -if she will treat me with proper respect.</p> -</div> - -<p>He read those words to Juliette, who curled -her lip, but did not refuse, for the contempt of -all her old associates in her little social world had -so cowed her that she was only too happy to accept -Pansy’s offer.</p> - -<p>When they met again, Pansy said determinedly:</p> - -<p>“Miss Ives, there shall be no further concealments -between us. I am Pansy Laurens, as you -thought, but I am going to procure an immediate -divorce from Norman Wylde, that I may be remarried<span class="pagenum">[266]</span> -to your uncle, Colonel Falconer. Wait!” -as Juliette was about to make an excited remonstrance. -“It will be against your own interest -to betray me, for your uncle’s will is made in my -favor now, and if you go against me I will use -my strong influence to have you sent adrift penniless.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[267]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XLI">CHAPTER XLI. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">A FALSE WITNESS.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Juliette Ives was walking along the mountain -road just a few rods from the cottage, kicking up -the dead leaves from the ground at every step, -and frowning discontentedly.</p> - -<p>“It is almost two months since I came to this -place, and it is as dreary as a prison. I hope we -shall certainly get away this week, or I shall die -of ennui,” she was muttering angrily to herself, -when suddenly she came face to face with a man -who was hurrying in the direction of the cottage—Norman -Wylde.</p> - -<p>It was the first time he had seen Juliette since -Finley’s sullen confession had convicted her of -such a treacherous deed, and Norman’s brow -grew dark at sight of the fair blond face, with its -light-blue eyes, and pale golden tresses flying -loosely in the wind under a picturesque little scarlet -cap, for Juliette was always vain and coquettish, -and even here in this secluded retreat, where -she expected to see no one, paid particular attention -to her personal appearance. But her charms<span class="pagenum">[268]</span> -were all unheeded by Norman Wylde, who lifted -his hat with grave courtesy, and was about to -pass by when she arrested him with a pleading -cry:</p> - -<p>“Norman—Mr. Wylde!”</p> - -<p>He paused, but with an impatient gesture, and, -coming close up to him, she said eagerly:</p> - -<p>“I cannot let pass this opportunity of clearing -myself from the foul imputation cast upon me by -that wicked wretch, Finley. Oh, Norman, I swear -to you that I had nothing to do with his sin! I -did not even know the man.”</p> - -<p>She never forgot how handsome and how -scornful her lost lover looked as he fixed his splendid, -piercing black eyes on her false face. Regarding -her with supreme contempt, he answered:</p> - -<p>“Unfortunately for your denial, Miss Ives, Finley -had written proofs in his possession that -proved your guilt clearly.”</p> - -<p>“I deny it in spite of all his proofs,” she cried -desperately, but, smiling scornfully still, he answered:</p> - -<p>“As you please, Miss Ives; but permit me to -pass. I am anxious to meet my wife!”</p> - -<p>“You have no wife!” she exclaimed, with such<span class="pagenum">[269]</span> -spiteful yet earnest emphasis that he paused -again, and said:</p> - -<p>“Deny it as you will; but I have proved to the -world’s satisfaction that Pansy Laurens is my -wife, and a week ago, when Mr. Finley recovered -from the long stupor and loss of memory that followed -upon his fall, he told me my wife still lived, -in the person of Mrs. Falconer. I wondered why -she had not come at once to me on learning that -she was truly my wife. But, guessing that it -was owing to her sensitive, retiring nature, I set -myself to work to learn her whereabouts. I -learned that she had separated from Colonel Falconer, -and was living here in strict retirement. -I hurried here at once.”</p> - -<p>“In spite of all that, I repeat my assertion: You -have no wife!” answered Juliette, with savage -emphasis and barbarous delight in the torture she -was inflicting on his heart.</p> - -<p>“My Heaven!” he cried, shuddering. “You do -not mean to tell me that Pansy is dead!”</p> - -<p>“No; it is worse than that.” She paused a -moment, watching him keenly, the better to enjoy -her triumph, then added: “She has procured a -divorce from you.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[270]</span></p> - -<p>Then she shrank in spite of herself, for the -rage and despair on that darkly handsome face -frightened her, defiant as she was, and his voice -seemed to breathe menace as he shouted hoarsely:</p> - -<p>“It is false! False as your treacherous heart, -Juliette Ives!” And, with the words, he rushed -madly from her toward the cottage, wild to know -the truth from Pansy’s own beautiful lips.</p> - -<p>Juliette followed slowly after, with a white face -of wrath and envy, for she well knew that, though -Pansy was lost to Norman forever, he would -never love another.</p> - -<p>Phebe went up to her mistress with a message -from Mr. Wylde, and, after a long interval, returned -with a brief, ambiguous note:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I refuse to see you. I received my decree of divorce -this morning, and to-morrow I shall be married to Colonel -Falconer. Forgive me, Norman, for I have acted for the -best as far as I could see my duty. Let our child comfort -you. Love him, and make up to him for his mother’s -loss. I go abroad in a few days, never to return. Forget -me if you can, and if not, remember me with pity. Farewell -forever, and may Heaven bless you!