close to the woman and looked long and searchingly into
her face. The other returned her gaze with contemptuous indifference.

"I have been sorry for you," said Myra Willard slowly. "I have not wished
to speak. But I know what you said to Sibyl, here in the studio; and I
overheard what you said to Mr. King, a few minutes ago. I cannot keep
silent."

"Proceed," said Mrs. Taine, shortly. "Say what you have to say, and be
done with it."

Myra Willard obeyed. "Mrs. Taine, twenty-six years ago, your guardian, the
father of James Rutlidge won the love of a young girl. It does not matter
who she was. She was beautiful and innocent That was her misfortune.
Beauty and innocence often bring pain and sorrow, madam, in a world where
there are too many men like Mr. Rutlidge, and his son. The girl thought
the man--she did not know him by his real name--her lover. She thought
that he became her husband. A baby was born to the girl who believed
herself a wife; and the young mother was happy. For a short time, she was
very happy.

"Then, the awakening came. The girl mother was holding her baby to her
breast, and singing, as happy mothers do, when a strange woman appeared in
the open door of the room. She was a beautiful woman, richly dressed; but
her face was distorted with passion. The young mother did not understand.
She did not know, then, that the woman was Mrs. Rutlidge--the true wife of
the father of her child. She knew that, afterward. The woman, in the
doorway lifted her hand as though to throw something, and the mother,
instinctively, bowed her head to shield her baby. Then something that
burned like fire struck her face and neck. She screamed in agony, and
fainted.

"The rest of the story does not matter, I think. The injured mother was
taken to the hospital. When she recovered, she learned that Mrs. Rutlidge
was dead--a suicide. Later, Mr. Rutlidge took the baby to raise as his
ward; telling the world that the child was the daughter of a relative who
had died at its birth. You must understand that when the disfigured mother
of the baby came to know the truth, she believed that it would be better
for the little one if the facts of its birth were never known. The wealthy
Mr. Rutlidge could give his ward every advantage of culture and social
position. The child would grow to womanhood with no stain upon her name.
Because she felt she owed her baby this, the only thing that she could
give her, the mother consented and disap