hing
from me. For mercy's sake, make an end of this suspense!"

"Answer me one question more. Were there witnesses at your marriage?"

"Yes, four."

"Four! Who were they?"

Mrs. Farnum asked this question in a somewhat disappointed tone, for if
the young wife could bring four witnesses to prove her marriage, Lady
Linton might well tremble for the success of her plots, though Nevada was
a long distance from England, and there might be some difficulty in
producing them.

"My father"--a sob checked Virgie's utterance as she mentioned him, and
realized how forlorn her condition would be if the horrible suspicions
which were being sown in her mind should prove true--"the clergyman who
performed the ceremony, a woman who lived near us, and our own servant."

"Then, since you have no tangible proof in your own hands that you are Sir
William Heath's lawful wife, I advise you to communicate with those
witnesses without delay, since their testimony alone will serve to
establish your rights and--those of your child," Mrs. Farnum said, with a
solemnity that struck a fearful chill to Virgie's heart.

"My child!"

It was a startled, anguished cry, and all the mother-love and anxiety was
instantly aroused for her little one.

Was it possible that anything was threatening the honor and future
happiness of her child, who, next to its father, was at once her pride and
idol?

"Oh!" she cried, pressing her hands to her throbbing temples, "why will
you talk so in riddles? If you have anything to tell me, in pity speak out
before I lose my reason!"

"Wait one moment, and I will bring you a letter which I have recently
received, and when I have read it to you, you will understand why I have
been so skeptical regarding what you have told me, and why I have
questioned you so closely."

With these words, Mrs. Farnum arose and left the room, while Virgie,
almost stunned by the fearful suspicions which had been so artfully thrust
upon her, and feeling almost as if a knife had been driven through her
heart, sank nerveless and trembling into a chair to await her return.

The relentless woman was not gone long. The ice was thoroughly broken at
last, and she meant to make quick work of her task now. Lady Linton had
written to her that her brother was becoming very impatient at being
detained so long from his wife; he was nearly ill from anxiety because he
did not hear from her, and she feared he would soon brave everything and
go to h