</p> - -<p class="ir2 pminus1"><span class="smcap">Pansy.</span></p> -</div> - -<p>Crushing the perfumed sheet in his hand, he -staggered across the doorway with a face like a -corpse. A white hand fluttered down on his coat<span class="pagenum">[271]</span> -sleeve, and tender blue eyes gazed into his agonized -face.</p> - -<p>“You see now!” said Juliette triumphantly. -“She was like the majority of women. She cared -more for Colonel Falconer’s money than for her -husband’s love! Oh, Norman,” her voice sank -into a low, pleading cadence, “will you not forget -her now and make up our wretched quarrel? Remember, -we loved each other before you ever saw -her face!”</p> - -<p>“I never loved you—never! And for the misery -your sin has brought me I curse you!” he answered. -“I have lost her, but it was through -your treachery at the beginning that she was -forced into a position where her noble nature -made her sacrifice herself and me to a mistaken -sense of duty. Ah, I understand her generous -soul! Do not prate to me of gold. She cared -nothing for that, but, in her pity for him, she -has broken both her heart and mine.” And, -throwing off her touch as though it were a serpent’s -coil, he rushed away.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[272]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XLII">CHAPTER XLII. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">REMARRIED.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>In a short time the words were spoken that -made Pansy Laurens for a second time a wife, -and, though it was like a deathblow to her happiness, -she bore herself with proud calmness that -the good man by her side should have no cause -to suspect that she had sacrificed herself for his -sake.</p> - -<p>In a few days more they went abroad, taking -Juliette with them, as also the valet and the two -maids. Several months were spent in Italy, then -when winter was past they traveled for several -months. When autumn came round again Colonel -Falconer began to think of purchasing a home -and settling down in the land of his adoption.</p> - -<p>Juliette was behaving herself quite well; that -is to say, she was treating her uncle’s wife with -a show of respect, though hating her as bitterly -as ever in her secret heart.</p> - -<p>At times she complained to her uncle that she -did not wish to remain always abroad, but he had<span class="pagenum">[273]</span> -only to remind her of the snubbing she had received -from her friends at home to reduce her to -instant silence and submission.</p> - -<p>At such times she would recall the Wyldes with -bitter chagrin, and she made up her mind that -she would marry a title if she could possibly -compass it, and then go to Virginia to spend her -honeymoon, in order to mortify those of her old -friends who had dared to disapprove of her because -of the revenge she had taken on her rival, -the poor working girl, Pansy Laurens.</p> - -<p>She was anxious to get away from the guardianship -of her uncle and his wife. To live always -with the rival who had triumphed over her, -and to have those triumphs renewed daily—for -Pansy had been a decided success wherever she -had appeared in society, and the society journals -always mentioned them as “Colonel Falconer’s -beautiful bride, and his pretty niece, Miss Ives”—was -too bitter to her pride.</p> - -<p>“I am tired of it all! I have eaten humble pie -till I loathe the taste,” Juliette muttered discontentedly; -and when at last old Sir John Crowley, -who was as yellow as a pumpkin, having spent -the best years of his life in India before succeeding<span class="pagenum">[274]</span> -to a baronetcy, proposed marriage to her, -she accepted him joyfully.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Juliette, that old man! Why, he is past -sixty, and yellow and ugly and cross!” Pansy -cried, in dismay; but Juliette tossed her head, and -answered:</p> - -<p>“You married an old man for his money, and -I’m going to marry one for a title and money, -too, that’s all!”</p> - -<p>“But I have heard that he isn’t rich—that the -title is almost a barren honor. He has nothing -but a small estate in Cornwall. You will have -to nurse him half your time, as he is in poor -health.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t care, and I wish you would mind your -own business! Uncle has promised me a marriage -portion, anyhow, and that shall be strictly -settled on myself. Sir John is so much in love -with me that he’ll agree to anything,” Juliette retorted. -But events proved differently. Sir John -would not agree to the proposition, and so Juliette, -in a huff, declared the match off, vowing -that the baronet was a wretched old fortune -hunter.</p> - -<p>Following hard upon the breaking of this engagement,<span class="pagenum">[275]</span> -which occurred in the second winter -after Pansy’s remarriage to Colonel Falconer, -came a very sad event.