rtheless she sighed. To a nature such as hers freedom was life
itself, and she was bartering it away for mere food. Besides, how could
she now follow the one who had been so kind to her?

But she stayed, and patiently worked all day, striving earnestly to
catch the knack of the needle, and emulating the tireless industry of
the Sister, who worked thus during daylight that she might pursue her
mission of mercy and succour at night. Thus passed some days, and then
Jessica's blood grew restless; the narrow room seemed to her stifling
and unendurable, and she pined for the open air, as a caged blackbird
longs for its native woods.

The longing grew so irresistible that at last she succumbed to it; and
one day, finding herself alone, she threw down the piece of work on
which she was employed, and rising, snatched up her weather-stained hat.

"I can't stay," she sobbed; "I can't breathe here! I must go, or I shall
die. I'll leave before she comes back. Oh! I wish she had not been so
kind to me. I feel a worthless, miserable, ungrateful creature!"

Then she stole down the stairs, very much as she had slipped away from
Adrien's residence, and gained the streets anew.

CHAPTER VII

It was the night of the great ball at Lady Merivale's town house. A Blue
Hungarian Band was playing dreamily the waltz of the season, to the
accompaniment of light laughter and gaily tripping feet. The scent of
roses filled the air. Masses of their great pink blooms lurked in every
small nook and corner; while in the centre of the room, half-hidden by
them, a fountain sent its silver spray into the heated air.

If wealth and luxury alone could bring happiness, then surely Eveline
Merivale should have been the most envied woman in the world. A renowned
beauty, a leader of fashion, with every wish and ambition
gratified--save the one which, at present, the chief object of her
life--to enslave and retain, as her exclusive property, Adrien Leroy.

Her husband, the Earl of Merivale, she regarded as a necessary
encumbrance, inevitable to the possession of the famous Merivale
diamonds. His hobby was farming, and he detested Society; though quite
content that his wife should be made queen so long as he was left in
peace with his shorthorns.

Certainly Eveline Merivale was not in love with her husband; but, on the
other hand, neither was she in love with Adrien Leroy. It simply added a
zest to her otherwise monoto