e
instantly recognized by his family, But they could not prove your
position, especially if they are all written after the style of the one
which you allowed me to read this afternoon, for in all those pages not
once does he speak of you as his wife. You must have something more
tangible and conclusive than those," Mrs. Farnum asserted, confidently.

All the light died out of Virgie's face as she began to see that there
were terrible difficulties in the way of proving that she was a lawfully
wedded wife.

"I have my ring," she said, weakly, and holding up the white, delicate
hand on which the heavy circlet gleamed, guarded by a brilliant diamond,
but which trembled like a reed shaken by the wind.

"Is it marked with the date of your marriage?" inquired Mrs. Farnum, an
anxious gleam in her eye as it rested upon that symbol of wifehood.

"N-o; it was thoughtlessly neglected at the time, because there were so
many other things to be attended to, and--and I could not bear to have it
taken off to rectify the oversight, after it was once put upon my hand,"
Virgie confessed, growing white again even to her lips.

"That was unwise, not to say foolish of you," said Mrs. Farnum,
deprecatingly, but with a throb of exultation.

"But," added Virgie, after thinking a moment, "he brought me here as his
wife. The proprietor of this hotel will tell you so. Dr. Knox, my
physician, will tell you so also, as I was introduced to him by my husband
as Mrs. Heath; and there are other people in the house who know it."

Mrs. Farnum smiled pitifully.

"My dear," she said, gravely, "how many of these people do you think would
be willing to swear that you are Sir William Heath's wife, if you should
ask them to do so? How many would put their names to a paper certifying
their honest conviction that you are, if told the title and position he
occupies in his own country and <i>your history</i> in this?"

Virgie started at these words, and would have asked the woman what she
knew of her history, but she went on as if she had not remarked her
emotion:

"If Sir William had brought you here as <i>Lady Heath,</i> registered himself
in his own proper character, and taken you into society thus, there would
have been no room for doubt. But instead, what <i>has</i> he done? It is very
strange that your own suspicions have not been aroused by his actions. He
has registered everywhere as plain 'William Heath and lady.' Instead of
going to the public t