</p> - -<p>A beautiful villa at Florence had been purchased, -and the small family had settled down -there for the winter. It was a very pleasant -neighborhood, and one evening they were entertaining -a small party of friends, when the colonel -suddenly complained of severe pains, and a -physician was at once summoned to his side. But -medical skill proved vain, for within an hour he -died, as Juliette’s mother had died, of heart failure.</p> - -<p>He comprehended that the end was near, for, -between the paroxysms of pain, he whispered to -Pansy:</p> - -<p>“You have made this past year very happy, my -darling. I have never had cause to believe that -you cherished a single regret.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[276]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XLIII">CHAPTER XLIII. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">A LOVELY WIDOW.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>“I suppose you will go home now and marry -Norman Wylde!” cried Juliette spitefully.</p> - -<p>It was almost immediately after the funeral, -and the sad young widow turned a shocked face -upon the heartless speaker.</p> - -<p>“Juliette, how can you be so cruel? Do you -think I do not grieve for my noble husband?” -she exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“Norman Wylde could comfort you very easily -in your grief,” was the unfeeling reply that sent -Pansy from the room in bitter tears.</p> - -<p>Juliette was the trial of Pansy’s daily life. She -had tried all in vain to overcome the girl’s jealous -dislike of her, but it seemed a hopeless task, and -she longed for the time to come when she would -marry and leave her in peace.</p> - -<p>“I believe she would murder me if she thought -she could do so without being discovered,” she -thought sometimes fearfully.</p> - -<p>She did not dream that her patient endurance -of her dreadful incubus and her never-failing<span class="pagenum">[277]</span> -goodness had all along been having their effect -on Juliette, although she struggled bitterly against -that saving influence.</p> - -<p>Just now she felt more bitter than usual, for, -in addition to the fact that she believed that -Pansy and Norman would be reunited in a few -weeks, she had found out that her uncle’s will -was made solely in his wife’s favor, with the exception -of a legacy to his niece, the amount of -which was to be decided by Pansy.</p> - -<p>The next time Juliette saw Pansy she began -to tease her about the will.</p> - -<p>“It was a shame for uncle to treat me so shabbily. -He might have known you would put me -off with just a few hundreds!” she cried spitefully.</p> - -<p>Pansy sighed at Juliette’s unrelenting hate, and -answered patiently:</p> - -<p>“Colonel Falconer understood me better than -you do, Juliette, or he would never have trusted -your future to me. When his affairs are settled -there will not be more than a hundred thousand -dollars left, as he made several investments lately -that resulted disastrously. But of that hundred -thousand I shall give you fifty thousand.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[278]</span></p> - -<p>“You do not mean it!” Juliette cried incredulously.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” Pansy answered; and for a minute there -was a silence, which the young widow broke in a -tremulous, pleading voice.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps,” she said, “when this money is settled -on you, Juliette, it will please you best to -leave me, and make a home for yourself elsewhere?”</p> - -<p>“You want me to go away—you are tired of -me!” Juliette cried, in a high, resentful key; and -then Pansy lifted her head and looked at her with -those sad pansy-blue eyes, in which tears of grief -were standing thickly.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Juliette,” she sobbed, “I—I—only want -peace, and you make my life so dreary and unhappy -with your unrelenting hate!”</p> - -<p>Juliette did not answer. She gave a choking -gasp and rushed from the room.</p> - -<p>Pansy saw her no more for several hours; then -she entered her boudoir with a pale face and very -red eyes, and said humbly:</p> - -<p>“Pansy, please do not ask me to leave you! I -love you—yes, love you, in spite of all my wickedness. -Your goodness and sweetness have been<span class="pagenum">[279]</span> -growing on me for years, although I tried to steel -myself to their noble influence, and your words -just now opened my eyes and showed me my -heart. I repent all my wickedness toward you, -and beg you to forgive me for my share in your -unhappiness. Henceforth I will love you as -dearly as my uncle loved you, and I will do all -that I can to atone for my heartless behavior in -the past.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Juliette!” Pansy cried gladly. For it -was an exquisite satisfaction to her to feel that -she had conquered Juliette’s hate at last by her -gentleness and patience.</p> - -<p>She accepted Juliette’s repentance by a gentle -kiss on her white brow.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[280]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XLIV">CHAPTER XLIV. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">A MOTHER’S YEARNING.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Pansy wrote to her mother of Colonel Falconer’s -death, and in return received some unexpected -news.</p> - -<p>Mr. Finley, after he recovered from the long -spell that had followed upon his fall and the injury -to his head, had become more brutal and morose -than ever, and made life with him very hard -to bear. Finally he announced his intention of -selling out all his property and going to California -to invest the proceeds in real estate. He told his -long-suffering wife that he was tired of her, and -did not propose to take her with him. She acquiesced -very thankfully in this decision, and the -brute had gone away several months before, and -no more had been heard of him, much to her joy -and relief, for she had long ago repented her unfortunate -second marriage.</p> - -<p>Soon after Finley left, Willie had returned, -and, to her surprise, he had been hard at work -in New York, and brought back his savings. He<span class="pagenum">[281]</span> -was bitterly repentant for his wicked deed, and -would write to his sister and tell her how much -he had suffered from remorse. Mrs. Finley added -that she was going to help her son set up business -for himself, that he might marry little Kate -North, to whom he was now engaged, with the -free consent of her parents.</p> - -<p>“Poor brother Willie! I am glad he is going -to be so happy,” thought Pansy, without a shadow -of anger against the hot-headed boy; and then -she read on, and found that Alice and Nora were -still at school in Staunton. They were learning -fast, and sent much love to their sister, and -grieved for the good brother-in-law who had been -so generous to them all.</p> - -<p>“But why does she not say something about my -boy, my little Pet, who, perhaps, has some other -name, now that Norman knows he is his son?” -thought Pansy impatiently; but on turning the -next page she read these words:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>Judge Wylde died last week, and they say he left -a pretty penny to his family, though I don’t think Norman -needs it much, he’s getting rich so fast with his law -business. He works so hard, they say, that he has no -time for any one but his child. He has given it the name<span class="pagenum">[282]</span> -of Charley for your poor, dead father, which I think -was quite nice of him. I see the little fellow often, as -the Wyldes are quite friendly with me; also that good -Mrs. Meade, who says she was quite certain from the -first that things would turn out as they have. I haven’t -seen Norman since your husband died. I don’t know how -he takes it, but I hope you and he will make it up some -time, as it can’t do Colonel Falconer—poor, dear saint—any -good for you to stay always a widow. But forgive -me, dear daughter, for I know your sorrow is too deep for -me to hint at such things yet.</p> -</div> - -<p>Pansy sat silent for a long time, brooding over -those words, and her breast heaved with many -hopeless sighs.</p> - -<p>“No one need ever think of that,” she thought -mournfully. “Norman will never forgive me for -what I did. He will think always that it was -for Colonel Falconer’s money, not for pity’s -sake.”</p> - -<p>And at thought of her little child, her beautiful -Charley, out of whose love she had been -tricked and cheated by her wicked stepfather, -Pansy wept most bitterly and longingly.</p> - -<p>“Whether he ever forgives me or not, I must -see my child sometimes,” she thought; but she determined -that she would spend her year of mourning -at the villa. Life was not so unhappy since<span class="pagenum">[283]</span> -Juliette had repented her wickedness and fallen -in love with her uncle’s wife. They had become -fast friends, and Juliette now prayed earnestly -that the time would come when Pansy would -again be Norman’s wife.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum">[284]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XLV">CHAPTER XLV. -<br /><span class="cheaderfont">SUPREME JOY.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>A year went slowly past, and found Pansy and -Juliette still at the villa; but it was not likely that -the latter would be there much longer, for she -had lately made the acquaintance of a handsome -young man, a rich New Yorker, who had wintered -in Italy, and who had been so very much -smitten with the charms of Miss Ives that he had -proposed marriage on very short acquaintance, -and had been accepted, for he was the first man -who had ever touched her heart since she had lost -Norman Wylde.</p> - -<p>In truth, Juliette was very much altered for -the better. She had taken gentle Pansy for her -model, and was fast becoming a changed and improved -woman. Not content with owning her -fault to Pansy, she had written to the Wyldes, -mother and son, and confessed her folly and her -repentance, declaring that she now loved Pansy -as fondly as she had once hated her, and that her -dearest wish now was for the happiness of the -two she had injured so much.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[285]</span></p> - -<p>When Arthur Osborne first declared his love to -Juliette she had a hard struggle with her pride, -but before she gave him her answer she told him -the whole story of her folly and sin and repentance.</p> - -<p>“If you had known this you would not have -asked me to be your wife,” she said sadly.</p> - -<p>But she was mistaken, for he reiterated his -offer, declaring that he admired her frankness -and believed in her repentance.</p> - -<p>“I will help you to forget your bitter past,” -he said; then Juliette gave him a blushing yes.</p> - -<p>The betrothal was a month old when, one day, -as Pansy sat alone in the drawing-room of her -beautiful home, some visitors were announced, -and Mrs. Wylde, with her daughter and a beautiful -little boy, entered the room.</p> - -<p>Pansy sprang up with a little startled cry, and -was immediately half smothered in kisses and -embraces from all three.</p> - -<p>“Forgive me for my share in your past unhappiness. -I had never seen you, and believed you -to be a coarse, ignorant girl, unsuited to my son -in every way,” murmured Mrs. Wylde regretfully.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">[286]</span></p> - -<p>“Let us forget the past,” answered the noble -girl she had injured, as she drew her child to -her breast, wondering, yet not daring to ask, -about his father.</p> - -<p>Juliette came in presently, and they met her -with the cordiality of old friends. Then she -looked at Pansy.</p> - -<p>“Norman is here, too,” she said smilingly, “but -I think he was doubtful of a welcome, and he -stopped in the summerhouse. Will you meet him -halfway, Pansy?”</p> - -<p>The blush that rose to her face betrayed her -heart without words, and Mrs. Wylde said tenderly:</p> - -<p>“Go, dear; we will excuse you.”</p> - -<p>Juliette took her trembling hand and led her -to the door. Then she kissed her fondly.</p> - -<p>“Bless you both, dear!” she said earnestly, and -went back to the guests.</p> - -<p>But little Charley, now almost five years old, -followed his newfound mother.</p> - -<p>Norman was waiting in the flower-wreathed -summerhouse, and at one glance into each other’s -eyes the two read each other’s heart.</p> - -<p>“You will not send me away again, my darling!”<span class="pagenum">[287]</span> -he murmured, as he clasped her to his -heart in passionate love.</p> - -<p>A few weeks sufficed for their second courtship. -They were married on the same day with -Arthur Osborne and Juliette Ives. Both the -brides looked wonderfully beautiful, and both the -bridegrooms handsome and happy.</p> - -<p>In the spring they all went back to America. -Juliette’s home was to be in New York, but not -the least of Pansy’s pleasures was the fact that -she would spend the rest of her life among the -dear friends and old familiar scenes of her beloved -Richmond.</p> - -<p class="center smallfont p1">THE END.</p> - -<p class="p1">No. 1165 of the <span class="smcap">New Eagle Series</span>, entitled -“His Unbounded Faith,” by Charlotte M. Stanley, -is a fascinating story. The reader will sympathize -with the heroine in the storms of hate -and jealousy that rage around her, but they will -breathe a sigh of relief when she finds a secure -haven in her husband’s love and faith.</p> - -<hr class="tb x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center xxlargefont boldfont">Love Stories</p> - -<p>There is a great deal of difference between -love stories and sex stories. There is something -about <em>love</em> which commands respect and -reverence.</p> - -<p>There is nothing about the sex story which -commands either. Most decent-minded people -are disgusted with the sort of literature -that some publishers are putting out in the -guise of truth.</p> - -<p>If you want to know what a really decent, -clean, wholesome love story is, ask your dealer -to sell you a copy of the <cite>Bertha Clay Library</cite>, -or the <cite>Eagle Library</cite>.</p> - -<p>In these two series, you will find everything -that is necessary in fiction to hold your -interest, and a great deal that is preferable to -the sort of stuff which is being put out under -camouflage by certain publishers who are not -very careful either about the way they make -money or what they publish.</p> - -<p class="center largefont boldfont p1">STREET & SMITH CORPORATION<br /> -<span class="largefont">79 Seventh Avenue</span> <span style="padding-left:2em">New York City</span></p> -</div> - -<hr class="tb x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="center"> -<p class="xlargefont boldfont displayinline"><em>Adventure Stories</em><br /> -<em>Detective Stories</em><br /> -<em>Western Stories</em><br /> -<em>Love Stories</em><br /> -<em>Sea Stories</em></p> -</div> - -<p>All classes of fiction are to be found among -the Street & Smith novels. Our line contains -reading matter for every one, irrespective of age -or preference.</p> - -<p>The person who has only a moderate sum -to spend on reading matter will find this line -a veritable gold mine.</p> - -<p class="center p1 boldfont">STREET & SMITH CORPORATION,<br /> -79 Seventh Avenue,<br /> -New York, N. Y. -</p></div> - -<hr class="tb x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="transnote"> -<h2 id="TN_end" style="margin-top: 0em">Transcriber’s Notes:</h2> - -<p>Punctuation has been made consistent.</p> - -<p>Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in -the original publication, except that obvious typographical errors -have been corrected.</p> - -<p>The following change was made:</p> - -<p><a id="BRef_118" href="#Ref_118">p. 118</a>: illegible words at the end of the page were assumed to be “so -that I” (long drive to-day so that I)</p> -</div></div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOVE CONQUERS PRIDE ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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